Transcriber’s Notes
Table of Contents added by Transcriber and placed into the Public
Domain.
The Timeline in the page headers of the original book is represented
here by sidenotes, beginning with “[A.D. year]”, placed between nearby
paragraphs, and shaded in some versions of this eBook.
Other notes may be found at the end of this eBook.
[Illustration: _An Anglo-Saxon Chief._]
WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY’S
CHRONICLE
OF THE
KINGS OF ENGLAND.
FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE REIGN OF KING STEPHEN.
With Notes and Illustrations.
BY J. A. GILES, D.C.L.,
LATE FELLOW OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD.
LONDON:
HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
M.DCCC.XLVII.
J. HADDON. PRINTER, CASTLE STREET, FINSBURY.
EDITOR’S PREFACE.
“WILLIAM of MALMESBURY,” according to archbishop Usher, “is the chief
of our historians;” Leland records him “as an elegant, learned, and
faithful historian;” and Sir Henry Saville is of opinion, that he is
the only man of his time who has discharged his trust as an historian.
His History of the Kings of England was translated into English by the
Rev. John Sharpe, and published in quarto, in 1815.
Though the language of Mr. Sharpe’s work is by no means so smooth
as the dialect of the present day would require, yet the care with
which he examined MSS., and endeavoured to give the exact sense of
his author, seemed so important a recommendation, that the editor of
the present volume has gladly availed himself of it as a ground-work
for his own labours. The result of this plan is, that the public are
enabled to purchase without delay and at an insignificant expense, the
valuable contemporary historian, who has hitherto been like a sealed
book to the public, or only accessible through a bulky volume, the
scarcity of which served to exclude it from all but public libraries or
the studies of the wealthy.
But the translation of Mr. Sharpe has by no means been reprinted
verbatim. Within the last ten years a valuable edition of the original
text, with copious collations of MSS., has been published by the
English Historical Society. This edition has been compared with the
translation, and numerous passages retouched and improved. Some
charters, also, have been added, and a large number of additional
notes appended at the foot of the pages, together with a few other
improvements and additions calculated to render this interesting
history more acceptable to the reading public.
J. A. G.
_Bampton, June, 1847._
THE
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.
The author whose work is here presented to the public in an English
dress, has, unfortunately, left few facts of a personal nature to be
recorded of him; and even these can only be casually gleaned from his
own writings. It is indeed much to be regretted that he who wrote
so well on such a variety of topics, should have told so little to
gratify the curiosity of his readers with respect to himself. Every
notice of such an ardent lover of literature as Malmesbury, must have
been interesting to posterity, as a desire to be acquainted with the
history of those who have contributed to our instruction or amusement
seems natural to civilized man. With the exception indeed of the
incidental references made by successive chroniclers, who borrowed
from his history, there is nothing to be learned of him from extrinsic
sources till the time of Leland, who indignantly observes, that even at
Malmesbury, in his own monastery, they had nearly lost all remembrance
of their brightest ornament.
To himself then we are indebted for the knowledge of his being
descended from both English and Norman parents; his father having
probably come hither at the conquest. The exact time of his birth
cannot be ascertained; though perhaps an approximation to it may be
made. In the “Commentary on Jeremiah,”[1] Malmesbury observes, that
he “had long since, in his youthful days, amused himself with writing
history, that he was now forty years of age;” and, in another place, he
mentions a circumstance which occurred “in the time of king Henry;”[2]
apparently implying that Henry was then dead. Now, admitting the
expression of “long since” to denote a period of ten years, this, as
his “Histories of the Kings” and “of the Prelates” were completed in
the year 1125, must have been written about 1135, the time of Henry’s
death, and would of course place his own birth about 1095 or 1096.[3]
The next circumstance to be noticed is, that when a boy, he was placed
in the monastery whence he derived his name, where in due time he
became librarian, and, according to Leland, precentor; and ultimately
refused the dignity of abbat. His death is generally supposed to have
taken place about 1143; though it is probable that he survived this
period some time: for his “Modern History” terminates at the end of
the year 1142; and it will appear, from a manuscript hereafter to be
described, that he lived at least long enough after its publication to
make many corrections, alterations, and insertions, in that work as
well in the other portions of his History.
With these facts, meagre as they are, the personal account of him must
close. But with regard to his literary bent and attainments there is
ample store of information in his writings. From his earliest youth
he gave his soul to study, and to the collecting of books;[4] and
he visited many of the most celebrated monasteries in the kingdom,
apparently in prosecution of this darling propensity. The ardour of
his curiosity, and the unceasing diligence of his researches, in
this respect, have perhaps been seldom surpassed. He seems to have
procured every volume within his reach; and to have carefully examined
and digested its contents, whether divinity, history, biography,
poetry, or classical literature. Of his acquirements as a scholar it
is indeed difficult to speak in terms of sufficient commendation.
That he had accurately studied nearly all the Roman authors, will be
readily allowed by the classical reader of his works. From these he
either quotes or inserts so appositely, as to show how thoroughly he
had imbibed their sense and spirit. His adaptations are ever ready and
appropriate; they incorporate with his narrative with such exactness
that they appear only to occupy their legitimate place. His knowledge
of Greek is not equally apparent; at least his references to the
writers of Greece are not so frequent, and even these might probably be
obtained from translations: from this, however, no conclusion can be
drawn that he did not understand the language. With respect to writers
subsequent to those deemed classics, his range was so extensive that it
is no easy matter to point out many books which he had not seen, and
certainly he had perused several which we do not now possess.
Malmesbury’s love of learning was constitutional: he declares in one of
his prefaces, that had he turned to any other than literary pursuits,
he should have deemed it not only disgraceful, but even detrimental to
his better interest. Again, his commendations of Bede show how much he
venerated a man of congenial inclinations and studies; and how anxious
he was to form himself on the same model of accurate investigation and
laborious research, and to snatch every possible interval from the
performance of his monastic duties, for the purposes of information and
improvement.
His industry and application were truly extraordinary. Even to the
moment when we reluctantly lose sight of him, he is discovered
unceasingly occupied in the correction of his works.[5] In the MSS.
of the “History of the Kings” may be found traces of at least four
several editions; and the “History of the Prelates” supplies nearly
as many varieties. And though it may reasonably be imagined that a
great portion of the alterations are merely verbal, and of course
imperceptible in a translation, yet they contribute in an extraordinary
degree to the polish and elegance of his style.[6] Another excellent
feature of Malmesbury’s literary character is, his love of truth. He
repeatedly declares that, in the remoter periods of his work, he had
observed the most guarded caution in throwing all responsibility, for
the facts he mentions, on the authors from whom he derived them; and
in his own times he avers, that he has recorded nothing that he had
not either personally witnessed, or learned from the most credible
authority. Adhering closely to this principle, he seems to have been
fully impressed with the difficulty of relating the transactions of
the princes, his contemporaries, and on this account he repeatedly
apologizes for his omissions. But here is seen his dexterous management
in maintaining an equipoise between their virtues and vices; for he
spares neither William the First, nor his sons who succeeded him:
indeed several of his strictures in the earlier editions of this work,
are so severe, that he afterwards found it necessary to modify and
soften them.
His character and attainments had early acquired a high degree of
reputation among his contemporaries. He was entreated by the monks of
various monasteries to write either the history of their foundations,
or the lives of their patron saints. He associated with persons of the
highest consequence and authority; and in one instance, at least, he
took a share in the important political transactions of his own times.
Robert earl of Gloucester, the natural son of Henry the First, was
the acknowledged friend and patron of Malmesbury. This distinguished
nobleman, who was himself a profound scholar, seems to have been the
chief promoter of learning at that period. Several portions of our
author’s work are dedicated to him, not merely through motives of
personal regard, but from the conviction that his attainments as a
scholar would lead him to appreciate its value as a composition, and
the part which he bore in the transactions of his day, enable him to
decide on the veracity of its relation.
Having thus stated the leading features of Malmesbury’s life, his
avocations and attainments, it may not be irrelevant to consider the
form and manner which he has adopted in the history before us. A
desire to be acquainted with the transactions of their ancestors seems
natural to men in every stage of society, however rude or barbarous.
The northern nations, more especially, had their historical traditions,
and the songs of their bards, from the remotest times. Influenced
by this feeling, the Anglo-Saxons turned their attention to the
composition of annals very early after their settlement in Britain;
and hence originated that invaluable register the SAXON CHRONICLE,[7]
in which facts are briefly related as they arose;--in chronological
order, indeed, but without comment or observation. After the Norman
conquest, among other objects of studious research in England,
history attracted considerable attention, and the form, as well as
the matter, of the Saxon Chronicle, became the prevailing standard.
It might readily be supposed that Malmesbury’s genius and attainments
would with difficulty submit to the shackles of a mere chronological
series, which afforded no field for the exercise of genius or judgment.
Accordingly, following the bent of his inclination, he struck into a
different and freer path; and to a judicious selection of facts gave
the added charm of wisdom and experience. It may therefore be useful
to advert to the exemplification of this principle in the scope and
design of the work immediately before us. His first book comprises the
exploits of the Anglo-Saxons, from the period of their arrival till the
consolidation of the empire under the monarchy of Egbert. Herein too
is separately given the history of those powerful but rival kingdoms,
which alternately subjugated, or bowed down to the dominion of, each
other, and deluged the country with blood, as the love of conquest or
the lust of ambition prompted. The second portion of the work continues
the regal series till the mighty revolution of the Norman conquest.
The three remaining books are occupied with the reigns of William and
his sons, including a very interesting account of the first Crusade.
His Modern History carries the narrative into the turbulent reign of
Stephen.
Such is the period embraced: and to show these times, “their form
and pressure,” Malmesbury collected every thing within his reach.
His materials, as he often feelingly laments, were scanty and
confined, more especially in the earlier annals. The Chronicles of
that era afforded him but little, yet of that little he has made
the most, through the diligence of his research and the soundness
of his judgment. His discrimination in selecting, and his skill in
arranging, are equally conspicuous. His inexhaustible patience, his
learning, his desire to perpetuate every thing interesting or useful,
are at all times evident. Sensibly alive to the deficiencies of the
historians who preceded him, he constantly endeavours to give a clear
and connected relation of every event. Indeed, nothing escaped his
observation which could tend to elucidate the manners of the times in
which he wrote. History was the darling pursuit of Malmesbury, and more
especially biographical history, as being, perhaps, the most pleasing
mode of conveying information. He knew the prevailing passion of
mankind for anecdote, and was a skilful master in blending amusement
with instruction. Few historians ever possessed such power of keeping
alive the reader’s attention; few so ably managed their materials,
or scattered so many flowers by the way. Of his apt delineation of
character, and happy mode of seizing the most prominent features of his
personages, it is difficult to speak in terms of adequate commendation.
He does not weary with a tedious detail, “line upon line,” nor does
he complete his portrait at a sitting. On the contrary, the traits
are scattered, the proportions disunited, the body dismembered, as it
were; but in a moment some master-stroke is applied, some vivid flash
of Promethean fire animates the canvass, and the perfect figure darts
into life and expression: hence we have the surly, ferocious snarl
of the Conqueror, and the brutal horse-laugh of Rufus. Malmesbury’s
history, indeed, may be called a kind of biographical drama; where, by
a skilful gradation of character and variety of personage, the story
is presented entire, though the tediousness of continued narrative is
avoided. Again, by saying little on uninteresting topics, and dilating
on such as are important, the tale, which might else disgust from the
supineness or degeneracy of some principal actor, is artfully relieved
by the force of contrast: and the mind, which perhaps recoils with
indignation from the stupid indifference of an Ethelred, hangs, with
fond delight, on the enterprising spirit and exertion of an Ironside.
It may be superfluous, perhaps, after enumerating qualities of this
varied kind, in an author, who gives a connected history of England
for several centuries, to observe, that readers of every description
must derive instruction and delight from his labours. Historians,
antiquaries, or philosophers, may drink deeply of the stream which
pervades his work, and find their thirst for information gratified.
The diligent investigator of the earlier annals of his own country,
finds a period of seven hundred years submitted to his inspection,
and this not merely in a dry detail of events, but in a series of
authentic historical facts, determined with acuteness, commented on
with deliberation, and relieved by pleasing anecdote or interesting
episode. When the narrative flags at home, the attention is roused by
events transacting abroad, while foreign is so blended with domestic
history, that the book is never closed in disgust. The antiquary here
finds ample field for amusement and instruction in the various notices
of arts, manners, and customs, which occur. The philosopher traces
the gradual progress of man towards civilization; watches his mental
improvement, his advance from barbarism to comparative refinement;
and not of man alone, but of government, laws, and arts, as well as
of all those attainments which serve to exalt and embellish human
nature. These are topics carefully, though perhaps only incidentally,
brought forward; but they are points essentially requisite in every
legitimate historian. Here, however, it must be admitted, that in the
volume before us, a considerable portion of the marvellous prevails;
and though, perhaps, by many readers, these will be considered as among
the most curious parts of the work, yet it may be objected, that the
numerous miraculous tales detract, in some measure, from that soundness
of judgment which has been ascribed to our author. But it should be
carefully recollected, that it became necessary to conform, in some
degree, to the general taste of the readers of those days, the bulk
of whom derived their principal amusement from the lives of saints,
and from their miracles, in which they piously believed: besides, no
one ever thought of impeaching the judgment of Livy, or of any other
historian of credit, for insertions of a similar nature. Even in these
relations, however, Malmesbury is careful that his own veracity shall
not be impeached; constantly observing, that the truth of the story
must rest on the credit of his authors; and, indeed, they are always so
completely separable from the main narrative, that there is no danger
of mistaking the legend for history.
