LORD'S LECTURES
BEACON LIGHTS OF HISTORY, VOLUME VIII
GREAT RULERS.
BY JOHN LORD, LL.D.,
AUTHOR OF "THE OLD ROMAN WORLD," "MODERN EUROPE,"
ETC., ETC.
CONTENTS.
ALFRED THE GREAT.
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
The early Saxons
Their conquest of England
Division of England into petty kingdoms
Conversion of the Saxons
The Saxon bishoprics
Early distinguished men
Isadore, Caedmon, and Baeda, or Bede
Birth and early life of Alfred
Succession to the throne of Wessex
Danish invasions
Humiliation and defeat of Alfred
His subsequent conquests
Final settlement of the Danes
Alfred fortifies his kingdom
Reorganizes the army and navy
His naval successes
Renewed Danish invasions
The laws of Alfred
Their severity
Alfred's judicial reforms
Establishment of shires and parishes
Administrative reforms
Financial resources of Alfred
His efforts in behalf of education
His literary labors
Final defeat of the Danes
Death and character of Alfred
His services to civilization
Authorities
QUEEN ELIZABETH.
WOMAN AS A SOVEREIGN.
The reign of Queen Elizabeth associated with progress
Her birth and education
Her trials of the heart
Her critical situation during the reign of Mary
Her expediences
Her dissembling
State of the kingdom on her accession to the throne
Rudeness and loyalty of the people
Difficulties of the Queen
The policy she pursued
Her able ministers
Lord Burleigh
Archbishop Parker
Favorites of Elizabeth
The establishment of the Church of England
Its adaptation to the wants of the nation
Religious persecution
Development of national resources
Pacific policy of the government
Administration of justice
Hatred of war
Glory of Elizabeth allied with the prosperity of England
Good government
Royal economy
Charge of tyranny considered
Power of Parliament
Mary, Queen of Scots
Palliating circumstances for her execution
Character of Mary Stuart
Her plots and intrigues
The execution of Essex
Other charges against Elizabeth
Her coquetry
Her defects
Her virtues
Her public services
Her great fame
Her influence contrasted with power
Verdict of Lord Bacon
Elizabethan era
Constellation of men of genius
HENRY OF NAVARRE.
THE HUGUENOTS.
The Cause and the Hero
The sixteenth century contrasted with the nineteenth
A New Spirit in the world
Differences of progress
Religious, civil, and social upheavals
John Calvin
Reformed doctrines in France
Persecution of the Huguenots
They arm in self-defence to secure religious liberty
Henry of Navarre
Jeanne D'Albret
Education of Henry
Coligny
Slaughter of St. Bartholomew
The Duke of Guise, Catherine de Medicis, and Charles IX.
Effects of the massacre
Responsibility for it
Stand taken by the Protestants
They retire to La Rochelle
Bravery and ability of Henry
Battle of Coutras
Battle of Ivry
Abjuration of Henry IV
His motives
The ceremony
Edict of Nantes
Henry's service to France
Effects of the Abjuration of Henry IV. on the Huguenots
Character of Henry
GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS.
THIRTY YEARS' WAR.
The Thirty Years' War a political necessity
Agitation which succeeded the death of Luther
Brilliancy of the period
Persecution of the Protestants
Ferdinand II
Bohemia
Its insurrection
Renewed persecution
Its success
Elector Count Palatine
Rallying of German princes against the Emperor
Wallenstein
His successful warfare
Consternation of Germany
Gustavus Adolphus comes to its relief
Character of Gustavus Adolphus
His brilliant exploits
Balance of power
Dismissal and recall of Wallenstein
The contending forces
Battle of Lutzen
Death of Gustavus Adolphus
Peace of Westphalia
Its political consequences
Ultimate effects of the Thirty Years' War
CARDINAL RICHELIEU.
ABSOLUTISM.
State of France in the 17th Century
Elevation of Richelieu
He perceives the great necessities of the State
Makes himself necessary to Louis XIII.
His aims as Prime Minister
His executive ability
His remorseless tyranny
His warfare on the Huguenots
Aims of the Huguenots
La Rochelle
Fall of the Huguenots
Character of the Nobility; their decimation
The Queen-Mother
The Duke of Orleans
The justification of Richelieu
The Parliaments
Their hostilities
Their humiliation
The policy of Richelieu
His services to the Crown
His internal improvements
His defects of character
Necessity of absolutism amid treasons and anarchies
Abuse of absolutism
OLIVER CROMWELL.
ENGLISH REVOLUTION.
The Puritans
Their peculiarities
Love of Civil Liberty
Charles I. and his ministers
Laud
Strafford
Tyranny of the King
Persecution of the Puritans
Petition of Right
Reforms
The Parliament
Contest between the King and Parliament
War and Revolution
Characteristics of the Age
Rise of Cromwell
His military genius
Battle of Naseby
Of Preston
Conquest of Scotland
Execution of Charles I.
A war measure
The Independents gain ascendency
Conquest of Ireland
Cromwell made Protector of the army
Military despotism
Motives of Cromwell
His great abilities as a ruler
His services to England
Greatness of England under Cromwell
Cromwell contrasted with Louis XIV.
His intellectual defects
His death
Cromwell as an instrument of Providence
Occasional necessity of absolutism
Ultimate effect of Cromwell's rule
LOUIS XIV.
