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ALFRED THE GREAT
THOMAS HUGHES
Richard Clay and Sons, Limited,
london and bungav.
Part I. printed October, 1869. Part II. printed November, 1865. Part III. printed
December, 1S69. Volume jnade np from Parts, 1869 to \Zyi. First reprinted as a
Volume 1871. Reprinted \?,Ti, 1874, 1877, 1881, 1S87, 1891, i8g8, igor
CONTENTS.
PAGE
PREFACE '
CHAPTER I.
OF KINGS AND KINGSHIP 7
CHAPTER II.
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO '5
CHAPTER III.
CHILDHOOD 32
CHAPTER IV.
CNIHTHOOD 44
CHAPTER V.
THE DANE 5^
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST WAVE 68
CHAPTER VII.
ALFRED ON THE THRONE ^C
b
iv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VIII.
pa(;b
THE SECOND WAVE 9I
CHAPTER IX.
ATHELNEY lOO
CHAPTER X.
ETHANDUNE 1 14
CHAPTER XI.
RETROSPECT , . . . . I27
CHAPTER XII.
THE king's BOARD OF WORKS 1 36
CHAPTER XIII.
THE king's WAR OFFICE AND ADMIRALTY I47
CHAPTER XIV.
THE king's laws 159
CHAPTER XV.
THE king's justice 173
CHAPTER XVI.
THE king's EXCHEQUER 189
CHAPTER XVII.
THE king's CHURCH 2OO
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE king's FRIRNDS 112
CONTENTS. V
CHAPTER XIX.
PAGE
THE king's neighbours 228
CHAPTER XX.
THE king's foe 24O
CHAPTER XXI.
the third wave 250
CHAPTER XXII.
the king's home . 267
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE KING AS AUTHOR 278
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE king's death AND WILL 3OI
CHAPTER XXV.
THE king's successors 3''
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE END OF THE WHOLE MATTER. ... ... ^^\^
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
J-AGB
MAP OF ENGLAND ABOUT A. D. lOOO AND AT THE PRESENT
TIME frontispiece
KING ALFRED AT THE BATTLE OF ASHDOWN . . . to face 76
SEDULOUSLY BENT ON ACQUIRING LEARNING I77
PREFACE.
The early ages of our country's history have been
studied, and written and re-written, with a care and
abiHty which have left nothing to desire. Every
source from which light could be drawn has been
explored by eminent scholars, and probably all the
facts which will ever be known have been now ascer-
tained. Kemble, Palgrave, and Thorpe have been
succeeded by Pearson and Freeman, whose great
ability and industry every student of those times,
however humble, must be able to recognise, and to
whom the present writer is anxious to express his
deep obligations. Thanks to their labours, whoever
takes for his subject any portion of our early national
history will find his task one of comparative ease.
And of all that early history the life and times of
Alfred are, beyond all question, the most absorbing
in interest. The story has been written many times,
from different points of view, by natives and foreigners;
from Sir John Spelman, the first edition of whose Life
of Alfred was published in 1709, to Dr. Pauli, whose
s.u VIII. B
2 PREFACE.
most admirable and exhaustive work is not yet eighteen
years old. That book was written " by a German for
Germans," as we learn from the preface. Its plan,
Dr. Pauli tells us, was conceived at Oxford, in Novem-
ber 1 848, " at a time when German hearts trembled,
as they had seldom done before, for the preservation
of their Fatherland, and especially for the continuance
of those states which were destined by Heaven for
the protection and support of Germany."
Happily no German need now tremble for the
preservation of his Fatherland, but the problems which
1848 started still await an answer. The revolutionary
spur which was then given to the intellectual and
political activity of Christendom has as yet done little
beyond dooming certain conditions of political and
social life, and awakening a ver}^ genuine and wide-
spread longing for some better and higher life for
nations than has ever yet been realized.
The political earthquake of 1848, then, led Dr.
Pauli to take so deep an interest in the struggles and
life-work of King Alfred, that he could not rest until
he had placed a picture of them before his German
fellow-countrymen, for their study, warning, and en-
couragement. The German student felt that some-
how this story would prove of value to those in his
Fatherland who were struggling for some solid ground
upon vv^hich to plant their feet, in the midst of the
throes of the last great European crisis. A like con-
viction has led me to attempt the same work, an
PREFACE. 3
Englishman for Englishmen, in a crisis which seems
likely to prove at least as serious as that of 1848.
For the events of the last few years — one may
perhaps say more particularly of the last {q.\n months
— have forced on those who think on such subjects at
all, the practical need of examining once more the
principles upon which society, and the life of nations,
rest. How are nations to be saved from the tyranny
or domination of arbitrary will, whether of a Caesar
or a mob ? is the problem before us, and one which
is becoming daily more threatening, demanding an
answer at the peril of national life. France for the
moment is the country where the question presses
most urgently. There the most democratic of Euro-
pean peoples seemed to have given up her ideal
commonwealth in despair, and Imperialism or
C?esarism had come out most nakedly, in this
generation, under our own eyes. The Emperor of
the French has shown Christendom, both in practice
by his government, and theoretically in his writings,
what this Imperialism is, upon what it stands. The
answer, maturing now these seventeen years, has
come in a shout from a whole people, thoroughly
roused at last, " Away with it ! It is undermining
society, it is destroying morality. Brave, simple, honest
life is becoming, if it has not already become, im-
possible under its shadow. Away with this, at once,
and for ever, let what will come in its place ! "
But when we anxiously look for what is to come
B 2
4 PREFACE.
in its place in France, we are baffled and depressed.
We seem to be gazing only into the hurly-burly of
driving cloud and heaving sea, in which as yet no
trace of firm land is visible. The cry for "minis-
terial responsibilit}^" or "government by the majo-
rity," seems for the moment to express the best
mind of the nation. Alas ! has not Louis Napoleon
shown us how little worth lies in such remedies .''
Responsibility to whom } — To no person at all, I
presume the answer would be, but to the majority
of the nation, who are the source of all power,
whose will is to be done whatever it may be. But
the Emperor of the French would acknowledge such
responsibility, would maintain that his own govern-
ment is founded on it, that he is the very incar-
nation of " government by the majority ; " and one
cannot but own that he has at least proved how
easily such phrases may be turned to the benefit
of his own Imperialism.
The problem has been showing itself, though not
in so urgent a form, in England, in the late discus-
sions as to the House of Lords. That part of our
machinery for government has been so nearly in
conflict with the national will as to rouse a host of
questions. What principle worth preserving does
this House of Lords represent t Is it compatible
with government by the majority } Does not its
existence involve a constant protest against the idea
that the people are the source of all power .'' Is
PREFACE. (
such a protest endurable, if the machinery for govern-
ing, in so complicated a state of society as ours, is
to work smoothly ?
Here, again, one has heard little beyond angry
declamation ; but the discussion has shown that the
time is come when we English can no longer stand by
as interested spectators only, but in which every one
of our own institutions will be sifted with rigour, and
will have to show cause for its existence. In every
other nation of Christendom the same restlessness
exists, the same ferment is going on ; and under
many different forms, and by many different roads,
the same end is sought — the deliverance from the
dominion of arbitrary will, the establishment of some
order in which "righteousness shall be the girdle of
the loins, and truth the girdle of the reins," of who-
ever wields the sovereign power amongst the nations
of the earth.
As a help in this search, this life of the typical
English King is here offered, not to historical stu-
dents, but to ordinary English readers. The writer
has not attempted, and is not competent to take part
in, the discussion of any of the deeply interesting
critical, antiquarian, and philological questions which
cross the path of every student of Anglo-Saxon
history, and which have been so ably handled by the
authors already referred to, and many others. As a
politician, both in and out of the House of Commons,
he has had to examine for himself for many years
6 PREFACE.
the actual ground upon which the political life of the
English nation stands, that he might solve for his
own individual guidance, according to the best light
he could get, the most practical of all questions for a
public man, — what leader he should support ? what
reforms he should do his best to obtain ? Born in
Alfred's own county, and having been from childhood
familiar with the spots which history and tradition
associate with some of the most critical events of the
great King's life, he has reached the same conclusion
as Dr. Pauli by a different process. He has learnt to
look upon the Saxon King as the true representative
of the nation in contrast to the great Caesar, so nearly
his contemporary, whose aim was to weld together
all nations and tribes in one lifeless empire under his
own sceptre. That empire of Charlemagne has been
exalted of late as the beginning of all true order for
Europe and America. If this were so, it would be
indeed a waste of time to dwell on the life and work
of Alfred. If, however, precisely the contrary be
true, it must be worth while to follow as faithfully as
we can the simple honest life of the great Saxon
King, endeavouring to ascertain upon what ground
ihat life and work of the ninth century stood, and
whether the same ground abides in the nineteenth for
all nations, alike for those who have visible kings and
those who are without them.
THE LIFE
OF
ALFRED THE GREAT.
CHAPTER I.
OF KINGS AND KINGSHIP.
