'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 subdiaconate, 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 devoted 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 whom 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 subdeacon 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 subdiaconate, 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. 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 his most Christian and best-beloved 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 1 Gregory IV. was really Pope at Egbert's death. and St. Edith, sister of King day. And here abode St. Osyth, Ethelwulf.... [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. . . . [This assertion is founded on a long pedigree, not wholly the same as that in Asser, tracing Alfred to Woden, 'from whom the fourth day of the week is in the vulgar tongue [barbare] called Wodennsday, 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.] . . . 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 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 this holy man to Ethelred, Archbishop of Canterbury, . . . and both King and Bishop. sent over-sea ... to pray the Abbot of St. Bertin he would send them Grimbald . . . to found a new monastery in the City of Winchester. Messengers also did they send to Fulco, Archbishop who sent back this letter: ... ... of Rheims . . . ... ... § 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 · 1 St. Modwenna and her pupil St. Osyth of Sussex seem to have dwelt for awhile at Polesworth, but in the seventh century (see p. 206) St. Edith, sister to King Athelstan, was there in the tenth century. * See John of Wallingford, § 6 (p. 190). Archbishop of Rheims circa 530, for seventy years. : 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, . . so now doth the English nation seek to obtain from his See .. one by whom they may be taught to avoid superstition . . and violation of custom, . . . and may learn, in the Garden of the Lord, 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 (1 Cor. ii. 2). . But, as time went on, Holy Church felt it neither her wish nor her duty to be content with this, needless more thoroughly to edify the faithful, stimulated by adversity or fostered by prosperity. . 'Hence the frequent calling of Councils, framed and hallowed by the Holy Ghost, in cleric and priest above all, nothing short of wicked. Seeing this, . . it hath seemed fit to Your Majesty ... to consult our insignificance, and to seek to the See of St. Remigius, which . . . hath ever excelled all the Churches of Gaul . . . in doctrine. ... . ... nor deemed it whether she were hence sacred Canons, to be ignorant of which is, ... § 11. And since ye would not appear before us.. empty-handed, ye have sent us a gift of well-bred dogs, . . . to drive away the wolves wherewith. . . our land aboundeth; asking of us in return to send you certain watch-dogs, . . . not Dumb dogs, unable to bark [Is. Ivi. 10], but such as the Psalmist speaketh of, That the tongue of thy dogs may be red [Ps. Ixviii. 23], who . . . may drive away those fell wolves, the unclean spirits, who devour souls. And, in especial, ye ask Grimbald, . . . to whom the whole church beareth witness from his childhood.. Not without deep sorrow (forgive us for the word). . . do we suffer him to be torn from us. §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.' . . .] ... § 15. When the folk heard these words . . . then hasted they to penance, and that with good will, . . . in confessing their sins, in correcting what they had done amiss, . . in temperance, and in abstaining from dainties, . . . resolved to trample down all bodily vanities, and to embrace the joys of Paradise. Then did they alms, which is the glory of the pitiful, and in patience possessed they their souls, and prayed, saying, 'Forgive us our debts,' . . . dedicating themselves to Christ the Lord.... § 16. [Alfred's objurgation of illiterate magistrates is here given, from Asser, and his fabulous schools at Oxford, whither he is made to decree that his nobles should send their sons, 'or even their thralls, such as show promise of talent. And if so, let them be free.' (This last clause may possibly enshrine a historical truth.) 