THE FRENCH MONARCHY.
Illustrious men on the accession of Louis XIV.
State of France
Ambition of Louis XIV.
His love of military glory
His character
His inherited greatness
His alliance with the Church
His unbounded power
His great ministers
Colbert
Aims of Colbert
His great services
Louvois
His great executive abilities
The first war of Louis XIV.
Conquest of Flanders
Its iniquity
Invasion of Holland
Easy victories
Rise of William of Nassau
Prevents the conquest of Holland
Peace of Nimeguen
Louis in the zenith of power
His aggrandizement
His palaces
His court
His mistresses
His friendship with Madame de Maintenon
Elevation of Maintenon
Religious persecution
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes
Coalition against Louis XIV.
Unfortunate wars
Humiliation
His death
Effects of his reign in France
LOUIS XV.
REMOTE CAUSES OF REVOLUTION.
Long reign of Louis XV.
Decline of French military power
Loss of colonial possessions
Cardinal Fleury
Duke of Orleans
Derangement of the finances
Injustice of feudal privileges
John Law
Mississippi scheme
Bursting of the bubble
Excessive taxation
Worthlessness of the nobility
Their effeminacy and hypocrisy
Character of the King
Corruption of his court
The Jesuits
Death of the King
The reign of court mistresses
Madame de Pompadour
Extravagance of the aristocracy
Improvements of Paris
Fall of the Jesuits
The Philosophers and their writings,--Voltaire, Rousseau
Accumulating miseries and disgraceful government
PETER THE GREAT.
HIS SERVICES TO RUSSIA.
State of Russia on the accession of Peter the Great
The necessity for a great ruler to arise
Early days of the Czar Peter
Accession to the throne
Lefort
Origin of a navy
Seizure of Azof
Military reform
Peter sets out on his travels
Works as a carpenter in Holland
Mentchikof
Peter visits England
Visits Vienna
Completion of the apprenticeship of Peter
He abolishes the Streltzi
Various other reforms
Opposition of the clergy
War with Charles XII. of Sweden
Battle of Narva
Siege of Pultowa
Peter invades Turkey
His imprudence and rashness
Saved by the sagacity of his wife Catherine
Foundation of St. Petersburg
Second tour of Europe
Misconduct and fate of Alexis
Coronation of Catherine I.
Character of Peter
His great services to Russia
FREDERIC THE GREAT.
THE PRUSSIAN POWER.
Characteristics of the man
Education of Frederic II.
His character
Becomes King
Seizure of a part of Liège
Seizure of Silesia
Maria Theresa
Visit of Voltaire
Friendship between Voltaire and Frederic
Coalition against Frederic
Seven Years' War
Carlyle's History of Frederic
Empress Elizabeth of Russia
Decisive battles of Rossbach, Luthen, and Zorndorf
Heroism and fortitude of Frederic
Results of the Seven Years' War
Partition of Poland
Development of the resources of Prussia
Public improvements
General services of Frederic to his country
His character
His ultimate influence
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VOLUME VIII.
Frederic the Great Reproaching his Generals at Köben
_After the painting by Arthur Kampf_.
Embarkation of Anglo-Saxons for the Conquest of England
_After the painting by H. Merté_.
Queen Elizabeth
_After the "Ermine" portrait by F. Zucchero_.
Last Moments of Queen Elizabeth
_After the painting by Paul Delaroche_.
The Morning after the Massacre of St. Bartholomew
_After the painting by Ed. Debat-Ponsan_.
Henry of Navarre and La Belle Fosseuse
_After the painting by A.P.E. Morlon_.
The Imperial Counsellors are Thrown Out of the Window
by the Bohemian Delegates
_After the painting by V. Brozik_.
Cardinal Richelieu
_After the painting by Ph. de Champaign, National Gallery, London_.
Richelieu Watches the Siege Operations from the Dam
at Rochelle
_After the painting by Henri Motte_.
Oliver Cromwell
_After the painting by Pieter van der Picas_.
Louis XIV. and Mlle. de la Valliere
_After the painting by A.P.E. Morlon_.
Peter the Great
_After a Contemporaneous Engraving_.
Peter the Great Learns the Trade of Ship-Carpentry at Zaardam
_After the painting by Felix Cogen_.
Frederic the Great
_After the painting by W. Camphausen_.
ALFRED THE GREAT.
A.D. 849-901.
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
Alfred is one of the most interesting characters in all history for
those blended virtues and talents which remind us of a David, a Marcus
Aurelius, or a Saint Louis,--a man whom everybody loved, whose deeds
were a boon, whose graces were a radiance, and whose words were a
benediction; alike a saint, a poet, a warrior, and a statesman. He ruled
a little kingdom, but left a great name, second only to Charlemagne,
among the civilizers of his people and nation in the Middle Ages. As a
man of military genius he yields to many of the kings of England, to say
nothing of the heroes of ancient and modern times.