" We come now to the last form of heroism, that
which we call * Kingship,' — The Commander over
men ; he to whose will our wills are to be sub-
ordinated, and loyally surrender themselves and find
their welfare in doing so, may be reckoned the most
important of great men." " In all sections of English
life the God-made king is needed, is pressingly de-
manded in most, in some cannot longer without peril
as of conflagration be dispensed with." So spoke,
twenty years ago, the teacher, prophet, seer — call
him what you will — who has in many ways moved
more deeply than any other the hearts of this gene-
ration. Has not the conscience of England responded
to the words .-' Have not most of us felt that in some
shape — not perhaps in that which he preaches — what
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
Mr. Carlyle calls " kingship " is, in fact, our great need;
that without it our modern life, however full for the
well-to-do amongst us of all that can interest, stimu-
late, gratify our intellects, passions, appetites, is a
poor and mean thing, ever getting poorer and meaner.
Yes, this cry, to which Mr. Carlyle first gave voice
in our day, has been going up from all sections of
English society these many years, in sad, fierce, or
plaintive accents. The poet most profoundly in
sympathy with his time calls for
" A strong still man in a blatant land,
Whatever you name him what care I,
Aristocrat, autocrat, democrat, one
Who can rule and dare not lie."
The newest school of philosophy preaches an
"organized religion," an hierarchy of the best and
ablest. In an inarticulate way the confession rises
from the masses of our people, that they too feel on
every side of them the need of wise and strong
government — of a will to which their will may loyally
submit — before all other needs; have been groping
blindly after it this long while ; begin to know that
their daily life is in daily peril for want of it, in this
country of limited land, air, and water, and practically
unlimited wealth.
But Democracy, — how about Democracy } We had
thought a cry for it, and not for kings, God-made or
of any other kind, was the characteristic of our time.
Certainly kings such as we have seen them have not
gained or deserved much reverence of late years, are
not likely to be called for with any great earnest-
OF KINGS AND KINGSHIP.
ness, by those who feel most need of guidance, and
deliverance, in the midst of the bewildering conditions
and surroundings of our time and our life.
Twenty years ago the framework of society went
all to pieces over the greater part of Christendom,
and the kings just ran away or abdicated, and the
people, left pretty much to themselves, in some places
made blind work of it. Solvent and well-regulated
society caught a glimpse of that same "big black
democracy," — the monster, the Frankenstein, as they
hold him, at any rate the great undeniable fact of our
time, — a glimpse of him moving his huge limbs about,
uneasily and blindly. Then, mainly by the help of
broken pledges and bayonets, the so-called kings
managed to get the gyves put on him again, and to
shut him down in his underground prison. That was
the sum of their work in the last great European
crisis ; not a thankworthy one from the people's
point of view. However, society was supposed to be
saved, and the " party of order " so called breathed
freely. No; for the 1848 kind of king there is surely
no audible demand anywhere.
Here in England in that year we had our loth ol
April, and muster of half a million special constables
of the comfortable classes, with much jubilation over
such muster, and mutual congratulations that we
were not as other men, or even as these Frenchmen,
Germans, and the like. Taken for what it was worth,
let us admit that the jubilations did not lack some
sort of justification. The loth of April muster may
be perhaps accepted as a sign that the reverence
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
for the constable's staff has not quite died out yet
amongst us. But let no one think that for this reason
Democracy is one whit less inevitable in England
than on the Continent ; or that its sure and steady
advance, and the longing for its coming, which all
thoughtful men recognise, however little they may
sympathise with them, is the least incompatible with
the equally manifest longing for what our people intend
by this much-worshipped and much-hated name.
For what does Democracy mean to us English in
these years ? Simply an equal chance for all ; a fair
field for the best men, let them start from where they
will, to get to the front ; a clearance out of sham
governors, and of unjust privilege, in every depart-
ment of human affairs. It cannot be too often
repeated, that they who suppose the bulk of our
people want less government, or fear the man who
"can rule and dare not lie," know little of them.
Ask any representative of a popular constituency,
or other man with the means of judging, what the
people are ready for in this direction. He will
tell you that, in spite perhaps of all he can say
or do, they zvill go for compulsory education, the
organization of labour (including therein the sharp
extinction of able-bodied pauperism), the utilization
of public lands, and other reforms of an equally
decided character. That for these purposes they
desire more government, not less ; will support with
enthusiasm measures, the very thought of which takes
away the breath and loosens the knees of ordinary
politicians ; will rally with loyalty and trustfulness to
OF KINGS AND KINGSHIP.
men who will undertake these things with courage
and singleness of purpose.
But admit all this to be so, yet why talk of kings
and kingship ? Why try to fix our attention on the
last kind of persons who are likely to help ? Kings
have become a caste, sacred or not, as you may
happen to hold, but at any rate a markedly separate
caste. Is not this a darkening of counsel, a using of
terms which do not really express your meaning ?
Democrats we know : Tribunes of the people we
know. When these are true and single-minded, they
are the men for the work you are talking of. To do
it in any thorough way, in any way which will last,
you must have men in real sympathy with the masses.
True. But what if the special function of the king
is precisely this of sympathy with the masses .'' Our
biblical training surely would seem to teach that
it is. When all people are to bow before the king,
all nations to do him service, it is because " he shall
deliver the poor when he crieth, the needy also, and
him that hath no helper." When the king prays for
the judgments and righteousness of God, it is in order
that "he may judge Thy people according unto right,
and defend the poor." When the king sits in judg-
ment, the reason of his sentence, whether of approval
or condemnation, turns upon this same point of
sympathy with the poor and weak, — " Inasmuch as
ye have done it, or not done it, to the least of these
my brethren." From one end to the other of the
Bible wc are face to face with these words, "king" and
" kingdom ; " from the first word to the last the same
12 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
idea of the king's work, the king's functions, runs
through history, poem, parable, statute, and binds
them together. The king fills at least as large a
space in our sacred books as in Mr. Carlyle's ; the
writers seem to think him, and his work quite as
necessary to the world as Mr. Carlyle does.
To those who look on the Hebrew scriptures as mere
ancient Asian records, which have been luckily pre-
served, and are perhaps as valuable as the Talmud or
the Vedas, this peculiarity in them will seem of little
moment. To those who believe otherwise — who hold
that these same scriptures contain the revelation of
God to the family of mankind so far as words can
reveal Him — the fact is one which deserves and must
claim their most serious thought. If they desire to be
honest with themselves, they will not play fast and
loose with the words, or the ideas ; will rather face
them, and grudge no effort to get at what real mean-
ing or force lies for themselves in that which the
Bible says as to kings and kingdoms, if indeed
any be left for us in A.D. 1869. As a help in the
study we may take this again from the author
already quoted : — " The only title wherein I with
confidence trace eternity, is that of king. He carries
with him an authority from God, or man will never
give it him. Can I choose my own king .? I can
choose my own King Popinjay and play what farce
or tragedy I may with him : but he who is to be
my ruler, whose will is to be higher than my will,
was chosen for me in heaven. Neither except in
such obedience to the heaven-chosen is freedom so
OF KINGS AND KINGSHIP. 13
much as conceivable." Words of very startling im-
port these, no doubt ; but the longer we who accept
the Hebrew scriptures as books of the revelation of
God think on them, the more we shall find them
sober and truthful words. At least that is the belief
of the present writer, which belief he hopes to make
clearer in the course of this work to those who care
to go along with him.
And now for the word " king," for it is well that
we should try to understand it before we approach
the life of Die noblest Englishman who ever bore it,
" Cyning, by contraction king," says Mr. Freeman,
" is evidently closely connected with the word Cyn,
or Kin. The connexion is not without an important
meaning. The king is the representative of the
race, the embodiment of its national being, the
child of his people and not their father." Another
eminent scholar. Sir F. Palgrave, derives king from
" Cen," a Celtic word signifying the head. " The
commander of men," says Mr. Carlyle, " is called
Rex, Regulator, Roi : our own name is still better
— King, Konning, which means Can-ning, able man."
And so the ablest scholars are at issue over the
word, which would seem to be too big to be tied
down to either definition. Surely, whatever the true
etymology may be, the ideas — " representative,"
"head," "ablest" — do not clash, but would rather seem
necessary to one another to bring out the full mean-
ing of the word. " The representative of the race, the
embodiment of its national being," must be its "head,"
should be its "ablest, its best man." At any rate
14 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
they were gathered up in him whose Hfe we must
now try to follow: "England's herdman," "England's
darling," " England's comfort," as he is styled by the
old chroniclers. A thousand years have passed since
Alfred was struggling with the mighty work appointed
for him by God in this island. What that work-
was, how it was done, what portion of it remains
to this day, it will be our task and our privilege
to consider.
CHAPTER II.
