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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
There are several "Parts" in this book. Only the last
one is listed in the Table of Contents. The titles of
the parts are enclosed by equal signs (example: =The
Saxon Invasion.=).
The page numbers in the Table of Contents usually refer
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[Illustration: _Conversion of Ethelbert._]
HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS:
From the Earliest Period to the Norman Conquest.
by
THOMAS MILLER,
Author of "Royston Gower," "Lady Jane Grey,"
"Pictures of Country Life," etc.
SECOND EDITION.
London:
David Bogue, Fleet Street.
MDCCCL.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE DAWN OF HISTORY.
Obscurity of early history--Our ancient monuments a mystery--
The Welsh Triads--Language of the first inhabitants of Britain
unknown--Wonders of the ancient world p. 5
CHAPTER II.
THE ANCIENT BRITONS.
The Celtic Tribes--Britain known to the Phoenicians and Greeks--
The ancient Cymry--Different classes of the early Britons--
Their personal appearance--Description of their forest-towns--
A British hunter--Interior of an ancient hut--Costume of the
old Cymry--Ancient armour and weapons--British war-chariots
--The fearful havoc they made in battle p. 12
CHAPTER III.
THE DRUIDS.
Interior of an old British forest--Druidical sacrifice--Their
treasures--Their mysterious rites and ceremonies--The power
they possessed--Their belief in a future state--Their wild
superstitions--An arch-Druid described--Their veneration for
the mistletoe--Description of the Druids offering up sacrifice
--The gloomy grandeur of their ancient groves--Contrast
between the idols of the Druids and the heathen gods of the
Romans p. 17
CHAPTER IV.
LANDING OF JULIUS CÆSAR.
Cæsar's reasons for invading Britain--Despatches Volusenus from
Gaul to reconnoitre the island--Is intimidated by the force he
finds arranged along the cliffs of Dover--Lands near Sandwich
--Courage of the Roman Standard-bearer--Combat between the
Britons and Romans--Defeat and submission of the Britons--
Wreck of the Roman galleys--Perilous position of the invaders
--Roman soldiers attacked in a corn-field, rescued by the
arrival of their general--Britons attack the Roman encampment,
are again defeated, and pursued by the Roman cavalry--Cæsar's
hasty departure from Britain--Return of the Romans at spring
--Description of their armed galleys--Determination of Cæsar
to conquer Britain--Picturesque description of the night
march of the Roman legions into Kent--Battle beside a river
--Difficulties the Romans encounter in their marches through
the ancient British forests--Cæsar's hasty retreat to his
encampment--The Roman galleys again wrecked--Cessation of
hostilities--Cassivellaunus assumes the command of the Britons
--His skill as a general--Obtains an advantage over the
Romans with his war-chariots--Attacks the Roman encampment by
night and slays the outer guard--Defeats the two cohorts that
advance to their rescue, and slays a Roman tribune--Renewal of
the battle on the following day--Cæsar compelled to call in
the foragers to strengthen his army--Splendid charge of the
Roman cavalry--Overthrow and retreat of the Britons--Cæsar
marches through Kent and Surrey in pursuit of the British army
--Crosses the Thames near Chertsey--Retreat of the British
general--Cuts off the supplies of the Romans, and harasses the
army with his war-chariots--Stratagems adopted by the Britons
--Cassivellaunus betrayed by his countrymen--His fortress
attacked in the forest--Contemplates the destruction of the
Roman fleet--Attack of the Kentish men on the encampment of the
invaders--The Romans again victorious--Cassivellaunus sues
for peace--Final departure of Cæsar from Britain p. 30
CHAPTER V.
CARACTACUS, BOADICEA, AND AGRICOLA.
State of Britain after the departure of Cæsar--Landing of
Plautius--His skirmishes with the Britons in the marshes beside
the Thames--Arrival of the Roman emperor Claudius--Ostorius
conquers and disarms the Britons--Rise of Caractacus--British
encampment in Wales--Caractacus defeated, betrayed by his
step-mother, and carried captive to Rome--Death of the Roman
general Ostorius--Retreat of the Druids to the Isle of Anglesey
--Suetonius attacks the island--Consternation of the Roman
soldiers on landing--Massacre of the Druids, and destruction of
their groves and altars--Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, assumes
the command of the Britons--Her sufferings--She prepares for
battle, attacks the Roman colony of Camaladonum--Her terrible
vengeance--Her march into London, and destruction of the
Romans--Picturesque description of Boadicea and her daughters
in her ancient British war-chariot--Harangues her soldiers
--Is defeated by Suetonius, and destroys herself--Agricola
lands in Britain--His mild measures--Instructs the islanders
in agriculture and architecture--Leads the Roman legions
into Caledonia, and attacks the men of the woods--Bravery of
Galgacus, the Caledonian chief--Agricola sails round the coast
of Scotland--Erects a Roman rampart to prevent the Caledonians
from invading Britain p. 40
CHAPTER VI.
DEPARTURE OF THE ROMANS.
Adrian strengthens and extends the Roman fortifications--
Description of these ancient barriers, and the combats that took
place before them--Wall erected by the emperor Severus--He
marches into Caledonia, reaches the Frith of Moray--Great
mortality amongst the Roman legions--Severus dies at York--
Picturesque description of the Roman sentinels guarding the
ancient fortresses--Attack of the northern barbarians--Peace
of Britain under the government of Caracalla--Arrival of the
Saxon and Scandinavian pirates--The British Channel protected
by the naval commander, Carausius--His assassination at York
--Constantine the Great--Theodosius conquers the Saxons--
Rebellion of the Roman soldiers; they elect their own general
--Alaric, the Goth, overruns the Roman territories--British
soldiers sent abroad to strengthen the Roman ranks--Decline
of the Roman power in Britain--Ravages of the Picts, Scots,
and Saxons--The Britons apply in vain for assistance from Rome
--Miserable condition in which they are left on the departure
of the Romans--War between the Britons and the remnant of the
invaders--Vortigern, king of the Britons--A league with the
Saxons p. 50
CHAPTER VII.
