Chapter I: Part 1

Transcriber’s Note

Italics are indicated by _underscores_, boldface by =equals signs=.

ASSER’S
LIFE OF KING ALFRED

TRANSLATED FROM THE TEXT OF
STEVENSON’S EDITION

BY
ALBERT S. COOK

PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN
YALE UNIVERSITY

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COPYRIGHT, 1906
BY ALBERT S. COOK

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

66.1

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PREFACE

The issue of Stevenson’s long and eagerly expected edition of Asser’s _Life of King Alfred_ has provided an opportunity to supply the ever increasing number of the great king’s admirers with a more satisfactory rendering into English of this, perhaps the most precious document, notwithstanding all its faults, for the comprehension of his life and character.

The authenticity of the Life was impugned by Thomas Wright in 1841, by Sir Henry Howorth in 1876–77, and by an unknown writer in 1898, and it had become somewhat the fashion to regard it as a production of a later period, and therefore entitled to but little credence. The doubts as to its authenticity have been satisfactorily dispelled by the two eminent scholars who have most recently discussed the difficulties, Plummer and Stevenson.

The former, in his _Life and Times of Alfred the Great_, Oxford, 1902, says (p. 52): ‘The work which bears Asser’s name cannot be later than 974, and the attempt to treat it as a forgery of the eleventh or twelfth century must be regarded as having broken down. I may add that I started with a strong prejudice against the authenticity of Asser, so that my conclusions have at any rate been impartially arrived at.’ The latter, in his noble edition (Oxford, 1904), remarks (p. vii): ‘In discussing the work I have attempted to approach it without any bias for or against it, and throughout my endeavor has been to subject every portion of it to as searching an examination as my knowledge and critical powers would permit. The net result has been to convince me that, although there may be no very definite proof that the work was written by Bishop Asser in the lifetime of King Alfred, there is no anachronism or other proof that it is a spurious compilation of later date. The serious charges brought against its authenticity break down altogether under examination, while there remain several features that point with varying strength to the conclusion that it is, despite its difficulties and corruptions, really a work of the time it purports to be. This result is confirmed by the important corroboration of some of its statements by contemporary Frankish chroniclers. Thus the profession of belief in its authenticity by such eminent historians as Kemble, Pauli, Stubbs, and Freeman agrees with my own conclusion.’

Notwithstanding their general rehabilitation of the work, however, neither critic is prepared to trust it implicitly. Plummer says (p. 52): ‘On the whole, then, Asser is an authority to be used with criticism and caution; partly because we have always to be alive to the possibility of interpolation, partly because the writer’s Celtic imagination is apt to run away with him.’ And thus Stevenson (p. cxxx): ‘The work still presents some difficulties. Carelessness of transcription may possibly explain those that are merely verbal, but there still remain certain passages that lay the author open to the charge of exaggeration, such as his mention of gold-covered and silver-covered buildings, if that be the literal meaning of the passage, and his statement that Alfred might, if he had chosen, have been king before his elder brother Æthelred, with whom, it is clear, he was on most intimate terms.’

The style of the book is not uniform. The passages translated from the _Chronicle_ are simpler, while in the more original parts the author displays an unfortunate tendency to a turgid and at times bombastic manner of writing. Indeed, it displays, in many passages, the traits of that Hesperic Latinity which, invented or made fashionable in the sixth century, probably by a British monk in the southwestern part of England, was more or less current in England from the time of Aldhelm until the Norman Conquest. This Hesperic, or Celtic, Latinity has been compared to the mock euphuism of Sir Piercie Shafton in Scott’s _Monastery_ (Professor H. A. Strong, in _American Journal of Philology_ 26. 205), and may be illustrated by Professor Strong’s translation into English of certain sentences from the _Hisperica Famina_, the production, as it is believed, of the monk referred to above: ‘This precious shower of words glitters, by no awkward barriers confining the diction, and husbands its strength by an exquisite balance and by equable device, trilling sweet descant of Ausonian speech through the speaker’s throat by this shower of words passing through Latin throats; just as countless swarms of bees go here and there in their hollow hives, and sip the honey-streams in their homes, and set in order, as they are wont, their combs with their beaks.’

With the passage just quoted may be compared an extract from chapter 88 of Asser, the translation of which is given below (pp. 49, 50): ‘Ac deinde cotidie inter nos sermocinando, ad hæc investigando aliis inventis æque placabilibus testimoniis, quaternio ille refertus succrevit, nec immerito, sicut scriptum est, “super modicum fundamentum ædificat justus et paulatim ad majora defluit,” velut apis fertilissima longe lateque gronnios interrogando discurrens, multimodos divinæ scripturæ flosculos inhianter et incessabiliter congregavit, quis præcordii sui cellulas densatim replevit.’ Such Latin as this is difficult to translate into satisfactory English. If one renders it literally, the result is apt to look rather absurd; and beyond a certain point condensation is impracticable, or else misrepresents the original, faults and merits alike.

Hitherto there have been three translations of Asser into English--that by J. A. Giles in Bohn’s _Six Old English Chronicles_, London, 1848; that by Joseph Stevenson in _Church Historians of England_, Vol. 2, London, 1854; and that by Edward Conybeare, _Alfred in the Chroniclers_, London, 1900. As the basis of my work I have taken the translation of Giles, sometimes following it rather closely, and at other times departing from it more or less widely.

The reader familiar with the traditional Asser will miss some matter with which he is familiar, such as the story of Alfred and the cakes, that of the raven-banner of the Danes, etc. These are derived from interpolations made in the manuscript by Archbishop Parker, which modern critical scholarship has at length excised. For all matters regarding the manuscript, the earlier editions, etc., as well as for copious illustrative notes on the text, the reader is referred to Stevenson’s edition.

