THE DANES AND ALFRED THE GREAT.
[Illustration: ALFRED THE GREAT.]
1. It was nearly 380 years after the first Saxons came here with
their two pirate chiefs, Hengist and Horsa, that England began to
have only one king.
2. There were still some other princes, who bore that title, but they
had so little power, that they could hardly be called kings; so that
a brave prince, named Egbert, who conquered the last kingdom of the
Heptarchy, is usually called the first king of England.
3. The civil wars were thus, for a time, ended; but it seemed as if
the English were never to be long at peace, for they now had some
terrible enemies to contend with, who kept the country in constant
alarm.
4. These were the Danes who came from Denmark, Norway, and Sweden,
and were almost the same people as the Saxons; for they spoke the
same language, followed the same customs, and lived by piracy, as the
Saxons did in former times.
5. I have not room to tell you of half the mischief they did in
England. Sometimes they would land suddenly from their boats in the
night, when the affrighted people were awakened by a cry of, “the
Danes! the Danes!” and, starting up, perhaps, beheld their villages
in flames; and, as they ran in terror from their cottages, were
either killed or dragged away to the pirate vessels, with the cattle
and any thing else that could be found, and made slaves.
6. Egbert had fought a battle with them in Cornwall, and forced them
to depart; but, during the reign of Ethelwulf, the next king, and
three of his sons, they not only attacked the towns and villages
on the sea-coast, but used to seize the horses and ride about the
country in search of plunder.
7. They broke into the monasteries, where the people often put their
money and jewels for safety; and if the inmates made any resistance
they would set the building on fire.
8. Then they set up fortified camps, in many places; that is, a
number of tents, arranged together, like a town surrounded with
a wall and ditch; and thus a great many of the Danes established
themselves in the country, and conquered all the northern part of it.
This was the sad state of affairs when Alfred the Great came to the
throne.
9. I dare say you have heard of this good prince, who was the
youngest and favorite son of king Ethelwulf, for he was the cleverest
and best. His mother, being an accomplished lady, tried to teach all
her sons to read; but none of them would learn except Alfred, who
afterwards went to Rome to study Latin, and learn to write, so that
he was a good scholar for those times.
10. His three brothers had all reigned in turn, and were all dead
by the time he was twenty-two years old, therefore he was then heir
to the crown; but, instead of being able to think about the best
way of governing the country, he was obliged to get together as many
soldiers as he could, and go out with them to fight the Danes.
11. There was no regular army then, as there is now; but, when the
king wanted soldiers, he sent to all the noblemen and landholders
in the kingdom, who were obliged to come themselves and bring so
many men with them, according to the size of their estates, some on
horseback, some on foot, and all well armed.
12. You must remember that people could not buy land then for money,
nor have it for paying rent; but large estates were given to the
thanes and nobles by the king, on condition that they should perform
certain services for him; and you have already seen how the vassals
of the nobles held their little farms on similar terms.
13. This was called the feudal system, which means, holding land for
services instead of rent; and the person holding the land was called
the vassal of him to whom it belonged, whether rich or poor; so the
nobles were the vassals of the king, and the ceorls were the vassals
of the nobles.
14. I think you now understand what the feudal system was, therefore
I shall proceed with the history of Alfred the Great.
15. The war had gone on for several years, and the king was so
unfortunate that, at last, he was obliged to hide himself in a woody
marsh in Somersetshire, called the Isle of Athelney, because it was
surrounded by bogs and rivers.
16. The Danes were then in pursuit of him; and, one time, fearing to
be taken prisoner, he got some man to let him keep his cows, or pigs,
I do not know which; so that, if the Danes happened to see him, they
might not guess who he was.
17. I dare say, you have heard the story of this peasant’s wife
scolding Alfred one day, for letting some cakes burn, which she had
left to bake on the hearth, whilst she was out; but she did not know
that he was the king, or, of course, she would not have taken that
liberty.
18. At last, Alfred heard there were many chiefs and noblemen, with
their vassals, ready to join him again; so he determined to try
another battle, but thought it would be prudent first to learn what
was the real strength of the enemy.