When he was born, A.D. 849, the Saxons had occupied Britain, or England,
about four hundred years, having conquered it from the old Celtic
inhabitants soon after the Romans had retired to defend their own
imperial capital from the Goths. Like the Goths, Vandals, Franks,
Burgundians, Lombards, and Heruli, the Saxons belonged to the same
Teutonic race, whose remotest origin can be traced to Central
Asia,--kindred, indeed, to the early inhabitants of Italy and Greece,
whom we call Indo-European, or Aryan. These Saxons--one of the fiercest
tribes of the Teutonic barbarians;--lived, before the invasion of
Britain, in that part of Europe which we now call Schleswig, in the
heart of the peninsula which parts the Baltic from the northern seas;
also in those parts of Germany which now belong to Hanover and
Oldenburg. It does not appear from the best authorities that these
tribes--called Engle, Saxon, and Jute--wandered about seeking a
precarious living, but they were settled in villages, in the government
of which we trace the germs of the subsequent social and political
institutions of England. The social centre was the homestead of the
_oetheling_ or _corl_, distinguished from his fellow-villagers by his
greater wealth and nobler blood, and held by them in hereditary
reverence. From him and his brother-oethelings the leaders of a warlike
expedition were chosen. He alone was armed with spear and sword, and his
long hair floated in the wind. He was bound to protect his kinsmen from
wrong and injustice. The land which inclosed the village, whether
reserved for pasture, wood, or tillage, was undivided, and every free
villager had the right of turning his cattle and swine upon it, and also
of sharing in the division of the harvest. The basis of the life was
agricultural. Our Saxon ancestors in Germany did not subsist exclusively
by hunting or fishing, although these pursuits were not neglected. They
were as skilful with the plough and mattock as they were in steering a
boat or hunting a deer or pursuing a whale. They were coarse in their
pleasures, but religious in their turn of mind; Pagans, indeed, but
worshipping the powers of Nature with poetic ardor. They were born
warriors, and their passion for the sea led to adventurous enterprise.
Before the close of the third century their boats, driven by fifty oars,
had been seen in the British waters; and after the Romans had left the
Britons to defend themselves against the Scots and Picts, the harassed
rulers of the land invoked the aid of these Saxon pirates, and, headed
by two ealdormen,--Hengist and Horsa,--they landed on the Isle of Thanet
in the year 449.
These two chieftains are the earliest traditionary heroes of the Saxons
in England. Their mercenary work was soon done, and after it was done
they had no idea of retiring to their own villages in Germany. They cast
their greedy eyes on richer pastures and more fruitful fields.
Brother-pirates flocked from the Elbe and Rhine to their settlement in
Thanet. In forty-five years after Hengist and Horsa landed, Cerdic with
a more formidable band had taken possession of a large part of the
southern coast, and pushed his way to Winchester and founded the
kingdom of Wessex. But the work of conquest was slow. It took seventy
years for the Saxons to become masters of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire,
Essex, and Wessex.
A stout resistance to the invading Saxons had been made by the native
Britons, headed by Arthur,--a legendary hero, who is thought to have
lived near the close of the fifth century. His deeds and those of the
knights of the Round Table form the subject of one of the most
interesting romances of the Middle Ages, probably written in the
brightest age of chivalry, and by a monk very ignorant of history, since
he gives many Norman names to his characters. But all the valor of the
Celtic hero and his chivalrous followers was of no avail before the
fierce and persistent attacks of a hardier race, bent on the possession
of a fairer land than their own.
We know but little of the details of the various conflicts until Britain
was finally won by these predatory tribes of barbarians. The stubborn
resistance of the Britons led to their final retreat or complete
extermination, and with their disappearance also perished what remained
of the Roman civilization. The resistance of the Britons was much more
obstinate than that of any of the other provinces of the Empire; but, as
the forces arrayed against them were comparatively small, the work of
conquest was slow. "It took thirty years to win Kent alone, and sixty
to complete the conquest of south Britain, and nearly two hundred to
subdue the whole island." But when the conquest was made it was
complete, and England was Saxon, in language, in institutions, and in
manners; while France retained much of the language, habits, and
institutions of the Romans, and even of the old Gaulish elements of
society. England became a German nation on the complete wreck of
everything Roman, whose peculiar characteristic was the freedom of those
who tilled the land or gathered around the military standard of their
chieftains. It was the gradual transfer of a whole German nation from
the Elbe and Rhine to the Thames and the Humber, with their original
village institutions, under the rule of their _eorls_, with the simple
addition of kings,--unknown in their original settlements, but brought
about by the necessities which military life and conquest produced.
After the conquest we find seven petty kings, who ruled in different
parts of the island. Jealousies, wars, and marriages soon reduced their
number to three, ruling over Wessex, Mercia, and Northumbria. All the
people of these kingdoms were Pagan, the chief deity of whom was Woden.
It was not till the middle of the seventh century that Christianity was
introduced into Wessex, although Kent and Northumbria received Christian
missionaries half-a-century earlier. The beautiful though well-known
tradition of the incidents which led to the introduction of the
Christian religion deserves a passing mention. About the middle of the
sixth century some Saxons taken in war, in one of the quarrels of rival
kings, and hence made slaves, were exposed for sale in Rome. Gregory the
Great, then simply deacon, passing by the market-place, observed their
fair faces, white bodies, blue eyes, and golden hair, and inquired of
the slave-dealer who they were. "They are English, or Angles." "No, not
Angles," said the pious and poetic deacon; "they are angels, with faces
so angelic. From what country did they come?" "From Deira." "_De Ira!_
ay, plucked from God's wrath. What is the name of their king?" "Ella."
