King [Alfred], there abode a mighty Heathen host for the whole winter in the aforesaid Isle of Sheppey. In the same year did the aforesaid worshipful King Ethelwulf free from all royal service and tribute a tenth part of all his realm; and by deed of gift hallowed he it for ever to God, One and Three, on the Cross of Christ,1 for the welfare of his own soul and the souls of his forefathers. And in the same year he wended him to Rome, with mickle worship, and with him he took Alfred, his son above-named, to tarry there yet a second time, inasmuch as he loved him beyond all his other sons. And there abode he by the space of one whole year. And thereafter came he back again to his own land, and brought with him as a bride Judith, daughter of Charles, King of the Franks.

13. In the meantime, while King Ethelwulf was thus for a short space abroad over-sea, there chanced in the parts west of Selwood a shameful hap, clean against all Christian wont and righteousness. For King Ethel. bald, his son, and Ealhstan, Bishop of Sherborne, along with Eanwulf, Alderman of the shire of Summurton [Somerset], are said to have joined them together in this treason, that King Ethelwulf, at his home-coming from Rome, should never again be held for King. Many there be that count this wickedness, unheard of in all bygone days, to the Bishop and the Alderman only, and say that from their counsel the complot had its beginning. Many, however, count it wholly to the overboldness of the Etheling Ethelbald, inasmuch as he held fast thereto and eke to many another crooked path; whereunto certain witness is borne, yea, and proved by the outcome that followed.

14. For as King Ethelwulf was on his way back from Rome, this son of his aforesaid, with all his counsellors, or rather conspirators, were fain to do this wickedness of driving back the King from his own realm. But neither did God suffer it, nor the Lords of all Saxony [i.c., the Witan of Wessex] consent thereto. For lest a war between father and son should bring upon Saxony cureless ill; nay, lest the whole folk, taking side with either, should day by day wax ever sterner and starker in civil war; by the unspeakable kindness of the father, and the doom of the Lords one and all, the aforetime united kingdom was parted between the father and the son. And the Eastern shires were adjudged to the father, the Western to the son. For where the father of right should have reigned, there reigned that wicked and self-willed son (for the Western part of Saxony is ever counted above the Eastern).

§ 15. Then, when King Ethelwulf got back from Rome, the whole folk, as was meet, were full glad of the old man's home-coming; and, if he would have suffered it, were fain to drive that self-willed son and his ill counsellors quite and clean from the realm. But he, as we have said, all too kindly and prudently, forbade them this, lest it should bring into Le, laying his finger on the cross of his signature, as is now done with the seal of a legal document. This method of attestation lasted till the Norman Conquest.

Etheling (from the root Ethel = Noble) is the Anglo-Saxon equivalent for a Prince of the Blood Royal.

hazard the safety of the realm. He bade, also, that Judith should sit beside him on his kingly throne (and that without any murmuring or ill-will of his Lords) even unto his life's end; against the perverse wont of that folk.

§ 16. For the West Saxon use suffereth not a Queen to sit beside a King, nor yet to call her 'Queen,' but 'Consort' only. And this insult, nay, infamy, as the elders of that land tell the tale, sprang from one self-willed and evil-hearted Queen of that folk, whose deeds were so wholly hateful to her lord and all the people, that not only won she such hatred as to be herself cast out from the royal throne, but left the same brand upon all that came after. For, because of her surpassing wickedness, the whole folk of that land sware with one accord that never in his life should any King reign over them if he were fain to bid his Queen sit beside him on the throne royal. And because, as I think, but few know whence this perverse and hateful custom, against the wont of all other folk (Teutonic, to wit), first arose in Saxony, I think good to set forth, at somewhat greater length, what I have heard thereon from my Lord and Master, Alfred the Truth-teller, King of the Anglo-Saxons, who ofttimes told me it himself, and that he had it from many a truthful tale which spake in full thereof.

§ 17. There was in Mercia, of late [moderno tempore], a certain King of great might, dreaded by all the Kings and kingdoms around, by name Offa-he who bade make from sea to sea the great dyke1 between Britain [Wales] and Mercia. His daughter, named Eadburgh, did Beorhtric, King of the West Saxons, take unto him in wedlock. And she, so soon as she had gotten her the King's goodwill, and all but the whole sway of that realm, then began she, after her father's wise, to live as doth a tyrant. And against every man whom Beorhtric loved would she speak leasing, and whatsoever things be hateful to God and to man, such would she do. And all whom she might would she accuse unto the King, and thus take their life, by her crafts, or their sway at the least. And if this she might not gain from the King, then took she them off by poison. And thus was it well proven as to a certain youth, dearly beloved of the King; for, when she might not belie him to the King, she worked his death by poison. And the King, all unwittingly, is said to have tasted of that poison (for she weened not to give it to him, but to the youth); but the King took it first, and thus both of them perished.

