your requests, without a gift and empty-handed, your Majesty hath
deigned to honor us with a present that is both very necessary for the
time and well suited to the matter in hand; concerning which we have
both praised heavenly Providence with admiration, and have returned
no slender thanks to your royal munificence. For you have sent unto
us a present of dogs, which, of good and excellent breed, are yet
only in the body and mortal; and this you do that they may drive away
the fury of visible wolves, with which, among other scourges, wielded
against us by the righteous judgment of God, our country abounds; and
you ask us, in return, that we should send to you certain watch-dogs,
not corporeal, that is to say, not such as those with whom the prophet
finds fault, saying, ‘Dumb dogs, not able to bark’ (Isa. 56. 10), but
such as the Psalmist speaks of, ‘That the tongue of thy dogs may be
red through the same’ (Ps. 68. 23), who know how and are qualified to
make loud barkings for their Lord, and constantly to guard His flock
with most wakeful and most careful watchings, and to drive away to a
distance those most cruel wolves of unclean spirits who lie in wait to
devour souls.
Of which number you specially demand one from us, namely, Grimbald,
priest and monk, to be sent for this office, and to preside over the
government of the pastoral charge. To whom the whole Church, which
hath nourished him, gives her testimony from his childhood, with
true faith and holy religion, and which hath advanced him by regular
steps, according to ecclesiastical custom, to the dignity of the
priesthood. We affirm openly that he is most deserving of the honor of
the episcopate, and that he is fit to teach others also. But indeed
we wished that this might rather take place in our kingdom, and we
intended some time ago, with Christ’s permission, to accomplish it in
due time, namely, that he whom we had as a faithful son we might have
as an associate in our office, and a most trustworthy assistant in
everything that pertained to the advantage of the Church. It is not
without deep sorrow--forgive us for saying so--that we suffer him to
be torn from us, and be removed from our eyes by so vast an extent
of land and sea. But as love has no perception of loss, nor faith of
injury, and no remoteness of regions can part those whom the tie of
unfeigned affection joins together, we have most willingly assented to
your request--for to you we have no power to refuse anything--nor do
we grudge him to you, whose advantage we rejoice in as much as if it
were our own, and whose profit we count as ours: for we know that in
every place one only God is served, and that the Catholic and Apostolic
Church is one, whether it be at Rome or in the parts beyond the sea.
It is our duty, then, to make him over to you canonically; and it is
your duty to receive him reverentially, that is to say, in such way and
mode as may best conduce to the glory of your kingdom, to the honor
of the Church and our prelacy; and to send him to you along with his
electors, and with certain nobles and great personages of your kingdom,
as well bishops, presbyters, deacons, as religious laymen also, who
with their own lips promise and declare to us in the presence of our
whole church that they will treat him with fitting respect during the
whole course of his life, and that they will inviolably keep with the
strictest care the canonical decrees and the rules of the Church,
handed down to the Church by the apostles and by apostolic men, such
as they could then hear from us, and afterwards learn from him their
pastor and teacher, according to the form delivered by us to him. Which
when they shall have done, with the divine blessing and the authority
of St. Remigius, by our ministry and the laying on of hands, according
to the custom of the Church, receiving him properly ordained, and in
all things fully instructed, let them conduct him with due honor to his
own seat, glad and cheerful themselves that they are always to enjoy
his protection, and constantly to be instructed by his teaching and
example.
And as the members feel a concern for each other, and when even one
rejoices they rejoice with it, or if even one suffer all the other
members sympathize with it, we again earnestly and specially commend
him to your Royal Highness and to your most provident goodness, that
he may be always permitted, with unfettered authority, without any
gainsaying, to teach and to carry into effect whatever he may discover
to be fit and useful for the honor of the Church and the instruction
of your people, according to the authority of the canons and the
custom of our Church, lest, haply--which God forbid!--any one, under
the instigation of the devil, being moved by the impulse of spite and
malevolence, should excite controversy or raise sedition against him.
But should this happen, it will be your duty then to make special
provision against this, and by all means to discourage by your royal
censure all such persons, if they should chance to show themselves, and
check barbaric rudeness by the curb of your authority; and it will be
his duty always to consult for the salvation of the people committed to
his pastoral skill, and rather to draw all men after him by love than
to drive them by fear.
