BOOK II.

PROLOGUE.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 800.] PROLOGUE TO BOOK II.]

A long period has elapsed since, as well through the care of my

parents as my own industry, I became familiar with books. This

pleasure possessed me from my childhood: this source of delight has

grown with my years. Indeed I was so instructed by my father, that,

had I turned aside to other pursuits, I should have considered it as

jeopardy to my soul and discredit to my character. Wherefore mindful

of the adage “covet what is necessary,” I constrained my early age

to desire eagerly that which it was disgraceful not to possess. I

gave, indeed, my attention to various branches of literature, but in

different degrees. Logic, for instance, which gives arms to eloquence,

I contented myself with barely hearing. Medicine, which ministers to

the health of the body, I studied with somewhat more attention. But

now, having scrupulously examined the several branches of Ethics, I

bow down to its majesty, because it spontaneously unveils itself to

those who study it, and directs their minds to moral practice; History

more especially; which, by an agreeable recapitulation of past events,

excites its readers, by example, to frame their lives to the pursuit

of good, or to aversion from evil. When, therefore, at my own expense,

I had procured some historians of foreign nations, I proceeded, during

my domestic leisure, to inquire if any thing concerning our own country

could be found worthy of handing down to posterity. Hence it arose,

that, not content with the writings of ancient times, I began, myself,

to compose; not indeed to display my learning, which is comparatively

nothing, but to bring to light events lying concealed in the confused

mass of antiquity. In consequence rejecting vague opinions, I have

studiously sought for chronicles far and near, though I confess I have

scarcely profited any thing by this industry. For perusing them all, I

still remained poor in information; though I ceased not my researches

as long as I could find any thing to read. However, what I have clearly

ascertained concerning the four kingdoms, I have inserted in my first

book, in which I hope truth will find no cause to blush, though perhaps

a degree of doubt may sometimes arise. I shall now trace the monarchy

of the West Saxon kingdom, through the line of successive princes,

down to the coming of the Normans: which if any person will condescend

to regard with complacency, let him in brotherly love observe the

following rule: “If before, he knew only these things, let him not be

disgusted because I have inserted them; if he shall know more, let

him not be angry that I have not spoken of them;” but rather let him

communicate his knowledge to me, while I yet live, that at least, those

events may appear in the margin of my history, which do not occur in

the text.

CHAP. I.

_The history of king Egbert._ [A.D. 800-839.]

[Sidenote: [A.D. 800-828.] OF KING EGBERT.]

My former volume terminated where the four kingdoms of Britain were

consolidated into one. Egbert, the founder of this sovereignty,

grand-nephew of king Ina, by his brother Ingild, of high rank in his

own nation, and liberally educated, had been conspicuous among the

West Saxons from his childhood. His uninterrupted course of valour

begat envy, and as it is almost naturally ordained that kings should

regard with suspicion whomsoever they see growing up in expectation

of the kingdom, Bertric, as before related, jealous of his rising

character, was meditating how to destroy him. Egbert, apprised of

this, escaped to Offa, king of the Mercians. While Offa concealed him

with anxious care, the messengers of Bertric arrived, demanding the

fugitive for punishment, and offering money for his surrender. In

addition to this they solicited his daughter in marriage for their

king, in order that the nuptial tie might bind them in perpetual

amity. In consequence Offa, who would not give way to hostile threats,

yielded to flattering allurements, and Egbert, passing the sea, went

into France; a circumstance which I attribute to the counsels of God,

that a man destined to rule so great a kingdom might learn the art of

government from the Franks; for this people has no competitor among

all the Western nations in military skill or polished manners. This

ill-treatment Egbert used as an incentive to “rub off the rust of

indolence,” to quicken the energy of his mind, and to adopt foreign

customs, far differing from his native barbarism. On the death,

therefore, of Bertric, being invited into Britain by frequent messages

from his friends, he ascended the throne, and realized the fondest

expectations of his country. He was crowned in the year of our Lord’s

incarnation 800, and in the thirty-fourth year of the reign of Charles

the Great, of France, who survived this event twelve years. In the

meantime Egbert, when he had acquired the regard of his subjects

by his affability and kindness, first manifested his power against

those Britons who inhabit that part of the island which is called

Cornwall, and having subjugated them, he proceeded to make the Northern

Britons,[118] who are separated from the others by an arm of the sea,

tributary to him. While the fame of these victories struck terror into

the rest, Bernulf king of the Mercians, aiming at something great, and

supposing it would redound to his glory if he could remove the terror

of others by his own audacity, proclaimed war against Egbert. Deeming

it disgraceful to retreat, Egbert met him with much spirit, and on

then coming into action, Bernulf was defeated and fled. This battle

took place at Hellendun, A.D. 824.[119] Elated with this success, the

West Saxon king, extending his views, in the heat of victory, sent his

son Ethelwulf, with Alstan, bishop of Sherborne, and a chosen band,

into Kent, for the purpose of adding to the West Saxon dominions that

province, which had either grown indolent through long repose, or was

terrified by the fame of his valour. These commanders observed their

instructions effectually, for they passed through every part of the

country, and driving Baldred its king, with little difficulty, beyond

the river Thames, they subjugated to his dominion, in the twenty-fourth

year of his reign, Kent, Surrey, the South Saxons, and the East Saxons,

who had formerly been under the jurisdiction of his predecessors. Not

long after the East Angles, animated by the support of Egbert, killed

by successive stratagems, Bernulf and Ludecan, kings of the Mercians.

The cause of their destruction was, their perpetual incursions, with

their usual insolence, on the territories of others. Withlaf their

successor, first driven from his kingdom by Egbert, and afterwards

admitted as a tributary prince, augmented the West Saxon sovereignty.

In the same year the Northumbrians perceiving that themselves only

remained and were a conspicuous object, and fearing lest he should

pour out his long-cherished anger on them, at last, though late, gave

hostages, and yielded to his power. When he was thus possessed of all

Britain, the rest of his life, a space of nine years, passed quietly

on, except that, nearly in his latter days, a piratical band of Danes

made a descent, and disturbed the peace of the kingdom. So changeable

is the lot of human affairs, that he, who first singly governed all

the Angles, could derive but little satisfaction from the obedience of

his countrymen, for a foreign enemy was perpetually harassing him and

his descendants. Against these invaders the forces of the Angles made

a stand, but fortune no longer flattered the king with her customary

favours, but deserted him in the contest: for, when, during the greater

part of the day, he had almost secured the victory, he lost the battle

as the sun declined; however, by the favour of darkness, he escaped the

disgrace of being conquered. In the next action, with a small force,

he totally routed an immense multitude. At length, after a reign of

thirty-seven years and seven months, he departed this life, and was

buried at Winchester; leaving an ample field of glory for his son, and

declaring, that he must be happy, if he was careful not to destroy,

by the indolence natural to his race, a kingdom that himself had

consolidated with such consummate industry.

CHAP. II.

_Of king Ethelwulf._ [A.D. 839-858.]

[Sidenote: [A.D. 838-851.] OF KING ETHELWULF.]

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 837,[120] Ethelwulf, whom some

call Athulf, the son of Egbert, came to the throne, and reigned twenty

years and five months. Mild by nature he infinitely preferred a life

of tranquillity to dominion over many provinces; and, finally, content

with his paternal kingdom, he bestowed all the rest, which his father

had subjugated, on his son Ethelstan; of whom it is not known when, or

in what manner, he died. He assisted Burhred, king of the Mercians,

with an army against the Britons, and highly exalted him by giving

him his daughter in marriage. He frequently overcame the piratical

Danes, who were traversing the whole island and infesting the coast

with sudden descents, both personally and by his generals; although,

according to the chance of war, he himself experienced great and

repeated calamities; London and almost the whole of Kent being laid

waste. Yet these disasters were ever checked by the alacrity of the

king’s advisers, who suffered not the enemy to trespass with impunity,

but fully avenged themselves on them by the effect of their united

counsels. For he possessed at that time, two most excellent prelates,

St. Swithun of Winchester, and Ealstan of Sherborne, who perceiving the

king to be of heavy and sluggish disposition, perpetually stimulated

him, by their admonitions, to the knowledge of governing. Swithun,

disgusted with earthly, trained his master to heavenly pursuits;

Ealstan, knowing that the business of the kingdom ought not to be

neglected, continually inspirited him against the Danes: himself

furnishing the exchequer with money, as well as regulating the army.

Any peruser of the Annals[121] will find many affairs of this kind,

both entered on with courage, and terminated with success through his

means. He held his bishopric fifty years; happy in living for so long

a space in the practice of good works. I should readily commend him,

had he not been swayed by worldly avarice, and usurped what belonged to

others, when by his intrigues he seized the monastery of Malmesbury for

his own use. We feel the mischief of this shameful conduct even to the

present day, although the monastery has baffled all similar violence

from the time of his death till now, when it has fallen again into

like difficulty.[122] Thus the accursed passion of avarice corrupts

the human soul, and forces men, though great and illustrious in other

respects, into hell.

Ethelwulf, confiding in these two supporters, provided effectually for

external emergencies, and did not neglect the interior concerns of

his kingdom. For after the subjugation of his enemies, turning to the

establishment of God’s worship, he granted every tenth hide of land

within his kingdom to the servants of Christ, free from all tribute,

exempt from all services. But how small a portion is this of his

glory? Having settled his kingdom, he went to Rome, and there offered

to St. Peter that tribute which England pays to this day,[123] before

pope Leo the fourth, who had also, formerly, honourably received,

and anointed as king, Alfred,[124] his son, whom Ethelwulf had sent

to him. Continuing there a whole year, he nobly repaired the School

of the Angles, which, according to report, was first founded by Offa,

king of the Mercians, and had been burned down the preceding year.[125]

Returning home through France, he married Judith, daughter of Charles,

king of the Franks.

OF THE SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 814-840.] SUCCESSORS OF CHARLEMAGNE.]

For Louis the Pious, son of Charles the Great, had four sons; Lothaire,

Pepin, Louis, and Charles, surnamed the Bald; of these Lothaire, even

in his father’s life-time, usurping the title of emperor, reigned

fifteen years in that part of Germany situated near the Alps which

is now called Lorraine, that is, the kingdom of Lothaire, and in all

Italy together with Rome. In his latter days, afflicted with sickness,

he renounced the world. He was a man by far more inhuman than all who

preceded him; so much so, as even frequently to load his own father

with chains in a dungeon. Louis indeed was of mild and simple manners,

but he was unmercifully persecuted by Lothaire, because Ermengarda,

by whom he had his first family, being dead, he was doatingly fond of

Charles, his son by his second wife Judith. Pepin, another son of

Louis, had dominion in Aquitaine[126] and Gascony. Louis, the third son

of Louis, in addition to Norica, which he had already, possessed the

kingdoms which his father had given him, that is to say, Alemannia,

Thuringia, Austrasia, Saxony, and the kingdom of the Avares, that

is, the Huns. Charles obtained the half of France on the west, and

all Neustria, Brittany, and the greatest part of Burgundy, Gothia,

Gascony, and Aquitaine, Pepin the son of Pepin being ejected thence

and compelled to become a monk in the monastery of St. Methard; who

afterwards escaping by flight, and returning into Aquitaine, remained

there in concealment a long time; but being again treacherously

deceived by Ranulph the governor, he was seized, brought to Charles

at Senlis, and doomed to perpetual exile. Moreover, after the death

of the most pious emperor, Louis, Lothaire, who had been anointed

emperor eighteen years before his father’s decease, being joined by

Pepin with the people of Aquitaine, led an army against his brothers,

that is, Louis, the most pious king of the Bavarians, and Charles,

into the county of Auxerre to a place called Fontenai:[127] where,

when the Franks with all their subject nations had been overwhelmed

by mutual slaughter, Louis and Charles ultimately triumphed; Lothaire

being put to flight. After this most sanguinary conflict, however,

peace was made between them, and they divided the sovereignty of

the Franks, as has been mentioned above. Lothaire had three sons by

Ermengarda the daughter of Hugo: first, Louis, to whom he committed

the government of the Romans and of Italy; next, Lothaire, to whom he

left the imperial crown; lastly, Charles, to whom he gave Provence.