Insertions made in the text by Stevenson, on what he considers sufficient grounds, are indicated by < >. The chapter-divisions and -numbering are Stevenson’s; the chapter-headings mine. Where modern forms of proper names exist, I have not hesitated to adopt them, and in general have tended rather to normalize them than scrupulously to follow the sometimes various spellings of the text. The notes have almost always been derived from Stevenson’s edition, whether or not explicit acknowledgment has been made, but now and then, as in the case of the long note on chapter 56, are my own.

YALE UNIVERSITY
July 4, 1905

CONTENTS

PAGE

1. Alfred’s Birth and Genealogy 1

2. Genealogy of Alfred’s Mother 2

3. The Danes at Wicganbeorg and Sheppey 3

4. The Danes sack Canterbury 3

5. Battle of Aclea 4

6. Defeat of the Danes at Sandwich 4

7. Æthelwulf assists Burgred 4

8. Alfred at Rome 5

9. Other Events of 853 5

10. The Heathen winter in Sheppey 6

11. Æthelwulf journeys to Rome 6

12. Rebellion of Æthelbald 6

13. Judith’s Position in Wessex 7

14. Offa and Eadburh 8

15. Eadburh’s Further Life 9

16. Æthelwulf’s Will 10

17. Æthelbald marries Judith 11

18. Æthelbert’s Reign 12

19. Æthelbert’s Death 12

20. The Danes in Kent 12

21. Æthelred’s Accession 13

22. Alfred’s Rearing 13

23. Alfred and the Book of Saxon Poems 14

24. Alfred’s Handbook 14

25. Alfred’s Love of Learning 15

26. The Danes occupy York 16

27. Defeat of the Northumbrians 16

28. Death of Ealhstan 17

29. Alfred marries 17

30. The Danes at Nottingham 17

31. The Danes at York 18

32. The Danes at Thetford 18

33. The Danes triumph 18

34. Ceolnoth dies 18

35. The Danes defeated at Englefield 19

36. Battle of Reading 19

37. Battle of Ashdown 20

38. Alfred begins the Attack 20

39. The Heathen Rout and Loss 21

40. Battle of Basing 22

41. Æthelred’s Death 22

42. Alfred comes to the Throne; Battle of Wilton 22

43. Peace made 24

44. The Heathen winter in London 24

45. The Heathen winter in Lindsey 24

46. The Danes in Mercia 24

47. The Danes in Northumbria and Cambridge 25

48. Alfred’s Battle at Sea 25

49. Movements of the Danes 25

50. Halfdene partitions Northumbria 26

51. Division of Mercia 26

52. The Danes at Chippenham 26

53. Alfred in Somersetshire 27

54. The Danes defeated at Cynwit 27

55. Alfred at Athelney 28

56. Battle of Edington, and Treaty with Guthrum 28

57. The Danes go to Cirencester 30

58. Danes at Fulham 31

59. An Eclipse 31

60. The Danes in East Anglia 31

61. The Smaller Army leaves England 31

62. The Danes fight with the Franks 31

63. The Danes on the Meuse 31

64. Alfred’s Naval Battle with the Danes 31

65. The Danes at Condé 32

66. Deliverance of Rochester 32

67. Alfred’s Naval Battle at the Mouth of the Stour 32

68. Death of Carloman, of Louis II, and of Louis III 33

69. The Danes in Old Saxony 33

70. Charles, King of the Alemanni 34

71. Death of Pope Marinus 34

72. The Danes break their Treaty 34

73. Asser makes a New Beginning 34

74. Alfred’s Maladies 35

75. Alfred’s Children and their Education 37

76. Alfred’s Varied Pursuits 38

77. Alfred’s Scholarly Associates: Werfrith, Plegmund, Æthelstan,
and Werwulf 41

78. Grimbald and John, the Old Saxon 42

79. Asser’s Negotiations with King Alfred 42

80. The Welsh Princes who submit to Alfred 44

81. How Alfred rewards Submission 45

82. The Siege of Paris 46

83. Alfred rebuilds London 47

84. The Danes leave Paris 47

85. Division of the Empire 47

86. Alfred sends Alms to Rome 48

87. Alfred begins to translate from Latin 48

88. Alfred’s Manual 48

89. Alfred’s Handbook 50

90. Illustration from the Penitent Thief 51

91. Alfred’s Troubles 51

92. Alfred builds Two Monasteries 54

93. Monasticism was decayed 55

94. Monks brought from beyond Sea 55

95. A Crime committed at Athelney 55

96. The Plot of a Priest and a Deacon 56

97. The Execution of the Plot 57

98. The Convent at Shaftesbury 58

99. Alfred divides his Time and his Revenues 58

100. The Threefold Division of Officers at Court 59

101. The Distribution for Secular Purposes 59

102. The Distribution for Religious Purposes 60

103. Alfred’s Dedication of Personal Service 61

104. Alfred’s Measure of Time 61

105. Alfred judges the Poor with Equity 63

106. His Correction of Unjust and Incompetent Judges 63

APPENDIXES 67

Appendix I: Alfred’s Preface to his Translation of
Gregory’s Pastoral Care 69

Appendix II: Letter from Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims,
to Alfred 72

INDEX 79

ASSER’S LIFE OF KING ALFRED

_To my lord Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, the worshipful
and pious ruler of all Christians in the island of Britain,
Asser, least of all the servants of God, wisheth thousandfold
prosperity for both lives, according to the desires of his
heart._

