at a general Council of the Bishops of England, said by Ven. Beda to
be “in loco qui Saxonico vocabulo _Haethfelth_ nominatur.” Some have
placed this at one of the various Hatfields or Heathfields that may
have struck the taste of either; whether in Yorkshire, Herts, Essex,
Sussex, or Somerset. But Archbishop Parker[87] says that it was “juxta
Roffam,” apparently quoting “Roff. Histor.” This, at any rate, shews
that near Rochester was at least not thought an unlikely place for
a great general Council. Collier also gives the marginal title “The
synod at Hatfield _or_ Clyff, near Rochester.” So much for Heathfelth.
But where, after all, was “Herutford,” the place of the earlier synod
(A.D. 673), also convened by Archbishop Theodore? This may be looked
upon as the initial one of the long series of “Clofeshoch” synods:
at which that series was first appointed. Mr. Kemble says[88] that
it was “presided over by Hlothari the sovereign of Kent,” and this
was probably the case, although Beda does not expressly say so. Beda
only adds, to his account of the decrees of the council, a paragraph
beginning with a statement that it was held A.D. 673, the year in which
king Ecgberct had died and been succeeded by his brother Hlothere. Kent
was still an independent kingdom; and, not only in the primacy, but in
its instrument, the series of synods thus instituted, possessed within
itself the heart of the now established church; which, having become
an active political function of concentration, was a much coveted
constituent of empire; and invited the impending aggression of Mercia.
Within three years of the first institution and localisation of these
councils, Æthered made a direct swoop upon this quarry, when he entered
Kent at this very Hoo, the appointed place of the future councils.
The only reason for “Hertford,” as the usual interpretation of
“Herutford,” is again the mere likeness of the name; and is not a
strong one even of its kind. Any place with “Rod-,” “Reed-,” “Rote-,”
and many the like initial syllable, would have a better claim. It is
very much suspected that the method, hitherto practised of placing
these old place-names, has been far too hasty. It may fairly be
expected that some of them are no longer represented by any existing
names. We have seen above by how close a shaving several have survived.
But of this name “Herutford,” “Heorotford,” or “Heortford,” it might
safely be assumed that the initial “He-,” is no more than a prefixed
aspirate: that it is not of the essence of the name. And so Beda
himself evidently thought; for when[89] he mentions a name, almost
identical with this one, in Hampshire; he gives it with a Latin
explanation, “_Hreutford_, id est _Vadum harundinis_,” evidently
taking it for Reed or Rodford.[90] We might also expect to find such
a name represented by a modern name beginning with “Wr-;” but an
inconsiderable “Redham,” a farm, in Gloucestershire, is found written
“Hreodham” in the tenth century.
The above had already been written, when it seemed to be at least a
formal obligation to test this principle, by a direct application of it
to the district under consideration; which has unexpectedly yielded,
what is at any rate, an example of the principle. Whether or not it
indicates an actual trace of the place “Herutford” itself, shall not
at present be ventured to say. However,[91] in the charter, dated 778,
already quoted, in which the level land north of Cliffe is called
“Scaga;” the land-marks begin with the words “Huic uero terrae adiacent
pratae ubi dicitur Hreodham.” The land itself, to which it is adjacent,
is called “Bromgeheg;” a name which now remains as “Broomey,” a house
only, at Cooling; and the chief land-limits are “Clifwara gemære” and
“Culinga gemære.” The land is granted to the Bishop of Rochester, but
evidently adjoins the eastern side of that including Cliffe itself,
which had already been given to the Archbishop, as above quoted.