BRITAIN AFTER THE ROMAN PERIOD.
Great change produced in Britain by the Romans--Its ancient
features contrasted with its appearance after their departure--
Picturesque description of Britain--First dawn of Christianity
--Progress of the Britons in civilization--Old British
fortifications--Change in the costume of the Britons--Decline
in their martial deportment--Their ancient mode of burial--
Description of early British barrows--Ascendancy of rank p. 56
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ANCIENT SAXONS.
Origin of the early Saxons--Description of their habits and arms
--Their religion--The halls of Valhalla--Their belief in
rewards and punishments after death--Their ancient mythology
described--Superstitions of the early Saxons--Their ancient
temples and forms of worship--Their picturesque processions
--Dreadful punishments inflicted upon those who robbed their
temples--Different orders of society--Their divisions
of the seasons--Their bravery as pirates, and skill in
navigation p. 64
CHAPTER IX.
HENGIST, HORSA, ROWENA, AND VORTIGERN.
Landing of Hengist and Horsa, the Saxon chiefs--Their treaty
with Vortigern and the British chiefs--The British king allots
them the Isle of Thanet as a residence, on condition that they
drive out the Picts and Scots--Success of the Saxons--Arrival
of more ships--Landing of the Princess Rowena--Marriage of
Vortigern and Rowena--Quarrel between the Britons and Saxons
--Description of their first battle by the old Welsh bards--
The Britons led on by the sons of Vortigern--Death of Horsa,
the Saxon chief--Rowena's revenge--Pretended reconciliation
of the Saxons, and description of the feast where the British
chiefs were massacred--Terrible death of Vortigern and the fair
Rowena p. 72
CHAPTER X.
ELLA, CERDRIC, AND KING ARTHUR.
Arrival of Ella and his three sons--Combat between the Saxons
and Britons beside the ancient forest of Andredswold--Defeat
of the Britons, and desolate appearance of the old forest town
of Andred-Ceaster after the battle--Revengeful feelings of
the Britons--Establishment of the Saxon kingdom of Sussex--
Landing of Cerdric and his followers--Battle of Churdfrid,
and death of the British king Natanleod--Arrival of Cerdric's
kinsmen--The Britons again defeated--Arthur, the British
king, arms in defence of his country--His adventures described
--Numbers of battles in which he fought--Death of king Arthur
in the field of Camlan--Discovery of his remains in the abbey
of Glastonbury p. 83
CHAPTER XI.
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SAXON OCTARCHY.
Landing of Erkenwin--The establishment of the kingdom of Wessex
--Description of London--Arrival of Ida and his twelve sons
--The British chiefs make a bold stand against Ida--Bravery
of Urien--Description of the battle of the pleasant valley,
by Taliesin, the British bard--Llywarch's elegy on the death
of Urien--Beautiful description of the battle of Cattraeth by
Anenrin, the Welsh bard--Establishment of the kingdom of Mercia
--Description of the divisions of England which formed the Saxon
Octarchy--Amalgamation of the British and Saxon population--
Retirement of the unconquered remnant of the ancient Cymry into
Wales p. 90
CHAPTER XII.
CONVERSION OF ETHELBERT.
Commencement of the civil war amongst the Saxons--Struggle
between Ethelbert, king of Kent, and Ceawlin, king of Wessex, for
the title of Bretwalda--Description of the slave-market of Rome
--Monk Gregory's admiration of the British captives--Gregory
becomes pontiff, and despatches Augustin with fifty monks to
convert the inhabitants of Britain--Picturesque description of
the landing of the Christian missionaries in the Isle of Thanet
--Intercession of Bertha--Ethelbert's interview with Augustin
and his followers--The missionaries take up their residence
in Canterbury--Conversion of Ethelbert--Augustin is made
Archbishop, by Pope Gregory--The rich presents sent to Britain
by the Pope--Character of the Roman pontiff--His wise policy
in not abolishing at once all outward forms of heathen worship
--Eadbald ascends the throne of Kent--Marries his stepmother,
and is denounced by the priests--He renounces the Christian
faith--The monks are driven out of Essex--Eadbald again
acknowledges the true faith, and the persecuted priests find
shelter in the kingdom of Kent p. 99
CHAPTER XIII.
EDWIN, KING OF THE DEIRI AND BERNICIA.
Adventures of Edwin, king of the Deiri--His residence in Wales
with Cadvan, one of the ancient British kings--Ethelfrith
having deprived him of his kingdom, seeks his life--Edwin flies
from Wales, and seeks the protection of Redwald, king of East
Anglia--Edwin's dream--The queen of East Anglia intercedes in
behalf of Edwin--Redwald prepares to wage war with Ethelfrith
--Religion of the king of East Anglia--Description of the
battle fought between Redwald and Ethelfrith on the banks of the
river Idel--Death of Ethelfrith, and accession of Edwin to
the throne of Northumbria--Edwin's marriage with Edilburga,
daughter of Ethelbert--Journey of the Saxon princess from Kent
to Northumbria--Attempted assassination of Edwin--Paulinus
endeavours in vain to convert Edwin to the Christian faith--
The king assembles his pagan priests and nobles to discuss the
new religion--Speech of Coifi, the heathen priest--Beautiful
and poetical address of a Saxon chief to the assembly--Coifi
desecrates the temple of Woden--Peaceful state of Northumbria
under the reign of Edwin--Death of Edwin at the battle of
Hatfield-chase in Yorkshire--Victories of Cadwallon, the
British king--Triumph of the Saxons under Oswald, and death of
Cadwallon at the battle called Heaven-field p. 111
CHAPTER XIV.
