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THE
HISTORY
THE ANGLO-SAXONS
THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE
NORMAN CONQUEST.
BY SHARON TURNER, F.A.S, & R.A.S.L,
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
SEVENTH EDITION.
iv x
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
1852.
'8-5:2
LONDON :
SPOTTISWOODES and SHAW,
New-street-Square.
CONTENTS
THE SECOND VOLUME.
BOOK V.
CHAP. I.
ALFRED'S Intellectual Character.
A.C. Page
He learns to read 1
State of the Anglo-Saxon mind - 4
Illiteracy of the clergy - 9
Alfred's self-education - 10
His subsequent instructors - 12
His invitation of Asser - 13
And of Grimbald - 15
His attainment of the Latin language - 16
His preface to Gregory's Pastorals - 17
CHAP. II.
ALFRED'S Translation 0/*BoETius's Consolations of Philo-
sophy. — ALFRED considered as a Moral Essayist. —
His Thoughts, Tales, and Dialogues on various Subjects.
His Translation of Boetius - 20
His feeling of connubial felicity - 22
His story of Orpheus and Eurydice - 23
His thoughts on wealth and liberality - 24
His thoughts on a good name - - 25
On the value of jewels - 26
On the advantage of the rich - ib.
On power 29
A 2
IV CONTENTS.
A.C. Page
On the mind - - 30
On his principles of government - 31
Alfred on the golden age - ib.
His thoughts on glory - - 32
On adversity - - 35
On friendship - ib.
His ideas of the system of nature - 36
His story of Ulysses and Circe - 37
His thoughts on the Supreme Good - 38
On wisdom • ib.
On real greatness - 40
On birth - 42
On kings - 44
On the benefits of adversity - 47
His philosophical address to the Deity - 50
His metaphysics - 53
His thoughts on chance - - 54
On the freedom of will - - ib.
Why men have freedom of will - 55
On the Divine Providence - 56
On human nature and its best interests - 59
On the Divine Nature « - - 61
CHAP. III.
ALFRED'S Geographical, Historical, Astronomical,
Botanical, and other Knowlege.
His translation of Orosius - 67
His geographical knowlege - ib.
Alfred's Notitia of Germany - 68
Ohthere's voyage - 69
Wulfstan's voyage - 72
Alfred's historical knowlege - 73
His translation of Bede - 74
His astronomy - - ib.
His botanical knowlege - 75
His translation of Gregory's Pastorals - - 76
Werefrith's dialogues of Gregory • 77
Alfred's selections from St. Austin - 79
His Psalter - 80
His Bible - ib.
His .^Esop - ib.
CONTENTS. V
A. C. Page
His taste in the arts - 83
Architecture - - ib.
Ship-building - - ib.
Workmanship in gold - - ib.
CHAP. IV.
ALFRED'S Poetical Compositions.
From Boetius on serenity of mind - 86
On the natural equality of mankind - 88
On tyrants - 89
On covetousness - - 92
On self-government - - 93
On the excursiveness of mind - - \ 94
His picture of futurity - 96
His address to the Deity - 98
CHAP. V.
ALFRED'S Moral Character.
His education of his children - - 103
His arrangement of officers - 107
His management of his time - 108
His piety - 110
Extracts from his translation of St. Austin's
Meditations - - 114
Character of St. Neot - - 118
Alfred surnamed the Truth-teller , - 120
CHAP. VI.
ALFRED'S Public Conduct.
His efforts to improve his countrymen - 121
His embassy to India - - 125
His laws 128
His police - ib.
His administration of justice - 131
901. His illness and death - - 132
Antiquity of Oxford and Cambridge 134
Essay on the Christians in India in the time of
Alfred - 136
A 3
CONTENTS.
BOOK VI.
CHAP. I.
The Reign of EDWARD the Elder.
A. C. PaSe
901. Edward chosen by the nobles - - 143
905. Ethelwold by the Northmen - ib.
Edward's conflict with the Danes
924. His death and character - - 149
CHAP. II.
The Reign of ATHELSTAN.
924. Athelstan's accession - - 151
His sister's marriage to Sigtryg - - 152
Anlaf ' s formidable invasion - 155
He visits Athelstan's camp - 156
The night attack - -157
934. The main battle at Brunanburh - - 158
Athelstan first monarch of England - 1 62
His connections with Bretagne - - 164
-- 'with France - - 165
Louis, king of France - - 167
His friendship with England - - ib.
His connection with the emperor Henry I. - 168
Otho marries Athelstan's sister - - 170
• Athelstan's transactions with Norway - - ib.
He educates Haco - 172
Athelstan's books - 176
His character - - 177
APPENDIX TO THE REIGN OF ATHELSTAN.
BOOK VI. CHAP. II.
Sketch of the Ancient History of BIIETAGNE, and
ATHELSTAN'S Reception of its Chiefs.
Bretagne . - 179
Armorica - . - 180
•*>13. Britons emigrate to Armorica - - - 182
Armorican Cornwall - - - - 188
Britons fly to Athelstan - - 190
CONTENTS. Vll
CHAP. III.
The Reign of EDMUND the Elder.
A. C. Page
941. Edmund succeeds - 191
Anlaf 's struggles with him - - ib.
946. Edmund's assassination - - 193
CHAP. IV.
The Reign of EDRED.
946. Edred's accession - 196
War with Eric - - - - - 197
CHAP.JV.
The Reign of EDWIN.
955. Edwin succeeds - - 199
The Benedictine order - - 200
Life of Dunstan - - 204
He insults the king and queen - - 217
Flies from court - - 218
Cruel persecution of Elgiva - 219
959. Edwin's death - - 220
CHAP. VI.
The Reign of EDGAR.
959. Edgar's accession - - 222
Dunstan prosecutes the monastic reformation - 223
His friends Oswald and Ethelwold - - ib.
969. Edgar supports the monks - 226
His character - - 230
CHAP. VII.
Reign of EDWARD the Martyr, or EDWARD the Second of
the ANGLO-SAXON Kings.
975. Edward succeeds - 233
Contests of the monks and clergy - ib.
978. Edward assassinated - 236
Review of the evidence as to Dunstan's conduct
at Calne - - - - - 237
viii CONTENTS.
CHAP. VIII.
Review of the State and History of DENMARK and NOKWAY
at the Accession of ETHELBED, and of the last Stage of
the Northern Piracy.
A. C. Page
State of Denmark - 241
City of Jomsburg - ib.
Svein's reign - - 243
Norway — Haco's reign - - 244
Life of Olaf Tryggva's Son - 248
Last stage of northern piracy - - 250
CHAP. IX.
The Reign q/ETHELEED the Unready.
978. Ethelred's accession - 260
Country discontented - - 261
980. Danes begin to invade - - ib.
Byrhtnoth's conflicts in Essex, and the Saxon
poem upon him - 262
991. Danes bought off - 263
1002. Massacre of the Danes - - 269
Calamities of the nations - 272
Ethelred's flight •• - 275
Death of Svein the Danish king - - ib.
1013. Canute continues the contest - - 276
Picture of the internal state of England - - 277
CHAP. X.
The Reign of EDMUND Ironside.
1016. Edmund accedes - 279
His battles with Canute - - - 280
He challenges Canute - 283
He is assassinated - 284
Rise of Earl Godwin - . ^
CHAP. XI.
The Reign of CANUTE the Great.
1016. Canute chosen king - ... 287
He punishes Edric - - 289
CONTENTS. IX
A. C. Page
1018. Marries Emma - - 290
1025. His wars in Denmark - - ib.
His assassination of Ulfr - 292
1028. Death of St. Olave of Norway - - ib.
Canute's greatness of mind - 293
His patronage of the Scallds - 295
1031. His journey to Rome - - 296
His noble feelings - ib.
CHAP. XII.
The Reign of HAROLD the First, surnamed HAREFOOT.
1035. Harold succeeds his father - 300
1040. His death - 302
CHAP. XIII.
The Reign of HARDICANUTE.
1040. He succeeds his brother - - 303
1042. His sudden death - 304
CHAP. XIV.
The Reign of EDWARD the Confessor. — The SAXON
Line restored.
1042. Edward's accession - 305
He marries Editha - ib.
Magnus of Norway threatens an invasion - ib.
Edward's character - 307
He befriends the Normans - 308
Godwin's rebellion - - ib.
1051. William of Normandy visits Edward - 311
1053. Godwin's death - - 313
Civil factions - - 315
Harold's victories in "Wales - 316
Macbeth defeated by Si ward - 318
1066. Edward dies - - - - - 319
CONTENTS.
CHAP. XV.
The Reign of HAROLD the Second, the Son of GODWIN,
and the last of the ANGLO-SAXON Kings.
A. C. Page
1066. Competition between Harold and William - 321
Harold's transactions in Normandy - 322
The tapestry of Bayeux - - 324
Harold's coronation - 329
His brother Tostig invades him - - 331
William accedes in Normandy - - 332
His message to Harold - - 333
Harold's answer - 334
King of Norway invades - 336
His defeat and death - - 341
William sails from Normandy - - 343
28th Sept. he lands at Pevensey - - 345
Harold marches against him - 349
Battle of Hastings - 352
Harold falls - 356
APPENDIX.-NO. i.
On the Language of the ANGLO-SAXONS.
CHAP. I.
On its structure - - 353
On the verbs - 3gg
On the nouns - - - . _ 359
On the Finnish branch of Languages - - 375
CHAP. II.
On its originality - 375
CHAP. in.
On its copiousness - _ - 379
Specimens . _ - 381
CHAP. IV.
On its affinities and analogies - - _ 337
Alphabetical catalogue of the Affinities of the
Anglo-Saxon - .
CONTENTS. XI
A. C. Page
Its affinities with the Persian, Zend, and Pehlvi - 406
Do. with the Arabic - - 407
Hebrew - - 411
Chinese - - 413
Sanscrit - - 414
Georgian - 416
Malay - - 418
. Mantchou - 419
Japanese - - ib.
— Caribbee - - 420
Turkish - - ib.
Susoo - ib.
Tonga - - 421
Lapland - - 422
APPENDIX.— No. II.
Money of the Anglo-Saxons - 425
APPENDIX.— No. III.
The History of the Laws of the ANGLO-SAXONS.
CHAP. I.
Distinction between vices, crimes, and sin - 436
Homicide - - 437
Specimen of Anglo-Saxon violences during Alfred's
reign - - 443
CHAP. II.
Personal injuries
CHAR IH.
Theft and robbery
CHAP. IV.
Adultery
CHAP. V.
On the were and mund -
CHAP. VI.
Their bail or borh -
Xii CONTENTS.
CHAP. VII.
A. C.
Their legal tribunals - *57
CHAP. VIII.
Their ordeals and legal punishments - 461
CHAP. IX.
The trial by jury - 464
APPENDIX.— No. IV.
On the Agriculture and Landed Property of the ANGLO-
SAXONS.
CHAP. I.
Their husbandry - - 470
On their seasons - 476
CHAP. II.
Their proprietorship in lands and tenures - 479
CHAP. III.
The burdens to which the lands were liable, and
their privileges - . 485
CHAP. IV.
Their conveyances • - - 491
CHAP. V.
Some particulars of the names and places in Mid-
dlesex and London, in the Anglo-Saxon times - 496
CHAP. VI.
Law-suits about land ... 499
CHAP. VII.
Their denominations of land - 503
NOTE on the Colon! of the Roman Empire - 505
THE
HISTORY
OF THE
ANGLO-SAXONS
BOOK V,
CHAPTER I.
ALFRED'S intellectual Character. — State of the ANGLO-SAXON
Mind. — Illiteracy of its Clergy. — ALFRED'S Self -education.
— His subsequent Instructors. — His invitation of ASSER and
of GrRiMBALD. — His attainment of the LATIN Language. — His
Preface to GREGORY'S Pastorals.
THE incidents which principally contributed to excite
Alfred's infant mind into activity1, and to give it
ideas more varied and numerous than childhood
usually obtains, have been noticed in the preceding
pages; as well as the fact that he was passing the
first twelve years of his life without any education.2
But although thus neglected, his intellectual faculty
1 Alfred had the felicity of possessing a literary friend, Asser, of Saint David's,
who composed some biographical sketches of his great master's life and manners.
His work is somewhat rude and incomplete ; but it is estimable for its apparent
candour and unaffected simplicity. It is the effusion of a sensible, honest, observ-
ing mind. The information which it conveys has never been contradicted, and
harmonises with every other history or tradition, that has been preserved concerning
Alfred. The merits of Alfred, therefore, are supported by a degree of evidence
which seldom attends the characters of ancient days. But we shall be able to
exhibit him still more satisfactorily, in his own words from his own works.
2 See before, Vol. I. p. 431. Asser, 16. Malmsb. 45. Jam duodenis omnis
literature expers fuit.
VOL. If. B
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK was too powerful to be indolent, or to be contented
v- with the illiterate pursuits which were the fashion c
the day. It turned, from its own energies and sym-
pathies, towards mental cultivation; and attached
itself to that species of it, which, without the aid of
others, it could by its own industry obtain. This
was the Saxon popular poetry. In all the nations
of the North, whether from the Keltic or Teutonic
stock, persons were continually emerging, who pur-
sued the art of arranging words into metrical com-
position, and of applying this arrangement to express
their own feelings, or to perpetuate the favourite
subjects of their contemporaries or patrons. By this
verbal rhythm, however imperfect ; by the emotions
which it breathed or caused ; or by the themes with
which it has been connected, the rudest minds, that
have been most adverse to literature, have been al-
ways found to be impressible. Hence, before Alfred's
birth, Saxon poems had been written ; and, in the
court of his father and brothers, there were men who
were fond of repeating them. Wherever they were
recited, either by day or night, Alfred is recorded to
have been, before he could read, an eager auditor,
and was industrious to commit them to his memory.3
This fondness for poetry continued with him through
life. It was always one of his principal pleasures
to learn Saxon poems, and to teach them to others 4 ;
3 Sed Saxonica poemata die noctuque solers auditor relatu aliorum ssepissime
audiens, docibilis memoriter retinebat. Asser, 16.
4 Et maxime carmina Saxonica memoriter discere, aliis imperare. Asser, 43.
Many princes were at this period fond of poetry. Eginhard mentions of Charle-
magne, that he transcribed and learnt the barbara et antiquissima carmina quibus
veterum regum actus et bella canebantur, p. 11. In 844 died Abdalla, son of
Taher, a Persian king, in Chorasan, who composed some Arabic poems, and was
celebrated for his talents in many elegies, by the poets who survived him. Mir-
chond, Hist. Reg. Pers. p. 9. In 862, Mustansir Billa, the caliph of the Saracens,
died by poison ; he wrote verses, of which Elmacin has preserved two. Hist. Sarac.
c. xii. p. 154. Wacic, the caliph, who died 845, was a poet. Elmacin cites some
of his verses. His dying words were " O thou, whose kingdom never passes away,
pity one whose dignity is so transient." Ib. His successor, Mutewakel, was also
poetical.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
and we have specimens of his own efforts to compose CHAP,
them, in his translation of the metres of Boetius. « ,!_
The memory of his children was also chiefly exer-
cised in this captivating art. 5 It had a powerful
effect on Alfred's mind : it kindled a desire of being
sung and celebrated himself: it created a wish for
further knowledge ; and began a taste for intellectual
compositions. The Muses have in every age had
these effects. Their lays have always been found to
be most captivating and most exciting to the young
mind. They are the most comprehensible form of
lettered intellect ; and being, in their rudest state,
the effusions of the feelings of the day, they excite
congenial feelings in those who hear and read them.
Poetry is sympathy addressing sympathy ; and if its
subjects were but worthy of its excellences, it would
lead the human mind to every attainable perfection.
Alfred, though young, felt forcibly its silent appeal
to the noble nature that lived within him ; and when
his mother promised the book of poems, already men-
tioned, to whichever of her sons would learn to read
it, he sought an instructor, and never ceased his ex-
ertions till he had enabled himself to obtain it.6
The merit of Alfred in voluntarily attaining this state of
important though now infant art, was more peculiar, g
because not only his royal brothers, and most, if not mind-
all, of the contemporary kings were without it ; but
even that venerated class of the nation, in whom the
largest part of the learning of their age usually con-
centrates, was, in general, ignorant of it. Such facts
induce us to consider our ancestors with too much
contempt. But we may recollect that literature was
not despised by them from want of natural talent,
or from intellectual torpidity. Their minds were
5 Et maxime Saxonica carmina studiose didicere, et frequentissime libris utuntur.
Asser, 43.
6 Asscr, 16. Malmsb. 45.
B 2
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK vigorous, and in great and continual exertion ; but
v' . the exertion was confined within the horizon, and
directed to the objects, around them. The ancient
world stood, in its recording memorials, like an un-
known continent before them, shrouded from their
sight by its clouds and distance, and kept so by their
belief of its inutility. It was too unlike their own
world, and too little connected with their immediate
pursuits for them to value or explore. They did
not want its remains for their jurisprudence; their
landed property ; the rules of their nobility and
feudal rights ; their municipal institutions ; their re-
ligion ; their morals ; their internal traffic, manners,
amusements, or favourite pursuits. On most of these
points, and in their legislative assemblies and laws,
as well as in their private and public wars, they
were so dissimilar to the Greeks and Romans, that
the classical authors were as unserviceable to them
as those of the Chinese are to us. This may explain
that indifference of our ancestors to literature which
we can scarcely conceive. If a magician could offer
us a fairy wand, by which, at our own pleasure,
we could transport ourselves to the busy streets of
Athens or Rome, to hear Demosthenes harangue, or
Socrates teach ; or Virgil and Horace recite their
immortal compositions ; or could make all the past
ages live again before our sight, with all their ap-
plauded characters, and interesting incidents, who,
that is not insane, would refuse the stupendous gift ?
The art of writing, combined with an ability to
read, provides us with this wondrous power, and yet
the highest ranks of the Anglo-Saxons would not
acquire such a fascinating privilege. But their aver-
sion, or their apathy, did not arise from proud ig-
norance or brutal stupidity. They neglected what
we so dearly value, because it neither coincided with
their habits of life, nor suited their wants, nor pro-
ANGLO-SAXONS.
moted their worldly interests. They had to fight for
several generations to win their territorial possessions,
and afterwards, from their mutual independence, to
defend them against each other. The whole frame of
their society, and the main direction of their spirit
and education, was essentially, because necessarily,
warlike. The continual attacks from the Sea-kings
and Vikingr of other countries also contributed to
make the preparation for battle, military vigilance,
and repeated conflicts, the inevitable and prevailing
habits of their life and thoughts. Classical literature
could then have been only a subject of speculative
curiosity to their retired clergy, inapplicable to any
of the daily pursuits of the laity ; and, by its pagan
mythology, rather impeding than assisting the de-
votion of their monasteries. For their religion and
morals they had higher sources in their revered
Scriptures ; and for their rights and ceremonies they
had sufficient teachers, occasionally from Rome, and
generally in their native clergy. To these, indeed, a
small portion of Latin was necessary for the correct
reading and due understanding of their breviaries.
But to the rest of society it was not more practically
essential than the scientific astronomy of a Newton
or La Place to ourselves. It would have improved
their minds, and enlarged their knowledge, and pro-
duced beneficial effects ; but all the daily business of
their lives could be, and was, very ably transacted
without it. Hence the intellects of our ancestors
are no more to be impeached for their ignorance of
classical literature, than ours are for our inability to
perform their martial exercises; or for the absence
of that great mass of discoveries and improvements,
which we hope that a few more centuries will add to
the stock we now possess. We may likewise add,
that there is no convincing evidence that the Anglo*
B 3
G HISTORY OF THE
BOOK Saxon public were much more deficient in the art or
. v' . habit of reading, than the public of the Roman em-
pire, whom the Gothic nations subdued. It is pro-
bable that the bulk of mankind in the ancient world,
was always as illiterate as our Saxon forefathers. We
too gratuitously ascribe a literary cultivation to the
whole Grecian and Roman population. Many en-
lightened minds and great authors emerged from the
various provinces, and produced that stream of in-
tellect which has so highly enriched the world, and
given a new source of happiness to human life. But
we must not take the writers in the Latin language
that have survived to us, as the general samples of
their contemporaries. The more this subject is
studied, the more clearly it will be perceived, that
there was less difference between the intellectual
state of the mass of the people before and after the
Gothic irruptions, than has been usually supposed.
It is the art of printing which, by making the dif-
fusion of knowledge so easy, has created that vast
distinction in this respect, which is now every where
observable in Europe, and in which we so justly
exult ; and yet, until lately, how many, even amongst
ourselves, have passed through life, not unreputably,
without that instruction, for the absence of which
our predecessors have been so strongly arraigned!
What was our national multitude in this respect
even a single century ago ? Before Addison made
reading popular, what were our farmers, artisans,
tradesmen, females, and the generality of our mid-
dling gentry ? It was therefore a defect, but no pe-
culiar stain, that our Anglo-Saxon ancestors were an
illiterate population. More gratitude is due to those
who, in an age so unfavourable, could desire and
attain an intellectual cultivation.
But in this state, even before increased wealth and
population had given to some part of society both
ANGLO-SAXONS.
leisure and desire for objects of mere intellectual
curiosity, a few soaring minds occasionally emerged
among the Anglo-Saxons, who became inquisitive be-
yond the precincts of their day. One of these was
Alfred. Led by the encouragement of his step-
mother to attain the art of reading, it was happy for
his country that* he endeavoured to pursue it. If he
had not made this acquisition, he would have been
no more than many of the race of Cerdic had been
before him. But the love of study arising within him,
and gradually bringing to his view the anterior ages
of human history, and all their immortalised charac-
ters, the spark of moral emulation kindled within him ;
he strove for virtues which he could not else have
conceived ; he aspired to the fame which only these
will bestow ; and became a model of wisdom and ex*
cellence himself, for other generations to resemble.
In no instance has an immortal renown been more
clearly the result of literary cultivation, than in our
venerated Alfred. It was his intellectual improve-
ment which raised him from a half-barbaric Saxon
to a high-minded, patriotic, and benevolent sage,
whose wisdom, as will be presently shown, still lives
to instruct and interest even an age so superior
as our own.
But the Anglo-Saxon poetry, to which Alfred first
directed his application, was but scanty and barren,
and must have been soon exhausted. To gratify his
increasing intellectual propensities, he had to go far
beyond his contemporaries, and to become himself the
architect of his knowledge. Modern education de-
prives modern men of this merit, because all parents
are at present anxious to have their children taught
whatever it is honourable to know. To be intelli-
gent now is even more necessary than to be affluent,
because Mind has become the invisible sovereign of
the world ; and they who cultivate its progress, being
B 4
8 HISTOBY OF THE
BOOK diffused every where in society, are the real tutors of
. v; . the human race ; they dictate the opinions, they
fashion the conduct of all men. To be illiterate, or
to be imbecile in this illumined day, is to be despised
and trodden down in that tumultuous struggle for
wealth, power, or reputation, in which every indi-
vidual is too eagerly conflicting. In the days of
Alfred, the intellect was a faculty which no one con-
sidered distinct from the pursuits of life : and there-
fore few thought of cultivating it separately from
these, or even knew that they possessed it as a dis-
tinct property of their nature.
illiteracy of It is difficult to conceive how much even church-
men partook of the most gross ignorance of the times :
" Very few were they," says Alfred, " on this side
the Humber (the most improved parts of England),
who could understand their daily prayers in English,
or translate any letter from the Latin. I think there
' were not many beyond the Humber ; they were so
few, that I indeed cannot recollect one single instance
on the south of the Thames, when I took the king-
dom."7 On less authority than his own, we could
hardly believe such a general illiteracy among the
clergy, even of that day : it is so contrary to all our
present experience. The earls, governors, and ser-
vants of Alfred, were as uninformed. When the
king's wise severity afterwards compelled them to
study reading and literature, or to be degraded, they
lamented that in their youth they had not been in-
structed ; they thought their children happy who
could be taught the liberal arts, and mourned their
own misfortune, who had not learnt in their youth ;
because in advanced life they felt themselves too old
b.elllonan, ^>umb^ the hiopa thennnga cuthen unbep-
r Laebene on
tha . ' p. 82. Wise's Asser.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
to acquire what Alfred's commands imposed as a duty,
and his example had made a wish.8
When Alfred began his own education, he had not Alfred's
only to find the stimulus in himself, to cherish it in
opposition to the prejudices and practice of his coun-
trymen, and to search out his own means, but he had
also to struggle against difficulties which would have
extinguished the infant desire in a mind of less
energy. His principal obstacle was the want of in-
structors. " What," says his friend, who happily for
posterity has made us acquainted with the private
feelings as well as public pursuits of this noble-minded
sovereign, " what, of all his troubles and difficulties,
he affirmed, with frequent complaint and the deep la-
mentations of his heart, to have been the greatest,
was, that when he had the age, permission, and ability
to learn, he could find no masters."9 When Alfred
had attained the age of maturity, and by the dignity
to which he succeeded, had gained the means of ob-
taining instruction, he was almost disabled from
profiting by the advantage. A disease, his daily and
nightly tormentor, which his physicians could neither
remedy nor explore ; the duties and anxieties inse-
parable from his royal station ; the fierce aggressions
of the Northmen, which on sea and land demanded
his presence and exertions, so afflicted and consumed
his future life, that though he got a few masters and
writers, he was unable to enjoy their tuition.10 It is
admirable to see, that notwithstanding impediments,
which to most would have been insuperable, Alfred
persevered in his pursuit of improvement. The desire
of knowledge, that inborn instinct of the truly great,
which no gratifications could satiate, no obstacles dis-
courage, never left him but with life. u If Alfred
8 Asser, 71. 9 Ibid. 17.
10 Ibid. 17. " Ibid. 17.
Q HISTORY OF THE
BOOK succeeded in his mental cultivation, who should
/ -• despair ?
It has been already hinted, that the Anglo-Saxon
language had been at this period very little applied
to the purposes of literature. In their vernacular
tongue, Cedrnon and Aldhelm had sung, but almost
all the learning of the nation was clothed in the Latin
phrase. Bede had in this composed his history, and
his multifarious treatises on chronology, grammar,
rhetoric, and other subjects of erudition. The other
lettered monks of that day, also expressed themselves
in the language, though not with the eloquence of
Cicero. In the same tongue the polished Alcuin ex-
pressed all the effusions of his cultivated mind. The
immortalised classics had not been as yet familiarised
to our ancestors by translations ; he, therefore, who
knew not Latin, could not know much.
From the period of his father's death in 858, to his
accession in 871, Alfred had no opportunity of pro-
curing that knowledge which he coveted. Such feel-
ings as his could not be cherished by elder brothers,
who were unacquainted with them, or by a nation
who despised them. When he verged towards man-
hood he was still unable to obtain instructors, because
his influence was small, and his patrimony was with-
held.12 The hostilities of the Northmen augmented
every obstacle : on every occasion they burnt the
books which the Anglo-Saxons had collected, and
destroyed the men who could use them, in their pro-
miscuous persecution of the Christian clergy. Their
presence also compelled Alfred repeatedly into the
martial field, and from these united causes his ardent
12 Alfred details the particulars in his will : he says, that Ethelwulf left his in-
heritance to Ethelbald, Ethelred, and Alfred, and to the survivor of them ; and
that on Ethelbald's death, Ethelred and Alfred gave it to Ethelbert their brother,
on condition of receiving it again at his decease ; when Ethelred acceded, Alfred
requested of him, before all the nobles, to divide the inheritance, that Alfred might
have his share, but Ethelred refused. Asser, 73.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 11
thirst for knowledge remained ungratified, until the CHAP.
possession of the crown invested him with the wealth .
and influence of the West- Saxon kings.
But on receiving the crown he exerted himself to
remove the ignorance of divine and human learning
which he had been so long lamenting in himself. He
sent at various intervals to every part, abroad and at
home, for instructors capable of translating the learned
languages. Like the sagacious bee, says his honoured
friend, which, springing in the dawn of summer from
its beloved cells, wheels its swift flight through the
trackless air, descends on the shrubs and flowers of
vegetable nature, selects what it prefers, and brings
home the grateful load ; so Alfred, directing afar his
intellectual eye, sought elsewhere for the treasure
which his own kingdom did not afford.13
His first acquisitions were Werfrith, the bishop of Alfred's
Worcester, a man skilled in the Scriptures; Pleg-
mund, a Mercian, who was made archbishop of Can-
terbury, a wise and venerable man ; Ethelstan and
Werwulf, also Mercians, and priests. He invited
them to his court, and endowed them munificently
with promotions ; and, by their incessant exertions,
the studious passion of Alfred was appeased. By day
and by night, whenever he could create leisure to
listen, they recited or interpreted to him the books he
commanded ; he was never without one of them near
him : and by this indefatigable application, though
he could not himself understand the learned languages
as yet, he obtained a general knowledge of all that
books contained.14
The information which the king acquired, rather
disclosed to him the vast repositories of knowledge,
of which he was ignorant, than satisfied him with
its attainment. The more he knew, the more tuition
13 Asser, p. 45. 14 Ibid. p. 46.
12 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK he craved. He sent ambassadors over the sea into
. v> , France, to inquire for teachers there. He obtained
from that country, Grimbald, the priest and monk,
who had treated him kindly in his journeys, and
who is described as a respected man, learned in the
writings he revered, adorned with every moral ex-
cellence, and skilled in vocal music. He obtained
another literary friend, of talents and acquisitions
much superior, and indeed worthy of Alfred's so-
ciety. This was Johannes Erigena, or John the
Irishman, a monk of most penetrating intellect, ac-
quainted with all the treasures of literature, versed
in many languages, and accomplished in many other
arts. By these acquisitions the mind of Alfred was
greatly expanded and enriched, and he rewarded
their friendship with princely liberality.15
The celebrity of Asser also reached the king's ear,
which was open to every rumour of extraordinary
merit.
nis invita- " I was called by the king," says this plain, but in-
teresting biographer, " from the western extremities
of Wales. I accompanied my conductors to Sussex,
and first saw him in the royal city of Dene. I was
benignantly received by him. Amongst other con-
versation, he asked me earnestly to devote myself to
his service, and to become his companion. He re-
quested me to leave all my preferments beyond the
Severn, and he promised to compensate them to me
by greater possessions." 16 Asser expressed an hesi-
tation at quitting without necessity, and merely for
profit, the places where he had been nourished, and
taken orders. Alfred replied, " If this will not suit
you, accommodate me with at least half of your
time. Be with me six months, and pass the rest in
Wales." Asser declined to engage himself till he had
15 Asser, pp. 46, 47. u Jb3d< 47
ANGLO-SAXONS. 13
consulted his friends. The king condescended to CHAP.
repeat his solicitations, and Asser promised to return . — ,
to him within half a year ; a day was fixed with a
pledge for his visit ; and, on the fourth day of their
interview, Asser quitted him to go home.17
A fever seized the Welshman at Winton, and con-
tinued to oppress him for a year.18 The king, not
seeing him at the appointed day, sent letters to in-
quire into the cause of his tarrying, and to accelerate
his journey. Asser, unable to stir, wrote to acquaint
him with the disease ; but, on his recovery, he ad-
vised with his friends, and, on receiving their assent,
he attached himself to Alfred for a moiety of every
year. The clergy of St. David's expected that Alfred's
friendship for Asser would preserve their patrimony
from the depredations of Hemeid.19 " I was honour-
ably received in the royal city of Leonaford," says
Asser, " and that time staid eight months in his
court. I translated and read to him whatever books
he wished, which were within our reach ; for it was
his peculiar and perpetual custom, day and night,
amidst all his other afflictions of mind and body,
either to read books himself, or to have them read
to him by others." Asser states the donations with
which Alfred remunerated his attachment.20 No
eloquence can do more honour to any human cha-
racter, than this unadorned narration. The con-
descension, benignity, the desire of improvement,
and the wise liberality of Alfred are qualities so
17 Asser, 47, 48. 18 Ibid. 48.
19 Ibid. 49. Hemeid was one of the Welsh princes contiguous to St. David's.
20 Ibid. 50. On the morning of Christmas eve, when Asser was determining
to visit Wales, the king gave him two writings, containing a list of the things which
wei'e in the two monasteries at Ambresbury, in Wiltshire, and Banwell, in Somerset.
In the same day, Alfred gave him those two monasteries, and all that they contained,
a silk pall, very precious, and as much incense as a strong man could carry ; adding,
that he did not give him these trifles as if he was unwilling to give him greater
things. On Asser's next visit, the king gave him Exeter, with all the parishes,
belonging to it in Saxony and Cornwall, besides innumerable daily gifts of all sorts
of worldly wealth. He gave him immediate permission to ride to the two monas-
teries, and then to return home, pp. 50, 51.
14 HISTORY OF THE
estimable, as to ensure the veneration of every
reader.
The manner of his obtaining the society of Grim-
bald, was an evidence of the respect and delicacy
with which he treated those whom he selected for
his literary companions. He sent an honourable em-
bassy of bishops, presbyters, deacons, and religious
laymen, to Fulco, the archbishop of Rheims, within
whose district Grimbald resided.21 He accompanied
his mission with munificent presents 22, and his peti-
tion was, that Grimbald might be permitted to leave
his functions in France, and to reside in England.
The ambassadors engaged for Alfred, that Grimbald
should be treated with distinguished honour during
the rest of his life.23 The archbishop, in his letter
to Alfred, speaks highly of the king's administra-
tion of his government24, and commends the merit
of Grimbald.25 Fulco adds, that it was with great
personal pain that he permitted him to be taken
from France. The liberality of Alfred overcame his
reluctance, and Grimbald became a companion of the
king of Wessex.
In 887, Alfred obtained the happiness he had long
coveted, of reading the Latin authors in their ori-
ginal language. Asser has noted the date of the
circumstance, and described its occurrence. As the
monarch and his friend were sitting together, and, as
usual, discoursing in the royal apartments, it hap-
21 Fulco's letter to Alfred on this subject is yet extant. It is printed at the end
of Wise's Asser, p. 123-129. He says, pp. 128., « Eum ad vos mittendum cum
suis electoribus et cum nonnullus regni vestri proceribus vel optimatibus tarn Epis-
copis scilicet, Presbyteris, Diaconibus, quam etiam religiosis Laicis," &c. In p. ] 26.,
he starts a curious metaphor. He says, " Misistis siquidem nobis licet generosos'
et optimos tamen corporales atque mortales canes," &c. This rhetorical metamor-
phosis is pursued for thirteen lines. These noble dogs were to drive away the
irreligious wolves ; and he says, they came to desire some other dogs, not the dumb
dogs mentioned by the prophet, but good noisy dogs who could bark heartily, " Pro
domino suo magnos latratus fundere." One of these was Grimbald. Fulco may
have strayed into a joke, but he intended a serious compliment.
B Wise's Asser, p. 126. 23 Ibid p 12g
24 Ibid. p. 123. 25 Ibid< p> 127
ANGLO-SAXONS. 15
pened that Asser made a quotation. The king was CHAP.
struck with it, and taking from his bosom his little < — ', — »
book of devotion, he required that it might be in-
serted in it. Asser found no room in the little manual
of his piety, and after some hesitation, calculated to
increase his desire, proposed to put a few other leaves
together, for the purpose of preserving any passages
that might please the king. Alfred assented ; the new
book was made ; the quotation was entered, and soon
two more, as they occurred in the conversation. The
king, pleased with the sentiments, began to translate
them into Saxon. The book became full of diver-
sified extracts. The first were from the Scriptures,
others from all subjects. Alfred was delighted with
his new talent ; and the book became a perpetual
companion, in which he declared he had no small
recreation.26
To John Erigena, to Grimbald, to Asser, and
Plegmund, Alfred himself ascribes his acquisition of
the Latin language.27
His desire to improve his people was so ardent,
that he had scarcely made the attainment before he
was active to make it of public utility. He beheld
his subjects ignorant and barbarous, and he wisely
judged that he should best amend their condition
by informing their minds. Let us hear his own
phrases giving voice and perpetuity to his patriotic
and intelligent feelings.
He first recalls to the mind of his correspondent, Alfred's
that even the Anglo-Saxons had once been more F
learned than he found them. " I wish thee to know
that it comes very often into my mind what wise
men there were in England, both laymen and eccle-
26 Asser, 56, 57. In quo non mediocre, sicut tune aiebat, habebat solatium.
27 Spe rpe ic hie seleojinobe aet Plegmunbe, mmum sepcebircepe ; anb aet
Arrepie, mmum bircepe ; anb at kpimbolbe, mmum merreppeorte ; anb aet
Johanne, mmum merreppcorte. Alfred's Preface to his Gregory's Pastoral's
Wise, p. 85.
16 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK siastics, and how happy those times were to England !
. ^' . how the kings, who then had the government of the
people, obeyed God and his messengers ! how they
both preserved their peace, their customs, and their
power at home, and increased their territory abroad,
and how they prospered both in wisdom and in war I
The sacred profession was diligent both to teach and
to learn, and in all the offices which they should
do to God. Men from abroad sought wisdom and
learning hither in this country, though we now must
go out of it to obtain knowledge, if we should wish
to have it." 28
The king contrasts with this account the state of
England in his time.
" So clean was it fallen out of England, that there
are very few on this side of the Humber who under-
stand to say their prayers in English, or to translate
any letter from Latin into English ; and I know that
there were not many beyond the Humber; so few
were they, that I indeed cannot think of a single
instance south of the Thames, when I took the
kingdom."
Kecollecting here the success of his own exertions,
he exclaims, " Thanks be to Almighty God, that we
have now some teachers in our stalls !" 29
The father of his people, and the benevolent man,
appear strikingly in the expressions which he con-
tinues to use: " Therefore I direct that you do, as I
believe that you will, that you who have leisure for
the things of this world, as often as you can, impart
that wisdom which God has given you, wherever you
can impart it. Think what punishments will come
upon us from this world, if we shall have neither
loved it ourselves, nor left it to others : we shall have
Borne™* 118^ ^^ ^ the end °f hIS life °f
29
Wise, p. 82.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 17
had only the name of Christians, and very few of
their proper habits.
" When I recollect all this, I also remember how I
saw, before that every thing was ravaged and burnt,
that the churches through all the English nation
stood full of vessels and books, and also of a great
many of the servants of God."
This statement alludes to the times in which Bede
flourished, and when Alcuin was educated ; but after
that period, the Saxon mind declined from its begin-
ning literature. Other occupations occurred during
the interval in which their octarchy was passing into
a monarchy, from the feuds and wars, and mutations
of fortune which this political crisis occasioned, which
the Northmen's invasions increased, and which mono-
polised their time, passions, and activity.
" They knew very little of the use of their books,
because they could not understand any thing in them,
as these were not written in their own language,
which they spoke. Our ancestors, that held these
places before, loved wisdom, and through this they
obtained abundance of it, and left it to us. Here we
may yet see their treasures, though we are unable to
explore them ; therefore we have now lost both their
wealth and their wisdom, because we have not been
willing with our minds to tread in their steps."30
" When I remembered all this, then I wondered
greatly that of those good wise men who were for-
merly in our nation, and who had all learnt fully
these books, none would translate any part into their
own language ; but I soon answered myself and said,
they never thought that men would be so reckless,
and that learning would be so fallen. They inten-
tionally omitted it, and wished that there should be
more wisdom in the land, by many languages being
known.
50 Wise, p. 83.
VOL. II. C
18 HISTOEY OE THE
BOOK " I then recollected how the law was first revealed
. v' . in the Hebrew tongue, and that after the Greeks had
learned it, they turned it all into their own language,
and also other books; and the Latin men likewise,
when they had learned it, they, by wise foreigners,
turned it into their tongue ; and also every other
Christian nation translated some part." 31
The wise, the active-minded, but unassuming king,
proceeds modestly to say to the bishop he addresses,
" Therefore I think it better, if you think so, that
we also translate some books, the most necessary for
all men to know, into our own language, that we all
may know them ; and we may do this, with God's
help, very easily, if we have stillness ; so that all the
youth that now are in England, who are free rnen,
and have so much wealth as that they may satisfy
themselves, be committed to learning, so that for
a time they may apply to no other duty till they first
well know to read English writing. Let them learn
further the Latin language, they who will further
learn, and will advance to a higher condition."32
" When I remembered how the learning of the Latin
tongue before this was fallen through the English
nation, and yet many could read English, then began
I, among much other manifold business of this king-
dom, to turn into English the book named Pastoralis,
or the Herdsman's Book, sometimes word for word,
sometimes sense for sense, so as I had learned of Pleg-
mund, my archbishop ; and of Asser, my bishop ; of
Grimbold, my mass priest ; and of John, my mass
priest ; and as I understood and could most intellec-
tually express it, I have turned it into English."33
11 Wise, p. 84. 32 Ibid p 85
88 Ibid. He concludes with " I will send one copy to every bishop's seat in my
gdom ; and on every one there shall be an aestel that shall be of fifty mancuses ;
11 entreat m God's name, that no man take the astel from the book, nor the
from the minster. It is uncertain how long there may be learned bishops
:h as now, thank God, there are every where. Hence I whh that they should
ANGLO-SAXONS. 19
What a sublime, yet unostentatious, character ap-
pears to us in these artless effusions ! A king though
in nation, age, and education, almost a barbarian
himself, yet not merely calmly planning to raise his
people from their ignorance, but amid anxiety, busi-
ness, and disease, sitting down himself to level the
obstacles by his own personal labour, and to lead
them, by his own practice, to the improvements he
wished.
We proceed to notice the translations of Alfred.
The preceding preface mentions his determination to
translate some books. The life of St. Neot says, that
he made many books.34 Malmsbury affirms, that he
put into English a great part of the Roman composi-
tions35 ; and the more ancient Ethel werd declares, that
the number of his versions was not known.36 The
first of these, which we shall consider as the most ex-
pressive exhibition of his own genuine mind, is his
translation of Boetius.
always be at these places, unless the hishops should desire to have it with them, or
to lend it any where, or to write another from it," Ibid. p. 86. What the aestel
meant that was to be so costly is not precisely known.
84 " Cac ir to pytene tha re kins JSlppeb manesa baec thujih Irober safe
gebyhte." Vita Sancti Neoti, p. 147. MSS. Cott. Vesp. D. 14.
85 Malmsb. p. 45.
86 Nam ex Latino rhetorico fasmate in propriam verterat linguam volumina, nu-
mero ignoto, &c. Ethelwerd, 847.
c 2
20 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. II.
ALFRED'S Translation of BOETIUS'S Consolations of Philosophy.
— ALFRED considered as a Moral Essayist. — His Thoughts,
Tales, and Dialogues on various Subjects.
BOOK BOETIUS flourished at the close of the fifth century. 1
He was master of the offices to Theodoric, king of
Goths, who had the discernment to appreciate
Boetius.* his intellectual acquisitions2, but who at last destroyed
him, from a political suspicion, in 524. 3 While he
was in prison on this charge, he wrote his celebrated
book, de Consolatione Philosophise, whose object is to
diminish the influence of riches, dignity, power, plea-
sure, or glory ; and to prove their inadequacy to pro-
duce happiness.
He fancies that philosophy visits him in prison,
and by expanding these views, reconciles his mind
to the adversity he was suffering. The Author of
existence is suggested to be the sovereign good4,
and all that the reasonings of a Cicero could supply
is adduced to show that worldly prosperity is, of it-
1 See Gibbon on the character, studies, honours, and death of Boetius, vol. iv.
p. 33—39.
2 The letter of Tbeodoric to Boetius, full of panegyric on his studies, yet exists
among the Ep. Cassiod. lib. i. ep. 45. p. 33.
8 Fab. Bib. Med. vol. i. p. 687.
* The first and last part of his address to the Supreme, is thus beautifully trans-
lated by our great moralist and critic :
O THOU, whose power o'er moving worlds presides ;
Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides ;
On darkling man, in pure effulgence, shine,
And cheer the clouded mind with light divine.
'Tis thine alone to calm the pious breast,
With silent confidence and holy rest :
From thee, great God ! we spring ; to thee we tend ;
Path ; motive ; guide ; Original, and End.
Rambler, No. 7.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
21
CHAP.
II.
self, as inferior in value and comfort as it is uncer-
tain in its duration, and capricious in its favours.
The book of Boetius is praised by John Erigena,
whom Alfred admitted into his friendship.5 That the
king translated it is stated by Ethelwerd 6, who was
his kinsman, and almost his contemporary ; by Malms-
bury 7, and by other chroniclers 8 ; and by the Saxon
preface to the work itself, which reads like the king's
own language.9 A MS. of the Anglo-Saxon transla-
tion exists in the Bodleian library, with the metrums
rendered in prose.10 Another copy existed in the
Cotton library with the metrums in Anglo-Saxon
verse 11, the preface to which also mentions Alfred as
the translator.12
In this translation of Boetius there is a value which Alfred
has been hitherto unnoticed. It is that Alfred has
taken occasion to insert in various parts, many of his essayist.
own thoughts and feelings. He has thus composed
5 See his Div. Naturae, p. 32. 34. 1 13. and 174. Gibbon calls the book of Boe-
tius "a golden volume, not unworthy of the leisure of Plato, or Tully." Hist.
Decl. vol. iv. p. 38.
6 Ethel. Hist. p. 847. 7 Malms, p. 45 and 248.
8 Henry de Silgrave ; MSS. Cott. Cleop. A.xii. p. 15, and Jon. Bever, MSS.
Hart. 641. p. 21.
9 Its literal translation is : —
" Alfred, king, was the translator of this book ; and from booklatin into English
turned it, as it now is done. Awhile he put down word for word : awhile sense
for sense, so as he the most manifestly and intellectually might explain it, for the
various and manifold worldly occupations that oft, both in mind and in body,
busied him. These occupations are very difficult for us to number, which in his
days came on this kingdom which he had undertaken. He learned this book, and
turned it from Latin to the English phrase, and made it again into song, so as it is
now done.
" And now may it be, and for God's name let him beseech every one of those
that desire to read this book, that they pray for him, and do not blame him if they
should more rightly understand it than he could : because that every man should,
according to the condition of his understanding, and from his leisure, speak
what he speaks, and do that which he doeth." See the original in Rawlinson's
edition.
10 See Wanley's Catal. p. 64. 85. From this Rawlinson published his printed
work.
11 It was MS. Otho. A. 6, when it was collated by Rawlinson. It has been since
burnt. Wanley thought this MS. was one written in Alfred's life-time. The
versification of the metrums seems to be what the prose preface alludes to — " and
made it again into song." The plan of Boetius is to add to each division of his
prose dialogue a metrum on the same subject in Latin verse.
12> See Rawlinson.
c 3
22 HISTOEY OF THE
several little moral essays, and by them has trans-
mitted himself to posterity in his own words and
manner.
It is highly interesting, at the distance of nearly
one thousand years, to hear, as it were, our most
revered sovereign speaking to us in his own language,
on some of the most important topics of human life.
Right feeling and true wisdom appear in all these ef-
fusions, and entitle him to be deemed the first moral
essayist of our island. As this is new ground, which
has been hitherto unexplored, we will extract and
translate literally several of the passages which Alfred
has added to his version.
His feeling Boetius had made philosophy call upon him to re-
fciicity.Ub ll member that, amidst his misfortunes, he had comfort
yet left him — a celebrated father-in-law, his wife,
and children.
Alfred, after adding, " It is untrue, as thou thinkest,
that thou art unhappy," proceeds to enlarge on the
short description of Boetius with such emphatic
repetition, that it may be read as his own feeling of
the value of an affectionate wife.
The passages in italics are the additions of Alfred : —
" Liveth not thy wife also! — She is exceedingly prudent, and
very modest. She has excelled all other women in purity. I may,
in a few words, express all her merit: this is, that in all her
manners she is like her father. She lives now for thee : thee alone.
Hence she loves nought else but thee. She has enough of every
good in this present life, but she has despised it all for thee alone.
She has shunned it all because only she has not thee also. This
one thing is now wanting to her. Thine absence makes her think
that all which she possesses is nothing. Hence for thy love she is
wasting, and full nigh dead with tears and sorrow." 13
Alfred dwells on the " vivit tibi " of Boetius with
manifest delight, and dilates upon the thought as if
with fond recollections of the conduct of his own wife,
who shared his adversity with him.
u Alfred's Boet. p. 17. Rawl. Ed. Boet. lib. ii. prosa 4.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 23
Congenial with this subject is the narration which CHAP.
he has given of Orpheus and Eurydice. Boetius, in ._ .
a metrum of Latin verses, has in a more general
manner described the incident. But Alfred tells the
story so completely in his own way, and with so
many of his own little touches and additions, as to
make his account an original tale: —
" It happened formerly, that there was a harper in that nation His story of
which is called Thracia. It was a country in Greece. This harper Orpheus
was incomprehensibly good. His name was Orpheus: he had an andEury-
incomparable wife : she was called Eurydice. e*
" Men then began to say of that harper, that he could harp so,
that the woods danced, and the stones moved, from its sound. The
wild deer would run to him, and stand as if they were tame ; so
still, that though men or hounds came against them, they would
not shun them.
" They mention also that this harper's wife died, and her soul
was led into hell. Then the harper became very sorry, so that he
could not be among other men. But he withdrew to the woods,
and sat upon the mountains both day and night, and wept and
harped. Then the woods trembled, and the rivers stopped, and
no hart shunned the lion ; no hare the hound. No cattle knew
any mistrust or fear of others, from the power of his songs.
" Then the harper thought that nothing pleased him in this
world. Then he thought that he would seek the gates of hell, and
begin to soothe with his harp, and pray that they would give him
his wife again.
" When he came there where he should come, that hell-hound,
whose name was Cerverus, attacked him. He had three heads,
but he began to sport with his tail, and to play with him for his
harping. There was also there a very terrible gate-warder ; his
name should be Caron ; he had also three heads, and he was very
fierce. Then began the harper to supplicate him for his protection
while he was there, and that he should be brought out from thence
sound. Caron promised him this, because he was pleased with
his uncommon song.
" Then he went on further, till he met the grim goddesses that
the multitude called Parcas. They say that they provide honour
to no men, but punish every man according to his deserts, and that
they govern every man's fortune.
" Then he began to entreat their mercy, and they began to weep
with him. Then he went -further, and all the citizens of hell ran
against him, and led him to their king. And all began to talk
with him, and to ask what he prayed.
" The restless wheel that Ixion, the king of Larista, was
bound to for his guilt, stood still for his harping ; Tantalus, the
king that in this world was immoderately covetous, and whom the
c 4
24
HISTOEY OF THE
BOOK same evil passion followed, his covetousness was stayed ; and the
V. vulture forbore to tear the liver of Titius, the king that before was
*• • ' thus punished ; and all hell's citizens rested from their torments
while he harped before the king.
" When he had long and long harped, the king of the citizens of
hell called him and said, « Let us give this slave his wife, for he
hath earned her by his harping. Bid him, then, that he may well
know, that he must never look back after he is gone from hence ; '
and he said, ' If he look back, he shall lose this woman.'
" But men can with great difficulty forbid love. Wel-a-way !
What! Orpheus then led his wife with him, till he came to the
boundary of light and darkness, then his wife went after him : then
he came forth into the light: then he looked back towards the
woman, and she died away from him,"14
In another part we have his sentiments on riches.
He has added to the reflections of Boetius the several
following passages :
Boetius has merely said —
His " Are riches precious in their own nature, or in yours ? Which
thoughts on of them do you prefer, gold or accumulated money ? But these
wealth and shine more by being poured out than by being heaped up; for
liberality. avarice makes us always odious, but liberality illustrious." 15
On this text Alfred
effusions : —
has expatiated into these
" Tell me now whether thy riches, that in thine own thought
are so precious, be so from their own nature. But yet, I tell thee
that what is so of its own nature, is not so from thee. If then of
14 P. 100. I have made the translation strictly literal ; and will add as literal a
one of the original of Boetius, that the reader may observe for himself what Alfred
has made his own. " Formerly the Thracian poet, mourning the death of his wife,
afterwards compelled, by his plaintive measures, the woods to run, and the move-
able rivers to stand : the hind joined her intrepid side to the cruel lion's ; nor did
the hare fear the visible dog, made placid by the song. When the interior fervour
of his bosom burnt more violent, those strains which subdued all could not soothe
their master. Complaining of the cruel deities, he went to the infernal regions.
There attempering his bland lays to the sounding strings, whatever he had imbibed
from the chief fountains of the goddess mother ; what impotent grief gave ; what love,
groaning in grief, wept, he expressed ; and moving Tanarus, solicited with a sweet
prayer the lords of the shades. Caught by the new song, the threefold porter was
stupified. The guilty, whom the goddesses, avengers of crimes, agitate with fear,
now sorrowful, dissolve in tears. The swift wheel revolves not the head of Ixion ;
and Tantalus, perishing with thirst, despises the long streams. The vulture, satis-
fied with the harmony, drew not the liver of Titius. At length, ' We are con-
quered '. ' exclaims the pitying arbiter of the shades : « Let us give the man his
companion, his wife, bought by his song.' But a law restricted the gift, that while
he should leave Tartarus he should not bend back his eyes. Who shall give a law
• to lovers? Love is a greater law to itself. Alas! near the borders of night,
Orpheus saw, lost, and killed his Eurydice." Lib. iii. met 12
15 Boet. lib. ii. prosa 5.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 25
its own nature it be so, and not of thine, why art thou then ever
the better for its good ?
" Tell me now which of these thou thinkest the most dear. Is
it gold ? I know that gold avails something. But though it now
be gold, and dear to us, yet he will be more renowned, and more
beloved, who gives it, than he who gathereth it, or plunders it
from others. So riches are more reputable and estimable when
men give them, than they are when men gather and hold them.
" Hence covetousness maketh the avaricious odious both to God
and man ; while bounty maketh us always pleasing and famous,
and worthy both to God and to men who love it.
" Now as property may then belong both to those who give it
and to those who take it away, it is therefore always better and
more valuable when given than when held."16
On this subject a passage may be read as an in-
stance of the intelligent ease and force, with which the
king partly translates, and partly imitates his author
when he means to render him exactly.
Boetius says —
" Your riches, unless broken into pieces, cannot pass to many,
and when this is done they must make those poor whom they quit.
O narrow and impotent riches, which cannot be had entire by
many, and yet cannot come to each without the poverty of the
rest!"
Alfred's version is : —
" Though thou shouldest divide them as small as dust, yet thou
couldst not make all men to possess them equally ; and when thou
hadst divided them all, thou wouldest then be poor thyself. So
worthy of a man are the riches of this world ! No man may fully
have them. They can make no man happy except they make
others poor."
Alfred has taken occasion to insert the following on a good
thoughts from his own mind, on reputation, obviously
expressing his own feelings of the value of that bless-
ing which has accompanied^ his memory : —
" This is clear enough, that a good word and good fame are better
and more precious to every man than any riches. The word filleth
the ears of all who hear it ; and it thrives not the less with those
who speak it. It openeth the vacancy of the heart : it pierces
through other hearts that are locked up and in its progress among
them it is never diminished. No one can slay it with a sword, nor
bind it with a rope, nor ever kill it." l7
16 Alfred's Boet. p. 23, 24. " Alfred, p. 24.
name.
HISTORY OF THE
On the
value of
jewels.
On the ad-
vantages of
the rich.
He has so expanded the thought of Boetius on the
value of jewels, with turns and feelings of his own,
and expressed them with so much more energy than
his author, as to be in a great measure original even
where he copies : —
" Why should the beauty of gems draw your eyes to them to
wonder at them, as I know they do ? What is then the nobility
of that beauty which is in gems ? It is theirs ; not yours. At
this I am most exceedingly astonished, why you should think this
irrational, created good, better than your own excellence : why
should you so exceedingly admire these gems, or any of those
dead-like things that have not reason ; because they can, by no
right, deserve that you should wonder at them. Though they be
God's creatures, they are not to be measured with you, because
one of two things occurs ; either they are not good for you them-
selves, or but for a little good compared with you. WE TOO
MUCH UNDERVALUE OURSELVES when we love that which is inferior
to us, and in our power, more than ourselves, or the Lord that has
made us and given us all these goods."18
Alfred's translation of the passages on the other
advantages possessed by the rich is also so animated,
that we quote it as a specimen of his own genuine
feelings on the subject, with a version of the Latin19,
that the reader may make his own comparison : —
" « Dost thou like fair lands ?'
" Then Mind answered to Reason, and said —
" * Why should I not like fair lands ? How ! Is not that the
fairest part of God's creation? Full oft we rejoice at the mild
sea, and also admire the beauty of the sun, and the moon, and of
all the stars.'
" Then answered Wisdom and Reason to the Mind, and thus
said : —
" ' How belongeth heaven's fairness to thee ? Durst thou glory
18 Alfred, p. 24. The literal English of Boetius is : — " Does the brightness of
gems attract your eyes ? But the chief part of the splendour with them is the light
itself of the jewels, not of the men ; which indeed I wonder that any should so
vehemently admire ; for what is there in that which wants the motion of the soul,
and the combination of limbs ; which can seem by right to be beautiful to animate
and rational nature ? Although they are the works of the Creator, and by this
distinction attract something of the final beauty, yet placed below your excellence,
they by no means deserve your admiration." Lib. ii. pr. 5.
19 The passage in Boetius is : — « Does the beauty of the fields delight you ? —
Why not ? It is a fair portion of the fairest work. So sometimes we delight in
the face of the serene sea. So we admire the sky, the stars, the sun, and the moon.
But do any of these touch you ? Do you dare to boast of the splendour of any
such ? " Boet. lib. ii. pr. 5.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 27
that its beauty is thine? It is not, it is not. How! Knowest CHAP,
thou not that thou madest none of them. If thou wilt glory, glory n.
in God. ' • '
" * Whether now dost thou rejoice in the fairer blossoms of
Easter, as if thou hadst made them20; canst thou now make any
such ? or hast thou made them ? Not so, not so. Do not thou
thus. Is it now from thy power that the harvest is so rich in
fruits ? How ? Do I not know that this is not in thy power ?
Why art thou then inflamed with such an idle joy? or why lovest
thou strange goods so immeasurably as if they now had been thine
own?
" * Thinkest thou that fortune may do for thee, that those things
be thine own, which of their own nature are made foreign to thee ?
Not so, not so. It is not natural to thee that thou should possess
them ; nor does it belong to them that they should follow thee.
But the heavenly things, they are natural to thee : not these earth-
like ones.
" ( The earthly fruits are made for animals to subsist on 21 ; and
the riches of the world are made to deceive those men that are like
animals ; that are unrighteous and insatiable. To these they also
oftenest come.
" ' If thou wilt then have this moderation, and wilt know what
necessity requires ; this is, that meat and drink, and clothes, and
tools for such craft as thou knowest are natural to thee, and are
what it is right for thee to have. What advantage is it to thee
that thou should desire these temporal riches above measure, when
they can neither help thee nor themselves. With very little of
them hath nature enough : with so much she has enough, as we
before mentioned. If thou usest more of them, one of two things
happens : either they hurt thee ; or they are unpleasant. Incon-
venient or dangerous is all that thou now doest beyond moderation.
If thou eatest now, or drinkest immoderately ; or hast more clothes
on than thou needest, the excess becomes to thee either sorrow or
nauseous, or unsuitable or dangerous.
" ' If thou thinkest that extraordinary apparel be any honour22,
then I assert the honour to belong to the workman who wrought
it, and not to thee. The workman is God, whose skill I praise in
it.
20 « Are you yourself distinguished by the vernal flowers ? Or does your abund-
ance swell in the summer fruits ? Why are you carried away by empty joys ?
Why do you embrace external goods for your own ? Will fortune make those things
to be yours which by the nature of things she has made foreign to you ? " Boet
lib. ii. pr. 5.
21 " The fruits of the earth indeed are, without doubt, provided for the nourish-
raent of animals. But if you wish to supply your wants by what is sufficient for
nature, there is no reason that you should seek the affluence of fortune, for nature
is contented with very little ; whom if you urge into satiety by superfluities, what
you shall pour in becomes unpleasant and hurtful." Boet. lib. ii. pr. 5.
22 " Do you think it beautiful to shine in various garments ? But if their ap-
pearance be agreeable to look at, I would admire either the nature of the materials,
or the ingenuity of the artificer." Ibid.
g HISTORY OF THE
« < Thinkest thou that a great company of thy servants will
make thee happy?23 Not so, not so. But if they be evil, then
are they more dangerous to thee : and more troublesome, if bound
to you, than if you had them not, because evil thegns will always
be their lord's enemies. If they be good and faithful to their lord,
and not of double mind — How! Is not this their virtue? It is
not thine. How canst thou then possess their virtue? If thou
now gloriest in this — How ! Dost thou not glory in their merit ?
It is not thine.' "
Alfred has added the following remarks of his own
on the intrinsic value of worldly advantages : —
" Now then, now, every creature shunneth that which is con-
trary to it, and toils very diligently that it be removed from him.
But what two are more contrary between themselves than good
and evil ? They never will be harmonious together.
" By this thou mayest understand, that if the prosperities of this
present life, through themselves, possessed power of themselves,
and were good from their own nature ; they would then always
cleave to those who work with them good, and not evil.
" But there, where they be a good, then are they good through
the goodness of the good man that doeth good with them ; and he
is good through God. If then a bad man hath them, then are they
evil through the badness of that man who doeth evil with them ;
and through the devil."24
He has followed up these remarks by adding to
Boetius's metrum on Nero, the following observ-
ations : —
" What cruelties ; what adulteries ; and what crimes ; and what
impiety, that unrighteous Caesar Nero committed :
" He commanded at some time that all Rome city should be
burnt after the example, formerly, when Troy's city burnt. It
pleased him also to see how it burnt, and how long, and how light,
compared with that other.
" Thinkest now that the Divine power could not have removed
the dominion from this unrighteous Caesar, and have restrained
him from that evil if he would ? Yes. Oh yes ! I know that he
might, if he had willed. Oh ! how heavy a yoke he slipped on all
that in his times were living on the earth, and how oft his sword
was sullied with guiltless blood ! How ! Was it not there clear
enough that power, of its own worth, is not good, when he is not
good to whom it comes?"25
" But will a long train of servants make you happy ? who, if they be vicious
in morals, are the pernicious burthen of a house, and grievously an enemy to their
lord nil self. If honest, how can another's probity be reckoned among your wealth ? "
24 Alfred, p. 34, 35. 25 Alfred> p 36
ANGLO-SAXONS. 20
He has enlarged on the remark of Boetius on CHAP.
power, so as to exhibit his own sentiments in addi- . "' .
tion to those of his original.
Boetius had only said —
" If ever, which is very rare, honours are conferred on the up-
right, what is pleasing in them but the integrity of those who use
them ? Thus honour accrues not to the virtues from the dignity,
but the dignity from the virtues." 26
Alfred, a king, expands this to insert his own
feelings on this subject: —
" If then it should ever happen, as it very seldom happens, that On power,
power and dignity come to good men, and to wise ones, what is
there then worthy of pleasing but the goodness and dignity of
these persons : of the good king, not of the power. Hence power
is never a good unless he be good that has it ; and that is the good
of the man, not of the power. If power be goodness, why then is
it that no man by his dominion can come to the virtues, and to
merit ; but by his virtues and merit he comes to dominion and
power. Thus no man is better for his power : but if he be good,
it is from his virtues that he is good. From his virtues he becomes
worthy of power, if he be worthy of it." 27
He adds to this, entirely his own, and as if he in-
tended it to be the annunciation to his people of his
own principle of government : —
" Learn therefore wisdom, and when ye have learned it, do not
neglect it. I tell you then, without any doubt, that by that you
may come to power, though you should not desire the power. You
need not be solicitous about power, nor strive after it. If you be
wise and good, it will follow you, though you should not wish
it." 28
Connected with the subject of power, Alfred has in
another place inserted these passages of his own : —
" ' If thou now saw some very wise man that had very good
qualities, but was nevertheless very poor, and very unhappy,
whether wouldst thou say that he was unworthy of power and
dignity ? '
" Then answered Boetius and said — ' Not so, Oh, not so. If
I found him such, I would never say that he was unworthy of
power and dignity, for me thinketh that he would be worthy of
every honour that is in this world.' " 29
*• Boet lib. ii. pr. 6. 27 Alfred, p. 31.
28 Alfred, p. 31, 32. 29 Alfred, p. 59, 60.
30 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK With the same freedom he amplifies another idea
. ^ of Boetius, and applies it to express his own high
estimate of the human mind.
His author says —
" If you saw among mice, one claiming a right to himself, and
power over the rest, to what a horse-laugh would you be moved ?
But if you look at the body, what can you find weaker than man,
whom a bite of his flesh or of something within secretly creeping
destroys ? " 30
Alfred's paraphrase : —
On the " If you now saw a mouse that was lord over another mouse
mind. and established laws for him, and compelled him to pay taxes, how
wonderlike you would think it! What derision you would have of
this ; and to how much laughter would you not be excited. How
much more then would it be so to compare the body of man with
the mind, than the mouse with the man ? You may easily conceive
it. If you will diligently inquire about it, and investigate, you
will find that no creature's body is tenderer than that of man's.
The least fly may hurt it, and the gnats with their little stings may
injure it ; and also the small worms that crawl within and without
him, even sometimes nearly kill him. Indeed the little fleas may
sometimes destroy him. • Every living thing may hurt him, either
inside or out." 31
He then adds, partly translating and partly imi-
tating Boetius : —
" But where can a man hurt another except in his body, or in
that wealth which we call happiness? No one can injure the
reasoning mind, nor make it that it should not be what it is." 32
We now come to a noble effusion of Alfred's mind
and heart, on his own power and government.
Boetius had said —
" You know that the ambition of mortal things governed us but
little, but we desired materials for acting, that virtue might not
grow old in silence."
On these few words Alfred has thus expatiated, to
express from himself, and on his own situation, his
views and feelings as a king, and his principles of
conduct. We cannot avoid remembering, on reading
» Boet. lib. ii. pr. 6. 3i Alfred> p 32
K Ibid.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
this, that he hesitated about accepting the crown at
his accession. He seems to allude to this circum-
stance. —
31
CHAP.
1L
" 0 Reason ! thou knowest that covetousness and the possession On his
of this earthly power, I did not well like, nor strongly desired at principles
all this earthly kingdom, except — Oh ! I desired materials for the of g°vern-
work that I was commanded to do. This was that I might un- ment>
fractiously and becomingly steer and rule the power that was com-
mitted to me — What ! thou knowest that no man may know any
craft nor rule, or steer any power without tools and materials.
There are materials for every craft, without which a man cannot
work in that craft.
" These are the materials of a king's work, and his tools to
govern with ; that he have his land fully peopled ; that he should
have prayer-men, and army-men, and work-men. What ! thou
knowest that without these tools no king may show his skill.
" These are also his materials, that with these tools he should
have provision for these three classes ; and their provision then is,
land to inhabit, and gifts, and weapons, and meat, and ale, and
clothes, and what else that these three classes need ; nor can he
without these keep his tools ; nor without these tools can he work
any of those things that it is commanded to him to do.
" For this purpose I desired materials to govern that power with,
that my skill and power might not be given up and concealed.
But every virtue and every power will soon become oldened and
silenced if they be without wisdom. Therefore no man can bring
forth any virtue without wisdom ; hence whatsoever is done
through folly, man can never make that to be virtue.
" This I can now most truly say, that I HAVE DESIRED TO LIVE
WORTHILY WHILE I LIVED, AND AFTER MY LIFE TO LEAVE TO
THE MEN THAT SHOULD BE AFTER ME A REMEMBRANCE IN GOOD
WORKS." 33
It may amuse us to read Alfred's picture of the
Golden Age, in which he has added some marking
circumstances from his own sentiments to his author's
description.
" Oh, how happy was the first age of this world, when every Alfred on
man thought he had enough in the fruits of the earth ! 34 There the e°lden
age.
33 Alfred, p. 36, 37.
34 Boetius's lines are : " Too happy was the prior age, contented with their faith-
ful ploughs, nor lost in sluggish luxury : it was accustomed to end its late fasts
with the ready acorn ; nor knew how to confuse the present of Bacchus with liquid
honey ; nor to mingle the bright fleece of the Seres with the Tyrian poison. The
grass gave them healthful slumbers. The gliding river their drink. The loftiest
pines their shades. They did not yet cut the depths of the sea; nor did the
stranger see new shores with his merchandise collected from every side. The cruel
HISTORY OF THE
were no rich homes, nor various sweet dainties, nor drinks. They
required no expensive garments, because there were none then ;
they saw no such things, nor heard of them. They cared not for
luxury ; but they lived naturally and temperately. They always
ate but once a day, and that was in the evening. They ate the
fruits of trees and herbs. They drank no pure wine. They knew
not to mix liquor with their honey. They required not silken
cloathing with varied colours. They always slept out under the
shade of trees. The water of the clear springs they drank. They
saw no merchant from island or shore, nor did any one hear of
ship-armies, nor speak of battle, nor was the earth yet stained with
the blood of slain men, nor were men then wounded, nor did they
behold evil-willing men, nor had they any dignities, nor did men
love them. Oh, that our times now might be such ! but now
man's rapacity is as burning as flame, in that hell which is in the
mount called ^Etna, in the island named Sicilia. That mountain
is always burning with sulphur, and it consumes all the places
near and about it. Oh ! the first covetous man was he that the
earliest began to delve the earth after gold, and after gems ; and
found those dangerous valuables which before were hidden and
covered by the earth." 35
This sentence of Boetius —
" There is one thing which can seduce even minds excellent in
their nature, but not yet brought to the full perfection of their
virtues, that is the desire of glory, and the fame of the greatest
merit towards the state ; consider how slender and light a thing
this is."36
Alfred has thus amplified : —
His " Oh, mind ! one ! oh ! one evil is very much to be shunned.
on°Uloht This -is that which verv unceasingly and very heavily deceiveth
the mind of all those men who in their nature are select, and yet
be not come to the roof of their full-framed virtues. This is then
the desire of false glory, and of unrighteous power, and of im-
moderate fame of good works above all people ; for many men
desire power that they may have a good fame, though they be un-
worthy of it ; and even the worst of all desire the same. But he
that will wisely and diligently seek after this fame, let him very
truly perceive how little it is, and how slight, and how tender,
and how distinct from every good ! " 37
trumpets were silent ; nor did the effused blood with bitter hatred tinge horrid
arms. Why should an ancient fury move any army against enemies, when no cruel
wounds, and no rewards of blood were seen? I wish our times could return to the
ancient manners. But the raging love of possessing burns fiercer than the fires of
^Etna. Alas ! who was he that first dug up the weight of the covered gold and
gems, desiring to be hid, — those precious dangers ? " Boet. lib. ii. met. 5
ANGLO-SAXONS. 33
Boetius, after remarking, that but a fourth part of CHAP.
the earth was inhabited, continues : — < ^ — •
" And that many nations, differing in language, manners, and
all the habits of life, inhabit this small inclosure, which, from the
difficulty of the journey, as well as from the diversity of their
speech, and want of commerce, the fame not only of each man,
but even of cities, cannot reach." 38
Alfred has thus enlarged upon this sentiment, with
the insertion of more knowledge as to the number of
the languages of the world.
" Why desire ye, then, so immoderately, that you should spread
your name over the tenth part ? for with the sea, with fens, and
with all else, there is not more.
" Bethink ye, also, that in this little park many nations dwell,
and various ones ; and very unlike, both in speech and customs,
and in all their manners, are all these nations, that you now so
immoderately desire that you should spread your name over. This
you can never do ; because their speech is divided into two and
seventy languages, and each of these is divided among many na-
tions. They are distinguished and separated by sea, and by woods,
and by mountains, and by fens, and by many and various wastes
and unfrequented lands, so that merchants indeed do not go to
them.
" But how can then the name of any powerful man come there
separately, when they do not indeed hear there the name of his
city, nor of the people where his home is fixed. This I know,
with what folly you are yearning, when you would extend your
name over the whole earth. This you can never do, nor indeed
never nearly so." 39
Boetius having said, from Cicero, that the Roman
name had not passed Mount Caucasus, Alfred, ex-
hibiting his own study of geography, adds : —
" Nor among the Scythians who dwell on the other side of
these mountains : where they had not heard of the names of the
cities nor of the people of Rome.40 —
" No man hath the like praise in every land ; because that
which they do not like in some lands, they like in others. —
" Writers, from their negligence and from carelessness, have
left unwritten the manners and deeds of those men, who, in their
days, were the worthiest and most illustrious." 4l
Boetius having said —
39 Boetius, lib. ii. pr. 7. » Alfred, p. 39.
40 Ibid. p. 39. « Ibid. p. 40.
VOL. II. D
34: HISTORY OF THE
" What is there that attaches from fame to the eminent men
who seek glory by virtue, after the dissolution of their body ? 4S
Alfred thus dilates the thought : —
« What then has it profited the best men that have been before
us that they so very much desired this idle glory, and this fame
after their death : or what will it profit those who now exist !
" There is more need to every man that he should desire good
qualities than false fame. What will he have from that fame,
after the separation of the body and the soul. How ! do we not
know, that all men die bodily, and yet their soul will be living.
But the soul departs very free-like to Heaven. Then the mind
will itself be a witness of God's will."43
Boetius in the accompanying metrum had impres-
sively sung : —
" Why do the proud strive to raise their necks from this mortal
yoke in vain ! Though their diffused fame, pervading many people,
should be expressed in their languages, and the great family should
shine with illustrious titles, death spurns the lofty glory; alike
involves the high and humble head, and equals the lowest with the
greatest. Where now lie the bones of the faithful Fabricius, or
Brutus, or the rigid Cato ? "44
Alfred has thus expanded, and added to these
suggestions, with a little error as to Brutus and
Cassius : —
" Oh, ye proud ! why do you desire to put this death-like yoke
upon your neck ? or, why regard such idle toil, to spread your
name among so many people ?
" Though it now should happen that the uttermost nations
should upheave your name, and celebrate you in many countries,
and though any one should increase his birth with much nobility,
and flourish in all wealth, and in all honours, yet death careth not
for such : but he despiseth the noble, and devoureth alike the rich
and the poor, and thus equals the powerful with the low.
" Where are now the illustrious and the wise Goldsmith's bones,
those of Weland ? I call him the wise man, because the skilful can
never lose his skill ; nor can men take it away from him easier
than they can turn the sun from his place.
" Where are now the bones of Weland, or who knows now where
they were ? or, where is now the illustrious and recorded Roman
citizen, the heretoga, that was called Brutus, his other name
Cassius ? or, the wise and steadfast Cato ? he was also a Roman
42 Boetius, lib. ii. pr. 2. met. 7. 43 Alfred, p. 42.
44 Boetius, lib. ii. met. 7.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 35
heretoga : he was openly a philosopher. How ! did they not CHAP.
anciently die, and no man knoweth where they now are ? " 45 II.
He exclaims from himself in another part : —
" Oh, glory of this world ! why do silly men with a false voice
call thee glory ? Now thou art not so ; for more men have much
pomp, and much glory, and much worship, from the opinion of
foolish people, than they have from their own works." 46
Alfred adds on adverse fortune : —
" I dread it not myself ; for it often happens, that deceitful On adver-
fortune can neither give man any help, nor take any away.47 — sit7'
Adverse fortune is the true happiness, though one does not think
so; for it is to be depended upon, and always promises what is
true." 48
Boetius remarks : —
" Departing fortune takes away her own creatures and leaves On friend-
thine. For how much would you, when entire, and as you seemed ship.
to yourself, fortunate, have bought this ? Cease now to seek after
your lost wealth; you have found friends, which are the most
precious kind of wealth." 49
Alfred reiterates the thought ; and, by the em-
phasis of his repetitions, displays strongly his own
sensibility, and probably his own experience of the
different value of false and real friends : —
" But the false riches, when they depart from thee, they take
away their men with them, and leave thy few true ones with thee.
How wouldest thou now have bought this, when thou wert the
most happy, and thought that thy fortune went most to thy will ?
With how much property wouldest thou have purchased this, that
thou mightest manifestly know thy friends from thine enemies ? I
know, that with great property, thou wouldest have bought this,
that thou mightest know to discriminate them well. Although
thou thinkest that thou hast now lost a precious property, yet thou
hast bought with it one much more valuable. These are true
friends. These thou mayest now know, and thou perceivest what
thou hast of them. This is of all things the dearest possession." 50
In another part he takes occasion to add to his
original the same feelings : —
" True friends ! I say then, that this is the most precious of all
45 Alfred, p. 42, 43. 46 Ibid. p. 66.
47 Ibid. p. 43. 48 Ibid. p. 43, 44.
49 Boetius, lib. ii. pr. 2. met. 8. "° Alfred, p. 45.
D 2
36 HISTORY OF THE
the riches of the world. They are not even to be reckoned among
the goods of the world, but as divine ones ; because false fortune
can neither bring them nor take them away.
" Nature attracts and limes friends together with inseparable
love. But with the riches of this world, and by our present pros-
perity, men oftener make an enemy than a friend.51
" The friends that loved him before for his wealth, they depart
away with that wealth, and then become enemies ; but the few
that loved him from affection, and with truth, they would love him
still, though he were needy. They would remain with him." 5
Alfred, from the text of the eighth metre of Boe-
tius, has taken occasion to enlarge upon it, to express
his philosophical views of the divine government of
nature : —
His ideas of " One Creator is beyond any doubt ; and he is also the Governor
the system Of heaven, and earth, and of all creatures visible and invisible.
of nature. Tjlis is Q_OD ALMIGHTY. All things serve Him that serve thee ;
both those that know thee and those that do not know thee ; both
they which understand that they serve Him, and they which do
. not perceive it. The same has appointed unchangeable laws and
customs, and also a natural harmony among all His creatures, that
they should now stand in the world as He hath willed, and as long
as He wills.
" The motions of all active creatures cannot be stilled, nor even
altered from their course, and from the arrangement which is
provided for them. But HE hath power over all His creatures ;
and, as with his bridle, confines, restrains, and admonishes them ;
so that they can neither be still, nor more strongly stir, than the
space of His ruling reins permits. The Almighty God hath so
coerced all his creatures with his dominion, that each of them
striveth against the other ; and yet is so wreathed with it, that
they may not slide away from each other, but are turned again to
that same course that they ran before. Thus will it be again
renewed. Thus he varies it, that although the elements of a con-
trary kind contend betwixt themselves, yet they also hold a firm
peace together. Thus do fire and water, now, and sea and earth,
and many other substances. They will always be as discordant
among themselves, as they are now ; and yet they are so har-
monised, that they can not only be companions, but this further
happens, that indeed none can exist without the rest. The one
contrariety for ever restrains the other contrariety.
" So the Almighty God has most wisely and pertinently es-
tablished the successive changes of all things. Thus now spring
and harvest. In spring things grow. In harvest they become
yellow. Again, summer and winter. In summer it is warm, and
in winter cold. So the sun bringeth light days, and the moon
51 Alfred, p. 51. 52 Ibid p 88>
ANGLO-SAXONS. 37
enlightens the night through the same Deity's might. So the CHAP.
same Power admonishesTthe sea, that it must not overstep the lr-
threshold of the earth. But he hath appointed its boundaries that ^~" ""»
it may not extend its limits over the quiet earth.
" By the same government is the like interchange directed of
the flood and the ebb. He permits this appointment to stand as
long as he wills it. But then if ever he should let go the reins of
those bridles with which he has now restrained his creations, the
contrariety of which we have before spoken, if he were to allow it
to escape, would destroy the peace that he now maintains. Each
of them would contend with the other after his own will, and lose
their combination, and destroy all this world, and bring them-
selves to nothing. The same Grod combines people in friendship
together, and associates their families with purer love. He unites
friends and companions, so that they truly retain their peace and
attachment. How happy would mankind be from this, if their
minds were as right, and as established, and as well ordered, as
those of other creatures are ! " 53
He tells the story of Ulysses and Circe in his own
way, and with his own additions, which will show
the nature of his historical knowledge : —
" It happened formerly, in the Trojan war, that there was a king His story
of the name of Aulixes (Ulysses). He had two nations under the of Ulysses
Cesar. These were called Ithacige and Retie, and the Cesar's and Circe-
name was Agamemnon. Then Aulixes went with that Cesar to that
battle. He had then some hundred ships. Tll^n were they some
ten years in that war.
" Then the king returned home from that Cesar, when they
had won the country. He had not then more ships than one ;
but that was a three rower. Then a high tempest and a stormy
sea withstood him, and he was driven into an island beyond the
Wendel Sea. There lived a daughter of Apolline, the son of Job
(Jove).
" This Job was their king, and it pleased them that he should be
their highest god, and these foolish men believed in him because
he was of a kingly race, and they knew no other god in that time,
but they worshipped their kings for gods. Then should Job's
father be also a god. His name was Saturnus, and they had him
also the same for a god : and one of them was the Apolline that
we have mentioned.
" This Apolline's daughter should be a goddess. Her name was
Kirke. They said she was a very great magician ; and she lived
in that island that the king was driven on. She had there a great
retinue of her thegns, and also of other maidens.
" Soon as she saw the forth-driven king, that we spoke of before,
whose name was Aulixes, she began to love him, and each of
53 Alfred, p. 45, 46. A comparison with Boetius, lib. ii. met. 8., will show Alfred's
great additions.
J> 3
38
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
V.
His
thoughts
on the Su-
preme
Good.
His
thoughts on
wisdom.
them the other, so immoderately, that he for love of her abandoned
all his kingdom and his family, and remained with her, till the
time that his thegns would not stay longer with him ; but for
love of their country, and from being exiled from it, they resolved
to leave him. Then began false men to make spells, and they
said, that by their magic they would spread and turn these men
into the bodies of wild animals ; and afterwards throw them into
chains and fetters.
" Some they said they should transform into lions, and when
they should speak then they roared. Some became boars, and
when they lamented their sorrow they furiously grunted. Some
were changed into wolves, and, when they thought to speak they
howled. Some were turned to that deer kind, which men call
tigers. Thus were all the company transformed into various
kinds of deer, every one to some deer, except only the king.
They shunned every meat that men eat, and desired those things
which the deer eat. They had no likeness of man, neither in
their body, nor in their voice ; yet every one knew in his under-
standing as he did before. This understanding sorrowed very
much for the miseries which they suffered." 54
He has inserted the following observations of his
own, on the Supreme Good : —
" This blessedness is then GOD. He is the beginning and the
end of every good, and he is the highest happiness.
" There is no man that needs not some increase, but G-od alone.
He hath enough in his own self. He needs nothing but that which
he has in himself. —
" By these things, we may manifestly understand, that every
man desires this, that he may obtain the Supreme Good, where he
can know it, or is enabled to seek it rightly. But they seek it not
in the most right way. It is not in this world. —
" There is no creature made, which does not desire that it may
proceed thither, from whence it came before. This is to rest and
felicity. Its rest is with God, and that is God." 55
He has added these remarks on wisdom : —
^ " Wisdom is the highest virtue, and he hath in him four other
virtues. One of these is prudence ; another moderation ; the
third is courage; the fourth is righteousness. Wisdom maketh
those that love it wise, and worthy, and constant, and patient, and
righteous, and with every good habit filleth him that loveth it.
They cannot do this who have the power of this world ; nor can
they give any virtue from their wealth to those who love them, if
they have it not in their nature. From this it is very evi-
dent, that the powerful in this world's wealth have no appro-
priate virtue from it ; but their wealth comes to them from
Alfred, p. 115. See Boetius, lib. iv. met. 3. 55 Alfred, p. 49. 53, 54, 55.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 39
without, and they can have nothing from without which is their
own." 56
He turns a sentence of Boetius57, which he enlarges
on, into a commendation of wisdom : —
" Do you see any thing in your body greater than the elephant ;
or stronger than the lion, or the bull ; or swifter than that deer,
the tiger ? But if thou wert the fairest of all men in beauty, and
shouldest diligently inquire after wisdom, until thou fully right
understood it, then mightest thou clearly comprehend, that all
the power and excellences which we have just mentioned, are not
to be compared with the one virtue of the soul. Now WISDOM is
this one single virtue of the soul ; and we all know that it is
better than all the other excellences that we have before spoken
about."58
He pursues the next sentence of Boetius59, with
his own original sentiments.
" Behold now the spaciousness, and the constancy, and the swift-
ness of the heavens. Yet we may understand that all this is not
to be compared with its creator and its governor. But why do
ye not let yourselves be weary of admiring and praising that
which is unprofitable : this is worldly riches. For as heaven is
better, and loftier, and fairer than all within it, except man alone ;
so is man's body better and more precious than all his posses-
sions. But how much more, bethink thee, is the soul better and
more valuable than the body. Every existence is to be honoured
according to its proportion, and always the highest most. There-
fore the divine power is to be honoured, admired, and worshipped
above all other existences." G0
His free translation of the eighth metrum of
Boetius 61 is a specimen of his easy and flowing
56 Alfred, p. 60.
57 The passage in Boetius is : " Can you excel elephants in bulk, or bulls in
strength, or precede tigers in swiftness ? " Lib. iii. prosa 8.
58 Alfred, p. 70.
89 The words in Boetius are only : " Survey the space, firmness, and rapidity
of the heavens, and cease sometimes to admire vile things." Boetius, lib. iii.
prosa 8.
60 Alfred, p. 70.
61 The text of Boetius is : " Oh, how ignorance leads wretched men from their
right way ! You do not seek gold on the green tree, nor pluck gems from the
vine. You do not place nets on high mountains to enrich your tables with fish ;
nor, if you wish to follow the roe, do you hunt the Tuscan waves. Men know the
recesses of the sea, that are hidden by the waves ; and which wave is more fruitful
of the snowy gems ; which, of the blushing purple ; and what shores excel in the
tender fish, or the rough shell-fish. But how is it, they who desire good, blindly
endure to be ignorant of it, and, degraded, seek that on earth which lies beyond the
starry pole ? What that is worthy shall I implore for the foolish minds ? They
i> 4
40
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
V.
His
thoughts
on real
greatness.
style, arid at the same time a picture of the manners
of his time. In this he also turns the ideas of his
author, to express his own sublime piety and moral
energy.
" Oh ! woe ! how heavy and how dangerous the folly is, which
misleads unhappy men, and draws them from the right way.
This way is God. Do ye now seek gold on trees ? I know that
you do not seek it there ; nor find it on them, because all men
know that it does not grow there. No more do jewels grow in
vineyards. Do you now set your nets on the highest mountains
when you would fish ? I know indeed that you do not place them
there. Do you lead your hounds and your nets out into the sea,
when you would hunt ? I think you would set them on hills and
in woods. It is wonderful that industrious men understand that
they must seek by sea-voyages, and on the banks of rivers, for
both white gems and red ones, and jewels of every kind. They
also know on what waters, and at the mouths of what rivers, they
should seek for fishes ; and where they should search for all their
present wealth ; and most unweariedly they seek it. But it is a
very pitiable thing, that weak men are so blind of all judgment,
that they do not perceive where the true riches lie hid, and have
no pleasure in inquiring for them. Yet they think, that in these
frail and mortal things, they may find out the true good, which is
God. I know not how I can express their folly so clearly, nor tell
it so strongly as I would ; because they are more deplorable, and
sillier, and unhappier than I am able to explain. They desire
wealth and dignity, and when they have them, they irrationally
think that they .possess true happiness." 62
Boetius had merely said : —
" If any one, who had enjoyed several consulships, should go by
chance among barbarous nations, would his honours make him
venerated by them ? 63
Alfred on this brief passage pours out the follow-
ing ideas : —
" If any powerful man should be driven from his country, or
should go on his lord's errand, and should then corne to a foreign
people, where no man knew him, nor he any one, nor indeed the
language; dost thou think that his greatness would make him
honourable in that land ? But I know that it could not. If, then,
dignity were natural to power, and were its own ; or if the wealth
of the rich were their own afiiuence, then they could not lose it.
crave wealth and honours ; and when they have prepared the false things in a great
mass, let them then discern the true goods of life." Lib. iii. met 8
'
62 Alfred>
Boeti
3
ANGLO-SAXONS. 41
Were a person on any land soever, he would be there with what CHAP.
he possessed. His riches and his dignity would be with him ; but IL
because wealth and power have no merit of their own, they ' *
abandon him ; and hence they have no natural good in themselves.
Hence he loseth them, like a shadow or smoke, though false hope
and imagination of weak men make power to be their highest
good.
" Great men will be in one of two conditions, either in a foreign
country, or in their own nation, with reasonable men : but both
with these wise men, and with the foreigner, their power would be
.deemed nothing, after they understood that they had not received
it for any virtues : but from the praises of silly men. Yet, if
wealth had any excellence of its own, or of nature, in its power,
they would have it within them. Though they should lose their
territory, they could not lose a natural good ; but this would
always follow them, and make them worthy in whatsoever land
they were."64
The following extract shows the ease with which
he translates his author when he chooses to adhere
to him. Boetius has a passage on the effect of the
vices on the characters of men 65, which Alfred thus
expresses with a little expansion : —
" But as the goodness of men raiseth them above human nature,
to this that they be exalted to divine ; so also their evilness con-
verts them into something below human nature, to the degree that
they may be named devils. This we say should not be so ; for if
thou findest a man so corrupted, as that he be turned wholly from
good to evil, thou canst not with right name him a man, but an
animal. If thou perceivest of any man that he be covetous, and a
plunderer, thou shalt not call him a man but a wolf. And the
fierce person that is restless, thou shalt call a hound, not a man.
And the false, crafty one, a fox. He that is extremely moody,
and enraged, and hath too great fury, thou shalt call a lion, not a
man. The slothful that is too slow, thou shalt term an ass, more
than a man. The unseasonably fearful person, who dreads more
than he needs, thou mayest call a hare, rather than man. Thou
mayest say of the inconstant and light-minded, that they are more
like the winds or the unquiet fowls, than steady men. And if thou
64 Alfred, p. 61.
68 In Boetius it is : " As probity alone can raise any one above humanity, it
follows that those whom wickedness throws down from the human condition, it
lowers below the merit of a man. Therefore when you see any one transformed
by vices, you cannot think him a man. Does a violent plunderer of another's pro-
perty glow with avarice ? You may say he is like a wolf. Does a fierce and unquiet
one exercise his tongue in strife ? He is to be compared to a dog. Does a betrayer
rejoice to have surprised by secret fraud ? He is on a level with foxes. Does be
rage with intemperate anger ? Believe that he carries the soul of a lion : " &c. &c.
lib. iv. pr. 3.
42 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK perceivest one that pursues the lusts of his body, he is most like
V. fat swine, who always desire to lay down in foul soils, and will not
' • ' wash themselves in clear waters; or if they should, by a rare
chance, be swimming in them, they throw themselves again on
their mire, and wallow therein."66
Alfred adds much of his own to Boetius's remarks
on nobility, as : —
On birth. " Think now first of noble birth. If any one should glory in
this, how idle and how fruitless would that glory be ! Because
every one knows that all men come from one father and one
mother."
This reason is the addition of Alfred : he also in-
serts the following passages from himself : —
" Or again of fame among the multitude, or their praise. I
know that we rejoice at this; although those persons now seem
illustrious, whom the people praise, yet they are more illustrious
and more justly to be applauded, when they are made worthy
by their virtues ; for no man is so by right from any other ad-
vantage.
" Art thou more beautiful for other men's beauty ? A man will
be full little the better, because he hath a good father, if he
himself is but naught.
" Therefore, I teach, that thou mayest rejoice in other men's
goods, and their nobility ; for this chiefly that thou art thereby
exempt from toiling thy own self; because every man's good and
nobility is more in his mind than in his flesh." 67
He now adds, paraphrasing the words of Boe-
tius 68 : —
" This alone I yet know to be good in nobility : that it makes
many men ashamed of being worse than their elders were ; and
therefore they strive all their power, that they may become better
in some habits, and may increase their virtues."
With the same nobleness of mind, he paraphrases
and adds sentiments to the sixth metrum of Boetius69,
66 Alfred, p. 113, 114. « Alfred, p. 66, 67.
58 Which are : " If there be any good in nobility, I think it is this alone, that a
necessity seems to be imposed on the noble, that they should not degenerate from
the virtue of their ancestors." Lib. iii. prosa 6.
89 Boetius says : " All the human race arises on earth from a like origin. There
is one Father of things : one administers all things. He gave the sun his rays, and
he gave the moon her horns. He gave men to the earth, and stars to the sky. He
has enclosed in limbs, souls derived from a lofty seat. Therefore a noble germ has
produced all mortals. Why do you boast of your race and ancestors ? If you look
at your beginnings and your Author, God, "you would perceive that no one lives
ignobly born." Lib. iii. met. 6.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 43
which would surprise us from any other king, than CHAP.
the great-minded, wise, arid moral Alfred : — . IL .
" What ! all men had a like beginning ; because they all come
of one father and one mother. They all are yet born alike. This
is no wonder ; because God alone is the Father of all creatures.
He made them all, and governs all. He gave us the sun's light,
and the moon, and placed all the stars. He created men on the
earth. He has connected together the soul and the body by his
power, and made all men equally noble in their first nature. Why
then do ye arrogate over other men for your birth without works ?
Now you can find none unnoble. But all are equally noble, if you
will think of your beginning creation, and the Creator, and after-
wards of your own nativity ; yet the right nobility is in the mind.
It is not in the flesh, as we said before. But every man that is
at all subjected to his vices, forsakes his Creator, and his first
creation, and his nobility ; and thence becomes more ignoble than
if he were not nobly born."70
Alfred adapts to his own times a passage of Boetius,
which he rather imitates than translates, and thereby
gives us a lively picture of the habits and pursuits of
his day, with an allusion to his own sufferings : —
" Dost thou then mean to be covetous for money ? Now thou
mayest no how else get it, except thou steal it, or plunder it, or
find it hidden, or there increase thyself with it, where you lessen
it to others.
" Wouldest thou now be foremost in dignities ? But if thou wilt
have them, thou must flatter very miserably and very humbly
those that may assist thee to them. If thou wilt make thyself
better and worthier than many, then shalt thou let thyself be
worse than some. How i is not this then some portion of un-
happiness, that a man so brave should cringe to those that can
give it ?
" Desirest thou power? But thou shalt never obtain it free
from sorrows from foreign nations, and yet more from thine own
men and kindred.
" Yearnest thou for glory ? But thou canst never have it
without vexations ; for thou wilt always have something contrary
and unpleasing.
" Dost thou wish to enjoy thine unrestrained desires ? But
then thou wilt despise God's commandments, and thy wearied
flesh will have the command of thee ; not thou of that. How can
a man become more wretched, than by being subject to his weary-
ing flesh, and not to his reasoning soul?"71
We now come to a series of thoughts on kings,
0 Alfred, p. 67. 71 Ibid. p. 69, 70.
44 HISTORY OF THE
v.
BOOK in which Alfred largely adds to those of Boetius.72
They display his feelings on kingly power used for
oppression ; his magnanimity in alluding to his own
anxieties and vicissitudes ; his estimate of sovereign
greatness ; his reasoning cast, and effusion of con-
secutive thought, and his flowing style : —
On kings. " Dost thou now think that the friendship and society of kings,
and the wealth and power which they give to their favourites, may
make any man happy or powerful ?
" Then answered I, and said : ' Why may they not ? What is
in this present life more pleasant and better than the retinue of
the king, and to be near him and the wealth and power that
follow.'
" Then answered Wisdom, and said : ' Tell me, now, whether
thou ever heardest, that these things always continued with those
who have been before us ; or dost thou think that any men always
keep what they now possess ? Dost thou not know that all books
are full of the examples of men that lived before us? and every
man knows, that of those who now are alive, the power and
affluence have changed with many kings, till they have become
poor again.'
" * Oh, this is a very admirable felicity, that neither may sup-
port itself nor its lord, so that he need no more help, or that they
be both retained ! '
" ' How ! is your highest happiness the power of kings, and yet,
if there be any failure of his will to any king, then that diminishes
his power and increaseth his misery ! Hence this your happiness
will always be in some things unblessed.
" But kings ! though they rule many nations, yet they rule not
all those that they would govern ; and for this they are so wretched
in their minds; because they have not something which they
would have.
^ « Therefore, I know, that the king who is rapacious hath more
misery than power.' " 73
Alfred continues the theme with a direct allusion
to himself : —
72 The passage of Boetius is : "Do kingdoms or the familiarity of kings make
you powerful ? Why not ? Since their felicity lasts perpetually. But antiquity
is full of examples, the present age is full of them, in which the felicity of kings has
been changed by calamity. Oh, excellent power ! which is not found to be sufficiently
efficacious to its own preservation. Yet if this power of kingdoms were the author
of blessedness, would it not, if failing in any part, lessen our felicity and introduce
misery ? But though human empire should be widely spread, yet it must abandon
any nations, over whom every king cannot reign. Wherever the power that
makes us happy ceases, that impotence enters which makes us miserable There-
fore kings must have a larger portion of misery." Boetius, lib. iii. prosa 5.
•3 Alfred, p. 62, 63.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 45
".Thus is it said, formerly, of a king that unrightfully seized cilAP.
his power.74 Oh ! what a happy man was he, that always had a n.
naked sword hanging over his head from a small thread ! so as to ' » '
me it always yet did.
" How ! dost thou think now that wealth and power are pleasing,
when they are never without fear, and difficulties, and sorrows ?
What ! thou knowest that every king would wish to be without
these, and yet have power, if he might ; but I know that he
cannot.
" This I wonder at ; why they should glory in such power.
" Whether dost thou think now, that a man who has much
power is very happy, that always desires what he may not obtain ;
or believest thou that he is very happy that always goes out with a
great train ; or, again, he that dreads both those who dread him,
and those who fear him not ?
" Whether dost thou think that the man has much power, who
himself fancies that he has none, as now many believe that they
have none, except they have many persons to obey them ?
" What need we now more speak of kings and their followers,
except that every wise man may know that they be full wretched
and full unmighty ? How can kings deny or conceal their un-
mightiness, when they cannot display their dignity without the
help of their thanes?"75
He enlarges greatly on the short metre of Boetius,
on tyrannical kings76, and describes them with the
costume of his own times. A sovereign himself, he
displays the superior nobility of his mind in perceiv-
ing so impartially, and painting so strongly the
vicious feelings of bad and weak-minded rulers.
" Hear now a discourse on proud and unrighteous kings. We
74 The Latin original of this part expresses " the tyrant who had experienced
this sort of danger, compared his fear to the terror of a sword hanging over his
head. What then is this power which cannot expel the gnawings of cares, nor the
stings of apprehensions ? They who wished to have lived secure could not, and
yet boast of their power. Do you think him powerful who you see wishes what he
cannot effect ? Do you think him powerful who surrounds his side with a guard ;
who himself dreads those whom he terrifies ; who, however powerful he may seem,
is placed in the hands of his servants ? Why should I dissert on the companions
of kings, when I have shown their own government to be so full of imbecility ? "
Boetius, lib. iii. prosa 5.
75 Alfred, p. 63, 64.
76 The English of Boetius is -. " If, from the proud kings whom you see sitting
on the lofty summit of the throne, splendid in their shining purple ; hedged with
sad arms ; threatening with their stern countenance ; breathless with the fury of
their hearts ; any one should draw aside the coverings of a vain dress, you would
see the lord loaded with strong chains within. Here the lust of rapacity pours its
poison on their hearts. Here turbid wrath raising its waves lashes their minds, or
grief wearies its captive, or disappointing hope torments them. Then as you see
one single head bears so many tyrants, how can he that is oppressed by such wicked
masters do what he wishes." Boetius, lib. iv. met. 2.
46 HISTOEY OF THE
BOOK see them sitting on the highest high seats. They shine in garments
v. of many kinds, and are with a great company of their thegns
*— » ' standing about them; who are adorned with belts, and golden-
hilted swords, and manifold warlike appendages. They threaten
all mankind with their majesty ; and of those they govern, they
care neither for friend nor foe, no more than a maddened hound.
They are very incomprehensibly puffed up in their minds from
their immoderate power.
" But if men should divest them of their clothes, and withdraw
from them their retinue and their power, then might thou see that
they be very like some of their thegns that serve them, except
that they be worse. And if it was now to happen to them that
their retinue was a while taken away, and their dress and their
power, they would think that they were brought into a prison, or
were in bondage ; because from their excessive and unreasonable
apparel ; from their sweet-meats, and from the various drinks of
their cup, the raging course of their luxury is excited, and would
very powerfully torment their minds. Then would increase both
their pride and their inquietude ; then would they be enraged ;
then would their minds be lashed with the fervour of their hot-
heartedness, till they were overcome with their own sadness, and
were made captives. After this were done, the hope of their
revenge would begin to cheat them, and whatsoever their anger
desired they would promise themselves that this would be their
security.
" I told thee formerly in this same book, that all creatures desire
some good from nature ; but unrighteous kings can do no good.
Hence I said it to thee. This is no wonder, because they subject
themselves to all the vices that I before named to thee. Thus
they are necessarily under the power of these masters, whom at
first they might have subdued. And, what is worse, they will not
oppose these when they might begin to do it; and thus cannot
continue in the struggle, though then they would have had no
guilt." 77
The warmth of feeling, and voluntary additions
and amplifications here exhibited by Alfred, on this
delicate subject, in which he was so personally in-
volved, tempt one to recollect his own faults in the
first part of his reign, and to believe that he is de-
scribing, with a generous self-reproach, some of his
own former tendencies and imperfections, and some
of the effects of his own humiliations.
^ The freedom which Alfred has taken in adding to
his author what he pleases ; in substituting opinions
77 Alfred, p. 110, 111.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 47
and reasoning of his own, instead of those he found ;
and of enlarging upon the topics that pleased him,
makes this work a record of the king's own feelings.
Hence many parts in which the king paraphrases
his original become interesting to us as evidences of
his own sentiments, although the substance of them
be found in Boetius. One of these is the conver-
sation on adversity. Alfred had become well ac-
quainted with this unwelcome visitor, and he repeats,
enlarges, and sometimes alters, what Boetius had said
upon it, sufficiently to show that he has given us the
effusions of his own heart and mind upon the sub-
ject. From a king, and one who did not write, like
Seneca, in the full enjoyment of every luxury, which
he never lessened ; but who formed and penned his
thoughts amid vicissitudes, difficulties, privations,
and dangers that would have overwhelmed most
other men, a statement of the uses of adversity is
peculiarly valuable for its sincerity, as well as its
practical wisdom. Nor are the ease and breaks of
the dialogue, and flow of style, less remarkable than
the justness of the feeling, in the following pas-
«<
" *
" < Dost thou now understand whither this discourse will lead On the
11Q ? > benefits of
A '*•
Tell me whither it will.'
I would say, that every fortune is good ; whether men think
it good, or whether they think it evil.'
" ' I imagine it may easily be so, though we should at times
think otherwise.'
" ' There is no doubt that every fortune is good in those things
that be right and useful : for this reason, every fortune, whether
it be pleasant, or whether it be unpleasant, cometh to the good for
the purpose that it may do one of two things : either it urges them
to this, that they should act better than they did before, or it
rewards them for what they have done well before. And again,
every fortune of those things that come to evil men, cometh for
these two purposes, whether it be severe, or whether it be
pleasant ; if severe fortune cometh to evil men, it comes as a
78 To see how much Alfred has added of his own, both of dialogue and sentiment,
on this part, the reader may compare Boetius, lib. iv. prosa 7.
48 HISTOEY OF THE
BOOK retribution for their evils, or for correction, and to teach them
V. that they do not act so again.'
*- — » ' " Then I began to wonder, and said —
" ' Is it from inwardly right observation that thou explamest
"'It'is as thou sayest. But I would, if thou art willing, that
we turn a little while to the popular discourse on this subject, lest
they should say that we are talking above man's understanding.'
" ' Speak as you wish.'
" 'Dost thou suppose that that is not good which is useful ? '
" ' I suppose that it is good.'
" ' Then every fortune is useful that happens to thee. It either
teaches or it punishes.'
" ' This is true.'
" ' Adverse fortune is a good to those who strive against vices,
and inclineth them to good.'
" ' I cannot contradict this.'
" ' What dost thou suppose of that good fortune which comes
often to good men in this world so as to be a foretoken of eternal
blessings ? Whether can people say of this that it is evil fortune ? '
" Then I smiled, and said —
" « No man would say that, but would declare that it is very
good. So also it would be.'
"'What thinkest thou of that invisible fortune that often
threatens the evil to punish them ? Whether would this folk sup-
pose that that was good fortune ? '
" « They would not suppose that it was good, but would think
that it was very miserable.'
" 'Let us then pause, that we may not think so as the people
think ; if we should think on this as the people suppose, then we
should lose all reason and all rightwiseness.'
" ' Why should we lose these ever the more ? '
" ' Because the populace say that every severe and unpleasant
fortune is an evil. But we should not believe this ; because that
every fortune is good, as we before mentioned, whether it be
severe, or whether it be pleasant.'
" Then I was afraid, and said —
" ' That is true which thou sayest. Yet, I know not how I
dare to mention it to foolish men, because no foolish man can
believe it.'
" Then Wisdom severely opposed, and said —
" ' For this reason no wise man should tremble or lament at
what may happen to him in this way, whether severe or agreeable
fortune comes to him, no more than a brave vassal should lament
about how often he must fight. Nor will his praise be less. But
the hope is that it will be greater. So also will the meed of the
wise be greater, the more angry and severer fortune that befalls
him. No wise man should desire a soft life, if he careth for any
virtues or any worship here from the world, or for eternal life
after this world. But every wise man should struggle both against
ANGLO-SAXONS. 49
hard fortune and against a pleasant one : lest he should presume CHAP,
upon his good fortune, or despair of his bad one. But it is needful
to him that he should find out the middle way between severe and ' '
agreeable fortune, that he may not desire a more pleasant one, nor
more enjoyment than will be suitable to him ; nor again, a severer
fortune ; for this reason, that he may not suffer any thing un-
becoming. But it is in their own power which of these they
should choose. If then they will find out this middle path, then
shall they themselves moderate their good fortune, and their
enjoyments. Then will God mitigate to them all severe fortune,
both in this world and that which is to come, so as that they may
bear it.'" 79
Alfred now omits all the seventh metre of Boetius
but the last three verses and a half 80 ; and these he
enlarges upon into this animated exhortation, which
obviously issues from his heart : —
" Well ! O wise men ! Well ! Go all into the way in which the
illustrious examples of those good men, and those worthy heroes
that were before you, lead you. Oh ! ye slothful and idle loiterers,
why will ye be so unprofitable and so enervated ? Why will ye
not ask after the wise and the worthy ; such as they were that
lived before you ? and why will ye not then, after you have in-
quired into their customs, listen to them the most earnestly you
may ? For they struggled after worship in this world, and toiled
for a good fame by good works, and wrought a good example for
those that should be after them. Hence they dwell now above the
stars in everlasting blessedness for their good works." 81
After a discussion that the five most desired
things of human life are, wealth, power, worship,
fame, and pleasure ; and that all these fail to give
true happiness, their conversation turns upon what
is the supreme good in which this can be obtained.
All this part is translated by Alfred with the same
spirit and freedom, and vivacity of dialogue, of which
we have already given specimens. Alfred, at length,
adds of his own : —
" That, methinketh, would be the true and perfect felicity, that
would give to its followers permanent affluence and eternal power,
79 Alfred, 136-138.
80 There are in Boetius : " Go now, ye brave ! where the lofty way of a great
example leads you. Why should you, inert, uncover your backs ? The earth, when
conquered, gives us the stars." Lib. iv. met. 7.
81 Alfred, p. 138.
VOL. II. E
50
HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK
V.
and perpetual reverence, and everlasting fame, and fulness of
joy;" —
and asks Wisdom to inform him where this is to be
found ; who reminding him that Plato advised us to
implore the Divine help in small things as well as in
great, proceeds to utter that noble address to the
Deity, of Avhich Dr. Johnson has so finely translated
the beginning and the conclusion into those beautiful
lines already cited.
Parts of this address are very fine in Boetius, but
the whole is finer in Alfred ; for it is made more na-
tural, more flowing from the heart, and more ex-
panded, both in the feeling and the illustrations. It
is a noble specimen of Alfred's lofty and enlarged,
and even philosophical theism — the best foundation,
and most attractive support of Christianity. He
mingles with his devotion all the natural philosophy
he possessed. Our ancient king has added to it so
much of his own as to make it almost his original
composition.
The extent of his additions will be perceived when
the reader is told that the passage occupies 28 lines
in Boetius82, and 131 in Alfred : —
" O Lord ! How great and how wonderful art thou ! Thou ! that
phiiosophi- all thy creatures, visible and also invisible, hast wonderfully made,
cal address an<j wisely dost govern. Thou ! who the courses of time, from
the beginning of the world to the end, hast established in such
order, that from Thee they all proceed, and to Thee return.
Thou ! that all moving creatures stirrest to thy will, while thou
Thyself remainest ever tranquil and unchangeable. Hence none
exists mightier than THOU art ; none like THEE. No necessity
has taught Thee to make what thou hast made ; but, of Thine
own will, and by Thy own power, THOU hast created all things.
Yet THOU hast no need of any.
" Most wonderful is the nature of THY goodness, for it is all
Alfred's
to the
Deify.
82 That the reader may perceive what is Alfred's own, we shall add a version of
his original. It begins, " O THOU, who governest the world with continual reason !
Author of the earth and heaven ! who commandest time to move from eternity,
and, stable and enduring thyself, givest all things to be moved ! Whom external
causes have not impelled to form the work of flowing matter, but the innate form
of the supreme good, void of all envy." Boetius, lib. iii. met. 9.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 51
one, Thou and Thy goodness. Good comes not from without to CHAP.
THEE ; but it is Thine own, arid all that we have of good in this n-
world, and that is coming to us from without, proceeds from THEE. '
Thou hast no envy towards any thing.
" None, therefore 83, is more skilful than THOU art. No one is
like Thee ; because Thou hast conceived and made all good from
thine own thought. No man has given Thee a pattern ; for none
of these things existed before Thee to create any thing or not.
But THOU hast created all things very good and very fair ; and
THOU Thyself art the highest and the fairest good.
"As THOU Thyself didst conceive, so hast Thou made this
world ; arid Thou rulest it as Thou dost will ; and Thou dis-
tributest Thyself all good as Thou pleasest. Thou hast made all
creatures alike, or in some things unlike, but Thou hast named
them with one name. Thou hast named them collectively, and
called them the World. Yet this single name Thou hast divided
into four elements.84 One of these is Earth ; another, Water ; the
third, Air ; the fourth, Fire. To each of these Thou hast esta-
blished his own separate position ; yet each is classed with the
other; and so harmoniously bound by Thy commandment, that
none of them intrudes on the limits of the other. The cold
striveth with the heat, and the wet with the dry. The nature of
the earth and water is to be cold. The earth is dry and cold ; the
water wet and cold. The air then is called either cold, or wet, or
warm ; nor is this a wonder, because it is made in the middle
between the dry and the cold earth, and the hot fire. The fire is
the uppermost of all this world's creations.
" Wonder-like is Thy plan, which THOU hast executed, both
that created things should have limits between them, and be also
intermingled ; the dry and cold earth under the cold and wet
water, so that the soft and flowing water should have a floor on
the firm earth, because it cannot of itself stand. But the earth
preserves it, and absorbs a portion, and by thus imbibing it the
ground is watered till it grows and blossoms, and brings forth
fruits. But if the water did not thus moisten it, the earth would
be dried up and driven away by the wind like dust and ashes.
"Nor could any living creature enjoy the earth, or the water, or
any earthly thing, for the cold, if THOU didst not a little intermix
it with fire. Wonderful the skill with which Thou hast created
that the fire should not burn the water and the earth. It is now
mingled with both. Nor, again, can the water and the earth
entirely extinguish the fire. The water's own country is on the
83 Boetius proceeds : " Thou leadest all things by thy superior example. Fairest
of all thyself ! Thou bearest the fair world in thy mind, forming it in' a resembling
image, and commanding the perfect to have perfect parts." Lib. iii. met. 9.
81 " Thou bindest the elements by numbers, that cold may suit -with flame, and
the dry with the liquid, lest the purer fire should fly off, or their weight lead the
earth to be submerged. Thou connecting the middle soul that moves all things of
threefold nature, resolvest it through consonant members. When divided, it as-
sembles motion into two orbs, goes on to return into itself, circles round the pro-
found mind, and turns heaven with a similar impress." Boetius, ibid.
E 2
52 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK earth, and also in the air, and again, above the sky : but the fire's
V. own place is over all the visible creatures of the world ; and though
v • ' it is mingled with all the elements, yet it cannot entirely overcome
any of them ; because it has not the leave of the Almighty.
" The earth, then, is heavier and thicker than the other ele-
ments, because it is lower than any other except the sky. Hence
the sky is every day on its exterior ; yet it no where more ap-
proaches it, but in every place it is equally nigh both above and
below.
" Each of the elements that we formerly spoke about has its
own station apart, and though each is mingled with the other, so
that none of them can exist without the other, yet they are not
perceptible within the rest. Thus water and earth are very diffi-
cult to be seen, or to be comprehended by unwise men, in fire, and
yet they are therewith commingled. So is also the fire in stones
and water very difficult to be perceived ; but it is there.
" THOU bindest fire with very indissoluble chains, that it may
not go to its own station, which is the mightiest fire that exists
above us, lest it should abandon the earth, and all other creatures
should be destroyed from extreme cold in case it should wholly
depart.
" THOU hast most wonderfully and firmly established the earth,
so that it halts on no side, and no earthly thing falls from it ; but
all earth-like things it holds, that they cannot leave it. Nor is it
easier to them to fall off downwards than upwards.
" THOU also stirrest the threefold soul in accordant limbs, so
that there is no less of that soul in the least finger than in all the
body. By this I know that the soul is threefold, because foreign
writers say that it hath three natures. One of these natures, is
that it desires ; another, that it becomes angry ; the third, that it
is rational. Two of these natures animals possess the same as
men : one is desire, the other is anger. But man alone has reason,
no other creature has it. Hence he hath excelled all earthly
creatures in thought and understanding ; because reason shall
govern both desire and wrath. It is the distinguishing virtue of
the soul.
" THOU hast so made the soul that she should always revolve
upon herself as all this sky turneth, or as a wheel rolls round,
inquiring about her Creator or herself, or about the creatures on
the earth. When she inquireth about her Creator she rises above
herself; when she searches into herself, then she is within herself;
and she becomes below herself when she loves earthly things, and
wonders at them.
"THOU, O LORD! wilt grant the soul a dwelling in the
heavens85, and wilt endow it there with worthy gifts, to every
one according to their deserts. Thou wilt make it to shine very
85 Boetius adds : " Thou with like causes conveyest souls and inferior life, and
adapting the sublime beings to lighter chariots, thou sowest them in heaven and in
earth, and by a benign law maketh them, converging, to be brought back to thee
like the flame of a torch." Boetius, lib. iii. met. 9.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 53
bright, and yet with brightness very various ; some more CHAP..
splendidly, some less bright, as the stars are, each according to n-
his earning. '
" THOU, O LORD ! gatherest the heaven-like souls, and the
earth-like bodies ; and Thou minglest them in this world so that
they come hither from Thee, and to Thee again from hence aspire.
Thou hast filled the earth with animals of various kinds, and then
sowed it with different seeds of trees and herbs.
" Grant now, O LORD86, to our minds that they may ascend to
Thee, from the difficulties of this world ; that from the occupations
here they may come to Thee. With the opened eyes of our mind
may we behold the noble fountain of all good ! THOU ART THIS.
Give us then a healthy sight to our understanding, that we may
fasten it upon THEE. Drive away this mist that now hangs before
our mental vision, and enlighten our eyes with Thy light. For
THOU art the brightness of the true light. Thou art the soft rest
of the just. Thou causest them to see it. Thou art the begin-
ning of all things, and their end. Thou supportest all things
without fatigue. Thou art the path and the leader, and the place
to which the path conducts us. All men tend to THEE." 87
One of the most curious parts of Alfred's Boetius Alfred's
is his metaphysical reasoning.
When he comes to the fifth book, he leaves off
translating his author, and indulges his own medita-
tions on chance, free will, the Divine prescience,
providence, the perceptions of animals ; on the dif-
ference betwixt human reason and the understanding
of angels ; and on the Divine nature.
That an Anglo-Saxon, when his whole nation was
so illiterate, and both public and private affairs so
disturbed, should attend at all to metaphysical studies
is extraordinary ; but that Alfred, the king whose life
was so embarrassed by disease and warlike tumult,
should have had either leisure or inclination to culti-
vate them, and should have reasoned upon them with
so much concise good sense as the following extracts
86 This, which is the best part of the metrum of Boetius, is literally thus :
" Grant my mind, O Father ! to ascend to thine august seat. Grant it to survey
the source of good ; grant it, with the attained light, to fix the visible eyes of its
intellect on thee. Cast off the clouds and weight of this terrestrial mass, and shine on
it in thy splendour ; for Thou art serenity ; thou are rest to the pious. To behold
thee is our end, O origin, supporter, leader, path, and termination !" Lib. iii. met. 9.
87 Alfred, pp. 77 — 80. May we not say, without exaggeration, that Alfred has
improved upon his original ?
E 3
54 HISTORY OP THE
BOOK will show that he did, is not the least surprising cir-
. v- ^ cumstance in his character. But a sagacious judgment
attended him in every thing that he attempted.
How clearly has Alfred apprehended, and with
what congenial enlargement and philosophy of mind
has he in his own way stated and condensed, the rea-
soning, more diffused and not so clear, of Boetius, on
chance. The sentence in italics is rather implied than
expressed, in Boetius88: —
On chance. « « it is nought when men say that any thing happens by chance,
because everything comes from some other things or causes, there-
fore it has not happened from chance ; but if it came not from any
thing, then it would have occurred from chance/
" * Then,' said I, ' whence first came the name ? ' Then, quoth
he, * My darling, Aristotle mentioned it in the book that is called
Fisica.' Then said I, * How does he explain it ? ' He answered,
* Men said formerly, when any thing happened to them unex-
pectedly, that this was by chance. As if any one should now dig
the earth, and find there a treasure of gold, and should then say
that this happened by chance. But yet, I know that if the digger
had not dug into the earth, and no man before had hidden the gold
there, he would by no means have found it. Therefore it was not
found by chance.' " 89
Could any reasoner have put this philosophical doc-
trine more correctly or concisely ?
In the fifth book, we have Alfred's thoughts on the
liberty of human actions. They are founded on the
suggestions of Boetius90; but he not only selects
from his original what he liked on this subject, and
compressed what he found diffused, into a small and
expressive compass, but he states it so much in his
own manner, as to show that he had well considered
the subject, and has given us his genuine sentiments
upon it : —
On the " I would ask thee, whether we have any freedom or any power,
freedom of what we should do, or what we should not do ? or does the Divine
the will. pre-ordination or fate compel us to that which we wish ?
" Then, said he, * We have much power. There is no rational
HS
See Boet. lib. v. prosa 1. 89 Alfred, p. 139.
In his fifth book.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
55
creature which has not freedom. He that hath reason may judge
and discriminate what he should will, and what he should shun ;
and every man hath this freedom, that he knows what he should
will and what he should not will. All rational creatures have a
like freedom. Angels have right judgments, and good will, and
all that they desire they obtain very easily, because they wish
nothing wrong. But no creature hath freedom and reason, except
angels and men. Men have always freedom ; and the more of it
as they lead their minds towards divine things. But they have
less freedom when they incline their minds near to this world's
wealth and honours. They have no freedom, when they them-
selves subject their own wills to the vices ; but, so soon as they
turn away their mind from good, they are blinded with unwise-
ness.'
CHAP.
ii.
All the good sense of this much-agitated discussion
seems to be condensed in these clear and forcible
passages.
Alfred, instead of translating the subsequent ob-
servations of Boetius, has inserted the following ques-
tions, and their answers from his own mind. The
answer contains an illustration, that strongly shows
his own high-mindedness as a king, in loving to have
free men in his court : —
Quoth he, Why men
have free-
"I said, 'I am sometimes very much disturbed.'
' At what ? ' I answered :
" * It is at this which thou sayest, that God gives to every one d°m of
freedom to do evil, as well as good, whichsoever he will ; and thou w '
sayest also, that God knoweth every thing before it happens ; and
thou also sayest, that nothing happens, but that God wills, or
consents to it ; and thou sayest that it shall all go as he has ap-
pointed. Now, I wonder at this : why he should consent that evil
men should have freedom that they may do evil, as well as good,
whichsoever they will, when he knew before that they would do
evil.'
" Then quoth he, ' I may very easily answer thee this remark.
How would it now look to you, if there were any very powerful
king, and he had no freemen in all his kingdom, but that all were
slaves ? '
" Then said I, * It would not be thought by me right, nor also
reasonable, if servile men only should attend upon him.'
" Then quoth he, ' It would be more unnatural, if God, in all
his kingdom, had no free creature under his power. Therefore he
made two rational creatures free ; angels and men. He gave them
the great gift of freedom. Hence they could do evil as well as
91 Alfred, p. 140.
E 4
56 HISTOEY OF THE
BOOK good, whichsoever they would. He gave this very fixed gift, and
V. a very fixed law with that gift to every man unto his end. The
' ' ' freedom is, that man may do what he will ; and the law is, that he
will render to every man according to his works, either in this
world or in the future one ; good or evil, whichsoever he doeth.
Men may obtain through this freedom whatsoever they will ; but
they cannot escape death, though they may by good conduct
hinder it, so that it shall come later. Indeed, they may defer it to
old age, if they do not want good will for good works.'
" Then said I, * Thou hast well removed that doubt.' " 92
This solution of the difficulty proposed, shows that
Alfred was the true king of an English people. He
felt from his own great heart, that the Divine Sove-
reign must prefer to govern free men rather than
slaves ; because such were his own sentiments as a
king. The force of his answer rested on this noble
feeling. If it be derogatory to the dignity of an
earthly monarch, to have only slaves for his subjects,
how much more unnatural would it be, that the King
of kings should have no creatures with free will.
The following passages on the same metaphysical
subject are also Alfred's own compositions, which he
inserts instead of the reasoning of Boetius. They
obviously express his own feelings, and investiga-
tions, and the arguments by which his doubts were
satisfied : —
On the Di- " But I am yet grieved with much more trouble, even to
vine Pro- sadness.
vidence. « what is thy grief about ?
" It is about the Divine Providence. Because we heard it,
some while since, said, that all shall happen as God, at the be-
ginning, had appointed, and that no man can change it. Now
methinketh, that he errs, when he honoureth the good, and also
when he punishes the evil ; if it be true, that it was so shaped by
him, that they cannot do otherwise. We labour unnecessarily
when we pray, and when we fast, or give alms, if we have no more
merit from it, than those that in all things proceed according to
their own will, and run after their bodily pleasures."
The answer begins by a reference to Cicero, whom
Boetius had cited for the argument, for which Alfred
92 Alfred, pp. 141, 142.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 57
had substituted his own difficulty. But he deviates CHAP.
immediately into reasoning of his own. .
" I tell thee, if this be true, we ought to say, that it was an
unnecessary commandment in the divine books, that God should
order man to forsake evil and do good: and, again, the saying
which he expressed, that the more a man laboureth the greater
reward he shall receive. I wonder why thou hast forgotten all
that we spoke about before. We said before, that the Divine
Providence wrought every good and no evil, nor appointed any to
be made, nor ever made any ; but that indeed we are directed to
good.
" It is thought evil by common people that He should avenge
or punish any one for his evil.
" But, did we not also say in this same book, that God had
appointed freedom to be given to men, and made them free ; and
that if they held this freedom well, he would greatly dignify them
with everlasting power ; and that if they injured this freedom, that
he would then punish them with death ?
" He has appointed, that if they sin in any thing against this
freedom, they shall, by penitence, compensate for it, to recover
that freedom ; and if any of them will be so hard-hearted, that he
will do no repentance, that he shall then have a just punishment.
" He has appointed all creatures to be servants, except angels
and men, and hence they are the servants of these other creatures.
They have their ministerial duties till doomsday. But men and
angels, they are free. He dispenses with their servitude.
" What ! can men say, that the Divine Providence has appointed
this, that they should not fulfil these duties, or how ? May they
neglect them ; that they may not do good ? Now it is written that
God will render to every man according to his works. Why then
should any man be idle, that he work not? —
" Then said I, ' It is obvious enough to me, that God knew it
all before, both good and evil, before it happened. But I know
not, whether that shall all happen unchangeably, which he knows
and has appointed.'
" ' Then,' quoth he, * THERE is NO NEED THAT ALL SHOULD
HAPPEN UNCHANGEABLY: though some of it shall happen un-
changeably. This will be that, which will be best for our neces-
sities ; and that will be his will. But there are some so instructed
that there is no necessity for this ; and though its being done
would neither injure, nor benefit, nor be any harm, yet it will not
be done.'
" ' Think now, by thyself, whether thou hast appointed any
thing so firmly, that thou thinkest that it shall never be changed
by thy will, nor that thou canst be without it : or whether thou
again art so divided in opinion, on any thought, whether it shall
happen to help thee, or whether it shall not. Many are the things
which God knows before they happen ; and he knows also whether
it will hurt his creatures that they should happen. But he knows
58' HISTORY OF THE
not this for the purpose of willing that they should happen, but
that he may take previous care that they should not happen. Thus
a good ship-steerer perceives many a stormy wind before it occurs,
and folds his sail, and awhile also lays down his mast, and then
abides the beating, if, before the threatening of the adverse wind,
he can warn himself against the weather.'" ^
In this train of original reasoning, it is remarkable,
that Alfred's sound and practical understanding
has fixed itself on the true solution of this difficult
question. The Deity foresees, \vhen He pleases, all
things that can happen, not that every thing which
He foresees should happen ; but that He may select
out of the possibilities which his foresight anticipates,
those things which it will be most beneficial to his
creation to take place; but He does not even will
these unalterably. He binds himself in no chains.
