Chapter III: Part 3

But Christ’s servant Ceolfrid, as has been said, died on his way to the threshold of the holy Apostles, of old age and weakness. For he reached the Lingones about nine o’clock, where he died seven hours after, and was honourably buried the next day in the church of the three twin martyrs, much to the sorrow, not only of the English who were in his train, to the number of eighty, but also of the neighbouring inhabitants, who were dissolved in tears at the loss of the reverend father. For it was almost impossible to avoid weeping to see part of his company continuing their journey without the holy father, whilst others, abandoning their first intentions, returned home to relate his death and burial; and others, again, lingered in sorrow at the tomb of the deceased among strangers speaking an unknown tongue.

* * * * *

Ceolfrid was seventy-four years old when he died: forty-seven years he had been in priest’s orders, during thirty-five of which he had been abbot; or, to speak more correctly, forty-three,—for, from the time when Benedict began to build his monastery in honour of the holiest of the Apostles, Ceolfrid had been his only companion, coadjutor, and teacher of the monastic rules. He never relaxed the rigour of ancient discipline from any occasions of old age, illness, or travel; for, from the day of his departure till the day of his death, i.e., from the 4th of June till the 25th of September, a space of one hundred and fourteen days, besides the canonical hours of prayer, he never omitted to go twice daily through the Psalter in order; and even when he became so weak that he could not ride on horseback, and was obliged to be carried in a horse-litter, the holy ceremony of the mass was offered up every day, except one which he passed at sea, and the three days immediately before his death.

A RIDDLE OF CYNEWULF (BORN BETWEEN 720 AND 730).

=Source.=—Ten Brink’s _English Literature_, vol. i., p. 52. Bohn’s
Library.

I was an armed warrior; now a proud one,
A young hero, decks me with gold and silver,
And with crooked wire-bows. Men sometimes kiss me;
Sometimes I call to battle the willing comrades;
Now a steed doth bear me over the boundaries.
Now a sea-courser carries me, bright with jewels,
Over the floods. And now there fills my bosom
A maiden adorned with rings; or I may be robbed
Of my gems, and hard and headless lie; or hang
Prettily on the wall where warriors drink,
Trimmed with trappings. Sometimes as an ornament brave
Folk-warriors wear me on horseback; wind
From the bosom of a man must I, in gold-hues bright,
Swallow then. Sometimes to the wine
I invite with my voice the valiant men;
Or it rescues the stolen from the robbers’ grasp,
Drives away enemies. Ask what my name is.

_Answer_: The horn of a bull.

POPE GREGORY II. COMMENDS BONIFACE
(DECEMBER 1, 722).

=Source.=—_Monumenta Germaniæ Historica_, Epist. iii. Ed. Dümmler, 1892.
No. 17, p. 266. Translated by W.

GREGORY THE BISHOP, THE SERVANT OF GOD’S SERVANTS, TO ALL HIS MOST
REVEREND AND MOST HOLY BRETHREN, FELLOW-BISHOPS, RELIGIOUS PRIESTS
AND DEACONS, GLORIOUS DUKES, NOBLE PREFECTS, COUNTS, AND ALL
CHRISTIANS THAT FEAR GOD.

Having solicitude beyond measure for the overseership entrusted to us—since certain peoples in parts of Germany or on the eastern shore of the river Rhine, persuaded by the ancient foe, wander “in the shadow of death”: since we know that under pretext of Christianity they serve and worship idols; and others there are who have not yet the knowledge of God nor have been washed in the water of holy baptism, but as pagans, like the brutes, know not their creator—we have been careful, for the needful enlightenment of both, to send the bearer of these, Boniface, our most reverend brother, as bishop in those parts, to preach the word of the right faith, that, by preaching the word of salvation he may provide for them eternal life, and that, should he see that any have in any district departed from the path of the right faith, or should he find them persuaded to error by the cunning of the devil, he may correct them, and by his teaching may bring them back to the haven of salvation, and instruct them in the doctrine of this apostolic see, and may induce them to remain steadfast in the catholic faith.

For the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the reverence due to his Apostles we beg that you will assist him in everything to the utmost of your power, and receive him in the name of Jesus Christ: as it is written of his disciples: “Whoso receiveth you, receiveth me”; providing the necessaries for his journey, giving him escort, and food and drink, or whatever he may need, that, by the labour and friendly good-will of all, the work of piety and business of salvation committed to him may be with God’s assistance accomplished, and that ye may be worthy to receive the recompense of toil, and that the reward for the conversion of those in error may be ascribed to you in heaven. If any one therefore, at the prayer of the chiefs of the Apostles, give his assent or concurrence to this servant of God set apart by the apostolic and catholic church of God for the illumination of the peoples, may he be worthy to join the martyrs of Jesus Christ. But if any, which we do not desire, attempt to hinder him by opposition, or show himself hostile to the ministry committed to him and of his successors entering upon the same work, may he be by divine judgment cast down with the bond of the anathema, and lie in eternal condemnation.

FARE YE WELL.

Given on the Kalends of December, the most pious and august lord Leo, crowned great emperor by God, reigning in the seventh year, after his consulate in the seventh year, and in the fourth year of his son Constantine the great emperor, the sixth indiction.

THE STATE OF ENGLAND IN 731.