PENDA, THE PAGAN MONARCH OF MERCIA.
Description of the kingdom of Mercia--Character of Penda, the
pagan king--Charity of Oswald--Barbarous cruelty of Penda--
His desolating march through Northumbria--Attacks the castle
of Bamborough--His march into Wessex--His invasion of East
Anglia--Sigebert, the monk-king, leads on the East Anglians
--Is defeated by Penda, who ravages East Anglia--The pagan
king again enters Northumbria--Oswy offers all his treasures
to purchase peace--Is treated with contempt by Penda--Oswy
prepares for battle--Penda's forces driven into the river--
Death of the pagan king--Great changes effected by his death
--Courage of Saxburga, the widowed queen of Wessex--Perilous
state of the Saxon Octarchy p. 119
CHAPTER XV.
DECLINE OF THE SAXON OCTARCHY.
Alfred, the learned king of Northumbria--His patronage of the
celebrated scholar Aldhelm--Ceowulf, the patron of Bede--
Mollo, brother of the king of Wessex, burnt alive in Kent--King
Ina and his celebrated laws--Strange device of Ina's queen to
induce him to resign his crown, and make a pilgrimage to Rome
--Mysterious death of Ostrida, queen of the Mercians--Her
husband, Ethelred, abandons his crown and becomes a monk after
her violent death--Ethelbald ascends the throne of Mercia--
Adventures of his early life--His residence with Guthlac,
the hermit, in the island of Croyland--First founder of the
monastery of Croyland--Ethelbald joins Cuthred, king of Wessex,
and obtains a victory over the Welsh--Proclaims war against
Cuthred--Description of the battle, and defeat of Ethelbald--
Independence of the kingdom of Wessex--Abdication of Sigebyhrt,
king of Wessex--His death in the forest of Andredswold--Rapid
accession and dethronement of the kings of Northumbria--Summary
of their brief reigns p. 129
CHAPTER XVI.
OFFA, SURNAMED THE TERRIBLE.
Offa ascends the throne of Mercia--Drida's introduction and
marriage with the Mercian king--Character of queen Drida and
her daughter Edburga--Offa's invasion of Northumbria--He
marches into Kent--Is victorious--Defeats the king of Wessex
--His victory over the Welsh--Description of Offa's dyke--
Offa's friendly correspondence with Charlemagne--Adventures of
Egbert--Murder of Cynewulf, at Merton, in Surrey--Brihtric
obtains the crown of Wessex, and marries the daughter of Offa--
Ethelbert, king of East Anglia, visits the Mercian court--Queen
Drida plots his destruction--Description of a Saxon feast--
Dreadful death of Ethelbert--Offa's daughter, Alfleda, seeks
shelter in the monastery of Croyland--Murder of Queen Drida
--Edburga poisons her husband, Brihtric, king of Wessex--She
flies to France--Her reception at the court of Charlemagne--
She dies a beggar in the streets of Pavia p. 139
CHAPTER XVII.
EGBERT, KING OF ALL THE SAXONS.
Character of Egbert--His watchful policy--Death of Kenwulf, and
decline of the kingdom of Mercia--Egbert annexes the kingdom
of Kent to Wessex--Compels Wiglaf, king of Mercia, to pay him
tribute--He conquers the kingdom of Northumbria, and subjects
the whole of the Saxon kingdoms to his sway--Northumbria
invaded by the Danes--They sack the abbey of Lindisfarne, and
slay the monks--The Danes again land in Dorsetshire--Egbert
presides over a council in London, to devise measures to prevent
the ravages of the Danes--The remnant of the ancient Britons
who have been driven into Wales, form a league with the Danes,
and are defeated--Death of Egbert p. 145
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ANCIENT SEA-KINGS.
Origin of the Danish invaders--Habits of the early Vikings--
Their warlike education--Picturesque description of their wild
life--Their hatred of the Saxons--Description of their ships
and warlike weapons--Arrangement of their plans to plunder--
Their vows on the golden bracelet--Power of their leader only
acknowledged in battle--Their rude festivities p. 150
CHAPTER XIX.
FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE DANES IN NORTHUMBRIA.
Ethelwulph, king of Kent--His unfitness to govern--The brave
bishop of Sherbourne--The two characters contrasted--Boldness
of the Danes--They occupy the Isle of Thanet--Battle of the
field of Oaks--Character of Osberga, mother of Alfred the Great
--Ethelwulph visits Rome in company with his son Alfred--The
king of Kent marries Judith, daughter of Charles of France--
His presents to the Pope--Returns to England with his youthful
wife--Rebellion of his son Ethelbald--Death of Ethelwulph
--Ethelbald marries his stepmother Judith--She elopes from a
monastery with Baldwin, the grand forester--Death of Ethelbald
--Brief reign of Ethelbert--Alfred begins to distinguish
himself--The celebrated sea-king, Ragnar Lodbrog--His bravery
--Builds a large ship--Is wrecked on the coast of Northumbria
--Made prisoner by Ella, and dies in a dungeon--His celebrated
death-song--The sons of Ragnar Lodbrog prepare to revenge
their father's death--England invaded by their mighty fleet--
Their march towards Northumbria--Ravage York--Horrible death
of Ella, king of Northumbria--The Danes occupy the kingdoms
of the Deiri and Bernicia--Nottingham taken by the Danes--
Alfred accompanies his brother Ethelred, and the king of Mercia,
in their attack upon the Danes--They enter into a treaty
with the invaders--Alfred's marriage and attainments at this
period p. 159
CHAPTER XX.