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
** For o, thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, seeing it h
past as a watch in the night. ^^
The England upon which the child Alfred first looked
out must, however, detain us for a short time. And
at the threshold we are met with the fact that the
names of his birthplace, Wanating (Wantage) ; of the
shire in which it lies, Berroc-shire (Berkshire) ; of
the district stretching along the chalk hills above
it, Ashdown ; of the neighbouring villages, such as
Uffington, Ashbury, Kingston-Lisle, Compton, &c.,
remain unchanged. The England of a thousand
years ago was divided throughout into shires,
hundreds, tithings, as it remains to this day. Al-
most as much might until lately have been said
of the language. At least the writer, when a boy,
has heard an able Anglo-Saxon scholar of that day
maintain, that if one of the churls who fought at
Ashdown with Alfred could have risen up from his
breezy grave under a barrow, and walked down the
hill into Uffington, he would have been understood
without difficulty by the peasantry. That generation
i6 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
has passed away, and with them much of the racy
vernacular which so charmed the Anglo-Saxon anti-
quary thirty years ago. But let us hear one of the
most eminent of contemporary English historians on
the general question. " The main divisions of the
country," writes Mr. Freeman, " the local names of the
vast mass of its towns and villages, were fixed when
the Norman came, and have survived with but little
change to our own day. . . . He found the English
nation occupying substantially the same territory,
and already exhibiting in its laws, its language, its
national character, the most essential of the features
which it still retains. Into the English nation, which
he thus found already formed, his own dynasty and
his own followers were gradually absorbed. The
conquered did not become Normans, but the con-
querors did become Englishmen." Grand, tough,
much-enduring old English stock, with all thy im-
perviousness to ideas, thy Philistinism, afflicting to
the children of light in these latter days, thy obdurate,
nay pig-headed, reverence for old forms out of which
the life has flown, adherence to old ways which have
become little better than sloughs of despond, what
man is there that can claim to be child of thine whose
pulse does not quicken, and heart leap up, at the
thought } Who has not at the very bottom of his
soul faith in thy future, in thy power to stand fast in
this time of revolutions, which is upon and before
thee and all nations, as thou hast stood through many
a darl: day of the Lord in the last thousand years 1
But though the divisions of the country, and the
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. 17
names, remain the same, or nearly so, we must not for-
get the great superficial change which has taken place
by the clearance of the forest tracts. These spread,
a thousand years ago, over very large districts in all
parts of England. In these forests the droves of swine,
which formed a considerable portion of the wealth, and
whose flesh furnished the staple food, of the people,
wandered, feeding on acorns and beech-mast. Here,
too, the outlaws, who abounded in those unsettled
times, found shelter and safety ; and they were used
alike by Saxon and Dane for ambush and stronghold.
Christian monks, escaping from the sack of their
abbeys and cathedrals, and carrying hardly-saved
relics, fled to them, and often lived in them for years ;
and heathen bands, beaten and hard pressed by
Alfred or his aldermen, could often foil their pursuers,
and lie hidden in their shade, until the Saxon soldiery
had gone home to their harvest, or their sowing. The
sudden blows which the Danes seem always to have
been able to strike in the beginning of their cam-
paigns were made possible by these great tracts of
forest, through which they could steal without notice.
There were a few great trunk roads, such as Watling
Street, which ran from London to Chester, and the
Ickenild Way, through Berks, Wilts, and Somerset-
shire, and highways or tracks connecting villages and
towns. These seem to have been numerous and
populous; and in them and the monasteries, before
Alfred's time, trades had begun to flourish. We even
find that there must have been skilful jewellers and
weavers in Wesscx ; witness the vessels in gold and
S.L. VIII. Q
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
silver-gilt, and silk dresses and hangings, which his
father and he carried to Rome as presents to the
Pope, and Alfred's jewel, found in 1693 in Newton
Park, near Athelney, and now in the Ashmolean
Museum. The lands immediately adjoining towns,
monasteries, and the houses of aldermen and thegns
were well cultivated, and produced cereals in abun-
dance, and orchards and vineyards seem to have been
much cared for. The state of the country, however,
is best summed up by Kemble : — "On the natural
clearings of the forest, or on spots prepared by man
for his own uses ; in valleys bounded by gentle
acclivities which poured down fertilizing streams ; or
on plains which here and there rose clothed with
verdure above surrounding marshes; slowly, and step
by step, the warlike colonists adopted the habits and
developed the character of peaceful agriculturists.
The towns which had been spared in the first rush of
war gradually became deserted and slowly crumbled
to the soil, beneath which their ruins are yet found
from time to time, or upon which shapeless masses
yet remain to mark the sites of a civilization whose
bases were not laid deep enough. All over England
there soon existed a network of communities, the
principle of whose being was separation as regarded
each other, the most intimate union as respected the
individual members of each. Agricultural not com-
mercial, dispersed not centralized, content within
their own limits, and little given to wandering, they
relinquished in a great degree the habits and feelings
which had united them as military adventurers, and
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. 19
the spirit which had achieved the conquest of an
empire was now satisfied with the care of maintain-
ing inviolate a Httle peaceful plot, sufficient for the
cultivation of a few simple households."
Bishop Wilfrid, a century before, had instructed the
South Saxons in improved methods of fishing, and
they were energetic hunters, so that their tables were
well provided with lighter delicacies, though as a
people they preferred heavy and strong meats and
drinks. Their meals were frequent, at which the
boiled and baked meats were handed round to the
guests on spits, each helping himself as he had a
mind. The heavy feeding was followed by heavy
carousings of mead and ale ; and, for rich people,
wine, and " pigment," a drink made of wine, honey,
and spices, and " morat," a drink of mulberry-juice
and honey. Harpers and minstrels played and sang
while the drinking went on, providing such intellectual
food as our fathers cared to take, and jugglers and
jesters were ready, with their tumblings of one kind
or another, when the guests wearied of the perform-
ances of the higher artists.
Song-craft was at this time less cultivated in Eng-
land, except by professors, than it had been a hundred
years before. Then every guest was expected to take
his turn, and it would seem to have been somewhat of
a disgrace for a man not to be able to sing, or recite
some old Teutonic ballad to music. Thus we find
in the celebrated story of Credmon, told in Bede's
" Ecclesiastical History," that though he had come
to full age he had never learnt any poetry, " ancf
C 2
20 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
therefore at entertainments, when it had been
deemed for the sake of mirth that all in turn should
sing to the harp, he would rise for shame from the
table when the harp approached him, and go out."
The rest of the story is so characteristic of the times
that we may well allow Bede to finish it in this place.
" One time when he had done this, and left the house
of the entertainment, he went to a neat stall of which
he had charge for the night, and there set his limbs
to rest, and fell asleep. Then a man stood by him in
a dream and hailed him by name, and said, 'Caedmon,
sing me something.' Then answered he, ' I cannot
sing anything, and therefore I went out from the
entertainment and came hither for that I could not
sing.' But the man said, ' Ho"wever, thou canst sing
to me.' Caedmon asked then, ' What shall I sing ? '
and the man answered, ' Sing me Creation.' When
he had received this answer, then began he at once
to sing in praise of God the Creator verses and
words which he had never heard. This was the
beginning: —
" ' Now let us praise
Tlie keeper of heaven's kingdom,
Tlie Creator's might,
And the thought of His mind,
The works of the World-Father —
How of all wonders
He was the beginning.
The holy Creator
First shaped heaven
A roof for earth's children ;
Then the Creator,
The keeper of mankind,
4 THOUSAND YEARS AGO.
The Eternal Lord,
The Almighty Father,
Afterwards made the earth
A fold for men.'
Then arose he from sleep, and all that he sleeping
had sung he held fast in his memory, and soon added
to them many words as of a song worthy of God.
Then came he on the morrow to the town-reeve who
was his alderman, and told him of the gift he had
gotten, and the town-reeve took him to the abbess
(St. Hilda), and told her. Then she ordered to gather
all the wise men, and bade him in their presence tell
his dream and sing the song, that by the doom of
them all it might be proved what it was, and whence
it came. Then it seemed to all, as indeed it was, that
a heavenly gift had been given him by the Lord him-
self. Then they related to him a holy speech, and
bade him try to turn that into sweet song. And when
he had received it he went home to his house, and
coming again on the morrow sang them what they
had related to him in the sweetest voice." So
Caedmon was taken by Abbess Hilda into one of her
monasteries, and there sang " the outgoing of Israel's
folk from the land of the Egyptians, and the ingoing
of the Land of Promise, and of Christ's incarnation
and sufferings and ascension, and many other spells
of Holy Writ. But he never could compose anything
of leasing or of idle song, but those only which
belonged to religion, and became a pious tongue
to sing."
The cowherd getting his inspiration, and carrying
22 LIFE OF ALFRED THE ORE A T.
it at once to his town-reeve ; the reference to the
saintly abbess ; the conference of the wise men of the
neighbourhood to pass their doom on the occurrence ;
and the consequent retirement of Csedmon from the
world, and devotion to the cultivation of his gift under
the shadow of the Church, form a picture of one corner
of England, a thousand years ago, which may help
us to understand the conditions of life amongst our
ancestors in several respects. For one thing it brings
us directly into contact with the Church — in this
ninth century the most obvious and important fact in
England, as in every other country of Christendom.
Churches have been divided into those that audibly
preach and prophesy ; those that are struggling to
preach and prophesy, but cannot yet ; and those that
are gone dumb with old age, and only mumble de-
lirium prior to dissolution. This would look like an
exhaustive division at first sight, but yet the English
Church, at the time of Alfred's birth, would scarcely
fall under either category.
Up to the beginning of the ninth century the
history of the Church in England had been one of
extraordinary activity and earnestness. She had not
only completed her work of conversion within the
island, and established centres from which the highest
education and civilization then attainable flowed out
on all the Teutonic kingdoms, from the English
Channel to the Frith of Forth, but had also sent
forth a number of such missionaries as St. Boniface,
such scholars as Alcuin, to help in the establishment
of their Master's kingdom on the Continent.
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. 23
The sort of work which she was still doing in
England, in the eighth century, may be gathered
from the authentic accounts of the lives of such men
as St. Cuthbert, who is said to have been Alfred's
patron saint, which may easily be separated from
the miraculous legends with which they are loaded.