Lothaire died in the year of our Lord’s incarnation 855, of his reign

the thirty-third. Charles his son, who governed Provence, survived

him eight years, and then Louis, emperor of the Romans, and Lothaire

his brother, shared his kingdom of Provence. But Louis king of the

Norici, that is, of the Bavarians, the son of Louis the emperor, in the

year of our Lord’s incarnation 865, after the feast of Easter, divided

his kingdom between his sons. To Caroloman he gave Norica, that is,

Bavaria, and the marches bordering on the Sclavonians and the Lombards;

to Louis, Thuringia, the Eastern Franks, and Saxony; to Charles he

left Alemannia, and Curnwalla, that is, the county of Cornwall.[128]

Louis himself reigned happily over his sons, in full power for ten

years, and then died in the year of our Lord’s incarnation 876, when he

had reigned fifty-four years. Charles king of the West Franks, in the

thirty-sixth year of his reign, entering Italy, came to offer up his

prayers in the church of the apostles, and was there elected emperor

by all the Roman people, and consecrated by pope John on the 25th of

December, in the year of our Lord’s incarnation 875. Thence he had

a prosperous return into Gaul. But in the thirty-eighth year of his

reign, and the beginning of the third of his imperial dignity, he went

into Italy again, and held a conference with pope John; and returning

into Gaul, he died, after passing Mount Cenis, on the 13th of October,

in the tenth of the Indiction, in the year of our Lord 877, and was

succeeded by his son Louis. Before the second year of his reign was

completed this Louis died in the palace at Compeigne, on the sixth

before the Ides of April, in the year of our Lord 879, the twelfth

of the Indiction. After him his sons, Louis and Caroloman, divided

his kingdom. Of these, Louis gained a victory over the Normans in the

district of Vimeu, and died soon after on the 12th of August, in the

year of our Lord 881, the fifteenth of the Indiction, having reigned

two years, three months, and twenty-four days. He was succeeded in his

government by his brother Caroloman, who, after reigning three years

and six days, was wounded by a wild boar[129] in the forest of Iveline,

in Mount Ericus. He departed this life in the year of our Lord 884,

the second of the Indiction, the 24th of December. Next Charles king

of the Suavi, the son of Louis king of the Norici, assumed the joint

empire of the Franks and Romans, in the year of the Incarnate Word

885, the third of the Indiction; whose vision, as I think it worth

preserving, I here subjoin:

[Sidenote: [A.D. 885.] CHARLES’S VISION.]

“In the name of God most high, the King of kings. As I, Charles by

the free gift of God, emperor, king of the Germans, patrician of the

Romans, and emperor of the Franks, on the sacred night of the Lord’s

day, after duly performing the holy service of the evening, went to the

bed of rest and sought the sleep of quietude, there came a tremendous

voice to me, saying, ‘Charles, thy spirit shall shortly depart from

thee for a considerable time:’ immediately I was rapt in the spirit,

and he who carried me away in the spirit was most glorious to behold.

In his hand he held a clue of thread emitting a beam of purest light,

such as comets shed when they appear. This he began to unwind, and

said to me, ‘Take the thread of this brilliant clue and bind and tie

it firmly on the thumb of thy right hand, for thou shalt be led by

it through the inextricable punishments of the infernal regions.’

Saying this, he went before me, quickly unrolling the thread of the

brilliant clue, and led me into very deep and fiery valleys which were

full of pits boiling with pitch, and brimstone, and lead, and wax,

and grease. There I found the bishops of my father and of my uncles:

and when in terror I asked them why they were suffering such dreadful

torments? they replied, ‘We were the bishops of your father and of

your uncles, and instead of preaching, and admonishing them and their

people to peace and concord, as was our duty, we were the sowers of

discord and the fomenters of evil. On this account we are now burning

in these infernal torments, together with other lovers of slaughter

and of rapine; and hither also will your bishops and ministers come,

who now delight to act as we did.’ While I was fearfully listening

to this, behold the blackest demons came flying about me, with fiery

claws endeavouring to snatch away the thread of life which I held in

my hand, and to draw it to them; but repelled by the rays of the clue,

they were unable to touch it. Next running behind me, they tried to

gripe me in their claws and cast me headlong into those sulphureous

pits: but my conductor, who carried the clue, threw a thread of light

over my shoulders, and doubling it, drew me strongly after him, and

in this manner we ascended lofty fiery mountains, from which arose

lakes, and burning rivers, and all kinds of burning metals, wherein

I found immersed innumerable souls of the vassals and princes of my

father and brothers, some up to the hair, others to the chin, and

others to the middle, who mournfully cried out to me, ‘While we were

living, we were, together with you, and your father, and brothers, and

uncles, fond of battle, and slaughter, and plunder, through lust of

earthly things: wherefore we now undergo punishment in these boiling

rivers, and in various kinds of liquid metal.’ While I was, with the

greatest alarm, attending to these, I heard some souls behind me crying

out, ‘The great will undergo still greater torment.’ I looked back

and beheld on the banks of the boiling river, furnaces of pitch and

brimstone, filled with great dragons, and scorpions, and different

kinds of serpents, where I also saw some of my father’s nobles, some of

my own, and of those of my brothers and of my uncles, who said, ‘Alas,

Charles, you see what dreadful torments we undergo on account of our

malice, and pride, and the evil counsel which we gave to our kings and

to you, for lust’s sake.’ When I could not help groaning mournfully

at this, the dragons ran at me with open jaws filled with fire, and

brimstone, and pitch, and tried to swallow me up. My conductor then

tripled the thread of the clue around me, which by the splendour of

its rays overcame their fiery throats: he then pulled me with greater

violence, and we descended into a valley, which was in one part

dark and burning like a fiery furnace, but in another so extremely

enchanting and glorious, that I cannot describe it. I turned myself

to the dark part which emitted flames, and there I saw some kings of

my race in extreme torture; at which, affrighted beyond measure and

reduced to great distress, I expected that I should be immediately

thrown into these torments by some very black giants, who made the

valley blaze with every kind of flame. I trembled very much, and, the

thread of the clue of light assisting my eyes, I saw, on the side of

the valley, the light somewhat brightening, and two fountains flowing

out thence: one was extremely hot; the other clear and luke-warm; two

large casks were there besides. When, guided by the thread of light,

I proceeded thither, I looked into the vessel containing boiling

water, and saw my father Louis, standing therein up to his thighs. He

was dreadfully oppressed with pain and agony, and said to me, ‘Fear

not, my lord Charles; I know that your spirit will again return into

your body, and that God hath permitted you to come hither, that you

might see for what crimes myself and all whom you have beheld, undergo

these torments. One day I am bathed in the boiling cask; next I pass

into that other delightful water; which is effected by the prayers of

St. Peter and St. Remigius, under whose patronage our royal race has

hitherto reigned. But if you, and my faithful bishops and abbats, and

the whole ecclesiastical order will quickly assist me with masses,

prayers and psalms, and alms, and vigils, I shall shortly be released

from the punishment of the boiling water. For my brother Lothaire and

his son Louis have had these punishments remitted by the prayers of

St. Peter and St. Remigius, and have now entered into the joy of God’s

paradise.’ He then said to me, ‘Look on your left hand;’ and when I had

done so, I saw two very deep casks boiling furiously. ‘These,’ said he,

‘are prepared for you, if you do not amend and repent of your atrocious

crimes.’ I then began to be dreadfully afraid, and when my conductor

saw my spirit thus terrified, he said to me, ‘Follow me to the right

of that most resplendent valley of paradise.’ As we proceeded, I

beheld my uncle Lothaire sitting in excessive brightness, in company

with glorious kings, on a topaz-stone of uncommon size, crowned with a

precious diadem: and near him, his son Louis crowned in like manner.

Seeing me near at hand he called me to him in a kind voice, saying,

‘Come to me, Charles, now my third successor in the empire of the

Romans; I know that you have passed through the place of punishment

where your father, my brother, is placed in the baths appointed for

him; but, by the mercy of God, he will be shortly liberated from those

punishments as we have been, by the merits of St. Peter and the prayers

of St. Remigius, to whom God hath given a special charge over the kings

and people of the Franks, and unless he shall continue to favour and

assist the dregs of our family, our race must shortly cease both from

the kingdom and the empire. Know, moreover, that the rule of the empire

will be shortly taken out of your hand, nor will you long survive. Then

Louis turning to me, said, ‘The empire which you have hitherto held

by hereditary right, Louis the son of my daughter is to assume.’ So

saying, there seemed immediately to appear before me a little child,

and Lothaire his grandfather looking upon him, said to me, ‘This infant

seems to be such an one as that which the Lord set in the midst of the

disciples, and said, “Of such is the kingdom of God, I say unto you,

that their angels do always behold the face of my father who is in

heaven.” But do you bestow on him the empire by that thread of the clue

which you hold in your hand.’ I then untied the thread from the thumb

of my right hand, and gave him the whole monarchy of the empire by that

thread, and immediately the entire clue, like a brilliant sun-beam,

became rolled up in his hand. Thus, after this wonderful transaction,

my spirit, extremely wearied and affrighted, returned into my body.

Therefore, let all persons know willingly or unwillingly, forasmuch

as, according to the will of God, the whole empire of the Romans will

revert into his hands, and that I cannot prevail against him, compelled

by the conditions of this my calling, that God, who is the ruler of

the living and the dead, will both complete and establish this; whose

eternal kingdom remains for ever and ever, amen.”

The vision itself, and the partition of the kingdoms, I have inserted

in the very words I found them in.[130] This Charles, then, had

scarcely discharged the united duties of the empire and kingdom for two

years, when Charles, the son of Louis who died at Compeigne, succeeded

him: this is the Charles who married the daughter of Edward, king of

England, and gave Normandy to Rollo with his daughter Gisla, who was

the surety of peace and pledge of the treaty. To this Charles, in the

empire, succeeded Arnulph; a king of the imperial line, tutor of that

young Louis of whom the vision above recited speaks. Arnulph dying

after fifteen years, this Louis succeeded him, at whose death, one

Conrad, king of the Teutonians, obtained the sovereignty. His son

Henry, who succeeded him, sent to Athelstan king of the Angles, for

his two sisters, Aldgitha and Edgitha, the latter of whom he married

to his son Otho, the former to a certain duke near the Alps. Thus the

empire of the Romans and the kingdom of the Franks being severed from

their ancient union, the one is governed by emperors and the other by

kings. But as I have wandered wide from my purpose, whilst indulging in

tracing the descent of the illustrious kings of the Franks, I will now

return to the course I had begun, and to Ethelwulf.