RAVAGES OF THE DANES, AND DEATH OF ETHELRED.
Ravages of the Danes in Lincolnshire--Destruction of the
monastery of Bardney--Gallant resistance of the Mercians--
Battle near Croyland Abbey--Destruction of Croyland Abbey, and
murder of the monks--Sidroc, one of the sea-kings, saves a boy
from the massacre--The abbey of Peterborough destroyed by the
Danes--Description of the country through which the invaders
passed--Their march into East Anglia--The Danes enter Wessex
--Battle of Ash-tree hill, and victory of the Saxons--Death of
Ethelred p. 169
CHAPTER XXI.
ACCESSION AND ABDICATION OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
Miserable state of England when Alfred ascended the throne of
Wessex--He is disheartened by the rapid arrival of the Danes
--Enters into a treaty with them, and they abandon Essex--The
Danes occupy London--Burrhed, king of Mercia, retires to Rome
--The Danes now masters of all England, excepting Wessex--
Alfred destroys their ships--Again enters into treaty with them
--He encounters them at sea--Treaty at Exeter--His strange
conduct at Chippenham--Vindication of the character of Alfred
--His conduct during retirement--Alfred the Great in the
cowherd's hut--Discovery of his retreat--His skirmishes with
the Danes--Odin, the earl of Devonshire, captures the magical
banner of Hubba, the sea-king--Alfred and his followers fortify
their island retreat--Poverty of the great Saxon king p. 179
CHAPTER XXII.
ALFRED THE GREAT.
Alfred in disguise visits the Danish camp near Westbury in
Wiltshire--His interview with Godrun, the sea-king--Alfred
musters the Saxon forces at Selwood forest--The arrival of his
followers described--His preparation for battle--Description
of the combat--Defeat of the Danes--Alfred besieges the
Danish encampment--Surrender of Godrun--Policy and generosity
of Alfred the Great--Peaceful appearance of England--Landing
of Hastings, the famous sea-king--Alfred increases his navy--
Character of Hastings, the sea-king, the most skilful of all the
Danish invaders--Alfred marches his army between the Danish
forces--His masterly generalship--Hastings offers to quit the
kingdom--His treachery--Is again conquered by Alfred--The
Danes of East Anglia and Northumbria rise up against Alfred--
The wife and children of Hastings are taken prisoners by Alfred,
and discharged with presents--After many struggles the Danes
are at last defeated--Hastings quits England--Death of Alfred
the Great p. 192
CHAPTER XXIII.
CHARACTER OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
His boyhood--Early love of poetry--Self-cultivation--Wisdom
displayed in his conduct with the Danes--Difficulties under
which he pursued his labour--His patronage of literary men
--Method of study--Summary of his works--He reforms the
Saxon nobles--Divides his time--Various purposes to which he
appropriates his revenue--His invention for marking the hours
--Cultivates an acquaintance with foreign countries--His
severity in the administration of justice--Establishment of a
rigid system of police--His laws--Intellectual character of
Alfred the Great p. 199
CHAPTER XXIV.
EDWARD THE ELDER.
Ethelwold lays claim to the throne of Wessex--Is backed by the
Danes, and crowned at York--Battle of Axeholme and defeat of
Ethelwold--Edward ravages Northumbria--The Danes attack
Mercia--They enter the Severn--Battle of Wodensfield, and
defeat of the Danes--Edward strengthens his frontier with
fortresses--Their situation described--Bravery of his sister
Ethelfleda--The Danes enter North Wales--Edward again
victorious--Submission of the Welsh princes and the Danes of
Northumbria--Death of Edward the Elder p. 202
CHAPTER XXV.
THE REIGN OF ATHELSTAN.
Athelstan, the favourite grandchild of Alfred the Great--While
but a boy his grandfather invests him with the honours of
knighthood--He is educated by Alfred's daughter, Ethelfleda--
Athelstan's sister married Sigtryg, a descendant of the famous
sea-kings--The Dane repudiates his wife, and renounces his new
religion--Athelstan invades his dominions--Death of Sigtryg,
and flight of his sons--Preparation for the invasion of England
--The force arrayed against Athelstan--Measures adopted by the
Saxon king--Preparations for battle--Picturesque description
of the battle of Brunanburg--Anglo-Saxon song on Athelstan's
victory--High position attained by Athelstan--Otho the Great
marries Athelstan's sister--The Saxon monarch forms an alliance
with the emperor of Germany and the king of Norway--Harold of
Norway suppresses piracy--Sends his son Haco to be educated
at the Saxon court--Presents a beautiful ship to Athelstan--
Death of Harold, king of Norway--List of the kings who were
established on their thrones by Athelstan--His presents to the
monasteries--His charity and laws for the relief of the poor--
Cruelty to his brother Edwin--Death of Athelstan p. 212
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE REIGNS OF EDMUND AND EDRED.
Accession of Edmund the Elder--Anlaf, the Dane, invades Mercia,
and defeats the Saxons--Edmund treats with Anlaf, and divides
England with the Danes--Perilous state of the Saxon succession
prevented by the death of Anlaf--Change in Edmund's character
--His brilliant victories--Cruelty to the British princes--
Edmund assassinated while celebrating the feast of St. Augustin,
by Leof, the robber--Mystery that surrounds the murder of
Edmund the Elder--Edred ascends the Saxon throne--Eric, the
sea-king--His daring deeds on the ocean--Description of
his wild life--Edred invades Northumbria--Eric attacks his
own subjects--Edred's victory over the Danes--Scandinavian
war-song on the death of Eric--Death of Edred p. 218
CHAPTER XXVII.
EDWIN AND ELGIVA.
