Transcriber’s Note
Italics are indicated by _underscores_, boldface by =equals signs=.
ASSER’S
LIFE OF KING ALFRED
TRANSLATED FROM THE TEXT OF
STEVENSON’S EDITION
BY
ALBERT S. COOK
PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN
YALE UNIVERSITY
GINN & COMPANY
BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · LONDON
COPYRIGHT, 1906
BY ALBERT S. COOK
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
66.1
The Athenæum Press
GINN & COMPANY · PROPRIETORS
· BOSTON · U.S.A.
TO THE FRIENDS
OF
HONEST AND CAPABLE GOVERNMENT
IN AMERICA
PREFACE
The issue of Stevenson’s long and eagerly expected edition of Asser’s
_Life of King Alfred_ has provided an opportunity to supply the ever
increasing number of the great king’s admirers with a more satisfactory
rendering into English of this, perhaps the most precious document,
notwithstanding all its faults, for the comprehension of his life and
character.
The authenticity of the Life was impugned by Thomas Wright in 1841, by
Sir Henry Howorth in 1876–77, and by an unknown writer in 1898, and it
had become somewhat the fashion to regard it as a production of a later
period, and therefore entitled to but little credence. The doubts as to
its authenticity have been satisfactorily dispelled by the two eminent
scholars who have most recently discussed the difficulties, Plummer and
Stevenson.
The former, in his _Life and Times of Alfred the Great_, Oxford, 1902,
says (p. 52): ‘The work which bears Asser’s name cannot be later than
974, and the attempt to treat it as a forgery of the eleventh or
twelfth century must be regarded as having broken down. I may add that
I started with a strong prejudice against the authenticity of Asser,
so that my conclusions have at any rate been impartially arrived at.’
The latter, in his noble edition (Oxford, 1904), remarks (p. vii):
‘In discussing the work I have attempted to approach it without any
bias for or against it, and throughout my endeavor has been to subject
every portion of it to as searching an examination as my knowledge and
critical powers would permit. The net result has been to convince me
that, although there may be no very definite proof that the work was
written by Bishop Asser in the lifetime of King Alfred, there is no
anachronism or other proof that it is a spurious compilation of later
date. The serious charges brought against its authenticity break down
altogether under examination, while there remain several features that
point with varying strength to the conclusion that it is, despite its
difficulties and corruptions, really a work of the time it purports
to be. This result is confirmed by the important corroboration of
some of its statements by contemporary Frankish chroniclers. Thus the
profession of belief in its authenticity by such eminent historians as
Kemble, Pauli, Stubbs, and Freeman agrees with my own conclusion.’
Notwithstanding their general rehabilitation of the work, however,
neither critic is prepared to trust it implicitly. Plummer says (p.
52): ‘On the whole, then, Asser is an authority to be used with
criticism and caution; partly because we have always to be alive
to the possibility of interpolation, partly because the writer’s
Celtic imagination is apt to run away with him.’ And thus Stevenson
(p. cxxx): ‘The work still presents some difficulties. Carelessness
of transcription may possibly explain those that are merely verbal,
but there still remain certain passages that lay the author open
to the charge of exaggeration, such as his mention of gold-covered
and silver-covered buildings, if that be the literal meaning of the
passage, and his statement that Alfred might, if he had chosen, have
been king before his elder brother Æthelred, with whom, it is clear, he
was on most intimate terms.’
The style of the book is not uniform. The passages translated from the
_Chronicle_ are simpler, while in the more original parts the author
displays an unfortunate tendency to a turgid and at times bombastic
manner of writing. Indeed, it displays, in many passages, the traits
of that Hesperic Latinity which, invented or made fashionable in the
sixth century, probably by a British monk in the southwestern part of
England, was more or less current in England from the time of Aldhelm
until the Norman Conquest. This Hesperic, or Celtic, Latinity has
been compared to the mock euphuism of Sir Piercie Shafton in Scott’s
_Monastery_ (Professor H. A. Strong, in _American Journal of Philology_
26. 205), and may be illustrated by Professor Strong’s translation
into English of certain sentences from the _Hisperica Famina_, the
production, as it is believed, of the monk referred to above: ‘This
precious shower of words glitters, by no awkward barriers confining
the diction, and husbands its strength by an exquisite balance and by
equable device, trilling sweet descant of Ausonian speech through the
speaker’s throat by this shower of words passing through Latin throats;
just as countless swarms of bees go here and there in their hollow
hives, and sip the honey-streams in their homes, and set in order, as
they are wont, their combs with their beaks.’
With the passage just quoted may be compared an extract from chapter
88 of Asser, the translation of which is given below (pp. 49, 50):
‘Ac deinde cotidie inter nos sermocinando, ad hæc investigando aliis
inventis æque placabilibus testimoniis, quaternio ille refertus
succrevit, nec immerito, sicut scriptum est, “super modicum fundamentum
ædificat justus et paulatim ad majora defluit,” velut apis fertilissima
longe lateque gronnios interrogando discurrens, multimodos divinæ
scripturæ flosculos inhianter et incessabiliter congregavit, quis
præcordii sui cellulas densatim replevit.’ Such Latin as this is
difficult to translate into satisfactory English. If one renders it
literally, the result is apt to look rather absurd; and beyond a
certain point condensation is impracticable, or else misrepresents the
original, faults and merits alike.