Even at first sight it would seem unaccountable, that, at a synod
held at Hertford; what appears to amount to a periodical series of
repetitions or continuations, or in fact adjournments of it should have
been determined upon at so distant a place as Clofeshoch,--wherever
that may prove to have been--must have been from Hertford. It would
seem more likely, that the future place of assembly in view, would have
been practically in the same place. This initial council was under the
presidency of the Primate; and so were those that followed, except that
when the King of Mercia was present the Primate yielded the first place
to him. The permanently appointed place would also be likely to have in
view the convenience of access, to the Primate, of his suffragans, from
all the sub-kingdoms; and to this the Watling-street contributed, not
only his own ready approach from Canterbury, to the very place where
tradition has fixed it; but also, for those who were to meet him there;
the most perfect road from London, and the entire north-west of the
island; whilst immediate access from East Saxony, East Anglia, and the
northern dioceses, has been shewn in the well frequented ferry, also to
this very place. The Church of England is seen to have had an earlier
approximation towards political unity than the Kingdom of England. The
former was, in fact, contributory to the latter as, perhaps, one of its
most efficient causes. This was not lost sight of by those who aimed at
the supremacy; whose policy, therefore, was to have the Primate at his
right hand in his councils; and to cultivate an identity of interest
with him. Offa’s attempt to set up an Archbishop at Lichfield, only
seven miles from his home-court at Tamworth, was in this direction.
* * * * *
This attempt to determine the true place of these synods, during the
continuance of Mercian supremacy in England; was intended to confirm
the statement, that wherever extraneous dedications of St. Werburgh are
found, traces are also found of the energetic or active presence of
Æthelbald. It may seem to be rather an elaborate implement for so small
a purpose. It has been more extensive than was contemplated: but, if
once successfully constructed, it may serve a greater purpose of its
own: the setting at rest of a long dispute. And this purpose of its own
will itself receive back all that it gives to ours: for if the presence
of Æthelbald, accounts for our having found a St. Werburgh in this
now secluded peninsula; the presence of that dedication, is a weighty
confirmation of the much disputed fact, that he was busy and much
resident there; and that we might reasonably expect his most important
acts to be dated thence. At all events, it is hoped that our sixth and
last remaining of the wandering dedications of St. Werburgh, in the
Kentish Hoo, has been thus discovered to have been in the immediate
company of Æthelbald; when, as it is said in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle:
“A.D. 742. Now was a great synod gathered at Cloueshou, and
there was Æthelbald, King of the Mercians, and Cutbert,
Archbishop, and many other wise men.”
But something more is to be said concerning this passage itself of
the Chronicle. It appears to be only contained in one manuscript;
consequently in the five-column edition, this year is only filled in
in the fifth column; the other four being blank. Sir T. D. Hardy says
of this solitary manuscript, that it is “apparently of the twelfth
century;” and that it contains “various peculiar additions, chiefly
relating to Kentish ecclesiastical affairs.”[92] Professor Earle also
says of it: “There is no external tradition informing us as to what
home it belonged, but the internal evidence assigns it to Christ
Church, Canterbury.”[93] This is much more to our purpose than if it
had been in all the manuscripts: for if it had been a part of the
usual and received text of the Chronicle, it would have here been a
mere retranscription, for ages, with an indefinite locality. As it is,
standing only in a Chronicle of Canterbury; it had evidently claimed
the special attention of the Annalist, from its direct local Kentish
interest; and especially its concern with a piece of land, which,
we have seen, was owned by the Cathedral Church to which the writer
belonged. What has been already said about the “Dr. Hethe” note[94]
applies with still greater force to this; which is indeed the same
Canterbury tradition; only that it is in hand-writing of four hundred
years earlier date.
But “Hoo-St.-Werburgh” is a parish adjoining to Cliffe; and our
argument is, that when, as recorded in the Canterbury copy of the
Chronicle, A.D. 742, there was a synod at Cloueshou, and that
“Æthelbald was there;” he founded and dedicated this church, as we have
found him to have done elsewhere. Added to this, we have seen reason,
and shall presently see more, that the neighbouring church of Cliffe
itself was founded by his great successor Offa, A.D. 774. It has been
said, and with great likelihood, that Cliffe and Hoo-St.-Werburgh
were the two most ancient churches in the Hoo; and that they are the
mother churches of the five or six others in the peninsula, that have
sprung up at some later times; their segregated portions, which, in due
course, have consolidated into separate parishes.