Edwin's marriage with Elgiva--Odo, the Danish archbishop--
St. Dunstan--His early life--He becomes delirious--His
intellectual attainments--His persecution--He falls in love
--Is dissuaded from marriage by the bishop, Ælfheag--He is
again attacked with sickness--Recovers, and becomes a monk--
Lives in a narrow cell--Absurdity of his rumoured interviews
with the Evil One--His high connexions--Analysis of his
character--Dunstan's rude attack upon King Edwin, after the
banquet--Dunstan again driven from court--Remarks on his
conduct--Elgiva is cruelly tortured, and savagely murdered
by the command of Odo, the archbishop of Canterbury--Dunstan
recalled from his banishment--Supposed murder of Edwin p. 227
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE REIGN OF EDGAR.
Power of Dunstan--He is made Archbishop of Canterbury--He
appoints his own friends counsellors to the young king--His
encouragement of the fine arts--Enforces the Benedictine
rules upon the monks--Speech of Edgar in favour of Dunstan's
reformation in the monasteries--Romantic adventure of Elfrida,
daughter of the Earl of Devonshire--Death of Athelwold--
Personal courage of Edgar--His love of pomp, and generosity--
His encouragement of foreign artificers--His tribute of wolves'
heads--England infested with wolves long after the commencement
of the Saxon period--Many of the Saxon names derived from the
wolf--Death of Edgar--Elfric's sketch of his character--
Changes wrought by Edgar p. 233
CHAPTER XXIX.
EDWARD THE MARTYR.
Dunstan still triumphant--Is opposed by the dowager-queen Elfrida
--Her attempts to place her son, Ethelred, upon the throne,
frustrated by Dunstan--Contest between the monks and the
secular clergy--The Benedictine monks driven out of Mercia--
The Synod of Winchester--Dunstan's pretended miracle doubted--
The council of Calne--William of Malmesbury's description of
the assembly--Dunstan's threat--Falling in of that portion
of the floor on which Dunstan's opponents stood--Reasons
for supposing that the floor was undermined by the command of
Dunstan--Death of his enemies, and triumph of the archbishop
--Edward's visit to Corfe Castle--He is stabbed in the back
while pledging his stepmother, Elfrida, at the gate--His
dreadful death--Character of Elfrida p. 238
CHAPTER XXX.
ETHELRED THE UNREADY.
Elfrida still opposed by Dunstan--Ethelred crowned by the
archbishop of Canterbury--His malediction at the coronation
--Dislike of the Saxons to Ethelred--Dunstan's power on the
wane--Insurrection of the Danes--The Danish pirates again
ravage England--Courageous reply of the Saxon governor of Essex
--Single combat between the Saxon governor, and one of the
sea-kings--Cowardly conduct of Ethelred--He pays tribute,
and makes peace with the Danes--Alfric the Mercian governor,
turns traitor, and joins the Danes with his Saxon ships--The
Saxon army again commanded by the Danes, and defeated--Olaf,
the Norwegian, and Swein, king of Denmark, invade and take formal
possession of England--Ethelred again exhausts his exchequer,
to purchase peace--Swein's second invasion of England--Cruel
massacre of the Danes by the Saxons--Murder of Gunhilda, the
sister of Swein, king of Denmark--Swein prepares to revenge
the death of his countrymen--Description of his soldiers
--Splendour of his ships--His magical banner described--
His landing in England--Alfric again betrays the Saxons--
Destruction of Norwich--Ethelred once more purchases peace of
the Danes---Ælfeg, archbishop of Canterbury, made prisoner by the
sea-kings--He refuses to pay a ransom--Is summoned to appear
before the sea-kings while they are feasting, and beaten to death
by the bones of the oxen the pirates had feasted upon--Ethelred
lays an oppressive tax upon the land--He raises a large fleet
--Is again betrayed by his commanders--Sixteen counties are
given up to the Danes--Ethelred deserted by his subjects--
Escapes to the Isle of Wight, and from thence to Normandy--
Swein, king of Denmark, becomes the monarch of England--Death
of Swein--His son Canute claims the crown--Is opposed by
Edmund Ironside--Canute's cruelty to the Saxon hostages--
Miserable state of England at this period, as described by a
Saxon bishop p. 249
CHAPTER XXXI.
EDMUND, SURNAMED IRONSIDE.
Courageous character of Edmund Ironside--His gallant defence of
London--His prowess at the battle of Scearston--Obstinacy of
the combat which is only terminated by the approach of night--
Renewal of the battle in the morning--Narrow escape of Canute,
the Dane, from the two-handed sword of Edmund Ironside--
Conduct of the traitor Edric--Retreat of the Danes--Battles
fought by Edmund the Saxon--Ulfr, a Danish chief, lost in a
wood--Meets with Godwin the cowherd, and is conducted to the
Danish camp--Treaty between Canute the Dane and Edmund Ironside
--The kingdom divided between the Danes and Saxons--Suspicious
circumstances attending the death of Edmund--Despondency of the
Saxons p. 254
CHAPTER XXXII.
CANUTE THE DANE.
Coronation of Canute the Dane--His treaty with the Saxon nobles
--He banishes the relations of Ethelred, and the children of
Edmund--Fate of Edmund's children--Canute's marriage with
Emma, the dowager-queen of the Saxons--Death of the traitor,
Edric--Canute visits Denmark--Death of Ulfr, the patron of
Godwin the cowherd--Canute invades Norway--Habits of the
Norwegian pirates--Canute erects a monument to Ælfeg, the
murdered archbishop of Canterbury--Carries off the dead body
of the bishop from London--Night scene on the Thames--Kills
one of his soldiers--His penance--Establishes the tax of
Peter's-pence--Picturesque description of Canute rebuking his
courtiers--His theatrical display, and vanity--His pilgrimage
to Rome--Canute's letter--His death p. 264
CHAPTER XXXIII.