On his return after his year’s peregrination and marriage with the

daughter of Charles the Bald, as I have said, he found the dispositions

of some persons contrary to his expectations. For Ethelbald his son,

and Ealstan bishop of Sherborne, and Enulph earl of Somerset conspiring

against him, endeavoured to eject him from the sovereignty; but through

the intervention of maturer counsel, the kingdom was divided between

the father and his son. This partition was extremely unequal; for

malignity was so far successful that the western portion, which was the

better, was allotted to the son, the eastern, which was the worse, fell

to the father. He, however, with incredible forbearance, dreading “a

worse than civil war,” calmly gave way to his son, restraining, by a

conciliatory harangue, the people who had assembled for the purpose of

asserting his dignity. And though all this quarrel arose on account of

his foreign wife, yet he held her in the highest estimation, and used

to place her on the throne near himself, contrary to the West Saxon

custom. For that people never suffered the king’s consort either to be

seated by the king or to be honoured with the appellation of queen, on

account of the depravity of Eadburga, daughter of Offa, king of the

Mercians; who, as we have before mentioned, being married to Bertric,

king of the West Saxons, used to persuade him, a tender-hearted man,

as they report, to the destruction of the innocent, and would herself

take off by poison those against whom her accusations failed. This was

exemplified in the case of a youth much beloved by the king, whom she

made away with in this manner: and immediately afterwards Bertric fell

sick, wasted away and died, from having previously drunk of the same

potion, unknown to the queen. The rumour of this getting abroad, drove

the poisoner from the kingdom. Proceeding to Charles the Great, she

happened to find him standing with one of his sons, and after offering

him presents, the emperor, in a playful, jocose manner, commanded

her to choose which she liked best, himself, or his son. Eadburga

choosing the young man for his blooming beauty, Charles replied with

some emotion, “Had you chosen me, you should have had my son, but

since you have chosen him, you shall have neither.” He then placed her

in a monastery where she might pass her life in splendour; but, soon

after, finding her guilty of incontinence he expelled her.[131] Struck

with this instance of depravity, the Saxons framed the regulation I

have alluded to, though Ethelwulf invalidated it by his affectionate

kindness. He made his will a few months before he died, in which, after

the division of the kingdom between his sons Ethelbald and Ethelbert,

he set out the dowry of his daughter, and ordered, that, till the end

of time, one poor person should be clothed and fed from every tenth

hide of his inheritance, and that every year, three hundred mancas of

gold[132] should be sent to Rome, of which one-third should be given

to St. Peter, another to St. Paul for lamps, and the other to the pope

for distribution. He died two years after he came from Rome, and was

buried at Winchester in the cathedral. But that I may return from my

digression to my proposed series, I shall here subjoin the charter of

ecclesiastical immunities which he granted to all England.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 857.] ETHELWULF’S CHARTER.]

“Our Lord Jesus Christ reigning for evermore. Since we perceive that

perilous times are pressing on us, that there are in our days hostile

burnings, and plunderings of our wealth, and most cruel depredations

by devastating enemies, and many tribulations of barbarous and pagan

nations, threatening even our destruction: therefore I Ethelwulf

king of the West Saxons, with the advice of my bishops and nobility,

have established a wholesome counsel and general remedy. I have

decided that there shall be given to the servants of God, whether

male or female or laymen,[133] a certain hereditary portion of the

lands possessed by persons of every degree, that is to say, the tenth

manse,[134] but where it is less than this, then the tenth part; that

it may be exonerated from all secular services, all royal tributes

great and small, or those taxes which we call Witereden. And let it

be free from all things, for the release of our souls, that it may be

applied to God’s service alone, exempt from expeditions, the building

of bridges, or of forts; in order that they may more diligently pour

forth their prayers to God for us without ceasing, inasmuch as we have

in some measure alleviated their service. Moreover it hath pleased

Ealstan bishop of Sherborne, and Swithun bishop of Winchester, with

their abbats and the servants of God, to appoint that all our brethren

and sisters at each church, every week on the day of Mercury, that

is to say, Wednesday, should sing fifty psalms, and every priest

two masses, one for king Ethelwulf, and another for his nobility,

consenting to this gift, for the pardon and alleviation of their sins;

for the king while living, they shall say, ‘Let us pray: O God, who

justifiest.’ For the nobility while living, ‘Stretch forth, O Lord.’

After they are dead; for the departed king, singly: for the departed

nobility, in common: and let this be firmly appointed for all the times

of Christianity, in like manner as that immunity is appointed, so long

as faith shall increase in the nation of the Angles. This charter of

donation was written in the year of our Lord’s incarnation 844,[135]

the fourth of the indiction, and on the nones, i. e. the fifth day of

November, in the city of Winchester, in the church of St. Peter, before

the high altar, and they have done this for the honour of St. Michael

the archangel, and of St. Mary the glorious queen, the mother of God,

and also for the honour of St. Peter the chief of the apostles, and

of our most holy father pope Gregory, and all saints. And then, for

greater security, king Ethelwulf placed the charter on the altar of St.

Peter, and the bishops received it in behalf of God’s holy faith, and

afterwards transmitted it to all churches in their dioceses according

to the above-cited form.”

[Sidenote: [A.D. 858.] WEST SAXON KINGS.]

From this king the English chronicles trace the line of the generation

of their kings upwards, even to Adam, as we know Luke the evangelist

has done with respect to our Lord Jesus; and which, perhaps, it will

not be superfluous for me to do, though it is to be apprehended, that

the utterance of barbarous names may shock the ears of persons unused

to them. Ethelwulf was the son of Egbert, Egbert of Elmund, Elmund

of Eafa, Eafa of Eoppa, Eoppa was the son of Ingild, the brother of

king Ina, who were both sons of Kenred; Kenred of Ceolwald, Ceolwald

of Cutha, Cutha of Cuthwin, Cuthwin of Ceawlin, Ceawlin of Cynric,

Cynric of Creoding, Creoding of Cerdic, who was the first king of the

West Saxons; Cerdic of Elesa, Elesa of Esla, Esla of Gewis, Gewis of

Wig, Wig of Freawin, Freawin of Frithogar, Frithogar of Brond, Brond

of Beldeg, Beldeg of Woden; and from him, as we have often remarked,

proceeded the kings of many nations. Woden was the son of Frithowald,

Frithowald of Frealaf, Frealaf of Finn, Finn of Godwulf, Godwulf of

Geat, Geat of Tætwa, Tætwa of Beaw, Beaw of Sceldi, Sceldi of Sceaf;

who, as some affirm, was driven on a certain island in Germany, called

Scamphta, (of which Jornandes,[136] the historian of the Goths,

speaks,) a little boy in a skiff, without any attendant, asleep, with

a handful of corn at his head, whence he was called Sceaf; and, on

account of his singular appearance, being well received by the men

of that country, and carefully educated, in his riper age he reigned

in a town which was called Slaswic, but at present Haitheby; which

country, called old Anglia, whence the Angles came into Britain, is

situated between the Saxons and the Gioths. Sceaf was the son of

Heremod, Heremod of Itermon, Itermon of Hathra, Hathra of Guala, Guala

of Bedwig, Bedwig of Streaf, and he, as they say, was the son of Noah,

born in the Ark.[137]

CHAP. III.

_Of Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Ethelred, sons of Ethelwulf._

[A.D. 858-872.]

In the year of our Lord 857,[138] the two sons of Ethelwulf divided

their paternal kingdom; Ethelbald reigned in West Saxony, and Ethelbert

in Kent. Ethelbald, base and perfidious, defiled the bed of his

father by marrying, after his decease, Judith his step-mother. Dying,

however, at the end of five years, and being interred at Sherborne,

the whole government devolved upon his brother. In his time a band

of pirates landing at Southampton, proceeded to plunder the populous

city of Winchester, but soon after being spiritedly repulsed by the

king’s generals, and suffering considerable loss, they put to sea, and

coasting round, chose the Isle of Thanet, in Kent, for their winter

quarters. The people of Kent, giving hostages, and promising a sum of

money, would have remained quiet, had not these pirates, breaking the

treaty, laid waste the whole district by nightly predatory excursions,

but roused by this conduct they mustered a force and drove out the

truce-breakers. Moreover Ethelbert, having ruled the kingdom with

vigour and with mildness, paid the debt of nature after five years,

and was buried at Sherborne.

In the year of our Lord 867, Ethelred, the son of Ethelwulf, obtained

his paternal kingdom, and ruled it for the same number of years as his

brothers. Surely it would be a pitiable and grievous destiny, that all

of them should perish by an early death, unless it is, that in such a

tempest of evils, these royal youths should prefer an honourable end

to a painful government. Indeed, so bravely and so vigorously did they

contend for their country, that it was not to be imputed to them that

their valour did not succeed in its design. Finally, it is related,

that this king was personally engaged in hostile conflict against the

enemy nine times in one year, with various success indeed, but for the

most part victor, besides sudden attacks, in which, from his skill in

warfare, he frequently worsted those straggling depredators. In these

several actions the Danes lost nine earls and one king, besides common

people innumerable.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 867-871.] BATTLE OF ESCHENDUN.]

One battle memorable beyond all the rest was that which took place at

Eschendun.[139] The Danes, having collected an army at this place,

divided it into two bodies; their two kings commanded the one, all

their earls the other. Ethelred drew near with his brother Alfred. It

fell to the lot of Ethelred to oppose the kings, while Alfred was to

attack the earls. Both armies eagerly prepared for battle, but night

approaching deferred the conflict till the ensuing day. Scarcely had

the morning dawned ere Alfred was ready at his post, but his brother,

intent on his devotions, had remained in his tent; and when urged on by

a message, that the pagans were rushing forward with unbounded fury,

he declared that he should not move a step till his religious services

were ended. This piety of the king was of infinite advantage to his

brother, who was too impetuous from the thoughtlessness of youth, and

had already far advanced. The battalions of the Angles were now giving

way, and even bordering on flight, in consequence of their adversaries

pressing upon them from the higher ground, for the Christians were

fighting in an unfavourable situation, when the king himself, signed

with the cross of God, unexpectedly hastened forward, dispersing the

enemy, and rallying his subjects. The Danes, terrified equally by his

courage and the divine manifestation, consulted their safety by flight.

Here fell Oseg their king, five earls, and an innumerable multitude of

common people.

The reader will be careful to observe that during this time, the

kings of the Mercians and of the Northumbrians, eagerly seizing the

opportunity of the arrival of the Danes, with whom Ethelred was

fully occupied in fighting, and somewhat relieved from their bondage

to the West Saxons, had nearly regained their original power. All

the provinces, therefore, were laid waste by cruel depredations,

because each king chose rather to resist the enemy within his own

territories, than to assist his neighbours in their difficulties; and

thus preferring to avenge injury rather than to prevent it, they ruined

their country by their senseless conduct. The Danes acquired strength

without impediment, whilst the apprehensions of the inhabitants

increased, and each successive victory, from the addition of captives,

became the means of obtaining another. The country of the East Angles,

together with their cities and villages, was possessed by these

plunderers; its king, St. Edmund, slain by them in the year of our

Lord’s incarnation 870, on the tenth of November, purchased an eternal

kingdom by putting off this mortal life. The Mercians, often harassed,

alleviated their afflictions by giving hostages. The Northumbrians,

long embroiled in civil dissensions, made up their differences on the

approach of the enemy. Replacing Osbert their king, whom they had

expelled, upon the throne, and collecting a powerful force, they went

out to meet the foe; but being easily repelled, they shut themselves

up in the city of York, which was presently after set on fire by the

victors; and when the flames were raging to the utmost and consuming

the very walls, they perished for their country in the conflagration.

In this manner Northumbria, the prize of war, for a considerable time

after, felt the more bitterly, through a sense of former liberty,

the galling yoke of the barbarians. And now Ethelred, worn down with

numberless labours, died and was buried at Wimborne.

CHAP. IV.

_Of king Alfred._ [A.D. 872--901.]

[Sidenote: [A.D. 872-878.] ALFRED’S DREAM.]