=1. Alfred’s Birth and Genealogy.=[1]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 849, Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, was born at the royal vill of Wantage, in Berkshire (which receives its name from Berroc Wood, where the box-tree grows very abundantly). His genealogy is traced in the following order: King Alfred was the son of King Æthelwulf; he of Egbert; he of Ealhmund; he of Eafa; he of Eoppa; he of Ingild. Ingild and Ine, the famous king of the West Saxons, were two brothers. Ine went to Rome, and there ending the present life honorably, entered into the heavenly fatherland to reign with Christ. Ingild and Ine were the sons of Cœnred; he of Ceolwald; he of Cutha[2]; he of Cuthwine; he of Ceawlin; he of Cynric; he of Creoda; he of Cerdic; he of Elesa; <he of Esla;> he of Gewis, from whom the Welsh name all that people Gegwis[3]; <he of Wig; he of Freawine; he of Freothegar;> he of Brond; he of Beldeag; he of Woden; he of Frithowald; he of Frealaf; he of Frithuwulf; he of Finn<; he of> Godwulf; he of Geata, which Geta the heathen long worshiped as a god. Sedulius makes mention of him in his metrical _Paschal Poem_, as follows:

If heathen poets rave o’er fancied woe,
While in a turgid stream their numbers flow--
Whether the tragic buskin tread the stage,
Or waggish Geta all our thoughts engage;
If by the art of song they still revive
The taint of ill, and bid old vices live;
If monumental guilt they sing, and lies
Commit to books in magisterial wise;
Why may not I, who list to David’s lyre,
And reverent stand amid the hallowed choir,
Hymn heavenly things in words of tranquil tone,
And tell the deeds of Christ in accents all my own?

This Geata was the son of Tætwa; he of Beaw; he of Sceldwea; he of Heremod; he of Itermod; he of Hathra; he of Hwala; he of Bedwig; he of Sceaf[4]; he of Noah; he of Lamech; he of Methuselah; he of Enoch; <he of Jared>; he of Mahalalel; he of Kenan[5]; he of Enosh; he of Seth; he of Adam.

=2. Genealogy of Alfred’s Mother.=[6]--The mother of Alfred was named Osburh, an extremely devout woman, noble in mind, noble also by descent; she was daughter to Oslac, the famous cupbearer of King Æthelwulf. This Oslac was a Goth by nation, descended from the Goths and Jutes--of the seed, namely, of Stuf and Wihtgar, two brothers and ealdormen. They, having received possession of the Isle of Wight from their uncle, King Cerdic, and his son Cynric their cousin,[7] slew the few British inhabitants whom they could find in that island, at a place called Wihtgaraburg[8]; for the other inhabitants of the island had either been slain or had escaped into exile.

=3. The Danes at Wicganbeorg and Sheppey.=[9]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 851, which was the third of King Alfred’s life, Ceorl, Ealdorman of Devon, fought with the men of Devon against the heathen at a place called Wicganbeorg,[10] and the Christians gained the victory. In that same year the heathen first wintered in the island called Sheppey, which means ‘Sheep-island,’ situated in the river Thames between Essex and Kent, though nearer to Kent than to Essex, and containing a fair monastery.[11]

=4. The Danes sack Canterbury.=[12]--The same year a great army of heathen came with three hundred and fifty ships to the mouth of the river Thames, and sacked Dorubernia, or Canterbury,[13] <and also London> (which lies on the north bank of the river Thames, on the confines of Essex and Middlesex, though in truth that city belongs to Essex); and they put to flight Beorhtwulf, King of Mercia, with all the army which he had led out to oppose them.

=5. Battle of Aclea.=[14]--Having done these things there, the aforesaid heathen host went into Surrey, which is a shire situated on the south shore of the river Thames, and to the west of Kent. And Æthelwulf, King of the Saxons, and his son Æthelbald, with the whole army, fought a long time against them at a place called Aclea,[15] that is, ‘Oak-plain’; there, after a lengthy battle, which was fought with much bravery on both sides, the most part of the heathen horde was utterly destroyed and slain, so that we never heard of their being so smitten, either before or since, in any region, in one day[16]; and the Christians gained an honorable victory, and kept possession of the battle-field.

=6. Defeat of the Danes at Sandwich.=[17]--In that same year Æthelstan and Ealdorman Ealhere slew a large army of the heathen in Kent, at a place called Sandwich, and took nine ships of their fleet, the others escaping by flight.

=7. Æthelwulf assists Burgred.=[18]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 853, which was the fifth of King Alfred’s life, Burgred, King of the Mercians, sent messengers to beseech Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, to come and help him in reducing to his sway the inhabitants of Mid-Wales, who dwell between Mercia and the western sea, and who were struggling against him beyond measure. So without delay King Æthelwulf, on receipt of the embassy, moved his army, and advanced with King Burgred against Wales[19]; and immediately upon his entrance he ravaged it, and reduced it under subjection to Burgred. This being done, he returned home.

=8. Alfred at Rome.=[20]--In that same year King Æthelwulf sent his above-named son Alfred to Rome, with an honorable escort both of nobles and commoners. Pope Leo at that time presided over the apostolic see, and he anointed as king[21] the aforesaid child[22] Alfred in the town, and, adopting him as his son, confirmed him.[23]

=9. Other Events of 853.=[24]--That same year also, Ealdorman Ealhere with the men of Kent, and Huda with the men of Surrey, fought bravely and resolutely against an army of the heathen in the island which is called Tenet[25] in the Saxon tongue, but Ruim in the Welsh language. At first the Christians were victorious. The battle lasted a long time; many fell on both sides, and were drowned in the water; and both the ealdormen were there slain. In the same year also, after Easter, Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, gave his daughter to Burgred, King of the Mercians, as his queen, and the marriage was celebrated in princely wise at the royal vill of Chippenham.