REIGNS OF HAROLD HAREFOOT AND HARDICANUTE.
Sketch of Canute's reputed sons--The succession disputed--
Rise of earl Godwin--Refusal of the archbishop to crown
Harold Harefoot--Harold crowns himself, and bids defiance
to the church--Conduct of Emma of Normandy--Her letter to
her son Alfred--He lands in England, with a train of Norman
followers--His reception by earl Godwin--Massacre of the
Normans at Guildford--Death of Alfred, the son of Ethelred
--Emma banished from England--Her residence at Bruges--
Hardicanute prepares to invade England--Death of Harold
Harefoot--Accession of Hardicanute--Disinters the body of
Harold--Summons earl Godwin to answer for the death of Alfred
--Godwin's defence--Penalty paid by earl Godwin--Character
of Hardicanute--His Huscarls--The inhabitants of Worcester
refuse to pay the tax, called Dane-geld--They abandon the
city--Reckless conduct of Hardicanute--He invites Edward,
the son of Ethelred, to England--Hardicanute, the last of the
sea-kings, dies drunk at a marriage-feast in Lambeth p. 272
CHAPTER XXXIV.
ACCESSION OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.
Edward established on the throne of England by the power of
earl Godwin--Edward marries Editha, the earl's daughter--
Description of the Lady Editha, by Ingulphus--Godwin's jealousy
of the Norman favourites, who surrounded Edward--Friendless
state of Edward the Confessor, when he arrived in England--
Changes produced by the arrival of the Normans in the Saxon
court--Independence of Godwin and his sons--Emma banished
by her son Edward--Threatened invasion of Magnus, king of
Norway--The Saxons and Danes alike jealous of the Norman
favourites--Eustace, count of Boulogne, visits king Edward--
His conduct at Dover--Several of the count's followers are
slain--Earl Godwin refuses to punish the inhabitants of Dover
for their attack on Count Eustace--The Normans endeavour to
overthrow Earl Godwin--He refuses to attend the council at
Gloucester--Earl Godwin and his sons have recourse to arms--
The Danes refuse to attack the Saxons in king Edwin's quarrel--
Banishment of the Saxon earl and his sons--Sufferings of queen
Editha p. 282
CHAPTER XXXV.
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR.
Description of the English court, after the banishment of Earl
Godwin--William, the Norman, surnamed the Bastard, and the
Conqueror, arrives in England--William's parentage--Sketch of
his father, surnamed Robert the Devil--His pilgrimage to Rome,
and death--Bold and daring character of William the Norman--
His cruel conduct to the prisoners of Alençon--His delight on
visiting England--Circumstances in his favour for obtaining
the crown of England--Return, and triumph of Earl Godwin--
England again on the verge of a civil war--Departure of the
Norman favourites--Sketch of the English court after the return
of the Saxon earl--Death of Godwin--Siward the Strong--
Rise of Harold, the son of earl Godwin--Imbecility of Edward
the Confessor--Harold's victory over the Welsh--Conduct of
Tostig, the brother of Harold--Coldness of the church of Rome
towards England--struggle of Benedict and Stigand for the
pallium--Mediation of Lanfranc--William the Norman becomes a
favourite with the Roman pontiff--Suspicious death of Edward,
the son of Edmund Ironside--Edward the Confessor suspects the
designs of William the Conqueror--Harold, the son of Godwin,
obtains permission to visit Normandy p. 296
CHAPTER XXXVI.
EARL HAROLD'S VISIT TO NORMANDY.
Harold shipwrecked upon the coast of France--Is made captive,
and carried to the fortress of Beaurain--Is released by the
intervention of William of Normandy--Harold's interview with
Duke William at Rouen--Affected kindness of the Norman duke--
William cautiously unfolds his designs on the crown of England--
His proposition to Harold--Offers Harold his daughter, Adeliza,
in marriage--Duke William's stratagem--Harold's oath on the
relics of the saints--Description of William the Norman's
courtship--Character of Matilda of Flanders--Harold's return
to England--The English people alarmed by signs and omens--
Appearance of a comet in England--Description of the death of
Edward the Confessor p. 304
CHAPTER XXXVII.
ACCESSION OF HAROLD, THE SON OF GODWIN.
Harold elected king of England by the Saxon witenagemot--
Becomes a great favourite with his subjects--Restores the
Saxon customs--Conduct of William the Norman on hearing that
Harold had ascended the throne of England--Tostig, Harold's
brother, forms a league with Harold Hardrada, the last of the
sea-kings--Character of Harold Hardrada--His adventures in
the east--He prepares to land in England--Tostig awaits
his arrival in Northumbria--The duke of Normandy's message
to Harold king of the Saxons--Harold's answer--He marries
the sister of Morkar of Northumbria--Duke William makes
preparations for the invasion of England--Arrival of Harold
Hardrada with his Norwegian fleet--Superstitious feeling of
the Norwegian soldiers--He joins Tostig, the son of Godwin--
They burn Scarborough, and enter the Humber--Harold, by a rapid
march, reaches the north--He prevents the surrender of York
--Preparation for the battle--Harold surprises the enemy--
Description of the combat--Harold offers peace to his brother
--The offer rejected--Description of the battle--Deaths of
Harold Hardrada and Tostig--Harold's victory p. 314
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
ENGLAND INVADED BY THE NORMANS.