St. Cuthbert from his boyhood had devoted himself
to monastic life, and had risen to be rector of his
monastery, when some great epidemic passed over
the northern counties.
" Many then, in that time of great pestilence,
profaned their profession by unrighteous doings,
and — neglecting the mysteries of the holy faith in
which they had been instructed — hastened and
crowded to the erring cures of idolatry, as if they
could ward off the chastisement sent by God their
maker by magic or charms, or any secret of devil-
craft. To correct both these errors, the man of God
often went out of his monastery, and sometimes on
a horse, at other times on his feet, came to the places
lying round, and preached and taught to the erring
the way of steadfastness in the truth. It was at that
time the custom with folk of the English kin that
when a mass priest came into a town they should all
come together to hear God's word, and would gladly
hear the things taught and eagerly follow by deeds
the words they could understand. Now the holy
man of God, Cuthbert, had so much skill and
learning, and so much love to the di'^ine lore which
he had begun to teach, and such a light of angelic
looks shone from him, that none of those present
24 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
durst hide the secrets of the heart from him, but all
openly confessed their deeds, and their acknowledged
sins bettered with true repentance, as he bade. He
was wont chiefly to go through those places and to
preach in those hamlets which were high up on
rugged mountains, frightful to others to visit, and
whose people by their poverty and ignorance hin-
dered the approach of teachers. These hindrances he
by pious labour and great zeal overcame, and went
out from the monastery often a whole week, some-
times two or three, and often, also, for a whole month
would not return home, but abode in the wild places,
and called and invited the unlearned folk to the
heavenly life both by the word of his love and by
the work of his virtue."
Thus teaching the poor in the highest matters, and
also showing them with his own hands how to till
and sow — "it being the will of the Heavenly Giver
that crops of grain should be up-growing" in waste
places, — and how to find and husband water, Cuth-
bert, and such priests as he, spent their lives. But a
change had passed over the Church in the last fifty
years. The Bedes and Alcuins had died out, and
left no successors. Learning was grossly neglected,
and the slothful clergy had allowed things to come
to such a pass that Alfred in his youth could find
no master south of the Thames to teach him Latin.
Even the study of the Scriptures was very negligently
performed, and the education of the people was no
longer cared for at all. Bishop Ealstan, soldier and
statesman, had succeeded the Alcuins ; and St.
J
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. 25
Swithin, bent on advancing the interests of Rome,
the St. Bonifaces and St. Cuthberts.
Still, however, the Church in Wessex, if not
audibly preaching and prophesying, was very far
from having gone dumb with old age. She had
within her the seeds of strength and growth, for
Rome had not laid her hand heavily on the western
island. The advice given by Pope Gregory to
St. Augustine, in answer to the questions of the
latter as to the customs which should be insisted on
in the new Church, had been on the whole faithfully
followed. " It seems good and is more agreeable to
me," writes the great statesman-pope, " that whatso-
ever thou hast found, either in the Roman Church, or
in Gaul, or in any other, that was more pleasing to
Almighty God, thou shouldst carefully choose that,
and set it to be held fast in the Church of the English
nation, which now yet is new in faith. For the things
are not to be loved for places, but the places for good
things. Therefore, what things thou choosest as
pious, good, and right from each of sundry Churches,
these gather thou together, and settle into a custom
in the mind of the English nation." And again as to
uncanonical marriages, which are to be resisted but not
punished with denial of the Communion, " for at this
time the Holy Church corrects some things through
zeal, bears with some through mildness, overlooks
some through consideration ; and so bears and over-
looks that often by bearing and overlooking she checks
the opposing evil."
And the policy had answered in many ways.
26 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
England had still the inestimable boon of services
in her own tongue, and a clergy who were not celi-
bate. So the Church had prospered, and the land
was full of noble churches, abbeys, monasteries ;
but the ecclesiastics had not emancipated themselves
from the civil governor, and their persons and pro-
perty were answerable to him for breach of the laws
of the realm. Mortmain had not yet become the
"dead hand;" and while Church lands were at least
as well tilled and cared for as those of king or thegn,
and sent their equal quota of fighting men to the field
(often led by such bishops as Ealstan of Sherborne,
whom Alfred must have known well in his youth).
Church establishments were the refuge for thousands
of men and women, the victims of the wild wars of
those wild times, the seats of such little learning as
was to be found in the land, and the chief places in
which working in metals, and weaving, and other
manual industries could be learned or successfully
practised.
Yet pagan traditions still to some extent held
their own. For instance, the descent of the royal
race of Cerdic, from which Alfred sprung, from the
old Teuton gods, is as carefully traced by Bishop
Asser and other chroniclers up to " Woden, who
was the son of Frithewalde, who was the son of
Trealaf, who was the son of Frithawulf, who was
the son of Geta, whom the Pagans worshipped
as a god ;" as the further steps which carry the
line on up to " Sceaf the son of Noah, who was
born in the Ark." Pagan rites and ceremonies^
1
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. 27
modified in many ways, but clearly traceable to their
origin, were common enough. Still the two centuries
and upwards since St. Augustine's time had done
their work. England was not only in name a Chris-
tian country, but a living faith in Christ had entered
into, and was practically the deepest and strongest
force in, the national life. The conditions of faith
and worship amongst the West Saxons, and generally
the relations of his people with the Invisible, if not
wholly satisfactory, were yet of a hopeful kind for
a young prince of the royal race of Cerdic.
In other departments of human life in Wessex the
outlook had also much of hopefulness in it, as well as
deep causes of anxiety, for Alfred, as he grew up in
his father's court. That court was a migratory one.
The King of the West Saxons had no fixed home.
Wherever in the kingdom the need was sorest, there
was his place ; and so from Kent to Devonshire,
from the Welsh Marches to the Isle of Wight, we
find him moving backwards and forwards, wherever
a raid of Britons or Danes, the consecration of a
church, a. quarrel between two of his aldermen, the
assembly of his Great Council, might call him. The
government lies indeed heavily on his shoulders.
He must be the first man in fight, in council, in
worship, in the chase. True he can do no imperial
act, cannot make a law, impose a tax, call out an
army, or make a grant of folkland, without the sanc-
tion of his witan ; but in all things the initiative is
with him, and without him the witan is powerless.
That famous Council, common to all the Teutonic
28 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
tribes, had by this time amongst the West Saxons
lost its original character of a gathering of all freemen.
Probably no one below the rank of thegn attended the
meetings of the witan in the time of Ethelwulf. The
thegn was, however, simply an owner of land, and so
a seat in the Great Council was in fact open to any
cheorl, even it would seem to any thrall who could
earn or win as his own five hides of land, a church, a
kitchen, a bell-house, and a burghate seat.
The possession of land, then, was the first object
with the Englishman of the ninth, as it is with the
Englishman of the nineteenth century. At that time
the greater part of the kingdom was still folkland.
belonging to the nation, and only alienable by the
king and his witan. When, however, any portion of
the common inheritance was so alienated, the grantee
held of no feudal lord, not even of the king. As a
rule, the land became his in a sense in which, theoreti-
cally at least, no man has owned an acre in England
since the Norman Conquest. Subject only to march-
ing to meet invasion, and the making and restoring
of roads and bridges, the Saxon freeholder held
his land straight from the Maker of it.
But it is not only in the case of the common or
folkland that a strong tinge of what would now be
called socialism manifests itself in the life of our fore-
fathers. Teutonic law, as Mr. Kemble has shown,
bases itself on the family bond. The community in
which he is born and lives, the guild to which he
has bound himself, the master whom he serves, are
responsible for the misdoings of the citizen crafts-
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. 29
man, servant. The world-old question, " Am I my
brother's keeper?" was answered with emphasis in the
affirmative here in England a thousand years back.
Indeed the responsibility was carried in some direc-
tions to strange lengths, for it seems that if a man
should "for three nights entertain in his house a mer-
chant or stranger, and should supply him with food,
and the guest so received should commit a crime, the
host must bring him to justice or answer for it." On
the other hand, so jealous were our fathers of vaga-
bonds in the land, that " if a stranger or foreigner
should wander from the highway, and then neither
call out nor sound horn, he is to be taken for a thief
and killed, or redeemed by fine," for in truth there are
so many pagan Danes, and other disreputable persons,
.scattered up and down the land, that society must
protect itself in a summary manner.
This it did by laws which, up to Alfred's time,
were administered under the king by aldermen.
These great officers presided over shires, or smaller
districts, and held an authority which, under weak
kings, amounted almost to independence. The
offices were hereditary, and no special training,
or education of any kind, was required of the
holders. Simple as the code of King Ina was,
such judges were not competent to administer it ;
and Alfred, when at length he had time for them,
found the most searching reforms required in this
department.
This code of Ina, the one in force in Wessex, was
mainly a list of penalties for murder, assaults, rob-
30 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
beries, injuries to forests and cattle. It contained
also provisions as to the treatment of slaves, who
formed a considerable portion of 'the population.
They were for the most part Welsh, and other
prisoners of war, or men who had been sentenced
to servitude. The laws were enforced by fine or
corporal punishment, imprisonment being unknown
in the earlier codes. Such as they were, the laws
of the Anglo-Saxons were at least in their own
mother tongue, and could be understood by the
people. In the king's and aldermen's courts, as
well as in church and at the altar, the Englishman
was able to plead and pray in his own language,
a strong proof of the vigour of the national life,
after making allowance for all the advantages of
insular position, and fortunate accident.