=Source.=—Bede, _Eccl. Hist._, v. 23. A.D. 731. Translated by J. A.
Giles. Bohn’s Library.

Thus at present, the bishops Tatwine and Aldwulf preside in the churches of Kent; Ingwald in the province of the East Saxons. In the province of the East Angles, Aldbert and Hadulac are bishops; in the province of the West Saxons, Daniel and Forthere are bishops; in the province of the Mercians, Aldwin. Among those people who live beyond the river Severn to the westward, Walstod is bishop; in the province of the Wiccians, Wilfrid; in the province of the Lindisfarnes, Cynebert presides: the bishopric of the Isle of Wight belongs to Daniel, bishop of Winchester. The province of the South Saxons, having now continued some years without a bishop, receives the episcopal ministry from the prelate of the West Saxons. All these provinces, and the others southward to the bank of the river Humber, with their kings, are subject to King Ethelbald.

But in the province of the Northumbrians, where King Ceolwulf reigns, four bishops now preside: Wilfrid in the church of York, Ethelwald in that of Lindisfarne, Acca in that of Hagulstad, Pechthelm in that which is called the White House, which, from the increased number of believers, has lately become an episcopal see, and has him for its first prelate. The Picts also at this time are at peace with the English nation, and rejoice in being united in peace and truth with the whole Catholic Church. The Scots that inhabit Britain, satisfied with their own territories, meditate no hostilities against the nation of the English. The Britons, though they, for the most part, through innate hatred, are adverse to the English nation, and wrongfully, and from wicked custom, oppose the appointed Easter of the whole Catholic Church; yet, from both the Divine and human power withstanding them, can in no way prevail as they desire; for though in part they are their own masters, yet elsewhere they are also brought under subjection to the English. Such being the peaceable and calm disposition of the times, many of the Northumbrians, as well of the nobility as private persons, laying aside their weapons, rather incline to dedicate both themselves and their children to the tonsure and monastic vows, than to study martial discipline. What will be the end hereof, the next age will show.

BEDE’S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF,
HIS HISTORICAL AUTHORITIES AND METHODS (731).

=Source.=—_Eccl. Hist._, v. 24; i. I. Translated by J. A. Giles. Bohn’s
Library.

A.

Thus much of the Ecclesiastical History of Britain, and more especially of the English nation, as far as I could learn either from the writings of the ancients, or the tradition of our ancestors, or of my own knowledge, has, with the help of God, been digested by me, Bede, the servant of God, and priest of the monastery of the blessed Apostles, Peter and Paul, which is at Wearmouth and Jarrow; who being born in the territory of that same monastery, was given, at seven years of age, to be educated by the most reverend Abbot Benedict, and afterwards by Ceolfrid; and spending all the remaining time of my life in that monastery, I wholly applied myself to the study of Scripture, and amidst the observance of regular discipline, and the daily care of singing in the church, I always took delight in learning, teaching, and writing. In the nineteenth year of my age, I received deacon’s orders; in the thirtieth, those of the priesthood, both of them by the ministry of the most reverend Bishop John, and by the order of the Abbot Ceolfrid. From which time, till the fifty-ninth year of my age, I have made it my business, for the use of me and mine, to compile out of the works of the venerable Fathers, and to interpret and explain according to their meaning these following pieces.

[Here follow the titles of thirty-seven works.]

B.

My principal authority and aid in this work was the learned and reverend Abbot Albinus; who, educated in the Church of Canterbury by those venerable and learned men, Archbishop Theodore of blessed memory, and the Abbot Adrian, transmitted to me by Nothelm, the pious priest of the Church of London, either in writing, or by word of mouth of the same Nothelm, all that he thought worthy of memory, that had been done in the province of Kent, or the adjacent parts, by the disciples of the blessed Pope Gregory, as he had learned the same either from written records, or the traditions of his ancestors. The same Nothelm, afterwards going to Rome, having, with leave of the present Pope Gregory, searched into the archives of the holy Roman Church, found there some epistles of the blessed Pope Gregory, and other popes; and returning home, by the advice of the aforesaid most reverend father Albinus, brought them to me, to be inserted in my history. Thus, from the beginning of this volume to the time when the English nation received the faith of Christ, have we collected the writings of our predecessors, and from them gathered matter for our history; but from that time till the present, what was transacted in the Church of Canterbury, by the disciples of St. Gregory or their successors, and under what kings the same happened, has been conveyed to us by Nothelm through the industry of the aforesaid Abbot Albinus. They also partly informed me by what bishops and under what kings the provinces of the East and West Saxons, as also of the East Angles, and of the Northumbrians, received the faith of Christ. In short I was chiefly encouraged to undertake this work by the persuasions of the same Albinus. In like manner, Daniel, the most reverend Bishop of the West Saxons, who is still living, communicated to me in writing some things relating to the Ecclesiastical History of that province, and the next adjoining to it of the South Saxons, as also of the Isle of Wight. But how, by the pious ministry of Cedd and Ceadda, the province of the Mercians was brought to the faith of Christ, which they knew not before, and how that of the East Saxons recovered the same, after having expelled it, and how those fathers lived and died, we learned from the brethren of the monastery, which was built by them, and is called Lastingham. What ecclesiastical transactions took place in the province of the East Angles, was partly made known to us from the writings and tradition of our ancestors, and partly by relation of the most reverend Abbot Esius. What was done towards promoting the faith, and what was the sacerdotal succession in the province of Lindsey, we had either from the letters of the most reverend prelate Cunebert, or by word of mouth from other persons of good credit. But what was done in the Church throughout the province of the Northumbrians, from the time when they received the faith of Christ till this present, I received not from any particular author, but by the faithful testimony of innumerable witnesses, who might know or remember the same; besides what I had of my own knowledge. Wherein it is to be observed, that what I have written concerning our most holy father, Bishop Cuthbert, either in this volume, or in my treatise on his life and actions, I partly took, and faithfully copied from what I found written of him by the brethren of the Church of Lindisfarne; but at the same time took care to add such things as I could myself have knowledge of by the faithful testimony of such as knew him. And I humbly entreat the reader, that if he shall in this that we have written find anything not delivered according to the truth, he will not impute the same to me, who, as the true rule of history requires, have laboured sincerely to commit to writing such things as I could gather from common report, for the instruction of posterity.