=10. The Heathen winter in Sheppey.=[26]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 855, which was the seventh of the aforesaid king’s life, a great army of the heathen spent the whole winter in the aforesaid island of Sheppey.

=11. Æthelwulf journeys to Rome.=[27]--In that same year the aforesaid worshipful King Æthelwulf freed the tenth part of all his kingdom from every royal service and tribute, and offered it up as an everlasting grant to God the One and Three, on the cross of Christ, for the redemption of his own soul and those of his predecessors. In the same year he went to Rome with much honor; and taking with him his son, the aforesaid King Alfred, a second time on the same journey, because he loved him more than his other sons, he remained there a whole year. After this he returned to his own country, bringing with him Judith, daughter of Charles, King of the Franks.[28]

=12. Rebellion of Æthelbald.=[29]--In the meantime, however, whilst King Æthelwulf was residing this short time beyond sea, a base deed was done in the western part of Selwood,[30] repugnant to the morals of all Christians. For King Æthelbald, Ealhstan, Bishop of the church of Sherborne, and Eanwulf, Ealdorman of Somerset, are said to have formed a conspiracy to the end that King Æthelwulf, on his return from Rome, should not again be received in his kingdom. This unfortunate occurrence, unheard-of in all previous ages, is ascribed by many to the bishop and ealdorman alone, since, say they, it resulted from their counsels. Many also ascribe it solely to the insolence of the king, because he was headstrong in this matter and in many other perversities, as I have heard related by certain persons, and as was proved by the result of that which followed. For on his return from Rome, Æthelwulf’s son aforesaid, with all his counselors, or rather waylayers, attempted to perpetrate the crime of repulsing the king from his own kingdom; but neither did God suffer it, nor did the nobles of all Wessex consent thereto. For to prevent this irremediable danger to Wessex of a war between father and son, or rather of the whole nation waging civil war more fiercely and cruelly from day to day, as they espoused the cause of the one or the other,--by the extraordinary clemency of the father, seconded by the consent of all the nobles, the kingdom which had hitherto been undivided was parted between the two, the eastern districts being given to the father, and the western to the son. Thus where the father ought by just right to have reigned, there did his unjust and obstinate son bear rule; for the western part of Wessex is always superior to the eastern.

=13. Judith’s Position in Wessex.=[31]--When Æthelwulf, therefore, returned from Rome, the whole nation, as was fitting, so rejoiced[32] in the arrival of the ruler that, if he had allowed them, they would have expelled his unruly son Æthelbald, with all his counselors, from the kingdom. But he, as I have said, acting with great clemency and prudent counsel, would not act in this way, lest the kingdom should be exposed to peril. He likewise bade Judith, daughter of King Charles, whom he had received from her father, take her seat by his own side on the royal throne, without any dispute or enmity from his nobles even to the end of his life, though contrary to the perverse custom of that nation.[33] For the nation of the West Saxons does not allow the queen to sit beside the king, nor to be called queen, but only the king’s wife; which refusal, or rather reproach, the chief persons of that land say arose from a certain headstrong and malevolent queen of the nation, who did all things so contrary to her lord and to the whole people that not only did the hatred which she brought upon herself bring to pass her exclusion from the queenly throne, but also entailed the same corruption upon those who came after her, since, in consequence of the extreme malignity of that queen, all the inhabitants of the land banded themselves together by an oath never in their lives to let any king reign over them who should bid his queen take her seat on the royal throne by his side. And because, as I think, it is not known to many whence this perverse and detestable custom first arose in Wessex, contrary to the custom of all the Germanic peoples, it seems to me right to explain it a little more fully, as I have heard it from my lord Alfred the truth-teller, King of the Anglo-Saxons, who often told me about it, as he also had heard it from many men of truth who related the fact, or, I should rather say, expressly preserved the remembrance of it.

=14. Offa and Eadburh.=[34]--There was in Mercia in recent times a certain valiant king, who was dreaded by all the neighboring kings and states. His name was Offa, and it was he who had the great dike made from sea to sea between Wales and Mercia.[35] His daughter, named Eadburh, was married to Beorhtric, King of the West Saxons. The moment she had possessed herself of the king’s good will, and practically the whole power of the realm, she began to live tyrannically, after the manner of her father. Every man whom Beorhtric loved she would execrate, and would do all things hateful to God and man, accusing to the king all whom she could, thus depriving them insidiously either of life or of power. And if she could not obtain the king’s consent, she used to take them off by poison, as is ascertained to have been the case with a certain young man beloved by the king, whom she poisoned, seeing that she could not accuse him to the king. It is said, moreover, that King Beorhtric unwittingly tasted of the poison, though the queen had intended to give it, not to him, but to the young man; the king, however, was beforehand with him, and so both perished.

=15. Eadburh’s Further Life.=[36]--King Beorhtric therefore being dead, the queen, since she could no longer remain among the Saxons, sailed beyond sea with countless treasures, and came to Charles,[37] King of the Franks. As she stood before the dais, bringing many gifts to the king, Charles said to her: ‘Choose, Eadburh, between me and my son, who stands with me on this dais.’ She, without deliberation, foolishly replied: ‘If I am to have my choice, I choose your son, because he is younger than you.’ At which Charles smiled and answered: ‘If you had chosen me, you should have had my son; but since you have chosen him, you shall have neither me nor him.’ However, he gave her a large convent of nuns, in which, having laid aside her secular habit, and assumed the dress worn by the nuns, she discharged the office of abbess for a few years. As she is said to have lived irrationally in her own country, so she appears to have acted much more so among a foreign people; for, being finally caught in illicit intercourse with a man of her own nation, she was expelled from the monastery by order of King Charles. Henceforward she lived a life of shame in poverty and misery until her death; so that at last, accompanied only by one slave, as I have heard from many who saw her, she begged her bread daily at Pavia,[38] and so wretchedly died.