Hitherto there have been three translations of Asser into English--that
by J. A. Giles in Bohn’s _Six Old English Chronicles_, London,
1848; that by Joseph Stevenson in _Church Historians of England_,
Vol. 2, London, 1854; and that by Edward Conybeare, _Alfred in the
Chroniclers_, London, 1900. As the basis of my work I have taken the
translation of Giles, sometimes following it rather closely, and at
other times departing from it more or less widely.
The reader familiar with the traditional Asser will miss some matter
with which he is familiar, such as the story of Alfred and the cakes,
that of the raven-banner of the Danes, etc. These are derived from
interpolations made in the manuscript by Archbishop Parker, which
modern critical scholarship has at length excised. For all matters
regarding the manuscript, the earlier editions, etc., as well as for
copious illustrative notes on the text, the reader is referred to
Stevenson’s edition.
Insertions made in the text by Stevenson, on what he considers
sufficient grounds, are indicated by < >. The chapter-divisions and
-numbering are Stevenson’s; the chapter-headings mine. Where modern
forms of proper names exist, I have not hesitated to adopt them, and
in general have tended rather to normalize them than scrupulously to
follow the sometimes various spellings of the text. The notes have
almost always been derived from Stevenson’s edition, whether or not
explicit acknowledgment has been made, but now and then, as in the case
of the long note on chapter 56, are my own.
YALE UNIVERSITY
July 4, 1905
CONTENTS
PAGE
1. Alfred’s Birth and Genealogy 1
2. Genealogy of Alfred’s Mother 2
3. The Danes at Wicganbeorg and Sheppey 3
4. The Danes sack Canterbury 3
5. Battle of Aclea 4
6. Defeat of the Danes at Sandwich 4
7. Æthelwulf assists Burgred 4
8. Alfred at Rome 5
9. Other Events of 853 5
10. The Heathen winter in Sheppey 6
11. Æthelwulf journeys to Rome 6
12. Rebellion of Æthelbald 6
13. Judith’s Position in Wessex 7
14. Offa and Eadburh 8
15. Eadburh’s Further Life 9
16. Æthelwulf’s Will 10
17. Æthelbald marries Judith 11
18. Æthelbert’s Reign 12
19. Æthelbert’s Death 12
20. The Danes in Kent 12
21. Æthelred’s Accession 13
22. Alfred’s Rearing 13
23. Alfred and the Book of Saxon Poems 14
24. Alfred’s Handbook 14
25. Alfred’s Love of Learning 15
26. The Danes occupy York 16
27. Defeat of the Northumbrians 16
28. Death of Ealhstan 17
29. Alfred marries 17
30. The Danes at Nottingham 17
31. The Danes at York 18
32. The Danes at Thetford 18
33. The Danes triumph 18
34. Ceolnoth dies 18
35. The Danes defeated at Englefield 19
36. Battle of Reading 19
37. Battle of Ashdown 20
38. Alfred begins the Attack 20
39. The Heathen Rout and Loss 21
40. Battle of Basing 22
41. Æthelred’s Death 22
42. Alfred comes to the Throne; Battle of Wilton 22
43. Peace made 24
44. The Heathen winter in London 24
45. The Heathen winter in Lindsey 24
46. The Danes in Mercia 24
47. The Danes in Northumbria and Cambridge 25
48. Alfred’s Battle at Sea 25
49. Movements of the Danes 25
50. Halfdene partitions Northumbria 26
51. Division of Mercia 26
52. The Danes at Chippenham 26
53. Alfred in Somersetshire 27
54. The Danes defeated at Cynwit 27
55. Alfred at Athelney 28
56. Battle of Edington, and Treaty with Guthrum 28
57. The Danes go to Cirencester 30
58. Danes at Fulham 31
59. An Eclipse 31
60. The Danes in East Anglia 31
61. The Smaller Army leaves England 31
62. The Danes fight with the Franks 31
63. The Danes on the Meuse 31
64. Alfred’s Naval Battle with the Danes 31
65. The Danes at Condé 32
66. Deliverance of Rochester 32
67. Alfred’s Naval Battle at the Mouth of the Stour 32
68. Death of Carloman, of Louis II, and of Louis III 33
69. The Danes in Old Saxony 33
70. Charles, King of the Alemanni 34
71. Death of Pope Marinus 34
72. The Danes break their Treaty 34
73. Asser makes a New Beginning 34
74. Alfred’s Maladies 35
75. Alfred’s Children and their Education 37
76. Alfred’s Varied Pursuits 38
77. Alfred’s Scholarly Associates: Werfrith, Plegmund, Æthelstan,
and Werwulf 41
78. Grimbald and John, the Old Saxon 42
79. Asser’s Negotiations with King Alfred 42
80. The Welsh Princes who submit to Alfred 44
81. How Alfred rewards Submission 45
82. The Siege of Paris 46
83. Alfred rebuilds London 47
84. The Danes leave Paris 47
85. Division of the Empire 47
86. Alfred sends Alms to Rome 48
87. Alfred begins to translate from Latin 48
88. Alfred’s Manual 48
89. Alfred’s Handbook 50
90. Illustration from the Penitent Thief 51
91. Alfred’s Troubles 51
92. Alfred builds Two Monasteries 54
93. Monasticism was decayed 55
94. Monks brought from beyond Sea 55
95. A Crime committed at Athelney 55
96. The Plot of a Priest and a Deacon 56
97. The Execution of the Plot 57
98. The Convent at Shaftesbury 58
99. Alfred divides his Time and his Revenues 58
100. The Threefold Division of Officers at Court 59
101. The Distribution for Secular Purposes 59
102. The Distribution for Religious Purposes 60
103. Alfred’s Dedication of Personal Service 61
104. Alfred’s Measure of Time 61
105. Alfred judges the Poor with Equity 63
