66 Danes got the victory and slew the gain the victory three days later at king, [Nov. 20,] and subdued all the Reading. They are defeated four land, and destroyed all the minsters days after at Ashdown, in Berkwhich they came to. The names of shire, and fourteen days after are their chiefs who slew the king were victorious at Basing, About two Ingwair and Ubba. At that same time months after this, King Ethelred and they came to Medeshamstede (Peter- Alfred his brother fought against the borough), and burned and beat it army at Meretun (probably Marden, down, slew abbot and monks, and all Wiltshire) and they were in two that they found there; and that place, bodies, and they put both to flight, which before was full rich, they re- and during a great part of the day duced to nothing." were victorious, and there was great slaughter on either hand; but the Danes had possession of the place of carnage; and there Bishop Heahmund (of Sherborne) was slain, and many good men." Ethelred, archbishop of Canterbury, endeavours to expel the secular priests from his cathedral. Anlaf again invades Scotland, where he captures Alcluid (Dumbarton). A.D. 871. The Northmen pass into Wessex. They are defeated at Englefield, but Ethelred, being mortally wounded in the battle, dies, over Easter P." and is buried at Wimborne. His brother Alfred succeeds. ALFRED THE GREAT. ALFRED, the fourth son of Ethelwulf, was born at Wantage, in Berkshire, in 849. In his fifth year he was sent to Rome, and was there "consecrated king" by the Pope, and again visited that city in company with his father in the year 855. In 868 he married Elswitha, the daughter of Ethelred, an East Anglian chief, and for the next three years he was actively engaged in seconding the efforts of his brother Ethelred against the North Where art thou, comrade?' and to them answered the head, "Here, here, here.' They all were answered as often as any of them called, until they all came through the calling to it. There lay the gray wolf that guarded the head, and with his two feet had the head embraced, greedy and hungry, and for God durst not taste the head, and held it against wild beasts. Then were they astonished at the wolf's guardianship, and carried the holy head home with them, thanking the Almighty for all His wonders. But the wolf followed forth with the head until they came to the town, as if he were tame, and after that Edmund of East Anglia; turned into the woods from a painted panel of again.' The remains the 15th century. were interred at the place, since called in consequence, Bury St. Edmund's, and many churches still exist dedicated to St. Edmund, king and martyr. men. In 871 his brother's death placed him on the throne,-his young nephews being passed over-and he continued the contest with various fortune for seven years, when the overpowering force of the enemy compelled him to withdraw to the isle of Athelney, where he passed the early months of 878. Soon issuing from his retreat, he defeated the Northmen, and at length concluded a peace by which their most powerful chief became in fact king of the eastern part of the country, but also adopted Christianity, and swore to assist in the defence of the land against all new assailants; an engagement which was but indifferently observed. The main body of the spoilers, however, withdrew, and although he had to repel another attack in 885, Alfred now found leisure not only for valuable literary labours, but to re PAs he met his death from idolaters, King Ethelred was considered a martyr, and was canonized. His commemoration in the ancient English Church was on April 22, which is therefore most probably the day of his death, though Florence of Worcester says April 23. A church at Norwich is still found dedicated to him. Among these may be mentioned, Bede's Ecclesiastical History, the Geography of Orosius, Boetius on the Consolations of Philosophy, Pope Gregory's Pastoral, and some portions at least of the Holy Scriptures. His works, however, are rather of the nature of paraphrases than translations, as he did not scruple to abridge, add to, or alter, as he found occasion. To him, with the assistance of Archbishop Plegmund, is also ascribed, with much probability, the beginning of the systematic compilation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. pair the ravages of war, and to form or remodel those admirable political institutions for which his name is still reverenced. The year 893 witnessed a fresh return of the Northmen, but they were vigorously withstood, and at length expelled. To secure his coasts the king now constructed ships better able to cope with those of the enemy than any that had been before seen in England, and he is thus regarded as the founder of the royal navy. Alfred's few remaining years were apparently passed in tranquillity, and he died on the 26th October, 901. Beside other children, who require no particular mention, Alfred left,Edward, his successor; Ethelfleda, who as "lady of the Mercians" acted a conspicuous part; Elfrida, married to Baldwin II. count of Flanders; and Ethelgiva, who