19. Now the Danes, like the Saxons, were fond of good cheer, and
liked to have songs and music to make them merry while they were
feasting; and this put it into Alfred’s head to go into their camp
disguised as a harper, for he could play the harp and sing very well.
20. So away he went, with his harp at his back, and, when he came
there, the Danish chiefs had him called into their tents, and made
him sit down and play to them, and gave him plenty to eat and drink.
21. Then he heard them talking about king Alfred, and saying, they
supposed he was dead, as he did not come to fight them, so they need
think of nothing but enjoying themselves; and thus he discovered they
were not prepared for a battle, and were almost sure to be defeated,
if taken by surprise.
22. He, therefore, left the camp as soon as he could, and sent
a message to his friends to meet him in Selwood Forest, also in
Somersetshire, with all the men they could muster; and, when they
were all come, he put himself at their head, and, marching suddenly
down upon the Danes, fought and won a great battle at Ethandune, a
place in Gloucestershire, now called Woeful Danes’ Bottom, from the
terrible slaughter of the Danes there.
23. But there were a great many Danes in England who had not been
engaged in this battle, and who had possession of almost all the
northern part of the country; so the king wisely considered that
it would be much better to induce them to settle peaceably in the
country as friends, rather than prolong those dreadful wars, which
had already caused so much misery.
24. He therefore proposed to the Danish chief that, if he would
promise to keep at peace, he should have a wide tract of country,
which had been desolated by these wars, all along the east coast,
from the river Tweed to the river Thames, for himself and his people,
to be called the Dane land; so Guthrun, the Danish chief, accepted
the offer, and parcelled the land out amongst his followers, who
settled there with their vassals, and lived the same manner as the
Saxons.
25. You may think how glad the people were that the wars were over,
and the king was very glad too, for he now had time to do what was
more pleasant to him than fighting, which was, to do all the good he
could for the country. He thought the best way to defend it against
its enemies was to have good ships to keep them from landing; but,
as the English did not know much about ship-building, he sent for
men from Italy to teach them, and also had models of ships brought
that they might see how they were constructed, and men were taught to
manage them, so that England, for the first time, had a navy.
26. These ships were called galleys, and were worked both with oars
and sails; they were twice as long as those of the Danes, and stood
higher out of the water.
27. While some workmen were making ships, others were employed in
rebuilding of the towns and villages that had been burned down by
the Danes; and the king ordained that there should be schools in
different parts of the kingdom, where noblemen’s sons might be
educated, for he had found the benefit of learning himself, and
thought it a sad thing that all the great men should be so ignorant
as they were.
28. You may, perhaps, wonder why so good a man as Alfred should only
think of having the great people taught to read; but reading would
have been of no use to the common people, as the art of printing was
unknown, and there were no books but those written by the monks or
nuns, which were so expensive that none but very rich people could
afford to have even two or three of them.
29. The principal school founded by king Alfred was at Oxford, which
was then a small, poor place, with a monastery, and a few mean wooden
houses for the scholars to live in, very different from the present
grand university, and the masters, who were all churchmen, and called
learned clerks, resided in the monastery.
30. Alfred, with the help of some good and clever men, whom he
consulted in every thing, made some very wise laws, and obliged
the people to obey them, by having courts of justice held in the
principal cities, regularly once a month; for nobody had thought much
about law or justice either, while the wars were going on, so that
there was need of some very strict regulations to restore good order,
without which there can be neither happiness nor comfort any where.
31. Under the good government of Alfred the Great, England enjoyed
more peace and prosperity than it had known since the days of the
Romans; and as his son and grandson both endeavoured to follow his
example, the influence of his wisdom was felt long after his death,
which happened when he was about fifty years old, in the year 900.
QUESTIONS.
2. Who was called the first king of England?
4. Who were the Danes?
8. How did they establish themselves in the country?
10. Who went to war with them?
11. How was an army raised in those times?
12. What was the feudal system?
15. What happened to Alfred?
22. What was the battle of Ethandune?
24. How did Alfred make friends of the Danes?
26. How was a navy first formed?
29. Which of our universities was founded by Alfred the Great?