106. His Correction of Unjust and Incompetent Judges 63
APPENDIXES 67
Appendix I: Alfred’s Preface to his Translation of
Gregory’s Pastoral Care 69
Appendix II: Letter from Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims,
to Alfred 72
INDEX 79
ASSER’S LIFE OF KING ALFRED
_To my lord Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, the worshipful
and pious ruler of all Christians in the island of Britain,
Asser, least of all the servants of God, wisheth thousandfold
prosperity for both lives, according to the desires of his
heart._
=1. Alfred’s Birth and Genealogy.=[1]--In the year of our Lord’s
incarnation 849, Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, was born at the
royal vill of Wantage, in Berkshire (which receives its name from
Berroc Wood, where the box-tree grows very abundantly). His genealogy
is traced in the following order: King Alfred was the son of King
Æthelwulf; he of Egbert; he of Ealhmund; he of Eafa; he of Eoppa;
he of Ingild. Ingild and Ine, the famous king of the West Saxons,
were two brothers. Ine went to Rome, and there ending the present
life honorably, entered into the heavenly fatherland to reign with
Christ. Ingild and Ine were the sons of Cœnred; he of Ceolwald; he of
Cutha[2]; he of Cuthwine; he of Ceawlin; he of Cynric; he of Creoda;
he of Cerdic; he of Elesa; <he of Esla;> he of Gewis, from whom the
Welsh name all that people Gegwis[3]; <he of Wig; he of Freawine;
he of Freothegar;> he of Brond; he of Beldeag; he of Woden; he of
Frithowald; he of Frealaf; he of Frithuwulf; he of Finn<; he of>
Godwulf; he of Geata, which Geta the heathen long worshiped as a god.
Sedulius makes mention of him in his metrical _Paschal Poem_, as
follows:
If heathen poets rave o’er fancied woe,
While in a turgid stream their numbers flow--
Whether the tragic buskin tread the stage,
Or waggish Geta all our thoughts engage;
If by the art of song they still revive
The taint of ill, and bid old vices live;
If monumental guilt they sing, and lies
Commit to books in magisterial wise;
Why may not I, who list to David’s lyre,
And reverent stand amid the hallowed choir,
Hymn heavenly things in words of tranquil tone,
And tell the deeds of Christ in accents all my own?
This Geata was the son of Tætwa; he of Beaw; he of Sceldwea; he of
Heremod; he of Itermod; he of Hathra; he of Hwala; he of Bedwig; he of
Sceaf[4]; he of Noah; he of Lamech; he of Methuselah; he of Enoch; <he
of Jared>; he of Mahalalel; he of Kenan[5]; he of Enosh; he of Seth; he
of Adam.
=2. Genealogy of Alfred’s Mother.=[6]--The mother of Alfred was
named Osburh, an extremely devout woman, noble in mind, noble also
by descent; she was daughter to Oslac, the famous cupbearer of King
Æthelwulf. This Oslac was a Goth by nation, descended from the Goths
and Jutes--of the seed, namely, of Stuf and Wihtgar, two brothers and
ealdormen. They, having received possession of the Isle of Wight from
their uncle, King Cerdic, and his son Cynric their cousin,[7] slew the
few British inhabitants whom they could find in that island, at a place
called Wihtgaraburg[8]; for the other inhabitants of the island had
either been slain or had escaped into exile.
=3. The Danes at Wicganbeorg and Sheppey.=[9]--In the year of our
Lord’s incarnation 851, which was the third of King Alfred’s life,
Ceorl, Ealdorman of Devon, fought with the men of Devon against the
heathen at a place called Wicganbeorg,[10] and the Christians gained
the victory. In that same year the heathen first wintered in the island
called Sheppey, which means ‘Sheep-island,’ situated in the river
Thames between Essex and Kent, though nearer to Kent than to Essex, and
containing a fair monastery.[11]
=4. The Danes sack Canterbury.=[12]--The same year a great army of
heathen came with three hundred and fifty ships to the mouth of the
river Thames, and sacked Dorubernia, or Canterbury,[13] <and also
London> (which lies on the north bank of the river Thames, on the
confines of Essex and Middlesex, though in truth that city belongs to
Essex); and they put to flight Beorhtwulf, King of Mercia, with all the
army which he had led out to oppose them.
=5. Battle of Aclea.=[14]--Having done these things there, the
aforesaid heathen host went into Surrey, which is a shire situated
on the south shore of the river Thames, and to the west of Kent. And
Æthelwulf, King of the Saxons, and his son Æthelbald, with the whole
army, fought a long time against them at a place called Aclea,[15]
that is, ‘Oak-plain’; there, after a lengthy battle, which was fought
with much bravery on both sides, the most part of the heathen horde
was utterly destroyed and slain, so that we never heard of their being
so smitten, either before or since, in any region, in one day[16]; and
the Christians gained an honorable victory, and kept possession of the
battle-field.
=6. Defeat of the Danes at Sandwich.=[17]--In that same year Æthelstan
and Ealdorman Ealhere slew a large army of the heathen in Kent, at a
place called Sandwich, and took nine ships of their fleet, the others
escaping by flight.