Preparations in Normandy for the invasion of England--Description
of duke William's soldiers--He obtains the sanction of the pope
to seize the crown of England, and receives a consecrated banner
from Rome--Meeting of the barons and citizens of Normandy--
Policy of William Fitz-Osbern--Measures adopted by the Norman
duke--His promises to all who embarked in the expedition--
Vows of the Norman knights--Protest of Conan, king of Brittany
--Death of Conan--The Norman fleet arrives at Dive--Conduct
of duke William while wind-bound in the roadsteads of St. Valery
--Consternation amongst his troops--Method pursued by the
Norman duke to appease the murmurs of his soldiers--The Norman
fleet crosses the Channel, and arrives at Pevensey-bay--Fall
of the astrologer--Landing of the Norman soldiers--William's
stumbling considered an ill omen--He marches towards Hastings
--Alarm of the inhabitants along the coast--Tidings carried to
Harold of the landing of the Normans p. 325
CHAPTER XXXIX.
BATTLE OF HASTINGS.
Harold, king of the Saxons, marches from York--Despatches a fleet
to intercept the flight of the Normans--Disaffection amongst
his troops--He arrives in London--His hasty departure from
the metropolis--Cause of Harold's disasters--Description of
the Norman and Saxon encampments--William's message to Harold
--Occupation of the rival armies the night before the battle--
Gurth advises Harold to quit the field--Morning of the battle
--The Saxon and Norman leaders--William the Norman's address
to his soldiers--Inferiority of the Saxons in numbers--Strong
position taken up by Harold--Commencement of the combat--
Courage of the Saxons--The Normans driven back from the English
intrenchments--Skill of the Norman archers--Cavalry of the
invaders driven into a deep ravine--The battle hitherto in
favour of the Saxons--Rumour that William the Norman was slain
--The effect of his sudden appearance amongst his retreating
forces--Unflinching valour of the Saxons--Stratagem adopted
by the Norman duke--Its consequence--William again attempts
a feigned flight, and the Saxons quit their intrenchments--
Dreadful slaughter of the English--Death of Harold, the last
Saxon king--Capture of the Saxon banner--Victory of the
Normans--Retreat and pursuit of the remnant of the Saxon army
--The field of Hastings the morning after the battle--The dead
body of Harold discovered by Edith the Swan-necked p. 338
THE ANGLO-SAXONS.
Their religion--Government and laws--Literature of Anglo-Saxons
--Architecture, Arts, &c.--Costume, Manners, Customs, and
Everyday life p. 357
THE
HISTORY OF ENGLAND
Under the Anglo-Saxons.
CHAPTER I.
THE DAWN OF HISTORY.
"This fortress, built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,--
This earth of majesty--this little world--
This precious stone set in the silver sea--
England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious surge
Of watery Neptune."
SHAKSPERE.
Almost every historian has set out by regretting how little is known of
the early inhabitants of Great Britain--a fact which only the lovers of
hoar antiquity deplore, since from all we can with certainty glean from
the pages of contemporary history, we should find but little more to
interest us than if we possessed written records of the remotest origin
of the Red Indians; for both would alike but be the history of an
unlettered and uncivilized race. The same dim obscurity, with scarcely
an exception, hangs over the primeval inhabitants of every other
country; and if we lift up the mysterious curtain which has so long
fallen over and concealed the past, we only obtain glimpses of obscure
hieroglyphics; and from the unmeaning fables of monsters and giants, to
which the rudest nations trace their origin, we but glance backward and
backward, to find that civilized Rome and classic Greece can produce no
better authorities than old undated traditions, teeming with fabulous
accounts of heathen gods and goddesses. What we can see of the remote
past through the half-darkened twilight of time, is as of a great and
unknown sea, on which some solitary ship is afloat, whose course we
cannot trace through the shadows which everywhere deepen around her,
nor tell what strange land lies beyond the dim horizon to which she
seems bound. The dark night of mystery has for ever settled down upon
the early history of our island, and the first dawning which throws the
shadow of man upon the scene, reveals a rude hunter, clad in the skins
of beasts of the chase, whose path is disputed by the maned and shaggy
bison, whose rude hut in the forest fastnesses is pitched beside the
lair of the hungry wolf, and whose first conquest is the extirpation
of these formidable animals. And so, in as few words, might the early
history of many another country be written. The shores of Time are
thickly strown with the remains of extinct animals, which, when living,
the eye of man never looked upon, as if from the deep sea of Eternity
had heaved up one wave, which washed over and blotted out for ever all
that was coëval with her silent and ancient reign, leaving a monument
upon the confines of this old and obliterated world, for man in a
far and future day to read, on which stands ever engraven the solemn
sentence, "_Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further!_"--beyond this
boundary all is Mine! Neither does this mystery end here, for around
the monuments which were reared by the earliest inhabitants of Great
Britain, there still reigns a deep darkness; we know not what hand
piled together the rude remains of Stonehenge; we have but few records
of the manners, the customs, or the religion of the early Britons; here
and there a colossal barrow heaves up above the dead; we look within,
and find a few bones, a few rude weapons, either used in the war or
the chase, and these are all; and we linger in wonderment around such
remains. Who those ancient voyagers were that first called England the
Country of Sea Cliffs we know not; and while we sit and brood over the
rude fragments of the Welsh Triads, we become so entangled in doubt
and mystery as to look upon the son of Aedd the Great, and the Island
of Honey to which he sailed, and wherein he found no man alive, as the
pleasing dream of some old and forgotten poet; and we set out again,
with no more success, to discover who were the earliest inhabitants of
England, leaving the ancient Cymri and the country of Summer behind,
and the tall, silent cliffs, to stand as they had done for ages,
looking over a wide and mastless sea. We then look among the ancient
names of the headlands, and harbours, and mountains, and hills, and
valleys, and endeavour to trace a resemblance to the language spoken by
some neighbouring nation, and we only glean up a few scattered words,
which leave us still in doubt, like a confusion of echoes, one breaking
in upon the other, a minglement of Celtic, Pictish, Gaulish, and Saxon
sounds, where if for a moment but one is audible and distinct, it is
drowned by other successive clamours which come panting up with a still
