on the death of Ethered, ealdorman of Mercia, King Edward took possession of London and Oxford, with all the land belonging to the province of Mercia1. King Edward, in the ninth year of his reign, built Hertford, a very fair, though not a large castle", between the Benwic, the Memer, and the Lea, very clear, though not deep, rivers. The same year he built a town at Witham, in Essex, meanwhile remaining at Maldon; and great part of the neighbouring people, who were before in subjection to the Danes, submitted to him. The following year*, the Danish army issued forth from [North] Hampton and Leicester, breaking the truce which they had with the king, and made great slaughter of the English at Hockerton, and thence round in Oxfordshire. As soon as they returned to their quarters, another troop marched out and came to Leighton; but the people of that country, having intelligence of their approach, gave them battle, and, routing them, regained the plunder which they had collected, as well as took the horses of the troop. 6 In the eleventh year of King Edward, a great fleet came from the south out of Lidwic [Britany], under two earls, Ohter and Rahold, and they steered west about till they reached the Severn shore; and they pillaged the country in North Wales, wherever they could, near the coast, and took prisoner Camcleac the bishop [of Llandaff ], and carried him off to their ships. However, King Edward ransomed him for forty pounds. Afterwards, the army landed in a body, intending to pillage the neighbourhood of Archenfield', but they were met by the men of CarleonR and Hereford, and other neighbouring burgs, who fought and defeated them, with the loss of Earl Rahold, and Geolkil, 1 Probably the neighbouring districts, certainly not the whole province of Mercia, in which we find Ethelfleda exercising rights of sovereignty after her husband's death. 2 Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 913. 3 The Saxon Chronicle calls it a "burg." The Saxon Chronicle places this irruption under the year 917. 5 Saxon Chronicle, A.D. 918. The Saxon Chronicle agrees with Henry of Huntingdon in calling it North Wales; but it appears clearly to be an error, as all the places mentioned border on South Wales; access being obtained to them through the estuary of the Severn. In Herefordshire. The Saxon Chronicle has "Gloucester;" but Henry of Huntingdon is probably right, Carleon being so much nearer the scene of action. the brother of Earl Ohter, and great part of the army, and they drove the rest into a certain fortified camp, where they besieged them till they gave hostages and solemnly swore to depart the king's territories. Then the king caused the shores of the Severn to be guarded, from the south coast of Wales round to the Avon; so that the Danes durst nowhere attempt an irruption in that quarter. Twice, however, they contrived to land by stealth; once to the eastward, at Watchet1, the other time at Porlock'; but on both occasions very few escaped destruction besides those who could swim to their ships. These took refuge in the Isle of Stepen [and Flat-holm 2], in the greatest distress for want of food, which they were unable to procure, so that numbers died from hunger. Thence they retreated into Demet, and from thence crossed over to Ireland. same year King Edward went with his army to Buckingham, where he sat down four weeks, and made an entrenchment on both sides of the water before he went thence. Earl Thurkytel submitted to him there, and all the earls and chief men that belonged to Bedford, with some of those belonging to Northampton. The The old chronicles mention a battle between the Kentish men and the Danes at the Holme, in the twelfth year of King Edward; but they leave it uncertain who were the conquerors. The second year afterwards, the moon was eclipsed, to the great consternation of the beholders; the third year, a comet appeared; the fourth year, Chester was 1 Watchet and Porlock are two small harbours on the Somersetshire coast of the Severn Sea, or Bristol Channel. 2 The Steep and Flat-holms are two islets off the same coast. 3 Demet or Divet, Pembrokeshire, where, from Milford Haven, is the nearest passage to Ireland from the west of England. Henry of Huntingdon here introduces a series of events of an earlier date than that to which he had arrived. 5 The Saxon Chronicle, which contains no further particulars of this battle, gives the date of it A.D. 902; the second, instead of the "twelfth," year of Edward's reign. As Henry of Huntingdon notices the events of the succeeding years in a tolerably accurate sequence, we might suppose that the numeral x. had crept in before ii., by an error of the transcribers, did not all the MSS. agree with the received text, and were it not plain, from subsequent entries, that Henry of Huntingdon himself is generally at fault in his chronology of this period. rebuilt; the fifth year, the body of St. Oswald was translated from Bardeney into Mercia; the sixth year the English and Danes fought at Totenhall. Who can find language to describe the fearful encounters, the flashing arms, the terrible clang, the hoarse shouts, the headlong rush, and the sweeping overthrow of such a conflict? In the end, the divine mercy crowned the faithful with victory, and put to shame the heathen Danes by defeat and flight. The same year, Ethelfleda, lady of the Mercians, who governed them in the name of Ethered, her infirm father1, built the fortress at Bramsbury. Ethered was the husband, not the father, of Ethelfleda. Mr. Petrie remarks: "The Saxon Chronicle nowhere tells us who Ethelfleda was, except as it describes her to be the lady of the Mercians. When, therefore,” he continues," Henry of Huntingdon found that she succeeded Ethered, but did not know why, he had recourse to the fiction of her being his daughter. And what he tells us of the infirmity of Ethered is invented to account for her being so warlike a woman." Henry of Huntingdon has certainly fallen into the error of calling Ethelfleda the daughter, instead of the wife of Ethered; and the Saxon Chronicle is singularly silent as to the family history of so distinguished a character as this daughter of Alfred, though it recounts her great achievements. But it has