May you, most illustrious, most religious, and most invincible king,
ever rejoice and flourish in Christ the Lord of lords.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Based on the _Chronicle_ under 855.
[2] MS. _Cudam_. So always, but see the _Chronicle_.
[3] Bede, _Eccl. Hist._ 3. 7: ‘The West Saxons, formerly called
Gewissae.’ Plummer comments in his edition, 2. 89: ‘It is probably
connected with the “visi” of “Visigoths,” meaning “west,” and hence
would indicate the western confederation of Saxon tribes; ... “Gewis”
is probably an eponymous hero manufactured out of the tribe-name.’ The
_gw_ of _Gegwis_ is a Welsh peculiarity (Stevenson).
[4] MS., Stev. _Seth_ (but Stevenson suggests _Sceaf_ in his variants,
referring to the _Chronicle_ under 855).
[5] MS. _Cainan_, but see Gen. 5. 12 in R. V.
[6] Partly from the _Chronicle_, but the whole account of Alfred’s
father and mother is original.
[7] From the _Chronicle_ under 530 and 534.
[8] Unidentified.
[9] From the _Chronicle_.
[10] Possibly Wigborough, in the parish of South Petherton in
Somersetshire (Stevenson).
[11] Minster in Sheppey, founded by St. Sexburh in the seventh century;
it disappeared during the Danish ravages (Stevenson).
[12] From the _Chronicle_.
[13] MS. _Cantwariorum civitatem_; Chron. _Cantwaraburg_.
[14] Based upon the _Chronicle_.
[15] Stevenson is inclined to reject this customary identification with
Oakley, in Surrey.
[16] The source--the _Chronicle_--says: ‘And there made the greatest
slaughter among the heathen army that we have heard reported to the
present day.’
[17] From the _Chronicle_.
[18] Mainly from the _Chronicle_.
[19] The ‘North Welsh’ of the _Chronicle_.
[20] Based upon the _Chronicle_.
[21] MS. _in regem_.
[22] MS. _infantem_.
[23] ‘A letter from the pope to Alfred’s father, regarding the ceremony
at Rome, has been fortunately preserved for us in a twelfth-century
collection of papal letters, now in the British Museum.... The letter
is as follows: “_Edeluulfo, regi Anglorum_ [marginal direction for
rubricator]. <F>ilium vestrum Erfred, quem hoc in tempore ad Sanctorum
Apostolorum limina destinare curastis, benigne suscepimus, et, quasi
spiritalem filium consulatus cingulo <cinguli _emend. Ewald_> honore
vestimentisque, ut mos est Romanis consulibus, decoravimus, eo quod in
nostris se tradidit manibus”’ (Stevenson). The _Chronicle_ has: ‘...
consecrated him as king, and took him as bishop-son.’ See p. 29.
[24] Based upon the _Chronicle_.
[25] Thanet.
[26] From the _Chronicle_.
[27] Based upon the _Chronicle_.
[28] Charles the Bald.
[29] Original.
[30] Comprising Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall.
[31] Chiefly original.
[32] From the _Chronicle_.
[33] Prudentius of Troyes (in _Annales Bertiniani_, an. 856, ed. Waitz,
p. 47), says of Bishop Hincmar: ‘Eam ... reginæ nomine insignit, quod
sibi suæque genti eatenus fuerat insuetum.’
[34] Original.
[35] Offa’s Dike; it extended from the mouth of the Dee to that of the
Severn.
[36] Original.
[37] Charlemagne.
[38] ‘Pavia was on the road to Rome, and was hence frequented by
English pilgrims on their journey to the latter’ (Stevenson). The
_Chronicle_ says under 888: ‘Queen Æthelswith, who was King Alfred’s
sister, died; _and her body lies at Pavia_.’ ‘With this story of
Eadburh’s begging in that city we may compare the statement of St.
Boniface, written about 747, as to the presence of English prostitutes
or adulteresses in the cities of Lombardy, Frankland, or Gaul (Dümmler,
_Epistolæ Karolini Ævi_ 1. 355; Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils_ 3. 381).