As before said, the church at Cliffe-at-Hoo itself, has the dedication
of St. Helen; and it is believed that, by a similar foretaste of
chivalry, to that of Æthelbald’s for St. Werburgh; Offa habitually
planted his standard under the name of this other female saint. It is,
therefore, no wonder that we find these two, close together, in that
very district wherein, during two long reigns, Æthelbald and Offa are
recorded as constantly performing acts of sovereignty. Of this there
are many evidences, besides the councils about which we are engaged,
in the accounts of their dealings, in this district, and along the
Medway, and throughout Kent, in the manner in which conquerors usually
deal with newly-acquired land; as shewn in their numerous charters.
The reputed British-Roman nativity of St. Helen in Deira, appears to
have given her name a prevalence in that province, with which the
Anglian successors of the northern Britons were infected; like that
of St. Alban, and the Kentish St. Martin, with his prolific eastern
grafts.[95] And they accepted and improved the legacy. But the remains,
of this acceptance, of a local aspect of religion, are the most
conspicuous in Deira; and in Lindisse or Southumbria, a constituent
of that kingdom. It did not extend to Bernicia. Of the known existing
dedications of St. Helen, Durham contains only two, Northumberland one,
Westmoreland and Cumberland none; and we learn from Bp. Forbes, that
the name thinly re-appears beyond the border in Scottish Northumbria.
But in Yorkshire we find twenty-two, and in Lincolnshire thirty; and
these last, except two a little south of it, are all in Lindsey proper:
Nottinghamshire also has ten. Lancashire has four or five. The tendency
of Northumbrian hagiology to spread into Mercia proper, has been
already mentioned; and a still pretty free, but reduced, scattering
of St. Helens is found in that kingdom. Derbyshire has 5, Cheshire 3,
Northants 6, Leicestershire 4, but Staffordshire none, Salop one--being
near to [H]Elle[n]smere. Bedfordshire one at [H]El[len]stow. Herts
one at Wheathampstead--near Offa’s St. Alban, and Essex (Colchester)
one. The Wiccian counties, Warwick two, Worcester (city), and
Gloucestershire (north) each one.
The above examples, of this dedication in England--about 96--have been
recited, chiefly for the purpose of exhaustion. The residual seven
or eight, still more scattered over the more southern counties, are
what our lesson must be chiefly read from; that they are found in the
footsteps of Offa, as marks of new possession; in a similar manner
to the St. Werburghs in the tract of Æthelbald. No doubt each of the
ninety six has its own story to tell, but it does not now concern us.
As we have already seen,[96] A.D. 774, Offa granted the land at Higham
in Hoo, which includes the site of the church and town of Cliffe, to
Jaenberht, Archbishop of Canterbury; exceptionally surrounded by lands
of the Bishop of Rochester. At the same time, there can be no doubt,
he founded and dedicated the church, which still bears the name of St.
Helen. Again, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 777, it is written,
“Now Cynewulf”--of Wessex--“and Offa fought around Bensington, and Offa
took that town.” The church at Bensington on the left--or Offa’s--shore
of the Thames is also a St. Helen at this day. At Albury, also in
Oxfordshire, about nine miles north of Bensington, on the smaller river
Thame, the church is St. Helen. Also, on the Thames, at Abingdon, as is
well known, there is a St. Helen. With regard, however, to this last,
the local monastic tradition gives an earlier origin, founded on a
miraculous discovery of a Holy Rood. This must stand, against our use
of this example, for whatever the tradition may be worth. Perhaps a
fourth “Sancta Helena” is recorded,[97] as the sanctuary of a fugitive
who had stolen a bridle, A.D. 995. The land, given in conciliation,
must have been close to the chalk ridge south of the White Horse Vale,
Berks; as, among the boundaries, is “Cwicelmes hlæw,” well known to
be on this ridge; and the “grenanweg,” still called by the neighbours
“the Green Way;” being a part of what is called “the Drover’s Road,” by
which, until outdone by the rail, cattle from the west were driven, for
many miles, turnpike free, and with peripatetic grazing. The St. Helen
here referred to may, however, have been Abingdon itself.
At any rate, here are three, out of the few existing southern St.
Helens, in the line of frontier then realised by Offa against Wessex.
The same line of St. Helens, both eastward and westward, is also
extended across the island, from the extreme north of Kent, as we
have seen; by the well-known one in London; and another formerly at
Malmsebury, and another at Bath. These last three--making six--also
probably resulted from the same campaign of Offa as the Berkshire and
Oxfordshire ones.
