the evil teaching had been explained by those wicked teachers to their
wicked hearers, and enforced upon them, the night having come and
being favorable, the two armed ruffians, furnished with a promise of
impunity, shut themselves up in the church to await the arrival of the
abbot. In the middle of the night John, as usual, entered the church
to pray, without any one’s knowledge, and knelt before the altar.
Thereupon the two ruffians rushed upon him suddenly with drawn swords,
and wounded him severely. But he, being ever a man of keen mind, and,
as I have heard say, not unacquainted with the art of fighting, if he
had not been proficient in better lore, no sooner heard the noise of
the robbers, even before he saw them, than he rose up against them
before he was wounded, and, shouting at the top of his voice, struggled
against them with all his might, crying out that they were devils and
not men--and indeed he knew no better, as he thought that no men would
dare to attempt such a deed. He was, however, wounded before any of
his monks could come up. They, roused by the noise, were frightened
when they heard the word ‘devils’; being likewise unfamiliar with
such struggles, they, and the two who, after the manner of the Jews,
were traitors to their lord, rushed toward the doors of the church;
but before they got there those ruffians escaped with all speed, and
secreted themselves in the fens near by, leaving the abbot half dead.
The monks raised their nearly lifeless superior, and bore him home with
grief and lamentations; nor did those two knaves shed tears less than
the innocent. But God’s mercy did not allow so horrible a crime to pass
unpunished: the desperadoes who perpetrated it, and all who urged them
to it, were seized and bound; then, by various tortures, they died a
shameful death. Let us now return to our main narrative.
=98. The Convent at Shaftesbury.=[259]--Another[260] monastery also was
built by the aforesaid king as a residence for nuns, near the eastern
gate of Shaftesbury; and over it he placed as abbess his own daughter
Æthelgivu, a virgin dedicated to God. With her many other noble ladies,
serving God in the monastic life, dwell in that convent. These two
edifices were enriched by the king with much land, and with all sorts
of wealth.
=99. Alfred divides his Time and his Revenues.=[261]--These things
being thus disposed of, the king considered within himself, as was his
practice, what more would conduce to religious meditation. What he
had wisely begun and usefully conceived was adhered to with even more
beneficial result; for he had long before heard out of the book of the
law that the Lord[262] had promised to restore to him the tenth many
times over; and he knew that the Lord had faithfully kept His promise,
and had actually restored to him the tithe manyfold. Encouraged by this
precedent, and wishing to surpass the practice of his predecessors, he
vowed humbly and faithfully to devote to God half his services, by day
and by night, and also half of all the wealth which lawfully and justly
came every year into his possession; and this vow, as far as human
discretion can perceive and keep, he skilfully and wisely endeavored
to fulfil. But that he might, with his usual caution, avoid that which
Scripture warns us against, ‘If thou offerest aright, but dost not
divide aright, thou sinnest,’[263] he considered how he might divide
aright that which he had joyfully vowed to God; and as Solomon had
said, ‘The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord’[264]--that is, his
counsel--he ordered with a divinely inspired policy, which could come
only from above, that his officers should first divide into two parts
the revenues of every year.
=100. The Threefold Division of Officers at Court.=[265]--After this
division had been made, he assigned the first part to worldly uses, and
ordered that one third of it should be paid to his soldiers and to his
officers, the nobles who dwelt by turns at court, where they discharged
various duties, for thus it was that the king’s household was arranged
at all times in three shifts,[266] in the following manner. The king’s
attendants being wisely distributed into three companies, the first
company was on duty at court for one month, night and day, at the end
of which they were relieved by the second company, and returned to
their homes for two months, where they attended to their own affairs.
At the end of the second month, the third company relieved the second,
who returned to their homes, where they spent two months. The third
company then gave place to the first, and in their turn spent two
months at home. And in this order the rotation of service at the king’s
court was at all times carried on.
