THI XIII. 'THE BOOK OF HYDE.' HIS book is a conglomerate of materials of various dates, put together in its present form probably towards the end of the fourteenth century, by some monk of Hyde Abbey (founded by Alfred). Some of these materials, e.g. the letter of Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims, to Alfred, may well be genuine; and the floating traditions of the House concerning its Founder, here given, are interesting. The work begins with the Saxon conquest of Britain, and ends with the death of Edward the Elder. No ancient MS. is known, nor has it ever been printed in full; but copious extracts are given by Griffith in his 'Annals of the Anglican Church' (1663); and a translation may be found in 'The Church Historians of England.' The extracts here given are as follows: SECTION 1. Of King Ethelwulf the Monk. 3. Of Ethelwulf and Alfred at Rome. 5. Of St. Modwenna. 6. Of King Alfred. 8. How Alfred sent for Grimbald. 9. What Archbishop Fulco wrote to Alfred. SECTION 13. How Grimbald came to England, 16. Of Alfred's schools. 18. Of his valiancy. 20. Of his death and burial. 'THE BOOK OF HYDE.' § 1. The illustrious Prince Egbert made over his son Athulf or Ethelwulf to be educated by Helmstane, the venerable prelate of the royal city of Winchester, by whose precepts his kingly heart was so bent that he gave up earthly royalty to win him a crown everlasting. Then was he advanced to the sub-diaconate, and at Winchester received the monastic tonsure, and was placed under St. Swithun, then Provost of the Old Monastery there. Thus when the glorious Prince Egbert . . . rested in the Lord, in a good old age . . . he left the kingdom without an heir, save for this son Ethelwulf, the humble and devout monk, vowed unto the Lord. § 2. England . . . thus lacking a ruler, the Lords and Bishops of the realm strove, with all their wit, to find him who they might choose over them. And He who aideth His servants who call upon Him in their need, put it into their heart to set up as King, with the Apostolic dispensation, this very Ethelwulf, monk and sub-deacon as he was. Instantly was an envoy sent to the Blessed Pope Leo,1 to ask that . . . he might be crowned. And the Supreme Pontiff, considering how great and rueful would be the peril of England, if the Royal lineage were broken off, .. bade them take Ethelwulf to King, dispensing him, under his own hand, from the sub-diaconate, and from his vow of Religion. 3. Being thus raised to the throne, he took Alstan, Bishop of Sherborne, as his chief counsellor in affairs of state; but, in Church matters, St. Swithun; by whose counsel he made over to the Anglican Church a tenth of all his land for ever. [Here follows a laudation of the miracles worked by St. Swithun.] ... 4. This same Ethelwulf had, by his wife Osburga, four famous sons, all, in turn, to reign after him; Ethelbald, Ethelbert, Ethelred, and Alfred, whom he loved beyond all the rest, and sent unto Pope Leo . . . to be anointed King of the English. .. . And this Ethelwulf repaired, at great cost, the Saxon School, which Ina, King of the West Saxons, had endowed. There also, seeing certain exiles doing public penance in chains, he obtained from the Pope that no English pilgrim should ever so do penance. 1 Gregory IV. was really Pope at Egbert's death. And for this granted he a penny to St. Peter, year by year, from every dwelling house in his realm; besides three hundred marks yearly as Rome-scot. [Here follows the marriage of Judith, and the rebellion of Ethelbald, abridged from Asser.] § 5. Ethelwulf also sent Alfred, his most Christian and bestbeloved son, then sick of an incurable disease, to be healed by St. Modwenna, in Ireland. Later, when her church in Ireland was laid waste, Ethelwulf gave unto Modwenna a convent at Polesworth, which flourisheth even to this day. And here abode St. Osyth, and St. Edith, sister of King Ethelwulf.1 [The reign of Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and Ethelred, 'whom Alfred, for his goodness, loved beyond all his brethren,' are next touched upon, and thus we reach the accession of Alfred.] § 6. King Alfred, that devoted, faithful, and pious Christian, now succeeded to the West Saxon kingship. Comely was he in presence, and ... one of a thousand; sprung of British stock, and of noble Trojan blood.2 . Foremost was he in the hunt; peerless as an architect; and ever bare he with him a volume which he called his Manual or Hand-book, wherein he had brought together Psalms and Prayers. § 7. Oft sought he to Neot the Abbot, and, by his counsel, set up public Schools of Arts. Also called he to his court Grimbald, a monk skilled in Letters and Music, from France . . and John [Scotus] . . and Asser from the ends of Wales .. to teach his Senators wisdom' (Ps. civ. 22). § 8. For in the year of the Incarnation of our Lord 886 the renowned King Alfred, having miraculously routed the Danes gat the whole sway over all England. Then did it weigh upon his heart how Holy Church lay waste; priests murdered, monks cast forth, nuns dishonoured, ministers driven out; so that soon would the Christian Faith itself perish, and none be left 1 St. Modwenna and her pupil St. Osyth, whose name (pronounced Toosey") still survives as that of a village near Colchester, seem to have dwelt for awhile at Polesworth, in the seventh century. St. Edith, sister to King Athelstan, was there in the tenth century. 