'The University of Oxford was of old outside the North Gate of the city, and the Church of St. Gileswithout-the-Gate was that of the clerks. But now it is within the walls, and its church is that of St. Mary. And this change was made in the 28th year of the reign of King Edward, the third after the Conquest,1 in 1354.'] § 17. After this the Most Christian King Alfred issued an ordinance to be observed throughout his whole realm, which was called WestSaxona-Laga. And he parted it all into Shires, and the Shires into Hundreds. And these Laws St. Edward [the Confessor], the son of Ethelred and Emma, ratified . . . And to this day be they called the Laws of St. Edward. ... § 18. [Here follows a list of early English law terms, with interpretations in Latin and French. The book goes on to touch on Alfred's literary work, his almsgiving, his devotion, and his lantern. Thence it passes to a very inaccurate account of his early Danish wars, dwelling upon his vision of St. Cuthbert at Athelney, up to the baptism of Guthrum 'whom some call Gordon.'] § 19. And here must we observe that all the kingdoms in England having been united by Egbert, grandfather of Alfred, . . . stood firm together till the fourth year of Ethelred son of Ethelwulf. In that year did the Mercians, the Northumbrians, the East Angles, and the East Saxons choose to support the enemy. But Alfred, like a second Mattathias, Judas Maccabæus, and Jonathan, fought, for the Faith and 1 Our current numeration of the Edward's came up in the fourteenth century. In earlier times the three before the Conquest were included, 'the Elder' being Edward I., the Martyr' being Edward II., and 'the Confessor' Edward III. * This interesting phrase probably refers not to Alfred's Code, but to the popular designation of his immediate kingdom; in opposition to the Danelagh, which comprised all the rest of England. See Introduction, p. 37. his brethren, nine battles in one year against the Danes, who, as yet, were heathen. And, at the last, by God's aid, his was the victory, and he... brought under again all those kingdoms. . . . And Alfred was the first King of England who would suffer no other King in the land save himself alone. Egbert. . . brought under the other kingdoms, yet suffered he their Kings to reign over them. Tribute he made them pay him, but not to lay down their crowns, as ... Alfred the Conqueror would have them do. ... § 20. [Here comes the appointment of the swineherd Denewulf to the bishopric of Winchester, the Danish raid on Rochester, the restoration of London, the mission to India, the campaigns of 894, Alfred's infirmity, his death, and his Will (in Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and fourteenth-century English).] All things being thus set in order, the Most Christian King Alfred, who had fought so many a battle with the Danes: who had bravely and stoutly undergone, for the freedom of his country, so many a danger ; ... who feared not the Prince [of this World]; Alfred, the heroic chieftain, Alfred the rampart of the nation, Alfred the strength of his people,. . . yielded unto death. Illustrious was he, and the dread of all his foes; for on his goings shone the Light of God. $ 21. His royal corpse was first entombed in the cathedral of Winchester. But afterwards (through the folly of the Canons . . . who gave out that his ghost wandered at night through their dwellings) . . . his son Edward removed his bones and laid them in the New Minster. This was, at that time, hard by the Old Minster. But in the days of that glorious prince, Henry the Elder [i.e., the First], it was moved unto Hyde, beyond the northern gate of Winchester. And there now lieth Alfred, of blessed memory having died in the Year of Grace 901. .... ... ... § 22. In the same year the aforesaid Edward . . . was crowned King of England at Kingston. Less than his father was he in Letters, but greater in renown, for he brought under the Kings of Scotland, Cumberland and Wales to his sway. . . . This King had his sons instructed in Letters; but his daughters, when their schooling was done, set he to ply the spindle-whorl2 and the needle. 'This document is generally admitted to be genuine, and is printed by Kemble (Cod. Diplom. cccxiv.). Alfred, after reciting his title to his lands, leaves them amongst his children and kin, those at Guildford and Godalming going to his nephew Ethelbald Clito (see p. 15). To his sons he gives also £500 apiece (equivalent to about £15,000 now), to his daughters 100, and to his widow, Elswitha, who likewise gets Wantage, Lambourne, and Ethandune. Various bequests follow to servants and friends; four Bishops (Asser amongst them) getting 100 mancuses (see p. 147) to give in alms for me and for my father.' For 50 Mass-priests' are left 100 shillings, and as much between the poor and 'the church of my burial.' Any bondsmen to whom he may have granted freedom [cyrelif] are to remain free churls. 'And let all men seek, with a lively Sacrifice (on cicum ceape], for the health of my soul.' The spindle-whorl was a small round object, of stone or bone, pierced with a hole, and used by the Anglo-Saxon women as a flywheel for their spindles. It continued in use till the sixteenth century. |