At the date of this letter the Lombards still spoke their native
Germanic tongue, and it is probable that as late as Eadburh’s time it
was still the predominant speech in Lombardy’ (Stevenson).
[39] Mostly original.
[40] In Alfred’s will (_Cart. Sax._ 2. 177. 9) he refers to this as
‘Aþulfes cinges yrfegewrit’ (Stevenson).
[41] That is, for the good of his soul.
[42] Lat. _manentibus_.
[43] A mancus was thirty pence, one-eighth of a pound.
[44] Original.
[45] From Florence of Worcester. The _Annals of St. Neots_ have: ‘and
buried at Steyning’ (_Stemrugam_).
[46] This last statement is incorrect.
[47] From the _Chronicle_ under 860. As Æthelbert was already in
possession of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, it should rather be said that
he added Wessex.
[48] From the _Chronicle_ under 860.
[49] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_ under 865 and 866.
[50] The earlier part from the _Chronicle_.
[51] Probably meaning the mouths of the Rhine (Stevenson).
[52] Original.
[53] _Curto_, a word showing Frankish influence.
[54] Original. Stevenson would refer this event to a date earlier than
855.
[55] From Florence of Worcester.
[56] So Pauli and Stevenson interpret _legit_.
[57] Original.
[58] Cf. chap. 88.
[59] The liberal arts were seven, consisting of the _trivium_--grammar,
logic, and rhetoric--and the _quadrivium_--arithmetic, geometry,
music, and astronomy. This course of study was introduced in the sixth
century. Asser here employs the singular, _artem_, which might be
translated by ‘education.’
[60] See Alfred’s own statement in Appendix I, p. 69.
[61] Original.
[62] Alfred says (Preface to the _Pastoral Care_): ‘Thanks be to
Almighty God that we have any teachers among us now.’ In this same
Preface he mentions, among those who aided him in the translation,
Archbishop Plegmund, Bishop Asser, our author, and the two priests
Grimbold and John. Cf. chaps. 77, 78, 79, 81, 88, and Appendix I, p. 71.
[63] Stevenson brackets this clause.
[64] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.
[65] This clause must refer to the first line of the chapter, as there
is no previous mention of the Northumbrians.
[66] From the _Chronicle_.
[67] Original.
[68] ‘_Subarravit_, formed from _sub_ and _arrha_, represents literally
the English verb _wed_, which refers to the giving of security upon the
engagement of marriage.... [It] is glossed by _beweddian_ in Napier’s
_Old English Glosses_’ (Stevenson).
[69] William of Malmesbury calls her Æthelswith.
[70] Of the Gaini nothing is known.
[71] Largely from the _Chronicle_.
[72] ‘A compound of _tig_ (Modern Welsh _tŷ_, “house”), and
_guocobauc_ (Modern Welsh _gogofawg_), an adjective derived from
_gogof_, “cave.” ... The name ... is certainly applicable to
Nottingham, which has long been famous for the houses excavated out
of the soft sandstone upon which it stands’ (Stevenson). The word
Nottingham itself, however, has not this meaning.
[73] Here and elsewhere in the text often spelled Æthered.
[74] From the _Chronicle_.
[75] In Norfolk.
[76] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.
[77] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_.
[78] Five and one-half miles southwest of Reading.
[79] Added from Florence of Worcester by Stevenson.
[80] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_.
[81] The Berkshire Downs (Stevenson).
[82] Stevenson is convinced that Æscesdun, though interpreted as ‘mons
fraxini,’ cannot mean ‘the hill of the ash,’ but that Ash is here a
man’s name.
[83] Perhaps _mediam_ is a scribal error for _unam_ or _primam_
(Stevenson).
[84] There is a note on the Germanic shield-wall in my edition of
_Judith_ (305ª), in the Belles Lettres Series.
[85] All original except final clause.
[86] Supplied by Stevenson from Florence of Worcester.
[87] Mostly original.
[88] Probably Reading.
[89] From the _Chronicle_.
[90] Before this sentence occurs the following in the Latin: _Quibus
cum talia præsentis vitæ dispendia alienigenis perperam quærentibus
non sufficerent._ This may represent a sentence in the author’s draft
that was intended, owing to change of construction, to be omitted
(Stevenson).