§ 18. Therefore, when King Beorhtric was thus dead, seeing she might no longer dwell amongst the West Saxons, she sailed over sea, with countless treasures, and came unto Charles the Great, that most renowned King of the Franks. And to her, even as she stood before the daïs with many a royal gift which she had brought, Charles spake, and said: 'Choose thee, Eadburgh, which thou wilt, between me and my son, who standeth here on this daïs beside me.' And she, in her folly, without thought, answered and said unto him: ‘If mine be the choice,

1 Still called Offa's Dyke, from the mouth of the Dee to that of the Wye. Offa was King of Mercia 755-794. Beorhtric died in the year Soo.

then choose I thy son, insomuch as he is younger than thee.' Then did Charles laugh her to scorn, and said: 'Hadst thou chosen me, my son should have been thine; but since thou hast chosen my son, neither me nor him shalt thou have.' Yet gave he her a great Abbey of nuns, wherein she laid aside her secular habit and put on nun's garb, and for a few short years there held office as Abbess. But even as in her own land she had lived a witless life, so lived she in another a life yet more witless. For with a certain man of her own kin did she commit adultery, and being taken in the very act, was, by the bidding of King Charles, cast forth from her monastery. And, in want and misery, led she, even unto death, a life of shame so that at last, with but one little page beside her, as we have heard from many who saw it, dwelt she in all wretchedness, begging her daily bread, at Padua.

19. Ethelwulf, then, lived, after he got back from Rome, two years; wherein, among many another good thought for this present life, he dwelt upon his own going of the way of all flesh [ad universitatis viam]. And lest his sons after their father's death should strive unseemly amongst themselves, he bade write a will or rather a commendatory letter, wherein he wrote this doom, that his kingdom be meetly shared between two sons, the eldest to wit; and his private heritage between his sons and his daughter; and the moneys he might leave, between his sons and his soul, and eke his nobles. Of which Act of Prudence we think meet to give a few words (that many hereafter may follow the same)—such, to wit, as have most to do with soul's health. For the rest, which pertain unto human stewardship, it boots not to bring into this small work; lest our prolixity disgust our readers-to say nothing of those who hear it read.

20. For his soul's health, then (whereof he was ever jealous even from his youth up), bade he that throughout all his own heritage, in every ten manors [manentibus] one poor man, either of inland folk or outland, should be stayed with food, drink and clothing by his successors, even unto the final Day of Judgment: yet so only if that land should still be dwelt upon, with men and flocks therein, and should not be waste. Το Rome also, for his soul, bade he bear, in each and every year, much moneys, even 300 mancusses; and that there they should be shared after this sort, namely, 100 in honour of St. Peter, more especially for buying of oil, wherewith might be filled all the lamps of the church of that Apostle on Easter Eve, and also at the Cock-crow [on Christmas Day], and 100 in honour of St. Paul, to the same ends; and 100 also for the Universal Apostolic Pope.

21. But when King Ethelwulf was dead, and buried at Stemruga,? Ethelbald his son, against the ban of God and Christian worthinessnay, and against all Heathen wont also-went up unto his father's couch, and took to him in wedlock Judith, daughter of Charles, King of the Franks; wherethrough all who heard thereof cried 'Fie upon him!'

A mancus was thirty pence. The word is of Arabic origin.
This word is hopelessly corrupt.

And for two and a half lawless [effrenis] years, after the death of his father, swayed he the helm of the West Saxon kingdom.

22. In A.D. 860, the 12th of the age of Alfred, Ethelbald, King of the West Saxons, died, and was buried in Sherborne [Scireburnan]; and Ethelbert his brother, as right was, joined beneath his sway Kent and Surrey, yea, and Sussex likewise. In his days came there from the sea a mighty Heathen host, and stormed Winchester [Wintonia], and laid waste the city. And while, with all their spoil, they made back to their ships, came there upon them Oswald, Alderman of Hampshire, with his men, and Ethelwulf the Alderman, with the men of Berkshire, and, in manly wise, crossed their path. Eftsoon joined they battle, and on all sides were the Heathen cut down. And, seeing they might abide the fray no longer, they fled them away like women, and the Christians won that field. So for five years did Ethelbert sway the realm, in all peace and love and honour; and, to the great grief of his folk, went he the way of all flesh, and in Sherborne, beside his brother, was he worshipfully laid to rest.