=7. Æthelwulf assists Burgred.=[18]--In the year of our Lord’s
incarnation 853, which was the fifth of King Alfred’s life, Burgred,
King of the Mercians, sent messengers to beseech Æthelwulf, King of
the West Saxons, to come and help him in reducing to his sway the
inhabitants of Mid-Wales, who dwell between Mercia and the western sea,
and who were struggling against him beyond measure. So without delay
King Æthelwulf, on receipt of the embassy, moved his army, and advanced
with King Burgred against Wales[19]; and immediately upon his entrance
he ravaged it, and reduced it under subjection to Burgred. This being
done, he returned home.
=8. Alfred at Rome.=[20]--In that same year King Æthelwulf sent his
above-named son Alfred to Rome, with an honorable escort both of nobles
and commoners. Pope Leo at that time presided over the apostolic see,
and he anointed as king[21] the aforesaid child[22] Alfred in the town,
and, adopting him as his son, confirmed him.[23]
=9. Other Events of 853.=[24]--That same year also, Ealdorman Ealhere
with the men of Kent, and Huda with the men of Surrey, fought bravely
and resolutely against an army of the heathen in the island which is
called Tenet[25] in the Saxon tongue, but Ruim in the Welsh language.
At first the Christians were victorious. The battle lasted a long
time; many fell on both sides, and were drowned in the water; and both
the ealdormen were there slain. In the same year also, after Easter,
Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, gave his daughter to Burgred, King
of the Mercians, as his queen, and the marriage was celebrated in
princely wise at the royal vill of Chippenham.
=10. The Heathen winter in Sheppey.=[26]--In the year of our Lord’s
incarnation 855, which was the seventh of the aforesaid king’s life,
a great army of the heathen spent the whole winter in the aforesaid
island of Sheppey.
=11. Æthelwulf journeys to Rome.=[27]--In that same year the aforesaid
worshipful King Æthelwulf freed the tenth part of all his kingdom from
every royal service and tribute, and offered it up as an everlasting
grant to God the One and Three, on the cross of Christ, for the
redemption of his own soul and those of his predecessors. In the same
year he went to Rome with much honor; and taking with him his son, the
aforesaid King Alfred, a second time on the same journey, because he
loved him more than his other sons, he remained there a whole year.
After this he returned to his own country, bringing with him Judith,
daughter of Charles, King of the Franks.[28]
=12. Rebellion of Æthelbald.=[29]--In the meantime, however, whilst
King Æthelwulf was residing this short time beyond sea, a base deed
was done in the western part of Selwood,[30] repugnant to the morals
of all Christians. For King Æthelbald, Ealhstan, Bishop of the church
of Sherborne, and Eanwulf, Ealdorman of Somerset, are said to have
formed a conspiracy to the end that King Æthelwulf, on his return from
Rome, should not again be received in his kingdom. This unfortunate
occurrence, unheard-of in all previous ages, is ascribed by many to
the bishop and ealdorman alone, since, say they, it resulted from
their counsels. Many also ascribe it solely to the insolence of the
king, because he was headstrong in this matter and in many other
perversities, as I have heard related by certain persons, and as was
proved by the result of that which followed. For on his return from
Rome, Æthelwulf’s son aforesaid, with all his counselors, or rather
waylayers, attempted to perpetrate the crime of repulsing the king from
his own kingdom; but neither did God suffer it, nor did the nobles of
all Wessex consent thereto. For to prevent this irremediable danger to
Wessex of a war between father and son, or rather of the whole nation
waging civil war more fiercely and cruelly from day to day, as they
espoused the cause of the one or the other,--by the extraordinary
clemency of the father, seconded by the consent of all the nobles, the
kingdom which had hitherto been undivided was parted between the two,
the eastern districts being given to the father, and the western to the
son. Thus where the father ought by just right to have reigned, there
did his unjust and obstinate son bear rule; for the western part of
Wessex is always superior to the eastern.
=13. Judith’s Position in Wessex.=[31]--When Æthelwulf, therefore,
returned from Rome, the whole nation, as was fitting, so rejoiced[32]
in the arrival of the ruler that, if he had allowed them, they would
have expelled his unruly son Æthelbald, with all his counselors, from
the kingdom. But he, as I have said, acting with great clemency and
prudent counsel, would not act in this way, lest the kingdom should be
exposed to peril. He likewise bade Judith, daughter of King Charles,
whom he had received from her father, take her seat by his own side on
the royal throne, without any dispute or enmity from his nobles even
to the end of his life, though contrary to the perverse custom of that
nation.[33] For the nation of the West Saxons does not allow the queen
to sit beside the king, nor to be called queen, but only the king’s
wife; which refusal, or rather reproach, the chief persons of that land
say arose from a certain headstrong and malevolent queen of the nation,
who did all things so contrary to her lord and to the whole people
that not only did the hatred which she brought upon herself bring to
pass her exclusion from the queenly throne, but also entailed the same
corruption upon those who came after her, since, in consequence of
the extreme malignity of that queen, all the inhabitants of the land
banded themselves together by an oath never in their lives to let any
king reign over them who should bid his queen take her seat on the
royal throne by his side. And because, as I think, it is not known to
many whence this perverse and detestable custom first arose in Wessex,
contrary to the custom of all the Germanic peoples, it seems to me
right to explain it a little more fully, as I have heard it from my
lord Alfred the truth-teller, King of the Anglo-Saxons, who often told
me about it, as he also had heard it from many men of truth who related
the fact, or, I should rather say, expressly preserved the remembrance
of it.