=101. The Distribution for Secular Purposes.=[267]--To these,
therefore, was paid the first of the three portions aforesaid, to
each according to his standing and peculiar service; the second to
the workmen whom he had collected from many nations and had about him
in large numbers, men skilled in every kind of building; the third
portion was assigned to foreigners who came to him out of every nation
far and near; whether they asked money of him or not, he cheerfully
gave to each with wonderful munificence according to their respective
worthiness,[268] exemplifying what is written, ‘God loveth a cheerful
giver.’[269]
=102. The Distribution for Religious Purposes.=[270]--But the second
part of all his revenues, which came yearly into his possession, and
was included in the receipts of the exchequer, as I mentioned just
above, he with full devotion dedicated to God, ordering his officers
to divide it carefully into four equal parts with the provision that
the first part should be discreetly bestowed on the poor of every
nation who came to him; on this subject he said that, as far as
human discretion could guarantee, the remark of Pope Gregory on the
proper division of alms should be followed, ‘Give not little to whom
you should give much, nor much to whom little, nor nothing to whom
something, nor something to whom nothing.’[271] The second share to the
two monasteries which he had built, and to those who were serving God
in them, as I have described more at length above. The third to the
school[272] which he had studiously formed from many of the nobility
of his own nation, but also from boys of mean condition. The fourth to
the neighboring monasteries in all Wessex and Mercia, and also during
some years, in turn, to the churches and servants of God dwelling in
Wales, Cornwall,[273] Gaul,[274] Brittany, Northumbria, and sometimes,
too, in Ireland; according to his means, he either distributed to them
beforehand, or agreed to contribute afterwards, if life and prosperity
did not fail him.
=103. Alfred’s Dedication of Personal Service.=[275]--When the king
had arranged all these matters in due order, he remembered the text of
holy Scripture which says, ‘Whosoever will give alms, ought to begin
from himself,’[276] and prudently began to reflect what he could offer
to God from the service of his body and mind; for he proposed to offer
to God no less out of this than he had done of external riches.[277]
Accordingly, he promised, as far as his infirmity and his means would
allow, to render to God the half of his services, bodily and mental, by
night and by day,[278] voluntarily, and with all his might. Inasmuch,
however, as he could not distinguish with accuracy the lengths of the
night hours in any way, on account of the darkness, nor frequently
those of the day, on account of the thick clouds and rains, he began
to consider by what regular means, free from uncertainty, relying on
the mercy of God, he might discharge the promised tenor of his vow
undeviatingly until his death.
=104. Alfred’s Measure of Time.=[279]--After long reflection on these
things, he at length, by a useful and shrewd invention, commanded his
clerks[280] to supply wax in sufficient quantity, and to weigh it in a
balance against pennies. When enough wax was measured out to equal the
weight of seventy-two pence, he caused the clerks to make six candles
thereof, all of equal weight, and to mark off twelve inches as the
length of each candle.[281] By this plan, therefore, those six candles
burned for twenty-four hours, a night and a day, without fail, before
the sacred relics of many of God’s elect, which always accompanied
him wherever he went. Sometimes, however, the candles could not
continue burning a whole day and night, till the same hour when they
were lighted the preceding evening, by reason of the violence of the
winds, which at times blew day and night without intermission through
the doors and windows[282] of the churches, the sheathing, and the
wainscot,[283] the numerous chinks in the walls, or the thin material
of the tents; on such occasions it was unavoidable that they should
burn out and finish their course before the appointed hour. The king,
therefore, set himself to consider by what means he might shut out
the wind, and by a skilful and cunning invention ordered a lantern to
be beautifully constructed of wood and ox-horn, since white ox-horns,
when shaved thin, are as transparent as a vessel of glass. Into this
lantern, then, wonderfully made of wood and horn, as I before said, a
candle was put at night, which shone as brightly without as within, and
was not disturbed by the wind, since he had also ordered a door of horn
to be made for the opening of the lantern.[284] By this contrivance,
then, six candles, lighted in succession, lasted twenty-four hours,
neither more nor less. When these were burned out, others were lighted.