That at Bath, however, has a special claim to our attention; having
been in that same suburb outside the north gate, where also was found
the St. Werburgh, within the fork of the Foss-way and that now called
Via Julia. Here then, as already in the Hoo of Kent, we once more find
a St. Werburgh and a St. Helen in immediate companionship. The seal of
Æthelbald endorsed by that of Offa, the inheritor of his policy.[98]
But what is the significance of these emblems of Mercian territory,
being both found outside the Roman walled town on the north side? Did
this suburb become specially a Mercian quarter? The monastery, of
which Offa was a reputed founder or re-founder about this very time,
must have been a chief occupant of the area within the walls; and its
possessions extended, in the opposite direction, beyond the river, on
the Wessex side. We have already seen[99] signs of Æthelbald’s further
south-west progress along the Foss-way as far as into East Devon.
Besides this line of St. Helens, along the frontier, which was the
result of the campaign recorded in the Chronicle, under A.D. 777;
there are still three outlying southward, along the south coast: the
extreme natural limit of the Saxon nations. Although not recorded in
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an earlier excursion of Offa is mentioned
by others. A.D. 771, Simeon of Durham[100] says “His diebus Offa, rex
Merciorum, Hestingorum gentem armis subegerat.” Dr. Lappenberg, in
relating this feat of Offa’s, calls “the Hestingas, a people whose
locality, like that of so many others among the Saxons, is not known
with certainty. They have been sought for about Hastings in Sussex, and
most probably inhabited the district around that town to which they
gave their name.”[101] Roger of Wendover, however, reads “Anglorum
gentem.”[102] Upon this, Sir F. Palgrave had already noted: “It is
not easy to ascertain what people are meant. The name has inclined
many writers to suppose that they were the inhabitants of Hastings,
but they could scarcely be of sufficient importance. Perhaps we should
read _East Anglorum_.”[103] Other recent historians, with or without
hesitation, adopt the present town of Hastings as the scene of the
conquest.
Here then we have another fully ripe historic doubt; so evenly balanced
in the judgments of the most specifically learned, that after what has
already been shewn, of the local coincidences of dedications of St.
Helen with the feats of Offa; if the like should be found also to apply
to the one here recorded, would be sufficient to give a considerable
bias to the scale. And this is what we do find.
About a mile north of the town, which still bears a name that has since
acquired other claims to places in history, Hastings; is a village
called Ore; of which the church has another of our southern outlying
dedications of St. Helen. If Offa’s conquest, as recorded by Simeon of
Durham, refers to Sussex, it needs only to say so much, in order to
account for this one; and to fulfil the promise of our theory; that
the name of this saint and the written witnesses of Offa’s progress,
shall be found to mutually confirm each other as evidence of his active
presence. This village is situated on an elevation commanding the town
itself; and on the southern edge of a ridge, along which, and close
to the village, runs one of those great roads, of which the straight
line is significant of a long, ancient, and arterial use. In fact it
must have been always the almost sole approach to the town, whether
from Kent or from the centre of England. Moreover, at whatever point
of the neighbouring beach, at a later time, William landed; this road
must have been his principal means of reaching Battle. Here, therefore,
upon the door itself of the town, still remains the usual seal of
Offa’s conquests. Sir Francis Palgrave’s objection, of the insufficient
importance of the Gens Hestingorum, would not, it is thought, have been
raised, if he had remembered that the large territory, called the “Rap
de Hastings” of Domesday, and the Rape of Hastings of our own time,
most likely had already existed from the first settlement of the South
Saxons. Two or three years later, Offa is still found busy in that part
of Kent which adjoins this most eastern of the Rapes of Sussex.
But although the Hæstingas only are mentioned, as the people first
encountered, there are other evidences that he extended his conquests
westward throughout Sussex. One of his St. Helens remains on the foot
of the South Downs, between the peninsulated stronghold called The
Devil’s Dike and the sea; and, within actual eyeshot, is another, on
the opposite eastern coast of the Isle of Wight. Moreover he has, as
was his practice in many parts of England, also left his own name along
the line, in Offham, near Lewes, Offington, near Worthing, Offham,
close to Arundel Park.