[91] In Hampshire.
[92] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.
[93] In Dorsetshire.
[94] Paraphrased and amplified from the _Chronicle_.
[95] A tributary of the Nadder, which it joins near Wilton.
[96] Or, perhaps, ‘fewness,’ reading _paucitatem_ for _peraudacitatem_
(Stevenson).
[97] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.
[98] From the _Chronicle_.
[99] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_.
[100] In Derbyshire.
[101] Among the Germans there were Colonies (_Scholæ_) of the Frisians,
Franks, and Lombards, as well as of the Saxons.
[102] Now Santo Spirito in Sassia, near the Vatican.
[103] From the _Chronicle_.
[104] The valley of the Clyde.
[105] Here spelled Gothrum.
[106] From the _Chronicle_.
[107] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_.
[108] In Dorsetshire.
[109] Dorchester.
[110] For the usual Dornsæte.
[111] Here the _Chronicle_ has ‘on the holy arm-ring,’ on which the
Danes, it would seem, were accustomed to swear.
[112] Here the _Chronicle_ has: ‘They, the mounted army, stole away
from the fierd [the English forces] in the night into Exeter.’ This, of
course, is the true account, while the statement in Asser is incredible.
[113] Exe.
[114] From the _Chronicle_.
[115] See chap. 46.
[116] Largely from the _Chronicle_.
[117] At this point Archbishop Parker interpolated, from the _Annals
of St. Neots_, the story of Alfred and the cakes. This story, however,
cannot be proved to antedate the Norman Conquest.
[118] The first clause from the _Chronicle_; the rest original.
[119] Name unknown.
[120] Hingwar.
[121] Or South Wales. See chap. 80.
[122] Site unknown.
[123] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.
[124] In Somersetshire.
[125] Unknown.
[126] Or perhaps better, Iglea; see Stevenson’s note on the word,
p. 270 of his edition. He says: ‘It is probably an older name of
Southleigh Wood, or of part of it.’
[127] Based upon the _Chronicle_.
[128] In Wiltshire.
[129] Supplied by Stevenson from the _Chronicle_.
[130] Properly, as one of thirty, according to the _Chronicle_.
[131] Chrism is the term employed for the mixture of oil and balsam
employed in the rite of confirmation, and sometimes for the ceremony
of confirmation itself. In the early church, this ceremony immediately
followed baptism, and was performed by the laying on of hands. In the
Roman church it is obligatory on all Catholics, and no baptism is
theoretically complete without it. It is performed by a bishop (only
exceptionally by a priest). The ceremony begins with the bishop’s
rising and facing the person or persons to be confirmed, his pastoral
staff in his hand, and saying: ‘May the Holy Ghost come upon you, and
the power of the Holy Ghost keep you from sins’ (_Handbook to Christian
and Ecclesiastical Rome: Liturgy in Rome_, London, 1897, pp. 169–171).
The rite is described in Egbert’s _Pontifical_, which may be taken
as representing the custom in the church of Alfred’s time. Lingard
says (_Anglo-Saxon Church_, London, 1858, 1. 297): ‘According to that
pontifical, the bishop prayed thus: “Almighty and Everlasting God, who
hast granted to this thy servant to be born again of water and the Holy
Ghost, and hast given to him remission of his sins, send down upon him
thy sevenfold Holy Spirit, the Paraclete from heaven, Amen. Give to him
the spirit of wisdom and understanding, Amen--the spirit of counsel and
fortitude, Amen--the spirit of knowledge and piety, Amen. Fill him with
the spirit of the fear of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and mercifully
sign him with the sign of the holy cross for life eternal.” The bishop
then marked his forehead with chrism, and proceeded thus: “Receive this
sign of the holy cross with the chrism of salvation in Christ Jesus
unto life eternal.” The head was then bound with a fillet of new linen
to be worn seven days, and the bishop resumed: “O God, who didst give
thy Holy Spirit to thine apostles, that by them and their successors he
might be given to the rest of the faithful, look down on the ministry
of our lowliness, and grant that into the heart of him whose forehead
we have this day anointed, and confirmed with the sign of the cross,
thy Holy Spirit may descend; and that, dwelling therein, he may make it
the temple of his glory, through Christ our Lord.” The confirmed then
received the episcopal blessing, and communicated during the mass.’