Having thus noticed the multifarious topics embraced by Malmesbury,
it may be necessary to advert to his style: although, after what has
been premised, it might seem almost superfluous to add, that it admits
nearly of as much variety as his facts. This probably arises from that
undeviating principle which he appears to have laid down, that his
chief efforts should be exerted to give pleasure to his readers; in
imitation of the rhetoricians, whose first object was to make their
audience kindly disposed, next attentive, and finally anxious to
receive instruction.[8] Of his style, therefore, generally speaking, it
may not be easy to give a perfect description. To say to which Roman
author it bears the nearest resemblance, when he imitated almost every
one of them, from Sallust to Eutropius, would be rash indeed. How shall
we bind this classical Proteus, who occasionally assumes the semblance
of Persius, Juvenal, Horace, Lucan, Virgil, Lucretius; and who never
appears in his proper shape so long as he can seize the form of an
ancient classic?[9] Often does he declare that he purposely varies
his diction, lest the reader should be disgusted by its sameness;
anxiously careful to avoid repetition, even in the structure of his
phrases. It may be said, however, that generally, in his earlier works,
(for he was apparently very young when he wrote his History of the
Kings,) his style is rather laboured; though, perhaps, even this may
have originated in an anxiety that his descriptions should be full;
or, to use his own expression, that posterity should be wholly and
perfectly informed. That his diction is highly antithetical, and his
sentences artfully poised, will be readily allowed; and perhaps the
best index to his meaning, where he may be occasionally obscure, is the
nicely-adjusted balance of his phrase. That he gradually improved his
style, and in riper years, where he describes the transactions of his
own times, became terse, elegant, and polished, no one will attempt to
dispute; and it will be regretted, that this interesting portion of
history should break off abruptly in the midst of the contest between
the empress Maud and Stephen.
In this recapitulation perhaps enough has been said to make an attempt
at translating such an author regarded with kindness and complacency.
To prevent a work of such acknowledged interest and fidelity from
remaining longer a sealed book to the English reader, may well
justify an undertaking of this kind; and it should be remarked that a
translation of Malmesbury may serve to diffuse a very different idea
of the state of manners and learning in his days from that which has
been too commonly entertained; and at the same time to rescue a set
of very deserving men from the unjust obloquy with which they have
been pursued for ages. For without the least design of vindicating the
institutions of monachism or overlooking the abuses incident to it, we
may assert that, in Malmesbury’s time, religious houses were the grand
depositaries of knowledge, and monks the best informed men of the age.
It remains briefly to speak of the mode in which the translation has
been conducted. The printed text of Malmesbury[10] was found so
frequently faulty and corrupted that, on a careful perusal, it was
deemed necessary to seek for authentic manuscripts. These were supplied
by that noble institution, the British Museum; but one more especially,
which, on an exact comparison with others, was found to possess
indisputable proofs of the author’s latest corrections. This, Bib. Reg.
13, D. II, has been collated throughout with the printed copy; the
result has produced numerous important corrections, alterations, and
insertions, which are constantly referred to in the notes. In addition
to this, various other MSS. have been repeatedly consulted; so that it
is presumed the text, from which the translation has been made, is, by
these means, completely established.
As the plan pursued by Malmesbury did not often require him to affix
dates to the several transactions, it has been deemed necessary to
remedy this omission. The chronology here supplied has been constructed
on a careful examination and comparison of the Saxon Chronicle and
Florence of Worcester, which are considered the best authorities;
although even these occasionally leave considerable doubt as to the
precise time of certain events. The remoteness of the period described
by Malmesbury makes notes also in some measure indispensable. These
are derived as frequently as possible from contemporary authors.
Their object is briefly to amend, to explain, and to illustrate. By
some perhaps they may be thought too limited; by others they may
occasionally be considered unnecessary; but they are such as were
deemed likely to be acceptable to readers in general.
With these explanations the translator takes leave of the reader,
and is induced to hope that the present work will not be deemed an
unimportant accession to the stock of English literature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EDITOR’S PREFACE. v
THE TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE. vi
THE AUTHOR’S EPISTLE TO ROBERT, EARL OF GLOUCESTER, SON OF
KING HENRY. 1
PREFACE. 3
BOOK I.
CHAP. I. _Of the arrival of the Angles, and of the Kings of
Kent._ [A.D. 449.] 5
CHAP. II. _Of the kings of the West Saxons._ [A.D. 495.] 17
CHAP. III. _Of the kings of the Northumbrians._ [A.D. 450.] 40
CHAP. IV. _Of the kings of the Mercians._ [A.D. 626-874.] 70
CHAP. V. _Of the kings of the East Angles._ [A.D. 520-905.] 88
CHAP. VI. _Of the kings of the East Saxons._ [A.D. 520-823.] 90
BOOK II.
PROLOGUE. 93
CHAP. I. _The history of king Egbert._ [A.D. 800-839.] 94
CHAP. II. _Of king Ethelwulf._ [A.D. 839-858.] 97
CHAP. III. _Of Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Ethelred, sons of
Ethelwulf._ [A.D. 858-872.] 110
CHAP. IV. _Of king Alfred._ [A.D. 872-901.] 113
CHAP. V. _Of Edward the son of Alfred._ [A.D. 901-924.] 122
CHAP. VI. _Of Athelstan, the son of Edward._ [A.D. 924-940.] 128
CHAP. VII. _Of kings Edmund, Edred, and Edwy._ [A.D. 940-955.] 141
CHAP. VIII. _Of king Edgar, son of king Edmund._
[A.D. 959-975.] 147
CHAP. IX. _Of St. Edward king and martyr the son of Edgar._
[A.D. 975-978.] 162
CHAP. X. _Of king Ethelred and king Edmund._
[A.D. 979-1017.] 165
CHAP. XI. _Of king Canute._ [A.D. 1017-1031.] 196
CHAP. XII. _Of king Harold and Hardecanute._ [A.D. 1036-1042.] 205
CHAP. XIII. _Of St. Edward, son of king Ethelred._
[A.D. 1042-1066.] 213
BOOK III.
PREFACE. 258
BOOK IV.
PREFACE. 325
CHAP. I. _Of William the Second._ [A.D. 1087-1100.] 327
CHAP. II. _The Expedition to Jerusalem._ [A.D. 1095-1105.] 355
BOOK V.
PREFACE. 424
THE MODERN HISTORY.
PREFACE, ADDRESSED TO ROBERT, EARL OF GLOUCESTER. 480
BOOK I. 481
BOOK II. 498
BOOK III. 513
INDEX. 536
FOOTNOTES.
Transcriber’s Notes.
THE AUTHOR’S EPISTLE
TO
ROBERT, EARL OF GLOUCESTER,[11]
SON OF KING HENRY.
_To my respected Lord, the renowned Earl Robert, son of the King,
health, and, as far as he is able, his prayers, from William,
Monk of Malmesbury._
The virtue of celebrated men holds forth as its greatest excellence,
its tendency to excite the love of persons even far removed from it:
hence the lower classes make the virtues of their superiors their own,
by venerating those great actions, to the practice of which they cannot
themselves aspire. Moreover, it redounds altogether to the glory of
exalted characters, both that they do good, and that they gain the
affection of their inferiors. To you, Princes, therefore, it is owing,
that we act well; to you, indeed, that we compose anything worthy of
remembrance; your exertions incite us to make you live for ever in
our writings, in return for the dangers you undergo to secure our
tranquillity. For this reason, I have deemed it proper to dedicate the
History of the Kings of England, which I have lately published, more
especially to you, my respected and truly amiable Lord. None, surely,
can be a more suitable patron of the liberal arts than yourself, in
whom are combined the magnanimity of your grandfather, the munificence
of your uncle, the circumspection of your father; more especially as
you add to the qualities of these men, whom you alike equal in industry
and resemble in person, this peculiar characteristic, a devotion to
learning. Nor is this all: you condescend to honour with your notice
those literary characters who are kept in obscurity, either by the
malevolence of fame, or the slenderness of their fortune. And as
our nature inclines us, not to condemn in others what we approve in
ourselves, therefore men of learning find in you manners congenial to
their own; for, without the slightest indication of moroseness, you
regard them with kindness, admit them with complacency, and dismiss
them with regret. Indeed, the greatness of your fortune has made no
difference in you, except that your beneficence can now almost keep
pace with your inclination.
Accept, then, most illustrious Sir, a work in which you may contemplate
yourself as in a glass, where your Highness’s sagacity will discover
that you have imitated the actions of the most exalted characters,
even before you could have heard their names. The Preface to the first
book declares the contents of this work; on deigning to peruse which,
you will briefly collect the whole subject-matter. Thus much I must
request from your Excellency, that no blame may attach to me because my
narrative often wanders wide from the limits of our own country, since
I design this as a compendium of many histories, although, with a view
to the larger portion of it, I have entitled it a History of the Kings
of England.
PREFACE.
The history of the English, from their arrival in Britain to his
own times, has been written by Bede, a man of singular learning and
modesty, in a clear and captivating style. After him you will not, in
my opinion, easily find any person who has attempted to compose in
Latin the history of this people. Let others declare whether their
researches in this respect have been, or are likely to be, more
fortunate; my own labour, though diligent in the extreme, has, down to
this period, been without its reward. There, are, indeed, some notices
of antiquity, written in the vernacular tongue after the manner of a
chronicle,[12] and arranged according to the years of our Lord. By
means of these alone, the times succeeding this man have been rescued
from oblivion: for of Elward,[13] a noble and illustrious man, who
attempted to arrange these chronicles in Latin, and whose intention
I could applaud if his language did not disgust me, it is better to
be silent. Nor has it escaped my knowledge, that there is also a work
of my Lord Eadmer,[14] written with a chastened elegance of style, in
which, beginning from King Edgar, he has but hastily glanced at the
times down to William the First: and thence, taking a freer range,
gives a narrative, copious, and of great utility to the studious, until
the death of Archbishop Ralph.[15] Thus from the time of Bede there is
a period of two hundred and twenty-three years left unnoticed in his
history; so that the regular series of time, unsupported by a connected
relation, halts in the middle. This circumstance has induced me, as
well out of love to my country, as respect for the authority of those
who have enjoined on me the undertaking, to fill up the chasm, and
to season the crude materials with Roman art. And that the work may
proceed with greater regularity, I shall cull somewhat from Bede, whom
I must often quote, glancing at a few facts, but omitting more.
The First Book, therefore, contains a succinct account of the English,
from the time of their descent on Britain, till that of King Egbert,
who, after the different Princes had fallen by various ways, gained the
monarchy of almost the whole island.
But as among the English arose four powerful kingdoms, that is to say,
of Kent, of the West Saxons, of the Northumbrians, and of the Mercians,
of which I purpose severally to treat if I have leisure; I shall begin
with that which attained the earliest to maturity, and was also the
first to decay. This I shall do more clearly, if I place the kingdoms
of the East Angles, and of the East Saxons, after the others, as little
meriting either my labours, or the regard of posterity.
The Second Book will contain the chronological series of the Kings to
the coming of the Normans.
The three following Books will be employed upon the history of three
successive kings, with the addition of whatever, in their times,
happened elsewhere, which, from its celebrity, may demand a more
particular notice. This, then, is what I purpose, if the Divine favour
shall smile on my undertaking, and carry me safely by those rocks of
rugged diction, on which Elward, in his search after sounding and
far-fetched phrases, so unhappily suffered shipwreck. “Should any one,
however,” to use the poet’s expression,[16] “peruse this work with
sensible delight,” I deem it necessary to acquaint him, that I vouch
nothing for the truth of long past transactions, but the consonance
of the time; the veracity of the relation must rest with its authors.
Whatever I have recorded of later times, I have either myself seen,
or heard from credible authority. However, in either part, I pay but
little respect to the judgment of my contemporaries: trusting that I
shall gain with posterity, when love and hatred shall be no more, if
not a reputation for eloquence, at least credit for diligence.
THE HISTORY
OF THE
KINGS OF ENGLAND.
BOOK I.
CHAP. I.
_Of the arrival of the Angles, and of the Kings of Kent._ [A.D. 449.]