His laws are not made to be immutable, when the
course and changes of circumstances make alteration
advisable. " There is no need," as our royal sage
intimates, " that all things should unchangeably
happen." Alfred felt it to be wiser, from his own
experience, to reserve and exercise the right of making
new determinations and arrangements as new exi-
gencies occurred ; and he has reasonably applied the
same principle to the Divine Government. The Deity
could make all things unchangeable if he pleased, and
could from all eternity have so appointed them. But
there was no need for his doing this. It was wiser
and more expedient that he should not do so. He is
under no necessity, at all times, or at any time, to
exert all his possibilities of power. He uses on every
occasion so much of it as that occasion requires, but
no more. He involves himself in no fetters of ne-
cessity. He is always doing what it is the best and
fittest to do, and reserves to himself the right and
the freedom of making at every period whatever new
93 Alfred, pp. 142—144.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 59
arrangement the progress or the new positions or CHAP.
the welfare of his creation requires. ^
Thus Alfred has hit upon the real wisdom of opinion
on this contested subject, which both theologians and
metaphysicians have failed to attain. He could not
have left a more impressive instance of the penetrat-
ing sagacity of his clear and honest mind.
Boetius was advancing to the point, but missed it ;
for he seems to have thought, like most, that what-
ever was foreseen must occur. Alfred's idea of an
exerted foresight to choose from, without the neces-
sity of the thing foreseen therefore unalterably oc-
curring, was a beautiful distinction of his correct
judgment.
Instead of the reasoning of Boetius, in the fifth
prosa of his last book. Alfred substitutes the fol-
lowing of his own : —
" Then said I, * Thou hast very well helped me by this speech. On human
I wonder why so many wise men should have laboured so much nature and
on this subject, and have found out so little that was wise/
" Then, quoth he, * Why wonderest thou so much ? Is it so
easy to be understood ? How ! knowest thou not, that many things
are not understood so as they exist ; but according to the quality
of the understanding of him that inquires after them. Such is
wisdom. No man from this world can understand it, such as it
really is ; though every one strives according to the quality of his
understanding, that he may perceive it if he can. Wisdom may
entirely comprehend us, such as we are, though we may not
wholly comprehend that, such as it is in itself; because wisdom is
God. He seeth all our works, both good and evil, before they are
done, or for this purpose, thought. But he compels us not to this,
that we must necessarily do the good ; nor prevents us from doing
evil; because he has given us freedom. I can teach thee also
some examples, by which thou mayest the easier understand this
speech. What ! thou knowest the sight, and the hearing, and the
taste : they perceive the body of man, and yet they perceive it not
alike. The ears perceive so that they hear, but they perceive not
yet the body entirely as it is : our sense of feeling must touch it,
and feel that it is the bodj\ We cannot feel whether this be black
or white, fair or not fair; but the sight at the beginning turns to
these points ; and as the eyes look on things, they perceive all the
appearance of the body. But I will give thee some further ex-
planation, that thou mayest know that which thou wonderest at.'
(50 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK " Then said I, ' What is this?'
V. « He said, « It is that man understands only that which he
' • ' separately perceives in others. He perceives separately through
his eyes ; separately through his ears ; separately through his
nostrils; separately by his reason; separately by his wise com-
prehension. There are many living things that are unmoving,
such as shell-fish are ; and these have yet some portion of per-
ception ; or they would not else live, if they had no grain of per-
ception. Some can see, some can hear, some taste, some smell ;
but the moving animals are more like man, because they have all
that the unmoving creatures have, and also more too. This is,
that they obey men. They love what loves them, and hate what
hates them ; and they fly from what they hate, and seek what they
love. But men have all that we have before mentioned, and also
add to them the great gift of reason. Angels have a still wiser
understanding.
" ' Hence are these creatures thus made, that the unmoving shall
not exalt themselves above the moving ones, nor contend with
them ; nor the moving ones above men ; nor men above angels ;
nor angels strive against God.
" ' But this is miserable, that the greatest part of men look not
to that which is given to them, that is, reason ; nor seek that which
is above them, which is what angels and wise men have ; this is
a wise understanding. But most men now move with cattle, in
this, that they desire the lusts of the world like cattle. If we now
had any portion of an unhesitating understanding, such as angels
have, then we might perceive that such an understanding would
be much better than our reason. Though we investigate many
things, we have little ready knowledge free from doubt. But to
angels there is no doubt of any of those things which they know,
because their ready knowledge is much better than our reasoning ;
as our reasoning is better than the perceptions of animals. Any
portion of understanding that is given to them, is either to those
that are prone, or to those that are erect. But let us now elevate
our minds as supremely as we may towards the high roof of the
highest understanding, that thou mayest most swiftly and most
easily come to thine own kindred from whence thou earnest before.
There may thy mind and thy reason see openly that which they
now doubt about ; — every thing, whether of the Divine prescience,
which we have been discoursing on, or of our freedom, or of all
such things.'"94
What an easy flow of reasoning, on topics, which
the Aristotelian schoolmen afterwards bewildered
without improving !
If it be interesting to read the philosophical rea-
sonings of great men on the sublime subject of Deity,
94 Alfred, pp. 144—146.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 61
and on that which constitutes the supreme good, it is CHAP.
peculiarly so to observe how Alfred treats of it, when • — 'r — »
we recollect the age he lived in, and the barbaric
minds with which he was surrounded. He has en-
larged so copiously on the suggestions of Boetius95,
added so much to his text, inserted so much vigour
of reasoning, and also thrown it so much more into
dialogue, that it claims our attention as another spe-
cimen of his original composition. He argues and
thinks like a Platonic philosopher.
" I would ask thee first one thing. Whether thinkest thou that On the
any thing in this world is so good as that it may give us full Divine
happiness ? I ask this of thee. I do not wish that any false nature*
likeness should deceive you and me, instead of the true comfort ;
for no man can deny that some good must be the most superior.
Just as there is some great and deep fountain, from which many
brooks and rivers run. Hence men say of some advantages, that
they are not complete good, because there is some little deficiency
in them, which they are not entirely without. Yet every thing
would go to naught, if it had not some good in it.
" From this you may understand, that from the greatest good
come the less goods ; not the greatest from the less : no more than
the river can be the spring and source, though the spring may
flow into a river. As the river may return again to the spring, so
every good cometh from God, and returns to him ; and he is the
full and the perfect good; and there is no deficiency of will in
him. Now you may clearly understand that this is God himself.
" Then answered I, and said, ' Thou hast very rightly and very
rationally overcome and convinced me. I cannot deny this, nor
indeed think otherwise, but that it is all so as thou sayest.'
" Then said Wisdom, * Now I would that thou shouldest think
carefully till thou understand where true happiness is. How!
knowest thou not, that all mankind are with one mind consenting
that God is the beginning of all good things, and the governor of
all creatures? He is the supreme good. No man now doubts
this, because he knows nothing better, and indeed nothing equally
good. Hence every reasoning tells us, and all men confess the
same, that God is the highest good. Thus they signify that all
good is in him ; for if it were not, then he would not be that which
he is called; but something has existed before him or is more
excellent. Then that would be better than he is; but nothing
was ever before him, nor more excellent than he is, nor more
precious than himself. Hence he is the beginning, and the
fountain, and the roof of all good. This is clear enough. Now it
95 The reader may compare, with the king's effusion, Boetius, lib. iii. prosa 10.
62 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK is openly shown, that the true felicities are in no other existing
V. thing but in God.'
'— v * " Then said I, ' I am consenting to this.'
« Then he answered, 'I conjure thee that thou rationally under-
stand this ; that God is full of every perfection, and of every good,
and of every happiness.'
« I then replied, ' I cannot fully understand it. Wherefore tell
me again, the same that thou didst mention before.'
" He said, * Then I will say it again. I would not that thou
shouldest think this, that God is the father and the origin of all
creatures, and yet that his supreme goodness, of which he is full,
comes to him from any where from without. I also would not
have thee think that any other can be his good and happiness but
himself; because, if thou supposest that the good which he hath
comes to him any where from without, then that thing from which
it comes to him would be better than he, if there were such. But
it is very silly, and a very great sin, that men should think so of
God ; either to suppose again, that any thing were before him, or
better than he is, or like him. But we should agree that he is the
best of all things.
" ' If thou now believest that God exists so as men are, either
he is a man that hath soul and body, or his goodness is that which
gathereth good elsewhere, and then holds it together, and rules it.
If thou then believest that it is so with God, then shalt thou
necessarily believe that some power is greater than his, which it
so unites as that it maketh the course of things. But whatever
thing is divided from others is distinct, — is another thing, though
they may be placed together. If, then, any thing be divided from
the highest good, it will not be that highest good. Yet it would
be a great sin to think of God, that there could be any good
without him, or any separated from him. Hence nothing is better
than He is, or even as good. What thing can be better than its
creator? Hence I say, with juster reason, that He is the supreme
good in his own nature, which is the origin of all things.'
" Then I said, ( Now thou hast very rightly convinced me.'
" Then quoth he, ' Did I not before tell thee that the supreme
good and the highest happiness were one ? ' I answered, * So it
is.' He replied, ' Shall we then say that this is any thing else but
God ? ' I said, ' I cannot deny this ; because I assented to it
before.'"^
The following passages are from Alfred's own pen.
Speaking of the Deity, he adds : —
" ' HE is the stem and the foundation of all blessings. From
Him all good cometh, and every thing tends to Him again. HE
governs ^them all. Thus HE is the beginning, and the support of
all blessings. They come from Him so as the light and brightness
of the planets come from the sun : some are brighter, some are less
96 Alfred, pp. 81—83.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 63
bright. So also the moon ; he enlightens as much as the sun CHAP.
shines on him. When she shineth all over him, then is he all n.
bright.' ' * '
" When I heard these observations I was then astonished, and
much awed, and exclaimed, ' This is a wonderful, and delightful,
and reasonable observation which thou now expressest to me ! '
" He answered, l It is not more pleasant nor wiser than the
thing that thy discourse was about. We will now talk about that ;
because methinketh it good that we connect this with the former.'
Then replied I, « What is that ? 5"97
After this, the concise question of Boetius, whether
" the several things of which beatitude consists do
not unite, as it were, in one body of blessedness, with
a certain variety of parts, or whether any one of
them hath it complete to which the rest may be
referred98," is thus amplified and commented upon by
Alfred with his own illustrations and reasonings : —
" ' What I expressed to thee before was, that God was happi-
ness ; and that from this true felicity come all the other goods
that we discoursed about before ; and return to him. Thus from
the sea the water cometh into the earth, and there freshens it-
self. It proceedeth then up into a spring ; it goeth then into a
brook ; then into a river ; then along the river till it floweth again
into the sea. But I would now ask thee how thou hast under-
stood this assertion? Whether dost thou suppose that the five
goods which we have often mentioned before, that is, power,
dignities, celebrity, abundance, and bliss ; — I would know whether
you suppose that those goods were limbs of the true felicity, so
as a man's limbs are those of one person, and belong all to one
body ? Or dost thou think that some one of the five goods makes
the true felicity, and afterwards that the four others become its
goods : as now the soul and body compose one man ?
" i The one man hath many limbs, and yet to these two, that is,
to the soul and the body, belong all this man's comforts both
spiritual and corporeal. It is now the good of the body that a
man be fair and strong, and long and broad, with many other
excellences besides these. Yet they are not the body itself ;
because, though he should lose any of these good things, he
would still be what he was before. Then the excellences of
the soul are, prudence, moderation, patience, righteousness, and
wisdom, and many such virtues ; and yet, as the soul is one thing,
so the virtues are another.'
" I then said, « 1 wish that thou woulclest explain to me yet
more clearly, about the other goods that belong to the true felicity.'
" He answered, * Did I not inform thee before, that the true
97 Alfred, p. 84. » Boet. lib. iii. pr. 10.
4 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK happiness is God ? ' ' Yes/ I replied, < thou hast said he was the
V. supreme good.' Then quoth he, « Art thou now consenting that
» ; power, and dignities, and fame, and plenty, and joy, and happiness,
and the supreme good, are all one ; and that this one must be the
Deity?'
" I said, ' How should I now deny this ? ' Then he answered,
' Whether dost thou think that those things which are the limbs
of the true felicity is that felicity itself? '
" 1 replied, ' I know now what thou wouldest say ; but it will
please me better that you should speak to me some while about it
than ask me.' He then said, ' How ! couldest thou not reflect that
if these goods were limbs of the true felicity, they would be some-
what distinct from it as a man's limbs are from his body ? But
the nature of these limbs is that they make up one body, and yet
are not wholly alike.'
"I then remarked, 'Thou needest no more speak about it.
Thou hast explained it to me clearly enough that these goods are
no-whit separated from the true felicity.'
" Then quoth he, * Thou comprehendest it right enough. Thou
now understandest that all good is the same that happiness is, and
this happiness is the supreme good, and the supreme good is GOD,
and GOD is always inseparably one.'
" I said, « There is no doubt of it. But I wish you now to dis-
course to me a little on what is unknown.' ""
All the preceding is the addition of Alfred to the
short suggestion already given from Boetius.
Shortly after the above occurs the tenth metrum
of Boetius100, which Alfred paraphrases, or rather
imitates, so as to make the whole of it, in point of
composition, his own, and nearly so in its thoughts.
It is Alfred's corollary from the preceding dialogue.
'* Well ! O men ! Well ! Every one of you that be free tend to
this good, and to this felicity ; and he that is now in bondage with
the fruitless love of this world let him seek liberty, that he may
come to this felicity. For this is the only rest of all our labours.
This is the only port always calm after the storms and billows of
99 Alfred, pp. 84 — 86.
100 The original is : " Come here, all ye that are thus captivated ; whom de-
ceitful desire, dulling your earthly minds, binds with its wicked chains ; here will
be rest from your labours ; here, a serene port where you may remain quiet. This
is the only asylum open to the wretched. Tagus never gave any thing in its
golden sands, nor Hermus from his ruddy bank, or Indus near the heated circle,
mingling green with white stones. They blaze to the sight, and the more conceal
the blinded mind within their darkness. In this, whatever pleases and excites the
mind, the low earth nourishes in its caverns. The splendour with which heaven
is governed and flourishes shuns the obscure ruins of the soul. Whoever can note
this light, will deny the bright rays of Phoebus." Boet. lib. iii. met. 10.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 65
our toils. This is the only station of peace ; the only comforter
of grief after all the sorrows of the present life. The golden
stones and the silvery ones, and jewels of all kinds, and all the
riches before us, will not enlighten the eyes of the mind, nor
improve their acuteness to perceive the appearance of the true
felicity. They rather blind the mind's eyes than make them
sharper; because all things that please here, in this present life,
are earthly ; because they are flying. But the admirable bright-
ness that brightens all things and governs all ; it will not destroy
the soul, but will enlighten it. If, then, any man could perceive
the splendour of the heavenly light with the pure eyes of his mind,
he would then say that the radiance of the shining of the sun is
not superior to this, — is not to be compared to the everlasting
brightness of God." i°i
The last chapter of his Boetius is Alfred's composi-
tion. He has taken a few hints from his original102,
but he has made what he has borrowed his own, by
his mode of expression, and he has added from his
own mind all the rest. It is a fine exhibition of his
enlightened views and feelings on that great subject,
which has, in every age, so much interested the truly
philosophical mind ; and we may add, that no one has
contemplated it with more sympathy, rationality, and
even sublimity, than our illustrious king. His de-
scription of the Deity is entirely his own. —
" Hence we should with all our power inquire after GOD, that
we may know what He is. Though it should not be our lot to
know what He is, yet we should, from the dignity of the under-
standing which he has given us, try to explore it.
"Every creature, both rational and irrational, discovers this
that God is eternal. Because so many creatures, so great and so
fair, could never be subject to less creatures and to less power
than they all are, nor indeed to many equal ones.
" Then said I, « What is eternity ? '
" He answered, ' Thou hast asked me a great and difficult thing
to comprehend. If thou wilt understand it, thou must first have
the eyes of thy mind clean and lucid. I may not conceal from
thee what I know of this.
" * Know thou that there are three things in this world : one is
temporary ; to this there is both a beginning and an end : and I
do not know any creature that is temporary, but hath his begin-
"i Alfred, pp. 87, 88.
102 How few these are may be seen by those who read the last chapter of Boetius,
Lib. v. pr. 6.
VOL. II. F
66 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK ning and his end. Another thing is eternal which hath a begin-,
v. ning, but hath not an end : I know not when it began, but I
' » ' know that it will never end : such are angels and the souls of
men. The third thing is eternal, both without end, and without
beginning : this is God. Between these three there is a very
great discrimination. If we were to investigate all this subject
we should come late to the end of this book, or never.
" ' But one thing thou must necessarily know of this previously
— Why is God called the Highest Eternity ? '
"Then said I, 'Why?'
" Then quoth he, * Because we know very little of that which
was before us, except by memory and by asking ; and yet we
know less of that which will be after us. That alone exists
rationally to us which is present ; but to HIM all is present, as
well that which was before as that which now is : and that
which after us will be. All of it is present to HIM.
" ' His riches increase not, nor do they ever diminish. HE
never remembers any thing, because He never forgets aught : He
seeks nothing, nor inquires, because He knows it all : He searches
for nothing, because He loses nothing : He pursues no creature,
because none can fly from Him : He dreads nothing, because
He knows no one more powerful than Himself, nor even like Him.
He is always giving and never wants. He is always Almighty,
because He always wishes good, and never evil. To Him there
is no need of any thing. He is always seeing : He never sleeps :
He is always alike mild and kind : He will always be eternal.
Hence there never was a time that He was not, nor ever will be.
He is always free. He is not compelled to any work. From His
divine power He is every where present. His greatness no man
can measure. He is not to be conceived bodily, but spiritually, so
as now wisdom is and reason. But He is wisdom : He is reason
itself.'"103
We can scarcely believe that we are perusing the
written thoughts of an Anglo-Saxon of the ninth cen-
tury, who could not even read till he was twelve
years old; wno could then find no instructors to
teach him what he wished ; whose kingdom was over-
run by the fiercest and most ignorant of barbarian
invaders ; whose life was either continual battle or
continual disease ; and who had to make both his own
mind and the minds of all about him. How great
must have been Alfred's genius, that, under circum-
stances so disadvantageous, could attain to such great
and enlightened conceptions !
103 Alfred, pp. 147, 148.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 67
CHAP. III.
ALFRED'* Geographical, Historical, Astronomical, Botanical, and
other Knowledge.
ALFRED'S translation of Orosius l is peculiarly va- CHAP.
luable for the new geographical matter which he . IIL
inserted in it.2 This consists of a sketch of the HIS trans-
chief German nations in his time, and an account of orosiiwf
the voyages of Ohthere to the North Pole, and of
Wulfstan to the Baltic, during his reign. Alfred
does in this as in all his translations : he omits some
chapters, abbreviates others ; sometimes rather imi-
tates than translates ; and often inserts new para-
graphs of his own.
It is clear, from these additions, that Alfred was HIS geo-
fond of geography, and was active both to increase 1^°^
and diffuse the knowledge of it. Some little insertions ledge-
in his Boetius implied this fact ; for he introduces
there a notice of the positions of the Scythians3,
and derives the Goths from them 4 ; and mentions
Ptolemy's description of the world.5 But it is in
his Orosius that the extent of his researches is most
displayed. The first part of his original is a geogra-
phical summary of the nations and kingdoms of the
world in the fifth century. Alfred has interspersed
1 Orosius ends his summary of ancient history and geography in 416, when he
was alive. He quotes some historians now lost ; as Claudius on the Roman conquest
of Macedonia, and Antias on the war with the Cimbri and Teutones ; and appears
to have read Tubero's history, and an ancient history of Carthage.
2 The principal MS. of Alfred's translation is in the Cotton library, Tiber, b. i.
which is very ancient and well written. A transcript of this, with a translation,
was printed by Mr. Daines Barrington, in 1773.
3 Alfred's Boet. p. 39. 4 Ibid. p. 1.
8 Ibid. p. 38. He enlarges on Boetius's account of Etna.
r 2
BOOK
V.
68 HISTORY OF THE
in this some few particulars 6, which prove that he
^ had sought elsewhere for the information he loved.
Having done this, he goes beyond his original, and
inserts a geographical review of Germany, as it was
peopled in his time ; which is not only curious as
coming from his pen, and as giving a chorographical
map of the Germanic continent of the ninth century,
which is no where else to be met with of that period ;
but also as exhibiting his enlarged views and inde-
fatigable intellect. No common labour must have
been exerted to have collected, in that illiterate age,
in which intercourse was so rare and difficult, so
much geographical information. It is too honour-
able to his memory to be omitted in this delineation
of his intellectual pursuits.
Alfred's " Then north against the source of the Donua (Danube), and to
notitia of the east of the Rhine, are the East Francan ; south of them are
Germany, the Swasfas (Swabians); on the other part of the Danube, and
south of them, and to the east, are the Baegthware (Bavarians),
in the part which men call Regnes-burgh7 ; right east of them
are the Berne (Bohemians) ; and to the north-cast the Thyringas
(Thuringians) ; north of them are the Eald Seaxan ; and north-
west of them are the Frysan (Frisians).
" West of the Eald Seaxan is the mouth of the ^Ife river (the
Elbe), and Frysland ; and thence west-north, is that land which
men call Angle and Sillende (Zealand), and some part of Dena
(Denmark) ; north of them is Apdrede8 ; and east-north the Wilds
that men call -ZEfeldan ; and east of them is Wineda land, that
men call Sysyle (Silesians), and south-east over some part Maroaro
(the Moravians) ; and these Maroaro have west of them the
Thyringas and Behemas (Bohemians), and half of the Bavarians ;
6 Thus, Orosius says, Asia is surrounded on three sides by the ocean. Alfred
adds, on the south, north, and east. What Orosius calls " our sea," meaning the
Mediterranean, Alfred names Wenbel rie. Sarmaticus, he translates repmonbirc.
O. speaks of Albania. A. says it is so named in Latin, " anb pe by hatatb nu
Friobene." O. mentions the boundaries of Europe ; A. gives them in different
phrases, mentions the source of the Rhine and Danube, and names the Cpaen rse.
Speaking of Gades, he adds, "On tbaem ilcan Wenbel rae on hype Wejtenbe ir
Scoclanb." He adds also of the Tygris, that it flows south into the Red Sea.
Several little traits of this sort may be observed.
7 Ratisbon ; the Germans call it Regensburgh. The modern names added to
this extract are from J. R.Forster's notes. I have in this, as in all the extracts
from Alfred s works, made the translation as literal as possible, that his exact phrases
may be seen,
8 The Obotritee settled in Mecklenburgh.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 69
south of them, on the other half of the river Danube is the land CHAP.
Carendre (Carinthia.) South to the mountains that men call ni.
Alpis. To these same mountains lie the boundaries of the •
Bavarian's land, and Swabians : and then by the east of Carendra
land, beyond the deserts, is Pulgara land (Bulgaria) ; east of this
is Creca land (Greece) ; east of Maroaro land is Wisleland9 ; east
of this is Datia, where formerly were the Gottan (the Goths).
" North-east of Maroara are the Dulamensan 10 ; and east of the
Dalomensan are the Horithi ; and north of the Dalomensan are
the Surpe11, and west of them are the Sysele. North of the
Horiti is Maegthalond ; and north of Msegthalande is Sermende
(the Sarmata3), to the Riffin (Riphaean) mountains.
" South-west of the Denum is that arm of the ocean which lieth
about the land Brittannia, and north of them is that arm of the
sea which men call Ost Sea.12 To the east of them, and to the
north of them, are the North Dene, both on the greater lands
and on the islands ; and east of them are the Afdrede ; south of
them is the mouth of the river ^Elfe, and some part of Eald
Seaxna.
" The North Dene have on their north that same arm of the
sea which men call Ost ; and east of them are the Osti 13 nation,
and Afdrede on the south. The Osti have on the north of them
the same arm of the sea, and the Winedas and Burgendas l4 ; and
south of them are the Hasfeldan.
" The Burgendan have the same arm of the sea west of them,
and the Sweon (Swedes) on the north ; east of them are the
Sermende ; south of them are the Surfe. The Sweon have to the
south of them the Osti arm of the sea ; east of them are the
Sermende ; and north over the wastes is Cwenland ; north-west
are the Scride Finnas ; and west, the Northmenn."
Such are the notitia of Germany, which Alfred
has inserted in his Orosius. As they display the
ideas of an inquisitive king, on the positions of the
German nations in the ninth century, they are va-
luable to geographers.
To this delineation of Germany, Alfred adds an
interesting account of the voyage of Ohthere towards
9 Wisleland is that part of Poland which is commonly called Little Poland, for
here the Vistula rises, which in Polish is called Wisla.
10 Dalamensse are those Sclavoniuns who formerly inhabited Silesia from Moravia,
as far as Glogau, along the Oder. Wittekind calls them Sclavi Dalamanti.
11 The Sorabi, Sorbi, or Sorvi, who lived in Lusatia, and Misnia, and part of
Brandenburgh and Silesia, below Glogau ; their capital was Soraw, a town which
still exists. I vary the orthography as the MS. does.
12 The Germans have for the Baltic no other name than the Ost Sea.
13 The same whom Wulfstan calls the Estum. The northernmost part of Livonia
still bears the name of Estland.
11 Bornholm, the contraction of Borgundeholm, Wulfstan calls Burgundaland.
p 3
70 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK the North Pole 15, and of the voyage of Wulfstari in
. y> . the Baltic. As it is the king's composition, and gives
a curious sketch of several nations in the ninth cen-
tury, we think it a duty to insert it.
"Ohthere said to his lord, king Alfred, that he abode the
northmost of all the Northmen. He declared, that he abode on
those lands northward against the West Sea. He said, that that
land is very long to the north, and is all waste except in few
places : the Finnas dwell scattered about ; they hunt in winter,
and in summer they fish in the sea,
" He said, that on some occasion he wished to find out how long
that land stretched to the north, or whether any man abode to the
north of those wastes. Then went he right north of those lands,
leaving the waste land all the way on the starboard, and the wide
sea on the back-board (larboard). He was for three days as far
north as the whale-hunters farthest go. Then went he yet right
north as far as he might sail for three other days ; the land bent
there right east, or the sea in on that land, he knew not whether ;
but he knew, that he there expected a west wind, or a little to
the north. He sailed thence east of the land, so as he might
in four days sail. Then should he there abide a right north wind,
because that land inclined right south, or the sea in on that
land, he knew not whether. (He knew not whether it was a mere
bay or the open sea.)
" Then sailed he thence right south of the land, so as he might
in five days sail. Then lay there a great river up in that land.
Then returned they up from that river, because they durst not
sail forth on that river from hostility, for that land was all in-
habited on the other side of the river. Nor had he met before
any inhabited land, since he went from his own home, but to him
all the way was waste land on the starboard, except the fishers,
fowlers, and hunters ; and these were all Finnas : on his lar-
board, there was a wide sea.
" The Beormas had very well inhabited their land, and he durst
not come there ; but Terfinna land was all waste, except where
the hunters, or the fishers, or the fowlers settled.
" The Beormas told him many accounts both of their own lands
and of the lands that were about them ; but he knew not what
was truth, because he did not see it himself. He thought the
Finnas and the Beormas nearly spoke one language. He went
chiefly thither to each of these lands looking for the horse-whales,
because they have very good bone in their teeth. He brought
some of the teeth to the king ; the hides are very good for ship
15 Whoever now reads Oh there's voyage will hardly think it possible that any
one could have so mistaken it, as to say it was a voyage to discover a northern pas-
sage to the East Indies. Yet so Mallet and Voltaire have represented or rather
misrepresented it.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 71
ropes. These whales are much less than the other whales ; they CHAP.
are not longer than seven ells long. HI.
" On his own land are the best whales hunted ; they are forty- ' •
eight ells long, and the largest fifty ells. Of these, he said, that
he was one of six who slew sixty in two days.
" He was a very wealthy man in those possessions that be their
wealth ; that is, in wild deer. He had then yet when he sought
the king 600 unbought tame deer ; these deers they call hranas
(rain -deer). There were six decoy hranas ; they are very dear
amid the Finnas, because they take the wild hranas with them.
" He was amid the first men in those lands, though he had not
more than twenty horned cattle, and twenty sheep, and twenty
swine ; and the little that he ploughed, he ploughed with horses.
But their wealth is most in those gafol that the Finnas pay to
them. These gafol are in deer-skins, and in birds' feathers, and
whales' bones, and in the ship-ropes that be made of the whales'
hides, and of seals.
" Every one pays according to his birth. The best born (or
richest) shall pay fifteen martens' skins, and five hranas, and one
bear skin, and ten ambra of feathers, and a kyrtel of bears' or
otters' skin, and two ship-ropes, each to be sixty ells long ; some
are made of whales' hide, some of seals'.
" He said, that Northmanna land was very long and very small ;
all that men could use of it for pasture or plough lay against the
sea, and even this is in some places very stony. Wild moors lay
against the east, and along the inhabited lands. In these moors
the Finnas dwell.
" The inhabited land is broadest eastward, but northward be-
comes continually smaller. Eastward, it may be sixty miles broad,
or a little broader ; midway, thirty or broader ; and to the north,
he said, where it was smallest, it might be three miles broad to
the moors. The moors are in some places so broad, that a man
might be two weeks in passing over them. In some places their
breadth was such that a man might go over them in six days.
"Even with these lands, southward, on the other side of the
moors is Sweo-land ; to that land, northward, and even with those
northward lands, is Cwenaland. The Cwenas make depredations,
sometimes on the Northmen over the moors (sometimes the North-
men on them) ; and there are many great fresh lakes over these
moors, and the Cwenas carry their ships overland to the lakes,
and thence plunder the Northmen. They have ships very little
and very light.
" Ohthere said, the shire was called Halgoland that he abode
in. He declared that no man abode north of him. There is one
port on the southward of these lands ; this men call Sciringes-
heale ; thither he said a man might not sail in a month, if he
rested at night, and every day had a favourable wind : all the
while he shall sail by the land and on the starboard, the first to
him would be Iraland, and then the islands that are betwixt Ira-
r 4
72
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK land and this land ; then is this land till he comes to Sciringes-
V. heale.
*— -» ' " All the way on the larboard is Norway ; against the south of
Sciringes- heale a very great sea falleth upon that land. It is
broader than any man may see over. Gotland is opposite on the
other side, afterwards Sillende. The sea lieth many hundred
miles up in on that land.
" He said, he sailed from Sciringes-heale in five days to that
port which men call set Hethum. It stands between the Winedum
and Saxons and Angles, and belongs to Denmark.
" When he thitherward sailed from Sciringes-heale, Denmark was
on his larboard, and on his starboard was a wide sea for three
days ; and then two days before he came to Haethum. Gothland
was on his starboard, and Sillende and many islands ; on those
lands the Engle dwelt before they came to this country ; and for
two days the islands were on his larboard that belong to Denmark."
This voyage of Ohthere presents us with an in-
teresting and authentic picture of the manners and
political state of a great portion of the north. The
next is the voyage of W\ilfstan towards the east of
the Baltic.
Wuifstan's " Wulfstan .said, that he went from Hasthum ; that in seven
voyage. days and nights he was in Truso ; that the ship was all the way
running under sail. Weonothland was to him on the starboard,
and on his larboard was Langaland and Leland, and Falster
and Sconeg, and all these lands belong to Denmark ; and then
Burgenda land was to us on the larboard, and they have to
themselves a king.
" Then after Burgenda land were to us those lands that were
called first Blecinga-eg and Meore, and Eowland and Gotland on
the larboard. These lands belong to Sweon. Weonod-land was
all the way to us on starboard to the mouth of the Wisla. The
Wisla is a very great river, and towards it lieth Witland and
Weonod-land. This Witland belongeth to the Estum, and the
Wisla flows out of Weonod-land, and flows in the East Lake.
The East Lake is at least fifteen miles broad.
"Then cometh the Ilfing east into the East Lake. Truso
stands on the banks of this lake, and the Ilfing cometh out in
East Lake, east of Eastlande, together with the Wisla south of
Winodland ; and then Wisla takes away the name of Ilfing, and
tends west of this lake, and north into the sea ; therefore men call
it the mouth of the Wisla.
"This Eastlande is very large, and there be a great many
towns, and in every town there is a king ; and there is a great
quantity of honey and fish. The king and the richest men drink
mare's milk, and the poor and the slaves drink mead. There be
ANGLO-SAXONS. 73
very many battles between them. There is no ale brewed amid CHAP.
the Estum, but there is mead enough. in.
" And there is a custom amid the Estum, that when there is *""""* '
a man dead, he lieth within unburnt, a month amid his relations
and friends — sometimes two months ; and the kings and the
other principal men so much longer, as they have more wealth :
sometimes they be half a year unburnt. They lie above the earth
in their house, and all the while that the body is within, there
shall be drink and plays until the day that they burn them.
" Then the same day that they choose to bear them to the pile,
his property that remains after this drink and play is divided into
five or six parts, sometimes more, as the proportion of his wealth
admits. They lay these along, a mile apart, the greatest portion
from the town, then another, then a third, till it be all laid at one
mile asunder ; and the least part shall be nearest to the town
where the dead man lieth.
" Then shall be collected all the men that have the swiftest
horses in the land, for the way of five miles or six miles from the
property. Then run they all together to the property. Then
cometh the man that hath the swiftest horse to the farthest portion
and to the greatest, and so on one after the other, till all be taken
away ; he taketh the least who is nearest the town, and runs to it ;
then each rides away with his prize, and may have it all ; and
because of this custom the swift horse is inconceivably dear.
" And when the wealth is all thus spent, then they bear the
man out and burn him, with his weapons and garments. Most
frequently all his wealth is spent during the long lying of the
dead man within. What they lay by the way, strangers run for
and take it.
"This is the custom with the Estum, that the men of every
nation shall be burnt ; and if a man finds a bone unburnt, it much
enrages him. There is with the Estum the power of producing
cold, so that there the dead man may lie thus long and not be foul ;
and they make such cold among them, that if any one sets two
vessels full of ale or water, they so do that these shall be frozen
the same in summer as in winter.16
The attachment, of Alfred to history appears, from ms histo-
his translations of Orosius's Abridgment of the His-
tory of the World, and of Bede's History of the
Anglo-Saxon Nation, and from his short sketch of
the History of Theodoric the Gothic king, by whose
order Boetius was confined.17 But from the want
16 For a commentary on this periplus, the reader may consult 2 Langbeck's
Script. Dan. pp. 106 — 123., and the notes of Mr. Foster added to Harrington's Oro-
sius. As it would occupy too large a portion of this work to do it justice, I have
not attempted it here.
17 Alf. Boet. p. 1.
74 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK of proper books, Alfred's acquaintance with ancient
. v- . history appears, from his allusions to it in his
Boetius18, to have been but slight, and not always
accurate.
ms trans- His great historical work was his version of Bede's
BedT °f history into Saxon.19 In this he omits or abridges
sometimes single passages, and sometimes whole chap-
ters. He frequently gives the sense of the Latin in
fewer and simpler words ; but he for the most part
renders his original with sufficient exactness. The
style of the translation is more stately20 than the
dialogues of his Boetius, and therefore has not the
charm of their lively ease and graceful freedom ; but
it shows the variety of his powers of composition,
ms astro- His attention to astronomy appears from his trans-
lation of a metrum of Boetius, in which he rather
imitates than translates his original, and expresses a
few more astronomical ideas than he found there.21
"Which of the unlearned wonder not at the journeying and
swiftness of the firmament ? How he every day revolves round
all this world, outside ! Or who does not admire that some stars
have shorter revolutions than others have, as the stars have that
we call the Waggon-shafts ? They have a short circuit, because
they are near the north end of that axis on which all the firmament
revolves. Or, who is not amazed, except those only who know it,
18 Thus he mentions, p. 39., Cicero's other names ; touches on the Trojan war,
p. 114. ; on the Hydra, p. 126. ; notices Virgil, p. 140. ; and adds a few addi-
tional circumstances, in other places, to the names of the persons mentioned by
Boetius.
19 This translation was formerly published by Wheloc, from three MSS., two at
Cambridge, and one in the Cotton Library ; but the best edition of it is that ap-
pended by Smith to his Latin Bede, Cantab. 1722, with the various readings and a
few notes. Alfred's translation is mentioned by Elfric, who lived in 994, in his
Anglo-Saxon Homily on St. Gregory, "anb eac ijtonia Anslonum tha the
Aelpjieb cynms op Leben on Cnshrc apenb." Elstob. Sax. Horn. p. 2.
20 Dr. Hickes.says of it, that neither Caesar nor Cicero ever wrote more perfectly
in the middle species of composition. Pref. Gram. Angl. Sax. This is too warm
an encomium for a translation.
21 The passage in Boetius is : « If any one should not know that the stars of
Arcturus glide near the pole ; or why Boetes slowly drives his wain, and immergcs
his fires late in the sea, while he urges rapid their ascent ; he will wonder at the
law of the lofty sky. The horns of the full moon may grow pale, affected by the
departure of the dark night, and Phebe, overshadowed herself, discovers the stars
which her radiant face had concealed. A general error then disturbs the nations,
and they tire their cymbals with frequent blows."
ANGLO-SAXONS. 75
that some stars have a longer circuit than others have, and the
longest, those which revolve round the axis midway, as now
Boetes doth ? So the planet Saturn comes not to where he was
before till about thirty winters. Or, who does not wonder at some
stars departing under the sea, as some men think the sun doth,
when she goeth to rest ? But she is not nearer the sea than she
was at mid-day. Who is not amazed at this, that the full moon is
covered over with darkness ? or, again, that the stars shine before
the moon, but do not shine before the sun ?
" They wonder at this 22, and many such like things, and do not
wonder that men and all living animals have perpetual and un-
necessary enmities betwixt themselves. Or, why should they
wonder at this, that it sometimes thunders, and sometimes that
there begins a conflict of the sea and the winds, and the waves
and the land ? or why that this should be ; and again, that the
sun should shine according to his own nature ? But the unsteady
folk wonder enough at that which they most seldom see, though
this is less surprising. They think that all else is but old creation,
but that the casual is something new. Yet, when they become
curious, and begin to learn, if God takes from their mind the folly
that it was covered with before, then they wonder not at many
things which now amaze them."23
This latter part, in which he has enlarged upon
his concise original, shows how much his mind rose
above the superstitions both of his own times and of
the ancient world on the phenomena of nature.
The additions which he has made to a passage in His botani-
Boetius show that botany, as then known, had been
an object of his attention and acquisition. The sen-
tences in italics are the additions of Alfred, and
evince that he had interested himself with studying
the progress of vegetation, as far as its process was
then known, and as its principles could from that
knowledge be understood : —
" I said, I cannot understand of any living thing ; of that which
knows what it will and what it does not will, that uncompelled it
should desire to perish ; because every creature wishes to be
healthy and to live, of those that I think alive ; excepting that I
22 " Yet no one wonders that the breath of the north-west wind beats the shore
with the raging wave, nor that the frozen mass of snow is dissolved by the fervour of
Phebus. Here the mind is alert to perceive causes ; there the unknown disturbs
it, and what is rare amazes the movable vulgar. Let the errors of ignorance depart
with their clouds, and the wonderful cease to amaze." Boet. lib. iv. met. 6.
23 Alf. Boet. pp. 125, 126.
76
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
V.
His trans-
lation of
Gregory's
pastorals.
know not how it may be with trees and herbs, and such substances
that have no soul.
" Then he smiled and said, « Thou needest not doubt it of these
creatures, any more than of others. How ! canst thou not see,
that every herb and every tree grows on the richest land that best
suits it, and that is natural and customary to it, and there it
hastens to grow the most quickly, that it may, and the latest
decays ? The soil of some herbs and some woods is on hills ; of
some in marshes ; of some in moors ; of some on rocks ; some on
bare sands.
" * Take any wood or herb whatsoever thou wilt from the place
that is its earth and country to grow on, and set it in a place un-
natural to it, then it will not grow there, but will fade away ; for
the nature of every land is, that it nourishes like herbs and like
trees ; and it so doeth, that it defends and sustains them very care-
fully, so long as it is their nature that they may grow.
" ' What thinkest thou ? Hence every seed grows within the
earth, and becometh grass and roots in the earth without. For
this they are appointed, that the stem and the stalk may fasten
and longer stand.
" * Why canst thou not comprehend, though thou mayest not see
it, that all the portion of these trees, which increases in twelve
months, begins from their roots, and so groweth upwards to the
stem, and then along the pith, and along the rind to the stalk, and
thence afterwards to the boughs, till it springs out into leaves, and
blossoms, and fruit?
" f Why may you not understand, that every living thing is
tenderest inward, and its unbroken outside the hardest? Thou
canst see how the trees are clothed without, and protected by their
bark against winter, and against stark storms, and also against
the sun's heat in summer. Who may not wonder at such works
of our Creator, and not less of their Creator ? And though we
may admire it now, which of us can properly explain our Creator's
will and power, and how his creatures increase and again decline?
When that time cometh, it occurs again, that from their seed they
are renewed. They then become regenerated, to be what they
then should be again, and become also in this respect alike : such
they will be for ever, for every year their regeneration goes on.'"2*
The book written by Pope Gregory, for the in-
struction of the bishops of the church, called his
Liber Pastoralis Curae was much valued in Chris-
tendom at that period.25 It was the best book at
that time accessible to Alfred, by which he could
24 Alf. Boet. pp. 89, 90. Boet. lib. iii. pr. 11.
25 Alcuin twice praises it. The council of Toledo ordered that it should be
studied by all bishops.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 77
educate his higher clergy to fulfil their duties 26 ; and CHAP.
though it tends to make them too inquisitive into »
human actions, and would insensibly lead them to
erect a tyranny over the human mind, incompatible
with its improvement or its happiness ; yet, as it con-
tains many moral counsels and regulations, and was
written by the Pope, who was called the Apostle of
the English, and no other book was then at his hand
which was equally popular or likely to be as effectual,
it was an act of patriotism and philanthropy in the
king to translate it.27
It was not Alfred, but his bishop, Werefrith, who Dialogues
translated the Dialogues of Gregory. The king di- °'Gregory-
rected the translation, and afterwards recommended
it to his clergy.28 The subjects are chiefly the
miracles stated to be performed in Italy by religious
men. They display the pious feeling of the age,
but these words comprise almost the whole of their
merit ; for the piety is unhappily connected with so
much ignorance, superstition, credulity, and defective
reasoning, that we are surprised it should have in-
terested the attention of Alfred. But as it had not
then been determined what was true, or what was
false in history, geography, philology, or philosophy,
criticism was not at that time practicable. The weight
of evidence, the natural guide of the human belief, was
then its only criterion ; and as Gregory professed to
relate what he himself had known concerning perfect
and approved men, or what he had received from
the attestations of good and faithful persons, these
legends seemed to have an adequate support of human
28 The MSS. of it in the Cotton Library, Tiber, B. 11., was supposed to be the
copy which Plegmund possessed. It is nearly destroyed by fire. There is another
ancient MS. of it in the Bodleian, Hatton, 88.
27 Alfred had complained to Fulco, archbishop of Rheims, that " the ecclesiastical
order, from the frequent irruptions and attacks of the Northmen, or from age, or
the carelessness of the prelates and the ignorance of the people, had declined in
many." Ep. Fulc. p. 124.
28 Alfred's recommendation of this work appears in the preface which he prefixed
to it, and which is printed by Wanley, p. 71., from the Bodleian MS. Ilatton, 100.
78 HISTORY OF THE
V.
BOOK testimony. We are now wise with the experience,
thought, reading, comparisons, and inferences of a
thousand additional years ; and with this knowledge,
the slowly-formed creation of so many centuries be-
yond the time of Alfred, we can detect those errors
of judgment and of vulgar tradition, which he had
no materials that enabled him to question. Let us,
however, not impeach our Anglo-Saxon ancestors for
peculiar credulity, nor consider it as an index of
their barbarism. They believed nothing on these
points, but such things as came recommended to
them by the analogous belief of the classical and
Eoman empire which had preceded them. What
Athens and Rome alike supposed of the powers and
agencies of their gods and goddesses, heroes, demons,
and genii, the imperial Christians attributed to their
saints and most venerated clergy. Pope Gregory
was not more credulous in his religion than the Em-
peror Julian was in his paganism ; or Apuleius, and
perhaps even Lucian, in common with his age, of
witchcraft.29 Philostratus, Jamblichus, Porphyry,
Ammonius, and other heathen philosophers, of the
third and fourth centuries, in their belief of the mi-
racles achieved by the sages whom they patronised 30,
were the precursors of the Catholic biographers oi
their respected saints ; and our Alfred may be par-
29 Julian's works show abundant evidences of his credulity, and Lucian describes
the powers of witchcraft as fully, and with as much seriousness, as Apuleius.
30 See Philostratus's Life of Apollonius Tyanseus, written by the desire of the
empress of Septimius Severus, to be run against the life of our Saviour, and therefore
written accordingly ; Jamblichus's Life of Pythagoras ; Porphyry's De Antro Nym-
pharum, and other remains. It was such a favourite point with declining paganism
to set up Apollonius against the Christian legislator, that in the reign of Dioclesian,
when such a bitter war was waged against Christians, Hierocles, the intolerant pre-
sident of Bithynia, took up his pen to maintain the superiority of the Tyana?an
sophist. He was such a zealous defender of the pretended miracles which were
now ascribed to this upheld competitor, above two centuries after his death, that
both Eusebius and Lactantius thought it necessary to refute his exaggerating sup-
porter. Some modern opponents of religion have emulated both the credulity and
literary efforts of Hierocles in favour of the Tyan»an ; although time, the great
decider between truth and falsehood, has long since verified the dying exclamation
of Julian," VICISTI, Galilae /"
ANGLO-SAXONS. 79
cloned for following the stream, not only of his own CHAF.
age, but of the most cultivated classical periods, in T ' -. *
believing such wonders on the authority of Gregory,
which every age of the world had concurred to admit
to be both practicable and practised by those whom
its different sects and parties revered. With such
sanction, from both philosophical and popular belief,
it then seemed irrational to doubt them.31 One of
Alfred's favourite objects was the moral improve-
ment of his people. He wisely considered religion
to be the most efficacious instrument of his bene-
volence ; and Gregory's dialogues were as adapted to
excite pious feelings at that time, as they would now
operate rather to diminish them. We feel that piety
allied with nonsense or with falsehood only degrades
the Majestic Being whom it professes to extol. He .
whose wisdom is the most perfect intelligence and
the fountain of all knowledge to us ; He whose crea-
tions display a sagacity that has no limit but space,
and which appears in forms as multifarious as the
countless objects that pervade it ; should be adored
with our sublimest reason and knowledge united with
our purest sensibility. Alfred possessed this noble
feeling in its full aspiration, but he was compelled to
use the materials which his age afforded. He chose
the best within his reach, which was all that was with-
in his power. That they were not better was his mis-
fortune, but leaves no imputation on his judgment.
In the Cotton Library there is an Anglo-Saxon Alfred's
MS. of some selections from St. Austin's solilo- J^tig°s
quies 32, or as the MS. expresses it, " The gathering Austin.
31 So much self-delusion and mistake have been connected with miracles ; so
many are resolvable into accidents, natural agencies, imagination, false perceptions,
erroneous judgments, and popular exaggeration, independent of wilful falsehood,
that the cautious mind will believe none but those mentioned in the Scriptures, as
no others have that accumulation of evidence, both direct and inferential, which
impresses these upon our belief.
33 It is in Vitellius, A. 15. After three pages of preface, it says, " Ansurtmur
Captama biceop pophte rpa bare be lur esnuru sethance ; tha baec rmt sehatene
80
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
V.
His
Psalter.
His Bible.
His JEsop.
of the flowers," from St. Austin's work. At the end
of these flowers is this imperfect sentence : " Here
end the sayings that king Alfred selected from those
books that we call "33 Here the MS. terminates.
Malmsbury mentions that Alfred began to trans-
late the Hymns of David, but that he had hardly
finished the first part when he died.34 There are
many MSS. of the Anglo-Saxon translation of the
Psalter extant 35 ; but it is not in our power to dis-
criminate the performance of Alfred.
That the king translated the Bible or Testament
into Anglo-Saxon has been stated on some autho-
rities, but the selections which he made for his own
use appear to have been confounded with a general
translation.36
In the Harleian Library there is a MS. of a trans-
lation of fables styled .ZEsop's, into French romance
At the conclusion of her work, the authoress 37
verse.
rolihquiopum, tha ir be mober Fineaunge 7 tpeounsa." The first part closes as
" aep enbiath rhe blorrman thepe popnian bocum ;" and the next part beams
with ** aep opigmth reo gabo uns thepe blortmena thepe aeptepan bee." MS.
p. 41.
33 Aep enbiath tha cpibar the 61rpeb Kminj; al#r op thaepe baec the pe ha-
tach on MS. p. 56. Wanley says of this MS. " Tractatus iste quondam fuit
ecclesise, B. Marise de Suwika ut patet ex fol. 2. litteris Normanno-Saxonicis post
conqueestum scriptus," p. 218. A transcript of this MS. made by Junius is in the
Bodleian Library, Jun. 70., and this has the same abrupt ending. Wanley, 96.
34 Psalterium transt'erre aggressus vix prima parte explicata vivendi finem fecit.
Malmsb. 45.
35 Wanley says, p. 182., there is a MS. very elegantly written about the time of
Ethelstan, which contains Jerome's Latin Psalter, with an interlineary Saxon ver-
sion, in the King's Library. There is another interlineary version in the Cotton
Library, Vesp. A. 1., written 1000 years ago, very elegantly, in capital letters.
Wanley, 222. There is another written before the conquest in Tiberius, C.6.
p. 234. This contains many figures of musical instruments, alleged to be Jewish,
and several coloured drawings on religious subjects. There is another interlineary
version in the Lambeth Library, written in Edgar's reign, or a little before, which
contains the curious and valuable addition of ancient musical notes. Wanley, 268.
Spelman has published an Anglo-Saxon Psalter.
86 Flor. Wig. says, that in 887, on the Feast of Saint Martin, he began it. It is
clear, on comparing the passages, that he only meant what Asser had mentioned,
p. 57., that he then began to translate some parts. The history of Ely asserts, that
he translated all the Bible ; but Boston of Bury says, that it was " almost all the
Testament." Spelman's Life, p. 213. Yet as no MSS. of such a work have been
seen, we cannot accredit the fact beyond the limits mentioned in the text.
17 This authoress was Mary, an Anglo-Norman poetess. She states herself to have
been born in France, and she seems to have visited England. The thirteenth
volume of the Archseologia, published by the Antiquarian Society, contains a dis-
sertation upon her life and writings, by the Abbe La Rue, pp. 36 — 67.
ANGLO SAXONS. 81
asserts that Alfred the king translated the fables CHAP.
from the Latin into English, from which version . I"'— -•
she turned them into French verse.38 Mary, the
French translator, lived in the thirteenth century.
The evidence of her assertion as to Alfred being the
English translator of the fables, can certainly only
have the force of her individual belief; and as this
belief may have been merely founded on popular
tradition, it cannot be considered as decisive evi-
dence. Such an assertion and belief, however, of an
authoress of the thirteenth century, must be allowed
to have so much weight as to be entitled to notice
here.39 The completest MS. of Mary's translation
contains a hundred and four fables, out of which
thirty- one only are M sop's.40
But it would seem that Alfred's extensive mind
had even condescended to write on one of the rural
88 Mary's words are : —
" Por amur le cunte Willame
Le plus vaillant de nul realme
Meintenur de cest livre feire
E del Engleis en roraans treire
^Esope apelum cest livre
Qu'il translata e fist escrire
Del griu en Latin le turna
Li reis Alurez qui mut 1'ama
Le translata puis en Engleis.
E ieo la rimee en Franceis."
Harl. MS. 978. p. 87.
39 Mons. La Rue thinks, that Alfred was not the author of the English translation
which Mary used. His reasons are by no means conclusive : 1st. Asser mentions
no translations of Alfred's, and therefore his omission of JEsop is of no consequence.
2d. Though Malmsbury does not particularise ^Esop among the translations he
enumerates, this argument is indecisive, because Malmsbury expressly states, that
the king translated more books than those which he enumerates. His words are,
" Denique plurimam partem Romans Bibliothecae Anglorum auribus decit,
cujus prcecipui sunt libri Orosius," &c. Malmsbury only names the chief of his
translations ; a monk would have hardly ranked JEsop in this honourable class.
3d. The abbe's doubt, whether Mary could, in the thirteenth century, have under-
stood Alfred's language, is of no great force, because we cannot think it unlikely
that there should be persons in England who knew both Norman and Saxon, or
that Mary should have learnt Saxon if she wished it. 4th. As to the feudal ex-
pressions which Mary uses, as we have not the English MSS. which she translated,
and therefore cannot know what were the actual expressions in that, I think no
argument can be rested on them. Alfred, in his Boetius, puts king in one place,
and heretogas in another, for Roman consuls.
44 Archacologia, p. 53.
VOL. II. G
82 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK sports of his day ; for in the catalogue of MSS. which
y- . in 1315 were in the Christ Church library we find a
treatise of this king on keeping hawks mentioned.
" Liber Alured, regis de custodiendis accipitribus."
This book corresponds with the fact mentioned by
Asser, that Alfred was accustomed " to teach his
falconers and hawkers, and hound-trainers." 42
It has been declared that the Parables of Alfred
had great edification, beauty, pleasantry, and noble-
ness.43 It is a great loss to our curiosity, perhaps
to our education, that we have not these tales, or
moral apologues, which were existing in the reign of
Henry the Second.44
Alfred is also praised for his excellence in prover-
bial sayings.45 Some collections of this sort have
been noticed by his biographer, Spelman, which may
perhaps contain some of his ideas, as they were pre-
served by tradition, and in a later age committed to
writing; but they are probably not wholly in the
phrases of his own composition.46
Of Alfred's manual or memorandum book, which
seems to have existed in Malmsbury's days47, and
41 Wanley's preface. 42 Asser, 43.
43 So the MSS. Chron. Joan. Oxenedes says : —
"Parabola; ejus plurimum habentes edificationis, venustatis, jocunditatis et nobili-
tatis." Cott. Lib. MSS. Nero, D. 2.
44 Ail. Kiev., who then lived, declares, « jEtaanfparabolscejus," &c., using nearly
the same words as Oxenedes, p. 355.
45 " In proverbiis ita enituit ut nemo post ilium amplius." Ann. Eccl. Wint.
1 Angl. Sacra, p. 289. Some of these are noticed in the old English dialogue be-
tween the owl and the nightingale.
46 One of these, the least likely to be Alfred's, may be seen in Dr. Hickes's Anglo-
Saxon Grammar, p. 222. The other, which suits better Alfred's wisdom, has been
quoted by Spelman, in his Life of Alfred, and translated from the MS. in the Cotton
Library. See p. 94. of Walker's edition, and 127. of Hearne's. Spelman's extracts
may be more valued, as the Cotton MS. of Galba, A. 19., was ruined by the fire
which destroyed much valuable antiquity.
47 Malmsbury's references to this, show that it was not a mere receptacle for
devout extracts, but was rather a general common-place book ; for he cites from it
some traits of biography, and observations on a piece of poetry. " Qui enim legit
manualem librum regis Elfredi, reperiet Kenterum Beati Aldhelmi patrum non
fuisse regis Inse germanum sed arctissima necessitudine consanguineum," lib. v.
De Pont. 341. Again, speaking of Aldhelm, he says, he cultivated Anglo-Saxon
ANGLO-SAXONS. 83
which would have been such a curiosity to modern CHAP.
times, not even a remnant has been found. . m' .
The genius of Alfred was not confined to litera- ms taste in
ture : it also extended to the arts ; and in three of the arts-
these, architecture, ship-building, and gold and silver
workmanship, he obtained an excellence which corre-
sponded with his other talents.
Asser mentions, " that he caused edifices to be Architec-
constructed from his own new designs, more venerable ture*
and precious than those which his predecessors had
raised."48 These not only consisted of halls and
royal apartments, made of wood or stone, in pur-
suance of his directions, to the surprise of his con-
temporaries: but he also formed cities and towns,
some of which he repaired, and others built ; some he
destroyed on their ancient sites, to raise them of
stone, in positions more useful and appropriate.49
He was so earnest in these improvements, that he
procured from many nations numerous artificers,
versed in every sort, of building, arid he regularly
appropriated a sixth of his yearly revenues to pay
their expenses, and remunerate their labour.50
His talent and cultivation of naval architecture sinp-
have been already noticed.
He also taught his artisans and workers in gold61, workman-
and by his instructions occasioned many things to be ^\^m
incomparably executed (we use the epithet of his
poetry, " Adeo ut, teste libro Elfredi, de quo superius dixi, nullo unquam aetate par
ei fuerit quisquam pocsin Anglicam posse facere, tantum componere, eadem apposite
vel canere vel dicere. Denique commemorat Elfredus carmen trivijxle quod adhuc
vulgo cantitatur Aldhelmum fecisse." By the next paragraph, Alfred seems to have
reasoned upon the subject. His manual was therefore the repository of his own
occasional literary reflections : for Malmsbury adds, speaking still of Alfred, " Ad-
jiciens causam qua probet rationabiliter, tantum virum his quee videantur frivola,
instituisse populum eo tempore semibarbarum, parum divinis sermonibus intentum,
statim cantatis missis, cursitare solitum," p. 342.
48 " Et scdificia supra omnem antecessorum suorum consuetudinem venerabiliora
et pretiosiora nova sua machinatione facere." Asser, 43.
49 Asser, 58. » Ibid. 66-
51 Ibid. 43.
G 2
84 HISTOBY OF THE
BOOK contemporary) in gold and silver.52 One specimen
. y' . of his talent in this art yet exists to us in a jewel of
gold, which was found near Athelney. 53
In the less valuable pursuits of hunting, falconry,
hawking, and coursing, he was also distinguished.54
52 Asser, 58.
53 On one side is a rude outline of a human figure apparently sitting, and hold-
ing what seem like two flowers. On the other side is a flower ; it is much orna-
mented, and the workmanship is said to be excellent. The inscription expresses
that it was made by Alfred's orders.
51 Asser, 43.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
CHAP. IV.
ALFRED'S Poetical Composition.
To the other accomplishments of his mind Alfred CHAP.
endeavoured to add that of poetry. Fond of Saxon •
poems from his infancy, he found a pleasure in at-
tempting to compose them ; and the metrums of
Boetius afforded him the opportunity of practising
his powers of language in this interesting art.
The great characteristic of Saxon versification was
the position of a few words in short lines, with a
rhythmical effect. As far as we can now discern, there
were no rules of artificial prosody to be observed ; but
the ear was to be gratified by a rhythm or musical
effect in the pronunciation ; and any brief sequence of
syllables that would produce this pleasure was used
and permitted.
It would be presumptuous, now that the Anglo-
Saxon has so long ceased to be spoken, to decide
peremptorily on the merit of Alfred's versification,
which must have depended so much on the colloquial
tones and cadences of his day. But as far as can be
judged from a comparison of it with the compositions
of Cedmon, the odes in the Saxon Chronicle, and the
poem on Beowulf, it has not their general strength
and fulness of rhythm. Though at times sufficiently
successful, it is weaker and less elevated than their
style, and is not often much more musical than his
own prose. Of its poetical feeling and mind we can
better judge, as he has translated the metrums also
into prose ; and it may be said, without injustice,
that his verso has less intellectual energy than his
G 3
86 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK prose. The diction is amplified to admit of its being
v- , made nearer to poetry, but it is rather diluted than
improved. Here and there a few expressions of greater
vigour occur, but, in general, the prose is not only
more concise, but also more spirited and more clear.
Yet it is only in comparison with his own prose
that the merit of' Alfred's poetry is thus questioned.
His superior intellect in imitating and emulating, and
sometimes passing beyond his original, has given it
a value of thought and feeling, an infusion of moral
mind, and a graceful ease of diction, which we shall
look for in vain, to the same degree and effect, among
the other remains of the Anglo-Saxon poetry.
The reader who compares the description of the
Golden Age, and the stories of Eurydice and Circe,
inserted before from Alfred's prose, with his transla-
tions of the same into verse, will perceive that his
poetry has not increased their interest. They are too
long to be inserted here. But it will be a just respect
to his memory to insert some of his other versifica-
tions of the metrums of Boetius, as specimens of the
usual style of his poetical diction. He has so ampli-
fied and varied his originals as to make much of them
his own compositions. The amount of the poetry of
the king's mind will best appear from comparing the
following effusions with the originals in Boetius,
which are also given : —
ON SERENITY OF MIND.
Alfred. Boetius.
Thou mightest of the sun With black clouds hidden, no
Manifestly think ; light can the stars emit. Lib. i.
And of all the other stars ; met. 7.
Of those that behind cities
Shine the brightest,
That if before them wan
The atmosphere should hang,
They cannot then
Send forth the beams of their
light
While the thick mist prevails.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
87
Alfred.
So often the mild sea,
Clear as grey glass,
The southern wind
Grimly disturbs ;
Then mingle
The mighty waves :
The great whales rear up.
Then rough that becomes,
Which before serene
Was to the sight.
So often a spring
Wells up from a hoary cliff,
Cool and clear,
Boetius.
If the rolling sea the turbid
south wind should mingle, the
wave, before glassy and serene,
sordid with diffused mud, would
obstruct the sight. Lib. i. met. 7.
CHAP.
IV.
As wandering from the lofty
mountains, the devious river is
often resisted by the obstructing
And flows spaciously right on. stone, loosened from the rock.
It runneth over the earth Ibid.
Till itjgets within it.
Great stones from the mountains
fall,
And in the midst of it
Lie, trundled
From the rock.
In two parts afterwards
It becomes divided.
The transparent is disturbed ;
The streams mingle ;
The brook is turned aside
From its right course,
Flowing into rivers.
So now the darkness
Of thy heart
Will of my light
The doctrine withstand,
And thy mind's thoughts
Greatly disturb.
But if now thou desirest
That thou mayest well
This true light clearly know
To believe in that light
Thou must dismiss
The idle excess of riches :
Unprofitable joy.
Thou must also the evil
Fear wholly dismiss
Of the world's difficulties.
Nor must thou be for them
At all in despair :
Nor do thou ever let
Prosperity weaken thee ;
If thou also wilt, with a clear
light, behold the truth, in the
right path direct your steps :
drive away joys ; drive away fear;
chase hope. Ibid.
G 4
,8 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK Alfred. Boetim.
v. Lest thou shouldst become,
— « ' With arrogance from that,
Again confounded ;
And be too elevated
By the enjoyments
Of this world's riches.
Nor, again, too weakly Nor let grief be present. The
Despair of any good mind is in a cloud, and bound
When in the world, with chains where these reign.
Adversity of most things Lib. i. met. 7.
Oppresses thee ;
And thou thyself
Most strongly pressest forwards.
Because always is
The mind's thought
Much bound with sorrow
If these evils can disturb it
With which it struggles within.
Because both these two
Draw together, over the mind
The mists of error ;
So that on it the eternal sun
May not hence shine upon it
On account of the black mists
Before that it has become strength-
ened. P. 155.
ON THE NATURAL EQUALITY OF MANKIND.
The citizens of earth, All the human race arises on
Inhabitants of the ground, the earth from a like origin.
All had There is one father of events :
One like beginning. one administers all things.
They of two only
All came ;
Men and women,
Within the world.
And they also now yet
All alike
Come into the world
The splendid and the lowly.
This is no wonder,
Because all know
That there is one God
Of all creatures ;
Lord of mankind :
The Father and the Creator.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
89
Alfred.
He the sun's light
Giveth from the heavens ;
The moon, and this
Of the greater stars.
He made
Men on the earth ;
And united
The soul to the body.
At the first beginning
The folk under the skies
He made equally noble ;
Every sort of men.
Why then do ye ever
Over other men
Thus arrogate
Without cause ?
Now you do not find
Any not noble.
Why do ye from nobility
Now exalt yourselves ?
In his mind let
Every one of men
Be rightly noble,
As I have mentioned to thee,
The inhabitants of the earth
Nor only in the flesh ;
But yet every man
That is by all
His vices subdued
First abandons
His origin of life,
And his own
Nobility from himself ;
And also which the Father
At the beginning made for him.
For this, will
The Almighty God
Unnoble him ;
That he noble no more
Thenceforth might be,
In the world ;
Nor come to glory. P. 171.
Boetius.
He gave to Phoebus his rays,
and to the moon her horns.
He gave men to the earth, and
the stars to the sky. He in-
closed in limbs the minds sought
from the lofty seat. Therefore
he made all mortals a noble race.
Why do you clamour on your
birth and ancestors ? If you con-
sider your beginning and your
author, God, no one exists that
is not noble. Lib. iii. met. 6.
CHAP.
IV.
ON TYRANTS.
Hear now one discourse
Of those proud,
Unrighteous
The kings whom you see sit-
ting on the lofty elevation of the
throne, splendid with their shin-
90 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK Alfred. Boetius.
v. Kings of the earth, ing purple ; hedged with dismal
' < '• That now here with many weapons ; threatening with grim
And various garments, countenance ; breathless with the
Bright in beauty, rage of the heart.
Wondrously shine
On high seats ;
Clothed in gold
And jewels.
Without these stand around
Innumerable
Thegns and earls
That are adorned
With warlike decorations ;
Illustrious in battle ;
With swords and belts
Very glittering ;
And who attend him
With great glory.
They threaten every where
The surrounding
Other nations ;
And the lord careth not,
That governs this army,
For either friends' or enemies'
Life or possessions ;
But he, a fierce mind,
Rests on every one,
Likest of any thing
To a fierce hound.
He is exalted
Within in his mind
For that power
That to him every one
Of his dear princes
Gives and supports.
If men then would If from these proud ones any
Wind off from him one should draw aside the cover-
These kingly ornaments, ing of their gaudy apparel, he
Each of his garments, will see that the lords are bound
And him then divest with chains within.
Of that retinue
And that power
That he before had,
Then thou shouldest see
That he would be very like
Some of those men
That most diligently
Now, with their services,
Press round about him.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 91
Alfred. Boetius. CHAP.
If he be not worse rv.
I think he will be no better. ' '
If to him then ever,
Unexpectedly, chance should
happen
That he should be deprived
Of that glory, and garments,
And retinue, and that power
That we have spoken about ;
If from him any of these things
Were taken away,
I know that he would think
Then he was crawling in a prison,
Or indeed bound with ropes.
I can assert For here greedy lust pours
That from this excess of every venom on their hearts : here tur-
thing bid anger, raising its[waves, lashes
Of food and clothes, wine, the mind ; or sorrow wearies her
drinks, captives ; or deceitful hope tor-
And sweetmeats, ments them.
Most strongly would increase
Of that luxuriousness
The great furious course.
Much disturbed would be
His intellectual mind.
To every man
Thence must come
Extraordinary evils,
And useless quarrels ;
Then they become angry.
To them it happens in their
hearts
That within are afflicted,
Their thoughts in their minds
With this strong fire
Of hot-heartedness,
And afterwards fierce sorrow
Also bindeth them
Hard imprisoned.
Then afterwards beginneth
Hope to some
Greatly to lie
About that revenge of battle
Which the anger desireth
Of one and of the other,
It promises them all
Which their contempt
Of right may enjoin.
92 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK Alfred. Boetius.
V. I told thee before Since, then, you see that one
' » ' In this same book, head has so many tyrants, press-
That of the various creatures ed by their iniquitous sway, it
Each single one performs not what it wishes.
Some good Lib. iv. met. 2.
Always desired
From his own
Ancient nature ;
But the unrighteous
Kings of the earth
Cannot ever
Accomplish any good
From the evil
That I have mentioned.
It is no wonder,
Because they love the vices
Which I named before,
And to which only
They are always subject. P. 186.
ON COVETOUSNESS.
What will the rich man be, Though the rich miser should
The worldly, covetous one, be in a flowing whirlpool of gold
In his mind the better, he could not satisfy his appetite
Though he should much pos- for wealth. Let him adorn his
sess neck with the berries of the Red
Of gold and gems Sea, and cleave his rich soils
And of every good : with a hundred oxen.
Possessions innumerable ;
And for him men
Should plough every day
A thousand acres ?
Though this world Biting cares will not quit him
And this race of men while he lives, nor can his trivial
Should be under the sun riches accompany him when dead.
South, west, and east, Lib. iii. met. 3.
To his power
All subjected,
He could not
Of these acquisitions
Hence lead away
From this world
Any thing more
Of his treasured property
Than he hither brought. P. 169.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
93
Alfred.
He that would
Possess power
Then let him first toil
That he of his self
In his mind have
Power within ;
Unless he ever
Would be to his vices
Entirely subjected :
Let him expel from his mind
Many of those
Various anxieties
That to him are useless :
Let him dismiss some
Of his complaints and miseries.
Though to him should
All this world,
So as the great streams
Surround it without,
Be given to his possession,
Even so wide
As now westmost is,
Where an island lieth
Out on the ocean ;
In which is no
Night in summer,
Nor more in winter
Of any day
Distinguished by time ;
Which is called Tile.
Though now any alone
Governed all
To this island ;
And also thence
To India eastward ;
Though he now all that
Might possess,
Why should his power be
Aught the greater
If he afterwards hath not
Power over himself
In his thoughts,
And does not earnestly
Guard himself well
In words and deeds
Against the vices
That we before have mentioned
P. 170.
ON SELF-GOVERNMENT.
Boetius.
He that would be powerful let
him tame his fierce mind, nor
submit to foul reins his neck
bowed down by lust.
CHAP.
IV.
For though the remote Indian
earth should tremble at thy com-
mand, and farthest Thule serve
thee, yet it is not in their power
to expel gloomy care, nor to
drive away your miserable com-
plaints. Lib. iii. met. 5.
94 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK THE EXCURSIVENESS OF THE MIND.
v- , Alfred. Boetius.
I have wings I have rapid wings that can
Swifter than the birds : ascend the heights of the pole,
With them I can fly which the swift mind puts on
Far from the earth, when she looks down on the
Over the high roof hated earth : surmounts the
Of this heaven. globe of the immense air, and
And there I now must sees the clouds behind her.
Wing thy mind,
With my feathers,1
To look forth
Till that thou mayest
This world
And every earthly thing
Entirely overlook :
Thou mayest over the skies
Extensively
Sport with thy wings,
Far up over
The heavens to wind
Afterwards to view
Above over all.
Thou mayest also go
Above the fire
That many years ascends far
Betwixt the air and the firma-
ment
So as to it at the beginning
The Father appointed.
That thou mayest afterwards Warmed by the motion of the
With the Sun agile a3ther, it transcends the
Go betwixt vortex of fire, till it rises to the
The other stars. star-bearing domes, and touches
Thou mightest full soon on the paths of Phoebus.
In the firmament
Above afterwards advance ;
And then continuously Or it may accompany the
To the coldest journey of the chill old man, as
Only star a soldier of the radiant star ;
That outmost is or shining wherever night is
Of all the stars. painted, it may retrace the circle
This Saturnus of the star; and when suffi-
The inhabitants of the sea call ciently satiated, it may leave the
Under the heavens. extremity of the pole, and par-
He is the cold taker of the revered light, press
All icy planet. towards the summit of the swift
He wanders outmost aether.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 95
Alfred. Boetius. CHAP.
Over all, IV-
Above the other stars. '
Afterwards thou then
From this may upheave thyself
To go forth ;
Thou mayest proceed farther :
Then wouldest thou afterwards
soon
Ascend above the firmament
In its swift course.
If thou goest on right
Thou wouldest then the highest
Heaven leave behind.
Then mightest thou afterwards
Of the true light
Have thy portion.
Whence the Only King
Widely governs,
Above the firmament.
And below ;
And in like manner rules
All the creatures
Of the world.
This is the Wise King, Here the Lord of Kings holds
This is he that governs the sceptre and governs the reins
Over the nations of men, of the world, and, stable himself,
And all the other rules the swift car, the splendid
Kings of the earth. arbiter of things.
He with his bridle
Hath restrained around
All the revolutions
Of earth and heaven.
He his governing reins
Well coerces.
He governs ever
Through his strong might
All the swift cars
Of heaven and earth.
He the only judge is steadfast,
Unchangeable,
Beauteous, and great.
If thou turnest right in thy If that road should meet thee
way returning, which now forgetful
Up to that country, you inquire for, you may say: —
Thou wilt find it
A noble place :
Though thou now yet
Hast not obtained it.
96 HISTORY OF THE
Alfred. Boetius.
If thou ever again
There canst come,
Then wilt thou say,
And soon declare : —
" This is entirely " I remember that this is my
My own kindred, country :^ this, is my birth-place :
Earth, and country. here I will rest."
Formerly from hence
I came, and was born
Through the might of this ar-
tificer.
I will never
Depart hence from it,
But I always here
Will softly
With my wings desire
Firmly to stand."
If to thee then If you should like to revisit
It should ever again happen, the earthly night you have left,
That thou wilt or must you would see what fierce ban-
The world's darkness ished tyrants the miserable peo-
Again try ; pie fear. Lib. iv. met. I .
Thou mightest easily look on
The unrighteous kings of the
earth,
And the other arrogant rich,
That this weary folk
Worst torment.
And see that always
They be very wretched ;
Unmighty
In every thing ;
Even the same
That they, wretched folk,
Some while now
Most strongly dreaded. P. 184.
HIS PICTURE OF FUTURITY.
O children of men, Hither come all ye captives,
Over the world ! whom deceitful desire, blunting
Every one of the free ! your earthly minds, binds in its
Try for that eternal good vicious chains !
That we have spoken of,
And for those riches
That we have mentioned.
He that then now is
Narrowly bound
With the useless love
ANGLO-SAXONS.
97
Alfred.
Of this large world,
Let him seek speedily
Full freedom,
That he may advance
To the riches
Of the soul's wisdom.
Because this is
The only rest of all labours ;
A desirable port
To high ships ;
Of our mind
The great and mild habitation.
This is the only port
That will last for ever ;
After the waves
Of our troubles,
Of every storm,
Always mild.
This is the place of peace.
And the only comforter
Of all distresses,
After this world's troubles.
This is the pleasant station
After these miseries
To possess.
And I earnestly know
That the gilded vessel,
The silvery treasure,
The stone fortress of gems,
Or riches of the world
To the mind's eye
Can never bring any light.
Nothing can recompense
Its acuteness,
But the contemplation
Of the truer riches ;
But such things strongly
The mind's eye
Of every one of men
Blind in their breast,
When they to it
Are made brighter.
But all things
That in this present
Life so please,
Are slender,
Earthly things,
And to be fled from.
VOL. II,
Boetius.
CHAP.
IV.
Here will be the rest to your
labours. Here, the serene port ;
a tranquil abode. Here, the only
asylum open to the wretched.
Not all that Tagus may give
in its golden sands, or Hermus
from its glittering bank, or Indus
near the warm circle mingling
green gems with white, can en-
lighten the sight; but they make
the mind more blind from their
darkening effects.
Whatever of these pleases
and excites the mind, earth
nourishes in its lowest caverns.
II
98 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK Alfred. Boetius.
v. But wonderful is that The radiance by which Hea-
' » ' Beauty and brightness, ven is governed and flourishes,
Which every creature shuns the obscured ruins of the
With beauty illuminates, soul.
And after that
Governs all :
This Governor will not
That we should destroy
Our souls,
But he himself will them
Enlighten with light ;
The Ruler of life.
If then any man Whoever can remark this
With the clear eyes light will deny the beams of
Of his mind, Phoebus their lustre. Lib. iii.
May ever behold met. 10.
Of heaven's light
The lucid brightness,
Then he will say,
That the brightness of the sun
Will be darkness,
If any man
Should compare it
With the superior light
Of God Almighty.
That will be to every spirit
Eternal without end ;
To happy souls.— P. 181, 182.
HIS ADDRESS TO THE DEITY.
O thou Creator ! Oh Framer of the starry
Of the shining stars ; world ! who, resting on thy per-
Of heaven and the earth : petual throne, turnest the heaven
Thou on high throne with a rapid whirl, and compel-
Eternal governest, lest the stars to endure a law.
And thou swiftly all Lib. i. met. 5.
The heaven turnest round,
And through thy
Holy might
Compellest the stars
That they should obey thee.
Thus the sun
Of the black night
The darkness extinguishes
Through thy might.
With pale light As now the moon, with her
The bright planets full horn of light imbibing all
ANGLO-SAXONS.
99
Alfred.
The moon tempers
Through the effect of thy
power.
A while also the sun
Bereaveth that of its
Bright light.
When it may happen
That near enough
It necessarily comes.
So the greater
Morning star
That we with another name
The even star
Here named :
Thou compellest this
That he the sun's
Path should precede.
Every year
He shall go on
Before him to advance.
Thou, O Father,
Makest of summer
The long days
Very hot.
To the winter days,
Wondrously short
Times hast thou appointed.
Thou, to the trees
Givest the south and west,
Which before, black storms
From the north and east
Had deprived
Of every leaf
By the more hostile wind.
Oh ! how on earth
All creatures
Obey thy command,
As in the heavens
Some do
In mind and power.
But men only
Against thy will
Oftenest struggle.
Hail ! Oh thou Eternal,
And thou Almighty,
Of all creatures
Boetius.
her brother's flames, hideth the
lesser stars : now pale with ob-
scure horn, nearer to Phoebus
loses her lustre.
CHAP.
IV.
As Hesperus in the first hours
of night emerges with chilling
beams ; and again as the morn-
ing star, when Phoebus rises,
changes his accustomed rule.
Thou, with the cold of the
leaf-flowing frost, confinest the
light to a shorter stay: thou,
when the fervid summer shall
come, dividest the active hours
of the night.
Thy power tempers the va-
rious year, so that the leaves
which the breath of Boreas takes
away, the mild zephyr re-clothes ;
and the seeds which Arcturus
beheld, Sirius burns in their tall
harvest.
Nothing, forsaking its ancient
law, quits the work of its own
station. Governing all things
with a certain end. Thou, de-
servedly our ruler ! disdainest to
restrain the actions of men only.
ii 2
100
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
V.
Alfred.
Creator and ruler.
Pardon thy wretched
Children of the earth,
Mankind,
In the course of thy might.
Why, O eternal God !
Wouldest thou ever
That fortune
At her will
Should go
To evil men ?
That in every way so strongly
She full oft
Should hurt the guiltless.
Evil men sit
Over the earth's kingdoms
On high seats.
They tread down the holy
Under their feet
Who know no crimes.
Why should fortune
Move so perversely ?
Thus are hidden
Here on the world
Over many cities
The bright arts.
The unrighteous always
Have in contempt
Those that are, than them
Wiser in right ;
Worthier of power.
The false lot is
A lohg while
Covered by frauds.
Now, in the world here,
Impious oaths
Hurt not man.
If thou now, O Ruler,
Wilt not steer fortune,
But at her self-will
Lettest her triumph,
Then I know
That thee will
Worldly men doubt
Over the parts of the globe,
Except a few only.
Boetius.
Why should slippery fortune
take so many turns ? Noxious
pain due to crime presses the in-
nocent.
But perverse manners sit on
the lofty throne, and the guilty
tread on the righteous necks by
an unjust change.
Virtue hidden in obscurity
lives unseen, bright in its dark-
ness. The just endure the crime
of the wicked.
These, no perjury, no fraud,
dressed with falsehood, hurt;
but when they choose to use
their strength, they rejoice to
subdue the greatest kings, whom
innumerable people fear.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 101
Alfred. Boetius. CHAP.
Oh, my Lord ! O now behold thy wretched iv.
Thou that overseest all earth, who connectest the union ' *
Of the world's creatures, of all things. We mankind, not
Look now on mankind a vile part of so great a work,
With mild eyes. are shaken by the sea of fortune.
Now they here in many O Ruler, repress the rapid waves,
Of the world's waves and with the law that rules the
Struggle and labour, immense heaven, keep steady thy
Miserable earth citizens ! solid earth.
Forgive them now. — P. 153.
The preceding facts of Alfred's studies, translations ,
additions, and compositions, enable us to perceive the
great improvements which they diffused upon the in-
tellect of the Anglo-Saxon nation. By his Orosius
and Bede, he made the general history and geography
of the world, and the particular history of England, a
part of the mind of his countrymen ; and, by his
Bede, he made historical fame an object of ambition
to his royal successors ; for that exhibited to their
own eye-sight how their predecessors had been re-
corded and applauded. By transmitting to posterity
the detail of Ohthere and Wulfstan's Voyages, he
made such expeditions interesting to the nation, fixed
them in their memory, and ensured their future imi-
tation. By his Boetius he poured a great number of
moral thoughts and feelings among his rude Anglo-
Saxons, which they had never considered or expe-
rienced before; and by cultivating poetical versification
he increased the popularity and improvement of that
pleasing art. He found the English mind unformed
and barren, and he led. it to knowledge, civility, moral
sentiment, and moral reasoning. His attachment to
religion increased its influence among his descendants
and in his country.
But there is another point of view in which the
intellectual benefit that Alfred conferred upon his
country has not yet been considered. This is the easy,
fluent, and lively prose style, which it may be seen
H 3
102 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK from the extracts already given, that he so peculiarly
. ^ , contributed to form by his translations and additions
to Boetius. The work is not a mere literal version
of the Latin diction, into a servile corresponding one,
as the Anglo-Saxon Psalter, published by Spelman,
in which every Latin word is rendered, however
harshly, by a similar English one. Alfred's Boetius,
even where he translates exactly, is done with the
freedom of a master who uses his own style without
departing from his author's meaning. The best prose
style of all countries is that which men of superior
intellect use, who, to much literary cultivation, add
much intercourse with public affairs, and with the
highest classes of the society in which they live. The
activity of their daily life gives a spirit and freedom
to their minds and thoughts, which pervade their
colloquial diction ; and this, when polished by the
most cultivated urbanity of the day, and enlarged by
the more extensive subjects of their studies, and the
greater correctness of meditative composition, be-
comes superior to any that the world or the closet
can singly create. Alfred's Boetius in every part dis-
plays these excellences. Its form of dialogue favoured
their union. It is clear, easy, animated, attractive,
and impressive. It comes the nearest to our present
best English prose style of all the Anglo-Saxon prose
writings that have survived to us, and entitles Alfred
to be considered as the venerable father of our best
English diction, as well as our first moral essayist.
We may close our review of his intellectual cha-
racter with remarking, as an additional subject for
our admiration, that not above two centuries and a
half elapsed between the first appearance of literature
among the Anglo-Saxons and the formation of Alfred's
mind. Has any country, within so short a period,
produced in itself an intellect amongst its sovereigns
that combined so many excellences ?
ANGLO-SAXONS. 103
CHAP. V.
ALFRED'S Moral Character.
WE have contemplated Alfred as the student, and
the man of literature, and in his public character.
Let us proceed to review his conduct in more inter-
esting relations.
To educate our children in the best improvements
and noblest virtues of our times, is to perform a duty
the most sacred which we owe to society, and its
parent. If, as reason hopes, and Revelation assures
us, He, who called man into being, is interested in
his concerns, no event can more propitiate his favour,
than the gradual improvement of his creation. If
one idea can predominate over others in the divine
economy of human affairs, it is reasonable to believe,
that it must be the plan of our moral and intellectual
progression. Whoever leaves his offspring more in-
formed and more virtuous than himself, accelerates
this favourite scheme of supreme goodness, and claims
the gratitude of society whom he benefits.
Alfred was a great example to posterity in this
path of duty. He was as solicitous to improve his
family as himself. He had several children; some
died in their infancy.1 ^Ethelfleda, Edward, Ethel-
giva, Alfritha, and J^thelweard, survived him.
Edward and Alfritha were educated in the royal
1 Asser, mentioning his living children, adds, " Exceptis his qui in infantia morte
prseveniente prseoccupati sunt," p. 42. Rudborne^mentions that Edmund was his
first-born, whom his father had crowned as his intended successor. He died a little
before his father, and was buried in the old monastery at Winchester, " as appears,"
says Rudborne, " by his marble on his tomb, on the north side of the altar, which
is inscribed, Hie jacet Edmundus Rex, nlii Aldredi regis." Hist. Mag. Wint.
p. 207.
ii 4
104 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK court with great attention. They were accustomed
. ^- . to filial duty towards their parent, and to behave
with mildness and affability towards others, whether
strangers or natives. Asser remarks, that they re-
tained these estimable qualities at the period in which
he wrote. They were induced to improve their
minds with all the liberal learning which could then
be obtained. Besides the hymns of devotion, they
were studiously taught Saxon books, and particularly
Saxon poetry ; and they were accustomed to frequent
reading.2
^Ethelweard, his youngest son, received a sort of
public education ; he was committed to the diligent
care of proper teachers, with almost all the noble
children of the province, and with many of inferior
ranks. There they were all assiduously instructed
in Latin and Saxon: they learned also the art of
writing, to which literature owes its existence. By
these institutions, the season of their youth was em-
ployed to inform and enlarge their minds. When
their matured age gave the requisite strength, they
were exercised in hunting, and those robust arts,
which by the habits of society at that time were
made honourable and popular.3
The most exquisite luxury which aged parents can
enjoy, when the charms of life and all the pleasures of
sense are fast fading around them, is to see their
parental care rewarded by a dutiful, affectionate, and
intelligent offspring. Alfred enjoyed this happiness,
which he had so well merited. ^Ethelfleda, his eldest,
became a woman of very superior mind : such were
its energies, that they even reached a masculine
strength. She is extolled, in the ancient chronicles,
as the wisest lady in England. Her brother Edward
8 Asser, 43.
8 Asser, 43. ^Etbelweard lived twenty-one years after his father, and died 922,
in the beginning of the reign of Athelstan. Matt. West. 359.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 105
governed his life in its best actions by her counsels.
After she was married to Ethered, the governor of
Mercia, she built several cities, and upon all occasions
displayed a statesman's skill, and an Amazonian
activity.4
The reign of Edward was distinguished by its
vigour and prosperity. Some of the last instruc-
tions of Alfred to his son have been popularly pre-
served5, and they deserve to be quoted, for their
pathetic simplicity, their political wisdom, and the
proof which they afford of this monarch's anxiety
for the welfare of his subjects.
" Thou," quoth Alfred, " my dear son, set thee
now beside me, and I will deliver thee true instruc-
tions. My son, I feel that my hour is coming. My
countenance is wan. My days are almost done. We
must now part. I shall to another world, and thou
shalt be left alone in all my wealth. I pray thee
(for thou art my dear child) strive to be a father,
and a lord to thy people. Be thou the children's
father, and the widow's friend. Comfort thou the
poor, and shelter the weak ; and, with all thy might,
right that which is wrong. And, son, govern thy-
self, by law ; then shall the Lord love thee, and God
4 The difficulty and sufferings of her first parturition deterred her from the
chance of a repetition. She protested, that it did not become a king's daughter to
pursue any pleasure which was attended with such inconvenience. Malmsb. 46.
He describes her, " Favor civium, pavor hostium, immodici cordis faemina. — Virago
potentissima multum fratrem juvare consiliis, in urbibus extruendis non minus
valere, non discernas potiore fortuna, an virtute ; ut mulier viros domesticos pro-
tegeret, alienos terreret." Ib. 46. The Chronicle MS. Nero. A. 6. says of her,
" Per cujus animum frater suus Edwardus multo melius in regno actus suos diri-
gebat." P. 6.
5 This is the conclusion of the Cotton MSS. mentioned before, p. 80. Of this
work Spelman says, fairly, "I cannot think it fit to offer them into the world as
an instance of what the king composed ; for they are not his very work in the
Saxon tongue, but a miscellany collection of some later author, who, according to
his own faculty, hath, in a broken English, put together such of the sayings of king
Alfred as he met withal." P. 125. Wanley says, the fragment is in Norman Saxon,
" circa tempus Henrid II. aut Richardi I. conscriptum in quo continentur quaedam
ex proverbiis et apothegmatis JElfredi regis sapientissimi," p. 231. A copy of
the Galba MS. of this work is stated to exist in MS. at Oxford, in the Bodleian
Library.
106 HISTORY OF THE
V.
BOOK above all things shall be thy reward. Call thou upon
him to advise thee in all thy need, and so shall he
help thee, the better to compass that which thou
wouldest."6
JrCthelweard became a man celebrated for his
learning.7
Alfritha obtained an honourable8 marriage. We
have mentioned, in a preceding9 chapter, Baldwin,
with the iron arm, count of Flanders, who carried off,
with friendly violence, Judith, the widow of Ethel-
wulf, and of Alfred's brother Ethelbald. The son of
this marriage, which the king of France at last sanc-
tioned, was Baldwin the Bald. It was he who ob-
tained the hand of Alfritha; their offspring was
Arnulf lo, who is mentioned with expressions of cele-
brity, and who succeeded his father in 918.11 From
a descendant of Arnulf was born Mathilda, the wife
of William the Conqueror.
6 Spelman, p. 131. This collection begins thus : —
"Ac Sippopb j*eten Thamer manie,
Fele Bircoper anb pele hoc lepeb,
Cpler ppube •} Kmhcer esloche.
Thep >aer Cple Alppich op Che lage ppuCh pire,
Anb ec Alppeb f Cn^le hipbe, Cnsle baplins.
On Cnslonb lie par kins. J>ern he £an lepen
Spo him hepen mihcen, hu hi hepe lip leben rcolben.
Alfred he was on Englelond a king well swithe strong.
He was king and clerk. Well he luvied God's werk :
He was wise on his word, and war on his speeche.
He was the wiseste man that was on Englelond."
Ibid. p. 127.
The 5th article is worth quoting in Spelman's translation. " Thus," quoth
Alftvd, " without wisdom, wealth is worth little. Though a man had an hundred
and seventy acres sown with gold, and all grew like corn, yet were all that wealth
worth nothing unless that of an enemy one could make it become his friend. For
what differs gold from a stone, but by discreet using of it ? " p. 130.
7 To this son, Alfred, by his will, devised land in seventeen places, beside that of
the Weal district, and 500 pounds.
8 Alfred bequeathed to her 100 pounds, and three manors.
9 Vol. I. p. 427.
10 Her relation Ethelwerd thus speaks of this marriage : « Alfred misit Alfthrythe
filiam suam ad partes Germanis Baldwino in matrimonium qui genuit ab ea filios
duos, Athulfum et Earnulfum; duas films quoque, Ealshwid et Earmentruth."
Prologus Ethelw. p. 831. The Chronicon Sithense in Bouquet's Recueil, torn. ix.
p. 74., places the marriage in 898. The Cbronicon Alberici mistakes both the
name and parentage of the lady, for it calls her Ethelwinda, and makes her Alfred's
grand-daughter, filiam filise suae. Bouq. torn. ix. p. 61.
11 Bouquet's Recueil, torn. ix. p. 152.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 107
It is the invariable dictate of benevolence never to CHAP.
be inattentive to the comforts of others. Alfred dis-
played this accomplished temper in his arrangement
of his household. He divided all his noble attendants of MS
into three bodies, and he regulated their personal
services with a kind regard to their convenience, as
well as to his own. He exacted the attendance of
one of the divisions for a month, and afterwards
allowed the persons who composed it to return home
to their families and affairs, while another supplied
their place for the same period.12 By this regular
routine, Alfred was carefully served, and an ample
time was afforded to his attendants to watch over
their private concerns. He was also scrupulously
exact in the distribution and application of his yearly
revenue. He ordered his officers to divide it into
two general portions. These portions he again sub-
divided, and appropriated each division to a peculiar
and inalienable service.
One of his allotments, a sixth of his income, he
set apart for his warriors and noble attendants ; he
gave to each according to his dignity and to his
services. Another sixth he devoted to the work-
men in architecture, whom he collected from several
nations. Another sixth he appropriated to foreigners
who came to him, whatever might be their country,
whether remote or near, whether they claimed his
bounty, or awaited its voluntary descent; they re-
ceived each a portion according to their worthiness,
which was given with admirable discretion.13
The other half of his revenue was consecrated to
religious objects. This he also separated again, and
commanded his officers to put it into four shares.
One of these, being one-eighth of his whole income,
was prudently administered to the poor of every
12 Asser, 65. " Asser, 65, 66. Florence.
108 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK nation who came to him. In distributing this, he
. y> . remembered the axiom of pope Gregory : " Give not
little to him who needs much, nor much to him who
needs little ; refuse not to the man who should have
something, and give not to him who deserves nothing."
Another eighth was paid to the two monasteries he
built, for their maintenance. Another eighth was
for the school which he had diligently made up from
many nobles of his nation. Another eighth was dis-
persed among the neighbouring monasteries of West
Saxony and Mercia. In some years he made dona-
tions to the churches and clergy in Wales, Cornwall,
France, Bretagne, Northumbria, and Ireland, accord-
ing to his ability.14
Alfred was an exact economist of his time, without
which indeed nothing great can be achieved. He
had not those heralds of its lapse which we can make
so minute and exact ; but he was sensible, that to do
all he projected, he must divide his day, and appro-
priate every part.
The darkness of the night afforded him no natural
means of measuring the progress of the revolving
globe; and as clouds and rain often concealed the
sun, which is the only chronometer of uncultivated
man, he was compelled to frame some method of
marking his day into regular intervals.15 Mechanics
were then so little known, either in theory or prac-
tice, that Alfred had not the aid of this science, from
which most of our comforts, both domestic and
political, have arisen. He used a simple expedient :
14 Asser, 67.
15 The king of France had an advantage in this respect above Alfred ; for,
in 807, Charlemagne was presented by the king of Persia with a superb clock.
" Horologium ex orichalco, arte mechanica miriflce compositum, in quo duodecim
horarum cursus ad clepsydram vertebatur, cum totidem eereis pilulis, quae ad com-
pletionem horarum decidebant et casu suo subjectum sibi cymbalum tinnire facie-
bant ; additis in eodem ejusdem numeri equitibus qui per 12 fenestras completis
horis exibant et itnpulsu egressionis suaj totidem fenestras quae prius erant apertse,
claudebant." Annales Car. Mag. Astron. p. 35. Reuberi.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 109
his chaplains, by his orders, procured wax, and he CIIAP-
ordered seventy-two denarii of it to be made into six w — ^ —
equal candles, each candle to be twelve inches long,
which were separately marked. These candles, suc-
cessively used, lasted through the whole twenty-four
hours, and of course every inch marked the lapse of
twenty minutes ; but sometimes the wind rushing in
through the windows and doors, the numerous chinks
of the walls16, or the slender covering of the tents,
consumed the candles with undue celerity. To cure
this evil, which confused his calculation, he thought
skilfully and wisely, says Asser17; and the result of
this skill and wisdom was the invention of lanterns.
He found that the white horn became pellucid like
glass18, and with this and wood a case for his candle
was (mirabiliter) admirably made. By these schemes,
which our clocks and watches make us deride, he
obtained what he wanted, an exact admeasurement
of the lapse of time. We have not a correct detail of
its appropriation, Asser's general statement, that he
consecrated half his time to God18, gives no distinct
idea, because we find, that his liberal mind, in the
distribution of his revenue, thought that to apportion
money for a school was devoting it to the Supreme.
Malmsbury's account is, that one third of the natural
day and night was given to sleep and refreshment ;
one third to the affairs of his kingdom ; and one third
to those duties which he considered as sacred.19 This
indistinct statement cannot now be amplified.
He had been fond of hunting and sporting ; but as
he became older, we may infer, from his paraphrase
of Boetius's conditional assertion, that if a man rode
for his health, he did not desire the motion but its
16 It is of a royal palace that he is thus speaking.
17 Consilio que artificiose atque sapienter invento, p. 68.
19 Asser, 67. 19 Malmsbury, 45.
110 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK effect, that our afflicted king did not take this exer-
. cise for pleasure. He says : —
" No man rides out because it pleases him to ride ; but he rides
because by the excursion he earns something. Some earn by it
that they shall be healthier ; some that they shall be more active ;
and some because they would come to some other place which they
desire to be at." 20
HIS piety. One of the principal features of Alfred's useful life,
was his earnest piety. From the gross and illiberal
superstitions which have been connected with religion,
and from the frauds and hypocrisy which have been
sometimes practised under her venerable name, piety,
although one of the native flowers of the uncorrupted
heart, has lost much of its influence upon mankind.
Philosophy has justly taught us to discredit priest-
craft ; and the dread of the evils which this has pro-
duced, has greatly alienated many from religion
itself. Whenever a mischief tends to accompany a
blessing, the good is undervalued till the evil can
be removed.
But although this state of opinion results, not un-
naturally, from some part of the former experience of
mankind, it is not a decision which wisdom and
knowledge will ultimately sanction. Religion is as
necessary to the happiness and improvement of man,
and to the healthful continuance and expected melior-
ation of society, as superstition, artifice, tyranny, and
ignorance are injurious and debasing; and of all
religions, none can be compared with Christianity,
either in intellect, morals, or beneficence. It has
raised the kingdoms where it has prevailed, to a
proud superiority over the rest of the world ; and
it has given a beauty, a richness, and an utility to
the human character, which we shall in vain look
for under any other system. No religion is either in
spirit or in precept more adverse to those systems
20 Alf. Boet. p. 20.
ANGLO-SAXONS. Ill
of delusion and selfishness to which it has been per-
verted, and from which it is ever appealing ; none
can better claim the support of the wise, and the
sympathy of the good.
Religion was one of the earliest offsprings of the
human intellect, and cannot long be separated from
it without certain deterioration to both. As it is the
best guide and guardian of rnind as well as of virtue,
if it be allied with our reason, and enriched with
our knowledge, many of the greatest characters of
their day have in all ages upheld it. But there are
some dispositions to whom it is peculiarly congenial
and gratifying ; and Alfred was one of that order of
intelligence which has delighted in its exercise.
By other men, piety may have been taken up as a
mask, or worn as a habit ; by Alfred it was applied
to its great and proper use ; to the correction of im-
morality, to the advancement of virtue, to the en-
couragement of knowledge ; and to become the asylum
of happiness.
Alfred, like other men, inherited the passions and
frailties of mortality : he felt immoral tendencies
prevalent in his constitution, and he found that he
could not restrain his objectionable desires. With
this experience mankind in general rest satisfied:
they feel themselves prompted to vicious gratifica-
tions : they take the tendencies of nature as their
excuse, and they freely indulge.
But the mind of Alfred emancipated itself from
such sophistry : he disdained to palter with his moral
sense: he knew that his propensities were immoral ;
and though a prince, he determined not to be their
slave. He found the power of his reason to be in-
adequate to subdue them ; and he therefore had re-
course to the aids of religion. His honoured friend
assures us, that to protect himself from vice, he rose
alone at the first dawn of day, and privately visited
112 HISTORY OE THE
BOOK churches and their shrines, for the sake of prayer.
. VV^ There, long prostrate, he besought the great moral
Legislator to strengthen his good intentions. So
sincere was his virtuous determination, that he even
implored the dispensation of some affliction which
he could support, and which would not, like blind-
ness or leprosy, make him useless and contemptible
in society, as an assistant to his virtue. With fre-
quent and earnest devotion, he preferred this request ;
and when at no long interval the disorder of the
ficus came upon him, he welcomed its occurrence,
and converted it to a moral utility, though it attacked
him severely.21 However variously with their pre-
sent habits, some may appreciate the remedy with
which Alfred chose to combat his too ardent passions,
we cannot refuse our applause to his magnanimity.
His abhorrence of vice, his zeal for practical virtue,
would do honour to any private man of the most
regular habits : but in a prince who lives in that
sphere of society where every object and every asso-
ciate tempt the passions, and seduce the reason, it
was one of those noble exertions of soul which
humanity rarely yet displays, and which words can-
not adequately applaud.
Asser repeatedly describes his sovereign's religious
disposition : " He was accustomed to hear divine
service, especially the mass, every day, and to repeat
psalms and prayers, and the devotions for the hours
of the day and for night ; and he often frequented
churches alone, without his state, in the night-time,
for the sake of praying." 22
Asser also adds : " It was his habit, attentively and
solicitously, to hear the sacred Scriptures read by his
own subjects, or by foreigners when any came to him
from abroad, and also prayers.
21 Asser, pp. 41, 42. 22 Asser, p. 44.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 113
" He lamented continually, with sorrow and sigh- CHAP.
ing, to all who were admitted into his intimacy, that
the Deity had made him void of Divine wisdom and
the liberal arts. But He who beholds the internal
mind, and promotes every virtuous meditation and
good inclination, increased this inward impulse, till
the king had acquired, from every quarter within his
reach, coadjutors of this pious disposition who were
able to assist him in the wisdom he desired, and to
conduct him to the proficiency he coveted."23
In another place Asser informs us that Alfred
carefully carried in his bosom a little book, in which
were written the daily offices of prayer, and some
psalms and pious supplications which he had read in
his youth.24
Asser intimates that one of the king's first uses of
his knowlege of Latin, and his mode of learning it,
was to translate passages of the sacred Scriptures,
and to insert them in the book which he called his
manual, because he had it always at his hand, and
from which, he then said, he derived no small
comfort.25
Nearly a thousand years have elapsed since Alfred's
reign, and yet no plan of acquiring moral and philo-
sophical wisdom has been suggested which will be
found to be more efficacious than this invaluable
habit of our Anglo- Saxori king. They who have
profited from it can attest its efficacy.
But, independently of Asser's account, we have two
written records still remaining of the pious feelings
of this admirable king, from his own heart and pen,
in his Anglo-Saxon selections and translations from
St. Austin's meditations, and in his additions to his
version of Boetius. As the truth is every day be-
coming more apparent, and will be ere long admitted
23 These are Asser's words, p. 45. 2* Asser, p. 55.
24 Ibid. p. 57.
VOL. II. I
114 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK by the most philosophical, that enlightened religion
. v' . is the best guide to wisdom, virtue, and social order,
and their surest basis, we will make no apology for
adding a few extracts on this subject.
Alfred's imitation of the fourth metrum of Boetius
consists chiefly of the additions of his own piety : —
" He that would firmly build his house ; he should not set it
upon the highest hill ; and he that would seek heavenly wisdom
must not be arrogant. And again,
" As he that would firmly build his house will not place it upon
sand-hills, so, if thou wouldest build wisdom, set it not up on
covetousness ; for as the drinking sand swalloweth the rain, so
covetousness absorbs the frail happiness of this world, because it
will be always thirsty.
" Nor can a house stand long on an high mountain if a full
raging wind presses on it. Nor hath it on the drinking sand that
which will continue against violent rain.
" So also the mind of man is undermined and agitated from its
place, when the wind of strong troubles or the rain of immeasurable
anxiety shake it.
" But he that will have the eternal riche?, he will fly from the
dangerous beauty of this middle earth, and build the house of his
mind on the fast stone of lowliness ; for Christ dwelt in the valley
of humility and in the meditation of wisdom.
" Hence the wise man will lead all his life to the joy that is
unchangeable, endless, and without care. Then he will despise
both earthly good, and tevil also ; and hope for the future, which
will be eternal. Because God, who for ever abides, will preserve
him every where in the riches of his mind, though the wind of
this world's difficulties, and the perpetual cares of its prosperities
should blow on him." 26
From the diffuse meditations of St. Austin27, Alfred
selected the parts which most pleased him, and has
translated these into Saxon, with that freedom, and
with those additions which make his versions so often
breathe his own feelings. As the king's heart is laid
open before us in these chosen effusions, it may not
be uninteresting to insert some extracts from them,
as a further delineation of his real character : —
" Lord ! Thou who art the maker of all creation, grant me first
that I may rightly know thee and rationally address thee ; then
28 Alfred's Boet. p. 22. The two last paragraphs, and some phrases of the others,
are Alfred's own composition.
27 MSS. Brit. Mus. Vitell. A. 15.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 115
may I earn that I shall become worthy that thou, from thy mild-
heartedness, shouldest redeem and free me.
" I call to Thee, Lord ! Thou that abandonest none of thy
creatures to become nought. To thee I call ; Thou that lovest
all that can love Thee ; both those which know what they should
love and those which do not.
" O Thou ! that didst make all creatures very good without any
evil ! Thou ! who wilt not openly show thyself to any others but
to those who are cleansed in their mind ! To Thee, O Lord ! I
call, because Thou art the father of sincerity and wisdom, and
true life, and of the supreme life and the supreme felicity, and of
the highest good and the supreme brightness, and of intellectual
1 light.
" O Thou who art the Father of that Son which has awakened
us, and yet urgeth us out of the sleep of our sins, and exhorteth
us, that we become thine : to Thee, Lord ! I pray, who art the
supreme truth, for all the truth that is, is truth from Thee.
" Thee, I implore, O Lord ! who art the highest wisdom.
Through Thee are wise all those that are so. Thou art the true
life, and through Thee all that live subsist. Thou art the supreme
felicity, and from Thee all have become happy that are so. Thou
art the highest good, and from Thee all beauty springs. Thou
art the intellectual light, and from Thee man derives his under-
standing !
" He that loveth Thee, seeketh Thee : he that followeth Thee,
he will obtain Thee."
After indulging in these lofty feelings awhile, he
proceeds more earnestly : —
" Come now to help me, O Thou, who art the only Eternal ; the
true God of glory : Father and Son, and so art now ; and Holy
Spirit, without any separation or mutability, and without any
necessity or diminution of power, and who never diest. Thou art
always dwelling in the highest brightness, and in a highest
happiness ; in perfect unanimity, and in the fullest abundance.
With Thee there is no deficiency of good, but Thou art ever
abiding, replete with every felicity, through endless time.
" To Thee, O God ! I call and speak. Hear, O hear me !
Lord ! for thou art my God and my Lord ; my father and my
creator; my ruler and my hope ; my wealth and my honour; my
house ; my country ; my salvation, and my life ! Hear, hear me,
0 Lord ! Few of thy servants comprehend Thee. But Thee alone
1 love, indeed, above all other things ; Thee I seek ; Thee I will
follow ; Thee I am ready to serve. Under Thy power I desire to
abide, for Thou alone art the Sovereign of all. I pray Thee to
command me as Thou wilt."
One extract more, breathing the same warmth of
feeling, may be added : —
i 2
116 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK " Now I have sought Thee : unlock thy door and teach me how
V. I may come to Thee. I have nothing to bring to Thee but my
' > ' good will ; but I myself have nothing else. I know nothing that
is better than to love Thee, the heavenly and the spiritual One,
above all earthly things. Thus I also do, Good Father ! because
I know of nothing better than thyself.
" But I know not how I can come to Thee unless Thou per-
mittest me. Teach it to me, and help me. If those through Thee
find the truth who find Thee, give me that truth. If they through
Thee obtain any virtue who obtain Thee, impart that virtue to
me. If wisdom, grant me that wisdom. Add to me the hope of
the everlasting life, and pour thy love upon me.
" Oh ! how Thy goodness is to be admired, for it is unlike all
other goods. I wish to come to Thee, and the more earnestly,
because of all things I need this path. My desire is to Thee, and
this most chiefly because without Thee I cannot come to Thee.
If thou abandonest me, then I shall be removed from Thee : but
I know that Thou wilt not forsake me unless I forsake Thee.
But I will not forsake Thee, because Thou art the highest good.
There is none of those who seek Thee rightly that may not find
Thee. But they only will seek Thee rightly whom Thou in-
structest to seek Thee, and teachest how to find Thee."28
From the preceding extracts, and from those before
given from his Boetius, it will appear that Alfred
connected his belief in Christianity with high-minded
feelings. In his Boetius he takes repeated occasions,
and with a peculiar pleasure, to expatiate upon the
power, perfections, and providence of the Deity, with
all the clearness of perception, and largeness of
thought, and warmth of sentiment, of a Platonic or
Pythagorean philosopher, though with the superior
light of a Christian thinker.
The subject never occurs to his pen but he dilates
upon it with such visible affection, as to show that
it was the habitual and predominant feeling of his
cultivated mind. Yet, frequently as he has discussed
it, he never betrays any narrow-minded superstition.
All his conceptions are intelligent and expanded.
He views the greatest of beings not only as the sove-
reign, but as the father, the guide, the instructor,
and the benefactor of his creatures. He loves to
28 These extracts are taken from the Cotton MSS. Vitell. A. 15.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 117
contemplate this awful theme, and to interest others
with his contemplations. It is surprising, in an age
so dark and tumultuous, and amid cares and employ-
ments so harassing and multifarious, and when relics
and rites were the religion which was most valued,
that the mind of Alfred could have thus enlarged its
religious meditations, have conceived them so justly,
and expressed them so rationally, and yet so fervently.
Nothing displays more emphatically the habitual
greatness of his mind than his pure, and lofty, and
affectionate theism, and the natural and earnest
diction into which it effuses.
That Alfred, who lost both his parents before he
was ten years old ; who was on the throne at the
age of twenty-one, and was immersed so long in the
occupations and vicissitudes of the most deadly war-
fares ; who lived amid such desolations and ignorance,
and had no education but such as in his rnaturer life
he was enabled to give himself; should yet have
formed his mind to that admirable combination of
great piety with great wisdom, enlarged intellect,
liberal feelings, and as much knowledge as his in-
quisitive curiosity could obtain, is a phenomenon
that, in far happier times, has rarely, if ever, been
exhibited on the throne. As all effects have adequate
causes, we are led to inquire into the origin, or first
author, of this attainment. The individual within
his reach to whom the commencement of his religious
feelings can be most justly attributed is his kins-
man29, St. Neot. Alfred is declared to have fre-
quently visited this pious man ; to have conversed
much with him on devotional subjects ; to have pro-
fited greatly, both in his moral conduct and know-
lege of Christianity30, from these interviews; and
29 Asser calls Neot " Cognatus suus," p. 32. Ingulf says, he was frequently at
the feet of St. Neot and Werefrith, p. 27.
80 The Saxon life of Neot says, "On than time paej* ^Elppeb kins anb Co than
halsen selomen (often) com emb hif r»Ple theappe." MS. Vesp. D. 14. p. 145
r 3
118 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK to have been reproved by him, as already mentioned,
•_.^' j for his faults.
It is not clear Avhether St. Neot was his brother or
his uncle.31 He was a king before he abandoned the
world32, but as to what province he reigned in in
England, and of his former name, we have no satis-
factory information33 ; and where this is wanting, no
conjecture, however ingenious, can in history be sub-
stituted for it.34 But of his spirit and subsequent
conduct the details are clear and abundant.
Neot is described to have been a very meek and
mild man : to have become a monk at Glastoribury ;
to have visited Rome seven times ; and to have retired
to a wild solitude in Cornwall, which he afterwards
quitted to build a monastery.35 He died before 878.
The principal feature in his moral character is the
resolution which he formed of copying the predomi-
nant virtue of every person in his cloister that had
The oldest Latin life adds, that Neot received him as his lord with honour, and
as his brother with love, blessed him, taught and instructed him, and showed him
the way of prudence. Claud. A. 5. p. 153. Ramsay's prose life mentions that
Neot taught him " multa in divinis et quae Christianismo pertinebant, regi dis-
seruit." Whit. Neot. p. 347. His metrical life mentions that " ad sanctum
persepe requirit" Ibid. p. 334.
31 The MSS. Claud. A. 5. makes him the son of Ethelwulph, and therefore
brother of Alfred. So does the metrical life of Ramsay, Whit. p. 318., and the
lives of St. Neot, extracted by Leland in his Collect, vol. iv. p. 1 3., and so Leland
himself. De Script. Brit. p. 143. Other authorities state him to be the son of
Egbert. I think if he had been Alfred's brother, Asser would have hardly called
him "cognatus."
32 So the Claudius MS. intimates : " Neque enim alienus vel ipso genere inferior
sanctus erat Neotus : sed ex eodem sanguine creatus rex," p. 153. One of the in-
scriptions on the window in his Cornish church was, " Hie tradidit coronam fratri
suo juniori." Whit. Neot. p. 74.
83 Ramsay's prose life implies East Anglia, p. 340., and so Leland understood it.
Itin. iv. p. 135,
34 Dr. Whitaker's theory is, that he was Ethelstan, the son of Ethelwulph, and
king of Kent, p. 73. It is a very spirited conjecture, and not wholly improbable ;
but Malmsbury has declared that he did not knqw what end Ethelstan had ; and
the Saxon life says of Neot, " He was in his youth addicted to book-like learning,
and to religious practices, and diligently inquired about the eternal life, and how
he might most firmly live for God. " MSS. Vesp. This does not exactly suit with
Ethelstan's reign in Kent, and battle in 851 with the Danes. See before, vol. I.
p. 418. Fordun, who mentions his death in a conflict with the Scots, does not
state his earlier authority for this incident. On the whole, we cannot identify the
saint with the king as an historical certainty.
35 See the preceding lives, and Whitaker's account.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 119
any, — the continence of one man, the pleasantness CHAP.
of another, the suavity of a third ; the seriousness, . Y' .
humanity, good nature, and love of singing, and of
study, in others. Hence the summary of his cha-
racter is thus transmitted to us : " Humble to all,
affable in conversation, mild in transaction of business,
venerable in aspect, serene in countenance, moderate
even in his walk, sincere, upright, calm, temperate,
and charitable."36
It is not extraordinary that such a man should
have led the mind of Alfred to favourable impres-
sions of sincere religion.
It is an agreeable instance of Alfred's good humour,
that after his restoration, he was in the habit of nar-
rating to his friends the adventures of his adversity,
with lively pleasantry. 37
There is one little incident attached to the memory
of Alfred, which, as it exists in an author who seems
to have been curious in searching into ancient re-
mains38, may be mentioned here, that nothing con-
cerning so great a man be lost.
One day as he was hunting in a wood, he heard the
cry of an infant in a tree, and ordered his huntsmen
to examine the place. They ascended the branches,
and found at top, in an eagle's nest, a beautiful child,
dressed in purple, with golden bracelets, the marks
of nobility, on his arms. The king had him brought
down and baptized, and well educated; from the
accident, he named the foundling Nestingum. His
grandson's daughter is stated to have been one of the
ladies for whom Edgar indulged an improper passion.
We will close our account of Alfred's moral cha-
38 Ramsay's life, p. 341. ; Whitaker, p. 93. ; and see his further account,
pp. 94, 95.
37 Malmsbury, 43.
38 This is Johannes Tinmuth, whose MSS. have not yet been published, though
they appear to contain some curious particulars. I find an extract from his history
in the Bodleian library, lib. xxi., quoted by Dugdale, Monasticon, i. p. 256.
i 4
120 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK racter by one remarkable trait. An author who
. lived at the period of the Norman conquest, in men-
tioning some of the preceding kings with short ap-
propriate epithets, names Alfred, with the simple
but expressive addition of " the truth-teller39," as if
it had been his traditional character. •
89 Hermanni miracula Edmundi script, circa 1070. MS. Cotton Library, Tibe-
rius, b. iS. It follows Abbo's life of tbis king. It is very beautifully written. P. 21.
he says " Elueredi Veridiei." In his epithets of the kings, he seems to have closely
followed their traditional biography, for he calls Edred " debilis pedibus," which is a
very marking trait.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 121
CHAR VI.
ALFRED'S Public Conduct.
THE conduct of kings affects the whole nation which
contemplates it. The fortunes of human nature are
in their hands. Virtue and intellect flourish as their
conduct is wise and moral ; and nations prosper or
decline, as the measures of the executive authority
are salutary or ignoble.
Although his conduct in the first part of his reign
was objectionable, few sovereigns have shaped their
conduct with more regard to the public happiness
than Alfred, after his restoration. He seems to have
considered his life but as a trust to be used for the
benefit of his people ; and his plans for their welfare
were intelligent and great. His military exertions
for the benefit of the nation, and their final successes,
have been already commemorated. But although
performed by him as necessary duties, they were un-
congenial with his heart and mind. These turned,
as soon as they were at liberty to pursue their natural
bias, to nobler objects than war and bloodshed.
His predominant wish was the mental and moral im-
provement of his countrymen. His letter to his bishop,
prefixed to his translation of Gregory's Pastorals,
and already cited1, breathes this principle throughout.
To communicate to others the knowlege which we
possess, he even states to be a religious duty. He
laments the ignorance which overspread his land ; he
desires that all the youth, who had pecuniary means,
should learn to read English ; he gently censures
1 From p. 11. of this volume.
122 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK former students who had not put their knowlege
. y' , into a popular form, by translating it into the verna-
cular tongue ; he devotes his own leisure, and he
calls upon his literary clergy to devote theirs, to the
translating into English the books they possessed. He
led the way with taste and judgment in his historical
and philosophical translations : he seems to place
his glory in the intellectual advancement of his rude
countrymen.
His correspondent, the French archbishop, also
bears testimony to the same spirit.2 The translation
of Gregory's Pastorals could have no other meaning
than to rouse the clergy to labour for the moral
emendation of his people ; and, at the same time that
we surrender this book to disapprobation, for its ten-
dency to enchain the mind, it may be proper to
remark, that the principle upon which the king re-
commended it to his clergy was unquestionably just.
We cannot look round the world without perceiving
how much the morality of a people depends upon the
sagacity, the knowlege, and the virtue of its sacred
preceptors. Why is the fair influence of true reli-
gion lessening among us, but because the appointed
guardians of our morals are not always careful to ac-
quire the talents to display the enlarged views, and
to exert the conduct which will interest the thought-
less, impress the dissolute, and satisfy the doubting ?
In every age the world requires, from its moral
teachers, example, persuasion, and conviction. The
clergy of Alfred were not distinguished for either ;
and the king knew no other book which at all aimed
at educating them, to influence honourably, as well as
to exhort ; nor was any other way at that time likely
to be more efficacious than to increase the influence
of the ecclesiastical order.
8 See before, p. 12. of this volume.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 12
In the first days of society, and in its most im- CHAP.
proved period, when religion and philosophy have be- •
come duly united and firmly seated in the heart, the
patriarchal and the priestly character may be often
most usefully united ; but in the intermediate eras,
when so many myriads are ignorant of religion, or indif-
ferent to it, or prejudiced against it, if there be not a
well educated, respected, and authorised clergy, it
will depart from the young intellect amid the pres-
sure of worldly objects, and become associated with
degrading superstitions in the vulgar and older minds.
Alfred could not at that time have pursued a wiser
or more patriotic object than that of endeavouring to
enlighten and improve the ecclesiastical body.
The school which he established for his nobles3,
and the masters which he provided for high and low,
who were educated with his son ^Ethelweard4, are
proofs of his desire to augment the knowlege of his
country.
His invitations to his court of learned foreigners
and skilful artisans ; his search around his dominions
for men of literary attainments ; and his munificent
patronage to all whose talents came within his notice,
concur to demonstrate his laudable anxiety to improve
his people.
He lived in an age, when to promote the general
welfare was an idea which seldom influenced the con-
duct.5 His plans to benefit his subjects were there-
fore counteracted by their prejudices and their ig-
norance. Many of his royal exhortations were not
obeyed; even the castles which he advised, or or-
dered his nobility to build, to protect their own lands,
3 Scholae quam ex multis suse propriae gentis nobilibus studiosissime congregaverat.
Asser, 67.
4 Cum omnibus pene totius regionis nobilibus infantibus et etiam multis igno-
bilibus, sub diligent! magistrorum cura traditus est. Asser, 43.
5 This is a feature wbich Asser gives of his contemporaries, " Qui nullum aut
parvum voluntarie pro communi regni necessitate vellent subire laborem." P. 58.
V.
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK against the Northmen, were reluctantly begun. It
often happened that the ravages, which his advice was
meant to prevent, occurred before the landholders
would obey his foresight. Then, when they had lost
their families and property, they mourned their folly
with a repentance, says Asser, that could neither
restore their slain relations, redeem their captive
friends, nor even support themselves with common
subsistence.6
But Alfred was not discouraged by the tardiness of
his subjects. By mild expostulation, by reasoning, by
gentle flattery, or by express command; or, in case
of obstinate disobedience, by severe chastisement, he
overcame the pertinacity of vulgar folly; and wisely
made his bishops, earls, ministers, and public officers,
exert themselves for the common benefit of all his
kingdom.7 Among other things, he was inflexible
in exacting from all a competence for their offices.
To produce this he compelled them to study litera-
ture. Even they who had been illiterate from their
infancy, earls, governors, and ministers, were com-
pelled to learn to read and write8, choosing rather to
endure the painful toil, than to lose their preferment.
If from age, or peculiar dulness of intellect, they
could not be taught themselves, their son or some
kinsman, or if none, some freeman or slave, educated
for the purpose, was ordered to recite before them
Saxon books, both day and night.9
His public demeanour was very affable, mixed with
decorous pleasantry; he was eager to join in the
investigation of things unknown10, for the curiosity of
his mind was insuppressible.
Many Francs, Frisians, and other neighbouring
8 Asser, 60. » Ibid. 59.
8 So I construe the expressions, " Literatorise arti studerent." Asser, 71.
9 Asser, 71. These passages of Asser are very curious.
10 Et maxima et incomparabili contra omnes hominos affabilitate atque jocun-
ditate et ignotarum rerum investigationi solerter se jungebat. Asser, 44.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 125
nations, willingly came to submit to his authority, CHAP.
both noble and ignoble. He loved them all like his ^__VJ — »
own people, received them honourably, and gave
them both money and power.11
His bishops and clergy, his nobles and servants, he
treated with paternal affection ; he was indefatigable
in his endeavours to educate such of their children as
were in the royal court, in every valuable morality ;
and he himself did not disdain to assist in their scho-
lastic tuition.12
His embassy to India, to the shrine of St. Thomas, His Em-
is as expressive of his mind and public spirit as any 5S.10
other action of his life. No other potentate in Europe
could in that day have conceived it ; because no other
had acquired that knowlege which would have in-
terested them in a country so remote and unknown.
The embassy displays not only the extent of Alfred's
information, but that searching curiosity, which char-
acterised his understanding.
The journey is stated by several chroniclers. The
Saxon Chronicle13, Florence of Worcester14, Radulph15,
and Bromton16, simply mention, that Suithelm, the
bishop of Shireburn, carried the benevolence of Alfred
to India, to Saint Thomas, and returned in safety.
Huntingdon17, and Alured of Beverley18, express
that the embassy was sent in a discharge of a vow
which the king had made. Matthew of Westminster 19,
11 Asser, 44.
12 This I presume is the meaning of omnibus bonis moribus instituere et literis
imbuere solus die noctuque inter caetera non desinebat. Asser, 44.
13 Sax. Chron. p. 86.
14 8^'3. Assero Scireburnensi episcopo defuncto succedit Suithelmus qui regis
Alfred! elemosynam ad S. Thomam, Indiam detulit, indeque prospere retulit. Flor.
Wig. 320.
15 Rad Die. 451. He dates it 887.
13 Bromton, 812.
17 Alfredus autem misit elemosynam suam Romae et eliam in Indiam ad S. Tho-
mam secundum votum quod fecerat quaudo hostilis exercitus hyemavit apud Lon-
doniam. Hunt. 350.
18 Lib. vii p. 106.
19 Matt. West. 333. He says that Suithelra brought back precious stones. Malm,
calls him Sighelm.
126 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK an(j Malmsbury, mentions the curiosities which Suit-
• — ^ — ' helm brought back with him.
Malmsbury, who gives the fullest account of the
incident, says that the king sent many presents over
sea to Rome, and to St. Thomas, in India ; that Sig-
helm, the bishop of Shireburn, was his ambassador,
who penetrated with great success to India, to the
admiration of the age ; and that he brought with him,
on his return, many foreign gems and aromatic
liquors, the produce of the country.20 In another
passage, Malmsbury declares, that some of those gems
were to be seen in his days, in the monuments of the
church.21
In the former editions of this work, for the pur-
pose of verifying this extraordinary incident, a careful
investigation was pursued, in order to show that it
was long before believed that Saint Thomas had been
in India ; that in the age of Alfred he was presumed
to have died there ; and that at that time there
were Christians living there. It was also proved that
such journeys were in those days attempted, and the
inference was drawn from these facts, that the asser-
tions of our chroniclers were not counteracted by
any improbability in their assertions of this remark-
able embassy.22
20 Et trans~ mare Romam et ad Sanctum Thomam in Indiam multa munera
misit. Legatus in hoc missus Sigelmus Scireburnensis episcopus cum magna pros-
peritate, quod quivis hoc seculo miretur, Indiam penetravit : inde rediens exoticos
splendores gemmarum et liquores aromatum, quorum ilia humus ferax est, reportavit.
De Gestis, p. 44.
21 Nonnullae illarum adhuc in ecclesise monumentis visuntur. Malms, de Pont.
248.
22 In the Saxon life of St. Thomas in MS.Calig. A. 14., which is ascribed to
Elfric in Jul. E. 7., the legendary account there is, " The Saviour himself came to
him from heaven, and said to him, ' A king of the Indians, who is called Gundo-
forus, will send his gerefa to Syria's land to seek some labourer who is skilful in
arts. I will soon send thee forth with him.' Thomas answered, « Send me whither
thou wilt, except to the Indians.' But, on the command to go being repeated, he
. assented, and, when the regal officer came, they went together to the ship and reared
their sail and proceeded 'with the wind ; and they sailed forth then seven nights
before they reached a shore, but it would be long to tell all the wonders that he did
there. They came next to the king in India, and Abbanes boldly brought Thomas
to the speech of the king, who said to him, « Canst thou build me a kingly mansion
ANGLO-SAXONS. 127
The journeys and writings of the late Claudius CHAP.