THE FAITHFUL THEGNS (786).

=Source.=—_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle._ Translated by J. A. Giles. Bohn’s
Library.

ANNO 755.—This year Cynewulf and the West Saxon Witan deprived his kinsman Sigebert of his kingdom, except Hampshire, for his unjust doings; and that he held until he slew the ealdorman who longest abode by him. And then Cynewulf drove him into Andred, and he abode there until a swineherd stabbed him at Privets-flood, and avenged the ealdorman Cumbra. And Cynewulf fought very many battles against the Welsh; and after he had held the kingdom about one and thirty years, he purposed to expel an etheling, who was named Cyneheard: and Cyneheard was Sigebert’s brother. And he then learned that the king with a small band was gone to Merton to visit a lady; and he there beset him and surrounded the building on every side, before the men who were with the king discovered him. And when the king perceived this, he went to the door, and there manfully defended himself, until he beheld the etheling, and then he rushed out upon him and sorely wounded him; and they all continued fighting against the king until they had slain him. And upon this, the king’s thegns having discovered the affray by the lady’s cries, each as he was ready, and with his utmost speed, ran to the spot. And the etheling offered money and life to each of them, and not one of them would accept it; but they continued fighting till they all fell, except one, a British hostage, and he was already sorely wounded. Then upon the morrow the king’s thegns whom he had left behind him heard that the king was slain: then rode they thither, and Osric his ealdorman, and Wiferth his thegn, and the men whom he had previously left behind. And at the town wherein the king lay slain they found the etheling, and those within had closed the gates against them; but they then went onward. And he then offered them their own choice of land and money if they would grant him the kingdom, and showed them that their kinsmen were with him, men who would not desert him. And they then said that no kinsman was dearer to them than their lord, and that they never would follow his murderer. And they then bade their kinsmen that they should go away from him in safety; but they said that the same had been bidden their companions who before had been with the king; then they said that they no more minded it “than your companions who were slain with the king.” And then they continued fighting around the gates until they made their way in, and slew the etheling, and all the men who were with him, except one who was the ealdorman’s godson; and he escaped with his life, though he was wounded in several places.

THE COMING OF THE DANES (787-870)

=Source.=—_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle._ Translated by J. A. Giles. Bohn’s
Library.

ANNO 787.—This year King Bertric took to wife Eadburga, King Offa’s daughter; and in his days first came three ships of Northmen. And then the reeve rode to the place and would have driven them to the king’s town [? Dorchester] because he knew not who they were: and they there slew him. These were the first ships of Danish men which sought the land of the English nation.

ANNO 794.—The heathens ravaged among the Northumbrians, and plundered Egfert’s monastery at the mouth of the Wear; and there one of their leaders was slain, and also some of their ships were wrecked by a tempest; and many of them were there drowned, and some came on shore alive, and they were soon slain at the river’s mouth.

ANNO 835.—This year the heathen men ravaged Sheppey.

ANNO 836.—This year King Egbert fought against the men of thirty-five ships at Charmouth, and there was great slaughter made, and the Danish men maintained possession of the field.

ANNO 838.—This year a great hostile fleet came to the West Welsh [Cornwall], and they united together, and made war upon Egbert, king of the West Saxons. As soon as he heard of it, he went thither with an army, and fought against them at Hengestdune, and there he put to flight both the Welsh and the Danish men.

ANNO 840.—This year Wulfherd the ealdorman fought at Hamtun [Southampton], against the forces of thirty-five ships, and there made great slaughter, and got the victory. And the same year Ethelhelm the ealdorman fought against the Danish army at Portland isle, with the men of Dorset, and for a good while he put the enemy to flight; but the Danish men had possession of the field, and slew the ealdorman.

ANNO 841.—This year Herebert the ealdorman was slain by the heathen men, and many with him among the Marshmen [Romney Marsh]; and afterwards, the same year, in Lindsey, and in East Anglia, and in Kent, many men were slain by the enemy.

ANNO 842.—This year there was great slaughter at London, and at Canterbury, and at Rochester.

ANNO 843.—This year King Ethelwulf fought at Charmouth against the crews of thirty-five ships, and the Danish men maintained possession of the field.