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 872, Alfred, the youngest son

of Ethelwulf, who had, as has been related before, received the royal

unction and crown from pope Leo the fourth at Rome, acceded to the

sovereignty and retained it with the greatest difficulty, but with

equal valour, twenty-eight years and a half. To trace in detail

the mazy labyrinth of his labours was never my design; because a

recapitulation of his exploits in their exact order of time would

occasion some confusion to the reader. For, to relate how a hostile

army, driven by himself or his generals, from one part of a district,

retreated to another; and, dislodged thence, sought a fresh scene of

operation and filled every place with rapine and slaughter; and, if

I may use the expression, “to go round the whole island with him,”

might to some seem the height of folly: consequently I shall touch

on all points summarily. For nine successive years battling with his

enemies, sometimes deceived by false treaties, and sometimes wreaking

his vengeance on the deceivers, he was at last reduced to such extreme

distress, that scarcely three counties, that is to say, Hampshire,

Wiltshire, and Somersetshire, stood fast by their allegiance, as he

was compelled to retreat to a certain island called Athelney, which

from its marshy situation was hardly accessible. He was accustomed

afterwards, when in happier circumstances, to relate to his companions,

in a lively and agreeable manner, his perils there, and how he escaped

them by the merits of St. Cuthbert;[140] for it frequently happens

that men are pleased with the recollection of those circumstances,

which formerly they dreaded to encounter. During his retreat in this

island, as he was one day in the house alone, his companions being

dispersed on the river side for the purpose of fishing, he endeavoured

to refresh his weary frame with sleep: and behold! Cuthbert, formerly

bishop of Lindisfarne, addressed him, while sleeping, in the following

manner:--“I am Cuthbert, if ever you heard of me; God hath sent me to

announce good fortune to you; and since England has already largely

paid the penalty of her crimes, God now, through the merits of her

native saints, looks upon her with an eye of mercy. You too, so

pitiably banished from your kingdom, shall shortly be again seated

with honour on your throne; of which I give you this extraordinary

token: your fishers shall this day bring home a great quantity of large

fish in baskets; which will be so much the more extraordinary because

the river, at this time hard-bound with ice, could warrant no such

expectation; especially as the air now dripping with cold rain mocks

the art of the fisher. But, when your fortune shall succeed to your

wishes, you will act as becomes a king, if you conciliate God your

helper, and me his messenger, with suitable devotion.” Saying thus,

the saint divested the sleeping king of his anxiety; and comforted

his mother also, who was lying near him, and endeavouring to invite

some gentle slumbers to her hard couch to relieve her cares, with the

same joyful intelligence. When they awoke, they repeatedly declared

that each had had the self-same dream, when the fishermen entering,

displayed such a multitude of fishes as would have been sufficient to

satisfy the appetite of a numerous army.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 878-890.] DEFEAT OF THE DANES.]

Not long after, venturing from his concealment, he hazarded an

experiment of consummate art. Accompanied only by one of his most

faithful adherents, he entered the tent of the Danish king under the

disguise of a minstrel;[141] and being admitted, as a professor of

the mimic art, to the banqueting room, there was no object of secrecy

that he did not minutely attend to both with eyes and ears. Remaining

there several days, till he had satisfied his mind on every matter

which he wished to know, he returned to Athelney: and assembling his

companions, pointed out the indolence of the enemy and the easiness of

their defeat. All were eager for the enterprise, and himself collecting

forces from every side, and learning exactly the situation of the

barbarians from scouts he had sent out for that purpose, he suddenly

attacked and routed them with incredible slaughter. The remainder,

with their king, gave hostages that they would embrace Christianity and

depart from the country; which they performed. For their king, Gothrun,

whom our people call Gurmund, with thirty nobles and almost all the

commonalty, was baptized, Alfred standing for him; and the provinces

of the East Angles, and Northumbrians[142] were given up to him, in

order that he might, under fealty to the king, protect with hereditary

right, what before he had overrun with predatory incursion. However,

as the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, he domineered over these

tributary provinces with the haughtiness of a tyrant for eleven years,

and died in the twelfth, transmitting to his posterity the inheritance

of his disloyalty, until subdued by Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred,

they were, though reluctantly, compelled to admit one common king of

England, as we see at the present day. Such of the Danes as had refused

to become Christians, together with Hastings, went over sea, where the

inhabitants are best able to tell what cruelties they perpetrated. For

overrunning the whole maritime coasts to the Tuscan sea, they unpeopled

Paris and Tours, as well as many other cities seated on the Seine and

Loire, those noted rivers of France. At that time the bodies of many

saints being taken up from the spot of their original interment and

conveyed to safer places, have ennobled foreign churches with their

relics even to this day. Then also the body of St. Martin, venerated,

as Sidonius says, over the whole earth, in which virtue resides though

life be at an end, was taken to Auxerre, by the clergy of his church,

and placed in that of St. German, where it astonished the people of

that district by unheard-of miracles. And when they who came thither,

out of gratitude for cures performed, contributed many things to

requite the labours of those who had borne him to this church, as is

commonly the case, a dispute arose about the division of the money;

the Turonians claiming the whole, because their patron had called the

contributors together by his miracles: the natives, on the other hand,

alleging that St. German was not unequal in merit, and was of equal

kindness; that both indeed had the same power, but that the prerogative

of their church preponderated. To solve this knotty doubt, a leprous

person was sought, and placed, nearly at the last gasp, wasted to a

skeleton, and already dead, as it were, in a living carcass, between

the bodies of the two saints. All human watch was prohibited for the

whole night: the glory of Martin alone was vigilant; for the next

day, the skin of the man on his side appeared clear, while on that of

German, it was discoloured with its customary deformity. And, that

they might not attribute this miracle to chance, they turned the yet

diseased side to Martin. As soon as the morning began to dawn, the man

was found by the hastening attendants with his skin smooth, perfectly

cured, declaring the kind condescension of the resident patron, who

yielded to the honour of such a welcome stranger. Thus the Turonians,

both at that time and afterwards, safely filled their common purse

by the assistance of their patron, till a more favourable gale of

peace restored them to their former residence. For these marauders

infesting France for thirteen years, and being at last overcome by

the emperor Ernulph and the people of Brittany in many encounters,

retreated into England as a convenient receptacle for their tyranny.

During this space of time Alfred had reduced the whole island to his

power, with the exception of what the Danes possessed. The Angles

had willingly surrendered to his dominion, rejoicing that they had

produced a man capable of leading them to liberty. He granted London,

the chief city of the Mercian kingdom, to a nobleman named Ethered,

to hold in fealty, and gave him his daughter Ethelfled in marriage.

Ethered conducted himself with equal valour and fidelity; defended

his trust with activity, and kept the East Angles and Northumbrians,

who were fomenting rebellion against the king, within due bounds,

compelling them to give hostages. Of what infinite service this was,

the following emergency proved. After England had rejoiced for thirteen

years in the tranquillity of peace and in the fertility of her soil,

the northern pest of barbarians again returned. With them returned

war and slaughter; again arose conspiracies of the Northumbrians and

East Angles: but neither strangers nor natives experienced the same

fortune as in former years; the one party, diminished by foreign

contests, were less alert in their invasions; while the other, now

experienced in war and animated by the exhortations of the king, were

not only more ready to resist, but also to attack. The king himself

was, with his usual activity, present in every action, ever daunting

the invaders, and at the same time inspiriting his subjects, with the

signal display of his courage. He would oppose himself singly to the

enemy; and by his own personal exertions rally his declining forces.

The very places are yet pointed out by the inhabitants where he felt

the vicissitudes of good and evil fortune. It was necessary to contend

with Alfred even after he was overcome, after he was prostrate;

insomuch that when he might be supposed altogether vanquished, he would

escape like a slippery serpent, from the hand which held him, glide

from his lurking-place, and, with undiminished courage, spring on his

insulting enemies: he was insupportable after flight, and became more

circumspect from the recollection of defeat, more bold from the thirst

of vengeance. His children by Elswitha, the daughter of earl Athelred,

were Ethelswitha, Edward who reigned after him; Ethelfled who was

married to Ethered earl of the Mercians; Ethelwerd, whom they celebrate

as being extremely learned; Elfred and Ethelgiva, virgins. His health

was so bad that he was constantly disquieted either by the piles or

some disorder of the intestines. It is said, however, that he entreated

this from God, in his supplications, in order that, by the admonition

of pain, he might be less anxious after earthly delights.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 893.] KING ALFRED’S INSTITUTIONS.]

Yet amid these circumstances the private life of the king is to be

admired and celebrated with the highest praise. For although, as some

one has said, “Laws must give way amid the strife of arms,” yet he,

amid the sound of trumpets and the din of war, enacted statutes by

which his people might equally familiarise themselves to religious

worship and to military discipline. And since, from the example of

the barbarians, the natives themselves began to lust after rapine,

insomuch that there was no safe intercourse without a military guard,

he appointed centuries, which they call “hundreds,” and decennaries,

that is to say, “tythings,” so that every Englishman, living according

to law, must be a member of both. If any one was accused of a crime,

he was obliged immediately to produce persons from the hundred and

tything to become his surety; and whosoever was unable to find such

surety, must dread the severity of the laws. If any who was impleaded

made his escape either before or after he had found surety, all persons

of the hundred and tything paid a fine to the king. By this regulation

he diffused such peace throughout the country, that he ordered golden

bracelets, which might mock the eager desires of the passengers while

no one durst take them away, to be hung up on the public causeways,

where the roads crossed each other. Ever intent on almsgiving, he

confirmed the privileges of the churches, as appointed by his father,

and sent many presents over sea to Rome and to St. Thomas in India.

Sighelm, bishop of Sherborne, sent ambassador for this purpose,

penetrated successfully into India, a matter of astonishment even in

the present time. Returning thence, he brought back many brilliant

exotic gems and aromatic juices in which that country abounds, and

a present more precious than the finest gold, part of our Saviour’s

cross, sent by pope Marinus to the king. He erected monasteries

wherever he deemed it fitting; one in Athelney, where he lay concealed,

as has been above related, and there he made John abbat, a native of

Old Saxony; another at Winchester, which is called the New-minster,

where he appointed Grimbald abbat, who, at his invitation, had been

sent into England by Fulco archbishop of Rheims, known to him, as they

say, by having kindly entertained him when a child on his way to Rome.

The cause of his being sent for was that by his activity he might

awaken the study of literature in England, which was now slumbering

and almost expiring. The monastery of Shaftesbury also he filled with

nuns, where he made his daughter Ethelgiva abbess. From St. David’s

he procured a person named Asser,[143] a man of skill in literature,

whom he made bishop of Sherborne. This man explained the meaning of

the works of Boethius, on the Consolation of Philosophy, in clearer

terms, and the king himself translated them into the English language.

And since there was no good scholar in his own kingdom, he sent for

Werefrith bishop of Worcester out of Mercia, who by command of the

king rendered into the English tongue the books of Gregory’s Dialogues.

At this time Johannes Scotus is supposed to have lived; a man of clear

understanding and amazing eloquence. He had long since, from the

continued tumult of war around him, retired into France to Charles the

Bald, at whose request he had translated the Hierarchia of Dionysius

the Areopagite, word for word, out of the Greek into Latin. He composed

a book also, which he entitled περὶ φύσεων μερισμοῦ, or Of the Division

of Nature,[144] extremely useful in solving the perplexity of certain

indispensable inquiries, if he be pardoned for some things in which he

deviated from the opinions of the Latins, through too close attention

to the Greeks. In after time, allured by the munificence of Alfred, he

came into England, and at our monastery, as report says, was pierced

with the iron styles of the boys whom he was instructing, and was even

looked upon as a martyr; which phrase I have not made use of to the

disparagement of his holy spirit, as though it were matter of doubt,

especially as his tomb on the left side of the altar, and the verses of

his epitaph, record his fame.[145] These, though rugged and deficient

in the polish of our days, are not so uncouth for ancient times:

“Here lies a saint, the sophist John, whose days

On earth were grac’d with deepest learning’s praise:

Deem’d meet at last by martyrdom to gain

Christ’s kingdom, where the saints for ever reign.”

[Sidenote: [A.D. 893.] STORY OF JOHN THE SCOT.]