=16. Æthelwulf’s Will.=[39]--Now King Æthelwulf lived two years after his return from Rome; during which, among many other good deeds of this present life, reflecting on his departure according to the way of all flesh, that his sons might not quarrel unreasonably after their father’s death, he ordered a will or letter of instructions to be written,[40] in which he commanded that his kingdom should be duly divided between his two eldest sons; his private heritage between his sons, his daughter, and his relatives; and the money which he should leave behind him between his soul[41] and his sons and nobles. Of this prudent policy I have thought fit to record a few instances out of many for posterity to imitate, namely, such as are understood to belong principally to the needs of the soul; for the others, which relate only to human stewardship, it is not necessary to insert in this little work, lest prolixity should create disgust in those who read or wish to hear. For the benefit of his soul, then, which he studied to promote in all things from the first flower of his youth, he directed that, through all his hereditary land, one poor man to every ten hides,[42] either native or foreigner, should be supplied with food, drink, and clothing by his successors unto the final Day of Judgment; on condition, however, that that land should still be inhabited both by men and cattle, and should not become deserted. He commanded also a large sum of money, namely, three hundred mancuses,[43] to be carried annually to Rome for the good of his soul, to be there distributed in the following manner: a hundred mancuses in honor of St. Peter, especially to buy oil for the lights of that apostolic church on Easter Eve, and also at cockcrow; a hundred mancuses in honor of St. Paul, for the same purpose of buying oil for the church of St. Paul the apostle, to fill the lamps for Easter Eve and cockcrow; and a hundred mancuses for the universal apostolic Pope.

=17. Æthelbald marries Judith.=[44]--But when King Æthelwulf was dead <and buried at Winchester>,[45] his son Æthelbald, contrary to God’s prohibition and the dignity of a Christian, contrary also to the custom of all the heathen,[46] ascended his father’s bed, and married Judith, daughter of Charles, King of the Franks, incurring much infamy from all who heard of it. During two years and a half of lawlessness he held after his father the government of the West Saxons.

=18. Æthelbert’s Reign.=[47]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 860, which was the twelfth of King Alfred’s life, <King> Æthelbald <died, and> was buried at Sherborne. His brother Æthelbert, as was right, added Kent, Surrey, and Sussex to his realm. In his days a great army of heathen came from the sea, and attacked and laid waste the city of Winchester. As they were returning laden with booty to their ships, Osric, Ealdorman of Hampshire, with his men, and Ealdorman Æthelwulf, with the men of Berkshire, faced them bravely. Battle was then joined in the town, and the heathen were slain on every side; and finding themselves unable to resist, they took to flight like women, and the Christians held the battle-field.

=19. Æthelbert’s Death.=[48]--So Æthelbert governed his kingdom five years in peace and love and honor; and went the way of all flesh, to the great grief of his subjects. He rests interred in honorable wise at Sherborne, by the side of his brother.

=20. The Danes in Kent.=[49]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 864 the heathen wintered in the isle of Thanet, and made a firm treaty with the men of Kent, who promised them money for observing their agreement. In the meantime, however, the heathen, after the manner of foxes, burst forth with all secrecy from their camp by night, and setting at naught their engagements, and spurning the promised money--which they knew was less than they could get by plunder--they ravaged all the eastern coast of Kent.

=21. Æthelred’s Accession.=[50]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 866, which was the eighteenth of King Alfred’s life, Æthelred, brother of King Æthelbert, undertook the government of the West Saxon realm. The same year a great fleet of heathen came to Britain from the Danube,[51] and wintered in the kingdom of the East Saxons, which is called in Saxon East Anglia; and there they became in the main an army of cavalry. But, to speak in nautical phrase, I will no longer commit my vessel to wave and sail, or steer my roundabout course at a distance from land through so many calamities of wars and series of years, but rather return to that which first prompted me to this task: that is to say, I think it right briefly to insert in this place the little that has come to my knowledge about the character of my revered lord Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, during the years of infancy and boyhood.

=22. Alfred’s Rearing.=[52]--He was extraordinarily beloved by both his father and mother, and indeed by all the people, beyond all his brothers; in inseparable companionship with them he was reared at the royal court.[53] As he advanced through the years of infancy and youth, he appeared more comely in person than his brothers, as in countenance, speech, and manners he was more pleasing than they. His noble birth and noble nature implanted in him from his cradle a love of wisdom above all things, even amid all the occupations of this present life; but--with shame be it spoken!--by the unworthy neglect of his parents and governors he remained illiterate till he was twelve years old or more, though by day and night he was an attentive listener to the Saxon poems which he often heard recited, and, being apt at learning, kept them in his memory. He was a zealous practiser of hunting in all its branches, and followed the chase with great assiduity and success; for his skill and good fortune in this art, and in all the other gifts of God, were beyond those of every one else, as I have often witnessed.

=23. Alfred and the Book of Saxon Poems.=[54]--Now on a certain day his mother was showing him and his brothers a book of Saxon poetry, which she held in her hand, and finally said: ‘Whichever of you can soonest learn this volume, to him will I give it.’ Stimulated by these words, or rather by divine inspiration, and allured by the beautifully illuminated letter at the beginning of the volume, <Alfred>[55] spoke before all his brothers, who, though his seniors in age, were not so in grace, and answered his mother: ‘Will you really give that book to that one of us who can first understand and repeat it to you?’ At this his mother smiled with satisfaction, and confirmed what she had before said: ‘Yes,’ said she, ‘that I will.’ Upon this the boy took the book out of her hand, and went to his master and learned it by heart,[56] whereupon he brought it back to his mother and recited it.

