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Chapter II

Men of War

"Keep ye the Law-be swift in all obedience

Clear the land of evil, drive the road and bridge the ford.

Make ye sure to each his own

That he reap where he hath sown;

By the peace among our peoples let men know we serve the Lord!"

Rudyard Kipling.

"Ah God, for a man with heart, head, hand,

Like some of the simple great ones gone

For ever and ever by,

One still strong man in a blatant land

Whatever they call him, what care I,

Aristocrat, democrat, autocrat-one

Who can rule and dare not lie."-Tennyson.

"A king's raw material and instruments of rule are a well peopled land, and he must have men of prayer, men of war, and men of work."

Alfred.

WHERE the reins of government are in the hands of a strong man with whom rests both originative and controlling power, the theory of government is apt to be instinctively assimilated to the facts. A strong king makes a predominant kingship, and leaves his office to his successor with many powers and dignities which it had not when he received it. Whatever aggrandises the kingship increases

the popular estimation and real importance of the officers employed about the royal person. Both of these processes may be traced during Alfred's reign. In the relation which personal service in the field bore to land tenure, in the sphere of justice, and in administration there were farreaching changes which gave the king an authority which had not belonged to any of his predecessors. Parallel with this went an increase in the importance in the national life of the king's hird or household. More of the nation's work was done by men who were sent direct from the king, or who received their authority from him; and, as always, the men who did the work came to have the predominant authority among the people. Relationships between the king and his retainers which had been personal and variable came to be territorial and permanent. Land which had been peoples' land came to be regarded as the king's own, because only by using the public lands could men be rewarded who had rendered public service in the field or at court. The folk peace came to be the king's peace. A national and permanent war organisation had to be grafted on to a local and temporary one. Incipient changes in these directions may be traced much earlier than Alfred's reign; but all tendencies towards the centralisation of power were inevitably accelerated by the long

years of war, and the equally anxious periods of preparation for it. War always strengthens the executive and centralising, and weakens the deliberative and centrifugal forces in government.

The exact steps by which the changes were made may be partly gathered from available evidence, and partly conjectured by analogy; but it is impossible to make positive assertions as to date, origin, or authorship: "There are no constitutional revolutions, no violent reversals of legislation; custom is far more potent than law, and custom is modified infinitesimally every day. The alteration of law is often the mere registration of a custom, when men have recognised its altered character." In the eyes of Alfred's contemporaries an acknowledged innovation would have seemed almost an impiety, so that it is not surprising that we learn of some of Alfred's most important modifications of the old Saxon system more by casual references made by Asser or the writer responsible for the English Chronicle 2 indicating that the change has taken place, rather than by any deliberate information as to the time and manner of its introduction.

If, while Alfred's vigorous personal share in these

1 Stubbs, "Constitutional History," vol. i. p. 184.

2 E.g. English Chronicle, 894. The important change, or, rather, return to old practice, which divided the militia.

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developments is singled out for emphasis, the cooperating factors are also kept in mind, such as the forces making for development in the traditional system, and the pressure of a long and exhausting war, something like a true conception of the course of events may be formed. Few things are more important for English constitutional history, and certainly few are more fascinating and interesting than to watch the growth of the great military, judicial, and administrative services out of what Asser calls the king's "family."

The germ, or, using a complementary metaphor, the material with which Alfred had to work, was the company of gesiths, men attached by special and personal ties to the king. Its origin is summarised by Bishop Stubbs :

"In Tacitus the comites [retainers or companions] are the personal following of the princeps [elected folk-king]. They live in his house, are maintained by his gifts, fight for him in the field. If there is little difference between companions and servants, it is because civilisation has not yet introduced voluntary helplessness. The difference between the companions of the folk-king and the household of the private man depends fundamentally only on the public and political position of the master. Now [ie. at the later time of Alfred] the king, the perpetual princeps and representative of the race,

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conveys to his personal following public dignity and importance. His gesiths and thegns [service men and war men] are among the great and wise of the land. The right of having such dependants is not restricted to him, but the gesith of ealdorman or bishop is simply a retainer, a pupil or ward: the free household servants of the ceor are in a certain sense his gesiths also. But the gesiths of the king are his guard and private council; they may be endowed by him with land, . . . and admitted by him to the Witenagemot [national council]. They supply him with an armed force, not only one on which he can rely, but the only one directly amenable to his orders; for to summon the fyrd he must have the consent of the Witan. The gesiths are attached to the king by oath as well as by gratitude for substantial favours." 1

It was from this group of companion-attendants, possessing what Mr Herbert Spencer would describe as "indefinite incoherent homogeneity," the same men being held available for all sorts of purposes, that Alfred was to develop and differentiate definite organs to perform the functions of government. Asser's words already quoted indicate the broad lines of a triple division of the hird or royal household into soldiers, ministers, and nobles.

1 Stubbs, "Constitutional History," pp. 166-167.

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