became abbess of Shaftesbury. A.D. 871. Alfred defeated by the Northmen at Wilton. Nine other battles are fought in the country south of the Thames, in which the invaders appear to have been victorious, as the West Saxons make peace with them. Anlaf returns to Ireland with many captives. He is killed the next year. A.D. 872. The Northmen take up their winter quarters in London; the Mercians make peace with them. The Northmen from Ireland ravage the west of Scotland, but are defeated near the Clyde by Constantine II. A.D. 873. The Northmen penetrate into Northumbria, and take up their winter quarters at Torksey, in Lincolnshire; the people make peace with them. A.D. 874. The Northmen drive out Burgred of Mercia, and make Ceolwulf, "an unwise king's thane," king in his place. "And he swore oaths to them, and gave hostages, that it should be ready for them, on whatever day they would have it; and that he would be ready in his own person, and with all who would follow him, for the behoof of the army "." Burgred goes to Rome, and dies there. "His body lies in St. Mary's church in the school of the Angle race." A.D. 875. Halfdane, a Northman, ravages Northumbria, and also spoils the Picts and the Strathclyde Britons. The bishop's see and the body of St. Cuthbert removed to Chester-le-Street. Guthrum, a Northman, besieges Grantabridge (Cambridge). Alfred defeats a fleet of seven ships, capturing one, and putting the rest to flight. Many of the Northmen leave Ireland to ravage England, France and Germany. The land has thus what the Irish annalists term "the forty years' Cameleac consecrated bishop of rest" until about A.D. 915, from fresh Llandaff by the Archbishop of Can-invasions; but the foreigners maintain terbury. form alliances with the native princes. themselves in their possessions, and We see from this that the spiritual supremacy of England extended at this period at least over the south-eastern part of Wales (Gwent), and it is probable that political power accompanied it, as when this bishop was captured by the Northmen, he was, we are told by the Saxon Chronicle, ransomed by Edward the Elder, for 40 pounds of silver'. Halfdane apportions the lands of Northumbria among his followers. Anglesey ravaged by the Northmen from Ireland, and Roderic the Great slain. Rollo and the Northmen overrun Neustria (Normandy). A.D. 877. woods and to the fastnesses of the moors." Hubba, the brother of Halfdane, lands in Devonshire, but is defeated and killed, "and there was taken the war flag which they called Raven." "And after this, at Easter, [March 23] King Alfred, with a small band, constructed a fortress at Athelney, and from this fortress, with that part The Northman fleet is wrecked at of the men of Somerset which was Swanawic (Swanage). Alfred captures Exeter. The Northmen apportion Mercia. A.D. 878. The Northmen suddenly invade Wessex, in January, and take possession of the country. "Many of the people they drove beyond sea, and of the remainder the greater part they subdued and forced to obey them, except King Alfred; and he, with a small band, with difficulty retreated to the It is remarkable that the Northern sagas do not mention this celebrated flag, to which magical powers were ascribed. Professor Worsaae, from a laborious investigation of all the available authorities, is of opinion that it was a small triangular banner, fringed, bearing a black raven on a blood red field. nearest to it, from time to time they fought against the army"." The Saxon Chronicle gives no particulars of Alfred's residence in Athelney, but Asser, his biographer, relates the well-known tale of the cakes suffered to burn whilst he prepared his weapons, and also tells us that it was in consequence of tyrannical conduct on his part, and neglect of the reproof of his kinsman St. Neot, that the king was so utterly forsaken by his subjects". Athelney, once an island-the name means the Isle of Nobles-is now a marshy tract between the rivers Tone and Parret, near Langport, in the southern part of Somersetshire. y A very beautiful specimen of gold enamelled work is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, which is commonly known by the name THE ANGLO-DANES. ALFRED leaves his retreat in May. He defeats the Northmen at Ethandun (Edington, near Westbury), and besieges them in their fortress. The Northmen surrender after a fourteen days' siege, and give hostages. Guthrum "and some thirty men, who were of the most distinguished in the army," are baptized; Guthrum has Alfred for his godfather, and receives the name of Athelstan. Alfred makes a peace with the Northmen, ceding to them a large portion of territory, thus limited: "first, concerning our land boundaries: up on the Thames, and then up on the Lea, and along the Lea unto its source, then right to Bedford, and then up the Ouse into Watling Street "." By this formal cession of so large a tract, as well as the loss of what Halfdane already possessed, and held apparently only by the sword, the sole monarchy established by Egbert scarcely fifty years before may be regarded as broken up. The Anglo-Danes, as