23. In the year of our Lord's Incarnation 864, the Heathen wintered in the island of Thanet, and plighted sure troth unto the men of Kent, whereby the men of Kent, for the keeping of that troth, promised to give them money. Yet meanwhile, in fox-like sort, did the Heathen steal out from their camp by night, and brake the troth, and held in scorn that promised fee (for they knew well they would get more by thieving and spoil than by the peace). And the whole of East Kent did they lay

waste.

24. In the year of the Incarnation 866, the 18th of King Alfred's age, Ethelred, brother of King Ethelbert, undertook, for five years, the sway of the West Saxon realm. And that same year came there from Denmark [Danubio] to Britain a mighty Heathen fleet, and wintered in the kingdom of the Eastern Saxons, which in the Saxon tongue is called Eastengle. And there was that host, for the most part, horsed.

$25. But, to speak in sea fashion (lest all too long our ship yield her to wind and tide, and all too far tack about in the offing, ever wearing around amid such wars and slaughters and tale of years), I hold that we should go back to that which most stirred me to this work. That is to say, I think that here should be shortly brought in the little that has come to my knowledge of the childhood and boyhood of my worshipful lord and master Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons.

$ 26. Beloved was he, by both father and mother alike, with a great love, beyond all his brethren ;—yea, and the darling of all. And in the kingly court [curto] was he ever brought up. As he grew on, both in childhood and boyhood, so showed he ever fairer than his brethren, and, in looks, and words, and ways, the lovesomest. From his very cradle, above all, and amid all the distractions of this present life, his own highsouled temper, and his high birth also, bred in him a longing after Wisdom. But, alas, through the unworthy carelessness of his parents and up-bringers, he abode, even unto his twelfth year or more, unable so

much as to say his letters. Yet learnt he by heart many a Saxon lay, for, day and night, would he hear them repeated by others, and no dull listener was he. A keen huntsman also, ever at work in woodcraft, and to good purpose. For peerless was he in the hunting-field, ever the first and ever the luckiest; in this, as in all else, supremely gifted by God. And this we have ourselves ofttimes seen.

§ 27. It chanced then that one day his mother1 was showing to him and his brothers a book of Saxon songcraft which she had in her hand. 'Whichever of you,' said she, ‘can soonest learn this volume, to him will I give it.' At this word, he, instinct with divine inspiration, and allured by the beauty of the opening letter of that book, answered his mother, forestalling his brethren, his elders in years but not in grace, and said : 'Wilt thou indeed give one of us this book—and to him who can soonest understand and repeat it before thee?' Then did she smile for very joy. and 'Yea,' she said, 'that I will.' Then at once took he the book from her hand, went off to his master, and read it. And when it was read, he took it back to his mother and said it all by heart.

$28. After this he learnt the Daily Course, that is, the Services of the Hours, and then certain psalms, and many prayers, which he collected into one book and ever bare about with him in his bosom (as I have seen with my own eyes) day and night, for the sake of prayer, amid all the changes and chances [curricula] of this mortal life, and never parted therefrom.

29. But, alas, what he most longed for, a liberal education to wit, he attained not according unto his will, for why, as he used to say, there were then no good teachers [lectores] in the whole realm of Wessex. And oft would he affirm, with many a complaint, and many a sigh from his inmost heart, that amid all the hindrances of his mortal life this was the greatest, that at the period when he had both years and leisure and capacity for learning, he had no masters. But when he was more advanced in age, he was a prey, day and night, to pangs unceasing, past the skill of all physicians within the four seas, and to all the cares, outward and inward, of kinghood, and to the inroads, by sea and land, of the Heathen; so that his masters and teachers, such as they were, were so distracted, that read [i.e., study] he could not. But yet, amid the hindrances of this life, from infancy even unto the present day, he hath ever continued in this heartfelt longing, yea, even until now he ceaseth not to yearn for it, and will, as I believe, unto the very last day of his life.

$30. In the year of the Incarnation 867, the 19th of the age of King Alfred aforesaid, the abovenamed host of the Heathen shifted from East Anglia to the city of York, which lieth on the northern bank of the river Humber. At that time, by the stirring of the devil, had there

1 Alfred's mother must have died before 855, when he was six years old, as in that year his father married again (§ 12). If it is of her that this story is told (and from internal evidence it applies more reasonably to her than to his young stepmother Judith, Asser's assertion that he could not read till twelve must be loosely interpreted. In that year, 861, his third brother, Ethelbert, was already King.