There are also one or two St. Helens or Elens, both in Cornwall and
Wales: which would be in accordance with what otherwise has been said
above, but as several local Celtic saints have names liable to become
more familiar by corruption into this one, they will not be here called
into evidence.
* * * * *
For the series of synods of which the acts are dated from Cloveshoe
did not cease with the reign of Æthelbald. These, interspersed with
occasional dates of Cealchythe and Aclea, continued throughout the
other long and dominant Mercian reign of his successor Offa. Indeed
they continued as long as Mercia remained supreme, and far into the
ninth century: the date of “Clofeshoe” being last met with for a synod
under Beornuulf, A.D. 825: about the time when both Kent and Essex are
found to have been annexed by Wessex.
It may seem difficult to realise that what is a small detached
region--almost practically an island--now containing only four or five
villages or decayed towns; was, for about a century and a half, the
seat of one of the royal residences, where a succession of powerful
kings held so many of their courts to which were convened the magnates
of their own and of subject kingdoms. The truth is, that political
centrality is not coincident with geographical; and is only partially
dependent upon natural aspect or condition. London is very far from a
geographical centre; and, if we could bring into view its original
natural aspect; London, with its marshes would be as incredible as the
place here concerned. Its present greatness is the outgrowth of the
later supremacy of Wessex; and London was as much an outpost of Saxony
into Mercia, as the Hoo had been of Anglia into Centland.
Those who expect a confirmation of this regal occupation of the Hoo,
from substantial remains there, may remember that a thousand years of
desertion have passed over it. As Fuller said, when writing of this
controversy about Cloveshoe, already warm in his day:[104] “Nor doth
the modern Meanness of the Place make anything against it; it might be
a Gallant in that Age, which is a Beggar now-a-dayes.” Geographical
and natural conditions have much to do with the choice and permanence
of the seats of governments; but political needs and fortunes often
over-rule or reverse them. The rise of Wessex turned the preference to
other centres; and the exposure of this peninsula to the ravages of
the Danes, just then becoming active, is sufficient to have brought
desolation upon it. The site of New York seems very much like this;
but its growth was not prevented by such a constant peril as this last
in its front, nor by the ascendancy of a rival power in its rear. It
is political causes that have surrounded the circular mound at Windsor
with the regal associations, which have forsaken that of Tamworth; and
the same political causes have covered with houses and palaces, not
only the elevated spot upon which London was first planted, but the
many miles of swamp that encompassed it. When cities, or settlements
upon elevations, take to growing great, they no longer despise the
alluvial levels which skirt them; but cover even these with buildings.
This is the case with London itself, where even the supreme Aula Regia
of the Saxon empire, that has inherited the “England” of Æthelbald and
Offa; stands upon a similar alluvial appendage of the higher ground
of the original settlement; to that which, projecting from the chalky
heights of the Hoo, has been declared to be inconsistent with its
history.
Again, are there preserved, anywhere at all, any fragments whatever,
of masonry of the time of Æthelbald and Offa, even under the most
favourable circumstances? We have seen that many churches were founded
in that age, that have continued in vital existence to this day. In
these, if anywhere, remains of the first structures might have been
found. Instead of this, the few præ-Norman relics that do exist can
scarcely be said to approach that date; and when, later, they do
crop up; they seem to bring with them an indication, why they are
the earliest. They are found in places where stone is as plenty and
as easily hewn as wood; and they appear to be worked and constructed
by hands and heads that had been accustomed to work and construct in
wood; and often with adze-like tool marks. The angry question whether
the word “timber” was, by birth, a verb or a noun--a question of which
some of the most eminent Anglo-Saxon scholars seem, on waking, to have
found themselves on the wrong side--shall not here be roused; but the
absence of earlier remains may be accounted for, by taking for granted,
wood to have been, at the earlier time, the material mostly used. What
then can we expect to find in a tract of land, ever since abandoned to
its ordinary rural and pastoral condition? The cartular evidence of the
importance of this small territory, during the time in question, is
most abundant; and the many traces of antiquity, in the names of now
inconsiderable spots, has been already referred to.
* * * * *