=24. Alfred’s Handbook.=[57]--After this <he learned>[55] the daily course, that is, the celebration of the hours, and afterwards certain Psalms, and many prayers, contained in a book[58] which he kept day and night in his bosom, as I myself have seen, and always carried about with him, for the sake of prayer, through all the bustle and business of this present life. But, sad to relate, he could not gratify his ardent wish to acquire liberal art,[59] because, as he was wont to say, there were at that time no good teachers in all the kingdom of the West Saxons.[60]

=25. Alfred’s Love of Learning.=[61]--This he would confess, with many lamentations and with sighs from the bottom of his heart, to have been one of his greatest difficulties and impediments in this present life, that when he was young and had leisure and capacity for learning, he had no masters; but when he was more advanced in years, he was continually occupied, not to say harassed, day and night, by so many diseases unknown to all the physicians of this island, as well as by internal and external anxieties of sovereignty, and by invasions of the heathen by sea and land, that though he then had some store of teachers and writers,[62] it was quite impossible for him to study. But yet among the impediments of this present life, from childhood to the present day [and, as I believe, even until his death],[63] he has continued to feel the same insatiable desire.

=26. The Danes occupy York.=[64]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 867, which was the nineteenth of the aforesaid King Alfred’s life, the army of heathen before mentioned removed from East Anglia to the city of York, which is situated on the north bank of the river Humber.

=27. Defeat of the Northumbrians.=[64]--At that time a violent discord arose, by the instigation of the devil, among the Northumbrians, as always is wont to happen to a people who have incurred the wrath of God. For the Northumbrians at that time, as I have said,[65] had expelled their lawful king Osbert from his realm, and appointed a certain tyrant named Ælla, not of royal birth, over the affairs of the kingdom. But when the heathen approached, by divine providence, and the furtherance of the common weal by the nobles, that discord was a little appeased, and Osbert and Ælla uniting their resources, and assembling an army, marched to the town of York. The heathen fled at their approach, and attempted to defend themselves within the walls of the city. The Christians, perceiving their flight and the terror they were in, determined to follow them within the very ramparts of the town, and to demolish the wall; and this they succeeded in doing, since the city at that time was not surrounded by firm or strong walls. When the Christians had made a breach, as they had purposed, and many of them had entered into the city along with the heathen, the latter, impelled by grief and necessity, made a fierce sally upon them, slew them, routed them, and cut them down, both within and without the walls. In that battle fell almost all the Northumbrian troops, and both the kings were slain; the remainder, who escaped, made peace with the heathen.

=28. Death of Ealhstan.=[66]--In the same year, Ealhstan, Bishop of the church of Sherborne, went the way of all flesh, after he had honorably ruled his see fifty years; and in peace he was buried at Sherborne.

=29. Alfred marries.=[67]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 868, which was the twentieth of King Alfred’s life, the aforesaid revered King Alfred, then occupying only the rank of viceroy (_secundarii_), betrothed[68] and espoused a noble Mercian lady,[69] daughter of Æthelred, surnamed Mucill, Ealdorman of the Gaini.[70] The mother of this lady was named Eadburh, of the royal line of Mercia, whom I often saw with my own eyes a few years before her death. She was a venerable lady, and after the decease of her husband remained many years a chaste widow, even till her own death.

=30. The Danes at Nottingham.=[71]--In that same year the above-named army of heathen, leaving Northumbria, invaded Mercia, and advanced to Nottingham, which is called in Welsh Tigguocobauc,[72] but in Latin ‘The House of Caves,’ and wintered there that same year. Immediately on their approach, Burgred, King of the Mercians, and all the nobles of that nation, sent messengers to Æthelred,[73] King of the West Saxons, and his brother Alfred, entreating them to come and aid them in fighting against the aforesaid army. Their request was readily granted; for the brothers, as soon as promised, assembled an immense army from every part of their <realm>, and, entering Mercia, came to Nottingham, all eager for battle. When now the heathen, defended by the castle, refused to fight, and the Christians were unable to destroy the wall, peace was made between the Mercians and the heathen, and the two brothers, Æthelred and Alfred, returned home with their troops.

=31. The Danes at York.=[74]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 869, which was the twenty-first of King Alfred’s life, the aforesaid army of heathen, riding back to Northumbria, went to the city of York, and there passed the whole winter.

=32. The Danes at Thetford.=[74]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 870, which was the twenty-second of King Alfred’s life, the above-mentioned army of heathen passed through Mercia into East Anglia, and wintered at Thetford.[75]

=33. The Danes triumph.=[74]--That same year Edmund, King of the East Angles, fought most fiercely against that army; but, lamentable to say, the heathen triumphed, for he and most of his men were there slain, while the enemy held the battle-field, and reduced all that region to subjection.

=34. Ceolnoth dies.=[76]--That same year Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury, went the way of all flesh, and was buried in peace in that city.

=35. The Danes defeated at Englefield.=[77]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 871, which was the twenty-third of King Alfred’s life, the heathen army, of hateful memory, left East Anglia, and, entering the kingdom of the West Saxons, came to the royal vill called Reading, situated on the south bank of the Thames, in the district called Berkshire; and there, on the third day after their arrival, their <two> ealdormen, with great part of the army, rode forth for plunder, while the others made an entrenchment between the rivers Thames and Kennet, on the southern side of the same royal vill. They were encountered by Æthelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, with his men, at a place called Englefield[78] <in English, and in Latin ‘The Field of the Angles’>.[79] Both sides fought bravely, and made long resistance to each other. At length one of the heathen ealdormen was slain, and the greater part of the army destroyed; upon which the rest saved themselves by flight, and the Christians gained the victory and held the battle-field.