escaped Mr. Petrie's observation, that in one passage, under the year 922, the Saxon Chronicle does describe her as the "sister" of King Edward, with which the chronicle of Ethelwerd, as well as Florence of Worcester, agree. Ethered may or may not have been infirm, as Henry of Huntingdon describes him; but the character given him by Florence of Worcester points rather to excellence suited to less troublesome times. There was, however, no necessity for Henry of Huntingdon to invent the story of his infirm health, in order to account for the active part taken by Ethelfleda in those wars; for there is no record of her having done so in his lifetime. The first act attributed to her, the building of the burgh of Bremesbury, bears date the very year, or according to one MS., the year before the death of Ethered. My own impression is, that the great fief of the province of Mercia, formerly a kingdom of the Heptarchy, was granted to Ethelfleda and her husband jointly, her royal birth giving her pretensions to be associated with him in the government, he himself, though a high and trusty officer of her father King Alfred, being of inferior rank, though of the blood royal of the Mercian kings, as Roger of Wendover describes him. At his death the sole government fell to her as a matter of right; and it is so described by Florence of Worcester, though Edward usurped part of her dominions. It may be remarked also, that he mentions an act of their joint government, just as we should speak of an act of "William and Mary;" "the city of Carlisle was rebuilt by command of Ethered and Ethelfleda." This was A.D. 908, two years be fore Ethered's death. In the eighteenth year of King Edward, Ethered1, lord of Mercia, the father [husband] of Ethelfleda, having been long infirm, departed this life, and as he had no son he left his territories to his daughter [wife]. Two years afterwards, Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, built a burg at Scargate, and the same year another burg at Bridgnorth; the third year, Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, built a burg at Tamworth, in the early part of the summer; and before August, that of Stafford. The fourth year, in the beginning of summer, she built a burg at Edderbury; and at the end of August, the burg at Warwick. The fifth year, she built a burg at Cherbury, after Christmas; and that at Warburton, in the summer; and the same year also that at Runcorn. The sixth year, she sent an army into Wales, which, having defeated the Welch, stormed Brecknock; they took prisoners the wife of the King of Wales, with thirty-three of her attendants. The seventh year, Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, got possession of Derby, with the country dependant upon it; there was a numerous garrison in the town of Derby, but they durst not sally forth against her. Whereupon she commanded a vigorous assault to be made on the fortress, and a desperate conflict took place at the very entrance of the gate, where four of Ethelfleda's bravest thanes were slain; but, notwithstanding, the assailants forced the gate, and made a breach in the walls. eighth year, Ethelfleda, lady of Mercia, reduced Chester, The Henry of Huntingdon has recorded Ethelred's death before, see p. 163. It occurred, according to different MSS. of the Saxon Chronicle, between A.D. 910-912. It may have been in the eighth instead of the eighteenth year of Edward's reign, erroneously given by Henry of Huntingdon; and the mistake would be explained by the interpolation of the numeral, similar to that suggested in a former note. But Henry of Huntingdon seems to have fallen into the mistake of substituting the death of Ethered for that of Elfleda, which may concur with the 18th year of Edward, being noted in the Chronicle as A.D. 918 or 919. 2 See note on p. 166. 3 Henry of Huntingdon has collected the acts of the eight years of Ethelfleda's government from various entries in the Saxon Chronicle into one continued series, and has coupled them with an erroneous calculation of periods in Edward's reign. Not only so, but this has led him to extend the reign to 26 years, though he states at the commencement that it lasted 24 only. and most of the troops stationed there submitted to her; the Yorkshire people also promised her their alliance, to which some gave pledges, and some confirmed them with their oaths. After this convention, she died at Tamworth [A.D. 918-922 1], twelve days before the feast of St. John, and in the eighth year of her government of Mercia. She was buried at Gloucester, in the porch of St. Peter's. This princess is said to have been so powerful that she was sometimes called not only lady, or queen, but king also, in deference to her great excellence and majesty 2. have thought and said that if she had not been suddenly snatched away by death, she would have surpassed the most valiant of men. The memory of so much eminence would supply materials for endless song; it demands, at least, a short tribute in verse: "Heroic Elflede! great in martial fame, A man in valour, woman though in name; 4 Some King Edward, in the twenty-sixth year of his reign, deprived Elfwina, the sister of Ethelfleda, of the lordship of Mercia, to which she had succeeded; the king regarding more the policy than the justice of the act. Subsequently, 1 Two MSS. of the Saxon Chronicle place it in 918; the version generally received is 922. 2 Ethelfleda seems to have possessed a large share of her brother Alfred's spirit. She was indeed an extraordinary woman, at a period when even manly virtues were rare. Henry of Huntingdon does justice to her great qualities, respect for which must be my apology for the length at which I have attempted to clear up her history. 366 Virgo virago." Our author unaccountably lost sight of her real position. Edward's reign lasted only 24 years; see note 3 on p. 167. From the death of King Edward, known in History as Edward the Elder, to the year 1000, very few chronological notices are found in Henry of Huntingdon's History. 5 Elfwina was the daughter of Ethelfleda, by Ethered. She is named Elgiva by Roger of Wendover, who calls her the only child, and gives a curious reason for it.-Rog. of Wendover, Bohn's Edition, vol. i. p. 243. |