=105. Alfred judges the Poor with Equity.=[285]--When all these things
were properly arranged, the king, eager to hold to the half of his
daily service, as he had vowed to God, and more also, if his ability
on the one hand, and his malady on the other, would allow him, showed
himself a minute investigator of the truth in all his judgments, and
this especially for the sake of the poor, to whose interest, day
and night, among other duties of this life, he was ever wonderfully
attentive. For in the whole kingdom the poor, besides him, had few or
no helpers; for almost all the powerful and noble of that country had
turned their thoughts rather to secular than to divine things: each was
more bent on worldly business, to his own profit, than on the common
weal.
=106. His Correction of Unjust and Incompetent Judges.=[285]--He
strove also, in his judgments, for the benefit of both his nobles and
commons, who often quarreled fiercely among themselves at the meetings
of the ealdormen and sheriffs, so that hardly one of them admitted the
justice of what had been decided by these ealdormen and sheriffs. In
consequence of this pertinacious and obstinate dissension, all felt
constrained to give sureties to abide by the decision of the king, and
both parties hastened to carry out their engagements. But if any one
was conscious of injustice on his side in the suit, though by law and
agreement he was compelled, however reluctant, to come for judgment
before a judge like this, yet with his own good will he never would
consent to come. For he knew that in that place no part of his evil
practice would remain hidden; and no wonder, for the king was a most
acute investigator in executing his judgments, as he was in all other
things. He inquired into almost all the judgments which were given
in his absence, throughout all his dominion, whether they were just
or unjust. If he perceived there was iniquity in those judgments, he
would, of his own accord, mildly ask those judges, either in his own
person, or through others who were in trust with him, why they had
judged so unjustly, whether through ignorance or malevolence--that is,
whether for the love or fear of any one, the hatred of another, or the
desire of some one’s money. At length, if the judges acknowledged they
had given such judgment because they knew no better, he discreetly
and moderately reproved their inexperience and folly in such terms as
these: ‘I greatly wonder at your assurance, that whereas, by God’s
favor and mine, you have taken upon you the rank and office of the
wise, you have neglected the studies and labors of the wise. Either,
therefore, at once give up the administration of the earthly powers
which you possess, or endeavor more zealously to study the lessons
of wisdom. Such are my commands.’ At these words the ealdormen and
sheriffs would be filled with terror at being thus severely corrected,
and would endeavor to turn with all their might to the study of
justice, so that, wonderful to say, almost all his ealdormen, sheriffs,
and officers, though unlearned from childhood, gave themselves up
to the study of letters, choosing rather to acquire laboriously an
unfamiliar discipline than to resign their functions. But if any one,
from old age or the sluggishness of an untrained mind, was unable to
make progress in literary studies, he would order his son, if he had
one, or one of his kinsmen, or, if he had no one else, his own freedman
or servant, whom he had long before advanced to the office of reading,
to read Saxon books before him night and day, whenever he had any
leisure. And then they would lament with deep sighs from their inmost
souls that in their youth they had never attended to such studies. They
counted happy the youth of the present day, who could be delightfully
instructed in the liberal arts, while they considered themselves
wretched in that they had neither learned these things in their youth,
nor, now they were old, were able to do so. This skill of young and old
in acquiring letters, I have set forth as a means of characterizing the
aforesaid king.
APPENDIXES
APPENDIX I
ALFRED’S PREFACE TO HIS TRANSLATION OF GREGORY’S PASTORAL CARE
THIS BOOK IS FOR WORCESTER[286]
King Alfred bids greet Bishop Wærferth with his words lovingly and
with friendship; and I let it be known to thee that it has very
often come into my mind what wise men there formerly were throughout
England, both of sacred and secular orders; and what happy times
there were then throughout England; and how the kings who had power
over the nation in those days obeyed God and His ministers; how they
preserved peace, morality, and order at home, and at the same time
enlarged their territory abroad; and how they prospered both with war
and with wisdom; and also how zealous the sacred orders were both in
teaching and learning, and in all the services they owed to God; and
how foreigners came to this land in search of wisdom and instruction,
and how we should now have to get them from abroad if we were to have
them. So general was its decay in England that there were very few on
this side of the Humber who could understand their rituals in English,
or translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe that
there were not many beyond the Humber. There were so few of them that
I cannot remember a single one south of the Thames when I came to the
throne. Thanks be to Almighty God that we have any teachers among us
now. And therefore I command thee to do as I believe thou art willing,
to disengage thyself from worldly matters as often as thou canst, that
thou mayest apply the wisdom which God has given thee wherever thou
canst. Consider what punishments would come upon us on account of this
world, if we neither loved it [wisdom] ourselves nor suffered other
men to obtain it: we should love the name only of Christian, and very
few the virtues. When I considered all this, I remembered also that
I saw, before it had been all ravaged and burned, how the churches
throughout the whole of England stood filled with treasures and books;
and there was also a great multitude of God’s servants, but they had
very little knowledge of the books, for they could not understand
anything of them, because they were not written in their own language.