We may note also that these islanders are singu-
larly just to their women, far more so than their de-
scendants on either side of the Atlantic have come to
be after the lapse of a thousand years. Married women
could sue and be sued, and inherit and dispose of
property of all kinds. Women could attend the shire-
gemot, even the witena-gemot — could sit, that is, on
vestries, or in parliament — and were protected by
special laws in matters where their weakness of body
would otherwise place them at a disadvantage. Our
fathers acknowledged, and practically enforced, the
equality of the "spindle half" and the "spear-half"
of the human family.
Above the servile class, or the thralls, the nation
was divided broadly into " eorl" and "cheorl," all of
A THOUSAND YEARS AGO. 31
whom were freemen, the former gently born, and pos-
sessing privileges of precedence, which gather surely
enough round certain families in races amongst whom
birth is reverenced.
Under such conditions of life then our West Saxon
fathers were living in the middle of the ninth century
A stolid, somewhat heavy people, entirely divorced
from their old wandering propensities, and settling
down, too rapidly perhaps, into plodding, money-
making habits, in country and town and cloister,
but capable of blazing up into white battle heat, and
of fighting with untam cable stubbornness, when their
churches, or homes, or flocks are threatened ; capable
also, not unfrequently, of rare heroism and self
sacrifice when a call they can understand comes to
them. A nation capable of great things under the
hand of a true king;.
CHAPTER III.
CHILDHOOD,
In the year 849, when Alfred was born at the royal
burgh of Wantage, the youngest child of ^thehvulf
and Osberga, the King of the West Saxons had
already established his authority as lord over the
other Teutonic kingdoms in England. Until the
time of Egbert, the father of ^thelwulf, this over-
lordship had shifted from one strong hand to another
amongst the reigning princes, each of whom, as occa-
sion served, rose and strove for the dignity of bret-
walda, as it was called. Now it would be held by a
Mercian, then by a Northumbrian, and again by a king
of East Anglian or Kentish men. But when, in the
year 800, the same in which the Emperor Charle-
magne was crowned by the Pope, the Great Council
of Wessex elected the ^theling Egbert king of the
West Saxons, all such contention came to an end.
For Egbert, exiled from his own land by the bret-
walda, Ofifa of Mercia, had spent thirteen years in the
service of Charlemagne, and had learned in that school
how to consolidate and govern kingdoms. He reigned
thirty-seven years in England, and at his death all the
land owned him as over-king, though the Northum-
CHILDHOOD.
brians, Mercians, and East Anglians still kept their
own kings and great councils, who governed within their
own borders as Egbert's men. In Egbert's later char-
ters he is called King of the English, and the name of
Anglia was by him given to the whole kingdom.
It is said that the last bretwalda and first king of
all England felt uneasy forebodings as to the destiny
of his kingdom when he was leaving it to his son and
successor. Ethelwulf, from his youth up, had been of
a strongly devotional turn, and was too much under
the influence of the clergy to please his father. He
would probably have followed his natural bent, and
entered holj'- orders, but that Egbert had no other
son. So as early as 828 he had been made King of
Kent, and soon afterwards married Osberga, the
daughter of his cup-bearer Oslac. There in Kent,
under the eye of Egbert, he reigned for ten years, not
otherwise than creditably, making head against the
Danish pirates, who were already appearing almost
yearly on the coast, in a manner not unworthy of his
great father and still greater son. Indeed, if he was
swayed more than his father liked by churchmen, the
influence of Ealstan, the soldier-bishop of Sherborne,
would seem to have been as powerful with him as that
of the learned and non-combatant Bishop S with in of
Winchester, afterwards saint. Nor did courage or
energy fail him after he had succeeded to Egbert's
throne, for we find him in the next few years com-
manding in person in several pitched battles with the
Danes, the most important of which was fought in
851 at a place in Surrey which the chroniclers call
S.L. VIII. £)
34 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
Aclea (the oak plain), and which is still named
Ockley. The village lies a few miles south of Dork-
ing, under Leith Hill, from which probably Ethel-
wulf's scouts marked the long line of Pagans, and
signalled to the King their whereabouts. They were
marching south, along the old Roman road, the
remains of which may still be seen near the battle-
field, heavy with the spoils of London, it is said, part
of which city they had succeeded in sacking. Ethel-
wulf fell on them from the higher ground, and
severely defeated them, recovering all the spoil.
Again, a little later in the same year, at Sandwich
in Kent, and after that Wessex was scarcely troubled
with them for eight years. So now Ethelwulf had
leisure to turn his thoughts to a pilgrimage to Rome,
which he had had it in his mind to make ever since
he had been on the throne. But two years passed and
still he was not ready to start, and in 853 Buhred, king
of Mercia, applied to hirn as his over-lord for help
against the Welsh. Then Ethelwulf marched himself
against the Welsh with Buhred, and pursued their king,
Roderic Mawr, to Anglesey, where he acknowledged
Ethelwulf as his over-lord, who returning in triumph
to Wessex, there at the royal burgh of Chippenham
gave his daughter Ethelswitha to Buhred as his wife.
Being thus hindered himself from starting on his
pilgrimage, Ethelwulf in that same year sent his
young son Alfred, of whom he was already more fond
than of his elder sons, to Rome, with an honourable
escort. There the boy of five was received by Leo IV.
as his son by adoption, and, it would seem, anointed
I
CHILDHOOD. 35
him king of the West Saxons. The fact is recorded
both in the Saxon Chronicle and in that of Asser, who
upon such a point would probably have the King's
own authority. Whether a step so contrary to all
English custom was taken by Ethel wulf's request, in
order to found a claim to the succession for his
favourite son, is unknown. In any case, no such
special claim was ever urged by Alfred himself
Leo was no unworthy spiritual father to such a
boy. He was busy at this time with the enclosure of
the quarter of the Vatican, the restoration of the old
walls and fortifications, and the arming and inspiriting
of the Romans. Moorish pirates had been lately in
the suburbs of the Eternal City, and had profaned
the tombs of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul.
What with pagan Danes in the northern seas, and
Moors in the Mediterranean, the coasts of Christendom
had little rest a thousand years ago, and it behoved
even the Holy Father to look to his fighting gear
and appliances.
How long Alfred stayed at Rome on this occasion
is uncertain ; but if the opinion which would seem to
be gaining ground amongst students is correct — that
he did not return, but waited the arrival of Ethel-
wulf two years later — we must give up the well-
known story of his earning the book of Saxon poems
from his mother.
This is related by Asser as having happened when
he was twelve years old or more, which is clearly
impossible, as his mother Osberga must have been
dead before 856, when his father married Judith, as
D 2
36 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
we shall hear presently. However, the tale is thus
told by the old chronicler, the personal friend of
Alfred : " On a certain day, his mother was showing
him and his brothers a book of Saxon poetry which
she held in her hand, and said, 'Whichever of you
shall first learn this book shall have it for his own.'
Moved by these words, or rather by a divine inspira-
tion, and allured by the illuminated letters, he spoke
before his brothers, who though his seniors in years
were not so in grace, and answered, ' Will you
really give that book to the one of us who can first
understand and repeat it to you.-*' Upon which his
mother smiled and repeated what she had said. So
Alfred took the book from her hand and went to
his master to read it, and in due time brought it
again to his mother and recited it."
Now Alfred, one regrets to remark, before his first
journey to Rome, could scarcely have been old
enough to get by heart a book of poems, though
he might have done so after his return, and before his
second journey in his father's train.
This happened in 855. Before starting, Ethelwulf,
by charter signed in the presence of the bishops
Swithin and Ealstan, gave one-tenth of his land
throughout the kingdom for the glory of God and
his own eternal salvation ; or, as some chroniclers say,
released one-tenth of all lands from royal service and
tribute, and gave it up to God. In that same year
we may also note that an army of the Pagans first
sat over winter in the Isle of Sheppey.
A bright brave boy, full of the folk-lore of his own
CHILDHOOD. 37
people, with a mind of rare power and sensitiveness
and docile, loving, reverent soul, crossing France in the
train of a king, and that king his own father — enter-
tained now at the court of the grandson of Charle-
magne, now at the castles of warrior nobles, now by-
prelates whose reputation as learned men is still alive
— traversing the great Alps, and through the garden
of the world approaching once again the Eternal City,
renewing the memories of his childhood amongst its
ruins and shrines and palaces, under the sky of
Italy — one cannot but feel that such an episode in
his young life must have been full of fruit for him
upon whom were so soon to rest the burden of a life
and death struggle with the most terrible of foes,
and of raising a slothful and stolid nation out of
the darkness and exhaustion in which that struggle
had left them ?