"Ay, let alleluia be sung in their land." It need scarcely be added that
when this pious and witty deacon became pope he remembered these Saxon
slaves, and sent Augustin (or Austin,--not to be confounded with
Augustine of Hippo, who lived nearly two centuries earlier), with forty
monks as missionaries to convert the pagan Saxons. They established
themselves in Kent A.D. 597, which became the seat of the first English
bishopric, through the favor of the king, Aethelbert, whose wife
Clotilda, a French princess, had been previously converted. Soon after,
Essex followed the example of Kent; and then Northumbria. Wessex was the
last of the Saxon kingdoms to be converted, their inhabitants being
especially fierce and warlike.
It is singular that no traces of Christianity seem to have been left in
Britain on the completion of the Saxon conquest, although it had been
planted there as early as the time of Constantine. Helena was a
Christian, and Pelagius and Celestine were British monks. But the Saxon
conquest eradicated all that was left of Roman influence and
institutions.
When Christianity had once acquired a foothold among the Saxons its
progress was rapid. In no country were monastic institutions more firmly
planted. Monasteries and churches were erected in the principal
settlements and liberally endowed by the Saxon kings. In Kent were the
great sees of Canterbury and Rochester; in Essex was London; in East
Anglia was Norwich; in Wessex was Winchester; in Mercia were Lichfield,
Leicester, Worcester, and Hereford; in Northumbria were York, Durham,
and Ripon. Each cathedral had its schools and convents. Christianity
became the law of the land, and entered largely into all the Saxon
codes. There was a constant immigration of missionaries into Britain,
and the great sees were filled with distinguished ecclesiastics,
frequently from the continent, since a strong union was cemented between
Rome and the English churches. Prince and prelate made frequent
pilgrimages to the old capital of the world, and were received with
distinguished honors. The monasteries were filled with princes and
nobles and ladies of rank. As early as the eighth century monasteries
were enormously multiplied and enriched, for the piety of the Saxons
assumed a monastic type. What civilization existed can be traced chiefly
to the Church.
We read of only three great names among the Saxons who impressed their
genius on the nation, until the various Saxon kingdoms were united under
the sovereignty of Ecgberht, or Egbert, king of Wessex, about the middle
of the ninth century. These were Theodore, Caedmon, and Baeda. The first
was a monk from Tarsus, whom the Pope dispatched in the year 668 to
Britain as Archbishop of Canterbury. To him the work of church
organization was intrusted. He enlarged the number of the sees, and
arranged them on the basis which was maintained for a thousand years.
The subordination of priest to bishop and bishop to primate was more
clearly defined by him. He also assembled councils for general
legislation, which perhaps led the way to national parliaments. He not
only organized the episcopate, but the parish system, and even the
system of tithes has been by some attributed to him. The missionary who
had been merely the chaplain of a nobleman became the priest of the
manor or parish.
The second memorable man was born a cowherd; encouraged to sing his
songs by the abbess Hilda, a "Northumbrian Deborah." When advanced in
life he entered through her patronage a convent, and sang the
marvellous and touching stories of the Hebrew Scriptures, fixing their
truths on the mind of the nation, and becoming the father of
English poetry.
The third of these great men was the greatest, Baeda,--or Bede, as the
name is usually spelled. He was a priest of the great abbey church of
Weremouth, in Northumbria, and was a master of all the learning then
known. He was the life of the famous school of Jarrow, and it is said
that six hundred monks, besides strangers, listened to his teachings.
His greatest work was an "Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation,"
which extends from the landing of Julius Caesar to the year 731. He was
the first English historian, and the founder of mediaeval history, and
all we know of the one hundred and fifty years after the landing of
Augustin the missionary is drawn from him. He was not only historian,
but theologian,--the father of the education of the English nation.
It was one hundred and fourteen years after the death of the "venerable
Bede" before Alfred was born, A.D. 849, the youngest son of Aethelwulf,
king of Wessex, who united under his rule all the Saxon kingdoms. The
mother of Alfred was Osburgha, a German princess of extraordinary force
of character. From her he received, at the age of four, the first
rudiments of education, and learned to sing those Saxon ballads which
he afterwards recited with so much effect in the Danish camp. At the
age of five Alfred was sent to Rome, probably to be educated, where he
remained two years, visiting on his return the court of Charles the
Bald,--the centre of culture in Western Europe. The celebrated Hincmar,
Archbishop of Rheims,--the greatest churchman of the age,--was the most
influential minister of the king; at whose table also sat John Erigena,
then engaged in a controversy with Gotteschalk, the German monk, about
the presence of Christ in the eucharist,--the earliest notable
theological controversy after the Patristic age. Alfred was too young to
take an interest in this profound discussion; but he may perhaps have
received an intellectual impulse from his visit to Rome and Paris, which
affected his whole subsequent life.