=14. Offa and Eadburh.=[34]--There was in Mercia in recent times a
certain valiant king, who was dreaded by all the neighboring kings
and states. His name was Offa, and it was he who had the great dike
made from sea to sea between Wales and Mercia.[35] His daughter, named
Eadburh, was married to Beorhtric, King of the West Saxons. The moment
she had possessed herself of the king’s good will, and practically
the whole power of the realm, she began to live tyrannically, after
the manner of her father. Every man whom Beorhtric loved she would
execrate, and would do all things hateful to God and man, accusing to
the king all whom she could, thus depriving them insidiously either of
life or of power. And if she could not obtain the king’s consent, she
used to take them off by poison, as is ascertained to have been the
case with a certain young man beloved by the king, whom she poisoned,
seeing that she could not accuse him to the king. It is said, moreover,
that King Beorhtric unwittingly tasted of the poison, though the queen
had intended to give it, not to him, but to the young man; the king,
however, was beforehand with him, and so both perished.
=15. Eadburh’s Further Life.=[36]--King Beorhtric therefore being dead,
the queen, since she could no longer remain among the Saxons, sailed
beyond sea with countless treasures, and came to Charles,[37] King of
the Franks. As she stood before the dais, bringing many gifts to the
king, Charles said to her: ‘Choose, Eadburh, between me and my son,
who stands with me on this dais.’ She, without deliberation, foolishly
replied: ‘If I am to have my choice, I choose your son, because he
is younger than you.’ At which Charles smiled and answered: ‘If you
had chosen me, you should have had my son; but since you have chosen
him, you shall have neither me nor him.’ However, he gave her a large
convent of nuns, in which, having laid aside her secular habit, and
assumed the dress worn by the nuns, she discharged the office of abbess
for a few years. As she is said to have lived irrationally in her own
country, so she appears to have acted much more so among a foreign
people; for, being finally caught in illicit intercourse with a man
of her own nation, she was expelled from the monastery by order of
King Charles. Henceforward she lived a life of shame in poverty and
misery until her death; so that at last, accompanied only by one slave,
as I have heard from many who saw her, she begged her bread daily at
Pavia,[38] and so wretchedly died.
=16. Æthelwulf’s Will.=[39]--Now King Æthelwulf lived two years after
his return from Rome; during which, among many other good deeds of
this present life, reflecting on his departure according to the way of
all flesh, that his sons might not quarrel unreasonably after their
father’s death, he ordered a will or letter of instructions to be
written,[40] in which he commanded that his kingdom should be duly
divided between his two eldest sons; his private heritage between his
sons, his daughter, and his relatives; and the money which he should
leave behind him between his soul[41] and his sons and nobles. Of this
prudent policy I have thought fit to record a few instances out of many
for posterity to imitate, namely, such as are understood to belong
principally to the needs of the soul; for the others, which relate
only to human stewardship, it is not necessary to insert in this
little work, lest prolixity should create disgust in those who read or
wish to hear. For the benefit of his soul, then, which he studied to
promote in all things from the first flower of his youth, he directed
that, through all his hereditary land, one poor man to every ten
hides,[42] either native or foreigner, should be supplied with food,
drink, and clothing by his successors unto the final Day of Judgment;
on condition, however, that that land should still be inhabited both
by men and cattle, and should not become deserted. He commanded also a
large sum of money, namely, three hundred mancuses,[43] to be carried
annually to Rome for the good of his soul, to be there distributed
in the following manner: a hundred mancuses in honor of St. Peter,
especially to buy oil for the lights of that apostolic church on Easter
Eve, and also at cockcrow; a hundred mancuses in honor of St. Paul, for
the same purpose of buying oil for the church of St. Paul the apostle,
to fill the lamps for Easter Eve and cockcrow; and a hundred mancuses
for the universal apostolic Pope.
=17. Æthelbald marries Judith.=[44]--But when King Æthelwulf was dead
<and buried at Winchester>,[45] his son Æthelbald, contrary to God’s
prohibition and the dignity of a Christian, contrary also to the custom
of all the heathen,[46] ascended his father’s bed, and married Judith,
daughter of Charles, King of the Franks, incurring much infamy from all
who heard of it. During two years and a half of lawlessness he held
after his father the government of the West Saxons.
=18. Æthelbert’s Reign.=[47]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation
860, which was the twelfth of King Alfred’s life, <King> Æthelbald
<died, and> was buried at Sherborne. His brother Æthelbert, as was
right, added Kent, Surrey, and Sussex to his realm. In his days a great
army of heathen came from the sea, and attacked and laid waste the city
of Winchester. As they were returning laden with booty to their ships,
Osric, Ealdorman of Hampshire, with his men, and Ealdorman Æthelwulf,
with the men of Berkshire, faced them bravely. Battle was then joined
in the town, and the heathen were slain on every side; and finding
themselves unable to resist, they took to flight like women, and the
Christians held the battle-field.
=19. Æthelbert’s Death.=[48]--So Æthelbert governed his kingdom five
years in peace and love and honor; and went the way of all flesh, to
the great grief of his subjects. He rests interred in honorable wise at
Sherborne, by the side of his brother.
=20. The Danes in Kent.=[49]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 864
the heathen wintered in the isle of Thanet, and made a firm treaty with
the men of Kent, who promised them money for observing their agreement.
In the meantime, however, the heathen, after the manner of foxes, burst
forth with all secrecy from their camp by night, and setting at naught
their engagements, and spurning the promised money--which they knew
was less than they could get by plunder--they ravaged all the eastern
coast of Kent.
=21. Æthelred’s Accession.=[50]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation
866, which was the eighteenth of King Alfred’s life, Æthelred, brother
of King Æthelbert, undertook the government of the West Saxon realm.