As if they had said: ‘Our forefathers, who formerly held these places,
loved wisdom, and through it they obtained wealth and bequeathed it to
us. In this we can still see their tracks, but we cannot follow them,
and therefore we have lost both the wealth and the wisdom, because we
would not incline our hearts after their example.’ When I remembered
all this, I wondered extremely that the good and wise men who were
formerly all over England, and had perfectly learned all the books, had
not wished to translate them into their own language. But again I soon
answered myself and said: ‘They did not think that men would ever be so
careless, and that learning would so decay; through that desire they
abstained from it, since they wished that the wisdom in this land might
increase with our knowledge of languages.’ Then I remembered how the
law was first known in Hebrew, and again, when the Greeks had learned
it, they translated the whole of it into their own language, and all
other books besides. And again the Romans, when they had learned them,
translated the whole of them by learned interpreters into their own
language. And also all other Christian nations translated a part of
them into their own language. Therefore it seems better to me, if you
think so, for us also to translate some books which are most needful
for all men to know into the language which we can all understand, and
for you to do as we very easily can if we have tranquillity enough,
that is, that all the youth now in England of free men, who are rich
enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set to learn as long
as they are not fit for any other occupation, until they are able to
read English writing well: and let those be afterwards taught more in
the Latin language who are to continue in learning, and be promoted
to a higher rank. When I remembered how the knowledge of Latin had
formerly decayed throughout England, and yet many could read English
writing, I began, among other various and manifold troubles of this
kingdom, to translate into English the book which is called in Latin
_Pastoralis_, and in English _Shepherd’s Book_, sometimes word by word,
and sometimes according to the sense, as I had learned it from Plegmund
my archbishop, and Asser my bishop, and Grimbald my mass-priest,
and John my mass-priest. And when I had learned it as I could best
understand it, and as I could most clearly interpret it, I translated
it into English; and I will send a copy to every bishopric in my
kingdom; and in each there is a book-mark worth fifty mancuses.[287]
And I command in God’s name that no man take the book-mark from the
book, or the book from the monastery. It is uncertain how long there
may be such learned bishops as now, thanks be to God, there are nearly
everywhere; therefore I wish them[288] always to remain in their
places, unless the bishop wish to take them with him, or they be lent
out anywhere, or any one be making a copy from them.
APPENDIX II
LETTER FROM FULCO, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS AND PRIMATE OF THE FRANKS,
AND _LEGATUS NATUS_ OF THE APOSTOLIC SEE, TO ALFRED, THE MOST
CHRISTIAN KING OF THE ANGLES[289]
To Alfred, the most glorious and most Christian King of the Angles,
Fulco, by the grace of God Archbishop of Rheims, and servant of the
servants of God, wisheth both the sceptre of temporal dominion, ever
triumphant, and the eternal joys of the kingdom of heaven.