=36. Battle of Reading.=[77]--Four days afterwards, King Æthelred and his brother Alfred, uniting their forces and assembling an army, marched to Reading, where, on their arrival at the castle gate, they cut to pieces and overthrew the heathen whom they found outside the fortifications. But the heathen fought no less valiantly and, rushing like wolves out of every gate, waged battle with all their might. Both sides fought long and fiercely, but at last, sad to say, the Christians turned their backs, the heathen obtained the victory and held the battle-field, the aforesaid Ealdorman Æthelwulf being among the slain.

=37. Battle of Ashdown.=[80]--Roused by this grief and shame, the Christians, after four days, with all their forces and much spirit advanced to battle against the aforesaid army, at a place called Ashdown,[81] which in Latin signifies ‘Ash’s[82] Hill.’ The heathen, forming in two divisions, arranged two shield-walls of similar size; and since they had two kings and many ealdormen, they gave the middle[83] part of the army to the two kings, and the other part to all the ealdormen. The Christians, perceiving this, divided their army also into two troops, and with no less zeal formed shield-walls.[84] But Alfred, as I have been told by truthful eye-witnesses, marched up swiftly with his men to the battle-field; for King Æthelred had remained a long time in his tent in prayer, hearing mass, and declaring that he would not depart thence alive till the priest had done, and that he was not disposed to abandon the service of God for that of men; and according to these sentiments he acted. This faith of the Christian king availed much with the Lord, as I shall show more fully in the sequel.

=38. Alfred begins the Attack.=[85]--Now the Christians had determined that King Æthelred, with his men, should attack the two heathen kings, and that his brother Alfred, with his troops, should take the chance of war against all the leaders of the heathen. Things being so arranged on both sides, the king still continued a long time in prayer, and the heathen, prepared for battle, had hastened to the field. Then Alfred, though only second in command, could no longer support the advance of the enemy, unless he either retreated or charged upon them without waiting for his brother. At length, with the rush of a wild boar, he courageously led the Christian troops against the hostile army, as he had already designed, for, although the king had not yet arrived, he relied upon God’s counsel and trusted to His aid. Hence, having closed up his shield-wall in due order, he straightway advanced his standards against the foe. <At length King Æthelred, having finished the prayers in which he was engaged, came up, and, having invoked the King of the universe, entered upon the engagement.>[86]

=39. The Heathen Rout and Loss.=[87]--But here I must inform those who are ignorant of the fact that the field of battle was not equally advantageous to both parties, since the heathen had seized the higher ground, and the Christian array was advancing up-hill. In that place there was a solitary low thorn-tree, which I have seen with my own eyes, and round this the opposing forces met in strife with deafening uproar from all, the one side bent on evil, the other on fighting for life, and dear ones, and fatherland. When both armies had fought bravely and fiercely for a long while, the heathen, being unable by God’s decree longer to endure the onset of the Christians, the larger part of their force being slain, betook themselves to shameful flight. There fell one of the two heathen kings and five ealdormen; many thousand of their men were either slain at this spot or lay scattered far and wide over the whole field of Ashdown. Thus there fell King Bagsecg, Ealdorman Sidroc the Elder and Ealdorman Sidroc the Younger, Ealdorman Osbern, Ealdorman Fræna, and Ealdorman Harold; and the whole heathen army pursued its flight, not only until night, but until the next day, even until they reached the stronghold[88] from which they had sallied. The Christians followed, slaying all they could reach, until it became dark.

=40. Battle of Basing.=[89]--After[90] fourteen days had elapsed King Æthelred and his brother Alfred joined their forces, and marched to Basing[91] to fight with the heathen. Having thus assembled, battle was joined, and they held their own for a long time, but the heathen gained the victory, and held possession of the battle-field. After this fight, another army of heathen came from beyond sea, and joined them.

=41. Æthelred’s Death.=[92]--That same year, after Easter, the aforesaid King Æthelred, having bravely, honorably, and with good repute governed his kingdom five years through many tribulations, went the way of all flesh, and was buried in Wimborne Minster,[93] where he awaits the coming of the Lord and the first resurrection with the just.

=42. Alfred comes to the Throne; Battle of Wilton.=[94]--That same year the aforesaid Alfred, who had been up to that time, during the lifetime of his brothers, only of secondary rank, now, on the death of his brother, by God’s permission undertook the government of the whole kingdom, amid the acclamations of all the people; and indeed, if he had chosen, he might easily have done so with the general consent whilst his brother above named was still alive, since in wisdom and every other good quality he surpassed all his brothers, and especially because he was brave and victorious in nearly every battle. And when he had reigned a month almost against his will--for he did not think that he alone, without divine aid, could sustain the ferocity of the heathen, though even during his brothers’ lifetimes he had borne the calamities of many--he fought a fierce battle with a few men, and on very unequal terms, against all the army of the heathen, at a hill called Wilton, on the south bank of the river Wiley,[95] from which river the whole of that shire is named; and after a severe engagement, lasting a considerable part of the day, the heathen, seeing the whole extent of the danger they were in, and no longer able to bear the attack of their enemies, turned their backs and fled. But, shame to say, they took advantage of their pursuers’ rashness,[96] and, again rallying, gained the victory and kept the battle-field. Let no one be surprised that the Christians had but a small number of men, for the Saxons as a people had been all but worn out by eight battles in this selfsame year against the heathen, in which there died one king, nine chieftains, and innumerable troops of soldiers, not to speak of countless skirmishes both by night and by day, in which the oft-named <King> Alfred, and all the leaders of that people, with their men, and many of the king’s thanes, had been engaged in unwearied strife against the heathen. How many thousand heathen fell in these numberless skirmishes God alone knows, over and above those who were slain in the eight battles above mentioned.