And what a year was this of A.D. 855 for a young
prince with open mind and quick eye to spend in
Rome ! His godfather, the brave old Pope Leo, on
his deathbed, dead probably before the arrival of the
Saxon pilgrims ; the election and inauguration of Bene-
dict the Third, without appeal to or consultation with
the Emperor Lothaire, swiftly following — as swiftly
followed by protest of said Emperor, riots, and the
flight and speedy return in triumph of Benedict to
the chair of St. Peter; the illness and death of
Lothaire himself, the whispered stories of the struggle
for his corpse between the devils and the startled but
undaunted monks of Pruim {circuinstantibus corpus
ejus traJii ct detrain vidcretur, scd monachis ora/itibas
38 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
dcsmones sunt fatigati) ; the entrance of young Impe-
rator Lewis — all these things Alfred must have
seen and heard with his own eyes and ears in that
eventful year.^
Meantime whether Pope or Emperor, clerical or
imperial party, were uppermost for the moment, we
may be sure that the Englishmen were received and
treated with all honour. For Ethclwulf, besides the
homage and reverence of an enthusiastic pilgrim,
brought with him costly gifts, a crown four pounds in
weight, two dishes, two figures, all of pure gold, urns
silver-gilt, stoles and robes of richest silk interwoven
with gold. All these, with munificent sums of out-
landish coin, this king with a name which no Roman
can write or speak, brings for the holy father and St.
Peter's shrine. Before his departure, too, he has
rebuilt and re-endowed the Saxon schools, and
promised 300 marks yearly from his royal revenues,
100 each for the filling of the Easter lamps on the
shrines of St. Peter and St. Paul with finest oil, 100
for the private purse of their successor.
It was not till after Easter in the next year that
the royal pilgrim took thought of his people in the
far west, and turned his face homewards, arriving
igain at the court of Charles the Bald in the early
summer of 856. Through the long vista of years we
can still get a bright gleam or two of light upon that
court in those same days.
^ Did he also see the elevation or attempted elevation of Pope Joan
to the papacy ? It is a papal legend tliat an Englishwoman by descent
and Joan by name, was elected on the death of I.eo IV.
CHILDHOOD. 39
Notwithstanding the troubles which were pressing
on his kingdom from the Danes and Northmen on
his coasts ; from turbulent nephew Pepin, with infidel
Saracens for allies, on the south ; from disloyal nobles
in Aquitaine itself, — the court of Charles the Bald
was at once stately and magnificent, and the centre
of all that could be called high culture outside of
Rome. Charles himself, like Ethelwulf, was under the
influence of priests, who in fact ruled for him. But
the head of them, Hincmar. Archbishop of Rheims,
was before all things a statesman and a Frenchman,
who would maintain jealously his sovereign's authority
and the liberties of the national Church ; could even
on occasion rebuke popes for attempted interference
with the temporal affairs of distant kingdoms, which
" kings constituted by God permit bishops to rule in
accordance with their decrees."
Both king and minister were glad to gather
scholars and men of note and piety round them ;
and at Compiegne, or Verberie, in these months,
Alfred must have come to know at any rate Grim-
bald, and John Erigena, the former (if not both) of
whom, in after years, at his invitation, came over to
live with him- and teach the English. John, an Irish-
man by adoption, if not by birth, was in fact at this
time master of the school of the palace, or, as we
should say, tutor to the royal family. In the school-
room Alfred must have been welcomed by Judith,
a beautiful and clever girl of fourteen years of age
or thereabouts ; and Charles, the boy-king of Aqui-
taine, scarcely older than himself, lately sent home
40 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
from those parts by the nobles. They there, we may
fancy, reading and talking with John the Irishman
on many subjects. He, for his part, for the moment,
at the instigation of Hincmar, is engaged in discus-
sion with Abbot Pascasius, who is troubling the minds
of the orthodox with speculations as to the nature
and manner of the presence of Christ in the Holy
Eucharist; with the German monk Gotteschalk, who
is inviting all persons to consider the doctrine of
free-will with a view to its final settlement to the
satisfaction of the good folk. John, the Irishman,
is ready enough to do Hincmar's bidding, does in
fact do battle with both Pascasius and Gotteschalk,
but seems likely to finally settle nothing of con-
sequence in relation to these controversies, as he
(not, we should imagine, to the satisfaction of
Archbishop Hincmar) proves to be a strenuous
maintainer of the right of private judgment, and
human reason, instead of an orthodox defender of
the faith.
Alfred must have been roused unpleasantly from
his studies in the school of the palace, by the news
that his father is about to marry the young Judith,
his fellow-pupil. This ill-starred betrothal takes
place in July, and on October ist, at the palace of
Verbcric, the marriage between the Saxon king of
sixty and upwards, and the French girl of fourteen, is
celebrated with great magnificence, Hincmar himself
officiating. The ritual used on the occasion is said to
be still extant. Judith was placed by her husband's
side and crowned queen.
I
CHILDHOOD. 41
The news of which crowning was like to have
wrought sore trouble in England, for the Great Council
of Wessex had made a law in the first year of King
Egbert's reign, that no woman should be crowned
queen of the West Saxons. This they did because
of Eadburgha, the wife of Beorhtric, the last king.
She being a woman of jealous and imperious temper
had mixed poison in the cup of Warr, a young noble,
her husband's friend, of which cup he died, and the
king having partaken of it, died also. And Eadburgha
fled, first to Charlemagne, who placed her over a
convent. Expelled from thence she wandered away
to Italy, and died begging her bread in the streets of
Pavia. The West Saxons therefore settled that they
would have no more queens. So when Ethelbald, the
eldest living son of the King, who had been ruling in
England in his father's absence, heard of this crown-
ing, he took counsel with Ealstan the bishop, and
Eanwulf the great alderman of Somerset, and it is
certain that they and other nobles met and bound
themselve-s together by a secret oath in the forest ot
Selwood — the great wood, silva magna, or Coit mawr,
as we learn from Asser, the British called it. Whether
the object of their oath was the dethronement of
King Ethelwulf is not known, but it may well be that
it was so, for on his return he found his people in two
parts, the one ready to fight for him, and the other for
his son.
But Ethelwulf with all his folly was a good man,
and would not bring such evil on his kingdom. So
lie parted it with his son, he himself retaining Kent
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
and the crown lands, and leaving Wessex to Ethel-
bald. The men of Kent had made no such law as
to women, and there Judith reigned as queen with
her husband for two years.
Then the old King died, and, to the horror and
scandal of the whole realm, Judith his widow was in
the same year married to Ethelbald, "contrary to
God's prohibition and the dignity of a Christian,
contrary also to the custom of all the Pagans." This
Ethelbald, notwithstanding the scandal and horror,
carries the matter with a high hand his own way. A
bold, bad man, for whose speedy removal we may be
thankful, in view of the times which are so soon
coming on his country.
Let us here finish the strange story of this princess,
through whom all our sovereigns since William the
Conqueror trace their descent from the Emperor
Charlemagne. She lived in England for yet two
years, till the death of Ethelbald, in 86c, when, selling
all her possessions here, she went back to her father's
court. From thence she eloped, in defiance of her
father, but with the connivance of her young brother
Lewis, with Baldwin Bras-de-fer, a Flemish noble.
The young couple had to journey to Rome to get
their marriage sanctioned, and make their peace with
Pope Nicholas I., to whom the enraged Charles had
denounced her and her lover. Judith, however, seems
to have had as little trouble with his Holiness as
with all other men, and returned with his absolu-
tion, and letters of commendation to her father.
Charles thereupon made her husband Count of
CHILDHOOD. 43
Flanders, and gave him all the country between
the Scheld, the Sambre, and the sea, " that he
might be the bulwark of the Frank kingdom against
the Northmen."
This trust Baldwin faithfully performed, building the
fortress of Bruges, and ruling Flanders manfully for
many years. And our Alfred, though, we may be sure,
much shocked in early years at the doings of his young
stepmother, must have shared the fate of the rest of his
sex at last, for we find him giving his daughter Elfrida
as wife to Baldwin, second Count of Flanders, the
eldest son of Judith. From this Baldwin the Second,
and Alfred's daughter Elfrida, the Conqueror's wife
Matilda came, through whom our sovereigns trace their
descent from Alfred the Great. And so the figure
of fair, frail, fascinating Judith flits across English
history in those old years, the woman who next to
his own mother must have had most influence on
our great king.
CHAPTER IV.
CNIHTHOOD.
" Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way ?
Even by ruling himself after Thy word."
The question of questions this, at the most critical
time in his life for every child of Adam who ever
grew to manhood on the face of our planet ; and so
far as human experience has yet gone, the answer
of answers. Other answers have been, indeed, forth-
coming at all times, and never surely in greater
number or stranger guise than at the present time :
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?"
Even by ruling himself in the faith "that human
life will become more beautiful and more noble in
the future than in the past." This will be found
enough " to stimulate the forces of the will, and
purify the soul from base passion," urge, with a zeal
and ability of which every Christian must desire to
speak with deep respect, more than one school of
our nineteenth century moralists.
"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his
way.?" Even by ruling himself on the faith, "that
it is probable that God exists, and that death is not
the end of life;" or again, "that this is the only
CNIHTHOOD. 45
world of which we have any knowledge at all."
Either of these creeds, says the philosopher of the
clubs, if held distinctly as a dogma and consistently
acted on, will be found '^ capable of producing prac-
tical results on an astonishing scale." So one would
think, but scarcely in the direction of personal holi-
ness, or energy. Meantime, the answer of the Hebrew
psalmist, 3,000 years old, or thereabouts, has gone
straight to the heart of many generations, and I take
it will scarcely care to make way for any solution
likely to occur to modern science or philosophy.