In the year of the incarnation of our Lord 449, Angles and Saxons
first came into Britain; and although the cause of their arrival is
universally known, it may not be improper here to subjoin it: and,
that the design of my work may be the more manifest, to begin even
from an earlier period. That Britain, compelled by Julius Cæsar to
submit to the Roman power, was held in high estimation by that people,
may be collected from their history, and be seen also in the ruins of
their ancient buildings. Even their emperors, sovereigns of almost
all the world, eagerly embraced opportunities of sailing hither, and
of spending their days here. Finally, Severus and Constantius, two of
their greatest princes, died upon the island, and were there interred
with the utmost pomp. The former, to defend this province from the
incursions of the barbarians, built his celebrated and well-known
wall from sea to sea. The latter, a man, as they report, of courteous
manners, left Constantine, his son by Helena, a tender of cattle,[17] a
youth of great promise, his heir. Constantine, greeted emperor by the
army, led away, in an expedition destined to the continent, a numerous
force of British soldiers; by whose exertions, the war succeeding
to his wishes, he gained in a short time the summit of power. For
these veterans, when their toil was over, he founded a colony on the
western coast of Gaul, where, to this day, their descendants, somewhat
degenerate in language and manners from our own Britons, remain with
wonderful increase.[18]
In succeeding times, in this island, Maximus, a man well-fitted for
command, had he not aspired to power in defiance of his oath, assumed
the purple, as though compelled by the army, and preparing immediately
to pass over into Gaul, he despoiled the province of almost all its
military force. Not long after also, one Constantine, who had been
elected emperor on account of his name, drained its whole remaining
warlike strength; but both being slain, the one by Theodosius, the
other by Honorius, they became examples of the instability of human
greatness. Of the forces which had followed them, part shared the fate
of their leaders; the rest, after their defeat, fled to the continental
Britons. Thus when the tyrants had left none but half-savages in the
country, and, in the towns, those only who were given up to luxury,
Britain, despoiled of the support of its youthful[19] population, and
bereft of every useful art, was for a long time exposed to the ambition
of neighbouring nations.
For immediately, by an excursion of the Scots and Picts, numbers of the
people were slain, villages burnt,[20] towns destroyed, and everything
laid waste by fire and sword. Part of the harassed islanders, who
thought anything more advisable than contending in battle, fled for
safety to the mountains; others, burying their treasures in the earth,
many of which are dug up in our own times, proceeded to Rome to ask
assistance. The Romans, touched with pity, and deeming it above all
things important to yield succour to their oppressed allies, twice lent
their aid, and defeated the enemy. But at length, wearied with the
distant voyage, they declined returning in future; bidding them rather
themselves not degenerate from the martial energy of their ancestors,
but learn to defend their country with spirit, and with arms. They
accompanied their advice with the plan of a wall, to be built for their
defence; the mode of keeping watch on the ramparts; of sallying out
against the enemy, should it be necessary, together with other duties
of military discipline. After giving these admonitions, they departed,
accompanied by the tears of the miserable inhabitants; and Fortune,
smiling on their departure, restored them to their friends and country.
The Scots, learning the improbability of their return, immediately
began to make fresh and more frequent irruptions against the Britons;
to level their wall, to kill the few opponents they met with, and to
carry off considerable booty; while such as escaped fled to the royal
residence, imploring the protection of their sovereign.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 447.] REIGN OF VORTIGERN.]
At this time Vortigern was King of Britain; a man calculated neither
for the field nor the council, but wholly given up to the lusts of the
flesh, the slave of every vice: a character of insatiable avarice,
ungovernable pride, and polluted by his lusts. To complete the picture,
as we read in the History of the Britons, he had defiled his own
daughter, who was lured to the participation of such a crime by the
hope of sharing his kingdom, and she had borne him a son. Regardless of
his treasures at this dreadful juncture, and wasting the resources of
the kingdom in riotous living, he was awake only to the blandishments
of abandoned women. Roused at length, however, by the clamours of the
people, he summoned a council, to take the sense of his nobility on
the state of public affairs. To be brief, it was unanimously resolved
to invite over from Germany the Angles and Saxons, nations powerful
in arms, but of a roving life. It was conceived that this would be
a double advantage: for it was thought that, by their skill in war,
these people would easily subdue their enemies; and, as they hitherto
had no certain habitation, would gladly accept even an unproductive
soil, provided it afforded them a stationary residence. Moreover, that
they could not be suspected of ever entertaining a design against the
country, since the remembrance of this kindness would soften their
native ferocity. This counsel was adopted, and ambassadors, men of
rank, and worthy to represent the country, were sent into Germany.
The Germans, hearing that voluntarily offered, which they had long
anxiously desired, readily obeyed the invitation; their joy quickening
their haste. Bidding adieu, therefore, to their native fields and
the ties of kindred, they spread their sails to Fortune, and, with a
favouring breeze, arrived in Britain in three of those long vessels
which they call “ceols.”[21] At this and other times came over a
mixed multitude from three of the German nations; that is to say,
the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. For almost all the country lying to
the north of the British ocean, though divided into many provinces,
is justly denominated Germany, from its germinating so many men. And
as the pruner cuts off the more luxuriant branches of the tree to
impart a livelier vigour to the remainder, so the inhabitants of this
country assist their common parent by the expulsion of a part of their
members, lest she should perish by giving sustenance to too numerous an
offspring; but in order to obviate discontent, they cast lots who shall
be compelled to migrate. Hence the men of this country have made a
virtue of necessity, and, when driven from their native soil, they have
gained foreign settlements by force of arms. The Vandals, for instance,
who formerly over-ran Africa; the Goths, who made themselves masters
of Spain; the Lombards, who, even at the present time, are settled in
Italy; and the Normans, who have given their own name to that part of
Gaul which they subdued. From Germany, then, there first came into
Britain, an inconsiderable number indeed, but well able to make up
for their paucity by their courage. These were under the conduct of
Hengist and Horsa, two brothers of suitable disposition, and of noble
race in their own country. They were great-grandsons of the celebrated
Woden, from whom almost all the royal families of these barbarous
nations deduce their origin; and to whom the nations of the Angles,
fondly deifying him, have consecrated by immemorial superstition the
fourth day of the week, as they have the sixth to his wife Frea. Bede
has related in what particular parts of Britain, the Angles, Saxons,
and Jutes,[22] fixed their habitations: my design, however, is not to
dilate, though there may be abundance of materials for the purpose, but
to touch only on what is necessary.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 449.] ARRIVAL OF HENGIST.]
The Angles were eagerly met on all sides upon their arrival: from the
king they received thanks, from the people expressions of good-will.
Faith was plighted on either side, and the Isle of Thanet appropriated
for their residence. It was agreed, moreover, that they should exert
their prowess in arms for the service of the country; and, in return,
receive a suitable reward from the people for whose safety they
underwent such painful labours. Ere long, the Scots advanced, as
usual, secure, as they supposed, of a great booty with very little
difficulty. However, the Angles assailed them, and scarcely had they
engaged, before they were put to flight, whilst the cavalry pursued
and destroyed the fugitives. Contests of this kind were frequent, and
victory constantly siding with the Angles, as is customary in human
affairs, while success inflamed the courage of one party, and dread
increased the cowardice of the other, the Scots in the end avoided
nothing so cautiously as an engagement with them.
In the meantime, Hengist, not less keen in perception than ardent in
the field, with consent of Vortigern, sends back some of his followers
to his own country, with the secret purpose, however, of representing
the indolence of the king and people, the opulence of the island,
and the prospect of advantage to new adventurers. Having executed
their commission adroitly, in a short time they return with sixteen
ships, bringing with them the daughter of Hengist; a maiden, as we
have heard, who might justly be called the master-piece of nature and
the admiration of mankind. At an entertainment, provided for them on
their return, Hengist commanded his daughter to assume the office of
cup-bearer, that she might gratify the eyes of the king as he sat
at table. Nor was the design unsuccessful: for he, ever eager after
female beauty, deeply smitten with the gracefulness of her form and
the elegance of her motion, instantly conceived a vehement desire for
the possession of her person, and immediately proposed marriage to her
father; urging him to a measure to which he was already well inclined.
Hengist, at first, kept up the artifice by a refusal; stating, that so
humble a connection was unworthy of a king: but, at last, appearing
to consent with reluctance, he gave way to his importunities, and
accepted, as a reward, the whole of Kent, where all justice had long
since declined under the administration of its Gourong (or Viceroy),
who, like the other princes of the island, was subject to the monarchy
of Vortigern. Not satisfied with this liberality, but abusing the
imprudence of the king, the barbarian persuaded him to send for his
son and brother, men of warlike talents, from Germany, pretending,
that he would defend the province on the east, while they might curb
the Scots on the northern frontier. The king assenting, they sailed
round Britain, and arriving at the Orkney Isles, the inhabitants of
which they involved in the same calamity with the Picts and Scots, at
this and after times, they finally settled in the northern part of the
island, now called Northumbria. Still no one there assumed the royal
title or insignia till the time of Ida, from whom sprang the regal line
of the Northumbrians; but of this hereafter. We will now return to the
present subject.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 520.] MASSACRE OF THE BRITISH NOBLES.]
Vortimer, the son of Vortigern, thinking it unnecessary longer to
dissemble that he saw himself and his Britons circumvented by the craft
of the Angles, turned his thoughts to their expulsion, and stimulated
his father to the same attempt. At his suggestion, the truce was
broken seven years after their arrival; and during the ensuing twenty,
they frequently fought partial battles,[23] and, as the chronicle
relates, four general actions. From the first conflict they parted on
equal terms: one party lamenting the loss of Horsa, the brother of
Hengist; the other, that of Katigis, another of Vortigern’s sons. The
Angles, having the advantage in all the succeeding encounters, peace
was concluded; Vortimer, who had been the instigator of the war, and
differed far from the indolence of his father, perished prematurely,
or he would have governed the kingdom in a noble manner, had God
permitted. When he died, the British strength decayed, and all hope
fled from them; and they would soon have perished altogether, had not
Ambrosius, the sole survivor of the Romans, who became monarch after
Vortigern, quelled the presumptuous barbarians by the powerful aid of
warlike Arthur. It is of this Arthur that the Britons fondly tell so
many fables, even to the present day; a man worthy to be celebrated,
not by idle fictions, but by authentic history. He long upheld the
sinking state, and roused the broken spirit of his countrymen to war.
Finally, at the siege of Mount Badon,[24] relying on an image of the
Virgin, which he had affixed to his armour, he engaged nine hundred of
the enemy, single-handed, and dispersed them with incredible slaughter.
On the other side, the Angles, after various revolutions of fortune,
filled up their thinned battalions with fresh supplies of their
countrymen; rushed with greater courage to the conflict, and extended
themselves by degrees, as the natives retreated, over the whole island:
for the counsels of God, in whose hand is every change of empire, did
not oppose their career. But this was effected in process of time; for
while Vortigern lived, no new attempt was made against them. About
this time, Hengist, from that bad quality of the human heart, which
grasps after more in proportion to what it already possesses, by a
preconcerted piece of deception, invited his son-in-law, with three
hundred of his followers, to an entertainment; and when, by more
than usual compotations, he had excited them to clamour, he began,
purposely, to taunt them severally, with sarcastic raillery: this had
the desired effect, of making them first quarrel, and then come to
blows. Thus the Britons were basely murdered to a man, and breathed
their last amid their cups. The king himself, made captive, purchased
his liberty at the price of three provinces. After this, Hengist died,
in the thirty-ninth year after his arrival; he was a man, who urging
his success not less by artifice than courage, and giving free scope
to his natural ferocity, preferred effecting his purpose rather by
cruelty than by kindness. He left a son named Eisc;[25] who, more
intent on defending, than enlarging, his dominions, never exceeded
the paternal bounds. At the expiration of twenty-four years, he had
for his successors, his son Otha, and Otha’s son, Ermenric, who, in
their manners, resembled him, rather than their grandfather and great
grandfather. To the times of both, the Chronicles assign fifty-three
years; but whether they reigned singly, or together, does not appear.
After them Ethelbert, the son of Ermenric, reigned fifty-three years
according to the Chronicle; but fifty-six according to Bede. The
reader must determine how this difference is to be accounted for; as
I think it sufficient to have apprized him of it, I shall let the
matter rest.[26] In the infancy of his reign, he was such an object of
contempt to the neighbouring kings, that, defeated in two battles, he
could scarcely defend his frontier; afterwards, however, when to his
riper years he had added a more perfect knowledge of war, he quickly,
by successive victories, subjugated every kingdom of the Angles, with
the exception of the Northumbrians. And, in order to obtain foreign
connections, he entered into affinity with the king of France, by
marrying his daughter Bertha. And now by this connection with the
Franks, the nation, hitherto savage and wedded to its own customs,
began daily to divest itself of its rustic propensities and incline to
gentler manners. To this was added the very exemplary life of bishop
Luidhard, who had come over with the queen, by which, though silently,
he allured the king to the knowledge of Christ our Lord. Hence it
arose, that his mind, already softened, easily yielded to the preaching
of the blessed Augustine; and he was the first of all his race who
renounced the errors of paganism, that he might obscure, by the glory
of his faith, those whom he surpassed in power. This, indeed, is
spotless nobility; this, exalted virtue; to excel in worth those
whom you exceed in rank. Besides, extending his care to posterity,
he enacted laws, in his native tongue, in which he appointed rewards
for the meritorious, and opposed severer restraints to the abandoned,
leaving nothing doubtful for the future.[27]
[Sidenote: [A.D. 618.] EDBALD.]