Buchanan, and of other travellers ; and the subse- * ^L -
querit efforts and correspondence of our Bible and
Missionary Societies, have completely confirmed the
facts, not only that Syrian Christian churches were
early founded in the Indian peninsula, but that they
are still existing in the same parts. And as the
curious reader may desire to see our former collec-
tion of authorities, it is reprinted in the appendix to
this chapter.
No others of Alfred's foreign correspondencies
have been transmitted to us, besides the compliment
from the Jerusalem patriarch ; except some donations
from the pope 23, and several messages and presents
from Alfred to Kome. The king appears to have
sent embassies or couriers to Rome in several succes-
sive years.24
When the measures are mentioned by which Alfred
endeavoured to excite in his subjects a love of letters,
it will not be forgotten that the University of Oxford
has been connected with his memory.
The concurring testimonies of some respectable au-
thors seem to prove, that he founded public schools
in this city ; and therefore the University, which has
long existed with high celebrity, and which has en-
riched every department of literature and science by
the talents it has nourished, may claim Alfred as one
of its authors, and original benefactors.
But this incident, plain and intelligible as it ap-
pears to be, is environed with a controversy which
demands some consideration ; for it involves nothing
less than the decision of the superior antiquity of
in the Roman manner ? " Thomas tried and succeeded, and had then liberty to
preach, and baptized, and constructed a church, and Migdonia, the king's wife's
sister, believed what he taught." Cott. MSS. Calig. A. 14. pp. 112 — 118.
23 Asser, 39. The pope, at Alfred's request, liberated the Saxon school in Rome
from all pecuniary payments. Ibid.
24 Asser, 55. The Saxon Chronicle states that in the years 883, 887, 888, 889,
890, Alfred's alms or letters were successively sent to Rome.
128 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK the two Universities of England. We leave to abler
. v' . pens the determination of the dispute, and shall only
notice in the note a few particulars concerning the
first periods of the contest, and the point on which it
turned.25
His laws. This indefatigable king made also a code of laws,
with the concurrence of his witena-gemot or parlia-
ment, which has been called his Dom boc. In this,
for the first time, he introduced into the Anglo-Saxon
legislation, not only the decalogue, but also the prin-
cipal provisions of the Mosaic legislation, contained
in the three chapters which follow the decalogue,
with such modifications as were necessary to adapt
them to the Anglo-Saxon manners. In the laws
attached to them, he mentions, that, with the con-
currence of his witena-gemot, he had collected to-
gether, and committed to writing, the regulations
which his ancestors had established ; selected such of
them as he approved, and rejected the rest. He
adds, that he had showed them to all his witena, who
declared that it pleased them all that these should be
observed. Forty heads of laws then follow, on the
most important subjects of the Anglo-Saxon juris-
prudence, and legislation, obviously tending to in-
crease the national civilisation.26
HIS police. When Alfred regained his throne, and with that,
the kingdom of Mercia, he found that the Danish
invasions had so destroyed the ancient police of the
kingdom, and the regular habits of the inhabitants,
that the Anglo-Saxons were infesting each other
with predatory depredations.27
The means which he took to remedy this evil, and
25 See note 42 at the end of this chapter.
28 See those in Wilkin's Leg Sax. pp. 28—46. I cannot doubt that these com-
pose the dom-boc which some ancient writers alluded to.
27 Ingulf, 28 ; Malmsbury, 44. ; and the Chronicle of Joannes de Oxenedes.
Cott MSS. Nero, D. 2. This chronicle is not much more than an abridgment of
Malmsbury.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 129
also to provide an efficient force to repress the CHAP.
Danes, are stated to have been some modification of . YL .
the ancient provincial divisions of England, which
had long before been known as shires. The alter-
ations which he made with these are not detailed.
But it is expressly declared that he began the system
of dividing them into hundreds, and these into ten
parts or tithings. Under these nominal divisions,
the population of the country was arranged. Every
person was directed to belong to some hundred or
tithing. Every hundred and tithing were pledged to
the preservation of the public peace and security in
their districts, and were made answerable for the
conduct of their several inhabitants. In consequence
of this arrangement, the inhabitants were speedily
called out to repel an invader, and every criminal
accused was sure to be apprehended. If he was not
produced by the hundred or tithing to which he was
attached, the inhabitants of these divisions incurred
a general mulct. Thus every person in the district
was interested in seizing or discovering the offender.
If he fled, he must go to other districts, where, not
having been marshalled within their jurisdiction, he
would be known and punished as an outlaw, because
unpledged ; for he who was not pledged by some
hundred and tithing experienced all the severity
of the law.28 It is added to this statement, that
Alfred divided the provincial prefects into two offi-
cers, judges and sheriffs.29 — Until his time there
28 Ingulf, 28. Malmsb. 44.
29 Praefectos vero provinciarum qui antea vicedomini vocabantur in duo officia
divisit, id est, in judices quosnunc justiciaries vocamus et in vice comit.es qui adhuc
idem nomen retinent Ingulf, 28. We will briefly remark here, that the Welsh
anciently had the territorial divisions of cantref, a hundred, which contained two
cymmwd ; each of these had twelve maenawr, and two tref ; in every maenawr
were four tref, or towns ; in every town four gafael, each of which contained four
rhandir ; every rhandir was composed of sixteen acres. Thus every cantref con-
tained, as the name imports, a hundred towns, or 25,600 acres. Leges Wallicae,
pp. 157, 158. The preface to these laws states South Wales to have contained sixty-
four can trefs, and North Wales eighteen. Ibid. p. 1. The cantref and the cymmwd
had each a court to determine controversies. Ibid. p. 389. On finding these in
VOL. II. K
130 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK were only sheriffs. He separated, by the appointment
. yj . of justices or judges, the judicial from the executing
department of the law, and thus provided an im-
proved administration of law and justice. That
golden bracelets were hung up in the public roads,
and were not pilfered, is mentioned as a fact, which
evidenced the efficacy of his police.
The unsettled state of society in Saxon-England,
and that twilight of mind, which every where appears
at this period, may have justified these severe pro-
visions. They are, however, liable to such objections,
that though we may admit them to have been neces-
sary to Alfred, no modern government can wish to
have them imitated. They may have suppressed
robbery; they may have perpetuated public peace;
but they were calculated to keep society in a bondage
the most pernicious. They must have prevented
that free intercourse, that incessant communication,
that unrestricted travelling, which have produced so
much of our political and literary prosperity. They
made every hundred and tithing little insulated
populations, to which all strangers were odious. By
causing every member of each district to become re-
sponsible for the conduct of every other, they con-
verted neighbours into spies; they incited curiosity
to pry into private conduct ; and as selfishness is
generally malignant, when in danger of meeting in-
jury, they must have tended to legalise habits of
censoriousness and acrimonious calumny.
That Alfred was assiduous to procure to his people
the blessing of a correct and able administration of
justice, we have the general testimony of Asser. He
not only gave the precept, but he exhibited the ex-
ample; he was a patient and minute arbiter in judicial
the laws of Hoeldha, we are tempted to suggest they may have been introduced
among the Romanised Britons ; and from the Welsh bishop Asser's communications
have been imitated by Alfred in his English polity.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 131
investigations, and this, chiefly for the sake of the CHAP.
poor, to whose affairs, amongst his other duties, he . \L .
day and night earnestly applied himself.30
When we reflect that Alfred had, in the beginning
of his reign, transgressed on this point, he claims our
applause for his noble self-correction. It was highly
salutary to his subjects ; " for," says Asser, " in all
his kingdom, the poor had no helpers, or very few
besides him. The rich and powerful, ingrossed with
their own concerns, were inattentive to their in-
feriors. They studied their private, not the public
good." 31 The poor at this period comprised all the
lay branches of population which were not gentry
or noble.
Alfred applied to the administration of justice, be-
cause it was then so little understood, and so little
valued by the people, that both noble and inferior
persons were accustomed to dispute pertinaciously
with each other in the very tribunals of justice.
What the earls and legal officers adjudged, was dis-
regarded. All resorted to the king's judgment, which
was then respectfully fulfilled. Burdensome as so
many legal appeals must have been, he never hesi-
tated to sacrifice his own comfort for the welfare of
his subjects. With great discernment, and wonderful
patience, he examined every dispute ; he reviewed
the adjudications made by others in his absence.
When he saw that the judges had erred, he called
them mildly to him, and either personally, or by
confidential persons, inquired if they had erred from
ignorance, or malevolence, or avarice. When he
found that ignorance had produced a wrong deci-
sion, he rebuked the judges for accepting an office
for which they were unqualified, and commanded them
to improve themselves by study, or to abandon their
offices.32
30 Asser, 69. 31 Ibid. » Asser, 70, 71.
K 2
132
BOOK
V.
Alfred's
disease and
death.
901.
HISTOKY OF THE
The statement of Asser is in general terms. We
have already alluded to the ancient law-book, the
Mirroir des Justices, which presents to us many in-
stances of Alfred's punishing judges for misconduct.
Andrew Home, who wrote this work in Norman
French, in the time of Edward the Second33, has
been attacked with severity, by Dr. Hickes, because
he makes the institution of juries to be anterior to
the Conquest.34 The objections of this respectable
critic are, however, weakened by the recollections
that lord Coke and Spelman, before Hickes wrote,
and bishop Nicholson 3b since, have maintained, with
others, that the Anglo-Saxons had juries, and we see
that Home professes to have taken his facts from the
records of the court.
Some of the cases stated in the Mirror show that
Alfred was assiduous in protecting the independence,
the purity, and the rights of jurymen. He punished
capitally some judges for deciding criminal cases by
an arbitrary violation of the right of jury.
" He hanged Cadwine, because he condemned
Hachwy to death without the assent of all the jurors,
in a case where he put himself upon the jury of
twelve men, and because Cadwine removed three
who wished to save him against the nine, for three
others into whose jury this Hachwy did not put
himself."
" He hanged Markes, because he adjudged During
to death by twelve men not sworn."
u He hanged Freberne, because he adjudged Harpin
to death when the jurors were in doubt about their
verdict ; for when in doubt, we ought rather to save
than condemn." 36
The numerous occupations, both public and private,
33 It was printed in London, 1642. A translation appeared in 1646.
34 See Hickes's Dissertatio Epistolaris, p. 34 — 43.
35 See the bishop's preface to Wilkins's Leges Anglo-Saxonicse.
38 Mirror, pp. 296—298.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 133
to which this active-minded king directed his atten- CHAP.
tion, seem sufficient to have occupied the longevity • — ,
.of a Nestor. Yet Alfred died at the age of fifty-two,
and his life was literally a life of disease. The ficus
molested him severely in his childhood.37 After
distressing him for many years, this malady disap-
peared, but at the age of twenty was replaced by
another of the most tormenting nature. It attacked
him before all the people, suddenly with an immense
pain, during, and probably caused by, the protracted
banquets, " day and night," of his nuptial festivities ;
and never left him.38 Its seat was internal and in-
visible 39 ; but its agony was incessant. Such was the
dreadful anguish it perpetually produced, that if for
one short hour it happened to intermit, the dread
and horror of its inevitable return poisoned the little
interval of ease.40 The skill of his Saxon physicians
was unable to detect its nature, or to alleviate its
pain. Alfred had to endure it unrelieved.41 It is
not among the least admirable circumstances of this
extraordinary man, that he withstood the fiercest
hostilities that ever distressed a nation, cultivated
literature, discharged his public duties, and exe-
cuted all his schemes for the improvement of his
people, amid a perpetual agony, so distressing, that
87 Asser, p. 40.
38 Post diuturna die noctuque convivia subito et immensa atque omnibus medicis
incognito confestim coram omni populo correptus est dolore. Asser, 40. It was
afflicting him in the forty -fifth year of his life, when Asser wrote the paragraph
which mentioned it. The expressions of Asser, " daily banquets by day and night,"
imply that they were continued for some days ; and this exhausting continuation
may have given Alfred's constitution the irretrievable blow.
39 Asser describes it as incognitum enim erat omnibus qui tune aderant et etiana
hue usque quotidie cernentibus, p. 40.
40 Sed si aliquando Dei misericordia unius diei aut noctis vel etiam unius horae
inter vallo ilia infirmitas seposita fuerat, timor tamen ac tremor illius execrabilia
doloris unquam eum non deserit. Asser, 42.
41 From this disorder continuing so long with such acute pain, without destroying
him sooner ; from the period of his life when it began ; from its internal situation ;
from its horrible agony, and from its not appearing to have ceased till his death,
some conjecture may be formed of it ; at least, I understand, there are some diseases
incident to the human frame, as internal cancer, or some derangement of the biliary-
functions, to which these circumstances are applicable.
K 3
134 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK it would have disabled a common man from the least
. y* . exertion.42
42 We have referred to this place a cursory review of the former discussions be-
tween Oxford and Cambridge, which have been connected with the memory of
Alfred. This dispute did not burst out publicly till the reign of Elizabeth. When
the queen visited Cambridge in 1 564, the orator of the university unfortunately
declared in his harangue, that Cambridge truly claimed a superior antiquity to
Oxford. Enraged that an attempt should have been insidiously made to prepossess
the ear of majesty to its prejudice, Oxford retaliated the aggression, by asserting,
in a written composition, to the queen, when she came to the university in 1566,
that it was Oxford, and Oxford only, which could truly boast the earliest foundation.
Wars, horrid wars ! became then the business and the amusement of every
student. Cantabs and Oxonians arranged themselves to battle ; and every weapon
of polemical erudition and polemical fury was raised against each other.
Caius, one of the leaders in this discussion, published a quarto, in defence of
Cambridge, in 1574. He said, he came to restore peace ; as if, by assuring the
world that Cambridge was in the right, he could ever give tranquillity to Oxford.
Oxford denied the right of an insidious partisan to be a peacemaker ; and at last
Brian Twyne appeared, with a book as large and as full as that of Caius, in which
the glory of Oxford was sturdily and angrily maintained. Many combatants at
various intervals succeeded, and the conflict became as ardent as, from the fragility
of the materials, it was ineffectual.
Some of the friends of Cambridge managed to see the first stones of their univer-
sity laid in the 173d year after the flood. Others, however, who were not blessed
with optics which had the faculty of seeing what had never been visible, very wisely
postponed the existence of their favourite till about four centuries before the Chris-
tian .-era. At that period, they found out that one Cantaber, a royal Spanish
emigrant, who came to England in the days of Gurguntius, had sent for Greek
philosophers from Athens, and given to Cambridge a local habitation, and a name.
It was easy for Oxford to object, that Cantaber was but one of those airy nothings
which the poet or the antiquary, in his frenzy, discerns. It was not more difficult
to laugh at the wise and learned giants, who were placed as the aborigines of our
island, and who first cultivated letters. But the Oxonian champion did not content
himself with destroying all the superstructures of Cambridge vanity. The heralds
of national ancestry are as fond of their own chimeras as they are intolerant of the
antiquarian progeny of others. Hence, though the advocate of Oxford denied to
Cambridge its Cantaber, he conceived it to be just to claim for Oxford a colony of
Greek philosophers, who came into the island with Brutus, and established a college
at Cricklade, which was afterwards translated to Bello Situm, where Oxford now
stands. See Caius Ant. Cantab, and Twyne's Antiq. Acad. Oxon.
The fame of Oxford was, however, not wholly intrusted to phantoms. A basis
more secure was found for it in a passage printed under the name of Asser ; and
it is this unfortunate passage which has connected the dispute with the history of
Alfred.
An edition of Asser was published from a MS. of Camden, in 1603 ; in which a
paragraph appeared, stating, that in 886, a discord arose at Oxford between Grym-
bold and his learned friends whom he had brought with him, and those ancient
schoolmen whom he found there, and who refused to obey entirely his institutions.
Three years the dissension lasted. Alfred, to appease it, went to Oxford. The
ancient schoolmen contended, that before the arrival of Grymbold, letters had
flourished there, though the scholars had been fewer ; and they proved, by the in-
dubitable testimony of ancient annals, that the ordinations and institutes of this
place had been established by some pious and erudite men, as Gildas, Melkin, Nen-
nius, Kentigern, and others, who there grew old in letters ; and that St. Germain,
who resided half a year at Oxford, had also approved of them. The king recom-
mended peace ; but Grymbold, dissatisfied, withdrew to Winchester.
Such is the import of this contested paragraph. If it had been genuine, it gave
the evidence of Asser, that there had been public schools at Oxford, at least in the
ANGLO-SAXONS. 135
fifth and sixth centuries, when Germain and others lived. Now Cambridge had CHAP,
no such plausible documents as this. Its friends had indeed talked of Arthur's yj.
charters, but these were soon descried as surreptitious. The most ancient his- .-
torical dress that it could assume, with any decorous attention to probability, was
Bede's paragraph, about Sigebert establishing schools in East Anglia ; and Sigebert
lived above a century after Gildas.
But unfortunately for the fame of Oxford, Parker, archbishop of Canterbury, had
published, in Saxon types, an edition of Asser, in 1 574, from a MS. in which this
passage was not to be found. The ancient MS. of Asser, in the Cotton Library,
which has been thought to have been written within a century after its author's
death, was also without this clause. It was Otho, A. 12., since burnt.
Here, then, was the point of an elaborate controversy : was this passage written
by Asser ? Did Parker insidiously omit it, or did Camden surreptitiously insert it,
or was it really wanting in the one MS. and really existing in the other ? The
controversy had begun before Parker published his Asser, but it was then in its
infancy. When Camden's Asser appeared, it was raging in all its violence. Cam-
den's MS., which he thought to have been the age of Richard II., was never pro-
duced after it was printed ; and no other MSS. can now be obtained to determine
the question. See Wood, Hist. Oxf. p. 9.
Oxford and Cambridge have since produced such great scholars in every depart-
ment of knowlege, and such distinguished men in the most honourable paths of
active life, that controversies like these are felt to be unworthy of their attention,
and are not now even thought of. The point of emulation is known to be, which
can now produce the ablest men ; not which first began their formation.
K 4
136 HISTORY OF THE
APPENDIX
BOOK Y. CHAP. VI.
BOOK In considering Alfred's Indian embassy, we are led at the
v. outset to inquire whether Saint Thomas ever had been in
— » ' India ; whether in the age of Alfred he was believed to have
died there ; and whether at that time there were Christians
living there. Our scepticism may also desire to know if
such journeys were in those days attempted, because if these
four questions can be answered affirmatively, the assertion of
our chroniclers will not be counteracted by any improbability
in the circumstance which they attest.
That St. Thomas the Apostle extended his annunciations
of Christianity into India, is asserted by several fathers *, by
the Syrian authors2, and by the Christians, who have lived
and are living in the Indian peninsula.3
It is not of great importance to our subject to ascertain
whether Saint Thomas really taught in India ; we know of
the circumstance only from tradition, and tradition is a ca-
pricious sylph, which can seldom be allowed to accompany
the dignified march of authentic history ; but it is essential
to inquire, if in the time of Alfred it was believed that the
Apostle had been there, because if it had become an article
1 Fabricius remarks, that vulgo India Thomae tribuitur, and cites Ambrosius, in
Ps. 45. Hieronymum Epist. 143. and Nicetas, with others, Codex Apocryph. i.
p. 687. Assemanni, in his elaborate Bibliotheca Orieritalis, quotes most largely on
this subject. Origen, Eusebius, Rufinus, Socrates, and others, assign Parthia to
Thomas. To this India is added by Gregory Nazianzen, Hippolytus, Sophronius,
and all the Martyrologists. Tom. iii. pars 2. p. 25. ed. Romse, 1728.
2 The collection of Assemanni is peculiarly valuable for its introducing to the
knowledge of Europe many Syrian authors, from whose works he translated copious
extracts out of the Syriac into Latin. He asserts of the Syrians, that Thomam
Indis praedicasse ubique affirmant, p. 30. — Again, non Indiarum Christiani sed
etiam Assyriae ac Mesopotamiae Nestoriani affirmant eum Indorum, Sinensiumque
Apostolum fuisse, p. 436. He adds his Syriac authorities. The Orientalist Du
Guignes, says, " Une foule des auteurs tant Grecs que Syriens paroissent ne pas
doubter que St. Thomas n'ait penetre dans 1'Inde pour y precher la religion Chre-
tienne." Acad. des Inscript. v. liv. p. 323.
8 Mr. Gibbon says, " When the Portuguese first opened the navigation of India,
the Christians of St. Thomas had been seated for ages on the coast of Malabar, and
the difference of their character and colour attested the mixture of a foreign race.
In arms, in arts, and possibly in virtue, they excelled the natives of Hindostan,"
vol. iv. quarto, p. 599. jj
ANGLO-SAXONS. 13^
of the popular creed (whether rightly or not) that Saint CHAP.
Thomas had died in India, this persuasion would have been VL .
,1 A. i . * ,. iif i» • i Appendix.
the motive which, operating on Alfred s curiosity, may have .
suggested the Indian embassy.
That the opinion had been afloat before, is obvious, from
the assertions of the fathers 4 ; that it was accredited in the
west of Europe, in the sixth century, is proved by a curious
passage of Gregory of Tours, the parent of Frankish history,
who has transmitted to us the narration which he had received
from one Theodore.5 This man professed to have travelled
to India, and described the monastery which had been erected
there, over the body of St. Thomas. That the same notion
remained to the days of Alfred, is as clear; because the
account drawn up by Elfric, who lived at the close of the
tenth century, states at length the romance which the re-
spected fables of preceding ages had preserved concerning
the Indian journey of St. Thomas.6 It was in full credit in
the twelfth century, for Odericus makes it a part of his
ecclesiastical history..7
But were there any Christians at that time living in India?
Because, if not, the embassy was -ridiculous. The generally
diffused tradition may have suggested to Alfred the idea of
the scheme ; but unless there was the local truth of Christians
residing in a particular part of India, the king must have
been a dreamer. To have delegated a mission to wander
over the extensive district of India, till they had found a
city called Calamine, and the shrine of St. Thomas, without
any previous topographical indication of a particular district,
was too wild a thought to have been countenanced by an
Alfred.
4 What Hippolytus states of Thomas is the epitome of every other tradition. It
is that he perished in the Indian city of Calamine, and was huried there. Fab. Cod.
689.
5 Ordericus Vitalis says of Gregory, whom he quotes, " Scribit quod a Theodoro
quodam de Sancto Thoma audivit qui tune temporis in Indiam peregrinatus fuerat
et inde re versus haec inter csetera narravit," p. 414. As Gregory of Tours accre-
dited Theodore, it is obvious that his narration, whether true or false, was admitted
in our hemisphere in the sixth century.
6 The narration of Elfric has been noticed before in note 22, of this chapter,
pp. 126, 127., and its substance quoted. He says, he translated it on the importunity
of the venerable Dux Ethelwold ; that he had himself doubted for some time whether
he ought to put it into English, because St. Austin objected to one part of the nar-
ration ; but that at last he determined to omit this, and to translate the rest con*
cerning St. Thomas's death. This Anglo-Saxon history of St. Thomas contains an
abridgment of the Apostolical History ascribed to Abdias. The amiable Melancthon
says of this, " Legat has qui volet. — Ac suaserim potius ne legant omnino. Sunt
enim ilia scripta mirifica et referta falsitate manifesta." See Fabricius Cod. Apoc.
393. and 687. for the Legend.
7 See it pp. 410—414. Hie in Anglia natus est, 1075. Du Chesne praefatio.
138 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK But on investigating ancient remains, we find the fact to
v. be as authentic as it is curious, that there were Christians
' < ' then nourishing in the Indian peninsula.
The Syriac letter of Jesujabus Abjabenus the Nestorian
patriarch, to Simeon the metropolitan of the Persians, written
in the seventh century 8, yet exists, and satisfactorily ex-
presses the fact. It calls to the metropolitan's recollection,
that he had " shut the doors of the episcopal imposition of
hands before many people of India." It states that " the
sacerdotal succession is interrupted among the people of
India, nor in India only, which, from the maritime borders
of Persia, extends to Colon, a space of above 1200 parasangs,
but even lies in darkness in your Persian region."9
That Christianity had in these times obtained footing in
India, is a reasonable inference, from the larger fact of its
existence in China, in the seventh and eighth centuries.10
About the year 720, Salibazacha, the Nestorian patriarch,
created metropolitans in China, as well as at Samarcand n ;
and Timotheus, who had the same dignity from 788 to 820,
appointed David to the head of the ecclesiastics in China.12
If in the eighth and ninth centuries, Christianity so nourished
in China, as to support a metropolitan dignity, no one will
hesitate to believe that it was existing in India.
The most detailed statement on this subject, is that of the
Grecian traveller Cosrnas, surnamed Indico Pleustes ; if that
really be the name of the author of the Christian topography 13,
he performed his voyage in 522.14 He mentions Christians
not only in other places of the East, but in India, in Ceylon,
8 Jesujabus died 660. Asseraanni Bib. Or. T. ii. p. 420. and T. iii. p. 615.
Assemanni gives the Syriac, with a Latin version.
9 " Quod sicuti fores impositionis manus Episcopatus coram multis Indiae populis
occlusistis." Tom. iii. pars 2. p 27. " Interrupta est ab Indiae populis sacerdotalis
successio nee India solum quse a maritimis regni Persarum finibus usque ad Colon
spatio ducentarum supra nulle parasangarum extenditur, sed et ipsa Persarum regio
vestra — in tenebris jacet. " Ibid.
10 On this subject I follow, as I think I ought, the guidance of the learned Asse-
manni. He says, " Sub cognomine Gadalensi An. Ch. 636, prsedicatores Evangelii
in ipsarum Sinarum regnum penetrasse, ex monumento lapideo, anno 781, erecto
compertum est." P. 28.
11 " Salibazacha item Nestorianorum patriarcha (Bib. Or. t. 3. p. 346. ) circa
annum 720 Ilerise, Samarcandse et Sinarum metropolitas creavit." Assem. p. 28.
12 " Timotheus, qui ab anno 778 ad annum 820 Nestorianis, Prsefuit, Davidem
(torn. 3. p. 489. ) Sinensibus metropolitan! dedit." Assem. p. 28.
13 Gibbon follows the learned in so naming him, v. 4. p. 79. quarto. Fabricius
intimates that as Indicopleustes alludes to his Indian navigation, so Cosmas may
express that he wrote the topography of the world. Bib. Grseca, 2. p. 612. This
is of no moment. The author was an extensive merchant ; he lived long in Egypt ;
he wrote at Alexandria, and was, or became a monk. Fabr. p. 613.
14 His Topographica Christiana is in Montfaucon's Collections of the Fathers,
t. 2. pp. 1 13—436. and part of it in Thevenot Relations Curieuses. Gibbon, p. 79.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 139
and, what comes nearest to our subject, in Male, which we CHAP.
call Meliapour.15 VI-
It is to the zeal and activity of the Nestorian Christians, . ppe" 1X;
that this extensive dissemination is chiefly to be attributed.
Their traditions, or history on this subject, demand our re-
spect. In 1504, their Indian bishops stated to the then
Nestorian patriarch, that there was a place called the house
of St. Thomas ; that it was twenty-five days' journey from
Cananore ; that it was on the sea in the city of Meliapour.16
From the ninth century to the sixteenth, the state of the
Indian Christians varied.17 Ludovicus, who travelled in
India, and in many parts of Asia and Africa, about the year
1500, mention?, that he found Christians in an Indian city,
who called themselves of St. Thomas 18 ; and in 1504, the
bishops in India stated these Christians to be about 30,000
in number.19 The archbishop of Goa, who visited the Malabar
coast in 1599, mentions, that he found Christians there, and
that their chief churches and cities were Angamale, Cranganor,
Cochinum, Coulanum, Meliapora, Calicut, and Cananor.20
Tachard found them in the mountains of Malabar in 1711 2l ;
and the latest accounts declare, that they exist in these parts.
Thus then we find, that in the days of Alfred, it was be-
lieved that St. Thomas perished in India ; that there were at
that time, and have been up to this century, Christians in
the Indian peninsula ; and that Meliapour, on the Malabar
coast, has been for ages the spot pointed out by local tra-
dition, as the scene of St. Thomas's fate. These facts afford
a good ground for Alfred's embassy. It only remains to
inquire if such journeys were in those days undertaken, and
if it is probable that the ambassadors, having commenced such
an expedition, could have been able to have completed it.
15 In Taprobana insula ad interiorem Indiam ubi Indicum pelagus extat Ecclesia
Christianorum habetur ubi clerici et fldeles reperiuntur — Similiter in Male ut
vocant ubi gignitur piper — Itemque apud Bactros Hunnos Persas, reliquos Indos,
&c. ecclesiaj infinitse sunt." Cosmas, cited by Assem. p. 437, and 28.
16 Assemanni, p. 34. The Mahometans sanction the account of the early estab-
lishment of the Christians in India. Ferishtah, in his general History of Hindostan,
says, " Formerly, before the rise of the religion of Islam, a company of Jews and
Christians came by sea into the country (Malabar) and settled as merchants.
They continued to live until the rise of the Mussulman religion." Asiatic Register,
Miscel. p. 151.
17 Assemanni relates their prosperity and vicissitudes until the arrival of the
Portuguese in India, and their fortunes afterwards, p. 441. Renandot declares, that
Meliapour was known by the name of St. Thomas Be-tuma for ages among the Arabs.
Ancient Account of India, p. 80.
18 «« Illic (hoc est in Caicolon Indiae urbi) nacti sumus non nullos Christianos
qui Divi Thonwe nuncupantur." L. 6. c. 1. ap. Assem. 451.
19 Assemanni quotes them, p. 450.
20 Assem. 446, and 635. 21 Assem. 449.
140 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK That a Persian ambassador should visit Charlemagne 22 ;
v- that Arcuulfus should, in the eighth century, travel to Je-
' ' ' rusalem, Damascus, and Alexandria 23 ; and that Abel, the
patriarch of Jerusalem, should have sent letters with presents,
and of course messengers to Alfred 24, are circumstances which
make the Indian embassy credible.
We have the account of another journey in the same cen-
tury, which also proves that there were spirits then existing,
whose curiosity for such distant expeditions prevailed over
their fears.
In 870, three monks, desirous to see the places so cele-
brated in the Christian writings, undertook a journey to
Palestine, and the Egyptian Babylon. Their itinerary,
written by Bernard, one of the travellers, is extant.25 They
first went to Mount Garganum, in which they found the
church of St. Michael. This is near the Gulf of Manfre-
donia. A hundred and fifty miles brought them to Barre,
then a city of the Saracens, but which had once been subject
to the Beneventans. This is on the south-east side of Italy ;
they sought admission to the prince of the city, who was
called a suldan, and obtained leave to prosecute their journey
with letters to the chief of Alexandria and Babylon, de-
scribing their countenances, and the object of their journey.
From Barre, they walked ninety miles to the port of
Tarentum, where they found six ships, two going to Tripoli,
and two to other parts of Africa, with some captives. After
thirty days' sailing they reached Alexandria : here the master
of the ship exacted six pieces of gold before he would let them
leave it.26
22 See the Astronomer's Annales Francorum, ann. 807. in Reuberi Germ. Script.
p. 35.
23 See the first volume of this history.
24 Asser declares, that he saw and read these letters. " Nam etianTde Hieroso-
lyma Abel patriarchae epistolas et dona illi directas vidimus et legimus," p. 58. It
appears to me very likely, that the emissaries of Abel supplied Alfred with the
local information that he wanted. Mesopotamia was the great seat of tfee Nesto-
rians, and it is very reasonable to suppose, that the patriarch of Jerusalem and his
officers, were well acquainted with the diffusion of this party.
25 It is in MS. in the Cotton Library. Faustina, B. 1., and it has been printed
by Mabillon in his Acta Benedict, from another MS. ; he dates it 870. The latter
MS. has 970. It begins thus : " Anno ab incarnatione Domini nostri Jesu Christi,
970. in nomine domini volentes videre loca sanctorum quse fuerunt Jerosolymis.
Ego Bernardus duobus memet ipsum sociavi fratribus in devotione caritatis ex quibus
erat unus ex monasterio Beati Vincenti Beneventani nomine Theudemundus, alter
Hispanus nomine Stephanus ; igitur adeuntes in urbe papse Nicolai prassentiam
obtinuimus cum sua benedictione nee non et auxilio pergendi desideratam licen-
tiam."
38 He says, that wishing to go ashore they were hindered, " A principe nau-
tarum qui erat super 60, ut autem nobis copia daretur exeundi dedimus aureos x."
MSS.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 141
They produced to the governor of Alexandria the letter of CHAP.
the suldan of Barre, but it did them no good ; a present of VL
thirteen denarii a piece was more serviceable. Bernard re- . ppen 1X',
marks, that it was the custom of Alexandria to take the
money by weight ; he says, six of the solidi and denarii which
they carried out with them, weighed only three of those at
Alexandria. The governor gave them letters to the chief of
Babylon ; but by Babylon, it is obvious that Bernard means
a principal city in Egypt, and not the famous Babylon which
spread along the Euphrates.
Sailing up the Nile south for six days, they came to the
city of Egyptian Babylon.27 The guards of the place con-
ducted them to the governor ; their letters were useless, and
they were sent to prison ; a present of denarii as before re-
leased them. In return for this, he made them out letters,
which, he said, whoever saw, would in no place or town
exact any more. They could not leave this Babylon without
a sealed permission, which some more denarii were required
to obtain.
Bernard proceeds to describe his journey from Egypt to
Jerusalem 28, which need not be given here, as enough has
been extracted to give some idea of the practicability and
course of oriental expeditions. He mentions one trait of
Jerusalem, which shows, that some intercourse was main-
tained by devotion between these distant places, and the
west of Europe. He says, " we were received there in the
mansion of hospitality of the most glorious Charlemagne, in
which all are received who visit this place for devotion, and
who speak the Roman language." 29 From Jerusalem they
sailed in sixty days, with an unfavourable wind, to Italy.
These particulars show, that it was very practicable to
get to Alexandria and up the Nile, into the interior of
Egypt, and to traverse Egypt and Palestine, although among
Mahometans. What then should make it more difficult for
27 He states, that Alexandria was on the sea; on the east and west was a monas-
tery ; north was the gate of the city. " A meridie habuit introitum Gyon sive
Nilus qui regat Egyptum et currit per mediam civitatem intrans in mare in pra?-
dicto portu. In quo intrantes navigimus ad meridiem diebus sex et venimus ad
civitatem Babilonise Egypti ubi regnavit quondam Pharao rex." MSS.
28 It is shortly ; back up the Nile in three days to Sitinuth ; thence to Manila ;
thence they sailed to Amiamate, quae habuit ab aquilone mare ; thence sailed to
Tan is, to Faramea ; here was a multitude of camels. The desert of six days'
journey began from this city ; it had only palm-trees ; in the middle were two
hospitia ; the earth was fertile to Gaza ; thence to Alariza, to Ramula, to Emaus
Castle, to Jerusalem.
29 Cui adjacet ecclesia in honore Sca3 Maria; nobilissimam habens bibliothecam
studio praedicti Imperatoris. Ibid.
142 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK a traveller to go on through Egypt to Suez, or at Suez to
v- find shipping for the coast of Malabar ?
Some further circumstances may be noted which must
have considerably facilitated the progress of Alfred's ambas-
sadors. Of these the great influence of the Nestorian
Christians, in the courts of the Mussulman princes, may be
ranked among the chief.
Nestorians were frequently appointed by the Saracen
caliphs, to the government of cities, provinces, and towns,
especially in Adjabene, and in Assyria.30 In the ninth cen-
tury, these districts were actually under the Nestorian
government.31
The scribes and physicians of the Caliphs, and chiefs of
Arabia, were also in general Nestorians.32 This courtly
situation gave them great influence among their own party 33,
and must have frequently enabled them to extend to their
friends a very powerful protection.
Now as the Nestorians abounded over Persia, Cbaldea,
Mesopotamia, Syria, Arabia, and Egypt **, and as Alfred's
mission was to one of their Indian colonies, and to do honour
to the apostle whom they so much reverenced, and whose
remains they professed to have preserved, his ambassadors
would of course experience all the friendship and protection
which their leaders could display or obtain. If, from Jeru-
salem, the Saxon bishop took his journey to the Euphrates,
to sail to India from the Persian gulph ; or if, from Alex-
andria, he went to Suez, and thence navigated from the Red
Sea to the coast of Malabar ; yet both tracts abounded with
Nestorians, and of course with persons willing and able to
instruct, to guide, and to protect him.
We may therefore infer, from all these facts, that there is
nothing improbable, nor even romantic, in Alfred's embassy
to India. The authorities which affirm it are respectable,
and from the credibility which they derive from the other
circumstances alluded to they may be trusted.
30 Hinc pvimo adhibiti a chaliphis ad regimen provinciarum urbium oppidorum
ex eadem secta praefecti quorum mentio in historia Nestoriana frequenter occurrit ac
prsesertim in Adjabene et in Assyria ubi plurimi habitabant. Assemanni, p. 96.
31 Assem. ib.
32 Secundo tarn Chaliphae quam regni Arabic! proceres Nestorianis scribis medi-
cisque usi. He adduces a great many instances, both of physicians and scribes, or
secretaries. Assem. 97.
33 Horum scribarum mcdicorumque tanta erat in christianos suae sectse auctoritas
ut neque patriarcharum clectiones neque ccclesiastica negotia ipsis inconsultis con-
ficerantur. Assem. ib.
31 See Assemanni, 81.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
BOOK VI,
CHAP. I.
The Reign of EDWARD the Elder.
ALFRED had been called to the crown in preference to CHAP.
the children of his elder brother. Their pretensions Ed**ard
were equally neglected at his death ; and Edward, his the Eider,
son, who had distinguished himself against Hastings, '~ 9oL
was chosen by the nobles as their king.1
Ethel wold, one of the disregarded princes, in oppo-
sition to the decision of the Anglo-Saxon witena,
aspired to the crown, and seized Wimburn, declaring
that he would keep it or perish.2 But when the king
advanced with an army against him, he fled, at night,
to the Northumbrian Danes; and exciting their sym-
pathy, was appointed their sovereign at York, over
all their other kings and chiefs.3
By this incident he became formidable both to 905.
Edward and his people. The Northmen colonists, by
occupying all Northumbria arid East Anglia, inde-
pendently of Edward, possessed one-third part of
England ; and if Ethelwold's abilities had equalled
his ambition, or if Edward had been a weaker charac-
ter, the Northmen might have gained the sovereignty
of the island. But Ethel wold seems not to have long
pleased his new subjects ; for he was afterwards on
1 A primatis electus. Ethelwerd, 847. He was crowned at the Whitsuntide
after his father's death. Ibid.
2 Sax. Ch. 100. Hen. Hunt. 352. Matt. West. 351. At Wimburn, he possessed
himself of a nun by force, and married her. Ibid.
3 Hen. Hunt. 352. Matt. West. 351. Sax. Ch. 100. Flor. 337. The king
replaced the nun in her retreat.
144
HISTORY OF THE
905.
910.
the seas a pirate 4, and sailed to France in quest of
partisans to distress the king.5 He returned with a
great fleet, and subdued Essex 6 ; persuading the East
Anglian Danes to join him, he entered Mercia, and
ravaged as far as Cricklade. He even passed the
Thames into Wessex, and plundered in Wiltshire ; but
the Anglo-Saxons not supporting him, he returned.
The army of Edward followed him, and ravaged, in
retaliation, to the fens of Lincolnshire. When the
king withdrew, he directed his forces not to separate.
The Kentish troops neglected his orders, and remained
after the others had retired. Ethel wold eagerly at-
tacked them with superior numbers. The Kentish
men were overpowered, bat their defence was despe-
rate. Their chiefs fell ; and the author of the quar-
rel also perished in his victory.7 His fate released
the island from the destructive competition ; and a
peace, two years afterwards, restored amity between
the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Danes.8
But war was soon renewed between the rival
powers. With his Mercians and West- Saxons, Edward,
in a five weeks' depredation of Nor thumb ria, de-
stroyed and plundered extensively. In the next year,
the Northerns devastated Mercia.9 A misconception
of the Danes brought them within the reach of the
4 In exilium trusus pirates adduxerat. Malm. 46.
6 Matt. West. 351.
6 Hunt. 352. Sax. Ch. 100.
7 Sax. Ch. 101. Hunt. 352. Eohric, the Anglo-Danish king, fell in the struggle.
Ethelwerd places this battle at Holme, 848. Holme in Saxon means a river island.
In Lincolnshire there is one called Axelholme. Camd. 474. The printed Saxon
Chronicle makes a battle at Holme in 902, besides the battle wherein Ethelwold
fell ; but the MS. Chron. Tib. b. iv. omits the battle in 902. So the MS. Tib. b. i.
With these Florence agrees ; and therefore the passage of 902., in the printed
Chronicle, may be deemed a mistake.
8 Sax. Chron. Matt. West, adds, that the king immediately afterwards reduced
those who had rebelled against him : Et maxime cives Londonienses et Oxonienses,
p. 352. In 905, Ealhswythe, the widow of Alfred, died ; and her brother, Athulf,
an ealdorman, in 903. Sax. Ch. 101. She had founded a monastery of nuns at
Winchester. Mailros, 146.
9 Sax. Ch. 102. Hunt. 352. The MS. Saxon Chronicles mention, that the
English defeated at this time the Danes at Totanheale. Florence and Hoveden
place this conflict and place in Staffordshire.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 145
king's sword. While he was tarrying in Kent, he CHAP.
collected one hundred ships, which he sent to guard Edward
the south-eastern coast10, probably to prevent new the Eiden
invasions. The Danes, fancying the great body of his 910.
forces to be on the seas,"advanced into the country to
the Avon, and plundered without apprehension, and
passed onwards to the Severn. Edward immediately
sent a powerful army to attack them ; his orders were
obeyed. The Northerns were surprised into a fixed
battle at Wodensfield, and were defeated, with the
slaughter of many thousands. Two of their kings
fell, brothers of the celebrated Ing war, and therefore
children of Ragnar Lodbrog, and many earls and
officers.11 The Anglo-Saxons sung hymns on their
great victory.12
The event of this battle established the superiority
of Edward over his dangerous neighbours, and checked
the progress of their power. He pursued the plans
which Alfred had devised for the protection of his
throne. As the Danes possessed the north of Eng-
land, from the Humber to the Tweed, and the eastern
districts, from the Ouse to the sea, he protected his
own frontiers by a line of fortresses. In the places
where irruptions into Mercia and Wessex were most
practicable, and therefore where a prepared defence
was more needed, he built burghs or fortifications.
He filled these with appointed soldiers, who, when in-
vaders approached, marched out in junction with the
provincials to chastise them. No time was lost in
waiting for the presence of the king, or of the earls
of the county : they were empowered to act of them-
selves on every emergency; and by this plan of
vigilance, energy, and co-operation, the invaders were
so easily defeated, that they became a derision to the
10 Sax. Ch. 102. » Flo. 340. Ethelw. 848. Sax. Ch. 103.
12 Hunt. 353. Ethelwerd's account of Edward's battles have several poetical
phrases, as if he had translated some fragments of these songs.
VOL. IT. L
146 HISTOKY OF THE
English soldiery.13 Ethelfleda co-operated in thus
fortifying the country. She became a widow in 912;
but she continued in the sovereignty of Mercia14, and
9ia~~ displayed great warlike activity.
The position of the fortresses, which soon became
inhabited towns, demonstrates their utility. Wig-
inore, in Herefordshire; Bridgnorth and Cherbury,
in Shropshire ; Edesbury, in Cheshire ; and Stafford
and Wedesborough, in Staffordshire ; were well chosen
to coerce the Welsh upon the western limits. Run-
corne and Thelwall, in Cheshire, and Bakewell, in
Derbyshire, answered the double purpose of awing
Wales, and of protecting that part of the north fron-
tier of Mercia, from the incursions of the Northum-
brian Danes. Manchester, Tamworth in Staffordshire,
" Leicester, Nottingham, and Warwick, assisted to
strengthen Mercia on this northern frontier ; and
Stamford, Towcester, Bedford, Hartford, Colchester,
Witham, and Maiden, presented a strong boundary of
defence against the hostilities of the East Anglian
Danes. The three last places watched three rivers
important for their affording an easy debarkation
from foreign parts.
918. The strength of Edward was tried by an invasion
of Northmen from Armorica, and his military policy
was evidenced by its issue. Two chieftains led the
hostile fleet round Cornwall into the Severn, and
devastated North Wales. They debarked and plun-
dered in Herefordshire. The men of Hereford,
Gloucester, and the nearest burghs or fortified places,
defeated them with the loss of one of their chiefs, and
the brother of the other, and drove the rest into a
wood, which they besieged. Edward directed armed
bodies to watch the Severn, from Cornwall to the
13 Malmsb. 46.
14 Sax. Ch. 103. Ethelred, her husband, had been long infirm before his death.
Hunt. 353.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 14 <
Avon. The enemy endeavoured one night to escape CHAP.
in two divisions, but the English overtook them in Edw'ard
Somersetshire. One was destroyed in Watchet ; the .the Elder;
other in Porlock bay. The remainder sheltered 9is.
themselves in a neighbouring island, till, urged by
famine, they fled to South- Wales, whence in the au-
tumn they sailed to Ireland.15
The Anglo-Saxon monarchy received new security 920.
from Edward's incorporation of Mercia with Wessex,
on Ethelfleda's death.
Both Edward and Ethelfleda had many struggles
with the Northmen in England ; but their triumphs
were easy, for they attacked enemies, not in their
compact strength, but in their scattered positions.
Thus Ethelfleda warred with them in Derby. In
assaulting the castle, four of her bravest and most
esteemed generals fell ; but she still urged the com-
bat, and at last mastered the place : she also obtained
Leicester16, Derby, and even York.
Edward endured, and perhaps provoked similar
conflicts. The Danes attacked his fortress at Tow-
cester, but the garrison and the provincials repulsed
them. In Buckinghamshire, the invasion was formid-
able, and many districts were overrun, till Edward
rescued his people by new victories. In some parts
they seemed to copy his policy. They built hostile
fortresses at Huntingdon, and at Temesford in Bed-
fordshire, and assailed Bedford ; but the garrison and
its supporters defeated them with slaughter.17
A peculiar spirit of hostility seemed in the latter
years of his reign to have exited the Anglo-Danes ;
for scarcely had they experienced the defeats already
noticed, before another aggression was attempted, and
15 Sax. Chron. 105. Flor. 343.
18 Hunt. 353, 354. Sax. Chron. 106. Ingulf says of her: "Ipsam etiam ur-
bibus extruendis, castellis muniendis, ac exercitibus ducendis deditam, sexum mu-
tasse putaris," p. 28.
17 Matt. West. 358. Sax. Chron. 107.
L 2
920.
148 HISTORY OF THE
was punished.18 The progress of Edward's power
endangering their own, may have caused their ani-
mosity. But happily for the Anglo-Saxons and
Edward, their love of freedom, and the independence
of their chiefs, made their kings weak in actual power,
and prevented their permanent union under one
sovereign. Before they retrieved their former disas-
ters, the king collected a large army from the burghs
nearest his object, and attacked them at Temesford.
A king, and some earls, perished against him ; the
survivors were taken, with the city. Pressing on his
advantages, he raised another powerful force from
Kent, Surrey, Essex, arid their burghs, and stormed
and mastered Colchester. The East Anglian Danes
marched against Maiden, in alliance with some
vikingr, whom they had invited from the seas 19 ; but
they failed. Edward secured his conquests by new
fortifications ; and the submission of many districts
augmented his realms, and enfeebled his competitors.20
The East Anglian Danes not only swore to him, " that
they would will what he should will21," and promised
immunity to all who were living under his protec-
tion ; but the Danish army at Cambridge separately
chose him for their lord and patron.22
922. These examples of submission spread. When the
king was at Stamford, constructing a burgh, all the
people about the north of the river received his do-
minion. The Welsh kings yielded to his power.
Howel, Cledauc, and Jeothwell, with their subjects,
18 See Sax. Chron. 108, 109.
19 li-esabpobe micel hepe hine OF GarC 6nslum, aegchep ge Chaej* lanb hepcj*,
Se thapa Wicinsa Che hie him Co rulcume appanen heerbon. Sax. Chron. 108.
20 Sax. Chron. 109. Thus the king went to Pasham in Northamptonshire, and
staid there while a burgh was made at Towcester ; then Thurferth Eorl and his
followers, and all the army from Northampton to the river Weland in that county,
sought him to Hlaforde, and to Mundboran. Ibid. 109.
21 Tha hie call cha polbon tha he polbe. Ibid.
82 ftine secear rynbephce him Co ftlaropbe anb Co Munbbopan. Sax. Chron.
109.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
submitted to him as their chief lord23, and the king
of the Scots chose him for his father and lord. If
princes almost beyond the reach of his ambition
acquiesced in his superiority, it is not surprising that
the kings of Northumbria and the Strathcluyd popu-
lation should follow the same impulse.24 After these
successes, Edward died at Farrington in Berkshire.25
Edward the elder must be ranked among the
o
founders of the English monarchy. He executed with
judicious vigour the military plans of his father ; and
not only secured the Anglo-Saxons from a Danish sove-
reignty, but even prepared the way for that destruc-
tion of the Anglo-Danish power which his descendants
achieved.
It has been said of Edward, that he was inferior to
his father in letters, but superior to him in war, glory,
and power.26 This assertion is rather an oratorical
point than an historical fact. Edward had never to
struggle with such warfare as that during which Al-
fred ascended his throne, in which he lost it, and by
whose suppression he regained it. Edward encoun-
tered but the fragments of that tremendous mass
which Alfred first broke.
Edward had many children besides Athelstan. He
was twice married. His first marriage produced two
sons, Ethelward and Edwin, and six daughters. Four
23 Sax. Chron. 110. The Welsh had previously suffered from the warlike Ethel-
fleda. She took Brecon and a Welsh queen, and signalised herself afterwards in
another invasion. Howel was the celebrated Howel Dha, the legislator of Waies.
He held both Powys and South Wales. Clydauc was his brother. Wynne's Hist.
44, 45. Powys and Dinefawr were tributary to the king of Aberfraw. The laws
of Howel Dha mention the tribute to the king of London thus : " Sixty-three
pounds is the tribute from the king of Aberfraw to the king of London, when he
took his kingdom from him ; and besides this, except dogs, hawks, and horses,
nothing else shall be exacted." Lib. iii. c. 2. p. 199. Wotton's edition.
24 Mailros, 147. Sax. Chron. 110. Flor. 347. Matt. West. 359. Hoveden, 422.
Malmsbury, 46. Ingulf, 28. Bromton, 835.
25 The year of his death is differently stated : 924 is given by Matt. West. 359. ;
Bromton, 837. ; Flor. 347. ; Malm. 48. ; Mail. 147. ; Chron. Petrib. 25. ; and by
the MS. Chron. Tib. b. i. and also b. iv. The printed Saxon Chronicle has 925,
p. 110. Hoveden puts 919, and Ethelwerd 926. The authorities for 924 pre-
ponderate.
29 Malmsb. 46. Flor. 336. Ingulf, 28.
•L 3
CHAP.
I.
Edward
the Elder.
924.
150 HISTORY OF THE
of the latter were united to continental potentates.27
His second union28 was followed by the birth of two
more sons, Edmund and Edred, who in the course of
9247^ time succeeded to his sceptre ; and of three daughters.
One of these, a lady of exquisite beauty 29, was wed-
ded to the prince of Acquitaine.
Edward imitated his father as well in his plan of
education as in his government. The first part of
his daughters' lives was devoted to letters : they were
afterwards taught to use the needle, and the distaff.
His sons received the best literary education of the
day, that they might be well qualified for the offices
of government to which they were born.30
27 Malmsb. 47.
28 His second wife was JEadgifu, whose will is printed in Saxon, with a Latin
translation, in the" Appendix to Lye's Saxon Dictionary^
29 Edgivam speciositatis eximiae mulierem. Malmsb.* 7.
80 Malmsb. 47. Edward was for some time under an excommunication from
Rome, for keeping his bishoprics vacant. The king appeased the pope by filling
seven sees in one day. Malmsb. 48. Edward was buried in the same monastery
where his father and brother Ethelwerd lay. Ibid.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 151
CHAP. II.
The Reign of ATHELSTAN.
IMMEDIATELY after Edward's interment, Ethel ward, CHAP.
the eldest son of his first marriage, the pattern of
the illustrious Alfred in manners, countenance, and
acquisitions, was taken away from the hopes of his
countrymen.1 On his death, the Anglo-Saxon
sceptre was given by the witenagemot to Athelstan,
and he was crowned at Kingston. He was thirty /
years of age at his accession. His father's will directed v/
the choice of the approving nobles. 2
Athelstan, the eldest but illegitimate son 3 of Ed-
ward, was born in Alfred's lifetime. He could be
only six years of age when his grandfather died, and
yet, interested by his beauty and manners, Alfred
had invested him prematurely with the dignity of
knighthood, and given him a purple vestment, a
jewelled belt, and a Saxon sword, with a golden
sheath. His aunt, Ethelfleda, joined with her hus-
band in superintending his education ; and the at-
tainments of Athelstan reflected honour on their
attentions. 4
The Anglo-Saxon sovereign became a character of
dignity and consequence in Europe, in the person of
Athelstan. His connections with the most respect-
1 Malms. 46. Flor. 347. Sax. Ch. 111. Malmsbury says, the prince died in
a few days after his father. The MS. Saxon Chronicle, Tib. b. iv. particularises
sixteen days, "ryrhe hpabe theji s^'Fop ynibe 16 basar set Oxanpopba."
2 Malmsb. 48, 49.
3 His mother was a shepherd's daughter of extraordinary beauty. Malmsb. 52.
Bromton, 831. Matt. West. 351. She is called Egwina, illustris femina, by H.
Silgrave, MS. Cleop. A. 12., and in J. Bever's Chron. MSS. Harl. 641. It was her
daughter who married Sigtryg. Ibid.
4 Malmsb. 49.
L 4
152 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK able personages on the Continent give to his reign a
Athlon, political importance.
Sigtryg, the son of Ingwar 5, and grandson of Rag-
nar Lodbrog, was a reigning king in Northumbria at
the accession of Athelstan. He is chiefly known in
the Saxon annals for having murdered his brother 6 ;
and in Irish history for his piratical depredations.7
He, therefore, deserves the character of barbarian,
both in mind and in nation.8 Athelstan, however,
to conciliate his friendship during the first years of
his government, gave him his own sister in marriage.
Their nuptials were celebrated with magnificence.9
Perhaps the circumstance of the king's birth, and
the existence of legitimate brethren, disposed him to
court the alliance, rather than to encounter the
enmity, of the Anglo-Danes, while his power was
young. Sigtryg embraced Christianity on the occa-
sion ; but soon repenting, put away his wife, and
resumed his idolatry. 10 Roused by the insult,
Athelstan prepared to attack him ; but Sigtryg died
before he invaded. n His sons fled before the king ;
the warlike Anlaf into Ireland, and Godefrid into
Scotland.
Athelstan pursued Godefrid ; he sent messages to
Eugenius, king of the Cumbri, and to Constantine,
king of the Scots, to demand the fugitives. The
Scottish prince obeyed the necessity, and came with
5 He is named the son of Ivar in the Annals of Ulster. See them, pp. 65, 66, 67.
6 914. Kiel rex occisus est a fratre Sihtrico. Sim. Dun. 133. So Huntingdon,
354. The Annals of Ulster contain a similar incident, which they date in 887,
p. 65. They call the brother Godfred. Whether this is a misnomer, or whether
Sigtryg perpetrated two fratricides, I cannot decide.
7 See the Annals of Ulster.
8 So Malmsbury entitles him, gente et animo barbarus, p. 50.
9 Hoveden, 422. Flor. 328. The MS. Chronicle, Tib. b. iv. mentions the
place and the day of this marriage. It says, that the two kings met and concluded
the nuptials at Tamworth, on 30th of January, " 925, hjep ^chelrcan cynms ^
Sihcpic Nopcbhymbpa cyninj heo grramnobon act TamepeopchehiSe, 3 kal.
Febjinajm -) ^Echdrtan hir rpeortoji hi IB Fopseap." MSS. Tib. b. iv.
10 Matt. West. 360.
11 Sihtricus vita decessit. Flor. 348. The Annals of Ulster express it thus :
« 926, Sigtryg O'lvar died in his old age," p. 67.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 153
homage to England. Godefrid, with a friend, escaped CHAP.
during the journey ; and endeavoured, but in vain, Atiuistan.
to interest York in his favour. Eetiring from this ' — j — '
city, he was besieged, but again eluded the danger.
His friend perished at sea ; the prince, after as much
misery on the waters as upon land, submitted to
Athelstan, and was honourably received at his court.
Four days' enjoyment satiated him with the charms
of civilised life. His early habits impelled him to
abandon that tranquillity which is so grateful to the
cultured mind, and he fled to maritime piracy.12
Athelstan exerted his power with an effect to
which Edward's superiority had never reached. He
drove Ealdred from Bebbanburh, demolished the
castle at York13, and added Northumbria to his
paternal dominions,14
But Athelstan was not permitted to enjoy his
triumph unmolested. The Northmen chieftains saw
that the progress of Athelstan's power was advanc-
ing to their complete subjection. The states on the
Baltic were still full of fierce and active adventurers
who had to seek fame and fortune in other regions ;
and descendants of Ragnar Lodbrog yet existed,
both enterprising and popular. These circumstances
occasioned a great effort to be made against Athel-
stan, which not only threatened to emancipate Nor-
12 Malmsb. 50.
13 Malmsb. 50. In Edward's reign Reignwald, a pagan king, came with a great
fleet and conquered York. Two of his leaders are mentioned, Scula, and the cruel
Onlafbald, to whom he gave possessions. He drove out Aldred and his brother,
and defeated Constantino. Ibid. 74. Sim. Dun. 23. This was in 919. Ibid. 133.
Regiwald had before attacked Dublin. Ibid. In 921, he submitted to Edward.
Ibid. 153. The Annals of Ulster state, in 917, that the Gals, from Ireland, attacked
the Scotch, and Northern Saxons, and that Reginald M'Beolach, one of the leaders
of the Gals, attacked the Scotch and Saxons in the rear with great slaughter, p. 66.
14 Matt. West. 360. Flor. 348. The MS. Tib. b. iv. gives a passage in Saxon
not in the printed Chronicle, but of the same import with the Latin of Florence, ad
an. 926. On comparing the two MS. Chronicles of Tib. b. i. and Tib. b. iv. I
find that they contain in several places passages which are no where else preserved,
but in Florence, or Matthew of Westminster, Hoveden, or in Huntingdon. The
Annals of these writers and of Ethelwerd seem, therefore, to be but Latin transla-
tions of Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, some of which are now lost.
154 HISTOEY OF THE
BOOK thumbria from his authority, but to overwhelm
Athlfstan. bis inherited government. The greatness of the
' — • — ' confederacy and the preparations by which it was
supported, excited great attention in Europe, as well
as in England. It is narrated in a Northern Saga, as
well as in the English Chronicles ; and from a careful
comparison of all the documents, the following facts
seein to be an authentic detail.
934. In 934, Atheist an had ravaged Scotland with his
army, as far as Dunfoeder and Wertmore, while his
fleet spread dismay to Caithness.15 Constantirie was
then unable to withstand the storm, but he prepared
for a day of retaliation. Anlaf also, the son of
Sigtryg, though he had obtained a sovereignty in
Ireland, was planning to regain his power in Nor-
thumbria. In Wales, the princes, humbled by Athel-
stan16, were ready to co-operate for the diminution
of his strength. The Anglo-Danes (as, for convenience
and despatch, we will hereafter term the descendants
of the Northern colonists of Northumbria and East
Anglia,) beheld with displeasure the preponderance
of the Saxon sovereign, and the petty state of Cum-
bria had no choice but to follow the impulse of the
potent neighbours who surrounded it. All these
powers confederated 17 against Athelstan, and the
united mass of their hostilities was increased by
fleets of warriors from Norway and the Baltic.18 By
15 Mailros, 147. Sax. Chron. 111. Sim. Dun. 134. The cause -of the invasion
was Constantine's violation of his treaty. The Scottish king gave up his son as an
hostage, with many presents. Sax. Chron. 349.
16 Florence mentions the prior subjection of Huwal, king of the West Britons,
and Wer, the king of Gwent, in 926, p. 348. Matt. West, names these princes
Hunwall and Wilferth, p. 360.
17 The members of the confederacy are stated from Ingulf, 29. 37. ; Flor. Wig.
349. ; Sax. Ch. Ill — 114.; Hoveden, 422.; and the Egilli-Saga, in Johnstone's
Celto Scandicse, p. 31. Florence, Alured Bev. and Hoveden, say that Constantine
incited Anlaf to the attempt.
18 The British Chronicle in the Cotton Library, MS. Cleopatra, b. v. says, « Ac
y doeth gwyr Denmarc y geisiaw goresgyn yr ynys y arnaw.* " And the men of
Denmark came who sought to conquer the island from him." It adds, " Ac y rodes
ynter kyffranc ydunt ac yny kyffranc hwnnw y lias brenhin yr yscottieit, phymp
brenhin o Denmarc." " And he gave them battle, and in this battle were slain the
ANGLO-SAXONS. 155
an attack of this magnitude, it seemed a certain cal-
culation that the single force of Athelstan must be
overthrown. England had never been assailed before 934
with a confederacy^ of so much power, formed with
so much skill, and consisting of so many parts.
Such a combination of hostility could not be com-
pleted, and the armaments necessary for its successful
explosion could not be collected, without Athelstan's
knowlege.
He prepared to meet the storm with firmness and
energy ; and, to multiply his own means of defence,
he circulated promises of high reward to every war-
rior who should join his standard.19
Thorolf and Egil, two of those navigating vikingr
whose weapons were ready for any enterprise, heard
the tidings as they sailed by Saxony and Flanders.
They came in the autumn with three hundred com-
panions, to proffer their services to Athelstan, who
gladly received them.20 And Kollo assisted him from
Normandy.
Anlaf 21 commenced the warfare, by entering the Anlaf
Humber with a fleet of 615 ships.22 The governors,
whom Athelstan had left in Northumbria, are named
Alfgeirr, and Gudrekr. Their forces were soon over-
powered. Gudrekr fell, and Alfgeirr fled to his so-
king of Scotland, and five kings of Denmark. " This Chronicle ends near the year
1200. The Saxon song mentions Northmanna to have been in the battle.
"Thaep serlemeb peapth Nopthmanna bpesu," p. 113. The Annals of Ulster
call the struggle " a great and destructive war between the Saxons and Normans,"
p. 67. So Hunt mentions Froda as ductor Norrnannus, p. 354. Ingulf mentions
Danorum and Norreganorum, 37.
19 Adalsteinn autem copias sibi contraxit, prsebuitque stipendia omnibus, exteris
et indigenis, qui hoc pacto rem facere cupiebant. Egilli Skallagrimi Saga, p. 31.
20 Egilli Saga, p. 31, 32. They are called Vikingum in p. 43. On Rollo, see
"W. Gem. 229. and Dudo.
21 In the Egilli Saga he is called Olafr. In the Annals of Ulster, Olave, p. 67.
In the Brut Jeuan Breckfa, Awlaff, p. 485. In Brompton, Aulaf. Other English
Chronicles call him Anlaf, Anlavus, Analaph, and Onlaf.
82 Mailros, 147, and Sim. Dun. 25. Hoveden, 422. The ship in which Egil
afterwards left England contained one hundred men or more. Egil. Saga, p. 55.
If Anlaf s ships were of this size his army must have been sixty thousand. We
may take forty thousand as a safer average.
156
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Athelstar.
'. ,
934.
Visits
Athelstan's
camp.
vereign with the tidings.23 Among the allies of
Anlaf, the Northern Saga names Hryngr, and Adils,
as British princes. The latter perhaps may have
been Edwal, the son of Anarawd, who was reigning
in North Wales at this period 24 ; but it is probable
that Hryngr was a Danish leader.25
The Northern account states, that the first array
collected by the friends of Athelstan, being unequal
to a contest, pretended negotiations, and that ficti-
tious offers of money were made by the Anglo-
Saxons, to gain time till all their army could be
assembled.26 When their preparations were com-
plete, Athelstan closed the intercourse by a message
to Anlaf27, that he should have permission to with-
draw from England unmolested, if he restored his
plunder, and would acknowlege himself the subject
of the Saxon king.
The messengers reached Anlaf 's camp at night ;
he arose from his bed and assembled his earls. The
tidings were added, that Athelstan had that day
marched into the city a powerful host. The Welsh
prince exclaimed, that the negotiations had been
mere artifice ; and proposed, that he and Hryngr
should attempt a night-attack on the advanced part
of Athelstan's army, commanded by Alfgeirr and
Thorolf.28
Anlaf, brave and active, resolved to inspect the
23 Egilli Saga, pp. 33, 34.
24 Eidwal Foel acceded in 913, on the death of Anarawd. Brut y Tywys, p. 435.
The MS. Cleop. mentions that he fell against the Saxons, but misdates the year to
941. p. 5.
25 There is an Icelandic fragment which expressly states, that Harald Blaatand,
or Blue Tooth, sent his son Ilryngr with an army to England ; but that Hryngr
there, dolo circumventus et occisus est. 1 Langb. 149. Now as the old Icelandic
Annals (1 Langb. 187.) place the accession of Harald in 907, and as he was reign-
ing at the time of this battle, I think it highly probable, that Ilryngr, the son of
Harald, was the opponent of Athelstan. Langbeck wants to make this son of
Harald the Eric who will be mentioned in the reign of Edred ; but that Eric was
unquestionably the son of Harald Harfragre.
26 Egilli Saga, 38, 39.
27 The Saga says, Adils, but the meeting seems to imply Anlaf.
28 Egilli Saga, 40. 42.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 157
army before he attempted the surprise, that the blow
might be directed to the most important quarter.
He put off his regal vestments, and concealing him-
self under the disguise of a harper, he went singing
through the Saxon army, till he reached the royal
tent. His music and dancing gratified Athelstan,
till the business of the camp demanded his presence.
The minstrel was then dismissed with presents, but
his pride revolted against accepting a gift from
Athelstan. He took it, to avoid detection, but he
disdained to keep it, and he buried it in the sand as
he left the encampment.
A soldier in the outer stations observed his move- Discovered,
ments, and knew him in his disguise. He did not
betray him; but he hastened with the tidings to
Athelstan. To a rebuke for not having seized him,
he answered, " 0 king, the oath which I have lately
taken to you, I once gave to Anlaf. If I had broken
it to him I might have been faithless to you ; but
deign to hear a servant's counsel, and remove your
tent to another quarter." Athelstan thought the ad-
vice sagacious, and the royal residence was placed in
a distant part. The bishop of Sherborne soon after
arriving with his soldiers, was lodged in the plain
which the king had quitted.29
At night Adils and Hryngr embodied their forces, Night at-
and marched on the Saxon camp. The bishop was tack*
the victim of the surprise.30 But Thorolf and
Alfgeirr, who commanded in the district, roused
their warriors, and supported the attack. Adils as-
saulted the division of Alfgeirr, and Hryngr directed
himself to the allied vikingr.
Vanquished by the impetuosity of his assailant,
Alfgeirr fled from the field, and eventually the coun-
try. Adils, flushed with his victory, turned on the
29 Mulmsb. 48. and 248. " Ingulf, 37. Malmsb. 48. 248.
158
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Athelstan.
934.
The main
battle
others. Thorolf directed his colleague, Egils, to
meet him ; he exhorted his troops to stand close, and
if overpowered to retreat to the wood. Egils obeyed,
though with a force inferior.
The battle became warm. Thorolf fought against
Hryngr with all that fury of valour, which was the
pride of the day ; he threw his shield behind him,
and, grasping his huge weapon with both hands31, he
prostrated the enemies with an irresistible strength.
He forced his way at last to the standard of his
adversary ; he reached and killed him. His success
animated his followers, and Adils, mourning the death
of Hryngr, gave way, and the combat discontinued.32
Athelstan, hearing of this affair, united, and ar-
ranged all his forces for a decisive engagement.
Anlaf did the same. A night of rest preceded the
awful conflict. Athelstan formed his array of battle.
In the front he placed his bravest troops, with Egils
at their head. He let Thorolf head his own band,
with an addition of Anglo-Saxons, to oppose the
irregular Irish, who always flew from point to point ;
no where steady, yet often injuring the unguarded.33
The warriors of Mercia and London, who were con-
ducted by the valiant Turketul, the chancellor of the
kingdom, he directed to oppose themselves to the
national force of Constantine. He chose his own
West-Saxons to endure the struggle with Anlaf, his
31 The sword wielded with both hands was used by the ancient natives of the
Hebrides. They called it the glaymore, the great sword. See Boswell's Tour,
p. 210. 230. It was a weapon of most barbarous nations. One was sold in
London this year, 1827, which had been used in Italy in Bourbon's army about the
year 1526.
82 Egil's Saga, 44, 45. I do not give the whole detail of the Saga ; I select the
circumstances which are most entitled to notice, and which harmonise best with
the Saxon description. No two nations describe the same particulars of a battle,
although the narration of each is intended to be authentic. A great battle is com-
posed of a multiplicity of incidents. Individuals, in different stations of the field,
notice different circumstances. The Saga is minute about the part where Thorolf
and Egils fought. The Saxons neglect these warriors, to record their Turketul and
Athelstan. This is natural and allowable, perhaps inevitable.
33 Egil's Saga, 46, 47.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 159
competitor.34 Anlaf observing his disposition, in
part imitated it. He obeyed the impulse of his hopes
and his courage, and placed himself against Athel-
stan. One of his wings stretched to the wood against
the battalia of Thorolf ; it was very numerous, and
consisted of the disorderly Irish.35 It was the conflict
of Alfred's grandson with the great-grandson of
Kagnar Lodbrog, whose children had dethroned for a
time our most celebrated Anglo-Saxon king.
Brunanburh36 was the scene of action ; and Thorolf at Bmnan-
began the battle he loved ; he rushed forward to the
wood, hoping to turn the enemy's flank ; his courage
was too impetuous and indiscriminate ; his eager-
ness for the fray impelled him beyond his companions.
Both were pressing fiercely and blindly onward,
when Adils darted from his ambush in the wood,
and destroyed Thorolf and his foremost friends.
Egils heard the outcries of alarm ; he looked to that
quarter, and saw the banner of Thorolf retreating.
Satisfied from this circumstance that Thorolf was not
with it, he flew to the spot, encouraged his party,
and renewed the battle. Adils fell in the struggle.37
At this crisis, while the conflict was raging with
all the obstinacy of determined patriotism and cou-
rageous ambition ; when missile weapons had been
mutually abandoned ; when foot was planted against
84 Ingulf, 37. M Egil's Saga, 47.
86 It is singular that the* position of this famous battle is not ascertained. The
Saxon song says, it was at Brunanburh ; Ethelwerd, a contemporary, names the
place Brunandune ; Simeon of Durham, Weondune or Ethrunnanwerch, or Brunnan
byrge ; Malmsbury, Brunsford ; Ingulf says, Brunford in Northumbria. These,
of course, imply the same place : but where was it ? Camderi thought it was at
Ford, near Bromeridge, in Northumberland. Gibson mentions, that in Cheshire
there is a place called Brunburh. I observe that the Villare mentions a Brunton in
Northumberland.
37 Egil's Saga, 48, 49. In a MS. in the British Museum, Galba, A. 14., the
prayer of Athelstan before the battle of Brunanburh is preserved. It begins, "JEla,
Chu Dpihten ! JE\n, Chu JElmishCisa Irob ! /Ela, tins ealpa ymnsa, Iranb
Hlapopb ealpa palbenbpa ! On thaes mihta punath aelc pSe, anb aelc sepin peopth
Co bpyc," &c. " O thou Supreme Governor ! O thou Almighty God ! O King
ot all kings, and Lord of all Rulers ! All victory dwelleth in thy power, and every
battle happcneth according to thy governance," &c.
160 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK foot, shield forced against shield, and manual vigour
AthlLn. was exerted with every energy of destruction ; when
1 — • — ' chiefs and vassals were perishing in the all-levelling
confusion of war38, and the numbers cut down were
fiercely supplied with new crowds of warriors hasten-
ing to become victims, the chancellor Turketul made
an attack which influenced the fortune of the day.
He selected from the combatants some citizens of
London, on whose veteran valour he could rely : to
these he added the men of Worcestershire, and their
leader, who is called the magnanimous Singin. He
formed those chosen troops into a firm and compact
body, and placing his vast muscular figure at their
head, he chose a peculiar quarter of attack, and
rushed impetuously on his prey.
The hostile ranks fell before him. He pierced the
circle of the Picts and the Orkneymen, and, heedless
of the wood of arrows and spears which fastened in
his armour, he even penetrated to the Cumbrians and
the Scots. He beheld Oonstantine, the king of the
Grampian hills, and he pressed forward to assail him.
Constantine was too brave to decline his daring ad-
versary. The assault fell first upon his son, who
was unhorsed ; with renovated fury the battle then
began to rage. Every heart beat vehement ; every
arm was impatient to rescue or to take the prince.
The Scots, with noble loyalty, precipitated themselves
on the Saxons, to preserve their leader. Turketul
would not forego the expected prize. Such, how-
ever, was the fury of his assailants, so many weapons
surrounded the Saxon chancellor, that his life began
to be endangered, and he repented of his daring.
He was nearly oppressed ; the prince was just re-
leased ; when Singin, with an unpitying blow at the
38 Cessantibus cito ferentariis armis, pede pes, et cuspide cuspis umboque umbone
pellebatur. Csesi multi mortales, confusaque cadavera regum et pauperum corrue-
bant. Ingulf, 37.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 161
royal youth, terminated his contested life. New
courage rushed into the bosoms of the Saxons on this
event. Grief and panic as suddenly overwhelmed
their enemies. The Scots in consternation with-
drew, and Turketul triumphed in his hard-earned
victory.39
Atheistan and his brother Edmund40, were, during
these events, engaged with Anlaf. In the hottest
season of the conflict, the sword of Atheistan broke
at the handle, while his enemies were pressing fiercely
upon him. He was speedily supplied with another41,
and the conflict continued to be balanced.
After the battle had long raged, Egils and Tur-
ketul, pursuing the retreating Scots, charged suddenly
upon Anlaf 's rear. It was then that his determined
bands began to be shaken 42 ; slaughter thinned their
ranks ; many fled, and the assailants cried out
" Victory ! " Atheistan exhorted his men to profit
by the auspicious moment. He commanded his
banner to be carried into the midst of the enemy.
He made a deep impression on their front, and a
general ruin followed. The soldiers of Anlaf fled on
every side, and the death of pursuit filled the plain
with their bodies.43
Thus terminated this dangerous and important
conflict. Its successful issue was of such conse-
quence, that it raised Atheistan to a most venerated
dignity in the eyes of all Europe. The kings of
the Continent sought his friendship44, and England
39 Ingulf, 37. Malmsbury and Ingulf, and the Welsh Chronicle, Cleop. A. 5.
(y lias brenhin yr yscottieit) assert, that Constantine fell ; but I think the Saxon
poem a better, because a contemporary evidence, that it was his son that perished.
This says of Constantine, ~j hip runu ponlet on pael rcole, punbum popsfiunben
Seonse get s«the, p. 113. The Scottish history confirms the escape of Con-
stantine.
40 The Saxon song attests the presence of Edmund in the battle, p. 112.
41 This incident was thought of consequence enough to be dignified by a miracle,
which the prayers of Odo produced. See his life by Osberne ; and see Brompton,
pp. 839. 863.
42 Egilli Saga, 49. « Egilli Saga, 50. Ingulf, 37.
44 Hac itaque victoria per universam Christianitatem citius ventilata, desiderabant
VOL. II. M
162
HISTORY OF THE
934.
Athelstan
first mo-
narch of
England.
began to assume a majestic port amid the other
nations of the West. Among the Anglo-Saxons it
excited such rejoicings, that not only their poets
aspired to commemorate it, but the songs were so
popular, that one of them is inserted in the Saxon
Chronicle, as the best memorial of the event.45
It celebrates both Athelstan and Edmund, the
nobles, and the valour of the West Saxons and
Mercians ; it states the battle to have lasted from
sun-rise to sun-set ; it mentions the death of five
kings ; the flight of Anlaf, and the fall of seven of
his earls ; the flight of Froda ; the retreat of Con-
s tan tine, and the death of his son : it concludes with
declaring, that the books of the old writers had never
mentioned a greater slaughter in this island " since
the Angles and the Saxons hither came from the
East over the broad ocean, and sought Britain ;
when the illustrious war-smiths overcame the Welsh ;
when the earls, excelling in honour, obtained the
country."46
Northumbria and Wales47 fell into the power of
omnes reges terrse cum Athelstano rege amicitias facere et quocumque modo sacra
foedera pads inire. Ingulf, 37. Ethelwerd, who ends his Chronicle with Eadgar,
says, that, to his day, it was popularly called the great battle, p. 848.
45 Sax. Chron. pp. 112 — 114. The song is also in the two MSS. Tib. B. 1. and
B. 4., with frequent variations in orthography from the printed copy. The MS.
B. 1. puts it to the year 937 ; and, among other readings, instead of -j heopa lanb,
p. 113. 1. 30., has ept Ypalanb. So the MS. B.'4., instead of bopb-peal, p. 112. 1. 12.
has heopb peal : for ealgobon, afterwards gealsoben, and many similar differences,
which are worth collating, because in some instances, as in Ypalanb and heopb peal,
they improve the sense. Langbeck has published it, with notes, and with three
versions, v. 2. p. 412. Henry of Huntingdon has inserted an ancient Latin ver-
sion of it in his history, p. 354. Malmsbury has preserved a portion of another
poem, written also on this occasion, p. 51, 52.
46 Sax. Chron. 114. The ancient supplement to Snorre Sturleson says, " Angli
hoc prselium unum censuerunt inter maxima et acerrima quae unquam cum Nor-
mannis aut Danis commiserunt." 2 Langb. 419.
47 Ac ef a ystyngawd ydaw holl brenhined Kymre ac aberys ydunt talu teyrnget
ydaw megys y talawd brenhin Nortwei ydaw. Sef oed hynny try chanf punt o
ariant ac ngaent punt o cun a phymp mil gwarthec pob blwydyn. S. of British
History, Cleop. B. 5. " And he became possessed of all the kingdom of Wales, and
it was made to pay a tribute to him like the payment of the king of Norway to
him. This was 300 pounds of silver, and 100 pounds of wool, and 5000 cows
every year." Caradoc gives this tribute somewhat different. He says, " 20 pounds
in gold, 300 in silver, and 200 head of cattle." Wynne, 48.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 163
Athelstan, by this victory. It effectually secured to
him the throne of his ancestors ; and the subjugation
of the Anglo-Danes was so decisive, that he has
received the fame of being the founder of the English
monarchy.
The claims of Egbert to this honour are unques-
tionably surreptitious. The competition can only
be between Alfred and Athelstan. Our old chroni-
cles vary on this subject : some denominate Alfred
the first monarcha48 ; some give it to Athelstan.49
The truth seems to be, that Alfred was the first
monarch of the Anglo-Saxons, but Athelstan was the
first monarch of England. The Danish sovereigns,
to whose colonies Alfred chose or was compelled to
yield Northumbria and East Anglia, divided the island
with him ; therefore, though he first reigned monarch
over the Anglo-Saxons from the utter destruction of
the octarchy, it was not until Athelstan completely
subjugated the Anglo-Danish power, that the mon-
archy of England arose. After the battle of Brunan-
burh, Athelstan had no competitor: he was the
immediate sovereign of all England. He was even
nominal lord of Wales and Scotland.
The fame of Athelstan extended beyond the island
48 Matt. West. 340. So the Chronicon de regibus Angliae a Petro de Ickham.
MS. Cotton. Lib. Domit. A. 3. Primus regum Anglorum super totam Angliam
solus regnare coepit. So the Chronicon Johannis de Taxton, ab initio mundi ad
Ed. I. MS. Cotton, Julius, A. 1. Alfredus exinde regnum Anglorum solus omnium
regem obtinuit. So Chronica Johannis de Oxenedes monachi S. Benedict! de Hulmo
ab adventu Saxonum ad A. D. 1293. MS. Cotton, Nero, D. 2. ad regem Aluredum
primum monarcham totius Angliae. — So a MS. in the same volume, p. 243. Alu-
rcdus rex qui primus totum regnum Anglise possedit. — So the Chronicon Roffense,
ib. p. 79. Iste Alfredus primus monarcha fuit i-egni Anglise ; and many others.
49 Edgar, in one of his charters, says of Athelstan, " Qui primus regum Anglorum
omnes nationes qui Britanniam incolunt sibi armis subegit," 1 Dugdale Monast.
140. ; and see Alured. Beverl. 110.; Sim. Dunelm, p. 18. and 24. ; and Stubb's
Acta Pont. Ebor. 1698. So the Compendium Hist, de Regibus, Anglo-Saxon MS.
Cott. Domit. A. 8. p. 5. Athelstanus qui primus regum ex Anglis totius Britanniae
monarchiam habuit. So the Chronica of Tewkesbury, MS. Cleop. C. 3., and cited in
Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i. p. 1 54. , has " Adelstani regis qui primus monarcha
fuit." So the Historia Ramesiensis, 3 Gall. 387., calls him ^thelstani totius olim
Anglia? Basilei. Hermannus, who wrote 1070, says, ^Ldelstanus regnat Angliamque
diu partitam solus sibi subjugat, MS. Tib. B. 2. p. 22.
M 2
164 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK he governed. His accomplishments, his talents, and
AtJistan. his successes, interested Europe in his favour, and
' — • — ' he received many proofs of the respect with which
foreigners regarded him. He had connections with
Bretagne, France, Germany, Norway, and Normandy ;
and from this period England began to lose its in-
sular seclusion, and to be concerned with the current
transactions of Europe.
iiis con- When the Northmen who had settled in Normandy
w'thi0Bre- overran Bretagne, the sovereign, Mathuedoi, escaped
tagne ; to England with his family. The Breton lords fol-
lowed; and all who preferred honourable poverty
to the loss of liberty swelled the emigration. Athel-
stan received the wretched exiles, who came to him
under the same circumstances as those in which their
ancestors had fled to Bretagne, with that humanity
which ennobles the benefactor.
The young Alan, the son of Mathuedoi, by the
daughter of the celebrated Alain, he took into his
palace, and was the sponsor at his baptism. Nour-
ished and educated by Athelstaii's liberality, the
young Alan grew up to manhood with ability and
honour. He beheld indignantly the sufferings of
his country ; he projected a day of retribution. As
soon as his age would permit, he assembled the sur-
viving Bretons who had emigrated, and directed his
course to the shores of Bretagne. He surprised Dol
and St. Brieux. His appearance and first successes
revived both patriotism and hope ; he was nume-
rously joined ; he drove the Northmen from his
country and from the Loire, and received the sceptre
of Bretagne as his well-merited reward.50
50 Chronicon Namnetense restitution, in the appendix to Lobineau, vol. ii. p. 45. ;
and in Bouquet, vol. viii. p. 276. ; and Flodoard. Chron. ib. Such was the desolation
which had attended the Northman invasion, that the civitas Namnetica sine ullo
habitatore vacua et omnino longo tempore deserta remansit. Ib. Of Alanus, the
Chronicon says, " fuit vir potens ac valde adversus inimicos suos belligerator fortis
habens et possidens omnem Britanniam, fugatis inde Normannis sibi subditam et
Redonicam et Namneticum et etiara trans Ligerim Medalgicum, Theofalgicum et
Herbadilicum." Bouquet, viii. 276.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 165
When Charles the Simple, the king of France, was
imprisoned and dethroned, his queen, Edgiva, fled
into England to her father Edward the Elder, carry-
ing over her son Louis, but three years old.51 France!*1
The queen and her son continued the guests of
Atheistan, who treated his unfortunate sister with
affection and respect.
Eodolf, a Frankish noble, who, after Robert's year
of power, had assumed the throne of Charles, governed
France, full of seditions, revolts, and hostilities, with
those talents which gave celebrity to their possessor,
and happiness to the people.52 In 926, an inter- 926—939.
course was opened with Atheistan by Hugues the
son of Robert, whose dignity had been so fleeting.
Hugues requested of Atheistan, his sister, Ethilda,
in marriage. This was a very delicate negotiation.
Hugues had co-operated with the other chiefs, that
had dethroned and still kept imprisoned the king,
who had married the sister of the lady he wooed.
This sister was with Atheistan, with her infant child. ^
Hugues, however, persevered in his suit, and con-
ducted it with dexterity. He obtained for his am-
bassador, Adulf, the son of the count of Flanders,
and of Alfred's daughter, the aunt of Atheistan.63
The affinity of Adulf must have given interest to his
negotiation. Splendid presents enforced the request ;
perfumes never seen in England before; emeralds
of fascinating verdure ; many fine coursers with rich
caparisons ; a vase of onyx, so beautifully carved,
that the corn, vines, and men seemed animated, and
so polished, that it reflected like a mirror ; the sword
of Constantine the Great ; the conquering lance of
51 Daniel, 236.
52 His successful wars, the humiliation of the vassals of the crown, thirteen
years' possession of an usurped throne, and la France pacifiee malgre tant d'esprits
inquiets, sont des preuves tres certaines de sa prudence, de son courage, de sa
fermete et de ce genie superieur qui fait les grands hommes et les Heros. Daniel, 250.
53 Malmsbury, 51. The British Chronicle, Cleop. B. 5., mentions this: " Ac y
daeth Edulf iarll Boloyn ap Baudewine iarll Flaudrys ac aurec gan Huges."
M 3
166
HISTORY OF THE
936.
Louis quits
England.
Charlemagne ; a diadem of gold and gems, so radiant
as to dazzle ; and some venerated relics, composed
the splendid gift.54 Policy, perhaps, taught the im-
portance, even to the dethroned Charles, or to his
family, of making Hugues a friend. His wishes were
therefore gratified, and he became the brother-in-law
of Athelstan.55
When Rodolf died without male issue, the com-
petition for the crown was renewed between Hugues
and Vermandois. Their factions were too equally
balanced to admit either to reign. Some persons,
remembering the family of Charles, proposed the
election of his son. Hugues, despairing of his own
elevation, inclined to this idea. Athelstan under-
standing the circumstances, exerted himself in behalf
of Louis, the young prince, who was still at his court.
He sent an embassy to the duke of Normandy56, to
engage his influence with the Frankish lords, who at
last resolved to send to England to offer the crown
to Louis.57
The deputies, one of whom was the archbishop
of Sens, reached England in 936, and supplicated
Athelstan, on the part of the states of France, to
permit their chosen king to join them. Athelstan
had the glory of receiving this address, and of ex-
pressing, in return, his joy at the event, and his
anxiety for the safety of the young prince. The
French ambassadors plighted their oaths, and saluted
him king. Athelstan allowed him to depart a few
days afterwards, and sent many Anglo-Saxon bishops
54 The presents are enumerated by Malmsbury, p. 51., \vho says, "Equos plu-
rimos." The British Chronicle specifies, but with apparent amplification, " Try
chant emmys ac eu gwisgoed," " three hundred coursers with their trappings." MSS.
Cleop. B. 5.
55 Athelstan returned the courtesy with non minoribus beneficiis, in addition to
the lady. Malmsb. 51.
56 Dudo de Act. Norman, lib. iii. p. 97.
57 Hugo comes trans mare mittit pro accersendo Ludovico Caroli filio quern
Rex Alstannus avunculus ipsius nutriebat. Flodoardi Hist. Eccles. Rhem. lib. iv.
c.26.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 167
and lords to accompany him in honour. Hugues CHAP,
and the nobles of France received him at Boulogne, Atheis'tan.
and he was crowned at Laon.58 g-g
The reign of Louis was not attended with the Louis
friendship of Hugues. Differences, in time, arose, Stheistan!
and Hugues increased his consequence by marrying
Hadwida, the daughter of Henry the First, emperor
of Germany.59 Louis, to collect a power capable of
securing himself against the aspiring nobles, procured
the alliance of Athelstan, who promised to send a
fleet to his succour. " This is the first example,"
says a modern French historian, " which we have in
our history, not only of an offensive league between
France and England, but it is also the first treaty
by which these two kingdoms concerned themselves
about each other's welfare. Until this event, the
two nations had considered themselves as two worlds,
which had no connection but that of commerce to
maintain, and had no interest to cultivate either
friendship or enmity in other concerns."60
Athelstan performed his engagements. When Otho 939.
passed the Rhine, in 939, Louis claimed of England aidiLoufa
the stipulated aid. The Anglo-Saxon fleet sailed withaflcet-
immediately for his support. It appeared off the
coast of Flanders, and protected the maritime cities :
it ravaged some territories of the enemy, but re-
turned to England without having had the oppor-
tunity of any important achievement.61
So much was Athelstan considered abroad, that
Arnulf, the count of Flanders, having taken the for-
59 Flodoardi, ibid. Louis, from his residence in England, was surnamed Trans-
marinus, or Outremer.
59 Chronicon Flodoardi, 8. Bouquet, 184. By her he had Hugh Capet, who
completed the deposition of the family of Charlemagne, which his ancestors had
begun, and whose dynasty that seemed violently terminated in our days has been
since restored.
60 Daniel, p. 256. 61 Chronicou Flodoardi, 8. Bouquet, 193.
M 4
168 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK tress of the count Herluin, in 939, sent his captive
AtheWan. wife and children to Athelstan.62
The Emperor of Germany, Henry the First, per-
nection mitted his son, Otho, afterwards surnamed the Great,
Emperor t'° solicit a sister of Athelstan in marriage.
Henry i. In 919^ the dignity of emperor was conferred on
the prince nominated by Conrad, who has become
illustriously known to posterity under the title of
Henry the First, or the Fowler.
The wars of Henry with the barbarous nations of
Hungary, with the Danes, Bavarians, Suabians, Bohe-
mians, Vandals, Dalmatians, and Francs, by their
successful issue, produced to him a high reputation,
and gave new dignity and power to the imperial
crown ; but his mind soared above the praise of a
barbarous conqueror. Such characters have a thou-
sand rivals. The catalogue of men, whose successful
courage or tactical management has decided fields of
battle in their favour, is as extensive as time itself.
Wars have every where deformed the world, and
conquerors may of course every where be found.
It is for those who display a cultured intellect and
useful virtues ; whose lives have added something
to the stock of human happiness ; and whose cha-
racters therefore present to us the visions of true
greatness, that history must reserve its frugal pane-
gyrics : Henry the Fowler was one of these most
fortunate personages. He found his German subjects
wedded to their barbarism by their agricultural and
pastoral habits ; and while he provided for their safety
he laboured to improve both their morals and their
mind.63
62 Bouquet, 192.
63 Conrad seems to have foreseen this disposition in Henry, for it is his reason
for selecting the Saxon duke : " Sunt nobis, frater, copiae exercitus congregandi
atque ducendi, sunt urbes et arma cum regalibus insigniis et omne quod decus regium
deposcit, praeter fortunam atque mores. Fortuna, frater, cum nobiliasimis moribus,
Henrico cedit. Wittichind, p. 10.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 169
He determined, for this purpose, to draw the popu-
lation of Germany from their rude, unsocial, and
exposed villages, into towns 64 ; into those happy
approximations of society which present a barrier to
the sword of war, which are the nurseries of the
middle orders of men, which tame the ferocities of
the human passions, give dominion to moral sympathy,
communicate cultivation and knowlege by perpetual
contagion, and cause the virtues to blossom amid
general emulation, by daily lessons of their necessity,
their diffusion, and their fame. These towns he
fortified with skilful labour.65
To effect his purpose, he commanded, that of the
men in the villages who bore arms, a ninth should
be placed in towns, for whose benefit the rest should
cultivate the labours of husbandry. The townsmen
were to receive a third of the collected harvest ; and,
in return, they built barns and habitations, within
the city, for the peasants. When war summoned, the
burghers hastened to the defence of their country.
By this institution the ravages of enemies never in-
troduced famine, because the granaries in the cities
were an ultimate supply, and warriors were always
ready to fly to the field when exigency called.66
To induce the people to make towns their volun-
tary residence, he forbad suburbs ; and ordered that
the country habitations should be few and mean. He
ordered all solemn meetings, the festivities of marri-
age, and the traffic of merchandise, to be held in
towns ; he directed the citizens to improve themselves
61 Before this period, excepting the castles on the mountains, the seats of the
nobility and convents, which happened to be surrounded with walls, there were
only lonely farms and villages." Putter's Historical Developement, vol. i. p. 114.
65 " In this respect Germany has undergone but little alteration. Most of the
ancient cities, and even inconsiderable towns, are surrounded with walls, towers, &c.
which give them a singular and dismal appearance." Putter, ed. note, p. 115.
66 See the Instituta of Henry apud Goldastum, sub anno 924. I find them
cited in the Aquila Saxonica, p. 24. ed. Venet. 1673. Witticliind mentions them
briefly, p. 13.
170
HISTOKY OF THE
932.
otho mar-
BOOK by useful industry, and, in peace, to learn those arts
which they might practise to their benefit.67
By his regulations, by his personal diligence, and
by their own beneficial experience, the Germans gra-
dually laid aside their aversion to live in towns, and
these important seminaries of human improvement
perpetually increased.68
Henry, during his life, extended his communica-
tions to England; and in 932, by his permission,
Otho sought a wife from the sisters of Athelstan.
Editha was residing in her brother Athelstan's
courtj when the ambassadors of Henry arrived to
request her for his son. Athelstan received them
benignly, his sister assented69, and a magnificent at-
tendance, which his chancellor, Turketul, headed70,
conducted her to her royal lover. Her sister Adiva
went with her, that Otho might be more honoured,
and might take his choice.71 IJditha -was preferred
by the too highly honoured Otho, and her sister was
married to a prince near the Alps, who was one of the
emperor's court.72
Athelstan's transactions with Norway were also
transactions • , ,.
with Nor- interesting.
In the reign of Edward, and at the accession of
Athelstan, Harald Harfragre was reigning the mo-
narch of Norway. He had subdued all the little
kings, who had divided it into many small states, and
his victories had never been reversed.
Harald, though a barbarian, was not merely the
67 Institute Henrici in Aquila Sax. p. 24. The latter precept is enforced by a
moral observation : " Disciplina enim et labor magnum ad virtutem afferunt mo-
mentum." Ibid.
68 Soest, in Westphalia, is probably one of the first cities founded by Henry.
Next to this town, the most ancient are supposed to be Quedlinburg, Nordhausen,
Duderstadt, Merseberg, &c. Putter, note 117.
69 Hrosvida. Poem de Gestis Oddonis, p. 165. She calls our island, terram sat
deliciosam.
70 Ingulf, p. 38. « Hrosvida, p. 165.
72 Ethelwerd's preface. Ingulf, 38., and Malmsb. 47. Hrosvida mourns the
death of Editha with great expressions of sorrow, p. 171.
way-
ANGLO-SAXONS. 171
brutal soldier. The spirit of improvement, which at
this period influenced an Alfred and a Henry, seems
to have been communicated to him. He also aspired
to legislate as well as to conquer.73 He endeavoured
to civilise the countries he subdued.
The wars of Harald, though inevitably productive
of much individual misery, have the great excuse,
that defence first compelled him into the martial
field. 74 In a general view, his conquests had a bene-
ficial effect. They dispersed several portions of the
Norwegian population into countries then uninha-
bited. Thus Iceland75, the Orkneys76, the Shetland,
and the Feroe islands77, date their inhabitation in
his reign, as well as Jamtia and Helsingia, provinces
of Sweden.78 But his principal merit was his prohi-
bition of piracy, and the termination of much of the
bloodshed of the North, by conquering all the petty
princes, and establishing a monarchy in Norway.
The piracy of the North was a very active agent in
perpetuating that barbarism and ferocity of which it
was also the consequence. Like our modern slave-
traffic, wherever it came it desolated ; and while it
reigned, it kept down the human capacity in the bond-
age of the most destructive warfare, penury, and
blood.
That hour was therefore auspicious to man when
the abolition of the petty kingships, the aggregation
of dominion, and the rise of monarchies, created at
73 Snorre has preserved some of the laws of Harald, in his Haralld's Saga, c. vi.
p. 79.
74 Post obitum Halfdani Nigri regnum ab eo relictum invasere principum multi.
Snorre, Haralld's Saga, c. i. p. 75. He details the invasion, their issue, and Harald's
retaliations.
78 Islandia inhabitatur primum a Norwegis diebus Haraldi Harfager. Ara Frode,
c. i. p. 6. Eo tempore erat Islandia sylvis concreta, c. ii. p. 10. The Norwegian
emigrants found some Christians in it, who went away on their arrival, leaving
some Irish books behind. Ibid. Ara Erode was born 1060. Snorre says, he was
the first of all who wrote hac in regione sermone Norwegico tarn prisci quam recen-
tioris aevi monumenta. Preface, p. 3.
76 Orkneyinga Saga, p. 3. ed. Ilafnisc, 1780.
77 Snorre, Haralld's Saga, c. 20. p. 96. re Snorre, ibid.
172 HISTORY OF THE
once both the power and the desire to suppress these
pirates. When Harald had stretched his sceptre over
all Norway, every aggression of piracy was an attack
on some of his subjects ; and as he raised a contribu-
tion from their labours79, every act of plunder upon
them was a diminution of his revenues.
Harald therefore published an edict, prohibiting
piratical excursions on any part of his dominions.80
He enforced his law by a vindictive pursuit of the
race he discountenanced. He prepared armaments;
they fled; he chased them from his own dominions ; he
followed them to Shetland, to the Orkneys, and to the
Hebrides ; he overtook and destroyed them.81 These
exertions drove Rollo or Hrolfr from his dominions,
and occasioned the Northman colonisation of Nor-
mandy.
The life of Harald stretched into the reign of Athel-
stan. It is said, that Athelstan had, in his youth,
visited Denmark.82 It is, however, certain, that when
the Anglo-Saxon was on his throne, an intercourse,
which announced high friendship, commenced be-
tween the two sovereigns. Harald sent to Athelstan
his son Haco, to be educated, and to learn the cus-
toms of the English nation.83 The Anglo-Saxons
were so much higher in the scale of civilisation than
the Norwegians, who were but just emerging into
visible humanity, that we may easily conceive that
Haco was sent to Athelstan for his personal improve-
ment, as in our days, Peter the Great, for the same
79 It was one of his laws that Regique census fundi solverent coloni omnes,
ditiores aeque ac pauperes. Snorre, Haralld's Saga, p. 80. He deputed to his larls,
whom he placed over every fylki, the power of collecting the taxation, of which
they received a third to support their rank and expenditure. Ib.
80 Haralld's Saga, c. 24. p. 100. 81 Snorre, p. 98.
82 It is Wallingford who affirms this, in his Chronica, though from what more
ancient authority I know not : " Descenderat enim aliquando in tempore patris sui
ad Gytrum in Daciam, p. 540.
83 Theodoric, one of the most ancient historians of Norway, so informs us :
" Haraldus miserat unum ex filiis suis Halstano regi Anglorum Hocon nomine ut
nutriretur et disceret morem gentis." Hist. Norw. c. ii. p. 7.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 173
purpose, travelled Europe. This simple explanation CHAP.
may be allowed to displace the narration of Snorre, Athefstan.
which, on this subject, resembles more a chapter in ' — • — '
the Edda than an historical chronicle. He talks of
Athelstan sending ambassadors to present Harald
with a sword, that when the Norwegians handled it,
they might exclaim, " You are now his thane, be-
cause you have taken his sword." To return the
polite joke, Harald is stated to have sent his officer to
England with his son. The officer placed the child
on the knee of Athelstan, and said, " Harald com-
mands you to nourish his illegitimate child." 84
The simple expressions of Theodoric, " ut disceret
morem gentis," discountenance these idle fables — the
children of ignorant rumour. That Athelstan caused
his ward to be taught every becoming accomplish-
ment, that he loved him, and that Haco excelled in
his studies and exercises, are circumstances not re-
pugnant to our belief. Harald sent to Athelstan the
present of a magnificent ship, with a golden beak
and purple sails, surrounded with shields, internally
gilt.85 Haco received from Athelstan a sword, which
he kept to his death.86
Harald had several wives, and a numerous pro-
geny.87 When his death approached, he selected his
son Eric to be his successor. He divided some por-
tions of his dominions among his other children.88
Their ambition was dissatisfied, and enmities and con-
tests succeeded. Eric, like a crowd of others, saw no
crime in actions which secured his greatness, and
therefore earned the horrible surname of the slayer
of his brothers.89 The Norwegian people had more
84 Snorre, Haralld's Saga, c. xli. xlii. pp. 119, 120.
85 Malmsbury, 51. " Snorre, c.xliii. p. 121.
87 They are enumerated by Snorre, p. 97. w Snorre, pp. 112, 113.
89 Theodoric, c. ii. p. 7. Snorre, in the last chapter of his Haralld's Saga, p. 123.,
states his fatal warfare against two of his brethren.
174 HISTORY OF THE
morality than their sovereign, and invited Haco to
release them from such a monster.90 Athelstan pro-
vided his pupil with an equipped fleet and warriors ;
and with these Haco sailed to Trontheim.91 Haco's
countenance was beautiful, his person robust, his
mind disciplined, his manners popular.92 He was re-
ceived with joy. The chiefs and people deserted Eric,
and Haco was chosen king in his stead.93 His con-
duct and laws displayed the benefit he had received
from the superior civilisation of the court of Athel-
stan. He was rewarded for a virtuous reign, by^a
permanent and invaluable epithet. Though ten cen-
turies divide him from us, his title still survives —
" Haco the Good."
Thus it became the glory of Athelstan, that he
nurtured and enthroned three kings in Europe. He
educated and established Alan of Bretagne, Louis of
France, and Haco of Norway ; and these actions are
not recorded by English writers94, but are attested
by the chronicles of the countries benefited by his
liberality. Our own authors, by omitting these cir-
cumstances, have concealed part of his fame ; but
this moderation entitles them to credit in other
similar events. We may therefore believe, on their
evidence, that he returned to Howel the kingdom of
Wales, and to Constantino the kingdom of Scotland,
80 Theodoric, c. ii. p. 7.
91 Snorre, Saga Hakonar Goda, c. i. p. 125. • Itineri in Norvegiam hinc mox
accingitur, ad quod et copiis et classe bene armata, omnibusque rebus, necessariis,
ope Adalsteini regia magniftce instruitur.
92 Theodoric, c. iv. p. 9.
93 Snorre, Hakonar Goda, c- i. ; and Theodoric, c. 2. His reign occupies the
Saga of Snorre, called Saga Hakonar Goda, p. 125 — 164. The agriculture and
trade of his subjects particularly prospered in the tranquillity of his reign. His
modesty, benignity, prudence, and legislative wisdom are extolled, 1 35. ; yet Ad.
Bren. calls him " cruel," p. 25.
94 For this reason they have been hitherto neglected by our historians. When
we recollect the benefits which Athelstan produced to other sovereigns, and the
numerous embassies to himself, we must feel that it is not with rhetorical praise
that the abbot of Peterborough says, " Rex Adalsteinus omnium ore laudatur ;
felicem se credebat quisquis regum exterorum ei affinitate vel foedere sociari posset."
Chron. Petri de Burgo, p. 25.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 175
declaring that he would rather bestow kingdoms than
enjoy them.95 He gave another proof of his mag-
nanimity in this respect, in his reception of Eric,
whom at the call of Norway and of humanity, he
had assisted to dethrone. When Eric abandoned
the sceptre of Norway, he went to the Orkneys, and
having collected a great army, he plundered along
Scotland. Atheistan heard of his vicinity, and sent
a message to him, that his father and himself had
been united in bonds of the strictest friendship, and
that he wished to show his esteem for Harald in
kindnesses to his son.96
Eric gladly accepted his favours, and Atheistan
placed him in Northumbria, to reign in feudal sub-
ordination to himself.97 Eric was baptized, and
fixed his habitation at York.98 Eric is drawn by
Snorre as a tall, active, powerful man ; formidable
and usually successful in war ; fierce, precipitate,
selfish, and silent.99 His wife Gunnhilda has obtained
a niche in the uncouth temple of Norwegian history.
She was uncommonly beautiful, very intelligent and
engaging ; but Nature had placed her among bar-
barians ; and her talents only augmented her power
of mischief. She became notorious for her cruelty
and deceit.100
Atheistan maintained a friendship with Rollo of
95 Malmsbury, lib. ii. c. 6. p. 48., says, "Quos — miseratione infractus in anti-
quum statum sub se regnaturos constituit, gloriosius esse pronuncians regem facere
quam regem esse." Hume, with more national feeling thjin we should have sus-
pected from his philosophy, disbelieves the fact of Constantine, because his country-
men deny it, p. 105. ; as if they were less interested to disavow, than the Saxons
to affirm it.
96 Snorre, Hakonar Goda, c. iii.
97 Saga Hakonar, c. iii. Theodoric says, " Ipse vero Ericus ad Angliam navigavit
et a rege honorifice susceptus ibidem diem obiit." c. ii. p. 7.
98 Snorre says at lorvik (York), " Ubi sedem olim habuisse feruntur Lodbroki
filii." Saga Hakonar, c. iii. p. 128. He adds, " Northumbria autem maximam
partem erat a Nordmannis habitata. Linguae Norvegicse nomina plurima ejus
Kgionis ferunt loca, Grimba?r utpote, Hauksfliot aliaque multa." Ib.
99 Haralld's Saga, c. xlvi. p. 24.
100 Haralld's Saga, ib. She is often mentioned in the Norwegian history, at this
period. She poisoned her husband's brother, Halfdan. Haralld's Saga, p. 122.
176
HISTOKY OF THE
Athelstan's
books.
Normandy, and improved Exeter, which he separated
from the British kingdom of Cornwall.
Athelstan is represented to have been a great
benefactor to the monastic institutions. He rebuilt
many ; he was liberal to most, of books, ornaments,
or endowments.101
Athelstan had received, by his father's care, a let-
tered education.102 His subsequent cultivation of
knowlege has not been transmitted to us ; but there
is a little catalogue of his books extant, which may
not be unworthy of notice.103
101 Malmsb. 48. There are two curious MSS. in the Cotton Library, which
were presents of Athelstan. One, Tiberius, A. 2., is a MS. of the Latin Gospels.
Before them is a page of Latin in Saxon characters, of which the first part is,
"Volumen hoc evangelii Athelstan Anglorum basyleos et curagulus totius
Britannise devota mente Dorobernensis cathedrae primatui tribuit." One page is
occupied by the letters LIB. in large gilt capitals, and by the rest of the first
verse, in small gilt capitals, on a lilac ground. The following verses, containing
the genealogy, are in gilt capitals, on dark blue ground. The first verses of the
three other Gospels are in gilt capitals, on the uncoloured parchment. To each a
painting of the evangelist is prefixed. The rest is written in ink, without abbre-
viations. In the beginning of the Gospels is a page with, " Incipit evangelium
secundum Mattheum," in large capitals. Below these words are two crosses ;
opposite to one is, ODDA REX, and to the other, MIHTHILD MATER REGIS.
I am particular in describing the book, because it is declared to have been used
for the coronation oath of our Anglo-Saxon kings, and because, from the names of
Odda and Mihthild, I would venture to conjecture, that it was a present from
Otho of Germany, who married Athelstan's sister, and from Mathilda, the empress
of Henry, and mother of Otho. Hrosvida, his contemporary, spells Otho's name
Oddo. Reub. 164. There is also in the Cotton Library a MS. Claudius, B. 5.,
which contains the proceedings of the sixth synod of Constantinople, in the
seventh century. The first page of this exhibits part of the title in very large
capitals, partly red. The next page has the rest of the title in smaller capitals,
and below these, in Saxon characters, are these words : " Hunc codicem JEthel-
stanus rex tradidit Deo et almae Christi genitrici Sanctisque Petro et Benedicto
in Bathonise civitatis coenobio ob remunerationem suae animse et quisquis hos
legerit caracteres omnipotent! pro eo proque suis amicis fundat preces." At the
end of the MS. is a paragraph, stating, that it was written in the time of pope
Sergius. A marginal note is inserted by Sir Robert Cotton, stating, that as Sergius
was pope in 690, and the synod was held in 681, the book must have been written
in the tenth year after the synod. In the same valuable library, Galba, A. 18., is
a small-sized MS. which has come down to us as the Psalter used by Athelstan.
In the beginning is a very ancient calendar in Saxon letters, written in 703, ut
apparet in codice. The rest is composed of prayers, the Latin Psalter, and several
other hymns, very handsomely written. Every psalm is begun with gilt capitals,
with a title preceding in red letters. It has several ornamental paintings. In the
British Museum, among the MSS. of the Bibliotheca Regis, I. A. 18., is a MS. of
the Gospels in Latin, with this remark, " Hunc codicem ^Ethelstan Rex devota
mente Dorobernise tribuit ecclesiae."
102 Malmsbury, p. 49.
103 It is in Saxon characters in the Cotton Library, Domitian, A. 1., in these
words : "Thir rynbon tha bee the .ffichelrtaner pejian, De natura rerum ; Per-
ANGLO-SAXONS. 17
Athelstan, amid his greatness, remembered the
poor. He decreed, that each of his gerefas should
feed in all ways one poor Englishman, if any such
they either had or could find. He ordered that, from
every two of his farms, one measure of meal, one
gammon of bacon, or a ram worth four pennies,
should be monthly given ; and clothing for twelve
months, every year. He also commanded each of
them yearly to redeem one miserable being who had
forfeited his liberty by a penal adjudication. He left
not these charities as mere precepts, which might be
executed or neglected without consequences. He
attached the interest of his gerefas to their obedience.
" If any gerefa shall disregard this, he shall be fined
thirty shillings, and the money shall be divided
among the needy of the town." 104
It was a common saying of the Anglo-Saxons of
Athelstan, that no one more legally or more learn-
edly conducted a government.105 It is not at all sur-
prising, that he was a favourite both among his own
people and in Europe.106 He was certainly a great
and illustrious character. He appears to have been
as amiable as great. To the clergy he was attentive
and mild ; to his people affable and pleasant. With
the great he was dignified ; with others he laid aside
his state, and was condescending and decently fa-
miliar. His stature was almost the middle size ; his
hair yellowish, twisted with golden threads. His
people loved him for his bravery and humility ; but
his enemies felt his wrath.107
The memory of Athelstan is stained with the
sius, de arte metrica; Donatum minorem ; Excerptiones de metrica arte ; Apo-
calypsin ; Donatum majorum ; Alchuinum ; Glossa super Catonem; Libellum.de
grammatica arte qui sic incipit, &c. Sedulium *j I sepim p*r Alppolber
ppeorcer, Glossa super Donatum, Dialogorum." MSS. p. 55
w» Wilkins, 56. i<* Malmsb. 49.
108 Tota Europa laudes ejus praedicabat, virtutem in ccelum ferebat, &c.
Malmsb. 51.
107 Malmsbury has given us this portrait, p. 50.
VOL. II. N
178 HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS.
BOOK murder of his brother. When Athelstan acceded,
Aiheistan. his elevation was opposed by one Alfred, who dis-
' — " ' dained his authority. On his apprehension, there
appeared persons who arraigned Edwin, then a youth,
the brother of Athelstan, as an accomplice in the re-
bellion. Edwin, by himself and his friends, implored
the confidence of the king, and denied the charge by
his oath. But Athelstan ordered Edwin, with one
attendant, to be put to sea in a shattered boat with-
out oars. For some time the prince continued in
sight of land, but the winds at last rose, and he was
carried over the ocean out of hope. In despair, he
sprung upon the waves, and was their immediate
victim. His body was brought to shore between
Dover and Whitsand. For seven years, Athelstan
mourned his death with a penitence 108 which proved
that he gained nothing by the crime, but self-re-
proach and infelicity — the most usual consequence
of guilt !
108 Malmsb. 48. 53. 251.; Sim. Bun. 134. 154. ; Hoveden, 422.; Hunt. 354. ;
Matt West. 362. ; and Bromton, 836.
APPENDIX. 179
APPENDIX
TO
THE REIGN OF ATHELSTAN,
BOOK VI. CHAP. II.
As the authentic History of Bretagne is almost unknown, it
may be gratifying to the curious reader, if I add some par-
ticulars concerning it, which I collected with some labour
and research, and printed in my first edition, but afterwards
expunged as an episode. As they may save future students
some trouble, I will reprint them here.
Sketch of the ancient History of BRETAGNE, and ATHELSTAN'S
Reception of its Chiefs.
The event which connects the reign of Athelstan with Bretagne.
the history of Bretagne was the appearance in England of ' *
the descendants of the expatriated Britons, who had retreated
from the Saxon conquest into Armorica, now flying from
the Northmen's swords to seek an asylum, and a country,
from the descendants of their most hated foes the Anglo-
Saxons, who had driven their ancestors from their native
soil.
This incident may be allowed to interest us so far with the
history of these emigrants, as to admit an episode to be de-
voted to their memory. It is the more necessary, because
the first British colonists of Armorica have hitherto been
almost excluded from European history. Wherever they
have at all appeared, fable has wrapped the narration with
her clouds1, and conceals or disfigures that mild illumination
with which their forgotten tombs ought in justice to be ac-
companied. The Armorican exiles were the countrymen of
Arthur ; they were of the race of the Aborigines of the
1 See the Histoire de Bretagne par Bertrand d'Argentre, 1618. He begins with
the fabulous Conan, the ally of Maximus. He mentions seriously about Hercules
falling in love with Celtina, daughter of Britannus, a king of Gaul, and that their
issue was Celtes, the father of the Celtic nation, p. 4. He asserts it to be true
history that the inhabitants of Britain came from Armorica ! p. 1 9.
N 2
180
APPENDIX TO
Armorica.
Bretagne. island, and they lost their country, because they spurned a
u — » ' foreign yoke. Though powerful and ambitious governments
surrounded and oppressed them, they preserved themselves a
distinct nation under their own chieftains till the close of the
fifteenth century. Such actions deserve a recording memo-
rial in the temples of history. Their more recent transactions
have been interwoven with our annals. It is their earliest
fortunes that will here be traced. 2
The provinces of Gaul on the sea-coast, between the
Seine and the Loire, were called Armorica by the Celtic
natives, in the days of Caesar.3 He enumerates seven states
which were included in that name, of which the modern
Quimper, Kennes, and Vannes are part.4 Excepting the
single incident of the conquest of the Venetian territory by
the people of Vannes, 164, U. C., they are not mentioned in
existing history before the expeditions of the conqueror of
Gaul.5
Of the Armorican districts, Vannes was at that period the
most distinguished. It excelled the others in the science
and use of navigation. It possessed many ships, by which it
carried on an intercourse with Britain, a region then as un-
known to Rome as Otaheite was to England in the reign of
George the First. The few ports which on this coast afforded
a shelter from an impetuous sea were in the command of
the people of Vannes, and their importance enabled them
to exact a tribute from all who frequented the adjoining
ocean. 6
The inhabitants of Vannes detained two Roman envoys,
and excited a confederacy of their neighbours against Caesar.
The issue was disastrous to the defenders of their country.
Part was destroyed ; the rest submitted : the conqueror,
unpitying, ordered their senate and the inhabitants to be
2 Though the ancient Britons have appeared little in history, one work of con-
siderable merit has been devoted to their nation, which alludes to their early state,
with more judgment and knowledge than I have elsewhere seen. I mean,
Lobineau's Histoire de Bretagne, 2 vols. fol. He states the great researches which
the literary patronage of a bishop of Quimper caused to be made through Bretagne,
for ancient documents of its history. The valuable work of Lobineau was one of
the consequences. Vertot's book is rather the performance of a political contro-
versialist than of an impartial historian.
3 L. 7. c. 69. He mentions them again, 1. 5. c. 44., and Hirtius, his con-
tinuator, in 1. 8. c. 25. Cellarius places the Armorican tract inter Ligerim et
Sequanum. Vid. Geog. ant. v. i. p. 125.
4 See Caesar's names, 1. 7. c. 69. Pliny, 1. 4. c. 31. is alone in extending
Armorica to the Pyrenees. He and Rutilius, 1.1. v. 213. and Sidonius Paneg.
Avit. v. 369. spell the word Aremorica. This exactly suits the meaning of the
original British, ar y mor uch on the sea-cliffs.
* Lobineau, Hist. v. i. p. 2.
6 Caesar, 1. 3. c. 8.
BOOK VI. CHAP. IT. 181
rigorously punished. 7 The natives of Britain aided them in Atheistan.
their struggle 8 ; and this assistance, and some similar act of * ' '
friendship, became the pretext for Caesar's aggression upon
our island. 9
The subsequent revolts of Armorica were easily suppressed
by Caesar, and it withstood the Romans no more. Augustus,
in his distribution of the provinces of Gaul, comprehended
Armorica under the Lionnoise. Adrian divided this region
into two districts, and put Armorica into the second. This
second province experienced another subdivision, of which
Tours was the capital ; and the commander of Tours super-
intended Bretagne as well as other districts. l°
Armorica remained in subjection to the Romans until its
revolt and temporary independence in 410 n, when Britain
also seceded from the empire ; but this freedom was of short
duration. Rutilius, in his poetical itinerary, in the year 4 16,
informs us that Exuperantius was teaching the Armoricans
to love the returning wanderer, peace 12 ; that he had restored
the laws, and brought back liberty — expressions which imply
that they had re-admitted the Roman government. About
the year 435, they aided the revolt of Sibation, and the
faction of the Bagaude. We find that ^Etius, offended at
what the author who has preserved the incident calls the
insolence of the proud region, had commissioned Eocharich,
the ferocious king of the Almanni, to attack them for their
rebellion. The interposition of St. Germain appeased the
storm. 13 Three or four years afterwards they revolted again,
and Eocharich then fulfilled his mission with all the cruelty
of barbarian avarice. 14 The same author describes the Armo-
ricans as an excitable and undisciplined people ; and another,
after marking their locality as confined between two rivers,
characterises them as fierce, stern, light, petulant, rebellious,
and inconstant ; perpetually inconsistent, from their love of
novelty ; prodigal of words, but sparing of deeds. 15
In 452, they assisted in the defeat of Attila, In 477 we
read of this province being again subdued by Littorius, who
7 Caesar, 1. 3. c. 16. His reason for the severity was, that the barbarians might
in future respect the jus legatorum.
8 L. 3. c. 9. Auxilia ex Britannia — accersunt.
9 L. 4. c. 18.
10 Lobineau, p. 2.
11 See the first volume of this history, p. 176, 177. and Zozimus, 1. 6. p. 376.
12 His expression is, postliminium pacis, v. 213.
13 Lobineau, p. 3.
14 Constantius vita S. Germani, cited by Mascou in his history, v. 1. p. 476.
This author wrote in 488, 3 Gibbon, 274.
15 Erricus Mon. Vit. Germ. 1. 5. cited by Gibbon, p. 274.
N 3
182 APPENDIX TO
Atheistan. led his forces against the Visi Goths. 1G From all these cir-
' < ' cumstances, though we cannot accredit the system of Du
Bos, who erects an unshaken republic in Armorica, from the
period of its revolt to the successes of Clovis l7, yet we may
perceive that its subjection to Rome was not constant, nor
were its liberties destroyed with impunity.
About the year 500, the Armoricans were fighting for the
empire against the Francs. This rising nation was then
conducted by Clovis, the founder of the French monarchy,
who reproached the Armoricans for deserting the liberty of
their ancestors. They maintained their struggle with suc-
cessful bravery against the Salian king, who at last proposed
to them an alliance and a connubial connection. On the
conversion of Clovis, the proposed incorporation took place. 18
These sketches of history relate to the Armorican Celtas.
In the commencement of the sixth century they received
a new colony of British Celtae : and it is this event which
gives us peculiar interest in the history of the fortunes of
Armorica.
That Armorica, and the opposite district of Britain, had
very anciently a friendly intercourse, is declared by Caesar,
and this may have continued during their Roman subjection.
The actual emigration of Britons has been dated from the
year 383, when Conan Meriadoc and his followers are re-
ported to have left Britain with Maximus. 19 But this fable
must be rejected from true history. It has been discarded
by the best historian of Bretagne, whose reasons are decisive.20
16 1 Mascou, 477.
17 Du Bos, 1. p. 224. Montesquieu, in attacking Du Bos's opinion that the
Francs did not hold Gaul by right of conquest but by invitation, takes occasion to
intimate a disbelief that the Armoricans, during all this period, formed a particular
republic. Esprit des Loix, 1. 30. c. 24.
18 Procopius de bell. Got. 1.1. c. 12. The consent, almost unanimous, of the
learned has approved of the substitution of Apfj-opvxoi for ApSopvxoi in the pas-
sage of Procopius.
19 There is a curious traditional account of Meriadoc in an old Latin parch-
ment MS. in the British Museum, Faustina, B. 6. It is intituled, " Vita Meria-
doci Regis Cambrise." This life is in direct contradiction to the Jeffry Chronology
of Conan's accompanying Maximus. According to this MS. Meriadoc was the
son of Caradoc, a king in Wales, whose seat was penes nivalem montem qui
Kambrice Snaudone resonat. Caradoc was assassinated by his brother. Meriadoc
and his sister were sent away to the wood Arglud to be killed. The king's hunts-
man found them alive, and brought them up secretly. Urien, the northern king,
travelling with Kaius, one of Arthur's household, saw the children. They were
afterwards brought up with Arthur and Urien. Arthur punishes the assassination
of Caradoc. The MS. ends with an account of Meriadoc's expedition to the con-
tinent. I mention these particulars, merely to remark, that this MS., which is
full of fables, yet places Meriadoc not in the fourth, but in the sixth century, his
true sera ; for it makes him a boy when Arthur and Urien wei'e men.
20 Lobineau declines the insertion of it, because it is incompatible with the real
BOOK VI. CHAP. II. 183
While the Anglo-Saxons were prevailing in Britain, several Atheistan.
assemblages of the natives quitted their paternal soil, and ' « '
established themselves in Armorica.21 Their new settlements
were in general named Llydaw22; but each particular district
received its appellation from the insular principality or resi-
dence of the general of the colony.
The few cities which, in the authors of this period, are
mentioned on this coast, warrant the belief, that a large part
of Llydaw was uninhabited. 23 This supposition accounts
for the selection of the spot, and for the ease with which the
Britons effected their establishments.
The regions which the Britons colonised were literally
Llydaw, or on the sea-shore. Dol, St. Malo, St. Brieux,
Tregueir, St. Pol de Leon, Brest, Quimper, and Vannes,
which now appear along the peninsula of Bretagne, mark the
districts on which the Britons first disembarked. As their
population and power increased, they stretched into the inte-
rior of the country to Kennes, and southward to Nantz. 24
It is not known with what degree of violence they effected
their occupation of the country.
As soon as the first colonies had settled, new adventurers
were incessantly arriving. The names of Devonshire and
Cornwall, which some of the emigrants imposed on the dis-
tricts they seized, are evidences that a large portion of the
colonists were from these counties in Britain. 25
The leader placed at the head of the earliest emigrants is
Kuval, who settled himself in all the north part of the pro-
expedition of Maximus, which disembarked at the mouth of the Rhine, and not in
Armorica ; with the state of Gaul and Armorica, under Theodosius, and his
children, after the defeat of Maximus and Eugenius ; with the Notitia of the
empire, which places Roman garrisons not only in Rennes, and Vannes, hut even
about Brest ; with the Armorican revolt in 406, and the punishment inflicted by
^Etius in 436, and 439 ; with the aid given by the Armoricans against Attila in
452; with the government of this district given to Exuperantius, before 419;
with what Gildas and Bede state of the true passage of the Britons ; and with the
existence of Judichael, king of the Britons in 630, and of all his ancestors up to
Ruval ; whose lives are authenticated by all the French authors of the seventh
century, and by every thing that can be collected from the British legends.
21 I have mentioned the authorities for adopting the year 513, as the year when
the Britons arrived in Armorica, in the first volume, p. 140. I cannot assent to
Lobineau's date in 458. It is much too early.
22 Llydaw implying, as it is said, the sea-coast, is little else than a synonime to
Armorica. The author of the life of Gildas says, "In Armoricam quondam
Galliae regioncm tune autem a Britannis a quibus possidebatur Letavia dicebatur."
Bouquet, 3. 449. The MS. Vita Cadoci says, " Provincia quondam Armorica,
deinde Littau,nunc Britannia minor vocatur." Cotton Library, Vesp. A. 14. p. 32.
23 Lobineau, p. 6.
24 Lobineau, p. 1. and 7. ; and Adelmus Bcnedictus, in the Corp. Franc. Hist,
p. 396.