ANNO 848.—This year Eanwulf the ealdorman, with the men of Somerset, and Bishop Ealstan, and Osric the ealdorman, with the men of Dorset, fought at the mouth of the Parret, against the Danish army, and there made great slaughter, and got the victory.

ANNO 851.—This year Ceorl the ealdorman, with the men of Devonshire, fought against the heathen men at Wembury [near Plymouth], and there made great slaughter and got the victory. And the same year Athelstan and Elchere the ealdorman fought on shipboard, and slew a great number of the enemy at Sandwich in Kent, and took nine ships, and put the others to flight; and the heathen men, for the first time, remained over winter in Thanet. And the same year came three hundred and fifty ships to the mouth of the Thames, and the crews landed and took Canterbury and London by storm, and put to flight Berthwulf, King of the Mercians, with his army, and then went south over the Thames into Surrey; and there King Ethelwulf and his son Ethelbald, with the fyrd of the West Saxons, fought against them at Ockley, and there made the greatest slaughter among the heathen army that we have heard reported to the present day, and there got the victory.

ANNO 853.—This year Ealhere, with the men of Kent, and Huda, with the men of Surrey, fought in Thanet, against the heathen army; and at first they were victorious; and many there were slain, and drowned on either hand, and both the ealdormen were killed.

ANNO 855.—This year the heathen men, for the first time, remained over winter in Sheppey.

ANNO 860.—This year Ethelbert succeeded to all the realm of his brother. And in his days a large fleet came to land, and the crews stormed Winchester. And Osric the ealdorman, with the men of Hampshire, and Ethelwulf the ealdorman, with the men of Berkshire, fought against the army, and put them to flight, and had possession of the place of carnage.

ANNO 865.—This year the heathen army sat down in Thanet, and made peace with the men of Kent, and the men of Kent promised them money for the peace; and during the peace and the promise of money the army stole away by night, and ravaged all Kent to the eastward.

ANNO 866.—This year a great heathen army came to the land of the English nation, and took up their winter quarters among the East Angles, and there they were horsed; and the East Angles made peace with them.

ANNO 867.—This year the army went from East Anglia over the mouth of the Humber to York in Northumbria. And there was much dissension among that people, and they had cast out their King Osbert, and had taken to themselves a king, Ælle, not of royal blood; but late in the year they resolved that they would fight against the army; and therefore they gathered a large force, and sought the army at the town of York, and stormed the town, and some of them got within, and there was an excessive slaughter made of the Northumbrians, some within, some without, and the kings were both slain: and the remainder made peace with the army.

ANNO 868.—This year the same army went into Mercia to Nottingham, and there took up their winter quarters. And Burhred, King of the Mercians, and his witan begged of Ethelred, King of the West Saxons, and of Alfred his brother, that they would help them, that they might fight against the army. And then they went with the West Saxon fyrd into Mercia as far as Nottingham, and there met with the army within the fortress; and besieged them therein: but there was no great battle; and the Mercians made peace with the army.

ANNO 869.—This year the army again went to York, and sat there one year.

ANNO 870.—This year the army rode across Mercia into East Anglia, and took up their winter quarters at Thetford: and the same winter King Edmund fought against them, and the Danes got the victory, and slew the king, and subdued all the land, and destroyed all the minsters which they came to. The names of their chiefs who slew the king were Inguar and Ubba.

A LETTER FROM CHARLES THE GREAT TO OFFA (796).

=Source.=—_Monumenta Germaniæ Historica_, Epist. iv. Ed. Dümmler, 1895.
No. 100. Translated by W.

CHARLES BY THE GRACE OF GOD KING OF THE FRANKS AND LOMBARDS AND PATRICIAN OF THE ROMANS TO HIS VENERABLE AND DEAREST BROTHER OFFA, KING OF THE MERCIANS, GREETING OF PRESENT PROSPERITY AND ETERNAL BLESSEDNESS IN CHRIST.

The hearty preservation of the laws of friendship and of the concord of holy charity in leagued unanimity of peace between kings and highly-placed potentates is of the greatest advantage. And if we are ordered by our Lord’s precept to dissolve the knots of enmity, how much more must we endeavour to draw tight the bonds of love! Wherefore, dearest brother, mindful of our ancient agreement, we have directed this letter to your reverence, that a treaty rooted in faith, may flower and fruit in love.

Reading over the letters, brother, which at various times were delivered to us by the hands of your messengers, and busying ourselves to reply adequately to your reverence’s different suggestions, we first thank Almighty God for the purity of the Catholic Faith which we find praiseworthily set down in your pages; knowing that you are not only the bravest protector of your earthly country, but also the most devoted defender of the holy Faith.

Now concerning the pilgrims, who for the love of God and the salvation of their souls wish to visit the abode of the blessed apostles, we have granted, as of old time, that they may go on their journey in peace without any molestation, carrying necessaries with them. But we have proved that some fraudulently go along with them for purposes of trade, pursuing gain, not serving religion. If such are found amongst them, at the proper places they must pay the decreed customs-duties. The others shall be free to go in peace.

Concerning traders also you wrote to us. We wish that by our command they may lawfully enjoy protection and patronage in our kingdom according to the ancient custom of trading. And if they be unjustly oppressed anywhere, let them appeal to us or to our judges and we will afterwards order holy justice to be done. Likewise concerning ours: if they suffer any injustice in your realm, let them appeal to your equitable judgment: that no quarrel may anywhere arise between our subjects.