About this time his father, over sixty years of age, married a French
princess of the name of Judith, only fourteen years of age,--even in
that rude age a great scandal, which nearly resulted in his
dethronement. He lived but two years longer; and his youthful widow, to
the still greater scandal of the realm and Church, married her late
husband's eldest son, Ethelbald, who inherited the crown. It was through
this woman, and her subsequent husband Baldwin, called _Bras de Fer_,
Count of Flanders, that the English kings, since the Conqueror, trace
their descent from Alfred and Charlemagne; for her son, the second
Count of Flanders, married Elfrida, the daughter of Alfred. From this
union descended the Conqueror's wife Matilda. Thus the present royal
family of England can trace a direct descent through William the
Conqueror, Alfred, and Charlemagne, and is allied by blood, remotely
indeed, with most of the reigning princes of Europe.
The three elder brothers of Alfred reigned successively over Wessex,--to
whom all England owned allegiance. It was during their short reigns that
the great invasion of the Danes took place, which reduced the whole
island to desolation and misery. These Danes were of the same stock as
the Saxons, but more enterprising and bold. It seems that they drove the
Saxons before them, as the Saxons, three hundred years before, had
driven the Britons. In their destructive ravages they sacked and burned
Croyland, Peterborough, Huntington, Ely, and other wealthy abbeys,--the
glory of the kingdom,--together with their valuable libraries.
It was then that Alfred (already the king's most capable general) began
his reign, A.D. 871, at the age of twenty-three, on the death of his
brother Ethelred,--a brave and pious prince, mortally wounded at the
battle of Merton.
It was Alfred's memorable struggle with the Danes which gave to him his
military fame. When he ascended the throne these barbarians had gained
a foothold, and in a few years nearly the whole of England was in their
hands. Wave followed wave in the dreadful invasion; fleet after fleet
and army after army was destroyed, and the Saxons were driven nearly to
despair; for added to the evils of pillage and destruction were
pestilence and famine, the usual attendants of desolating wars. In the
year 878 the heroic leader of the disheartened people was compelled to
hide himself, with a few faithful followers, in the forest of Selwood,
amid the marshes of Somersetshire. Yet Alfred--a fugitive--succeeded at
last in rescuing his kingdom of Wessex from the dominion of Pagan
barbarians, and restoring it to a higher state of prosperity than it had
ever attained before. He preserved both Christianity and civilization.
For these exalted services he is called "the Great;" and no prince ever
more heroically earned the title.
"It is hard," says Hughes, who has written an interesting but not
exhaustive life of Alfred, "to account for the sudden and complete
collapse of the West Saxon power in January, 878, since in the campaign
of the preceding year Alfred had been successful both by sea and land."
Yet such seems to have been the fact, whatever may be its explanation.
No such panic had ever overcome the Britons, who made a more stubborn
resistance. No prince ever suffered a severer humiliation than did the
Saxon monarch during the dreary winter of 878; but, according to Asser,
it was for his ultimate good. Alfred was deeply and sincerely religious,
and like David saw the hand of God in all his misfortunes. In his case
adversity proved the school of greatness. For six months he was hidden
from public view, lost sight of entirely by his afflicted subjects,
enduring great privations, and gaining a scanty subsistence. There are
several popular legends about his life in the marshes, too well known to
be described,--one about the cakes and another about his wanderings to
the Danish camp disguised as a minstrel, both probable enough; yet, if
true, they show an extraordinary depth of misfortunes.
At last his subjects began to rally. It was known by many that Alfred
was alive. Bodies of armed followers gradually gathered at his retreat.
He was strongly intrenched; and occasionally he issued from his retreat
to attack straggling bands, or to make reconnoissance of the enemy's
forces. In May, 878, he left his fortified position and met some brave
and faithful subjects at Egbert's Stone, twenty miles to the east of
Selwood. The gathering had been carefully planned and secretly made, and
was unknown to the Danes. His first marked success was at Edington, or
Ethandune, where the Pagan host lay encamped, near Westbury. We have no
definite knowledge of the number of men engaged in that bloody and
desperate battle, in which the Saxons were greatly outnumbered by the
Danes, who were marshalled under a chieftain called Guthrun. But the
battle was decisive, and made Alfred once more master of England south
of the Thames. Guthrun, now in Alfred's power, was the ablest warrior
that the Northmen had as yet produced. He was shut up in an inland fort,
with no ships on the nearest river, and with no hope of reinforcements.
At the end of two weeks he humbly sued for peace, offering to quit
Wessex for good, and even to embrace the Christian religion. Strange as
it may seem, Alfred granted his request,--either, with profound
statesmanship, not wishing to drive a desperate enemy to extremities, or
seeking his conversion. The remains of the discomfited Pagan host
crossed over into Mercia, and gave no further trouble. Never was a
conquest attended with happier results. Guthrun (with thirty of his
principal nobles) was baptized into the Christian faith, and received
the Saxon name of Athelstan. But East Anglia became a Danish kingdom.
The Danes were not expelled from England. Their settlement was
permanent. The treaty of Wedmore confirmed them in their possessions.
Alfred by this treaty was acknowledged as undisputed master of England
south of the Thames; of Wessex and Essex, including London, Hertford,
and St. Albans; of the whole of Mercia west of Watling Street,--the
great road from London to Chester; but the Danes retained also one half
of England, which shows how formidable they were, even in defeat. The
Danes and the Saxons, it would seem, commingled, and gradually became
one nation.
The great Danish invasion of the ninth century was successful, since it
gave half of England to the Pagans. It is a sad thing to contemplate.