25 Lobineau, p. 6.
K 4
184 APPENDIX TO
Atheistan. vince, from Leon to Dol. 26 In the time of Gildas, we also
' * ' find Conomer, a British king, in the upper regions of Bre-
tagne 27 ; and Weroc, who governed at Vannes. 28 When
Gildas followed his countrymen to Llydaw, he passed a solitary
life in the island of Houath. Grallon, a British prince, is
then mentioned, who built a monastery for Gildas. 29
The pestilence denominated the yellow plague, from the
colour of its victims30, raged in the British island at the aera
of the Anglo-Saxon successes, and accelerated the Armorican
emigrations.31 The British chieftains were the most con-
spicuous among the crowding exiles. Fracanus, of noble
descent, the cousin of Cato, a British king, went at this period
with his family to Armorica32, the region where safety and
tranquillity seemed then to reside. M He found unoccupied a
tract surrounded with wood and bushes, which had been
fertilised by an inundation of the adjoining river. In this
spot he fixed his habitation. 34
Grallon is mentioned with the epithet of the Great. 35 He
governed in that part of Bretagne called Cornwall.36 This
was the district near Brest. 37 Quimper was its metropolis. 38
26 Lob. 6, 7.
27 Vita Gildae, p. 456. Gregory of Tours calls him Chonobri, 1. 4. c. 20.
28 Vita Gild. ib. After 530, Eusebius is mentioned as a king of Vannes, Vita
S. Melanii. Acta Sanct. Boll. Jan. 331,
29 Acta Sanct. 2 Jan. p. 954. The writers of these lives who lived near the
times they speak of, though no authority for the facts of their legends, yet often
preserve some curious historical traits.
30 Pestis autem ilia flava vocabatur eo quod flavos es exangues universes quos
invasit efficiebat — sseviente enim in hominibus et jumentis ille peste. Vita S.
Teliavi, Ap. Bolland. 1 Feb. 308. It was to escape this plague that Teliau
went to Armorica.
31 Tandem ob pestis late grassantis luem atque etiam irrumpentem hostium vim
coacti incolae ac precipice quidem nobiles alienas petivere terras. Life of S. Win-
waloc, an Armorican MS. printed in Boll. Act. Sane. 1 Martii, 256.
32 This emigration is worth noticing in its particulars, as a probable specimen
of many others : " Vir in prscdicta insula perillustris Fracanus Catonis regis
Britannici consobrinus — per id tempus quo grassaretur pestis exuit de terra et de
cognatione sua cum geminis suis natis Guethenoco et Jacobe cum uxore sua quse
Alba dicebatur; conscensa itaque rate contendit in Armoricam." Vit. Winwaloc,
256.
33 Ubi tune temporis alta quies vigere putabatur. Ib.
84 Fundum ibi quendam sylvis dumisque alte circumseptum reperit qui ex inun-
datione fluvii cui nomen sanguis locuples est. Hunc habitare ccepit securus a
morbis. Ib.
35 Gradlonus appellatus magnus. Vit. Wiriwal. 259.
36 Regem occiduorum Cornubiensium. Ib. 259.
37 Solum Cornubiense non procul a Brestiensi tractu. Vit. S. David. MS. of
Utrecht, Ap. Bol. 1 Mart. 139.
38 The editors of the Acta Sanctorum (1 Feb. 305.) remark, that part of
Armorica was called Cornwallia; they state, (1 Mart. 246.) that the bishop of
the district is still intituled, "Episcopus Cornugalliae vulgo de Cornoaille." In
Feb. 1. 602, they express that some call Grallon, " Regem Cornubiae cujus ditionis
metropolis est Quimper Corentin."
BOOK VI. CHAP. II. 185
Grallon is also characterised for his ferocious mind. 39 During Atheistan.
his government, the city of Ys, near Quimper, is said to have ' • '
fallen a prey to the invading waters.40
About the same time that Grallon and the other British
princes in Armorica are mentioned, we also hear of Budic, a
king in these regions. It is indeed obvious, from the tenor
of the fragments of history and tradition which have come
down to us on this subject, that the British settlers in Armo-
rica reached it at different periods, and remained at first dis-
parted into many petty, but independent sovereignties.41
Grallon is mentioned with so many epithets and allusions
which imply conquests, that it is probable that his contem-
poraries felt the effects of his power. 42
In the middle of the sixth century, a British king, who
had been the friend of Arthur, also emigrated to Armorica.
This was Caradoc Vreich-vras, a prince of great notoriety in
the Welsh traditions.43 He had governed Cornwall under
Arthur 44, and he is often mentioned with encomiastic epithets
in the Triades. 45 He obtained a settlement of dignity among
the Armorican Britons.
What scene can appeal so forcibly to our compassionate
feelings, as little colonies of families driven by the sword of
invasive war from their paternal homes, and seeking an asylum
39 So the life of S. Winwal. 254. Gradlon.
40 Argentre Hist. 114. He adds, "Et encore aujourd'hui les habitans monstrent
les ruines et le reste des murailles si bien cimentes que la mer n'a peu les em-
porter." My authority must be responsible for the circumstance.
41 It has been asserted by some, that these Bretons were never under inde-
pendent sovereigns, but always subjected to the Frankish kings. The passages of
Gregory of Tours on this subject are rather contradictory. Valesius, who con-
sidered the question maturely, decides, that the Bretons, though often subdued,
yet were never subject to the Merovingian or Carlovingian families, by any certa
imperii confessione. See the note in Bouquet's Recueil, v. iii. p. 205. Their
governors are called kings oftener than duces at first. I cannot avoid coinciding
with Valesius.
43 The Vita Winwal, says of Grallon, " Qui post devictas gentes inimicas sibi
duces subduxerat," p. 259. So the ancient Breviary of Bretagne styles him,
Grallonus Britonum, rex qui tune temporis illius gentis monarchium tenebat, Boll.
1 June 84. There is a grant of Gradlon to St. Guengalocus, in Lobineau, ii.
p. 17., wherein he styles himself, " Ego Gradlonus gratia Dei Rex Britonum."
43 In illis diebus Caradauc cognomento brecbras — ad Letaviam veniens illam
cepit imperio. Vita Paterni MS. Cott. Lib. Vesp. A. 14. p. 79. So the Brevia-
rium Venetense, " Caradoco Britannia subjugate ad Letaviam quoque debellandum
mare transgresso." Boll. 2 April, p. 381. These lives of Saints are certainly
among the least eligible documents for history ; but on this period of the Breton
history we have little else ; and we must admit, that however inventive they may
be in their miraculous circumstances, they had no motive to be intentionally
false in such collateral historical hints as are quoted here.
44 Trioedd ynys Prydain, vii. Arch. Welsh, ii. p. 3.
45 The 23d Triad styles him one of the chadfarchawc, or the knights of battle
of Britain; another calls him the pillar of Wales. The 19th Triad mentions his
son Chawrdaf ; and the 9th Trioedd y meirch, notices his daughter Lluagor.
186 APPENDIX TO
Atheistan. and subsistence on some foreign shore ? Have we not often
' ' followed the interesting Eneas and his exiled friends, with
the warmest glow of heart, with the most ardent hopes of
their final tranquillity ? Emigrants, like the Britons, who go
to colonise a foreign soil, reach their new country in misery
the most afflicting. They have not only their luxuries, but
every convenience to create. Long before they can even
hope to enjoy comfort, they must extort from the uncultured
soil the indispensable aliment of the passing day. The cottage
must be built ; the wood must be cut down ; the marsh must
be drained ; the town must be raised. These considerations
would lead us to expect an age of peace, till happiness had
produced satiety. What leisure can expatriated penury
afford for civil feud ; what temptation can it present to am-
bitious war. Alas ! misery is unfriendly both to virtue and
to peace. It indurates the heart ; it clouds the mind ; it
engenders cruelty, ferocity, and turbulence : it exiles bene-
volence ; it cherishes malignity. Man, therefore, has seldom
been in any states of want and pain, but his actions and his
history have become too faithful mirrors of his misfortunes
and his depravity.
The British emigrants soon augmented the evils which
accompanied their exile by political calamities. Their his-
tory is confused by their numerous assassinations, wars, and
usurpations. Soon after their full establishment, we read of
Chanao, one of the princely exiles, killing his three brothers,
and imprisoning Macliau the other. Macliau being liberated,
rebels, flies, conceals himself from his pursuers in a chest
within a tomb, turns monk and bishop ; but on Chanao's
death, takes his wife and kingdom.46
We hear also of crimes like those of Arabian romance at-
tached to the character of Conomer, or Conon Mawr, or the
Great, another chieftain. As soon as his wives became
pregnant, the wild tradition transformed into fable asserts,
that he destroyed them.47 His political cruelties, the crimes
of his ambition, are more probable, because more common.
He killed lena, the grandson of Ruval, and by submitting
himself to the Frankish king, he sought safety from the
enmity of his countrymen. Judual, the son of lena, flew to
the court of Childebert to escape the search of murder.48
Conon is also stated to have destroyed Canao, his wife and
46 Gregory of Tours, 1.4. c. 4. p. 70. Ed. Hanov. 1613.
17 Vita Gildae, written by a Monacho Ruyensi about 1008. Boll. 2 Jan. 961.
48 Lobineau, i. p. 9.
BOOK VI. CHAP. II. 187
son.49 The Frankish sword, in 560, at last released Bretagne Atheistan.
from his oppressions.50 v~"~y '
Soon afterwards Macliau expelled his nephew Theodoric,
who, in return, in 577, killed his uncle and cousin. Waroc
succeeded to the part of Bretagne which his father Macliau
had held, and Theodoric to the other.51 Waroc defeated the
Frankish confederacy, and destroyed the Saxons of Bayeux.52
Contests then ensued in the efforts of Waroc to possess
himself of Rennes and Nantz.53
In 590, Judual was reigning in Armorican Devonshire,
and Waroc in Yannes.54 Judual was succeeded by his son
Judichael, whose moral and religious character impresses us
like an apparition of benign beauty in a stormy night. At
first he retired to a cloister on his father's death, but he was
persuaded to accept the crown. In his time, about 635, some
Bretons made incursions on the frontiers of Dagobert ; but
Judichael, after receiving an embassy of expostulation55, paid
a visit of peace to the Frankish court.56
The good Judichael, in 636, choosing to secede from the
cares and employments of royalty, wished to transfer his
power to his brother Judoc ; but this prince had imbibed
the love of a private life so strongly, that he fled to avoid the
honours intended for him.57 These unambitious characters are
so rare, and the want of them sometimes causes such calamity,
that whenever they appear they ought to be extolled.
Of Judichael's children, we only know that he had two
sons ; " by whom," says Ingomar, (f long after his death, the
Breton nation was so irradiated, that every province and
48 Lobineau, i. p. 1 0.
50 Gregory of Tours, 1. 4. c. 20. Gregory names this person sometimes
Conomer, and sometimes Conober ; but so be calls Bobolen, 1. 8. c. 32. Bep-
polen in c. 43. This diversity of orthography is inseparable from this period.
51 Gregory, p. 101.
62 When the Saxons invaded Britain, some went towards Armorica, and settled
near Nantz and Bayeux. They mingled with the ancient inhabitants, and had a
common appellation with them. Charles the Bald, in his laws, names their lan-
guage the linguam Saxonicam. They were called Saxones Bajocassimi. Bouquet,
v. ii. p. 250. and 482.
53 Gregory, 108, 109, 110. 199. 224.
54 Lobineau, 20. After Conon's death, Judual in tota cum sua sobole regnavit
Domnonia. Vit. Sampsoni, by a contemporary in Bouquet, v. iii. p. 433.
55 Eligius was the Prankish ambassador, an ecclesiastic of much skill in the
goldsmith's art, and of much moral merit. See his life, Bouquet, iii. 552.
66 Aimonius de Gest. Franc. Bouquet, iii. 132. St. Ouen, the chancellor of
France, who was present at the interview, has mentioned it in his life of Eloi.
Ib. The Cronicon Britannicum, from the ancient MS. of the church of Nantz,
dates this peace in 643. See it in Lobineau, v. ii. p. 30.
57 See the Vita Judoci, by an author of the eighth century, in Bouquet, iii.
p. 519.
188
APPENDIX TO
Athelstan.
country in their occupation continued to be governed by
their descendants." 58
The kingdom or county of Armorican Cornwall has escaped
the notice of the old annalists, who have reached us. We have
a catalogue of its chiefs, written in the twelfth century, but
no narration accompanies it.59 The ancient romances of the
country, indeed, abound with matter. The heroic actions of
Daniel Dremruz transcend in glory the greatest achievements
that have amazed us ; but fiction has written in the page
which history left a blank. We can only assert with truth,
that Breton Cornwall had always its own counts to the time
of Alain Cagnart ; and that in the eleventh century they rose
from the possession of an inferior province of Bretagne to the
government of all the country.60
In 753, the Bretons were defeated by Pepin, but not sub-
dued. Under Charlemagne there was a Comte des Marches
de Bretagne. This Comte was the famous Roland, who fell
in 778, at the well known battle of Ronceval, and whose
memory has been consecrated by the genius of romance, and
the admiration of our forefathers.61
We are trespassing with an episode of some length, but we
now hasten to its close. Charlemagne appointed the count
Gui, a potent warrior, to watch the frontiers of Bretagne.
The endangered people, instead of repulsing their general
enemy, wasted their strength in civil wars, and for the first
time all Bretagne was conquered and subjected to France by
the indefatigable Gui. The troops were joined to the Im-
perial armies62; disdaining a long submission they revolted.
Vannes had been for 200 years the object of war between
the Bretons and the French. It was the key of Bretagne,
by which the French could enter at their pleasure into the
very heart of the kingdom. The most violent efforts were
58 Lobineau, i. p. 26.
59 It may be worth inserting from Lobineau, ii. p. 17. " Catalogue des Comtes
de Cornouaille tire des Cartulaires de Landevence et Quimper ecrits dans le dou-
zieme siecle : " —
Concar Cherennoe
Budic Mur
Fragual Findleac
Gradlon pluenevor
Ulfres Alesruda
Diles Heirgue- Ehebre
Budic
Binidic
Alan Canhaiart (died 1058)
Houel.
Riwelen Murmarthou
Marthou
Concar
Gradlon Mur
Daniel Dremrud, Alamannis
rex fuit
Budie et Maxenti duo fratres
Johan Rheith
Daniel Unva
Gradlon flam
Lobineau, i. p. 27.
Lob. p. 28. Eginhart, 5.
61 Lobin. ib.
BOOK VI. CHAP. II. 189
therefore made to take and to keep this city. The Bretons Atheistan.
mastered it in 809 ; the army of Charlemagne retook it in ' • '
811. The miseries which this nation suffered at last ended
their civil dissensions. In 814, Jarnithin was reigning in
Britain, and afterwards Morvan.63
Louis le Debonnair twice subdued Bretagne 64, and made
Nominoe its lieutenant-governor.65 In 848, Nominoe was
consecrated king of Bretagne at Dol.66 He baffled three
Frankish expeditions of Charles the Bald.67 In 851 he died,
the most prosperous and powerful prince which the Bretons
had yet enjoyed.68 At his accession, the history of Bretagne
breaks out into distinct notice, and flows into a clear and
regular stream.
His son Erispoe defeated Charles again ; who, in revenge-
ful policy, supported Salomon, the heir of Erispoe's eldest
brother, against him. Erispoe allowed Salomon to govern
subordinately the county of Rennes.69 In 857, Salomon, by
an atrocious act (he killed his cousin 70), began a reign of
ability, but of guilt.
Salomon, assuming the sovereignty of all Bretagne, con-
ciliated the French king, who, for his services against the
Northmen, sent him a crown enriched with gold and jewelry,
and also the ornaments of regal dignity 7l ; but in 874 he
experienced the instability of all power which has been ob-
tained by crime. So many minds are depraved by the ex-
ample, and encouraged by the success, that usurpation is
generally dethroned by usurpation, till it ceases to be en-
viable. Pasquitan, count of Vannes, and also Gurvaint, the
count of Rennes, who has obtained by his bravery a ray of
fame, because all was gloom around him, caballed against
Salomon, and destroyed him.72 The revolters then fought
for the undivided sovereignty, and both perished in 877.73
Alain, brother of Pasquitan, succeeded at Vannes ; and
Judichail, son of Erispoe's daughter, at Rennes. Their civil
discord was overawed by a Northman invasion. They united
for the time ; but in 878, Judichail, too eager for glory, fought
83 Lob. 28. 64 Lob. ib. « Lob. 30.
66 Lob. 47.
67 Lob. 40 — 49. and see Daniel, History de France, v. ii. p. 42, 43. 46.
68 Lob. p. 50. * Lob. p. 52. 70 Lob. p. 54.
71 Lob. 62. Daniel states, 66., that the Council of Savoniers, held 859, men-
tioned Salomon with the periphrasis qui Britannorum tenet regionem, to avoid
calling him king. The Council of Soissons afterwards styled him merely duke.
Father Daniel follows this obligatory authority, and gives no higher title to any
ruler in Bretagne.
72 Lob. 66. Gurvaint, called by Regino, Vurfandus, challenged Hastings. See
Regino's detailed account in 874, p. 43.
73 Lob. 67, 68.
190 APPENDIX TO BOOK VI. CHAP. II.
Athelstan. alone with the enemy and perished. Alain, with better col-
' * ' lected strength, conquered them, with decisive slaughter,
and was acknowledged the sovereign of all Bretagne.74 He
reigned till 907 with splendour and tranquillity. He attained
the surname of the Great ; but not great from overpowering
intellect, or mighty achievements ; not great because he was
a giant, but because his countrymen were dwarfs.
We now approach the incident which has connected the
history of Bretagne with the reign of Athelstan. After
Alain's death, one passing cloud has shaded the affinity of
his successor ; but we find Gurmhailon, called the monarch of
Bretagne 75, living in amity with Rivalt the count of Vannes,
and Mathuedoi, the count of Poher.76
The Bretons Mathuedoi had married the daughter of Alain the Great ;
flytoAthei- but the throne of Alain was suddenly swept away by the
stan. furious torrent of the Northmen, now becoming Normans
under Hollo, who in the beginning of the tenth century burst
upon Bretagne with desolation and ruin. No exertion could
check its approaches : it overwhelmed the sovereignty and
the people with destruction, and Mathuedoi escaped to Eng-
land with his family, and was received by Athelstan as
already mentioned.
74 Annales Metenses Bouquet, viii. p. 71. : they state, that out of 15,000
Northmen, with whom Alain fought, 400 only escaped. Le sejour ordinaire
d' Alain le grand estoit au Chateau de Rieux pres de Redon. Lob. i. 70.
75 Some make him son of Alain ; some of Pasquitanus. He was evidently the
superior prince, because Mathuedoi mesme a recours a lui pour faire confirmer les
donations qu'il fait aux Eglises, Lob. p. 70. The Chronicle of Nantz states, that
the sons of Alain the Great minime patris vestigia sequentes omnino defect!
fuerunt. Bouquet, viii. 276.
76 There may be some foundation for the remark of Daniel : — "II semble
mesme que depuis la mort du due Alain prince vaillant il y avoit une espece
d'Anarchie, et que les contes du Pais s'etoient rendus maistres chacun dans leur
canton," p. 221. ; but there is not foundation for his pertinacity in maintaining
the courtly proposition : « Que ce duche etoit toujours tributaire de la France, et
sujet a rhommage." Ib.
HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS. 191
CHAP. III.
EDMUND the Elder.
ATHELSTAN having left no children, his brother Ed- CHAP.
mund succeeded at the age of eighteen.1 Edmund
Anlaf, the Northumbrian prince, who had fought theEider.
the battle of Brunanburh against Athelstan, renewed 941.
his competition with Edmund. The Anglo-Danes
of Northumbria encouraged his hopes ; they invited
him from Ireland, and appointed him their king.2
Collecting a great armament, he sailed to York,
and thence marched towards Mercia, to wrest the
crown of England from the head of Edmund.3 He
assaulted Tamworth. Edmund, whom the Saxon
song styles "the lord of the English — the protector
of his relations — the author of mighty deeds," armed
on the hostility, and marched against Anlaf to the
" way of the White Wells, and where the broad
stream of the Humber flowed."4
Edmund had less abilities or less fortune than
Athelstan; or the power of the Anglo-Danes had
1 Flor. Wig. 350. ; Sax. Chron. 114. ; Al. Bev. 110. ; Ing. 29. The Sax.
Chron. Tib. B. 4. dates Athelstan 's death in 940. So Tib. B. 1.
8 Malmsb. 53. Flor. Wig. 350. The MS. Saxon Chronicle, Tib. B. 4. has
this passage, which is not in the printed one : " 941, hep Nopthymbpa aluson
hipa setpeopatha 1 Anlap op Yplanbe him Co cinse Secupon."
3 Matt. West. 365.
4 The first paragraph of the reign of Edmund, in the Saxon Chronicle, is ob-
viously an extract from a poem : —
)>ep Cbmunb cynms,
Cnsla theoben,
Masa munbbopa
Mypce seeobe :
Dype baeb FJ»uma
Spabop rcabeth
Hpitan pyller seat
-j Humbpa ea
Bpaba bpym rtpeam.
P. 114.
192 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK increased, for Anlaf was victorious at Tamworth.5
Edmund But the Anglo-Saxon * government had been so for-
the Eider. tjfie(j ^y the wise administration of three able sove-
941. reigns, that the first successes of Anlaf could not
overwhelm it. At Leicester, the king surrounded
the invader and his friend Wulfstan, the ambitious
and turbulent archbishop of York; but they burst
at night out of the city.6 A battle ensued, in which
the skill and activity of an earl, whose daughter he
had married, gave to Anlaf the palm of victory, after
a day of conflict.7
These defeats inclined Edmund to listen to the
negotiation of the archbishops of Canterbury and
York. A peace was concluded between the princely
rivals, on terms highly honourable to Anlaf, but less
creditable to Edmund. To Anlaf was surrendered
all that part of England which extended north of
Watling- street. Edmund contented himself with the
southern regions. But a condition, still more humi-
liating to the Anglo-Saxons, was added: — whoever
survived the other was to be the monarch of the
whole.8 It happened that Anlaf died in the follow-
ing year ; but he must have had great power, or
great talents capable of creating power, to have esta-
blished for himself so near a chance of the crown of
England.
The death of Anlaf removed a perilous competitor,
5 I have seen this fact no where mentioned hut in the MS. Saxon Chronicle,
Tiberius, B. 4. " 943, Heji Anlap abpsec Tamepurthe T micel pjel sepeol on
aesthpa hanb *J tba benan sige atiton ~) micele liejie huche nub him apes l«b-
bon. Thaep par Wulppun senumen On thaepe hepsunse." Hoveden hints, that
he advanced to Tamwrde, and plundered, p. 423. ; but neither mentions the
Danish victory, nor the capture of Wulfrun.
6 This incident appears only in the MS. Saxon Chronicle, Tib. B. 4. It is not
in the printed one, nor in Matthew, nor Florence, nor Hoveden, nor Huntingdon,
nor Malmsbury, nor Ethelwerd, nor Ingulf. The passage in the MS. Chronicle
is thus: "Hep Gabmunb cyning ymbraec Anlap cynms *j Wulrrcan apcebircop
on Lespacearcpe -j he by sepylbon ineahee naepe tha hi on mhc uc ne aecbup-
fton op thaepe bypi£."
7 Matt. West. 365.
8 Matt. West. 365. Hoveden, 423., admits the peace, but omits the last con-
dition. So Mailros, 148., and Sim. Dun. 134.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
193
and Edmund availed himself of the casualty to reco- CHAP.
ver the possession of Northurnbria. 9 He also ter- Edmund
minated the dangerous independence of the five cities ,the Elder-
which the Danes had long occupied on the northern 941.
frontiers of Mercia and East Anglia. These were
Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Stamford, and Lin-
coln. The preceding kings seem to have suffered the
Danes to retain them ; but " the heir of the warriors
of Edward10 " adopted a new policy. He expelled the
Northmen, and peopled them with Saxons.11 Two
fleeting kings attempted, but in vain, to be permanent
in Northumbria.
Edmund extended his conquests to Cumbria, in 945.
946 : with the help of the king of South Wales, he
ravaged the little kingdom ; he cruelly blinded the
two sons of Dunmail, who reigned there, and gave it
to Malcolm of Scotland, on condition of defending the
north of the island against invaders. 12
In the height of his prosperity the king was sud-
denly killed. The circumstances of his death, how-
ever, vary more than a transaction so simple, and so
affecting, could be thought to occasion. At Canter-
bury, according to some13; at Windechirche, accord-
ing to another14 ; at Michelesberith, as named by a
third15; at Pucklechurch in Gloucestershire, between
the Avon and the Severn, according to others 16 ; the
9 Matt. West. 365. ; the Saxon Chron. ; Mailros, and others, place Anlaf ' s
death at this time.
10 So the Saxon Chronicle styles him in a passage, which seems to he a part of
an Anglo-Saxon song.
Wissenbpa hleoapejia ebpajiber.
Sax. Chron. 114.
11 Huntingdon, p. 355.
12 Matt. West. 366. The condition in the Saxon Chronicle, which dates the
event in 945, is, that Malcolm should be his mib pyphta both on sea and land,
p. 115. The Welsh Chronicle places it in 944 : " Ac y diffeithwyt Strat-clut y
gan y saesson." " Strat-clut was ravaged by the Saxons." MS. Cleop. b. v.
The MS. Cleop. states the death of Edwal and Elissed against the Saxons.
13 Thorn. Ch. p. 1779. ; Bromton, 858. ; Hist. Rames. 389. So the Welsh
MS. " 945, yd oed Edmund Vrenhin yn kynnal gwled yn manachloc Seint
Austyn yngkeint." Cleop. b. v.
" Mailros, 148. IS Matt. West. 366.
16 Malmsb. 54. Al. Bev. 111. Hoveden, 423. Ing. 29.
VOL. II. O
194
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Edmund
946.
king was feasting on the day of Saint Augustine, which
was always commemorated by the Anglo-Saxons. A
*he Elder-t man, one Leof, appeared among the company, whom
Edmund had six years before banished for pillage.
Warmed with the liquor which he had been drinking,
the king jumped from his seat, seized the intruder by
the hair, and threw him on the ground17 ; others state,
that Leof had quarrelled with the king's cup-bearer,
and was about to destroy him, when Edmund inter-
fered 18 ; another, perhaps more truly, mentions, that
amidst the bacchanalian jollity, a discord, as generally
happens, suddenly arose among the guests. In the
midst of their fury, the king rose from table to appease,
perhaps to share in the tumult, when the exiled robber
stabbed him with a dagger which he had secreted.19
It is, however, singular, that, on an incident so palpa-
ble and so impressive, such a contrariety of rumours
became popular, that Malmsbury states that his death
opened the door for fable all over England20 ; and
Wallingford was so perplexed as to aver, that it was
to his day uncertain who was the murderer, or what
was the cause.21 Instances like these, which often
17 Malmsb. 54. So the Welsh Chronicle : " Ac val ydoed yn bwrw golwc ar
hyt y neuad ef a welei Lleidyr a rydaroed y dehol or ynys kynno hynny ar
brenhin a gynodes y vyny ac a doeth hyt yn lie ydoed y lleidyr ac ymavael ac ef
ger wallt y ben ay dynnv dros y bwrt." "And, as he was casting his eye along
the hall, he saw a robber, who had been given over to banishment from the island
before. The king arose immediately, and went to the place where the robber
was, and laid hold of him by the hair of his head to draw him over the table."
MS. Cleop. b. v.
18 Flor. Wig. 352. Hoveden, 423. It is said by Alur. Bev. 111. that the king
wished to save his Dapifer from the hands of his enemies. Matt. West, narrates,
that the king, seeing Leof, nodded to his cup-bearer, to turn him out. Leof re-
sisting, Edmund rushed in anger upon him, p. 366.
19 Hist. Rames. 389.
20 Quo vulnere exanimatus fabulae januam in omnem Angliam de interitu suo
patefecit, p. 54.
21 Sed qua ratione vel a quo occisus fuit usque ad prsesens incertum habetur.
Chron. p. 541. The MS. Saxon Chronicle has a passage on Edmund's death, not
in the printed one, agreeing in the fact as stated by the authors quoted in note 16.
" Tha paer pibe euth 1m « he hi]* basaj* seenbobe fcha Liora hine aeprcans aet
Pulcan cyjican. Tib. b. iv. Torfaeus makes a Jatmund king of England to have
been killed by one Owar-Oddi, in the third century. Hist. Norw. 1. vi. p. 72. It
may be a traditional misplacement of this incident.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
195
CHAP.
III.
Edmund
occur in the history of man, prove the truth of the ob-
servation of our intelligent moralist, that " the usual
character of human testimony is substantial truth the Elder-
under circumstantial variety.
"22
946.
22 Paley's View of the Evidences of Christianity, vol. ii. p. 289. 5th ed. 8va ; a
work which displays a highly-accomplished and candid mind in the full exertion of
its enlightened energies.
o 2
196 HISTOEY OF THE
CHAP. IV.
The Reign of EDRED.
BOOK EDRED, who succeeded Edmund, was the third son of
Ed7e'd Edward, who had reigned after his father Alfred. As
— v— ' the preceding king, the elder brother of Edred, was but
l46' eighteen years of age when he acceded, Edred must
have been less than twenty-three at his elevation.
His reign was short. Disease produced to him that
crisis which the arm of violence had occasioned to his
predecessor.
The most remarkable circumstance of Edred's
short reign was, the complete incorporation of North-
umbria. It had been often conquered before. Its
independence was now entirely annihilated.
It has been- mentioned, that Athelstan gave the
Northumbrian crown to Eric, the son of Harald of Nor-
way, who had been expelled his paternal inheritance, for
his fratricides and cruelty. But peaceful dignity can
have no charms except for the cultivated mind, the
sensualist, or the timid. It is only a scene of apathy
to those who have been accustomed to the violent
agitations of barbarian life ; whose noblest hope has
been an ample plunder; whose most pleasurable ex-
citations have arisen from the exertion and the
triumphs of war. Eric therefore still loved the acti-
vity of depredation. The numerous friends with
kindred feelings, who crowded to him from Norway,
displeased or disappointed with the government of
Haco, cherished his turbulent feelings ; and to feed,
to employ, or to emulate them, he amused his summer
months by pirating on Scotland, the Hebrides, Ire-
land, and Wales.1 In the reign of Edmund, per-
1 Snorre, Saga Hakonar Goda, c. iv. p. 128.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
ceiving that this king or his unquiet subjects desired
a new regent, he hastened to his beloved ocean
and its plunder. From the Orkneys he collected
some companions. In the Hebrides he found many
vikingr and sea-kings2, who joined their forces to aid
his fortunes. He led them first to Ireland ; thence to
Wales ; and, at last, reaching England, he plundered
extensively. The Northumbrians again received him
as their king3, and Eric became formidable to the
Anglo-Saxons.
It had happened that before this event, this people
had sworn fidelity to Edred at Tadwine's Cliffe.4
Provoked by this rebellion, Edred assembled an army,
and spread devastation over Northumbria. As he
returned, the Northmen warily followed him from
York, and at Casterford surprised and destroyed his
rear-guard. Enraged at the disaster, the king stopped
his retreat, and again sought Northumbria with aug-
mented fury. Terrified at his power and its effects,
the people threw off Eric, and appeased Edred with
great pecuniary sacrifices.5
But Eric was not to be discarded with impunity.
He collected his forces, and gave battle to the re-
volters. Snorre mentions Olafe as the friend of
Edred.6 Simeon of Durham omits him, but notices
his son Maccus.7 The Icelander states the battle to
have lasted the whole day, and that Eric and five
other kings, among whom he names Gothorm, and
his sons Ivar and Harekr, probably sea-kings, pe-
2 Snorre, ibid.
3 Flor. Wig. 352. He calls him Ircus. Saxon Chronicle says, Trie, the son of
Harold, p. 115. So Wallingford, 541. The Chronicle of Mailros also calls him
Eiyric the son of Harold, p. 148. Ingulf names him Hircius, p. 30. Simeon calls
him Eiric, a Dane, 134. Matt. West, has Elric, p. 368.
* Hoveden, 423. Flor. 352. The printed chronicle has nothing of this. The
MS. Chronicle, Tib. b. iv. states it.
5 Flor. Wig. 352, 353. Hoveden, 423. The MS. Saxon Chronicle, Tib. b. iv.,
supplies on this incident the silence of the one printed, by a long passage, of which
the paragraphs in Florence and Hoveden seem to be a translation. In the MS.
Tib b. i. there is a blank from 946 to 956.
6 Hakonar Saga, p. 129. f Simeon, 204,
o 3
VI.
Edred.
98 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK rished ; Rognvalldr and others also fell.8 Our chro-
nicler, Matthew, admits such a catastrophe, but states
that Osulf betrayed Eric, and that Maccus fraudu-
lently killed him in a desert.9
Edred improved the moment by exerting all the
power of conquest. He carried away in bonds the
proudest nobles of the country, and overspread it
with devastation 10 ; he imprisoned Wulfstan, the tur-
bulent archbishop n ; he annexed Northumbria in-
separably to his dominions; and to govern it the
more easily, he partitioned it into baronies and coun-
ties, over which he placed officers of his own ap-
pointment.12 Osulf, whose treachery had produced
the destruction of Eric, was the first earl ; to whom
in another reign Oslac was added.13
955. In 955, Edred died ; but not worn out by old age,
as some have dreamt.14 One expression has de-
scended to us concerning him, debilis pedibus, weak in
the feet.15 We also learn from the writing of an
author, almost, if not quite, his contemporary, that
his indisposition, rather an offensive one, lasted all
his reign ; and, by a gradual wasting, produced his
death.16
8 Snorre, 1 29. He errs in placing the catastrophe under Edmund.
9 Matt. West. 369. Sim. 204. Matthew says, " that with Eric fell his son
Henricus, and his brother Reginaldus. He perhaps means the Harekr and Rognvalldr
of Snorre. Our writers mention no battle ; but this additional incident is highly
credible. Mailros calls Eric the last king of Northumbria, 148.
10 Ingulf, 41. He adds a strong picture of Edred's invasion; "Erasaque tota
terra et in cineres redacta ita ut multis milliariis longo tempore sequent! sollitudo
fierat."
11 Flor. 353. Matt. West. 369. The MS. Chronicle, Tib. b. iv., is like the
passage in Florence.
12 Wallingford, 541. 13 Mailros, 148. Sim. Dun. 204.
14 It is curious to read in Wallingford, p. 542., that old age greatly vexed Edred,
and that multis incommodis quae senes solent circumvenire ad extrema deduxit.
Among these evils of senility, he particularises the loss of teeth, debility, and the
frequent cough, familiaris senibus. Yet this old man could not have been much
above thirty ; for he was under twenty-three at his accession, and he reigned nine
years. The chronicler mistook the consequences of disease, for the natural effects
of old age.
K It is Herraannus who has left us this trait. His MS. is in the Cotton Library,
Tib. b. ii.
16 Vita Dunstani, p. 75. MS. Cotton Library, Cleopatra, b. xiii.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
CHAP. V.
The Reign of EDWIN.
EDWIN *, who has been usually called Edwy, the
eldest son of Edmund the Elder, succeeded his uncle
Edred, at the age of sixteen.2
It was his misfortune to live in one of those
periods, which have frequently occurred in the his-
tory of mankind, when new opinions and new systems
are introduced into society, which essentially coun-
CHAP.
v.
Edwin.
955.
1 He is commonly called Edwy ; but the old authorities are numerous, which
express his name to have been Edwin. Of Chroniclers that have been printed, he is
styled Edwin — by Ingulf, p. 41.; by Alured of Beverly, p. 111.; by Simeon Dunelm,
p. 135.; by Wallingford, 541.; by Ethelridus Rievallensis, 359.; by Knyghton,
2312.; by Hoveden, 425.; by Bromton, 863. ; by Malmsbury, 201. ; by the Hist.
Ramesiensis, 389. ; by Thorn, 2243. ; by Higden, 263. ; by Radulf de Diceto, 455. ;
by Ann. Wav. and by the authors in Leland's Collectanea, vol. i. pp. 241. 260. 304.
and vol. iii. p. 399. Rudborne says, Edwyi, sive Edwini, p. 217. The unpublished
MSS. in the Cotton Library, that I have seen, which name him Edwin, are also
numerous. The Chronicles in Dom. A. xii. p. 62. ; Dora. A. 3. ; Peter de Ickham,
p. 24. ; Vesp. E. iv. p. 1 10. ; Faustina, A. viii. p. 77. and b. vi. p. 66. ; Thomas de
Elmham ; Claudius, E. iv. p. 54. ; Nero, A. vi. p. 9. ; Vesp. b. xi. p. 1. and 73. ;
Cleop. b. xiii. p. 130. ; Vesp. A. xvi. p. 43. ; and Job. Oxenedes, Nero, D. ii. p. 215. ;
the Historiola Gallice, in Calig. A. iii. p. 19. ; also, the MS. in the King's Library,
13. D. 1. ; so the Welsh Chron. Cleop. b. v. Boronius also calls him Edwini.
But the Saxon Chronicle, 115.; Ethelwerd, 849.; the Wilton Chartulary, and a
coin (see it in Gough's Camden, cxv.) have Eadwig. Matt. West, printed, has
Edwius. A MS. of part of his book, erroneously entitled Godefrid of Malmsbury,
has Edwinus. Vesp. D. iv. p. 96. Edwin and Edwig have the same meaning —
" prosperous in battle." His charter in Hist. Abb. Claud, c. 9. is signed Edwi, others,
Eadwi. On the whole, it appears to me, that Edwy, Edwin, and Edwig are the
same name ; but as Edwy is apparently a familiar abbreviation, it cannot be entitled
to a place in history any more than Willy or Harry : I have therefore inserted
Edwin, which has most authorities in its favour.
2 For Edwin to have been sixteen at his accession, his father must have married
at fifteen, because Edmund was eighteen in 941. This seems almost too early to
be true ; and yet there is no alternative, for Edwin at his coronation appears to us
also as married. It shows us, indeed, how early the Anglo-Saxons sometimes
united — Edmund at fifteen ; his son Edwin at sixteen. If there be an error any
where, it must be in Edmund's age at his accession, for that makes him and Edred
to have been born in the two last years of their father's reign ; yet Edmund's age
is attested by Ingulf, Flor. Al. Bev. already quoted, and also by the Sax. Chron. 144. ;
Sim. Dun. 155. ; Malmsb. 53. ; and others. Eadgiva, the mother of Edwin and
Edgar, left a will, which yet exists : in this she mentions Edwin, and she calls him
a child. See it in the appendix to Lye's Saxon Dictionary.
o 4
200
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Edwin.
y
955.
The Bene-
dictine
Order.
teract the subsisting establishments. The ardour of
the discussions, and the opposition of interests and
prejudices, inflame the mind and passions of the
country; cruelty and persecution, hatred and re-
venge, usually accompany the conflict, and both the
advocates for the revolution and its opponents become
alike fanatical, ferocious, unjust, and implacable.
In the tenth century, a new religious discipline
was spreading in Europe, which occasioned the mis-
fortunes in the reign of Edwin. This was the Be-
nedictine order of Monks — an order which, in the
course of time, became celebrated in Europe beyond
every other.3
It is a fact perpetually pressed upon the notice of
the historian, that individuals often appear who seem
to act at random, yet whose notions are destined to
affect ages and nations. One of these was Benedict,
an Italian, born 480 4, whose peculiar associations of
thought induced him to descend into a deep cavern
in a desert, and to reside there for several years,
known only to a friend, who let down his provisions.
His singularities attracted notice, and, being con-
nected with a piety that seems to have been genuine,
though enthusiastic, at last produced veneration.
His admiring spectators were so numerous, that he
was enabled to found many monasteries near him.
He afterwards went to Mount Cassin, in the kingdom
of Naples, destroyed some temples of idolatry which
he found there, erected a monastery, and laid down
a new series of rules for its governance.5 '
3 It is not, however, safe to adopt implicitly the statement of Trithemius, p. 238.
though Baronius follows it. This enumerates eighteen popes, above 200 cardinals,
1600 archbishops, about 4000 bishops, 15,700 abbots, and 15,600 saints, to have
been of the order before his time, who was born 1462.
4 Dupin, vol. ii. p. 45. sixth century. Fab. Bib. Med. 1 . p. 533.
6 The rule is in the Bibliotheca Magna Patrum, vol. xv. p. 690. There are
also some Anglo-Saxon translations of it in the Cotton Library ; and one exposition
of it by Dunstan, with his picture. Bib. Reg. 10. A. 13. An interesting account of
Monte-Cassino and its convent will be found in Mr. Keppel Craven's «« Excursions
in the Abruzzi."
ANGLO SAXONS. 201
Benedict died about 543.6 Soon afterwards the CI^AP-
Lombards destroyed his monastery at Mount Cassin. Edwin.
The monks fled to pope Pelagius, who, by giving ' ~^~
them an asylum, kept alive an institution destined to
overspread the West.
The memory of Benedict was preserved, and pecu-
liarly honoured by the famous pope Gregory, who
admired his regulations, and devoted one book of
dialogues to record his supposed miracles.7 By the
influence of the third Gregory, who died 742, the
monastery at Mount Cassin was rebuilt, and this
new construction first began the establishment of its
fame. Zachary, the following pope, sent them the
MS. rule of Benedict, and gave them, as a mark of
his favour, the important and attractive privilege of
being under no bishop, and no jurisdiction, but that
of the pope.8
The Benedictine rule began now to diffuse itself
beyond Italy. Boniface, the Anglo-Saxon missionary
to Germany, built a Benedictine monastery in Fulda,
which the Pope sanctioned, and which Pepin ex-
empted from all ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but the
papal.9 Boniface describes his monks as men of strict
abstinence, who used neither flesh, wine, nor strong
drink, nor servants, but who were contented with
the produce of their own labour.10 He interested
Carloman so much in his favour, that in his reign
the clergy of Gaul were urged to patronise it.11
The order increased, though slowly, till the be-
ginning of the tenth century. Berno, preferring it to
6 Fabricius mentions that others talk of 542, and 547.
7 Gregory's Dial. lib. ii. Gregory characterises his rule as, discretione pracipuam,
sermone luculentam. Dial. p. 275.
8 See Marsham's TlpoirvXiova, prefixed to Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. i.
9 See the letters of Boniface and Zachary, 16. Mag. Bib. Pat. 115. and of
Pepin, p. 121. Our countryman describes the place thus: " Est praeterea locus
sylvaticus in eremo vastissimae solitudinis. " Ibid. 115.
10 Bonif. ibid.
11 See the two councils held in 742, in Bib. Mag. Pat. pp. 84, 85.
202 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK other monastic rules, introduced it at Clugny in 910.
Ed^in. One of his pupils was Odo, who succeeded him, and
' — • — ' who seconded his partiality to this order; added
something to its regulations, and endeavoured to
introduce it at Fleury, whither the body of Benedict
had been transported from Cassin.12
Fleury having been plundered by the Normans,
the monks who returned to it were living irregularly
when Odo began his attempt. They opposed him at
first even with weapons. His eloquence or sagacity
so changed their feelings, that before his death, in
994, it was so firmly established at Fleury, that this
place became the chief seminary from which it was
diffused through the West.
Its success as an instrument of discipline ; the
sanctified celebrity of its author; the necessity of
some reformation among the monks and clergy, and
the novelty of this, gave it a sudden and extending
popularity. Fleury became famous for its superior
discipline and virtues, and its monks were sent for
to other places, to reform and to regulate them.
Thus it perpetually happens in human life, that new
plans become popular, and spread far beyond their
intrinsic merit, because they happen to soothe some
momentary feeling, promote some meditated interest,
or supply an existing deficiency. In the present
case, it seems, that the Benedictine discipline, how-
ever objectionable it may appear to us, was the best
form of monastic life which had then been conceived ;
and was therefore wisely adopted by those who
valued monastic institutions. Hence the spirit of
improvement at the same time passed also into Flan-
ders, and eighteen monasteries there were reformed
by the exertions of abbot Gerard.
The monastery of Fleury was eagerly encouraging
12 Marsbam ubi sup. There is a MS. of one of Odo's works. Bib. Reg. 6.
D. 5.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 203
the rule, when Odo, an ecclesiastic in England, was
offered the see of Canterbury. He was the son of
one of those ferocious Northmen who had infested
England under Ingwar and Ubbo.13 He had been
himself a soldier in the first part of life, in the reign
of Edward14, and he quitted the military profession
to assume the ecclesiastic. He attended Athelstan
in the battle of Brunanburh ; and, as other bishops
often combated at that time, and as it is confessed
that he knew immediately of the king's sword break-
ing in the conflict, and supplied the loss, it is pro-
bable that he partook of the fray15, though his
encomiasts talk only of his prayers. These circum-
stances may be worth noticing, as they explain that
stern severity of temper which was so unhappily
exerted against Edwin and Elgiva. He was raised
through other gradations to the primacy of England.
When Odo was offered the see of Canterbury, he
was unwilling to accept it, from his enthusiastic zeal
for the new system, until he had become a monk ;
and he selected Fleury as the place wherein he chose
to make his profession.16
Odo came to his metropolitan dignity a decisive
friend, and an aspiring patron, of the Benedictine
order, from its superior piety and judicious discipline :
but though high in favour with several sovereigns,
he made no effort to compel the English to adopt the
reform .of Fleury. A letter of his to the clergy of
the country, exhorting them to discharge their duty
with zealous care, yet exists 17 ; but it does not even
mention the Benedictine system.
13 Malmsb. 200. Osberne, 2 Ang. Sax. p. 78.
14 Malmsb. 200. Matt. West. 359/
15 Though councils and kings expressly forbad ecclesiastics to mix in battle, (see
pope Zachary's letter to the bishops, 16 Mag. Bib. Pat. pp. 110 — 116. and Boni-
face, ibid. p. 106.) yet it was very frequent at this time, and afterwards, till the
reformation.
16 Chron. Petrib. 26. Malmsb. 200.
17 See it in Malmsb. de Pont. p. 200. Its first phrase is an unfortunate attempt
204
HISTORY OF THE
The man whose more active mind roused England
to establish the new discipline among its clergy was
DUNSTAN, a character formed by nature to act a dis-
tinguished part in the varied theatre of life.18 The
following review of his life is made with a desire to
be just towards him, without abandoning the right
of free judgment on his actions, and of fair inference
as to the principles by which they were directed.
He was born in 925.19 His parents were Heorstan
and Cynethryth 20, who seem to have lived near Glas-
tonbury.21 He frequently visited the old British
church there.22 It is said that he had here a vision
of his future greatness, and that a venerable phantom
pointed out the place where he was to build a superb
at eloquent latinity. " Mirabili cuncti potentis prsesulis polorum dementia opitu-
lante, Ego Odo," &c. Another sentence expresses something of his temper, " Spiri-
tual! charitate, etiam comitatus rigor e" There is another letter of his in Wharton's
Anglia Sacra, vol. ii. p. 50.
18 There are several lives of Dunstan extant. One written by Osherne, who
flourished about the year 1070. See it in Wharton's Anglia Sacra, vol. ii. p. 88.
One also by Eadmer, p. 211. There are two ancient ones in the Cotton Library.
One, Nero, C. 7., was written by Adalardus Blandiniensis Monachus, in the tenth
century, or in the beginning of the eleventh, addressed to Elphegus, the archbishop
of Canterbury, and composed at his request. But the author says, " Scias autem
in opere isto hystoriam vitae ejus non contineri sed ex eadem vita quasi brevem
sermonis versiculum," &c. This life is full of miracles arid panegyric, with
scarcely any biographical notices. The most curious and ancient life of Dunstan
is in the same library, Cleopatra, B. 13. It was written by a person who was his
contemporary, or nearly so. For, speaking of an incident in his monastery, he
says, it happened when all the monks were absent, except Dunstan, parvoque scho-
lastico qui postea Pontifex effectus haec nobis intimavit. It has plenty of flattery
and wonder, but it contains some curious traits of biography, which enable us to
sketch his mind. Matthew of Westminster, Malmsbury, and Osberne, have taken
many things from it. It seems to be the one mentioned by Wharton, with the
name of Bridferth ; and so printed in the Acta Sanctorum.
19 In the year of Athelstan's accession, which some place 924, and some 925.
Matt. West. 360.
20 MSS. Cleop. B. 13. Adelard, in Nero, C. 7., is so impatient to get at his
miracles, that he annexes one to Dunstan before he was born.
21 Erat autem regalis in confinio ejusdem prsefati viri insula antique vicinorum
vocabulo Glastonia nuncupata. MSS. Cleop. B. 13. This life of Dunstan had
been read by Malmsbury, for he quotes this passage from it ; and says, he saw the
book at St. Augustin's in Canterbury, and at another place. De Ant. Glast. p. 2 93.
The MS. in the Cotton Library is probably the identical book which our Malms-
bury saw ; for Joscelin has written upon it, that in August, 1565, he found it among
other old MSS. at the Augustine monastery at Canterbury. Usher has added a
note making the same inference.
22 The author's phrase is, that the first Neophytes found there an old church
not built with human hands. I translate his words to mean, that the Anglo-
Saxons found one there ready built, and of course by the Britons.
V.
Edwin.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 205
monastery.23 Ambitious talents, meditating much CHAP.
on the honours they covet, may experience sometimes
such illusions amid the nightly chimeras of the re-
posing though disturbed imagination.
His parents encouraged him to study, and his
penetrating abilities enabled him to excel his com-
panions, and to run with easy rapidity through the
course of his studies.24
A fever interrupted his advancement, and all the
horrors of a temporary frenzy ensued, accompanied
with that debility which in this disease sometimes
announces the departure of life, and sometimes a
crisis which is to end in convalescence. In this state
a sudden access of delirium came on. He leapt from
his bed, eluded his nurse, and seizing a stick which
was near him, he ran over the neighbouring plains
and mountains, fancying that wild dogs were pursuing
him. His wanderings led him towards night near the
church. Workmen during the day had been mend-
ing the roof. Dunstan ran wildly up their scaffold,
roamed over the top, and with that casual felicity
which frenzy sometimes experiences, got uncon-
sciously to the bottom of the church, where a heavy
sleep concluded his delirious excursion.25 He waked
with returned intellect, and was surprised at his new
situation. As the church-doors had not been opened,
both he and the attendants of the place wondered
how he got there.26
23 MSS. Cleop.
24 Adelard calls him, indole acerrimus. Nero, C. 7. The MS. Cleop. B. 13. says,
cosetaneos quosque praecellerat et suorum tempora studiorura facili cursu transiliret.
25 This is the statement in the MS. Cleop. B. 13., which I think to be peculiarly
valuable, because it shows us the simple and natural truth of an incident which
the future biographers of Dunstan have converted into an elaborate and ridiculous
miracle. It gives a good specimen how monastic fancy, by its peculiar machinery,
has transformed natural incidents into celestial achievements. When reflection
sobers the mind of Achilles, it is Pallas who descends to whisper in his ear; when
Dunstan runs over a church in a delirium, angels are called down to protect him
from the devil, to burst the roof, and to place him safely on the pavement.
28 This ancient life gives to this event none of those appendages of angels and
devils, which credulity afterwards added. After mentioning his sleep, it merely
206 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK His parents obtained for him an introduction into
Edwin, the ecclesiastical establishment at Glastonbury. He
s — * — ' continued his studious applications, and there is no
reason to disbelieve the statement, that his conduct
at this time was moral and religious.27
Some Irish ecclesiastics had settled at Glaston-
bury, and were teaching the liberal studies to the
children of the nobility. Dunstan attached himself
to their instructions, and diligently explored their
books.28
The first part of his life was a laborious cultivation
of mind, and he seems to have attained all the know-
lege to which it was possible for him to gain access.
He mastered such of the mathematical sciences as
were then taught ; he excelled in music ; he accom-
plished himself in writing, painting, and engraving ;
he acquired also the manual skill of working in gold
and silver, and even copper and iron.29 These arts
had not at that day reached any pre-eminent merit,
but it was uncommon that a man should practise
himself in all. To have excelled his contemporaries
in mental pursuits, in the fine arts, as far as they
were then practised, and in mechanical labours, is
evidence of an activity of intellect, and of an ardour
says, " Exsurgens autem post momenti spatium ammirari admodum una cum cus-
todibus caeperat, quo pacto, quove ingenio introierat, cernens etiam quod templi
ostium clausum munitumque extiterat." MS. Cleop. Its next phrase, that Dun-
stan acknowledged the hand of Providence in his preservation, merely expresses his
pious feelings. It does not invest it with the miraculous colouring of later writers.
The wonderful was, however, soon added, for we find it in Adelard ; and yet even
his statement reveals the truth, and shows that the falsehood was the creature of
ignorance. " Ubi mane inventus cum consulerater qualiter ille incolumis adveniret,
qui sero pene contiguus morti exterius erat relictus, hoc se ignorare, respondit et
rumorem miraculi grata ignorantia auxit." Adelard, MSS. Nero, C. 7.
27 MSS. Cleop. B. 13.
28 Osberne Vita Dunstani, p. 92. MS. Cleop. B. 13.
29 Osberne, 93, 94. His attainments are thus enumerated in the MS. Cleop.
B. 13. : " Hie itaque inter sacra litterarum studia — artem scribendi nee ne citha-
rizandi pariterque pingendi peritiam diligenter excoluit, atque ut ita dicam, omnium
rerum utensilium vigil inspector fulsit." This MS. mentions a particular instance
of his painting and embroidery : " Quandam stolam diversis formularum scematibus
perpingeret quam postea posset auro gemmisque variando pompare." It also men-
tions, that he took with him ex more cytharam suam quam, lingua paterna, hearpam
vocamus.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 20
for improvement, which, under a better direction of CHAP.
their energies, might have advanced the progression Edwin,
of the social world. ' — • —
When his age admitted, he commenced his career
of public life as a courtier. Some relation intro-
duced him into the royal palace, and his musical
talents interested and often recreated the king.80
No circumstance can more impressively attest the
superiority of Dunstan's attainments, than his having
been accused, while at court, of demoniacal arts.31
Such charges give demonstration of the talents and
knowlege of the person so accused. In the very
same century another man of eminence suffered
under a similar imputation, because he had made a
sphere, invented clocks, and attempted a telescope.32
The charge of magic was of all others the most de-
structive, because the most difficult to repel. Every
exertion of superior intellect in defence was mis-
construed to be preternatural, and confirmed the
imputation.
His enemies were successful. The king was in-
fluenced against him, and Dunstan was driven from
court33; — from that Eden of his hopes, where, like
another Wolsey, he was planning to be naturalised.
His courtly rivals were not content with his dis-
grace : they insulted as well as supplanted him ; they
30 Adelard says, "De Glestonia egressus Archo Dorobernensi Adelmo patruo
scilicet suo se junxit et cohabitare csepit — in palatio cum praesentavit et regi
Athelstano — magno affectu commendavit." Nero, C. 7. Osberne implies the
same, p. 94. But I think the king should be Edmund. The MS. Cleop. B. 13.
mentions his living in Edmund's palace, where plans were formed against him.
31 Asserentes ilium malis artibus imbutum, nee quicquam divino auxilio sed
plaeraque dsemonum praestigio operari, Osb. 95. The MS. Cleop. B. 13. thus ex-
presses it : " Dicentes, [eum ex libris salutaribus et viris peritis non saluti animae
profutura sed avitaa gentilitatis vanissima didicisse carmina et histriarum colere
incantationes."
32 This was Gerbert, who became archbishop of Rheims and of Ravenna ; and in
999 was made pope, under the name of Sylvester II. " He had learned the
mathematics in Spain : his knowlege made him pass for a magician, and gave rise
to the fable of his being promoted to the papal chair by a contract which he made
with the devil." Dupin. 10 cen. p. 44. ; and see Matt. West. 348., and Malmsb. 65.
33 MS. Cleop. B. 13.
208 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK pursued and threw him into a miry marsh. He ex-
Edwin. tricated himself on their retreat, and reached a
^"" "» — ' friend's house about a mile distant.34
Thus far Dunstan appears neither unamiable nor
uninteresting. Youthful ambition is the parent of
much excellence; while subordinate to reason and
duty it is an honourable energy in the spring-time of
life, when the buds of expectation are incessantly
shooting. Dunstan's pursuit of distinction, though
perhaps questionable as to its prudence, was no im-
moral impulse. His means were the most honour-
able he could employ — the cultivation of his mind,
the increase of his knowlege, and the fair exertion of
his beneficial acquisitions.
To be checked in the first madness of our juvenile
ambition, may often introduce the invaluable trea-
sures of moderate wishes, moral prudence, and be-
coming humility. There is no evidence that the
effects of Dunstan's disgrace were at first any other.
He was repelled from the paths of political greatness,
and he submitted to the necessity ; he turned his eye
from the proud but tempestuous mountains of life
to its lowly but pleasant vales, where happiness loves
to abide, the companion of the industrious, the con-
tented, and the good. After he left the court, he
formed an attachment to a maiden whom he wished
to marry.35
It is with regret we read that such honourable im-
pressions were deemed to be diabolical suggestions
by the relations and biographers of Dunstan. The
bishop -ZElfheag, his relation, opposed them. At-
34 MS. Cleop.
38 It is the MS. Cleop. which informs us of this curious circumstance. It says,
the devil primum enim mulierum illi injecit amorem, quo per familiares earum
amplexus mundanis oblectamentis frueretur. Interea propinquus ipsius 2Elf heagus,
cognomine Calvus, praesulque fldelis, petitionibus multis et spiritualibus monitis cum
rogavit ut fieret monachus. Quod ille instinctu praefati fraudatoris renuntians,
maluit sponsare juvenculam, cujus cotidie blanditiis foveretur, quam more mona-
chorum bidentinis indui panniculis.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 209
tached by his own taste and habits to the ecclesi- CHAP.
astical order, he conjured him to become a monk, a ^win.
character then much venerated, and, notwithstanding ' — • — '
its superstitions, allied to many virtues.
Dunstan was at first insensible to his oratory.
He replied to jElfheag's reasoning, that the man
who lived from choice regularly in the world, was of
greater excellence than he who, having entered a
monastery, could not avoid doing what his order en-
joined. The man in the world displays moral free-
dom and voluntary rectitude; the monk was a creature
of compulsion and necessity. ^Elfheag opposed the
discriminating remark, by arguing on the future
punishment, on the importance of extinguishing the
fire of passion, and of avoiding its incitements by
withdrawing from the world.36 Dunstan still re-
sisted ; his relation continued to importune him.
These unfortunate entreaties disturbed the mind
of Dunstan. He became agitated by a tumult of
contending passions. With the monastic habit were
connected all the internal enjoyments of piety to
those who valued them, and to those who were less
devout it gave a release from the dread of futurity,
the reputation and the means of peculiar sanctity,
and an impressive empire over the minds of men.
But it exacted a renunciation of the charms of
mutual affection, of the delights of a growing family,
and of those numerous gratifications with which
social life in every age abounds. His health was
unequal to the conflict : a dangerous disease attacked
him37 before he could decide, and his life was de-
spaired of. He lay without a prospect of recovery,
and so senseless that the pulse of life seemed to have
ceased : at last it slowly returned, and life renewed
in gradual convalescence. But he rose from the bed
96 Osberne, 95.
87 MS. Cleop. And see Osberne's statement, p. 96.
VOL. II. P
210 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK of sickness with an altered mind. He renounced
E<hdn. the flattering world, assumed the monastic habit,
' — • — ' and condemned himself to celibacy.38
But to give new directions to our feelings, by the
violence of terror, is to produce changes of thought
and action, neither salutary to our moral principles,
nor calculable in their consequences. Dunstan, while
ardent with passions not dishonourable in youth, was
driven forcibly from civil honours, and was after-
wards excluded from social life. In obedience to
duty, fear, importunity, and some new impressions,
but in direct contradiction to his own earlier wishes
and prospects, he became a monk. Does the inces-
sant experience of human nature teach us to expect
that an amiable, benevolent, or virtuous character
would result from these compulsions ? Checked in
our dearest, and not immoral propensities, are we
never soured by the disappointment, never irritated
by the injustice ? Driven by violence into the
schemes of others, will not individuals of strong feel-
ings become artificial characters ? harshly coerced
themselves, will they not be indurated towards
others ? Is not selfishness, with all its power of
mischief, most likely to become afterwards the ruling
principle ? It is, indeed, true, that exalted virtue
will rise superior to every temptation to misanthropy
and vice. Many are the glorious minds who have
withstood the fiery trial; and whoever loves virtue
as he ought will pursue it, unaffected by the follies
of man, or the accidents of life. Many, however,
fall the victims of their vicissitudes ; and the re-
mainder of Dunstan's life will best show how far he
was of the number.
38 MS. Cleop. B. 13. Osberne, 96. Mr. Lingard talks of the « anile credulity"
of Osberne. His epithets are just ; but how can he apply them fairly to Osberne,
and not extend them to all, or nearly all, the legends of his church which crowd
the hundred volumes of the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists ? Is Osberne more
anile than almost all the writers of the Catholic Hagiography ?
ANGLO-SAXONS 21
The predominant features in Dunstan's character, CHAP.
in addition to strong religious impressions, were Edwin,
energy and ambition. The path of life to which he ' — ' —
was forced did not extinguish these tendencies, though
it may have added peculiarity and severity. His
superior mind and all its acquisitions still remained :
but it was necessary that all its peculiarities should
thereafter be displayed in the language, garb, and
manners of a monk. The aspiring soldier seeks dis-
tinction in the field of battle by excelling in courage :
the ambitious recluse pursues the phantom in his
lonely cell, by extraordinary penances, and a supe-
rior superstition. Dunstan had now only this way
to fame ; and from his future actions we infer that
he pursued it with an earnestness which every year
became more separated from moral principle, and
which at last poisoned his mind and injured his con-
temporaries, but gratified his passion.
He made with his own hands a subterraneous cave
or cell, so unlike any thing of the sort, that his bio-
grapher, who had seen it, knew not what to call it.39
It was more like a grave than a human habitation.
Cells were commonly dug in an eminence, or raised
from the earth : this was the earth itself excavated.
It was five feet long and two and a half wide. Its
height was the stature of a man standing in the ex-
cavation. Its only wall was its door, which covered
the whole, and in this was a small aperture to admit
light and air.40
89 Non enim invenio qua id appellatione quam proxime vocem ; cum non tarn
humani habitaculi quam formam gerat sepulchri, propriis laboribus fabricavit.
Osberne, 96.
40 Osberne, 96. This author's additional exclamation is worth translating, for
its singularity : " Wretch and sinner as I am ; I confess that I have seen this holy
place of his residence. I have seen the works of his hands. I have touched them
with sinful hands, have brought them to my eyes, watered them with my tears,
and adored them with bended knees. I remembered how often he has heard my
petitions in my perils, and therefore I did not refrain my tears ; nor if I could
have avoided it, would I have left the place." Ibid.
p 2
212 HISTORY OF THE
Do not such singularities as these reveal either an
inflamed imagination in the sincere, or a crafty am-
bition in the hypocritical ? Genuine piety is modest,
private, and unaffected. Piety, when assumed as a
mask to cover or to assist inordinate ambition, or
connected with a disordered fancy, labours to be
ostentatious, absurd, extravagant, and frantically
superstitious. If Dunstan's mind had been of weak
texture, the selection of such a cell might be referred
to its imperfections ; but in a man of his talents, it
is more likely to have been the deliberate choice of
his secret policy.
One of the legendary tales which has been used to
exalt his fame shows, if it ever happened, the arts by
which he gained it. Dunstan carried to his sepul-
chral cell a fragment of his former disposition. He
exercised himself in working on metals. One night
all the neighbourhood was alarmed by the most ter-
rific howlings, which seemed to issue from his abode.
In the morning they flocked to him to inquire the
cause ; he told them that the Devil had intruded his
head into his window to tempt him while he was
heating his work ; that he had seized him by the nose
with his red hot tongs, and that the noise was Satan's
roaring at the pain.41 The simple people are stated
to have venerated the recluse for this amazing ex-
ploit. They forgot to recollect that he might him-
self have made the clamour, to extort their morning
wonder at his fabricated tale.
All ages and ranks united to spread his fame42,
and a substantial benefit soon accrued. A noble
lady, Ethelfleda, of royal descent, who was passing
a quiet life of widowhood, was attracted into his
vicinity, was charmed by his conversation, and re-
ligiously loved him. She introduced him to the
41 Osberne, 96, 97. 42 Ibid. 97.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
king, who visited her; and, what gave him imme-
diately an importance of the most interesting nature,
she left him at her death, which happened soon
afterwards, the heir of all her wealth.43 It is stated
that he distributed his acquisitions among the poor.
Dunstan's reputation and connection made him
known to Edmund, who invited him to court.44 He
eagerly obeyed. The prospects of his youth began
to shine again; but he beheld them with very dif-
ferent feelings. The world, and all its pleasures,
would then have been his harvest ; but now the
peculiar path of monastic life was that which he had
to tread.
At court, though he had many friends, he had
also many enemies. He surmounted, however, all
opposition ; for the chancellor Turketul supported
him45, and the first step of his future aggrandise-
ment was laid by the acquisition of the monastery of
Glastonbury, to which he was appointed abbot by the
king.46
The Benedictine order being now, from its real
merits, so popular in Europe, Dunstan introduced it
into his monastery47, and made himself its most
active patron.
The new abbot gained so rapidly upon the pre-
judices of his age, that his youth was no impediment
to his aggrandisement. If the year of his birth is
truly stated48, he could only be twenty-two at the
accession of Edred, and thirty-one at his demise;
yet before Edred's coronation, he was made abbot of
43 MS. Cleop. B. 13. Osberne, 97.
44 Ibid. 99. 45 Ingulf, 38.
46 MS. Cleop. This says, that the king took him to Glastonbury, et apprehensa
ejus dextra causa placationis seu etiam dignitatis osculatus est ilium. And see
Adelard, Nero, C. 7.
47 MS. Cleop. MS. Nero; and Osberne. Ingulf says, that Dunstan went to
Fleury, to be initiated, p. 29. Dunstan's expositio of the rule of Benedict, with
his portrait, is in the British Museum. MSS. Bib. Reg. 10. A. 13.
48 That he was born in the year of Athelstan's accession, is declared by Sax.
Chron. 111.; Flor. 348. ; Hoveden, 422. ; Osb. 90.
p 3
214 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK Glastonbury, and he was afterwards chosen by Edred
Ed^in. for his confidential friend and counsellor. To him,
' — • — ' this king sent all his choicest treasures, and those
amassed by the preceding sovereigns, to be kept in
his monastery under his inspection.49
From the next incident the policy of Dunstan
seems to have been foreseeing and refined. The see
of Winchester was offered to him by the king ; but
he refused it, on the pretence of unfitness. The king
entreated his mother to invite him to dinner, and to
add her persuasions ; but Dunstan declared he could
not leave the king, and would not, in his days, even
accept the metropolitan honour.50
He went home. In the morning he told the king
he had seen a vision, in which Saint Peter struck
him, and said, " This is your punishment for your
refusal, and a token to you not to decline hereafter
the primacy of England." The king saw not the art
of his friend, but interpreting the vision to his wishes,
declared that it foretold he was to be the archbishop
of Canterbury.61
From an impartial consideration of all these cir-
cumstances, will it be injustice to the memory of
Dunstan to infer, that, as by his refusal of the dig-
nity of Winchester, by the communication of this
vision, and from its result, he acquired the credit of
humility, of a divine communication, and a royal
prediction of the highest grandeur to which he could
attain, he had these objects in previous contemplation?
If not, the coincidence and complexion of the inci-
dents are unlike the usual course of accidental things.
It need only be added, that Odo, who then governed
the see of Canterbury, was very old.
Edred, who had been ailing all his reign, felt an
alarming crisis to be approaching, and desired his
49 MS. (loop. B. 13. M MS. Cleop. B. 13. ; Adelard; Nero, C. 7.
51 Osberne, 103. Adelard.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
treasures to be collected, that he might dispose of
them before he died. Dunstan went to bring those
entrusted to him. Edred expired before he returned ;
and the monk was either credulous or bold enough to
assert, and the Anglo-Saxons were weak enough to
believe, that on the road an ethereal voice had, in
thunder, announced to him the royal demise.52
The immature age of Edwin was tempting to a
man of ambitious politics. A minor's reign is a
favourable opportunity, which has never been ne-
glected by those who covet power. The royal temper
once subdued into obedience to any one, the govern-
ment of England would be in that person's hands.
We cannot penetrate into the motives of Dunstan's
heart ; but if the ordinary spirit of the aspiring states-
man prevailed in his breast above the purer objects
of the saint, it is not improbable that projects of this
'sort had impressed his imagination, or why should he
have attempted to coerce the king, so early as the
day of his coronation ?
On this day, Edwin, after the ceremony, quitted
the festive table at which the chief nobles and clergy
were regaling53, and retired to his apartments. Odo,
who saw that the company were displeased, ordered
some persons to go and bring back the king to par-
take of their conviviality.54 The persons addressed
excused themselves ; but at last they chose two who
were known to be the most intrepid — Dunstan, and
52 MS. Cleop. ; Adelard ; Nero.
53 The earliest account of this incident is first entitled to notice ; it is in the
life of Dunstan, Cleop. B. 13. «< Post regale sacrse institutionis unguentum repente
prosiluit lascivus linquens Iceta convivia." Malmsbury wishes to intimate that
affairs of business were debating when the king retired, p. 55. But the other
authorities agree in stating, that they were at table. Matt. West, says, Laeta re-
linquit convivia, p. 369. Osberne has jam pransus ; and Wallingford declares that
they were at their cups, quibus Angli nimis sunt assueti, p. 542.
54 Et cum vidisset summus pontificum Odo regis petulantiam maxime in conse-
crationis suae die omni per gyrum considenti senatui displicere, ait coepiscopis suis
et cseteris principibus. " Eant quaeso quilibet ex vobis ad reducendum regem quo
sit, ut conducet in hoc regali convivio suorum satellitum jocundus concessor.
MSS. Cleop.
p 4
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Edwin.
V
955.
his relation Cynesius, a bishop — who were to bring
back the king, either willingly or otherwise, to his
deserted seat.55
Dunstan and his friend, careless of the conse-
quences, penetrated to the king's private apartments.
He found him in company with Ethelgiva, or Elgiva,
his wife ; but who being within the prohibited de-
grees of affinity, is ranked, by the monastic writers,
as his mistress.56 The mother of the lady was also
present.57 That in a visit to the beloved of his heart,
the king should have lain aside the pomp of majesty,
or have] caressed her, are circumstances so natural,
that we cannot but wonder at the temper which has
so emphatically described, that the royal crown was
on the ground 58, or that the king was toying with
her when Dunstan entered. He exhorted the king
not to disdain to be present among his nobles at the
festivities of the day.59
85 Ad extremum vero eligerunt ex omnibus duos quos animo constantissimos
noverant, Dunstanum, scilicet abbatum et Cynesium episcopum ejus consanguineum,
ut omnium jussui obtemperantes, regem volentem vel nolentem reducerent ad re-
lictam sedem. MSS. Cleop. On contrasting this account with the chroniclers,
some variations of the circumstances occur, which is a very common accident to a
popular story, narrated in a distant age. It seems safest to prefer the earliest
account, when it carries the marks of internal probability.
58 Malmsbury, 55. ; Hist. Rames, 390. ; and Wallingford, 543. ; speak of her as
married to Edwin, but as his relation. A charter in the Hist. Abbend. MSS. Claud.
c. ix. states the same fact. " Testes autem fuerunt hujus commutationis yElfgiva
regis uxor et JEthelgifa mater ejus, p. 1 ]-2. Had this charter been even forged,
the monks would have taken care that the names appended were correct. The
author of the MSS. Cleop. obviously intimates the marriage, though he affixes a
doubt whether the wife was the mother or the daughter. His words are, " quo
sese vel etiam natam suam sub conjugali titulo illi innectendo sociaret." MS. The
sentence on the divorce of Edwin in the MS. Chronicle, quoted in note 63., implies
also the fact of the marriage. It seems to me to be sufficiently clear, that when
the monkish annalists called the lady his mistress, they do not mean to deny her
actual, but her legitimate marriage. Deeming the marriage unlawful from their
relationship, they considered her only as his mistress.
57 MSS. Cleop. B. 13. ; Matt. West. 369. ; and Osberne, 105., state this im-
portant fact. Their indecent additions of Edwin's behaviour to both mother and
daughter in each other's presence are incredible, and, if true, could not at all con-
tribute to the justification of Dunstan's and Odo's conduct. Nor can I believe,
with Mr. Lingard, that " moderate readers will feel inclined to applaud the promp-
titude with which he taught his pupil to respect the laws of decorum," by invading
his sovereign's privacy and insulting Elgiva.
58 By this contemporary author of the MS. Cleop. the crown is thus described :
QUJB miro metallo auri vel argenti gemmarum que vario nitore conserta splendebat.
59 Et ne spernas optimatum tuorum laetis interesse convivus. MSS, Cleop.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 217
Whether Edwin disliked the drunkenness of an CHAP.
Anglo-Saxon festival, or whether he preferred the Edwin,
society of his Elgiva, it must be admitted that his
retirement was indecorous according to the customs
of the age. That Dunstan, as the ambassador of the
nobles, should solicit the king's return, was not im-
proper, though it seems rather a forward and disre-
spectful action to have forced himself into his private
apartments. But with the delivery of their message,
his commission must have terminated ; and, on the
king's refusal, it was his duty to have retired. As
an ecclesiastic, he should not have compelled him to
a scene of inebriety; as a subject, it was treasonable
to offer violence to his prince.
But Dunstan chose to forget both Edwin's rights
as a man, and his dignity as a sovereign. As if he
had embraced the opportunity of breaking the royal
spirit of independence, by a violent insult, he poured
out his invectives against the ladies ; and because the
king would not leave his seat, he pulled him from it ;
he forced the diadem on his head, and indecently
dragged him to the riotous hall.60 To the most pri-
vate individual this insolence would have been unau-
thorised. To his sovereign, just consecrated, it was
unpardonable. Elgiva reproached the monk for in-
truding so daringly on the king's retirement 61 ; and
Dunstan, after the festival, thought proper to return
to his abbey.
Dunstan had acted impetuously, but not with
judgment. The king was not a sickly Edred. He
60 At Dunstanus primum increpitans mulierum ineptias, manu sua dum nollet
exsurgere, extraxit eum de msechali genearum occubitu, impositoque diademate,
duxit eum secum licet vi a mulieribus raptum ad regale consortium. MS. Cleop. ;
Malmsbury, 55. ; Osberne, 105. ; Wallingford, 542. ; and Matt. West. 370. ; state
the violence strongly.
61 MSS. Cleop. This author, and Adelard, Nero, C. 7., politely attach to the
lady's name such epithets, as impudens virago, Jezebel, &c. Osberne uses the
delicate phrase of nefandse meretricis, and sagaciously informs us, that the devil was
her tutor, " Mulieris animum instigat Diabolus," p. 1 05.
218 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK displayed a spirit of independence and generous feel-
Edwin, ing, on which Dunstan had not calculated. Wounded
*~~^ ' in every sentiment of becoming pride and kingly
honour, Edwin was alive only to his resentment. He
deprived Dunstan of his honours and wealth, and
condemned him to banishment.
Dunstan fled before the increasing storm ; and so
severe was the royal indignation, that the monk was
scarcely three miles from the shore, on his voyage to
Flanders, when messengers reached it, who, it was
said, would have deprived him of sight, if he had
been found in the country.62
It was unfortunate for Edwin, that he suffered
his angry passions to be his counsellors. When
Dunstan presumed to dictate insultingly to his sove-
reign, he was not the mere abbot of a distant monas-
tery ; he was not an insulated individual, whom the
arm of justice could safely reach ; he was enshrined
in the prejudices of the people ; he had the friendship
of Turketul, the venerable chancellor, whose fame
had become more sacred by his retreat to Croyland ;
and he was supported by Odo, the primate of Eng-
land. It was also probable, that most of the clergy
and nobles, who had feasted on the coronation, con-
ceived themselves bound to protect him, as his punish-
ment arose from executing, however offensively, their
commission.
The detail of the conspiracy against Edwin is not
stated, but some of the operations of Odo, whose
fierce temper made him among the most prominent
in avenging his friend, have been noticed. He
divorced the king from his wife, on the plea of their
62 MS. Cleop. Edwin drove the Benedictine monks, introduced by Dunstan,
from the two monasteries of Glastonbury and Abingdon. The loose language of
Osberne implies, that many monasteries were put down ; but Wharton, on the
authority of John of Tinmouth and Wolstan, judiciously reduces the many to these
two.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 219
kinship.63 So powerful was his party, that soldiers CHAP.
were sent to the palace to seize the queen : she was Edwin,
taken violently from it ; her face was branded with *~~^£ '
red hot iron, and she was banished to Ireland.64
What duty of an archbishop could dictate this con-
duct? It is not denied by the old chroniclers, that
Odo was active in those measures ; why else is the
passage added immediately after the murder, stating
his being the inflexible enemy of all vice? Elgiva
found no charms in her exile, and, nature healing
her wounds, she returned to Gloucester in all her
beauty.65 She was pursued and seized, and the
nerves and muscles of her legs were divided, that
she might wander from the vengeance of her enemies
no more ! 63 But extreme cruelty cannot long retain
its victim. Her sufferings at last terminated. Death
released her from her murderers, whom no beauty
could interest, no sympathy assuage.
To reflect that men have connected piety with
these horrors ; and that their authors or abettors
perpetrated them under His sacred name, whose crea-
tion displays goodness ever flowing, and whose re-
ligion enjoins philanthropy the most benign, is to feel
human nature in all its depravity and madness. They
may have been imitated. Marats and Eobespierres
may have even exceeded them in atrocity ; but the
agents of cruelty, under whatever garb, whatever
system, or whatever pretexts, are the enemies of
63 The MS. Saxon Chronicle, Tib. B. 4., has a paragraph on Edwin's divorce,
which is not in the printed one : " 958, on thyrrum seajie Oba apcebircop to-
tpaembe Cabpi cynins -j JE\syre pop chaem Che hi paerion to Serybbe."
64 Missis militibus, a curia regis in qua mansitabat, violenter adduxit et earn in
facie deturpatam ac candenti ferro denotatam perpetua in Hiberniam exilii relaga-
tione detrusit. Osberne, 84.
65 Quse tamen cum nonnullum temporis intervallum, jam obducta in cicatricern
corporis forma, sed adhuc hiante impudicse mentis deformitate, relicta Hibernia,
Angliam rediit et Glocestram csecati cordis obscuritate imbuta purvenit. Os-
berne, 84.
66 Ubi ab hominibus servis Dei comprehensa, et ne meretricio more ulterius
vaga discurreret, subnervata, post dies aliquot mala morte praesenti vita* sublata est.
Osberne, 84.
220 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK mankind, and ought not to be remembered, unless to
J^in. be abhorred.
1 — • — ' The remainder of Edwin's reign is not distinctly
55' narrated. But the main results are clear. The
Mercians and Northumbrians rebelled against him,
drove him beyond the Thames, and appointed Edgar,
his brother, a boy but thirteen years of age, to govern
them in his stead. Dunstan was immediately after-
wards recalled with honour.
It is probable that the popularity of the Benedic-
tine reformation, of which Dunstan had made himself
both the champion and the martyr, was the great
engine by which Edwin was oppressed. At length
the kingdom was divided between him and Edgar :
the Thames was made the bounding line. Edwin
retained only the southern provinces of England, and
but for a short interval. Three years after the rebel-
lion of his subjects, his death occurred. One author
957. even states, that he was killed in Gloucestershire.67
If from the want of fuller evidence we hesitate at
believing this, we must, at least, admit the affecting
account, that his spirit was so wounded by his per-
secutions, that, unable to endure unmerited odium,
deprivation of power, a brother's rebellion, and the
murder of his beloved wife, he sunk pining into
death, before he had reached the full age of man-
hood.68
The monks, with indefinite phrase, declaim against
67 I derive the knowlege of this new and probable fact from the express assertion
of an old MS. Chronicle in the Cotton Library, the author of which was no friend
to the king. Yet he says, Rex West-Saxonum Edwinus, in pago Gloucestrensi
interfectus fuit. Nero, A. 6. p. 9. I never met with any other authority which
so explicitly affirmed the fact. But yet the expressions of the MS. Cleop. B. 13.
rather countenance it. This says, " Interea germanus ejusdem Eadgari qui justa
Dei sui judicia deviando dereliquit novissimum flatum misera morte exspiravit."
Osberne comes near this : " Edwyo inquam rege regno pro suis criminibus eliminato
et misera morte damnato," p. 84. The Hist. Rames. implies a violent death :
" Fatal! sorte sublato," p. 393.
68 Pro dolore tanti infortunii usque ad mortem infirmatus. Ingulf, 41. Qua
percussus injuria vivendi finem fecit. Malmsb. 55.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 221
Edwin as an unworthy voluptuary. But they have CHAP.
judged him not impartially as between man and man, Edwin.
but with a professional antipathy from his opposition *"~^ — '
to Dunstan. We know too little of his actions to
decide with certainty on his real character ; but it is
just to him to remark, that some annalists of high
authority, and apparently less prejudiced, state that
he was an amiable prince, whose conduct gave the
promise of an honourable reign.69
His youth was the source of his calamities ; a king
of sixteen was incompetent to wage a war of policy
and popularity with the hoary advocates of a new
system, whose fanaticism envenomed their hostility ;
whose affiliation and credit multiplied their power.
The opinions of a calumniated and untried youth,
had no weight with the nation, in opposition to all
that they revered and obeyed. Had he complied a
while with the imperious necessity, and waited till,
by manly prudence, he had acquired character, con-
vinced the people of his good qualities, enforced habits
of respect, and created friends capable of defending
him, his ambitious dictators would have been baffled
and humiliated.
His catastrophe was a misfortune both to England
and Europe. It made the enmity of the ecclesiastical
power an object of terror. It exhibited a precedent
of a king insulted, injured, persecuted, and dethroned
by the agency or effects of sacerdotal enmity ; and
as his successor obeyed the dictates or favoured the
plans of the monastic leaders, it must have given a
consequence to their future influence, which occasion-
ally subjected even courts to their control.
69 The simple epithet of the ancient Ethelwerd is peculiarly forcible : " Tenuit
namque quadrennio per regnum amandus, p. 849. Huntingdon had also spirit
enough to declare that Edwin, " Non illaudabiliter regni infulam tenuit," p. 356.
He adds, that as, "in principio regrium ejus decentissime floreret, prospera et Iseta-
bunda exordia mors immatura perrupit." Ibid. To the same purport, and with an
imitation of phrase, Oxenedes says, " Cum in principio regni sui omnia prospera
et laetabunda florerent exordia." MSS. Cotton Lib. Nero, D. 2. p. 215. — Edwin,
from his extreme beauty, obtained the name UO.VKO.XOV or All Fair. Ethelw. 849.
222 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. VI.
The Reign of EDGAR.
EDGAK, at the age of sixteen, succeeded to all the
Anglo-Saxon dominion. He has been much extolled,
but he was rather the king of a prosperous nation in
a fortunate era, than a great prince himself. His
actions display a character ambiguous and mixed.
His policy sometimes breathes a liberal and enlarged
spirit. At other periods he was mean, arrogant, and
vicious; and the hyperboles of praise, by which
monastic gratitude has emblazoned him, are as ques-
tionable as to their truth, as they are repugnant to
common sense and good taste.1 On the whole, if we
recollect what he inherited, we must say that it was
the fortuitous chronology of his existence, rather
than his own bravery and wisdom, which has adorned
his name with a celebrity, that in the pages of fana-
ticism even obscures, by its excess, those illustrious
characters from whose exertions his empire had
arisen.2
Obtruded unjustly upon a brother's throne by
vindictive partisans, his reign became their reign
rather than his own: and the great object of the
policy of the new government was to convert the
clergy into monks, and to fill the nation with Bene-
dictine institutions ! The patrons of the measure
1 For instance : Eo namque regnante sol videbatur esse serenior, maris unda
pacatior, terra foccundior, et totius regni facies abundantior, decore venustior.
Ethelr. Abb. Kiev. 359.
2 Malmsbury is not content with' saying once, that nullus enim unquam regura
Anglorum potuit certare laudibus Edgari, 3 Gale, 319. ; but in another place he
deliberately affirms, that nullum nee ejus nee superioris aetatis regem in Anglia
recto et aequilibri judicio Edgaro comparandum. De Gest. Reg. 60. Was not
Alfred, in just and equal judgment, to be compared with Edgar ?
ANGLO-SAXONS. 223
may have intended the moral improvement of the CHAP.
country, and it may have raised a superior descrip- Edgar.
tion of ecclesiastics in the nation ; but their means ^"^ — '
were violent, and their conduct unjust to the paro-
chial clergy.
Dunstan was made bishop of Worcester, and after-
wards of London.3 His acquisition of metropolitan
honours was at first checked. Odo had died before
Edwin4 ; and this indignant king appointed another
bishop to succeed him. But the policy of the Roman
pontiffs had established a custom, that all metro-
politans should visit Rome to receive there the pal-
lium, the little ornament on their shoulders, which gave
and announced their dignity. In crossing the Alps
the archbishop nominated by Edwin perished amid
the snow.5 Another was appointed in his stead.
But Edgar now reigned, and it was discovered that
the new dignitary was a man of mild, modest, hum-
ble, and benign temper.6 The expected consequence
occurred : Byrhtelm was compelled to abdicate his
promotion, and to retire to his former see. Dunstan
was appointed the primate of the Anglo-Saxons7,
and, in 960, he hastened to Rome.8 He received the
completing honour from the hands of the ambitious
and unprincipled John the Twelfth.9
The coadjutors of Dunstan, in effecting his eccle- 96o.
siastical reformation, were Oswald and Ethelwold.
Oswald, a Dane by birth, and a kinsman of Odo,
who had educated him, had received the habit at
Fleury.10 Dunstan represented him to the king as
3 MS. Cleop. B. 13. Osb. 108. He seems to have held both sees at the same
time.
4 Odo died 958. Matt. West. 369. Flor. 355.
5 MSS. Cleop. B. 13. So Matt. West. 369. Flor. 355.
6 MSS. Cleop. So Matt. West. 371. ; who seems often to copy this author.
7 Matt. West. 369. Flor. 355. Such was his cupidity of power, that he held
also the see of Rochester. Osb. 110.
8 Matt. West. 370. Flor. 356.
9 That John XII. ruled at this period, see Dupin, tenth century, p. 10.
10 Hist. Rames. 391.
224 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK a meek and humble monk, well worthy of the bi-
Edgar. shopric of Worcester.11 The king, though he had
' — >— '-> allowed meekness and humility to degrade a metro-
politan, pliantly admitted them to be the proper
virtues of a bishop, and gave to Oswald the honour
requested. Oswald was, however, not more attached
to the gentle virtues than Dunstan, or at least did
not allow them to interrupt the prosecution of his
patron's plans.
Three years afterwards, Dunstan raised to the see
of Winchester Ethelwold, abbot of Abingdon, who
had been bred up by himself12 : Ethelwold, who
adopted the feelings of Dunstan and enforced his
plans, was decided and impetuous in prosecuting the
monastic reformation of the clergy. He may have
conscientiously believed this to have been his duty ;
but it was carried into effect with a tyrannical seve-
rity : and if a renovation of ecclesiastical piety was
its object, its success in this point was of small dura-
tion; for within a century after this Benedictine
reformation, the manners of the clergy are repre-
sented as unfavourably as at its commencement.
The more pleasing part of Ethel wold's character was
his attention to the literary education of the youth
at Winchester.13 These three the king made his
counsellors and friends.
The schemes of Dunstan to perpetuate his power
and popularity cannot at this distant period be de-
tailed, but the nature of them may be conjectured
by one faculty which he claimed, and which has been
11 Flor. Wig. 356.
12 Flor. 357. So Adelard says, "Beato igitur Athelwoldo a se educato." MS.
Nero, C 7. p. 75. Edgar made Dunstan, Oswald, and Ethelwold his counsellors
and friends. See Edgar's charter, Dugdale, 140.
13 Wolstan says of him, " It was always delightful to him to teach children and
youth, and to construe Latin books to them in English, and explain to them the
rules of grammar and Latin versification, and to exhort them to better things by
his pleasant conversations. Hence many of his disciples became priests, abbots,
bishops, and even archbishops." Wolst. Vit. Ethelwold.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 225
transmitted to us from his own authority. The best
part of Dunstan's character was his taste for know-
lege and the civilising arts. The questionable fea-
tures are those of his politics, and real or pretended
enthusiasm. The Catholic hierarchy may accredit
his supernatural gifts, but our sober reason cannot
read but with surprise, that he claimed the power of
conversing with the spiritual world. " I can relate
one thing from himself," says his biographer, " that
though he lived confined by a veil of flesh, yet,
whether awake or asleep, he was always abiding
with the powers above."14 Hence he learned many
heavenly songs. A particular instance is added of a
vision which announces such extraordinary preten-
sions in Dunstan, that if it had not come from his
friend and contemporary, we might disbelieve the
possibility that such presumption could have either
occurred or been countenanced.
In this vision, he declared he saw his own mother
married to the venerated Saviour of the Christian
world, with every nuptial pomp.15 Amid the sing-
ing, a heavenly youth asked Dunstan why he did not
join in the rejoicings of so great a marriage for his
mother; and, on his mentioning his ignorance, taught
him a song.16
Dunstan promulgated this by summoning a monk
to attend him on his pretended waking, who, from
his dictation, committed the song to writing. All
the monks, subject to him, were commanded in the
morning to learn and to sing it ; while Dunstan
shouted his protestations of the truth of the vision.17
14 Unum autem ex ipso me posse referre profiteer, quod quamvis hie carneo
septus velamine deguisset, in imis mente tamen, sive vigilaret sive somno detentus
quiescerat, semper manebat in superis. MS. Cleop. B. 13. p. 81.
15 MS. Cleop. ; and see Osberne, 114. ; and Eadmer Vit. Dunst. 217.
16 MSS. Cleop.
17 Sed continue jussit earn litterarum in memoria priusque oblivioni daretur
conscribere et conscriptam cuidam monacho tarn recentem discere, &c. &c. MSS.
Cleop.
VOL, II. Q
226 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK To the credulous, the assertion of Dunstan was suffi-
Edgw. cient evidence of this impious story. The more in-
' — * — ' vestigating were silenced by attempts to allegorise it.
The mother so married, was Dunstan's church in its
new reformation.18 Thus, whether it was believed
literally, or interpreted allegorically, Dunstan de-
rived from it the benefit he wished. It would seem
that many thought him mad; but as his madness
was systematical, persevering, and popular, it was
more generally believed to be prophetic intuition.19
The first object of Dunstan was to expel the re-
laxed ecclesiastics from the monasteries, to diffuse
every where the Benedictine rule, and to give them
the predominance in the estimation of the nation.
But Edgar did not leave his Benedictine friends to
attack the existing clergy by their own influence and
means of aggression. He degraded majesty so far as
to become himself the persecuting tool of Dunstan.
He himself assumed the sword against a portion of
his subjects20, who were respectable from their pro-
fession, and who could have no protection but in the
popular favour, or in his justice.
969> At a public synod, convened to propagate the
Benedictine revolution, Edgar delivered a speech21
for the party he espoused. In consequence of which,
the clergy experienced a general persecution, and the
monks were every where diffused with honour.22
Edgar took such pride in his Benedictine scheme
that, in 964, he boasted of having made forty-seven
monasteries, and declared his intentions to increase
them to fifty.23
18 MSS. Cleop. i9 Ibid.
20 In his charter to the monastery at Hyde, in the year 966, he says, " Vitiorum
cuneos canonicorum e diversis nostri regiminis Csenobiis Christi vicariuseliminavi."
Spelman Condi. 438. In the 16th article the monks are engaged to defend him
from devils, and in the seventeenth he contracts to defend them from men.
Ib. 440.
21 See it in Ethelred, p. 360.
22 See Spelman's Concilia, 479. ; Ingulf, 45.; Osberne, 111.; Eadmer, 219.;
Hoveden, 425. ; Matt. West. 372. 374. ; and Hist. Rames. 393, 394. 400.
23 See Dugdale, Monast.i. p. 140.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 22
Edgar talks proudly, in one of his charters, that CHAP.
he had subdued all the islands of the ocean, with Edgar.
their ferocious kings, as far as Norway, and the ' — JJ£"~
greatest part of Ireland, with its most noble city,
Dublin.24 No wars, however, have been particu-
larised to have been waged by him but his ecclesi-
astical ones, except an invasion of Wales.25
To complete the subjugation of Northurnbria, he
convoked the barons, and divided the province into
two counties. The Tees was the river of separation.
The districts beyond its southern bank to the Plum-
ber were intrusted to Oslach. From the northern
bank to Mereforth, in the maritime part of Deira, the
earl Eadulf governed.26
It is stated, that with a great fleet Edgar sailed to 973.
Chester on the Dee, and that eight kings, Kenneth
king of Scotland, Malcolm of Cumbria, Macchus of
Anglesey and the Isles27, three kings of Wales, and
two others28, repaired thither, at his command to do
him homage. He was not satisfied with this confes-
sion of his power; his puerile vanity demanded a
24 Mihi autem concessit propitia divinitas cum Anglorum imperio omnia rogna
insularum oceani cum suis ferocissimis regibus usque Norregiam, maximamque
partem Hibernise cum sua nobiUissima civitate Dublinia Anglorum regnosubjugare.
1 Dugdale, 140.
25 Caradoc mentions this in 965, and says, it produced the Welsh tribute of 300
wolves, p. 56.
26 Wallingford, 544.
27 Matt. West. 375. so entitles him, " Macone rege Monae et plurimarum insu-
larum." Malmsbury calls him Archipirata, p. 56. In 971, he witnessed one of
Edgar's charters, with that epithet added to his signature. Spelman, 486. Who
this Macchus was we learn from the Welsh Chronicle often already quoted. This
says, 969, " diffeithwyt Penn Mon y gan y Paganyeit a Mact' vab Harald : " —
" The promontory of Anglesey was ravaged by the pagans under Mactus the son of
Harald." In 970, he made it tributary. MS. Cleop. B. 5. On referring to Adam
Bremensis, p. 25., we find two lines which express that Harald Blaatand, king of
Denmark, sent his son Hiring to England, who, having conquered the island, was
betrayed in Northumbria. So the Icelandic fragment in Langbeck, ii. p. 148. I
have already, in p. 197., stated from Snorre the death of Eric, son of Harald Har-
fragre, whom Langbeck wishes to make this Hiring or Hringr son of the Danish
king. I think Snorre is correct, and that Mactus, the son of Harald, was the son
of Ilarald Blaatand the Dane ; not of Harfragre the Norwegian. In 946, there
was another Maccus, son of Eric. See before, p. 197. The Danish Maccus did
homage to Edgar. Wallingford spells his name Oriccus, p. 545., which comes
nearer to Hiring or Hringr.
28 Matt. West, styles these, Jacobo rege Galwalliae et Jukil Westmariae, p. 375.
Q 2
228 HISTORY OE THE
BOOK more painful sacrifice ; he ascended a large vessel
Edgar, with his nobles and officers ; and he stationed himself
*"" ^ ' at the helm, while the eight kings, who had come to
do him honour, were compelled to take the seats of
the watermen, and to row him down the Dee.29
Such actions are not the evidences of true greatness,
and never confer a lasting dignity.
Edgar was as tyrannical in the indulgence of his
other passions : he had sent one of his earls, named
Athelwold, on a visit to Ordgar, earl of Devonshire,
to examine if the beauty of his daughter, Elfrida,
was as great as fame reported. Athelwold saw her,
and falsified his trust. He reported her unfavour-
ably to the king, then courted her for himself, and
married her.
Courtiers are busy to supplant, and Edgar soon
heard the truth. He dissembled his anger, and an-
nounced to Athelwold his intention to see the lady.
Alarmed at his danger, the nobleman entreated his
wife to deform herself; but Elfrida was weary of
domestic privacy, and, on the day of the royal visit,
she added every charm of art to give brilliancy to
her beauty. She excited Edgar's passions. He
caused Athelwold to be assassinated in a wood, and
then married Elfrida.30
At another time he had the brutality to violate a
lady of noble birth, who used a nun's veil as an ex-
pected, but an unavailing protection.31
A third incident of his contempt for the welfare of
others, when his own gratification was in question,
has been recorded. Visiting at Andover, he com-
manded a nobleman to bring him his daughter, whose
29 Malmsb. 56. Mailros, 150. Hoveden, 426. Sim. Dun. 159. Al. Bev. 112.
Flor. 359. Nothing can more strongly display Edgar's vanity than the pompous
and boastful titles which he assumes in his charters. They sometimes run to the
length of fifteen or eighteen lines. How different from Alfred's Ego occidentalium
Saxonum Rex !
30 Malmsb. 59. Bromton gives the incident more in detail, 865, 866.
?' Malmsb. 60. This was in his first wife's time. Eadmer Vit. Dunst. 219.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 22
person had been praised to him ; but the mother of CHAP.
the young lady sent her attendant to personate her Edgar.
daughter.32 For these actions Dunstan imposed only ' — ^~~
trifling penances on Edgar.33
Yet amid these defects, some traits of an enlarged
and liberal policy appear, which reflect credit on
Edgar or his ministers. The most important of these
was his patronage of foreigners and trade. People
from Saxony, Flanders, and Denmark, frequently
came to him 34 ; whom he received so well as to excite
a censure from one monkish chronicler, that he loved
them too much 35, and from another, that they injured
his people by the vices they imported.36 He showed
his care of trade by his exemplary punishment of the
people of Thanet, who had seized and plundered some
merchants coming from York.37 His commuting the
tribute from Wales into three hundred wolves' heads38,
in order to extirpate these animals from the country,
was a scheme of sound wisdom and generous policy.
His reformation of his coin was also intelligent. It
had become so diminished in weight, by the fraud
32 Malmsb. 60. This author's expression, nam caeteris infamias — magis resper-
serunt cantilense, p. 56., imply, that the Anglo-Saxon poets made Edgar's dissolute
conduct the subject of their poetry.
33 As occasional fasting, and not to wear his crown for seven years. Malmsb. 60.
Osb. 111. One part of the penance was artfully chosen to promote the monk's
purposes. The king was to lavish his treasures upon a nunnery, to expel the
clergy with new vigour, and to introduce monks. Osb.
34 Malmsb. 56. The Welsh Chronicle, MS. Cleop. B. 5. says, " Canys canneat
agavas gwyr Denmarc ar drigaw yn yr ynys honn tra vynnynt y gan Edgar vrenhin
Lloegyr : " — " Because to the men of Denmark leave was granted by Edgar king
of England, on their request, to dwell in this island."
35 Extraneos hue adductos plus aequo diligens. Hunt. 356.
36 Malmsbury says, " A Saxonibus animorum in conditam ferocitatem a Flan-
dritis corporum enervem mollitiem, a Danis potationem discerent. Homines ante
hsec in talibus Integra et naturali simplicitate sua defensare aliena non mirari," p. 56.
The Welsh Chronicle adds to the last passage quoted another, which states, that
the Danes became so numerous, that they were in every city and town in England ;
that they gave themselves up to such drinking and idolatry, that they could not be
governed ; and that this occasioned nails to be put in their cups to mark the
quantity they were to drink. MS. Cleop. B. 5. Malmsbury says of Dunstan, that
he caused silver or gold nails to be put into the drinking vessels, to prevent drunken-
ness and quarrels, p. 56.
37 Matt. West. 374.
38 Malmsbury says, the tribute ceased on the fourth year, for want of wolves,
p. 59.
Q 3
230 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK of clipping, that the actual value was very inferior to
Edgar, the nominal; he therefore had new coins made all
' — » — ' over England.39
973
He is said to have stationed three fleets of 1200
ships each on the east, west, and south coasts of the
island for the defence of the kingdom.40 This, how-
ever, looks more like idle parade than public utility ;
for England was threatened with no foreign hostility
in his reign, and one third of the number would
have guarded the coast. There was more true* glory
obtained by his practice every spring and winter, of
riding through his provinces, to examine the conduct
of the powerful, to protect the weak, and to punish
every violation of law.41 This attention to the wants
and relief of his people merits our applause; and
whether Dunstan's solicitude for popularity 42, or the
king's noble feelings occasioned the custom, it ought
not to be mentioned without high praise. His vigi-
lant police freed the kingdom from robbers.43
Edgar was generous to his friends. To Kenneth
of Scotland, who visited him, he not only gave the
county of Louth, but one hundred ounces of pure
gold, many silken ornaments and rings, with precious
stones.44
The person of Edgar was small and thin ; and
Kenneth one day remarked that it was wonderful
39 Matt. West. 375. Dunstan may have influenced him in this law ; for it is
stated in his life, that finding three comers of false money not punished on the ap-
pointed day, because it was Whitsunday, he ordered the day not to be regarded ;
" for," said he, " coiners are thieves, and I know of no thieves more harmful.
They disturb the country, and injure both rich and poor." Eadmer, p. 216.
40 Mailros, 150. Matt. West, makes 4800 ships, by adding a northern fleet.
Perhaps either number is an exaggeration. Malmsbury says, that every Easter they
sailed round the island, p. 59.
41 Malmsb. 59. Mailros, 150. Matt. West. 375.
42 After Dunstan had become a metropolitan, he hastened to travel through
every city in the kingdom, to preach to it ; and such was his acuteness and elo-
quence, says his biographer, that nothing could be wiser, or more pleasant. Os-
berne, 110.
43 Malmsb. 59.
44 Matt. West, says, Louth was given on condition that Kenneth should come
every year to Edgar's principal feasts. The king gave him several houses for his
entertainment during his journey.
ANGLO-SAXONS. *&
that so many provinces should obey a man so insig- CHAP.
nificant. These words were carried to the king. He Edgar.
led Kenneth apart into a wood, and bad him take l 97'5
one of two swords which he produced. " Our arms
shall decide which ought to obey the other; for it
will be base to have asserted that at a feast which
you cannot support with your sword." Kenneth,
confused, recollected his hasty remark, arid apolo-
gised for it as a joke.45 There is such an energy and
a magnanimity in this incident, that if Edgar had
attained his power at a later age, or had possessed
better counsellors, he might have displayed a nobler
character. Abstracted from his vices, he may be
ranked in the superior order of our Saxon sovereigns.
Edgar was twice married. By his first wife, El-
fleda the Fair, daughter of Ordmer, he had Edward,
his successor, and a daughter, who became a nun.
Elfrida, whom he had made the widow of Athel-
wold 46, that had deceived him, bore him two sons ;
Edmund, who died before him ; and Ethelred, who
also obtained the crown.
Edgar's reign has been celebrated as the most
glorious of all the Anglo-Saxon kings. No other
sovereign, indeed, enjoyed his prosperity with such
personal pomp ; yet no other sovereign was more
degraded in his posterity. With his short life, for
he died at thirty-two, the gaudy pageantry ceased ;
and all the dominion in which he had so ostenta-
tiously exulted, vanished from his children's grasp.
His eldest son perished by the scheme of his preferred
Elfrida; his youngest reigned only to show, that one
weak reign is sufficient to ruin even a brave arid
great people.
45 Malmsb. 59.
46 The Saxon. Chron. MS. Tib. B. 4. dates Edgar's marriage with Elfrida in 965.
Hearne places our illustrious Tom Thumb in this reign as an actual living character.
He says, in his preface to Benedictus Abbas, " The History of Tom Thumb was
certainly founded on some authentic history, as being nothing else, originally, but
a description of King Edyar's dwarf."
0, 4
232 HISTOKY OF THE
It is an instance of the mutability of human great-
ness, that although Edgar made kings his watermen,
yet the son of his beloved wife bought his kingdom
five times from Danish rovers : the favourites be-
came traitors, and he surrendered his throne to
a foreign invader. Of Edgar's grandsons one perished
violently soon after his accession. The other was
the last of his race who ruled the Anglo-Saxon
nation.47
47 That Edgar was considered by Anglo-Saxons as the greatest of their kings in
power and dominion, we find from Elfric, who was nearly his contemporary. He
calls Edgar, " of all the kings of the English nation, the most powerful. And it
was the Divine will that his enemies, both kings and earls, who came to him
desiring peace, should, without any battle, be subjected to him to do what he willed.
Hence he was honoured over a wide extent of land." Wanl. 39.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
CHAP. VII.
EDWARD the Marty 'r, or EDWARD the Second of the ANGLO-SAXON
Kings.
DUNSTAN had used the power of Edgar to plant Eng- .CHAP.
land with the new monks, and to exclude from their Edward
seats the ancient clergy ; but he had not reconciled the Martyr.
all the nation to the severity of the measure or to 975.
his own administration ; for on Edgar's death an
attempt was made to humble his power, and to re-
store the clergy. As Edward appeared subservient
to the views of Dunstan, his accession was disputed.
Some chose him, and others Ethelred.1 But Edward
had been named by his father as successor, and Dun-
stan took the shortest road to his object. He and
Oswald assembled their ecclesiastical friends and
some duces, and crowned Edward.2 Edward, like
all the kings since Athelstan, was very young at his
accession.
The quarrel between the two systems grew more
vehement. The governor of Mercia turned out all
the monks.3 The governor of East Anglia supported
them.4 Many tumults ensued.5 The clergy got hold
of the monastic possessions, which they distributed
to the governors in return for their protection.6
Elfrida opposed Dunstan. She joined the party of
the clergy, and endeavoured to bias the minds of the
great in favour of her son Ethelred.
1 Flor. Wig. 36 1 . Mailros, 151.
2 Hist. Rames. 413. Mailros, 151. Eadmer, Vit. D. 220.
3 Ingulf, 54. Malmsb. 61. 4 Hist. Rames. 412.
5 Multus inde tumultus in omni angulo Anglia; factus est. Ingulf, 54.
8 Ingulf, 54. One author says, he cannot express the sufferings of the monks.
Hist. Rames. 412.
234 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK Though Dunstan had procured Edward's coronation,
Edward ne could not recover the alienated minds of the no-
the Martyr, bility. He attempted to govern them by the influence
975. of superstition. He had forcibly expelled the clergy,
who had been reinstated ; but on Edgar's death, they
endeavoured to restore themselves ; and Elfere, the
governor of Mercia, pulled down all the monasteries
which had been built in that province. To appease
these discontents, a synod was convened at Win-
chester. While the opinions were forming, and the
assembly expected his answer to a peculiar appeal
which had been made to him, the crucifix in the wall
became vocal. It commended the former proceed-
ings : it forbad a change.7 " What wish ye more ? "
exclaimed Dunstan, immediately ; " the divine voice
determines the affair." 8
This artifice, for, unless we believe it to have been
a miracle, no other name can be given to it, did not
fully succeed. It was followed by another event,
which, taken in conjunction with the preceding, leads
the impartial mind to the strongest suspicion of its
having been a scheme of the most questionable cha-
racter. The candid historian will always regret when
the nature of the incidents compels him to infer bad
motives. But some facts justify the imputation ;
and the following events, unless extreme charity can
7 Malmsbury, p. 61. Gervase gives the words, " absit ut hoc fiat ; absit ut hoc
fiat," 1647. So Osberne, p. 112.
8 We have this speech of Dunstan in Eadmer's life of him, p. 219. Wh. Ang. Sax.
He and Osberne place it under Edgar's reign, which is less probable than the chro-
nology of the others, because Edgar's attachment to Dunstan and power made such
aids useless. Whatever affects the character of Dunstan, Dr. Lingard wishes to
believe a mere popular tale. If Dunstan's enemies had written his life, Dr. Lin-
gard's incredulity would be a fair exertion of cautious though arbitrary pyrrhonism.
But all we know of Dunstan comes from his friends and panegyrists. It is our
moral sympathies that have improved, not our historical evidence which has
diminished. Yet it is remarkable that the Papal church, in this enlightened day,
should cling so tenaciously to such mixed characters as Dunstan and Becket, in
opposition both to reason and impartial history. It would act more wisely if it
discerned and abandoned the untenable and revolting, and suffered its legends to
sink quietly into oblivion. They are unnecessary to it as a religion, and are not
likely to assist its political power in an age wheu the current of the human mind
runs so strongly against all palpable credulity.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 235
believe them to have been accidental, or credulity CHAP.
can suppose them to have been miraculous, announce Edward
premeditated plans which deserve the harshest epi- t.he Martyr;
thets. A council of the nobles was summoned at 975.
Calne. The king was absent, on account of his age.
While the senators of England were conversing vio-
lently on the question then agitated, and were re-
proaching Dunstan, he gave a short reply, which
ended with these remarkable words : " I confess that
I am unwilling that you should conquer. I commit
the cause of the church to the decision of Christ."
As these words, which lead the mind to the most
unfavourable inferences, were uttered, the floor and
its beams and rafters gave way, and precipitated the
company with the ruins to the earth below. The
seat of Dunstan only was unmoved. Many of the
nobles were killed upon the spot ; the others were
grievously hurt by wounds which kept them long
confined.9 If no other achievement had revealed
Dunstan's character, would not this be sufficient to
startle the unprejudiced reader into a doubt of its
sanctity ? It was followed by another circumstance,
which leaves us no alternative between the supposi-
tion of a purposed falsehood or an unworthy miracle.
On the death of his friend and pupil Athelwold,
the see of Winchester became vacant. As from the
avowed dissatisfaction of the nobles, Dunstan's power
was insecure, it became expedient that he should
guard it by filling every high office with his friends.
He fixed upon Elphegus as the successor, and, to
abolish all opposition, he boldly declared, that Saint
Andrew had appeared to him, and commanded him
to consecrate Elphegus to the vacant see.10
Such proceedings at last taught others to fight him
9 See the note at the end of the chapter.
10 Osberne, 114. The history of Dunstan is remarkably certain ; from the facts
against him being stated and proved by his friends and encomiasts.
236 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK with the weapons of crime. The subjection of Ed-
EdVard ward to nis W1tt gave a perpetuity to his power ; but
the Martyr, there was a person existing as ambitious as himself,
975. and indifferent to the means of gratifying that am-
bition. This was Elfrida. I know not whether we
can credit all the wickedness attributed to her. It is
stated in the records of the abbey of Ely, that its
first abbot, Brithonod, was seen by Elfrida in the
New Forest. He went to the royal court on the
business of his church, and at his departure took
lea,ve also of her. She desired a private conversation
with him on affairs of conscience, and in the inter-
view she acted the wife of Potiphar. The abbot
emulated the virtue of Joseph ; and the disappointed
Elfrida procured his assassination. The power of
the queen-dowager compelled his monastery to in-
dulge their suspicions in silence ; but in her days of
penitence she acknowledged the crime.11
It is also declared of Elfrida, that Edward gave
her all Dorsetshire as a dower, with a royal dignity
annexed to it.12
The state of the kingdom gave power to her malice.
However the proceedings at Calne may have affected
the credulous people, the surviving sufferers and
their friends could hardly have been deceived ; and
if they believed the catastrophe to have been the
effect of design, we may assume that they meditated
to avenge it on Dunstan. But he was protected by
the favour of his sovereign ; Edward therefore be-
came the first object of attack. A combination
against him was formed ; and with no scruples as to
the means. It is stated, that Elfrida and some
princes conspired together to dethrone Edward in
favour of Ethelred, and that the death of the king
11 This incident has escaped the notice of our historians. It is in the Historia
Eliensis. 3 Gale, 491, 492.
12 Wallingford, 545.
ANGLO-SAXONS. ^O?
was the crime devised for the accomplishment of their c|^p'
purpose. The unsuspecting king facilitated the exe- Edward
cution of the guilty plot. He was hunting in Dorset- t.be Martyi;
shire, near Wareham, a few miles from which stood 978.
Corfe Castle, the residence of Elfrida and her son.
His companions were dispersed in pursuit of the
game, and, in the course of the sport, Edward beheld
the conspicuous walls of the castle.13 He rode thither
to visit Ethelred and his mother. On the tidings of
his arrival, she hastily settled her plan. She went
out and received him with hypocritical kindness, and
invited him in. The king declined to alight; but
desired some refreshment, and requested to see his
brother. A cup of drink was brought to him, but
while he was raising it to his lips, a wretch, stealing
behind, stabbed him in the back. Feeling the wound,
he spurred his horse to escape the assassin, but the
blow had been too successful : he fell from his seat ;
his feet hung in the stirrups, and the frighted steed
dragged his expiring lord over the rugged way. His
friends traced him by his blood, and found at last his
disfigured corpse. It was burnt, and its ashes buried
at Wareham.14
13 The interesting ruins of Corfe Castle still remain.
" Malmsb. 61. Ingulf, 54. Mailros, 151. The chroniclers say, he was buried ;
but Lupus, in his sermon, says, Occisus est et postea combustus, Hickes's Thes.
ADDITIONAL NOTE ON DUNSTAN.
As the conduct of Dunstan in the incident at Calne has become lately a subject
of public discussion, and it has been suggested, that a more atrocious crime than
the charge against him cannot be imagined, " that such a suggestion should not be
brought without strong evidence ; " and, " that the slightest evidence neither has
been nor can be produced for its support," (Butler's Cath. Church, p. 67.) the
impartial reader may desire to know what the authentic evidence really amounts to.
There are no contemporary histories now existing of the reigns of Edgar and
Edward the martyr. But there is a tract on the life of Dunstan, written by Brid-
forth, a priest, who knew him, and who calls himself, " Vilis Saxonum indigena,"
which exists in the Cotton MS. Cleop. B. 13., and which has been printed from
another MS. of St. Vedast's monastery at Rome, in the Acta Sanctorum for May,
vol. iv. p. 346. This gives the fullest account of the earliest incidents of his life
that exists, but scarcely mentions his transactions as archbishop. It omits all
notice of the synod at Calne, and therefore of what happened there. If this omis-
sion had not extended to Dunstan's other transactions as archbishop, it might have
238
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK raised a doubt if there had been any such a meeting at all. But as the author
VI has also not chosen to mention other important actions of Dunstan's later life, the
Edward silence on this peculiar event is no argument against it. On the contrary, it may
the Martyr De alleged that the transaction was omitted because its consequences had excited so
. much enmity or suspicion against Dunstan that one living at that period did not
choose, either for his friend's sake or his own, to revive its recollection. There is
also another MS. life of Dunstan addressed by Adelard to Elphegus the archbishop,
who was killed in the reign of Ethelred, and this also omits the meeting at Calne,
as it does most other details of Dunstan's archiepiscopal conduct. The above
remarks apply also to this author's silence. The omission is not peculiar, and is
exposed to an unfavourable inference.
But that there was a meeting at Calne of the Saxon Witan, or of the distinguished
men, both nobles and clergy, of the nation, and that the floor suddenly gave way,
and precipitated all but Dunstan to the earth, maiming some, and killing others,
rests satisfactorily on the following historical documents.
The Saxon Chronicle, admitted to be " a faithful register of the times," thus
briefly notices it : — 978. " Here in this year all the oldest (noblest) Witan of the
English nation fell at Calne from an upper floor: but the holy archbishop Dunstan
stood alone upon a beam, and some there were very much maimed, and some did
not survive." Gibs. Sax. Ch. 124. Ingr. S. C. 163. The ancient Latin Chronicles
of Florence, p. 361. Sim. Dun. p. 160. Hen. Hunt. 356., and Hoveden, 427.,
which seem to me to have been all taken from the Saxon Annals ; the Chron.
Peterb. p. 29., Bromton, 870., and Gervase, 1647., mention these events in terms
nearly similar to the passage cited from the Saxon Chronicle.
But though the historical fact of the calamity is thus certain, there is so far no
direct imputation upon' Dunstan for its occurrence. There is only the singularity
that he escaped while others suffered, and if no more than this had appeared in our
historical remains, we might be satisfied with supposing, that both the calamity
and his preservation were the undesigned and fortuitous effects of the state of the
building, in which the Saxon Witena-gemot was assembled. But the preceding
facts are not the only circumstances which our old historians have transmitted to
us upon the subject; and it is on the additions which they have supplied — all
writers friendly to their respected saint — that the suspicion and the charge have
ultimately been founded.
One of the most valuable and intelligent of our ancient chronographers is William
of Malmsbury ; and thus he details what he mentions of the incident : —
"Edgar being dead, the clergy formerly expelled from the churches excited
renewed battles. From this thing a prejudice, raised into clamour and passion,
was directed against Dunstan ; the lay nobles joining in the outcry, that the clergy
had suffered unjustly. One of them, Elfere, pulled down almost all the monas-
teries which Ethelwold the bishop of Winchester had built in Mercia. The first
synod was convened at Winchester, where the dominical image expressly spoke and
confounded the clergy and their supporters. But the minds not being yet appeased,
a council was appointed at Calne ; where, fhe king being absent from his youth, as
the senators were all sitting in the chamber, the matter was agitated with great
conflict and controversy ; and the darts of many reproaches were thrown on
Dunstan, that most firm wall of the church ; but could not shake him, persons of
every order defending him with all their might. Suddenly all the floor with its
fastenings and beams started out and fell down. All were thrown to the earth.
Dunstan alone, standing upon a beam that remained, entirely escaped ; the rest
were either killed or detained in the fetter of perpetual languor. This miracle gave
peace to the archbishop." De Gest. Reg. 1. ii. p. 61. Matthew of Westminster's
statement of the calamity is to the same purport, and nearly in the same words,
p. 377., and so is Rudborne's, 1 Angl. Sax. p. 225.
These authorities attach to the event the suspicious circumstances, that it hap-
pened in the midst of a violent discussion in the Anglo-Saxon parliament, in which
Dunstan's futui-e power and safety were at stake ; that it followed a preceding
parliamentary dispute which had been dogmatically and not willingly decided in
his favour, by what must have been either miracle or fraudulent contrivance ; and
that by the afflicting catastrophe, all future opposition to his measures were
ANGLO-SAXONS.
239
silenced. " This miracle gave peace to the archbishop." The historical autho-
rities referred to do not pretend that it was an accident ; they declare that it was
supernatural.
The evidence thus far will create in many minds an irresistible suspicion against
him. But, however justly this may seem to be entertained, we must still recollect
that the impeaching deductions of history are not actual evidence, and do not of
themselves justify a positive charge of decided guilt. This charge arises from the
account of two other authors, who are not the enemies, but the admirers and
biographers, of Dunstan, and who detail these facts as articles of their warm
panegyric.
There are two lives of this singular man, as ancient as any of the preceding
chronicles, and written by persons who in their own days were respectable. These
were Osberne^ the friend and counsellor of the archbishop Lanfranc, a great
admirer of Dunstan ; and Eadmer, a disciple of Anselm, the successor of Lanfranc.
Osberne lived about a century after Dunstan, and Eadmer a little later ; they detail
the following account : —
Osberne, after mentioning the deciding effect of the speaking crucifix, states that
his opponents " taking Beornhelm a Scottish bishop as a defender of their iniquity,
a man almost unconquerable, both in his ingenuity, and in his loquacity, pressed
on Dunstan in the town called Calne, and proposed their scandal with a swelling
spirit. Dunstan, broken by age and ecclesiastical labours, had laid aside all things
but prayer. Yet, lest the wicked party, defeated before by a divine miracle should
now boast of obtaining a victory, he darted this answer upon his enemies : « Since
you did not in such a lapse of time bring forward your accusation, but now that I
am old and cultivating taciturnity, seek to disturb me by these antiquated com-
plaints, I confess that I am unwilling that you should conquer me. I commit the
cause of his church to Christ as the judge.' He spoke, and the wrath of the angry
Deity corroborated what he said ; for the house was immediately shaken ; the
chamber was loosened under their feet ; his enemies were precipitated to the
ground, and oppressed by the weight of the crushing timbers. But, where the
saint was reclining with his friends, there no ruin occurred." Osb. Angl. Sax.
vol. ii. p. 112.
EADMER. — His editor, Wharton, remarks that he had never seen Osberne's
work ; but like him had drawn his facts from some more ancient author. Eadmer,
therefore, stands before us not as a copyist of Osberne, but as an independent nar-
rator of what he has recorded. After mentioning Beornhelm's opposition, Eadmer
thus states Dunstan's final reply, and its consequences : —
" ' This calumnia which you are agitating has been already settled by the Divine
voice ; nor do we think it should be again recalled into a new conflict. I, indeed,
am aged ; and I desire to pass the remainder of my life, which, I am aware, cannot
be long, in peace, if it be possible. I have laboured as long as I have been able.
Now, unfitted for all toil, I commit to the Lord God the cause of his church, to
be defended against the insurgent enemies. ' He spoke, and, lo, the floor under the
feet of those who had come together against him fell from beneath them, and all
where alike precipitated ; but where Dunstan stood with his friends no ruin of the
house, no accident happened." Vit. Dunst. Anglia Sax. vol. ii. p. 220.
Capgrave gives the words that are so remarkable in Osberne, with this slight
change, " I confess that I am unwilling to be conquered." Leg. Nov. fol. 94.
It is this speech of Dunstan, which implies that he expected some extraordinary
event to follow it, that would benefit his side of the question, and it is also the
alleged preservation of his supporters, as well as of himself, without which it would
not have served him, which prevents us from ascribing the calamity to any acci-
dent, and which attach to Dunstan the charge of a foreknowlege of what was to
ensue. Such a foreknowlege must have been either a miracle or a premeditated
villany. That the parts of the floor on which his opponents were placed should
only fall, while the station of himself and his upholders remained safe, would justify
any one for believing that the destruction was not a natural casualty. But the
speech fixes on Dunstan a personal foresight, which warrants an historian for con-
necting him with the planning and with the perpetration of the crime. The
above evidence is all that now remains on this subject ; and every reader must
CHAP.
yu.
Edward
e Martyr.
240
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK determine from it for himself, whether it is most probable that this catastrophe
yi was the result of accident, miracle, or crime. That the chroniclers do not detail
Edward tn*s speech like the two biographers is not extraordinary, because they omit all the
the Martyr ot;her speeches which were made on this angry discussion. But Osberne and
. Eadmer, who have transmitted to us this speech, record it as the accounting cause
of what followed, and as indicating the event to have been the Divine answer to his
appeal. They insert it for no hostile purpose, nor obtrusively, but as a regular
part of the real transaction. There is a particularity in their both mentioning a
Scottish prelate as the eloquent adversary whom the saint thus endeavoured to
refute, which Norman or Saxon monks were not likely to have invented. My own
inference is, that there is no more reason to doubt the authenticity of this speech
than of any other of Dunstan's extraordinary actions.
I have looked into the two most ancient lives of him, those of Athelard and
Bridferth, to see if either Osberne or Eadmer have been peculiarly credulous, or
more inclined to the marvellous than their predecessors on Dunstan's biography.
But I find in ATHELARD an account that Dunstan, one night when he was over-
come with sleep at his vigils, was rapt up, as it were, into heaven, and heard the
saints hymning the Trinity, and singing " Kyrie eleison," or, " Lord have mercy
upon us !" He also narrates, that as the prelate was one day sitting with his
attendants engaged in some manual work, his harp that was hanging on the wall
began playing of itself, and, though untouched, performed the whole antiphon of
" Gaudent in ccelis " to the very end. BRIDFERTH, who declares that he was per-
sonally acquainted with Dunstan, outdoes even these fancies ; for he mentions,
that as the saint was one night in his cloisters, Satan came to him in the shaggy
form of a horrid bear ; being driven away, he returned in the figure of a dog ;
again expelled, he came back as a viper ; and being forced out, he burst in once
more as a furious wolf. This tale is soon followed by another, that as Dunstan
once fell asleep from fatigue, before the altar of St. George, the devil came to him
like a rugged bear, and, placing his paws on each shoulder, opened his jaws to
devour him ; when he fortunately awoke, shook him off, struck at him with his
staff, and, by chanting the 68th Psalm, drove him away. After this, a great stone
was hurled at him, which carried away with it his cap ; and this he ascribed to the
evil being.
He seems to have been distinguished for his intercourse with devils and for his
power of discerning them ; for as he was travelling with a nobleman to a royal
banquet, he suddenly perceived his enemy running playfully about among the
royal trumpeters ; he bade the dux, who saw nothing, make the sign of the cross
on his eyes, who then beheld a devil leaping about in the shape of a little black
man. It was from seeing him again wandering among the servants of the house-
hold, that he declared the king would die in three days ; and he beheld him a
third time carrying great rolls of writing in his hands, at the very moment when
his sovereigu Edmund was passing from mass to the banquet in which he was
stabbed. These tales must have been invented for him, or told by himself ; if the
latter, we must suppose either that he had a diseased imagination, or that he wilfully
fabricated them.
From these narratives of Bridferth and of Athelard, the contemporaries of Dun-
stan, we have a right to say, that there is no anile credulity nor peculiar love of the
marvellous in Osberne in what he relates, more than in any other of the Catholic
hagiographers. All these report analogous improbabilities in gi-eater or less number.
Even the popes have distinguished themselves in this line of narration ; for no
miracles exceeded those recorded by Gregory the Great, in his Dialogues, and by
Calixtus II. in his Miracles of St. James. All the Catholic clergy not only accredit
the miracles of their saints, but even build an argument for the superiority of their
church upon their occurrence. The late Dr. Milner's works display fully as much
of that quality, which has been called anile credulity in Osberne, as those of this
now depreciated biographer. With every desire to be as impartial as I can be, I
see, therefore, no sufficient reason for discrediting this portion of their friendly
biography.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 241
CHAP. VIII.
Review of the State and History of DENMARK and NORWAY at the
Accession of ETHELRED, and of the last Stage of the Northern
Piracy.
As the second year of the reign of Ethelred was dis- CHAP.
tinguished by the re-appearance of those enemies v VIIL
whom the courage and wisdom of Alfred and his
successors had subdued or driven from the English
coasts, and who now succeeded in obtaining the
English crown, it is expedient that we should turn
our eyes upon the Baltic, and inquire what nations
and what sovereigns possessed at this time the means
of such formidable aggressions.
DENMARK.
The history of Denmark, from the death of Eag- The state of
nar Lodbrog to the accession of Harald Blaatand, or Denmark-
Blue Tooth, is confused and inaccurate.1 Harald
was the son of Gormo the Aged, and Thyra the
Saviour of Denmark. He acceded in 936, on his
father's demise. He suffered from a calamitous in-
vasion of Jutland by the emperor Otho2, who mar-
ried Athelstan's sister.