Concerning Odberht the priest who returned from Rome wishing (as he often avers) to make a pilgrimage for the love of God, and not coming to accuse you, know that we sent him with other exiles, who in fear of death had fled beneath our protecting wings, to Rome, that in the presence of the pope [Leo III.] and your illustrious archbishop [Æthilhard]—whither, as your letter noted, they had bound themselves by a vow—their cause might be heard and judged, that a righteous judgement might perform what pious intercession had not helped. How could we act more carefully than to allow the pope’s judgement to decide a cause in which the opinions of others were discordant?

Now as to the black stones which your reverence desired to be sent to you, let a messenger come to find out the sort you wish for. And wherever they are found, we shall give orders that they be given to you and that assistance be freely rendered in the carriage of them.

But as you have intimated your desire with regard to the length of the stones, so also our subjects make request concerning the size of the cloaks: that you will have them made of the same pattern as used to come to us in old times.

Know also that we have sent a sacred article from amongst our dalmatics or palls to each episcopal see of your kingdom or Æthelred’s, as an alms for the apostolic lord Adrian, our father and your well-wisher; beseeching that you will order diligent intercession to be made for his soul, not because we doubt that his blessed soul is at rest, but to show our faith and affection towards our dearest friend: as S. Augustine lays down that the church should make holy intercession for all, declaring that intercession for a good man is of benefit to him that makes it.

Further, of the worldly treasure which the Lord Jesus hath freely granted us, we have sent something through the metropolitan cities. And to you, too, for your pleasure, and as thanksgiving to Almighty God, we have sent a belt, and a Hunnish sword, and two silk cloaks; that everywhere in Christendom the divine clemency be preached and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be for ever glorified.

We beseech you cause to be made constant supplications for us and our faithful subjects, and indeed for all Christian folk, that the gentle goodness of the heavenly king may protect, exalt, and extend the kingdom of the holy church.

May Almighty God preserve in safety and long prosperity your highness’ excellency as a defence of his holy church, my dearest brother.

THE BRETWALDAS (827).

=Source.=—_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle._ Translated by J. A. Giles. Bohn’s
Library.

ANNO 827.—This year the moon was eclipsed on the mass-night of midwinter,[1] and the same year King Egbert conquered the kingdom of the Mercians, and all that was south of the Humber; and he was the eighth king who was Bretwalda. Ælle, King of the South Saxons, was the first who had thus much dominion; the second was Ceawlin, King of the West Saxons; the third was Ethelbert, King of the Kentishmen; the fourth was Redwald, King of the East Angles; the fifth was Edwin, King of the Northumbrians; the sixth was Oswald who reigned after him; the seventh was Oswy, Oswald’s brother; the eighth was Egbert, King of the West Saxons. And Egbert led an army to Dore against the Northumbrians, and they there offered him obedience and allegiance, and with that they separated.

Footnote 1:

The eclipse happened December 25, 828.

ALFRED AND THE DANES (871-878).

=Source.=—_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle._ Translated by J. A. Giles. Bohn’s
Library.

ANNO 871.—This year the army came to Reading in Wessex; and three days after this, two of their earls rode forth. Then Ethelwulf the ealdorman met them at Englefield, and there fought against them, and got the victory: and there one of them, whose name was Sidroc, was slain. About three days after this, King Ethelred and Alfred his brother led a large force to Reading, and fought against the army, and there was great slaughter made on either hand. And Ethelwulf the ealdorman was slain, and the Danish men had possession of the place of carnage. And about four days after this, King Ethelred and Alfred his brother fought against the whole army at Æscesdune [Ashdown Hills]; and they were in two bodies: in the one were Bagseg and Halfdene the heathen kings, and in the other were the earls. And then King Ethelred fought against the division under the kings, and there King Bagseg was slain; and Alfred his brother against the division under the earls, and there earl Sidroc the elder was slain, earl Sidroc the younger, and earl Osbern, and earl Frene, and earl Harold; and both divisions of the army were put to flight, and many thousands slain: and they continued fighting until night. And about fourteen days after this, King Ethelred and Alfred his brother fought against the army at Basing, and there the Danes obtained the victory. And about two months after this, King Ethelred and Alfred his brother fought against the army at Marden; and they were in two bodies, and they were both put to flight, and during a great part of the day were victorious; and there was great slaughter on either hand; but the Danes had possession of the place of carnage: and there bishop Heahmund was slain, and many good men: and after this battle there came a great army in the summer to Reading. And after this, over Easter, King Ethelred died.

Then Alfred, the son of Ethelwulf, his brother, succeeded to the kingdom of the West Saxons. And about one month after this, King Alfred with a small band fought against the whole army at Wilton, and put them to flight for a good part of the day; but the Danes had possession of the place of carnage. And this year nine general battles were fought against the army in the kingdom south of the Thames, besides which, Alfred, the king’s brother, and single ealdormen, and king’s thegns, oftentimes made incursions on them, which were not counted: and within the year nine earls and one king were slain. And that year the West Saxons made peace with the army.

ANNO 872.—This year the army went from Reading to London, and there took up their winter quarters: and then the Mercians made peace with the army.