Ethelbert died in the twenty-first year after he had embraced the
Christian faith, leaving the diadem to his son Edbald. As soon
as he was freed from the restraints of paternal awe, he rejected
Christianity, and overcame the virtue of his stepmother.[28] But
the severity of the divine mercy opposed a barrier to his utter
destruction: for the princes, whom his father had subjugated,
immediately rebelled, he lost a part of his dominions, and was
perpetually haunted by an evil spirit, whereby he paid the penalty of
his unbelief. Laurentius, the successor of Augustine, was offended at
these transactions, and after having sent away his companions, was
meditating his own departure from the country, but having received
chastisement from God, he was induced to change his resolution.[29] The
king conversing with him on the subject, and finding his assertions
confirmed by his stripes, became easily converted, accepted the grace
of Christianity, and broke off his incestuous intercourse. But, that
posterity might be impressed with the singular punishment due to
apostacy, it was with difficulty he could maintain his hereditary
dominions, much less rival the eminence of his father. For the
remainder of his life, his faith was sound, and he did nothing to
sully his reputation. The monastery also, which his father had founded
without the walls of Canterbury,[30] he ennobled with large estates,
and sumptuous presents. The praises and merits of both these men ought
ever to be proclaimed, and had in honour by the English; because they
allowed the Christian faith to acquire strength, in England, by
patient listening and willingness to believe. Who can contemplate,
without satisfaction, the just and amiable answer which Bede makes king
Ethelbert to have given to the first preaching of Augustine? “That he
could not, thus early, embrace a new doctrine and leave the accustomed
worship of his country; but that, nevertheless, persons who had
undertaken so long a journey for the purpose of kindly communicating to
the Angles what they deemed an inestimable benefit, far from meeting
with ill-treatment, ought rather to be allowed full liberty to preach,
and also to receive the amplest maintenance.” He fully kept his
promise; and at length the truth of Christianity becoming apparent by
degrees, himself and all his subjects were admitted into the number of
the faithful. And what did the other? Though led away at first, more by
the lusts of the flesh than perverseness of heart, yet he paid respect
to the virtuous conduct of the prelates, although he neglected their
faith; and lastly, as I have related, was easily converted through
the sufferings of Laurentius, and became of infinite service to the
propagation of Christianity. Both, then, were laudable: both deserved
high encomiums; for the good work, so nobly begun by the one, was as
kindly fostered by the other.
To him, after a reign of twenty-four years, succeeded Erconbert, his
son, by Emma, daughter of the king of France. He reigned an equal
number of years with his father, but under happier auspices; alike
remarkable for piety towards God, and love to his country. For his
grandfather, and father, indeed, adopted our faith, but neglected to
destroy their idols; whilst he, thinking it derogatory to his royal
zeal not to take the readiest mode of annihilating openly what they
only secretly condemned, levelled every temple of their gods to the
ground, that not a trace of their paganism might be handed down to
posterity. This was nobly done: for the mass of the people would be
reminded of their superstition, so long as they could see the altars
of their deities. In order, also, that he might teach his subjects,
who were too much given to sensual indulgence, to accustom themselves
to temperance, he enjoined the solemn fast of Lent to be observed
throughout his dominions. This was an extraordinary act for the king
to attempt in those times: but he was a man whom no blandishments of
luxury could enervate; no anxiety for power seduce from the worship of
God. Wherefore he was protected by the favour of the Almighty; every
thing, at home and abroad, succeeded to his wishes, and he grew old in
uninterrupted tranquillity. His daughter Ercongotha, a child worthy of
such a parent, and emulating her father in virtuous qualities, became a
shining light in the monastery of Kalas in Gaul.[31]
[Sidenote: [A.D. 664-686.] EGBERT--LOTHERE.]
His son Egbert, retaining his father’s throne for nine years, did
nothing memorable in so short a reign; unless indeed it be ascribed
to the glory of this period, that Theodore[32] the archbishop, and
Adrian the abbat, two consummate scholars, came into England in his
reign. Were not the subject already trite, I should willingly record
what light they shed upon the Britons; how on one side the Greeks, and
on the other the Latins, emulously contributed their knowledge to the
public stock, and made this island, once the nurse of tyrants, the
constant residence of philosophy: but this and every other merit of the
times of Egbert is clouded by his horrid crime, of either destroying,
or permitting to be destroyed, Elbert and Egelbright, his nephews.[33]
To Egbert succeeded his brother Lothere, who began his reign with
unpropitious omens. For he was harassed during eleven years by Edric,
the son of Egbert, and engaged in many civil conflicts which terminated
with various success, until he was ultimately pierced through the body
with a dart, and died while they were applying remedies to the wound.
Some say, that both the brothers perished by a premature death as a
just return for their cruelty; because Egbert, as I have related,
murdered the innocent children of his uncle; and Lothere ridiculed the
notion of holding them up as martyrs: although the former had lamented
the action, and had granted a part of the Isle of Thanet to the mother
of his nephews, for the purpose of building a monastery.
Nor did Edric long boast the prosperous state of his government; for
within two years he was despoiled both of kingdom and of life, and
left his country to be torn in pieces by its enemies. Immediately
Cædwalla, with his brother Mull, in other respects a good and able
man, but breathing an inextinguishable hatred against the people of
Kent, made vigorous attempts upon the province; supposing it must
easily surrender to his views, as it had lately been in the enjoyment
of long continued peace, but at that time was torn with intestine war.
He found, however, the inhabitants by no means unprepared or void of
courage, as he had expected. For, after many losses sustained in the
towns and villages, at length they rushed with spirit to the conflict.
They gained the victory in the contest, and having put Cædwalla to
flight, drove his brother Mull into a little cottage, which they set on
fire. Thus, wanting courage to sally out against the enemy, the fire
gained uncontrolled power, and he perished in the flames. Nevertheless
Cædwalla ceased not his efforts, nor retired from the province; but
consoled himself for his losses by repeatedly ravaging the district;
however, he left the avenging of this injury to Ina, his successor, as
will be related in its place.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 774-823.] DOWNFALL OF KENT.]
In this desperate state of the affairs of Kent, there was a void of
about six years in the royal succession. In the seventh, Withred, the
son of Egbert, having repressed the malevolence of his countrymen
by his activity, and purchased peace from his enemies by money, was
chosen king by the inhabitants, who entertained great and well-founded
hopes of him. He was an admirable ruler at home, invincible in war,
and a truly pious follower of the Christian faith, for he extended its
power to the utmost. And, to complete his felicity, after a reign of
thirty-three years, he died in extreme old age, which men generally
reckon to be their greatest happiness, leaving his three children
his heirs. These were Egbert, Ethelbert, and Alric, and they reigned
twenty-three, eleven, and thirty-four years successively, without
deviation from the excellent example and institutions of their father,
except that Ethelbert, by the casual burning of Canterbury, and Alric,
by an unsuccessful battle with the Mercians, considerably obscured
the glory of their reigns. So it is that, if any thing disgraceful
occurs, it is not concealed; if any thing fortunate, it is not
sufficiently noticed in the Chronicles; whether it be done designedly,
or whether it arise from that bad quality of the human mind, which
makes gratitude for good transient; whereas the recollection of evil
remains for ever. After these men the noble stock of kings began to
wither, the royal blood to flow cold. Then every daring adventurer,
who had acquired riches by his eloquence, or whom faction had made
formidable, aspired to the kingdom, and disgraced the ensigns of
royalty. Of these, Edbert otherwise called Pren, after having governed
Kent two years, over-rating his power, was taken prisoner in a war with
the Mercians, and loaded with chains. But being set at liberty by his
enemies, though not received by his own subjects, it is uncertain by
what end he perished. Cuthred, heir to the same faction and calamity,
reigned, in name only, eight years. Next Baldred, a mere abortion of
a king, after having for eighteen years more properly possessed, than
governed the kingdom, went into exile, on his defeat by Egbert, king
of the West Saxons. Thus the kingdom of Kent, which, from the year of
our Lord 449, had continued 375 years, became annexed to another. And
since by following the royal line of the first kingdom which arose
among the Angles, I have elicited a spark, as it were, from the embers
of antiquity, I shall now endeavour to throw light on the kingdom of
the West Saxons, which, though after a considerable lapse of time, was
the next that sprang up. While others were neglected and wasted away,
this flourished with unconquerable vigour, even to the coming of the
Normans; and, if I may be permitted the expression, with greedy jaws
swallowed up the rest. Wherefore, after tracing this kingdom in detail
down to Egbert, I shall briefly, for fear of disgusting my readers,
subjoin some notices of the two remaining; this will be a suitable
termination to the first book, and the second will continue the history
of the West Saxons alone.
CHAP. II.
_Of the kings of the West Saxons._ [A.D. 495.]
The kingdom of the West Saxons,--and one more magnificent or lasting
Britain never beheld,--sprang from Cerdic, and soon increased to great
importance. He was a German by nation, of the noblest race, being the
tenth from Woden, and, having nurtured his ambition in domestic broils,
determined to leave his native land and extend his fame by the sword.
Having formed this daring resolution he communicated his design to
Cenric his son, who closely followed his father’s track to glory, and
with his concurrence transported his forces into Britain in five ceols.
This took place in the year of our Saviour’s incarnation 495, and the
eighth after the death of Hengist. Coming into action with the Britons
the very day of his arrival, this experienced soldier soon defeated an
undisciplined multitude, and compelled them to fly. By this success he
obtained perfect security in future for himself, as well as peace for
the inhabitants of those parts. For they never dared after that day to
attack him, but voluntarily submitted to his dominion. Nevertheless he
did not waste his time in indolence; but, on the contrary, extending
his conquests on all sides, by the time he had been twenty-four years
in the island, he had obtained the supremacy of the western part of
it, called West-Saxony. He died after enjoying it sixteen years, and
his whole kingdom, with the exception of the isle of Wight, descended
to his son. This, by the royal munificence, became subject to his
nephew, Withgar; who was as dear to his uncle by the ties of kindred,
for he was his sister’s son, as by his skill in war, and formed a
noble principality in the island, where he was afterwards splendidly
interred. Cenric moreover, who was as illustrious as his father, after
twenty-six years, bequeathed the kingdom, somewhat enlarged, to his son
Ceawlin.
The Chronicles extol the singular valour of this man in battle, so as
to excite a degree of envious admiration; for he was the astonishment
of the Angles, the detestation of the Britons, and was eventually the
destruction of both. I shall briefly subjoin some extracts from them.
Attacking Ethelbert king of Kent, who was a man in other respects
laudable, but at that time was endeavouring from the consciousness of
his family’s dignity to gain the ascendency, and, on this account,
making too eager incursions on the territories of his neighbour, he
routed his troops and forced him to retreat. The Britons, who, in the
times of his father and grandfather, had escaped destruction either
by a show of submission, or by the strength of their fortifications
at Gloucester, Cirencester, and Bath, he now pursued with ceaseless
rancour; ejected them from their cities, and chased them into
mountainous and woody districts, as at the present day. But about this
time, as some unluckly throw of the dice in the table of human life
perpetually disappoints mankind, his military successes were clouded
by domestic calamity: his brother Cutha met an untimely death, and
he had a son of the same name taken off in battle; both young men of
great expectation, whose loss he frequently lamented as a severe blow
to his happiness. Finally, in his latter days, himself, banished from
his kingdom, presented a spectacle, pitiable even to his enemies. For
he had sounded, as it were, the trumpet of his own detestation on
all sides, and the Angles as well as the Britons conspiring against
him, his forces were destroyed at Wodensdike;[34] he lost his kingdom
thirty-one years after he had gained it; went into exile, and shortly
after died. The floating reins of government were then directed by his
nephews, the sons of Cutha, that is to say, Celric during six, Ceolwulf
during fourteen years: of these the inferior with respect to age, but
the more excellent in spirit, passed all his days in war, nor ever
neglected, for a moment, the protection and extension of his empire.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 577-626.] CYNEGILS AND CUICHELM.]
After him, the sons of Celric, Cynegils and Cuichelm, jointly put
on the ensigns of royalty; both active, both contending with each
other only in mutual offices of kindness; insomuch, that to their
contemporaries they were a miracle of concord very unusual amongst
princes, and to posterity a proper example. It is difficult to say
whether their courage or their moderation exceeded in the numberless
contests in which they engaged either against the Britons, or against
Penda, king of the Mercians: a man, as will be related in its place,
wonderfully expert in the subtleties of war; and who, overpassing the
limits of his own territory, in an attempt to add Cirencester to his
possessions, being unable to withstand the power of these united kings,
escaped with only a few followers. A considerable degree of guilt
indeed attaches to Cuichelm, for attempting to take off, by the hands
of an assassin, Edwin king of the Northumbrians, a man of acknowledged
prudence. Yet, if the heathen maxim,
Who asks if fraud or force availed the foe?[35]
be considered, he will be readily excused, as having done nothing
uncommon, in wishing to get rid, by whatever means, of a rival
encroaching on his power. For he had formerly lopped off much from the
West Saxon empire, and now receiving fresh ground of offence, and his
ancient enmity reviving, he inflicted heavy calamities on that people.
The kings, however, escaped, and were, not long after, enlightened with
the heavenly doctrine, by the means of St. Birinus the bishop, in the
twenty-fifth year of their reign, and the fortieth after the coming of
the blessed Augustine, the apostle of the Angles. Cynegils, veiling his
princely pride, condescended to receive immediately the holy rite of
baptism: Cuichelm resisted for a time, but warned, by the sickness of
his body, not to endanger the salvation of his soul, he became a sharer
in his brother’s piety, and died the same year. Cynegils departed six
years afterwards, in the thirty-first year of his reign, enjoying the
happiness of a long-extended peace.