Civilization was doubtless retarded. Whole districts were depopulated,
and monasteries and churches were ruthlessly destroyed, with their
libraries and works of art. This could not have happened without a
fearful demoralization among the Saxons themselves. They had become
prosperous, and their wealth was succeeded by vices, especially luxury
and sloth. Their wealth tempted the more needy of the adventurers from
the North, who succeeded in their aggressions because they were stronger
than the Saxons. So slow was the progress of England in civilization. As
soon as it became centralized under a single monarch, it was subjected
to fresh calamities. It would seem that the history of those ages is
simply the history of violence and spoliations. There was the perpetual
waste of human energies. Barbarism seemed to be stronger than
civilization. Nor in this respect was the condition of England unique.
The same public misfortunes happened in France, Germany, Italy, and
Spain. For five hundred years Europe was the scene of constant strife.
Not until the Normans settled in England were the waves of barbaric
invasion arrested.
The Danish conquest made a profound impression on Alfred, and stimulated
him to renewed efforts to preserve what still remained of Christian
civilization. His whole subsequent life was spent in actual war with the
Northmen, or in preparations for war. It was remarkable that he
succeeded as well as he did, for after all he was the sovereign of
scarcely half the territory that Egbert had won, and over which his
grandfather and father had ruled. He preserved Wessex; and in preserving
Wessex he saved England, which would have been replunged in barbarism
but for his perseverance, energy, and courage. That Danish invasion was
a chastisement not undeserved, for both the clergy and the laity had
become corrupt, had been enervated by prosperity. The clergy especially
were lazy and ignorant; not one in a thousand could write a common
letter of salutation. They had fattened on the contributions of princes
and of the credulous people; they saw the destruction of their richest
and proudest abbeys, and their lands seized by Pagan barbarians, who
settled down in them as lords of the soil, especially in Northumbria.
But Alfred at least arrested their further progress, and threw them on
the defensive. He knew that the recovery of the conquests which the
Saxons had made was a work of exceeding difficulty. It was necessary to
make great preparations for future struggles, as peace with the Danes
was only a truce. They aimed at the complete conquest of the island, and
they sought to rouse the hostility of the Welsh.
Alfred showed a wise precaution against future assaults in constructing
fortresses at the most important points within his control. Before his
day the Saxons had but few fortified positions, and this want of forts
had greatly facilitated the Danish conquest. But the Danes, as soon as
they gained a strong position, fortified it, and were never afterwards
ejected by force. Probably Alfred took the hint from them. He rebuilt
and strengthened the fortresses along the coast, as he had four precious
years of unmolested work; and for this his small kingdom was doubtless
severely taxed. He imported skilled workmen, and adopted the newest
improvements. He made use of stone instead of timber, and extended his
works of construction to palaces, halls, and churches, as well as
castles. So well built were his fortifications, that no strong place was
ever afterwards wrested from him. In those times the defence of kingdoms
was in castles. They marked the feudal ages equally with monasteries and
cathedral churches. Castles protected the realm from invasion and
conquest, as much as they did the family of a feudal noble. The wisdom
as well as the necessity of fortified cities was seen in a marked manner
when the Northmen, in 885, stole up the Thames and Medway and made an
unexpected assault on Rochester. They were completely foiled, and were
obliged to retreat to their ships, leaving behind them even the spoil
they had brought from France. This successful resistance was a great
moral assistance to Alfred, since it opened the eyes of bishops and
nobles to the necessity of fortifying their towns, to which they had
hitherto been opposed, being unwilling to incur the expense. So it was
not long before Alfred had a complete chain of defences on the coast, as
well as around his cities and palaces, able to resist sudden
attacks,--which he had most to fear. His great work of fortification was
that of London, which, though belonging to him by the peace of Wedmore,
was neglected, fallen to decay, filled with lawless bands of marauders
and pirates, and defenceless against attack. In 886 he marched against
this city, which made no serious resistance; rebuilt it, made it
habitable, fortified it, and encouraged people to settle in it, for he
foresaw its vast commercial importance. Under the rule of his son
Ethelred, it regained the pre-eminence it had enjoyed under the Romans
as a commercial centre.
Having done what he could to protect his dominion from sudden attacks,
Alfred then turned his attention to the reorganization of his army and
navy. Strictly speaking he had no regular army, or standing force, which
he could call his own. When the country was threatened the freemen flew
to arms, under their eorls and ealdormen; and on this force the king was
obliged to rely. They sometimes acted without his orders, obeying the
calls of their leaders when danger was most imminent. On the men in the
immediate neighborhood of danger the brunt of the contest fell. Nor
could levies be relied upon for any length of time; they dwindled after
a few weeks, in order to attend to their agricultural interests, for
agriculture was the only great and permanent pursuit in the feudal ages.
Everything was subordinate to labors in the field. The only wealth was
in land, except what was hoarded by the clergy and nobles.
How well Alfred paid his soldiers it is difficult to determine. His own
private means were large, and the Crown lands were very extensive.