ANNO 873.—This year the army went into Northumbria, and took up their winter quarters at Torksey in Lindsey: and then the Mercians made peace with the army.

ANNO 874.—This year the army went from Lindsey to Repton, and there took up their winter quarters, and drove King Burhred over sea about twenty-two years after he had obtained the kingdom; and subdued the whole country: and Burhred went to Rome, and there remained; and his body lies in St. Mary’s church at the Saxon school. And that same year they committed the kingdom of the Mercians to the keeping of Ceolwulf, an unwise king’s thegn; and he swore oaths to them, and delivered hostages that it should be ready for them on whatever day they would have it, and that he would be ready both in his own person and with all who would follow him, for the behoof of the army.

ANNO 875.—This year the army went from Repton: and Halfdene went with some of the army into Northumbria, and took up winter quarters by the river Tyne. And the army subdued the land, and oft-times spoiled the Picts, and the Strathclyde Britons. And the three kings Guthrum, and Oskytel, and Anwind, went with a large army from Repton to Cambridge, and sat down there one year. And that summer King Alfred went out to sea with a fleet, and fought against the forces of seven ships, and one of them he took, and put the rest to flight.

ANNO 876.—This year the army stole away to Wareham, a fortress of the West Saxons. And afterwards the king made peace with the army; and they delivered to the king hostages from among the most distinguished men of the army; and then they swore oaths to him on the holy armlet, which they never before would do to any nation, that they would speedily depart from his kingdom. And notwithstanding this, that part of the army which was horsed stole away by night from the fortress to Exeter. And that year Halfdene apportioned the lands of Northumbria: and they thenceforth continued ploughing and tilling them.

ANNO 877.—This year the army came to Exeter from Wareham; and the fleet sailed round westwards: and then a great storm overtook them at sea, and there one hundred and twenty ships were wrecked at Swanwich. And King Alfred with his forces rode after the army which was mounted, as far as Exeter; and they were unable to overtake them before they were within the fortress, where they could not be come at. And they there delivered to him hostages, as many as he would have, and swore many oaths: and then they observed the peace well. And afterwards, during harvest, the army went into Mercia, and some part of it they apportioned, and some they delivered to Ceolwulf.

ANNO 878.—This year, during midwinter, after Twelfth Night, the army stole away to Chippenham, and overran the land of the West Saxons, and sat down there; and many of the people they drove beyond sea, and of the remainder the greater part they subdued and forced to obey them, except King Alfred: and he, with a small band, with difficulty retreated to the woods and to the fastnesses of the moors. And the same winter the brother of Inguar and of Halfdene came with twenty-three ships to Devonshire in Wessex; and he was there slain, and with him 840 men of his army: and there was taken the war-flag which they called the Raven. After this, at Easter, King Alfred with a small band constructed a fortress at Athelney; and from this fortress, with that part of the men of Somerset which was nearest to it, from time to time they fought against the army. Then in the seventh week after Easter he rode to Brixton, on the east side of Selwood; and there came to meet him all the men of Somerset, and the men of Wiltshire, and that portion of the men of Hampshire which was on this side of the sea; and they were joyful at his presence. On the following day he went from that station to Iglea, and on the day after this to Ethandune [Edington], and there fought against the whole army, put them to flight, and pursued them as far as their fortress: and there he sat down fourteen days. And then the army delivered to him hostages, with many oaths, that they would leave his kingdom, and also promised him that their king should receive baptism: and this they accordingly fulfilled. And about three weeks after this King Guthrum came to him, with some thirty men who were of the most distinguished in the army, at Aller, which is near Athelney: and the king was his godfather at baptism; and his chrism-loosing was at Wedmore: and he was twelve days with the king; and he greatly honoured him and his companions with gifts.

ALFRED AND GUTHRUM’S PEACE (_c._ 885)

=Source.=—Thorpe, _Ancient Laws and Institutes of England_.

This is the peace that King Alfred and King Guthrum and the witan of all the English people, and all the people that are in East Angle-land have spoken and confirmed with oaths, for themselves and for their descendants, for born and for unborn, who reck of God’s mercy or of ours.

1. First about our land boundaries: up on Thames, and then up on Lea, and along Lea to its source, then straight to Bedford, then up on Ouse to Watling Street.

2. Then is this: if a man be slain we reckon all equally dear, English and Danish, at 8 half marks of pure gold, except the ceorl who lives on rent-land and their [_i.e._, the Danes’] liesings: they are also equally dear, either at 200 shillings.

3. And if a king’s thegn be accused of murder and he dare to clear himself, let him do it with 12 king’s thegns. If a man accuse a man of less degree than the king’s thegn, let him clear himself with 11 of his equals and with one king’s thegn. And similarly in every suit that is for more than 4 mancuses. And if he dare not, let him pay it three-fold as it may be valued.

4. And that every man know his guarantor for men and for horses and for oxen.

5. And we all declared on the day that the oaths were sworn that neither slave nor free might go to the army without leave, and their men none the more to us. But if it happen that for need any of them will have traffic with us, or we with them, with cattle and with goods, that is to be allowed on this wise: that hostages be furnished as security for peace and as evidence whereby one may know that the man has a clean back.

ALFRED’S DOOMS.

=Source.=—Thorpe, _Ancient Laws and Institutes of England_.