Kenwalk his son succeeded: in the beginning of his reign, to be
compared only to the worst of princes; but, in the succeeding and
latter periods, a rival of the best. The moment the young man became
possessed of power, wantoning in regal luxury and disregarding the
acts of his father, he abjured Christianity and legitimate marriage;
but being attacked and defeated by Penda, king of Mercia, whose sister
he had repudiated, he fled to the king of the East Angles. Here, by a
sense of his own calamities and by the perseverance of his host, he was
once more brought back to the Christian faith; and after three years,
recovering his strength and resuming his kingdom, he exhibited to his
subjects the joyful miracle of his reformation. So valiant was he,
that, he who formerly was unable to defend his own territories, now
extended his dominion on every side; totally defeating in two actions
the Britons, furious with the recollection of their ancient liberty,
and in consequence perpetually meditating resistance; first, at a place
called Witgeornesburg,[36] and then at a mountain named Pene;[37] and
again, avenging the injury of his father on Wulfhere, the son of Penda,
he deprived him of the greatest part of his kingdom: moreover he was
so religious, that, first of all his race, he built, for those times,
a most beautiful church at Winchester, on which site afterwards was
founded the episcopal see with still more skilful magnificence.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 658.] ACCOUNT OF GLASTONBURY.]
But since we have arrived at the times of Kenwalk, and the proper
place occurs for mentioning the monastery of Glastonbury,[38] I shall
trace from its very origin the rise and progress of that church as
far as I am able to discover it from the mass of evidences. It is
related in annals of good credit that Lucius, king of the Britons,
sent to Pope Eleutherius, thirteenth in succession from St. Peter, to
entreat, that he would dispel the darkness of Britain by the splendour
of Christian instruction. This surely was the commendable deed of a
magnanimous prince, eagerly to seek that faith, the mention of which
had barely reached him, at a time when it was an object of persecution
to almost every king and people to whom it was offered. In consequence,
preachers, sent by Eleutherius, came into Britain, the effects of whose
labours will remain for ever, although the rust of antiquity may have
obliterated their names. By these was built the ancient church of St.
Mary of Glastonbury, as faithful tradition has handed down through
decaying time. Moreover there are documents of no small credit, which
have been discovered in certain places to the following effect: “No
other hands than those of the disciples of Christ erected the church
of Glastonbury.” Nor is it dissonant from probability: for if Philip,
the Apostle, preached to the Gauls, as Freculphus relates in the fourth
chapter of his second book, it may be believed that he also planted
the word on this side of the channel also. But that I may not seem to
balk the expectation of my readers by vain imaginations, leaving all
doubtful matter, I shall proceed to the relation of substantial truths.
The church of which we are speaking, from its antiquity called by the
Angles, by way of distinction, “Ealde Chirche,” that is, the “Old
Church,” of wattle-work, at first, savoured somewhat of heavenly
sanctity even from its very foundation, and exhaled it over the whole
country; claiming superior reverence, though the structure was mean.
Hence, here arrived whole tribes of the lower orders, thronging every
path; here assembled the opulent divested of their pomp; and it became
the crowded residence of the religious and the literary. For, as we
have heard from men of old time, here Gildas, an historian neither
unlearned nor inelegant, to whom the Britons are indebted for whatever
notice they obtain among other nations, captivated by the sanctity of
the place, took up his abode for a series of years.[39] This church,
then, is certainly the oldest I am acquainted with in England, and from
this circumstance derives its name. In it are preserved the mortal
remains of many saints, some of whom we shall notice in our progress,
nor is any corner of the church destitute of the ashes of the holy. The
very floor, inlaid with polished stone, and the sides of the altar, and
even the altar itself above and beneath are laden with the multitude of
relics. Moreover in the pavement may be remarked on every side stones
designedly interlaid in triangles and squares, and figured with lead,
under which if I believe some sacred enigma to be contained, I do no
injustice to religion. The antiquity, and multitude of its saints, have
endued the place with so much sanctity, that, at night, scarcely any
one presumes to keep vigil there, or, during the day, to spit upon its
floor: he who is conscious of pollution shudders throughout his whole
frame: no one ever brought hawk or horses within the confines of the
neighbouring cemetery, who did not depart injured either in them or in
himself. Within the memory of man, all persons who, before undergoing
the ordeal[40] of fire or water, there put up their petitions, exulted
in their escape, one only excepted: if any person erected a building in
its vicinity, which by its shade obstructed the light of the church,
it forthwith became a ruin. And it is sufficiently evident, that, the
men of that province had no oath more frequent, or more sacred, than
to swear by the Old Church, fearing the swiftest vengeance on their
perjury in this respect. The truth of what I have asserted, if it
be dubious, will be supported by testimony in the book which I have
written, on the antiquity of the said church, according to the series
of years.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 676.] PYRAMIDS NEAR GLASTONBURY.]
In the meantime it is clear, that the depository of so many saints
may be deservedly styled an heavenly sanctuary upon earth. There are
numbers of documents, though I abstain from mentioning them for fear
of causing weariness, to prove how extremely venerable this place was
held by the chief persons of the country, who there more especially
chose to await the day of resurrection under the protection of the
mother of God. Willingly would I declare the meaning of those pyramids,
which are almost incomprehensible to all, could I but ascertain the
truth. These, situated some few feet from the church, border on the
cemetery of the monks. That which is the loftiest and nearest the
church, is twenty-eight feet high and has five stories: this, though
threatening ruin from its extreme age, possesses nevertheless some
traces of antiquity, which may be clearly read though not perfectly
understood. In the highest story is an image in a pontifical habit.
In the next a statue of regal dignity, and the letters, Her Sexi,
and Blisperh. In the third, too, are the names, Pencrest, Bantomp,
Pinepegn. In the fourth, Bate, Pulfred, and Eanfled. In the fifth,
which is the lowest, there is an image, and the words as follow, Logor,
Peslicas, and Bregden, Spelpes, Highingendes Bearn. The other pyramid
is twenty-six feet high and has four stories, in which are read,
Kentwin, Hedda the bishop, and Bregored and Beorward. The meaning of
these I do not hastily decide, but I shrewdly conjecture that within,
in stone coffins, are contained the bones of those persons whose names
are inscribed without.[41] At least Logor is said to imply the person
from whom Logperesbeorh formerly took its name, which is now called
Montacute; Bregden, from whom is derived Brentknolle and Brentmarsh;
Bregored and Beorward were abbats of that place in the time of the
Britons; of whom, and of others which occur, I shall henceforward speak
more circumstantially. For my history will now proceed to disclose
the succession of abbats, and what was bestowed on each, or on the
monastery, and by what particular king.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 425-474.] DEATH OF ST. PATRICK.]
And first, I shall briefly mention St. Patrick, from whom the series
of our records dawns. While the Saxons were disturbing the peace of
the Britons, and the Pelagians assaulting their faith, St. Germanus
of Auxerre assisted them against both; routing the one by the chorus
of Hallelujah,[42] and hurling down the other by the thunder of the
Evangelists and Apostles. Thence returning to his own country, he
summoned Patrick to become his inmate, and after a few years, sent him,
at the instance of Pope Celestine, to preach to the Irish. Whence it
is written in the Chronicles, “In the year of our Lord’s incarnation
425, St. Patrick is ordained to Ireland by Pope Celestine.” Also,
“In the year 433 Ireland is converted to the faith of Christ by the
preaching of St. Patrick, accompanied by many miracles.” In consequence
executing his appointed office with diligence, and in his latter
days returning to his own country, he landed in Cornwall, from his
altar,[43] which even to this time is held in high veneration by the
inhabitants for its sanctity and efficacy in restoring the infirm.
Proceeding to Glastonbury, and there becoming monk, and abbat, after
some years he paid the debt of nature. All doubt of the truth of this
assertion is removed by the vision of a certain brother, who, after
the saint’s death, when it had frequently become a question, through
decay of evidence, whether he really was monk and abbat there, had
the fact confirmed by the following oracle. When asleep he seemed to
hear some person reading, after many of his miracles, the words which
follow--“this man then was adorned by the sanctity of the metropolitan
pall, but afterwards was here made monk and abbat.” He added, moreover,
as the brother did not give implicit credit to him, that he could show
what he had said inscribed in golden letters. Patrick died in the year
of his age 111, of our Lord’s incarnation 472, being the forty-seventh
year after he was sent into Ireland. He lies on the right side of the
altar in the old church: indeed the care of posterity has enshrined his
body in silver. Hence the Irish have an ancient usage of frequenting
the place to kiss the relics of their patron. Wherefore the report
is extremely prevalent that both St. Indract and St. Briget, no mean
inhabitants of Ireland, formerly came over to this spot. Whether
Briget returned home or died at Glastonbury is not sufficiently
ascertained, though she left here some of her ornaments; that is to
say, her necklace, scrip, and implements for embroidering, which are
yet shown in memory of her sanctity, and are efficacious in curing
divers diseases. In the course of my narrative it will appear that St.
Indract, with seven companions, was martyred near Glastonbury, and
afterwards interred in the old church.[44]
Benignus succeeded Patrick in the government of the abbey; but for how
long, remains in doubt. Who he was, and how called in the vernacular
tongue, the verses of his epitaph at Ferramere express, not inaptly:
Beneath this marble Beon’s ashes lie,
Once rev’rend abbat of this monastery:
Saint Patrick’s servant, as the Irish frame
The legend-tale, and Beon was his name.
The wonderful works both of his former life, and since his recent
translation into the greater church, proclaim the singular grace of
God which he anciently possessed, and which he still retains.
The esteem in which David, archbishop of Menevia, held this place, is
too notorious to require repeating. He established the antiquity and
sanctity of the church by a divine oracle; for purposing to dedicate
it, he came to the spot with his seven suffragan bishops, and every
thing being prepared for the due celebration of the solemnity, on the
night, as he purposed, preceding it, he gave way to profound repose.
When all his senses were steeped in rest, he beheld the Lord Jesus
standing near, and mildly inquiring the cause of his arrival; and on
his immediately disclosing it, the Lord diverted him from his purpose
by saying, “That the church had been already dedicated by himself in
honour of his Mother, and that the ceremony was not to be profaned
by human repetition.” With these words he seemed to bore the palm of
his hand with his finger, adding, “That this was a sign for him not
to reiterate what himself had done before. But that, since his design
savoured more of piety than of temerity, his punishment should not be
prolonged: and lastly, that on the following morning, when he should
repeat the words of the mass, ‘With him, and by him, and in him,’
his health should return to him undiminished.” The prelate, awakened
by these terrific appearances, as at the moment he grew pale at the
purulent matter, so afterwards he hailed the truth of the prediction.
But that he might not appear to have done nothing, he quickly built
and dedicated another church. Of this celebrated and incomparable man,
I am at a loss to decide, whether he closed his life in this place,
or at his own cathedral. For they affirm that he is with St. Patrick;
and the Welsh, both by the frequency of their prayers to him and by
various reports, without doubt confirm and establish this opinion;
openly alleging that bishop Bernard sought after him more than once,
notwithstanding much opposition, but was not able to find him. But let
thus much suffice of St. David.
After a long lapse of time, St. Augustine, at the instance of St.
Gregory, came into Britain in the year of our Lord’s incarnation 596,
and the tradition of our ancestors has handed down, that the companion
of his labours, Paulinus, who was bishop of Rochester after being
archbishop of York, covered the church, built, as we have before
observed, of wattle-work, with a casing of boards. The dexterity of
this celebrated man so artfully managed, that nothing of its sanctity
should be lost, though much should accrue to its beauty: and certainly
the more magnificent the ornaments of churches are, the more they
incline the brute mind to prayer, and bend the stubborn to supplication.
In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 601, that is, the fifth after
the arrival of St. Augustine, the king of Devonshire, on the petition
of abbat Worgrez, granted to the old church which is there situated
the land called Ineswitrin, containing five cassates.[45] “I, Maworn,
bishop, wrote this grant. I, Worgrez, abbat of the same place, signed
it.”
[Sidenote: [A.D. 596-692.] GRANTS TO GLASTONBURY.]
Who this king might be, the antiquity of the instrument prevents
our knowing. But that he was a Briton cannot be doubted, because he
called Glastonbury, Ineswitrin, in his vernacular tongue; and that,
in the British, it is so called, is well known. Moreover it is proper
to remark the extreme antiquity of a church, which, even then, was
called “the old church.” In addition to Worgrez, Lademund and Bregored,
whose very names imply British barbarism, were abbats of this place.
The periods of their presiding are uncertain, but their names and
dignities are indicated by a painting in the larger church, near the
altar. Blessed, therefore, are the inhabitants of this place, allured
to uprightness of life, by reverence for such a sanctuary. I cannot
suppose that any of these, when dead, can fail of heaven, when assisted
by the virtues and intercession of so many patrons. In the year of our
Lord’s incarnation 670, and the 29th of his reign, Kenwalk gave to
Berthwald, abbat of Glastonbury, Ferramere, two hides, at the request
of archbishop Theodore. The same Berthwald, against the will of the
king and of the bishop of the diocese, relinquishing Glastonbury, went
to govern the monastery of Reculver. In consequence, Berthwald equally
renowned for piety and high birth, being nephew to Ethelred, king of
the Mercians, and residing in the vicinity of Canterbury, on the demise
of archbishop Theodore, succeeded to his see. This may be sufficient
for me to have inserted on the antiquity of the church of Glastonbury.