2 This assertion is founded on a long pedigree, not wholly the same as tha in Asser, tracing Alfred to Woden, 'from whom the fourth day of the week is in the vulgar tongue [barbare] called Wodensday, and his wife Free, from whom the sixth day is called Freeday.' Nine generations earlier we come to ' Ebranc, who built the city of York.' to partake of the Sacred Mysteries. So thought he on that spiritual bond of friendship wherein he had entered, as a boy, with St. Grimbald . . . of the Monastery of St. Bertin, where [on his way to Rome in 853] . . . he had daily sat at the feet of this best of teachers. Thus came it to pass that . . he spake of his holy man to Ethelred, Archbishop of Canterbury, and both King and Bishop sent over to pray the Abbot of St. Bertin he would send them to found a new monastery in the City of WinMessengers also did they send to Fulco, Archbishop who sent back this letter: § 9. Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims, Primate of the Franks, Legatus Natus of the Apostolic See, servant of the servants of God, to Alfred the Most Christian King of the English, wisheth ever both sway and triumph here, and the eternal joys of the Heavenly Kingdom. Since from our See, over which presideth St. Remigius,' the Apostle of the Franks, ye ask for counsel this is not done without Divine impulse. And as of old the Frankish race learnt from St. Remigius to worship the one true God, now doth the English nation seek to obtain from his See by whom they may be taught to avoid superstition . . . and violaand may learn, in the Garden of the Lord, tion of custom, to pluck the flowers and to watch against the snake. § 10. For St. Augustine, the first Bishop of your race, sent forth by your Apostle, St. Gregory .. thought not well to burden a barbarous folk with new and strange doctrines, for he knew how to say with the Apostle, I have given you milk to drink, and not meat, seeing ye are babes in Christ. as time went on, Holy Church felt it neither her wish nor her duty to be content with this, Canons, framed and hallowed by the Holy Ghost, . . . to be ignorant of which is, in cleric and priest above all, nothing short of wicked. to consult our insignificance, and to seek to the See 1 Archbishop of Rheims circa 530, for seventy years. of Gaul . . . in doctrine. § 11. And since ye would not appear before us handed, not may drive drive away the wolves wherewith . . our land aboundeth; asking of us in return to send you certain watch-dogs, Dumb dogs, unable to bark, but such as the Psalmist speaketh of, That the tongue of thy dogs may be red, who away those fell wolves, the unclean spirits, who devour souls. And, in special, ye ask Grimbald, church beareth witness from his childhood. deep sorrow (forgive us for the word) be torn from us. to whom the whole Not without do we suffer him to § 12. But as Charity knoweth nought of loss, nor Faith of harm, and no distance can indeed part those whom unfeigned love bindeth in one, we grudge him not to you. ... For we know that . the Catholic and Apostolic Church is One, whether it be at Rome, or beyond the sea.' § 13. Thus did Grimbald, after the example of the patriarch Abraham, depart from his country and his father's house, and come into England, where he became a great nation . . . of many spiritual children. And they received him .. as an angel of God. And King Alfred . . . called together at London, which is the metropolis of the whole island, a Council of the Bishops and Abbots and the best of all England. And when they met there, old and young, then sang they anthems to Christ, and took sweet counsel together. And with grave dignity did the holy Grimbald speak unto them thus: $ 14. [Here follows Grimbald's sermon on the eight prime sources of pollution' (Pride, Gluttony, Drunkenness, Impurity, Robbery, Murder, Lying and Avarice), and the 'eight chief virtues contrary to them.' His exordium dwells on the creation by God of all things, visible, and invisible such as angels, who, if we live well, shall be our fellow-citizens. . . . And us He made after His own image and similitude; wherefore we ourselves are not able to comprehend ourselves . . . If we discern not this excellence of our nature, then shall we be lower than the beasts. For in each one of us are these two things, Will and Power.'] . . . ... |