Chapter XLIV: Section VI

_Population of Lynn_, _and the country in general_, _before the conquest—condition of the bulk of the inhabitants in the mean time—sufferings of the inhabitants of Lynn and the adjacent country from the Danes—intrepid and ferocious character of that people—instruments of vengeance on the Anglo-Saxons—their disposition and character not much changed by their conversion to christianity—remarkable instances of imposition_, _superstition_, _and credulity_.

Of the population of Lynn, at any time during that long period, from the establishment of the Saxons to that of the Normans, no estimate can now be formed; but it is pretty certain that the major part of its inhabitants, as well as those of the adjacent country, and of all the rest of England, were _Slaves_, during the whole of that time, and long after. Those unfortunate people, for the most part at least, appear to have been the descendants of the original inhabitants, who were reduced to that condition, at the subjugation, of conquest of the country, and whose lives had been then spared, on condition of their becoming the property, or goods and chattels of the conquerors. So did the Saxons treat those of the natives whose lives they condescended to spare; all the rest they butchered without mercy, except such of them as were fortunate enough to escape to the unsubdued parts of the island. Of these cruel and horrid deeds, they never appear to have repented, even after they assumed the name of christians, for the bondage still continued; but, in time, a severe retaliation took place, and the Saxons, in their turn, were treated much after the same manner as they had formerly treated the Britons. Long peace had destroyed their martial spirit: from a very warlike people, they became gradually a most dastardly race, and so fell an easy prey to the ferocious Danes. The difference at that time between these two nations in point of military prowess, is said to be so great that the Saxons, alias the English, frequently fled before inferior numbers of the Danes, and could hardly be prevailed upon to meet them in the field of battle on any terms. “Oh the misery and worldly shame in which England is involved through the wrath of God! (said an English bishop in the reign of Ethelred the unready) How often doth two or three troops of Danes drive the whole English army before them from sea to sea, to our eternal infamy, if we were capable of feeling shame! But, alas! so abject are we become, that we worship those who trample upon us, and load us with indignities.” Such was then the abject submission of the English to the insolence of the Danes, “that when an Englishman met a Dane on a bridge, or in a narrow path, where he could not avoid him, he was obliged to stand still, with his head uncovered, and in a bowing posture, till he was out of sight.” Nay, we are assured that English submission and Danish insolence and brutality were sometimes carried still further, and even to degrees that are almost incredible, as well as too indelicate to relate. {278} These Danes, who now became the instruments of retaliation and vengeance upon the Anglo-Saxons, were remarkable for their extraordinary military skill and intrepidity; and they were as unfeeling and ferocious as the latter appear to have been at the time when they invaded and conquered this country: they were therefore probably the fitter for the execution of the work in which they were employed. Much has been said of the cruelties committed by the Danes in this country: they were certainly very enormous and shocking; but there is no reason to conclude that they exceeded, or, perhaps, even equalled those which the Saxons had before exercised upon the former inhabitants. Of all the perpetrators of Danish enormities, in this island, _Guthrum_ seems to be the foremost, or most conspicuous, in the pages of our ancient historians. Of him one of them speaks thus—“The cruel Guthrum arrived in England A.D. 878, at the head of an army of Pagan Danes, no less cruel than himself; who, like inhuman savages, destroyed all before them with fire and sword, involving cities, towns, and villages, with their inhabitants, in devouring flames; and cutting those in pieces with their battle-axes who attempted to escape from their burning houses. The tears, cries, and lamentations of men, women, and children, made no impressions upon their unrelenting hearts; even the most tempting bribes, and the humblest offers of becoming their slaves, had no effect. All the towns through which they passed exhibited the most deplorable scenes of misery and desolation; as, venerable old men lying with their throats cut before their own doors; the streets covered with the bodies of young men and children, without heads, legs, or arms; and of matrons and virgins, who had been first publicly dishonoured, and then put to death.” {279} This is very shocking, and looks like providential retaliation. The annals of history exhibit many instances of the same kind. The Danish warriors were always prodigal of life, and not only did not fear, but even courted a violent death. A natural death they dreaded, as a most ignoble and disgraceful end, and which they always appeared very anxious to avoid. No wonder that they became the terror of every nation against which they happened to wage war. No greater evil could well befall any people than to have them for their enemies and invaders.

To no part of this island did the Danes prove a greater, or more terrible scourge than to the province of the East Angles, which became one of their principal settlements, and where they committed the most shocking barbarities. Hence we may very safely conclude that the sufferings which the inhabitants of Lynn experienced from them must have been exceedingly grievous and deplorable. But as those sufferings have not been recorded they cannot now be described or particularized.