One-third of his income was spent upon his army. But it is not probable
that a large force was under pay in time of peace; yet he had always one
third of his forces ready to act promptly against an enemy. The burden
of the service was distributed over the whole kingdom. The main feature
of his military reform seems to have been in the division of his forces
into three bodies, only one of which was liable to be called upon for
service at a time, except in great emergencies. In regard to tactics, or
changes in armor and mode of fighting, we know nothing; for war as an
art or science did not exist in any Teutonic kingdom; it was lost with,
the fall of the Roman Empire. How far Alfred was gifted with military
genius we are unable to say, beyond courage, fertility of resources,
activity of movement, and a marvellous patience. His greatest qualities
were moral, like those of Washington. It is his reproachless character,
and his devotion to duty, and love of his people which impress us from
first to last. As has been said of Marcus Aurelius, Alfred was a Saint
Anselm on a throne. He had none of those turbulent and restless
qualities which we associate with mediaeval kings. What a contrast
between him and William the Conqueror!
Alfred also gave his attention to the construction of a navy, as well as
to the organization of an army, knowing that it was necessary to resist
the Northmen on the ocean and prevent their landing on the coast. In 875
he had fought a naval battle with success, and had taken one of the
ships of the sea-kings, which furnished him with a model to build his
own ships,--doing the same thing that the Romans did in their early
naval warfare with the Carthaginians. In 877 he destroyed a Danish fleet
on its way to relieve Exeter. But he soon made considerable improvement
on the ships of his enemies, making them twice as long as those of the
Danes, with a larger number of oars. These were steadier and swifter
than the older vessels. As the West Saxons were not a seafaring people,
he employed and munificently rewarded men from other nations more
accustomed to the sea,--whether Frisians, Franks, Britons, Scots, or
even Danes. The result was, he was never badly beaten at sea, and before
the end of his reign he had swept the coast clear of pirates. Within two
years from the treaty of Wedmore his fleet was ready for action. He was
prepared to meet the sea-kings on equal terms, and in 882 he had gained
an important naval battle over a fleet that was meditating an invasion.
In the year 885 the Danes again invaded England and laid siege to
Rochester, but fled to their ships on the approach of Alfred. They were
pursued by the Saxon king and defeated with great slaughter, sixteen
Danish vessels being destroyed and their crews put to the sword. Nor had
Guthrun Athelstan, the ex-viking, been true to his engagements. He had
allowed two additional settlements of Danes on the East Anglian coasts,
and had even assisted Alfred's enemies. Their defeat, however, induced
him to live peaceably in East Anglia until he died in 890. These
successes of Alfred secured peace with the Danes for eight more years,
during which he pursued his various schemes for the improvement of his
people, and in preparations for future wars. He had put his kingdom in a
state of defence, and now turned his attention to legislation,--the
supremest labor of an enlightened monarch.
The laws of Alfred wear a close resemblance to those which Moses gave to
the Hebrews, and moreover are pervaded with Christian ideas. His aim
seems to have been to recognize in his jurisprudence the supreme
obedience which is due to the laws of God. In all the laws of the
converted Teutonic nations, from Charlemagne down, we notice the
influence of the Christian clergy in modifying the severity of the old
Pagan codes. Alfred did not aim to be an original legislator, like Moses
or Solon, but selected from the Mosaic code, and also from the laws of
Ethelbert, Ina, Offa, and other Saxon princes, those regulations which
he considered best adapted to the circumstances of the people whom he
governed. He recognized more completely than any of his predecessors the
rights of property, and attached great sanctity to oaths. Whoever
violated his pledge was sentenced to imprisonment. He raised the dignity
of ealdormen and bishops to that of the highest rank. He made treason
against the royal authority the gravest offence known to the laws, and
all were deemed traitors who should presume to draw the sword in the
king's house. He made new provisions for personal security, and severely
punished theft and robbery of every kind, especially of the property of
the Church. He bestowed freedom on slaves after six years of service.
Some think he instituted trial by jury. Like Theodosius and Charlemagne,
he gave peculiar privileges to the clergy as a counterpoise to the
lawlessness of nobles.
One of the peculiarities of his legislation was compensation for
crime,--seen alike in the Mosaic dispensation and in the old customs of
the Germanic nations in their native forests. On conviction, the culprit
was compelled to pay a sum of money to the relatives of the injured, and
another sum to the community at large. This compensation varied
according to the rank of the injured party,--and rank was determined by
wealth. The owner of two hydes of land was ranked above a ceorl, or
simple farmer, while the owner of twelve hydes was a royal thane. In the
compensation for crime the gradation was curious: twelve shillings would
pay for the loss of a foot, ten for a great toe, and twenty for a thumb.
If a man robbed his equal, he was compelled to pay threefold; if he
robbed the king, he paid ninefold; and if he robbed the church, he was
obliged to return twelvefold: hence the robbery of ecclesiastical
property was attended with such severe penalties that it was unusual. In
some cases theft was punished with death.