louder claim, and in very despair we are compelled to step back again
into the old primeval silence. There we find Geology looking daringly
into the formation of the early world, and boldly proclaiming, that
there was a period of time when our island heaved up bare and desolate
amid the silence of the surrounding ocean,--when on its ancient
promontories and grey granite peaks not a green branch waved, nor a
blade of grass grew, and no living thing, saving the tiny corals, as
they piled dome upon dome above the naked foundations of this early
world, stirred in the "deep profound" which reigned over those sleeping
seas. Onward they go, boldly discoursing of undated centuries that have
passed away, during which they tell us the ocean swarmed with huge,
monstrous forms; and that all those countless ages have left to record
their flight are but the remains of a few extinct reptiles and fishes,
whose living likenesses never again appeared in the world. To another
measureless period are we fearlessly carried--so long as to be only
numbered in the account of Time which Eternity keeps--and other forms,
we are told, moved over the floors of dried-up oceans--vast animals
which no human eye ever looked upon alive; these, they say, also were
swept away, and their ponderous remains had long mingled with and
enriched the earth; but man had not as yet appeared; nor in any corner
of the whole wide world do they discover in the deep-buried layers
of the earth a single vestige of the remains of the human race. What
historian, then, while such proofs as these are before his eyes, will
not hesitate ere he ventures to assert who were the first inhabitants
of any country, whence they came, or at what period that country was
first peopled? As well might he attempt a description of the scenery
over which the mornings of the early world first broke,--of summit and
peak which, they say, ages ago, have been hurled down, and ground and
powdered into atoms. What matters it about the date when such things
once were, or at what time or place they first appeared? We can gaze
upon the gigantic remains of the mastodon or mammoth, or on the grey,
silent ruins of Stonehenge, but at what period of time the one roamed
over our island, or in what year the other was first reared, will for
ever remain a mystery. The earth beneath our feet is lettered over with
proofs that there was an age in which these extinct monsters existed,
and that period is unmarked by any proof of the existence of man in
our island. And during those not improbable periods when oceans were
emptied and dried up, amid the heaving up and burying of rocks and
mountains,--when volcanoes reddened the dark midnights of the world,
when "the earth was without form, and void,"--what mind can picture
aught but His Spirit "moving upon the face of the waters,"--what mortal
eye could have looked upon the rocking and reeling of those chaotic
ruins when their rude forms first heaved up into the light? Is not
such a world stamped with the imprint of the Omnipotent,--from when He
first paved its foundation with enduring granite, and roofed it over
with the soft blue of heaven, and lighted it by day with the glorious
sun, and hung out the moon and stars to gladden the night; until at
last He fashioned a world beautiful enough for the abode of His "own
image" to dwell in, before He created man? And what matters it whether
or not we believe in all these mighty epochs? Surely it is enough for
us to discover throughout every change of time the loving-kindness of
God for mankind; we see how fitting this globe was at last for his
dwelling-place; that before the Great Architect had put this last
finish to His mighty work, instead of leaving us to starve amid the
Silurian sterility, He prepared the world for man, and in place of the
naked granite, spread out a rich carpet of verdure for him to tread
upon, then flung upon it a profusion of the sweetest flowers. Let us
not, then, daringly stand by, and say thus it was fashioned, and so it
was formed, but by our silence acknowledge that it never yet entered
into the heart of man to conceive how the Almighty Creator laid the
foundation of the world.
To His great works must we ever come with reverential knee, and before
them lowly bow; for the grey rocks, and the high mountain summits, and
the wide-spreading plains, and the ever-sounding seas, are stamped with
the image of Eternity,--a mighty shadow ever hangs over them. The grey
and weather-beaten headlands still look over the sea, and the solemn
mountains still slumber under their old midnight shadows; but what
human ear first heard the murmur of the waves upon the beaten beach, or
what human foot first climbed up those high-piled summits, we can never
know.
What would it benefit us could we discover the date when our island
was buried beneath the ocean; when what was dry land in one age became
the sea in another; when volcanoes glowed angrily under the dark skies
of the early world, and huge extinct monsters bellowed, and roamed,
and swam, through the old forests and the ancient rivers which have
perhaps ages ago been swept away? What could we find more to interest
us were we in possession of the names, the ages, and the numbers, of
the first adventurers who were perchance driven by some storm upon our
sea-beaten coast, than what is said in the ancient Triad before alluded
to? "there were no more men alive, nor anything but bears, wolves,
beavers, and the oxen with the high prominence," when Aedd landed upon
the shores of England. What few traces we have of the religious rites
of the early inhabitants of Great Britain vary but little from such
as have been brought to light by modern travellers who have landed in
newly-discovered countries in our own age. They worshipped idols, and
had no knowledge of the true God, and saving in those lands where the
early patriarchs dwelt, the same Egyptian darkness settled over the
whole world. The ancient Greeks and Romans considered all nations,
excepting themselves, barbarians; nor do the Chinese of the present
day look upon us in a more favourable light; while we, acknowledging
their antiquity as a nation, scarcely number them amongst such as
are civilized. We have yet to learn by what hands the round towers
of Ireland were reared, and by what race the few ancient British
monuments that still remain were piled together, ere we can enter those
mysterious gates which open upon the History of the Past. We find the
footprint of man there, but who he was, or whence he came, we know
not; he lived and died, and whether or not posterity would ever think
of the rude monuments he left behind concerned him not; whether the
stones would mark the temple in which he worshipped, or tumble down and
cover his grave, concerned not his creed; with his hatchet of stone,
and spear-head of flint, he hewed his way from the cradle to the tomb,
and under the steep barrow he knew that he should sleep his last sleep,
and, with his arms folded upon his breast, he left "the dead past to
bury its dead." He lived not for us.