The chrism-loosing was the ceremony of unbinding the fillet, apparently.
[132] MS. _ædificia_; Stevenson, _beneficia_.
[133] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_.
[134] Gloucester, Worcester, etc.
[135] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.
[136] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.
[137] See Stevenson’s interesting note.
[138] From the _Chronicle_.
[139] _Ibid._
[140] _Ibid._
[141] _Ibid._
[142] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.
[143] Largely from the _Chronicle_.
[144] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.
[145] Cf. chap. 60.
[146] The MS. has _dormiret_, but perhaps for _domum iret_, since the
_Chronicle_ has _hāmweard wendon_ (Stevenson); so perhaps we should
read ‘was on its way home.’
[147] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_.
[148] Louis the Stammerer.
[149] Cf. chap. 59.
[150] Charles the Bald.
[151] Cf. chaps. 11 and 13.
[152] From the _Chronicle_.
[153] From Duisburg, about January, 884 (Stevenson).
[154] There was a battle in Frisia, about December, 884, and a later
one in Saxony (Stevenson).
[155] Mainly from the _Chronicle_.
[156] The North Sea.
[157] Brittany.
[158] Louis the German.
[159] Louis the Pious.
[160] Mainly from the _Chronicle_.
[161] From the _Chronicle_.
[162] Based upon the preface to Eginhard’s _Life of Charlemagne_.
[163] See chap. 21.
[164] Original.
[165] Perhaps the hemorrhoids.
[166] Interpolated some time between 893 and 1000 A.D.
[167] In Alfred’s prayer at the end of his translation of Boethius,
one of the petitions is: ‘Deliver me from foul lust and from all
unrighteousness.’
[168] Original.
[169] This is the beginning of a corrupt sentence, of which nothing has
been made.
[170] MS. _Eadredo_.
[171] See Appendix I, p. 70.
[172] See chaps. 24 and 88.
[173] Original.
[174] Cf. Alfred’s jewel, and the book upon it by Professor Earle.
[175] See chaps. 23 and 75.
[176] Our first accounts of Arctic exploration are from his pen. For
his interest in geographical discovery see the narratives of Ohthere
and Wulfstan, in his translation of Orosius. In 897, according to the
_Chronicle_, he was experimenting with new war-galleys: ‘They were
almost twice as long as the others. Some had sixty oars, some more.
They were swifter, steadier, and higher than the others, and were
built, not on a Frisian or Danish model, but according to his personal
notions of their utility.’
[177] There were Frisians in his fleet in 897 (_Chronicle_).
[178] Northmen; such were Ohthere and Wulfstan (see note 1, above).
[179] Three such came to him in 891 (_Chronicle_).
[180] MS. _Armorici_. See chap. 102.
[181] Or, ‘degrees’; cf. p. 60.
[182] See chap. 101.
[183] Matt. 6. 33.
[184] Ps. 85. 8.
[185] Cf. chap. 88; Stevenson gives a number of parallels from ancient
and mediæval authors, beginning with Lucretius (3. 9) and Seneca
(_Epist._ 84.3).
[186] Cf. chap. 24.
[187] Original.
[188] See Appendix I, p. 69. In Alfred’s will he gives Werfrith
(Wærferth) a hundred marks.
[189] See Appendix I, p. 71.
[190] Perhaps Bishop of Ramsbury (909 A.D.). The later MSS. of the
_Chronicle_ say, under the year 883: ‘And in the same year Sighelm and
Æthelstan took to Rome the alms that King Alfred sent, and also to
India to St. Thomas’ and St. Bartholomew’s.’
[191] Or, ‘chaplains.’ See p. 61, note 6.
[192] Original.
[193] Probably from the monastery of St. Bertin, at St. Omer
(Pas-de-Calais). See Appendix I, p. 71, and Appendix II, pp. 75 ff.
[194] Cf. chap. 94, and Appendix I, p. 71.
[195] Original.
