The History of England, from the First Invasion by the Romans to the Accession of William and Mary in 1688, Volume 1C. Dolman, 1849 |
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abbot Alfred ancient Anglo-Saxon apud archbishop arms army Asser Athelstan authority barbarians battle Bede Bernicia bishop Bretwalda Britain British Britons brother Cæs Cæsar Canute castle Cerdic CHAP chieftains Christian Chron church coast command compelled conqueror conquest court crown Cyneheard Danes Danish daughter death descendants dominions Eadmer ealdorman earl East Anglia Edgar Edilfrid Edmund Edward Edwin Edwy Egfrid emperor enemy England English Ethelbald Ethelbert Ethelred Ethelwulf father favour fleet Flor followed foreign Gaul Hardecanute Harold Hengist Hist honour inhabitants invaders island Isle Kent king king's kingdom lands Lanfranc London lord Mailros Malm Mercia monarch monastery monks murder nations natives neighbouring Norman Normandy Northumbrians Orderic Oswio Penda Picts plunder possession prelates prince provinces received reign returned Reverend Robert Roman Rome royal Saxons Scots slain solicited success successor Sussex sword Thames thanes throne tion tribes vassal victory VIII Wessex William Winchester witan writers
Popular passages
Page 372 - I am still alive, and with the help of God I still shall conquer ! ' The men-at-arms once more returned to attack the redoubts, but they were again repelled by the impregnable phalanx of the Saxons. The Duke now resorted to the stratagem of ordering a thousand horse to advance, and then suddenly retreat, in the hope of drawing the enemy from his intrenchments.
Page 371 - At the moment when the armies were ready to engage, the Normans raised the national shout of " God is our " help," which was as loudly answered by the adverse cry of " Christ's rood, the holy rood." The archers, after the discharge of their arrows, retired to the infantry, whose weak and extended line was unable to make any impression on their more numerous opponents. William ordered the cavalry to charge. The shock was dreadful : but the English in every point opposed a solid and impenetrable mass....
Page 313 - Alfric, to all the bishops anil chiefs, and to all the nation of the English, both nobles and commoners, greeting.
Page 504 - King William was a very wise man, and very rich, more worshipful and strong than any of his foregangers. He was mild to good men, who loved God ; and stark beyond all bounds to those who withsaid his will.
Page 420 - Africa, they are said to have carried off, not only their own countrymen, but even their friends and relatives; and to have sold them as slaves in the ports of the continent. The men of Bristol were the last to abandon this nefarious traffic. Their agents travelled into every part of the country : they were instructed to give the highest price for females in a state of pregnancy : and the slave-ships regularly sailed from that port to Ireland, where they were secure of a ready and profitable market.
Page 84 - We know neither the period when he lived, nor the district over which he reigned. He is said to have fought and to have gained twelve battles. In most of these, from the names of the places, he seems to have been opposed to the Angles in Lincolnshire, from the last, at Mount Badon, lo the Saxons under Cerdic or Cynric (2).
Page 5 - Thames between himself and his pursuers. At the only ford he ordered sharp stakes to be fixed in the bed of the river; lined the left bank with palisades; and stationed behind these the principal part of his army. But the advance of the Romans was not to be retarded by artificial difficulties. The cavalry, without hesitation, plunged into the river; the infantry followed, though the water reached to their shoulders; and the Britons, intimidated by the intrepid aspect of the invaders, fled to the...
Page 358 - ... interruption, he secured at least a longer duration of public tranquillity than had been enjoyed in England for half a century. He was pious, kind, and compassionate : the father of the poor, and the protector of the weak : more willing to give than to receive ; and better pleased to pardon than to punish. Under the preceding kings, force generally supplied the place of justice, and the people were impoverished by the rapacity of the sovereign. But Edward enforced the laws of his Saxon predecessors,...
Page 73 - a more cruel and dangerous enemy than the Saxons. They overcome all who have the courage to oppose them. They surprise all who are so imprudent as not to be prepared for their attack. When they pursue, they inevitably overtake : when they are pursued, their escape is certain.
Page 209 - These are probably the fictions of a posterior age ; but they serve to show the high estimation in which Alfred's administration of justice was held by our forefathers. The decline of learning in the Saxon states had been rapidly accelerated by the Danish invasions. The churches and monasteries, the only academies of the age, had been destroyed ; and at the accession...