=43. Peace made.=[97]--In that same year the Saxons made peace with the heathen, on condition that they should take their departure; and this they did.

=44. The Heathen winter in London.=[98]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 872, being the twenty-fourth of King Alfred’s life, the aforesaid army of heathen went to London, and there wintered; and the Mercians made peace with them.

=45. The Heathen winter in Lindsey.=[98]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 873, being the twenty-fifth of King Alfred’s life, the oft-named army, leaving London, went into Northumbria, and there wintered in the shire of Lindsey; and the Mercians again made peace with them.

=46. The Danes in Mercia.=[99]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 874, being the twenty-sixth of King Alfred’s life, the above-named army left Lindsey and marched to Mercia, where they wintered at Repton.[100] Also they compelled Burgred, King of Mercia, against his will to leave his kingdom and go beyond sea to Rome, in the twenty-second year of his reign. He did not live long after his arrival at Rome, but died there, and was honorably buried in the Colony of the Saxons,[101] in St. Mary’s church,[102] where he awaits the Lord’s coming and the first resurrection with the just. The heathen also, after his expulsion, subjected the whole kingdom of Mercia to their dominion; but, by a miserable arrangement, gave it into the custody of a certain foolish man, named Ceolwulf, one of the <king∮s> thanes, on condition that he should peaceably restore it to them on whatsoever day they should wish to have it again; and to bind this agreement he gave them hostages, and swore that he would not oppose their will in any way, but be obedient to them in every respect.

=47. The Danes in Northumbria and Cambridge.=[103]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 875, being the twenty-seventh of King Alfred’s life, the above-mentioned army, leaving Repton, separated into two bodies, one of which went with Halfdene into Northumbria, and having wintered there near the Tyne, and reduced all Northumbria to subjection, also ravaged the Picts and the people of Strathclyde.[104] The other division, with Guthrum,[105] Oscytel, and Anwind, three kings of the heathen, went to Cambridge, and there wintered.

=48. Alfred’s Battle at Sea.=[106]--In that same year King Alfred fought a battle at sea against six ships of the heathen, and took one of them, the rest escaping by flight.

=49. Movements of the Danes.=[107]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 876, being the twenty-eighth year of King Alfred’s life, the oft-mentioned army of the heathen, leaving Cambridge by night, entered a fortress called Wareham,[108] where there is a monastery of nuns between the two rivers Froom <and Tarrant>, in the district which is called in Welsh Durngueir,[109] but in Saxon Thornsæta,[110] placed in a most secure location, except on the western side, where there was a territory adjacent. With this army Alfred made a solemn treaty to the effect that they should depart from him, and they made no hesitation to give him as many picked hostages as he named; also they swore an oath on all the relics in which King Alfred trusted next to God,[111] and on which they had never before sworn to any people, that they would speedily depart from his kingdom. But they again practised their usual treachery, and caring nothing for either hostages or oath, they broke the treaty, and, sallying forth by night, slew all the horsemen [horses?] that they had,[112] and, turning off, started without warning for another place called in Saxon Exanceastre, and in Welsh Cairwisc, which means in Latin ‘The City <of Exe>,’ situated on the eastern bank of the river Wisc,[113] near the southern sea which divides Britain from Gaul, and there passed the winter.

=50. Halfdene partitions Northumbria.=--In that same year Halfdene, king of that part of Northumbria, divided up the whole region between himself and his men, and settled there with his army.

=51. Division of Mercia.=[114]--The same year, in the month of August, that army went into Mercia, and gave part of the district of the Mercians to one Ceolwulf,[115] a weak-minded thane of the king; the rest they divided among themselves.

=52. The Danes at Chippenham.=[116]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 878, being the thirtieth of King Alfred’s life, the oft-mentioned army left Exeter, and went to Chippenham, a royal vill, situated in the north of Wiltshire, on the east bank of the river which is called Avon in Welsh, and there wintered. And they drove many of that people by their arms, by poverty, and by fear, to voyage beyond sea, and reduced almost all the inhabitants of that district to subjection.

=53. Alfred in Somersetshire.=--At that same time the above-mentioned King Alfred, with a few of his nobles, and certain soldiers and vassals, was leading in great tribulation an unquiet life among the woodlands and swamps of Somersetshire; for he had nothing that he needed except what by frequent sallies he could forage openly or stealthily from the heathen or from the Christians who had submitted to the rule of the heathen.[117]

=54. The Danes defeated at Cynwit.=[118]--In that same year the brother[119] of Inwar[120] and Halfdene, with twenty-three ships, came, after many massacres of the Christians, from Dyfed,[121] where he had wintered, and sailed to Devon, where with twelve hundred others he met with a miserable death, being slain, while committing his misdeeds, by the king’s thanes, before the fortress of Cynwit,[122] in which many of the king’s thanes, with their followers, had shut themselves up for safety. The heathen, seeing that the fortress was unprepared and altogether unfortified, except that it merely had fortifications after our manner, determined not to assault it, because that place is rendered secure by its position on all sides except the eastern, as I myself have seen, but began to besiege it, thinking that those men would soon surrender from famine, thirst, and the blockade, since there is no water close to the fortress. But the result did not fall out as they expected; for the Christians, before they began at all to suffer from such want, being inspired by Heaven, and judging it much better to gain either victory or death, sallied out suddenly upon the heathen at daybreak, and from the first cut them down in great numbers, slaying also their king, so that few escaped to their ships.