The same year a great fleet of heathen came to Britain from the
Danube,[51] and wintered in the kingdom of the East Saxons, which is
called in Saxon East Anglia; and there they became in the main an army
of cavalry. But, to speak in nautical phrase, I will no longer commit
my vessel to wave and sail, or steer my roundabout course at a distance
from land through so many calamities of wars and series of years, but
rather return to that which first prompted me to this task: that is to
say, I think it right briefly to insert in this place the little that
has come to my knowledge about the character of my revered lord Alfred,
King of the Anglo-Saxons, during the years of infancy and boyhood.
=22. Alfred’s Rearing.=[52]--He was extraordinarily beloved by both
his father and mother, and indeed by all the people, beyond all his
brothers; in inseparable companionship with them he was reared at the
royal court.[53] As he advanced through the years of infancy and youth,
he appeared more comely in person than his brothers, as in countenance,
speech, and manners he was more pleasing than they. His noble birth
and noble nature implanted in him from his cradle a love of wisdom
above all things, even amid all the occupations of this present life;
but--with shame be it spoken!--by the unworthy neglect of his parents
and governors he remained illiterate till he was twelve years old or
more, though by day and night he was an attentive listener to the Saxon
poems which he often heard recited, and, being apt at learning, kept
them in his memory. He was a zealous practiser of hunting in all its
branches, and followed the chase with great assiduity and success; for
his skill and good fortune in this art, and in all the other gifts of
God, were beyond those of every one else, as I have often witnessed.
=23. Alfred and the Book of Saxon Poems.=[54]--Now on a certain day
his mother was showing him and his brothers a book of Saxon poetry,
which she held in her hand, and finally said: ‘Whichever of you can
soonest learn this volume, to him will I give it.’ Stimulated by these
words, or rather by divine inspiration, and allured by the beautifully
illuminated letter at the beginning of the volume, <Alfred>[55] spoke
before all his brothers, who, though his seniors in age, were not so
in grace, and answered his mother: ‘Will you really give that book to
that one of us who can first understand and repeat it to you?’ At this
his mother smiled with satisfaction, and confirmed what she had before
said: ‘Yes,’ said she, ‘that I will.’ Upon this the boy took the book
out of her hand, and went to his master and learned it by heart,[56]
whereupon he brought it back to his mother and recited it.
=24. Alfred’s Handbook.=[57]--After this <he learned>[55] the daily
course, that is, the celebration of the hours, and afterwards certain
Psalms, and many prayers, contained in a book[58] which he kept day and
night in his bosom, as I myself have seen, and always carried about
with him, for the sake of prayer, through all the bustle and business
of this present life. But, sad to relate, he could not gratify his
ardent wish to acquire liberal art,[59] because, as he was wont to say,
there were at that time no good teachers in all the kingdom of the West
Saxons.[60]
=25. Alfred’s Love of Learning.=[61]--This he would confess, with
many lamentations and with sighs from the bottom of his heart, to
have been one of his greatest difficulties and impediments in this
present life, that when he was young and had leisure and capacity for
learning, he had no masters; but when he was more advanced in years,
he was continually occupied, not to say harassed, day and night, by so
many diseases unknown to all the physicians of this island, as well as
by internal and external anxieties of sovereignty, and by invasions
of the heathen by sea and land, that though he then had some store of
teachers and writers,[62] it was quite impossible for him to study.
But yet among the impediments of this present life, from childhood to
the present day [and, as I believe, even until his death],[63] he has
continued to feel the same insatiable desire.
=26. The Danes occupy York.=[64]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation
867, which was the nineteenth of the aforesaid King Alfred’s life, the
army of heathen before mentioned removed from East Anglia to the city
of York, which is situated on the north bank of the river Humber.
=27. Defeat of the Northumbrians.=[64]--At that time a violent discord
arose, by the instigation of the devil, among the Northumbrians, as
always is wont to happen to a people who have incurred the wrath of
God. For the Northumbrians at that time, as I have said,[65] had
expelled their lawful king Osbert from his realm, and appointed a
certain tyrant named Ælla, not of royal birth, over the affairs of the
kingdom. But when the heathen approached, by divine providence, and
the furtherance of the common weal by the nobles, that discord was
a little appeased, and Osbert and Ælla uniting their resources, and
assembling an army, marched to the town of York. The heathen fled at
their approach, and attempted to defend themselves within the walls
of the city. The Christians, perceiving their flight and the terror
they were in, determined to follow them within the very ramparts of
the town, and to demolish the wall; and this they succeeded in doing,
since the city at that time was not surrounded by firm or strong walls.
When the Christians had made a breach, as they had purposed, and many
of them had entered into the city along with the heathen, the latter,
impelled by grief and necessity, made a fierce sally upon them, slew
them, routed them, and cut them down, both within and without the
walls. In that battle fell almost all the Northumbrian troops, and
both the kings were slain; the remainder, who escaped, made peace with
the heathen.
=28. Death of Ealhstan.=[66]--In the same year, Ealhstan, Bishop of the
church of Sherborne, went the way of all flesh, after he had honorably
ruled his see fifty years; and in peace he was buried at Sherborne.
=29. Alfred marries.=[67]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 868,
which was the twentieth of King Alfred’s life, the aforesaid revered
King Alfred, then occupying only the rank of viceroy (_secundarii_),
betrothed[68] and espoused a noble Mercian lady,[69] daughter of
Æthelred, surnamed Mucill, Ealdorman of the Gaini.[70] The mother of
this lady was named Eadburh, of the royal line of Mercia, whom I often
saw with my own eyes a few years before her death. She was a venerable
lady, and after the decease of her husband remained many years a chaste
widow, even till her own death.