Now I shall return in course to Kenwalk, who was of a character so
munificent that he never refused to give any part of his patrimony to
his relations; but with noble-minded generosity conferred nearly the
third of his kingdom on his nephew.[46] These qualities of the royal
mind, were stimulated by the admonitions of those holy bishops of his
province, Agilbert, of whom Bede relates many commendable things in
his history of the Angles, and his nephew Leutherius, who, after him,
was, for seven years, bishop of the West Saxons. This circumstance I
have thought proper to mention, because Bede has left no account of the
duration of his episcopacy, and to disguise a fact which I learn from
the Chronicles, would be against my conscience; besides, it affords
an opportunity for making mention of a distinguished man, who by a
mind, clear, and almost divinely inspired, advanced the monastery of
Malmesbury, where I carry on my earthly warfare, to the highest pitch.
This monastery was so slenderly endowed by Maildulph, a Scot, as they
say, by nation, a philosopher by erudition, and a monk by profession,
that its members could scarcely procure their daily subsistence; but
Leutherius, after long and due deliberation, gave it to Aldhelm,[47] a
monk of the same place, to be by him governed with the authority then
possessed by bishops. Of which matter, that my relation may obviate
every doubt, I shall subjoin his own words.
“I, Leutherius, by divine permission, bishop supreme of the Saxon see,
am requested by the abbats who, within the jurisdiction of our diocese,
preside over the conventual assemblies of monks with pastoral anxiety,
to give and to grant that portion of land called Maildulfesburgh, to
Aldhelm the priest, for the purpose of leading a life according to
strict rule; in which place, indeed, from his earliest infancy and
first initiation in the study of learning, he has been instructed
in the liberal arts, and passed his days, nurtured in the bosom of
the holy mother church; and on which account fraternal love appears
principally to have conceived this request. Wherefore assenting to the
petition of the aforesaid abbats, I willingly grant that place to him
and his successors, who shall sedulously follow the laws of the holy
institution. Done publicly near the river Bladon;[48] this eighth
before the kalends of September, in the year of our Lord’s incarnation
672.”
[Sidenote: [A.D. 670.] PIETY OF ALDHELM.]
But when the industry of the abbat was superadded to the kindness
of the bishop, then the affairs of the monastery began to flourish
exceedingly; then monks assembled on all sides; there was a general
concourse to Aldhelm; some admiring the sanctity of his life, others
the depth of his learning. For he was a man as unsophisticated in
religion as multifarious in knowledge; whose piety surpassed even his
reputation; and he had so fully imbibed the liberal arts, that he was
wonderful in each of them, and unrivalled in all. I greatly err, if
his works written on the subject of virginity,[49] than which, in my
opinion, nothing can be more pleasing or more splendid, are not proofs
of his immortal genius: although, such is the slothfulness of our
times, they may excite disgust in some persons, not duly considering
how modes of expression differ according to the customs of nations. The
Greeks, for instance, express themselves impliedly, the Romans clearly,
the Gauls gorgeously, the Angles turgidly. And truly, as it is pleasant
to dwell on the graces of our ancestors and to animate our minds by
their example, I would here, most willingly, unfold what painful
labours this holy man encountered for the privileges of our church,
and with what miracles he signalized his life, did not my avocations
lead me elsewhere; and his noble acts appear clearer even to the eye
of the purblind, than they can possibly be sketched by my pencil. The
innumerable miracles which now take place at his tomb, manifest to the
present race the sanctity of the life he passed. He has therefore his
proper praise; he has the fame acquired by his merits.[50] We proceed
with the history.
After thirty-one years, Kenwalk dying, bequeathed the administration of
the government to his wife Sexburga; nor did this woman want spirit for
discharging the duties of the station. She levied new forces, preserved
the old in their duty; ruled her subjects with moderation, and overawed
her enemies: in short, she conducted all things in such a manner, that
no difference was discernible except that of her sex. But, breathing
more than female spirit, she died, having scarcely reigned a year.
Escwin passed the next two years in the government; a near relation
to the royal family, being grand-nephew to Cynegils, by his brother
Cuthgist. At his death, either natural or violent, for I cannot exactly
find which, Kentwin, the son of Cynegils, filled the vacant throne
in legitimate succession. Both were men of noted experience in war;
as the one routed the Mercians, the other the Britons, with dreadful
slaughter: but they were to be pitied for the shortness of their
career; the reign of the latter not extending beyond nine, that of the
former, more than two years, as I have already related. This is on the
credit of the Chronicles. However, Bede records that they did not reign
successively, but divided the kingdom between them.
Next sprang forth a noble branch of the royal stock, Cædwalla,
grand-nephew of Ceawlin, by his brother Cutha: a youth of unbounded
promise, who allowed no opportunity of exercising his valour to escape
him. He, having long since, by his active exertions, excited the
animosity of the princes of his country, was, by a conspiracy, driven
into exile. Yielding to this outrage, as the means of depriving the
province of its warlike force, he led away all the military population
with him; for, whether out of pity to his broken fortunes, or regard
for his valour, the whole of the youth accompanied him into exile.
Ethelwalch, king of the South Saxons, hazarding an engagement with him,
felt the first effects of his fury: for he was routed with all the
forces he had collected, and too late repented his rash design.[51] The
spirits of his followers being thus elated, Cædwalla, by a sudden and
unexpected return, drove the rivals of his power from the kingdom.
Enjoying his government for the space of two years, he performed many
signal exploits. His hatred and hostility towards the South Saxons
were inextinguishable, and he totally destroyed Edric, the successor
of Ethelwalch, who opposed him with renovated boldness: he nearly
depopulated the Isle of Wight, which had rebelled in confederacy with
the Mercians: he also gained repeated victories over the people of
Kent, as I have mentioned before in their history. Finally, as is
observed above, he retired from that province, on the death of his
brother, compensating his loss by the blood of many of its inhabitants.
It is difficult to relate, how extremely pious he was even before
his baptism, insomuch that he dedicated to God the tenth of all the
spoils which he had acquired in war. In which, though we approve the
intention, we condemn the example; according to the saying: “He who
offers sacrifice from the substance of a poor man, is like him who
immolates the son in the sight of the father.” That he went to Rome to
be baptized by Pope Sergius, and was called Peter; and that he yielded
joyfully to the will of heaven, while yet in his initiatory robes, are
matters too well known to require our illustration.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 686-694.] INA.]
After his departure to Rome, the government was assumed by Ina,
grand-nephew of Cynegils by his brother Cuthbald, who ascended
the throne, more from the innate activity of his spirit, than any
legitimate right of succession. He was a rare example of fortitude; a
mirror of prudence; unequalled in piety. Thus regulating his life, he
gained favour at home and respect abroad. Safe from any apprehensions
of treachery, he grew old in the discharge of his duties for
fifty-eight years, the pious conciliator of general esteem. His first
expedition was against the people of Kent, as the indignation at their
burning Moll had not yet subsided. The inhabitants resisted awhile:
but soon finding all their attempts and endeavours fail, and seeing
nothing in the disposition of Ina which could lead them to suppose he
would remit his exertions, they were induced, by the contemplation of
their losses, to treat of a surrender. They tempt the royal mind with
presents, lure him with promises, and bargain for a peace for thirty
thousand marks of gold, that, softened by so high a price, he should
put an end to the war, and, bound in golden chains, sound a retreat.
Accepting the money, as a sufficient atonement for their offence, he
returned into his kingdom. And not only the people of Kent, but the
East Angles[52] also felt the effects of his hereditary anger; all
their nobility being first expelled, and afterwards routed in battle.
But let the relation of his military successes here find a termination.
Moreover how sedulous he was in religious matters, the laws he enacted
to reform the manners of the people, are proof sufficient;[53] in which
the image of his purity is reflected even upon the present times.
Another proof are the monasteries nobly founded at the king’s expense.
But[54] more especially Glastonbury, whither he ordered the bodies of
the blessed martyr, Indract, and of his associates, to be taken from
the place of their martyrdom and to be conveyed into the church. The
body of St. Indract he deposited in the stone pyramid on the left
side of the altar, where the zeal of posterity afterwards also placed
St. Hilda: the others were distributed beneath the pavement as chance
directed or regard might suggest. Here, too, he erected a church,
dedicated to the holy apostles, as an appendage to the ancient church,
of which we are speaking, enriched it with vast possessions, and
granted it a privilege to the following effect:
[Sidenote: [A.D. 725.] INA’S GRANTS.]
“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: I, Ina, supported in my
royal dignity by God, with the advice of my queen, Sexburga, and
the permission of Berthwald, archbishop of Canterbury, and of all
his suffragans; and also at the instance of the princes Baltred
and Athelard, to the ancient church, situate in the place called
Glastonbury (which church the great high-priest and chiefest minister
formerly through his own ministry, and that of angels, sanctified by
many and unheard-of miracles to himself and the eternal Virgin Mary,
as was formerly revealed to St. David,) do grant out of those places,
which I possess by paternal inheritance, and hold in my demesne, they
being adjacent and fitting for the purpose, for the maintenance of the
monastic institution, and the use of the monks, Brente ten hides, Sowy
ten hides, Pilton twenty hides, Dulting twenty hides, Bledenhida one
hide, together with whatever my predecessors have contributed to the
same church:[55] to wit, Kenwalk, who, at the instance of archbishop
Theodore, gave Ferramere, Bregarai, Coneneie, Martineseie, Etheredseie;
Kentwin, who used to call Glastonbury, “the mother of saints,” and
liberated it from every secular and ecclesiastical service, and granted
it this dignified privilege, that the brethren of that place should
have the power of electing and appointing their ruler according to the
rule of St. Benedict: Hedda the bishop, with permission of Cædwalla,
who, though a heathen, confirmed it with his own hand, gave Lantokay:
Baltred, who gave Pennard, six hides: Athelard who contributed Poelt,
sixty hides; I, Ina, permitting and confirming it. To the piety and
affectionate entreaty of these people I assent, and I guard by the
security of my royal grant against the designs of malignant men and
snarling curs, in order that the church of our Lord Jesus Christ and
the eternal Virgin Mary, as it is the first in the kingdom of Britain
and the source and the fountain of all religion, may obtain surpassing
dignity and privilege, and, as she rules over choirs of angels in
heaven, it may never pay servile obedience to men on earth. Wherefore
the chief pontiff, Gregory, assenting, and taking the mother of his
Lord, and me, however unworthy, together with her, into the bosom and
protection of the holy Roman church; and all the princes, archbishops,
bishops, dukes, and abbats of Britain consenting, I appoint and
establish, that, all lands, places, and possessions of St. Mary of
Glastonbury be free, quiet, and undisturbed, from all royal taxes and
works, which are wont to be appointed, that is to say, expeditions, the
building of bridges or forts, and from the edicts or molestations of
all archbishops or bishops, as is found to be confirmed and granted by
my predecessors, Kenwalk, Kentwin, Cædwalla, Baltred, in the ancient
charters of the same church. And whatsoever questions shall arise,
whether of homicide, sacrilege, poison, theft, rapine, the disposal
and limits of churches, the ordination of clerks, ecclesiastical
synods, and all judicial inquiries, they shall be determined by the
decision of the abbat and convent, without the interference of any
person whatsoever. Moreover, I command all princes, archbishops,
bishops, dukes, and governors of my kingdom, as they tender my honour
and regard, and all dependants, mine as well as theirs, as they value
their personal safety, never to dare enter the island of our Lord Jesus
Christ and of the eternal Virgin, at Glastonbury, nor the possessions
of the said church, for the purpose of holding courts, making inquiry,
or seizing, or doing anything whatever to the offence of the servants
of God there residing: moreover I particularly inhibit, by the curse
of Almighty God, of the eternal Virgin Mary, and of the holy apostles
Peter and Paul, and of the rest of the saints, any bishop on any
account whatever from presuming to take his episcopal seat or celebrate
divine service or consecrate altars, or dedicate churches, or ordain,
or do any thing whatever, either in the church of Glastonbury itself,
or its dependent churches, that is to say--Sowy, Brente, Merlinch,
Sapewic, Stret, Sbudeclalech, Pilton, or in their chapels, or islands,
unless he be specially invited by the abbat or brethren of that place.
But if he come upon such invitation, he shall take nothing to himself
of the things of the church, nor of the offerings; knowing that he has
two mansions appointed him in two several places out of this church’s
possessions, one in Pilton, the other in the village called Poelt,
that, when coming or going, he may have a place of entertainment.