Confiding in these auxiliaries, the king gave his whole soul to the

cultivation of the liberal arts, insomuch that no Englishman was

quicker in comprehending, or more elegant in translating. This was the

more remarkable, because until twelve years of age he absolutely knew

nothing of literature.[146] At that time, lured by a kind mother,

who under the mask of amusement promised that he should have a little

book which she held in her hand for a present if he would learn it

quickly, he entered upon learning in sport indeed at first, but

afterwards drank of the stream with unquenchable avidity. He translated

into English the greater part of the Roman authors, bringing off the

noblest spoil of foreign intercourse for the use of his subjects; of

which the chief books were Orosius, Gregory’s Pastoral, Bede’s History

of the Angles, Boethius Of the Consolation of Philosophy, his own

book, which he called in his vernacular tongue “Handboc,” that is, a

manual.[147] Moreover he infused a great regard for literature into

his countrymen, stimulating them both with rewards and punishments,

allowing no ignorant person to aspire to any dignity in the court. He

died just as he had begun a translation of the Psalms. In the prologue

to “The Pastoral” he observes, “that he was incited to translate these

books into English because the churches which had formerly contained

numerous libraries had, together with their books, been burnt by the

Danes.” And again, “that the pursuit of literature had gone to decay

almost over the whole island, because each person was more occupied in

the preservation of his life than in the perusal of books; wherefore

he so far consulted the good of his countrymen, that they might now

hastily view what hereafter, if peace should ever return, they might

thoroughly comprehend in the Latin language.” Again, “That he designed

to transmit this book, transcribed by his order, to every see, with

a golden style in which was a mancus of gold; that there was nothing

of his own opinions inserted in this or his other translations, but

that everything was derived from those celebrated men Plegmund[148]

archbishop of Canterbury, Asser the bishop, Grimbald and John the

priests.” But, in short, I may thus briefly elucidate his whole

life: he so divided the twenty-four hours of the day and night as to

employ eight of them in writing, in reading, and in prayer, eight in

the refreshment of his body, and eight in dispatching the business of

the realm. There was in his chapel a candle consisting of twenty-four

divisions, and an attendant, whose peculiar province it was to admonish

the king of his several duties by its consumption. One half of all

revenues, provided they were justly acquired, he gave to his[149]

monasteries, all his other income he divided into two equal parts, the

first was again subdivided into three, of which the first was given to

the servants of his court, the second to artificers whom he constantly

employed in the erection of new edifices, in a manner surprising and

hitherto unknown to the English, the third he gave to strangers. The

second part of the revenue was divided in such a mode that the first

portion should be given to the poor of his kingdom, the second to

the monasteries, the third to scholars,[150] the fourth to foreign

churches. He was a strict inquirer into the sentences passed by his

magistrates, and a severe corrector of such as were unjust. He had one

unusual and unheard-of custom, which was, that he always carried in his

bosom a book in which the daily order of the Psalms was contained, for

the purpose of carefully perusing it, if at any time he had leisure. In

this way he passed his life, much respected by neighbouring princes,

and gave his daughter Ethelswitha in marriage to Baldwin earl of

Flanders, by whom he had Arnulf and Ethelwulf; the former received

from his father the county of Boulogne, from the other at this day are

descended the earls of Flanders.[151]

[Sidenote: [A.D. 893.] KING ALFRED’S DEATH.]

Alfred, paying the debt of nature, was buried at Winchester, in the

monastery which he had founded; to build the offices of which Edward,

his son, purchased a sufficient space of ground from the bishop and

canons, giving, for every foot, a mancus of gold of the statute weight.

The endurance of the king was astonishing, in suffering such a sum

to be extorted from him; but he did not choose to offer a sacrifice

to God from the robbery of the poor. These two churches were so

contiguous, that, when singing, they heard each others’ voices; on this

and other accounts an unhappy jealousy was daily stirring up causes of

dissension, which produced frequent injuries on either side. For this

reason that monastery was lately removed out of the city, and became

a more healthy, as well as a more conspicuous, residence. They report

that Alfred was first buried in the cathedral, because his monastery

was unfinished, but that afterwards, on account of the folly of the

canons, who asserted that the royal spirit, resuming its carcass,

wandered nightly through the buildings, Edward, his son and successor,

removed the remains of his father, and gave them a quiet resting-place

in the new minster.[152] These and similar superstitions, such as that

the dead body of a wicked man runs about, after death, by the agency

of the devil, the English hold with almost inbred credulity,[153]

borrowing them from the heathens, according to the expression of Virgil,

“Forms such as flit, they say, when life is gone.”[154]

CHAP. V.

_Of Edward the son of Alfred._ [A.D. 901-924.]

[Sidenote: [A.D. 901.] EDWARD.]

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation, 901, Edward, the son of Alfred,

succeeded to the government, and held it twenty-three years: he was

much inferior to his father in literature, but greatly excelled in

extent of power. For Alfred, indeed, united the two kingdoms of the

Mercian and West Saxons, holding that of the Mercians only nominally,

as he had assigned it to prince Ethelred: but at his death Edward first

brought the Mercians altogether under his power, next, the West[155]

and East Angles, and Northumbrians, who had become one nation with the

Danes; the Scots, who inhabit the northern part of the island; and all

the Britons, whom we call Welsh, after perpetual battles, in which he

was always successful. He devised a mode of frustrating the incursions

of the Danes; for he repaired many ancient cities, or built new ones,

in places calculated for his purpose, and filled them with a military

force, to protect the inhabitants and repel the enemy. Nor was his

design unsuccessful; for the inhabitants became so extremely valorous

in these contests, that if they heard of an enemy approaching, they

rushed out to give them battle, even without consulting the king or his

generals, and constantly surpassed them, both in number and in warlike

skill. Thus the enemy became an object of contempt to the soldiery and

of derision to the king. At last some fresh assailants, who had come

over under the command of Ethelwald, the son of the king’s uncle, were

all, together with himself, cut off to a man; those before, settled in

the country, being either destroyed or spared under the denomination

of Angles. Ethelwald indeed had attempted many things in the earlier

days of this king; and, disdaining subjection to him, declared himself

his inferior neither in birth nor valour; but being driven into exile

by the nobility, who had sworn allegiance to Edward, he brought over

the pirates; with whom, meeting his death, as I have related, he gave

proof of the folly of resisting those who are our superiors in power.

Although Edward may be deservedly praised for these transactions,

yet, in my opinion, the palm should be more especially given to his

father, who certainly laid the foundation of this extent of dominion.

And here indeed Ethelfled, sister of the king and relict of Ethered,

ought not to be forgotten, as she was a powerful accession to his

party, the delight of his subjects, the dread of his enemies, a woman

of an enlarged soul, who, from the difficulty experienced in her first

labour, ever after refused the embraces of her husband; protesting

that it was unbecoming the daughter of a king to give way to a delight

which, after a time, produced such painful consequences. This spirited

heroine assisted her brother greatly with her advice, was of equal

service in building cities, nor could you easily discern, whether it

was more owing to fortune or her own exertions, that a woman should

be able to protect men at home, and to intimidate them abroad. She

died five years before her brother, and was buried in the monastery of

St. Peter’s, at Gloucester; which, in conjunction with her husband,

Ethered, she had erected with great solicitude. Thither too she had

transferred the bones of St. Oswald, the king, from Bardney; but this

monastery being destroyed in succeeding time by the Danes, Aldred,

archbishop of York, founded another, which is now the chief in that

city.

As the king had many daughters, he gave Edgiva to Charles, king of

France, the son of Lewis the Stammerer, son of Charles the Bald, whose

daughter, as I have repeatedly observed, Ethelwulf had married on his

return from Rome; and, as the opportunity has now presented itself, the

candid reader will not think it irrelevant, if I state the names of his

wives and children. By Egwina, an illustrious lady, he had Athelstan,

his first-born, and a daughter, whose name I cannot particularise, but

her brother gave her in marriage to Sihtric, king of the Northumbrians.

The second son of Edward was Ethelward, by Elfleda, daughter of earl

Etheline; deeply versed in literature, much resembling his grandfather

Alfred in features and disposition, but who departed, by an early

death, soon after his father. By the same wife he had Edwin, of whose

fate what the received opinion is I shall hereafter describe, not with

confidence, but doubtingly. By her too he had six daughters; Edfleda,

Edgiva, Ethelhilda, Ethilda, Edgitha, Elgifa: the first and third

vowing celibacy to God, renounced the pleasure of earthly nuptials;

Edfleda in a religious, and Ethelhilda in a lay habit: they both lie

buried near their mother, at Winchester. Her father gave Edgiva, as I

have mentioned, to king Charles,[156] and her brother, Athelstan, gave

Ethilda to Hugh:[157] this same brother also sent Edgitha and Elgifa to

Henry,[158] emperor of Germany, the second of whom he gave to his son

Otho, the other to a certain duke, near the Alps. Again; by his third

wife, named Edgiva, he had two sons, Edmund and Edred, each of whom

reigned after Athelstan: two daughters, Eadburga, and Edgiva; Eadburga,

a virgin, dedicated to Christ, lies buried at Winchester; Edgiva, a

lady of incomparable beauty, was united, by her brother Athelstan, to

Lewis, prince of Aquitaine.[159] Edward had brought up his daughters

in such wise, that in childhood they gave their whole attention to

literature, and afterwards employed themselves in the labours of the

distaff and the needle that thus they might chastely pass their virgin

age. His sons were so educated, as, first, to have the completest

benefit of learning, that afterwards they might succeed to govern the

state, not like rustics, but philosophers.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 912.] EDWARD.]

Charles, the son-in-law of Edward, constrained thereto by Rollo,

through a succession of calamities, conceded to him that part of Gaul

which at present is called Normandy. It would be tedious to relate

for how many years, and with what audacity, the Normans disquieted

every place from the British ocean, as I have said, to the Tuscan sea.

First Hasten, and then Rollo; who, born of noble lineage among the

Norwegians, though obsolete from its extreme antiquity, was banished,

by the king’s command, from his own country, and brought over with

him multitudes, who were in danger, either from debt or consciousness

of guilt, and whom he had allured by great expectations of advantage.

Betaking himself therefore to piracy, after his cruelty had raged

on every side at pleasure, he experienced a check at Chartres. For

the townspeople, relying neither on arms nor fortifications, piously

implored the assistance of the blessed Virgin Mary. The shift too of

the virgin, which Charles the Bald had brought with other relics from

Constantinople, they displayed to the winds on the ramparts, thronged

by the garrison, after the fashion of a banner. The enemy on seeing it

began to laugh, and to direct their arrows at it. This, however, was

not done with impunity; for presently their eyes became dim, and they

could neither retreat nor advance. The townsmen, with joy perceiving

this, indulged themselves in a plentiful slaughter of them, as far

as fortune permitted. Rollo, however, whom God reserved for the true

faith, escaped, and soon after gained Rouen and the neighbouring cities

by force of arms, in the year of our Lord 876, and one year before

the death of Charles the Bald, whose grandson Lewis, as is before

mentioned, vanquished the Normans, but did not expel them: but Charles,

the brother of that Lewis, grandson of Charles the Bald, by his son

Lewis, as I have said above, repeatedly experiencing, from unsuccessful

conflicts, that fortune gave him nothing which she took from others,

resolved, after consulting his nobility, that it was advisable to make

a show of royal munificence, when he was unable to repel injury; and,

in a friendly manner, sent for Rollo. He was at this time far advanced

in years; and, consequently, easily inclined to pacific measures. It

was therefore determined by treaty, that he should be baptized, and

hold that country of the king as his lord. The inbred and untameable

ferocity of the man may well be imagined, for, on receiving this gift,

as the by standers suggested to him, that he ought to kiss the foot of

his benefactor, disdaining to kneel down, he seized the king’s foot

and dragged it to his mouth as he stood erect. The king falling on his

back, the Normans began to laugh, and the Franks to be indignant; but

Rollo apologized for his shameful conduct, by saying that it was the

custom of his country. Thus the affair being settled, Rollo returned to

Rouen, and there died.

The son of this Charles was Lewis: he being challenged by one Isembard,

that had turned pagan, and renounced his faith, called upon his

nobility for their assistance: they not even deigned an answer; when

one Hugh, son of Robert, earl of Mont Didier, a youth of no great

celebrity at the time, voluntarily entered the lists for his lord and

killed the challenger. Lewis, with his whole army pursuing to Ponthieu,

gained there a glorious triumph; either destroying or putting to flight

all the barbarians whom Isembard had brought with him. But not long

after, weakened by extreme sickness, the consequence of this laborious

expedition, he appointed this Hugh, a young man of noted faith and

courage, heir to the kingdom. Thus the lineage of Charles the Great

ceased with him, because either his wife was barren, or else did not

live long enough to have issue. Hugh married one of the daughters of

Edward,[160] and begot Robert; Robert begot Henry; Henry, Philip; and

Philip, Lewis, who now reigns in France. But to return to our Edward:

I think it will be pleasing to relate what in his time pope Formosus

commanded to be done with respect to filling up the bishoprics, which I

shall insert in the very words I found it.[161]

[Sidenote: [A.D. 912.] POPE FORMOSUS.]