=30. The Danes at Nottingham.=[71]--In that same year the above-named
army of heathen, leaving Northumbria, invaded Mercia, and advanced to
Nottingham, which is called in Welsh Tigguocobauc,[72] but in Latin
‘The House of Caves,’ and wintered there that same year. Immediately
on their approach, Burgred, King of the Mercians, and all the nobles
of that nation, sent messengers to Æthelred,[73] King of the West
Saxons, and his brother Alfred, entreating them to come and aid them
in fighting against the aforesaid army. Their request was readily
granted; for the brothers, as soon as promised, assembled an immense
army from every part of their <realm>, and, entering Mercia, came to
Nottingham, all eager for battle. When now the heathen, defended by the
castle, refused to fight, and the Christians were unable to destroy the
wall, peace was made between the Mercians and the heathen, and the two
brothers, Æthelred and Alfred, returned home with their troops.
=31. The Danes at York.=[74]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation
869, which was the twenty-first of King Alfred’s life, the aforesaid
army of heathen, riding back to Northumbria, went to the city of York,
and there passed the whole winter.
=32. The Danes at Thetford.=[74]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation
870, which was the twenty-second of King Alfred’s life, the
above-mentioned army of heathen passed through Mercia into East Anglia,
and wintered at Thetford.[75]
=33. The Danes triumph.=[74]--That same year Edmund, King of the East
Angles, fought most fiercely against that army; but, lamentable to say,
the heathen triumphed, for he and most of his men were there slain,
while the enemy held the battle-field, and reduced all that region to
subjection.
=34. Ceolnoth dies.=[76]--That same year Ceolnoth, Archbishop of
Canterbury, went the way of all flesh, and was buried in peace in that
city.
=35. The Danes defeated at Englefield.=[77]--In the year of our Lord’s
incarnation 871, which was the twenty-third of King Alfred’s life, the
heathen army, of hateful memory, left East Anglia, and, entering the
kingdom of the West Saxons, came to the royal vill called Reading,
situated on the south bank of the Thames, in the district called
Berkshire; and there, on the third day after their arrival, their
<two> ealdormen, with great part of the army, rode forth for plunder,
while the others made an entrenchment between the rivers Thames
and Kennet, on the southern side of the same royal vill. They were
encountered by Æthelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, with his men, at a
place called Englefield[78] <in English, and in Latin ‘The Field of
the Angles’>.[79] Both sides fought bravely, and made long resistance
to each other. At length one of the heathen ealdormen was slain, and
the greater part of the army destroyed; upon which the rest saved
themselves by flight, and the Christians gained the victory and held
the battle-field.
=36. Battle of Reading.=[77]--Four days afterwards, King Æthelred
and his brother Alfred, uniting their forces and assembling an army,
marched to Reading, where, on their arrival at the castle gate, they
cut to pieces and overthrew the heathen whom they found outside the
fortifications. But the heathen fought no less valiantly and, rushing
like wolves out of every gate, waged battle with all their might. Both
sides fought long and fiercely, but at last, sad to say, the Christians
turned their backs, the heathen obtained the victory and held the
battle-field, the aforesaid Ealdorman Æthelwulf being among the slain.
=37. Battle of Ashdown.=[80]--Roused by this grief and shame, the
Christians, after four days, with all their forces and much spirit
advanced to battle against the aforesaid army, at a place called
Ashdown,[81] which in Latin signifies ‘Ash’s[82] Hill.’ The heathen,
forming in two divisions, arranged two shield-walls of similar size;
and since they had two kings and many ealdormen, they gave the
middle[83] part of the army to the two kings, and the other part to
all the ealdormen. The Christians, perceiving this, divided their army
also into two troops, and with no less zeal formed shield-walls.[84]
But Alfred, as I have been told by truthful eye-witnesses, marched
up swiftly with his men to the battle-field; for King Æthelred had
remained a long time in his tent in prayer, hearing mass, and declaring
that he would not depart thence alive till the priest had done, and
that he was not disposed to abandon the service of God for that of men;
and according to these sentiments he acted. This faith of the Christian
king availed much with the Lord, as I shall show more fully in the
sequel.
=38. Alfred begins the Attack.=[85]--Now the Christians had determined
that King Æthelred, with his men, should attack the two heathen kings,
and that his brother Alfred, with his troops, should take the chance of
war against all the leaders of the heathen. Things being so arranged
on both sides, the king still continued a long time in prayer, and the
heathen, prepared for battle, had hastened to the field. Then Alfred,
though only second in command, could no longer support the advance of
the enemy, unless he either retreated or charged upon them without
waiting for his brother. At length, with the rush of a wild boar, he
courageously led the Christian troops against the hostile army, as he
had already designed, for, although the king had not yet arrived, he
relied upon God’s counsel and trusted to His aid. Hence, having closed
up his shield-wall in due order, he straightway advanced his standards
against the foe. <At length King Æthelred, having finished the prayers
in which he was engaged, came up, and, having invoked the King of the
universe, entered upon the engagement.>[86]
=39. The Heathen Rout and Loss.=[87]--But here I must inform those
who are ignorant of the fact that the field of battle was not equally
advantageous to both parties, since the heathen had seized the higher
ground, and the Christian array was advancing up-hill. In that place
there was a solitary low thorn-tree, which I have seen with my own
eyes, and round this the opposing forces met in strife with deafening
uproar from all, the one side bent on evil, the other on fighting
for life, and dear ones, and fatherland. When both armies had fought
bravely and fiercely for a long while, the heathen, being unable by
God’s decree longer to endure the onset of the Christians, the larger
part of their force being slain, betook themselves to shameful flight.