The Danes, as well as the Anglo-Saxons, when they invaded this country were pagans. Both of them afterward took up the profession of christianity; but it was only its profession, or bare name that they did take up. Their former ferocity still remained. They continued grossly ignorant, superstitious, and heathenish, and exhibited scarcely a spark of the real spirit of the religion of Christ, except perhaps in the latter part of the reign of Alfred. Their ghostly, or religious instructors were miserable and blind guides, or knavish and artful impostors, who taught them that the most meritorious actions consisted in erecting and endowing monasteries, performing pilgrimages, and reverencing the priesthood. From such pretended or pseudo-christianity, what good effect could be expected? Grapes cannot be gathered of thorns, or figs of thistles.—When Earl Alwine, who was the greatest and richest man in England, in the reign of Edgar the peaceable, consulted St. Oswald, bishop of York, what he should do to obtain the pardon of his sins, the _sainted_ prelate made him the following eloquent harangue: “I beseech your excellency to believe that those holy men who have retired from the world, and spend their days in poverty and prayer, are the greatest favourites of heaven, and the greatest blessings to the world. It is by their merits that the divine judgements are averted and changed; that plagues and famines are removed; that healthful seasons and plentiful harvests are procured; that states and kingdoms are governed; that prisons are opened, captives delivered, shipwrecks prevented, the weak strengthened, and the sick healed: that I may say all in one word, it is by their merits that this world, so full of wickedness, is preserved from immediate ruin and destruction. I intreat you therefore, my dear son, if you have any place in your estate fit for that purpose, that you immediately build a monastery, and fill it with holy monks, whose prayers will supply all your defects, and expiate all your crimes.” The Apostles, no doubt, would have answered such an inquiry very differently. The building of Ramsey abbey, however, as Dr. Henry observes, was the consequence of this fine speech. {282} Such acts were represented by the monks as contributing greatly to the future repose of those who did them, and of their friends; whence it was usual for all those who had any sense of religion, or concern, for their salvation, to bequeath some part of their estates _to their own souls_, as they called those bequests which they made to a church or a monastery.

To promote and establish an unbounded veneration for the priesthood, miraculous tales were industriously propagated, and as readily believed; for the credulity of the people perfectly suited the knavery of the priests. The following talc, or rather miracle, is related by William of Malmsbury, in the very words, as he says, of one of the persons on whom it was wrought:

“I Ethelbert, a sinner, will give a true relation of what happened to
me on the day before Christmas, A.D. 1012, in a certain village,
where there was a church dedicated to St Magnus the martyr, that all
men may know the _danger of disobeying the commands of a priest_.
Fifteen young women and eighteen young men, of which I was one, were
dancing and singing in the church-yard, when one Robert, a priest,
was performing mass in the church; who sent us a civil message,
intreating us to desist from our diversion, because we disturbed his
devotion by our noise. But we impiously disregarded his request;
upon which the holy man, inflamed with anger, prayed to God and St.
Magnus, that we might continue dancing and singing a whole year,
without intermission. His prayers were heard. A young man, the son
of a priest, named John, took his sister, (who was singing with us)
by the hand, and her arm dropped from her body without one drop of
blood following. But notwithstanding this disaster she continued to
dance and sing with us a whole year. During all that time we felt no
inconvenience from rain, cold, heat, hunger, thirst, or weariness;
and neither our shoes, nor our clothes wore out. Whenever it began
to rain, a magnificent house was erected over us, by the power of the
Almighty. By our continual dancing we wore the earth so much, that
by degrees we sunk into it up to the knees, and at length up to the
middle. When the year was ended, bishop Hubert came to the place,
dissolved the invisible ties by which our hands had been so long
united, absolved us, and reconciled us to St. Magnus. The priest’s
daughter, who had lost her arm, and other two of the young women,
died away immediately; but all the rest fell into a profound sleep,
in which they continued three days and three nights; after which they
arose and went up and down the world, publishing this true and
glorious miracle, and carrying the evidence of its truth along with
them, in the continual shaking of their limbs.”

A formal deed, attesting the truth of this ridiculous story, was drawn up and subscribed by bishop Peregrine, the successor of Hubert, A.D. 1013. {283} William of Malmsbury also, the most sensible of our old historians, appears to have given it full credit. In short, it seems very certain that it was long, in common with abundance of other similar tales, universally believed; which shews how well established the authority of the priesthood, and the popular reverence for that order, must then have been in this country, and here at Lynn, as well as in other places.

Next to the priests and monks, the magicians and fortunetellers appear to have then possessed the largest share of the public confidence and veneration; and very probably with equal worthiness. Strange tales have been related by historians of the ascendancy which these sorts of people long had over the infatuated inhabitants, and even over those of the highest orders among them. These things give but an unfavourable idea of our national character in those times. It would but ill become us, however, to think very contemptuously of those foibles in our poor ancestors, while we ourselves with all our boasted advantages and wisdom, have not yet entirely left off consulting fortunetellers and conjurers: to say nothing of the multitude of other impostors, of different sorts, that are daily countenanced and caressed among us.