In 896 the struggle ceased for a time. The year indeed began with a disaster. The Danes had built a fort on the river Lee, about twenty miles from London. In the course of the summer the Londoners attempted to storm this place, but were repulsed with heavy loss, four Thanes falling in the assault. Somewhat later Alfred himself took the command. His keen eye discovered a spot where the river might be so blocked that the retreat of the Danish ships would be cut off. He set about the work at once. The Danes perceived their danger, and abandoning their fleet marched westward to Quatbridge (near Bridgenorth in Shropshire). This was practically the end of the war. The next summer, such of the invaders as had homes in Northumbria and East Anglia, returned to them; the rest took ship and sailed to France and up the Seine. "The Pagan army," says the Chronicler, "thanks be to God! had not yet broken the race of Englishmen ; this verily was much more broken during these three years by the plague among cattle, and most of all by the plague among men; for of the noblest of the King's Thanes there died many in the said years." And he goes on to give a list of bishops and nobles that had so passed away. One more story is told of Alfred's valorous deeds against the heathen, and then his wars are at an end. 'There came men from East Anglia and Northumbria ravaging the land of the West Saxons. And Alfred the King commanded that they should make long ships to contend with their vessels. Twice as long were they, and some had sixty oars, and some yet more. Swifter were they, and steadier, and more lofty also. They were made neither after the fashion. of the Frisian ships, nor after that of the Danes; but as the King judged they would be most useful. In that same year there came six ships, and did no small damage to the men of Devonshire, and to the other coasts. So the King commanded that they should go forth with nine of the new ships and keep them from going forth of the harbour. Then the pirates went out with three ships against them, but three were left on the dry land, for from these the sailors had gone forth to plunder. The King's ships took two of the three that came forth, slaying all the men, and in the third they left but five alive. But when three of the King's ships had run on the ground, and their fellows could not come to them, the Danes that were left in the three ships aforesaid came and fought against them. Then many were slain, that is to say, of the Frisians and Englishmen sixty-two, and of the Danes one hundred and twenty. But because the tide came to the Danish ships before the English could launch theirs on the deep the Danes were able to escape. Nevertheless their ships were so sore wounded that they were cast ashore. And the men were taken to the King at Winchester, who commanded that they should be hanged." We need not suppose that Alfred was less generous to enemies than he had been in past days. But the Danes had become a settled power, who, in some sense, shared the island with him. These lawless rovers, plundering on their own account, could no longer be endured, and must be treated as enemies of the human race. For the next four years the Chronicler has nothing to record but the death of Edhelm, Alderman of Wiltshire, and Heahstan, Bishop of London. Then under 901 we read: "in this year died Alfred, son of Ethelwulf, six nights before the feast of All Saints [¿.e., on October 26th]. He was king over the whole English nation, save that part which was under the Danes. He had ruled for thirty years less by half a year, and Edward his son reigned in his stead." He does not add a single word of praise. The record of what he had done for England was praise enough. ALFRED, THE MAN OF PEACE. GREAT as Alfred was, he would have been more than man, if he had done all the things which have been attributed to him. As Lappenburg puts it, “To the hero to whom the nation owed so much it gratefully ascribed all, and the name of Alfred became adorned with the glory of Cyrus, Theseus, Numa, and Charlemagne." He is said, for instance, to have founded the institution of trial by jury, whereas it was an immemorial custom of the Teutonic tribes that a man should be tried by his peers, i.e., by his equals. Some, again, have given him the credit of dividing England into shires, hundreds, and parishes. We may be certain that such a division could not be the work of one man, that it must grow up gradually, and take many generations to complete. His work as a maker of laws may be described in his own words. "I, Alfred the King, gathered together these laws, and had many of them written which our forefathers held, those that I approved. And many of them that I approved not, I cast aside by the counsel of my wise men. I durst not write down much of my own, but those which I met with in the days. LEO FERVIDUS IGHE PURIT DIES XXX LUNA XXIX: TIC FUS KERTO TRADUSITUR, SEPE haleure ANGLO-SAXON CALENDAR-REAPING (From the original MS.) |