There fell one of the two heathen kings and five ealdormen; many
thousand of their men were either slain at this spot or lay scattered
far and wide over the whole field of Ashdown. Thus there fell King
Bagsecg, Ealdorman Sidroc the Elder and Ealdorman Sidroc the Younger,
Ealdorman Osbern, Ealdorman Fræna, and Ealdorman Harold; and the whole
heathen army pursued its flight, not only until night, but until the
next day, even until they reached the stronghold[88] from which they
had sallied. The Christians followed, slaying all they could reach,
until it became dark.
=40. Battle of Basing.=[89]--After[90] fourteen days had elapsed King
Æthelred and his brother Alfred joined their forces, and marched to
Basing[91] to fight with the heathen. Having thus assembled, battle was
joined, and they held their own for a long time, but the heathen gained
the victory, and held possession of the battle-field. After this fight,
another army of heathen came from beyond sea, and joined them.
=41. Æthelred’s Death.=[92]--That same year, after Easter, the
aforesaid King Æthelred, having bravely, honorably, and with good
repute governed his kingdom five years through many tribulations, went
the way of all flesh, and was buried in Wimborne Minster,[93] where he
awaits the coming of the Lord and the first resurrection with the just.
=42. Alfred comes to the Throne; Battle of Wilton.=[94]--That same
year the aforesaid Alfred, who had been up to that time, during the
lifetime of his brothers, only of secondary rank, now, on the death
of his brother, by God’s permission undertook the government of the
whole kingdom, amid the acclamations of all the people; and indeed, if
he had chosen, he might easily have done so with the general consent
whilst his brother above named was still alive, since in wisdom and
every other good quality he surpassed all his brothers, and especially
because he was brave and victorious in nearly every battle. And when
he had reigned a month almost against his will--for he did not think
that he alone, without divine aid, could sustain the ferocity of the
heathen, though even during his brothers’ lifetimes he had borne the
calamities of many--he fought a fierce battle with a few men, and on
very unequal terms, against all the army of the heathen, at a hill
called Wilton, on the south bank of the river Wiley,[95] from which
river the whole of that shire is named; and after a severe engagement,
lasting a considerable part of the day, the heathen, seeing the whole
extent of the danger they were in, and no longer able to bear the
attack of their enemies, turned their backs and fled. But, shame to
say, they took advantage of their pursuers’ rashness,[96] and, again
rallying, gained the victory and kept the battle-field. Let no one
be surprised that the Christians had but a small number of men, for
the Saxons as a people had been all but worn out by eight battles in
this selfsame year against the heathen, in which there died one king,
nine chieftains, and innumerable troops of soldiers, not to speak of
countless skirmishes both by night and by day, in which the oft-named
<King> Alfred, and all the leaders of that people, with their men,
and many of the king’s thanes, had been engaged in unwearied strife
against the heathen. How many thousand heathen fell in these numberless
skirmishes God alone knows, over and above those who were slain in the
eight battles above mentioned.
=43. Peace made.=[97]--In that same year the Saxons made peace with the
heathen, on condition that they should take their departure; and this
they did.
=44. The Heathen winter in London.=[98]--In the year of our Lord’s
incarnation 872, being the twenty-fourth of King Alfred’s life, the
aforesaid army of heathen went to London, and there wintered; and the
Mercians made peace with them.
=45. The Heathen winter in Lindsey.=[98]--In the year of our Lord’s
incarnation 873, being the twenty-fifth of King Alfred’s life, the
oft-named army, leaving London, went into Northumbria, and there
wintered in the shire of Lindsey; and the Mercians again made peace
with them.
=46. The Danes in Mercia.=[99]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation
874, being the twenty-sixth of King Alfred’s life, the above-named army
left Lindsey and marched to Mercia, where they wintered at Repton.[100]
Also they compelled Burgred, King of Mercia, against his will to leave
his kingdom and go beyond sea to Rome, in the twenty-second year of
his reign. He did not live long after his arrival at Rome, but died
there, and was honorably buried in the Colony of the Saxons,[101] in
St. Mary’s church,[102] where he awaits the Lord’s coming and the first
resurrection with the just. The heathen also, after his expulsion,
subjected the whole kingdom of Mercia to their dominion; but, by a
miserable arrangement, gave it into the custody of a certain foolish
man, named Ceolwulf, one of the <king∮s> thanes, on condition that he
should peaceably restore it to them on whatsoever day they should wish
to have it again; and to bind this agreement he gave them hostages, and
swore that he would not oppose their will in any way, but be obedient
to them in every respect.
=47. The Danes in Northumbria and Cambridge.=[103]--In the year of our
Lord’s incarnation 875, being the twenty-seventh of King Alfred’s life,
the above-mentioned army, leaving Repton, separated into two bodies,
one of which went with Halfdene into Northumbria, and having wintered
there near the Tyne, and reduced all Northumbria to subjection, also
ravaged the Picts and the people of Strathclyde.[104] The other
division, with Guthrum,[105] Oscytel, and Anwind, three kings of the
heathen, went to Cambridge, and there wintered.
=48. Alfred’s Battle at Sea.=[106]--In that same year King Alfred
fought a battle at sea against six ships of the heathen, and took one
of them, the rest escaping by flight.