The code of Alfred was severe, but in an age of crime and disorder
severity was necessary. He also instituted a vigorous police, and
divided the country into counties, and these again into hundreds or
parishes, each of which was made responsible for the maintenance of
order and the detection of crime. He was severe on judges when they
passed sentence irrespective of the rights of jurors. He did not
emancipate slaves, but he ameliorated their condition and limited their
term of compulsory service. Burglary in the king's house was punished by
a fine of one hundred and twenty shillings; in an archbishop's, at
ninety; in a bishop's or ealdorman's, at sixty; in the house of a man of
twelve hydes, at thirty shillings; in a six-hyde man's, at fifteen; in a
churl's, at five shillings,--the fine being graded according to the rank
of him whose house had been entered. There was a rigorous punishment for
working on Sunday: if a theow, by order of his lord, the lord had to pay
a penalty of thirty shillings; if without the lord's order, he was
condemned to be flogged. If a freeman worked without his lord's order,
he had to pay sixty shillings or forfeit his freedom. If a man was found
burning a tree in a forest, he was obliged to pay a fine of sixty
shillings, in order to protect the forest; or if he cut down a tree
under which thirty swine might stand, he was obliged to pay a fine of
sixty shillings. These penalties seem severe, but they were inflicted
for offences difficult to be detected and frequently committed. We infer
from these various fines that burglary, robbery, petty larcenies, and
brawls were the most common offences against the laws.
One of the greatest services which Alfred rendered to the cause of
civilization in England was in separating judicial from executive
functions. The old eorls and ealdormen were warriors; and yet to them
had been committed the administration of justice, which they often
abused,--frequently deciding cases against the verdicts of jurors, and
sometimes unjustly dooming innocent men to capital punishment. Alfred
hanged an ealdorman or alderman, one Freberne, for sentencing Haspin to
death when the jury was in doubt. He even hanged twenty-four inferior
officers, on whom judicial duties devolved, for palpable injustice.
The love of justice and truth was one of the main traits of Alfred's
character, and he painfully perceived that the ealdormen of shires,
though faithful and valiant warriors, were not learned and impartial
enough to administer justice. There was scarcely one of them who could
read the written law, or who had any extensive acquaintance with the
common law or the usages which had been in force from time
immemorial,--as far back as in the original villages of Germany.
Moreover, the poor and defenceless had need of protection. They always
had needed it, for in Pagan and barbarous countries their rights were
too often disregarded. When brute force bore everything before it, it
became both the duty and privilege of the king, who represented central
power, to maintain the rights of the humblest of his people,--to whom
he was a father. To see justice enforced is the most exalted of the
prerogatives of sovereigns; and no one appreciated this delegation of
sovereign power from the Universal Father more than Alfred, the most
conscientious and truth-loving of all the kings of the Middle Ages.
So, to maintain justice, Alfred set aside the ignorant and passionate
ealdormen, and appointed judges whose sole duty it was to interpret and
enforce the laws, and men best fitted to represent the king in the royal
courts. They were sent through the shires to see that justice was done,
and to report the decisions of the county courts. Thus came into
existence the judges of assize,--an office or institution which remains
to this day, amid all the revolutions of English thought and life, and
all the changes which politics and dynasties have wrought.
Nor did Alfred rest with a reform of the law courts. He defined the
boundaries of shires, which divisions are very old, and subdivided them
into parishes, which have remained to this day. He gave to each hundred
its court, from which appeals were made to a court representing several
hundreds,--about three to each county. Each hundred was subdivided into
tythings, or companies of ten neighboring householders, who were held as
mutual sureties or frank (free) pledges for each other's orderly
conduct; so that each man was a member of a tything, and was obliged to
keep household rolls of his servants. Thus every liegeman was known to
the law, and was taught his duties and obligations; and every tything
was responsible for the production of its criminals, and obliged to pay
a fine if they escaped. Every householder was liable to answer for any
stranger who might stop at his house. "This mutual liability or
suretyship was the pivot of all Alfred's administrative reform, and
wrought a remarkable change in the kingdom, so that merchants and
travellers could go about without armed guards. The forests were emptied
of outlaws, and confidence and security succeeded distrust and
lawlessness.... The frank pledge-system, which was worked in country
districts, was supplied in towns by the machinery of the
guilds,--institutions combining the benefit of modern clubs, insurance
societies, and trades-unions. As a rule, they were limited to members of
one trade or calling."
Mr. Pearson, in his history of England, as quoted by Hughes, thus sums
up this great administrative reform for the preservation of life and
property and order during the Middle Ages:--
"What is essential to remember is, that life and property were not
secured to the Anglo-Saxon by the State, but by the loyal union of his
fellow-citizens; the Saxon guilds are unmatched in the history of their
times as evidences of self-reliance, mutual trust, patient
self-restraint, and orderly love of law among a young people,
"To recapitulate the reforms of Alfred in the administration of justice
and the resettlement of the country, the old divisions of shires were
carefully readjusted, and divided into hundreds and tythings. The
alderman of the shire still remained the chief officer, but the office
was no longer hereditary. The king appointed the alderman, or eorl, who
was president of the shire gemot, or council, and chief judge of the
county court as well as governor of the shire, but was assisted and
probably controlled in his judicial capacity by justices appointed by
the king, and not attached to the shire, or in any way dependent on the
alderman. The vice-domini, or nominees of the alderman, were abolished,
and an officer substituted for them called the reeve of the shire, or
sheriff, who carried out the decrees of the courts. The hundreds and
tythings were represented by their own officers, and had their
hundred-courts and courts-leet, which exercised a trifling criminal
jurisdiction, but were chiefly assemblies answering to our grand juries
and parish vestries. All householders were members of them, and every
man thus became responsible for keeping the king's peace."