He built the famous city of Jomsburg3 near the city of
great Pomeranian lake, made by three rivers in their
1 The confusion of this part of Danish history was observed and complained of
by Adam of Bremen. " Tanti autem reges, immo tyranni Danorum, utrum simul
aliqui regnaverunt, an alter post alterum brevi tempore vixit incertum est," c. xliv.
p. 17. Many chronicles and histories have appeared since Adam's time, but they
have only made the confusion of the period more visible to all who collate their
accounts.
2 To protect Denmark from the Germans, he completed the celebrated trench
and wall called Dannewirke. See Snorre's description of it, vol. i. p. 217.; and
see Stephanius, 199 — 201.
9 Saxo, 182.
VOL. II. R
242 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK conflux to the sea. This city became very distin-
. VL . guished for the courage of its inhabitants, their de-
predations and opulence.4 It was perhaps the only
instance in the world of a government of pirates.5
Its first legislator, Palnatoko, enacted it as one of his
laws, that no man should live at Jomsburg who
breathed a word of fear, or who showed the least
apprehension, in the most critical danger.6 Their
depredations were conducted on a principle of equa-
lity ; for all the plunder, whether small or great, was
brought to the spear and divided.7 The modern
Wollin, which has succeeded the ancient city, is not
one-thirtieth part of its size. Ploughs now cut the
soil on which splendid buildings stood. It became
the emporium of the North. It was the last state of
the North which admitted Christianity. All nations
but Christians, who were interdicted on pain of death,
were allowed to inhabit it, and each people had a
separate street. They were idolaters, and for the
most part polygamists.8 Their riches at last intro-
duced factions, disorders, and civil fury, till Wal-
demar took and destroyed it in 1170.9
Harald Blaatand had a successful war with Haco
of Norway, but towards the close of his life, the dis-
content of his subjects10 enabled his son Svein to
4 See Bartholin, 446.
5 Inter omnes vero Vikingos quos historiae nostrse celebrant famosissimi erant
Jorasvikingr dicti qui Julini olim Jomsburg sedem fixatn et rempublicam certis ac
firmis legibus constitutam habebant. Wormius Mon. Dan. 270.
6 Jomsvikingr Saga, c. xiv., cited by Bartholin, p. 3. This Saga gives a curious
account of the answers of eight men of Jomsburg who were captives, on their
being brought out to be slaughtered. Bartholin, 41 — 51. If they can be credited,
they evince a horrible fearlessness. They were taken prisoners in a great invasion
of Norway by their countrymen. Snorre narrates the aggression, pp. 231 — 240.,
and gives extracts from the Scallds who mention it.
7 Bartholin gives extracts from the Hirdskra and the Jomsvikingr Saga, on this
subject, p. 16.
8 See the descriptions of Munster and Chrytaeus, cited by Stephanius, 197, 198.
Chrytaeus was so interested by it, as to make a particular survey of its site and
remains.
9 The ancient Sveno Aggo thus mentions its fate : " Whose walls I Sveno beheld
levelled to the ground by the archbishop Absalom," c. iv. p. 51.
10 Sveno Aggo, p. 51. Saxo, p. 185.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 24
commence an unnatural warfare against him.11 Svein CHAP.
required of his father a share of his dominions.12 . VIIL
This demand being refused, he pretended to be col-
lecting a fleet against the pirates, and with this sur-
prised Harald. The old king fled to Normandy with
sixty ships, and the son of Eolla entertained him
hospitably, until he prepared a fleet capable of re-
gaining his kingdom. ia A reconciliation for a while
suspended the immoral war14, and Harald gratefully
returned to Richard of Normandy the aid which he
had received from his father.15 The conflict was
soon renewed between Harald and Svein, whose
tutor, Palnatoko, in revenge of an injury16 which he
had endured, stabbed Harald. The wounded king
fled to Jomsburg, where he soon died, in 985.17
Svein, who has received the surnames of Otto svein's
from the emperor Otho, and Tiugoskegg from the reign<
shape of his beard, became now the undisputed
master of a throne, which he had so foully earned.
His life was romantic ; but at a period when the
manners of society, viewed with the eye of reason,
seem unnatural and distorted, the actions will be
often extravagant. He was three times taken pri-
soner by the Jomsburgers, and was three times re-
deemed. His last liberation was accomplished by
the generosity of that sex whose pity is never asked
11 Adam. Brem. 25. 12 Snorre, vol. i. p. 229.
15 Will. Gemmet. lib. iii. c. 9. p. 237. Pontanus dates Harold's arrival in Nor-
mandy in 943. Hist. Dan. lib. v. p. 135.
14 Will. Gemmet. lib. iv. c. 9. p. 243. Sveno mentions the agreement, though,
in his additions to it, I think he confuses several distinct incidents.
15 Dudo, lib. iii. p. 122. Gemmet. p. 246.
16 This injury, as related by Saxo, p. 184., is the story of William Tell and
Geisler. Toko was a famous archer, and boasted of his skill. Harald bid him
with his first arrow, on pain of death, pierce an apple on his son's head. Toko,
compelled to obey, exhorted his son not to stir. He took out three arrows. The
first was successful. The king inquired why three arrows. — " To have shot you
if I had killed my son." Saxo lived long before William Tell.
17 Saxo, 186. ; and see Ad. Brem. 25., Helmoldus, p. 14., Snorre and 2 Langb.
149., for some variation in the circumstances. I take the date from the ancient
Icelandic annals. 2 Langb. 189.
E 2
44 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK in vain ; whom nature has made lovely in person,
» but still more lovely in heart.18
New misfortunes divested the ill-gotten crown of
its expected charms. Eric, the prevailing king in
Sweden, invaded Scania, and after many battles
expelled Sveiri, and for many years remained the
master of the Danish isles.19
The exiled Svein fled humbly to Tryggva of Nor-
way, but was disdainfully spurned. England was
his next resource, but Ethelred, offended at incur-
sions of the Northmen, with which he had been
harassed, would not admit him. He then sailed to
Scotland, and there met an asylum, and a hospitable
friend.20 He resided there fourteen years.
On the death "of his enemy he returned to Den-
mark, but was driven out again by the son of Eric,
who at last reinstated him, and gave him Syritha
his mother in marriage.21 Soon after this period
England felt his power.
NORWAY.
co's Haco the Good was reigning in the time of Athel-
stan. His character is interesting and great ; his
hilarity of mind was peculiar ; his eloquence, his
prudence, and his modesty were equally distin-
guished. Peace, with her abundance and felicity,
blessed both the agriculturist and the merchant of
Norway during his reign, and he was diligent in his
legislation. Two laws are particularised which he
made, like the Anglo-Saxon kings, with the advice of
18 On these incidents, see Saxo, 186- ; Sveno, 54. ; Chron. Erici, 298. ; Adam
Brem. 26. Saxo and Sveno mention, that in grateful return, the ladies were pre-
sented with a law entitling them to a share of their paternal property, from which
till then they had been excluded,
19 Ad. Brem. c. Ixxii. p. 26. Frag. Isl. 2 Langb. 150. Saxo, 188.
20 Ad. Brem. p. 27. says, Thrucco of Norway. Saxo, his son Olave, p. 189.
Saxo, and Hector Boethius, mention Edward as the English king. This is wrong.
Adam is correct in stating Ethelred, who began his reign in 978.
21 Adam, p. 28.; and see Saxo, 189.
ANGLO-SAXONS. ^4
his wisest men.22 Among others, he provided for CHAP.
the defence of the maritime regions of Norway by a < — /_
sort of coast militia. The country on the shore, and
as far up the river as salmon ascended, he divided
into provinces, and these into territories, each of
which was to be provided with a definite number of
war-ships, of a stated size. The population of the
district was to be always ready to act in these vessels
whenever a hostile force drew near.23 To give cele-
rity to their movement he established a sort of tele-
graph. On high mountains, piles of wood of the
largest trees, to be fired on exigency, were so placed
as to be visible from mountain to mountain ; by
these means in seven days the news was transmitted
from one end of Norway to the other.24
Haco retaliated the invasion of the Danes on
Vikia, by driving them into Halland and Jutland.25
He passed into Zealand with successful outrage, took
eleven Yikingr ships, and obtained great booty from
the island ; he then turned his conquering arms upon
Scania, and even ventured to attack, with equal good
fortune, the Swedish province of Gothland. In the
following autumn he returned to Vikia with an im-
mense burden of booty.26
Harald Blaatand, who at this time ruled Denmark,
beheld, with unavailing displeasure, the desolating
victories of Haco. To humble the Norwegian, he
admitted into his kingdom the children of Eric, the
expelled king of Norway, whom Haco had succeeded,
whom Athelstan had received into Northumbria, and
22 Snorre Hakonar Goda, p. 135. » Ibid. p. 146.
24 Ut in montibus excelsis ex ingentibus arboribus pyra ita struerentur (s. angari)
ut ab una pyra ad alteram facilis et liber esset prospectus. Excitatus hoc pacto
hostilis irruptionis nuntius, a prirna in extreme regni ad meridiem angulo extructa
pyra, ad remotissimum boream versus publicorum comitiorum in Halogalandia
locum 7 dierum spatio volitasse fertur. Snorre Hakonar Goda, xxi. p. 146.
25 The Scalld Guthormr Sindri records this invasion in his Hakonar Drapa.
Snono has quoted one of his verses. Saga Hak. c. vi. p. 131.
26 Saga Hak. c. vii. pp. 132, ^3.
R 3
246 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK who at last had perished there. Harald gave them
« VTL . possessions, and permitted them to pirate.27 Thus
encouraged and supported, the sons of Eric assailed
Haco28 ; but the star of his prosperity still continued
to beam.
Haco had long cherished a love for Christianity
in secret. When he thought his power consolidated,
he sent to England29 for ecclesiastics capable of
teaching the religion to the Norwegians. On their
arrival he avowed his wishes, and exhorted the
nation, in a public assembly, to adopt his faith ; but
he experienced from the peasantry such a decided
opposition, that he was even compelled by them to
assist in their idolatrous superstitions.30
Tryggvi, the son of one of those children of Harald
Harfragre who fell by the hostilities of their brother
Eric, so often mentioned in this history, obtained
from Hakon the Good some little principalities to-
wards the south of Norway, for which he assisted
Hakon against his enemies, the children of Eric.31
These restless enemies were frequently assaulting
Hakon with various devices, but he reigned prosper-
ously for twenty years.32
96i. At last Harald, the eldest of these sons of Eric,
surprised Hakon at a disadvantage. He fought with
his usual success, but a dart wounded him under the
arm. He retired to his ship ; no art could stop the
blood, and Hakon the Good sunk gradually into
death. Friends and enemies enshrined his memory
with a general lamentation. The exclamation was
unanimous, that no king, his equal in virtue, would
27 Saga Hah. c. x. p. 134. M Ibid. c. xx. p. 145.
29 Missis in Angliam nuntiis, Episcopos aliosque doctores accessivit post quorum
in Norwegiam adventum mentem suam aperuit rex Hakonus. Snorre, p. 138.
80 Snorre, 139—143. 31 Ibid. 121—135.
83 See one of the schemes to baffle the effect of Hakon's telegraphs. Snorre,
147—152.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 247
again bless Norway.33 Eywind the Scald has CHAP.
honoured his memory with an ode, which gives dig- •
nity to the character of Norwegian poetry.34 The 961-
civilisation of every country has been of such tardy
vegetation, that such kings as Hakon must be hailed
with blessings, for to them the precious plant owes
principally its preservation and progress during these
dark and stormy ages.
On Hakon's death the sons of Eric predominated
in Norway, and their mother Gunillda shared in the
government ; but they held at first only the middle
regions, for three others were governing in other
parts of Norway ; as Tryggvi in the south-east ;
Gudrod in Westfold; and Sigurd Jarl in Thrond-
heim.35
Gunillda stimulated her sons to destroy Sigurd
Jarl, as a step to the monarchy of Norway. Her
soliciting prevailed. The brother of Sigurd was se-
duced to conspire against him. The Jarl was sur-
prised at a feast, and burnt alive, with the edifice,
two years after Hakon's death.36
The indignant people of Throndheim chose Hakon,
surnamed the Jarl, the son of Sigurd, their leader,
and frustrated the ambition of the sons of Gunillda.
Many battles ensued: it was at last settled that
Hakon should enjoy Throndheim, and the other
kings were to possess the rest of the dominions of
Hakon the Good.37
33 Snorre, 155 — 161. One of his last actions was to request the sons of Eric
to spare his friends and relations, p. 160. The Icelandic Annals place his death in
961. 2 Langb. 188.
34 Snorre, 161 — 165. This fine Runic ode is better known by the name of the
Elegy or Eulogium of Hakon.
35 Snorre Saga af Haralldi Graffeld oc Hakoni Jarli, p. 165. Glimr the scalld of
Haralld, by his verses, excited Ey vindr to an emulating eulogium of Hakon. This
offended Haralld, but his displeasure was appeased by Eyvindr becoming his scalld,
and resounding his fame, 166.
36 Snorre, 170 — 173. Sigurd had greatly assisted in the elevation of Hakon the
Good, who, in return, made him Jarl of Throndheim. He is called by Snorre th*
wisest of the Norwegians, 125.
37 Snorre, p. 175. , ,
u 4
248
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
v—
963.
Life of
Olaf,
Tryggva's
son.
The future enmities between Hakon Jarl and the
sons of Eric need not be detailed.38 They enabled
Harald Blaatand to subject Norway, who sometimes
was the friend, and sometimes was the enemy of
Hakon Jarl.39 This prince, who has come down to
us with a fame so eclipsed as to be called Hakon the
Bad, became at last the monarch of Norway.40 After
a life of great warlike exertions, he fell in his age,
before a new competitor for the movable crown ; this
was Olave the son of Tryggva. The aggressions of
Olave on England connect his actions with the reign
of Ethelred, and demand a corner in the history of
the Anglo-Saxons. The little sketch will forcibly
express the state of manners in these districts.
In 969, Tryggva his father suffered that death of
violence41 which usually closed the lives of those in-
habitants of the North who stepped out of the path
of industry into the adventures of heroism. His
widow fled, pregnant with Olaf, and he was born on
an island in the lake where she was concealed.42 In
his childhood he was captured by Eastern pirates,
and was sold. He was afterwards purchased and
carried to Russia.43 He was there brought up by
Waldemar, who employed him in his army.
His favour declining, he quitted the Russian court,
sailed to the Baltic, and settling in the isle of Born-
holm, he began the dismal profession of a vikingr.44
After marrying a queen, on whose coast he landed,
38 See Snorre, 175 — 1 84., and also his Saga of Olasi Tryggva, 195 — 203. Snorre
adduces Ara Frode as an evidence on this subject.
39 Snorre, 202, 203. 230.
40 Ibid. 245. In Hakon's reign Greenland was discovered and colonised by
the Icelanders. Eric the Red first saw and gave it that name, in hopes that a
country with an epithet so pleasing might attract settlers. He found the traces of
men both in the east and west regions, et assamenta fracta et lapidarum opera unde
cognoscerent quod ejus generis ibi vixerunt qui Vinlandiam incoluerint et quos
Island! vocant Screlingos. Ara Frode, c. vi. p. 40.
41 Snorre, p. 177. Island. Ann. 2 Langb. 189.
42 Snorre Saga, Olaf's Tryg. c. i. p. 187.
43 Snorre, 192, 193. 44 Ibid. 211—213.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 249
he commenced depredations on Scania and Gothland.45 CHAP.
On her death he extended the scene of his piracy, « — ,_;
and Friesland, Saxony, and Flanders, mourned his
visitations. From these the unwearied sea-king
turned towards England, and attacked Northumbria.
As fortunate as enterprising, he made Scotland, the
Hebrides, Ireland, Wales, Cumbria, and Normandy,
feel the exertions of his valour.46
Great and ardent spirits are liable to be impressed
by the peculiar and the interesting. Olaf, anchoring
once off the Scilly isles, was converted to Christianity
by the lessons of a hermit, whose age and seclusion
had won from the rude population the fame of a
seer.47
But although this warrior was daring every danger
that storms and battles could present, his rigid heart
was found penetrable by the shafts of love. A
princess of Dublin had promised her chiefs to choose
a husband : they assembled that she might select,
and Olaf, though uninvited, joined the meeting. The
movements of the tender passions are more eccentric
than the wanderings of the heathy meteor. Clothed
in rough garments, made to keep off rain, and
wrapped in a hairy gown, the figure of Olaf was not
the vision of a cupid. But it was uncouth; and
when Gyda's eye roved anxiously around, it arrested
her notice: "Who are you?" — " Olaf, a stranger."
It was enough ; and if Snorre has not slandered the
lady, love, instantaneous love, supplied every other
explanation. With all the simplicity of rude nature,
she exclaimed, " If you desire me for your wife, I
will choose you for rny husband."
Olaf was, however, less impetuous or less philoso-
phical than the lady. He had the caution to inquire
who she was, her name, and parentage : she declared
45 Snorre, 215. 46 Ibid. 221, 222. 47 Ibid. 223, 224.
250 HISTOEY OF THE
BOOK her birth, and Olaf contemplated her again. She
. ^T' . was young and beautiful. At last his tardy sensi-
bility was kindled, and he became her husband, after
conquering a rival.48
The reputation of Olaf roused the crafty and cruel
mind of Hakon the Bad, who sent a favourite to
discover and to circumvent him.49 But Hakon's dis-
orderly passions had offended the chiefs whose families
he had dared to violate, and they were in insurrection
against him, when Olaf, led by his pretended friend,
was approaching Norway. Hakon had fled before
the chiefs when Olaf landed. The Norwegians
eagerly placed the crown on his head, as a descendant
of Harald Harfragre ; and thus, in 995, Olaf became
the monarch of Norway.50
One of Olaf s most zealous occupations was, to
convert Norway. He proceeded, with his desire,
from province to province, and at last accomplished
it, but by methods repugnant to that freedom of mind
which is man's dearest birthright, and as odious to
the spirit and lessons of Christianity as the Paganism
he abolished.51
Ethelred is stated to have sent the archbishop of
York and two priests to Sweden to convert the
natives. Olaf was baptized by him.52
Last stage Harald Harfragre had pursued the vikingr with a
piracy. ° * perseverance which promised to annihilate the custom,
but on his death they flourished again. His son
Eric, after his deposition, occupied his summers in
depredations on the British islands to maintain his
48 Snorre, 225, 226. 49 Ibid. 246.
50 Ibid. 247—253. Hakon the Bad was killed in his hiding-place. I take the
date from the Isl. Ann. 1 90.
51 Snorre, 258 — 266. Among Olaf s Voyages, Sriorre mentions his expedition
to Vinland. As this was a country west of Greenland, it is obvious that the Nor-
wegians or their colonies discovered and settled in part of North America in this
tenth century.
82 Locc. Hist. S. p. 52. ; and Ver. Suio-Goth. p. 50.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 251
associates.53 In the reign of Edmund they again CHAP,
abounded, and made the Hebrides their resort.54 On • . ' •
Eric's death his sons passed their winters on the
Orkney and Shetland isles, but devoted their summers
to piracies on Scotland and Ireland.55 The Northern
kings sometimes sailed against them with fleets of
punishment to revenge aggressions on their own
dominions. Thus Hakon the Good attacked eleven
vikingr in Oresound, and hanged all those whom he
met off Scania 56 ; but no combined system existed of
repressing them. The practice, though from the
rise of monarchies it was less frequent, had not yet
excited the decided abhorrence of the northern so-
ciety ; therefore Harald Blaatand 57 of Denmark, and
Tryggvi Gudrawd, and Harald Graffeld, three kings
in Norway, indulged themselves in the practice.58
Olaf the son of Tryggvi was a sort of new Eagriar
Lodbrog, in the activity, extent, and success of his
marauding exploits. Bornholm, Scania, Gothland,
Friesland, Saxony, Flanders, Normandy, and all the
British islands, suffered from his presence.59 The
son of Hakon Jarl was a sea-king, whose summers
were devoted to enterprises as fearless 60 ; but it is
needless to multiply instances. The vikingr, who
have been mentioned, were men of rank in their so-
ciety, who flourished between 930 and 1000 ; and
their habits show, that, notwithstanding the checks
which the direful custom had experienced, it was
again becoming prevalent and respectable.
But yet while piracy was revivifying, other habits
53 Snorre, p. 128. M Ibid.
55 Tune autem Orcades et Hialldtlandiam suae ditionis fecere Eiriki filii, census
inde percipientes, ibique per hyemes commorantes. Per sestates autem mare occi-
dentale piratica infestim reddidere prsedas agentes circa littora Scotiae atque Hiber-
niae. Snorre, p. 130.
56 Snorre, p. 132. 57 Saxo Grammat. 180.
59 Snorre, 135—177. w See before.
60 Snorre, 295.
252 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK were also growing up which were destined to de-
•_,-! — ' stroy it.
The continuance of piracy had a tendency to pre-
clude all traffic ; but wherever profit is seen to glitter,
though danger guard every avenue, and the spectre
of death even hovers over the path, men will hasten
to tread it, and dare the chances of its evils. Rude
as the Northmen were in manners, arts, and virtues,
they wanted commodities from each other, which the
productive industry or resources of any one place
could not supply. Hence skins for clothing were
carried from Iceland to Norway.61 Fish, cattle, and
corn, their food, were often, from partial famines,
required to be interchanged.62 Hemp, or seal skins,
or whale hides, were needed for ropes.63 Captives
were to be sold, and, of course, slaves to be pur-
chased 64 ; besides many articles of war and luxury.
The necessity of conveying from coast to coast the
wanted commodities turned a part of society into
merchants : their places of resort became noted. Thus
Tunsberg in Norway was much frequented by mer-
chant ships, which came to it not only from the
adjoining Vikia, and the more northern regions, but
from Denmark and Saxony.65 Birca in Sweden was
another considerable emporium, in which vessels of
merchandise came from all parts of the Baltic to ac-
quire or to exchange the necessaries of life 66, though
its wealth and excellent harbours perpetually invited
61 Snorre, 176.
62 Thus the Scalld Ey vind, when a famine oppressed Norway, pecora emit familiae
sustentandse necessaria. He sent his ships to purchase herrings, and for that pur-
pose parted with his property, and even with his arrows. Snorre, 186.
63 See Ohther's Voyage.
61 Lodinus was a rich man. Accidit quadam estate ut mercatum profectus
Lodinus navi quse ejus unius erat, mercibus que dives, cursum ad Esthoniam diri-
geret, ubi per aestatem mercaturse operam dedit. Dum celebrantur nundinse ad
quas comportatae sunt merces omnis generis, ducti etiam multi homines venales,
p. 256.
65 Tunsbergam plurimae tune mercatorise frequentabant naves tarn ex Vikia et
borealibus regionibus Norwegian quam ex Dania et Saxonia. Snorre, 115.
66 Adam. Brem. 18, 19. Helmoldus, p. 9. Rembert in 1 Langb. 444.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 253
depredations of the vikingr.67 Our Dublin was in CHAP.
those days much frequented for trade.68 •
It was auspicious to the future predominance of
civilised habits that commerce became honourable.
This circumstance in such an age of general warfare
is as remarkable as it was beneficial. Perhaps, the
honour attached to commerce arose partly from the
vikingr disposing of their spoils themselves, and
partly from the necessity they felt for the objects of
traffic. The merchants who ventured to sail through
such ambushes of pirates could not at first have been
very numerous, and this rarity gave them increased
value, and even dignity. In time also kings became
their patrons.
Commerce was, however, in such credit, that Biorn
prince of Westfold, the son of Harald Harfragre, be-
came a merchant, and by his more warlike brothers
was distinguished by that title.69 Others also, of
illustrious ancestry, were traders, and are mentioned
for the affluence acquired by it.70
Traffic being thus respectable, it is no wonder that
another circumstance arose which operated to sup-
press piracy. This was the remarkable fact, that the
two professions of pirate and merchant came in many
instances to be blended. The same persons were at
one time roaming to plunder, at another voyaging to
trade : thus the people of Yikia are described as very
commercial, at the same time that many of them
were vikingr.71 Thus the friend whom Hakon the
67 Bircani etiam piratarum excursionibus quorum ibi raagna copia est, saepius
impregnati. Adam.Brem. 18.
68 Hunc — jussit Hakonus Jarl Dublinum ire mercatorem, id quod plurimis tune
temporis frcquens erat. Snorre, 246.
69 Biorno regi suse etiam erant naves mercatorise quse in commeatu exteras ad
regiones, varias res ingentis pretii que pluraque necessaria videbantur illi advehebant.
Ilium igitur Navigatorem aut mercatorem (farmann_eda Kaupmann) nominarunt
ejus fratres. Snorre, 115.
70 Snorre, 256, 257.
71 Ipsi enim Vikverienses in mercatura erant frequentes in Angliam et Saxoniam
254 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK Bad had selected to circumvent Olaf, the son of
. YL , Tryggva, had been long a pirate, but he was also a
merchant, and was employed to visit Dublin in that
capacity.72 Thus Lodinus, though he had sometimes
pirated, was a merchant, and in his mercantile cha-
racter visited Estland.73 Biorn, surnamed the Trader,
had also practised piracy.74 Thus the celebrated men
of Jomsburg were as eminent for their commercial as
for their depredatory activity. It was perhaps from
their martial habits and equipments, arising from
this alternation of pursuit, that merchants were en-
abled to combat with the pirates who attacked them.75
They sometimes secured the success of their defen-
sive exertions by voyaging in companies.
When we read that the pirates seized every movable
commodity where they invaded, and destroyed by
fire the habitations and growing produce of the field,
when they could not remove it ; that part of the
inhabitants they slew on the spot, and carried away
the others for slaves, sharing them by lot 76 ; that of
these captives they killed such as were too old for
labour, and were therefore unsaleable77; and that
they exposed the others to the public market so un-
sparingly, that we find, at one time, a queen, pale,
worn out with fatigue and sufferings, and squalidly
aut in Flandriam, aut in Daniam : quidam autem piraticam exercebant, hyerais in
Christianorum terris transigentes. Snorre Saga, Olaf s Helga, vol. ii. p. 71.
72 Diu hie in piratica, interdum etiam in mercatura versatus. Snorre, vol. i.
p. 240.
73 Saepe ille in mercatura versabatur, interdum etiam in piratica. Snorre,
vol. i. p. 256.
74 Biorno — in piratica parum frequens. Snorre, 115.
75 Rembert, who lived in the tenth century, mentions a conflict of this sort.
1 Langb. 444. Snorre also mentions a merchant ship which endured a long conflict
•with a sea-king, vol. i. p. 215. So the Niala Saga says, " Piratis in mercatores tela
jacientibus, pnelium oritur, hique se pulchre tutantur." Celto Scand. p. 83. This
was in the year 992.
76 Mare orientem versus sulcantes aggressi pirata? quidam Estenses homines cap-
tivosducunt, bona diripiunt, occisis nonnullis, aliis quos inter se sortiti in servitutem
abstractis. Snorre, vol. i. p. 192.
77 Visus est Klercono sestate jam provectior Thoralfus quam ut servus esse posset,
nee laboribus satis idoneus ; quare eum occidit. Ibid.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 255
clothed 78 ; and, on another occasion, a prince 79, CHAP.
standing up to be purchased like cattle; when we • •
see, that from the plentiful supply, so low was the
price, that Olaf the prince, who afterwards became
king of Norway, and the invader of England, was
sold for a garment 80 ; and that a collection of boys
were disposed of for a fine goat81 ; when we discover
such things to be frequent, it seems absurd to look
into the North for increased civilisation.
And yet the happy change was beginning to
emerge. The principle of improvement was in exist-
ence, and its vegetation, though slow, was incessant
and effectual.
As soon as the vikingr stooped from the pursuit of
sanguinary glory to collect profit from traffic, piracy,
as a laudable custom, must have begun to be under-
mined. It must have received another fatal blow, as
soon as agriculture became reputable. Though valour
was still the pride of the day, many chiefs were per-
petually arising of peaceable and unwarlike habits.82
At the period of which we now speak, one Sigurd
Syr the king, who educated Saint Olave of Norway,
is particularly described to us as assiduous in his
domestic occupations ; who often surveyed his fields
and meadows, and flocks and herds, and who was
fond of frequenting the places where the handicraft
labours were carried on.83 His pupil, Olave, though
in the first part of his life he became a sea-king, yet
among other things was educated to manual arts as
well as to warlike exercises.84 The sweets of landed
property and peaceable occupations once experienced,
the impulse of nature would urge the chiefs to favour
» Snorre, p. 256. TO Ibid. 193.
80 Ibid. 81 Ibid.
82 Many of these are noticed in Snorre's Heimskringla.
83 Snorre's Saga, Olaf s Helga, c. i. p. 1. and p. 31.
84 Arcum tractandi atque natandi imprimis peritus, in pilis et missilibus manu
jaculandis eximius, ad artes fabriles a natura formatus, lynceis que oculis ad ea
omnia quae vel ipse vel alii fabricaverant. Snorre. Olaf 's Helga, p. 1.
256 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK husbandry, and to induce or to compel a part, ever
. VI> , increasing, of the northern population, to pursue the
labours of the field in preference to war. Every re-
gular and settled monarch favoured the new habit.
Though the disorderly reigns which followed Harald
Harfragre made his law against pirates almost obso-
lete, yet as soon as the government of Norway became
established in Saint Olave, he revived the prohibition.
He forbade all rapine.85 He enforced his law so
rigorously, that though the vikingr were the children
of the most potent chiefs, he punished the offenders
by the loss of life or limb ; nor could prayers or
money avert the penalty.86 One of the Canutes was
equally hostile to the habits of the vikingr. He pro-
hibited all rapine and violence throughout his king-
dom, and was highly displeased that Egill should
have pirated in the summer. "In addicting your-
self to piracy," said the king, " you have done an
abominable thing. It is a Pagan custom, and I for-
bid it." 87
It was indeed a custom which had been so familiar
and so extolled, that its suppression was difficult.
Olafs severity against it excited an insurrection in
his dominions.88 But though interested men strug-
gled hard to uphold it, the good sense of mankind
awaking, however tardily, to their real interests,
was combating against it. The benefits emanating
from the cultivation of agriculture were announced
with impressive admonition to all, by the dismal
famines which at times occurred. The augmented
power, the more striking dignity, and the permanent
happiness accruing to the chiefs from a numerous
clan of quiet peasantry, from the annual riches of
tillage, and from the mercantile importation of every
other luxury ; the lessons, though rude, of their new
85 Snorre, torn. i. p. 315. M Ibid. 316.
87 Knytlinga Saga, ap. Bartholin, 453. * Snorre, p. 317.
ANGLO-SAXONS. ZO
Christian clergy ; the natural indolence and quietude CHAP.
of human nature, when permitted to follow its own , — ,_
tendencies, and when freed from the goading stings
of want, by the fruitful harvests of regular labour ;
must have alienated a large part of the northern
society from the practice of their ancestors, and must
have made piracy, in an accumulating ratio, un-
popular and dishonourable. Human reason is never
slow to amend its erring associations, whence once a
new beam of light occurs to it ; and nothing can more
strongly paint the progressive change of manners,
than the rapid degradation of the meaning of the
word vikingr. At first designating a soldier, it be-
came appropriated by pirates, when every warrior
pirated. But now that the condemning voice of
society was rising against rapine, the vikingr hast-
ened fast to become a synonyme of the robber.89 Poets,
who often stamp the morals of ages, and who always
influence the population of the day, began to brand
it with that opprobrium, which, from their numbers,
falls with the most deterring effect.90
The improved feelings of society on this subject
could not accumulate without communicating some
contagion to the vikingr themselves. Though the
novel sentiment might be unable to annihilate their
evil habits, it awakened, in their fierce bosoms, a
little sense of moral distinction ; it compelled them
to seek some shield of merit to avert that most ter-
rible of all ills, the contempt and hatred of the society
to which we belong. They began to feel that it was
89 The editors of the Gunnlaugi Saga give many examples of this, pp. 298—300.
90 Thus Sighvatr, the scalld of Olave, sang :
Rapinae ita pati isti homines suae
Pa'nam debuere —
Scelestorum genus et nequam hominum,
Ille sic furta est amolitus.
Sexcentis jussit patrise terrse
Gustos, armis et gladiis praescidi
Piratis et hostibus capita regni Snorre, 316. torn. ii.
VOL. II. S
258 HISTORY OF THE
B™K not honourable for a brave man to prey upon the
' — v — ' peaceful merchant, who feeds and benefits his con-
temporaries, nor to murder the unoffending pas-
senger whom various necessities enforce to roam.
A new sort of pirates then appeared more suitable to
the new-born morality of their feelings, and to the
mental revolutions of the day. The peculiar and
self-chosen task of these meritorious warriors was to
protect the defenceless navigator, and to seek and
assail the indiscriminate plunderer.91 The exact
chronology of these new characters is not clear, but
they seem reasonably to belong to the last age of
piracy. Their existence was, above all laws, effi-
cacious in destroying piracy. They executed what
society sighed for, and what wise kings enacted ; and
their appearance must have hastened the odium of
the indiscriminate pirate, who became gradually
hunted down as the general enemy of the human
race. It is pleasing to read of this distinction in so
many authors. Some men associated with the so-
lemnity of an oath, that they would in piracy acquire
money honourably, because they would exterminate
the bersekir and the malignant, and give safety to
the merchant.92 So others pursued piracy to deprive
the plundering vikingr of the spoil they had torn
from the husbandman and merchants.93 With the
same character, Eric the Good is exhibited in the
Knytlinga Saga.94
By the laws of the pirate Hialmar, we see that
they bound themselves to protect trade and agricul-
ture, not to plunder women, nor to force them to
their ships if unwilling, nor to eat raw flesh, which
was the practice of the savage pirate.95
91 See the Torsteins Saga, ap. Yerelius. Herv. Saga, 47.
92 Bua Saga, ap. Earth. 457. 9S The Vatzdsela, ap. Earth. 458.
94 Knytlinga Saga, ap. Earth. 452.
95 Bartholin states these laws from the Orvar Oddr Sogu, p. 456. ; and see the
laws of the sea-king Half, another of this band of naval chivalry, in Bartho. 455.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 259
On the whole, we may state, that after the tenth CHAP.
century piracy became discreditable ; and that in . vnL .
every succeeding reign it approached nearer to its
extinction, until it was completely superseded by the
influence of commerce, the firmer establishment of
legal governments, improved notions of morality, and
the experience of the superior comforts of social
order, industry, and peaceful pursuits.
Saxo also describes another set of heroes, who, in the following age, fought against
the common pirates, lib. xiv. p. 259.
s 2
260 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. IX.
ETHELRED the Unready.
BOOK ETHELRED succeeded on his brother's assassination ;
Bthdred but the action which procured his power was too
unread atrocious to give all the effect to the policy of his
— » — '•> adherents which had been projected. Dunstan re-
tained his dignity, and at least his influence ; for
what nation could be so depraved as to patronise a
woman who, at her own gate, had caused her king
and son-in-law to be assassinated ! In attempting to
subvert Dunstan by such a deed, she failed. After
no long interval, he excited the popular odium, and
the terrors of guilt, so successfully against her, that
she became overwhelmed with shame, and took shel-
ter in a nunnery, and in building nunneries, from
the public abhorrence.
The reign of Ethelred presents the history of a
bad government, uncorrected by its unpopularity
and calamities; and of a discontented nation pre-
ferring at last the yoke of an invader, whose visits
its nobles either invited or encouraged. In the pre-
ceding reigns, from Alfred to Edgar, the Anglo-
Saxon spirit was never agitated by danger, but it
acted to triumph. By its exertions, a rich and
powerful nation had been created, which might have
continued to predominate in Europe with increasing
honour and great national felicity. But within a
few years after Ethelred's accession the pleasing
prospect begins to fade. The tumultuary contests
in the last reign between the monks and the clergy,
and their respective supporters, had not had time to
cease. Dunstan acquiring the direction of the govern-
ANGLO-SAXONS. 26
ment under Ethelred, involved the throne again in CHAP.
the conflict, and the sovereign was placed at variance Ethelre
with the nobles and parochial clergy. The measures Un^
of the government were unsatisfactory to the nation. ' — ,
The chiefs became factious and disloyal, and the
people discontented, till a foreign dynasty was at last
preferred to the legal native succession.
Ethelred was but ten years of age when he at-
tained the crown. His amiable disposition gave the
tears of affection to his brother's memory; but El-
frida could not pardon a sensibility which looked like
accusation, and might terminate in rebellion to her
will, and in disappointment to her ambition. She
seized a waxen candle which was near, and beat the
terrified infant with a dreadful severity, which left
him nearly expiring. The anguish of the blows
never quitted his remembrance. It is affirmed, that
during the remainder of his life, he could not endure
the presence of a light.1 Perhaps the irresolution,
the pusillanimity, the yielding imbecility, which cha-
racterised him during his long reign, may have
originated in the perpetual terror which the guardian-
ship of such a mother, striving to break his temper
into passive obedience to her will, on this and other
occasions, wilfully produced.
As her power declined, the feelings of the nation
expressed themselves more decidedly. The com-
mander of Mercia, and Dunstan, attended by a great
crowd, went to Wareham, removed the body of the
deceased sovereign, and buried it with honour at
Shaftesbury.2 Dunstan might now triumph : though
his opponents might equal him in daring, they were
his inferiors in policy.
After a flow of prosperity uninterrupted for nearly 930.
a century, England, in the full tide of its strength,
was insulted by seven Danish ships, which plundered
1 Malmsb. 62. 2 Flor. 362. Sax. Chron. 125.
s 3
262
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Ethelred
the
Unready.
988.
991.
Southampton and Thanet. The same vikingr, in
the next season, ravaged in Cornwall and Devon-
shire.3 In the year following, three ships molested
the isle of Portland.4
The re-appearance of the Northmen excited much
conversation at the time.5 Another attempt of the
same sort was made at Wecedport, where the English
gained the field of battle, though Goda, the governor
of Devonshire, and the brave Stenwold, fell. In
this year Dunstan died.6 He had enjoyed his power
during the first ten years of Ethelred's reign, but
the civil dissensions, which he appears to have begun
and perpetuated, unnerved the strength of the
country. The vices of the sovereign increased the
evil.
Within three years afterwards, formidable inva-
sions of the Danes began to occur. A large force,
commanded by Justin and Gurthmund, attacked
Ipswich.7 They advanced afterwards along an un-
guarded coast, or through an unguarded country, as
far as Maiden. Byrhtnoth, the governor of Essex,
collected some forces to oppose them, but he was
defeated and slain.8
8 Flor. Wig. 362. Sax. Chron. 125. Tib. B. 1. As Olave Tryggvason was at
this time marauding on the English coast, and at last reached the Scilly isles, he
may have been the sea-king who renewed the invasion of England.
4 Flor. 363. Sim. Dun. 161. 6 Malmsb. 62.
6 Flor. Wig. 364. Sax. Chron. 126. Dunstan died in the year 988. The MS.
Chron. Tib. B. 1. and B. 4. merely mention his death, without the printed addition
of his attaining heaven. Siric was consecrated to his see. The preceding year was
memorable for its diseases.
7 The printed chronicle leaves the place an imperfect blank. The MS. Tib. B. 1.
and B. 4. have both Gypeswic ; and see Flor. 364. The Ely Chronicle says, that
at this time frequent irruptions of the Danish pirates occurred on different parts of
the coast. It represents Byrhtnoth as defeating the first invader at Maiden, but
that another fleet, more numerous, came under Justin, and Guthmund the son of
Stretan, to revenge the disaster. 3 Gale, p. 493.
8 It is on this event that the narrative poem was composed which Hearne printed
from a Cotton MS. since burnt, and of which Mr. W. Conybeare has published an
English translation. As it seems to have been written soon after the events it
narrates, it may be regarded as an historical document for both the manners and
the incidents it describes. A few extracts will illustrate the character of Byrhtnoth
as a favourable specimen of the Anglo-Saxon nobility. The herald of the vikingr
first demanded tribute. The conduct and answer of the Saxon ealderman on this
request is thus detailed. " Byrhtnoth upraised his buckler, he shook his slender
ANGLO-SAXONS.
The measure adopted by the government on this
event, seems to have produced all the subsequent
calamities. Instead of assembling the nobles with
an army sufficient to chastise the invaders, the coun-
cil of Ethelred advised him to buy off the invaders !
Siric, the successor of Dunstan, reasoned, that as
they only came for booty, it would be wiser to give
javelin ; stern and resolute, he uttered his words, and gave him answer : ' Hear,
thou mariner ! what this people sayeth. Instead of tribute, they will bestow on
you their weapons, the edge of their spears, their ancient swords and arms of war.
Herald of the men of ocean ! deliver to thy people a message in return ; a decla-
ration of high indignation. Say, that an earl with his retainers here stands un-
daunted, who will defend this land, the domain of my sovereign Ethelred, his
people and his territory ; and the heathen shall perish in the conflict. I shall
think it dastardly if you should retire to your ships with your booty without joining
in battle, since you have advanced thus far into our land. Ye shall not so softly
win our treasures. The point and edge shall first determine between us in the
grim game of war before we yield you tribute.' "
Byrhtnoth was so heroic as to allow the invaders an uninterrupted passage over
the river before he attacked them. " The invading host began to move. They
gave orders to advance, to cross the ford, and to lead their troops onwards. The
earl, meanwhile, in the haughtiness of his soul, gave free permission to many of
the hostile bands to gain the land unmolested. Thus did the son of Byrthelm
shout across the cold river : ' Warriors, listen [ Free space is allowed you. Come
then speedily over to us. Advance as men to the battle. God alone knows which
of us is destined to remain masters of the field of slaughter.' "
The battle ensued. One of the invading leaders fell, and the personal conflict
of Byrhtnoth with the other is thus described : " The (Danish) chieftain raised
up his weapon, with his buckler for his defence, and stept forth against that lord.
"With equal eagerness the earl advanced against the carl. Each meditated evil
against the other. The sea-chief then sped a southern dart, which wounded the
lord of the army. He manoeuvred with his shield, so that the shaft burst, and the
spear sprang back and recoiled. Incensed, the chief pierced with his dart the
exulting vikingr who had given him that wound. Skilful was the hero ; he caused
his franca javelin to traverse the neck of the youth, and speedily shot off another,
so that his mail was pierced. He was wounded in the heart, through its ringed
chains, and the javelin's point stood in his heart. Then was the earl blithe ; the
stern warrior laughed, and uttered thanks to his Creator for the work of that day. "
The earl's catastrophe immediately followed his triumph. It is thus narrated :
" But then some one of the enemies let fly a dart from his hand, which transfixed
the noble thane of Ethelred. There stood by his side a youth not fully grown, a
boy in the field, the son of Wulfstan, Wulfmor the young. He eagerly plucked
from the chief the bloody weapon, and sent it to speed again on its destructive
journey. The dart passed on till it laid on the earth him who had too surely
reached his lord. Then a treacherous soldier approached the earl, to plunder from
the chieftain his gems, his vestment, and his rings, and his ornamented sword.
But Byrhtnoth drew from its sheath his battle-axe, broad and brown of edge, and
smote him on his corslet. Very eagerly the pirate left him when he felt the force
of the chieftain's arm. But at that moment his large hilted sword drooped to the
earth. He could no longer hold his hand-glaive nor wield his weapon. Yet the
hoary warrior still endeavoured to utter his commands. He bade the warlike
youths, his brave companions, to march forwards, but he could no longer stand
firmly on his feet." Conyb. xciii. Hearne, 10. Glast. App. The contest was con-
tinued after Byrhtnoth's death, but the fragment ends abruptly. The concluding
part has not been preserved.
s 4
CHAP.
IX.
Ethelred
the
Unready.
991.
264 HISTOBY OF THE
BOOK them what they wanted. Ten thousand pounds were
Etheired accordingly disgracefully granted as the price of
unread their retreat.9 Whether the king's ecclesiastical ad-
' — , — r visers were afraid of calling out the chiefs of the
l91' country, with their military arrays; or, like most
clerical statesmen, were incompetent to devise the
wisest public measures; or whether the nobles, in
their contempt for the king and his administration,
were not displeased at the invasion, and therefore
did not oppose the payment, cannot now be certainly
known ; but no measure could have been taken more
likely to excite the Northmen to new depredations
on a country that rewarded an invader for his ag-
gressions.
The payment is noticed by the annalists as having
produced the evil of direct taxation. We now pay
that, says the chronicler of the twelfth century, from
custom which terror first extorted for the Danes.10
The impositions were not remitted when the neces-
sity had disappeared.
Etheired has been painted to us as a tall handsome
man, elegant in manners, beautiful in countenance,
and interesting in his deportment.11 The sarcasm of
Malmsbury gives his portrait in a sentence : he was
" a fine sleeping figure."12 He might adorn a lady's
cabinet ; he disgraced a council.
When wiser thoughts had sway, the right means
of defence were put in action. Powerful ships were
constructed at London, and were filled with selected
soldiers13 ; but all the wisdom of the measure was
baffled by the choice of the commander. Alfric was
the person intrusted to command the Anglo-Saxon
fleet.
9 Malmsb. 62. 365. Sax. Chron. 126. Fl. 365. The Saxon Chronicle makes
Siric the author of this counsel.
10 Hunt, 357. » Flor. Wig. 362. Matt. West. 378.
12 Rex — pulchre ad dormiendum factus, p. 63.
13 Flor. 365. In 992, Oswald the friend of Dunstan died. Sax. Chron.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 265
Alfric, in 983, had succeeded his father in the CHAP.
dukedom of Mercia.14 Three years afterwards, from Etneired
causes not explained, but probably connected with rT the,
j.i T • i -ii 11 i Unready.
the dissensions above mentioned, he was expelled < — , — '
from England.15 In 992, he was appointed to lead
the new fleet, with another duke, and two bishops,
whose addition to the military commission implies
the prevalence of ecclesiastical counsels, and perhaps
some mistrust of the nobles. Their instructions
were to" surprise the Danes in some port at which
they could be surrounded. The judicious scheme
was foiled by Alfric's treason. When the Danes
were traced to a station which admitted of the enter-
prise, he sent them word of the intention, and con-
summated his perfidy by sailing secretly to join
them. The Anglo-Saxons found the enemy in flight,
but could only overtake one vessel. The rest did
not, however, reach their harbours unmolested ; a
division of the English fleet from London and East
Ariglia met them on their way, and attacked them
with a bravery natural to the island. The capture
of Alfric's vessels crowned their victory, but its igno-
minious master escaped, though with difficulty. The
king barbarously avenged it on Alfric, by blinding
his son Algar.16 The treason of Alfric and his com-
panions seems inexplicable, unless we suppose it to
have been an effect of the national divisions or dis-
content.
This exertion, though its end was so disgraceful, 993.
had driven the enemy from the southern counties.
The northern districts were then attacked. An ar-
mament stormed Bebbanburh, and afterwards, turning
to the Humber, filled part of Lincolnshire and Nor-
thumbria with their depredations. The provincials
armed to defend their possessions, but they confided
14 Flor. 363. Sax. Chron. 125.
15 Flor. 363. Sim. Dun. 161. 16 Flor. 366. Malmsb.62.
266 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK the command to three chiefs of Danish ancestry, who
Etheired with fatal treachery fled at the moment of joining
the battle17 ; — another indication of the discontent of the
' — !1— '-> nobles and the unpopularity of the government.
In 994, the breezes of the spring wafted into the
Thames two warlike kings, Olave Tryggva's son, king
of Norway, and Svein king of Denmark, in a tem-
porary confederation. They came with ninety-four
ships. They were repelled at London; but though
their force was unimportant, they were able to over-
run the maritime part of Essex and Kent, and af-
terwards Sussex and Hampshire, with successful
outrage.18 The progress of so small a force, and the
presence of two kings accompanying it, may induce
the reflective reader to suspect that they did not
come without some previous concert or invitation
from some part of the nation. But on this occasion,
when a small exertion of the national vigour could
have overpowered the invaders, Etheired again obeyed
a fatal advice. He sent to offer tribute and provi-
sions, and to know the sum which would stop their
hostilities! Sixteen thousand pounds was the sum
demanded, by fewer than ten thousand men for the
redemption of England.19 Can we avoid inferring
treason in his councils? That the nobles should
patronise such a measure looks like a scheme for
abasing the power of their ecclesiastical opponents,
who still governed the royal mind ; or of changing
the dynasty, as at last took place, from Etheired to
Svein. Infatuation without treachery could hardly
have been so imbecile, as to have bought off an in-
vader a second time, when the nation was so powerful,
and the enemy so inferior.20
17 Sim. Dun. 162. Sax. Chron. 127.
18 Sax. Chron. 128. Flor. Wig. 366. Sim. Dun. 162.
19 Sax. Chron. 129. Flor. 367.
30 The sermon of Lupus, preached about this time, implies the insubordination
of the country, and its enmity to the clergy. He calls the nation « Priest- slayers,"
ANGLO-SAXONS. 267
Olave was invited to Ethelred's court, and, upon
receiving hostages for his safety, he went to the royal
city, where the king received him with honour.
During his visit, he received the Christian rite of
confirmation, and had rich presents. When he de-
parted for his country in the summer, he promised to
molest England no more, and he kept his word.21
The army of Svein, on the last capitulation, had 993.
wintered at Southampton. After three years' respite,
it resumed its hostilities, sailed along Wessex, and,
doubling the Land's End, entered the Severn, Wales,
and afterwards Cornwall and Devonshire, were in-
vested. Proceeding up the Thamar, they leaped from
their ships, and spread the flames as far as Lydeford.
The monastery of Tavistock fell amid the general
ruin. Their ships were laden with the plunder, and
the invaders wintered in security near the scene of
their outrage.22
Resuming their activity with the revival of vege-
tation, they visited the Frome, and spread over great
part of Dorset. Advancing thence to the Isle of
Wight, they made alternate insults on this district
and Dorsetshire, and compelled Sussex and Hamp-
shire to supply them with provisions.23 But was the
powerful nation of England thus harassed with im-
punity? When its enemies even stationed themselves
on its coasts in permanent hostility, was no exertion
directed to repress them ? The answer of history is,
that often was the Anglo-Saxon army collected to
punish, but as soon as the battle was about to com-
mence, either some treason or some misfortune pre-
vented. They quitted their ranks, and gave an easy
triumph to the half-welcomed Danes.24
nd robbers of the clergy, and laments the seditions that prevailed. See it ap.
lickes's Diss. Ep. 99—106.
21 Malmsb. 63. Sax. Chron. 129. Sim. Dun. 163.
22 Sim. Dun. 163. Sax. Chron. 129. Malmsb. 63.
23 Sax. Chron. 129. Sim. Dun. 164.
24 Flor.368. Sim. Dun. 163.
268 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK In the next year the Danish army, almost natural-
Etheired ised in England, approached the Thames, and, turn-
unread *n& ^° ^e Medway, surrounded Eochester. The
« "T y'> Kentishmen assembled to protect their city, but after
"8* a furious battle they yielded their dead to the in-
vaders, who, collecting horses, almost destroyed the
west of Kent.25
A naval and military armament was now ordered
against the invaders.26 But again the consequences
of the national disaffection occurred. The com-
manders, as if befriending the invaders, interposed
wilful delays in the equipment of the force. The
fleet, when ready, was merely assembled ; day after
day drawled on without exertion, and injured only
those who had been assessed to provide it. When-
ever it was about to sail, some petty obstacle delayed
it. The enemy was always permitted to increase and
unite his strength ; and when he chose to retire, then
our fleet pursued. Thus even the very means which,
properly used, would have cleared the British ocean
of its oppressors, only increased the calamity of the
nation. The people were called to labour to no pur-
pose; their money was wasted as emptily, and by
such mock preparations the enemies were more en-
couraged to invade.27 When the Danish forces re-
tired, the army of Ethelred almost depopulated
Cumberland. His fleet set sail to coast round Wales
and meet him; but the winds repelling them, they
ravaged the Isle of Man as the substitute.28
1000. A powerful diversion happened this year in favour
of Ethelred ; for the quarrel between Svein and Olave
attained its height. Assisted by a Swedish king29,
25 Sax. Chron. 130. Matt. West. 386. ™ Flor. 369.
27 Sax. Chron. 130. a Flor. 369. Sax. Chron. 130.
29 Sweden was at this time in the hand of many kings : " Isto tempore multi
erant Uplandiarum reges, suae singuli provinciae imperitantes — Heidmarkise impe-
rium tenuere duo fratres — Gudsbrandalise Gudrodus ; etiam Raumarikia suus erat
rex ; suus quoque Thotnise et Iladalandise nee non suus Valdresise." Snorre, vol. ii.
PP. 36, 37.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
269
and the son of Hakon Jarl 30, Svein attacked Olave
by surprise, near the Island of Wollin, with a great
superiority of force. The bravery of Olave could
not compensate for a deficiency of numbers. His
1 0OO
ship was surrounded ; but, disdaining to be a prisoner,
he leapt into the sea 31, and disappeared from pursuit.
Popular affection, unwilling to lose its favourite, gave
birth to that wild rumour which has so often at-
tended the death of the illustrious, that the king had
escaped the fray, and was living recluse on some dis-
tant shore.32 Authentic history places his death in
this battle.33
This diversion was made more complete by the
Northmen also molesting Normandy.34 But the in-
terval brought no benefit to England. The Danes
returned in 1001, with their usual facility. The
same measure was adopted notwithstanding its ex-
perienced inefficacy; and twenty-four thousand
pounds was the third ransom of the English nation.35
No measure could tend more to bring on the govern-
ment the contempt of the people.
The year 1002 has become memorable in the annals 1002.
of crime, by an action as useless as imbecility could
devise, and as sanguinary as cowardice could perpe-
trate. On the day before St. Brice's festival, every
city received secret letters from the king, command-
ing the people, at an appointed hour, to destroy the
Danes there suddenly by the sword, or to surround
and consume them with fire. This order was the
more atrocious, as the Danes were living in peace
30 Theodoric, c. xiv. p. 23. Ara Frode, p. 49. Snorre details the confederacy
against Olave, i. pp. 334 — 345. Saxo gives the Danish account, lib. x. p. 191.
31 Saxo, 191. Snorre, 345.
32 Theodoric, 24. The tale must have made impression, for Theodoric declares,
he knows not which relation was the truest.
33 Ara Frode dates it 130 years after the fall of Edmund in East Anglia, or in
1000, c. vii. p. 49. The conquerors shared Norway, Snorre, 348.
34 Sax.Chron. 130.
35 Sax. Chron, 132. Both the MS. Chronicles have 24,000/.
270
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Ethelred
the
Unready.
1002.
with the Anglo-Saxons. The expressions of Malms-
bury imply even an endeared amity of connection ;
for he says, with correct feeling, that it was miserable
to see every one betray his dearest guests, whom
the cruel necessity made only more beloved.36 To
murder those we have embraced, was an horrible
idea, which exhibits human nature in one of its most
degrading, yet most dreadful, possibilities, both of
conception and execution. Yet while our indigna-
tion rises against Ethelred and his counsellors for the
atrocity, we may reflect that the day of St. Bartho-
lomew, in the seventeenth century, shows that a
period, a court, and a nation far more enlightened
and polished, could imitate the barbarity. Such re-
petitions are no extenuations of a crime that no cir-
cumstance can make otherwise than detestable and
demon-like ; but they rescue our ancestors from the
stigma of being peculiarly ferocious.
The tyrannical command was obeyed. All the
Danes dispersed through England, with their wives,
families, and even youngest babes, were mercilessly
butchered.37 So dreadful was the excited spirit, that
Gunhilda, the sister of Svein, who had married an
English earl, had received Christianity, and had vo-
luntarily made herself the pledge of Danish peace,
36 Malmsb. 64. The Saxon Chronicle says that Ethelred ordered it, because it
had been reported to him that they had a design to murder him first, and then all
his witan, and thereupon to possess his kingdom without opposition, an. 1002. See
Miss Gurney's translation of it, p. 158.
87 Matt. West. 391.; Sax. Chron. 133. ; Flor.370. ; Sim. Dun. 165. ; Hoveden,
429. ; Had. Die. 461. ; Malmsb. 64. ; Hunt. 360. ; Brompton, 885. ; Knyghton,
2315. ; Walsingham Ypod. 18., unite in stating that all the Danes in England were
killed. That only the Danish soldiers in English pay were killed, appears to me
to have no foundation. Gunhilda and her family were not Danish mercenaries, nor
were the women and children of whom Wallingford speaks, whose loose authority
has been put against all the rest. We find that Edgar admitted many Danes into
England ; many more must have settled out of the different invaders in Ethelred's
reign. To what Danish families the cruel order extended, cannot now be ascer-
tained. I cannot think that it could possibly include those whose ancestors came
into England in Alfred's youth, and who settled in East Anglia and Northumbria,
because the four or five generations which had elapsed must have made them
Englishmen. How many perished cannot be explored. The crime of the schemers
depends not upon the number of the victims.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 271
was ordered to be beheaded by the infamous Edric. CHAP.
Her husband and boy were first slain in her presence. Etheired
She foretold the vengeance which would pour upon Dn^d
the English nation, and she joined her lifeless ' — » — '
friends.38 1002'
Great villany has been supposed to proceed from
great mental energy perverted. But Etheired evinced
an absolute incapability of the most common associa-
tions of human reasoning. That Svein would return
in vengeance was a natural expectation ; and yet the
person appointed to rescue England from his fury
was Alfric, whom the king had banished for his mis-
conduct, who had proved his gratitude for his pardon
by an enormous treachery ; whose son the king had
in return deprived of eye-sight; and who now by
some new intrigue was restored to favour.
Svein did not long delay the provoked invasion ; 1003.
he landed at Exeter, and by the treachery of the
Norman governor, whom the king had set over it, he
obtained and dismantled it.39 He proceeded through
the country to Wilts, avenging his murdered country-
men. The Anglo-Saxons, under Alfric, met him.
The instant that the battle was about to join, Alfric
affected a sudden illness and declined the contest.
Svein, availing himself of their divisions, led his
army through Salisbury to the sea-coast laden with
plunder.
In the next year, Svein came with his fleet to Nor- 1004.
wich, and burnt it. Ulfketul, the commander of
East Anglia, proposed to buy a peace ; yet finding
the enemy advancing and plundering, he made one
exertion against them40, but they regained their
ships. A famine now afflicted England, and the
Danes returned to the Baltic.41
38 Matt, West. 391. Malmsb. 69. » Flor. 371. "° Flor. 372.
41 Flor. 372. Sax. Chron. 134. The famine is a strong evidence of the extent
of Svcin's vindictive ravages.
272 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK Ethelred had, in 1002, married Emma, the daughter
Bthdred °f Richard I., the third duke of Normandy.42 The
the kind's infidelity and neglect was resented by his high-
Unready. . & ' o . J
« — , — » spirited queen. 6 Ine insult was personal, and her
l04' anger was natural ; but that her father should avenge
it by seizing all the English who happened to pass
into his dominions, by killing some and imprisoning
the rest M, was an act of barbarity which announces
the contempt into which England had sunk.
Never was such a nation plunged into calamity so
unnecessarily. The means were abundant of exter-
minating Svein, and such invaders, if a government
had but existed, with whom its people would have
co-operated. The report of Turketul to Svein gives
us an impressive picture of the English condition :
" A country illustrious and powerful ; a king asleep,
solicitous only about women and wine, and trembling
at war ; hated by his people, and derided by strangers.
Generals, envious of each other ; and weak governors,
ready to fly at the first shout of battle."45
Ethelred was liberal to poets who amused him.
Gunnlaugr, the Scalld, sailed to London, and pre-
sented himself to the king with an heroic poem46,
which he had composed on the royal virtues. He
sang it, and received in return a purple tunic, lined
with the richest furs, and adorned with fringe ; and
was appointed to a station in the palace.47 By a
42 Sax. Chron. 132. He had married an earl's daughter before, who brought
him Edmund. Ethel. Abb. 362.
43 Malmsb. 64.
44 Matt. West. 382. Walsingham narrates that Ethelred attempted an invasion
of Normandy, which ended very unfortunately. Ypodigma Neustrae, p. 16.
45 Malmsb. 69. * Gunnlaugi Saga, c. vii. p. 87.
47 Gunn. Saga, p. 89. When he left Ethelred, in the following spring, the king
gave him a gold ring which weighed seven ounces, and desired him to return in
autumn, p. 99. The Scalld was lucky. He went to Ireland and sang. The king
there wished to give him two ships, but was told by his treasurer, that poets had
always clothes, or swords, or gold rings. Gunnlaugr accordingly received fine gar-
ments and a gold ring, p. 103. In the Orkneys a poem procured him a silver axe,
p. 103. In Gothland he got an asylum for festivity in the winter, p. 105. At
Upsal he met another poet, Rafn, and, what was worse, when both had sung, the
ANGLO-SAXONS.
273
verse which remains of it, we may see that adulation
is not merely an indigenous plant of eastern climates,
or of polished times, but that it flourishes hardily,
even amid Polar snows, and in an age of pirates.
The soldiers of the king, and his subjects,
The powerful array of England,
Obey Ethelred,
A& if he was an angel of the beneficent Deity r.48
The history of successful devastation and pusillani-
mous defence, is too uniform and disgusting to be
detailed. In 1006, the Danes obtained 36,000/.49 In
1008, the feeble king oppressed his subjects with a
new exaction. Every 310 hides of land were assessed
to build and present one vessel, and every eight hides
were to furnish an helmet and breast-plate.60 The
hides of England, according to the best enumeration
of them which exists51, were 243,600. If we take
this as the criterion, the taxation produced an addi-
tional force of 785 ships, and armour for 30,450
men.
Ethelred had now selected a new favourite in
Edric ; a man of low birth, but eloquent, plausible,
and crafty. He is noted for excelling all men in
perfidy and cruelty. He was made Duke of Mercia
in 1007.52
The fleet, the product of the new assessment, as-
sembled at Sandwich. Brihtric, the brother of Edric,
and as ambitious and deceitful, accused Wulfnoth, the
king asked each for his opinion on the other's composition. The catastrophe need
hardly be mentioned. Rafn told Gunnlaugr, that there was an end of their friend-
ship, p. 115.
48 Gunnl. 89.
49 The printed Sax. Chron. p. 136. says 30,0007. The MS. Chron. Tib. B. i.
and B. 4. have 36,000/. Flor. 373. ; Mailros, 154. ; Hoveden, 430. ; Peterb. 34. ;
Al. Bev. 114. ; Sim. Dun. 166. ; and Rad. Die. 462. also give 36,000/.
w Sax. Chron. 136.
51 The very ancient catalogue which Spelman copied into his Glossary, 353., and
Camden into his Britannia, presents to us a detailed account of the hides in Eng-
land. Gale has published one almost similar, but not quite. Rer. Ang. vol. iii.
p. 748.
52 Flor. Wig. 373.
CHAP.
IX.
Ethelred
the
Unready.
1004.
VOL. II.
T
274 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK father of earl Godwin. Wulfnoth fled, and carried
Ethdred twenty ships with him, and commenced pirate,
unread Brihtric pursued with eighty ships, but a tempest
' — -v— ^ wrecked, and Wulfnoth burnt them. These events
°04* destroyed the confidence and the courage of the rest
of the fleet. It dispersed and retired.53 The annal-
ists add, that thus perished all the hopes of England.
In 1010, the triumph of the Danes was completed
in the surrender of sixteen counties of England, and
the payment of 4S,000/.54 Thus they divided the
country with Ethelred, as his father Edgar, the first
patron of the civil dissensions, had shared it unjustly
with the ill-used Edwin.
1013. The next '^invasion of Svein was distinguished by
the revolution of the government of the country.
The people gradually seceded from Ethelred, and
appointed the Dane their king. The earl of North-
umbria, and all the people in his district, the five
burghers, and all the army on the north of Watling-
street, submitted to his sovereignty.55 He ordered
them to supply provisions and horses, and committing
their hostages and his ships to his son Canute, he
commenced a visit of decisive conquest to the south.
Oxford and Winchester accepted his dominion ; but
London resisted, because Ethelred was in it.
Svein marched to Bath, and the duke Ethelmere,
and all the western Thanes, yielded themselves to
him. The citizens of London at last followed the
example.
53 Flor. Wig. 374. Sax. Chron. 137, 138. In mentioning Wulfnoth, the printed
Saxon Chronicle adds, that he was the father of earl Godwin, p. 137. The MS.
Chron. Tib. B. 1. has not these words, nor the Tib. B. 4., nor the Laud MS. which
Gibson quotes. As he only marks the Laud MS. to be without, I presume that
his other MSS. had them.
51 Flor. 375 — 378. Sax. Chron. 139 — 142. For a particular description of this
dismal period, see Osberne's Life of S. Elphegus, who was taken into Canterbury
and killed, because 3000/. were not paid for his ransom. They hurled bones and
skulls of cattle upon him, till one struck him on the head with an iron axe. Gur-
ney, Sax. Chron. 170. Was he one of the counsellors of Ethelred who were ob-
noxious to the Danish partisans ?
55 Sax. Chron. 143.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 27
Terrified by the universal disaffection, Ethelred CHAP.
sent his children into Normandy56, and privately Etheirec
withdrew to the Isle of Wight 57, where he passed his UnJ£®d
Christmas ; after which, on hearing of their good ' ,— ^
reception by his queen's brother, Richard, he departed EaJSJeJh
also himself, and was kindly received.58 flisht-
The new sovereignty of Svein was severe in its svein's
pecuniary exactions59, but it was short. He died,
the year after his elevation, at Gainsborough.60
This event produced a new change in the Anglo- 1013.
Saxon politics. The Danish soldiers in England, the
Thinga-manna 61, appointed Canute, the son of Svein,
for their king 62 ; but the English chieftains sent to
Ethelred to offer him the crown again, on condition
that he should govern rightly, and be less tyran-
nical.63
56 Sax.Chron. 143, 144. Flor. Wig. 379, 380. Malmsb. 69. This author re-
marks, that the Londoners did not abandon the king till he fled himself. He says
of them in high panegyric : " Laudandi prorsus viri et quos Mars ipse collata non
sperneret hasta si ducem habuissent "
57 Cumque clandestinis itineribus. Malmsb. p. 69.
58 Malmsb. 70. Flor. 380.
59 Hermannus, who wrote in 1070, thus describes his pecuniary exactions:
" Sueyn insuper lugubre malum scilicet ubique ponit tributum quod infortunium
hodieque luit Anglia, multum felix, dives ac dulcis nimium si non forent tributa."
MS. Tib. B. 2. p. 25. In 1821 Dr. Henderson found that near the banks of the
Ladoga, in Russia, a number of coins had been dug up, bearing inscriptions of
Cufic characters, and also one with the Latin inscription, "Ethelred, Rex Anglo-
rum." He justly thinks this to have been part of the Danengeld levied by the
Danes in England. Bibl. Researches. Many adventurers from the Baltic, beside
Danes, fought under Svein.
60 The annalists are fond of stating, that he was killed by St. Edmond ; Snorre
adds a curious comparison. " Just," says he, " as Julian the Apostate was killed
by Saint Mercury" Saga Olafl Helga, c. ix. p. 10.
61 The body of troops who, during Svein's prosperity, and the reigns of his pos-
terity, became stationary in England, are called Thinga-manna by Snorre, torn. ii.
p. 15. The Olaf Tryggvason's Saga, p. 100. ; and the Knytlinga Saga (Celto
Scand. p. 103.) say, they received appointed stipends. Their commander, Heming,
kept the conquered country in subjection to Canute. Two of their orders were,
not to disperse rumours, and not to go beyond their city of a night. Trygg. Saga,
p. 100. Celto Sc.
f2 The Saga state Canute to have been but ten years of age at Svein's death.
But this is a mistake.
63 Flor. Wig. 381. "They assured him, that no one was dearer to them than
their natural lord, if he would govern them more righteously than he did before."
Gur. Sax. Chron. 173. About this time occurred the war against Brian, king of
Connaught See the Niala Saga in Celto Scand. 107 — 116. and 120 — 129. I
mention it, because to this battle belong the poetical vision of the Northern
destinies, and the Scaldic Ode, which Gray has so vigorously translated in his Fatal
Sisters.
T 2
276 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK Ethelred sent his son Edward to make the required
EtheLd promises of good government.64 Pledges were ex-
ui-re^d changed for the faithful performance of the contract ;
1 — , — ' every Danish king was declared a perpetual outlaw65,
'13' and in Lent the king returned.
Canute had now to maintain his father's honours
by his sword. Confronted by a powerful force of the
English, he sailed from East-Anglia to Sandwich, and
knded the hostages which his father had received for
the obedience of the English. But in revenge for the
opposition of the nation, he brutally maimed them of
their hands and noses.66 They were children of the
first nobility.67 Canute then retired to Denmark to
watch his interests there, and to provide the means
for stronger exertions to gain the crown of Eng-
land.68
To make head against Canute, Ethelred dispersed,
around the neighbouring countries, high promises of
reward to every warrior who would join the English
standard 69 : a great number came to him. Among
these was Olave the son of Harald Graenski, a Nor-
wegian sea-king, who, in 1007, at twelve years of age,
had begun his maritime profession under a military
tutor.70 He afterwards obtained the crown of Nor-
way, and the reputation of a saint. He arrived in
England in the year of Svein's death.71
Canute called to his aid Eric the Jarl, one of the
rulers of Norway, and one of the sons of Hakon the
Bad 72, and sailed to England. His abilities made his
64 Flor. 381. He said, " that he would amend all that had been complained of,
if they would return to him with one consent and without guile." Sax. Chron.
G. 173.
65 Sax. Chron. 145. » Flor. 382. 67 Malmsb. 71.
88 Encomium Emmse, written by a contemporary, 167. Svein's body was car
ried to Roschild, and buried. The autumn closed with an inundation of the sea,
which laid the towns and country for many miles under water, and destroyed the
inhabitants. Flor. 382. Malmsb. 71.
69 Snorre Olafi Helga, c. vi. p. 6. 70 Snorre, p. 3.
71 Snorre, p. 9. Knytlinga Saga, p. 103.
72 Knytlinga Saga, p. 10. Eric had gained great fame in two battles; one
ANGLO-SAXOXS.
277
advance the march of victory. The perfidious Edric
crowned the treasons of his life by flying to Canute
with forty ships. Wessex submitted to the invaders,
and gave hostages for its fidelity.73
The hostilities of the contending parties were now
fast assuming the shape of decision. To Canute's
well-arranged army, Edmund, the son of Ethelred,
endeavoured to oppose a competent force; but the
panic of the king, excited by rumoured treachery,
disappointed his hopes. Edmund then roused the
Northern chiefs to predatory excursions, but the
energy of Canute prevented success. The Danes
marched through Buckinghamshire to Bedford, and
thence advanced to York. Uhtred, the earl of North-
umbria, and the people, abandoned Edmund, and
gave hostages to Canute.74 Leaving his friend Eric
Jaii in the government of the country, Canute re-
turned to his ships. At this crisis, the death of Ethel-
red released England from its greatest enemy.70
1013.
against Olave, Tryggva's son, the other against the Jomsburgers, Snorre, ii. p. 23.
Svein had given Norway to Eric and his brother Hakon. When Eric came to
England, he left his brother Hakon to govern all Norway, whom St. Olave expelled.
Snorre, p. 211. Hakon was drowned. Ib. 321.
73 Sax. Chron. 146.
74 The Knytlinga Saga gives a particular description of Canute's exertions, inter-
spersed with many quotations from the scallds, Ottar the Swarthy, Hallvardr, and
Thordr, 104 — 107. Among the nobles who came with Canute were, Ulfr Jarl,
the son of Sprakalegs, who had married Canute's sister, Astrida. Heming, and
his brother, Thorkell the Lofty, sons of the Earl-street Haralldr, were also in his
army. Ib.
75 we have a contemporary picture of the internal state of England during this
reign, in the Sermon of Lupus, one of the Anglo-Saxon bishops.
" We perpetually pay them (the Danes) tribute, and they ravage us daily. They
ravage, burn, spoil, and plunder, and carry off our property to their ships. Such
is their successful valour, that one of them will in battle put ten of our men to
flight. Two or three will drive a troop of captive Christians through the country
from sea to sea. Very often they seize the wives and daughters of our thanes, and
cruelly violate them before the great chieftain's face. The slave of yesterday be-
comes the master of his lord to-day, or he flies to the Vikingr, and seeks his owner's
life in the earliest battle.
" Soldiers, famine, flames, and effusion of blood, abound on every side. Theft
and murder, pestilence, diseases, calumny, hatred, and rapine, dreadfully afflict us.
" Widows are frequently compelled into unjust marriages; many are reduced to
penury and are pillaged. The poor men are sorely seduced and cruelly betrayed,
and, though innocent, are sold far out of this land to foreign slavery. Cradle
children are made slaves out of this nation, through an atrocious violation of the
T 3
278
HISTORY OF THE
1013.
law for little stealings. The right of freedom is taken away : the rights of the
servile are narrowed, and the right of charity is diminished.
" Freemen may not govern themselves, nor go where they wish, nor possess their
own as they like. Slaves are not suffered to enjoy what they have obtained from
their allowed leisure, nor what good men have benevolently given for them. The
clergy are robbed of their franchises, and stripped of all their comforts."
After mentioning many vices, he adds, that " far and wide the evil custom has
prevailed of men being ashamed of their virtue ; of good actions even incurring
contempt ; and of the public worship being publicly derided." Sermo Lupi ap.
Hickes, Dissert. Epist. pp. 99 — 106. Elfric, another contemporary, thought the
state of things so bad that he believed doomsday to be approaching, and the world
very near its end. MSS. Vit. St. Neot.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 279
CHAP. X.
The Reign of EDMUND Ironside.
AT length the sceptre of the Anglo-Saxons came into
the hand of a prince able to wield it with dignity to
himself, and prosperity to his people. Like Athel-
stan, he was illegitimately born ; but his spirit was ioie.
full of energy; and his constitution was so hardy,
that he obtained the surname of Ironside. It was
his misfortune that he attained the crown in a stormy
season ; and, before his character and talents could
be duly known or estimated, he had to conflict with
a king, perhaps greater than himself. Had Edmund,
like his father, acceded to the crown of a tranquil,
united, and thriving nation, the abilities of a Canute
might have been foiled. But Edmund succeeded to
the care of a divided people, half of whose territory
was in the occupation of his enemy. He had no
interval of respite to recruit his strength, or reform
his country. He was dishonourably killed in the full
exertion of his abilities.
An important struggle ensued between Edmund
and Canute for the possession of London. It was
long besieged in vain, sometimes by a part of Canute's
forces, sometimes by all. London was at this time
defended, on the south, by a wall which extended
along the river.1 The ships of Canute, from Green-
wich, proceeded to London. The Danes built a
strong military work on the south bank of the river,
and drew up their ships on the west of the bridge, so
1 Stephanides, in his description of London, written about 1190, so declares:
" Similiterque ab austro Lundonia murata et turrita fuit," p. 3. Lond. 1723.
T 4
280 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK as to cut off all access to the city. Edmund vigo-
VI <
Edmund rously defended it a while in person ; and when his
ironside. presence was required elsewhere, the brave citizens
ioi6. made it impregnable.2
During the siege, Edmund fought two battles with
the Danes in the country: one at Pen in Dorset-
shire: the other, the most celebrated, at Scearstan,
about Midsummer.
Battle at Edmund selected the bravest soldiers for his first
line of attack, and placed the rest as auxiliary bodies ;
then noticing many of them individually, he appealed
to their patriotism and their courage, with that fire
of eloquence which rouses man to energetic deeds.
He conjured them to remember their country, their
beloved families, and paternal habitations: for all these
they were to fight ; for all these they would conquer.
To rescue or to surrender these dear objects of their
attachments, would be the alternative of that day's
struggle. His representations warmed his soldiers ;
and in the height of their enthusiasm, he bade the
trumpets to sound, and the charge of battle to begin.
Eagerly his brave countrymen rushed against their
invaders, and were nobly led by their heroic king.
He quitted his royal station to mingle in the first
ranks of the fight ; and yet, while he used his sword
with deadly activity, his vigorous mind watched
eagerly every movement of the field. He struggled
to blend the duty of commander and the gallant bear-
ing of a soldier. Edric and two other generals, with
the men of Wilts and Somerset, aided Canute. On
Monday, the first day of the conflict, both armies
2 Sax. Chron. 148. ; Flor. 385. ; and Knytlinga Saga, 135—137. The verses
of the scallds, Thordr, and Ottar the Swarthy, are cited on this subject. Snorre
gives an account of Saint Olave, the Norwegian sea-king, assisting in the struggle
at London. The principal achievement of Olave was to destroy the fortified bridge
from Southwark, which he calls a great emporium to the city, which the Danes
defended. The effort, somewhat romantic, is sung by Ottar and Sigvatr. Saga af
Olafl Haga, pp. 11— 13.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 281
fought with unprevailing courage, and mutual fatigue CHAP.
compelled them to separate.3 Edmund
In the morning the awful struggle was renewed. .Iro"side-.
In the midst of the conflict, Edmund forced his way ioie.
to Canute, and struck at. him vehemently with his
sword. The shield of the Dane saved him from the
blow ; but it was given with such strength, that it
divided the shield, and cut the neck of the horse
below it. . A crowd of Danes then rushed upon Ed-
mund ; and, after he had slain many, he was obliged
to retire. Canute was but slighty wounded.4 While
the king was thus engaged, Edric struck off the head
of one Osmear, whose countenance resembled the
king's, and raising it on high, exclaimed to the Anglo-
Saxons that they fought to no purpose. " Fly, ye
men of Dorset and Devon ! Fly, and save yourselves.
Here is your Edmund's head."5 The astonished
English gazed in terror. The king was not then
visible, for he was piercing the Danish centre. Edric
was believed, and panic began to spread through
every rank. At this juncture Edmund appeared re-
ceding before the pressure of the Danes, who had
rescued Canute. He saw the malice, and sent his
spear as his avenger : Edric shunned the point, and
it pierced two men near him. But his presence was
now unavailing. In vain he threw off his helmet,
and, gaining an eminence, exposed his disarmed head
to undeceive his warriors. The fatal spirit had gone
forth ; and, before its alarms could be counteracted,
the army was in flight. All the bravery and skill
of Edmund could only sustain the combat till night
interposed.6
The difficulty of the battle disinclined Canute from
3 Flor. Wig. 385, 386.
* I derive this paragraph from the Knytlinga Saga, p. 130. Ottar the Swartliy
celebrates the battle, and places it near the Tees, p. 131., in Johnstone's Celto
Scandicae.
5 Flor. Wig. 386. « Ibid.
282 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK renewing it. He left the contested field at midnight,
Edmund and marched afterwards to London to his shipping.
ironside, ^he morn revealed his retreat to Edmund. The
loie. perfidious Edric, discerning the abilities of the king,
made use of his relationship and early connection
(he had married Edmund's sister, and had been his
foster-father) to obtain a reconciliation. Edmund
consented to receive him on his oath of fidelity.7
Edmund followed Canute to London, and raised
the siege of the city. A conflict soon followed be-
tween the rivals at Brentford.8 Both parties claim
the victory.9 As Canute immediately afterwards
beleagured London again, the laurel seems to have
been obtained by him. Baffled by the defence, he
avenged himself on Mercia, whose towns, as usual,
were committed to the flames, and he withdrew up
the Medway. Edmund again urged the patriotic
battle at Otford in Kent, and drove him to Shepey.
A vigorous pursuit might have destroyed all Canute's
hopes ; but the perfidious counsels of Edric preserved
the defeated invader.10
Battle of When Edmund withdrew to Wessex, Canute passed
Assandun. ^o Essex ; and thence advancing, plundered Mercia
without mercy. Edmund, earnest for a decisive ef-
fort, again assembled all the strength of England,
and pursued the Dane, who was retiring to his ships
with his plunder. At Assandun, in the north part
of Essex, the armies met. Edmund arranged his
countrymen into three divisions, and, riding round
every rank, he roused them, by his impressive ex-
7 It is the Knytlinga Saga which informs us that Edric had brought up Edmund :
"Cujus tamen nutricius iste Heidricus fuit," p. 139.
8 Flor. Wig. 387. Sax. Chron. 149. The Knytlinga Saga quotes the verses of
the scalld Ottar on this battle, p. 134.
9 Florence and his countrymen give the victory to Edmund. The Knytlinga
Saga says, Canute conquered ; and adds, that the town was destroyed, p. 134.
10 Flor. 387. Snorre mentions, that St. Olave fought at Canterbury ; and quotes
Ottar the Swarthy upon it, p. 14. ; but I cannot be certain that it was at this
period.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 283
hortations, to remember their own valour, and their
former victories. He entreated them to protect the
kingdom from Danish avarice, and to punish, by a
new defeat, the enemies they had already conquered. 1016.
Canute brought his troops gradually into the field.
Edmund made a general and impetuous attack. His
vigour and skill again brought victory to his arms.
The star of Canute was clouded; when Edric, his
secret ally, deserting Edmund in the very hour of
success, fled from the field with the men of Radnor,
and all the battalions he commanded. The charge
of Canute on the exposed and inferior Anglo-Saxons
was then decisive. The valour of Edmund was for-
gotten. Flight and destruction overspread the plain.
A few, jealous of their glory, and anxious to give a
rallying point to the rest, fought desperately amid
surrounding enemies, and were all cut off but one
man. In this dismal conflict the flower of the no-
bility of England perished.11
The betrayed Edmund disdained the death of
despair, and attempted new efforts to rescue his af-
flicted country. He retired to Gloucester ; and, such
was his activity and eloquence, that a fresh army
was around him before Canute overtook him. Ed-
mund then challenged Canute to decide their quarrel
by a single combat.12
Some authorities13 assert that they fought in the Edmund
islet of Olney, near the bridge of Gloucester, a small Canute?'3
plain almost encircled by the winding of the river14;
11 Malmsb. 72. Flor. Wig. 388. Sax. Chron. 150. The Knytlinga Saga, and
the scalld Ottar, notice this conflict, p. 134. Snorre places one of St. Olave's battles
in a place in which he calls Hringmaraheide. He says, this was in the land of
Ulf kell, p. 13. This expression somewhat approximates it to the battle of Assan-
dun, for Ulf kell governed the eastern districts of the island ; and Dr. Gibson places
this conflict at Assington in Essex. Camden thought it was Ashdown, in the north
part of that county.
12 I follow Malmsbury in ascribing the proposal to Edmund, p. 72.
13 Huntingdon, 363. ; Matt. West. 400. ; Peterb. 36.; Knygt. 2316. ; Brompton,
905. ; Higden, 274. ; Rieval, 364. ; Rad. Nig. MS. ; Vesp. D. 10. p. 25. ; mention
the duel.
11 The kings are stated to have caught each other's spears in their shields, and
284
HISTOKY OF THE
1016.
BOOK other chroniclers declare that Canute declined the
Edmund meeting15; but the result was, that a pacification
ironside^ wa's agreed upon between the princes ; and England
was divided between them. Canute was to reign in
the north, and Edmund in the south. The rival
princes exchanged arms and garments ; the money
for the fleet was agreed upon, and the armies sepa-
rated.16
The brave Edmund did not long survive the paci-
fication. He perished the same year. The circum-
stances attending his assassination are variously
given. Malmsbury mentions that two of his cham-
berlains were seduced by Edric to wound him at a
most private moment with an iron hook ; but he
states this to be only rumour.17 The king's violent
death, and its author, are less reservedly avowed by
others.18 The northern accounts go even farther.
The Knytlinga Saga and Saxo carry up the crime
as high as Canute. They expressly state that Edric
was corrupted by Canute to assassinate Edmund.19
A remarkable character began his progress to
greatness in this reign : this was the famous earl
Godwin, who possessed a power little less than sove-
with their swords advanced to a closer conflict. Their battle lasted till the strength
of Canute began to fail before the impetuosity of Edmund. The Dane is then
described as proposing to the Anglo-Saxon an amicable arrangement, by dividing
the kingdom.
15 These are Malmsb. 72. and the Encom. Emma?, 169., two important autho-
rities. The Saxon Chronicle, Florence, Hoveden, and some others, neither mention
the challenge nor the conflict. The Knytlinga Saga is as silent, and this silence
turns the scale against the combat.
16 Flor. Wig. 389. Sax. Chron. 150. 17 Malmsb. 72.
18 As Hunt. 363. ; Matt. West. 401. ; Hist El. 502. ; Hist. Ram. 434. ; Petrob.
37. ; Ingulf, 57. ; and many others. Hermannus, who wrote within fifty years
after this event, says, " Nocte siquidem sequentis dici festivitatis Sancti Andreae
Lundonise perimitur insidiis Edrici Streane perfidissimi ducis." Cotton Lib. MS.
Tib. B. 2. The encomiast of Emma says, he was long and greatly lamented by
his people, p. 171.
19 " Erat tune temporis inter Anglos vir potens, Heidricus Striona nomine. Is
a rege Canute pecunia corruptus est ut Jatmundum clam interficeret. Hoc modo
Jatmundus rex periit." Knytl. Saga, p. 139. To the same purpose Saxo, " Memo-
rant alii Edvardum clandestine Canuti imperio occisum," lib. x. p. 193. Snorre
says, " Eodem mense Heinrikus Striona occidit Edmundum regem." Olafi Helga,
p. 24. Adam of Bremen says he was poisoned, p. 31 .
Rise of earl
Godwin.
man's son.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 285
reign for three reigns, and whose son Harold was the
last of the Anglo-Saxon kings. His origin has never
yet been mentioned in English history ; but as the
rise of poverty to grandeur is always an interesting
contemplation, we will state the short history of God-
win's elevations.
That Godwin was the son of an herdsman, is a An herds-
fact recorded in the MS. Chronicle of Kadulphus "
Niger. This author says explicitly what no other
has mentioned, "Earl Godwin was the son of an
herdsman." It adds, that he was brought up by
Canute.20 How the son of a Saxon herdsman came
to be brought up by Canute, the note will explain.21
20 It is a MS. in the Cotton Library, Vespasian, D. 10. In the second side of
page 27., it says, " Godwinus comes filius bubulci fuit." It adds, " Hie Godwinus
a rege Cnutone nutritus processu temporis in Daciam cum breve regis transmissus
callide duxit sororem Cnutonis."
21 The Knytlinga Saga gives us that explanation which no other document
affords.
One of the Danish chieftains, who accompanied Canute to England, has been
noticed to have been Ulfr, the son of Sprakalegs, who had married Canute's sister
Astrida. In the battle of Skorstein, between Canute and Edmund, he fought in
Canute's first line, and pursued part of the English fugitives into a wood so eagerly,
that, when he turned to rejoin his friends, he saw no path ; he wandered about it
only to bewilder himself, and night involved him before he had got out of it. In
the morning he beheld near him a full-grown youth driving cattle to their pasture.
He saluted the lad, and inquired his name : he was answered, " Gudin," or
Godwin.
Ulfr requested the youth to show him the track which would lead him to Canute's
ships. Godwin informed him that he was at a great distance from the Danish
navy ; that the way was across a long and inhospitable wood : that the soldiers of
Canute were greatly hated by the country people ; that the destruction of yester-
day's battle at Skorstein was known around ; that neither he nor any soldier of
Canute's should be safe if the peasants saw him ; nor would the person be more
secure who should attempt to assist an enemy.
Ulfr, conscious of his danger, drew a gold ring from his finger, and proffered it to
the youth, if he would conduct him to his friends. Godwin contemplated it awhile ;
but that greatness of mind which sometimes accompanies talents even in a lowly
state, glowed within him ; and, in an emanation of a noble spirit, he exclaimed, " I
will not accept your ring, but I will try to lead you to your friends. If I succeed,
reward me as you please."
He led Ulfr first to his father's humble mansion, and the earl received an hos-
pitable refreshment.
When the shades of night promised secrecy, two horses were saddled, and Ulfnadr,
the father, bade the earl farewell. " We commit to you our only son, and hope,
that if you reach the king, and your influence can avail, you will get him admitted
into the royal household. Here he cannot stay ; for, should our party know that
.he preserved you, his safety would be doubtful." Perhaps Ulfnadr remembered
the high fortunes of his uncle Edric, who was now duke of Mercia ; and hoped that,
286
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Edmund
Ironside.
1016.
if his son could get a station in the royal palace, he might, like Edric, ascend from
poverty to greatness.
Godwin was handsome, and fluent in his elocution. His qualities and services
interested IJlfr, and a promise to provide for him was freely pledged.
They travelled all night, and in the next day they reached the station of Canute,
where Ulfr, who was much beloved, was very joyfully received. The grateful Jarl
placed Godwin on a lofty seat, and had him treated with the respect which his
own child might have claimed. He continued his attachment so far, as afterwards
to marry him to Gyda, his sister. To oblige Ulfr, Canute, in time, raised Godwin
to the dignity of Jarl. Knytlinga Saga, 105. and 131 — 133.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
287
CHAP. XL
CAXUTE the Great.
CANUTE, from his warlike ability, surnamed the Brave;
from his renown and empire, the Great ; from his
liberality, the Rich ; and from his devotion, the
Pious1, obtained, on Edmund's death, the sovereignty
of all England at the age of twenty.2
The Northerns have transmitted to us the portrait
of Canute : he was large in stature, and very power-
ful ; he was fair, and distinguished for his beauty ;
his nose was thin, eminent, and aquiline ; his hair
was profuse ; his eyes bright and fierce.3
He was chosen king by general assent ; his par-
tisans were numerous in the country, and who could
resist his power ? His measures to secure his crown
were sanguinary and tyrannical ; but the whole of
Canute's character breathes an air of barbaric
grandeur. He was formed by nature to tower amidst
his contemporaries : but his country and his education
intermixed his greatness with a ferocity that compels
us to shudder while we admire. In one respect he
was fortunate ; his mind and manners refined as his
age matured. The first part of his reign was cruel
1 Dr. Hickes's dedication to his Thesaurus. His baptismal name was Lambert.
Frag. Isl. 2 Lang. 426.
2 The Knytlinga Saga, and Olave Tryggvason Saga, state Canute to have been
but ten years old at his father's death. If so, he could be only twelve at his
accession. This is not probable. One document speaks more truly. Snorre, in
his Saga af Magnusi Goda, states Canute to have been forty when he died. This
was in 1035 ; and therefore in 1016, he must have been twenty-one. Snorre's
words are, " Eodem autumno vita functus est rex Knutus potens in Anglia idibus
Novembris natus tune annos quadraginta" c. iv. p. 7.
3 Knytlinga Saga, p. 148.
CHAP.
XI.
Canute
the Great.
1016.
288
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Canute
the Great.
1016.
and despotic. His latter days shone with a glory
more unclouded.
His first policy was against the children of Ethel-
red and Edmund. One of his scallds, Sighvatr, sings
that all the sons of Ethelred he slew or banished.4
The Saxon annalist assures us that he determined at
first to exile Edwig, the half-brother of Edmund;
but finding the English nobles both submissive and
adulating, he proceeded to gratify his ambition by
taking the prince's life. The infamous Edric sug-
gested to him a man, Ethel wold, a nobleman of high
descent, who would undertake to accomplish his
criminal desires. The king incited Ethelwold to the
measure. " Acquiesce with my wishes, and you
shall enjoy securely all the honour and dignity of
your ancestors. Bring me his head, and you shall
be dearer to me than a brother." This was the lan-
guage of a northern vikingr, to whom human life
was of no value. Ethelwold affected a compliance ;
but his seeming readiness was but an artifice to get
the child into his power, and to preserve his life.
Edwig did not ultimately escape. The next year he
was deceived by those whom he most esteemed ; and,
by Canute's request and command, he was put to
death.5
With the same guilty purpose, he seized Edward
and Edmund the children of the last king; but he
was counselled that the country would not endure
their destruction. Alarmed from immediate crime,
he sent them to the king of Sweden, to be killed.
This prince was too noble to be a murderer, and had
them conveyed to Salomon, the king of Hungary, to
4 Attamen singulos.
Deinceps filiorum Adelradi
Vel interfecit Ciiutus
Vel proscripsit.
Sigvatr Knutzdrapu, quoted in Knytl. Saga, p. 140.
6 JFlor. Wig. 390, 391.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 289
be preserved and educated.6 One died; the other, CHAP.
Edward, married Agatha, the daughter of Henry, Canute
the German emperor ; and their issue was Edgar the Great
Atheling, who will be remembered in a future reign. ioi6.
Canute, reserving to himself the immediate govern-
ment of Wessex, committed East Anglia to Turketul,
whose valour had greatly contributed to the subjec-
tion of England. He gave Mercia to Edric, and
Northumbria to his friend Eric, the Norwegian
prince. He made a public treaty of amity with the
English chiefs and people, and by mutual agreement
all enmities were laid aside. In the same year, the
solemn compact was violated; for he slew three
English noblemen without a fault.7 He banished
Edwig, the king of the peasants8, and divided the
estates of the nobles among his Danish friends.
The punishment of Edric would have been a
homage to virtue from any other person than Canute.
The crime he prompted he should not have punished.
But it is an observation almost as old as human na-
ture, that traitors are abhorred by their employers.
In the first days of Canute's unsettled throne, he
confirmed Edric in his Mercian dukedom; but having
used the profligate Saxon to establish his dignity, on
the next claim of reward, he expressed his latent
feelings. Edric imprudently boasted of his services :
" I first deserted Edmund, to benefit you ; for you I
killed him." Canute coloured ; for the anger of con-
scious guilt and irrepressible shame came upon him.
" 'Tis fit, then, you should die, for your treason to
6 Flor. Wig. 391.
7 Sine culpa. Flor. 391. Mailros, 155. The Encomium Emmae says, he killed
many princes : " Multos principum quadam die occidere pro hujusmodi dolo
juberet." The dolus here alleged was, that they had deceived Edmund. Their
real crime may have been that they were powerful, and that their submission was
dubious. Ingulf, 58., and the Annals of Burton, 247., mention some of Edric's
friends as killed.
8 Cyopla cyns. Sax. Chron. 151. qui rex appellabatur rusticorum. Flor. Wig.
398. Brompton says he was the brother of Edmund, 907. ; but I doubt that this
is an error.
VOL. II. U
290
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
Canute
the Great.
loie.
1018.
1025
God and me. You killed your own lord ! him who
by treaty and friendship was ray brother ! your blood
be upon your own head, for murdering the Lord's
anointed ; your own lips bear witness against you."
The villain who perpetrated the fact was confounded
by the hypocrite who had countenanced it. Eric,
the ruler of Norway, was called in, that the royal in-
tention might be secretly executed. He struck down
the wretch with his battle-axe, and the body was
thrown from the window into the Thames, before
any tumult could be raised among his partisans.9
The two sons of Ethelred, by Emma, were sheltered
in Normandy.
Canute married Emma, called also Elfgiva, the
widow of Ethelred. He distinguished his next year
by a most oppressive exaction : from London he
compelled 10,500 pounds, and from the rest of the
kingdom 72,000.
To soothe the country, he sent home the largest
portion of his Danish troops, keeping only forty
vessels in England. In this he displayed the confi-
dence of a noble mind. He maintained an exact
equality between the two nations, in ranks, council,
and war. In 1019, England was so tranquil, that
he went to Denmark, and passed the winter in his
native country.
Canute maintained his dignity with a severe hand.
In 1020, after his return from the Baltic, he held a
great council in the Easter festivity at Cirencester.
At this he banished the duke Ethelwerd. In 1021,
he also exiled the celebrated Turketul.
In this year the Anglo-Saxons obscurely intimate
that Canute went to Denmark, where he was attacked
9 This narration is taken from Malmsb. 73. compared with Encom. Emma;.
The circumstances of his death are told differently, as usual. Florence admits
that he was killed in the king's palace ; but one says, that he was hanged ; another,
that he was strangled ; another, that he was beheaded. Human testimony is
characterised by these petty variations.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
291
by Ulfr and Eglaf, with a fleet and army from CHAP.
Sweden. In one struggle Canute was unsuccessful ; Canute
but afterwards the young earl Godwin attacked the ,the Great
enemies of Canute by surprise, with the English 1025.
troops, and obtained a complete victory. This event
raised Godwin and the English very greatly in the
king's estimation.10
The Eglaf was St. Clave, who had possessed him-
self of the kingdom of Norway. Canute, occupied
by his English crown, made at first no pretensions
to the Norwegian sceptre.11 The submission of
England gave him leisure to turn the eye of ambition
to the mountains of Norway.12 Claims, those slight
veils with which states desirous of war always cover
their unjust projects, to conceal their deformity from
the giddy populace ; claims adapted to interest the
passions of vulgar prejudice, existed to befriend Ca-
nute. His father had conquered Norway ; his rela-
tion, Ha co, had been driven from it. Many of the
people who had most loudly welcomed St. Olave, had
become dissatisfied at his innovations, and invited
Canute to interfere.13
The detail of the struggle between Canute and
St. Olave need not be narrated here. Ulfr at first
was among the enemies of Canute. He was after-
wards pardoned and reconciled u ; and in the king's
conflict with the Swedes, was the means of saving
Canute's life.15
At a feast in Roschild, Canute, according to Snorre,
quarrelled with Ulfr at gaming. The indignant Jarl
prudently retired. Canute taunted him on his
cowardice for withdrawing. " Was I a coward when
I rescued you from the fangs of the Swedish dogs ? "
was the answer of the irritated Ulfr. Canute went
w Sax. Chron. 154. Matt. West. 405. » Snorre, vol. ii. p. 144.
12 Ibid. p. 212. 13 Ibid. 212, 213.
11 See Snorre, 26 — 69. ; and compare Saxo'd account, 195, 196.
15 Snorre, 271, 272
u 2
292
HISTORY OF THE
1025.
102*.
1031.
to his couch, and slept upon his resentment ; but his
fierce arid haughty soul waked in the morning to
demand blood. He sent his mandate, and Ulfr was
stabbed in a church which he had entered.16 Canute
descended so far beneath the courage of a hero, as
to corrupt the subjects of Clave from their fidelity by
money.17 Canute supported his insidious negotia-
tions by a powerful fleet. Fifty ships of English
thanes were with him ; and every district in Norway
which he approached accepted him as its lord.18 He
exacted for hostages the sons and dearest relations
of the chiefs of Norway, and appointed Haco, the
son of his friend Eric, to be the governor of his con-
quests.19
St. Olave retired before the storm, which he was
unable to confront, and took shelter in Russia. Haco
sailed to England for his wife ; but he was doomed
to visit Norway no more. The last time his ship was
seen on his return, was, late in the day, off Caithness,
in Scotland : a furious storm was
raging,
and the
wind was driving him towards the Pentland Firth :
neither the vessel nor any of its mariners appeared
again,20 In the next year, St. Olave returned; but
perished from the insurrection of his subjects, whom
he had offended by his laws to accelerate their civi-
lisation.
In 1031, Canute penetrated Scotland, and subdued
Malcolm, and two other kings.21 Snorre says, he
conquered great part of it.22
Canute had the fame of reigning over six king-
18 Snorre, 276, 277.
17 Flor. Wig. 393. Theodoric, p. 29. Snorre, 278.
18 Snorre, 295. 19 Ibid. 296.
20 Ibid. 321. Theodoric says, he was lost in the whirlpool of the Pentland
Firth.
21 Sax. Chron. 154. Hen. Hunt. 364. A northern scalld calls the kings, the
two kings of Fife.
22 P. 144. The Knytlinga Saga adds, that he appointed his son Harald to
govern his conquests. On the gigantic bones said to be found, 1520, in the place
of the conflicts between Canute and Malcolm, they who think it worth while may
read Stephanius's note on Saxo, p. 27.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
293
doms.23 Asa soldier he was certainly eminent ; but,
fortunately for his fame, a few incidents have been
preserved concerning him, which rescue his character
from the charge of indiscriminate barbarism, and
claim for him the reputation of a lofty mind.
He seems to have been one of those men, who feel
that they are born to merit the approbation of future
generations, and whose actions become sublimer, as
their name seems likely to be perpetuated. He lived
to posterity as well as to his country. It was in this
strain, that, having in a moment of intemperance killed
a soldier, and by that criminal deed violated a law
which he had enforced on others, he assembled his
troops, descended from his splendid throne, arraigned
himself for his crime, expressed his penitence, but
demanded a punishment. He proclaimed impunity
for their opinions to those whom he appointed his
judges; and, in the sight of all, cast himself humbly
on the ground, awaiting their sentence. A burst of
tears, at his greatness of soul, bedewed every spec-
tator. They respectfully withdrew to deliberate, as
he had required, and at last determined to let him
appoint and inflict his own punishment. The king
accepted the task. Homicide was at that time punish-
able by a mulct of forty talents. He fined himself
three hundred and sixty, and added nine talents of
gold as a further compensation.24
There is something in the incident of the sea,
which discovers a mind of power, looking far beyond
the common associations of mankind. Canute had
conquered many countries. In an age of valour and
enterprise, his exploits had equalled the most adven-
turous. Poets embodied in their melodies the admi-
ration of his people, and directed to his heart those
23 Saxo, 196. ; and see Encom. Emmac, 492. He prevailed on Conrad. II to
restore him to the Margraviate of Sleswick : and the Eider then bocumc the northern
boundary of Germany. 1 Putt. Hist. 154.
31 Saxo, 199.
u 3
CHAP.
XL
Canute
the Great.
1 ,
1031.
294
HISTOKY OF THE
io3i.
praises, with which all Europe resounded. Encom-
passed with flattery and subjection, Canute's mind
mav ^Q^Q been swollen into temporary presumption.
He may in the frenzies of vanity have fancied, like
an Alexander, that he was scarcely a mortal. But
his mind was too powerful to continue the slave of
his conceit. The more he gazed on nature, the more
he felt the adorable Being who governed him, as well
as his people ; the more he was humbled with the
conviction of his individual insignificance. To com-
municate his solemn sensations, with all their impres-
sions, to his adulating friends, he ordered the chair
of his dignity to be placed on the sea-beach. His
courtiers formed around him ; the tide was undulating
to the shore, and Canute seated himself before it.
" Ocean, the island on which I sit is mine, and thou
art a part of my dominion. None of my subjects
dare to resist my orders ; I therefore command thee
that thou ascend not my coasts, nor presume to wet
the borders of my robes."
In vain the mandate issued. He was not the
master whom the waters reverenced ; and in con-
tempt of his authority every wave drew nearer to his
feet, till the general elevation of the ocean covered
his legs with its billoAvs. It was then that he ex-
pressed the noble sentiment, which was impressing
his mind. " Let every dweller upon the earth con-
fess that the power of kings is frivolous and vain.
HE only is the Great Supreme, let HIM only be
honoured with the name of Majesty, whose nod,
whose everlasting laws, the heavens, the earth, and
sea, with all their hosts, obey." In conformity to
this sublime feeling, Canute would never afterwards
wear his crown.25
Among the kingly qualities in which Canute strove
25 I have stated this incident from Matt. West. p. 409. ; Hen. Hunt. 364. ; Had.
Die. 469. ; Iligden and Brompton.
ANGLO SAXONS. 29c
to excel, his liberality was distinguished.26 Master Cl^'
of the tributes of several kingdoms, his resources Canute
were equal to the munificence of his heart. His the Gretlt;
journey from Flanders to Rome was a stream of ex- 1031.
pensive generosity. Whoever approached him was
fed and cherished without a request.27 Canute's pre-
sents in general had three objects ; charity, literature,
and public services.
The literature of his age was in the hands of two
very different bodies of men ; the clergy and the
scallds. Both have extolled his liberality.28 Of the
scallds who attended him, the names and verses of
many have survived to us. Sighvatr, Ottar the
Swarthy, Thordr Kolbeinson, and Thorarin Loftunga,
are among those whose historical poems or panegy-
rics have been much cited by Snorre in his northern
history.29
Thorarin was celebrated for the richness and ce-
lerity of his muse. He gave a striking specimen of
this faculty. He had made a short poem on Canute,
and went to recite it in his presence. On approach-
ing the throne, he received a salute, and respectfully
inquired if he might repeat what he had composed.
The king was at table at the close of a repast ; but a
crowd of petitioners were occupying their sovereign's
ear by a statement of their grievances. The impa-
tient poet may have thought them unusually loqua-
cious : he bore the tedious querulousriess of injury
with less patience than the king, and, at last, pre-
suming on his general favour with the great, ex-
claimed, " Let me request again, Sire, that you would
26 Knytlinga Saga, 145.
27 Ibid. 144, 145. Encomium Emmse, 173.
28 For his donations to the church, see Matt. West. 404, 405. 409. ; Encom.
Emma), 173. ; and others. In mentioning his resources from his kingdoms, the
Knytlinga Saga gives to our country the praise of that superior affluence which it
seems, in every age, to have displayed : " inter omnes scptentrionales terras, opum
ac thesaurorum Anglia facile sit ditissima," p. 146.
29 In the second volume passim. Sighvatr was the son of Thordr, a scalld.
Snorre, 45.
u 4
296 HISTORY OF THE
listen to my song ; it will not consume much of your
time, for it is very short." The king, angry at the
petulant urgency of the solicitation, answered, with
a stern look, " Are you not ashamed to do what none
but yourself has dared — to write a short poem upon
rne ? Unless by to-morrow's dinner you produce
above thirty strophes, on the same subject, your head
shall be the penalty." The poet retired — not with
alarm, for his genius disdained that, but with some
mortification at the public rebuke. He invoked his
Scandinavian Muses ; his rnind became fluent ; verses
crowded on it ; and before the allotted time he stood
before the king with the exacted poem, and received
fifty marks of pure silver as his reward.30
As private anecdotes best display the real character,
another may be permitted; and perhaps it will be
most picturesque to give it in the words of the re-
cording eye-witness. It occurred upon Canute's
journey to Rome, at St. Omer's.
" Entering the monasteries, where he was received
with great honour, he walked humbly, he fixed his
eyes on the ground with wonderful reverence ; and
pouring out (if I may say so) rivers of tears, he im-
plored the aid of the saints. But when the moment
came of presenting his gifts upon the altar, how often
did he impress the pavement with his kisses ! how often
did he strike his venerable breast ! what sighs ! what
prayers that he might not be found unworthy of the
mercy of the Supreme ! At length his attendants
stretched forth his munificent oblation, which the
king himself placed on the altar. But why do I say
the altar, when I remember that I myself saw him go
round every part of 'the monasteries, and pass no
30 Knytlinga Saga, 146, 147. Snorre mentions this shortly, p. 297. The poet
afterwards, in his Tugdrapa, sung the present. See the stanza in Knytl. p. 147.
His short poem was of the kind which Snorre says, "we call Flok." The longer
was of the sort called Drapa. Snorre, p. 297. He gives a long specimen of the
Drapa, pp. 298, 299., and a specimen of the Flok, p. 303.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
297
altar, however small, on which he did not leave a
present, and which he did not salute ? Then came
the poor, and were all separately relieved. These
and other bounties of the lord Canute, I your slave !
Oh, St. Omer, St. Bertin, myself beheld in your mo-
nasteries; for which do you pray that such a king
may live in the heavenly habitations, as your ser-
vants, the canons and monks, are daily petitioning."31
This incident is inserted, because it affords a
striking contrast to some actions of Canute's, earlier
life. A Dunstan might have acted such a scene for
its theatrical effect. But in the proud master of so
many conquered kingdoms, the emotions must have
been those of his mind and heart.
Canute has himself described his journey to Rome
in a public document, addressed to all the orders of
the English nation 32 : he says, he went for the re-
demption of his sins, and the welfare of his subjects ;
that he had projected it before, but had been hindered
by business and other impediments. He adds :
" Be it known to you, that there was a great as-
sembly of nobles at the Easter solemnity, with the
lord the pope John, and Conrad the emperor.33
There were all the princes of the people, from Mount
Gargano to the sea, who all received me with dignity,
and honoured me with valuable presents. I was
particularly honoured with various gifts and costly
presents from the emperor, as well with gold and
silver vessels, as with very rich apparel. I spake
with the emperor, the pope, and the princes, on the
necessities of my English and Danish subjects, that
a more equal law, and better safeguard, might be
granted to them in their journies to Rome ; that they
might not be hindered at so many fortified passages,
31 Encomium Emmse, 173.
32 This letter of Canute's is in Flor. Wig. 394—397,; Ingulf, 59—61. ; and
Malmsb. pp. 74, 75. Its substance is stated in Matt. West. 407., and elsewhere.
83 lie was the fourth emperor after Otho the Great.
CHAP.
xr.
Canute
the Great.
*
1031.
298 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK nor oppressed by such unjust exactions. The em-
peror assented, and Rodolph, the king34, who rules
Canute
the Great. most of the passages, and all the princes established,
io3i. that my subjects, whether merchants or travellers
from piety, might go and return to Rome without
detention or exaction.
" I also complained before the pope, and expressed
myself highly displeased that such an immensity of
money should be extorted from my archbishops when
they came to Rome for the pall. It was declared
that this should not happen again."
Canute, after mentioning that these concessions
were ratified by oaths before four archbishops, twenty
bishops, and an innumerable multitude of dukes and
nobles, exclaims : " Therefore I return my liberal
thanks to Almighty God, that all things which I
desired, I have prosperously achieved as I had con-
templated, and have fulfilled all my wishes."
In the subsequent paragraphs of his public letter,
he alludes nobly to his former conduct. In viewing
his past actions with sentiments of regret, and in
publicly confessing that he intends an amendment,
he displays a greatness of mind which kings of such
successful ambition have seldom reached. Canute
is an instance, rarely paralleled, of a character im-
proved by prosperity. His worst actions were in his
days of peril. When the full glory of established and
multiplied power shone around him, his heart became
humble, pious, and ennobled. Educated among vi-
kingr, his first misconduct may be referred to his
tuition. His latter feelings were the produce of his
improved intellect and magnanimity.
34 In Florence he is called Rodulph ; so in Malmsb. 74. But in Ingulph, both
in Gale's edition, p. 60. and that of Frankfort, p. 893., he is named Robert. The
difference is not merely verbal. Rodulph was the king of Burgundy ; and Robert,
the son and successor of Hugh Capet, was the king of France. But as the clausurae,
or fortified passages, of which Canute speaks, were probably those of the Alps, which
Rodulph commanded ; and as Robert died in 1030, and Canute's journey is usually
placed in 1031, there can be no doubt that Rodulph is the right reading.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 299
"Be it also known to all, that I have vowed to CHAP.
Almighty God, to govern my life henceforward by c^u'te
rectitude, to rule my kingdoms and people justly, and the Great
piously to observe equal judgment every where; and 1031.
if, through the intemperance and negligence of my youth,
I have done what was not just, I will endeavour here-
after, by God's help, entirely to amend it. Therefore
I beseech and command all my conciliarii, to whom
I have confided the councils of my kingdom, that
they in no shape suffer or consent to any injustice
throughout my realm, neither from fear of me, nor
from favour to any person of power ; I command all
the sheriffs and governors of all my realm, as they
value my friendship or their own safety, that they
impose unjust violence on no man, whether rich or
poor; but that the noble and their inferiors, the
wealthy and the needy, may enjoy their property
justly. This enjoyment must not be infringed in
any manner, neither in behalf of the^king, nor any
other man of power, nor on the pretext of collecting
money for me, because there is no necessity that
money should be obtained for me by unjust exaction."
After alluding to some enemies whom he had paci-
fied, and mentioning that he was returning to Den-
mark, whence, as soon in the summer as he could
procure shipping, he proposed to visit England; he
continues :
" I have sent this letter first, that all my people
may rejoice in my prosperity, because, as you your-
selves know, I have never forborne to apply myself
and my labour, nor will I ever forbear to devote
either to the necessary utility of all my people."
These patriotic sentiments, from a royal pen, are
highly valuable. Such kings give new splendour to
their thrones, and secure to themselves that perpe-
tuity of fame which mortality so covets.
300 HISTORY OF THE
CHAP. XII.
«
The Reign of HAROLD the First, surnamed HAREFOOT.
BOOK CANUTE, at his death1, left three sons, Svein, Harold,
iiaroid and Hardicanute. In his life he had placed Svein
.the Eirst-, over Norway2, and he wished that Harold should
1035. rule in England, and Hardicanute in Denmark. At
the council which met at Oxford to elect a new sove-
reign, the opinions were divided. The chiefs of
Danish descent and connections chose Harold; the
West- Saxons, headed by earl Godwin, preferred his
brother Hardicanute, because his mother, Emma,
had been the wife of Ethelred, and was a favourite
with the Anglo-Saxons. The children of Ethelred
who were in Normandy were also remembered ; but
the Danish dynasty was not yet unpopular, and
Harold, by force or influence, obtained a portion of
the kingdom, and seized the treasures which Emma
possessed from the gift of Canute.3 Harold, at first,
reigned at London, and north of the Thames ; and
Hardicanute in the west of England.
The murder of Alfred, one of the sons of Emma
by Ethelred, lies heavy on the memory both of
Harold and Godwin.4
1 He died at Shaftesbury, the 12th of November, 1034. MS. Tib. B. 1.
2 Snorre, Saga Olafi Helga, p. 383. Florence calls his mother Northamtunensis
Alfgivac filise Alf helmi Ducis, p. 398. Snorre names her Alfifo dottor Alfrims
Jarls.
3 Flor. Wig. 39S. MS. Sax. Chron. Tib. B. 1, It is said of Harold that he was
not Canute's son, but a cobler's. The tale is, that his mother, having given no
children to Canute, pretended pregnancy, and introduced first Svein, and afterwards
Harold, as her own children. As Snorre does not mention it of Svein, it is pro-
bable that in both cases the rumour was the offspring of malignant competition.
The author of Enc.Em., though he believes it, adduces only the piurimorum assertio
for it, which is a better description of a rumour than of a fact. Florence states it
as a res in dubio.
4 I state this from the Encomium Emmse. The author addresses his account to
ANGLO-SAXONS.
Harold, though nominated king, could not obtain
from the archbishop the regal benediction, because
the children of Emma were alive. The archbishop,
instead of committing to Harold the crown and 1035.
sceptre, placed them on the altar, and forbad the
bishops to give their benediction.
This conduct produced the effects which might
easily have been foreseen. Harold despised the bene-
diction as useless, and contracted a hatred against
the Christian religion, and the children of Emma.
When others were attending divine service, he called
out his hunting dogs, or studied to occupy himself
in some contemptuous pursuit. To get the youths,
so imprudently set against him, into his power, he
forged a letter to them in their mother's name, in-
veighing against himself, and desiring one to come
to her to be counselled as to his conduct. The an-
swer of the princes from "Normandy expressed their
obedience, and appointed a day and place. At the
time so named, Alfred, the youngest, chose his mili-
tary companions, and sailed. His waiting enemies
too eagerly pressed on him when about to land, and
he sailed to another part, still unconscious of the
deceit. Godwin, now become a courtier to Harold,
met him in the garb of friendship, and with the
mockery of oaths. The innocent youth followed him
to Guildford ; there his warlike friends were artfully
the mother herself, by whose orders he wrote it. (See his prologue.) He apologises
to her for his brevity on Alfred's sufferings, and says, "Possent enim multa dici
si non tuo parceremus dolori," p. 175. Considering, however, that he wrote to the
youth's mother, his detail is sometimes horrible, for he describes part of their
progress of operation. Malmsbury says, the deed took place between Harold's
death and Hardicanute's election, p. 77. ; but this cannot prevail against the con-
temporary above cited, strengthened as it is as to its occurrence under Harold, by
Flor. 399. ; Matt. West. 410. ; and Hoveden, 438. Two of these make 600 men
to have perished. The printed Saxon Chronicle has nothing of it. The MS Tib.
B. 1., gives a long account of it. It thus mentions the fate of the companions :
" J}ir serenan he tobpar ~] nume mirlice oprloh, runie hi man pith JHO realbr,
fume hpt'uhce ac pealbe, fume hi man benbe, rnrae hi man bit nbc, rume lia-
melobe, rutne liwtxobf." It adds, " Ne peajith bpeopliepe <Mrb Stbon on tlnrou
eapbe rychthan Dene comon."
302 HISTORY OF THE
separated into little bands of ten, twelve, or twenty,
to be more conveniently entertained at different
houses. A few only remained with the prince.
1035. Food and wine were profusely given to all, till they
sought the bed of rest; then the agents of Harold
furtively took away their arms, and in the morning
bound them in chains. Their fate was decided by a
bloody decimation ; the tenth man only was left un-
murdered.
The betrayed Alfred was hurried to the Isle ot
Ely. Vile judges were appointed over him, who
directed his eyes to be taken out. The shocking
scene was closed by his death. Emma withdrew to
Bruges.5 By Hardicanute's absence in Denmark,
Harold obtained all England.6 He died in 1040,
and was buried at Westminster.
5 Enc. 176. The author's account of Bruges shows it to have been then of com-
mercial importance. Emma's name was also Elfgiva.
6 Ingulf, 61. Flor. 400. marks 1037 as the year when this occurred. So the
MS. Tib. B. 1. and B. 4.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 303
CHAP. XIII.
The Reign of HARDICANUTE.
THIS reign demands but few sentences. He had
sailed the preceding year from Denmark to his
mother, Emma, at Bruges. On Harold's death he
was invited to the English crown ; and he came with 1040.
purposes of such degrading revenge, that he even
caused the body of Harold to be dug up, decapitated,
and thrown first into a marsh, and afterwards into
the Thames. A fisherman found and the Danes
buried it in a cemetery which they had in London.1
Such actions have so much of the barbarian spirit as
to fix a stain of disgrace on those who practise them.
Hardicanute oppressed England with impositions
which occasioned great misery. Insurrection followed,
and military execution at Worcester added a dreadful
catastrophe.3
He projected to punish Godwin for Alfred's mur-
der ; but the Dane had a passion which predominated
over his fraternal feeling ; and the present of a splen-
did vessel, profusely gilt, and rowed by eighty men
in sumptuous apparel and splendid armour, having
each on his arm two golden bracelets, weighing six-
teen ounces, expiated the crime of Godwin.4 He
displaced a bishop for joining in the cruelty, who
appealed to the same master-passion, and escaped.5
1 Flor. 402. Matt. West. 402. The MS. Chron. Tib. B. 1. This MS. con-
tains many paragraphs in this reign not in the printed Chronicle.
2 Even the age of Hardicanute condemned his cruelty : " Unde in singulorum
ore hominum de eo haberi imprecatus ut tantsc crudelitatis non diu abesset ani-
madversio." — Reg. Abb. MS. Cotton Lib. Claudius, C. 9. Malmsbury, p. 76.,
mentions it with disapprobation.
3 Flor. Wig. 403. MS. Chron. Tib. B. 1. and B. 4. Matt. West. 413. Malnisb 76.
4 Flor. Wig, Matt. West. 8 Malmsb. 77.
304: HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK It was, however, a laudable trait of fraternal affeo
tion in Hardicanute, that he welcomed the arrival of
canute. ^jg half-brother Edward in England.6 The son of
1340. Ethelred was a more grateful object to the English,
than the son of a foreign conqueror. In caressing
so kindly a brother so dangerous, Hardicanute dis-
played a virtue in which an Athelstan was wanting.
His health was frequently assailed by disease7;
but he ended his two years' reign by an act of in-
temperance, at a nuptial feast at Lambeth : a copious
draught, as he stood in the mirthful company, occa-
sioned him to fall senseless to the ground. He spake
no more. He died in June, and was buried with
Canute at Winchester.8
His death separated the crowns of England and
Denmark ; and Magnus, the king of Norway, ob-
tained the Danish sceptre.
« Malmsb. 76. Flor. Wig. 403.
7 Ob morbos etiam quos frequenter patiebatur. Guil. Pict. 179.
8 Flor. Wig. 403. Ingulf, 62. MS. Tib. B. 1. and B. 4. contain passages on his
death not in the printed Chronicle.
ANGLO-SAXONS.
305
CHAP. XIV.
The Reign of EDWARD the Confessor.
THE Danish line had now become unpopular : the
factions, which the administration of Dunstan had at
first excited, had ceased, and a new generation had
arisen. The nation inclined again to its ancient line,
and Edward, the surviving son of Ethelred, and at
that time in England, was chosen to be king. While
Edward and his brother were friendless exiles, God-
win was their enemy, and even projected their assas-
sination ; but became the zealous partisan of Edward,
and eagerly assisted to introduce him to the throne,
when Canute's issue failed.1 The king was induced
to marry Editha, the daughter of Godwin2 ; but was
neither ardent in his connubial nor filial attentions.
At no long period after his coronation, he went, with
three earls, suddenly to his mother, and spoiled her
of all the property which she possessed.3
Edward was at first menaced with the competition
of Magnus, the king of Norway, who had subdued
Denmark into obedience. Magnus sent letters to
CHAP.
XIV.
Edward
the
Confessor.
1042.
1 Ingulf, 62. Malmsbury states at length a sort ofw bargain which Godwin
made with Edward, before he supported him, 80.
2 Ingulf knew her, and describes her as very beautiful, meek, modest, faithful,
virtuous, and the enemy of no one. She had none of the barbarism of her father
and brothers. She was even literis apprime erudita, a lady of learning. He adds,
" I have very often seen her, when only a boy. I visited my father in the royal
court. Often as I came from school she questioned me on letters and my verse ;
and, willingly passing from grammar to logic, she caught me in the subtle nets of
argument. I had always three or four pieces of money counted by her maiden,
and was sent to the royal larder for refreshment," p. 62. But even this fair rose,
as the chroniclers call her, was stained with blood. See further.
8 Flor.404. Sax. Chron. 157. In the Appendix to the Saxon Dictionary, a
fragment of a Saxon Chronicle is quoted, E. Cod. MS. G. Lambardi exarata in
Bib. Ecc. Chr. Canterb. The fragment begins with Edward's reign. It is not the
same with the printed one, or with the two MSS. in the Cotton Library. I shall
quote it as Lamb. MS.
VOL. II. X
306
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Edward
the
1042.
Edward4, claiming the crown, and Edward assembled
a great fleet at Sandwich to dispute his landing.5
Embarrassed by a rival for his Danish sceptre, in
Confessor. J TT1/» •»•• •. .
Svein, the son of Ulir, Magnus resolved not to risk
the enterprise.6
Svein requested the aid of Edward against Mag-
nus; and Godwin, whose first patron had been
Svein's father, urged that fifty ships should be sent
to him. But as Magnus was known to be well skilled
in maritime affairs, the earl Leofric and the rest of
the council opposed it as unadvisable.7 Magnus soon
drove out Svein from Denmark, but died much la-
mented the same year.8 Svein then obtained the
Danish crown ; and Harald Hardrada, who after-
wards perished in his invasion of England, the son of
Syguard Syr, and, by his mother, the brother of
St. Olave, succeeded in Norway.9 Harald is highly
extolled for his wisdom.10 He sent letters of friend:
ship to Edward, whose amicable answer established
peace between their kingdoms. Thus passed over
the disturbing question between England and the
Baltic states. Edward and his council wisely suf-
fered the hostility to die quietly away. Hence
Svein's second application for assistance against
Harald, though again supported by Godwin, was
negatived by the good sense of Leofric and the com-
munity.11
4 As the successor of Hardicanute. Snorre magnesi Goda, c. 38, 39.
6 Lamb. MS. Sax. Chron. at Cambridge.
6 " I think it," he declared, " right and most convenient that I should let Edward
enjoy his crown, and content myself with the kingdoms which God has given me."
Snorre, p. 52.
7 Flor. 406, 407. Lamb. MSS.
8 Lamb. MSS. Snorre says, that he dreamt that his father appeared to him,
saying, " Choose, my son, whether you will become my companion immediately, or
live long the most powerful of kings, but by the commission of a crime that can
never be expiated." The choice of Magnus was perplexed, but he decided with
discreet virtue. " Father ! do you choose for me.1' — " Be with me," was the answer
of the vision. Snorre adds, that he awoke, told his dream, and afterwards died.
Har. Hard. c. 28.
9 Snorre, c. 30, 31. Flor. 407. 10 Snorre, c. 36.
11 Flor. 407.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 307
The character of Edward was amiable for its gen- CHAP.
tleness and kindness ; and laudable for its piety ; but E*^;d
it did not unite strength of mind with these interest- the
... „, . Confessor.
ing qualities. Inere is a simplicity in his exclamation « — , — ~
to the low peasant who had displeased him, " I would 1042'
hurt you if I were able," which almost implies imbe-
cility. Men of rank and power, however inferior in
understanding, know sufficiently their means of ag-
gression against those of meaner condition who offend
them. That Edward, when angry enough to desire
to punish, should suppose that, although king, he
had not the power, displays an ignorance of his
authority that is not reconcilable with his intellect.
But as he reigned with more virtue, so he had better
fortune, than his father. His mild and equitable
government was so popular, that a festival is said to
have been annually celebrated in England, to express
the national joy at the deliverance from the Danish
kings.12 His provinces were under the administration
of men of talents appointed by his predecessors.13
The unanimity of the country gave effect to their
measures. England again became respected abroad,
and no foreign power attempted to disturb its tran-
quillity.
But a new cause of internal discussion and con-
test, and ultimately of a great revolution, was silently
rising up from preceding events. The marriage of
Ethelred to a princess of Normandy ; the residence
of this king during his exile, and of his children
afterwards, at that court: Canute's subsequent mar-
riage with this lady : arid Edward's education in the
same country, had raised an attachment to the Nor-
man manners and nation, not only in Edward's mind,
but in those of the nobles who had resided abroad
12 Spelman, Gloss. Voc. Hocday. w Malmsb. 79.
x 2
308 HISTORY OF THE
with his father and himself, or had visited them in
Normandy.