“In the year of our Lord’s nativity 904, pope Formosus sent letters

into England, by which he denounced excommunication and malediction to

king Edward and all his subjects, instead of the benediction which St.

Gregory had given to the English nation from the seat of St. Peter,

because for seven whole years the entire district of the Gewissæ, that

is, of the West-Saxons, had been destitute of bishops. On hearing

this, king Edward assembled a council of the senators of the English,

over which presided Plegmund, archbishop of Canterbury, interpreting

carefully the words of the apostolic legation. Then the king and the

bishops chose for themselves and their followers a salutary council,

and, according to our Saviour’s words, ‘The harvest truly is plenteous,

but the labourers are few,’[162] they elected and appointed one bishop

to every province of the Gewissæ, and that district which two formerly

possessed they divided into five. The council being dissolved, the

archbishop went to Rome with splendid presents, appeased the pope with

much humility, and related the king’s ordinance, which gave the pontiff

great satisfaction. Returning home, in one day he ordained in the city

of Canterbury seven bishops to seven churches:--Frithstan to the church

of Winchester; Athelstan to Cornwall; Werstan to Sherborne; Athelelm

to Wells; Aidulf to Crediton in Devonshire: also to other provinces he

appointed two bishops; to the South-Saxons, Bernegus, a very proper

person; and to the Mercians, Cenulph, whose see was at Dorchester, in

Oxfordshire. All this the pope established, in such wise, that he who

should invalidate this decree should be damned everlastingly.”

Edward, going the way of all flesh, rested in the same monastery with

his father, which he had augmented with considerable revenues, and in

which he had buried his brother Ethelward four years before.

CHAP. VI.

_Of Athelstan, the son of Edward._ [A.D. 924-940.]

[Sidenote: [A.D. 927.] ATHELSTAN.]

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 924, Athelstan, the son of

Edward, began to reign, and held the sovereignty sixteen years. His

brother, Ethelward, dying a few days after his father, had been buried

with him at Winchester. At this place, therefore, Athelstan, being

elected king by the unanimous consent of the nobility, he was crowned

at a royal town, which is called Kingston; though one Elfred, whose

death we shall hereafter relate in the words of the king, with his

factious party, as sedition never wants adherents, attempted to prevent

it. The ground of his opposition, as they affirm, was, that Athelstan

was born of a concubine. But having nothing ignoble in him, except

this stain, if after all it be true, he cast all his predecessors into

the shade by his piety, as well as the glory of all their triumphs, by

the splendour of his own. So much more excellent is it to have that

for which we are renowned inherent, than derived from our ancestors;

because the former is exclusively our own, the latter is imputable to

others. I forbear relating how many new and magnificent monasteries

he founded; but I will not conceal that there was scarcely an old one

in England which he did not embellish, either with buildings, or

ornaments, or books, or possessions. Thus he ennobled the new ones

expressly, but the old, as though they were only casual objects of his

kindness. With Sihtric, king of the Northumbrians, who married, as

I have before said, one of his sisters, he made a lasting covenant;

he dying after a year, Athelstan took that province under his own

government, expelling one Aldulph, who resisted him. And as a noble

mind, when once roused, aspires to greater things, he compelled

Jothwel, king of all the Welsh, and Constantine, king of the Scots,

to quit their kingdoms; but not long after, moved with commiseration,

he restored them to their original state, that they might reign under

him, saying, “it was more glorious to make than to be a king.” His last

contest was with Anlaf, the son of Sihtric, who, with the before-named

Constantine, again in a state of rebellion, had entered his territories

under the hope of gaining the kingdom. Athelstan purposely retreating,

that he might derive greater honour from vanquishing his furious

assailants, this bold youth, meditating unlawful conquests, had now

proceeded far into England, when he was opposed at Bruneford[163] by

the most experienced generals, and most valiant forces. Perceiving,

at length, what danger hung over him, he assumed the character of a

spy. Laying aside his royal ensigns, and taking a harp in his hand,

he proceeded to our king’s tent: singing before the entrance, and at

times touching the trembling strings in harmonious cadence, he was

readily admitted, professing himself a minstrel, who procured his

daily sustenance by such employment. Here he entertained the king and

his companions for some time with his musical performance, carefully

examining everything while occupied in singing. When satiety of eating

had put an end to their sensual enjoyments, and the business of war

was resumed among the nobles, he was ordered to depart, and received

the recompence of his song; but disdaining to take it away, he hid it

beneath him in the earth. This circumstance was remarked by a person,

who had formerly served under him, and immediately related it to

Athelstan. The king, blaming him extremely for not having detected his

enemy as he stood before them, received this answer: “The same oath,

which I have lately sworn to you, O king, I formerly made to Anlaf; and

had you seen me violate it towards him, you might have expected similar

perfidy towards yourself: but condescend to listen to the advice of

your servant, which is, that you should remove your tent hence, and

remaining in another place till the residue of the army come up, you

will destroy your ferocious enemy by a moderate delay.” Approving

this admonition, he removed to another place. Anlaf advancing, well

prepared, at night, put to death, together with the whole of his

followers, a certain bishop,[164] who had joined the army only the

evening before, and, ignorant of what had passed, had pitched his

tent there on account of the level turf. Proceeding farther, he found

the king himself equally unprepared; who, little expecting his enemy

capable of such an attack, had indulged in profound repose. But, when

roused from his sleep by the excessive tumult, and urging his people,

as much as the darkness of the night would permit, to the conflict, his

sword fell by chance from the sheath; upon which, while all things were

filled with dread and blind confusion, he invoked the protection of God

and of St. Aldhelm, who was distantly related to him; and replacing his

hand upon the scabbard, he there found a sword, which is kept to this

day, on account of the miracle, in the treasury of the kings. Moreover,

it is, as they say, chased in one part, but can never be inlaid either

with gold or silver. Confiding in this divine present, and at the same

time, as it began to dawn, attacking the Norwegian, he continued the

battle unwearied through the day, and put him to flight with his whole

army. There fell Constantine, king of the Scots, a man of treacherous

energy and vigorous old age; five other kings, twelve earls, and almost

the whole assemblage of barbarians. The few who escaped were preserved

to embrace the faith of Christ.

Concerning this king a strong persuasion is prevalent among the

English, that one more just or learned never governed the kingdom.

That he was versed in literature, I discovered a few days since, in a

certain old volume, wherein the writer struggles with the difficulty of

the task, unable to express his meaning as he wished. Indeed I would

subjoin his words for brevity’s sake, were they not extravagant beyond

belief in the praises of the king, and just in that style of writing

which Cicero, the prince of Roman eloquence, in his book on Rhetoric,

denominates “bombast.” The custom of that time excuses the diction, and

the affection for Athelstan, who was yet living, gave countenance to

the excess of praise. I shall subjoin, therefore, in familiar language,

some few circumstances which may tend to augment his reputation.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 924.] ATHELSTAN.]

King Edward, after many noble exploits, both in war and peace, a few

days before his death subdued the contumacy of the city of Chester,

which was rebelling in confederacy with the Britons; and placing a

garrison there, he fell sick and died at Faringdon, and was buried,

as I before related, at Winchester. Athelstan, as his father had

commanded in his will, was then hailed king, recommended by his

years,--for he was now thirty,--and the maturity of his wisdom. For

even his grandfather Alfred, seeing and embracing him affectionately

when he was a boy of astonishing beauty and graceful manners, had

most devoutly prayed that his government might be prosperous: indeed,

he had made him a knight[165] unusually early, giving him a scarlet

cloak, a belt studded with diamonds, and a Saxon sword with a golden

scabbard. Next he had provided that he should be educated in the court

of Ethelfled his daughter, and of his son-in-law Ethered; so that,

having been brought up in expectation of succeeding to the kingdom, by

the tender care of his aunt and of this celebrated prince, he repressed

and destroyed all envy by the lustre of his good qualities; and, after

the death of his father, and decease of his brother, he was crowned at

Kingston. Hence, to celebrate such splendid events, and the joy of that

illustrious day, the poet justly exclaims:

Of royal race a noble stem

Hath chased our darkness like a gem.

Great Athelstan, his country’s pride,

Whose virtue never turns aside;

Sent by his father to the schools,

Patient, he bore their rigid rules,

And drinking deep of science mild,

Passed his first years unlike a child.

Next clothed in youth’s bewitching charms,

Studied the harsher lore of arms,

Which soon confessed his knowledge keen,

As after in the sovereign seen.

Soon as his father, good and great,

Yielded, though ever famed, to fate,

The youth was called the realm to guide,

And, like his parent, well preside.

The nobles meet, the crown present,

On rebels, prelates curses vent;

The people light the festive fires,

And show by turns their kind desires.

Their deeds their loyalty declare,

Though hopes and fears their bosoms share.

With festive treat the court abounds;

Foams the brisk wine, the hall resounds:

The pages run, the servants haste,

And food and verse regale the taste.

The minstrels sing, the guests commend,

Whilst all in praise to Christ contend.

The king with pleasure all things sees,

And all his kind attentions please.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 926.] ATHELSTAN.]

The solemnity of the consecration being finished, Athelstan, that he

might not deceive the expectation of his subjects, and fall below

their opinion, subdued the whole of England, except Northumbria, by

the single terror of his name. One Sihtric, a relation of that Gothrun

who is mentioned in the history of Alfred, presided over this people,

a barbarian both by race and disposition, who, though he ridiculed the

power of preceding kings, humbly solicited affinity with Athelstan,

sending messengers expressly for the purpose; and himself shortly

following confirmed the proposals of the ambassadors. In consequence,

honoured by a union with his sister, and by various presents, he laid

the basis of a perpetual treaty. But, as I have before observed, dying

at the end of a year, he afforded Athelstan an opportunity for uniting

Northumbria, which belonged to him both by ancient right and recent

affinity, to his sovereignty. Anlaf, the son of Sihtric, then fled

into Ireland, and his brother Guthferth into Scotland. Messengers

from the king immediately followed to Constantine, king of the Scots,

and Eugenius, king of the Cumbrians, claiming the fugitive under a

threat of war. The barbarians had no idea of resistance, but without

delay coming to a place called Dacor, they surrendered themselves and

their kingdoms to the sovereign of England. Out of regard to this

treaty, the king himself stood for the son of Constantine, who was

ordered to be baptized, at the sacred font. Guthferth, however, amid

the preparations for the journey, escaped by flight with one Turfrid,

a leader of the opposite party; and afterwards laying siege to York,

where he could succeed in bringing the townsmen to surrender neither

by entreaties nor by threats, he departed. Not long after, being both

shut up in a castle, they eluded the vigilance of the guards, and

escaped. Turfrid, losing his life quickly after by shipwreck, became a

prey to fishes. Guthferth, suffering extremely both by sea and land, at

last came a suppliant to court. Being amicably received by the king,

and sumptuously entertained for four days, he resought his ships; an

incorrigible pirate, and accustomed to live in the water like a fish.

In the meantime Athelstan levelled with the ground the castle which the

Danes had formerly fortified in York, that there might be no place for

disloyalty to shelter in; and the booty which had been found there,

which was very considerable, he generously divided, man by man, to

the whole army. For he had prescribed himself this rule of conduct,

never to hoard up riches; but liberally to expend all his acquisition

either on monasteries or on his faithful followers. On these, during

the whole of his life, he expended his paternal treasures, as well as

the produce of his victories. To the clergy he was humble and affable;

to the laity mild and pleasant; to the nobility rather reserved,

from respect to his dignity; to the lower classes, laying aside the

stateliness of power, he was kind and condescending. He was, as we have

heard, of becoming stature, thin in person, his hair flaxen, as I have

seen by his remains, and beautifully wreathed with golden threads.

