Before the first year of Ethelwolf's reign had expired, the Danes again assailed, on more points than one, the unfortunate Anglo-Saxons. The sufferings which the terrible invaders brought with them are briefly related by the chroniclers. "This year," says the Saxon Chronicle, " there was great slaughter made by the Danes at London, Canterbury, and Rochester." In the following year, namely 840, the king himself experienced a severe defeat at the hands of the invaders. A fleet of thirty ships came to land at Charmouth in Dorsetshire: and, as each vessel was more than usually crowded with men, the army that issued forth to ravage the country was more formidable than Ethelwolf had expected. He was unable to withstand their fury, and, as none of the chroniclers relate the events which ensued after the battle, we are left to suppose that the king retreated, and the Danes pursued their usual course of pillage without molestation over the adjoining districts". Notwithstanding this defeat, it would seem that the resistance which the people made to their fierce plunderers was not unattended with advantage; for during the space of five years after the battle of Charmouth, the country enjoyed repose from the ravages of the Danes. At the end of that time, one of their fleets came to land at the mouth of the Parrot in Somersetshire. Here, however, they were disappointed in their hopes of plunder. Alderman Enwolf, at the head of the men of Somersetshire, with Bishop Alstan, and Alderman Osric at the head of the troops of Dorset, C Nearly all the Mss. of the Saxon Chronicle have Quantavic for Canterbury in this place, but this is evidently an error of the scribe. One Ms. and Henry of Huntingdon have the correct reading. d Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt. bravely met the invaders, and after a fierce battle, defeated them with great slaughter, and struck such terror into their roving bodies, that for six more years none of them ventured to land upon the English coast". In 851, this peace was broken by the simultaneous appearance of four Danish fleets: but by the favour of fortune or the valour of the English, the ruin which seemed to threaten the whole country was again averted, and the invaders defeated more signally than before. The first engagement was fought at Wenbury, by Ceorl, the Alderman of Devonshire, and ended in the triumph of the English'. A second party of the enemy landed on the eastern coast, where they for the first time passed the winter ". In the mean time a third invading force, or a detachment from the army which wintered in the island-for the language of the Saxon Chronicle is rather obscure in this placeapproached the southern coast of Kent. Here they were met by Ethelstan, the king of that province, attended by Alderman Alchere. Not waiting for the landing of the heathen forces, the English embarked on board their ships, and advanced to meet the invaders a furious battle took place, the enemy were defeated, and with the loss of nine ships retreated from the island". The fourth army of Danes which invaded England Sax. Ch. Ethel. Flor. Hunt. Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt. The Saxon Chronicle, Ethelwerd and Huntingdon fix their wintering-place in the isle of Thanet; Florence and Simeon in the isle of Sheppey. Some Mss. of Henry of Huntingdon omit the name of the place altogether. Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt. in the year 851, was much more formidable in numbers than either of the other three. It was also more signally discomfited: not, however, without having first committed extensive ravages and inflicted severe losses on the inhabitants. Their fleet, consisting of three hundred and fifty ships, entering the mouth of the Thames, landed a large body of men, who sacked the cities of Canterbury and London; Berthwolf, king of Mercia, marching to oppose them, was defeated, and, if not slain by the enemy, he lost his throne in consequence of the battle, and was succeeded by Burrhedi. The Danish army then crossed the Thames, and marched into the county of Surrey, until they reached Ockley. Here the West-Saxon monarch, with his eldest son Ethelbald, had assembled all his army and the two nations met in a fierce and protracted engagement. Fortune again smiled on the bravery of the English: the Danes were defeated, with the slaughter of more than half their army; and the Chroniclers, who have recorded the victory at Ockley, agree in describing it as more disastrous to the enemy than any which they ever received in England, either before or since *. "You might see their men of war," says Henry of Huntingdon," falling on all sides like corn before the blade of the reapers; streams of blood flowed around, with the heads and limbs of the victims rolling in its swelling tide. If I were to describe each particular of the battle, I should weary the reader with my prolixity. Suffice i Hunt. This observation which has been copied by the other writers from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, seems to indicate, that this portion of that work was written before the victories of King Alfred, which certainly were quite as bloody and decisive as the battle of Ockley. III. t to say, that God granted the victory to those who believed in Him, and reduced the enemy who despised his Name to humiliation that cannot be described!" Notwithstanding this terrible defeat, the Danes were not deterred from pursuing their usual course of piracy. In 853, two years after the battle of Ockley, Alderman Alcher with the men of Kent, and Alderman Huda with the men of Surrey, fought a severe battle against the Danes in the isle of Thanet: at first they were victorious, but in the end they were both slain or drowned, and a large number of men fell on both sides: the issue of the battle was apparently doubtful'. Two years after this we read of the heathen men again passing the winter in the isle of Sheppey", but with these exceptions the rest of Ethelwolf's reign was not again disturbed by the invading Danes, and his only military achievement was to assist Burrhed, king of Mercia, in reducing the North Welsh to submission. At the conclusion of this campaign, which was brought to a successful issue, the West Saxon monarch gave his daughter Ethelswitha in marriage to king Burrhed, and the wedding was celebrated with royal magnificence at the town of Chippenham, which had long been famous as a residence of the kings of Wessex". From the account of wars and bloodshed, we turn with satisfaction to the more peaceful events which mark the reign of Ethelwolf. The name of his queen was Osburga, she was a noble and pious lady, descended from the ancient race of the Goths and Jutes. Her father was Oslac, the butler or cup-bearer of king Ethelwolf. His lineage was derived through the 1 Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt. " Sax. Ch. Ass. Ethel. Flor. Sim. Hunt, E Earls Stuph and Withgar, nephews of Cerdic the first king of Sussex, and cousins to Kenric, Cerdic's son. When their uncle first landed in Britain, he gave to his brave nephews the Isle of Wight for an inheritance: but the Britons, by whom it was inhabited, would not be dispossessed of their country without fighting. They met their invaders at Carisbrooke, and were nearly all slaughtered. The survivors either fled from the island, or were afterwards slain in detail by the victorious Saxons. By his queen Osburga, Ethelwolf had four sons, Ethelbald, Ethelbert, Ethelred, and ALFRED, and one daughter Ethelswitha. The education and early life of these princes have been passed over by the Chroniclers, except a few particulars which will hereafter be noticed concerning their youngest child Alfred, and the affectionate tenderness which existed between him and his mother Osburga. From this omission of the contemporary writers we have lost much valuable information on the subject of Ethelwolf's private family and domestic arrangements. Sufficient has been left us to shew, that the royal family at this time were a family of love: but the writers of these times, as an old author has well remarked, though they lived at the same time with Alfred or in the age immediately succeeding, and may therefore be presumed to have known many passages of his domestic history, yet, as if they feared posterity would be less disposed to value king Alfred's achievements than to obtain a true account of them, have rather chosen to use their declamatory powers in his praise, than to give us a full narrative of his actions: they have extolled his wisdom and his courage; they have • Asser in Vita Alfredi, A.D. 859. Spelman, Life of Alfred the Great, p. 14. |