The Frankish nation had rapidly improved since
the reign of Charlemagne. The effects of the Roman
°42' civilisation were extensive and permanent, and the
ardent zeal of the Christian clergy had greatly con-
tributed to humanise and soften their martial fierce-
ness. The unwarlike characters of the successors of
Charlemagne had tended to increase the civilising
spirit. The Normans, from their contiguity, partook
of the melioration of the French manners; and to
Edward's milder temper these were peculiarly con-
genial. The Anglo-Saxons could not have been
equally improved by the ruder Danes. Hence Ed-
ward found at first more that he could sympathise
with in Normandy than in England, and therefore
invited or admitted many Normans into his favour.
Robert, one of them, was made, after various pro-
motions, archbishop of Canterbury. Another was
raised to an episcopal see ; others also attained offices
of rank and power. From the king's partiality, the
French manners came into use ; their language, and
their legal forms, began also to be diffused.14
The Norman favourites awakened the jealousy of
Godwin, and were obstacles to his ambition. But
the counteracting power of Leofric, the wise earl of
Mercia, and of Siward, the earl of Northumbria, and
distinguished for heroic valour, kept Godwin tranquil
till a cruel violence of one of the noble foreigners
gave him a popular reason for expressing his dis-
content.
IOM. It was in 1051, that Godwin presumed to give
defiance to the king. The count of Boulogne, who
had married Edward's sister, came to Dover. In a
foolish effort to obtain or compel entertainment, his
14 Ingulf, 62. ; and sec Malmsbury, 80., on the enmity between Godwin and
the Normans.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 309
followers killed an Englishman. The citizens re- CHAP.
venged it; the count, committing himself to the Edward
guidance of blind fury, rushed with his troops, killed Coi^sor.
many of both sexes in the city, and trampled some < — , — '
children under the feet of their horses. Provoked at
his brutality, the people armed. The endangered
count fled before their indignation, and went to
Edward, who was then at Gloucester.15
Availing himself of this event, Godwin raised im-
mediately, from his own counties of Kent, Sussex,
and Wessex, a military power. The same occasion
enabled his son Svein to collect a powerful force
from the counties of Oxford, Gloucester, Hereford,
Somerset, and Berks, which he governed ; and Harold,
another son, embracing the same pretext, completed
his formidable array by a levy from Essex, East
Anglia, Huntingdon, and Cambridgeshire, which he
commanded.
The armies of Godwin and his children could not
be completed without Edward's knowlege. Mes-
sengers were immediately sent to his brave protectors
Leofric and Siward. These governors were earnestly
desired to come, with all the forces they could as-
semble, with immediate speed.
The loyal earls hastened immediately to court.
Learning the necessity, they sent swiftly-circulated
orders through all their counties, for armies to be
raised. The son of the culpable count did the same ;
arid Edward had a prospect of being rescued from
the tyranny of Godwin.16
The rebellious family marched into Gloucestershire,
and demanded of the king, under a menace of hos-
tilities, the count of Boulogne and his followers, and
the Normans and men of Boulogne, who were in
Dover-castle.
The king, terrified, knew not how to act ; he fluc-
15 Flor. 410. ls Flor. Wig. 410, 41 1.
x 3
310 HISTORY 'OF THE
tuated in great anxiety, till he learnt that his friends
were prepared to support him. An express refusal
was then returned to Godwin.
A fierce civil war seemed now about to consume
10M* the country ; but Godwin was not heroically adven-
turous, and Leofric was wise. Leofric therefore pro-
posed that hostages should be exchanged, and that
Godwin and the king should meet on an appointed
day in London, and have the alleged subject judi-
cially determined by the witen-agemot.17
The proposition was too popular not to be accepted.
Godwin returned to Wessex ; the king ordered a
witena-gemot 18 to be assembled for the second time
in London, at the autumnal equinox ; he augmented
his army, and marched it to London. Godwin and
his sons occupied Southwark, but soon discovered
that their partisans were falling away.
The witena-gemot made the thanes, who were with
Harold, to find pledges to the king for their conduct,
and outlawed Svein, who did not think fit to be pre-
sent at the wither-male, or conciliary meeting.19
They also cited Godwin and Harold to attend the
gemot. Godwin, finding his ambitious views darken-
ing, and dreading a legal inquiry into his conduct,
did not attempt to face the witena, but fled in the
night,20
In the morning, the king held the witena-gemot,
and declared him, his army, and his children, to be
outlaws.21 Five days of safety were given them to
quit the country.22 With three of his sons, Godwin
17 Flor.Wig. 411,412.; and see Sax. Chron. 163, 164.: and the MS. Chron.
Tib. B. 4.
18 Tha sepaebbe ye cynmS -j hif pifcan fcha man ]*ceolbe othpe ryehan habban
calna sepitena semot on Lunbene Co haeprepce emnihte. Sax. Chron. 164.
19 ~j man bophrae]*r tbam cynins ealle tha chaesnar rhe paepon ftapolber eoplef
hij* runa, &c. MS. Tib. B. 4. and Lamb. MS.
20 Sax. Chron. 164. Flor. Wig.
21 T re cyng haepb tha on mop&en Witena Demot *] cpaeth lime utlase "} ealle
hepe; hine -j ealle luj* funa. MS. Tib. B. 4.
22 Sax. Chron. 164. -j rceapebe him mann 5 nihca spith ut op lanbe Co rapenne.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 311
sailed away, with all the property he could hastily CHAP.
amass, into Flanders. Harold, and a brother from Edward
Bristol, sailed to Ireland. A severe tempest put their Co^or
lives in peril during the voyage. Their sister, the ' — ; — '-
queen, was sent to a monastery.23
Contrary to every natural expectation, and to his
own, and to the astonishment of the Anglo-Saxons,
the house of Godwin seemed now to have fallen for
ever in England.24 Released from his intimidations,
the king became more attached to his Norman friends.
Invited or obeying a sagacious policy, William, the
reigning Duke of Normandy, came to England with
a large company of his nobles and knights at this
period, and was received with great honour and
courtesy by Edward, who entertained him for some
time, conducted him to his cities and royal castles,
and loaded him with presents when he returned.25
This visit was of importance to William. It intro-
duced him to the knowlege of many of the English
chiefs, and made his name familiar to the people. It
began the formation of that interest which so power-
fully assisted him in afterwards acquiring the crown.
But Ingulf declares that no mention was made of his
succession to the crown at this visit, nor had he then
any hope of it. Yet it may have excited William's
desire to enjoy such a crown, and must have made a
lively impression on his memory.
Edward was then living without a prospect of
issue ; and, excepting one youth in Hungary, the
crown had no heir. The family of William was con-
nected with that of Edward by marriage, and with Ed-
23 MS. Chron. Tib. B. 4. Flor. 412.
24 The MS. Tib. B. 4. thus expresses the public surprise at the change :
"Thset polbe thyncan punbophc aelcura men the on Cnslalanbe paej* SIP aenis
man aen tham paebe rha hit ppa sepuntha rceolbe. Foptham he paer sen to tham
rpithc upahapen rpylce he peolbe thaep cynjer ~J caller Cnslalanber," &c.
25 Flor. 412. Ingulf, 65. The MS. Tib. B. 4. mentions his coming, which the
printed Chronicle omits.
x 4
312 HISTORY OF THE
ward himself by friendship and services. William was
a neighbour, and Edward esteemed him. The family
of Godwin was abased, and no competitor seemed
likely to arise from the rest of the English. William
105L therefore from this time could scarcely contemplate
the throne of his friend, without coveting its acquisi-
tion. Any valued good which seems bending to our
reach, soon excites our cupidity. He may have had
the prudence to mark the hopeful ground in judicious
silence ; but the scheme of his succession must have
been a project which his mind revolved, and secretly
prepared to execute.
1052. rfhe family of Godwin in their exile meditated new
attempts to regain their power. Harold and, his
brother invaded the West of England with a fleet of
adventurers collected in Ireland, defeated the king's
officers, and plundered as they pleased. As Godwin
was impending with a similar armament, a chosen
force of forty ships was stationed at Sandwich to
intercept it. He eluded their vigilance, reached Kent,
and roused all his friends in the neighbouring counties
to arm in his behalf. But the king's fleet pursued
him. He sheltered himself in Pevensey; a storm
checked the progress of the others, and when they
made for London, he hovered about the Isle of Wight,
where Harold joined him, after a voyage of plunder.
With their united strength, swelled by every aid they
could allure, they sailed to Sandwich. Edward found
his friends more tardy than before. Other nobles
became dissatisfied at the progress of the Normans in
the king's favour ; and Godwin proceeded, with suc-
cessful enterprise, to the Thames, and reached South-
wark. He demanded the restoration of his family.
His numbers and secret connections were formidable ;
and to save the shedding of civil blood, Stigand, the
archbishop, and the wise men, urged an accommoda-
ANGLO-SAXONS.
tion. Their recommendation prevailed. The Nor- CHAP.
••• YTV
XIV.
mans beheld their fate sealed in the pacification, and Edward
fled in consternation. Con^sor
A great council was then convened out of London, . —
and all the earls, and the best men that were in the
land, attended it. Godwin there purged himself
before the king, his lord, and all the assembly, that
he was guiltless of the crime of which he had been
suspected. The king received him in full friendship,
arid granted to him and to his family a complete res-
toration of their honours. The Normans were all
legally outlawed. Svein was the only one of the
exiled family who received no benefit from the revo-
lutions of its fortunes. He had foully murdered his
cousin Beorn, with every aggravated circumstance of
abused confidence, and treacherous falsehood. There
is a sting in murder which goads the consciousness
long after the world has forgiven it, and which no
increase of prosperity can destroy. Svein, though
six years had passed away since his crime, found it
still his torment ; and to soothe his sensations, he set
off with naked feet on a walking pilgrimage from
Flanders to Jerusalem. He died, on his return, in
Lycia.26
The remark of the Sacred poet, that man disquiets 1053.
himself for a vain shadow, is often verified in human death."1 *
history. A life is sacrificed to suffering, that a fa-
vourite object may be gained. We reach the seat of
the felicity we have sighed for, and while our arms
are extended to grasp it, we are received into the
grave. Godwin experienced this mutability in human
affairs. He had scarcely, by great toil and hazard,
achieved his restoration, and recovered his prosperity,
when he was deprived of it soon afterwards by death.
In 1053, at the Easter festival, the eventful changes
26 Sax. Chron. 167, 168. Flor. Wig. 414.
314
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
TI.
Edward
the
Confessor.
1053.
of his life were closed. As he sat with the king at
table, it is said, that the conversation turned on
Alfred's murder, and that Godwin, with many sacred
appeals to Divine Providence, denied that he was
concerned in it.27 But whatever was the preceding
discourse, the attack of fate was as irresistible as un-
expected. He suddenly lost his speech, and fell from
his seat. Harold and two other sons raised him, and
carried him to the king's chamber, hoping a recovery.
He lingered in helpless and miserable agony, from
Monday to Thursday, and then expired.28
It is recorded with pleasure, by the annalists, that
Edward took off the heavy tax called Dane gelt.29
Ingulf ascribes the remission to the extreme dearth
which raged in 1051, and in which so many thousand
people perished. Touched with compassion for their
sufferings, the king abolished the tax. It is added,
that the royal mind, according to some rumours, was
impressed the more deeply upon the subject, because
one day, when the collected tax was deposited in the
treasury, the king was brought to see the vast
amount: the mass so affected his imagination, that
he fancied he saw a little devil jumping exultingly
about it.30 His mind was certainly weak enough to
believe such a fancy; and many about him were
interested to frame some device that should give
it a foundation. He ordered the money to be re-
stored to its former owners, and no more to be raised
on such an assessment.
27 Ingulf, 66. Malmsb. 81. Hunt 366.
28 Flor. Wig. 415. The MS. Tib. B. 4., like the printed chronicle, merely
states his death ; but the MS. Tib. B. 1. describes it like Florence, thus: " Saec
he nub Cham cymncse aec sepeopbe tha paepinsa rah he mchep pith thaer
Fotretler rPP*ce benumen •] ealpe hir nnbte ~\ hine man tha bpaeb inCo tha-r
kinsep bupe •} thohtan tha hit opepsan rceolbe ac hit; naef na rpa ae chuph
punobe rpa unppecenbe *] mihceleap popth oth thone thunpr baeg -3 tha hir lip
alet."
29 Flor. Wig. 410. Hoveden, 441.
30 Ingulf, 65. Hoveden tells a similar story, and makes the queen and her
brother Harold the persons who took the king to the treasury.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 315
The Welsh had often molested the English pro- CHAP.
vinces in their vicinity. In 1049, thirty-six ships of Edward
Irish pirates entered the Severn, and, with the help of ^^^
Griffith, king of South Wales, obtained considerable , — '•>
successes.31 In 1052, Griffith ravaged great part of
Herefordshire, defeated the provincials, and obtained
great plunder.32
The death of Godwin rather exalted than abased
his family. His character was tainted. He was ap-
proaching the feebleness of age, without having
secured its reverence. He had no influence but from
his power; and greatness, which is only secured by
terror, or extorted by force, is the creature of casualty,
which the first tempest may destroy. But Harold
had all the brilliancy of youth and active courage :
his character was full of promise, because, being born
to dignity, he had sullied himself by no arts to attain
it. There was a generous ardour in his actions
which compelled admiration. When Edward raised
him to his father's dignities, he gave new lustre to
his family, and obtained all the influence to which
his father had aspired.33
When Harold received the honours of Godwin, his 1055-
own dignities in Essex and East Anglia were given
to Algar, the son of the deserving and patriotic
Leofric. But Algar's rise to power was no pleasing
omen to the family of Godwin. Within less than
three years afterwards he was made a victim by being
banished without a fault.34
But Algar was too injured to be inactive : he fled
to Ireland, collected eighteen piratical vessels, and
interested Griffith, the king of Wales, in his favour.
31 Flor. Wig. 409. K Ibid. 412.
33 The great wealth of the family may be seen in Domesday- book, where God-
win's possessions are often mentioned.
31 Flor. 416. MS. Tib. 1. Butan aelcan Sylte, and MS. Tib. 4. pop neh butan
Sylce. The printed Chronicle says, that he was charged with treason, p. 169.
Ingulf gives to Algar the aid of a Norwegian fleet, p. 66.
316 HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK With this aid, he suddenly appeared in Hereford with
Edward great success; and though Harold went to oppose
confessor him, yet such was the state of Edward's court and
' — * — ' councils, that Algar, though rather by violent than
'55' legal measures, regained his patrimony and power.
His allies went to Leicester, and were remunerated
by his father. In 1058, he was exiled again, and by
the same means restored.35 The great were now di-
viding into new factions.
The Welsh made several efforts against the Anglo-
Saxons in this reign. If any other feeling than per-
sonal ambition had actuated the British leaders, they
must have discerned, that however feeble the Saxon
king's government from the new political parties may
have been, yet, from the comparative state of the two
nations, transient depredations were the utmost that
the valour' of Wales could achieve. Such bounded
triumphs were, however, certain of being followed at
last by a powerful revenge. Griffith, for some years,
molested, with good fortune, the counties near Wales,
and for some years his aggressions escaped unchas-
tised. In the year after he first reinstated Algar, his
new insults, which occasioned the death of Harold's
priest, just raised to a bishopric36, were again con-
nived at by a peace ; and in 1058 he again restored
Algar ; but in 1063 Harold resolved to repress him,
and there was nothing to restrain the full exercise of
his ability. He marched into Wales with adequate
force ; Griffith fled ; Harold burnt his palace and
ships, and returned. In the beginning of summer he
circumnavigated Wales with a marauding fleet, while
his brother Tostig marched over it by land. The
Welsh submitted with hostages and tribute, and
35 Flor. 417— 420.
38 Flor. 418. The MS. Tib. B. 1. says of this bishop, that he would forego his
spiritual arms, and take to his sword and spear, and go against Griffith : " Se
ponlec hir cpirman *] hip hpobe, hir sarclican paepna ~j pens Co hir rpenc •} Co
hir rpeopbe, d'rxcp Inr bircuphabc, 7 rpa pop co pypbc ongean Ijpir.r.in," &c.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 317
banished the obnoxious Griffith, who soon after pe- CHAP.
rished.37 E^llrd
The means by which Harold obtained such imme- cJS^m
diate and decisive success are stated to have been a ' — <^— '
change of the armour of his soldiers. In heavy
armour, the Saxons were unable to pursue the Welsh
to their recesses. Harold observed this impediment
to their success, and commanded them to use leathern
armour and lighter weapons. By this arrangement,
wherever the Britons could retreat, his men could
pursue. He crossed their snowy mountains, defeated
them on their plains, and spread destruction around,
till terror and feebleness produced general subjec-
tion.38 He raised heaps of stones wherever he had
obtained victory, with this inscription : " Here Harold
conquered." Such a depopulation of Wales ensued
from his invasion, that to this disastrous cause Gi-
raldus ascribes the tranquil acquiescence of the Britons
under the Norman yoke.39 Harold closed his efforts
by a law, that every Briton found beyond Offa's
Dike with a missile weapon, should lose his right
hand.40
Macbeth, the usurper of Scotland, condemned by
the genius of Shakspeare to share for ever our sym-
pathy and our abhorrence, was partly contemporary
with Edward. In 1039, Duncan, after a five years'
reign, was assassinated by Macbeth.41
The two sons of Duncan, Malcolm, surnamed Cean-
more, or the Great-head, and Donald, called Bane, or
87 Flor. 424. Ingulf, 68. MS. Lamb. Sax. Chron. 170. The head of Griffith
was brought to Harold.
38 Ingulf, 68. This invasion is fully stated by the elegant John of Salisbury,
whose writings reflect so much credit on the twelfth century. See his De Nugis
Curialium, lib. vi. c. 6. p. 185.
39 Giraldus Cambriensis de illaudab. Walliae, c. vii. p. 431.
40 Joan Salisb. De Nugis Cur. p. 185.
41 Mailros, 156. Duncan, in 1035, had been foiled in an attack upon Durham.
Sim. Dun. 33. Lord Hailes says :
«' It is probable that the assassins lay in ambush, and murdered him at a smith's
house in the neighbourhood of Elgin." Annals, p. 1.
318 HISTORY OF THE
the fair, fled from Scotland. Malcolm sought refuge
in Cumberland, and Donald in the Hebrides.42
Eleven years after his usurpation, Macbeth is men-
tioned by the chroniclers of England, as distributing
1054. money at Rome.43 In 1054, while Macduff, the thane
of Fife, was exciting a formidable revolt in Scotland,
the celebrated Siward, by some called the Giant, from
his large size, and whose sister had been Duncan's
queen, conducted his Northumbrians against Macbeth.
Macbeth A furious conflict followed, in which thousands of
y both armies perished ; but Siward, though he lost his
son and nephew, defeated the usurper. He returned
with great plunder, having made Malcolm king.44
The glory of a warrior was the renown most pre-
cious to Siward. On his return at York, he felt that
internal disease was consuming his vital principle,
and he sighed for the funereal trophies of a field of
battle. " 1 feel disgraced that I should have sur-
vived so many combats, to perish now like a cow:
clothe me in my mail, fasten on my sword, and give
me my shield, and my battle-axe, that I may expire
like a soldier." 45
1057. In 1057, England lost Leofric, the duke of Mercia,
by whose wisdom the reign of Edward was preserved
from many perils and disorders, which the ambition
42 Hailes's Annals of Scotland, p. 2.
43 " 1050. Rex Scotorum Machethad Romae argentum spargendo distribuit."
.Flor. Wig. 409. So Sim. Dun. 184. and Hoveden, 441. Mailros, who names him
Macbeth, p. 157., has a similar passage.
54 MS. Chron. Tib. B. 4. Lamb, MS. Flor. Wig. 416. MS. Tib. B. 1. Lord Hailes,
from Fordun, states, that " Macbeth retreated to the fastnesses of the North, and
protracted the war. His people forsook his standard. Malcolm attacked him at
Lunfanan in Aberdeenshire. Abandoned by his few remaining followers, Macbeth
fell, 5th of December, 1056." Annals, p. 3. Until this period the ancient kings
of Scotland usually resided in the Highlands. It was this Malcolm Cean-more who
removed the capital to the Lowlands. Dumstaffnage, on the north-west coast of
Argyleshire, whose ruins still remain, is supposed to have been his Highland palace.
From this place, he removed his court to Scone, in the lowlands of Perthshire ; an
important revolution, which made the southern provinces of Scotland to assume in
time so distinct a character, and such a superior civilisation as they have since
displayed.
45 Rad. Die. 477.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 319
of others would have introduced. His councils and CHAP.
government have been much celebrated.46 His son Edwlrd
Algar succeeded to his dukedom.47 confessor
On Siward's death, in 1055, Tostig, the brother of ,.onvesso;,
Harold, was appointed earl of Northumbria. By in- 1057>
ducing the queen to cause some Northumbrian nobles
to be treacherously killed ; by repeating the same
atrocity himself at York, and by exacting a large
tribute from the country; Tostig so alienated the
minds of the provincials, that they revolted in 1065,
expelled him, and seized his treasures. The in-
surgents invited Morcar, the son of Algar, and chose
him for their earl. At the head of the men of North-
umberland, Morcar marched southward, and was
joined .by an armed force from other counties, and
from Wales. Harold met him at Northampton with
military array, but it was deemed prudent to comply
with a request so powerfully supported ; Morcar was
confirmed in the earldom, and the laws of Canute
were restored. Tostig fled with his wife and friends
to Flanders, where Baldwin entertained them.48
Edward, whose passive. and peaceful disposition IOGG.
seems to have left his nobles to their own quarrels
without any interposition from himself, 'soon after
these transactions began to sicken. At Christmas he
held his court in London, and dedicated the church
of St. Peter at Westminster which he had rebuilt.
On the eve of the Epiphany his malady assumed a
fatal aspect, and he was buried the day following at
Westminster.49
48 Flor. Wig. 419. Ingulf, 66.
47 Leofric had another son, named Hereward, whose life seemed devoted to the
task of supplying incidents to the genius of romance and heroic song. — See a
further account of him in the chapter on the Anglo-Saxon chivalry, in the third
volume of this work. Hereward is also mentioned in the book de Pontificibus,
3 Gale, 372.
48 See the printed Saxon Chronicle, p. 171. Flor. Wig, 427. the MS. Chronicles,
Tib. B. 1. and B. 4.
49 MS. Tib. B. 1. and B. 4.; Flor. Wig. 427. ; and Sax. Chron. 171. Both the
MS. Chronicles have a long addition in Saxon, which follows his death. It .begins,
320 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK In person, Edward was tall and well made; his
hair and skin were remarkably white ; his complexion
rosy.50 His mind was gentle, if not weak ; but. in
J i i i i • •
general, unless acted upon by others, his disposition
was well meaning. He was averse to the imposition
of taxes ; abstinent in his diet ; and on the public
feast days, though, by the care of the queen, he was
sumptuously arrayed, he assumed no haughtiness of
manner in his pomp. His piety was sincere and
fervent. His time was chiefly divided between his
prayers and hunting, to which he was greatly at-
tached. His charities were frequent and extensive 51 ;
and though his reign displayed no intellectual ener-
gies, and reflected no honour on his ancestry, he was
so fortunate as to escape any striking disgrace.
* fteji ebpapb kinse, 6nsla lilaropb, renbe rothrerre," &c. This is not in
Lamb. MS.
50 Malmsb. 91. Rossi Hist. Reg. Angl. 105.
51 Malmsb. 91. His memory was canonized, and many monkish miracles have
been appended to it.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 321
CHAP. XV.
The Reign of HAROLD the Second, the Son of GODWIN ; and the
last of the ANGLO-SAXON Kings.
EDWARD had intended to appoint his cousin Edward, CHAP.
the son of Edmund Ironside, the successor to his z^jd
crown. This prince had continued in Hungary the second.
since Canute had sought his life. Called from thence
by Edward the Confessor, he came to England in
1057, but died soon after his arrival.1
The death of this prince confirmed in two men the competu
hopes of attaining the Anglo-Saxon sceptre. Harold, twwn*"
and William duke of Normandy, after this event, Haroidand
i i • i • • i i William.
looked forward to the splendid prize with equal ar-
dour.
Harold had sworn to William to assist him in
ascending the throne of England; but afterwards
pleaded that his oaths had been extorted by irresis-
tible force, as William, having had him in his power,
compelled him to swear. This charge thus repelled,
the rivals were in other respects on a level. Both
claimed from Edward a gift or testamentary appoint-
ment in his favour2; both had been in Edward's
1 Flor. Wig. 419.
2 That Harold was appointed by Edward to succeed him, is asserted or intimated
by the printed Saxon Chronicle, 172. By Flor. Wig. 427. Hoveden, 447. Sim.
Dun. 194. Al. Bev. 122. Malmsbury informs us that this was the statement of
the English (Angli dicant a rege concessum, 93.), but he thinks it was rather the
rumour of partiality than of judgment. On the other side, the Annales Margenses,
p. 1. ; Wike's Chron. p. 22. ; Malmsb. 93. ; and the Norman writers, declare, that
Edward gave the kingdom to William. The MS. Chronicles which affirm this arc,
Peter de Ickham, Domit. A. 3. (Willo duci NormanniaD consanguineo suo sicut ei
prius juramento promiserat regnum teste dedit. ) So Will. Sheepheved, Faust. B. 6.
(adoptavitin regnum Willielmum ducem Normannorum.) So Tu. Elmham. Claud.
E. 5. (Willielmum ducem Normannise adoptavit heredem.) So Hermannus says,
it was the rumor plurimum that Edward appointed the kingdom to William. Many
other MS. Chronicles affirm as much, as Chron. ab. adv. Sax. ad Hen. 4. Nero,
VOL. II. Y
322
HISTORY OF THE
friendship, and the family of Harold, as well as the
family of William, had been connubially allied to
him.
There is perhaps no great event in our annals in
which the truth is more difficult to be elicited, than
in the transaction between Harold and William in
the lifetime of Edward. We will state first the
account of Harold and his friends, and contrast it
with the Norman story.
In revolving the history of the friends of Harold,
we meet with the unpleasing circumstance of two
narrations upon the subject, which counteract each
other. According to some, Harold accidentally sailed
in a little fishing excursion from Bosham in Sussex,
and was driven, by a sudden tempest, on the opposite
shore.3 According to others, Harold went to the
Continent not accidentally, but deliberately. Two
of his brothers had been committed by Edward,
during the rebellion of Godwin, to the care of Wil-
liam. Harold wished to procure their release, and
for that purpose is said to have requested permission
of Edward to visit William in Normandy. The ap-
pendage to this account is, that Edward dissuaded
him in vain : and that when Harold returned, and
stated to him that William had detained and made
him swear to give him the English crown, the king
reminded him that he had foreseen the misfortune.4
The Norman historians declare that, on the death
A. 6. ; Chron. S. Martini de Dover a Bruto ad Hen. 2. ; Vespasian, B. 11.; Chron.
de Bruto ad 1346. Cleop. D. 2. ; Chron. de Kale's ab initio raundi ad 1304. Cleop.
D. 3. ; Annales de Gest. Angl. ad 1377. Cleop. D. 9. ; Hist, brevis. ending temp.
Ed. 2. Domit. A. 8. ; the Hist. Abb. Claud. B. 6. We may add the words of William
himself, who, in one of his charters, says : " Devicto Haraldo rege cum suis com-
plicibus qui mihi regnum prudentia domini destinatum et beneficio concessions
domini et cognati mei gloriosi regis Edwardi concessum, conati sunt auferre."
Faustina, A. 3. The authorities are too contradictory to decide the question.
3 Matt. Paris, p. 2. Matt. West. 426.; and from him Bever, in his MS. Chron.
in the Ilarleian Library, 641. Malmsbury mentions it as a report.
4 Eadmer, 4. Al. Bev. 125. Sim. Dun. 195. Brompton, 947. Rad. Die. 479.
Walt. Hemingford, 456. I believe Hemingford's Chronicle to be the same with
the Chronica Will, de Giseburne, in the Cotton Library, Tiberius, B. 4. Higden, 283.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 323
of the son of Edmund Ironside, who had been in- CHAP.
XV
vited from Hungary, Edward obeyed the dictates of iiaroid
personal regard, and appointed William to be his the second.
successor; that he sent Harold to announce to him
this disposition ; and that Harold, sailing to Flanders
for the purpose of travelling to the Norman court on
this important mission, was thrown by a tempest on
the coast of the count of Ponthieu, who seized and
imprisoned him.5
To these circumstances it is added, that before
Edward sent Harold, he had commissioned Robert
the Norman, the archbishop of Canterbury, to make
to William the same annunciation.
This last assertion, however, cannot, for a moment,
be believed, because Robert was exiled from England
in the year 1052, on Godwin's reconciliation. He
went to Normandy, not on public business, but fled
with precipitation to secure his personal safety6; and
so far was Edward from having adopted William in
1052, that, in 1057, the son of Edmund Ironside
came to England on Edward's express invitation, and
for the avowed purpose of being his successor. It is
also hostile to the tale of Robert's mission, that Wil-
liam was himself in England after Godwin's rebellion,
the year before Robert left it. If Edward had then
determined on William's succession, it is more pro-
bable that he should have imparted his intention to
William himself than that in the next year he should
have sent it in a message by a fugitive. The testi-
mony of Ingulf of Croyland is also adverse. He ex-
pressly declares, that while William was in England,
he received no hopes of the succession ; it was not
then mentioned.7 Robert may have exerted himself
5 Ingulf, a contemporary writer, p. 68. Guil. Pictav. 191. Will. Gemmet. 285.
Orderic. Vital. 492. Ann. Petrob. 45. Walsingham Ypod. 28. Wike's Chron. 22.
and many of the MS. Chronicles.
6 Sax. Chron. 168. and the fuller Chronicle quoted there, 167. Hoveden. 443.
7 De successione autem regni spes adhuc aut mentio nulla facta inter eos fuit.
y 2
324
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
Haro'id
the second.
The tapes-
try of
Bayeux.
in nurturing William's secret wishes. He may, in
revenge to the family of Godwin, have commenced
jn^rjgues }n favour of William ; but it is not credible
that Edward thought of William as his successor
until after the death of his cousin from Hungary.
The celebrated tapestry of Bayeux presents to us
the Norman account of these transactions.
In the cathedral church of Bayeux in Normandy,
this ancient monument has been preserved : u The
ground of this piece of work is a white linen cloth or
canvass, one foot eleven inches in depth, and 212
feet in length. The figures of men, horses, &c. are
in their proper colours, worked in the manner of
samplers, in worsted, and of a style not unlike what
we see upon China and Japan ware ; those of the
men more particularly being without the least sym-
metry or proportion."8 It is in one piece; it was
annually hung up arid exposed to view, in the nave
of the church, from the eve of Midsummer-day, and
continued there for eight days. At all other times
it was carefully locked up.9
This tapestry is called, by the tradition of the
country, "La toilette du Due Guillaume." 10 The
same popular account ascribes it to his queen, Ma-
Ingulf, 65. Ingulf describes himself as born in England, and as having studied at
Westminster and Oxford. When William visited Edward, Ingulf joined his train,
and sailed with him to Normandy ; he became his secretary and a sort of favourite.
He went to Jerusalem through Germany and Greece, and returned by sea to Rome.
He says, that he and his companions went out thirty fat horsemen, and returned
scarcely twenty, and emaciated pedestrians. He attended William to England,
73—75.
8 Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities, p. 79. M. Lancelot has written two
memoirs on this tapestry, in the Memoires de 1'Academie des Inscriptions, tom.ix.
pp.535 — 561.; and torn. xii. pp. 369— 469. M.Lancelot's description is thus:
" C'est une piece de toile de lin de dix-neuf pouces de haut, sur deux cens dix pieds
onze pouces de long, sur laquelle on a trace des tigures avec de la laine couchee
et croisee a peu pres comme on hache une premiere pensee au crayon." P. 370.
9 Lancelot, p. 371. Ducarel, 79. This tapestry is still at Bayeux. At the com-
mencement of the war, after the peace of Amiens, while the invasion of these
islands was in agitation, Bonaparte had this tapestry conveyed to Paris, for his own
inspection. A comet having appeared about that time, he is said to have observed,
with great earnestness, the comet represented in the tapestry.
10 Lancelot, 371. This gentleman says of it, " L'extremite commence a se gater."
This occasioned the Chapter to have it copied.
ANGLO-SAXONS 325
thilda, and her work- women.11 It has been engraved, CHAP.
and may be seen among the plates of the Academic naroid
des Inscriptions, and in DucareFs Anglo-Norman *he s^cond;
Antiquities.
It represents the transactions between Harold and
William. The first figures are, a king with a scep-
tre, sitting upon his throne; his right hand is pointed
towards two men, as if giving them orders. Above
is an inscription of two words, "Edward. Rex."12
This has been fairly thought to portray Edward,
directing Harold to go to Normandy. It therefore
illustrates the Norman account, that Harold was sent
by Edward to William.13
The next figures are, five men on horseback, pre-
ceded by a cavalier with a bird in his left hand, and
with five dogs running before him. The inscription
to this is, " Ubi Harold dux Anglorum et sui milites
equitant ad Bosham." The dogs and the bird mark
the cavalier to be a nobleman, and of course to be
Harold, who is proceeding with his train to Bosham.14
A church follows, before which are two men with
bending knees. Above is the word " Ecclesia."
After this is an apartment where men are drinking,
one from a horn, another from a goblet.
Two men are descending from this place of refresh-
ment, one of them with an oar. A person with an
oar is standing next. Another holds a dog in his
11 Lancelot, 373. William of Poitou declares, that the English ladies excelled at
their needle, and in gold embroidery. Ib. 375. Lancelot thinks, " qu'elle ne peut
etre d'un siecle posterieur a celui de Guillaume," 374. Mathilda died in 1083.
Ib. 377.
12 Lancelot, 378.
13 II faut observer la simplicite du tr6ne du roi Edward, semblable a celle que
nous representent les sceaux et les autres monumens qui nous restent de ces terns
la. Les bras du trone sont termines par une tete de Chien Ceux des empereurs
d'Allemagne avoient ordinairement un Lion. Son sceptre est termin^e en fleuron.
P. 541.
14 The tapestry has sustained some injury at the beginning of this inscription.
Lancelot, 378. " C'etoit alors 1'usage de la noblesse de marcher ou en equipage de
guerre, quand il y avoit quelque expedition a faire, ou en equipage de chasse, quand
la guerre ne 1'occupoit point. — La noblesse seulc avoit le droit de porter 1'Epervier
ou le Faucons sur le poing." P. 543.
Y 3
326
HISTORY OF THE
arm, looking towards a ship, close to which is Harold,
with a dog under his arm, and a bird in his left
hand. The inscription is, <fHic Harold mare navi-
gavit." It of course represents Harold embarking
at Bosham in Sussex.15
Two ships follow in full sail. The remark of
Lancelot is just, that in their equipment they are not
at all like fishing vessels. The words are, " Et velis
vento plenis venit in terra Widoiiis Comitis."
The next figures represent Harold becoming the
prisoner of Guy, the count of Ponthieu, who carries
him to Belre16, and detains him. The inscriptions
will explain the figures which follow : " Here Harold
and Guy converse ; here the messengers of William
came to Guy ; here a messenger comes to William ;
here Guy conducted Harold to William, duke of the
Normans ; here William proceeds with Harold to his
palace."
This part of the tapestry portrays the history as
given in the chronicles. When Harold was detained
by Guy, on whose coasts the winds impelled him, he
sent information to William, whose menaces arid
gifts produced his release.17
That William conducted Harold to Eouen, the
chief city of his dominions, is the assertion of a con-
13 Walter Mapes infonm us of the punning trick by which Godwin got Bosham
from the archbishop of York. See it in Camden and Lancelot, p. 545.
16 This was, says M. Lancelot, Beaurain le Chateau, two leagues from Monstreuil,
castrum de Bello ramo, p. 555. Le Roman de Rou par Robert Waice. est le seui
des Auteurs de ce terns la qui, en rapportant la circonstance de la prison de Harold
a Beaurain, confirme ce qu'en dit le monument dont il s'agit :
" Guy garda Heralt par grant cure,
Mout en creust mesaventure,
A Belrem le fit envoyer
Pour fere le Due esloingnier." P. 379.
17 In the tapestry, William is on his throne, with his sword in his left hand, his
right is extended close to the face of a man, who is listening or speaking to him in
a deprecating and intimidated manner. Lancelot says, " Deux vers du Roman de
Rou expriment ce que le Due faisoit et cette occasion :
" ' Tant pramist au Comte et offri,
Tant manacha et tant blandi,
Que Guy Heralt au Due rendi.' "
Ce sont les menaces qu'il semble que la tapisserie a voulu designer." P. 381.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 327
temporary chronicler.18 The tapestry says, to his CHAP.
palace, and exhibits a kind of hall, where a chief iiaroid
upon his throne, resting one hand on his sword, is the s^cond;
attending to a person in the attitude of speaking,
behind whom are some armed men. It is most
likely Harold addressing William on the subject of
his excursion ; but there is no inscription on this
part of the tapestry.
The next figures represent William's warfare with
Conan, a count of Bretagne, in which Harold as-
sisted.19 The inscriptions are : " Here duke William
and his army came to Mount St. Michael, and passed
the river Cosno20; here Harold duke drew them from
the sand ; and they came to Dol, and Conan fled.
Here the soldiers of duke William fo'ught against
the Dinantes21, and Conan extended the keys."
All these circumstances are very expressively told
bv appropriate figures, which give a curious delinea-
tion of the military equipments and manners of the
period.
The events which follow are peculiarly interesting
to us. William, in complete armour, extends one
hand to Harold's right temple; his other is upon
Harold's right arm and breast. Harold is a little
inclining towards him, and supports a lance with a
banner in his left hand. The words above are,
" Here William gave arms to Harold." A Norman
historian mentions, that William rewarded the ex-
18 Guil. Pictav.
19 See Lancelot, 388 — 401., on William and Harold's war in Bretagne. William
of Poitiers is the only historian who has at all detailed this warfare, " mais il s'en
faut beaucoup que son recit ne soit aussi circonstancie que ce qui se voit dans la
tapisserie," p. 389. Lancelot's Observations on the weapons of the combatants are
worth reading.
20 C'est la riviere de Couesnon qui separe encore a present la Normandie de la
Bretagne. Lan. 396. Les flots de la mer et les sables font changer souvent le lit
de cette riviere, ce qui rend le gue difficile. La tapisseriere prdsente le passage de
cette riviere par les troupes de Guillaume avec une exactitude tres-detaillce.
Ib. 397.
21 This circumstance the tapestry only has preserved. " C'est la prise de Dinan
ville de Bretagne a six lieves de Dol: aucun historien du terns n'en a parleV'
Lan. 399.
Y 4
328 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK ertions of Harold with splendid arms, horses, and
VI. .1 ... 99
Harold other insignia.^
the second. After three horsemen in armour, with the letters,
" Here William comes to Bagias" (Bayeux), "William
appears without armour on his throne with a sword,
his left hand extended. Near this are two reposi-
tories of relics. Harold is between them, with a
hand on each. Officers are at both ends. The in-
scription is : " Here Harold swears to Duke William."
The historians state, that Harold swore to pro-
mote William's accession to the throne of England
on Edmund's demise, to marry his daughter, and to
put Dover into his power.23 Some other authorities
mention that William, after Harold had sworn, un-
covered the repositories, and showed him on what
relics he had pledged himself; and Harold saw, with
alarm, their number and importance.24 If this be
true, these two great warriors were, at least in their
religion, men of petty minds, or they would not have
believed that the obligation of an oath was governed
by the rules of arithmetical progression.
The tapestry represents a ship under sail, expres-
sive of Harold's return, and afterwards Harold making
his report to Edward. The king's sickness and funeral
follow.25
The next figures show Harold's coronation. One
man offers him the crown ; and another a battle-axe.
Beyond this, Harold appears on his throne, with the
22 Order. Vital, lib. iii. p. 492. Le Roman de Rou places the ceremony at
Avranches ( Aurences) when the duke was going to Bretagne. Lan. 402.
23 Guil. Pictav. says this on the evidence of eye-witnesses : " Sicut veracissimi
multa que honestate praeclarissimi homines recitavere qui tune affuere testes,"
p. 191. He is so angry with Harold for his subsequent breach of this oath, that
he apostrophizes to him with great warmth, p. 192. Both Pictav. and Ord. Vital.
492. place the oath before the war in Bretagne. On the oath see Ingulf, Malmsb.,
M. Paris, Eadmer, and others.
24 So the Roman de Rou, and la Chronique de Normandie affirm. Lane. 404,
405. I may here mention that the author of the Roman is stated to be Robert
Waice ; that he lived about fifty years after the conquest, and was a canon of
Bayeux. Lan. 379.
25 The figures of the funeral seem to precede the sickness.
coronation.
1066.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 329
globe and cross in his left hand, and a sceptre in his CHAP.
right. On his right two men are presenting to him Harold
a sword ; and Stigand, the archbishop, is standing on the Second-
his left.26
On the evening of Edward's funeral, which was Harold's
the day after his death, Harold possessed himself of
the crown of England. As there were other pre-
tenders to the dignity, of whom one at least, Edgar
Atheling, the grandson of Edmund Ironside, was
invested with the interesting right of hereditary de-
scent, delay was perilous to the ambition of Harold.27
Hence, while the nobles were agitated with divided
minds, Harold boldly decided the splendid question
by availing himself of the support of his friends 28,
and by obtaining an instantaneous coronation from
the suspended archbishop of Canterbury.29
That Harold used his authority with kingly dig-
nity, and for the great ends of public utility, is as-
serted30, and must be admitted, with the qualification
that as his reign was so short, the panegyric must be
referred to his intentions rather than to his actions.
It is, however, essential to an usurper to be popular ;
and human ingenuity cannot invent a spell more
potent to excite the favour of its contemporaries than
the practice of virtue. All rulers, whose right to
power is ambiguous, and whose possession of it de-
26 The inscriptions are : " Here they gave the crown to king Harold ; here sits
Harold, king of the English ; Stigand, archbishop."
27 Matthew says some of the proceres favoured William ; some Harold, and some
Edgar, the grandson of Edmund Ironside ; but that Harold, extorta fide a majoribus,
obtained the diadem, 433. Malmsbury intimates a violent seizure, p. 93. So
Rudborne, p. 24. Ordericus says, he was consecrated sine communi consensu aliorum
prasulum et comitum procerumque, p. 492. ; and see Matt. West. 433. and M.
Paris, 2.
28 Florence, Hoveden, Simeon of Durham, Rad. Die. and Saxon Chronicle, imply,
that a very large part, if not all, of the nobles chose him. The tapestry, which
certainly tells the story in the Norman way, hints nothing of a violent seizure. It
represents two men offering the crown to Harold, who is uncovered.
29 Though most of the writers say that the archbishop of York crowned him ;
yet, as the tapestry shows Harold on his throne, and Stigand, who held Canterbury,
near him ; and as Guil. Pictav. 196. and Ord. Vitalis state that Stigand crowned
him, I adopt this opinion, which M.Lancelot supports, 421.
30 Ad Hoveden, Florence, and others. Malmsbury, 93. admits it.
330 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK pends on the public support, will affect to govern a
ulroid while with equity and popularity. The true cha-
the second. racter of Harold cannot therefore be judged from
lose. his actions in the emergency of competition ; and he
perished before the virtues of his disposition could be
distinguished from those of his convenience.
It is amusing to remark how industrious the chro-
niclers of this period have been to record, that a
comet appeared this year in the heavens, and that it
foreboded the revolutions of greatness, and the blood-
shed which ensued.31 The popular impression pro-
duced by this comet is shown by its having been
worked in the tapestry of Bayeux. This relic of
ancient times contains, immediately after Harold's
coronation, a rude figure of the cornet, with several
persons gazing at it with eager eyes and pointing
hands.32
The enjoyment of a favourite object is seldom the
consequence of its violent acquisition. Harold found
his crown full of the thorns which poets and moral-
ists have been fond of describing. Three competitors
prepared at the same time to wrestle with him for it ;
each was formidable enough to have endangered his
prosperity, but the combination of their hostilities
could have hardly failed to overpower him.
The rivals of Harold were, his brother Tostig,
William duke of Normandy, and Haralld Hardrada,
the king of Norway. The two last were sovereigns
of long- established authority, and great military ex-
perience ; and came with peculiar advantage into a
conflict with Harold, whose ancestry was obscure,
31 Will. Gem. p. 285.; Matt. West. 439. ; and many annalists. I believe that
above ninety comets have been remarked in the heavens.
32 The inscription over the men is : Isti mirant stelta. The MS. Chronicles,
Tib. B. 1. and B. 4. thus mention the comet: " Tha peapthseonb call Gnjla
lanb rpylc tacen on heopenum sept-pen rpylce nan man eji ne sereah. Sume men
cpebon cha hit comeca re fCeopna pacpe thone rume men hacath chont; Fixebon
rceoppan 1 he aeCeopbe aeperc on chone fepen Lccama majop 8 K mai "J ppa fean
calle tha reopen niht."
ANGLO-SAXONS. 331
whose power was young, whose title was questionable,
and whose friends were but a party in the nation
which he governed.
Tostig was a man of talents and activity, but his I.OGG.
fraternal relation gave to his hostilities a peculiar
venom. He had been expelled from Northumbria in
a preceding reign, and he had not been recalled by
Harold. His discontent and envy were fostered by
William, who embraced the policy of multiplying the
enemies and of dividing the strength of Harold.
Eager to oppress his more fortunate brother, Tostig
attempted, but in vain, to excite the king of Denmark
to attack him. On the mind of Haralld Hardrada,
king of Norway, he operated with more success.
The Norwegian consented to invade England in the
summer.33
Tostig went to Flanders, to prepare the means of Tostig's
an aggression of his own. He visited William of J1 vas.lon
Normandy, of whose ambition he was made a con-
venient instrument.34 He collected all the English
who were willing to join him ; he raised many sup-
plies from Flanders 35, and with sixty ships proceeded
to the English coast.
He levied contributions from the Isle of Wight,
and plundered along the shore till he reached Sand-
wich. Harold was then at London. He collected a
very numerous fleet and army, because he perceived
that his brother's force was but the advanced guard
of William. When Harold reached Sandwich, Tostig,
whose friends were chiefly in the north, sailed hastily
for Lincolnshire, and committed many ravages on
Lindesey. The earls of Mercia and Northumbria
allowed him no time to collect support, but com-
menced an immediate opposition.36 Tostig, defeated
33 Snorre, vol. iii. pp. 146 — 149. W. Gemraet, 285.
31 Order. Vital. 492. "* Snorre, 150.
36 Malmsb. 94. ; Hunt. 367. Matt. West. p. 433. says 40. The MS. Chronicle
332
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK by their energy, fled to Scotland with twelve ships 37,
Harold to wait the arrival of his allies, and Malcolm gave
the Second. ^^ an asylum.
1066. The first shaft of danger was thus happily averted
from Harold ; but the feeblest arm of the confederacy
had thrown it, and the triumph did not much aug-
ment the security of the king. The two sovereigns,
whose power singly was sufficient to endanger him,
were now preparing a combined attack.
zSecedeTm William, the rival of Harold, was the son of Kobert,
Normandy, the fifth duke of Normandy. He was not a legiti-
mate child38; but in these days this circumstance,
though always a reproach39, did not prevent deserving
talents from attaining the royal succession. William,
like our Athelstan and Edmund Ironside, was ad-
mitted to assume the dignity of his father.
When Eobert, obeying a fashion of his day, went
to Jerusalem with a noble retinue, he appointed his
boy William, though but a child, to govern Nor-
mandy in his stead, under the superintendence of a
wise and faithful administration ; and he engaged his
nobles and the king of France to guard his arrange-
ment.40 Robert died at Nice, on his return from
Palestine, in 1035, the same year in which Canute
the Great departed from this scene of his existence.41
William, at the age of eight, became the duke of
Normandy.42 His minority tempted many nobles to
Tib. B. 4. mentions that Tostig came to Wight, mib rpa miclum lithe rpa he
besitan mihte. But in stating his entrance into the Humber, it adds, mib px-
tsum fcipum.
37 MS. Chron. Tib. B. 4. mib 12 bnaccutn.
38 His mother was Herleva, or Harlotta, the daughter of Fullbert, an officer of
the duke's household. After Robert's death she was married by Herluin, a probus
miles, and left him two sons, of whom one, Odo, became an archbishop ; the other
also obtained reputation. W. Gemmet, lib. vii. c. 3.
39 Therefore one of his nobles declared, quod nothus non deberet sibi aliisque
Normannis imperare. Gem. lib. vii. c. 3. Glaber Rodulphus says of the Normans :
Fuit enim usui a primo adventu ipsius gentis in Gallias, ex hujusmodi concu-
binarum commixtione illorum principes extitisse, p. 47.
40 Glaber, p. 47.
41 Gemmet, lib. vi. c. 12, 13. Ord. Vit. lib. iii. p. 459.
42 Ord. Vit. 459.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 333
rebel against him, and to be turbulent towards each CHAP-
other. The king of France also coveted his domi- Harold
nions. Normandy was for many years harassed by t.he s*cond;
wars, murders, and civil feuds; and William, like 1066.
Philip of Macedon, experienced adversity enough to
excite his energies, and to discipline his judgment.
The abilities of his friends at first, and afterwards
his own good conduct, surmounted every difficulty.43
He not only secured his own power, but having so
often measured it against others with success, he was
taught to know its strength, to nurture ambition
upon that knowlege, and to look around him for new
theatres on which his active mind could be employed
with profit, and where increased celebrity would re-
ward its exertions.44
The friendship of Edward, the visit of Harold, and
the state of the English court, excited and determined
him to aim at the sceptre of our island.
The sudden coronation of Harold prevented the wunam's
effect of any private intrigues, and left to William no
hope but from his sword. William, however, knew
that the combat was half gained if the moral impres-
sions of society were in his favour ; and he therefore
sent an embassy to Harold, gently expostulating upon
the seizure of the crown, reminding him of the sworn
compact, and announcing hostilities if he persisted in
the violation. After Harold's coronation, such mes-
sages could be only a theatrical trick, played off by
the Norman, to call the attention of the people to the
moral circumstances of the case, to introduce the
claims of William publicly to their notice, to en-
courage his partisans, and to assume the merit of
peaceful discussion. William could never have sup-
43 On William's struggles to maintain his dignity, see Guil. Pictav. ; W. Gemmet,
and Orderic. Vitalis. They may be also read in Daniel's Histoire de France, vol. i.
pp. 362 — 368.
44 He married Mathilda, the daughter of Baldwin, count of Flanders. Gemmet,
p. 277. She was descended from Alfred's daughter.
334
HISTOEY OF THE
1066.
Harold's
answer.
BOOK posed that upon a mere message Harold would have
iili-oid walked down humbly from the throne which he had
the second, been so hasty to ascend.
Harold acted his part in the diplomatic farce, and
gave a popular answer. His topics were as well
selected as the case afforded. An bath extorted by
violence could not be binding on the conscience.
Human laws admitted a maiden's vow to be annulled,
which was made without her parents' consent : as
void must be the promise of an envoy, pledged with-
out his master's knowledge. Besides, how could any
individual alienate the right of royal succession with-
out the national consent ? And how could he abandon
voluntarily a dignity with which the favour of the
most potent nobles of England had honoured him?45
By wedding Alditha, the daughter of earl Algar46,
instead of Adeliza, the daughter of William 47, Harold
strengthened himself at home, because Mercia and
Northumbria were governed by the brothers of the
lady.
William held council with his chiefs on his project
of invasion. Some thought the chance unfavourable
to Normandy, and dissuaded it.48 The influence of
the duke surmounted opposition, and preparations
were vigorously made. A great number of ships
were immediately constructed.49 The tapestry, after
the representation of a ship arriving from England,
shows William on his throne, with the inscription,
" Here duke William gave orders to build ships."
Men cutting down trees with axes, and planing them
-into planks ; others arranging and hammering these
into vessels, are the next figures. Afterwards, five
45 Matt. Paris, p. 2. Matt. West. 434. Eadmer, 5.
48 Gemmet, 285. 47 She died at this crisis. Matt. Par. 2.
48 Guil. Pictav. 197. and Ord. Vital, p. 493.
49 Guil. Pictav. 197. W. Gemmet, 286., says, he had 3000 ships built; which
seem too many either to be wanted by him or to be believed by us. Ord. Vital, says,
that many ships were diligently made in Normandy with their utensils ; and that
both clergy and laity, by their money and liquors, assisted in the business, 490.
William
prepares.
ANGLO-SAXONS, 335
men appear pulling ships after them by ropes. Above CHAP.
are these words : " Here they drew the ships to the H^'1(1
Sea." the Second.
Men carrying coats of mail, spears, swords, and IOGG.
wine, and two others dragging a car, laden with
weapons, and a barrel, are then exhibited. The in-
scription is : " These carry arms to the ships, and
here they draw a car with wine and arms." Such
was the expedition of the workmen, that they were
ready by the end of August.50
While the means of conveyance were providing,
William was active in assembling soldiers sufficient
for his attempt. His purpose was diffused through
every land, and the courageous adventurer was in-
vited from every coast to share in the honour, the
danger, and the booty of the conflict. Crowds of
fighters came from all parts adjacent.51 He collected
powerful supplies from Bretagne, France, Flanders,
and their vicinity52, which, joined with the soldiers
whom he raised in his own Normandy, presented a
mass of force not less formidable from their spirit of
enterprise and their enthusiasm, than from their
numbers and the military skill of William, who had
been accustomed to warfare from his infancy. The
emperor so far favoured the expedition as to promise
to protect Normandy against any enemies who might
50 The Roman de Rou thus describes these things :
" Fevres et charpen tiers manda,
Dont veissiez a granz effors
Par Normendie a touz les pors
Merriens a traire et fust porter,
Chevilles faire et hois doler
Nesf et esquiex appareillier,
Velles estendre et mats drecier
A grant entente et a grant ost,
Tout un este et un A ost
Mistrent au navie atorner." Lancelot, 429.
51 Convenit etiam externus miles in auxilium copiosus. Guil. Pict. 197. Ru-
moribus quoque viri pugnaces de vicinis regionibus exciti convenerunt. Ord.
Vit 494.
52 Ingentem quoque exercitum ex Normannis et Flandrensibus ac Francis et
Britonibus aggregavit. W. Gem. 286. Galli namque et Britoncs, Pictavini et Bur-
gundiones aliique populi Cisalpini ad bellum transmarinum convolarunt. Ord. Vit. 494.
336 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK invade it in the duke's absence.53 William was here
Haloid also peculiarly fortunate. The king of France,
the second, though so much interested in preventing the duke
lose, of Normandy from acquiring the additional power of
the English crown, yet did not interfere to prevent
the collection and departure of the expedition. Per-
haps he judged it to be a desperate effort, and waited
to profit by its failure. William availed himself of
the oaths which Harold had broken, to give to his
cause the appearance of religious sanctity ; he there-
fore consulted with the pope, who sent him a con-
secrated banner.54
King of While William was putting in action every means
invaS °^ offensive aggression, which talents like his, so ex-
ercised in warfare, could devise, the king of Norway
was also summoning all the resources of his country
to give prosperity to his ambitious hopes. It is a
pleasing instance of the growing importance of Eng-
land, that his notice to his subjects, of his intended
expedition, did not meet with the unanimous con-
currence of the Norwegian mountaineers. Though
some, exulting in the recollection of their Haralld's
achievements, thought disaster impossible ; yet others
intimated that England abounded with valiant chiefs
and soldiers.55 Like a part of the Norman nobility,
they did not hesitate to foretell that the invasion
would be a work of perilous difficulty, and doubtful
issue.
The time had been, when to mention an expedition
against England was to collect speedily a numerous
fleet of eager adventurers. But now that experience
had made known the bravery of the natives, as the
hour of attack drew near, ominous dreams began to
flit through Norway. Snorre has detailed three of
53 Guil. Pict. 197.
54 Guil. Pict. 197. Ord. Vit. 493.
65 Snorre, Saga af Haralldi Hardrada, c. 82. p. 149.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 337
these, and mentions that many other portents oc- CHAP.
curred of dire and ill-boding import.56 The dark Haro'ld
minds of the North discovered their feelings by their the second.
superstitions. They began to dread the English IOGG.
power, and they found deterring omens, because they
were disposed to look for them.
Haralld Hardrada, having appointed his son Mag-
nus to govern Norway in his absence, sailed with
his other son, Olaf, and with his queen, Ellisif (Eliza-
beth), and her daughters, Maria and Ingegerdr, across
the British ocean.57 He reached Shetland ; and,
after a short delay, he sailed to the Orkneys. He
left there his family, and directing his course along
Scotland, he landed with his multitude of warriors
at the Tyne.58 His aggression seems to have been
unforeseen. The duke of Normandy absorbed the
attention of Harold, who did not expect that his hour
of difficulty would have been made more stormy by
a competitor from the North. Hardrada found no
opposition of importance on the English coasts.
Tostig joined him.59 They sailed onwards to Scar-
borough, which they plundered and burnt. They
turned the point of Holderness, and with above five
hundred ships entered the Humber.60
They proceeded up the Ouse as far towards York
as Richale. The related earls, Edwine and Morcar,
though taken unawares, prepared to oppose Haralld
Hardrada with the same spirit which had before ex-
pelled Tostig. On the 20th of September they gave
battle to the invaders near York, on the right side of
86 Snorre, 150—152.
57 For Haralld's actions, see Snorre, in the ode translated in the second volume
of Mallet's Northern Antiquities; in Ad. Brem. 41. 43. ; and Steph. in Sax. 215.
58 Snorre, 153., says, Klifland. So Orkneyinga Saga, p. 95. Hoveden, Florence,
and Simeon, place his first descent at the Tyne.
59 Flor. 429.
60 Snorre, 154. Hoveden, 448. Flor. 429. Our writers differ on the number
of Haralld's ships. Matt. Paris says, 1000. So Sigeb. Gemb. p. 600. Ingulf states
200 ; and Malmsbury and others have 300.
VOL. II. Z
338
HISTORY OF THE
lose,
BOOK the Ouse.61 Hardrada formed his warriors into such
Harold an arrangement, that one of his wings reached to the
the^second. river, and the other was flanked by a ditch arid
marsh full of water. The banner of the king and
the flower of his warriors were on the river. His
line at the ditch was weak, and tempted the attack
of the earls, the brothers-in-law of Harold. They
drove the enemy from their position. It was then
that Hardrada rushed into the battle, and, with his
compact troops, pierced through and divided the
pursuing English. Some were driven to the river;
some to the marsh and ditch. The slaughter was so
great, that the Norwegians traversed the marsh on
the bodies of the fallen.62 The Saxon account con-
firms the Icelandic : it claims the first advantage for
the English, and acknowleges that, in the disastrous
close, more were pushed into the waters than were
slain by the sword.63 The earls were besieged in
York.64
Harold, watching anxiously the motions of the
duke of Normandy, had stationed his troops on his
southern coasts. The success of Haralld Hardrada
compelled him to abandon this position of defence,
and to march with his army into the North. To
repel the king of Norway immediately was essential
to his safety; and with this purpose he proceeded
towards him so rapidly, as to reach York four days
after the defeat of the earls.
Hardrada had been as much reinforced by the
friends of Tostig65, and by those adventurers who
always join the flag of victory, as the time would
61 Hunt. 367. says, "Cujus locus pugnse in Australi parte urbis adhuc osten-
ditur."
62 Snorre, 155. Orkneyinga Saga, p. 95. The Northerns give the command
of the Saxons to Walthiof and Morcar. Walthiof is not mentioned by the English
chroniclers in Harold's reign ; but in William's reign he occurs with the Northum-
brians, as in Hoveden, p. 455.
63 Iloveden, 448. Flor. 429. 64 Malmsb. 94.
65 Snorre, 156.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 339
permit ; but the sudden presence of the king of Eng- CHAP.
land was an incident which he did not anticipate.
He had committed his ships to the care of his son, t.he s^cond;
Olaf, with a part of his forces, and had marched with IOGG.
the rest towards the city, to settle the government of
the province. The day was beautiful and mild. The
sun shone with those pleasing beams which exhilarate
the spirits, and give new charms to irradiated nature.
But, alas ! the drama of ambition was acting in the
country, and its melancholy catastrophe was about
to scatter round the dismal spectacle of death. Man
was hastening to deform the smiling scene with all
the massacres of a ferocious battle. On a sudden, the
king of Norway saw an army marching towards him.
He inquired of Tostig, who they were. Tostig stated
his hope that they were a supply of his friends ; but
he knew enough of his brother's activity also to add,
that they might be the English forces.
The advancing troops were soon discerned to be
hostile ; and Tostig, wishing a more elaborate pre-
paration, advised a retreat to the ships, that the
strength of Norway might join the battle in its most
concentrated vigour. The king of Norway was hero
enough not to decline an offered combat ; but he sent
three swift couriers to command the immediate pre-
sence of his other warriors.
He drew out his men in a long but not dense line ;
and, bending back the wings, he formed them into a
circle every where of the same depth, with shield
touching shield. In the centre the royal banner was
planted, not unaptly surnamed the Ravager of the
Earth. The peculiar mode in which the cavalry
attacked was the cause of this arrangement. Their
custom was to charge promiscuously in an impetuous
mass, to fly off, and to return in the same or at some
other point. Haralld Hardrada was as yet weak in
cavalry. It was now but the 25th September, and he
z 2
340 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK had not had time to mount many of his troops. The
ulroid king of England, on the contrary, came forth with
the second. ^Q strength of the island, and of course a large part
1066. of his army must have been horse. To secure himself
against this superiority, was the first care of the
Norwegian.
The first line were ordered to fix their lances
obliquely in the ground, with the points inclining to-
wards the enemy, that the cavalry might impale them-
selves when they charged. The second line held also
their spears ready to plunge into the breasts of the
horses when near. The archers were joined with the
array of Haralld and Tostig, to contribute their efforts
to the success of the day. 66
Hardrada rode round his circle to inspect its order.
His horse stumbling, he was thrown to the ground ;
but he sprang up, and wisely exclaimed, that it was
an omen of good. Harold, who observed the incident,
thought otherwise. He inquired who that Norwe-
gian was, clothed in a blue tunic, and with a splendid
helmet, who had fallen. He was answered, The king
of Norway. " He is a large and majestic person,"
replied Harold, " but his fortune will be disastrous." 67
An offer was sent to Tostig, before the battle
joined, to give him Northumbria, and other honours,
if he would withdraw from the impending conflict.
Tostig remarked, that such a proposition in the pre-
ceding winter would have saved many lives : " But,"
added he, " if I should accept these terms, what is to
be the compensation of the king, my ally ?" — " Seven
feet of ground, or, as he is a very tall man, perhaps a
little more," was the answer. This intimation closed
the negotiation, for Tostig was faithful to his friend.68
The Norwegians, riot having expected a battle on
that day, are said to have been without their coats of
« Snorre, 159. °7 Ibid. 160. <* Ibid.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 341
mail. The king of Norway sung some stanzas on the CHAP.
circumstance, and awaited the attack. His orders Haroid
were implicity obeyed. The charges of the English the s^con(1;
cavalry were received on the implanted points ; and IOGG.
while the Norwegians kept their circle unbroken,
they repulsed every attack. Weary of their unpre-
vailing efforts, the English began to relax in some
confusion, and their adversaries were tempted to
pursue. It was then that the fortune of Norway first
drooped. The English returned to the charge. The
Norwegians were out of their defensive arrangement,
and felt the destructive fury of the English weapons.
Hardrada encouraged his men by the most heroic
exertions; but he could not bind victory to his
standard. A fatal dart pierced his throat ; and his
fall gave the first triumph to his kingly competitor. 69
Tostig assumed the command, and the battle still
raged. Harold again offered life and peace to his
brother and the Norwegians, but the enraged Tostig
was deaf to reconciliation. Victory or death was his
decision ; and the arrival of the division from the
ships, under the command of Eysteinn Orri, gave
new hopes to his fury.
These fresh troops were completely armed. Their
attack was so vehement, that the fortune of the day
was nearly changed ; but they were exhausted by the
speed with which they had hurried to the place of
conflict. Their exertions relaxed as their strength
ebbed ; and after a desperate struggle, Tostig and
the flower of Norway perished. 70 Harold, who had
shown himself the ardent warrior through all the
combat, permitted Clave, the son of the unfortunate
69 Snorre, 163. See Haralld's character in Snorre, 368. He was fifty years of
age when he died. Ib. 175.
70 Ibid. 165. Huntingdon says, there never was a severer battle, p. 368. He,
Malmsbury, and others, state, that at one period of the conflict, a Norwegian de-
fended the bridge against the English army, and killed with his battle-axe forty
soldiers before he was destroyed. Ord. Vit. mentions, that a great heap of bones in
his time marked on the spot the dreadful slaughter of the day, 500.
z 3
342 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK Hardrada, and Paul, the earl of the Orkneys71, to
iiaroid retire from the island with their surviving friends,
the second. anj a £ew shipS. 72 Olave went to the Orkneys, and
ioG6. in the following spring to Norway, where he reigned
jointly with his brother Magnus. 73
Two of Harold's competitors had now fallen ; and
if an interval had elapsed before the assault of the
other, of sufficient space to have permitted him to
have supplied the consumption of the late battles,
and to have organised a new force, it is probable that
the duke of Normandy would have shared the fate of
the king of Norway. But three days only intervened
between the defeat of the Norwegians, and the land-
ing of William. He arrived at Pevensey on the 28th
of September74, and the king of Norway had fallen
on the 25th.
Harold, expecting an invasion from William, had
in the spring assembled, on the southern coasts, the
best bulwark of the island. He stationed his fleet off
Wight, to encounter the Norman on the seas, and
encamped an army in its vicinity. This guard was
continued during the summer and autumn ; and
while it watched at its allotted post, the throne of
Harold was secure. But on the 8th of September75,
the fleet, which had lain along the coast at Pevensey,
Hastings, and the neighbouring ports, was, from the
want of provisions, obliged to disperse.76 Harold
71 Hoveden, 448. Ingulf, 69. On Paul's descent and family, see the Orkneyinga
Saga, pp. 91—93.
72 Ingulf, Hoveden, and others, say with 20. The MS. Chron. Tib. B. 4. has
B.24. This mentions Olaf's departure thus : " Se Kyns tha seap spythe Olape
thaer Nopna cynser puna -j beope bpe' ^ than eople OF Opcan ege -j eallon than
theon tha rcypu to lape paejion *j hi popon tha upp to upan Kymnge *j r>opon
athar th hi aeppe polbon ppyth -3 ppeonbpcype mto thiran lanbe halban 7 re cyng
hi let ham papan raib 24 rcypum. Thar tpa pole sepeoht psepon seppemmebe
binnan pip nihtan."
73 Orkneyinga Saga, 95. Snorre, 171 — 176.
74 The printed Chronicle says on Michaelmas day. But the MS. Tib. B. 4. says,
" On rce' Michaelr maerpe eepen." So the Lambard MS. Ord. Vit. 500. agrees
with the MS.
75 Hoveden and Florence mark the nativity of St. Mary as the day. This was
8th September.
76 The MS. Chron. B. 1. has a long paragraph on this.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 343
being immediately after occupied by the Norwegian CHAP.
invasion, neglected to supply and reinstate it. By Harold
this unhappy mistake, he removed the main obstacle t.he s^cond;
to William's expedition. IOGS.
William had completed his armament in August,
and it lay in the mouth of the Dive, a little river
between Havre and Caen. Fortunately for his enter-
prise, the wind was adverse. If it had been favour-
able, he would have sailed, and the fleet of Harold
would have received the first shock of the storm. If
the English navy had been defeated, an army was
lining its coasts, which would have disputed his land-
ing. Should victory still have followed him, his
force must have been diminished by the combats, and
he would have had then to wrestle with the strength
of the island, directed by the active talents of Harold.
But the contrary winds detained him for a month at
the Dive 77 ; and in this interval the English fleet left
its position, and the invasion of Norway called Harold
from the southern coasts.
At last the currents of the atmosphere came into
the direction he desired, and the fleet sailed from the
Dive, round Havre, to St. Vallery, near Dieppe, which
was the nearest port between Normandy and England.
Some unfavourable events had occurred. Of the
large fleet several vessels were wrecked ; and many
of the adventurers, whose courage lessened from their
leisure of reflection on the perils of the expedition,
abandoned his standard. William caused the bodies
of the drowned to be buried with speed and privacy ;
he exhilarated the spirits of his army by abundance
of provisions, and he animated their drooping hopes
by his eloquent exhortations. To excite their enthu-
siasm, he caused St. Vallery's body to be carried in
procession, under the pretence of imploring, and per-
77 Ord. Vital. 500. Guil. Pict. 198.
z 4
344 HISTORY OF THE
haps with the hope of obtaining, a propitious na-
vigation.
A general eagerness to embark now pervaded the
1066. expedition. The duke, more impatient than any, was
every where urging his soldiers to hasten to their
ships. To prevent disasters usual to an unknown
coast, he enjoined all the vessels to anchor round his
at night, and not to recommence their voyage till the
lighted beacon on the top of his mast having given
the signal, the general clangor of the trumpets should
announce the time of resailing. 78
With seven hundred ships79, or more, replete with
horses80, and every implement of battle, he quitted his
native shores. During the day, his ardent spirit not
only led the van of his fleet, but his ship so far out-
sailed the others, that when a mariner was ordered to
look round from the top of the mast, he declared he
saw nothing but the clouds and the ocean. William,
though impatient for his landing, yet with dignified
composure ordered his men to cast anchor, and calmly
78 These particulars are from the contemporary William of Poitou, whose valuable
fragment was printed by Du Chesne, from a MS. in our Cotton Library.
79 It has been already remarked, that W. Germmet gives to William 3000 ships.
The very ancient author of the Roman de Rou says, he had read of 3000 ships, but
that he had heard it declared to his father that there were 700 all but four.
" Ne vous voil mie mettre en leitre,
Ne je ne me voil entremeitre
Quels barons et quels chevaliers,
Granz vavasours, granz soudoiers
Ont li Dus en sa compaingnie
Quant li prist toute sa navie.
Mez ceu oi dire a mon pere,
Bien m'en souvient, mes vallet ere,
Quer sept cent nesf quatre mains furent,
Quant de St. Valery s'esmurent,
Que nesf, que batteaux, que esquiez
A porter armes et hernoiz.
Ai je en escript trouv^,
Ne sai dire s'est verite,
Que il y cut trois mile nesf,
Qui porterent velles et tresf." Lancelot, 431.
La Chronique de Normandie intimates, that seme escriptures temoingnent neuf
cens et sept grandes nesf a granz tresf et voiles, sans li menu vaisselin. Ib. M.
Lancelot remarks, that the menu vaisselin may supply somewhat of the great
difference between the rumours. The expressions of Guil. Pictav. imply 1000
ships.
80 The tapestry of Bayeux has several ships with horses.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 345
took a cheerful refreshment. A second sailor as- CHAP.
cended, and beheld four ships coming into the hori- H^roid
zon. Another, at a farther interval, declared he saw the s^cond;
a sailing forest. The duke's heart swelled with joy, IOGG.
and he anticipated all the triumphs of his daring
adventure. 81
At Pevensey their voyage ceased on the 28th Sep-
tember. They landed peaceably, for no opposing
force was near. 82 They made no stay here, and pro-
ceeded immediately to Hastings to procure food.83
As William landed from his ship, it happened that he
fell. In these days, when the mind was still retaining
many of the groundless fantasies of preceding ages,
the accident was interpreted into an omen of dis-
aster ; but the spreading panic was checked by the
judicious soldier who raised William from the ground.
Seeing his hands full of mud, he exclaimed, " Fortu-
nate General ! you have already taken England. See,
its earth is in your hands."84 How excitable must be
the mind of man, when a casual stumble can intimidate
thousands, and a lucky expression re-assure them !
How difficult must it be to lead such excitability into
a steady course of wisdom and virtue !
The duke forbad plunder, and built military works
both at Pevensey and Hastings, to protect his ship-
81 Guil. Pict. 1 99. To this repast of William, M. Lancelot refers that in the
tapestry. I think his supposition is decidedly and obviously erroneous.
82 Guil. Pict. 199. The tapestry shows this. After representing many ships in
full sail, some with armed men, and some with horses, with the inscription : " Mare
transivit et venit ad Pevenesse," it shows the landing of horses unmolested.
83 The tapestry details this curiously. Four armed horsemen are riding. The
words over them are, " And here the soldiers hastened to Hastings to seize pro-
visions." One man is leading a sheep ; another is standing near with an axe,
looking at an ox ; another is carrying some bundle on his shoulders near a man
with a pig. The cookery, the serving, and the enjoyment of the repast, are then
successively represented with appropriate inscriptions. The little anonymous
narration, written in the reign of Henry I., and published by Taylor from a MS.
at Oxford, after landing them at Pevensey, adds, " Sed non diutius ibi moratus,
cum omni exercitu suo venit ad alium portum non longe ab isto situm quam vocant
Hastingas ibique omnem suam militiam requiescere jussit." P. 190.
81 Matt. West. 435. and others.
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK
85
1066.
png. It is mentioned that he went out with
nlroid twenty-five companions to explore the country. They
the second. fen into such a rugged course, that they were obliged
to return on foot ; and the army remarked, with high
approbation, that William had burdened himself with
the armour of one of his party, who was unable to
get to the camp without putting it off.86 William
was now involved in an expedition which required
the most zealous and self-devoting support of all his
soldiers. Few things interest more strongly than
the useful condescensions of the great, and it is an
argument of William's discernment and true dignity
of mind, that he seized such little occasions of ex-
citing, in his army, an affectionate attachment.
A Norman friend conveyed to William the tidings
of Harold's victory over Norway. The counsel of
alarm was added to the news. " He is coming against
you with all his power, and I think you will be but
as despised dogs against it. You have prudently
governed all your affairs in Normandy ; be not now
rash ; keep to your fortifications ; meet him not in
battle."
William's mind was above these little agitations of
fear. He had thrown his die. His spirit was fixed
to stand the full venture, and to endure all the con-
sequences, whether fatal or propitious. He returned
for answer, that he should not entrench himself, but
should give the battle as early as he could join it.
He declared that this would have been his resolution,
if he had headed only 10,000 men, instead of the
60,000 who were assembled round his banners.87
Harold received the information of William's land-
ing, while he was dining at York.88 The impressive
85 Wil. Gemmet. 286. Ord. Vit. 500. The tapestry represents this construction
of the castle at Hastings.
86 Guil. Pict. 199. 87 Ibid. * Hunt, 368.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 347
incident would have summoned a wary mind to the CHAP.
most deliberate circumspection. A new enemy H^;ld
coming in such power, demanded the wisest exertions the Secontl
of military intelligence. But the mind of Harold IOGS.
possessed not the judgment of his great adversary.
His bravery had more vivacity than discretion, and
its natural ardour was stimulated into presumption
by his victory against the king of Norway. He
looked upon William as his devoted prey ; and in-
stead of collecting all his means of defence, and mul-
tiplying these by the wisdom of their application, he
flew to London, as if he had only to combat in order
to conquer. ij .
This triumphant vanity was the instrument as
well as the signal of his ruin. In the deadly contest
against Hardrada, he had lost many of his bravest
warriors. By an ill-timed cove tousn ess, he disgusted
the surviving ; for he monopolised the plunder. When
he marched to London against William, a large part
of his army deserted him. Those only who served
on pay, and as mercenaries, kept to him.89
He sent spies to inspect William's force. The
judicious duke, who knew his strength, and the good
appointment of his army, had nothing to conceal : he
caused the spies to be well feasted, and to be led
through his encampment. On their return to Harold,
they magnified what they had beheld; but added,
that, from their shaven faces, they should have taken
the Normans for an army of divines. Harold laughed
at the conceit, but had sense enough to remark, that
the divines would prove very formidable soldiers.90
89 Malmsb. 94. Matt. West. 434.
90 Malmsb. 100. The English did not shave the upper lip. Ib. The Roman de
Rou mentions the account of the spies. Lane. p. 456. The forces of William greatly
outnumbered those of Harold. The MS. of Waltham Abbey, written by the canon
whom the last queen of Henry I. patronised, states the Norman army to have been
four times as numerous as that of Harold. " Non potuit de pari conditione cen-
tendere qui modico stipatus agmine, QLTADBUPLO congressus exercitu, sorti se dedit
ancipiti." Cott. MSS. Jul. D. 6. p. 101.
348
HISTOKY OF THE
BOOK
VI.
Harold
the Second.
1066.
It was the interest of Harold to delay a battle with
the invaders, but it was his passion to hasten it. His
brother Gurth reminded him, that he had not re-
cruited his losses in the North. Such an observation
was evidence of his judgment. His other remarks,
that if Harold fought, it would be committing per-
jury, and therefore that he, Gurth, had better lead on
the English in his stead, were deservedly despised by
Harold.91 The perjury, if any, was in the resistance,
and could not be diminished by the change of the
commander. But with what energy could the troops
be expected to fight in a quarrel of personal com-
petition, if Harold was away ? His absence, on such
grounds, would have sanctified the claim of William,
and might have tainted his own fame with the peril-
ous imputation of cowardice.
Monastic messengers were reciprocally sent by the
two rivals. The one from the duke is said to have
offered Harold his option of three proposals. To quit
the throne, to reign under William, or to decide the
dispute by a single combat.
The two first propositions Harold was too coura-
geous to regard. The last was more compatible with
his humour. But Harold had been William's guest,
and well knew his personal prowess. The Norman
excelled most men of his day in strength, stature,
agility, and skill. As he possessed such notorious
superiority, there was little courage in his offer of
the* duel, and Harold could not be disgraced in re-
fusing it. Harold therefore answered with unusual
discretion, when he declared, that God should judge
between them.92
Harold stayed but six days at London to collect
troops for the collision with the invaders 93 ; his im-
91 Malmsb. 100.
92 Malmsb. 100. Guil. Pict. 200.
93 Will. Gemmet. 287.
Matt. Paris, 3.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 349
patient presumption could not tarry for the force that CHAP.
was wanted to secure success. He left the city, and H*Iid
marched all night towards Hastings.94 His hope the Second-
was, to surprise the army of the duke 95, as he had 1066.
surprised the Norwegians ; and so confident were his
expectations, that he sent round a fleet of 700 vessels
to hinder William's escape.96
This was another measure of his ill-judgment. A
very large part of his force must have been lost to
him in manning these vessels ; and yet, though he had
not had time to collect an army of great power, he
deprived himself, needlessly, of a numerous support,
by sending it on the seas. Prudence would have
counselled him to have opened a passage on the ocean
for his enemies' retreat. If he had coolly reasoned,
he must have seen that William placed the issue of
his adventure upon a land battle. To wage this suc-
cessfully, he concentrated all his strength. Harold,
instead of meeting him with his most consolidated
force, favoured the wishes of his enemies by manning
a fleet, whose exertions could not have the least
influence on the impending conflict. But when
vanity assumes the helm of our conduct, discretion
disappears.
In projecting to surprise William, he proved how
little he understood of the duke's character. Alert
in obtaining notice of Harold's approach, William
immediately commanded his men to remain all night
under arms.97 Deterred by this preparation, Harold
ventured no night attack.
On the spot afterwards called Battle, the English
rested on an adjacent hill. The Normans quitted
94 Gemmet, 287. 9S Ord. Vit. 500. Guil. Pict 201.
96 Guil. Pict. 201. Ord. Vit. 500. L'Ancienne Chronique de Normandie, and
the Roman de Rou (Lane. 444 — 446.) mention that William burnt and destroyed
his own shipping, to make his army more desperate.
97 Gemm. 287.
350
HISTORY OF THE
1066.
Hastings98, and occupied an eminence opposite." The
night before the battle was spent by the English in
festivity, by the Normans in devotion.100
While William was putting on his armour, it hap-
pened that he inverted his coat of mail. This petty
mistake was a fatal omen ; but William, like all great
souls, disdaining such puerilities, said, with a calm
countenance, " If I believed in omens, I should riot
fight to-day, but I never credited such tales, and
never loved the superstitious. In every concern
which I ought to undertake, I commit myself, for the
result, to my Creator's ordination." 101
At the command of their leader, the Normans, who
were in the camp, armed. William, with solemn
devotion, heard mass, and received the sacrament.
He hung round his neck the relics on which Harold
had sworn, and proceeded -to arrange his troops102;
his standard was entrusted to Toustain the Fair.103
He divided his army into three bodies. In front
he placed his light infantry, armed with arrows and
balistaB. Behind these were the heavy-armed foot.
His last division was composed of his cavalry, among
whom he stationed himself.104
He strengthened their determined valour by an
impressive harangue.105 He reminded them of the
achievements of Hastings, whose actions these pages
have commemorated. He bade them to recollect
98 The tapestry represents them as departing from Hastings to the place o
battle.
99 Taylor's Anon. 192. 10« Malmsb. 101.
101 " Si ego in sortem crederem, hodie amplius in bellum non introirem, sed ego
nunquam sortibus credidi neque sortileges amavi. In omni negotio quodcunque
agere debui, Creatori meo semper me commendavi." Taylor's Anon. p. 192. Guil.
Pict. 201. mentions it.
102 Guil. Pict. 201. Ord. Vit. 500.
103 Le Roman de Rou mentions, that William first offered this honour to Raou
de Conches, and Gautier Giffart, who declined it. See it quoted, Lane. 450—453.
104 Guil. Pict. 201. Ord. Vit. 501.
105 The tapestry represents William speaking to his soldiers. The inscription
imports : " Here William exhorts his soldiers to prepare themselves manlily and
wisely to battle against the English army."
AtfGLO-SAXONS. 351
Rollo, the founder of their nation, and the uniform CHAT.
successes of their ancestors against the Franks. He Harold
noticed their most recent exploits.106 He assured ^ second.
them that they were to fight not merely for victory, IOGG.
but for life. If they exerted themselves like men,
glory and wealth were their rewards ; if they were
defeated, a cruel death, a hopeless captivity, and
everlasting infamy, were the inevitable consequences.
Escape there was none. On one side, an unknown
and hostile country ; on the other, the blockaded sea
precluded flight.107 He added, " Let any of the Eng-
lish come forward, of those whom our ancestors have
an hundred times defeated, and demonstrate that the
people of Rollo have ever been unfortunate in war,
and I will abandon my enterprise. Is it not, then, a
disgrace, that a nation accustomed to be conquered,
a nation so broken by war, a nation not even having
arrows, should pitch themselves in regular battle
against you ? Is it not a disgrace, that perjured
Harold should dare to face me in your presence? I
am astonished that you should have beheld those who
destroyed your fathers, and my kinsman Alfred, by
the basest treachery, and that they should yet be in
existence. Raise, soldiers, your standards. Let
neither diffidence nor moderation check your anger.
Let the lightning of your glory shine resplendent
from the east to the west. Let the thunders of your
impetuous onset be heard afar, ye generous avengers
of the murdered!"108
While he was yet speaking, his men hastened to
engage. Their ardour could not tarry for his con-
clusion. One Taillefer, singing the song of Roland
and Charlemagne 109, even outstripped his friends, and
106 Hen. Hunt. 368. Bromton. 107 Guil. Pict. 201.
108 Hen. Hunt. 368.
109 " Taillefer qui mout bien chantout,
Sur un cheval qui tost alout,
Devant euls aloit chantant,
352
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK killed an English ensign-bearer. Another also be-
HarJid came his victim. A third overpowered him, and then
the second, ^e armies joined.110 The cry of the Normans was,
io66. " God help us." ' The English exclaimed, " The holy
cross ; the cross of God." U1
The English, chiefly infantry, were arranged by
Harold into an impenetrable wedge. Their shields
covered their bodies. Their arms wielded the battle-
axe. Harold, whose courage was equal to his dig-
nity, quitted his horse to share the danger and the
glory on foot. His brothers accompanied him ; and
his banner, in which the figure of a man in combat,
woven sumptuously with gold and jewels, shone con-
spicuous to his troops, was implanted near him.112
William, whose eye was searching every part of
the field, inquired of a warrior near him, where he
thought Harold stood. " In that dense mass on the
top of the hill, for there his standard seems dis-
played," was the answer. William expressed his
surprise at his presence in the conflict, and his con-
fidence that his breach of faith would on that day be
punished.113
The English had possessed themselves of the hilly
ground, which was flanked by a wood. The cavalry
dismounted, arid added to the firm mass of Harold's
array. The Norman foot, advancing, discharged
their missile weapons with effect; but the English,
with patient valour, kept their ground. They re-
De Kallemaigne et de Roullant,
Et d'Olivier et de Vassaux
Qui moururent en Rains chevaux."
Roman de Rou, p. 461.
Malmsbury and others mention, that the Normans sung the song of Roland.
110 Hen. Hunt. 368. Rad. Diet. 480. Bromton, 960.
' m The Roman de Rou, p. 461. which say, ;
" Alierot est en Engleiz
Qui Sainte Croix est en Franceiz
Et Goderode est autrement
Comme en Fran9ois Dex tout pussant. "
112 Malmsb. 101. J" Taylor's Anon. Hist. 192.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 353
turned the attack with spears and lances ; with their CHAP.
terrible battle-axes, their ancient weapons, and with Harold
stones, whose falling masses were directed to over- the second.
whelm. The battle glowed. Distant weapons were IOGG.
abandoned for a closer conflict. The clamour of the
engaging soldiers was drowned in the clashing of
their weapons, and the groans of the dying.114 Valour
abounded on both sides, and the chieftains fought
with all the desperate firmness of personal enmity
and ardent ambition.
Befriended by the elevation of their ground, by
the mass of their phalanx, and by their Saxon axes,
which cut through all the armour of their adversaries,
the undaunted English not merely sustained, but re-
pelled every attack. Intimidated by such invincible
fortitude, the foot and cavalry of Bretagne, and all
the other allies of William in the left wing, gave way.
The impression extended along all his line. It was
increased by a rumour, that the duke had fallen.
Dismay began to unnerve his army ; a general flight
seemed about to ensue.115
William, observing the critical moment which
threatened destruction to his glory, rushed among
the fugitives, striking or menacing them with his
spear. His helmet was thrown from his head. The
indignant countenance of their leader was visible:
"Behold me — I live; and I will conquer yet, with
God's assistance. What madness induces you to fly ?
What way can be found for your escape ? They
whom, if you choose, you may kill like cattle, are
driving and destroying you. — You fly from victory
— from deathless honour. — You run upon ruin and
everlasting disgrace. If you retreat, not one of you
but will perish."116
At these words they rallied — he led them to
114 Guil. Pict. 202. m Ibid. lw Ibid.
VOL. II. A A
354 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK another onset. His sword strewed his path with
Harold slaughter. Their valour and their hopes revived.
the second. rf heir charge upon their pursuers was destruction ;
1066. they rushed impetuously on the rest.
But the main body of the English continued un-
moved and impenetrable. All the fury of the Nor-
mans and their allies could force no opening. An
unbroken wall of courageous soldiery was every
where present.
Depressed by this resistance, William's mind was
roused to attempt a stratagem. He had seen the success
with which his rallied troops had turned upon those
who pursued them. He resolved to hazard a feigned
retreat, to seduce the English into the disorder of a
confident pursuit, and to profit by their diffusion.117
A body of a thousand horse, under the count of
Boulogne, were entrusted with the execution of this
manoeuvre. With a horrible outcry they rushed upon
the English ; then suddenly checking themselves, as
if intimidated, they affected a hasty flight.118 The
English were cheated. They threw themselves ea-
gerly on the retreating Normans, and at first they
prospered; for the Normans retired upon a great
ditch, or excavation, somewhat concealed by its vege-
tation. Driven upon this, great numbers perished,
and some of the English were dragged into the
ruin.119 But while this incident was occupying their
117 Guil. Pict. 202. ll8 Taylor's Anon. Hist. 193. 1 Dugd. 311.
119 Hunt. 368. Rad. Diet. 480. Bromton, 960. This ditch was afterwards
called Malfossed. 1 Dugd. 311. The Roman de Rou stated this :
" En la champagne out un fosse
Normans 1'avient eux adosse
Embelinant 1'orent passe
Ne Tavoient mie esgarde.
Engleis on tant Normans hastez
Et tant empoins et tant boutez
Ez fossez les ont fait ruser,
Clievaux et hommes gambeter
Mout voissiez hommes tomber,
Les uns sur les autres verser
Et tresbuschier et adenter
Ne s'cn pooient relever ;
ANGLO-SAXONS. 355
attention, the duke's main body rushed between the
pursuers and the rest of their army. The English
endeavoured to regain their position ; the cavalry
turned upon them, and, thus enclosed, they fell vic-
tims to the skilful movement of their opponents.120
Twice was the Norman artifice repeated, and twice
had the English to mourn their credulous pursuit.121
In the heat of the struggle, twenty Normans pledged
themselves to each other to attack, in conjunction,
the great standard of Harold. Eyeing the expected
prize, they rushed impetuously towards it. In at-
tempting to penetrate through the hostile battalions,
many of the party fell ; but their object not having
been foreseen, the survivors secured it.122
The battle continued with many changes of for-
tune. The rival commanders distinguished them-
selves for their personal exertions. Harold emulated
the merit, and equalled the achievements, of the
bravest soldier, at the same time that he discharged
the vigilant duty of the general.123 William was
constantly the example to his troops. He had three
Des Engleis y mourut assez
Que Normans ont a euls tirez." Lane. 464.
The tapestry seems to represent this. After the fall of Harold's brothers, it has
the inscription : " Here the English and Franks fell together in battle." The
figures are warriors fighting, and horses in positions which imply violent falls.
120 Hunt. 368. Bromt. 960. At one period of the conflict, probably in this,
Odo, the half-brother of William, and bishop of Bayeux, rendered him great ser-
vices by rallying his men. The tapestry, immediately after the preceding incident,
shows him on horseback in armour, with a kind of club, amid other cavalry. The
words over are, " Here Odo, bishop, holding a stick, encourages the youths." The
Roman de Rou also mentions his great and useful activity :
" Sor un chevai tout blanc seoit,
Toute la gent le congnoissoit,
Un baston tenoit en son poing.
La ou veoit le grand besoing
Fasoit les chevaliers torner,
Et la bataille arrester.
Souvent les faisoit assaillir,
Et souvent les fesoit ferir.
Des que le point du jour entra,
Que la bataille commencha
Dessi que nonne trespassa,
Eu chi de cha, fu si de la." Lane. 466.
121 Guil. Pict. 202. )22 Hunt. 368. Bromt. 960.
128 Malmsb. 101.
A A 2
356
HISTORY OF THE
BOOK horses killed under him 124 ; but, undaunted by peril
Harold be was every where the foremost. Such was the
the second. general enthusiasm, that they who were exhausted
1066. by loss of blood and strength, still fought on, leaning
on their supporting shields. The more disabled, by
their voices and gestures, strove to animate their
friends.125
The sun was departing from the western horizon,
and the victory was still undecided. While Harold
lived and fought, his valorous countrymen were in-
vincible.126 But an order of the duke's, by occasion-
ing his fate, gained the splendid laurel. To harass
the hinder ranks of that firm mass which he could
not by his front attack destroy, he directed his archers
not to shoot horizontally at the English, but to dis-
charge their arrows vigorously upwards into the sky.
These fell with fatal effect on the more distant
troops.127 The random shots descended like impe-
tuous hail, and one of them pierced the gallant Harold
in the eye.128 A furious charge of the Norman horse
increased the disorder, which the king's wound must
have occasioned ; his pain disabled him, and he was
mortally wounded. As the evening closed, one of
the combatants had the brutality to strike into his
thigh after he was dead, for which William, with
124 Malmsb. 101. Guil. Pict. 203. Matt. West. 438.
125 Guil. Pict. 203. I26 Malmsb. 101. Matt. West. 437. )27 Hunt. 368.
128 Hunt, 368. Malmsb. 101. The Roman de Rou states the incident thus :
" Heralt a 1'estendart estoit,
A son poer se deffendoit.
Mez mout estoit de 1'oeil grevez
Pour ceu qu'il li estoit crevez,
A la douleur que il sentoit •
Du cop de 1'ceil que li doloit,
Vint un arme" par la bataille,
Heralt feri sor la ventaille
A terre le fist tresbuchier ;
A ceu qu'il se vout condrecier,
Un chevalier le rabati,
Qui en la cuisse le feri,
En la cuisse parmi le gros
La plaie fu disi qu'a 1'os." Lane. 467.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 357
nobler feelings, disgraced him on the field.129 Panic CHAP.
scattered the English on their leader's death.130 The Harold
Normans vigorously pursued, though the broken t.he s^cond/
ground and frequent ditches checked their ardour. lose.
Encouraged by observing this, a part of the fugitives
rallied, and indignant at the prospect of surrendering
their country to foreigners, they fought to renew the
combat. William ordered the count Eustace and his
soldiers to the attack. The count exposed the peril,
and advised a retreat. He was at this instant vehe-
mently struck in his neck, and his face was covered
with his blood. The duke, undismayed, led on his
men to the conflict. Some of his noblest Normans
fell, but he completed his hard-earned victory.131
The body of Harold was found near his two
brothers, and was carried to the Norman camp. His
mother offered its weight of gold, for the privilege of
burying it ; but she was denied the melancholy satis-
faction.132 The two brothers of Harold fell also in
the battle.133
William escaped unhurt.134 But the slaughter of
his Normans had been great.135
129 Matt. West. 438. Malmsb. 101. The tapestry seems to represent this ; for
under the words, " Here Harold king was slain," an armed man is figured fallen
dead, his battle-axe flying from him. Another upon horseback leans forward, and
with a sword is wounding his thigh.
130 The tapestry ends with the flight of the English. " On ne voit plus ce qui
reste de la tapisserie que des traits qui tracent des figures ; peut-etre n'y-a-t'il
jamais eu que ces traits ; 1'ouvrage dessine et trace fut interrompu par la mort de
la princesse Mathilde ; peut-etre aussi le terns et les differens accidens qu'a essuye'e
cette extre'mite de la tapisserie ont roug£ le tissu." Lane. 468.
131 Guil. Pict. 203.
132 So says Guil. Pict. 204. " In castra Ducis delatus, qui tumulandum eum
Guillelmo agnomine Maletto concessit, non matri pro corpore dilectae prolis auri par
pondus offerenti — ^Estimavit indignum fore ad matris libitum sepeliri cujus ob
nimiam cupiditatem insepultt remanerent innumerabiles." So, in his following
apostrophe, he says, " In cruore jacuisti et in littoreo tumulo jaces." In opposition
to this contemporary evidence, the English writers, as Malmsb. 102. and others,
say, " Corpus Haroldi matri repetenti sine pretio misit licet ilia multum per legatos
obtulisset." It is added, that the body was buried at Waltham. Orderic's state-
ment, p. 502., is like Guil. Pict.
133 The tapestry places the death of Gurth and Leofwine, the two brothers, some
time before Harold's.
134 Matt. West. 439. 135 Hoveden, 449. Sim. Dun. 197.
A A 3
358 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK His victory was splendid ; but if Harold had not
iiaro'id fallen, it would have contributed very little to gain
the s*cond; the crown of England. It was the death of Harold
io66. which gave William the sceptre. The force of Eng-
land was unconquered. A small portion of it only
had been exerted 13G ; and if Harold had survived, or
any other heir at all competent to the crisis, William
would have earned no more from his victory than the
privilege of fighting another battle with diminished
strength. When he landed on England, he came
with all his power. The fleet of the Anglo-Saxons
was afterwards ready to cut off further succour, if
such could have been raised for him in Normandy ;
and it is probable, that if by the fall of Harold, Eng-
land had not been suddenly left without a chief, the
battle of Hastings would have been to William but a
scene of brilliant glory, speedily followed by a melan-
choly catastrophe.
In great revolutions much is effected by active
talents ; but perhaps more by that arrangement of
events over which man has no control. It was Wil-
liam's intention to have sailed137 a month sooner than
he appeared. If his wishes had been fulfilled, he
138 That Harold had rushed \vith vain confidence to the battle, with an inferior
force, is a general assertion among our old chroniclers.
137 At the foot of his anonymous MS. Taylor found this catalogue of the ships
which were supplied for William's invasion :
By Willelmo dapifero filio Osberni sexaginta naves.
Hugone postea comite de Cestria totidem.
Hugone de Mumfort quinquaginta naves et sexaginta milites.
Romo Elemosinario Fescanni postea episcopo Lincoliensi unam navem cum viginti
militibus.
Nicholao Abbate de Sancto Audoeno quindecim naves cum centum militibus.
Roberto Comite Augi sexaginta naves.
Fulcone Dauno quadraginta naves.
Geroldo Dapifero totidem.
Willelmo Comite Deurons octoginta naves.
Rogero de Mumgumeri sexaginta naves.
Rogero de Boumont sexaginta naves.
Odone Episcopo de Baios centum naves.
Roberto de Morokmer centum et viginti.
Waltero Giffardo triginta cum centum militibus.
Extra has naves qua? computatse simul M efficiunt habuit Dux a quibusdam suis
hominibus secundum possibilitatem unius cujusque multas alias naves, p. 209.
ANGLO-SAXONS. 359
would have invaded Harold before the King of Nor- CHAP.
way, and would perhaps have shared his fate. For Haroid
if the English king, with the disadvantages of a loss the s*^-
and desertion of his veteran troops, of new levies, of IOGG.
an inferior force, and an overweening presumption 138,
was yet able to balance the conflict with William's
most concentrated, select, and skilfully exerted
strength, until night was closing ; if the victory was
only decided by his casual death, how different would
have been the issue, if Harold had met him with the
troops which he marched against the Norwegians!
But Providence had ordained, that a new dynasty
should give new manners, new connections, and new
fortunes, to the English nation. Events were there-
fore so made to follow, that all the talents of Harold,
and the force of England, should not avail against
the vicissitudes intended. While Harold's fleet
watched the ocean, the adverse wind kept William in
port. This fleet was dispersed by its stores failing ;
and at the same time the invasion of the king of
Norway compelled Harold to leave his coast un-
guarded, and to hurry his soldiers to the north of the
island. In this ' critical interval, while Harold was
so occupied by land, and before his fleet had got re-
victualled, the winds became auspicious to William,
and he landed in safety. Immediately after this, the
Saxon fleet was enabled to sail.
Harold had in the mean time conquered the Nor-
wegians ; but this very event, which seemed to insure
the fate of William, became his safety. It inflated
Harold's mind so as to disgust his own soldiery, and
to rush to a decisive conflict in contempt of his ad-
138 One chief reason of Harold's hastening to fight before he was fully prepared,
is declared to have been, that he might find the Normans before they fled out of
the country. Previous to the battle, he is said to have affirmed (Taylor's MS.
p. 191.) that he had never done any thing more willingly in his life than his
coming to meet William. Mistaking thus his personal ardour for his military
strength ; mistaking also his great adversary who, to courage and skill, at least
equal to his own, was more desperate from necessity, and had superior forces.
A A 4
360 HISTORY OF THE
BOOK versary, before he was prepared to meet him. When
Harold the battle had begun, the abilities of Harold, and the
the second, bravery of his countrymen, seemed again likely to
lose, ruin the hopes of his great competitor. The death
of Harold then terminated the contest, while William,
who had been in as much danger as Harold, was not
penetrated by a single weapon.
But it was ordained by the Supreme Director of
events, that England should no longer remain insu-
lated from the rest of Europe ; but should, for its
own benefit and ihe improvement of mankind, become
connected with the affairs of the Continent. The
Anglo-Saxon dynasty was therefore terminated; and
a sovereign, with great continental possessions, was
led to the English throne. By the consequences of
this revolution, England acquired that interest and
established that influence in the transactions and
fortunes of its neighbours, which have continued to
the present day, with equal advantages to its inha-
bitants and to Europe.
NOTE ON HAROLD'S ALLEGED SURVIVAL.
THE Harleian MS., No. 3776., contains a cimous legend on Harold, which a
gentleman who has reviewed Dr. Lappenberg's German History of England, in the
second number of Cochran's Foreign Quarterly Review, has brought out to public
notice. The author, from his expressions in his ninth chapter, seems to have lived
about 140 years after the battle of Hastings. The story he narrates is, that al-
though Harold was grievously wounded in this battle, and to all appearance dead,
yet that when those lying in the field were examined by some women searching
for their friends, it was discovered that life Was still lingering in his body.
By the care of two men of middling station, whom the MS. calls ' Francalanos
sive Agricolas,' that is, rural Franklins, he was secretly removed to Winchester,
and was there nursed for two years concealed in a cellario by a woman of the
Saracen nation who was skilled in the art of surgery. Her care restored him to
health ; but when he had thus recovered he found that England had every where
submitted to William* and that he was too strongly seated on his throne, and
had such a military command of the country, that without foreign aid it would
be impossible to dispossess him. Harold sought to interest Saxony to assist him,
but finding his application refused, he proceeded to Denmark ; but William had
secured the neutrality or friendship of that nation. These disappointments changed
the feelings of Harold from ambition or patriotism into those of piety, humili-
ation, and repentance* He became an altered man, both internally and exter-
nally. In the hand which had wielded his spear he placed a pilgrim's staff; he
exchanged the shield on his neck for a wallet, and his helmet for a humble hat,
and with feet half naked journeyed to Palestine. He passed many years in his
penitential travels and austerities, till age and infirmities induced him to return to
ANGLO-SAXONS.
361
England and die in his native land. He landed at Dover ; ascended the cliffs once
so well known by him, and contemplated the land he had ruled. But he sup-
pressed his natural and worldly feelings ; and concealing his worn features by a
cowl, he assumed the name of Christian, and from Kent journeyed on to Shropshire,
and settled himself in a secluded spot which the MS. calls Ceswrthin.
He constructed himself here a cell, where he lived unknown by any for ten
years ; but annoyed by the Welsh, who frequently beat him and stole his clothes,
he quitted this abode, though not, says the MS., because he would not endure
this affliction, but because he wished to give the rest of his life to meditation and
prayer. He wandered thence to Chester, and was supernaturally warned that he
would find a residence ready for him at the church of St. John there.
This occurred to him in the chapel of St. James, which the MS. mentions to
have been situated on the Dee, beyond the walls of the city, in the cemetery of
St. John.
On reaching the spot he found that a former hermit had just died there, and
he took possession of his retirement as his successor. Here he remained for seven
years, leading a religious eremetical life until his death.
While he was here, some suspicions arose that he had been a distinguished Saxon
chief, and he was questioned about it. To such inquiries he returned evasive
answers, but never gave a direct answer to those who asked him if he had not been
the King of England. He admitted that he had fought at the battle of Hastings,
and that no one had been dearer to Harold than himself. But as death came upon
him he revealed the secret, and acknowleged in his last confession his real dignity.
Such is the outline of this ancient narrative. The writer accounts for his own
knowlege of these circumstances by stating that he derived them from a venerable
anchorite, named Sebrecht, who had for many years ministered to Harold, and
knew his regal character.
On the king's death Sebrecht quitted Chester, went on a pilgrimage to the Holy
Land, and returning fixed himself in the village of Stanton in Oxfordshire, where
the writer became acquainted with him and learned these facts concerning Harold
from him, and obtained similar information also from others who were worthy of
credit.
He declares that Gurth, the brother of Harold, also survived the fatal conflict,
and lived to be presented to Henry II. at Woodstock. This Gurth assured Michael,
a canon of Waltham, that the monks of his abbey had been deceived as to the body
which they had buried as Harold's. Michael related this fact to the author, and
was alive when he wrote his narrative.
His supplementary chapter contains the statement of the recluse who succeeded
Harold in his cell, confirming facts which this individual declares he had received
from Moyses, the confidential servant of Harold, and from Andrew, the priest of
the church of St. John, to whom Harold had made his confession.
There is great plausibility and circumstantiality in these particulars, but we
cannot admit the legend to be true history. It is possible that there was such a
hermit, and not improbable that either from some hallucination of mind, or from
a self-exalting imposture, he may have pretended to have been the king of
England.
This supposition would allow all the attestations to be true, without our be-
lieving that the pretender was the real person whose title and character he assumed.
CHAP.
XV.
Harold
the Second.
APPENDIX.
No. I.
On the Language of the ANGLO-SAXONS.
CHAP. I.
On the Structure or Mechanism of the ANGLO-SAXON Language.
To explain the history of any language is a task peculiarly CHAP.
difficult at this period of the world, in which we are so very l-
remote from the era of its original construction. '"" ~~*
We have, as yet, witnessed no people in the act of form-
ing their language ; and cannot, therefore, from experience,
demonstrate the simple elements from which a language be-
gins, nor the additional organisation which it gradually re-
ceives. The languages of highly civilised people, which are
those that we are most conversant with, are in a state very
unlike their ancient tongues. Many words have been added
to them from other languages ; many have deviated into
meanings very different from their primitive significations ;
many have been so altered by the changes of pronunciation
and orthography, as scarcely to bear any resemblance to
their ancient form. The abbreviations of language, which
have been usually called its articles, pronouns, conjunctions,
prepositions, adverbs, and interjections ; the inflections of its
verbs, the declensions of its nouns, and the very form of its
syntax, have also undergone so many alterations from the
caprice of human usage, that it is impossible to discern any
thing of the mechanism of a language, but by ascending
from its present state to its more ancient form.
The Anglo-Saxon is one of those ancient languages to
which we may successfully refer, in our inquiries how
language has been constructed,
As we have not had the experience of any people forming
364 APPENDIX.
CHAP, a language, we cannot attain to a knowlege of its mechanism
L t in any other way than by analysing it; by arranging its
words into their different classes, and by tracing these to their
elementary sources. We shall perhaps be unable to discover
the original words with which the language began, but we
may hope to trace the progress of its formation, and some of
the principles on which that progress has been made. In
this inquiry I shall follow the steps of the author of the
Diversions of Purley, and build upon his foundations ; be-
cause I think that his book has presented to us the key to
that mechanism which we have so long admired, so fruitlessly
examined, and so little understood.
Words have been divided into nine classes : the article ;
the substantive, or noun ; the pronoun ; the adjective ; the
verb ; the adverb ; the preposition ; the conjunction ; and the
interjection.
Under these classes all the Saxon words may be arranged,
although not with that scientific precision with which the
classifications of natural history have been made. Mr. Tooke
has asserted, that in all languages there are only two sorts of
words necessary for the communication of our thoughts, and
therefore only two parts of speech, the noun and the verb,
and that the others are the abbreviations of these.
But if the noun and the verb be only used, they will
serve, not so much to impart our meaning, as to indicate it.
These will suffice to express simple substances or facts, and
simple motions of nature or man; but will do, by them-
selves, little else. All the connections, references, distinc-
tions, limitations, applications, contrasts, relations, and re-
finements of thought and feeling — and therefore most of
what a cultivated people wish to express by language, cannot
be conveyed without the other essential abbreviations — and
therefore all nations have been compelled, as occasions oc-
curred, as wants increased, and as thought evolved, to invent
or adopt them, till all that were necessary became naturalised
in the language.
That nouns and verbs are the most essential and primitive
words of language, and that all others have been formed
from them, are universal facts, which, after reading the Di-
versions of Purley, and tracing in other languages the ap-
plication of the principles there maintained, no enlightened
philologist will now deny. But though this is true as to the
origin of these parts of speech, it may be questioned whether
the names established by conventional use may not be still
properly retained, because the words now classed as con-
APPENDIX. 365
junctions, prepositions, &c., though originally verbs, are not CHAP.
verbs at present, but have been long separated from their i
verbal parents, and have become distinct parts of our gram-
matical syntax.
That the conjunctions, the prepositions, the adverbs, and
the interjections of our language, have been made from our
verbs and nouns, Mr. Tooke has satisfactorily shown: and
with equal truth he has affirmed, that articles and pronouns
have proceeded from the same source. I have pursued his
inquiries through the Saxon and other languages, and am
satisfied that the same may be affirmed of adjectives. Nouns
and verbs are the parents of all the rest of language ; and it
can be proved in the Anglo-Saxon, as in other tongues, that
of these the nouns are the ancient and primitive stock from
which all other words have branched and vegetated.
The Anglo-Saxon adjectives may be first noticed.
The adjectives, which are or have been participles, have
obviously originated from verbs, and they are by no means
an inconsiderable number.
Adjectives which have been formed from participles, as
aberendlic, bebeodenlic, &c., are referable to the same source.
But the large proportion of adjectives are either nouns
used as adjectives l, or are nouns with an additional syllable.
These additional syllables are or have been meaning words.
Lie is an Anglo-Saxon word, which implies similitude,
and is a termination which includes a large class of ad-
jectives. 2
Another large class may be ranged under the ending leas,
which implies loss or diminution. 3
Another class of adjectives is formed by adding the word
sum, which expresses a degree or a portion of a thing.4
Other adjectives are made by putting the word full at the
ends of nouns.5
A large collection of them might be made, which consist
of nouns, and the syllable ig, as blood-ig, bloody ; clif-ig,
rocky ; craeft-ig, skilful. Other adjectives are composed of a
noun and cund ; others of a noun and ba3r, &c. &c.
1 As lath, evil, also pernicious; lens, length, also long; luge, diligence, also
diligent, &c.
2 As ceophc, vulgar, ceopl-hc; cilbhc, childlike, cilb-lic ; cipchc, ecclesias-
tical, cipc-lic; cpaepthc, workmanlike, cpaeFc-lic ; ppeolic, free, rpeo- (a lord) lie;
Fpeonblic, friendly, ppeonb-hc; sobhc, divine, sob-he; spamuhc, furious, spama-
(anger) he; pjenhc, muddy, pen-he ; &c.
3 As caplear, void of care, cap-leaf; cpaertlear, ignorant, cpaerc-leaf; pacen-
leaf, not deceitful, pacen-leaf ; peoh-lear, moneyless, bpeam-lear, joyless, &c.
4 As Fpemfum, benign, Fpeme-fum ; pinr-um, joyful, &c.
5 As pacen-Ful, deceitful ; beopc-Full, dark ; ese-pnl, fearful, &c.
366 APPENDIX.
After these examples it will be unnecessary to go through
all the classes of adjectives, to show that they are either par-
ticiples of verbs, or have sprung from nouns. Every one
who takes that trouble will be convinced of the fact. I will
only remark, that the Saxon comparative degree is usually
formed by the addition of er. Now er or ser is a word which
implies priority, and is therefore very expressively used to
denote that degree of superiority which the comparative de-
gree is intended to affirm. So est, which is the termination
of the Saxon superlatives, is a noun which expresses muni-
ficence or abundance. Tir is a praefix which makes a super-
lative, and tir signifies a supremacy and lordship.
The Anglo-Saxon VERBS have essentially contributed to
form those parts of speech which Mr. Tooke has denominated
the abbreviations of language. The verbs, however, are not
themselves the primitive words of our language. They are
all in a state of composition. They are like the secondary
mountains of the earth — they have been formed posterior
to the ancient bulwarks of human speech, which are the
nouns — I mean of course those nouns which are in their
elementary state.
In some languages, as in the Hebrew, the verbs are very
often the nouns applied unaltered to a verbal signification.
We have examples of this sort of verbs in our English words,
love, hate, fear, hope, dream, sleep, &c. These words arc
nouns, and are also used as verbs. Of verbs thus made by
the simple application of nouns in a verbal form, the Anglo-
Saxon gives few examples.
Almost all its other verbs are nouns with a final syllable
added, and this final syllable is a word expressive of motion,
or action, or possession.
To show this fact, we will take some of the Anglo-Saxon
verbs :
Bab, a pledge. bab-ian, to pledge.
baejj, a bier. baep-an, to carry.
bsech, a bath. baeth-ian, to wash.
bac, a club. beac-an, to beat.
bebob, a command. bebob-an, to command.
biftbe, a prayer. bibb-an, to pray.
bn;, a crown. bij-an, to bend.
blifj% joy. bliff-ian, to rejoice.
bloj'cra, a flower. blofcm-ian, to blossom.
bloc, a sacrifice. bloc-an, to sacrifice.
bob, an edict. boS-ian, to proclaim.
bop;$, a loan. bop£-ian, to lend.
bpibl, a bridle. bpibl-ian, to bridle.
APPENDIX. 367
bjioc, misery. bpoc-ian, to afflict.
bye, an habitation. by-an, to inhabit.
byre£, business. byrg-ian, to be busy.
byrmp, contumely^ byfmp-ian, to deride.
bycla, a builder. bytl-ian, to build.
cap, care. cap-ian, to be anxious.
ceap, cattle. ceap-ian, to buy.
cele, cold. eel -an, to cool.
ceppe, a bending. cepp-an, to return.
cib, strife. cib-an, to quarrel.
cnyc, a knot. cnyct-an, to tie.
comp, a battle. comp-ian, to fight.
cpaejx, art. cpa3ft-an, to build.
cupf, a curse. cuppi-an, to curse.
cpib, a saying. cpybb-ian, to say.
cypm, a noise. cypm-an, to cry out.
cych, knotvlege. cych-an, to make known.
cof, a kiss. cyjj-an, to kiss.
bael, a part. bael-an, to divide.
baej, day. bas^-ian, to shine.
beag, colour. beag-an, to tinge.
If we go through all the alphabet, we shall find that most
of the verbs are composed of a noun, and the syllables an,
ian, or gan. Of these additional syllables, gan is the verb of
motion, to go, or the verb agan, to possess ; and an seems
sometimes the abbreviation of anan, to give 6, and sometimes
of the verbs gan and agan. Thus deagan, to tinge, appears
to me deag-an, to give a colour ; daslan, to divide, dael-an, to
give a part ; cossan, to kiss, cos-an, to give a kiss ; cursian,
to curse, curs-an, to give a curse: while we may presume
that curian, to be anxious, is car-agan, to have care ; blost-
mian, to blossom, is blostni-agan, to have a flower ; by an, to
inhabit, is by-agan, to have a habitation. We may also say
that cydan, to quarrel, is the abbreviation of cid-gan, to go
to quarrel : ba3thian, to wash, is ba3th-gan, to go to a bath ;
biddan, to pray, is bidde-gan, to go to pray. The Gothic to
pray, is bidgan.
That the words gan, or agan, have been abbreviated or
softened into an, or ian, can be proved from several verbs.
Thus fylgan, or filigian, to follow, is also filian. Thus fleo-
gan, to fly, becomes also fleon and flion. So forhtigan, to
be afraid, has become also forhtian. So fundigan has be-
come fundian ; gethyldgian, gethyldian ; fengan, foan and
fon ; and teogan, teon. The examples of this change are
innumerable.
6 It is probable that anan is a double infinitive, like gan-gan, to go, and that an
is the original infinitive of the verb to give.
368 APPENDIX.
This abbreviation is also proved by many of the parti-
ciples of the abbreviated verbs ending in gend, thus show-
ing the original infinitive to have been gen ; as frefrian, to
comfort, has its participle frefergend ; fremian, to profit,
freomigend ; fulian has fuligend : gaemnian, gaemnigend, &c.
Many verbs are composed of the terminations above men-
tioned, and of words which exist in the Anglo-Saxon, not
as nouns, but as adjectives, and of some words which are not
to be met with in the Anglo-Saxon, either as nouns or ad-
jectives. But so true is the principle, that nouns were the
primitive words of these verbs, arid that verbs are but the
nouns with the additional final syllables, that we shall very
frequently find the noun we search for existing in the state
of a noun in some of those languages which have a close
affinity with the Anglo-Saxon. This language meets our eye
in a very advanced state, and therefore when we decompose
it we cannot expect to meet in itself all its elements. Many
of its elements had dropped out of its vocabulary at that
period wherein we find it, just as in modern English we have
dropped a great number of words of our Anglo-Saxons an-
cestors. In this treatise, which the necessary limits of my
publication compel me to make very concise, I can only be
expected to give a few instances.
Beran is to bring forth, or produce ; there is no primitive
noun answering to this verb in the Anglo-Saxon, but there is
in the Franco-theotisc, where we find bar is fruit, or whatever
the earth produces : ber-an is therefore to give fruit, or to
produce. So msersian, to celebrate, is from segan, to speak,
and some noun from which the adjective maera, illustrious,
had been formed. The noun is not in the Saxon, but it is in
the Franco-theotisc, where mera, is fame, or rumour ; there-
fore ma3rsian, to celebrate a person, is mera-segan, to speak
his fame. I have observed many examples of this sort.
In searching for the original nouns from which verbs have
been formed, we must always consider if the verb we are
inquiring about be a primitive verb or a secondary verb, con-
taining either of the prefixes a, be, ge, for, on, in, to, with,
&c. &c. In these cases, we must strip the verb of its prefix,
and examine its derivation under its earlier form. The verbs
with a praefix are obviously of later origin than the verbs to
which the praefix has not been applied.
Sometimes the verb consists of two verbs put together, as
gan-gan, to go ; so for-letan, to dismiss or leave, is composed
of two verbs, faran, to go, Isetan, to let or suffer, and is
literally to let go.
APPENDIX. 369
The Anglo- Saxon NOUNS are not all of the same antiquity ;
some are the primitive words of the language from which
every other has branched, but some are of later date.
We have mentioned the nouns of which the adjectives and
the verbs have been formed. Such nouns are among the
earliest of the language. But the more ancient nouns having
been applied to form the adjectives and the verbs, a more
recent series of nouns has been made by subjoining new ter-
minations to the adjectives and verbs. Thus we have pur-
sued the noun car to the adjective car-full. But this adjective,
having been thus formed, has become the basis of a new
substantive, by the addition of the syllable nysse, and thus
we have carfulnysse. In the same way the new noun car-
leasness has been made. So facenfulness, &c. &c.
A great many nouns have been made from verbs ; as,
gearcung, preparation, from gearcian, to prepare ; gearnung,
earning, from gearnian, to earn ; geascung, an asking, from
geascian, to ask; gebicnung, a presage, from gebicnian, to
show, &c.
A new set of secondary nouns has been made by combining
two more ancient nouns. Thus accorn, an acorn, is made
up of ac, an oak, and corn ; and thus accorn is literally the
corn of the oak : so ceapscipa is a merchant ship ; ceapman,
a merchant, from ceap, originally cattle, and afterwards pro-
perty, or business ; and the other nouns, scipa, a ship ; and
man, a man. Thus ceasterwara, citizens, literally ceaster, a
city, and wara, men. So burg-wara, citizens, from burg and
wara. So eorldom, freondscip, &c.
A great many secondary nouns have been made by adding
nouns of meaning terminations, which are in fact other nouns,
as esse, or nesse; eld; er ; ing; leaste ; dom, rice, had;
scipe; scire.
A very large proportion of nouns has been made by apply-
ing the primitive noun in a variety of figurative meanings.
Thus originally ceap, cattle, came afterwards to express
business, also sale, and also food. So cniht, a boy, a servant,
a youth, a disciple, a client, and a soldier ; craeft, art, is also
workmanship, strength, power, and cunning. But a hundred
examples might be added on this topic.
This view of the decomposition of the Anglo-Saxon lan-
guage exhibits the same principles of mechanism which may
be found in other languages. They appear very conspicu-
ously in the Welsh language, which, from the long seclusion
of the Welsh nation, has retained more of its ancient form
VOL. II. B B
370 APPENDIX.
CHAP, than any other language now spoken in Europe. They may
L be also seen in the Gaelic.
Having thus succinctly exhibited the Anglo-Saxon lan-
guage in a state of decomposition, we may form some notion
• of its mechanism and progress.
The primitive nouns expressing sensible objects, having
been formed, they were multiplied by combinations with each
other. They were then applied to express ideas more ab-
stracted. By adding to them a few expressive syllables, the
numerous classes of verbs and adjectives arose ; and from
these again other nouns and adjectives were formed. The
nouns and verbs were then abbreviated and adapted into con-
junctions, prepositions, adverbs, and interjections. The
pronouns were soon made from a sense of their convenience ;
and out of these came the articles. To illustrate these
principles, from the various languages which I have examined,
would expand these few pages into a volume, and would be
therefore improper ; but I can recommend the subject to the
attention of the philological student, with every assurance of
a successful research.
The multiplication of language by the metaphorical appli-
cation of nouns to express other nouns, or to signify adjec-
tives, may be observed in all languages. Thus, beorht, light,
was applied to express bright, shining, and illustrious. So
deop, the sea, was applied to express depth.
As a specimen how the Anglo-Saxon language has been
formed from the multiplication of simple words, I will show
the long train of words which have been formed from a few
primitive words. I select four of the words applicable to
the mind. The numerous terms formed from them will
illustrate the preceding observations on the mechanism of the
language.
Ancient noun :
Pyge, or hije, mind or thought.
Secondary meaning : — care, diligence, study.
poga, care.
poju, care, industry, effort.
Adjective, being the noun so applied :
pige, diligent, studious, attentive.
poga, prudent, solicitous.
Verbs from the noun :
pogian, to meditate, to study, to think, to be wise, to be
anxious : and hence to groan.
APPENDIX. 371
fttaan I to study> to be solicitous, to endeavour.
The verb, by use, having gained new shades of meaning
and applications, we meet with it again ; as,
hicjan, ~| to study, to explore, to seek vehemently, to ended-
hycjan, J vour, to struggle.
Secondary noun derived from the verb :
j, care, effort, endeavour.
Secondary nouns compounded of the ancient noun and
another :
higecpaept, acuteness of mind.
hijeleart, negligence, carelessness.
hijepopga, anxieties, mental griefs.
hyjeleaj-c, folly, madness, scurrility.
hyjepceajrt, the mind or thought.
Adjectives composed of the ancient noun and a meaning
word:
hyseleape, void of mind, foolish.
h 1*1 maffnanimous> excellent in mind.
' J
J f
hojpull, anxious, full of care.
hije Fjiob, wise, prudent in mind.
hije leaf, negligent, incurious.
hige ftpan^, strong in mind.
hige chancle, cautious, provident, thoughtful.
Adverbs from the adjective :
hi^eleaf lice, negligently, incuriously.
ho^pull lice, anxiously.
ANCIENT NOUN:
GOob, the mind ; also passion and irritability.
Verb:
mobian, ~] to be high-minded.
mobigan, > to rage.
mobjian, J to swell.
Adjectives composed of the noun and another word or
syllable :
mobeg, \irritable.
J angry, proud.
BB 2
372 APPENDIX.
mob}iu\, full of mind, irritable.
mobja, elated, proud, distinguished.
mobhpaca, fervid in mind.
mobilic, magnanimous.
mob leap, meek-minded, pusillanimous.
mob p cachol, firm-minded.
mobchfep, patient in mind, meek, mild.
Secondary nouns composed of the ancient noun and some
other :
mob jethanc, thoughts of the mind, council.
mob gechohc, strength of mind, reasoning.
mob gepinne, conflicts of mind.
mobej- mynla, the affections of the mind — the inclinations.
mobhece, heat of mind — anger.
mobleapce, folly, pusillanimity, slothfulness.
mobnef j*e, pride.
mobj-epa, the intellect — sensation — intelligence.
mob ropg, grief of mind.
Secondary nouns of still later origin, having been formed
after the adjectives, and composed of an adjective and another
noun :
mobi^nejje,
mobmejye, moodiness, pride, animosity.
mob peocnejje, sickness of mind.
mob f catholnyp pe, firmness of mind, fortitude.
mob rumnerj'e, concord.
mobchaepneffe, patience, meekness.
Adverb formed from the adjective :
mobijhce, proudly, angrily.
THE ANCIENT NOUN:
-p. * !• the mind — genius — the intellect — the sense.
Secondary meaning : — wisdom — prudence.
Noun applied as an adjective :
pica,
pice, wise — skilful.
Eepica, conscious ; hence a witness.
Verb formed from the noun :
pitan, to know, to perceive*
gepican, to understand.
picejian, to prophesy.
Adjectives composed of the ancient noun, and an addi-
tional syllable or word :
APPENDIX. 373
wise, skilled, ingenious, prudent.
ge-pitij, knowing, wise, intelligent.
ge pitleaj-, ignorant, foolish.
je pittig, intelligent, conscious.
je pitj-coc, ill in mind, demoniac.
pitol, pittol, wise, knowing.
Secondary nouns formed of the ancient noun and another
noun:
pitebom, the knowlege of judgment, prediction.
pite^a, a prophet.
pitegung, prophecy.
pite faga, a prophet.
gepitleaj* t, folly, madness.
ge pit loca, the mind.
je pitnejr, witness.
jepitj-cipe, witness.
pite elope, trifles.
pitponb, the answer of the wise.
Nouns of more recent date, having been formed out of the
adjectives :
jepitfeocnejj, insanity.
pitijbom, knowlege, wisdom, prescience.
pitolneffe, knowlege, wisdom.
Secondary adjective, or one formed upon the secondary
noun :
pitebomlic, prophetical.
Conjunctions :
^ but, to-wit.
Adverbs formed from participles and adjectives :
pitenbhce, knowingly.
pittighce.
ANCIENT NOUN:
I/e-thanc, "
Ire-thonc,
thank,
thonc,
the mind, thought, opinion.
the will.
" thought.
Secondary meaning : — an act of the will, or thanks.
And from the consequence conferred by sitting at the
council, came
jethmcth, honour, dignity.