Extremely beloved by his subjects from admiration of his fortitude and

humility, he was terrible to those who rebelled against him, through

his invincible courage. He compelled the rulers of the northern Welsh,

that is, of the North Britons, to meet him at the city of Hereford, and

after some opposition to surrender to his power. So that he actually

brought to pass what no king before him had even presumed to think of:

which was, that they should pay annually by way of tribute, twenty

pounds of gold, three hundred of silver, twenty-five thousand oxen,

besides as many dogs as he might choose, which from their sagacious

scent could discover the retreats and hiding places of wild beasts; and

birds, trained to make prey of others in the air. Departing thence, he

turned towards the Western Britons, who are called the Cornwallish,

because, situated in the west of Britain, they are opposite to the

extremity of Gaul.[166] Fiercely attacking, he obliged them to retreat

from Exeter, which, till that time, they had inhabited with equal

privileges with the Angles, fixing the boundary of their province on

the other side of the river Tamar, as he had appointed the river Wye to

the North Britons. This city then, which he had cleansed by purging it

of its contaminated race, he fortified with towers and surrounded with

a wall of squared stone. And, though the barren and unfruitful soil

can scarcely produce indifferent oats, and frequently only the empty

husk without the grain, yet, owing to the magnificence of the city,

the opulence of its inhabitants, and the constant resort of strangers,

every kind of merchandise is there so abundant that nothing is wanting

which can conduce to human comfort. Many noble traces of him are to

be seen in that city, as well as in the neighbouring district, which

will be better described by the conversation of the natives, than by my

narrative.

On this account all Europe resounded with his praises, and extolled his

valour to the skies: foreign princes with justice esteemed themselves

happy if they could purchase his friendship either by affinity or by

presents. Harold king of Norway sent him a ship with golden beak and a

purple sail, furnished within with a compacted fence of gilded shields.

The names of the persons sent with it, were Helgrim and Offrid: who,

being received with princely magnificence in the city of York, were

amply compensated, by rich presents, for the labour of their journey.

Henry the First, for there were many of the name, the son of Conrad,

king of the Teutonians and emperor of the Romans, demanded his sister,

as I have before related, for his son Otho: passing over so many

neighbouring kings, but contemplating from a distance Athelstan’s noble

descent, and greatness of mind. So completely indeed had these two

qualities taken up their abode with him, that none could be more noble

or illustrious in descent; none more bold or prompt in disposition.

Maturely considering that he had four sisters, who were all equally

beautiful, except only as their ages made a difference, he sent two to

the emperor at his request; and how he disposed of them in marriage

has already been related: Lewis prince of Aquitania, a descendant

of Charles the Great, obtained the third in wedlock: the fourth, in

whom the whole essence of beauty had centred, which the others only

possessed in part, was demanded from her brother by Hugh king of the

Franks.[167] The chief of this embassy was Adulph, son of Baldwin earl

of Flanders by Ethelswitha daughter of king Edward.[168] When he had

declared the request of the suitor in an assembly of the nobility at

Abingdon, he produced such liberal presents as might gratify the most

boundless avarice: perfumes such as never had been seen in England

before: jewels, but more especially emeralds, the greenness of which,

reflected by the sun, illumined the countenances of the by-standers

with agreeable light: many fleet horses with their trappings, and,

as Virgil says, “Champing their golden bits:” an alabaster vase so

exquisitely chased, that, the cornfields really seemed to wave, the

vines to bud, the figures of men actually to move, and so clear and

polished, that it reflected the features like a mirror; the sword of

Constantine the Great, on which the name of its original possessor

was read in golden letters; on the pommel, upon thick plates of gold,

might be seen fixed an iron spike, one of the four which the Jewish

faction prepared for the crucifixion of our Lord: the spear of Charles

the Great, which whenever that invincible emperor hurled in his

expeditions against the Saracens, he always came off conqueror; it was

reported to be the same, which, driven into the side of our Saviour by

the hand of the centurion,[169] opened, by that precious wound, the

joys of paradise to wretched mortals: the banner of the most blessed

martyr Maurice, chief of the Theban legion;[170] with which the same

king, in the Spanish war, used to break through the battalions of the

enemy however fierce and wedged together, and put them to flight: a

diadem, precious from its quantity of gold, but more so for its jewels,

the splendour of which threw the sparks of light so strongly on the

beholders, that the more stedfastly any person endeavoured to gaze, so

much the more he was dazzled, and compelled to avert his eyes; part

of the holy and adorable cross enclosed in crystal; where the eye,

piercing through the substance of the stone, might discern the colour

and size of the wood; a small portion of the crown of thorns, enclosed

in a similar manner, which, in derision of his government, the madness

of the soldiers placed on Christ’s sacred head. The king, delighted

with such great and exquisite presents, made an equal return of good

offices; and gratified the soul of the longing suitor by a union with

his sister. With some of these presents he enriched succeeding kings:

but to Malmesbury he gave part of the cross and crown; by the support

of which, I believe, that place even now flourishes, though it has

suffered so many shipwrecks of its liberty, so many attacks of its

enemies.[171] In this place he ordered Elwin and Ethelwin, the sons of

his uncle Ethelward, whom he had lost in the battle against Anlaf, to

be honourably buried, expressing his design of resting here himself: of

which battle it is now proper time to give the account of that poet,

from whom I have taken all these transactions.

His subjects governing with justest sway,

Tyrants o’eraw’d, twelve years had pass’d away,

When Europe’s noxious pestilence stalk’d forth,

And poured the barbarous legions from the north.

The pirate Anlaf now the briny surge

Forsakes, while deeds of desperation urge.

Her king consenting, Scotia’s land receives

The frantic madman, and his host of thieves:

Now flush’d with insolence they shout and boast,

And drive the harmless natives from the coast.

Thus, while the king, secure in youthful pride,

Bade the soft hours in gentle pleasures glide,

Though erst he stemmed the battle’s furious tide,

With ceaseless plunder sped the daring horde,

And wasted districts with their fire and sword.

The verdant crops lay withering on the fields

The glebe no promise to the rustic yields.

Immense the numbers of barbarian force,

Countless the squadrons both of foot and horse.

At length fame’s rueful moan alarmed the king,

And bade him shun this ignominious sting,

That arms like his to ruffian bands should bend:

’Tis done: delays and hesitations end.

High in the air the threatening banners fly,

And call his eager troops to victory,

His hardy force, a hundred thousand strong

Whom standards hasten to the fight along.

The martial clamour scares the plund’ring band,

And drives them bootless tow’rds their native land.

The vulgar mass a dreadful carnage share,

And shed contagion on the ambient air,

While Anlaf, only, out of all the crew

Escapes the meed of death, so justly due,

Reserved by fortune’s favor, once again

When Athelstan was dead, to claim our strain.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 937.] DEATH OF ELFRED.]

This place seems to require that I should relate the death of Elfred

in the words of the king, for which I before pledged the faith of my

narrative. For as he had commanded the bodies of his relations to be

conveyed to Malmesbury, and interred at the head of the sepulchre of

St. Aldhelm; he honoured the place afterwards to such a degree, that

he esteemed none more desirable or more holy. Bestowing many large

estates upon it, he confirmed them by charters, in one of which, after

the donation, he adds: “Be it known to the sages of our kingdom, that

I have not unjustly seized the lands aforesaid, or dedicated plunder

to God; but that I have received them, as the English nobility, and

even John, the pope of the church of Rome himself, have judged fitting

on the death of Elfred. He was the jealous rival both of my happiness

and life, and consented to the wickedness of my enemies, who, on my

father’s decease, had not God in his mercy delivered me, wished to put

out my eyes in the city of Winchester: wherefore, on the discovery

of their infernal contrivances, he was sent to the church of Rome to

defend himself by oath before pope John. This he did at the altar of

St. Peter; but at the very instant he had sworn, he fell down before

it, and was carried by his servants to the English School, where he

died the third night after. The pope immediately sent to consult

with us, whether his body should be placed among other Christians.

On receiving this account the nobility of our kingdom, with the

whole body of his relations, humbly entreated that we would grant

our permission for his remains to be buried with other Christians.

Consenting, therefore, to their urgent request, we sent back our

compliance to Rome, and with the pope’s permission he was buried,

though unworthy, with other Christians. In consequence all his property

of every description was adjudged to be mine. Moreover, we have noted

this in writing, that, so long as Christianity reigns, it may never be

abrogated, whence the aforesaid land, which I have given to God and St.

Peter, was granted me; nor do I know any thing more just, than that

I should bestow this gift on God and St. Peter, who caused my rival

to fall in the sight of all persons, and conferred on me a prosperous

reign.”

In these words of the king, we may equally venerate his wisdom, and

his piety in sacred matters: his wisdom, that so young a man should

perceive that a sacrifice obtained by rapine could not be acceptable

to God: his piety in so gratefully making a return to God, out of a

benefit conferred on him by divine vengeance. Moreover, it may be

necessary to observe, that at that time the church of St. Peter was the

chief of the monastery, which now is deemed second only: the church of

St. Mary, which the monks at present frequent, was built afterwards in

the time of king Edgar, under abbat Elfric. Thus far relating to the

king I have written from authentic testimony: that which follows I have

learned more from old ballads, popular through succeeding times, than

from books written expressly for the information of posterity. I have

subjoined them, not to defend their veracity, but to put my reader in

possession of all I know. First, then, to the relation of his birth.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 926.] BIRTH OF ATHELSTAN.]

There was in a certain village, a shepherd’s daughter, a girl of

exquisite beauty, who gained through the elegance of her person what

her birth could never have bestowed. In a vision she beheld a prodigy:

the moon shone from her womb, and all England was illuminated by the

light. When she sportively related this to her companions in the

morning, it was not so lightly received, but immediately reached the

ears of the woman who had nursed the sons of the king. Deliberating on

this matter, she took her home and adopted her as a daughter, bringing

up this young maiden with costlier attire, more delicate food, and

more elegant demeanour. Soon after, Edward, the son of king Alfred,

travelling through the village, stopped at the house which had been

the scene of his infantine education. Indeed, he thought it would be a

blemish on his reputation to omit paying his salutations to his nurse.

He became deeply enamoured of the young woman from the first moment he

saw her, and passed the night with her. In consequence of this single

intercourse, she brought forth her son Athelstan, and so realized her

dream. For at the expiration of his childish years, as he approached

manhood, he gave proof by many actions what just expectations of noble

qualities might be entertained of him. King Edward, therefore, died,

and was shortly followed by his legitimate son Ethelward. All hopes

now centred in Athelstan: Elfred alone, a man of uncommon insolence,

disdaining to be governed by a sovereign whom he had not voluntarily

chosen, secretly opposed with his party to the very utmost. But he

being detected and punished, as the king has before related, there

were some who even accused Edwin, the king’s brother, of treachery.

Base and dreadful crime was it thus to embroil fraternal affection by

sinister constructions. Edwin, though imploring, both personally and

by messengers, the confidence of his brother, and though invalidating

the accusation by an oath, was nevertheless driven into exile. So far,

indeed, did the dark suggestions of some persons prevail on a mind

distracted with various cares, that, forgetful of a brother’s love,

he expelled the youth, an object of pity even to strangers. The mode

adopted too was cruel in the extreme: he was compelled to go on board

a vessel, with a single attendant, without a rower, without even an

oar, and the bark crazy with age. Fortune laboured for a long time

to restore the innocent youth to land, but when at length he was far

out at sea, and sails could not endure the violence of the wind, the

young man, delicate, and weary of life under such circumstances, put

an end to his existence by a voluntary plunge into the waters. The

attendant wisely determining to prolong his life, sometimes by shunning

the hostile waves, and sometimes by urging the boat forward with his

feet, brought his master’s body to land, in the narrow sea which

flows between Wissant and Dover. Athelstan, when his anger cooled,

and his mind became calm, shuddered at the deed, and submitting to a

seven years’ penance, inflicted severe vengeance on the accuser of

his brother: he was the king’s cup-bearer, and on this account had

opportunity of enforcing his insinuations. It so happened on a festive

day, as he was serving wine, that slipping with one foot in the midst

of the chamber, he recovered himself with the other. On this occasion,

he made use of an expression which proved his destruction: “Thus

brother,” said he, “assists brother.” The king on hearing this, ordered

the faithless wretch to be put to death, loudly reproaching him with

the loss of that assistance he might have had from his brother, were he

alive, and bewailing his death.