Nor even shall it be lawful for him to pass the night here unless
he shall be detained by stress of weather or bodily sickness, or
invited by the abbat or monks, and then with not more than three or
four clerks. Moreover let the aforesaid bishop be mindful every year,
with his clerks that are at Wells, to acknowledge his mother church
of Glastonbury with litanies on the second day after our Lord’s
ascension; and should he haughtily defer it, or fail in the things
which are above recited and confirmed, he shall forfeit his mansions
above-mentioned. The abbat or monks shall direct whom they please,
celebrating Easter canonically, to perform service in the church of
Glastonbury, its dependent churches, and in their chapels. Whosoever,
be he of what dignity, profession, or degree, he may, shall hereafter,
on any occasion whatsoever, attempt to pervert, or nullify this, the
witness of my munificence and liberality, let him be aware that, with
the traitor Judas, he shall perish, to his eternal confusion, in the
devouring flames of unspeakable torments. The charter of this donation
was written in the year of our Lord’s incarnation 725, the fourteenth
of the indiction, in the presence of the king Ina, and of Berthwald,
archbishop of Canterbury.”
[Sidenote: [A.D. 709.] ENDOWMENT OF GLASTONBURY.]
What splendour he [Ina] added to the monastery, may be collected from
the short treatise which I have written about its antiquities.[56]
Father Aldhelm assisted the design, and his precepts were heard with
humility, nobly adopted, and joyfully carried into effect. Lastly,
the king readily confirmed the privilege which Aldhelm had obtained
from pope Sergius, for the immunity of his monasteries; gave much to
the servants of God by his advice, and finally honoured him, though
constantly refusing, with a bishopric; but an early death malignantly
cut off this great man from the world. For scarcely had he discharged
the offices of his bishopric four years, ere he made his soul an
offering to heaven, in the year of our Lord’s incarnation 709, on the
vigil of St. Augustine the apostle of the Angles, namely the eighth
before the Kalends of June.[57] Some say, that he was the nephew of
the king, by his brother Kenten; but I do not choose to assert for
truth any thing which savours more of vague opinion, than of historic
credibility; especially as I can find no ancient record of it, and the
Chronicle clearly declares, that Ina had no other brother than Ingild,
who died some few years before him. Aldhelm needs no support from
fiction: such great things are there concerning him of indisputable
truth, so many which are beyond the reach of doubt. The sisters,
indeed, of Ina were Cuthburga and Cwenburga. Cuthburga was given
in marriage to Alfrid, king of the Northumbrians, but the contract
being soon after dissolved, she led a life dedicated to God, first at
Barking,[58] under the abbess Hildelitha, and afterwards as superior of
the convent at Wimborne; now a mean village, but formerly celebrated
for containing a full company of virgins, dead to earthly desires, and
breathing only aspirations towards heaven. She embraced the profession
of holy celibacy from the perusal of Aldhelm’s books on virginity,
dedicated indeed to the sisterhood of Barking, but profitable to all,
who aspire to that state. Ina’s queen was Ethelburga, a woman of royal
race and disposition: who perpetually urging the necessity of bidding
adieu to earthly things, at least in the close of life, and the king as
constantly deferring the execution of her advice, at last endeavoured
to overcome him by stratagem. For, on a certain occasion, when they had
been revelling at a country seat with more than usual riot and luxury,
the next day, after their departure, an attendant, with the privity
of the queen, defiled the palace in every possible manner, both with
the excrement of cattle and heaps of filth; and lastly he put a sow,
which had recently farrowed, in the very bed where they had lain. They
had hardly proceeded a mile, ere she attacked her husband with the
fondest conjugal endearments, entreating that they might immediately
return thither, whence they had departed, saying, that his denial would
be attended with dangerous consequences. Her petition being readily
granted, the king was astonished at seeing a place, which yesterday
might have vied with Assyrian luxury, now filthily disgusting and
desolate: and silently pondering on the sight, his eyes at length
turned upon the queen. Seizing the opportunity, and pleasantly smiling,
she said, “My noble spouse, where are the revellings of yesterday?
Where the tapestries dipped in Sidonian dyes? Where the ceaseless
impertinence of parasites? Where the sculptured vessels, overwhelming
the very tables with their weight of gold? Where are the delicacies so
anxiously sought throughout sea and land, to pamper the appetite? Are
not all these things smoke and vapour? Have they not all passed away?
Woe be to those who attach themselves to such, for they in like manner
shall consume away. Are not all these like a rapid river hastening to
the sea? And woe to those who are attached to them, for they shall be
carried away by the current. Reflect, I entreat you, how wretchedly
will these bodies decay, which we pamper with such unbounded luxury.
Must not we, who gorge so constantly, become more disgustingly putrid?
The mighty must undergo mightier torments, and a severer trial awaits
the strong.” Without saying more, by this striking example, she gained
over her husband to those sentiments, which she had in vain attempted
for years by persuasion.[59]
For after his triumphal spoils in war; after many successive degrees in
virtue, he aspired to the highest perfection, and went to Rome. There,
not to make the glory of his conversion public, but that he might be
acceptable in the sight of God alone, he was shorn in secret; and, clad
in homely garb, grew old in privacy. Nor did his queen, the author
of this noble deed, desert him; but as she had before incited him to
undertake it, so, afterwards, she made it her constant care to soothe
his sorrows by her conversation, to stimulate him, when wavering, by
her example; in short, to omit nothing that could be conducive to his
salvation. Thus united in mutual affection, in due time they trod the
common path of all mankind. This was attended, as we have heard, with
singular miracles, such as God often deigns to bestow on the virtues of
happy couples.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 725-741.] ETHELARD--CUTHRED.]
To the government succeeded Ethelard, the cousin of Ina; though Oswald,
a youth of royal extraction, often obscured his opening prospects.
Exciting his countrymen to rebellion, he attempted to make war on the
king, but soon after perishing by some unhappy doom, Ethelard kept
quiet possession of the kingdom for fourteen years, and then left it to
his kinsman, Cuthred, who for an equal space of time, and with similar
courage, was ever actively employed:--
“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I, Cuthred, king of the West
Saxons, do hereby declare that all the gifts of former kings--Kentwin,
Baldred, Kedwall, Ina, Ethelard, and Ethelbald king of the Mercians,
in country houses, and in villages and lands, and farms, and mansions,
according to the confirmations made to the ancient city of Glastonbury,
and confirmed by autograph and by the sign of the cross, I do, as was
before said, hereby decree that this grant of former kings shall remain
firm and inviolate, as long as the revolution of the pole shall carry
the lands and seas with regular movement round the starry heavens.
But if any one, confiding in tyrannical pride shall endeavour on any
occasion to disturb and nullify this my testamentary grant, may he be
separated by the fan of the last judgment from the congregation of the
righteous, and joined to the assembly of the wicked for ever, paying
the penalty of his violence. But whoever with benevolent intention
shall strive to approve, confirm, and defend this my grant, may he be
allowed to enjoy unfailing immortality before the glory of Him that
sitteth on the throne, together with the happy companies of angels and
of all the saints. A copy of this grant was set forth in presence of
king Cuthred, in the aforesaid monastery, and dedicated to the holy
altar by the munificence of his own hand, in the wooden church, where
the brethren placed the coffin of abbat Hemgils, the 30th of April, in
the year of our Lord 745.”
The same Cuthred, after much toil, made a successful campaign against
Ethelbald, king of Mercia, and the Britons, and gave up the sovereignty
after he had held it fourteen years.
Sigebert then seized on the kingdom; a man of inhuman cruelty among
his own subjects, and noted for cowardice abroad; but the common
detestation of all conspiring against him, he was within a year driven
from the throne, and gave place to one more worthy. Yet, as commonly
happens in similar cases, the severity of his misfortunes brought back
some persons to his cause, and the province which is called Hampshire,
was, by their exertions, retained in subjection to him. Still, however,
unable to quit his former habits, and exciting the enmity of all
against him by the murder of one Cumbran, who had adhered to him with
unshaken fidelity, he fled to the recesses of wild beasts. Misfortune
still attending him thither also, he was stabbed by a swineherd. Thus
the cruelty of a king, which had almost desolated the higher ranks, was
put an end to by a man of the lowest condition.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 776-784.] DEATH OF CYNEWOLF.]
Cynewolf next undertook the guidance of the state; illustrious for
the regulation of his conduct and his deeds in arms: but suffering
extremely from the loss of a single battle, in the twenty-fourth year
of his reign, against Offa, king of the Mercians, near Bensington,
he was also finally doomed to a disgraceful death. For after he had
reigned thirty-one years,[60] neither indolently nor oppressively,
either elated with success, because he imagined nothing could oppose
him, or alarmed for his posterity, from the increasing power of
Kineard, the brother of Sigebert, he compelled him to quit the kingdom.
Kineard, deeming it necessary to yield to the emergency of the times,
departed as if voluntarily; but soon after, when by secret meetings
he had assembled a desperate band of wretches, watching when the king
might be alone, for he had gone into the country for the sake of
recreation, he followed him thither with his party. And learning that
he was there giving loose to improper desires, he beset the house on
all sides. The king struck with his perilous situation, and holding a
conference with the persons present, shut fast the doors, expecting
either to appease the desperadoes by fair language, or to terrify them
by threats. When neither succeeded, he rushed furiously on Kineard, and
had nearly killed him; but, surrounded by the multitude, and thinking
it derogatory to his courage to give way, he fell, selling his life
nobly. Some few of his attendants, who, instead of yielding, attempted
to take vengeance for the loss of their lord, were slain. The report
of this dreadful outrage soon reached the ears of the nobles, who were
waiting near at hand. Of these Esric, the chief in age and prudence,
conjuring the rest not to leave unrevenged the death of their sovereign
to their own signal and eternal ignominy, rushed with drawn sword upon
the conspirators. At first Kineard attempted to argue his case; to
make tempting offers; to hold forth their relationship; but when this
availed nothing, he stimulated his party to resistance. Doubtful was
the conflict, where one side contended with all its powers for life,
the other for glory. And victory, wavering for a long time, at last
decided for the juster cause. Thus, fruitlessly valiant, this unhappy
man lost his life, unable long to boast the success of his treachery.
The king’s body was buried at Winchester, and the prince’s at Repton;
at that time a noble monastery, but at present, as I have heard, with
few, or scarcely any inmates.
After him, for sixteen years, reigned Bertric: more studious of
peace than of war. Skilful in conciliating friendship, affable with
foreigners, and giving great allowances to his subjects, in those
matters at least which could not impair the strength of the government.
To acquire still greater estimation with his neighbours, he married
the daughter of Offa, king of Mercia, at that time all-powerful; by
whom, as far as I am acquainted, he had no issue. Supported by this
alliance he compelled Egbert, the sole survivor of the royal stock,
and whom he feared as the most effectual obstacle to his power, to
fly into France. In fact Bertric himself, and the other kings, after
Ina, though glorying in the splendour of their parentage, as deriving
their origin from Cerdic, had considerably deviated from the direct
line of the royal race. On Egbert’s expulsion, then, he had already
begun to indulge in indolent security, when a piratical tribe of the
Danes, accustomed to live by plunder, clandestinely arriving in three
ships, disturbed the tranquillity of the kingdom. This band came over
expressly to ascertain the fruitfulness of the soil, and the courage
of the inhabitants, as was afterwards discovered by the arrival of
that multitude, which over-ran almost the whole of Britain. Landing
then, unexpectedly, when the kingdom was in a state of profound peace,
they seized upon a royal village, which was nearest them, and killed
the superintendent, who had advanced with succours; but losing their
booty, through fear of the people, who hastened to attack them, they
retired to their ships. After Bertric, who was buried at Warham, Egbert
ascended the throne of his ancestors; justly to be preferred to all the
kings who preceded him. Thus having brought down our narrative to his
times, we must, as we have promised, next give our attention to the
Northumbrians.
CHAP. III.
_Of the kings of the Northumbrians._ [A.D. 450.]
We have before related briefly, and now necessarily repeat, that
Hengist, having settled his own government in Kent, had sent his
brother Otha, and his son Ebusa, men of activity and tried experience,
to seize on the northern parts of Britain. Sedulous in executing the
command, affairs succeeded to their wishes. For frequently coming
into action with the inhabitants, and dispersing those who attempted
resistance, they conciliated with uninterrupted quiet such as
submitted. Thus, though through their own address and the good will of
their followers, they had established a certain degree of power, yet
never entertaining an idea of assuming the royal title, they left an
example of similar moderation to their immediate posterity. For during
the space of ninety-nine years, the Northumbrian leaders, contented
with subordinate power, lived in subjection to the kings of Kent.
Afterwards, however, this forbearance ceased; either because the human
mind is ever prone to degeneracy, or because that race of people was
naturally ambitious. In the year, therefore, of our Lord’s incarnation
547, the sixtieth after Hengist’s death, the principality was converted
into a kingdom. The most noble Ida, in the full vigour of life and of
strength, first reigned there. But whether he himself seized the chief
authority, or received it by the consent of others, I by no means
venture to determine, because the truth is unrevealed. However, it is
sufficiently evident, that, sprung from a great and ancient lineage,
he reflected much splendour on his illustrious descent, by his pure
and unsullied manners. Unconquerable abroad, at home he tempered his
kingly power with peculiar affability. Of this man, and of others, in
their respective places, I could lineally trace the descent, were it
not that the very names, of uncouth sound, would be less agreeable to
my readers than I wish. It may be proper though to remark, that Woden
had three sons; Weldeg, Withleg, and Beldeg; from the first, the kings
of Kent derived their origin; from the second, the kings of Mercia; and
from the third, the kings of the West-Saxons and Northumbrians, with
the exception of the two I am going to particularize. This Ida, then,
the ninth from Beldeg, and the tenth from Woden, as I find positively
declared, continued in the government fourteen years.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 450-560.] IDA--ALLA.]