BBS
374 APPENDIX.
CHAP. Verbs formed from the noun :
___, thincan, "I to think, to conceive, to feel, to reason, to con-
chencan, J sider.
gethencan,
jechenjcan,
chancian,
>• to think.
• to thank.
jethancian, J
thmjan, to address, to speak, to supplicate.
gethancmetan, to consider.
Adjectives formed from the ancient noun :
thoncol' } thou9htful> meditating, cautious.
je than col, mindful.
thancful, thankful, ingenious, content.
thancpupch, grateful.
thancolmob, provident, wise.
Secondary noun formed from the verb :
, thought.
getheaht, council.
jetheahtepe, counsellor.
thankung, thanking.
thancmetuncg, deliberation.
Secondary verb, from one of these secondary nouns :
getheahtian, to consult.
More recent noun, formed from the secondary verb :
getheahtmg, council — consultation.
Another secondary verb :
Ymbethencan, to think about any thing.
Adjective from a secondary verb :
getheahtenblic, consulting.
Adverb from one of the adjectives :
thancpupthlice, gratefully.
These specimens will evince to the observing eye how the
Anglo-Saxon language has been formed ; and they also indi-
cate that it had become very far removed from a rude state
of speech. These derivative compounds imply much cultiva-
tion and exercise, and a considerable portion of mental dis-
crimination, It is, indeed, in such an advanced state, that
novels, moral essays, dramas, and the poetry of nature and
APPENDIX.
feeling might be written in pure Anglo-Saxon, without any
perceptible deficiency of appropriate terms.7
CHAP.
i.
7 It was remarked in our first volume, that the three great stems of language in
Europe were the Keltic ; the Gothic, of which the Anglo-Saxon is a main branch ;
and the Sclavonic. We may here add, that other languages from Asia have also
entered the northern and eastern parts of the European continent. The principal
of these are the five related, but not identical languages of Lapland, Finland, and
Hungary, and the Esthonian and Lettish. Professor Rask describes the FINNISH
as an original, regular, and graceful tongue, very melodious from the pleasing dis-
tribution of its vowels and consonants, and rich in a great variety of compound
words, and with a boundless power of creating them. Its nouns have twelve cases,
though only two or three declensions ; and its verbs, though usually conjugated
according to one common rule, have more forms than the Latin. Although it has
a great variety of adverbs and prepositions, all its nouns are susceptible of twelve
or fifteen modifications of purpose, possession, time, and place. It is remarkable
that this Finnish language should want the first five consonants of our language,
b, c, d, f, g. Its alphabet consists of only twelve consonants, but it has eight
vowels. It is supposed to form the connecting link between the Esthonian and
the Laplandish. Like the latter, it exhibits affinities with the Hungarian. The
chief foreign works on it are Renvall's Dissertatio, Abose, 1815. Ganander's
Myth. Fennica, Abo. 1789. Vhael's Gram. Fennica, Hels. 1821. Lenquist de
Superst. Vet. Fenn. and Gottlund de Proverb. Fennica. The best English account
of it is in the West. Rev. No. 14. p. 317. " Among the most curious fragments
of ancient Finnish literature, are the fables. They consist of dialogues between
rocks and rivers and forests; between birds, beasts, fishes, and human beings."
Ibid. 339. The Finnish, Lettish, Esthonian, Laplandish, and Hungarian languages
form the fourth and latest stream of human speech that has entered Europe from
Asia, and probably came into it at the period of the first Hunnish invasion.
As some of the quotations from the Anglo-Saxon in these
volumes are in its peculiar characters its Alphabet is here added
for the convenience of the general reader : —
-R a
B b
E c
D b
6 e
I i
K k
L 1
GO m
Nn
O o
Pp
Rp
1
k
1
m
n
o
P
r
r
Tc
D3
Uu
IDp
Xx
Yy
Z z
s
t
th
u
\v
X
y
z
* Sound k
BB 4
376 APPENDIX.
CHAP. II.
On the Originality of the ANGLO-SAXON Language.
It is difficult to ascertain the originality of the Saxon lan-
uage ; because, however rude the people who used it may
ave appeared to us, it is a fact that their language comes to
us in a very cultivated shape.
Its cultivation is not only proved by its copiousness — by
its numerous synonymes — by the declension of its nouns —
the conjugation of its verbs — its abbreviated verbs, or con-
junctions, adverbs, and prepositions, and its epithets or ad-
jectives ; but also by its great number of compound words
applying to every shade of meaning.
By the Anglo-Saxon appearing to us in a state so advanced,
it is' very difficult to ascertain its originality. It is difficult,
when we find words corresponding with those of other lan-
guages, to distinguish those which it originally had, like the
terms of other tongues, and those which it had imported.
The conjugation of its substantive verb, however, proves
that it is by no means in its state of original purity ; for in-
stead of this being one verb, with inflections of itself through-
out its tenses, it is composed of the fragments of no fewer
than five substantive verbs, the primitive terms of which
appear in other languages. The fragments of these five words
are huddled together in the Anglo-Saxon, and thus make up
its usual conjugations.
To perceive this curious fact, it will be useful to recollect
the same verb in the Greek and Latin.
In the Greek, the verb sipi is regularly deflected through
almost all its tenses and persons. In the Latin it is other-
wise. We begin these with sum, and pass directly to the
inflections of another word more like the Greek e<jou; but
the inflections of sum are frequently intermixed. Thus,
Sum, sumus,
es, estis,
est, sunt.
Here we see at one glance two verbs deflecting; the one
into sum, sumus, sunt ; the other into es, est, estis. In the
imperfect and future tenses, eram and ero, we see one of the
APPENDIX. 377
verbs continuing ; but in the perfect, fui, a new deflecting CHAP.
verb suddenly appears to us : ( **. .
fui, fuisti, fuit, fuimus, fuistis, fuerunt.
In another of its tenses we have the curious exhibition of
two of the former verbs being joined together to make a
new inflection ; as,
fuero, fueris, fuerit, &c.
This is literally a combination of fui and ero ; which indeed
its meaning implies, " / shall have been."
The Anglo-Saxon substantive verb is also composed out
of several verbs. We can trace no fewer than five in its
different inflections.
lam* eom, eart, ys, synd, synd, synd.
I was, waes, waere, waes, waeron, waeron, waeron.
beo, byst, byth, beoth, beoth, beoth.
The infinitive is beon, or wesan, to be.
These are the common inflections of the above tenses ; but
we sometimes find the following variations :
for / am, we sometimes have eom, am, om, beo, ar, sy ; for
thou art, we have occasionally eart, arth, bist, es, sy ; for
he is, we have ys, bith, sy ;
and for the plural we have synd, syndon, synt, sien, beoth,
and bithon.
In these inflections we may distinctly see five verbs, whose
conjugations are intermixed :
eom, es, ys, are of one family, and resemble
the Greek si[u.
SLT, arth, and am, are, proceed from another parent,
and are not unlike the Latin
eram.
sy, sy, sy, synd. are from another, and recal to
our minds the Latin sum
and sunt.
wses, waere, waes, waeron, seem referable to another
branch, of which the infini-
tive, wesan, was retained
in the Anglo-Saxon.
beon, bist, bith, beoth, belong to a distinct family,
whose infinitive, beon, was
kept in use.
378 APPENDIX.
But it is curious to consider the source of the last verb, beo,
and beon, which the Flemings and Germans retain in ik ben
and ich bin, I am.
The verb beo seems to have been derived from the Cim-
merian or Celtic language, which was the earliest that ap-
peared in Europe; because the Welsh, which has retained
most of this tongue, has the infinitive bod, and some of its
reflections. The perfect tense is
bum, buost, bu, buam, buac, buant.
The Anglo- Saxon article is also compounded of two words;
as
Nom. Se, seo, that.
Gen. thses, tha3re, this.
Dat. tham, thaere, tham.
Ace. thone, tha, that.
Se and that are obviously distinct words.
When we consider these facts, and the many Anglo-
Saxon nouns which can be traced into other languages, it
cannot be affirmed that the Anglo-Saxon exhibits to us an
original language. It is an ancient language, and has pre-
served much of its primitive form ; but a large portion of it
seems to have been made up from other ancient languages.
The affinities which I collected 011 the substantive verb
were stated in a letter to the Royal Society of Literature,
which has been printed in their Transactions, vol. i. p. 101.
APPENDIX. 379
CHAP. III.
On the Copiousness of the SAXON Language.
THIS language has been thought to be a very rude and CHAP.
barren tongue, incapable of expressing any thing but the (
most simple and barbarous ideas. The truth, however, is,
that it is a very copious language, and is capable of expressing
any subject of human thought. In the technical terms of
those arts and sciences which have been discovered, or much
improved, since the Norman Conquest, it must of course be
deficient. But books of history, belles lettres, and poetry,
may be now written in it, with considerable precision and
correctness, and even with much discrimination, and some
elegance of expression.
The Saxon abounds with synonymes. I will give a few
instances of those which my memory can supply. To express
Man. Woman.1
man. iber.
nith. pyp.
ppa. yemne.
calla. mejtli.
guma. epe.
hselech. meopla.
pep. blaeb.
pine. mennen.
pic. pija.
Secgelbepbapnum. Hebebba.
For persons possessing power and authority they used
palbenbe. balbop.
bpego. ppumjapa.
bpema. bpihten.
bpycta. ealbop.
ppea. hlajropb.
typ. be.
holb.
theobne. nepe.
tohtan. perpa.
Besides the compounds
polcej- perpan. leobhaca.
1 The Finnish word for woman is waimo.
380 APPENDIX.
CHAP. pole co^an. heathopmc.
HI. pigma balbep. leoba peppan.
' bupga ealbop. aethelbopen.
pice man. ppymtha paldenb.
And besides the official names of
cymng. eopl.
ealbopman. thegn.
hepiecogap. gepithcunbeman, &c.
For property they had in use the terms
yppe. pceat.
peap. pine,
aehca. ceap.
peoh.
Besides the metaphors from the metals and coins.
In a poem we find the following synonymous terms used
to express convivial shouting :
hlybbe. rtpymbe.
hlyneb. gelybe.
byneb.
To the mind we find several words appropriated :
mob. pepa. hijepcepc.
gethanc. mob-pepa. mgehyjb.
pepth. gemynb. mob-jechoht.
hige. SeFP^S6- jethoht.
hpethep. je pic. ojithanc.
jepit loca. puncopa. anbpt.
For knowlege and learning they had list, croeft, leornung,
leornesse.
For the sea,
bpym. maepe. egptpeam.
loje. yth. paetepep.
pse. SaPrec5- holm-
ea. ptpeam. pepe.
flobe. pillflob.
Besides numerous metaphors ; as
Span pabe.
Hianotep bath, &c.
For poetry and song,
leoth. bpeamneppe.
pitc. gethpepe.
jyb. ppell.
pang.
They had a great number of words for a ship ; and to
APPENDIX. 381
express the Supreme, they used more words and phrases CHAP.
than I can recollect to have seen in any other language.
Indeed the copiousness of their language was receiving
perpetual additions from the lays of their poets. I have
already mentioned that the great features of their poetry were
metaphor and periphrasis. On these they prided themselves.
To be fluent in these was the great object of their emulation ;
the great test of their merit. Hence Cedmon, in his account
of the deluge, uses near thirty synonymous words and phrases
to express the ark. They could not attain this desired end
without making new words and phrases by new compounds,
and most of these became naturalised in the language. The
same zeal for novelty of expression led them to borrow words
from every other language which came within their reach.
We have a specimen of the power of the language in
Elfric's Saxon Grammar, in which we may perceive that he
finds Saxon words for the abstruse distinctions and defini-
tions of grammar. A few may be added.
verbum popb.
accidentia gelimplic thmj.
significatio getacnunge.
actio baebe.
passio thpopinge.
tempus tib.
modus je mec.
species hip.
figura Sepesebnyrr.
conjugatio jetheobnyj-r.
persona hab.
numerus jecel.
anomala unemne.
inequalis unjelic.
defectiva ateopigenblic.
frequentativa jelomloecenbe.
inchoativa onjmnenbhc
To express indeclinables the natural resources of the lan-
guage failed him, and he adopts the Latin word, and gives it
a Saxonized form.
The astronomical treatises which have been already men-
tioned show a considerable power in the language to express
even matters of science.
But the great proof of the copiousness and power of the
Anglo-Saxon language may be had from considering our own
English, which is principally Saxon. It may be interesting
to show this by taking some lines of our principal authors,
and marking in Italics the Saxon words they contain.
382 APPENDIX.
CHAP. SHAKSPEARE.
in.
' Y ' To be or not to be, that is the question ;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The stings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them I To die, to sleep ;
No more ! and by a sleep to say we end
The heart- ach, and the thousand natural shocks
The flesh is heir to ! 'twere a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die ; to sleep ;
To sleep ? perchance to dream !
MILTON.
With thee conversing I forget all time.
All seasons, and their change ; all please alike.
Sweet is the breath of morn, her rising sweet.
With charm of earliest birds ; pleasant the sun
When first on this delightful land he spreads
His orient beams on herb, tree, fruit, and flower,
Glistening with dew ; fragrant the fertile earth
After soft showers ; and sweet the coming on
Of grateful evening mild ; then silent night
With this her solemn bird, and this fair moon,
And these the gems of heaven, her starry train.
COWLEY.
Mark that swift arrow ! how it cuts the air.
How it outruns the following eye !
Use all persuasions now and try
If thou canst call it back, or stay it there.
That way it went ; but thou shaltfind
No track is left behind.
Fool ! 'tis thy life, and the fond archer thou.
Of all the time thou'st shot away
I'll bid thee fetch but yesterday,
And it shall be too hard a task to do !
Translators of the BIBLE.
And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon :
for they heard that they should eat bread there. And when Joseph
came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand
into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. And he
asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old
man of whom ye spake ? Is he yet alive ? And they answered,
Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And
they bowecl down their heads, and made obeisance. And he lift
up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and
APPENDIX. 383
said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me ? CHAP.
And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. Gen. xliii. IJI-
25—29. ' <—
Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she
fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been
here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her
weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he
groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. And said, Where have
ye laid him ? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus
wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him ! John, xi,
32—36.
*
THOMSON.
These as they change, Almighty Father ! these
Are but the varied God. The rolling year
Is full of thee. Forth in the pleasing spring
Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love.
Wide flush the fields ; the softening air is balm,
Echo the mountains round ; the forest smiles :
And every sense and every heart is joy.
Then comes thy glory in the summer months,
With light and heat refulgent. Then thy sun
Shoots full perfection through the swelling year.
ADDISON.
I was yesterday, about sun-set, walking in the open fields, till
the night insensibly fell upon me. I at first amused myself with
all the richness and variety of colours which appeared in the west-
ern parts of heaven. In proportion as they faded away and went
out, several stars and planets appeared, one after another, till the
whole firmament was in a glow. The blueness of the aether was
exceedingly heightened and enlivened by the season of the year.
SPENSER.
Hard is the doubt, and difficult to deem.
When all three kinds of love together meet,
And do dispart the heart with power extreme,
Whether shall weigh the balance down ; to weet
The dear affection unto kindred sweet,
Or raging fire of love to woman kind,
Or zeal of friends, combin'd with virtues meet:
But of them all the band of virtuous mind
Me seems the gentle heart should most assured bind.
Book iv. c. 9.
384 APPENDIX.
LOCKE.
Every man, being conscious to himself, that he thinks, and that,
which his mind is applied about whilst thinking, being the ideas
that are there; it is past doubt, that men have in their minds
several ideas. Such are those expressed by the words, whiteness,
hardness, sweetness, thinking, motion, man, elephant, army, drunken-
ness, and others. It is in the first place, then, to be inquired,
How he comes by them? I know it is a received doctrine that men
have native ideas, and original characters stamped upon their
minols in their very first being.
Locke's Essay, Book xi. ch. 1.
POPE.
How happy is the blameless vestal's lot !
The world forgetting, by the world forgot ;
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind !
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd ;
Labour and rest that equal periods keep ;
Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep ;
Desires compos'd, affections ever ev'n ;
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to heav'n.
Grace shines around her with serenest beams,
And whispering angels prompt her golden dreams.
For her ttt unfading rose of Eden blooms,
And wings of seraphs shed divine perfumes.
YOUNG.
Let Indians, and the gay, like Indians, fond
Of feathered fopperies, the sun adore ;
Darkness has more divinityybr me ;
It strikes thought inward ; it drives back the soul
To settle on herself, our point supreme.
There lies our theatre : there sits our judge.
Darkness the curtain drop's o'er life's dull scene ;
'Tis the kind hand of Providence stretched out
9 Twixt man and vanity ; 'tis reason's reign,
And virtue's too ; these tutelary shades
Are man's asylum from the tainted throng.
Night is the good man's friend, and guardian too.
It no less rescues virtue, than inspires.
SWIFT.
Wisdom is a fox, who, after long hunting, will at last cost you
the pains to dig out. ' Tis a cheese, which by how much the richer
has the thicker, the homelier, and the coarser coat ; and whereof, to
a judicious palate, the maggots are the best. 'Tis a sack posset,
APPENDIX. 385
wherein the deeper you go you will find it the sweeter. But then, CHAP.
lastly, 'tis a nut, which, unless you choose with judgment, may cost in.
you a tooth, and pay you with nothing but a worm, ' • '
ROBERTSON.
This great emperor, in the plenitude of his power, and in pos-
session of all the honors which can flatter the heart of man, took
the extraordinary resolution to resign his kingdom ; and to with-
draw entirely from any concern in business or the affairs of this
world, in order that he might spend the remainder of his days in
retirement and solitude. Dioclesian is, perhaps, the only prince,
capable of holding the reins of government, who ever resigned
them from deliberate choice, and who continued during many years
to enjoy the tranquillity of retirement, without fetching one penitent
sigh, or casting bach one look of desire towards the power or
dignity which he had abandoned.
Charles V.
HUME.
The beauties of her person, and graces of her air, combined to
make her the most amiable of women ; and the charms of her
address and conversation, aided the impression which her lovely
figure made on the heart of all beholders. Ambitious and active
in her temper, yet inclined to cheerfulness and society; of a lofty
spirit, constant and even vehement in her purpose, yet politic,
jjentle, and affable, in her demeanor, she seemed to partake only
so much of the male virtues as to render her estimable, without
relinquishing those soft graces which compose the proper ornament
of her sex.
GIBBON.
In the second century of the Christian aera the empire of Rome
comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilized
portion of mankind. The frontiers of that extensive monarchy
were guarded by ancient renown arid disciplined valour. The
gentle but powerful influence of laws and manners had gradually
cemented the union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants
enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury. The
image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence.
JOHNSON.
Of genius, that power which constitutes a poet; that quality,
without which judgment is cold and knowledge is inert; that
energy which collects, combines, amplifies, and animates ; the
superiority must, with some hesitation, be allowed to Dryden. It
is not to be inferred that of this poetical vigour Pope had only a
VOL. II. C C
386 APPENDIX.
CHAP. little, because Dryden had more ; for every other writer since
HI. Milton must give place to Pope ; and even of Dryden it must be
T J said, that if lie has brighter paragraphs, he has not better poems.
From the preceding instances we may form an idea of the
power of the Saxon language ; but by no means a just idea;
for we must not conclude that the words which are not Saxon
could not be supplied by Saxon words. On the contrary,
Saxon terms might be substituted for almost all the words not
marked as Saxon.
To impress this sufficiently on the mind of the reader, it
will be necessary to show how much of our ancient language
we have laid aside, and have suffered to become obsolete;
because all our writers, from Chaucer to our own times, have
used words of foreign origin rather than our own.
In three pages of Alfred's Orosius I found 78 words which
have become obsolete, out of 548, or about y. In three pages
of his Boetius I found 143 obsolete, out of 666, or about j-.
In three pages of his Bede I found 230 obsolete, out of 969,
or about ±-. The difference in the proportion between these
and the Orosius proceeds from the latter containing many
historical names. Perhaps we shall be near the truth if we
say, as a general principle, that one-fifth of the Anglo-Saxon
language has ceased to be used in modern English. This
loss must be of course taken into account when we estimate,
the copiousness of our ancient language, by considering how
much of it our English authors exhibit.
I cannot agree with Hickes, in classing the works of Alfred
under that division of the Saxon language which he calls
Danish Saxon. The Danes had no footing in England till
after the period of Alfred's manhood, and when they obtained
a settlement, it was in East Anglia and Northumbria. We
cannot therefore suppose that Alfred borrowed any part of
his language from the Danes. None of their language could
have become naturalised in Wessex before he wrote, nor have
been adopted by him without either reason or necessity. We
may therefore refer to the Anglo- Saxon laws before the reign
of Athelstan, and to the works of Alfred, as containing the
Anglo-Saxon language in its genuine and uncorrupted state.
APPENDIX. 387
CHAP. IV.
On the Affinities and Analogies of the ANGLO-SAXON Language.
ALL languages which I have examined, besides discovering CHAP.
some direct ancestral consanguinity with particular tongues ; Jv.
as the Saxon with the Gothic, Swedish, Danish, &c. ; and the ' "
Latin with the Greek ; display also, in many of their words,
a more distant relationship with almost all. Some word or
other may be traced in the vocabularies of other nations;
and every language bears strong marks, that events have
happened to the human race, like those which Moses has
recorded in his account of the confusion of tongues, and the
dispersion of mankind. The fragments of an original tongue
seem, more or less, to exist in all ; and no narrated phenomenon
of ancient history accounts for the affinities and analogies of
words which all languages exhibit, so satisfactorily as the
abruption of a primitive language into many others, suffi-
ciently different to compel separations of the general popu-
lation, and yet retaining in all, some indications of a common
origin. l
In such a confusion of mind, memory, and organs, as must
have attended such an incident, most of the words and much
of the structure of language would be materially altered in
the future pronunciation, recollection, and use of the scattered
families then existing, and consequentially in the orthography.
But it is probable that many words would descend amid
these variations into all the subsequent tongues : not the
same words in every one, because various accidents would
diversify what each retained ; but every tongue will be found
to have several terms which exist with the same meanings, or
display related analogies, in other distant and apparently un-
connected nations. Some of these fragments of the primitive
tongues, or of some primeval speech, or their derivatives,
might with adequate labour and care and judgment be still
collected ; but the task demands so much penetration — such
1 The letters which I sent on the affinities of languages to the Royal Society of
Literature, and which have been printed in the first volume of its Transactions,
contain copious illustrations on this curious subject. The examples there given of
numerous similarities, present many, which nothing that history has recorded
satisfactorily accounts for, except, the Mosaic narration of the incidents at Babel.
c c 2
388
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV.
a solid discrimination — such an abstinence from all warmth
of imagination — such a suspension of human egotism — and
such an extensive acquaintance with the numerous languages
of the world, that perhaps no single individual could be found
capable of conducting the inquiry to a satisfactory termination.
Such a curious collection would require many co-operators,
and many successive efforts.
But many persons, if they applied early to the subject,
might gradually contribute to the accomplishment of the
great task, by observing what affinities, or analogies, either
directly or derivatively, some one particular language has
with others ; not pursuing the delusive chimera of deriving
it from any specific one, but endeavouring to trace its general
relationship with all. I wished to have attempted this with
the Anglo-Saxon language, but a defection of health, and
adverse occupations, have interfered to prevent me from fully
gratifying my own wishes. It may, however, be worth while
to preserve a list of those analogies which I have noticed.
They deserve our consideration, from the important infer-
ences to which they lead. Though the affinities of some may
be questioned, yet in most they will be found highly pro-
bable : the whole are too numerous to have occurred by mere
chance. Where the English is not repeated it is the same as
that of the Saxon word.
a, always.
a, life, New Zeal.
abihan, to remain, to abide.
abadan, a dwelling, Pers.
abi, an habitation, Tonga.
ac, but.
ac, Irish.
ace, ach, pain.
axo<;, Greek.
aebf, a fir-tree.
abies, Lat.
seep, afield ; an acre.
ager, Lat.
gehta, eight.
octo, Lat.
sel, oil.
oleum, Lat.
seleb, fire.
aelan, to flame.
al, light, Arab,
ilakj shining, ib.
sen, one.
EV, Greek.
unus, Lat.
senja, narrow.
angustus, Lat.
aenjel, angel.
avy&Q<;, Greek.
aep, brass.
aeris, of brass, Lat.
aepen, brazen.
gereus, Lat.
aef , food.
asha, a supper, Susoo.
es, eat, Lat.
esca>t/b0c?, ib.
set, he eat*
est, Lat.
sex, an axe.
a^ivfi, a hatchet.
aex, an axle.
axis, Lat.
APPENDIX.
389
apeppan, to take away.
auferre, Lat.
agen, frightened.
&g,fear, Irish.
ag, wickedness.
ag, fight, Irish.
ahpyppan, to turn away.
avertere, Lat.
ahma, the spirit, Goth.
aiv, an age, Goth.
sevum, Lat.
ar, brass, Sax.
aes, Lat.
allr, all, the ivhole, Goth*
all, all.
0X0$, the ivhole.
alne, the arm.
ulna, Lat.
alpan, aloes.
aloes, Lat.
ambep, a vessel.
amphora, Lat.
amp, the shoulder*
an, in.
in, Lat.
ancep, an anchor.
anchora, Lat.
abe, a heap.
q&viv, enough.
a$$yv, abundant.
amp, one, Goth.
unus, Lat.
albop, elder.
albian, to grow old.
aids, age, Goth.
, to increase.
haul, the sun, Welsh.
aAfct, the heat of the sun.
iileman, macerare.
a'wu, to pine.
alh, a temple.
aXoo?, a sacred grove.
amolrman, to putrefy.
a^ftXoq, Soft.
inollis, Lat.
amunbian, to defend.
apwu, to succour.
ana, over, above, Goth.
a.va,Z, a king.
ancgel, a hook.
ayKvXo<;, crooked.
a<y/cvX»j, a dart.
anga-anga,
coalition, New Zeal.
cleaving together, ib.
anakumb^an, to lie down.
avaKEifAai) to lie down.
accumbere, Lat.
anbanemf, pleasing, acceptable,
Goth.
avSavcv, to please.
anje, sad, severely vexed.
antsia, anxiety, Basque.
ava-y/oj, fate.
anchpoe, causing horror.
avOpa.!;, burning coals.
Hjieopan, to cut off.
CHAP.
IV.
apj, bad, wicked.
apyos, idle, slothful.
apob, ready.
apu, I fit.
appanan, to allure.
aa-Kafyf/.ai, I kiss.
aptyppeb, starred.
a-wp, a star.
accop, poison.
accopian, to perish, to corrupt.
arxu, to ivound, or hurt.
anxpumner, anxiety.
anxietas, Lat.
aplantan, to plant.
plantare, Lat.
ape, brass.
aere, in brass, Lat.
ap, wealth.
ar, tillage, Irish.
ape, a chest.
area, Lat.
apian, to honour, to pardon.
araiani, health, Susoo.
aroha, loving, Neio ZeaL
aj-al, an ass.
c c 3
390
APPENDIX.
CHAP. arra, an ass.
IV- asinus, Lat.
' astoa, Basque.
aj-ceacan, to shake off.
excutere, Lat.
arcpeopan, to scrape.
scribu, Russian.
aj-ce, ashes.
asatJt/?re, Amharic.
afe, as.
a say, like, Persian.
ash a, like, ib.
aththan, but, Goth.
autem, Lat.
authep, other or either.
alter, Lat.
apejbaepan, to carry away.
evehere, Lat.
Bapm, a bay.
bar, a frith, the sea, Irish.
bapn, a son, Goth.
beapn, Sax.
bar, Chaldee.
barr, Irish.
beo, a bee.
neb, Amharic.
nabowan, Gafcet.
abeehon, Cantabria.
beapb, a beard.
bar a, Handing o.
barba, Lat.
bebaelan, to separate.
bdl, Chald.
bebelfan, to dig.
bdil, tin, Chald.
bellan, to bellow.
bula, to make a thundering
noise, Susoo.
benam, he deprived.
bana, castrated, Susoo.
beopcan, to bark.
bare, a dog, Susoo.
bepan, to bear, or carry.
beri, to bear, Susoo.
betpe, better.
bihter, Pers.
bi, near.
be, here, Susoo.
bi, against, Goth.
bi, Susoo.
blec, black.
belcha, Basq.
blaec, bleats.
balat, Lat.
boja, a bough.
boge,y/*MzY, Sus.
bolla, a round bowl.
bola, « globe, Basq.
box, £/«e box-tree.
buxus, Z,a#.
bpego, a king.
regOj £0 govern, Lat.
regem, a king, ib.
buan, to inhabit.
bu, #o stay long, Sus.
bu, to continue, ib.
bypel, a cupbearer.
beri, intoxicating liquor, Su.
borg, a stall.
pov<;, an ox.
bpab, huge, vast.
@pa,$o(;, heavy.
bpaeban, to roast.
(3pa%£iv, to boil.
bpaechme, a noise.
/3/3a%£*v, to make a noise.
bpajen, the brain.
burmuna, Basq.
bpsec, he broke.
bpic, a fragment.
bpocoj-, broken.
Ppaxvi;, short.
b[iemman, fremere.
/•tys^eiv, to threaten.
bpoc, a brook.
Pp£%u, I ivater.
bpucan, to eat.
ppv%£iv, to bite, or swallow.
(3p<H7K£wt to eat.
bapth, a skiff.
j8ap<s, a boat.
beal. destruction.
bil, a bill, or iveapon.
p£\o<;, a dart.
bipian, to bury.
obiratu, Basq.
bupg, a town.
burqua, Basq.
APPENDIX.
391
Caeje, a key.
quaw, ib. Loochoo.
\£V) to take.
£•£&>, to hold.
caelan, to be cold.
gelu, frosty Lat.
caennan, to know.
ytvoo-Ku, I know.
caBnneb, born.
ywopai, I am born.
caenpyn, a race.
yevva,.
cap, quick, sharp.
Ka<p&)f)'/i, a fox.
calb, cold.
gelidus, Lat,
•yeXu, frost.
calic, a cup.
calix, Lat.
calb, called.
akilli, Mandingo.
K0,\£ca, I call.
KaXXa), ib.
calanga, to roar out, Tonga.
kal, a voice, Tchut. Agow.
to call, English.
calo, bald.
calvus, Lat.
camp, afield of battle, a camp.
campus, afield, Lat.
camp, a feat, a circle, Welsh.
cancepe, a crab, a disease.
cancer, Lat.
canbel, a candle.
candela, Lat.
canna, a can, a bowl.
canistrum, Lat.
cancecunj, horse-laugh.
cacliinnus, Lat.
K*y\a&i tke verb.
cap, care.
cura, Lat.
kir, passion, Armenian.
cardd, shame, disgrace, Wei.
cur, anxiety, ib.
Kfjp, calamity.
kharchar, anguish, Pers.
khar, a thorn, ib.
care, care, Welsh.
capian, to be anxious.
yypveiv, to complain.
capp, a rock, a stone.
careg, a stone, Welsh.
cat, a cat.
KO.TTOI;.
cattus, Lat.
cath, Welsh.
choaa; Hot.
catua, Basq.
caul, colewort.
caulis, Lat.
capl, a basket.
cawell, Welsh.
cau, to enclose, ib.
ceap, chaff.
KOtp<pV].
cealc, chalk, a stone.
calx, a stone, Lat.
ceap, cattle.
agriculture.
, a farm.
ceappan, to kill, to carve.
Kappsw, to break in pieces.
K£ipe}j/, to CUt.
ceapc, a strife, contention.
cas, Welsh.
ceapcep, a city, a castle.
kostra, a castle, Chaldee.
castrum, Lat.
cegan, to call.
Kotv-^o^ai, I boast.
cen. bold, hostile.
keno, bad, New Zeal.
cennan, to beget.
yevvastv.
cenedlu, Welsh.
ceo, a crow.
CTTAP.
IV.
ceol, a ship.
K£\yt;, swift.
cepan, to covet, to entrap.
captare, Lat.
cepnan, to churn.
corddi, Welsh.
ceppe, a bend, a turning.
coredd, a winding, Welsh.
corddi, to turn about, ib.
cor, a round, ib.
c c 4
392
APPENDIX.
CHAP. cepe, cheese.
IV. caseus, Lat.
— f cepan, to keep, or hold.
capsa, a chest, Lat.
cicen, the young, a chick.
cyw, the young, Welsh.
cib, contention, strife.
cad, a battle, Welsh.
cimbal, a cymbal.
cymbalum, Lat.
cmb, a race.
cenau, an offspring, Welsh.
cenedl, a tribe, ib.
kin, a wife, Armen.
cinn, a kind, or race.
genus, Lat.
cipcol, a circle.
circulus, Lat.
cipclic, circular.
circularis, Lat.
cipt, benignity, bounty.
chsd, Heb.
cipte, a chest.
cista, Lat.
cipten beam, a chestnut- tree.
castanea, Lat.
cite, a city.
civitas, Lat.
clupa, a prison.
clausus, shut up, Lat.
K\tiw, I shut up.
cleop, a globe.
globus, Lat.
climan, to climb.
/cA;ju,a£, a ladder.
cl ocean, to clock.
glocire, Lat.
cleoppian, to call.
K\OC^BIV, to make a noise.
clop, a clew.
glomus, Lat.
K\u6u, I spin.
clipp, a hill.
collis, Lat.
clufiht,/M/J of cliffs.
clivosus, Lat.
cnaep, a button.
cnap, a knob, Welsh.
cneap, a
nav, Armenian.
navis, Lat.
va,v<;.
cneop, the knee.
genu, Lat.
KVf\^fi, the leg.
cnip, a knife.
Kvaca, to cut.
cnif, pain, Welsh.
cnocian, to beat, to knock.
cnociaw, Welsh.
cnoban, to bestow.
cnod, a crop, Welsh.
cnidiaw, to yield an in-
crease, ib.
cnoll, a knoll, a top.
cnoll, Welsh.
cnucl, a joint, a knuckle.
cnuc, a joint, Welsh.
cnyllan, to knell.
cnull, a passing bell, Welsh.
cnotca, a knot.
necto, to tie, Lat.
nodus, a knot, ib.
cnyttran, to tie.
nectere, Lat.
coc, a cook.
coquus, Lat.
cobb, a wallet.
cod, a budget, or bag, Welsh,
cop, a cave, a cove.
cof, a hollow trunk, Welsh.
cavea, a cave, Lat.
colla, a helmet.
galea, Lat.
copp, an apex, a top.
cop, the top, Welsh.
copn, corn.
kier,yboe?, Armen.
copntpeop, a cornel-tree.
cornus, Lat.
cop, a kiss.
cus, Welsh.
copthep, a multitude.
cordd, Welsh.
copr, execration.
APPENDIX.
393
oppan, to curse.
chrm, he cursed, Heb.
chrf, he upbraided, ib.
corp, a fetter.
cosp, Welsh.
cos pi, to chastise, ib.
cot, a house, a cottage.
cut, a hovel, Welsh.
cote, a chamber.
KOITVJ, a bed-room.
cpacettan, to croak.
crocitare, Lat.
crocio, ib.
crecian, to scream, Welsh.
cpabel, a cradle.
cryd, Welsh.
cpaerta, a crest.
crista, Lat.
cpset, a cart.
carrum, Lat.
cpap, a crow.
corvus, Lat.
cpeopan, to creep.
repere, Lat.
cpoh, saffron.
crocus, Lat.
cpuce, a gibbet, or cross.
crux, Lat.
cruel, Engl.
cruela, Basq.
cpuft, a vault, a grot.
crypta, Basq.
cu, a cow.
t'kau, a buffalo, Hottentot.
t'goos, a cow, ib.
curcummi, Ethiop.
chhui, a ram, Armen.
kema, a cow, Falash.
ghwa, Pushtoo.
cucian, to be alive.
kea, kja, he lived, Armen.
chich, Heb.
chich, life, ib.
culpep, a dove.
columba, Lat.
cula, a cowl.
cucullus, Lat.
cultop, a ploughshare.
culter, Lat.
cunnan, to know.
ceniaw, to perceive, Welsh.
con, astute, Heb.
gen, the intellect, Welsh.
cupr, a curse.
kier, passion, Armen.
cure, chaste.
kuis, a virgin, Armen.
cuth, known.
get, knowing, Armen.
cpeben, said.
cpib, a saying.
cwed, Welsh.
cpaethan, to say.
cwedla, to talk, Welsh.
cpatan, to shake.
quatere, Lat.
9\vyvan, to waver, Welsh.
9\vaen, a sudden motion, ib.
cpellan, to kill.
cpelan, to die.
cpealen, slaughter.
KoXovziv, to cut off.
cpeman, to please, to flatter.
kam, desire, Pers.
9\vara, to play, Welsh.
gweg, pleasant, ib.
khrm, pleasing, Pers.
cpen, wife, queen.
kin, wife, Heb.
epic, alive, quickened.
9\vyth, life, Welsh.
gweiaw, to quicken, ib.
cpiman, to come.
9 win, motion, Welsh.
cpibol, evil-mouthed.
cwidw, a sorcerer, Welsh.
cpyfan, to shake.
quassare, Lat.
cpythan, to lament.
cwithaw, to be in a dilemma,
Welsh.
cycene, a kitchen.
CHAP.
IV.
eoquma.
Lat.
cyjean, to call.
vocare, to call; vox, voice, ib.
cylene, a kitchen.
culina, Lat.
394
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV.
cyn, the chin.
gen, Welsh.
cyn, an offspring.
koo, a son, Hott.
•yew, an offspring.
genus, Lat.
cyne, royal.
cynej, king.
kuin, Chin.
cyn, a chief, Welsh.
khan, Pers.
cynn, a tribe.
genus, a race, Lat.
cynpen, a nation.
gens, Lat.
cypa, a basket.
cophinus, Lat.
cypeleac, a monument, a grave-
stone.
cippus, Lat.
cypbe, he turned.
9 wired, a sudden turn,
Welsh.
cyppan, to return.
cor, a circle, a round, Welsh.
corawl, a turning round, ib.
cypr-tpecp, a cherry-tree.
cerasus, Lat.
Da, a doe.
dama, Lat.
baeb, a deed.
dad, any thing, Egypt.
dad, an act, Pers.
baes, a day.
dies, Lat.
diah, Gaelic.
div, Armen.
diaw, Welsh.
diena, Lithuan.
bael, a part.
dail» a share, Gaelic.
bal, division.
dal, a share, Gaelic.
bale, a button.
dal, to catch hold, Welsh.
beab, dead.
daudr, Gaelic.
daf, Arab.
bea£, colour.
dakal, a dye, Arab.
beah, a tincture.
dean, colour, Gaelic.
bejle, hidden, secret.
d&ghl, false, Arab.
dagmar, a hidden thing, ib.
dgi, dark, ib.
bem, slaughter.
dema, blood, Arab.
din, slaughter, Heb.
bema, a judge.
din, Heb.
don, he judged, ib.
bemn, a loss.
damnum, Lat.
damikal, a misfortune, Pers.
damar, ruin, Arab.
benejan, to beat, to ding.
ding, Sus.
beopl, devil.
diabolus, Lat.
beop, deer, wild beasts.
beopc, dark.
dorcha, Gaelic.
darka, a cloud, Pers.
dghe, dark, Arab.
bil^ian, to destroy.
dileu, Welsh.
delere, Lat.
bim, dim, obscure.
dihms, dark, Pers.
dins, dim, obscure, Arab.
boema, a judge.
doms, Syriac.
bochtep, a daughter.
bohcep.
dokht, Pers.
dokhter, ib.
douktie, Lith.
bopa, a door.
doras, Gaelic.
bpabbe, dirt,
drab, a spot, Gaelic.
bpa^an, to drag, to draw.
trahere, to drag, Lat.
draghan, to pull, Gaelic.
bpeam_, melody, an organ.
dran, a tune, Gaelic.
APPENDIX.
395
bpecan, to torment.
drag, anger, Gael.
drice, angry, ib.
bpepan, to disturb.
drip, affliction, Gaelic.
bpopian, to drop.
dreogan, Gaelic.
bpy, a magician.
draoi, Gaelic.
bujetb, nobility.
dux, a leader, Lat.
duquea, Basg.
bun, a hill, or downs.
dun, a fortified hill) Gael.
bunn, a dun colour.
donn, Gaelic.
abune, down.
dooraa, Mandingo.
bup, a door.
dar, Pers.
da, Mandingo.
dorus, Gael.
burt, dust.
dus, Gaelic.
bynan, to dine, to feed.
dong, to ea£, Susoo.
bjnc, « &tow.
ding, to £ea£, Susoo.
byban, to die.
due, Gallas.
Ga, water, river.
ie, Susoo.
awa, *Ae river,
eacan, to
akeejee, Mandingo.
eajrop, a boar.
aper, Za<.
ea^e, <m eye.
oculus, Lat.
ako, Zrj£ft.
eahca, eight.
octo, Za£
eahcapchon, the eighth time.
octies, Lat.
eal, an awl.
sub-ula, Lat.
can i an, to yean.
enitor, Lat.
eap. an ear oj corn.
arista, Lat.
eape, the ear.
auris, Lat.
eax, an axle.
axis, Lat.
ecan, to increase.
augere, Lat.
eceb, vinegar.
acetum, Lat.
ecg, a/i ed^e.
acies, Lat.
aka, sharp, Loochoo.
haste.
festinatio, Za£
efftan, to hasten.
festinare, Lat.
ejle, a dormouse.
glis, Za£.
egop, #/^e waves of the sea.
equor, Lat.
ele, oil.
olioa, Basq.
oleum, Lat.
elehtpe, amber.
electrum, Lat.
ellef, otherwise.
aliter, Lat.
alias, another time, ib.
ellop, elsewhere.
alio, Za#.
alias, z^.
ellm, an elm.
ulna us, Lat.
elpenb, an elephant.
elephantus, Lat.
eneb, a duck.
anas, Lat.
enje, sorrow.
angustia, Lat.
eopob, a body of men.
cohors, Lat.
eoppa, anger.
ira, Lat.
eoppan, to be angry.
irasci, Lat.
eop, alas.
heu, Lat.
vse, ib.
CHAP.
IV.
396
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV.
eopol, an ass.
asinus, Lat.
eopa, an ewe.
ovis, Lat.
epc, a chest.
area, Lat.
epian, to plough, Lat.
spa., the earth.
arare, to plough.
ecan, to eat.
edere, Lat.
etchemi, Gafat.
Facan, to make, to acquire.
facere, to do, Lat.
fucan, Tonga.
pacen, deceit.
fuco, to counterfeit, Lat.
facinus, wickedness, ib.
paeccean, to fetch.
facesso, to procure, Lat.
paecele, a little torch.
faecula, Lat.
, glad.
pae^ep, beautiful, fair.
(paiKO:;, splendid.
fsde, faithful.
fidelis, Lat.
paellan, to offend.
fallax, deceitful, Lat.
fallere, to deceive, ib.
paeman, to foam.
fumare, to smoke, Lat.
paemna, a girl.
femina, a woman, Lat.
paep, sudden.
fors, chance, Lat.
paepan, to terrify.
fera, a wild beast, Lat.
ferus, wild, ib.
ferire, to strike, ib.
ferox, fierce, ib.
paephce, by chance.
forte, Lat.
paepm, supper.
far, corn, Lat.
paepp, a verse.
versus, Lat.
paet, afoot.
fisha,/ee£, Loochoo.
paepthpabe, strong.
fortis, Lat.
paepten, a fastness, a citadel.
fastigium, a summit, Lat.
paj, a colour, many-coloured.
fucus, a paint, Lat.
pa^en, glad.
pajnian, to rejoice.
fang, to love, Susoo.
pah, a foe.
<fau, to kill.
pah, discoloured.
<pa,io<;, dusky.
palepe, fallow colour.
flavus, yellow, Lat.
fulvus, tawny, ib.
pana, cloth, Goth.
pannus, Lat.
pann, a fan.
vannus, Lat.
papan, to go.
fa, to come, to go to, Sus.
paec, a vessel, a cup.
pac, a vessel.
fete, a small basket, Sus.
yatha, an enclosure, Goth.
i, a stall.
<pa,vXo<;, vile.
pea, money.
peo, money.
fe, affairs, a concern, Sus.
feo, to give, ib.
peallan, to fall.
<pa,hXsiv, to slip.
fallere, Lat.
pepep, a fever.
pebpian, to be feverish.
febris, fever, Lat.
pecelx, a torch.
fax, Lat.
pebep, a wing.
<pai$po<;, swift.
pell, a skin.
pellis, Lat.
APPENDIX.
397
pell, choler, anger, cruel.
fel, bile, Lat.
peop, far off.
feras, out of doors,
pepa, the borders, Goth.
pepan, to bear, or carry.
ferre, Lat.
<pspeiv.
pepon, fierce.
ferus, Lat.
pephc,/<?ar.
ferit, to fear, Amhar.
feri, to fear, Gafat.
pc, ajfy.
ficus, a^/%, .Z/a£
pime, corrupted.
finio, I end, Lat.
finis, end, death, ib.
tptvu, I kill.
pnn, a fin.
pinna, Lat.
jrmol, fennel.
faeniculum, Lat.
pipar, men.
viros, Lat.
ira, a man, Falash.
piscis, Lat.
pipcian, to fish.
piscari, Lat.
pthele, a fiddle.
fidicula, Lat.
plean, to flay, to unshin.
tpXoiElV.
pleocan, to float.
fluctuare, Lat.
pleopan, to flow.
flu ere, Lat.
flep)-a, a flowing.
fluxus, Lat.
plocc, a flock of sheep.
floccus, a lock of wool, Lat.
plob, a flood.
<p\v§au, I moisten.
ploh, a flaw.
<p\au, I break.
jrloca, a fleet.
flota, Basq.
fliccepain, to flutter.
fluctus, a wave, Lat.
fluctuare, to fluctuate, ib.
plum, a river.
flumen, Lat.
j:lyr, a fleece.
<PMH>$, the bark.
pon, to take.
funis, a rope, Lat.
p on, fire, Goth.
paivtiv, to shine.
<pa,vo<;, a torch.
pope, a fork.
furca, Lat.
ppaceb, vile, filthy,
fraceo, to putrefy, Lat.
fracidus, rotten, ib.
ppaecen, dangerous.
fragilis, brittle, Lat.
fpeene, a bridle.
fraenum, Lat.
ppicca, a cryer.
praeco, Lat.
ppman, to consult, to inquire.
Ww, the mind.
ppum, beginning.
formare, to frame, Lat.
ppypan, to freeze.
frigus, cold, Lat.
jrugel, a bird.
fuee, fowls, Loochoo.
fugio, I fly, Lat.
pul, foul.
i;, Vile.
CHAP.
IV.
fyllan,
<pXe£iY, to be full.
pulfcan, to support.
fulcire, Lat.
pylnej-re, soot.
fuligo, Lat.
f u, fire.
pyp, fire.
furi, heat, Susoo.
fee, fire, Louchoo.
afi, New Caled.
or, Pushtoo.
furor, fury, Lat.
398
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV.
furnus, an oven, Lat.
F)Tan> to hasten.
festinare, Lat.
jell, the skin.
feXXo/;, the bark.
penman, to seize.
, to plunder.
Eaec, a cuckoiv.
cuculus, Lat.
gamol, a camel.
camelus, Lat.
jat, a gate.
gata, to keep, to preserve,
Susoo.
£ea, yes, truly.
ys, certainly.
jeoc, a yoke.
jugum, Lat.
yugh, Pers.
jeolape, a flesh-colour.
gilvus, Lat.
gigant, a giant.
gigantem, Lat.
joj*, a goose.
gah, Chippeway.
kgou, Hott.
gas, Lapl.
zansis,
gim,
gemma,
job, Me supreme.
khoda, Per*.
gpab, a degree.
gradus, //«£.
Spaep, « grave.
graphum, Z«#.
^penman, to grunt.
grunnire, //«#.
jpafan, to engrave.
ypapsiv, to Write.
jpaej, hoary, grey.
ypaia, an old woman.
juibe, English.
guidaria, a leader, Basq.
pabban, to have.
habere, Lat.
hat, hot.
atteisa, Loochoo.
haegle, hail.
guly, Pushtoo.
heal, a hall, or court.
tella.
aula, Lat.
haelm, a stalk.
culmus, Lat.
haechen, a pagan.
ethnicus, Lat.
haga, a farm.
agellus, Lat.
helan, to hide.
celare, Lat.
hemecho, marriage.
haemech.
hymen, Lat.
henep, hemp.
cannabis, Lat.
heno, lo !
en, Lat.
henon, hence.
hinc, Lat.
hij-pan, to hiss.
seesee, Loochoo.
hnuc, a nut.
nux, Lat.
hnaeppian^ to sleep.
nepan, Knisten.
hoi, a hole.
chuloa, Basq.
hopn, a horn.
cornu, Lat.
hpeh, an inundation.
pea, to flow.
hpeman, to cry out.
pypa, a ivord.
pea, to speak.
hpin, touch.
pivot;, the skin.
hpupan, to rush.
mere, Lat.
hpylc, of what sort.
qualis, Lat.
hpeppan, to be turned.
versari, Lat.
hponne, when.
quando, Lat.
APPENDIX.
399
Ic,/.
ego,
Lat.
iber, a woman.
«8o£, beauty.
leppe, anger.
ippe, anger.
hira, Basq.
ira, Za£.
il, the sun, Goth.
imne, a hymn.
hymn us, Lat.
in, in.
in, £<z£.
lop, yoz£.
ya, Loochoo.
loic, a joke.
jocus, Lat.
if,
is, Lat
\]~, he is.
is,
IJT, ^
est, Lat.
£<TTl.
It, ZY.
id, Lat.
Lac, a
lacus, Lat.
lajo, water, the sea.
lagea, a river, G 'alias,
laepel, a level.
libella, Lat.
laeje, a law.
legem, Lat.
IcEn^, long.
longus, Lat.
lam, loam.
limus, Lat.
lauepce, a lark.
alauda, Lat.
leaj, a place.
le^a.
locus, Lat.
leohc, light.
lux, Lat.
\\,jfire, Chin.
leaw, Hott.
leon, «
leo, Lat.
XEW.
liccian, ^o lick.
lakiel,
lakiel,
lakiel,
lias, flames.
lya, Falash.
\y&,Jire, Teh. Agow.
laej, flame.
Pushtoo.
CHAP.
IV.
leoma,
lambu,
linen, linen.
lineus, Lat.
lip, a /zp.
labiura, Z,G5#.
lixan, to shine.
lux, Z^#, Lat.
lop, praise.
luaidh,
laus, Lat.
To match, English.
matchat, to marry, Amhar.
matchotch, Gafat.
maegep, thin, meagre.
macer, Lat.
mael, apart.
ml, to cw£ o^, to divide, Heb.
mselan, to say.
/AeXo?, a song.
maenan, to mean.
manian, to exhort.
mens, the mind, Lat.
mna, to reckon, Chald.
manawa, animal spirits, New
Zeal.
msenj-umun^e, a dwelling.
mansio, Lat.
mebep, a meadow.
medae, a plain, Amharic.
maepa, borders.
meraa, Lat.
maja, the stomach.
[Aayeipoi;) a cook.
mapm, marble.
inarm or, Lat.
400
APPENDIX.
CHAP. maegen, power.
IV. magnus, great, Lat.
— * - ' magn, more, New Caled.
[/.eyav, great.
mice), much.
michett, Knisten.
mealpe, mallow.
malva, Lat.
mece, a sword.
machaera, Lat.
mucro, a point, ib.
[/,«,%() pa, i, to Jight.
mebeme, great, dignified.
[*£$(<>, to command.
me, me.
[At.
mana, Van. Diem.
meor, moss.
muscus, Lat.
mepj-c, a marsh.
mariscus, Lat.
mathelan, to speak.
mechel, a discourse.
f/,v6o<;.
metep, metre.
metrum, Lat.
mete, meat.
mziu, flesh, New Zealand.
mib, middle.
medius, Lat.
mib, a bushel.
modius, Lat.
mil, a mile.
miliare, Lat.
milb, mild.
mlau, to be soothing, Heb.
mulceo, 1 soothe, Lat.
milij-c, sweet.
mulsus. Lat.
miln, a mill.
mola, a mill stone, Lat.
mobeji, mother.
mulan, to pulverise, Chili.
mmpan, to make small.
minuere, Lat.
(Aiwoi;, small.
mna, to distribute, Heb.
mnite, mint.
mentha, Lat.
mater, Lat.
mor, Pushtoo.
motina, Lith.
mu, Chinese.
moububa, New Caled.
umma, Loochoo.
mona, the moon.
mienau, Lithua.
manoc, New Caled.
monach, a month.
pyv.
mensis, Lat.
mopch, death.
mors, Lat.
mot, Heb.
maoot, Malay.
moot, Hindoostan.
murk, ib.
matu, New Zeal.
mata, Van. Diem.
mota, to die, Amhar.
mun, a hand.
man us, Lat.
council.
mul, a mule.
mulus, Lat.
munc, a mount.
montem, Lat.
mendia, Basq.
mupcnian, to murmur.
murmurare, Lat.
mur, a mouse.
fAVt;.
mus, Lat.
murcel, a muscle-fish.
musculus, Lat.
murt, new wine.
mustum, Lat.
mylen, a mill.
molendinum, Lat.
much, mouth.
mougui, Van Diem.
mouanguia, New Caled.
mylcian, to milk.
mulgere, Lat.
APPENDIX.
401
mynepan, to admonish.
nepa, a nephew.
monere, Lat.
nepos, Lat.
mynec, money.
nepene, a niece.
moneta, Lat.
neptis, Lat.
nellan, to be unwilling.
Naegel, nail.
nolle, Lat.
nook, Pushtoo.
aenoce, nothing.
neop, new.
nude, not, Van Diem.
novus, Lat.
Opept, haste.
neopian, to make new.
festinatio, Lat.
VIVK.
opppian, to offer, to sacrifice.
novo, Lat.
offerre, Lat.
innovo, ib.
open, open.
no, not.
apertus, Lat.
non, Lat.
open i an, to open.
nuna, Knisten.
aperio, I open, Lat.
ny, Insu.
op, beginning.
nu, Pushtoo.
origo, Lat.
nu, now.
ope, ajar.
nunc, Lat.
orca, Lat.
nye, a nest.
oxa, an ox.
nidus, Lat.
okous, a bull, Curds.
nacob, naked.
va,ko<;, a skin ivith its fleece.
Pal, a stake.
neecan, to kill.
palus, Lat.
necare, Lat.
pan, cloth.
nae^an, to nod.
pannus, Lat.
vevai.
panna, a pan.
nuo, Lat.
patina, Lat.
nicht, night.
papi& the poppy.
noctem, Lat.
papaver, Lat.
VVKTOt;.
papa, a peacock.
naktis, Lith.
pavo, Lat.
nama, name.
pic, pitch.
nemn, ib.
pix, Lat.
CHAP.
IV.
nomen, Lat.
nappe, a turnip.
napus, Lat.
naej-e, a nose.
nasus, Lat.
nozis, Lith.
naeffe, a promontory.
vy<ro<;, an island.
naman, to name.
nominare, Lat.
na, name, Loochoo.
nan, no one.
nemo, Lat.
nathaep, neither.
neuter, Lat.
VOL, II.
pil, a pile.
pila, Lat.
pilan, to drive with a pile.
TraAA&j, to shake.
pile, a pillow.
pulvinar, Lat.
pin, pain.
paena, Lat.
pman, to torture.
hunger.
, to cause pain.
pctin.
\> D
402
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV.
pipa, pease.
pisa, Lat.
pitt, a pit, a well.
puteus, a well, Lat.
plseca, a street.
plataea, Lat.
plane, a plant.
planta, Lat.
plaette, a slap.
plettian, to strike.
plancian, to plant.
plant are, Lat.
plaftep, a plaster.
emplastrum, Lat.
plume, a plum.
prunum, Lat.
ponb, a pound.
pondo, Lat.
pope, a port.
portus, Lat.
pup, pure.
purus, Lat.
pyngan, to prick.
pungere, Lat.
pypigean, a pear tree.
peroqui, a tree, Van Diem.
Race, history,
ra, to do, Coptic.
paeb, a discourse.
feu, I speak.
pypa, a word.
pseb, quick, ready.
pa$H><;, easy.
paejn, rain.
paivic, to pour.
jienc, glory, pride.
penc, proud.
ran, a name, Copt.
peapan, to rob.
peapepe, a spoiler.
reftahe, Copt.
refskiou, ib.
jieccepe, a ruler.
rector, Lat.
pejn, a ruler.
regnum, a kingdom, Lat.
regnare, to reign, ib.
pejel, a rule.
regula, Lat.
pehc, right.
rectus, ib.
pice, a region.
regio, ib.
picfian, to rule.
pixian, to rule.
rexi, I have ruled, ib.
pihce, justly.
rite, ib.
pube, rue.
ruta, ib.
Saban, linen.
sabi, a shirt, Pers.
sabibat, a vest, Arm.
]-ac, contention, quarrel.
sakhinat, rage, Arab.
sukht, indignation, ib.
sakht, violent, Pers.
skr, a falsehood, Heb.
yacc, a sack.
saccus, Lat.
sok, Coptic.
sk, Heb.
sakil, weighty, Arab.
fabian, to be full.
sat, sufficient, Lat.
j-33, sea.
ooshu, Loochoo.
j-aeb, seed.
sid, Copt.
sat, to sow, ib.
j-aejen, a saying.
j aejan, to say.
sakhun, a saying, Pers.
sag, to roar, Heb.
saji, to speak, Copt.
raegebnyri'e, a sacrifice.
sgd, he adored, Heb.
paegen, a sword.
a-a-yapis, a Persian sword.
fael, time.
salah, age, years, Pers.
sal, a year, ib.
j-ael, well.
salim, safe, ib.
salus, safety, Lat.
APPENDIX.
403
prosperty.
, splendour.
siloh, to rest, Heb.
j-al, a hall, a palace.
salar, a prince, Pers.
j-ala, a bond.
saleb, seizing, Arab.
j-alh, a willow.
salah, a wicker-basket, Pers.
rale, salt.
sal, Lat.
salt, sharp, Arab.
0-aXo.j, #7ie sea-coast.
fame, the same.
si mills, like, Lat.
sinod, likeness, Copt.
rammcele, concordant.
saml, reconciliation, Arab.
ramu, together.
ramob, together.
simul, Lat.
simal, assistant, Arab.
j-anb, sand.
sinna, Loochoo.
rseng, song.
sensen, a sound, Copt.
sensen, to sound, ib.
rape, soap.
sabun, Arab.
sapo, Lat.
j-ap, sore, sorry.
sa, infirmity, Arab.
sarisk, a tear, Pers.
sarsan, /ear, ib.
j-aub, a sacrifice, Goth.
sajjat, an idol, Arab.
sajjad, adoring, ib.
fcaep, a ploughshare.
skai, to plough, Copt.
foam i an, to be ashamed.
shaamat, adversity, Pers.
j"canc, the leg.
iskana, Arab.
j~cacepe, a thief.
shaki, criminal, ib.
j-ceal;i, scales.
scalae, Lat.
rceam, shame.
asham, a crime, Pers.
j-ceapb, a fragment.
askardan, to bruise, Pers.
fceac, a part.
shat, dispersed, distinct, Arab.
shatey, a share, ib.
j-cene, shining.
askar, polishing, ib.
j'cep, a sheep.
sha, ib.
shat, ib.
j-culbep, the shoulder.
scapula, Lat.
rcupj:, scurf.
iskuran, dross, Arab.
fcylb, a crime.
<TKV\QV, plunder.
j-cypt, short.
curtus, Lat.
fcypcan, to shorten.
curtare, ib.
the intellect.
sufi, wise, Arab.
sabe, Copt.
sabo, to learn, ib.
, quiet.
safa, content, Pers.
fejlian, to sail.
§2>y\, flowing, Arab.
<raXo$, the sea.
j-ejman, to sign.
signare, Lat.
fejne, a drag-net.
sagena, ib.
fejen, a sign.
signum, ib.
rel, good.
salih, Arab.
saluh, ib.
salah, virtue, ib.
o-eXas, brightness.
selsol, to adorn, Copt.
j-el, time, opportunity.
seoi, time, ib.
fern a, a judge.
simmet, an old man, Arab.
j-eman, to adjust a dispute.
samn, adjusting, ib.
semne, to dispose, Copt.
remle, always.
semper, Lat.
rynb; they are.
sunt, ib.
D D 2
CHAP.
IV.
404
APPENDIX.
CHAP. fenban, to send.
!V. sen, to pass over, Copt.
« ' reoc, sick.
sakim, Arab.
sakam, sickness, ib.
reopen, seven.
septem, Lett.
peon, to see.
sima, the face, Pers.
reon, to flow.
<m&>, to agitate,
retan, to plant.
set, to sow, Copt.
reran, to set.
set, the tail, ib.
rethel, a seat.
sedes, Lat.
rex, six.
sex, ib.
&
rextn, the sixth part.
sextus, Lat.
p, be thou.
sis, ib.
pb, peace.
sabat, rest, Heb.
pb, a kinsman.
sabab, affinity, Pers.
pbun, seven.
sabia, Arab.
sba, Heb.
pye, a sieve.
pfcan, to sift.
safsafat, sifting, Pers.
saftan, to bore, ib.
suffidan, to perforate, ib.
pgel, a neck ornament, a button
a-iyXai, ear-rings.
plpep, silver.
cillan, Basq.
pn, sin.
sintayel, evil, Arab.
sintayel, obscene, ib.
snaah, hatred, Heb.
pneijr, an old man, Goth.
senex, Lat.
ptan, to sit.
sitan, reclining, Pers.
pttath, he sits.
sedel, Lat.
rlibe, a fall.
slat, Copt.
rlim, slime.
limus, Lat.
rmean, to inquire.
sme, voice, Copt.
j-meoc, smoke.
a-f^vy^, to consume.
0-fA.v^a, to inflame.
rmipian, to smear.
o-piau, to wipe.
ron, sound.
son us, Lat.
fceop, history.
ustarah, a story, Arab.
rtan, a stone, a rock.
setoni, to stone, Copt.
astun, a column, Pers.
rtanban, to stand.
istandan., ib.
rteb, a place or station.
istandan, to stop, or dwell, ib.
rteop, a steer.
astar, a mule, ib.
rteoppa, a star.
jre[ip, a star.
istarah, Pers.
astar, ib.
sitareh, ib.
izarra, Basq.
storee, Pushtoo.
rtpaete, a bed.
stratum, Lat.
ftpeapian, to strew.
sternere, ib.
ftpeop, straw.
stramentum, ib.
rtyle, steel.
stali, Copt.
f uccan, to suck.
sugere, Lat.
rugu, a sow.
sus, Lat.
rul, a plough.
suli, Pers.
sulcus, a furrow, Lat.
im, some.
sum an, a little, ib.
funu, a son.
sunus, Lithuan.
APPENDIX.
405
fuji, sour.
seesa, Loochoo.
jnitepe, a cobbler.
sutor, Lat.
rpa, so.
se, «/so, Copt.
j-pipt, swz/^.
sufuce, Arab.
sufya, ib.
silence.
sukut, ib.
Ta, Me toe.
teb, a finger, Copt.
tale, opprobrium, calumny.
tale, erring, Arab.
talan, plunder, Pers.
tela, we//.
talske, health, Copt.
tali an, to fe//, to count.
tale, to #c?£/, $.
tym, « 7/o^e of oxen.
torn, to join, ib.
tenban, to take fire.
tan,jtfre, Welsh.
temmo, to 5wm, Copf.
teoche, a leader.
duce, Za£.
thanne, then.
tune, «'&.
thec, a covering.
tectum, ib.
the can, to cover.
tegere, ib.
thmnian, to thin.
tenuare, ib.
thin, Mm.
tenuis, ib.
thpe, Mree.
tres, ib.
thpejian, to torture.
torquere, ib.
thjiym, a crowd.
turma, ib.
thu, thou.
tu, Z«^.
thuman, to thunder.
thunepian, to thunder.
tonare, Lat.
tima,
tempus, ib.
tiny, Engl. small.
tina, /z'^/e, Gallas.
tithian, to grant.
tei, to $
to, to.
ta, Pers.
top, the summit.
top, to raise up, Copt.
toor, a mountain, ib.
topp, a tower.
torrea, Basq.
turres, Lat.
e drew.
traxit, ib.
tu, £w;0.
duo, ib.
$vo.
tuptl, a turtle-dove.
turtur, Lat.
tpij, a twig.
togi, a plant, Copt.
tym an, to summon.
tame, to make known, ib.
tijh, « tye.
tighing, to #ye, JVew Caled.
Upon,
uppan.
pur, upon, Pushtoo.
ID eg, a way.
via, Lat.
pselcan, to ta/va round.
volutare, ib.
psep, a man.
wiras,
vir,
paef, water.
wushu, a river, Agoio.
wai, water, New Zeal.
waha, Amharic.
wakka, Insu.
peobupe, a widow.
vidua, Lat.
pej'an, to be.
wusiou, Pushtoo.
pill, the will.
volitio, Lat.
voluntas, ib.
D D 3
CHAP.
IV.
406
APPENDIX.
CHAP, pillan, to will.
IV. velle, ib.
• pin, wine.
vinum, ib.
pell, well.
elo, New Caled.
pmb, the wind.
ventus, Lat.
pjnrtpe, the left.
sinister, Lat. .
victus.
popb, a word.
wardas, Lith.
verbum, Lat.
pypm, a worm.
vermis, Lat.
pul, wool.
ulea, Basq.
Ynce, an inch.
uncia, Lat.
ynbra, an ounce.
uncia.
ymen, a hymn.
hymnus.
yppe, anger.
ira.
The following affinities occur with the Anglo-Saxon for
SUN, in many of the languages of the globe :
SlJNNAN, 1
SUNA, J
The Sun.
-
Sclmn,
Tongouse.
Siunk,
Ostiack, Lumpokel.
Schains,
Arabic.1
Set,
Serere.
Schwun,
Nertschink.
Sorre,
Hottentot.
Siguni,
lakouzk.
Suria,
Java.
Gjon,
Nogai Turk.
Seeno,
Nias, Sumatra.
Sonne,
German.
Singhar,
Sumbava.
Sunne,
Swiss.
Senang,
Mindanao.
Sinne,
Frisian.
Singa,
He de Paw.
Zon,
Dutch.
Siare,
New Guinea.
Sunno,
Meso Gothic.
Somanlu,
Chimanos, Brazil.
Solntze,
Russian.
Saache,
Mexos.
Sountze,
Slavonian.
Schakore,
Panis.
Sountze,
Croatian.
Sah,
Chippeway.
Sontze,
Wendish.
Sa,
Tacouillies.
Slountze,
Bohemian.
Channo,
Kinai.
Slontze,
Polish.
Sackanach,
Greenland.
Schonde,
Permian.
Succanuk,
Greenland.
Schundy,
Wotiak.
Schekenak
Tchouktche, Asiat.
Siuna,
Ostiack.
Tschikinuk,
Tchouktche, Amer.
PERSIAN, ZEND, and PEHLVI affinities.
Since I printed the fourth edition of this work, the probable
derivation of the Saxon race from the regions near the Cas-
pian led me to examine what affinities existed between the
Asiatic languages in these parts, and the Anglo-Saxon. The
1 In Arabic, sanat is a year, and sanan is clear ; both obviously alluding to the
terra sun for that luminary.
APPENDIX.
Hon. Mr. Keppel calls the country where the ancients placed
the SacaB and Sacassani, and which he visited, " the beautiful
province of Karabaugh." It lies between the Arras and the
Kur, which are the ancient Araxes and Cyrnus, near the
northern parts of Persia. His travels induced me to compare
the Anglo-Saxon language with the Persian, and afterwards
with the Zend, the earliest speech that is known to have been
used in Persia, and also with the Pehlvi, which succeeded it
there. The result of the comparison was, that I found 162
words in the MODERN PERSIAN; 57 in the ZEND; and 43
in the PEHLVI, so similar in sound and meaning, to as many
in the Anglo-Saxon, as to confirm the deduction of the pro-
genitors of our ancestors from the regions of ancient Asia.
I sent the list to the Royal Society of Literature, and the
communication has been printed in Part II. of the Second
Volume of their Transactions.
ARABIC AFFINITIES.
I proceeded afterwards to inspect the Arabic language;
and on comparing the Anglo-Saxon with the ARABIC, the
following 148 affinities occurred :
Saxon. Arabic,
sel, good. salih, good.
sibb, peace. sabb, loving.
sac, strife. sakhb, tumult.
sefa, intellect. sufi, wise.
leogan, to lye. lay, lying.
leg, flame. layak, flame.
blithe, quiet. lim, peace.
leoman, to shine. lamah, shining.
lufa, love. laha, love.
lippa, a lip. lab, the lip.
lust, luxury. lazzat, pleasure.
hlyd, tumult. lud, altercation.
list, knowlege. lasan, eloquence.
na, a dead body. nafs, the body.
nsecan, to kill. nikayat, hilling.
nacod, naked. nakad, peeling.
nama, a name. namus,fame.
neah, nigh. nawb, near.
hael, an omen. halij, dreaming.
hador, serene. hadu, tranquillity.
hare, hoary. harira, an old man.
ist, is. hast, is.
isa, ice. husr, ice.
hund, 100. hand, 100.
merran, to err. mariek, deviating.
D D 4
408
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV.
Saxon.
merra, a seducer.
mirran, to offend.
mori, a marsh.
missian, to err.
mist, a mist.
mal, a speech.
mal, a stain.
mile, milk.
mild, mild.
men an, to mean.
mytha, a limit.
rnel, time.
masdful, benign.
macian, to make.
mara, the night-mare.
mara, greater.
masra, lofty.
mal, tribute.
murcnian, to murmur.
matu, malignant.
mod, tfAe mind.
masgthe, a young woman.
myrth, joy.
myrnan, to mourn.
marc, a mark.
mearu, tender.
beorht, bright.
burg, a castle.
basing, a rich cloak.
bered, vexed.
beorth, birth.
bysmor, infamy.
bita, a morsel.
scearan, J<fl ^
sharp,
the devil.
shearan,
scearp,
shearp,
sceocca,
sheocca,
sciman,
shiman,
sceawian
sheawian
seman, to adjust a dispute.
to shine.
: }"
see.
scama
shama
, 1
, J
shame.
Arabic.
murai, a hypocrite.
murahhat, provoked.
murabit, standing water.
musi, a sinner.
mushtabih, obscure.
mulhat, a saying.
malam, disgrace.
milka, pap for infants.
malik, mild.
manwi, intended.
mita, a boundary.
milat, time.
maad, tender.
maklriz, a bringing forth.
maraz, falling sick.
mar, a lord.
marod, proud.
mal, riches.
mutkidan, to murmur.
muttazir, criminal.
mudukat, the intellect.
makhdur, a matron.
marah, cheerful.
inarhun, pitied.
maram, marked.
marfak, gentle.
barikat, bright.
buruj, a castle.
bizzat, a dress of honor.
barh, distress.
baraa, creating.
bazia, shameless.
bit, provisions.
sharz, cutting.
sharisli, sharp.
shaki, wicked.
shams, the sun.
sliuwan, the eye.
samn, adjusting.
sha, sheep.
shatu, a shoot.
shiman, modesty.
APPENDIX.
409
Saxon.
' !• a part.
servant.
sceam, ,.
sheam, \a disgrace.
sceat,
sheat
scealc, "I
shealc, J
scacan, 1 ^ 7 ,
shacan; )*"*«*«•
thin an, to vanish, to become
tinterg, torment.
thiret, a hole.
thearf, poor.
tarn, mild.
tingnysse, eloquence.
tilian, to study.
tille, quiet.
til modig, mild.
seoc, sick.
swift, swift.
ysla, « spark.
hleo, a refuge.
aer, brass.
aide, Ae/p.
tasl, reproach.
tselan, to blame.
tser, a tear.
taelg, o; branch.
teiss, affliction.
tir, a prince.
tir, glory.
tan,
yrfe, inheritance.
orf, cattle. \
oxa, aw o#. J
ar, wealth.
eard, £/*e earth.
earm, poor.
cla3mian, to cfa?w.
climan, to climb.
aelan, to flame.
atelic,
aful, a fault.
afylan, to &e contaminated.
an, m.
ancor, aw anchor,
anda, rancour.
Arabic,
shamit, malicious.
shatey, a s^are.
shakkat, a ooy.
shakhaz, tottering.
thin, tanazzur, becoming small.
tinkan, punishment.
tirak, a cleft.
tarh, poverty.
tamanu, humane.
tanj, expression.
talyat, reading.
tulunni, lazy.
talyim, mitigating.
f sikat, languid.
|_ sakun, sick.
sufuw, swift
azz, fire.
ihlaj, hiding.
ayar, brass.
ida, assistance.
tilka, blame.
talwin, reprehending.
tarafuz, tears flowing.
taalab, a tree.
ftaassur, sadness.
[_ tahazzur, grief.
tarah, high.
tawrim, proud.
tandigh, flowering.
irr, fire.
irs, inheritance.
urkh, a bullock.
arzak, riches.
arz, ^/te earth.
arm at, poor.
iklaf, gluing.
iklawla, climbing.
ilak, flashing.
f atir, a crime.
\ atlas, a sfam.
affak, a /^ar.
uffat, a coward.
an, zw.
anjar, an anchor.
indagh, doing evil.
410
APPENDIX.
Saxon.
sifer, pure.
sselth, prosperity.
sigan, to fall.
swig, silence.
sefa, intelligence.
siofotha, chaff.
siftan, to sift.
syb, peace.
sac, contention.
surig, sour.
sad, a halter.
salt, 5«/#.
sal, black.
sith, a path. 1
sid, « szWe. J
sum, so>we.
baean, to cook.
beorna, a man.
balew, depraved.
balo, evil.
beal, destruction.
bald, fo/tf.
belewita, simple.
beado, cruelty,
beado, battle.
bil, a bill.
bold, « town.
byan, to inhabit.
ang-breost, asthma.
enge, anguish.
ancsum, troublesome.
anfeng, he took.
anfindan, to seize.
andeaw, arrogant.
unan, to give.
wuda, wood.
waa, sorrow.
wa, wo.
wa! alas!
Arabic.
safi, pure.
sulwat, content.
sakut, falling.
sukat, silence.
shafin, intelligent.
safa, dust.
safsafat, sifting.
sabt, rest.
sakhinat, rage.
J surkua, sour wine.
\ surbat, sour milk.
saad, strangling.
salt, sharp.
silab, a black habit.
saw da, a path.
suman, a little.
bukhtag, cooked.
barnasa, men.
balas, wicked.
baliyah, evil.
bala, a misfortune.
baltayi, bold.
balahat, foolish.
I crooked.
wo, J
badad, sallyinq to battle.
* «y */
bildan, a blunt sword.
baldat, a city.
bingain, a dwelling.
anh, breathing hard.
f inkas, injuring.
\ inghas, making life painful.
inkas, injuring.
anfal, plunder.
anfaktan, to acquire.
anfan, haughty.
ihna, giving.
ud, ivood.
awwat, sorrow.
awwah, a sigher.
f awwat, 1 j
1 L I alas !
\ awab, J
awad, crooked.
APPENDIX.
411
HEBREW AFFINITIES.
INSTEAD of putting the Hebrew words in the orthography
of their modern pronunciation, which, in many, differs ac-
cording to the class of the Jews who express or spell them,
I will only insert their written letters. The vowels omitted
in their writing are supplied in their enunciation, as in many
of the Eastern languages.
Saxon.
sacc, a bag.
saed, an halter.
slsean, to strike.
senian, to sign.
sefa, the mind.
seofian, to mourn.
sip, sup (English.)
searo, an instrument of war.
sur, sour.
sib, peace.
sceap, 1 T
shea?, }sheeP-
secgan, to say.
say (English).
secan, to seek.
cwellan, to kill.
clusa, a prison. 1
clam, a fetter. J
hoi, a hole.
leg, fame. \
lelit, light. J
lystan, I wish.
lehan, to lend.
liccian, to lick.
meltan, to melt.
msel, a part.
milescian, to soothe.
mil, among.
mildsian, to pity. ~\
mildse, mercy. J
lac, a present.
calo (calvus), bald.
can, I can.
are, honor.
fseger, fair.
ys, is.
man, a crime.
morn
CHAP.
IV.
morngen, J
to-morrow.
Hebrew,
sk, a bag.
sd, a fetter.
sib, he struck down.
sum, to sign, Z^ejov
saph, thoughts.
sphd, he mourned.
sap, to sup.
srh, a breast plate.
sar, leaven.
sbt, quiet.
sha, a lamb.
soh, to speak.
sih, discourse.
sok, he desired.
clh, to be consumed.
cla, to shut up.
hll, to make a hole.
Iht, flame.
lo, 1 wish.
loh, he lent.
f Ihk, to lick.
]_ Ikk, he licked.
mhh, to melt.
ml, to divide, cut off.
mlts, to be soothing.
mhl. to mingle.
mlits, a mediator.
lak, a messenger.
chlk, bald.
cal, I can.
ira, revering.
ifh,fair.
is, is.
man, a vice.
mhr, to-morrow.
412
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV.
Saxon.
hidd, hidden.
naman, to name.
cnocian, to knock, to beat.
hwaste, wheat,
to be ill (Engl.).
tor, a tower.
will, will.
win, wine.
cydung, chiding.
tired (English).
feohtan, to fight.
sid, a side.
sselth, prosperity.
cald, called.
samod, together.
cyst, a case, a chest.
cist, benignity.
crawan, to crow. ~|
. J
to cry out (English).
rarian, to roar. "1
ream, noise. J
reafran, to plunder.
reosan, to rush.
dropian, to drop.
setan, to place.
scyan, to suggest.
scylan, to distinguish.
skill (English).
saecg, a small sword.
socian, to soak.
sel, prosperity, good.
selan, to give.
sal, a palace.
sin, sin.
sceawian, 1
sheawian, J
shout, (English).
sipan, to sip.
sceala, scales.
scath, a thief,
sceocca tfAe derti
1
J
Hebrew,
chd, he hid.
nam, he spoke.
nkh, to strike.
hth, wheat.
hlh, to fo z7/.
tir, « tower.
ial,
iin,
ikli, to chide.
trh, ^e ft'rec? himself.
phtl, to struggle.
tsd, aside.
tslh, prosperous.
kol, voice.
tsmd, assembled.
csh, to cover.
csd, benignity.
era, ^e called.
ram, to thunder.
trf, to plunder.
rash, to ?M0#e, to shake.
rap, to e?r0p.
sot, /*<? placed.
skoi, a thought.
ski, £/ie intellect.
"I
J"
sen,
{skh, to water.
scoi, drink.
slh, peaceful, quiet.
sloh, a gift.
sit, a ruler.
snah, hatred.
shnn, to sharpen.
shah, to behold.
shat, shout.
sph, ^Ae /zp.
sel, to weigh.
sctz, detestable.
APPENDIX.
413
CHINESE AFFINITIES.
Saxon,
leas, false.
letlan, to lead.
longa, mightily. ~|
langian, to increase. J
lea, a place.
lyf, life.
man, wickedness.
minsian, to mince, to diminish.
mawan, to mow.
mod, mind.
cina, a fissure.
col, coo/.
ca3nnan, to know.
monan, to suggest.
feohtan, to fight.
cegan, to c«//.
can, I can.
liloh, he laughed.
lustan, to desire.
si pan, to sip.
wo, perversely. ~|
wigan, to resist. J
\vafran, to be astonished, to "|
hesitate. J
ange, vexed, angry.
weman, to expect.
liynan, to hinder.
hoc, hook.
lud, sounding.
liiu, alas !
wa, woe.
manga, many. 1
manig, much. J
heuen, heaven.
sugan, to suck.
lud, noise.
teon, to accuse. \
teon, slander. J
en if, a knife.
shiran, to sheer.
teon, to tug.
hleowan, to low.
hleo, an asylum, a retreat.
Chinese,
la, wicked.
leu, to /eae?.
lang, strong.
lee, to place.
leik, spirit.
mang, wicked.
min, to joare o/f.
mo, to CM£.
mo, diligent.
khan, to cw£.
koo, to freeze.
khan, to investigate.
meen, to persuade.
fuh, to strike.
keaou, to ca//.
l^o, I can.
chow, to se//.
lo, to laugh.
Ian, to desire.
sa, to drink.
woo, refractory.
wei, to fear.
{hang, angry speech.
hung, angry.
wan, to #s£.
ho, to stop,
ho, to join.
luh, sound.
lieu, to moan.
{wa, « child's sobbing.
wo, « child's weeping.
mang, large.
heen, heaven.
shun, to
laou,
tuh, railing.
khan, to CM£ '
shan, to sheer.
tuy, to pw// with force.
leuh, to tow.
low, to fo concealed.
414
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV.
my. 1
?- r
'evil. J
Saxon.
fah, an enemy.
fian, to hate.
feond, the devil.
Cynn, a nation.
thingan, to harangue, to plead.
hwa, who.
woh, injury.
cyn, offspring.
fah, revenge.
fah, an enemy.
tucian, to punish.
weardian, to guard.
nior, a marsh.
morth, death.
dun, a hillock.
fader, father,
falu, false.
heafod, the head.
ear, the ear.
senian, to sign.
wea, misfortune.
heahmod, proud.
sei, to say.
sugan, to SMC£.
haewen, putrid.
msenan, to complain.
lean, emolument.
sican, to 5^. "1
seofian, to groan. J
man, wickedness.
hlyn, noise.
sorh, sorrow.
gnasgan, to gnaw.
hwearfian, to revolve.
hweol, a wheel.
etan, to ea£.
Chinese.
phei, wicked.
kin, a multitude.
ting, to debate.
ho, who.
woo, to injure.
("chin, boys.
\ keen, a son.
fe, to injure.
tuh, to strike.
wei, to guard.
mo, mud.
f mo, to die.
\ mae, to bury.
tun, a hillock.
foo, a father.
fei, false.
*hee, ^e Aeae?.
urh, tf^e ear.
shin, to 5^?z.
wei, disquieted.
heaou, proud.
seay, sound.
so, to suck.
hew, to smell.
ma, to scold.
leo, profit.
tseay, to 5^/i.
man, to
lung, a great noise.
tsuh, sorrow.
neih, to gnaw.
hwuy, to revolve.
e, to ea£.
SANSCRIT AFFINITIES.
Saxon. Sanscrit.
yeong, young.
msenan, to think.
beon,, to fo.
riht, H<7M
rice, rich.
wer,
cnawan, to know.
yuwan, young.
munus, the mind.
bhu, to be.
rita, rz^£
raih, wealth.
viroh, a man.
jna,
to know.
APPENDIX.
415
Saxon.
hasle, health.
ma, larger.
mod, excited mind.
bald, bold.
samod. together.
segen, a sign.
man, a man.
cwellan, to kill.
thurst, thirst.
naddra, a serpent.
serian, to put in order.
galan, to sing.
dance (English),
dieth, death,
tarn, tame.
tan, a germen.
s«eottan> \toshootout.
sheotan, J
lociath, he sees.
mad (English).
findeth, hefindeth.
gan, to go.
lean, a reward.
haenan, to stone.
ende, the end.
ys, is.
toss up (English).
hlutan, to bend. "|
lutan, to bend towards. J
thyrstan, to thirst.
nate, not.
nan, none.
in, in.
na, not.
nsegl, a nail.
etan, to eat.
iou, you.
na, a efeac? &0eft/.
derian, to hurt.
gar, a dart.
morth, death.
to lop (English).
tredan, to bruise.
beran, to bear.
teran, to tear.
thecan, to cover.
midde, middle.
ioc, a yoke.
\vefan, to weave.
Sanscrit,
heeta, health.
maha, great.
mada, courage.
bala, strength.
sam, together.
sanjna, a sigh.
monuschyo, a man.
kala, death.
torscho, thirst.
naga, a serpent.
soroh, a series.
gai, to sing.
tandovan, to dance.
di, to decay.
damn, tame.
dhanu, to produce.
shu, to produce.
lokote, he sees.
madu, to grow mad.
findoli, he finds.
ga, to go.
la, to give.
hanu, to slay.
onto, the end.
asu, to be.
tasu, to toss up.
lutu, to roll.
trishu, thirst.
natau, not.
nanyau, no.
in, in.
na, not.
noko, nail.
adu, to eat.
yuyov, you.
nasu, to perish.
dharu, to hurt.
guru, to kill.
mri, to die.
lupu, to lop.
tridu, to injure.
bhri, to bear.
dri, to tear.
the, to cover.
modyoh, middle.
yugon, a yoke.
ve, to weave.
CHAP.
IV.
416
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV-
Saxon.
graedan, to cry.
teon, injury.
bindan, to bind.
Iressa, less,
uppe, upon.
lustan, to desire.
wiscan, to wish.
liccian, to lick.
sadian, to be weary.
wudewe, a widow.
eacan, to add, to increase.
habban, to have.
moder, mother.
cu, a cow.
brother, brother.
teran, to tear.
. .
swuster, sister.
Sanscrit.
fsavanu, ~| ,
(svonoh; }sound'
cridan, to cry.
tu, to injure.
bhandu, to bind.
ilasu, to grow less.
upo, upon.
luha, to covet.
vasu, to wish.
ilahu, to lick.
sadu, to wither.
vidohva, a widow.
akshu, to heap up.
aapu, have.
matu, mother.
ge, a cow.
bhratri, brother.
tari, to tear.
f savasri,
svostro
ri, 1 .
o J
There are many other affinities between the Sanscrit and
the Anglo-Saxon.
GEORGIAN AFFINITIES.
The following similarities of some words in the Anglo
Saxon with the Georgian language may deserve our notice :
Saxon.
batho, a bath.
bald (English).
dasg, a day.
alsecgan, to place.
asled, fi re.
ma3gan, power.
angel, a hook.
anda, rancour.
anselan, to inflame.
aglae, sorrow.
arleas, vile.
ase, as.
bar, barren.
diglian, to hide.
ele, oil.
erming, miserable.
theoden, a lord.
Georgian.
abano, a bath.
belathi, bald.
adi, a day.
alaghi, a place.
alehi?i/zre.
amaghlela, greatness.
anghistri, a hook.
andamari, calamity.
anthe, to inflame.
aklia, sorrow.
areule, abomination.
asre, thus.
barzi, barren.
dagule, to shut up.
eleo, oil.
eremo, a desert.
thaadi, a noble.
APPENDIX.
417
Saxon.
theowian, to minister.
med, a reward.
msedful, courteous.
maga, powerful.
mal, tribute.
mal, a stain.
martha, great deeds.
sace, a sack.
team, a posterity.
wyrcian, to work.
win, wine.
win-beam, a vine.
delay (English),
tumbian, to dance.
cat, a cat.
msenan, to mean.
na, a dead body. 1
nsecan, to kill.
seoc, sick.
sawl, the soul.
sop, a sop.
locian, to look.
lippa, the lip.
talian, to narrate, to speak. \
talk (English). J
uuerse, worse.
wyrse, worse.
outcry (English). ~\
ut, out.
gecrangan, to howl. J
fet, foot.
fore, a fork.
gan, to go.
cleopian, to call out.
sceacul, a shackle.
sefa, the intellect.
sse, the sea.
sucan, I suck.
cyst, kindness.
to gingle (English).
Georgian.
thaascham, to minister.
madili, a benefit.
madlieri, courteous.
megali, great.
mali, tribute.
malo, bad.
martheb, to conquer.
sako, a sack.
tomi, a nation.
vich, to work.
vino, wine.
venachi, a vine.
dila, to adjourn.
thamascio, to dance.
kata, a cat.
mene, interpret.
nakodi, slaughter.
J" sikduili, pestilence.
^sichudli, death.
suli, the soul.
supa, a sop.
loca, the cheek.
lasci, the lips.
talkmasi, comedy.
uuaresi, worse.
uuaruar, to make worse.
uthchar, to cry out.
futkari, from, the foot.
furka, a pitchfork.
{gauilib, to go away.
gauli, to go by.
galob, to roar out.
f sceikrua, to bind.
\ scekrua, a shackle.
sciau, black.
cheva, the intellect.
zea, the sea.
zueni, I suck.
J chesileba, kindness.
\ chesilis, good.
gingili, chains.
VOL. II.
E E
418
APPENDIX.
MALAY AFFINITIES.
Saxon.
rum, a place.
ec, /.
that, that.
boc, book.
beran, to endure.
samod, all together.
same, like.
scinan, to shine.
bseran, to bear.
bendan, to bend.
tan, a shoot.
boren, born.
bunda, bundles.
a bunch (English),
bi, by.
cseppe, a cap.
same, like.
morth, dead.
emtig, empty.
gleam, splendour. 1
glomung, the dawn. J
bolla, a bowl. ~\
ball (English). J
lappa, a lap.
marm, marble.
tellan, to tell.
moder, mother.
nama, name.
ne, not.
to cut (English),
to pay (English),
cidan, to quarrel.
scoe, shoe.
sec, sick.
sweopan, to sweep.
Malay.
rooma, a house.
ako, /.
etoo, that.
bach a, to read.
bear, to suffer.
Samoa, all together.
sama, like as.
sinar, sun's rays.
bava, to bear.
benko, bent.
toonar, to blossom.
beranak, born.
booncoos, a bundle.
boongkoot, a bunch.
bah, by.
f capala, the head.
\ copea, a hat.
samaian, to compare.
maoot, death.
ampex, empty.
gomelung, glitter.
boolat, a round ball.
lipat, a lap.
mar mar, marble.
f teleleecan, to tell.
\telelee, to publish.
ma, mother.
nama, name.
nen, not.
catan, to reap.
bayar, to pay.
chidera, to quarrel.
caoos, shoe.
sakit, sick.
sapoo, to sweep.
Saxon.
heal, a hall.
heafod, the head.
leccian, to lick.
mere, the sea.
morth, death.
net, a net.
COPTIC AFFINITIES.
Coptic.
aule, a hall.
aphe, the head.
legh, to lick.
mer, over sea.
mou, death.
nebd, a net.
APPENDIX.
419
Saxon,
sage, wise.
sefa, the mind.
sedan, to sow.
saegan, to say.
son, a sound.
staenan, to stone.
saettan, to sit.
slide, a sliding.
sacc, a sack.
style, stee/.
sot, a so£
con, Ae knew.
cunnan, to know
hal, healthy.
boh, a bough.
hoi, a Aote.
fot, afoot.
faether, a feather.
heah, AftfA.
moder, mother.
hap (English),
inne, zw.
nu, new.
feeder, father.
ne, m>£.
}
Coptic,
sabe, wise.
sabo, to learn.
set, to sow.
sagi, a speech.
sensen, a sound.
setoni, to stone.
set, the tail.
slad, a sliding.
soc, a sack.
stali, steel.
so, drink.
conon, to know.
talso, health.
bai, a bough.
chol, a hole.
phat, afoot.
phet, to fly.
hi, above.
maau, mother.
haps, necessary.
en, w.
dnou, wew.
phiod, father.
ne, wor.
CHAP.
IV.
Saxon.
ing, a meadow.
icton, tf^ey added.
ombiht, a servant.
late, /ate.
mine, wzwe.
me, we.
sage, wise.
MANTCHOU AFFINITIES.
Mantchou.
ing, afield.
iktar, a
ombi, to work.
lata, /ate.
mini, of me.
mim, we.
sa, know.
Saxon.
maga, a kinsman.
car, care.
sur, sowr.
gos, a goose.
haccan, to cut.
ancer, an anchor.
nemnan, to name.
ac, an oak.
sand, sand.
JAPANESE AFFINITIES.
Japanese.
mago, a nephew.
cocorogage, care.
su, vinegar.
gan, a goose.
haka, a knife.
icari, an anchor.
notamai, to name.
qi, a tree.
suna, sand.
E E 2
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV.
Saxon.
sulh, a plough.
byrnan, to burn.
morth, death.
caeg, a key.
thecan, to cover.
merran, to err.
easy (English),
sudden (English),
yrre, angry.
swine, labour.
teoche, a leader.
rowan, to row.
Japanese,
sugi, I plough.
aburi, to roast.
moja, a dead body.
cagui, a key.
togi, / shut up.
maioi, to err.
yasui, easy.
sudeni, instantly.
icari, anger.
xinco, labour.
taisco, a leader.
ro, an oar.
CARIBBEE AFFINITIES.
Saxon,
salt, salt.
inne, in.
eaga, the eye.
hasp, adapted.
leoma, rays of light.
ear, the ear.
Caribbee.
salou, salt.
one, in.
acou, the eye.
apatara, to adapt, (apto.)
aricae, the ear.
Saxon.
beon, to be.
methle, a speech.
beam, a son.
er, a male agent.
sewe, a wife.
segh, an eye.
eorthe, earth.
rad, a road.
com, / am.
synd, ye are.
TURKISH AFFINITIES.
Turkish,
buden, to be.
megele, a question.
ibnun, a son.
er, a man.
ffiwret, a woman.
aejn, an eye.
erz, earth.
reh, a way.
um, I am.
synuz, ye are.
Saxon.
barm, a bay.
beran, to bear.
bat, a boat.
beorcan, to bark.
bog, a branch.
buruh, a city.
bord, a house.
bur, a chamber.
SUSOO.
Susoo.
ba, the sea.
beri, to bear.
ba, to row.
bare, a dog.
{boge, fruit.
boge, to grow to fruit.
bore, a neighbour.
APPENDIX.
421
Saxon.
buan, to inhabit.
borian, to bore.
bulgian, to bellow.
byldan, to strengthen. \
byldo, firmness. J
me, me.
dynt, a blow.
f?Y,fire.
dynan, to feed.
helan, to cover.
ea, water.
dyfan, to dive.
leoht, light.
losian, to lose.
new, new.
sape, soap.
wilnian, to desire.
henan, to stone.
gar, a dart.
siwian, to sow.
to cut (English).
maedful, benign.
na, not.
Susoo.
bu, to continue.
bo, to split.
bnla, to make a r
balang, strong, hard.
em, me.
ding, to strike.
furi, heat.
dong, to eat.
geli, to shut.
ie, water.
dulan, to dive.
iling, light.
loe, to lose.
nene, new.
safung, soap.
whuli, desire.
gene, to stone.
geri, fighting.
she, to sow.
khuo, to cut.
f madunduhe, meek.
\ madudidu, to be quiet.
na, not.
noise.
Saxon.
cwseth, he saith.
munan, to think.
mal, speech.
mamma (English).
ANGOLA.
Angola.
quiae, you say.
muenho, the mind.
milonga, words.
mama, mother.
Of the affinities which occur in other languages, I have not
at present time to collect more than the following :
AFFINITIES WITH THE TONGA LANGUAGE.
Saxon.
fir, fire.
an an, to give.
andget, the mind.
afyran, to take away.
bigan, to bend.
blawan, to blow.
cald, called.
clypian, to call out. J
feon, to hate.
feohtan, to fight.
Tonga.
2&,fire.
angi, to give.
anga, the mind.
ave, to take away.
bico, crooked.
boohi, to blow.
calanga, to roar out.
fehia, to hate.
fetaagi, to fight.
APPENDIX.
CHAP.
IV.
Saxon.
figan, to have enmity.
gnawan, to gnaw.
hiw, the appearance.
helan, to hide.
laefel, a level.
laeran, to exhort.
laef, a leaf.
leoman, to shine.
lot, cunning.
leoh, he scolded. ~\
lar, teaching. j-
lyden, speech. J
lithian, to soothe.
leogan, to lie.
luh, a lake.
hlynn, noise.
lime, lime.
leod, people.
muth, the mouth.
meca, a sword.
mona, the moon.
mal, a stain.
mal, a speech.
mild, mild.
msenan, to think.
manig, many.
maera, a boundary.
morth, death.
meltan, to melt.
seled, fire.
ombeht, a servant.
ongean, again.
ongalan, to sing.
pol, a pole.
hiscan, to hiss.
tali an, to tell.
tallic, blamable.
tama, a boy.
teon, to drag.
togan, to go away.
Tonga.
fege, controversy.
gnow, to chew.
ha, to appear.
lilo, to conceal.
lea, speech.
lo, a leaf.
laa, sunshine.
loto, mind.
low, to discourse.
loho, to pay.
lohi, falsehood.
loo, a pit.
longoa, noise.
lehe, lime.
lahi, many.}
ma, a mouthful, to chew.
machela, sharp.
msehina, the moon.
mala, ill luck.
malanga, a speech.
malo, rest.
manatoo, to bethink, to consider.
manoo, ten thousand.
maoo, a boundary.
mate, death.
moloo, soft.
oloo, flame.
omi, to bring, to fetch.
onga, an echo.
onga, sound.
{pale, to push with poles.
pale vaca, the poles.
si si, to hiss.
tala, to tell.
talahooi, impudent.
team, offspring.
to ho, to drag.
too goo, to quit.
Saxon.
aide, help.
helig, holy.
on, one. \
onlu, only. J
LAPLAND AFFINTIES.
Lapland.
aide, a favour.
ailes, holy.
aina,
APPENDIX.
423
Saxon.
Lapland.
ser, brass.
air, brass.
ar, an oar.
airo, a» oar.
asce, ashes.
{aiset, to flame.
aisanet, to burn.
acer, afield.
aker, afield.
acennan, to bring forth.
akk, pregnant, a foetus.
secse, an axe.
aksjo, <m a#e.
oxa, an ox.
wuoxa, an ox.
alda, old.
alder, a<?e.
ser, early.
aret, early.
arbi, inheritance.
arbe, patrimony.
arian, to spare.
arjot, to spare.
arm, wretched.
armes, miserable.
bacan, to bake.
bakot, to bake.
bar, £are.
{baros, manifest.
bara, ow/y.
beorce, the birch.
barko, the birch bark.
bearn, son.
(barne'}a5£m'
batho, a bath.
bart, a bath.
biddan, to pray.
biddet, to pray.
bera, a bear.
bire, a bear.
bita, a bit.
bitta, # bit.
biter, bitter.
bittjes, bitter.
blac, jt?«/e.
blackok, pale.
blaed, fruit, a branch, a blade.
blade, a leaf.
blendian, to mix.
blandet, to mix.
bleo, colour.
blaw, blue.
blsec, black.
blekk, black.
bonda, a husband.
bond, a husband.
braechme, noise.
brakkohem, noise.
brid, a bride.
brudes, a bride.
brucsen, to use.
brukot, to use.
brym, the sea.
Jbroun, 1 i
, . > the sea.
l^browe, J
bod, a precept.
bude, he commands. J
buda, a precept.
bord, a table.
buorde, a table.
borian, to bore.
baret, to bore.
bygan, to buy. \
byrga, a creditor. J
bargal, a merchant.
bane, a bench.
bank, a bench.
dochter, daughter.
daktar, daughter.
deor, dear.
deuras, dear.
daed, a deed.
did, a custom.
daema, a judge.
dobmar, a judge.
dom, judgment.
duua, a cfove.
dobmo, judgment.
duwo, a dove.
ac, an oak.
eik, an oak.
ece, eternal.
ekewe, eternal.
E E 4
424
APPENDIX.
Saxon.
false, false.
fang, a captive.
fare, a journey.
fat, a vessel.
feger, fair.
faeden, to feed.
fsegnian, to rejoice.
feohtan, to fight.
frith, peace.
freo, free.
frea, a lord.
folgian, to follow.
folc, people.
feond, the devil.
first, the first.
got, a goat.
grass, grass.
grasf. a grave.
growend, growing.
gold, gold.
hseg, a hedge.
healdan, to hold.
hoc, hook.
ham, « house.
hiw, Me foo£.
hell, Tartarus.
hafoc, a hawk.
hera, a lord.
hentan, to pursue.
horu, a strumpet.
horingas, adulterers.
hoga, care.
haccan, to hack.
hige, mind.
hselo, health.
hale wese, save you !
Lapland.
falske,/a/se.
fang, a captive.
faro, emigration.
f fatte, the stomach of animals
\ used as vessels for liquor.
fauro, fair.
{fedo, nutriment.
fedet, to nourish.
fegen, rejoicing.
fiktet, to fight.
fred, peace.
frije,free.
frua, a lady.
fuljet, to follow*
fuolke, people.
fuodno, the devil.
forsta, a prince.
gaits, a goat.
grase, grass.
graupe, a ditch.
gruonas, flourishing.
guile, gold.
hagasn, a hedge.
haldet, to hold.
hakan, hook.
heima, a house.
heiwe, the look.
helwet, Tartarus.
hauka, a hawk.
herr, a lord.
hinnet, to follow.
hora, a strumpet.
horawuot, adultery.
hugso, care.
hakkatet, to kill.
hagga, life.
halso, good health.
halsalet, to salute.
There are many more affinities besides these between the
Lapland and the Anglo-Saxon, which I omit, that I may not
overburthen the attention of the reader. As the Laplandic
is a branch of the Hunnish stock, which came latest into
Europe, its affinities with the Saxon indicate a consanguinity
from primeval ancestry which occurs with the rest to cor-
roborate the ideas before mentioned of the original unity and
subsequent dispersion of mankind.
APPENDIX.
No. II.
Money of the ANGLO-SAXONS.
THE payments mentioned in Domesday-book are stated in
pounds, shillings, pence, and farthings, exactly as our pecu-
niary calculations are now made. Twenty shillings constitute
a pound, and a shilling is composed of twelve pence. The
same computation occurs elsewhere. Elfric, in his translation
of Exodus 19 adds, of his own authority, " They are twelve
scy thinga of twelve pennies ; " and in the moneys mentioned
in the Historia Eliensis, edited by Gale, we find numerous
passages which ascertain that a pound consisted of twenty
shillings. Thus, three hides were sold by a lady to an abbot
for a hundred shillings each. The owner is afterwards said
to have come to receive the fifteen pounds. When seven
pounds and a half only had been paid, the ealdorman asked
the abbot to give the lady more of her purchase money. At
his request the abbot gave thirty shillings more ; thus, it is
added, he paid her nine pounds. On another occasion the
money agreed for was thirty pounds. One hundred shillings
were received, and twenty-five pounds were declared to re-
main due.2
The Saxon money was sometimes reckoned by pennies, as
the French money is now by francs. Thus, in one charta,
three plough-lands are conveyed for three thousand pennies.
In another, eighty acres were bought for three hundred and
eighty-five pennies. In another, one thousand four hundred
and fifty pennies occur.3
The name for money, which is oftenest met with in the
charters, is the mancus. On this kind of money we have
1 Chap. xxi. 10.
2 3 Gale, Script, p. 473. and see 485, 488.
3 Astle's MS. Chart. Nos. 7. 22. 28.
one curious passage of Elfric : he says, five pennies make one
shilling, and thirty pennies one mancus.4 This would make
the mancus six shillings. The passage in the laws of Henry
the First intimates the same. 5 Two passages in the Anglo-
Saxon laws seem to confirm Elfric's account of the mancus
being thirty pennies ; for an ox is valued at a mancus in one,
and at thirty pence in another. 6
But there is an apparent contradiction in five pennies making
a shilling if twelve pennies amounted to the same sum. The
objection would be unanswerable, but that, by the laws of
Alfred, it is clear that there were two sorts of pennies, the
greater and the less ; for the violation of a man's borg was to
be compensated by five pounds, ma3rra peninga, of the larger
pennies.7
The mark is sometimes mentioned ; this was half a pound,
according to the authors cited by Du Fresne8 ; it is stated to
be eight ounces by Aventinus.9
The money mentioned in our earliest law consists of shil-
lings, and a minor sum called sca3tta, In the laws of Ina,
the pening occurs, and the pund as a weight. In those of
Alfred, the pund appears as a quantity of money, as well as
the shilling and the penny; but the shilling is the usual
notation of his pecuniary punishments. In his treaty with
the Danes, the half-mark of gold, and the mancus, are the
names of the money; as is the ora in the Danish compact
with Edward. In the laws of Athelstan, we find the thrymsa,
as well as the shilling and the penny; the scaetta and the
pund. The shilling, the penny, and the pound, appear under
Edgar. The ora and the healfmarc pervade the Northumbrian
laws. In the time of Ethelred, the pound is frequently the
amount of the money noticed. The shilling and penny, the
healf-marc, and the ora also occur. 10
The Anglo-Saxon wills that have survived to us mention
the following money : In the archbishop Elfric's will we find
five pundum, and fifty mancusan of gold. H In Wynftad's
will, the manca3S of gold, the pund, the healfes pundes wyrthne,
and sixty pennega wyrth, are noticed. In one part she de-
4 Hickes, Diss. Ep. 109. and Wan. Cat. MS. 113.
8 Debent reddi secundum legem triginta solid! ad Manbotam, id est, hodie
5 mancse. Wilk. p. 265. So p. 249.
6 Wilk. p. 65. and ] 26. Yet this passage is not decisive, because the other
accompanying valuations do not correspond.
7 Ibid. 35. 8 Du Fresne, Gloss, ii. p. 437.
9 Ann. Boi. lib. vi. p. 524.
10 See Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Sax, passim.
11 MS. Cott. Claud. E.G. p. 103.
ANGLO-SAXON MONEY. 427
sires that there should be put, in a cup which she bequeaths,
healf pund penega, or half a pound of pennies. In another
part she mentions sixteen rnancusum of red gold ; also thirty
penega wyrth. 12
In Thurstan's will, twelf pund be getale occurs. In God-
ric's we perceive a mark of gold, thirteen pounds, and sixty-
three pennies. 13 In Byrhtric's will, sixty mancos of gold
and thirty mancys goldes are mentioned ; and several things
are noticed, as of the value of so many gold mancus. Thus,
a bracelet of eighty mancysan goldes, and a necklace of forty
mancysa : a hand sees of three pounds is also bequeathed, and
tend hund penega. 14
In Wulf war's will, the mancus of gold is applied in the
same way to mark the value of the things bequeathed, and
also to express money. 15 The mancus of gold is the money
given in Elf helm's will ; in Dux Elfred's, pennies ; in Ethel-
wryd, both pennies and the pund occur. In Athelstan's
testament we find the mancosa of gold, the pund of silver,
the pund be getale, and pennies. 16
In the charters we find pennies, mancusa, pounds, shillings,
and sicli mentioned. In one we find one hundred sicli of the
purest gold l7 ; and in another, four hundred sicli in pure
silver. 18 In a third, fifteen hundred of shillings in silver are
mentioned, as if the same with fifteen hundred sicli. 19 The
shilling also at another time appears as if connected with
gold, as seventy shillings of auri obrizi.20 Once we have
two pounds of the purest gold. 21 The expressions of pure
gold, or the purest gold, are often added to the mancos.
That the pound was used as an imaginary value of money,
is undoubted. One grant says, that an abbot gave in money
quod valuit, what was of the value of one hundred and
twenty pounds.22 Another has four pound of lic-wyrthes
feos23, which means money or property agreeable to the
party receiving it. We read also of fifteen pounds of silver,
gold, and chattels24; also sixty pounds in pure gold and
silver. 25 Sometimes the expression occurs, which we still use
in our deeds, " One hundred pounds of lawful money? 26
As no Anglo-Saxon gold coins have reached modern
12 Hickcs, Gram. Prsef. 13 Hickes, Diss. Ep. 29, 30.
14 Ibid. p. 51. 15 Ibid. p. 51.
16 Sax. Diet. App. 17 The late Mr. Astle's MS. Charters, No. 10.
18 App. to Bede, p. 770. 19 MS. Claud. C. 9.
20 Mr. Astle's Charters, No. 28. b. 21 Ibid. p. 25.
22 MS. Claud. C. 9. M Heming. Chart, p. 180.
24 3 Gale, p. 410. a Heming. Chart, p. 8.
26 Ingulf, p. 35.
428 APPENDIX, II.
times, though of their silver coinage we have numerous spe-
cimens, it is presumed by antiquaries that none were ever
made. Yet it is certain that they had plenty of gold, and it
perpetually formed the medium of their purchases and gifts.
My belief is, that gold was used in the concerns of life, in an
uncoined state27, and to such a species of gold money I
would refer such passages as these : fifty " mancussa asodenes
gold," " sexies viginti marcarum auri pondo," " appensuram
novem librarum purissimi auri juxta magnum pondus Nor-
manorum," <f eighty mancusa auri purissimi et sex pondus
electi argenti," " duo uncias auri." I think that silver also
was sometimes passed in an uncoined state, from such inti-
mations as these : " twa pund mere hwites seolfres," and the
above mentioned "sex pondus electi argenti." The expressions
that pervade Domesday-book imply, in my apprehension, these
two species of money, the coined and the uncoined. Seventy
libras pensatas, like two uncias auri, are obviously money by
weight. But money ad numerum, or arsurum, I interpret to
be coined money ; also the pund be getale. The phrases, sex
libras ad pensum et arsuram et triginta libras arsas et pensatas,
appear to me to express the indicated weight of coined money.
The words arsas and arsuram I understand to allude to the
assay of coin in the mint.
Whether the mancus was, like the pund, merely a weight,
and not a coin, and was applied to express, in the same
manner as the word pound, a certain quantity of money,
coined or uncoined, I cannot decide ; but I incline to think
that it was not a coin. Indeed there is one passage which
shows that it was a weight, "duas bradiolas aureas fabre-
factas quas pensarent xlv mancusas." 28 I consider the two
sorts of pennies as the only coins of the Anglo-Saxons above
their copper coinage, and am induced to regard all their other
denominations of money as weighed or settled quantities of
uncoined metal. 29
That money was coined by the Anglo-Saxons in the oc-
tarchy, and in every reign afterwards, is clear from those
which remain to us. Most of them have the mint- master's
name. It does not appear to me certain, that they had
coined money before their invasion of England, and con-
version.
27 One coin has been adduced as a Saxon gold coin. See Pegge's Remains.
But its pretensions have not been admitted.
28 Heming. Chart, p. 86.
29 It is the belief of an antiquarian friend, who has paid much attention to this
subject, that even the Saxon scyllinga was a nominal coin ; as he assures me no
silver coin of that value has been found which can be referred to the Saxon times.
ANGLO-SAXON MONEY. 429
It was one of Athelstan's laws, that there should be one
coinage in all the king's districts, and that no mint should be
outside the gate. If a coiner was found guilty of fraud, his .
hand was to be cut off, and fastened to the mint smithery.30
In the time of Edgar, the law was repeated, that the king's
coinage should be uniform ; it was added, that no one should
refuse it, and that it should measure like that of Winchester.31
It has been mentioned of Edgar, that finding the value of the
coin in his reign much diminished by the fraud of clipping,
he had new coins made all over England.
We may add a few particulars of the coins which occur in
Domesday-book. Sometimes a numeration is made very
similar to our own, as 117. 135. 4d. Sometimes pounds and
sometimes shillings are mentioned by themselves. In other
places some of the following denominations are inserted :
Una marka argenti,
Tres markas auri,
Novem uncias auri,
c solidos et unam unciam auri,
xxiv libras et unciam auri,
xx libras et unam unciam auri, et un. marcum,
xxv libras ad pond,
1 libras appretiatas,
xiv libras arsas et pensatas, et v libras ad numerum,
cvi libras arsas et pensatas, et x libras ad numerum,
xxii libras de alb. denariis, ad pensum hujus comitis,
xvi libras de albo argento,
xlvii libras de albo argento xvi denariis minus,
xxiii lib. denar. de xx in ora,
xv lib. de xx in ora,
iii solid, de den. xx in ora, et xxvi denar. ad numerum,
v oris argenti,
i denarium,
i obolum,
i quadrantem,
viii libras et xx denar. 32
. Leg. Sax. p. 59. sl Ibid. p. 78.
32 The meaning of arsas and arsuram, as applied to money, is explained in the
Black Book of the Exchequer to be the assay of money. The money might be
sufficient in number and weight, yet not in quality. It by no means followed
that twenty shillings, which constituted a pound weight, was, in fact, a pound of
silver, because copper or other metal might be intermixed when there was no
examination. For this reason, the books say that the bishop of Salisbury insti-
tuted the arsura in the reign of Henry the First. It is added, that if the examined
money was found to be deficient above sixpence in the pound, it was not deemed
lawful money of the king. Liber Niger Scacarii, cited by Du Cange, Gloss. 1.
p. 343. The bishop cannot, however, have invented the arsura in the reign of
430 APPENDIX, II.
It seems reasonable to say, that such epithets as purissimi
auri and gesodenes gold, that is, melted gold, refer to money
paid and melted.
But if the Saxon silver coins were only the larger and
smaller pennies, what then was the scyllinga ? In the trans-
lation of Genesis, the word is applied to express the Hebrew
shekels.33 In the New Testament, thirty pieces of silver,
which the Gothic translates by the word SIA>JBKIN, or silver,
the Saxon version calls scyllinga.34
The etymology of the word scyllinga would lead us to
suppose it to have been a certain quantity of uncoined silver;
for, whether we derive it from rcylan, to divide, or rceale, a
scale, the idea presented to us by either word is the same ;
that is, so much silver cut off, as in China, and weighing so
much.
I would therefore presume the scyllinga to have been a
quantity of silver, which, when coined, yielded five of the
larger pennies, and twelve of the smaller.
The Saxon word sca3t or sceatt, which occurs in the earliest
laws as a small definite quantity of money, is mostly used to
express money generally. I would derive it from rceat, a
part or division; and I think it meant a definite piece of
metal originally in the uncoined state. The sceat and the
scyllinga seem to have been the names of the Saxon money
in the Pagan times, before the Roman and French eccle-
siastics had taught them the art of coining.
The value of the scaet in the time of Ethelbert would
appear, from one sort of reasoning, to have been the twen-
tieth part of a shilling. His laws enjoin a penalty of twenty
Henry, because Domesday-book shows that it was known in the time of the Con-
queror. In Domesday-book it appears that the king had this right of assay only
in a few places. Perhaps the bishop, in a subsequent reign, extended it to all
money paid into the exchequer.
An intelligent friend has favoured me with the following extract from Domes-
day : " Totum manerium T. R. E. et post valuit xl libras. Modo similiter xl lib.
Tamen reddit 1 lib. ad arsuram et pensum, quae valent Ixv lib." Domesday, vol. i.
fo. 15. b. This passage seems to express, that 65/. of coined money was only
worth bOl. in pure silver, according to the assay of the mint. Whether this de-
preciation of the coin existed in the Saxon times, or whether it followed from the
disorders and exactions of the Norman conquest, I have not ascertained.
33 See Genesis, in Thwaite's Heptateuch.
34 Matthew, xxvii. 3. The following circumstance confirms my idea that the
Anglo-Saxons used divided money. In January, 1832, some labourers, felling a
pollard oak on the estate of Mrs. Shephard of Campsey Ash in Suifolk, discovered
two parcels of ancient coins enclosed in thin lead cases ; one of them was quite
imbedded in the solid part of the root. They are chiefly pennies of Edward the
Confessor and Harold II. Many are divided into halves and quarters, which show
that these divided parts were circulated as halfpence and farthings. Bury Herald,
Lit. Gaz. llth Feb. 1832.
ANGLO-SAXON MONEY. 431
scyllinga for the loss of the thumb, and three scyllinga for
the thumb-nail. It is afterwards declared that the loss of
the great toe is to be compensated by ten scyllinga, and the
other toes by half the price of the fingers. It is immediately
added, that for the nail of the great toe thirty sceatta must
be paid to bot.35
Now as the legislator expresses that he is estimating the
toes at half the value of the fingers, and shows that he does
so in fixing the compensation of the thumb and the great
toe, we may infer, that his thirty sceattas for the nail of the
great toe were meant to be equal to half of the three scyllinga
which was exacted for the thumb-nail. According to this
reasoning, twenty sceatta equalled one scyllinga.
About three centuries later, the sca3tta appears somewhat
raised in value, and to be like one of their smaller pennies ;
for the laws of .ZEthelstan declare thirty thousand scaetta to
be cxx punda. 36 This gives two hundred and fifty sceatta
to a pound, or twelve and a half to a scyllinga. Perhaps,
therefore, the sceat was the smaller penny, and the pening,
properly so called, was the larger one.
We may be curious to enquire into the etymology of the
pening. The word occurs for coin in many countries. In
the Franco-'theotisc, it occurs in Otfrid as pfenning 37 ; and
on the continent one gold pfenning was decared to be worth
ten silver pfennings.38 It occurs in Icelandic, in the ancient
Edda, as penning.39
The Danes still use penge as their term for money or coin ;
and if we consider the Saxon penig as their only silver coin,
we may derive the word from the verb punian, to beat or
knock, which may be deemed a term applied to metal coined,
similar to the Latin, cudere.40
That the Anglo-Saxons did not use coined money before
the Roman ecclesiastics introduced the custom, is an idea
somewhat warranted by the expression they applied to coin.
This was mynet, a coin, and from this, mynetian, to coin, and
mynetere, a person coining. These words are obviously the
Latin moneta and monetarius ; and it usually happens that
when one nation borrows such a term from another, they are
85 Wilkins, Leg. Anglo-Sax, p. 6. * Ibid. p. 72.
37 It is used by Otfrid, 1. 3. c. 14. p. 188.
38 I. Alem. prov. c. 299. cited by Schilter in his Glossary, p. 657.
39 JEgis drecka, ap. Edda Ssemundi, p. 168.
40 Schilter has quoted an author who gives a similar etymology from another
language, « Payings nomine pecunia tantum numerata significat, a pana, quod est
cudere, signare." Gloss. Teut. p. 657.
432 APPENDIX, II.
indebted to the same source for the knowlege of the thing
which it designates.
An expression of Bede once induced me to doubt, if it did
not imply a Saxon gold coin. He says that a lady, foretell-
ing her death, described that she was addressed in a vision
by some men, who said to her, that they were come to take
with them the aureum numisma (meaning herself) which
had come thither out of Kent. This complimentary trope
Alfred translates by the expressions, gyldene mynet.41
The passage certainly proves, that both Bede and Alfred
knew of gold coins ; and it certainly can be hardly doubted,
that when gold coins circulated in other parts of Europe,
some from the different countries would find their way into
England. The use of the word aureos, in the Historia Eli-
ensis, implies gold coin 42 ; and that coins called aurei were
circulated in Europe, is clear from the journal of the monks
who travelled from Italy to Egypt in the ninth or tenth
century. In this they mention that the master of the ship
they sailed in charged them six aureos for their passage.43
But whether these aurei were those coined at Rome or Con-
stantinople, or were the coins of Germany or France, or
whether England really issued similar ones from its mint, no
authority, yet known, warrants us to decide.
That the pennies of different countries varied in value, is
proved by the same journal. Bernard, its author, affirms
that it was then the custom of Alexandria to take money by
weight, and that six of the solidi and denarii, which they took
with them, weighed only three of those at Alexandria.44
The silver penny was afterwards called, in the Norman
times, an esterling, or sterling ; but the time when the word
began to be applied to money is not known.45
There has been a variety of opinions about the value of
the Saxon pound.46 We have proof, from Domesday, that
in the time of the Confessor it consisted of twenty solidi or
shillings. But Dr. Hickes contends that the Saxon pound
41 Bede, 1. 3. c. 8. and Transl. p. 531.
42 Laureos, p. 485. x aureos, ib. Ixxx aureis, p. 484. c aureos, p. 486.
43 See before, p. 140. 44 Ibid.
45 The laws of Edward I. order the penny of England to be round, without
clipping, and to weigh thirty-two grains of wheat, in the middle of the ear.
Twenty of these were to make an ounce, and twelve ounces a pound. Spelm.
Gloss, p. 241.
46 The Welsh laws of Hoel dda use punt or pund as one of their terms for
money. They have also the word ariant, which means literally silver, and
ceiniawg; both these seem to imply a penny. See Wotton's Leges Wallicse, p. 16.
20, 21. 27. Their word for a coin is bath.
ANGLO-SAXON MONEY. 433
consisted of sixty shillings47, because, by the Saxon law in
Mercia, the king's were gild was one hundred and twenty
pounds, and amounted to the same as six thegns, whose were
was twelve hundred shillings each.48 And certainly this
passage has the force of declaring that the king's were was
seven thousand two hundred shillings, and that these were
equivalent to one hundred and twenty pounds ; and accord-
ing to this passage, the pound in Mercia contained sixty
shillings. Other authors49 assert that the pound had but
forty-eight shillings.
We have mentioned that a scyllinga, or shilling, consisted
of five greater pennies, or of twelve smaller ones. But in
the time of the Conqueror the English shilling had but four
pennies: "15 solz de solt Engleis co est quer deners."50
This passage occurs in the Conqueror's laws. It has been
ingeniously attempted to reconcile these contradictions, by
supposing that the value of the shilling was that which varied,
and that the pound contained sixty shillings of four pennies
in a shilling, or forty-eight shillings of five pennies in a shil-
ling. 51 To which we may add, twenty shillings of twelve
pence in a shilling. These different figures, respectively mul-
tiplied together, give the same amount of two hundred and
forty pennies in a pound. Yet though this supposition is
plausible, it cannot be true, if the shilling was only a nominal
sum, like the pound, because such variations as these attach to
coined money, and not the terms merely used in numeration.
The styca, the helfling, and the feorthling, are also men-
tioned. The styca and feorthling are mentioned in a passage
in Mark. " The poor widow threw in two stycas, that is
feorthling peninges, or the fourth part of a penny." 52 The
helfling occurs in Luke: "Are not two sparrows sold for
a helflinge ? " 53 We cannot doubt that these were copper
monies.
The thrymsa is reckoned by Hickes to be the third part of
a shilling, or four pence. 54 Yet the passage which makes
the king's were thirty thousand scaetta, compared with the
other which reckons it as thirty thousand thrymsas 55, seems to
express that the thrymsa and the scastta were the same.
On this dark subject of the Anglo-Saxon coinage, we must
47 Hickes, Dissert. Ep. p. 111. * Wilkins, Leg. Anglo-Sax, p. 72.
49 As Camden, Spelman, and Fleetwood.
50 Wilkins, Leg. Anglo-Sax, p. 221. In the copy of these laws in Ingulf, p. 89.
the expression is quer bener deners, or four better pennies.
51 Clarke's preface to Wotton's Leges Wallicse.
52 Mark, chap. xii. 42. M Luke, chap. xii. 6.
54 Hickes, Diss. Ep. 55 Wilkins, Leg, Anglo-Sax, p. 72. and 71.
VOL. II. F F
434 APPENDIX. II.
however confess, that the clouds which have long surrounded
it have not yet been removed. The passages in Alfred's and
in the Conqueror's laws imply that there were two sorts of
pennies, the maerra or bener pennies, and the smaller ones.
We have many Anglo-Saxon silver coins of these species;
but no others.
Some ecclesiastical persons, as well as the king, and several
places, had the privilege of coining. In the laws of Ethelstan,
the places of the mints in his reign are thus enumerated :
" In Canterbury there are seven myneteras ; four of the king's,
two of the bishop's, and one of the abbot's.
" In Rochester there are three ; two of the king, and one of the
bishop.
In London eight,
In Winchester six,
In Lewes two,
In Hastings one,
Another in Chichester,
In Hampton two,
In Wareham two,
In Exeter two,
In Shaftesbury two,
Elsewhere one in the other burgs."56
In Domesday-book we find these monetarii mentioned :
Two at Dorchester,
One at Bridport,
Two at Wareham,
Three at Shaftesbury.
Each of these gave to the king twenty shillings and one
mark of silver when money was coined.
The monetarii at Lewes paid twenty shillings each.
One Suetman is mentioned as a monetarius in Oxford.
At Worcester, when money was coined, each gave to Lon-
don fifteen shillings for cuneis to receive the money.
At Hereford there were seven monetarii, of whom one was
the bishop's. When money was renewed, each gave eighteen
shillings., pro cuneis recipiendis ; and for one month from the
day in which they returned, each gave the king twenty shil-
lings, and the bishop had the same of his man. When the
king went into the city, the monetarii were to make as many
pennies of his silver as he pleased. The seven in this city
had their sac and soc. When the king's monetarius died, the
36 Wilkins, Leg. Anglo-Sax, p. 59.
ANGLO-SAXON MONEY. 435
king had his heriot : and if he died without dividing his estate,
the king had all.
Huntingdon had three monetarii, rendering thirty shillings
between the king and comes.
In Shrewsbury the king had three monetarii, who, after
they had bought the cuneos monetae, as other monetarii of
the country, on the fifteenth day gave to the king twenty
shillings each : and this was done when the money was
coining.
There was a monetarius at Colchester.
At Chester there were seven monetarii, who gave to the
king and comes seven pounds extra firmam, when money was
turned. 57
57 For these, see Domesday-book, under the different places.
In April 1817, a ploughman working in a field near Dorking, in Surrey, struck
his plough against a wooden box which was found to contain nearly seven hundred
Saxon silver coins, or pennies, of the following kings :
Ethelweard of Wessex, 16 Edmund E. Angl. 3
Ceolulf of Mercia, 1 Ethelstan Do. 3
Biornwulf Do. 1 Ceolneth A. B. Cant. 86
Wiglaf Do. 1 Eegbeorht Wess. 20
Berhtulf Do. 23 Ethelwulf 265
Burgred Do. 1 Ethelbearth 249
Pepin K. of Soissons 1
with about forty more that were dispersed. See Mr. T. Coombe's letter in
Archol. V. xix. p. 110.
But the Annals of the coinage, by the late Rev. R. Ruding, give the best account
and plates of the Anglo-Saxon Coins.