The circumstances of Edwin’s death, though extremely probable, I the

less venture to affirm for truth, on account of the extraordinary

affection he manifested towards the rest of his brothers; for, as his

father had left them very young, he cherished them whilst children with

much kindness, and, when grown up, made them partakers of his kingdom;

it is before related to what dignity he exalted such of his sisters

as his father had left unmarried and unprovided for. Completing his

earthly course, and that a short one, Athelstan died at Gloucester.

His noble remains were conveyed to Malmesbury and buried under the

altar. Many gifts, both in gold and silver, as well as relics of

saints purchased abroad in Brittany, were carried before the body:

for, in such things, admonished, as they say, in a dream, he expended

the treasures which his father had long since amassed, and had left

untouched. His years, though few, were full of glory.

CHAP. VII.

_Of kings Edmund, Edred, and Edwy._ [A.D. 940-955.]

[Sidenote: [A.D. 940-944.] KING EDMUND.]

In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 940, Edmund the brother of

Athelstan, a youth of about eighteen, received and held the government

for six years and a half. In his time the Northumbrians, meditating a

renewal of hostilities, violated the treaty which they had made with

Athelstan, and created Anlaf, whom they had recalled from Ireland,

their king. Edmund, who thought it disgraceful not to complete his

brother’s victorious course, led his troops against the delinquents;

who presently retreating, he subjugated all the cities on this side the

river Humber. Anlaf, with a certain prince, Reginald,[172] the son of

that Gurmund of whom we have spoken in the history of Alfred, sounding

the disposition of the king, offered to surrender himself, proffering

his conversion to Christianity as a pledge of his fidelity, and

receiving baptism. His savage nature, however, did not let him remain

long in this resolution, for he violated his oath, and irritated his

lord. In consequence of which, the following year he suffered for his

crimes, being doomed to perpetual exile. The province which is called

Cumberland Edmund assigned to Malcolm, king of the Scots, under fealty

of an oath.

Among the many donations which the king conferred on different

churches, he exalted that of Glastonbury, through his singular

affection towards it, with great estates and honours; and granted it a

charter in these words:

“In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I Edmund, king of the Angles,

and governor and ruler of the other surrounding nations, with the

advice and consent of my nobility, for the hope of eternal retribution,

and remission of my transgressions, do grant to the church of the holy

mother of God, Mary of Glastonbury, and the venerable Dunstan, whom I

have there constituted abbat, the franchise and jurisdiction, rights,

customs, and all the forfeitures of all their possessions; that is

to say,[173] burhgeritha, and hundred-setena, athas and ordelas, and

infangenetheofas, hamsocne, and fridebrice, and forestel and toll, and

team, throughout my kingdom, and their lands shall be free to them, and

released from all exactions, as my own are. But more especially shall

the town of Glastonbury, in which is situated that most ancient church

of the holy mother of God, together with its bounds, be more free than

other places. The abbat of this place, alone, shall have power, as

well in causes known as unknown; in small and in great; and even in

those which are above, and under the earth; on dry land, and in the

water; in woods and in plains; and he shall have the same authority of

punishing or remitting the crimes of delinquents perpetrated within it,

as my court has; in the same manner as my predecessors have granted and

confirmed by charter; to wit, Edward my father, and Elfred his father,

and Kentwin, Ina, and Cuthred, and many others, who more peculiarly

honoured and esteemed that noble place. And that any one, either

bishop, or duke,[174] or prince, or any of their servants, should dare

to enter it for the purpose of holding courts, or distraining, or doing

any thing contrary to the will of the servants of God there, I inhibit

under God’s curse. Whosoever therefore shall benevolently augment my

donation, may his life be prosperous in this present world; long may he

enjoy his happiness: but whosoever shall presume to invade it through

his own rashness, let him know for certain that he shall be compelled

with fear and trembling to give account before the tribunal of a

rigorous judge, unless he shall first atone for his offence by proper

satisfaction.”

[Sidenote: [A.D. 946.] EDMUND KILLED.]

The aforesaid donation was granted in the year of our Lord Jesus

Christ’s incarnation 944, in the first of the indiction, and was

written in letters of gold in the book of the Gospels, which he

presented to the same church elegantly adorned. Such great and

prosperous successes, however, were obscured by a melancholy death.

A certain robber named Leofa, whom he had banished for his crimes,

returning after six years’ absence totally unexpected, was sitting,

on the feast of St. Augustine, the apostle of the English, and first

archbishop of Canterbury, among the royal guests at Puckle-church,[175]

for on this day the English were wont to regale in commemoration of

their first preacher; by chance too, he was placed near a nobleman whom

the king had condescended to make his guest. This, while the others

were eagerly carousing, was perceived by the king alone; when, hurried

with indignation and impelled by fate, he leaped from the table, caught

the robber by the hair, and dragged him to the floor; but he secretly

drawing a dagger from its sheath plunged it with all his force into the

breast of the king as he lay upon him. Dying of the wound, he gave rise

over the whole kingdom to many fictions concerning his decease. The

robber was shortly torn limb from limb by the attendants who rushed in,

though he wounded some of them ere they could accomplish their purpose.

St. Dunstan, at that time abbat of Glastonbury, had foreseen his

ignoble end, being fully persuaded of it from the gesticulations and

insolent mockery of a devil dancing before him. Wherefore, hastening

to court at full speed, he received intelligence of the transaction

on the road. By common consent then it was determined, that his body

should be brought to Glastonbury and there magnificently buried in

the northern part of the tower. That such had been his intention,

through his singular regard for the abbat, was evident from particular

circumstances. The village also where he was murdered was made an

offering for the dead, that the spot which had witnessed his fall might

ever after minister aid to his soul.

In his fourth year, that is, in the year of our Lord 944, William, the

son of Rollo, duke of Normandy, was treacherously killed in France,

which old writers relate as having been done with some degree of

justice. Rinulph, one of the Norman nobility, owing William a grudge

from some unknown cause, harassed him with perpetual aggressions.

His son, Anschetil, who served under the earl, to gratify his lord

durst offer violence to nature for taking his father in battle: he

delivered him into the power of the earl, relying on the most solemn

oath, that he should suffer nothing beyond imprisonment. As wickedness,

however, constantly discovers pretences for crime, the earl, shortly

after feigning an excuse, sends Anschetil to Pavia bearing a letter

to the duke of Italy, the purport of which was his own destruction.

Completing his journey, he was received, on his entrance into the

city, in the most respectful manner; and delivering the letter, the

duke, astonished at the treachery, shuddered, that a warrior of such

singular address should be ordered to be despatched. But as he would

not oppose the request of so renowned a nobleman, he laid an ambush

of a thousand horsemen, as it is said, for Anschetil when he left

the city. For a long time, with his companions whom he had selected

out of all Normandy, he resisted their attack; but at last he fell

nobly, compensating his own death by slaying many of the enemy. The

only survivor on either side was Balso, a Norman, a man of small size,

but of incredible courage; although some say that he was ironically

called short. This man, I say, alone hovered round the city, and by his

single sword terrified the townspeople as long as he thought proper.

No person will deem this incredible, who considers what efforts the

desperation of a courageous man will produce, and how little military

valour the people of that region possess. Returning thence to his own

country, he laid his complaint of the perfidy of his lord before the

king of France. Fame reported too, that Rinulph, in addition to his

chains, had had his eyes put out. In consequence the earl being cited

to his trial at Paris, was met, under the pretence of a conference,

as they assert, and killed by Balso; thus making atonement for his

own perfidy, and satisfying the rage of his antagonist in the midst

of the river Seine. His death was the source of long discord between

the French and Normans, till by the exertions of Richard his son it

had a termination worthy such a personage. A truer history[176] indeed

relates, that being at enmity with Ernulph, earl of Flanders, he had

possessed himself of one of his castles, and that being invited out

by him to a conference, on a pretended design of making a truce, he

was killed by Balso, as they were conversing in a ship: that a key was

found at his girdle, which being applied to the lock of his private

cabinet, discovered certain monastic habiliments;[177] for he ever

designed, even amid his warlike pursuits, one day to become a monk at

Jumiéges; which place, deserted from the time of Hasten, he cleared of

the overspreading thorns, and with princely magnificence exalted to its

present state.

[Sidenote: [A.D. 946-955.] EDRED--EDWY.]

In the year of our Lord 946, Edred, Edward’s third son, assuming the

government, reigned nine years and a half. He gave proof that he had

not degenerated in greatness of soul from his father and his brothers;

for he nearly exterminated the Northumbrians and the Scots, laying

waste the whole province with sword and famine, because, having with

little difficulty compelled them to swear fidelity to him, they broke

their oath, and made Iricius their king. He for a long time kept

Wulstan, archbishop of York, who, it was said, connived at the revolt

of his countrymen, in chains, but afterwards, out of respect to his

ecclesiastical dignity, released and pardoned him. In the meantime, the

king himself, prostrate at the feet of the saints, devoted his life to

God and to Dunstan, by whose admonition he endured with patience his

frequent bodily pains,[178] prolonged his prayers, and made his palace

altogether the school of virtue. He died accompanied with the utmost

grief of men, but joy of angels; for Dunstan, learning by a messenger

that he was sick, while urging his horse in order to see him, heard a

voice thundering over his head, “Now king Edred sleeps in the Lord.” He

lies buried in the cathedral at Winchester.

In the year of our Lord 955, Edwy, son of Edmund, the brother of

Athelstan the former king, taking possession of the kingdom, retained

it four years: a wanton youth, who abused the beauty of his person

in illicit intercourse. Finally, taking a woman nearly related to

him as his wife, he doated on her beauty, and despised the advice

of his counsellors. On the very day he had been consecrated king,

in full assembly of the nobility, when deliberating on affairs of

importance and essential to the state, he burst suddenly from amongst

them, darted wantonly into his chamber, and rioted in the embraces of

the harlot. All were indignant of the shameless deed, and murmured

among themselves. Dunstan alone, with that firmness which his name

implies,[179] regardless of the royal indignation, violently dragged

the lascivious boy from the chamber, and on the archbishop’s compelling

him to repudiate the strumpet,[180] made him his enemy for ever. Soon

after, upheld by most contemptible supporters, he afflicted with

undeserved calamities all the members of the monastic order throughout

England,--who were first despoiled of their property, and then driven

into exile. He drove Dunstan himself, the chief of monks, into

Flanders. At that time the face of monachism was sad and pitiable. Even

the monastery of Malmesbury, which had been inhabited by monks for more

than two hundred and seventy years, he made a sty for secular canons.

But thou, O Lord Jesus, our creator and redeemer, gracious disposer,

art abundantly able to remedy our defects by means of those irregular

and vagabond men. Thou didst bring to light thy treasure, hidden for

so many years--I mean the body of St. Aldhelm, which they took up and

placed in a shrine. The royal generosity increased the fame of the

canons; for the king bestowed on the saint an estate, very convenient

both from its size and vicinity. But my recollection shudders even at

this time, to think how cruel he was to other monasteries, equally

on account of the giddiness of youth, and the pernicious counsel of

his concubine, who was perpetually poisoning his uninformed mind.

But let his soul, long since placed in rest by the interposition of

Dunstan,[181] pardon my grief: grief, I say, compels me to condemn

him, “because private advantage is not to be preferred to public loss,

but rather public loss should outweigh private advantage.” He paid the

penalty of his rash attempt even in this life, being despoiled of the

greatest part of his kingdom;[182] shocked with which calamity, he

died, and was buried in the new minster at Winchester.

CHAP. VIII.

_Of king Edgar, son of king Edmund._ [A.D. 959-975.]

[Sidenote: [A.D. 959-975.] OF KING EDGAR.]