And first of all we give thanks to our Lord God, the Father of lights,
and the Author of all good, from whom is every good gift and every
perfect gift, who by the grace of His Holy Spirit hath not only been
pleased to cause the light of His knowledge to shine in your heart,
but also even now hath vouchsafed to kindle the fire of His love, by
which at once enlightened and warmed, you earnestly tender the weal of
the kingdom committed to you from above, by warlike achievements, with
divine assistance attaining or securing peace for it, and desiring to
extend the excellency of the ecclesiastical order, which is the army
of God. Wherefore we implore the divine mercy with unwearied prayers
that He who hath moved and warmed your heart to this would give effect
to your wishes, by replenishing your desire with good things, that in
your days both peace may be multiplied to your kingdom and people, and
that ecclesiastical order, which as you say hath been disturbed in many
ways, either by the continued irruptions and attacks of the pagans,
or by lapse of years, or by the negligence of prelates, or by the
ignorance of subjects, may by your diligence and industry be speedily
reëstablished, exalted, and diffused.
And since you wish this to be effected chiefly through our assistance,
and since from our see, over which St. Remigius, the apostle of the
Franks, presides, you ask for counsel and protection, we think that
this is not done without divine impulse. And as formerly the nation of
the Franks obtained by the same St. Remigius deliverance from manifold
error, and the knowledge of the worship of the only true God, so doth
the nation of the Angles request that it may obtain from his see and
doctrine one by whom they may be taught to avoid superstition, to cut
off superfluities, and to extirpate all such noxious things as bud
forth from violated custom or rude habits, and may learn, while they
walk through the field of the Lord, to pluck the flowers, and to be
upon their guard against the adder.
For St. Augustine, the first bishop of your nation, sent to us by
your apostle St. Gregory, could not in a short time set forth all the
decrees of the holy apostles, nor did he think proper suddenly to
burden a rude and barbarous nation with new and strange enactments; for
he knew how to adapt himself to their infirmities, and to say with the
Apostle, ‘I have given milk to you to drink, who are babes in Christ,
and not meat’ (1 Cor. 3. 2). And as Peter and James, who were looked
upon as pillars (Gal. 2. 9), with Barnabas and Paul, and the rest who
were met together, did not wish to oppress the primitive Church, which
was flowing in from the Gentiles to the faith of Christ, with a heavier
burden than to command them to abstain from things offered to idols,
and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood (Acts
15. 29), so also do we know how matters were managed with you at the
beginning. For they required only this for training up the people in
the knowledge of God, and turning them from their former barbarous
fierceness, namely, that faithful and prudent servants should be placed
over the Lord’s household, who should be competent to give out to
each of their fellow-servants his dole of food in due season, that is,
according to the capacity of each of the hearers. But in process of
time, as the Christian religion gained strength, the holy Church felt
it neither to be her inclination nor her duty to be satisfied with
this, but to take example from the apostles themselves, their masters
and founders, who, after the doctrines of the Gospel had been set forth
and spread abroad by their heavenly Master Himself, did not deem it
superfluous and needless, but convenient and salutary, to establish the
perfect believers by frequent epistolary exhortations, and to build
them more firmly upon the solid foundation, and to impart to them more
abundantly the rule as well of manners as of faith.
Nevertheless, she too, whether excited by adverse circumstances, or
nourished by prosperous ones, never ceased to aim at the good of her
children, whom she is daily bringing forth to Christ, and, inflamed
by the fire of the Holy Spirit, to promote their advancement, both
privately and publicly. Hence the frequent calling of councils, not
only from the neighboring cities and provinces, but also, in these
days, from regions beyond seas; hence synodal decrees so often
published; hence sacred canons, framed and consecrated by the Holy
Spirit, by which both the Catholic faith is powerfully strengthened,
and the unity of the Church’s peace is inviolably guarded, and its
order is decently regulated: which canons, as it is unlawful for any
Christian to transgress, so it is altogether wicked, in clerk and
priest especially, to be ignorant of them; the wholesome observance and
the religious handing down of which are things ever to be embraced.
Seeing that, for the reasons above stated, all these matters have
either not been fully made known to your nation, or have now for the
most part failed, it hath appeared fit and proper to your Majesty and
to your royal wisdom, by a most excellent counsel--inspired, as we
believe, from above--both to consult us, insignificant as we are, on
this matter, and to repair to the see of St. Remigius, by whose virtues
and doctrine the same see or church hath always flourished and excelled
all the churches of Gaul since his time in all piety and doctrine.