These are the dooms which Alfred the king chose, in order that no man should deem them otherwise than according to his will.

... “That which ye will that other men do not unto you, do ye not that to other men.” On this one doom let a man think that he judge every one righteously: he need heed no other doom-book. Let him remember that he adjudge to no man that which he would not that he should adjudge to him, if he sought judgment against him.

After this, then it happened that many nations received the faith of Christ; then were many synods assembled throughout all the earth, and also among the English race, after they had received the faith of Christ, synods of holy bishops, and also of other distinguished witan. They then ordained, for that mildness of heart which Christ had taught, that secular lords, with their leave, might without sin, take for almost every misdeed, for the first offence, the money-amends which they then ordained; except in cases of treason against a lord, to which they dared not assign any mildness of heart, because God Almighty adjudged none to them who despised him, nor did Christ the Son of God adjudge any to him who sold Him to death; and he commanded that a lord should be loved as one’s self. They then in many synods ordained amends for many human misdeeds: and in many synod-books they wrote, at one place one doom, at another another.

I, then, King Alfred, gathered these laws together and caused them to be written down, selecting many which pleased me from among those ordained by my predecessors. And many of those which I liked not I abrogated by the counsel of my witan, ordaining some different way for the future. For I did not dare to set down in writing many of my own suggestions, not knowing how they would be liked by those who should come after. But whenever I found in the laws passed in the days of my kinsman Ine, or of Offa, King of Mercia, or of Ethelbert, the first English convert to Christianity, anything that seemed to me to be most justly decided, such laws I gathered in and the others I left out.

I, then, Alfred, King of the West Saxons, showed these to all my witan, and they then said that it seemed good to them all to be holden.

12. If a man burn or hew another’s wood without leave, let him pay for every great tree with 5 shillings, and afterwards for each, let there be as many of them as may be, with 5 pence; and 30 shillings as fine.

20. If a man entrust property to another man’s monk, without leave of the monk’s lord, and it be lost from him, let him forfeit it who before owned it.

34. It is also directed to chapmen, that they bring the men whom they take up with them before the king’s reeve at the folk-moot, and let it be stated how many of them there are; and let them take such men with them as they may be able afterwards to present for justice at the folk-moot.

37. If a man from one hall-register wish to seek a lord in another hall-register, let him do it with the knowledge of the ealdorman whom he before followed in his shire. If he do it without his knowledge, let him who entertains him as his man pay 120 shillings as fine: let him, however, give half to the king in the shire where he before followed, half in that into which he comes.

38. If any man fight before the king’s ealdorman in the gemot, he shall pay his value and his fine as the law ordains for any assault that he may have committed, and in addition shall pay a fine of 120 shillings to the ealdorman.

40. For breaking into the king’s dwelling, 120 shillings; the archbishop’s, 90 shillings; any other bishop’s, and an ealdorman’s, 60 shillings; a twelve-hundred man’s, 30 shillings; a six-hundred man’s, 15 shillings. For breaking into a ceorl’s house, 5 shillings. If aught of this happen when the national army is out, or in Lent-fast, let the amends be twofold.

41. The man who has book-land, which his kindred left him, then ordain we that he must not give it from his kindred, if there be writing or witness that it was forbidden that he should do so by those men who at first acquired it, and by those who gave it to him; and then let that be declared in the presence of the king and of the bishop, before his kinsmen.

42. We also command that the man who knows his foe to be dwelling at home fight not before he demand right of him. If he have such power that he can beset his foe, and besiege him within, let him keep him within for 7 days, and attack him not, if he will remain within. And then, after 7 days, if he will surrender, and deliver up his weapons, let him be kept safe for 30 days, and let notice of him be given to his kinsmen and his friends. If, however, he flee to a church, then let it be according to the sanctity of the church; as we have before said above. But if he have not sufficient power to besiege him within, let him ride to the ealdorman, and beg aid of him. If he will not aid him, let him ride to the king before he fights. In like manner also, if a man come upon his foe, and he did not before know him to be settled in a house; if he be willing to deliver up his weapons, let him be kept for 30 days, and let notice of him be given to his friends; if he will not deliver up his weapons, then he may attack him. If he be willing to surrender, and to deliver up his weapons, and any one after that attack him, let him pay value and wound, such as he may cause, and fine, and let him have his power destroyed. We also declare that, with his lord a man may fight without incurring penalty, if any one attack the lord: thus may the lord fight for his man. After the same wise a man may fight with his born kinsman, if a man attack him wrongfully, except against his lord; that we do not allow.

43. To all free men let these days be given, but not to slaves and servile labourers, 12 days at Yule, and the day on which Christ overcame the devil, and the commemoration day of S. Gregory, and 7 days before Easter and 7 days after, and one day at S. Peter’s tide and S. Paul’s, and at harvest the whole week before S. Mary’s mass, and one day at the celebration of All Hallows, and the 4 Wednesdays in the 4 Ember weeks. To all slaves be given, to those to whom it may be most desirable to give, whatever any man shall give them in God’s name, or they at any of their moments may deserve.