Yes, he who has the word of the living God to rule
himself by — who can fall back on the strength of Him
who has had the victory over the world, the flesh,
and the devil — may even in this strange disjointed
time of ours carry his manhood pure and unsullied
through the death-grips to which he must come with
"the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the
pride of life." He who will take the world, the flesh,
and the devil by the throat in his own strength, will
find them shrewd wrestlers. Well for him if he
escape with the stain of the falls which he is too
sure to get, and can rise up still a man, though
beaten and shamed, to meet the same foes in new
shapes in his later years. New shapes, and ever more
vile, as the years run on. " Three sorts of men my
soul hateth," says the son of Sirach, " a poor man
that is proud, a rich man that is a liar, and an old
adulterer that doateth."
We may believe the Gospel history to be a fable, but
who amongst us can deny the fact, that each son of
46 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
man has to go forth into the wilderness — for us, " the
wilderness of the wide world in an atheistic century" —
and there do battle with the tempter as soon as the
whisper has come in his ear : " Thou too art a man ;
eat freely. All these things will I give thee."
Amongst the Anglo-Saxons the period between
childhood and manhood was called " cnihthood," the
word " cniht " signifying both a youth and a servant.
The living connexion between cnihthood and service
was never more faithfully illustrated than by the
young Saxon prince, though he had already lost the
father to whom alone on earth his service was due.
The young nobles of Wessex of Alfred's time for the
most part learnt to run, leap, wrestle, and hunt, and
were much given to horse-racing and the use of arms ;
but beyond this, we know from Alfred himself, that
neither their fathers or they had much care to go.
Doubtless, however, here and there were clerical men,
like Bishop Wilfrid in the previous century, to whom
nobles sent their sons to be taught by him ; and when
full-grown, " to be dedicated to God if they should
choose it, or otherwise to be presented to the king
in 'full armour." It is not probable that Alfred ever
had the advantage of such tuition, as he makes no
mention of it himself We do not know exactly
how or when he learnt to read or write, but the
story of how he met the young man's foes in the hey-
day of his youth and strength comes to us in Bishop
Asser's life, precisely enough, though in the language
and clothing of a far-off time, with which we are little
in sympathy. It seems better, however, to leave it
CNIHTHOOD. 47
as it stands. Any attempt to remove what we should
call the miraculous element out of it would probably
take away all life without rendering it the least more
credible to readers of to-day.
As he advanced through the years of infancy and
youth, his form appeared more comely than those of
his brothers, and in look, speech, and manners he was
more graceful than they. He was already the darling
of the people, who felt that in wisdom and other
qualities he surpassed all the royal race. Alfred then
being a youth of this fair promise, while training him-
self diligently in all such learning as he had the
means of acquiring, and especially in his own mother
tongue, and the poems and songs which formed the
chief part of Anglo-Saxon literature, was not unmind-
ful of the culture of his body, and was a zealous prac-
tiser of hunting in all its branches, and hunted w'ith
great perseverance and success. Skill and good fortune
in this art, as in all others, the good Bishop here adds,
are amongst the gifts of God, and are given to men
of this stamp, as we ourselves have often witnessed.
But before all things he was wishful to strengthen
his mind in the keeping of God's commandments ;
and, finding that the carnal desires and proud and
rebellious thoughts which the devil, who is ever
jealous of the good, is apt to breed in the minds
of the young, were likely to have the mastery
of him, he used often to rise at cock-crow in the
early mornings, and repairing to some church, or
holy place, there cast himself before God in prayer
that he might do nothing contrary to His holy
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
v/ill. But finding himself still hard bested, he began
at such times to pray as he lay prostrate before
the altar, that God in His great mercy would
strengthen his mind and will by some sickness, such
as would be of use to him in the subduing of his
body, but would not show itself outwardly or render
him powerless or contemptible in worldly duties, or
less able to benefit his people. For King Alfred from
his earliest years held in great dread leprosy, and
blindness, and every disease which would make a
man useless or contemptible in the conduct of affairs.
And when he had often and with much fervour
prayed to this effect, it pleased God to afflict him with
a very painful disease, which lay upon liim with little
respite until he was in his twentieth year.
At this age he became betrothed to her who was
afterwards his wife, Elswitha, the daughter of
Ethelred, the Earl of the Gaini in Mercia, whom
the English named Mucil, because he was great
of body and old in wisdom. Alfred, then at that
time being on a visit to Cornwall for the sake of
hunting, turned aside from his sport, as his custom
often was, to pray in a certain chapel in which was
buried the body of St. Guerir. There he entreated
God that He would exchange the sickness with
which he had been up to that time afflicted for
some other disease, which should in like manner not
render him useless or contemptible. And so, finish-
ing his prayers, he got up and rode away, and soon
after perceived within himself that he was made
whole of his old sickness.
CNIHTHOOD. 49
So his marriage was celebrated in Mcrcia. tc
which came great numbers of people, and. there
was feasting which lasted through the night as well
as by day. In the midst of which revelry Alfred
was attacked by sudden and violent pain, the cause
of which neither they who were then present, nor
indeed any physician in after years, could rightly
ascertain. At the time, however, some believed that
it was the malignant enchantment of some person
amongst the guests, others that it was the special
spite of the devil, others again that it was the old
sickness come back on him, or a strange kind of fever.
In any case from that day until his forty-fourth year,
if not still later, he was subject to this same sickness,
which frequently returned, giving him the most acute
pain, and, as he thought, making him useless for every
duty. But how far the King was from thinking rightly
in this respect, those who read of the burdens that
were laid on him, and the work which he accomplished,
can best judge for themselves.
We must return, however, to the death of Ethel-
wulf, which happened, as we heard above, A.D. 858.
That king, with a view, as he supposed, to prevent
strife after his death, had induced the West Saxon
vvitan to agree to the provisions of his will, and to
sign it by some of their foremost men. These pro-
visions were, that Ethelbald his eldest surviving son,
who had rebelled against him, should remain king of
Wessex, and, if he should die childless, should be
succeeded by his two youngest brothers, Ethelred and
Alfred, in succession; while Ethclbert, the second son,
s.L. vni. E
50 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
should be king of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, with no
right of succession to the greater kingdom. Thus even
in his death Ethelwulf was preparing trouble for his
country, for the kingdom of Kent could not now have
been separated from Wessex without war, nor was it
likely that Ethelbert would accept his exclusion from
the greater succession. His estates and other property
the King divided between his children, providing that
his lands should never lie fallow, and that one poor
man in every ten, whether native or foreigner, of those
who lived on them, should be maintained in meat,
drink, and clothing by his successors for ever.
From 858 then, after their father's death, Ethelred
and Alfred lived in Kent with their brother Ethelbert
until 860, when King Ethelbald died, and his widow
Judith retired to France. Upon this event, had the
younger brothers been self-seekers, or had either ot
them insisted on the right of succession, given to
them by the will of their father, and sanctioned by
the witan, the south of England would have seen wars
of succession such as those which raged on the Conti-
nent during that same century between the descend-
ants of Charlemagne. Then Wessex and Kent must
have fallen an easy prey to the pagan hosts which
were already gathering for the onslaught, as happened
in Northumbria and East Anglia. But at this juncture
the royal race of Cerdic were free from such ambi-
tions, and Ethelred and Alfred allowed Ethelbert to
ascend the throne of Wessex, and continued to live
with him. He died in Z66, after a peaceful and
honourable reign of nearly six years, and there was
CNIHTHOOD. 51
grief throughout the land, say the chroniclers, when
he was buried in Sherborne minster. Nevertheless
we cannot but note that in 864 he had allowed a
pagan army to establish themselves in the Isle of
Thanet without opposition, and in 860 had left the
glory of avenging the plunder of Winchester by
another roving band to Osric alderman of Hants,
and Ethelwulf alderman of Berks. It was high time
that the sceptre of the West Saxons should pass
into stronger hands, for within a few months of the
accession of Ethclrcd the great host under Hinguar
and Hubba landed in East Anglia, which was never
afterwards cast out of the realm, and for so many
years taxed the whole strength of the southern king-
doms under the leading of England's greatest king.
Alfred was now Crown Prince, next in succession
to the throne under the will of his father, which had
been accepted by the witan. Under the same will he
was also entitled in possession to his share of certain
royal domains and treasures, which were thereby
devised to Ethelbald, Ethelrcd, and him, in joint
tenancy. He had already waived his right to any
present share of this heritage once, on the accession
of Ethclbert to the West Saxon kingdom. Now that
the brother nearest to himself in age has succeeded
he applies for a partition, and is refused. The whole
of these transactions are so characteristic of the
times and the man, that we must pause yet for a few
moments over them. Wc have his own careful, and
transparently truthful, account of them, in the recitals
to his will, which run as follow.
E 2
52 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
"I, Alfred, by God's grace king, and with the
counsel of Ethelred Archbishop, and all the witan of
the West Saxons witness, have considered about my
soul's health, and about my inheritance, that God
and my elders gave me, and about that inheritance
which King Ethelwulf my father bequeathed to us
three brothers, Ethelbald, Ethelred, and me, and
which of us soever were longest liver that he should
take it all. But when it came to pass that Ethelbald
died, Ethelred and I, with the witness of all the
West Saxon witan, our part did give in trust to
Ethelbert the king our brother, on the condition
that he should deliver it back to us as entire as it
then was when we did make it over to him ; as he
afterwards did (on his death) both that which he took
by our joint gift and that which he himself had
acquired. When it happened that Ethelred succeeded,
then prayed I him before all our nobles that we two
the inheritance might divide, and he would give to
me my share. Then said he to me that he might not
easily divide, for that he had at many different times
formerly taken possession. And he said, both of our
joint property and what he had acquired, that after
his days he would give it to no man rather than to
me, and I was therewith at that time well satisfied."