they are now to be called, it is true, professed allegiance to Alfred and his successors, but they seem never to have yielded it unless to princes who were able to enforce the claim, and they were ruled by chiefs whose coins prove them to have assumed the style of independent kings. They received constant accessions to their numbers in consequence of the attempts made by the kings of Norway early in the tenth century to render themselves absolute monarchs, many of the chiefs preferring voluntary exile to submission, and they thus speedily became in some districts, what the Normans afterwards were in the whole country, a fierce military aristocracy governing without mercy or discretion a herd of serfs, it being recorded as a glorious achievement of Edmund I. • The other provisions of this treaty declare: "if a man be slain, we estimate all equally dear, Eng lish and Danish, at eight half marks of pure gold," and at 200 shillings each for the Saxon ceorl and the Danish liesing or freeman; settle modes of trial, and the warranty "for men, for horses, and for cattle," and regulate the intercourse between the two armies and their followers. In 1840 a hoard of about 7,000 silver coins (beside many silver ornaments) was discovered at Cuerdale, near Preston, in Lancashire, 3,000 of which bore such inscriptions as "Cnut Rex," "Alf that he freed the English inhabitants of certain districts "who had dwelt long in captive chains to heathen men." They also extended themselves over Mercia, and as that state as well as their own district had its peculiar laws, the country was rather three separate kingdoms, of which Wessex had occasionally a supremacy over the others, than one united monarchy, as it is usually represented. It appears, too, from the names of the witnesses to contemporary documents, that the Anglo-Danes soon became possessed of important posts both in the Church and at the court of the Anglo-Saxon kings. The divisions thus introduced into its councils, and the help they constantly gave to their invading countrymen, reduced the country to a state of weakness which left it a comparatively easy prey, first to Canute, and next to William the Norman. den Rex," "Sitric Comes;" they are by the best informed numismatists considered indisputably to belong to the chiefs of the Danish invaders in the ninth century, and their immediate successors. • See A.D. 941. d Even in the laws of Henry I. England is recognised as divided, so far as customary law is concerned, into the three states of Wessex, Mercia, and the province of the Danes; the latter province, sometimes styled the Danelagh, appears to have comprised the whole tract north and east of the Watling Street. "King Alfred repaired London, and all the English submitted to him, except those who were under the bondage of the Danishmen; and then he committed the town to the keeping of Ethelred, the ealdorman." The Northmen besiege Paris. England now seems to have had peace for a while, for the Saxon Chronicle for the next seven years only records offerings sent to Rome, which became so customary that it is thought worthy of special remark, that in 889 "there was no journey to Rome, except that King Alfred sent two couriers with letters." The bishops of Leicester, on the conquest of Mercia by the Northmen, remove to Dorchester', in Oxfordshire. A.D. 887. The Northmen pass the bridge at Paris, and ravage the interior of France. Alfred founds the monasteries of Shaftesbury and Athelney. A.D. 888. Alfred places himself between the two armies of Northmen. The Northmen leave their forts for the purpose of passing into Essex, but are defeated at Farnham. At length they reach the Colne, and are besieged there. The Northumbrians and East An gles attack Devonshire. The Northmen defeated at Benfleet, their shipping destroyed, and the wife and sons of Hasting captured. The Northmen re-assemble at Shoe bury, are joined by the Northumbrians and East Angles, and pass up the Thames to the Severn. They are besieged at Buttington, in Shropshire, and obliged to surrender, "after having eaten a great part of their horses." The fugitives reach Essex, and assemble another army. They commit "their wives, and their ships, and their wealth" to the East Angles, and cross England to Chester, where they Athelswith (Alfred's sister, and relict are again besieged. That is, Guthrum and his adherents. f The West Saxon see founded here by Birinus (see A.D. 635), was removed to Winchester in 676. The ancient mouth of the Rother, in Kent; now Romney Sound. The nature of their ordinary fortifications appears from a cotemporary notice in the Annals of Fulda: "The Northmen, having made their fortification with hedges according to their custom, se curely encamped." The annalist of Metz, however, points out an improved mode of proceeding: "The Northmen protected themselves according to custom with wood and a heap of earth ;" and such we may conclude was their fashion fifty years later, from a passage in the Saxon Chronicle relating to the battle of Brunanburg-"The board-wall they clove, they hewed the war-lindens." |