Since this work was published, about the beginning of this year, 1 820, a number
of old silver coins, nine silver bracelets, and a thick silver twine, were found by a
peasant, on digging a woody field in Bolstads Socked, in Sweden. Of the legible
coins, eighty-seven were Anglo-Saxon ones. Eighty-three of these bear the date
of 1 005, and are of king Ethelred's reign : and two of them of his father's, king
Edgar. The king of Sweden has purchased them ; and they are now deposited in
the Royal Cabinet of Antiquities at Stockholm.
FF 2
APPENDIX.
No. III.
The History of the Laws of the ANGLO-SAXONS.
CHAP. I.
To trace the principles on which the laws of various nations
have been formed, has been at all times an interesting object
of intellectual exertion ; and as the legislation of the more
polished periods of states is much governed by its ancient
institutions, it will be important to consider the principles on
which our Anglo-Saxon forefathers framed their laws to
punish public wrongs, and to redress civil injuries.
There are three characters of transgression, under which
the objectionable actions of mankind may be classed : VICES,
CRIMES, and SIN.
They are frequently intermingled, and rarely stand dis-
tinct. Each commonly leads to the others, and they are re-
peatedly seen to run into each other. But by a more exact
discrimination of their individual nature, and of their general
character, we may consider those actions more peculiarly as
VICES, which injure the well-being of the individual, without
being intentionally directed against the welfare of others ; —
those as CRIMES, which unjustly invade the life, property,
liberty, and happiness of our fellow creatures ; — and those
as SIN, which are offences committed against our Maker, or
in violation of His promulgated laws, and revealed will, or
which are considered and represented by Him to have this
displeasing and dangerous character in His estimation ; of
•which He alone is the proper judge, and on which we can
know nothing but from His information.
SIN is the proper subject of the consideration of the reli-
gious instructor and philosopher; and VICES, of the ethical
treatises of the moral reasoner. But CRIMES are the express
objects of all human legislation. It is against them that laws
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 437
are more especially made ; and to repress them is the main
principle and primary cause of all human government.
The DEITY Himself takes cognizance of SIN ; appoints its
punishment, and provides its remedies. VICES chastise them-
selves by the disgrace and evil which they always, in time,
produce, by their own agency, on those who will practise
them. But CRIMES have every where, by the common con-
sent of all mankind, in all ages, and from an experienced
conviction of the necessity or expediency of the reprehension,
been taken out of individual liberty and choice, and made, by
special laws, the subject of decided prohibition, of personal
infamy, of social aversion, and of penal suffering.
Nations have, indeed, at different periods of their political
course, marked different actions with their legislative brand ;
and neither the censure nor the deterring severity has been
the same in every country of our many-peopled globe. But
in all, some actions have been stamped as crime by their
unwritten or written law ; and of these FOUR descriptions of
human offence have been universally, more or less, forbidden
and punished.
These four offences, which have been every where con-
sidered as crimes, though often with some modifications,
varying with the manners of the age and place, are HOMI-
CIDE, PERSONAL INJURIES, THEFT, and ADULTERY ; and
we shall select these as the fittest heads under which we can
exhibit the main principles of the criminal law of our Anglo-
Saxon ancestors.
Their Laws on Homicide.
The principle of pecuniary punishment distinguishes the
laws of the Anglo-Saxons, and of all the German nations.
Whether it arose from the idea, that the punishment of crime
should be attended with satisfaction to the state, or with some
benefit to the individual injured, or his family, or his lord ;
or whether, in their fierce dispositions and warring habits,
death was less dreaded as an evil than poverty ; or whether
the great were the authors of most of the crimes committed,
and it was easier to make them responsible in their property
than in their lives, we cannot at this distant a3ra decide.
The Saxons made many distinctions in HOMICIDES. But
all ranks of men were not of equal value in the eye of the
Saxon law, nor their lives equally worth protecting. The
Saxons had therefore established many nice distinctions in
this respect. Our present legislation considers the life of one
man as sacred as that of another, and will not admit the
F F 3
438
CHAP, degree of the crime of murder to depend on the rank or pro-
L perty of the deceased. Hence a peasant is now as secured
from wilful homicide as a nobleman. It was otherwise among
the Saxons.
The protection which every man received was a curious
exhibition of legislative arithmetic. Every man was valued
at a certain sum, which was called his were ; and whoever
took his life, was punished by having to pay this were.
The were was the compensation allotted to the family or
relations of the deceased for the loss of his life. But the
Saxons had so far advanced in legislation, as to consider
homicide as public as well as private wrong. Hence, besides
the redress appointed to the family of the deceased, another
pecuniary fine was imposed on the murderer, which was
called the wite. This was the satisfaction to be rendered to
the community for the public wrong which had been com-
mitted. It was paid to the magistrate presiding over it, and
varied according to the dignity of the person in whose juris-
diction the offence was committed ; twelve shillings was the
payment to an eorl, if the homicide occurred in his town, and
fifty were forfeited to the king if the district were under the
regal jurisdiction. l
In the first Saxon laws which were committed to writing,
or which have descended to us, and which were established
in the beginning of the 7th century, murder appears to have
been only punishable by the were and the wite, provided the
homicide was not in the servile state. If an esne, a slave,
killed a man, even " unsinningly," it was not, as with us,
esteemed an excusable homicide ; it was punished by the
forfeiture of all that he was worth. 2 A person so punished
presents us with the original idea of a felon ; we consider
this word to be a feo-lun, or one divested of all property.
In the laws of Ethelbert the were seems to have been uni-
form. These laws state a meduman leod-gelde, a general
penalty for murder, which appears to have been 100 shillings 3
The differences of the crime arising from the quality of the
deceased, or the dignity of the magistrate within whose juris-
diction it occurred, or the circumstances of the action, were
marked by differences of the wite rather than of the were. The
wite in a king's town was fifty shillings ; in an earl's twelve.
If the deceased was a freeman, the wite was fifty shillings
to the king as the drichtin, the lord or sovereign of the land.
So, if the act was done at an open grave, twenty shillings was
1 Wilkins, Leg. Saxon, p. 2, 3.
2 Wilkins, p. 7. 3 Ibid. p. 2.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 439
the wite ; if the deceased was a ceorl, six shillings was the CHAP.
wite. If a laec killed the noblest guest, eighty shillings was the l-
wite ; if the next in rank, sixty ; if the third, forty shillings.4 * ' '
The wite and the leod gelde were to be paid by the mur-
derer from his own property, and with good money. But if
he fled from justice, his relations were made responsible
for it.6
The Saxon law-makers so far extended their care as
to punish those who contributed to homicide by introducing
weapons among those who were quarrelling. Twenty shillings
composed the wite.6
The usual time for the payment of the wite and were is not
stated ; but forty days is mentioned in one case as the ap-
pointed period.7
As the order and civilisation of the Anglo-Saxon society
increased, a greater value was given to human life, and the
penalties of its deprivation were augmented.
The first increase of severity noticed was against the esne,
the servile. Their state of subjection rendered them easy in-
struments of their master's revenge; and it was therefore
found proper to make some part of their punishment extend to
their owner. Hence, if any man's esne killed a man of the
dignity of an eorl, the owner was to deliver up the esne, and
make a pecuniary payment adequate to the value of three
men. If the murderer escaped, the price of another man was
exacted from the lord, and he was required to show by suffi-
cient oaths, that he could not catch him. Three hundred
shillings were also imposed as the compensation. If the esne
killed a freeman, one hundred shillings were the penalty, the
price of one man, and the delivery of the homicide ; or if he
fled, the value of two men, and purgatory oaths.8
A succeeding king exempted the killer of a thief from the
payment of his were.9 This, however, was a mitigation that
was capable of great abuse, and therefore Ina required oath
that the thief was killed " sinning," or in the act of stealing,
or in the act of flying on account of the theft. 10
Humanity dictated further discrimination. A vagrant in
the woods, out of the highway, who did not cry out or sound
his horn (probably to give public notice of his situation),
might be deemed a thief, and slain n ; and the homicide, ^by
affirming that he slew him for a thief, escaped all penalties.
It was, however, wisely added, that if the fact was concealed,
4 Wilkins, p. 1—7. 5 Ibid. p. 3. 6 Ibid.
7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. p. 7, 8. 9 Ibid. p. 12.
10 Ibid. p. 17. 20. " Ibid. p. 12.
F F 4
440 APPENDIX, III.
CHAP, and not made known till long time after, the relations of the
T- slave should be permitted to show that he was guiltless.12 Mis-
take or malice was further guarded against by requiring that
where a homicide had killed the thief in the act of flying, yet if
he concealed the circumstance he should pay the penalties. 13
The concealing was construed to be presumptive proof of an
unjustifiable homicide. Modern law acts on a similar pre-
sumption, when it admits the hiding of the body to be an in-
dication of felonious discretion in an infant-murderer, between
the age of seven and fourteen.
In the days of Ina, the were, or protecting valuation of an
individual's life, was not uniform. The public were arranged
into classes, and each class had an appropriated were.
Rank and property seem to have been the criterion of the
estimation. The were of some in Ina's time was thirty shil-
lings: of others, 120; of others, 200.14 The same principle
of protection, and of discriminating its pecuniary valuation,
was applied to foreigners. The were of a Welshman, who
was proprietor of a hide of land, was 120 shillings; if he had
but half that quantity, it was 80 ; and if he had none, it was
60.15 Hence it appears, that the wealthier a man was, the
more precious his life was deemed. This method of regu-
lating the enormity of the crime by the property of the de-
ceased, was highly barbarous. It diminished the safety of
the poor, and gave that superior protection to wealth which
all ought equally to have shared.
The were, or compensatory payment, seems to have been
made to the relations of the defunct. As the exaction of the
wite, or fine to the magistrate, kept the crime from appearing
merely as a civil injury, this application of the were was
highly equitable. But if the deceased was in a servile state,
the compensation seems to have become the property of the
lord. On the murder of a foreigner, two -thirds of the were
went to the king, and one-third only to his son or rela-
tions: or, if no relations, the king had one half, and the
gild-scipe, or fraternity to which he was associated, received
the other.16
The curious and singular social phenomenon of the gild-
scipes, we have already alluded to. The members of these
gilds were made to a certain degree responsible for one
another's good conduct. They were, in fact, so many bail
for each other. Thus, in Alfred's laws, if a man who had
no paternal relations killed another, one-third of the were of
12 Wilkins p. 18. 13 Ibid. p. 20. 14 Ibid. p. 25.
15 Ibid. p. 20. 16 Ibid. p. 1 8.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 441
the slain was to be paid by the maternal kinsman, and one- CHAP.
third by the gild ; and if there were no maternal kinsmen, ^ L
the gild paid a moiety. On the other hand, the gild had
also the benefit of receiving one-half the were, if such a man
of their society was killed.17
The principle of making a man's society amenable for his
legal conduct was carried so far, that by Ina's law, every one
who was in the company where a man was killed, was re-
quired to justify himself from the act, and all the company
were required to pay a fourth part of the were of the de-
ceased.18
The same principle was established by Alfred in illegal
associations. If any man with a predatory band should slay
a man of the valuation of twelve hundred shillings, the
homicide was ordered to pay both his were and the wite, and
every one of the band was fined thirty shillings for being in
such an association. If the guilty individual were not
avowed, the whole band were ordered to be accused, and to
pay equally the were and the wite.19
The Anglo-Saxons followed the dictates of reason in
punishing in homicide those whom we now call accessories
before the fact. Thus, if any one lent his weapons to
another to kill with them, both were made responsible for
the were. If they did not choose to pay it in conjunction,
the accessory was charged with one-third of the were and
the wite. 20 A pecuniary fine was imposed on the master of
a mischievous dog. 21
Excusable homicide was not allowed to be done with im-
punity. If a man so carried a spear as that it should destroy
any individual, he was made amenable for the were, but
excused from the wite.22
Thus stood the laws concerning murder, up to the days of
Alfred. The compact between his son Edward and Guthrun
made a careful provision for the punctual payment of the
were. The homicide was required to produce for this pur-
pose the security of eight paternal and four maternal re-
lations. 23
In the reign of Edmund, an important improvement took
place. The legal severity against murder was increased on
the head of the offending individual ; but his kindred were
guarded from the revenge of the family of the deceased. If
the full were was not discharged within twelve months, the
17 Wilkins, p. 41. 18 Ibid. p. 20. 19 Ibid. p. 40.
20 Ibid. p. 39. 21 Ibid. p. 40. M Ibid. p. 42.
23 Ibid. p. 54.
442 APPENDIX, III.
CHAP, relations of the criminal were exempted from hostility, but
L on the condition that they afforded him neither food nor pro-
' tection. If any supported him, he became what would now
be termed an accessory after the fact; he forfeited to the
king all his property, and was also exposed to the enmity of
the relations of the deceased. The king also forbad any
wite or homicide to be remitted.24 And whoever revenged
an homicide on any other than the criminal, was declared the
enemy of the king and his own friend, and forfeited his pos-
sessions. The reason alleged by the sovereign for these and
his other provisions was, that he was weary of the unjust
and manifold fights which occurred.25 The object was to
extinguish that species of revenge which became afterwards
known under the name of deadly feud, This was the faehthe,
the enmity which the relations of the deceased waged against
the kindred of the murderer.
Though the wite was all the penalty that society exacted
to itself for murder, and the were all the pecuniary com-
pensation that was permitted to the family, yet we must not
suppose that murder was left without any other punishment.
There seems reason to believe, that what has been called the
deadly feud existed amongst them. The relations of the
deceased avenged themselves, if they could, on the murderer
or his kinsmen. The law did not allow it. The system of
wites and weres tended to discountenance it, by requiring
pecuniary sacrifices on all homicides, and of course on those
of retaliation as well as others. But as all that the law
exacted was the fine and the compensation, individuals were
left at liberty to glut their revenge, if they chose to pay
for it.
But this spirit of personal revenge was early restricted.
Ina's laws imposed a penalty of thirty shillings, besides
compensation, if any one took his own revenge before he had
demanded legal redress.26 So Alfred's laws enjoined, that
if any one knew that his enemy was sitting at home, yet that
he should not fight with him until he had demanded redress ;
but he might shut his adversary up, and besiege him for
seven days if he could. If at the expiration of this time the
person would surrender himself, he was to have safety for
thirty days, and to be given up to his friends and relations.
The ealdorman was to help those who had not power enough
to form this siege. If the ealdorman refused it, he was to
ask aid of the king before he fought. So if any one fell
24 Wilkins, p. 73, 74. » Ibid. p. 73. 26 Ibid. p. 16.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 443
accidentally in with his enemy, yet if the latter was willing
to surrender himself, he was to have peace for thirty days.
But if he refused to deliver up his arms, he might be fought
with immediately.27
If any one took up a thief, he not only had a reward, but
the relations of the criminal were to swear, that they would
not take the faehthe, or deadly feud for his apprehension. 28
So if any one killed a thief in the act of flying, the relations
of the dead man were to swear the unceastes oath ; that is,
the oath of no enmity, or of not taking the faehthe.29
Every man was ordered to oppose the warfaehthe, if he
was able, or could dare to attempt it.30
Edmund the First interfered to check this system of per-
sonal revenge, with marked severity, as before mentioned.
He declared that the delinquent should bear his crime on his
own head : and that if his kinsmen did not save him by
paying the compensation, they should be protected from all
faehthe, provided that they afforded him neither mete nor
mund, neither food nor shelter.31
We may add some specimens of the violences which were
committed in the Anglo-Saxon society in the days of Alfred,
as our ancient lawyer Home has stated them from the legal
records of that period, which were subsisting in his time.
Dirling was the ally of Bardulf, and yet he came and
ravished his wife, and then killed Hakensen, her father.
These facts Bardulf declared himself ready to prove upon
the offender by her body, or as a mayhend (maimed) man, or
as a woman or a clericus ought to prove.
Cedde had a house with much corn and hay, and Wetod,
his father, lived in it. But Harding came and set it on fire,
and burnt Wetod in it.
Cady was living in peace, when Carlin came, and with a
sword run him through the body so that he died.
One Knotting was laying maimed on his bed; another
came and carried him to a water-ditch, or marl pit, and
threw him into it, and there left him to die without help or
sustenance.
Omond had a horse ; Saxmund came and robbed him of it.
27 Wilkins, p. 43, 44. a Ibid- P- 19-
29 Wilkins and Lye call this the unceases oath, which they interpret unmean-
ingly the oath not select. The reading of the Roff. MS. is unceastes, which is in-
telligible, and is obviously an expression synonymous with the unfaehthc oath
mentioned in the preceding page. Both passages clearly mean, that the taker and
killer of the thief were to be absolved from the faehthe of his relations.
*> Ibid. p. 22. 31 Il)id- P- 73-
444 APPENDIX, III.
CHAP. Athaelf was living in peace, when Colquin came with
( f violence, assaulted his house, and broke into it.
Darliog was also living like a quiet person, but Wiloe
came and arrested him without any right, took him away,
and put him into stocks or in irons.
So Mairiaword attacked Umbred and cut off his foot.
Olif with a weapon struck Earning, and wounded him,
and
Atheling ravished Arneborough.
These are not stated as unusual actions, or as deeds of the
refuse of society, but as if occurring amid the ordinary course
of the offences of the day.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 445
CHAP. II.
Personal Injuries.
THE compensation allotted to PERSONAL INJURIES, arising CHAP.
from what modern lawyers would call assault and battery, Ir-
was curiously arranged. Homer is celebrated for discrimi- ' * —
nating the wounds of his heroes with anatomical precision.
The Saxon legislators were not less anxious to distinguish
between the different wounds to which the body is liable,
and which, from their laws, we may infer that they frequently
suffered. In their most ancient laws these were the punish-
ments : —
The loss of an eye or of a leg appears to have been con-
sidered as the most aggravated injury which could arise from
an assault ; and was therefore punished by the highest fine,
or 50 shillings.
To be made lame was the next most considerable offence,
and the compensation for it was 30 shillings.
For a wound that caused deafness, 25 shillings.
To lame the shoulder, divide the chine-bone, cut off the
thumb, pierce the diaphragm, or to tear off the hair and frac-
ture the skull, was each punished by a fine of 20 shillings.
For breaking the thigh, cutting off the ears, wounding the
eye or mouth, wounding the diaphragm, or injuring the teeth
so as to affect the speech, was exacted 12 shillings.
For cutting off the little finger, 1 1 shillings.
For cutting off the great toe, or for tearing off the hair
entirely, 10 shillings.
For piercing the nose, 9 shillings.
For cutting off the fore-finger, 8 shillings.
For cutting off the gold-finger, for every wound in the
thigh, for wounding the ear, for piercing both cheeks, for
cutting either nostril, for each of the front teeth, for break-
ing the jaw bone, for breaking an arm, 6 shillings.
For seizing the hair so as to hurt the bone, for the loss of
either of the eye-teeth, or of the middle finger, 4 shillings.
For pulling the hair so that the bone became visible ; for
piercing the ear, or one cheek ; for cutting off the thumb-
446
CHAP, nail, for the first double tooth, for wounding the nose with
H- the fist, for wounding the elbow, for breaking a rib, or for
* wounding the vertebrae, 3 shillings.
For every nail (probably of the fingers), and for every
tooth beyond the first double tooth, 1 shilling.
For seizing the hair, 50 scaettas
For the nail of the great toe, 30 scaattas.
For every other nail 10 scsettas.
To judge of this scale of compensations by modern ex-
perience there seems to be a gross disproportion, not only
between the injury and the compensation, in many instances,
but also between the different classes of compensation. Six
shillings is a very inconsiderable recompense for the pain
and confinement that follows an arm or the jaw-bone broke;
and it seems absurd to rank in punishment with these serious
injuries the loss of a front tooth. To value the thumb at a
higher price than the fingers, is reasonable ; but to estimate
the little finger at 11 shillings, the great toe at 10 shillings,
the fore finger at 8 shillings, the ring-finger at 6 shillings,
and the middle finger at 4 shillings, seems a very capricious
distribution of recompense. So the teeth seem to have
been valued on no principle intelligible to us : a front tooth
was atoned for by 6 shillings, an eye-tooth by 4 shillings, the
first double tooth 3 shillings, either of the others 1 shilling.
Why to lame the shoulder should occasion a fine of 20 shil-
lings, and to break the thigh but 12, and the arm but 6, can-
not be explained, unless we presume that the surgical skill of
the day found the cure of the arm easier than of the thigh,
and that easier than the shoulder.1
Alfred made some difference in these compensations, which
may be seen in his laws. 2
He also appointed penalties for other personal wrongs.
If any one bound a ceorl unsinning, he was to pay ten
shillings, twenty if he whipped him, and thirty if he brought
him to the pillory. If he shaved him in such a manner as
to expose him to derision, he forfeited ten shillings, and thirty
shillings if he shaved him like a priest, without binding him ;
but if he bound him and then gave him the clerical tonsure,
the penalty was doubled. Twenty shillings was also the fine
if any man cut another's beard off. 3 These laws prove the
1 Wilkins, p. 4 — 6. In the compensation for the teeth, the injury to the
personal appearance seems to have occasioned the severest punishment. The fine
was heaviest for the loss of the front tooth.
2 Wilkins, p. 44—46. 3 Ibid. p. 42.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 447
value that was attached to the hair and the beard in the CHAP.
Anglo-Saxon society. n.
Alfred also enjoined, that if any man carrying a spear on ' '
his shoulder pierced another, or wounded his eyes, he paid his
were, but not a wite. If it was done wilfully, the wite was
exacted, if he had carried the point three fingers higher than
the shaft. If the weapon was carried horizontally, he was
excused the wite.4
« Wilkins, p. 42.
448 APPENDIX, III.
CHAP. III.
Theft and Robbery.
THEFT appears to have been considered as the most enormous
crime, and was, as such, severely punished. If we consider
felony to be a forfeiture of goods and chattels, theft was
made felony by the Anglo-Saxons in their earliest law; for
if a freeman stole from a freeman, the compensation was to
be threefold ; the king had the wite and all his goods.1
The punishment was made heavier in proportion to the
social rank of the offender. Thus, while a freeman's theft
was to be atoned for by a triple compensation, the servile
were only subjected to a two-fold retribution. 2
The punishment of theft was soon extended farther. By
the laws of Wihtraed, if a freeman was taken with the theft
in his hand, the king had the option of killing him, of selling
him, or receiving his were. 3
Ina aggravated the punishment yet more. If the wife and
family of a thief witnessed his offence, they were all made to
go into slavery.4 The thief himself was to lose his life,
unless he could redeem it by paying his were.5 Ina's law
defines these kinds of offenders. They were called thieves,
if no more than seven were in a body ; but a collection of
above seven, up to thirty-five, was hloth ; a greater number
was considered as an here, or an army 6 : distinct punishments
were allotted to these sorts of offenders.
The Saxon legislators were never weary of accumulating
severities against thieves ; the amputation of the hand and
foot was soon added.7 If a man's geneat stole, the master
himself was subjected to a certain degree of compensation.8
A reward of ten shillings was allowed for his apprehension 9 ;
and if a thief taken was suffered to escape, the punishment
for the neglect was severe. 10
In the reign of Ethelstan, a milder spirit introduced a
principle, which has continued to prevail in our criminal
1 Wilkins, p. 2. 2 Ibid. p. 7. 3 Ibid. p. 12.
4 Ibid. p. 16. 5 Ibid. p. 17. 6 Ibid. p. 17.
7 Ibid. p. 18. 20. 8 Ibid. p. 18. 20. 9 Ibid. p. 19.
10 Ibid. p. 20.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 449
jurisprudence ever since, and still exists in it. This was, CHAP.
that no one should lose his life for stealing less than twelve IIL
pence. The Saxon legislators added, indeed, a proviso,
which we have dropped : " unless he flies or defends him-
self." »
They introduced another mitigating principle which we
still attend to in practice, though not in theory ; this was,
that no youth under fifteen should be executed. The same
exception of his flight or resistance was here also added 12 ;
his punishment was to be imprisonment, and bail was to be
given for his good behaviour. If his relations would not
give the bail, he was to go into slavery. If he afterwards
stole, he might be hanged. 13
The many provisions made for the public purchases of
goods before witnesses, or magistrates, seem to have arisen
partly from the frequency of thefts in those days, and partly
from the severity with which they were punished. To escape
this, it was necessary that every man, especially a dealer in
goods, should be always able to prove his legal property in
what he possessed. Hence in Athels tan's laws, it is enacted,
that no purchases above twenty pennies should be made out-
side the gate; but that such bargains should take place
within the town, under the witness of the port gerefa, or some
unlying man, or of the gerefas in the folc-gemot. u
» Wilkins, p. 70. K Ibid. 13 ibid. " Ibid. p. 58.
VOL. II. G G
450
CHAP. IY.
Adultery.
THE criminal intercourse between the sexes is not punished
among us as a public wrong committed against the general
peace and order of society. No personal punishments, and
no criminal prosecutions can be directed against it, although
the most trifling assault and the most inconsiderable mis-
demeanour are liable to such consequences. It is considered
by us, if unaccompanied by force, merely as a matter of civil
injury, for which the individual must bring an action and get
what damages he can ; and even this right of action is limited
to husbands and fathers ; and the latter sues under the guise
of a fiction, pretending to have sustained an injury by having
lost the service of his daughter.
Our Saxon legislators did not leave the punishment of this
intercourse to the will and judgment of individuals. But
they enacted penalties against it as a public wrong, always
punishable when it occurred. In the amount of the penalty,
however, they followed one of the great principles of their
criminal legislation, and varied it according to the rank of
the female. The offence with a king's maiden incurred a
payment as high as to kill a freeman, which was fifty shil-
lings ] ; with his grinding servant half that sum, and with
his third sort twelve shillings.
With an earl's cupbearer the penalty was twelve shillings,
which was the same that attached if a man killed another in
an earl's town. With a ceorl's cupbearer six shillings was
the fine, fifty scajttas for his other servant, and thirty for his
servant of the third kind. 2
Even -the poor servile esne was protected in his domestic
happiness. To invade his connubial rights incurred the
penalty of a double compensation. 3
Forcible violation was chastised more severely. If the
sufferer was a widow, the offender paid twice the value of
her mundbyrd. If she were a maiden, fifty shillings were
to be paid to her owner, whether father or master, and the
1 Wilkins, p. 2. 2 Ibid. p. 3. 3 Ibid. p. 7.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 451
invader of her chastity was also to buy her for his wife at CHAP.
the will of her owner. If she were betrothed to another in Iv-
money, he was to pay twenty shillings ; and if she were preg-
nant, in addition to a penalty of thirty-five shillings, a further
fine of fifteen shillings was to be paid to the king. 4
The next laws subjected adulterers to ecclesiastical cen-
sure and excommunication, and enjoined the banishment of
foreigners who would not abandon such connections. 5 The
pecuniary penalties were also augmented.
The laws remained in this state till the time of Alfred,
when some new modifications of correction were introduced.
He governed the punishment of adultery by the rank of the
husband. If he were a twelfhynd-man the offender paid
one hundred and twenty shillings. If a syxhynd-man, one
hundred shillings. If a ceorl, forty shillings. This was to
be paid in live property ; but no man was to be personally
sold for it. 6
But the most curious part of Alfred's regulations on this
subject was the refinement with which he distinguished the
different steps of the progress towards the completion of the
crime. To handle the neck of a ceorl's wife incurred a fine
of five shillings. To throw her down, without further con-
sequences, occasioned a penalty of ten shillings ; and for a
subsequent commission of crime, sixty shillings.7
But as we now allow the previous misconduct of the wife
to mitigate the amount of the damages paid by the adulterer ;
so Alfred and his witan provided, that if the wife had trans-
gressed before, the fines of her paramour were to be reduced
an half.8
For the rape of a ceorl's slave, five shillings were to be
paid the owner, and sixty shillings for the wife. But the
violence of a theow on a fellow slave was punished by a per-
sonal mutilation. 9
4 Wilkins, p. 7. 5 Ibid. p. 10. 6 Ibid. p. 37-
7 Ibid. p. 37. 8 Ibid. p. 37. 9 Ibid. p. 40.
G G 2
452 APPENDIX, III.
CHAP. V.
The Were and the Mund.
CHAP. As the WERE and the MUND are expressions which occur
v' frequently in the Saxon laws, it may be useful to explain
what they mean.
Every man had the protection of a were and the privilege
of a mund.
The WEKE was the legal valuation of an individual, varying
according to his situation in life.
If he were killed, it was the sum his murderer had to pay
for the crime — if he committed crimes himself, it was the
penalty which, in many cases, he had to discharge.
The were was therefore the penalty by which his safety
was guarded, and his crimes prevented or punished. If he
violated certain laws, it was his legal mulct ; if he were him-
self attacked, it was the penalty inflicted on others. Hence
it became the measure and mark of a man's personal rank and
consequence, because its amount was exactly regulated by his
condition in life.
The king's were geld or were payment was thirty thousand
thrymsas, or one hundred and twenty pounds; an etheling's
was fifteen thousand.; a bishop and ealdorman's eight thou-
sand : a holde's and heh-gerefa's, four thousand ; a thegn,
two thousand, or twelve hundred shillings; a ceorl's, two
hundred and sixty-six thrymsas, or two hundred shil-
lings, unless he had five hides of land at the king's expedi-
tions, and then his were became that of a thegn. The wrere
of a twelf hynd-man was one hundred and twenty shillings, of
a syxhynd-man was eighty shillings, and of a twy hynd-man
thirty shillings.1
A Welshman's were who had some land, and paid gafol to
the king, was two hundred and twenty shillings : if he had
only half a hide of land, it was eighty shillings ; and if he
had no land, but was free, it was seventy shillings.2
The amount of a person's were determined even the degree
of his legal credibility. The oath of a twelfhynd-man was
1 Wilkins, p. 25. 71, 72. 2 Ibid.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 453
equal to the oaths of six ceorls ; and if revenge was taken CHAP.
for the murder of a twelf hynd-man, it might be wreaked on ( v-
six ceorls.3 ' *
To be deprived of this were was the punishment of
some crimes, and then the individual lost his greatest social
protection.
The MUNDBYRD was a right of protection or patronage
which individuals possessed for their own benefit and that of
others. The violation of it towards themselves, or those whom
it sheltered, was punished with a severity, varying according
to the rank of the patron. The king's mundbyrd was guarded
by a penalty of fifty shillings. That of a widow of an earl's
condition was equally protected, while the mund of the widow
of the second sort was valued at twenty shillings, of the third
sort at twelve shillings, and of the fourth sort at six shillings.
If a widow were taken away against her consent, the compen-
sation was to be twice her mund. The penalty of violating a
ceorl's mund was six shillings.4 This privilege of the mund
seems to be the principle of the doctrine, that every man's
house is his castle.
The mund was the guardian of a man's household peace, as
the were was of his personal safety. If any one drew a
weapon where men were drinking, and the floor was stained
with blood, besides forfeiting to the king fifty shillings, he
had to pay a compensation to the master of the house for the
violation of his mundbyrd.5
3 Wilkins, p. 25. 71, 72. 4 Ibid. p. 2. 7. 5 Ibid. p. 9.
GG 8
454 APPENDIX, III,
CHAP. VI.
Their Borh, or Sureties.
CHAP. THE system of giving sureties, or bail, to answer an accusa*
VL p tion seems to have been coeval with the Saxon nation, and
has continued to our times. In one of our earliest laws, it
was provided, that the accused should be bound over by his
sureties to answer the crime of which he was accused, and to
do what the judges should appoint.
If he neglected to find bail, he was to forfeit twelve shil-
lings.1 These bail were not to be taken indiscriminately ; for
the laws of Ina enact, that the bail might be refused if the
magistrate knew that he acted right in the refusal.2
Felonies are not bailable now ; in the Anglo-Saxon times
it was otherwise.
If a man were accused of theft, he was to find borh, or
sureties ; if he could not do this, his goods were taken as
security. If he had none he was imprisoned till judgment.3
When a homicide pledged himself to the payment of the
were, he was to find borh for it. The borh was to consist of
twelve sureties ; eight from the paternal line, and four from
the maternal.4
If a man were accused of witchcraft, he was to find borh to
abstain from it.5
If a man were found guilty of theft by the ordeal, he was to
be killed, unless his relations would save him by paying his
were and ceap-gyld, and give borh for his good behaviour
afterwards. 6
But the most curious part of the Saxon borh was not the
sureties which they who were accused or condemned were
to find, to appear to the charge or to perform the judgment
pronounced-; but it was the system, that every individual
should be under bail for his good behaviour.
It has been mentioned that Alfred is stated to have divided
England into counties, hundreds, and tithings ; that every
1 Wilk. p. 8. 2 Ibid. p. 21. s Ibid. p. 50.
4 Ibid. p. 54. 5 Ibid. p. 57. 6 Ibid. p. 65.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 455
person was directed to belong to some tithing or hundred ; CHAP.
and that every hundred and tenth were pledged to the pre- v VL
servation of the public peace, and answerable for the conduct v *
of their inhabitants. 7
^ Of this statement, it may be only doubted whether he
divided England into counties or shires. These divisions cer-
tainly existed before Alfred. The shire is mentioned in the
laws of Ina8 ; and we know that the counties of Kent, Essex,
Sussex, existed as little kingdoms from the first invasion of the
Saxons. Of the other counties, we also find many expressly
mentioned in the Saxon history anterior to Alfred's reign.
It may however be true, that he may have separated and
named some particular shires, and this partial operation may
have occasioned the whole of the general fact to be applied
to him.
The system of placing all the people under borh originated
from Alfred, according to the historians ; but we first meet
with it clearly expressed in the laws in the time of Edgar.
By his laws it is thus directed : " Every man shall find and
have borh, and the borh shall produce him to every legal
charge, and shall keep him ; and if he have done any wrong
and escapes, his borh shall bear what he ought to have borne.
But if it be theft, and the borh can bring him forward within
twelve months, then what the borh paid shall be returned to
him."9
This important and burthensome institution is thus again
repeated by the same prince : " This is then what I will ; that
every man be under borh, both in burghs and out of them ;
and where this has not been done, let it be settled in every
borough and in every hundred." 10
It is thus again repeated in the laws of Ethelred : " Every
freeman shall have true borh, that the borh may hold him to
every right, if he should be accused." n The same laws direct
that if the accused should fly, and decline the ordeal, the borh
was to pay to the accuser the ceap-gyld, and to the lord his
were. l2 And as to that part of the population which was in
the servile state, their lords were to be the sureties for their
conduct. 13
The man who was accused and had no borh, might be
killed, and buried with the infamous. u
Nothing seems more repugnant to the decorous feelings of
7 See before, p. 129. 8 Wilkins, p. 16. 20. 9 Ibid. p. 78.
10 Ibid. p. 80. " Ibid. p. 102. " Ibid. p. 102.
13 Ibid. p. 102. " Ibid. p. 103.
G G 4
456
CHAP. manly independence, than this slavish bondage and antici-
V1* pated criminality. It degraded every man to the character of
an intended culprit : as one whose propensities to crime were
so flagrant that he could not be trusted for his good conduct,
to his religion, his reason, his habits, or his honour. But it is
likely that the predatory habits of the free population occa-
sioned its adoption.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 457
CHAP. VII.
Their Legal Tribunals.
THE supreme legal tribunal was the witena-gemot, which, CHAP.
like our present house of lords, was paramount to every other. VIL
The scire-gemots may be next mentioned. One of these ' "
has been mentioned in the chapter on the disputes concerning
land: another may be described from the Saxon apograph
which Hickes has printed.
This was a shire-gemot at Aylston, in Canute's days. It
was composed of a bishop, an ealdorman, the son of an ealdor-
man ; of two persons who came with the king's message, or
writ ; the sheriff, or scir-gerefa ; three other men, and all the
thegns in Herefordshire.
To this gemot Edwin came, and spake against his mother,
concerning some lands. The bishop asked who would answer
for her. Thurcil the White said, he would if he knew the
complaint, but that he was ignorant about it. Three thegns
of the gemot were shown where she lived, and rode to
her, and asked her what dispute she had about the land
for which her son was impleading her. She said she had
no land which belonged to him, and was angry, earl-like,
against her son. She called Leofleda, her relation, the wife
of Thurcil the White, and before them thus addressed her :
" Here sits Leofleda, my kinswoman ; I give thee both my
lands, my gold, and my clothes, and all that I have, after my
life." She then said to the thegns, "Do thegn-like, and
relate well what I have said to the gemot, before all the good
men, and tell them to whom I have given my lands and my
property ; but to my own son nothing ; and pray them to be
witness of this." — And they did so, and rode to the gemot,
and told all the good men there what she had said to them.
Then stood up Thurcil the White in that gemot, and prayed all
the thegns to give his wife the lands which her relation had
given to her ; and they did so ; and Thurcil the White rode
to St. Ethelbert's minister, by all the folks' leave and witness,
and lefUit to be set down in one Christ's book.1
By the laws of Canute it was ordered that there should be
1 Hickes, Dissert. Epist. p. 2.
458 APPENDIX, III.
CHAP, two shire-gemots and three burgh-gemots every year, and the
VIJ- f bishop and the ealdorman should attend them. 2 By the laws
of Ethelstan, punishments were ordered to those who refused
to attend gemots.3 Every man was to have peace in going
to the gemot and returning from it, unless he were a thief. 4
Sometimes a gemot was convened from eight hundreds, and
sometimes from three.5 On one occasion, the ealdorman of
Ely held a plea with a whole hundred below the cemetery
at the north gate of the monastery ; at another time, a gemot
of two hundreds was held at the north door of the monastery.6
A shire-gemot is mentioned at which the ealdorman and
the king's gerefa presided. " The cause having been opened,
and the reasons on both sides heard, by the advice of the
magnates there, thirty-six barons, chosen in equal number
from the friends on both sides, were appointed judges."
These went out to examine the affair, and the monks were
asked why and from whose donation they possessed that land.
They stated their title, and length of possession. They were
asked if they would dare to affirm this statement on the
sacrament, that the controversy might be terminated. The
monks were going to do this, but the ealdorman would not suffer
them to swear before a secular power. He therefore declared
himself to be their protector, the witness of their devotion and
credibility, alleging that the exhibition of the cautionary oath
belonged to him. All who were present admired the speech
of the ealdorman, and determined that the oath was unneces-
sary ; and for the false suit and unjust vexation of the rela-
tions who had claimed the lands from the monastery, they
adjudged all the landed property and goods of the other to
be at the king's mercy. The king's gerefa, and the other
great men, then interfered ; and the complainant, perceiving
the peril of his situation, publicly abjured the land in ques-
tion, and pledged his faith never to disturb the monastery in
its possession ; a reconciliation then took place. 7 The admi-
nistration of justice in this affair seems to have been very
summary and arbitrary, and not very compatible with our
notions of legal evidence.
We have one account of a criminal prosecution. A wife
having poisoned a child, the bishop cited her and her husband
to the gemot ; he did not appear, though three times sum-
moned. The king in anger sent his writ, and ordered him,
that, e( admitting no causes of delay," he should hasten to the
court. He came, and before the king and the bishop affirmed
2 Wilkins, p. 136. 3 Ibid. p. 60. 4 Ibid. p. 136.
5 3 Gale, 469. 473. 6 Ibid. p. 473. 475.1 7 Ibid. p. 416.
ANGLO-SAxON LAWS. 459
his innocence. It was decreed that he should return home, and
that on the summons of the bishop he should attend on a stated
day at a stated place, with eleven jurators, and that his wife
should bring as many of her sex, and clear their fame and the
conscience of others by oath. On the appointed day, and in
the meadow where the child was buried the cause was agi-
tated. The relics, which an abbot brought, were placed upon
a hillock, before which the husband, extending his right arm,
swore that he had never consented to his son's death, nor
knew his murderer, nor how he had been killed. The wife
denying the fact, the hillock was opened by the bishop's
command, and the bones of the child appeared. The wife at
last fell at the prelate's feet, confessed the crime, and im-
plored mercy. The conclusion of the whole was, that the
accused gave a handsome present of land to the ecclesiastics
concerned, as a conciliatory atonement.8
A bishop having made a contract for land with a drunken
Dane, the seller, when sober, refused to fulfil it. The cause
was argued in the king's forum ; the fact of the bargain was
proved ; and the king adjudged the land to the bishop, and
the money to the Dane.9 The forum regis^is mentioned
again. 10
The folc-gemot occurs in the laws. " It is established for
ceap-men, or merchants, that they bring the men that they
lead with them before the king's gerefa in the folc-gemot,
and say how many of them there be, and that they take these
men up with them, that they may bring them again to the
folc-gemot, if sued. And when they shall want to have more
men with them in their journey, they shall announce it as
often as it occurs to the king's gerefa, in the witness of the
folc-gemot,"11
These folc-gemots were ordered not to be held on a Sun-
day ; and if any one disturbed them by a drawn weapon, he
had to pay wite of one hundred and twenty shillings to the
ealdorman. 12
The following may be considered as proceedings before a
folc-gemot. Begmund having unjustly seized some lands of
a monastery, when the ealdorman came to Ely, the offenders
were summoned to the placitum, of the citizens and of the
hundred, several times, but they never appeared. The abbot
did not desist, but renewed his pleading, both within and
without the city, and often made his complaint to the people.
At length the ealdorman, coming to Cambridge, held a great
8 3 Gale, p. 440. 9 Ibid. 442. 10 Ibid. 444.
» Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 41. 12 Wilk. 42.;
460 APPENDIX, III.
CHAP, placitum of the citizens and hundreds, before twenty-four
VI*- f judges. There the abbot narrated before all, how Begmund
had seized his lands, and though summoned had not appeared.
They adjudged the land to the abbot, and decreed Begmund
to pay the produce of his fishery to the abbot for six years,
and to give the king the were ; and, if he neglected to pay
they authorised a seizure of his goods. 13
Much of their judicial proceedings rested on oaths, and
therefore their punishment of perjury was severe. A perjured
man is usually classed with witches, murderers, and the most
obnoxious beings in society ; he was declared unworthy of
the ordeal ; he was disabled from being a witness again, and
if he died he was denied Christian burial. 14
We have some specimens of the oaths they took :
The oath of a plaintiff in the case of theft was, " In the
Lord : As I urge this accusation with full folc-right, and
without fiction, deceit, or any fraud ; so from me was that
thing stolen of which I complain, and which I found again
with N."
Another oath of a plaintiff was, " In the Lord : I accuse
not N. neither for hate nor art, nor unjust avarice, nor do I
know any thing more true, but so my mind said to me, and I
myself tell for truth, that he was the thief of my goods."
A defendant's oath was, " In the Lord : I am innocent
both in word and deed of that charge of which N. accused me."
A witness's oath was, " In the name of the Almighty
God : As I here stand in true witness, unbidden and un-
bought ; so I oversaw it with mine eyes and overheard it
with mine ears, what I have said."
The oath of those who swore for others was, " In the
Lord : the oath is clean and upright that N. swore." 15
13 Hist El. 3 Gale, 478.
14 Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 53. 61. 49. ls Ibid. 63, 64.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 461
CHAR VIII.
Their Ordeals and legal Punishments.
WE have a full account of the Anglo-Saxon ordeals, of hot CHAP.
water and hot iron, in the laws of Ina. VIIL '
The iron was to be three pounds in weight for the three- ' » —
fold trial, and therefore probably one pound only for the
more simple charge : and the accused was to have the option,
whether he would prefer the water " ordal " or the iron
" ordal."
No man was to go within the church after the fire was
lighted by which the ordeal was to be heated, except the
priest and the accused. The distance of nine feet was to be
then measured out from the stake, of the length of the foot
of the accused. If the trial was to be by hot water, the
water was heated till it boiled furiously ; and the vessel that
contained it was to be iron or copper, lead or clay.
If the charge were of the kind they called anfeald, or simple,
the accused was to immerge his hand as far as the wrist in
the water, to take out the stone ; if the charge was of three-
fold magnitude, he was to plunge his arm up to the elbow.
When the ordeal was ready, two men were to enter of
each side, and to agree that the water was boiling furiously.
Then an equal number of men were to enter from each side,
and to stand along the church on both sides of the ordeal, all
fasting. After this the priest was to sprinkle them with
holy water, of which each was to taste ; they were to kiss the
Gospels, and to be signed with the cross. All this time the
fire was not to be mended any more ; but the iron, if the
ordeal was to be by hot iron, was to lie on the coals till
the last collect was finished ; and it was then to be placed on
staples which were to sustain it.
While the accused was snatching the stone out of the water,
or carrying the hot iron for the spnce of nine feet, nothing
was to be said but a prayer to the Deity to discover the truth.
The hand was to be then bound up and sealed, and to be
kept so for three days; after that time the seal and the
bandage were removed, and the hand was to be examined, to
see whether it was foul or clear. 1
1 Wilk. Log. Inae, p. 27.
462 APPENDIX, III.
CHAP. From this plain account, the ordeal was not so terrible as
t V*IL , it may at first sight appear ; because, independently of the
opportunity which the accused had, by going alone into the
church, of making terms with the priest, and of the ease with
which his dexterity could have substituted cold iron or stone
for the heated substances, at the moment of the trial, and the
impossibility of the detection, amid the previous forms of the
holy water, the diminution of the fire, prayers on the occa-
sion, and the distance of the few spectators ; independently
of these circumstances, the actual endurance of the ordeal
admitted many chances of acquittal. It was not exacted
that the hand should not be burnt, but that after the space of
three days it should not exhibit that appearance which would
be called foul, or guilty. As the iron was to be carried only
for the space of nine of the feet of the accused, it would be
hardly two seconds in his hand. The hand was not to be
immediately inspected, but it was carefully kept from air,
wrhich would irritate the wound, and was left to the chances
of a good constitution to be so far healed in three clays as
to discover those appearances, when inspected, which were
allowed to be satisfactory. Besides, there was, no doubt,
much preparatory training, suggested by the more expe-
rienced, which would indurate the epidermis so much as to
make it less sensible to the action of the hot substances which
it was to hold. 2
Ordeals were forbidden on festivals and fast-days. 3
Of the single ordeal, it was ordered, that if the persons
had been accused of theft, and were found guilty by it, and
did not know who would be their borh, they should be put
into prison, and be treated as the laws had enjoined.4
An accused mint-master was to undergo the ordeal of the
hot-iron. 5
The ordeal might be compounded for.6
The law of Athelstan added some directions as to the
ordeal. Whoever appealed to it was to go three nights
before to the priest who was to transact it, and should feed
on bread and salt, water and herbs. He was to be present
at the masses in the mean time, and make his offerings and
receive the holy sacrament on the day of his going through
the ordeal ; and he should swear, that with folc-right he was
guiltless of the accusation before he went to the ordeal. If
the trial were the hot water, he was to plunge his arm half-
2 Some authors have mentioned the preparations that were used to indurate the
skin.
3 Wilk. p. 53. 4 Ibid. p. 57. 5 Ibid. p. 59. 6 Ibid. p. 60.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 463
way above the elbow on the rope. If the ordeal were the CHAP.
iron, three days were to pass before it was examined. They vnn.
who attended were to have fasted, and not to exceed twelve
in number of either side ; or the ordeal was to be void unless
they departed.7
A thief found guilty by the ordeal was to be killed, unless
his relations redeemed him by paying his were, and the value
of the goods, and giving borh for his good behaviour. 8
The command of the ordeals must have thrown great
power into the hands of the church, and as in most cases
they who appealed to them did so from choice, it is probable,
that whoever expressed this deference to the ecclesiastical
order were rewarded for the compliment, as far as discretion
and contrivance would permit.
The ordeal was a trial, not a punishment. The most
popular of the legal punishments were the pecuniary mulcts.
But as the imperfection and inutility of these could not be
always disguised — as they were sometimes impunity to the
rich, who could afford them, and to the poor, who had
nothing to pay them with, other punishments were enacted.
Among these we find imprisonment 9, outlawry 10, banish-
mentn, slavery12, and transportation.13 In other cases we
have whipping14, branding15, the pillory16, amputation of
limb17, mutilation of the nose and ears and lips18, the eyes
plucked out, hair torn off19, stoning 20, and hanging.21 Nations
not civilised have barbarous punishments.
7 Wilk. p. 61.
8 Ibid. p. 65. For the ordeal of other nations, see Muratori, v. ; and Du Cange.
» Wilkins, Leg. Sax. 34. 70. 10 Ibid. p. 74. Sax. Chron.
» Sax. Chron. B Wilk. 12. 15. 18. 20. 50.
13 Ibid p 12 14 Ibid- P 12' 22- 62' 53- 8L
)* Ibid. £ 18ft « Ibid. p. 11. 75. 54.
17 Ibid. p. 18. 139. 134. 18 Ibid- P- 138- 142-
19 Ibid. p. 138. .' M Ibid- P- 67'
21 Ibid. p. 18. 70. 139.
464 APPENDIX, III.
CHAP. IX.
The Trial by Jury.
IN considering the origin of the happy and wise institution
of the ENGLISH JURY, which has contributed so much to
the excellence of our national character, and to the support
of our constitutional liberty, it is impossible not to feel con-
siderable diffidence and difficulty. It is painful to decide
upon a subject on which great men have previously differed.
It is peculiarly desirable to trace, if possible, the seed, bud,
and progressive vegetation of a tree so beautiful and so
venerable.
It is not contested that the institution of a jury existed
in the time of the Conqueror. The document which remains
of the dispute between Gundulf, the bishop of Rochester,
and Pichot, the sheriff, ascertains this fact. We will state
the leading circumstances of this valuable account.
The question was, Whether some land belonged to the
church or to the king ? " The king commanded that all the
men of the county should be gathered together, that by their
judgment it might be more justly ascertained to whom the
land belonged." This was obviously a shiregemot.
" They being assembled, from fear of the sheriff, affirmed
that the land was the king's : but as the bishop of Bayeux,
who presided at that placitum, did not believe them, he or-
dered, that if they knew that what they said was true, they
should choose twelve from among themselves, who should
confirm with an oath what all had declared. But these,
when they had withdrawn to counsel, and were there harassed
by the sheriff through his messenger, returned and swore to
the truth of what they asserted."
By this decision the land became the king's. But a monk,
who knew how the fact really stood, assured the bishop of
Rochester of the falsehood of their oath, who communicated
the information to the bishop of Bayeux. The bishop, after
hearing the monk, sent for one of the twelve, who, falling
at his feet, confessed that he had forsworn himself. The
man on whose oath they had sworn theirs, made a similar
avowal.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 465
On this the bishop " ordered the sheriff to send the rest CTIAP.
to London, and twelve other men from the best in the 1X-
county, who confirmed that to be true which they had ' '
sworn."
They were all adjudged to be perjured, because the man
whose evidence they had accredited had avowed his perjury.
The church recovered the land ; and when " the last twelve
wished to affirm that they had not consented with those who
had sworn, the bishop said they must prove this by the iron
ordeal. And because they undertook this, and could not do
it, they were fined three hundred pounds to the king, by the
judgment of other men of the county." l
By this narration, we find that a shire-gemot determined
on the dispute, in the first instance ; but that in consequence
of the doubts of the presiding judge, they chose from among
themselves twelve, who swore to the truth of what they had
decided, and whose determination decided the case.
The jury appears to me to have been an institution of
progressive growth, and its principle may be traced to the
earliest Anglo-Saxon times. One of the judicial customs of
the Saxons was, that a man might be cleared of the accusa-
tion of certain crimes, if an appointed number of persons
came forward and swore that they believed him innocent of
the allegation. These men were literally juratores, who
swore to a veredictum ; who so far determined the facts of
the case as to acquit the person in whose favour they swore.
Such an oath, and such an acquittal, is a jury in its earliest
and rudest shape ; and it is remarkable that for accusations
of any consequence among the Saxons of the Continent,
twelve juratores were the number required for an acquittal.
Thus, for the wound of a noble, which produced blood, or
disclosed the bone, or broke a limb ; or if one seized another
by the hair, or threw him into the water ; in these and some
other cases twelve juratores were2 required. Similar cus-
toms may be observed in the laws of the Continental Angli
and Frisiones, though sometimes the number of the jury or
juratores varied according to the charge ; every number being
appointed, from three to forty-eight.3 In the laws of the
K-ipuarii, we find that in certain cases ^ the oaths of even
seventy-two persons were necessary to his acquittal.4 It is
obvious, from their numbers, that these could not have been
1 Thorpe, Regist. Roffen. 32. • Lindenborg. Leg. Sax. p. 474.
• Lind. Lex. Angli. 482. and Lex. Fris. 490.
4 Lind. Lex. Ripuar. p. 451.
VOL. II. H H
466
CHAP, witnesses to the facts alleged. Nor can we suppose that
IX- they came forward with the intention of wilful and suborned
perjury. They could only be persons who, after hearing and
weighing the facts of the case, proffered their deliberate oaths
that the accused was innocent of the charge. And this was
performing one of the most important functions of our modern
juries.
In the laws of the Alemanni, the principle appears more
explicitly ; for in these the persons who are to take the oath
of acquittal are called nominati, or persons named. And in
the case of murdering the messenger of a dux, the juratores
were to be twelve named and twelve elected.5 This named
and elected jury seems to approximate very closely to our
present institution. •
In referring to our own Anglo-Saxon laws, we find three
jurators mentioned in those of the kings of Kent, in the
latter end of the seventh century. If a freeman were ac-
cused of theft, he was to make compensation, or to acquit
himself by the oaths of four mm aepba men. These words
are literally " the number of four legal men," or " four of
the numbered legal men."6 In either construction they
point to a meaning similar to the nominati in the laws of the
Alemanni; that is, persons legally appointed as jurators.
The principle of an acquittal by the peers of the party
accused appears in the laws of WihtraBd, where the clergy-
man is to be acquitted by four of his equals, and the ceorlisc
man by four of his own rank.7
An acquittal from walreaf, or the plunder of the dead,
required the oaths of forty -eight full-born 8 thegns. These,
of course, could not be witnesses. They must have been
a selection of so many in the shire-gemot, who, on hearing
the facts of the accusation, wTould, upon their oaths, absolve
the accused. And what is this but a jury ? The Danish
colonists probably used it.
In the treaty between Alfred and Guthrun, more lights
appear : " If any accuse the king's thegn of manslaughter
(manslihtes), if he dare absolve himself, let him do it by
twelve king's thegns. If the accused be less than a king's
thegn, let him absolve himself by eleven of his equals, and
one king's thegn."9 Here the number of twelve, and the
principle of the peers, both appear to us.
8 Lind. Lex. Aleman. p. 370, 371. 6 Leg. Illoth. Wilk. p. 8.
7 Leg. Wiht. Wilk. p. 12. s Leg. Inai< wilk> 27.
p Wilk. p. 47.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 467
Something of the principle of a jury appears to us in these
laws : " If any one takes cattle, let five of his neighbours be
named, and out of these, let him get one that will swear with
him, that he took it to himself according to folc-right ; and
he that will implead him, let ten men be named to him, and
let him get two of these and swear that it was born in his
possession, without the rim asthe, the oath of number, and let
this eyre oath stand above twenty pennies."
" Let him who prays condemnation for a slain thief get
two paternal and one maternal relation, and give the oath
that they knew of no theft in their kinsman, and that he did
not deserve death for that crime ; and let some twelve go and
try him." 10
This passage seems to have an .allusion to this subject:
" Let there be named, in the district of every gerefa, as
many men as are known to be unlying men, that they may
witness every dispute, and be the oaths of these unlying
men of the value of the property without n choice." These
men, so named, may have been the rim aewda men noticed
before.
" If any kill a thief that has taken refuge within the time
allowed, let him compensate for the mund byrde ; or let some
twelve absolve him that he knew not the jurisdiction." 12
This injunction seems also to- provide a jury : On an accu-
sation of idolatry or witchcraft, " if it be a king's thegn who
denies it, let there be then named to him twelve, and let
him take twelve of his relations, and twelve strangers ; and
if he fails, let him pay for the violation of the law, or ten
half marcs." 13 This seems a jury : twelve persons were to
be appointed, and he was to add twelve of his kinsfolks; and
this law concerning Northumbria, where they were chiefly
Danes, as many foreigners were to be added. If they ab-
solved him, he was cleared ; if not, he was to be mulcted.
It is one of the rules established concerning our jury, that a
foreigner has a right to have half of the jury foreigners.
The following law of Ethelred has the same application :
" Let there be gemots in every waepentace ; and let twelve
of the eldest thegns go out with the gerefa, and swear on
the relics, which shall be given into their hands, that they
will condemn no innocent man, nor screen any that is
guilty." 14 This passage seems to have no meaning but so
far as it alludes to a jury.
'« Wilk. p. 58. " Ibid. p. 62. B Ibid. p. 63.
» Ibid. p. 100. 14 Ibid. p. 117.
H H 2
468
CHAP. Two other laws are as applicable : " If any be accused
that he has fed the man who hath broken our lord's peace,
let him absolve himself with thrinna twelve, and let the
gerefa name the absolving persons ; and this law shall stand
where the thegns are of the same mind. If they differ, let
it stand as eight of them shall declare." 15 This is surely a
jury, of whom eight constituted the legal majority.
There is another passage, in the laws made by the English
witan and the Welsh counsellors, which bears upon this sub-
ject: " Twelve lahmen, of whom six shall be English and
six shall be Welsh, shall enjoin right. They shall lose all
that they have if they enjoin erroneously, or absolve them-
selves that they knew no better." 16
On the whole, it would seem that the custom of letting
the oaths of a certain number of men determine legal dis-
putes in favour of the person for whom they swore, was
the origin of the English jury. It was an improvement on
this ancient custom, that the jurators were named by the
court instead of being selected by the parties. It was a
further progress towards our present mode of jury, that the
jurators were to hear the statements of both parties before
they gave their deciding veredictum, or oath of the truth.
While the ordeals were popular, the trials by jurators were
little used ; but as these blind appeals to Heaven became
unfashionable, the process of the legal tribunals was more
resorted to, and juries became more frequent.17
The excellence of the English trial by jury seems to arise
from the impartiality of the sheriff in summoning a sufficient
number of jurors : from their being indifferently called and
put on the trial at the time of the cause coming on ; from
their having no interest or prejudices as to the matter in
decision; from their habits of serving on juries; from their
general good meaning and common sense ; from a fair senti-
ment of their own importance as judges of the fact of the
case ; from their moral sense of their own duties as a jury ;
from a conscientious desire of doing right between the par-
ties ; from an acuteness of mind which prevents them from
being misled by declamation ; from the respectful attention
15 Wilk. p. 118. •* 16 Ibid. p. 125.
17 The following passage in the old law-book, the Mirror, shows that jurors
were used in the time of Alfred. It says of this king, " II pendist les suitors
d'Dorcester, pur ceo que ils judgerent un home a la mort per jurors de lour fran-
chise pur felony que il fist ; en le forrein et dount ils ne puissent conustre pur la
forrainte." p. 300. See a notice of what Alfred is stated to have done with respect
to such jurors or jurymen in the second volume of this History, p. 132.
ANGLO-SAXON LAWS. 469
to the obsevations and legal directions of the presiding judge ; CHAP.
and from a general acquaintance of the rules of wrong and 1X-
right between man and man. These qualities cannot be v "
attained by any country on a sudden; our population has
been educated to these important duties by many centuries
of their practical discharge, and therefore it will be long
before either the juries of Scotland, France, Spain, or Ger-
many can equal the English in utility, efficiency, judgment,
or rectitude.
H1I 3
APPENDIX.
No. IY.
On the Agriculture and Landed Property of the ANGLO-
SAXONS.
CHAP. I.
Their Husbandry.
CHAP. THE agricultural state may have been coeval with the pas-
L toral, in the climates of the East, where nature is so profuse
of her rural gifts, that cultivation is scarcely requisite ; but
in the more ungenial regions of the north of Europe, where
the food of man is not to be obtained from the earth, without
the union of skill and labour, the pastoral state seems to have
been the earliest occupation of uncivilised man. While this
taste prevailed, agricultural attentions were disreputable arid
despised, as among the ancient Germans. But when popu-
lation became more numerous and less migratory, husbandry
rose in human estimation and use, until at length it became
indispensable to the subsistence of the nation who pursued it.
When the Anglo-Saxons invaded England, they came
into a country which had been under the Roman power for
about four hundred years, and where agriculture, after its
more complete subjection by Agricola, had been so much
encouraged, that it had become one of the western granaries
of the empire. The Britons, therefore, of the fifth century
may be considered to have pursued the best system of hus-
bandry then in use, and their lands to have been extensively
cultivated with all those exterior circumstances which mark
established proprietorship and improvement ; as small farms ;
inclosed fields ; regular divisions into meadow, arable, pasture,
and wood ; fixed boundaries ; planted hedges ; artificial dykes
and ditches; selected spots for vineyards, gardens, and or-
chards ; connecting roads and paths ; scattered villages, and
larger towns, with appropriated names for every spot and
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 471
object that marked the limits of each property, or the course CHAP.
of each way. All these appear in the earliest Saxon charters, i-
and before the combating invaders had time or ability to ' ' '
make them, if they had not found them in the island. Into
such a country the Anglo-Saxon adventurers came, and by
these facilities to rural civilisation soon became an agricultural
people. The natives, whom they despised, conquered, and
enslaved, became their educators and servants in the new
arts, which they had to learn, of grazing and tillage ; and
the previous cultivation practised by the Romanised Britons
will best account for the numerous divisions, and accurate
and precise descriptions of land which occur in almost all the
Saxon charters. No modern conveyance could more accu-
rately distinguish or describe the boundaries of the premises
which it conveyed.
The Anglo-Saxons seem to have had both large and small
farms, as both are enumerated in the Domesday Register ;
and it is most probable that the more extensive possessions,
though belonging to one proprietor, were cultivated in small
subdivisions. The number of petty proprietors was, accord-
ing to the same record, greater in Essex, Norfolk, and Suf-
folk, where the Northmen colonists settled themselves, than
in other parts of the island. But the British custom of
gavelkind, which preceded the Anglo-Saxon invasions, was
favourable to the increase of small proprietorships. Large
farms seem to be the best adapted to bring an extensive surface
of the country into a state of cultivation, and may, by the
application of more capital, raise the greatest quantity of
produce on the whole : but small farms, manual labour, and
more minute tillage, employ and support a valuable class of
our rural population, whose worth and industry deserve en-
couragement, and greatly benefit every civilized country.
It must, however, be recollected, that large portions of the
country were, in every part, in a state of forests, lakes, pools,
marsh, moor, slough, and heath ; but they turned the watery
parts, which they had not the skill or the means to drain, to
the best advantage, by making them productive of fish. In
most of their ditches we read of eels, and in several descrip-
tions, of fish waters. Brooks and bourns were so common as
to form parts of almost all their boundaries.
The Anglo-Saxons cultivated the art of husbandry with
some attention. The articles which they raised from the earth,
and the animals which they fed, have been mentioned in the
chapter on their food. A few particulars of their practical
husbandry need only be mentioned here.
II H 4
472 APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP. They used hedges and ditches to separate their fields and
L lands1; and these were made necessary by law; for if a
freeman broke through a hedge he had to pay six shillings.2
A ceorl was ordered to keep his farm inclosed both winter
and summer ; and it damage arose to any one who suffered
his gate to be open, and his hedge to be broken down, he
was subjected to legal consequences. 3
They had common of pasture attached to the different por-
tions of land which they possessed ; and they had other ex-
tensive districts laid out in meadow. Every estate had also
an appropriated quantity of wood. In Domesday-book, the
ploughed land, the meadow, the pasture and the wood, are
separately mentioned, and their different quantities estimated.
They sowed their wheat in spring.4 It was a law, that he
who had twenty hides of land should take care that there
should be twelve hides of it sown when he was to leave it.5
They had ploughs, rakes, sickles, scythes, forks and flails,
very like those that have been commonly used in this coun-
try.6 They had also carts or waggons. Their wind-mills and
water-mills are frequently mentioned, in every period of their
history.
Their woods were an object of their legislative attention.
If any one burnt or cut down another's wood without permis-
sion, he was to pay five shillings for every great tree, and five
pennies for every other, and thirty shillings besides as a
penalty.7 By another law, this offence was more severely
punished. 8
They were careful of the sheep. It was ordered by an ex-
press law, that these animals should keep their fleece until
midsummer, and that the value of a sheep should be one shil-
ling, until a fortnight after Easter. 9
There are some curious delineations in a Saxon calendar,
which illustrate some of their agricultural labours. 10
In January are men ploughing with four oxen ; one drives,
another holds the plough, and another scatters seeds.
In February men are represented as cutting or pruning
trees, of which some resemble vines.
1 These appear in most of the boundaries described in the Saxon grants.
Hedges are mentioned in Domesday. A nemus ad sepes faciendum occurs in
Middlesex, fo. 127.
2 Wilk. Leg. 4. 3 Ibid. p. 21.
4 Bede, p. 244. 5 Wilk. Leg. p. 25.
6 Their drawings in their MSS. show a great resemblance between the Saxon
instruments and those still used in the northern counties of England.
7 Wilk. p. 37. 8 Ibid. p. 21. 9 Ibid. p. 23. 25.
10 Cott. MS. Tib. B. 5. See them copied in Strutt's Hord. Angl. vol. i. tab. x.
xi. xii.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 473
In March one is digging, another is with a pick-axe, and a
third is sowing.
In April three persons are pictured as sitting and drinking,
with two attendants ; another is pouring out liquor into a
horn ; and another is holding a horn to his mouth.
In May a shepherd is sitting ; his flocks are about, and one
man has a lamb in his arms ; other persons are looking on.
In June some are reaping with a sickle, and some putting
the corn into a cart. A man is blowing a horn while they
are working.
In July they are felling trees.
In August they are mowing.
In September is a boar hunting.
In October is hawking.
In November a smithery is shown.
In December two men are threshing, others are carrying
the grain in a basket ; one has a measure, as if to ascertain
the quantity ; and another on a notched stick, seems to be
marking what is measured and taken away.
In the Saxon dialogues already quoted, the ploughman
gives this account of his duty :
" I labour much. I go out at day-break, urging the oxen
to the field, and I yoke them to the plough (the ryl). It is
not yet so stark winter that I dare keep close at home, for
fear of my lord ; but the oxen being yoked, and the share
and cultro fastened on, I ought to plough every day one en-
tire field or more. I have a boy to threaten the oxen with a
goad, who is now hoarse through cold and bawling. I ought
also to fill the bins of the oxen with hay, and water them, and
carry out their soil." He adds, "It is a great labour, be-
cause I am not free."
In the same MSS. we have this statement of a shepherd's
and a cowherd's duty. " In the first part of the morning I
drive my sheep to their pasture, and stand over them in heat and
in cold with dogs, lest the wolves destroy them. I lead them
back to their folds, and milk them twice a day ; and I move
their folds, and make cheese and butter ; and I am faithful to
my lord." The other says, " When the ploughman separates
the oxen, I lead them to the meadows ; and all night I stand
watching over them, on account of thieves ; and again, in the
morning, I take them to the plough well fed and watered."
Some circumstances may be selected from their grants,
which illustrate the customs and produce of an Anglo-Saxon
farm. " I give food for seventy swine in that woody allot-
ment which the countrymen call Wulferdinleh, and five
474 APPENDIX, IV.
waggons full of good twigs, and every year an oak for build-
ing, and others for necessary fires, and sufficient wood for
burning."11
A noble lady ordered out of her lands a yearly donation of
forty ambra of malt, an old ram, four wethers, two hundred
and forty loaves, and one weight of bacon and cheese, and
four fother of wood, and twenty hen-fowls.12
In Ina's laws, ten hides were to furnish ten vessels of honey,
three hundred loaves, twelve ambra of Welsh ale, thirty of
clear ale, two old rams, ten wethers, ten geese, twenty hens,
ten cheeses, an ambra full of butter, five salmon, twenty
pounds weight of fodder, and an hundred eels.13
Another gives ten mittas of malt, five of grits, ten mitt as
of the flour of wheat, eight gammons, sixteen cheeses, and two
fat cows ; and in Lent eight salmon.14
Offa, in 785, grants some land, with permission to feed
swine in the wood of Andreda ; and another district to cut
wood for building or for burning ; and also wood sufficient to
boil salt; and the fishing of one man; with one hundred
loaded waggons, and two walking carts, every year. 15
We frequently find salt-pans, or places to boil salt in, con-
veyed, as, " with four vessels for the boiling of salt," and
" with all the utensils and wells of salts."16
Fisheries were frequently given with land. To three
plough lands in Kent a fishery on the Thames is added. l7
Ethelstan gives a piece of land for the use of taking fish. 18
So forty acres, with fishing, were given on the condition of
receiving every year fifteen salmon.19 So half of a fishery is
given to a monastery, with the buildings and tofts of the
fishermen.20
A vineyard is not unfrequently mentioned in various docu-
ments. Edgar gives the vineyard situate at Wecet, with the
vine-dressers. 21 In Domesday-book, vineyards are noticed
in several counties.
A wolf-pit is mentioned in one of the boundaries of an
estate.22
In Domesday we frequently meet with parks. Thus,
speaking of Rislepe, in Middlesex, it adds, " There is a park
(papcur) of beasts of the wood." 23 At St. Albans and
11 Bede, App. 770. 12 Hickes's Diss. Ep. 10.
13 Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 25. " 3 Gale, Hist. R. 410.
15 Astle's MS. Charters, No. 4. 16 Heming. Chart. Wig. p. 144. p. 48.
17 Thorpe Regist. 20. 18 Heming. Chart, p. 111.
19 Ibid. p. 171. ^ 3 Gale x. Script, p. 405.
21 MS. Claud. C. 9. p. 116. ^ 3 Gale, p. 520.
23 Domesday, 129. b.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PHOPERTY. 475
Ware, in Herts, similar parks are mentioned, and in other CHAP.
places.
Gardens also occur several times in Domesday. Eight
cotarii and their gardens 24 are stated in the manor of Fule-
ham in Middlesex. And we may remark that Fulham still
abounds with market gardeners. A house with its garden is
mentioned in the burg of Hertford.25
Two or three intimations occur in Domesday of the increas-
ing conversion of pasture into arable land. Thus at Borne
in Kent, " a pasture from which strangers have ploughed six
acres of land." 26
We have many contracts extant of the purchases of land
by the Anglo-Saxons, from which we may expect to gain
some knowlege of the price of land. But this source of in-
formation is by no means sufficient to form an accurate cri-
terion, because we cannot tell the degree of cultivation, or the
quality of the land transferred ; and also because many of the
grants seem to have been rather gifts, than sales, in which
the consideration bears little proportion to the obvious value.
A few of the prices given may however be stated. —
1 hyde and a field for 100 shillings.
3 hydes for 151.
10 hydes and two mills for 100 aurei.
7 hydes and an half for 200 aurei.27
6 cassata for 3 pundus argenti.
10 manentes for 31 mancusae.
20 manentes for 10 libri argenti.
2 mansiones for 20 mancusa3 auri probatissimi.28
15 manentes for 1500 solidi argenti.
5 manentes for 10 libri inter aurum et argentum.
5 manentes for 150 mancusaa of pure gold.
8 mansce for 90 mancusas of purest gold.
10 mansa3 for 30 mancusse of pure gold.
8 mansse for 300 golden mancusa3.29
It is obvious from this short specimen of the sums mentioned
in their documents, that no regular estimate can be formed of
the usual price of their land.
By the exorcisms to make fields fertile which remain, we
may perceive that our superstitious ancestors thought that
they could produce abundant harvests by nonsensical cere-
monies and phrases. They who choose may see a long one in
*S^r127-b' ^^.483.485.480.480.
28 Homing. Chart, p. 69, 70. 222. 230.
29 MS. Claud. C. 9.
476 APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP. Calig. A. 7. It is too long and too absurd to be copied.
L But we may recollect in justice to our ancestors, that Cato
the censor has transmitted to us a recipe as ridiculous.
The course of nature, in the revolutions of the seasons, has
suffered no essential change since the deluge, which human
records notice. We may therefore presume that the seasons
in the Anglo-Saxon period resembled those which preceded
and have followed them. Bede calls October Winterfylleth,
because winter begins in this month. And we have a descrip-
tion of Anglo-Saxon winter from a disciple of Bede : " The
last winter far and wide afflicted our island horribly, by its
cold, its frosts, and storms of rain and wind." 30
To give some notion of the state of the atmosphere and of
the seasons in these times, it may not be uninteresting to
mention some of the years which were more remarkable for
the calamities of the weather which attended them.
A. D. 763-4. This winter was so severe, for its snow and
frosts, as to have been thought unparalleled. The frost lasted
from the first of October to February. Most of the trees
and shrubs perished by the excessive cold.31
793. A great faming and mortality.32
799. Violent tempest, and numerous shipwrecks in the
British Ocean.33
807-8. A very mild and pestilential winter.34
820. From excessive and continual rains, a great mortality
of men and cattle ensued. The harvest was spoilt. Great
inundations prevented the autumnal sowing.35
821. A dreadful winter followed. The frost was so long
and severe, that not only all the smaller rivers, but even the
largest in Europe, as the Seine, the Elbe, the Rhine, and the
Danube, were so frozen, that, for above thirty days, waggons
passed over them as if over bridges. 36
823. The harvests devastated by hail. A terrible pes-
tilence among men and cattle. 37
824. A dreadful and long winter. Not only animals, but
many of the human species perished by the intenseness of the
cold.38
832. This year began with excessive rains. A frost suc-
30 16 Mag. Bib. p. 88.
31 Simeon Dunelm. p. 105. Ann. Astron. ap. Ruberi, p. 18. Sigeb. Gembl.
p. 551.
32 Sim. Dun. p. 112.
83 Sim. Dun. p. 115. 84 Adelmi Benedict, p. 409.
35 Ibid. p. 421. 36 Ibid. p. 422. Ann. Astron. p. 46.
37 Adel. B. p. 425. Sigeb. Gemb. p. 561.
88 Ann. Fuld. p. 6. Bouquet's Recueil, p. 208. Annales apud Ruberi, p. 49.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 477
ceeded so sudden and intense, that the iced roads were nearly
impassable by horses.39
834. Great storms and excessive falls of rain.40
851. Severe famine on the continent.41
869. Great famine and mortality in England.42
874. A swarm of locusts laid waste the provinces of
France. A famine so dreadful followed, that, in the hyper-
bolical language of the writers, nearly a third part of the
population perished.
875. A long and inclement winter, succeeded with unusual
falls of snow. The frost lasted from the first of November
to the end of March.43
913. A severe winter.
956. A very mortal pestilence.44
976. A severe famine in England. A frost from first
November to end of March.
986. A great mortality amongst cattle in England.45
987. A dreadful flux and fever in England. 46
988. A summer of extreme heat.
989. Great inundations. Very hot summer, unhealthy
and unfruitful. Great drought and famine ; much snow and
rain ; and no sowing.47
1005. A great and dreadful famine in England.
1006. The same over all Europe.48
1014. Great sea flood.
1016. Great hail, thunder, and lightning.49
1022. Extreme heat in the summer.
1039. A severe winter.
1041. Inclement seasons all the year, and unproductive;
and great mortality amongst the cattle.50
1043-4. A dreadful famine in England and the continent.
A sester of wheat sold for above sixty pennies. 51
39 Annales Ruberi, p. 56. Add. Bened. p. 463.
40 Annales Ruberi, p. 58.
41 Sigeb. Gembl. apud Pistorium, p. 565.
42 Asser, p. 20.
43 Aimoini de gestis Fran. p. 489. Sigeb. Gembl. p. 569.
44 Regino Chron. p. 568. 74. 79.
45 Sax. Chron. p. 123. 125. Sim. Dun. p. 160. Sig". Gemb. p. 587.
46 Flor. Wig. and Sim. Dun. 161.
47 Lamb. Schaff. p. 158. Sigeb. Gembl. p. 589.
48 Sim. Dun. 165. Sig. Gembl. p. 591.
49 Sax. Chron. p. 146. Lamb. Schaff. p. 158.
50 Sig. Gemb. p. 593. Sim. Dun. p. 180.
* Sax. Chron. p 157. Sig. Gembl. p. 596. The MS. Claud. C.9. mentions
that a sextarius of wheat sold for five shillings, p. 129. Henry of Huntingdon
says the same, adding, that a sextarius of wheat used to be the burthen
horse, p. 365.
478
1047. An uncommon fall of snow. Trees broken by it.52
1048. Earthquake at Worcester, Derby, and other places ;
and a great mortality.53
Of the Anglo-Saxon husbandry we may remark, that
Domesday Survey gives us some indications that the cultiva-
tion of the church lands was much superior to that of any
other order of society. They have much less wood upon
them, and Jess common of pasture ; and what they had
appears often in smaller and more irregular pieces ; while
their meadow was more abundant, and in more numerous
distributions.
62 Sim. Dun. p. 1 80. Sig. Gembl. p. 597. M Sax. Chron. p. 1 83.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 479
CHAP. II.
Their Proprietorship in Land and Tenures.
WHEN the Anglo- Saxons established themselves in Britain,
a complete revolution in the possession of landed property
must have taken place, so far as it concerned the persons of
the proprietors. They succeeded by the sword. All the
chieftains of the octarchy had many years of warfare to
wage, before they could extort the occupation of the country.
In such fierce assaults, and such desperate resistance, the
largest part of the proprietary body of the Britons must have
perished.
What system of tenures the Anglo-Saxon conquerors
established, will be best known from the language of their
grants. Some antiquaries have promulged very inaccurate
ideas on this subject ; and we can only hope to escape error,
by consulting the documents and studying the legal phrases
of the Anglo-Saxon period.
We find the land distinguished in their laws by various
epithets. We there meet with boc lande, gafole land, folc
land, bisceopa land, thegne's land, neat land, and frigan
earthe.1 The proprietors of land are called dryhtne, hlaforde,
agende or land hlaforde, and land agende.2 The occupiers
of land were named ceorl, geneat, landesman, tunesman3,
and such like.
From Domesday-book, we find, that of some lands the
king was the chief proprietor; of others, the bishops and
abbots; of others, several earls and persons ^ of inferior
dignity. A few specimens may be given. Thus in Sussex—
The king had 59^ hides.
Archbishop of Canterbury 214
Bishop of Chichester - 184
Abbot of Westminster
Abbot of Fescamp 135
Bishop Osbern 149
Abbot of St. Peter, Winchester
Church of Battle -
1 Wilkins, Leges Sax. p. 43. 47. 49. 65. 76.
2 Ibid. p. 2. 10, 11. 15. 21. 28. 58. 63.
3 Ibid. p. 18. 47. 101. 105.
480 APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP. Abbot of St. Edward - - 21 hides
n- Comes of Oro 196'-
' Comes of Moriton 520
Comes Roger 818
William of Warene 620J
William of Braiose 452£
Odo and Eldred 10
These were the tenentes in capite, the great proprietors in
demesne. The men who resided on the land, and in the burgs
under these in this county, may be seen in Domesday-book.
In other counties, we find the same description of persons
possessing land, with the addition of others. Thus the great
proprietors in Hertfordshire were, the king, the archbishop
of Canterbury, five bishops, three abbots, an abbess, two
canons, four earls or comites, twenty-four less dignified in-
dividuals, and three ladies. Two of these ladies are described
as wives. Thus : " Rothais, wife of Richard, son of earl
Gislebert, holds Standor, and defends herself for eleven hides ;
Adeliz, wife of Hugo of Grentmaisnil, holds Brochesborne,
and defends herself for five hides and a half." The other
was the daughter of Radulf Tailgebosch, arid held four hides
in Hoderdon.
In Buckinghamshire the chief proprietors were, the king,
the archbishop, five bishops, two abbots, an abbess, a canon,
a presbyter, two earls, thirty-eight other individuals ; the
queen, the countess Judith Azelina, wife of Radulf Tailge-
bosch ; the king, thane, and eleemosiners.
But subordinate tenures are also mentioned in this valuable
record. Thus the abbess of Berching held Tiburn (Tyburn)
under the king, and the canons of St. Paul held of the king
five hides in Fulham. Many tenures of this sort appear. 4
To several tenures it is added, that the possessors could not
give or sell the land without leave.5
Other tenants are mentioned, who could turn themselves,
with their land, wherever they pleased. 6
Land held in elemosinam, or frankalmoigne, also appears.7
Of other tenants it is said, that they held certain manors,
but rendered no service to the abbot, except thirty shillings
a year. 8
Sochmanni, and the terra sochmannorum, are mentioned :
of two of them it is expressed, that they could sell without
4 Domesday-book. 6 Ibid. fo. 129.
6 Ibid. fo. 6, 7. 129. 7 Ibid. fo. 12. 137.
8 Ibid. fo. 12.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 48
leave ; while another is declared unable to give or sell with- CHAP.
out his lord's leave. Two other sochmanni are called Men
of the bishop of London. 9
One of the sochmen, who could do what he chose with the
land, was a canon of St. Paul's.
Of the tenures which appear frou the Anglo-Saxon
grants, the first that may be noticed is that of pure freehold
of inheritance, unconnected with any limitation or service.
Thus, in a conveyance made between 691 and 694, the kins-
man of the king of Essex gives some land, amounting to 40
rnanentium. The conveying words are, " I Hodilredus, the
kinsman of Sebbi, in the province of the East Saxons, with
his consent, of my own will, in sound mind; and by just
advice, for ever deliver to thee, and, from my right, tran-
scribe into thine, the land, &c. with all things belonging to
it, with the fields, wood, meadows, and marsh, that, as well
thou as thy posterity, may hold, possess, and have free power
to do with the land whatsoever thou wilt." 10
In another, dated in 704, from a king to a bishop, of 30
cassatorum, at Tincenhom, in Middlesex, the words are,
" We have decreed to give in dominio to Waldhare, bishop,
part of a field, &c. The possession of this land so as afore-
said, with fields to be sowed, pastures, meadows, marshes,
fisheries, rivers, closes, and appurtenances, we deliver to be
possessed in dominio by the above bishop in perpetual right,
and that he have the free power of doing whatsoever he
will. »
There seems to have been no prescribed form of words
for the conveyance of a freehold estate, because we find that
almost every grant varies in some of its phrases. The most
essential requisite seems to have been that the words should
imply an intended perpetuity of possession. One other
specimen of a freehold grant, not quite so absolute as the
above, may be added : " That it may be in his power, and
may remain firmly fixed in hereditary right, both free from
the services of all secular things within and without, and
from all burden and injury of greater or smaller causes, and
that he may have the liberty of changing or giving it in his
life, and after his death may have the power of leaving it to
whomsoever he will." 12
Freehold estates also occur, made subject to the three
9 Domesday book, fo. 11. 129.
10 MS. Augustus, 2. 26., printed in Smith's Appendix to Bede, p. 748.
11 Appendix to Bede, p. 749. B MS. Charters of the late Mr. Astle, No, 7.
VOL. II. I I
482 APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP, great services to which almost all lands were liable. In
these cases the duty of military expedition, and bridge and
castle work, are expressly excepted. 13 A modification of
this freehold tenure is, where the grant is for the life of the
person receiving it, with a power of giving it to any person
after his death in perpetual inheritance. This kind of estate
very frequently occurs in the Saxon grants, and differs from
the pure and absolute freehold, inasmuch as it does not appear
that the tenant for life had the liberty of alienating it before
his death, nor that it was descendible to his heirs if he made
no testamentary devise.
Thus, in a grant dated 756, the part which lawyers call
the habendum, and which determines the nature of the
tenure, is thus expressed : " I will give it him for ever —
That he may have and possess it as long as he lives, and
after that time, that he may leave it to any person he shall
please, to be possessed in hereditary right, with the same
liberty in which it is granted to him." 14
Others are in these phrases : " To have and possess it in
his own possession, and for his days to enjoy it happily, and
after his days to leave to whomsoever shall be agreeable to
him in everlasting inheritance." 15
A very common tenure in the Anglo-Saxon times was that
the person to whom an estate was conveyed should hold it
for his life, and should have the power of giving it after his
death to any one, two, three, or more heirs, as mentioned in
the grant ; after which it should revert either to the original
proprietor making the grant, or to some ecclesiastical body
or other person mentioned in it.
Thus Oswald gives lands to a person, in the stability of
perpetual inheritance ; that in having, he may hold it, and
possessing it, may enjoy it, for the length of his life. After
his death he might leave it to any two heirs whom he pre-
ferred, to have it continuedly — after their death it was to
revert to the church of St. Mary." 16
In 984 Oswald gave to his kinsman, Eadwig, and his wife,
three mansae, for their lives. If the husband survived her,
he was to be deemed the first possessor, or heir of the land ;
or if she survived, she was to be the first heir. They were
empowered to leave all to their offspring, if they had any ; if
not, the survivor was to leave it to any two heirs. l7
Thus a bishop gave to Berhtwulf, the Mercian king, cer-
13 MS. Claud, c. 9. p. 112, 113. " Smith's App. p. 767.
15 Astle's MS. Charters, Nos. 12. and 16. 16 Smith's App. Bede, p. 773.
17 Ibid. p. 778.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 483
tain lands, " for the space of the days of five men, to have and
to enjoy it with justice ; and after the number of their days,
that it may be returned, without any dissension or conflict,
to the church in Worcester." This same land Berhtwulf
gave to his minister, Ecbercht, " for the space of the days of
five men, as before it was given to him." 18
Sometimes an attempt was made to possess the land beyond
the number of lives indicated. It is mentioned in a charter,
that one Cynethryth had conveyed some land for three lives,
and that JElsted had added three more lives; when it was
discovered, by inspecting the hereditarios libros of the king,
Kenulf, who first granted it, that the person originally
receiving it had only the power of giving it for one life.
Consequently the subsequent grants were set aside. 19
A life estate was also a very frequent tenure. Sometimes
the remainder that was to follow a life estate was expressed.
This was usually to the church.
Thus Aldred, in the middle of the eighth century, gave a
monastery to his relation, te on condition that she possess it
as long as she lives; and when she goes the way of her
fathers," it was to revert to the church of Worcester, into
the jus of the episcopal seat.20 An archbishop devised land
to a person for life, with remainder to an abbey.21
The land passing by these grants was called Bocland, as
the land held by bishops was mentioned as Bisceopa land ;
the land of thegns was Thegnes land, and the land of carles
was Earles land. All these occur in Domesday-book. There
was also King's land, Gerefa land, and such like; but these
names attached to land seem rather to express the quality of
the demesne proprietors than any other circumstance.
One grant is rather singular, in the limitations of the
estate which it conveys. The king gives a manor to Edred,
and permits Edred to give it to Lulla and Sigethrythe, who
are enjoined to give part of the land to Eaulfe and Here wine.
But Eaulfe was to give half of this part to Biarnulve, and to
enjoy the other half for his own life, with the power of
devising it as he pleased. 2*
To these tenures we may add the Gafoleland, or land
granted or demised on the condition of paying some con-
tribution in money or other property. Thus archbishop
Ealdulf, in 996, gave land to a miles, for his life and two
heirs; but annexed a condition, that they should provide
w Heming. Chart, p. 6. 8. I9 Ibid. p. 29.
» Smith's App. Bede, p. 765. n MS. Claud, c. 9. p. 125.
22 Astle's MS. Charters, No. 20.
ii 2
484
CHAP. every year fifteen salmon. 23 An abbot and the monks de-
mised twenty-seven acres to a person, that he might have
them in stipendium as long as he served them well. 24
An ancient lease is mentioned in the year 852, by which
Ceolred, abbot of Medeshamstede, and the monks, let (leot)
to Wulfred the land at Sempigaham for her life, on condi-
tion that he gave (besides some other land) a yearly rent of
sixty fother of wood, twelve fother of grafan (which may
mean coals), six fother of turf, two tuns full of clear ale,
two slain cattle, six hundred loaves, ten mittan of Welsh ale,
one horse, thirty shillings and a night's lodging. 25 A marsh
was leased at the rent of two thousand eels. 26 By the laws,
a ceorl, who had gafol lande, was estimated at two hundred
shillings. 27
23 Heming. Chart, p. 191. 24 3 Gale's Script, p. 475.
25 Sax. Chron. p. 75. 26 3 Gale's Script, p. 477.
27 Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 47.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PKOPERTY. 485
CHAP. III.
The Burdens to which Lands were liable, and their Privileges.
THE oldest Saxon grants we have contain reservations of CHAP.
services which the possessor of the land had to perform ; in.
and, from the language of those which have survived to our ' »
times, we perceive that certain burdens, though varying in
kind and quantity, were attached to estates in every age.
Some few were exempted from any ; a larger proportion
were freed from all but the three great necessities, which
in one charter are described to be, " what it is necessary
that all people should do, and from which work none can be
excused." l
These three common labours, or universal necessities, as
they are frequently styled, are the fyrd-fiaerelde; the bryge-
geweorc ; and the weal, or fassten-geweorc.
The fyrd-fserelde was the military service to which all
the Saxon lands appear to have been subject, excepting
those which the king, with the consent of his witena, or
sometimes the king alone, expressly exempted from the
obligation. This military service consisted in providing a
certain number of armed men, proportioned to the rated
quantity of land, who were to attend the king or his officers
on expeditions made for the public safety, or against in-
vading enemies. What number of men a given quantity
of land was to furnish cannot now be precisely stated ;
though it would seem, from Domesday book, that five hides
found one soldier in most counties. In the year 82 1 a grant
of various lands was made, with the specified condition, that
the owner should attend the public expedition with twelve
vassals and as many shields. '2 I£ven church lands were not
exempt from this general obligation of military service.
We find a person mentioned as a witness, who \yas^" the
leader of the army of the same bishop to the king's ser-
vice."3 Egelwin, prior of a monastery, gave to a miles the
villa of Crohlea for life, on the condition that he should
serve for the monastery in the expeditions by sea and land. 4
1 Heming. Chart, p. 109. 2 MS. Claud, c. 9. p. 104.
3 Heming. Chart, p. 81. 4 Ibid. p. 265.
I i 3
486 APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP. There are many grants of lands to monasteries in which
( IIL . the military service is expressly reserved. It is almost always
spoken of as a general, known, and established thing. It is
mentioned in Domesday-book, of the burg of Lideford, in
Devonshire, that when an expedition is on foot, either by
land or sea, the burg has to render the same amount of ser-
vice as should be required from Totness.
Of Totness it is said, that when expeditions are enjoined,
as much service is to be rendered from Totness, Barnstaple,
and Lideford, as from Exeter ; and Exeter was to serve as
for five hides of land. 5 The laws of Ethelred provided that
for every plough two men, well horsed, should be furnished. 6
It is from Dornesday-book that we may collect the most
precise information on this curious topic. It is said of Berk-
shire, that, " if the king should send an army any where, only
one soldier should go for five hides ; and for his victuals and
pay, every hide was to give him four shillings for two months.
This money was not to be sent to the king, but to be given
to the soldiers."7
Of the city of Oxford it is said, that when the king should
go on an expedition, twenty burghers should go with him for
all the others, or that twenty pounds should be paid, that all
might be free.8
This curious article shows, that the military service might
be commuted by a pecuniary mulct.
In Worcestershire it is declared, that " when the king goes
against the enemy, if any one, after summoned by his man-
date, should remain, he should (if he was a freeman having
his sac, and able to go where he pleased) forfeit all his land
at the pleasure of the king." But if he was a freeman under
another lord, his lord should carry another man for him, and
the offender should pay his lord forty shillings. But if no one
at all went for him, he was to pay his lord that sum, who was
to be answerable for as much to the king. 9
On these expeditions it was the privilege of the men serv-
ing for Herefordshire, that they should form the advanced
guard in the progress, and the rear guard in a retreat. 10
From Leicester twelve burghers were to go with the king
when he went with an army by land. If the expedition was
maritime, they were to send him four horses from the same
burg, as far as London, to carry their arms and necessaries.11
5 Domesday -book, con. Devenscire. 6 Wilk. Leg. p. 59.
7 Domesday-book, con. Berockescire. 8 Ibid. Oxcnefordscire.
9 Ibid. Wirecestrescire. lo Ibid. com. Herefordscirc.
11 Ibid. Ledecestresdre.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 487
The custom of Warwick was, that ten burghers should go
on the expedition for the rest. Whoever did not go after
his summons, forfeited to the king one hundred shillings.
When the king went by sea against his enemies, this burg
was to send him four batsueins, or four pounds of pennies.12
The fyrde, or expedition, is mentioned so early as in the
laws of Ina. If a sith-cund man owning land abstained from
the fyrde, he was to pay one hundred and twenty shillings,
and lose his land. If he were not a land-owner, he was to
pay sixty shillings, and a ceorl sixty shillings, for the fyrde
mulct.13 In the laws of Ethelred the fyrde is ordered to
take place as often as there be need, and the scyp-fyrdrunga,
or naval expedition, was directed to be so diligently prepared
as to be ready every year soon after Easter. It is added,
that if any depart from the fyrde where the king himself is,
both his life and goods should be the forfeit ; if he in any other
case quitted it, he was fined one hundred and twenty
shillings.14
In one of the grants it is mentioned, that a land-owner had
lost his rus of ten cassatos, because he had rebelled with the
king's soldiers in his expedition, and had committed much
rapine and other crimes.15
The other two great services to which land was generally
liable were, the construction or reparation of bridges and for-
tresses or walls. These are enjoined to be done in almost
every grant. In Domesday-book it is said of Chester, that
the prepositus should cause one man for every hide to come
to rebuild the wall and bridge of the city ; or if the man
should fail to come, his lord was to pay forty shillings. 16
Besides these three great services, which later writers have
called the trinoda necessitas, there were many other burdens
to which the landed interest was more or less liable in the
hands of the sub-proprietors.
A careful provision is made in many grants against royal
tributes and impositions, and those of the great and powerful.
In one it is mentioned, that the king should not require his
pasture, nor the entertainment of those men called Faestmg-
men, nor of those who carry hawks, falcons, horses or dogs. l
In another it is agreed, that the wood should not be cut for
the buildings of either king or prince. 18 It is elsewhere ex-
» Domesday-book, com.Warwicscire. 13 Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 23
" ThiH n 10Q I5 MS. Claud, c.9. p. 132.
«• Domesday, Cestrescire. " MS. Claud, c. 9. p. 104. Thorpe, E. R. 22.
18 MS. Claud.
I i 4
488
APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP, pressed, that the land should be free from the pasture and
_, refection of those men called in Saxon Walhfasreld, and their
feasting, and of all Englishmen or foreigners, noble and
ignoble.19 This burden of being compelled to entertain others,
is mentioned in several grants. In one, the pasture of the
king's horses and grooms20, and of his swine, which was
called fearn leswe 21, is noticed.
It is probable that these royal impositions attached only to
the lands which were or had been of the royal demesne.
The pecuniary payments which resulted to the king from
the landed estates in England are enumerated in Domesday-
book.
When the original proprietors alienated or demised their
lands to others, they annexed a variety of conditions to their
grants, which subsequent transfers either repeated or dis-
charged. Some of these may be stated. One contract was,
that the person to whom the land was given should plough,
sow, reap, and gather in the harvest of two acres of it, for the
use of the church. 22 Another was, that the tenant should go
with all his craft twice a year, once to plough, and at the
other time to reap, for the grantors.23 Another grant re-
serves two bushels of pure grain. Another the right of feed-
ing one hundred swine. Another exacts the ploughing and
reaping of a field.24 In others a ship, in others lead is re-
served.25 Offa gave the land of twentv manentium to the
church at Worcester, on the terms of receiving a specified
gafol from the produce of the land. 2G The services and cus-
toms attached to the possession of burghs, houses, and lands,
which are mentioned in the Domesday Survey, may be con-
sulted as giving much illustration to this topic. Sometimes
an imposition was made on the land of a province by general
consent. Thus, for building Saint Edmund's church, four
denarii were put annually on every carucata of earth, by the
consent of the landholders. 27 There were also ecclesiastical
duties attached to land.
It is said by Lord Coke, that the first kings of this realm
had all the lands of England in demesne, and that they re-
served to themselves the grand manors and royalties, and
w Heming. Chart. 31. *> Ibid. 58.
21 Ibid. 86. 22 Ibid. 134. a Ibid. 189.
24 Ibid. 144. p. 174. 208. I quote Hearne's edition of this book ; but cannot
avoid saying, that the Saxon passages are badly printed. Either the transcript
was made, or the press set and corrected, by a person ignorant of Saxon.
25 Dugdale, Mon. i. p. 19, 20. 141. » Ibid. 101.
27 Ibid. p. 291.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 480
enfeoffed the barons of the realm with the remainder for the CHAP.
defence of the realm, with such jurisdiction as the courts IIL
baron now have, and instituted the freeholders to be judges ' ~~*"~
of the court baron. 28 Much of this statement may be true ;
but it can be only made inferentially, for no positive informa-
tion has descended to modern times of what lands the Saxon
chieftains possessed themselves, nor how they disposed of
them. We may recollect, that, according to the laws of the
Britons in Wales, in the ninth century, all the land of the
kingdom was declared to belong to the king 29 ; and we may
safely believe that the same law prevailed while the Britons
occupied the whole island.
It is highly probable that the Saxon war-cyning succeeded
to all the rights of the monarch he dispossessed ; and, in re-
warding his companions and warriors with the division of the
spoil, it can be as little doubted, that from those to whom the
cyning or the witena gave the lands of the British landholders,
a certain portion of military service was exacted, in order to
maintain the conquest they had achieved. This was indis-
pensable, as nearly a century elapsed before the struggle was
completely terminated between the Britons and the invaders.
It was also a law among the Britons, that all should be com-
pelled to build castles when the king pleased.30 But that the
lands in the hands of the Anglo-Saxon proprietors were sub-
ject to the fyrde, as a general and inevitable burden, and that
this military service was rigorously exacted, and its neglect
severely punished, and was to be performed when called for
by the king, the facts already adduced have abundantly
proved. Enough has been also said to show that custom, or
the will of individuals, had imposed on many estates personal
services, pecuniary rents and other troublesome exactions.
Hence there can be no doubt that the most essential part of
what has been called the feudal system actually prevailed
among the Anglo-Saxons. The term vassals was also used
by them. Asser, the friend of Alfred, has the expression,
nobilibus vassalis31 ; and grants of kings to their vassals
are not unfrequent.
The Anglo-Saxon proprietors of land in demesne were, in
many respects, the little sovereigns of their territories, from
the legal privileges which, according to the grants, and to
the customs of the times, they possessed and were entitled to
exercise. Their privileges consisted of their civil and
*» Coke on Littleton, 58. » Leges Wallica Hoel, chap. 337.
*> Ibid. p. 165. 8I Asser, Vit. Alfred!, y. 33.
490 APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP, criminal jurisdictions, their pecuniary profits and gafols,
and their power over the servile part of their tenantry and
domestics.
It is an appendage to many grants of land, that the pos-
sessors should have the sac and soc, or a certain extent of
civil and criminal jurisdiction. Thus Edward the Confessor
gave to the abbot of Abbendon sace and socne, toll and team,
infangenetheof binnan burgan, and butan burgan ; ham socne,
grithbrice and foresteal.32 Similar privileges are given, with
many additions, in various grants ; and they conveyed, not
only the right of holding courts within the limits of the
estate, to determine the causes and offences arising within it,
but also the fines and payments, or part of them, with which
the crimes were punished. In some grants these fines were
shared with the king.33 Sometimes the liberty of holding
markets, and of receiving toll, is allowed, and sometimes an
exemption from toll. There seems to be no doubt that the
Anglo-Saxons took lands by inheritance. The peculiar
modes of inheritance, called gavelkind, where all the children
inherited ; and borough-english, where the youngest son was
the heir ; have been referred to the Saxon times.
82 MS. Claud, c. 9. p. 130. » Ibid. p. 104.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 491
CHAP. IV.
Their Conveyances.
WE have several of their grants of land without any pe- CHAP.
cuniary consideration ; of their conveyances on purchase ; of Tv-
their deeds of exchange ; their testamentary devises, and their ' " —
leases. These are all short and simple — as short and as
simple as they might always be made, if the ingenuity of
mankind were less directed to evade their legal contracts by
critical discussions of their construction.
The Saxon conveyances consisted principally of these things:
1st, The grantor's name and title are stated. In the older
charters the description is very simple. It is more full in
those of a later period ; but the grants of Edgar are gene-
rally distinguished from those of other kings by a pompous
and inflated commencement.
2d, A recital is usually inserted in many instances preced-
ing the donor's name. Sometimes it states his title, or some
circumstance connected with it. Sometimes the recital is
on the brevity and uncertainty of life, and on the utility of
committing deeds to writing — sometimes of the charitable
or friendly feelings which occasioned the grant ; and one re-
cital states that the former land-boc, or conveyance, had been
destroyed by fire, and that the owner had applied for new
ones.
3d, The conveying words follow, which are usually " Do
et concedo ; donare decrevimus ; concedimus et donamus ;
dabo ; trado : " or other terms of equivalent import, either of
Latin or Saxon.
4th, The person's name then occurs to whom the land is
granted. The name is sometimes given without any addition,
and sometimes the quality or parentage is simply mentioned,
as, Eadredo, Liaban fili Birgwines ; meo fideli ministro ^Ethel-
wezde ; ^Ethelnotho prasfecto meo ; Ealdberhto ministro meo,
atque Selethrythe sorori tuae, &c.
5th, What lawyers call the consideration of a deed is
commonly inserted. This is sometimes pro intimo caritatis
affectu, pro ejus humili obedientia, pro redemptione animic
mea3, and such like. Often it ia for money paid, or a valu-
able consideration.
492
CHAP. 6th, Another circumstance frequently mentioned in the
**' J royal grants is, that it was done with the consent of the
witena or nobles.
7th, The premises are then mentioned. They are de-
scribed shortly in the body of the grant by their measured or
estimated quantity of land, and the name of the place where
they were situate. Some general words then follow, often
very like those annexed to the description of premises in our
modern conveyances. The grants show that the land of the
country was in a state of cultivated divisions, and was known
by its divisional appellations. Sometimes the name given to
it is expressed to be that by which it was locally known
among the inhabitants of the district. At others the name
is expressed to be its ancient or well-known denomination.
The appellation, however, is usually Saxon ; though in some
few places it is obviously British.
When estates were large they comprehended many pieces
of land, of various descriptions. With the arable land,
meadow, marsh, wood, and fisheries,, were often intended to
be passed. In our times, lest the words expressly used to
indicate the land conveyed should not include all the pro-
perty included in the purchase, words of large and general
import are added, without any specific idea that such things
are actually attached. Such expressions occur in the Saxon
charters. Thus, in a grant dated in 679, after the land is
mentioned, we have " with all things pertaining to it; fields,
meadows, marshes, woods, fens, and all fisheries to the same
land belonging." In the Anglo-Saxon grants of a more re-
cent date, the general words are nearly as numerous as in our
own present deeds.
Besides the first description of the place, and the general
words, there are commonly added, at the end of the grant,
the particular boundaries of the land. The grants are, for
the most part, in Latin, and the boundaries in Saxon.
8th, The nature of the tenure is then subjoined, whether
for life or lives, or in perpetuity, or whether any reversion is
to ensue.
9th, The services from which the land is liberated, and
those to which it is to continue subject, are then expressed.
10th, Some exhortations are then inserted to others, not to
disturb the donation, and some imprecations on those who
attempt such disturbance.
llth, The date, the place of signature if a royal grant, and
the witnesses, usually conclude it. The date is sometimes in
the beginning.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 493
It may be here remarked, tliat the Saxon deeds had no CHAP.
wax seals. These were introduced by the Norman conquest.1 IV-
The divisions of land mentioned in the Saxon charters are
marked and distinguished by precise boundaries. We will
mention some of them, as they will show, very satisfactorily,
the agricultural state of the country. They sometimes occur
concisely in Latin ; but it was far more usual to express
them in Saxon, even in Latin charters. This was perhaps
that they might be more generally and exactly known, and,
in case of dispute, easier proved. The juries, gemots, and
witnesses of the day, might mistake a Latin description, but
not a vernacular one.
In 866 the boundaries of two manentes run thus: " From
Sture on the Honey brook, up behind the brook on the old
hedge ; along the hedge on the old way ; along the way on
the great street ; along the street on four boundaries, then so
to Calcbrook, along the brook ; then so to Horsebrook, along
the brook ; then so to the ditch, along the ditch to the Sture
again ; on Sture to the ditch that is called Thredestreo,
along the ditch on Heasecan-hill ; from Heasecan-hill to the
ditch, along the ditch to Wenforth, along Wenforth, and
then again on the Sture."2
" First the Icenan at Brom-bridge, up along the way to
Hlide-gate ; thence along the valley to Beamstead ; then by
the hedge to Searnegles-ford ; then up by Swetheling to
Sow-brook ; then forth by the boundary to Culesfield, forth
by the fight measured to the Steedlea, so to the Kids-field ;
then to the boundary valley, so to the Taeppelea ; so on to
Sheep-lea, then to Broad -bramble, so to the old Gibbet-place,
then on to the deep-dell ; then by the wooden boundary mark
to Back-gate ; thence by the mark to the old fold ; thence
north and east to the military path, and by the military path
to the Stocks of the high ford, so by the mere of the Hide-
stream to Icenan ; then up by the stream and so to the east
of Wordige ; thence by the right mark to the thorn of the
mere ; thence to the red cross ; so on by the Ealderman's
mark ; from the mark then it cometh to Icenan up by the
stream to the ford of Alders; thence to Kidburn, up and
along the burn to the military path, so to the Turngate
within the fish water to Sheepswick ; then by the right mere
to the Elderford, so to the Broad-valley, then to the Milk-
valley, so to the Meal- hill, and along the way to the mark of
the Forester's, south of the boundary to the hay-meadow,
1 Ingulf, p. 70. 3 Gale, 409. 2 Smith's App. Bcde, 770.
494 APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP. then to the Claean-field, so on Copper-valley* forth by the
Iv- hedge on the angle field ; then forth on the Icenan north
of Steneford, so with the stream till it cometh again on
Brom-bridge." 3
" These are the boundaries of the land to Cerotesege
(Chertsey), and to Thorpe : That is, first on the Way mouth
up and along the way to Way bridge ; from Way bridge
within the eel mill ditch ; midward from the ditch to the old
military street, and along the street on Woburnbridge, and
along the burn on the great willow ; from the great willow,
along the lake on the pool above Crocford ; from the head of
this pool right to the elder ; from the elder right on the
military street ; along the street to Curten-staple ; from
Curten-staple along the street to the hoar-thorn ; from the
thorn to the oak tree ; from the oak tree to the three hills ;
from the three hills to the Sihtran ; from the Sihtran to the
limitary brook ; from the limitary brook to Exla3pesburn ;
from Exlaepesburn to the hoar maple ; from the hoar maple
to the three trees ; from the three trees along the deep brook
right to the Wallgate ; from the Wallgate to the clear pool ;
from the clear pool to the foul brook ; from the foul brook to
the black willow ; from the black willow right to the Wall-
gate, and along the Thames to the other part of Mixten-ham
in the water between the hill island and Mixten-ham, and
along the water to Nettle-island ; from that island and along
the Thames about Oxlake to Bere-hill, and so forth along the
Thames to Hamen-island ; and so along the middle of the
stream to the mouth of the Way."4
In 743 these boundaries occur : " First from Turcan
Spring's head and along the street on Cynelms-stone on the
mill-way, then and along the ridge on Hart-ford ; thence and
along the streams on the city ford on the fosse on the speak-
ing place; thence on Turcan-valley on the seven springs,
midward of the springs to Bale's-hill, south, then on the chalk-
walk ; thence again on Turcan-valley, and along again on
the Turcan Spring's head."5
"First from Thames mouth and along the Thames in
Wynnaba3ce's mouth ; from Wynnaba3ce to Woodymoor ;
from Woodymoor to the wet ditch ; from the wet ditch to
the beach, and from the beach to the old dike ; from the old
dike to the sedge-moor ; from the sedge-moor to the head of
the pool, and along to Thorn-bridge ; from Thorn-bridge to
Kadera-pool; from Kadera-pool to Beka-bridge ; fromBeka-
3 Dugd. Mon.37. 4 Ibid. 76. 6 Heming. Chart. 57.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 495
bridge to the forepart of the Hipes-moor ; from that moor CHAP.
within Coforth brook ; from the brook within the hedge ; IV-
after the hedge to the hillock called Kett ; from Kett to the
barrows ; from the barrows to Lawern ; from Lawern into
the ditch ; and after the ditch to the Ship-oak ; and from the
Ship-oak to the great aspen, and so in to the reedy slough ;
from the slough within the barrows ; from the barrows to the
way of the five oaks, and after that way within the five
oaks ; from the oaks to the three boundaries ; from the three
boundaries to the bourn of the lake ; from that bourn to the
mile-stone ; from that stone to the hoar apple-tree ; from that
apple-tree within Doferie ; after Doferie to Severn, and along
the Severn to the Thames mouth."6
In one of the boundaries a wolf-pit occurs.7
6 Ileming. Chart. 75. 7 3 Gale, 520.
496 APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP. V.
Some Particulars of the Names of Places in MIDDLESEX and
LONDON, in the SAXON Times.
CHAP. IT appears from Domesday -book, that in the Saxon times the
^ county of Middlesex had been divided into hundreds, which
were distinguished by the names that they now bear, with
small variations of pronunciation or orthography.
Domesdav Names for the T.T , XT
tr j A f TVT-^JI Modern Names.
Hundreds of Middlesex.
Osuluestone, Ossulstone.
Gara, Gore.
Helethorne, Elthorne.
Spelethorne, Spelthorne.
Adelmetone, Edmonton.
Honeslaw, Hounslow.
Among the places mentioned in the county in Domesday-
book, we may easily discern the following ancient and modern
names to correspond : —
Holeburne, Holborn.
Stibenhede, Stepney.
Fuleharn, Fulham.
Tueverde, Twyford.
Wellesdone, Willesclon.
Totehele, Tothil.
Scepertone, Shepperton.
Hochestone, Hoxton.
Neutone, Newington.
Pancrass, Pancras.
Draitone, Drayton.
Hamestede, Hampstead.
Stanes, Staines.
Sunneberie, Sunbury.
Greneforde, Greenford.
Hanewelle, Hanwell.
Covelie, Cowley.
Handone, Hendon.
Hermodeswarde, Harmondsworth.
Tiburne, Tyburn.
Haneworde, Han worth.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 407
Hardintone, Harlington. CHAP
Hiilendone, Hillingdon.
Ticheham, , Twickenham. ' ^ — '
Leleham, Laleham.
Exeforde, Uxbridge.
Bedefunt, Bedfont.
Felteham, Feltham.
Stanmere, Stanmore.
Northala, Northall.
Adelmetone, Edmonton,
Eneffelde, Enfield.
Rislepe, Ruislip.
Chingesberie, Kingsbury.
Stanwelle, StanwelL
Hamntone, Hampton.
Hergotestane, Haggerston.
Cranforde, Cranford.
Chelched, Chelsea.
Chenesita, Kensington.
Iseldone. Islington, otherwise Isledon,
or the Isel Hill.
Toteham, Tottenham.
Hesa, Hayes.
The local denominations by which the various places in
England are now known, seem to have been principally im-
posed by our Anglo-Saxon ancestors. Most of them, in their
composition, betray their Saxon origin; and whoever will
take the trouble to compare the names in Domesday-book,
which prevailed in the island during the time of the Confessor,
with the present appellations of the same places, will find that
the greatest number of them correspond. The hundreds in
the county of Sussex were sixty-three, and still remain so ;
of these, thirty-eight bore the same names as now ; and of
the villa3 or maneria, which are about three hundred and
forty-five, there are two hundred and thirty with appellations
like their present.
London is mentioned in Bede as the metropolis of the
East Saxons in the year 604, lying on the banks of the
Thames, " the emporium of many people coming by sea and
land." i
In a grant, dated 889, a court in London is conveyed " at
the ancient stony edifice called by the citizens hwast mundes
stone, from the public street to the wall of the same city."
From this we learn that so early as 889 the walls of London
existed.
' Bede, 1. 2. c. 3. 2 Heming. 42.
VOL. II. K K
498 APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP In 857 we find a conveyance of a place in London called
. y* . Ceolmundinge haga, not far from the West Gate.3 This West
Gate may have been either Temple Bar or Holborn Bars.
Ethelbald, the Mercian king, gave a court in London, be-
tween two streets called Tiddberti-street and Savin-street.4
Snorre, the Icelander, mentions the battle in Southwark in
the time of Ethelred II. He says the Danes took London. On
the other side of the Thames was a great market, called
Sudrvirki (Southwark), which the Danes fortified with many
defences ; with a high and broad ditch, and a rampart of
stone, wood and turf. The English under Ethelred attacked
these in vain.
The bridge between the city and Southwark was broad
enough for two vehicles to pass together. On the sides of
the bridge, fortifications and breast- works were erected front-
ing the river. The bridge was sustained by piles fixed in the
bed of the river. Olave, the ally of Ethelred, assailed the
bridge, and succeeded in forcing it.5
Ethelbald grants the vectigal, or custom, paid by one ship
in the port of London to the church of Rochester.6
3 Hem. 44. * Dugd. Mon. 138.
5 Snorre, excerpted in Johnstone's Celto-Scand. p. 89. 92.
• Thorpe, Reg. Roff. 14.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 499
CHAP. VI.
Lawsuits about Land.
WE have some account of their legal disputes about landed CIIAP-
property in some of their documents, from which we will VL
select a few particulars.
One charter states that Wynfleth led her witnesses before
the king. An archbishop, a bishop, an ealdorman, and the
king's mother were there. They were all to witness that
Alfrith had given her the land. The king sent the writ by
the archbishop, and by those who had witnessed it, to Leof-
win, and desired that men should be assembled to the shire-
gemot. The king then sent his seal to this gemot by an
abbot, and greeted all the witan there. Two bishops, an
abbot, and all the shire were there. The king commanded
to be done that which was thought to be most right. The
archbishop sent his testimony, and the bishop ; they told her
she must claim the land for herself. Then she claimed her
possessions, with the aid of the king's mother. An abbot, a
priest, an etheling, eight men, two abbesses, six other ladies,
and many other good thegns and women were there. She
obtained her suit. l
In another transaction, a bishop paid fifteen pounds, for
two hides, to Lefsius and his wife at Cambridge. Ten pounds
of the money were paid before several witnesses. A day was
appointed for the other five pounds. They made another
convention between them, which was, that Lefsius and his
wife should give the fifteen pounds for the five hides at Cleie,
with the condition that the bishop should give, besides, a
silver cup of forty shillings which the father of Lefsius, on
his death-bed, bequeathed to the bishop. This agreement
being made, they exchanged all the live and dead stock on
the two lands. But before they had returned to the bishop
these ten pounds at Cleie, king Edgar died. On his death
Lefsius and his wife attempted to annul their agreement with
the bishop, sometimes offered him the ten pounds which he
had paid them, and sometimes denied that they owed any
1 MS. Cott. Aug. 2. p. 15.
K K 2
500
CHAP. thing. Thus they thought to recover the land which they
VI- had sold ; but the bishop overcame them with his witnesses.
Presuming on success, Lefsius seized other lands. This
violence occasioned these lands to remain two years without
being plowed or sowed or any cultivation. At last a ge-
nerale placitum was held at London, whither the duces, the
princes, the satraps, the pleaders, and the lawyers, flowed
from every part. The bishop then impleaded Lefsius, and
before all expounded his cause, and the injury he had sus-
tained.
This affair being well and properly and openly discussed
by all, they decreed that the lands which Lefsius had forcibly
taken should be restored to the bishop, and that Lefsius
should make good all the loss and the mund, and forfeit to
the king his were for the violence. Eight days afterwards
they met again at Northampton : all the country having as-
sembled, they exposed the same cause again before all ; and it
was determined in the same manner in which it had been ad-
judged at London. Every one then with oath on the cross
returned to the bishop the lands which had been violently
torn from him.
Thus far the narration gives no account of the two and
the five hides about which the controversy began. But it is
immediately afterwards mentioned, that soon after Lefsius
died. On his death, the bishop and the ealderman and the
primates of Northamptonshire, and the proceres of East
Anglia, had a placitum at Walmesford in eight hundreds.
It was there determined, among other things, that the widow
of Lefsius and his heirs ought to compensate for the above-
mentioned violence, as he ought to have done if he had lived;
and they appreciated the injury which the bishop had sus-
tained at one hundred pounds. The aforesaid matron, sup-
ported with the good wishes of all the optimates, humbly
requested the bishop to have mercy on her, and that she
might commute her were, and that of her sons for one
hundred shillings, which the bishop was about to give her
for the two hides at Dunham. The bishop was more be-
nevolent to her than she expected ; for he not only remitted
to her the money in which she had been condemned, but
paid her the hundred shillings which she had proposed to re-
linquish. He also gave her seven pounds for the crop on the
land at Dunham.2
A piece of water was leased at a rent of two thousand eels.
Hist. Eli. 3 Gale, 468, 460.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 501
The tenants unjustly possessed themselves of some land of CHAP.
the monastery, without the adjudication or legal permission VI-
of the citizens and the hundred. The ealderman came to
Ely, and Begmund and others were called for this cause, and
summoned to the placitum of the citizens and of the hundred
several times, but never came. The abbot did not there-
fore desist, but renewed his claim at the placita within the
city and without, and oftentimes made his complaint. At
length the ealderman held at Cambridge a great placitum of
the citizens and hundreds, before twenty-four judges, under
Thorningefeld, near Maiden eburge. The abbot related how
Begrnund and others had unjustly seized the land, and though
often summoned to the placitum, would never come. Then
they all adjudged that the abbot should have his land, pool,
and fishery, and that Begmund and the others should pay
their fish to the abbot for six years, and should give their
forfeiture to the king. They also decreed that if this were
not performed willingly, they should be justified in the
seizure of the offender's property. The ealderman also com-
manded that Oschetel, Oswy, of Becce, and Godere of Ely,
should go round the land, lead the abbot over it, and do all
this, which was performed accordingly.3
In another dispute on thg non-performance of an agree-
ment for the sale of land, the ealderman commanded the de-
fendant to be summoned, and, going to Dittune, began there
to narrate the causes and complaints, the agreements and
their violation, by the testimony of many legal men. The
defendant denied the whole. They ordered him to purge
himself by the requisite oath; but as neither he nor they,
who ought to have sworn with him, could do this, the cause
was adjudged against him, and this judgment was afterwards
confirmed at Cambridge.4
As many curious particulars of their legal customs appear
in these narrations, we will add another.
Wlstan forfeited some land, which the king had purchased
and sold to a bishop. About this time a great gemot was
appointed at Witlesford, of the ealderman and his brothers,
and the bishop, and the widow of Wlstan, and all the better
counsellors of the county of Cambridge. When they all had
sat down, Wensius arose and claimed the land, and said that
he and his relations had been unjustly deprived of the land,
as he had received for it no consideration either in land or
money. Having heard this plea, the ealderman asked, i
« Hist. Eli. 3 Gale, p. 478. 4 Ibid- P- 484'
K K 3
502
CHAP. there were any one present who knew how Wlstan had ac-
. VI> , quired that land. Alfric of Wicham answered, that Wlstan
had bought that land of "VYensius for eight pounds, and he
appealed to the eight hundreds on the south side of Cam-
bridge as witnesses. He said Wlstan gave Wensius the eight
pounds in two payments, the last of which he had sent by
Leofwin, son of Adulf, who gave it to him in a purse, before
the eight hundreds where the land lay. Having heard
these things, they adjudged the land to the bishop, and they
directed Wensius, or his relations, to look to the heirs of
Wlstan if he wanted more money for his land. 5
5 Hist. Eli. 3 Gale, p. 484.
ANGLO-SAXON LANDED PROPERTY. 503
CHAP. VII.
Their Denominations of Land.
IN the charters we find various names for the quantities of CHAP.
land conveyed. These are hidae, cassati, mansae, manentes, , vn'
aratrum, sulunga.
The cassati, mansae, the manentes, the aratrum, and the
sulunga, appear to have expressed the same meaning which
the word hide signified.
That the cassati and the mansae were the same, appears
from several grants ; thus ten mansas are in another part of
the same grants called ten cassatos1; and thirty mansas,
thirty cassatos.2 So ten cassatos, when mentioned again, are
styled ten mansos or mansas.3
In other grants, hides are stated as synonymous with cas-
satos. Thus, ten cassatos are, in the same grant, called ten
hides4, and twenty cassatos, twenty hides.5 In other grants,
the land, which, in the first part of the document, is enume-
rated as hides, is afterwards termed cassatos. Thus, fifty
hides, fifty cassatos6: seven hides, seven cassatos7; five
hides, five cassatos.8
The grants also identify the expressions mansae and mansi
with hide. A charter of 947 conveys twenty mansae, " quod
anglice dicitur twenty hides." 9 In another, seven hides are
also called seven mansae.10 One mansa is one hide11, and five
mansae, five hides.12
In one grant, the expressions fourteen mansiunculae, and
forty jugeribus, are identified with fourteen hides and forty
acres.13
All these authorities prove, that the hide, the cassatus, and
the mansa, were similar designations of land.
In one ancient MS. there is a note in the margin, in the
same hand-writing with the body, thus " No. qd. hide cas-
sati et manse idem sunt." 14
i Cotton MS. Claud. C. 9. p. 195. 2 Ibid. p. 119. 195.
3 Ibid. p. 131, 132. 4 Ibid. C. 9. 5 Ibid. p. 102. 194.
6 Ibid. p. 118. 7 Ibid. p. 121. 8 Ibid. p. 130.
9 Ibid. Claud. B. 6. p. 37.
10 Ibid. MS. Claud. C. 9. p. 130. " Heming. Chart, p. 150.
12 Ibid. p. 143. 182, 183. " MS- claud- B- 6- P- 75'
14 Ibid. C.9. p. 113.
504 APPENDIX, IV.
CHAP. Other grants identify the sulunga with the preceding.
YI*- f Thus, one conveys sex mansas quod Cantigenae dicunt sex
sulunga.15 Another mentions the land of three aratrorum
as three sulong.16 Another says twelve mansas " quod
Caritigenas dicunt twelf sulunga." l7 Two cassati are also
called two sulunga.18
The hide seems to have contained one hundred and twenty
acres. In one historical narration of ancient grants, a hide
is so defined ; " unam hydam per sexies viginti acras 19 ; "
two hides are afterwards mentioned as twelve times twenty
arable acres.20
In Domesday-book we find hides and carucatas mentioned.21
Carucata implies so much land as a single plough could work
during a year. 22 This ancient survey also contains acres,
leucse, and quarantenas, among its terms for expressing the
quantities of land.
The following measures of land occur in the Anglo-Saxon
laws ; 3 mila, 3 furlong, 3 secera bra3de, 9 fota, 9 scefta
munda, 9 bere corna23, express the extent to which the king's
peace was to reach.
15 MS. Chart, of the late Mr. Astle, No. 23. 16 Ibid. No. 7.
17 Ibid. No. 24. and Thorpe, Reg. Roff. 189.
13 MS. Chart. Aug. 2. p. 68. 19 3 Gale, Script, p. 472.
20 Ibid. p. 475. 481.
21 The word is usually abbreviated. In p. 77. and some other places, it occurs
at full length.
22 See Du Cange, Gloss. Med. Lat. 1. p. 859.
23 Wilkins, Leges Sax. p. 63.
505
NOTE
On the COLONI of the Roman Empire.
IT will assist us in forming more correct ideas of the state of
the peasantry of the Anglo-Saxons, if we consider that por-
tion of the agricultural population in the Roman empire,
when the Gothic nations overran it, who were termed the
Coloni. It is probable that this order of peasants was esta-
blished in Britain while the Romans occupied it, as in the
other parts of their dominions ; and that the Anglo-Saxons
found them there when they invaded it.
Mr. Savigny has given one of the latest and best accounts
of this class of the Roman husbandmen in his Memoir to the
Acad. Roy. at Berlin, in 1822 ; and as they seem to come
nearest to the Anglo-Saxon ceorls than any others of the rustic
class of the lower empire, we will subjoin some of the in-
formation which he has industriously collected.
" The Coloni were by their birth attached to the soil, not
as day-labourers, but as farmers, cultivating, on their own
account, a certain extent of soil, and obliged to pay for their
enjoyment of it an annual canon or a rent, usually in kind,
but sometimes in money. They do not seem to have been
subjected to any personal services for the proprietor of the
lands they occupied, who was often called the Patronus.
They had no actual right in the land ; yet as they could not
be separated from it, nor their rent be arbitrarily increased,
their tenure was as secure as if they had been proprietors.
" The land could not be alienated without the coloni, nor
the coloni without the land. They were subjected to a per-
sonal contribution to the state, which was entered on the rolls
after the land tax on the property.
" The owner paid both these assessments to the govern-
ment, and collected them from these tenants ; with whom
the personal tax was so closely connected, that when ^ the law
suppressed it in some provinces, it added a declaration that
this should not change the condition of the coloni.
* They differed from slaves in being freemen : capable of
contracting marriage, and of possessing property of their own,
which their patronus could not take, though they could not
VOL. II. L L
506 NOTE ON THE COLONI.
alienate it without his leave. But they got released from this
restriction, if they became one of the three classes into which
the free citizens of the empire were divided : Gives ; Latini ;
.Percgrini. Their obligatory attachment to the soil occa-
sioned them to be sometimes called Servi terrce; and from
their taxation they were also named adscriptitii ; tributarii ;
censiti ; a more rare appellation was inquilini. The largest
part of them were in this state from birth ; some by prescrip-
tion ; and some, less frequently, by contract." Ferrussac's
Bull. Univ. 1827, No. 3. Hist. pp. 200—202.
END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.
LONDON :
SPOTTISWOODES and SHAW,
New-street-Square.
NUV 7 1975
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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
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152 The history of the Anglo-
T87 Saxons. 7th ed.
1852
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