[196] Perhaps Dean, near Eastbourne, in Sussex.
[197] Five miles southwest of Chepstow. ‘There was an abbey there,
where a traveling ecclesiastic would be likely to stay, and it was on
the great Roman road to South Wales, by which a traveler from Wessex to
St. Davids would proceed’ (Stevenson).
[198] The MS. seems to be corrupt at this point, so that what I have
given is a loose conjectural rendering of the Latin: ... _et illa
adjuvaretur per rudimenta Sancti Dequi in omni causa, tamen pro
viribus_.
[199] Original.
[200] Pembrokeshire and part of Carmarthenshire.
[201] ‘Rhodri Mawr (the Great), King of Gwyneth, who acquired the rule
of the whole of North and Mid-Wales and Cardigan’ (Stevenson).
[202] Old name of Glamorgan and part of Monmouthshire.
[203] In Monmouthshire.
[204] Alfred.
[205] See chaps. 8 and 56.
[206] Original.
[207] Perhaps Landford in Wiltshire.
[208] In Alfred’s Preface to his translation of Boethius we are told:
‘[He made this translation as well as he could], considering the
various and manifold worldly cares that oft troubled him both in mind
and body.’ The similarity of phrase is striking.
[209] Both in Somersetshire; these monasteries are otherwise unknown.
[210] Largely from the _Chronicle_.
[211] Largely from the _Chronicle_.
[212] Namely, Alfred.
[213] A mistranslation from the _Chronicle_; it should read, ‘were not
in captivity,’ etc.
[214] Here follows Camden’s famous (forged?) interpolation about
Grimbald and Oxford.
[215] Much expanded from the _Chronicle_.
[216] From the _Chronicle_.
[217] Charles the Fat.
[218] Burgundy.
[219] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_.
[220] Cf. chap. 84.
[221] Original.
[222] Original.
[223] Cf. chap. 24.
[224] Author unknown.
[225] Cf. chap. 76.
[226] Original.
[227] Luke 23. 42.
[228] The following phrases, introduced at this point, seem to be
corrupt: _Hic aut aliter, quamvis dissimili modo, in regia potestate._
[229] November 11.
[230] Alfred calls the passages which he translated from St.
Augustine’s _Soliloquies_ by the name of ‘flowers’ or ‘blossoms’
(_blōstman_). See Hargrove’s edition (_Yale Studies in English_ XIII),
and his version into modern English (_Yale Studies in English_ XXII).
[231] The application of the word to a work of St. Augustine’s gave it
great currency in the Frankish Latin of the period.
[232] The Handbook seems to have been known to William of Malmesbury
(d. 1143); cf. his _Gesta Pontificum_, pp. 333, 336.
[233] Original.
[234] Unknown.
[235] Cf. note 5, chap. 80.
[236] ... _unicuique ubicumque male habet_.
[237] Original.
[238] Cf. chap. 74.
[239] MS. corrupt: _De cotidiana nationum_.
[240] This makes no sense; yet the Latin is: _quæ in Tyrreno mari usque
ultimum Hiberniæ finem habitant_.
[241] Cf. chap. 70.
[242] Perhaps Elias III, patriarch from about 879 to 907; the MS.
reads _Abel_. Stevenson’s emendation is supported by the fact that
certain medical recipes are related to have been sent to Alfred by the
patriarch Elias (Cockayne, _Leechdoms_ 2. 290).
[243] Stevenson says: ‘Possibly he intended to refer to the use of
the precious metals in sacred edifices. We are told, on the doubtful
authority of William of Malmesbury, that King Ine built a chapel of
gold and silver at Glastonbury. A ninth-century writer records that
Ansegis, abbot of Fontenelle, 806–833, partly decorated a spire of
the abbey with gilt metal, and another writer of that period mentions
the golden doors of the “basilica” of St. Alban in his description of
the imperial palace at Ingelheim. Giraldus Cambrensis ascribes the
use of golden roofs or roof-crests to the Romans at Caerleon-on-Usk.
The idea that a king’s palace ought to be decorated with the precious
metals is probably an outcome of the late Roman rhetoric and Byzantine
magnificence.’
[244] The early part of the sentence is corrupt in the MS.