His successor Alla, originating from the same stock, but descending
from Woden by a different branch, conducted the government, extended
by his exertions considerably beyond its former bounds, for thirty
years. In his time, youths from Northumbria were exposed for sale,
after the common and almost native custom of this people; so that,
even as our days have witnessed, they would make no scruple of
separating the nearest ties of relationship through the temptation
of the slightest advantage. Some of these youths then, carried from
England for sale to Rome, became the means of salvation to all their
countrymen. For exciting the attention of that city, by the beauty of
their countenances and the elegance of their features, it happened
that, among others, the blessed Gregory, at that time archdeacon of
the apostolical see, was present. Admiring such an assemblage of grace
in mortals, and, at the same time, pitying their abject condition, as
captives, he asked the standers-by, “of what race are these? Whence
come they?” They reply, “by birth they are Angles; by country are
Deiri; (Deira being a province of Northumbria,) subjects of King Alla,
and Pagans.” Their concluding characteristic he accompanied with
heartfelt sighs: to the others he elegantly alluded, saying, “that
these Angles, _angel_-like, should be delivered from (_de_) _ira_,
and taught to sing _Alle-luia_.” Obtaining permission without delay
from pope Benedict, the industry of this excellent man was all alive
to enter on the journey to convert them; and certainly his zeal would
have completed this intended labour, had not the mutinous love of his
fellow citizens recalled him, already on his progress. He was a man
as celebrated for his virtues, as beloved by his countrymen; for by
his matchless worth, he had even exceeded the expectations they had
formed of him from his youth. His good intention, though frustrated at
this time, received afterwards, during his pontificate, an honourable
termination, as the reader will find in its proper place. I have
made this insertion with pleasure, that my readers might not lose
this notice of Alla, mention of whom is slightly made in the life of
Pope Gregory, who, although he was the primary cause of introducing
Christianity among the Angles, yet, either by the counsel of God, or
some mischance, was never himself permitted to know it. The calling,
indeed, descended to his son.
On the death of Alla, Ethelric, the son of Ida, advanced to extreme old
age, after a life consumed in penury, obtained the kingdom, and after
five years, was taken off by a sudden death. He was a pitiable prince,
whom fame would have hidden in obscurity, had not the conspicuous
energy of the son lifted up the father to notice.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 588-603.] ETHELFRID.]
When, therefore, by a long old age, he had satisfied the desire of
life, Ethelfrid, the elder of his sons, ascended the throne, and
compensated the greenness of his years by the maturity of his conduct.
His transactions have been so displayed by graceful composition, that
they want no assistance of mine, except as order is concerned. Bede
has eagerly dwelt on the praises of this man and his successors; and
has dilated on the Northumbrians at greater length, because they were
his near neighbours: our history, therefore, will select and compile
from his relation. In order, however, that no one may blame me for
contracting so diffuse a narrative, I must tell him that I have done
it purposely, that they who have been satiated with such high-seasoned
delicacies, may respire a little on these humble remnants: for it
is a saying trite by use and venerable for its age, “that the meats
which cloy the least are eaten with keenest appetite.” Ethelfrid
then, as I was relating, having obtained the kingdom, began at first
vigorously to defend his own territories, afterwards eagerly to invade
his neighbours, and to seek occasion for signalizing himself on all
sides. Many wars were begun by him with foresight, and terminated with
success; as he was neither restrained from duty by indolence, nor
precipitated into rashness by courage. An evidence of these things is
Degstan,[61] a noted place in those parts, where Edan, king of the
Scots, envying Ethelfrid’s successes, had constrained him, though
averse, to give battle; but, being overcome, he took to flight, though
the triumph was not obtained without considerable hazard to the victor.
For Tedbald, the brother of Ethelfrid, opposing himself to the most
imminent dangers that he might display his zeal in his brother’s cause,
left a mournful victory indeed, being cut off with his whole party.
Another proof of his success is afforded by the city of Carlegion,
now commonly called Chester, which, till that period possessed by the
Britons, fostered the pride of a people hostile to the king. When he
bent his exertions to subdue this city, the townsmen preferring any
extremity to a siege, and at the same confiding in their numbers,
rushed out in multitudes to battle. But deceived by a stratagem, they
were overcome and put to flight; his fury being first vented on the
monks, who came out in numbers to pray for the safety of the army.
That their number was incredible to these times is apparent from so
many half-destroyed walls of churches in the neighbouring monastery,
so many winding porticoes, such masses of ruins as can scarcely be
seen elsewhere. The place is called Bangor; at that day a noted
monastery, but now changed into a cathedral.[62] Ethelfrid, thus, while
circumstances proceeded to his wishes abroad, being desirous of warding
off domestic apprehensions and intestine danger, banished Edwin, the
son of Alla, a youth of no mean worth, from his kingdom and country.
He, wandering for a long time without any settled habitation, found
many of his former friends more inclined to his enemy than to the
observance of their engagements; for as it is said,
“If joy be thine, ’tis then thy friends abound:
Misfortune comes, and thou alone art found.”[63]
At last he came to Redwald, king of the East Angles, and bewailing his
misfortunes, was received into his protection. Shortly after there
came messengers from Ethelfrid, either demanding the surrender of the
fugitive, or denouncing hostilities. Determined by the advice of his
wife not to violate, through intimidation, the laws of friendship,
Redwald collected a body of troops, rushed against Ethelfrid, and
attacked him suddenly, whilst suspecting nothing less than an assault.
The only remedy that courage, thus taken by surprise, could suggest,
there being no time to escape, he availed himself of. Wherefore, though
almost totally unprepared, though beset with fearful danger on every
side, he fell not till he had avenged his own death by the destruction
of Regnhere, the son of Redwald. Such an end had Ethelfrid, after a
reign of twenty-four years: a man second to none in martial experience,
but entirely ignorant of the holy faith. He had two sons by Acca, the
daughter of Alla, sister of Edwin, Oswald aged twelve, and Oswy four
years; who, upon the death of their father, fled through the management
of their governors, and escaped into Scotland.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 617-633.] EDWIN.]
In this manner, all his rivals being slain or banished, Edwin, trained
by many adversities, ascended, not meanly qualified, the summit of
power. When the haughtiness of the Northumbrians had bent to his
dominion, his felicity was crowned by the timely death of Redwald,
whose subjects, during Edwin’s exile among them, having formerly
experienced his ready courage and ardent disposition, now willingly
swore obedience to him. Granting to the son of Redwald the empty
title of king, himself managed all things as he thought fit. At this
juncture, the hopes and the resources of the Angles centred totally
in him; nor was there a single province of Britain which did not
regard his will, and prepare to obey it, except Kent: for he had left
the Kentish people free from his incursions, because he had long
meditated a marriage with Ethelburga, sister of their king. When she
was granted to him, after a courtship long protracted, to the intent
that he should not despise that woman when possessed whom he so
ardently desired when withheld, these two kingdoms became so united
by the ties of kindred, that, there was no rivalry in their powers,
no difference in their manners. Moreover, on this occasion, the faith
of Christ our Lord, infused into those parts by the preaching of
Paulinus, reached first the king himself, whom the queen, among other
proofs of conjugal affection, was perpetually instructing; nor was
the admonition of bishop Paulinus wanting in its place. For a long
time, he was wavering and doubtful; but once received, he imbibed it
altogether. Then he invited neighbouring kings to the faith; then he
erected churches, and neglected nothing for its propagation. In the
meanwhile, the merciful grace of God smiled on the devotion of the
king; insomuch, that not only the nations of Britain, that is to say,
the Angles, Scots, and Picts, but even the Orkney and Mevanian isles,
which we now call Anglesey, that is, islands of the Angles, both feared
his arms, and venerated his power. At that time, there was no public
robber; no domestic thief; the tempter of conjugal fidelity was far
distant; the plunderer of another man’s inheritance was in exile: a
state of things redounding to his praise, and worthy of celebration in
our times. In short, such was the increase of his power, that justice
and peace willingly met and kissed each other, imparting mutual acts
of kindness. And now indeed would the government of the Angles have
held a prosperous course, had not an untimely death, the stepmother of
all earthly felicity, by a lamentable turn of fortune, snatched this
man from his country. For in the forty-eighth year of his age, and the
seventeenth of his reign, being killed, together with his son, by the
princes whom he had formerly subjugated, Cadwalla of the Britons and
Penda of the Mercians, rising up against him, he became a melancholy
example of human vicissitude. He was inferior to none in prudence: for
he would not embrace even the Christian faith till he had examined it
most carefully; but when once adopted, he esteemed nothing worthy to be
compared to it.
[Sidenote: [A.D. 635.] OSWALD.]
Edwin thus slain, the sons of Ethelfrid, who were also the nephews of
Edwin, Oswald, and Oswy, now grown up, and in the budding prime of
youth, re-sought their country, together with Eanfrid, their elder
brother, whom I forgot before to mention. The kingdom, therefore, was
now divided into two. Indeed, Northumbria, long since separated into
two provinces, had elected Alla, king of the Deirans, and Ida, of the
Bernicians. Wherefore Osric, the cousin of Edwin, succeeding to Deira,
and Eanfrid, the son of Ethelfrid, to Bernicia, they exulted in the
recovery of their hereditary right. They had both been baptized in
Scotland, though they were scarcely settled in their authority, ere
they renounced their faith: but shortly after they suffered the just
penalty of their apostacy through the hostility of Cadwalla. The space
of a year, passed in these transactions, improved Oswald, a young man
of great hope, in the science of government. Armed rather by his faith,
for he had been admitted to baptism while in exile with many nobles
among the Scots, than by his military preparations, on the first onset
he drove Cadwalla,[64] a man elated with the recollection of his former
deeds, and, as he used himself to say, “born for the extermination of
the Angles,” from his camp, and afterwards destroyed him with all his
forces. For when he had collected the little army which he was able
to muster, he excited them to the conflict, in which, laying aside
all thought of flight, they must determine either to conquer or die,
by suggesting, “that it must be a circumstance highly disgraceful
for the Angles to meet the Britons on such unequal terms, as to fight
against those persons for safety, whom they had been used voluntarily
to attack for glory only; that therefore they should maintain their
liberty with dauntless courage, and the most strenuous exertions; but,
that of the impulse to flight no feeling whatever should be indulged.”
In consequence they met with such fury on both sides, that, it may be
truly said, no day was ever more disastrous for the Britons, or more
joyful for the Angles: so completely was one party routed with all
its forces, as never to have hope of recovering again; so exceedingly
powerful did the other become, through the effects of faith and the
accompanying courage of the king. From this time, the worship of idols
fell prostrate in the dust; and he governed the kingdom, extended
beyond Edwin’s boundaries, for eight years, peaceably and without
the loss of any of his people. Bede, in his History, sets forth the
praises of this king in a high style of panegyric, of which I shall
extract such portions as may be necessary, by way of conclusion. With
what fervent faith his breast was inspired, may easily be learned
from this circumstance. If at any time Aidan the priest addressed his
auditors on the subject of their duty, in the Scottish tongue, and
no interpreter was present, the king himself would directly, though
habited in the royal robe, glittering with gold, or glowing with
Tyrian purple, graciously assume that office, and explain the foreign
idiom in his native language. It is well known too, that frequently
at entertainments, when the guests had whetted their appetites
and bent their inclinations on the feast, he would forego his own
gratification;[65] procuring, by his abstinence, comfort for the poor.
So that I think the truth of that heavenly sentence was fulfilled even
on earth, where the celestial oracle hath said, “He that dispersed
abroad, he hath given to the poor, his righteousness remaineth for
ever.” And moreover, what the hearer must wonder at, and cannot deny,
that identical royal right hand, the dispenser of so many alms,
remains to this day perfect, with the arm, the skin and nerves, though
the remainder of the body, with the exception of the bones, mouldering
into dust, has not escaped the common lot of mortality. It is true the
corporeal remains of some of the saints are unconscious altogether of
decay. Wherefore let others determine by what standard they will fix
their judgment; I pronounce this still more gracious and divine on
account of its singular manifestation; because things ever so precious
degenerate by frequency, and whatever is more unusual, is celebrated
more generally. I should indeed be thought prolix were I to relate how
diligent he was to address his prayers on high, and to fill the heavens
with vows. This virtue of Oswald is too well known to require the
support of our narrative. For at what time would that man neglect his
supplications, who, in the insurrection excited by Penda king of the
Mercians, his guards being put to flight and himself actually carrying
a forest of darts in his breast, could not be prevented by the pain
of his wounds or the approach of death, from praying for the souls of
his faithful companions? In such manner this personage, of surpassing
celebrity in this world, and highly in favour with God, ending a
valuable life, transmitted his memory to posterity by a frequency of
miracles; and indeed most deservedly. For it is not common, but even
more rare than a white crow, for men to abound in riches, and not give
indulgence to their vices.[66]
[Sidenote: [A.D. 642.] OSWALD.]