49-60. [The wound-tariff.] Front tooth, 8 shillings; canine tooth, 4 shillings; grinder, 15 shillings; cleft chin-bone, 12 shillings. Thumb struck off, 30 shillings; thumb-nail, 5 shillings. Shooting-finger, 15 shillings; its nail, 4 shillings. Middlemost finger, 12 shillings; its nail, 2 shillings. Gold-finger, 17 shillings; its nail, 4 shillings. Little finger, 9 shillings; its nail, 1 shilling. [Note that 1 Kentish shilling equals 4 Wessex shillings.]

OHTHERE’S VOYAGE OF EXPLORATION, TOLD TO KING ALFRED.

=Source.=—King Alfred’s translation of _Orosius_, i. 1. Translated by B.
Thorpe. Pauli’s _Alfred the Great_. Bohn’s Library.

Ohthere told his lord King Alfred, that he dwelt northmost of all the Northmen. He said that he dwelt in the land to the northward, along the West Sea; he said, however, that that land is very long north from thence, but it is all waste, except in a few places, where the Fins here and there dwell, for hunting in the winter, and in the summer for fishing in that sea. He said that he was desirous to try, once on a time, how far that country extended due north, or whether anyone lived to the north of the waste. He then went due north along the country, leaving all the way the waste land on the right, and the wide sea on the left, for three days: he was as far north as the whale-hunters go at the farthest. Then he proceeded in his course due north, as far as he could sail within another three days; then the land there inclined due east [the North Cape] or the sea into the land, he knew not which, but he knew that he there waited for a west wind, or a little north, and sailed thence eastward along that land as far as he could sail in four days; then he had to wait for a due north wind, because the land there inclined due south [the White Sea], or the sea in on that land, he knew not which; he then sailed thence along the coast due south, as far as he could sail in five days. There lay a great river [Dwina] up in that land; they then turned up in that river, because they durst not sail on by that river, on account of hostility, because all that country was inhabited on the other side of that river; he had not before met with any land that was inhabited since he came from his own home; but all the way he had waste land on his right, except fishermen, fowlers, and hunters, all of whom were Fins, and he had constantly a wide sea to the left. The Beormas had well cultivated their country, but they did not dare to enter it; and the Terfinna land was all waste, except where hunters, fishers, or fowlers had taken up their quarters.

The Beormas told him many particulars both of their own land, and of the other lands lying around them; but he knew not what was true, because he did not see it himself; it seemed to him that the Fins and the Beormas spoke nearly one language. He went thither chiefly, in addition to seeing the country, on account of the walruses, because they have very noble bones in their teeth; some of these teeth they brought to the king: and their hides are good for ship-ropes. This whale is much less than other whales, it being not longer than seven ells; but in his own country is the best whale-hunting, there they are eight-and-forty ells long, and most of them fifty ells long; of these he said that he and five others had killed sixty in two days. He was a very wealthy man in those possessions in which their wealth consists, that is in wild deer. He had, at the time he came to the king, six hundred unsold tame deer. These deer they call reindeer, of which there were six decoy reindeer, which are very valuable amongst the Fins, because they catch the wild reindeer with them.

He was one of the first men in that country, yet he had not more than twenty horned cattle, and twenty sheep, and twenty swine, and the little that he ploughed he ploughed with horses. But their wealth consists for the most part in the rent paid them by the Fins. That rent is in skins of animals, and birds’ feathers, and whalebone, and in ship-ropes made of whales’ hides, and of seals. Everyone pays according to his birth; the best-born, it is said, pay the skins of fifteen martens, and five reindeers’, and one bear’s-skin, ten ambers of feathers, a bear’s or otter’s skin kyrtle, and two ship-ropes, each sixty ells long, made either of whale-hide or of seal’s.

He said that the Northmen’s land was very long and very narrow; all that his man could either pasture or plough lies by the sea, though that is in some parts very rocky; and to the east are wild mountains, parallel to the cultivated land. The Fins inhabit these mountains, and the cultivated land is broadest to the eastward, and continually narrower the more north. To the east it may be sixty miles broad, or a little broader, and towards the middle thirty, or broader; and northward, he said, where it is narrowest, that it might be three miles broad to the mountain, and the mountain then is in some parts so broad that a man may pass over in two weeks, and in some parts so broad that a man may pass over in six days. Then along this land southwards, on the other side of the mountain, is Sweden, to that land northwards; and along that land northwards, Cwenland. The Cwenas sometimes make depredations on the Northmen over the mountains, and sometimes the Northmen on them; there are very large fresh meres amongst the mountains, and the Cwenas carry their ships over land into the meres, and thence make depredations on the Northmen; they have very little ships, and very light.

Ohthere said that the shire in which he dwelt is called Halgoland. He said that no one dwelt to the north of him; there is likewise a port to the south of that land, which is called Sciringes-heal; thither, he said, no one could sail in a month, if he landed at night, and every day had a fair wind; and all the while he would sail along the land, and on the starboard will first be Ireland, and then the islands which are between Ireland and this land. Then it is this land until he comes to Sciringes-heal, and all the way on the larboard, Norway. To the south of Sciringes-heal, a very great sea runs up into the land, which is broader than any one can see over; and Gotland is opposite on the other side, and then Seeland. This sea lies many miles up in that land. And from Sciringes-heal, he said that he sailed in five days, to that port which is called Æt-Hæthum [Sleswig], which is between the Wends, and Saxons, and Angles, and belongs to Denmark.