Why should a young prince otherwise occupied in
the training of his immortal soul, and wrestlings
with principalities and powers, take more account
now of this inheritance .-* Let it rest then as it is.
" But it came to pass that we were all despoiled by
the heathen folk. Then we consulted concerning" our
CNIHTHOOD. 53
children (Alfred by this time having married) that
they would need some support to be given by us out
of these estates as to us had been given. Then were
we in council at Swinbeorg, when we two declared in
the presence of the West Saxon nobles, that which-
soever of us two should live longest should give to
the other's children those lands which we ourselves
had acquired, and those that Ethelwulf the king gave
to us two while Ethelbald was living, except those
which he gave to us three brothers. And we gave
each to other security that the longest liver of us
should take land and treasure and all the possessions
of the other, except that part which either of us to
his children should bequeath."
In which sad tangle, which no man can unravel,
the inheritance question rests at the death of King
Ethelred in 871. There is the agreement indeed
but what does it mean ? Alfred will not himself
decide it. Here is the Great Council of the West
Saxons. Let them say whether or no he can deal
with this part of the royal inheritance, or to whom it
of right belongs. " So when the King died," Alfred
goes on, " no man brought to me title-deed, or
evidence that it was to be otherwise than as we had
so agreed before witnesses, yet heard I of inheritance
suits. Wherefore brought I Ethelwulf the king's
will before our council at Langadene, and they read
it before all the West Saxon witan. And after it was
read, then prayed I them all for my love — and gave
to them my troth that I never would bear ill-will to
none of them that should speak right — that none of
54 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
them would neglect, for my love nor for my fear, to
declare the common right, lest any man should say
that I had excluded my kinsfolk whether old or
young. And they then all for right pronounced, and
declared that they could conceive no more rightful
title nor hear of such in a title-deed ; and they said,
' It is all delivered into thy hand, wherefore thou
mayest bequeath and give it, either to a kinsman, or
a stranger as may seem best to thee.' "
This council at Langadene was held most pro-
bably between the years 880 and 885, after Alfred
had triumphed over all his enemies, and was deep
already in his great social reforms. Under the sanc-
tion there given he distributes this part of the royal
inheritance, as well as his own property, by his will,
which we shall have to consider in its own place.
Thus then we get a second result of Alfred's
cnihthood. We have already seen him curbing suc-
cessfully the unruly passions of his youth ; paying
willingly with health and bodily comfort to win that
victory, since it can be won by him at no lower
price. At the death of Ethelbald, and again of
Ethelbert, after he had grown to manhood and must
have been conscious of his power to manage lands and
men, we now find him standing aside at once, and
allowing two elder brothers in succession to keep his
.share of the joint heritage. He at least will give no
example in the highest places of the realm of strife
about visible things, will make any sacrifice of lands
or goods so that he maintain peace and brotherly
love in his own family.
CNIHTHOOD. 55
The tempter we may see has led this son of man
into the wilderness without much success. The
whisper " Take and eat " has met with a brave
" Depart, Satan," from these royal lips. England
may now look hopefully for true kingship and leading
from him who has already learned to rule like a king
in the temple of his own body and spirit.
We may notice for a third point that in these
years of his cnihthood Alfred has gathered together
the services of the hours {celebrationes Jiorarimi), with
many of the Psalms — whether written by himself or
not we cannot tell, probably not — but forming a small
manual, or handbook, which he always carries in his
bosom, and which will be found helpful to him in
many days of sore trial.
With such garniture then of one kind or another,
gathered together in these early years, the young
crown prince stands loyally by the side of the young
king his brother, looking from their western home
over an England already growing dark under the
shadow of a tremendous storm. When it bursts,
will it spend itself on these Northumbrian and East
Anglian coasts and kingdoms, or shall we too feel its
rage ? These must have been anxious thoughts for
the young prince, questionings to which the answer
was becoming month by month plainer and clearer
at the time of his marriage. Within some six
weeks of that ceremony he was already in arms in
Mercia. Before the birth of his first child he was him-
self king, and nine pitched battles had been fought in
his own kingdom of Wessex under his leadership.
CHAPTER V.
THE DANE.
" The Jay of the Lord comctli, it is nigh at hand ; a day of dark^esi
and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the
morning spread 7ifon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there
hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to
the years of ina7iy generations"
A STRANGE atmosphere of wild legend surrounds
the group of tribes who, from the shores of the
Baltic and the great Scandinavian peninsula, as
well as from Denmark, in this ninth century fell
upon all coasts of England ; at first swooping
down in small marauding bands in the summer
months, plundering towns, villages, and homesteads,
and disappearing before the winter storms ; then
coming in armies headed by kings and jarls, settling
in large districts of the north and east, and from
thence carrying fire and sword through the heart of
Mercia and Wessex. They are of the same stock
with the West Saxons and Jutes themselves, and
speak a kindred language. Their kings also claim
descent from Woden. The description of Tacitus
applies to them as well as to their brother sea-
rovers, who, four centuries before them, came over
THE DANE.
57
under Hengist and Horsa, inflicting precisely that
which their descendants arc now to endure, and
driving the old British stock back mile by mile from
the Kentish and Sussex downs to the Welsh moun-
tains and the Land's End.
Three centuries earlier, the Arthur of British legend
had fought the Saxons in the very districts which
a yet greater English king is now to hold against
as terrible odds. These Northmen, Scandinavians,
Danes, like the Saxons, elect their kings and
chiefs, noble lineage and valour being the qualifi-
cations for the kingly office. Affairs of moment
are decided by general assemblies, in which the
kings speak first, and the rest in turn as they are
eminent for valour, birth, and understanding. Dis-
approval is signified by a murmur, approval by the
clashing of spears, for they come to their assemblies
armed. The king surrounds himself by a brave
and numerous band of companions in arms, his
glory in peace and safety in war. It is dishonour-
able to the king not to be first in fight, it is
infamy for his intimate comrades and followers to
survive him in battle. But the power of the king is
not unlimited ; he sets an example of valour rather
than commands. The chiefs have different ranks
according to his judgment, and amongst his followers
there is the keenest emulation who shall stand fore-
most in his favour. They would rather serve for
wounds than plough and wait the harvest, for it seems
to them the part of a dastard to earn by the sweat
of the brow what may be gained by the glory of the
58 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
sword. Their women, too, are held in the same high
estimation as those of the Saxons, and for the most
part accompany them in their wanderings, and share
their dangers and glories.
To such a political and social organization we must
add a religious faith second to none invented by man,
not excepting that of Mahomet, in its power of con-
secrating valour, and inspiring men with contempt of
pain and death. The idea of a universal father,
the creator of sky and earth, and of mankind, the
governor of all kingdoms, though found in the Edda,
has by this time faded out from the popular faith.
Woden is now the chief figure in that weird my-
thology — "wuctan," the power of movement, soon
changing into the god of battles, " who giveth victory,
who reanimates warriors, who nameth those who are
to be slain." This Woden had been an inspired
teacher, as well as a conqueror, giving runes to these
wild Northmen, a Scandinavian alphabet, and songs
of battle. A teacher as well as a soldier, he had
led them from the shores of the Black Sea (so
their traditions told) to the fiords of Norway, the
far shores of Iceland. Departed from amongst his
people, he has drawn their hearts after him, and
lives there above in Asgard, the garden of the gods.
Here in his own great hall, Valhalla, the hall of
Odin, he dwells ; in that hall of heroes, into which
the "Valkyrs," or "choosers of the slain," shall lead
the brave, even into the presence of Odin, there
to feast with him. This reward for the brave who
die in battle ; but for the coward ? He shall be
THE DANE. 59
thrust down into the realm of Hela, death, whence
he shall fall to Nifhleim, oblivion, extinction, which
is below in the ninth world.
Round the central figure of Woden cluster other
gods. Chief of these, Balder the sun god, white,
beautiful, benignant, who dies young — and Thor the
thunder god, with terrible smiting hammer and awful
brows, engaged mainly in expeditions into Jotun
land, a chaotic world, the residence of the giants or
devils, " frost," " fire," " tempest," and the like. Thor's
attendant is " Thealfi," manual labour. In his ex-
ploits the thunder god is like Samson, full of
unwieldy strength, simplicity, rough humour.
There is a tree of life too in that unseen world,
Igdrasil, with its roots in Hela, the kingdom of death,
at the foot of which sit the three " Nomas," the past,
present, and future. Also the Scalds hav^e a vision of
supreme struggle of the gods and Jotuns, a day of
the Lord, as the old Hebrew seers would call it,
ending in a " Twilight of the gods," a sinking down
of the created universe, with gods, Jotuns, and in-
exorable Time herself, into darkness — from which
shall there not in due course issue a new heaven
and new earth, in which a higher god and supreme
justice shall at last reign .?
Under the sway of such a faith, and of their lust
of wild adventure, pressed from behind by teeming
tribes ever pushing westward, lured on in front by the
settled coasts of England and France, rich already in
flocks and herds, in village, town, and abbey, each
standing in the midst of fertile and well-tilled districts,
6o LIFE OF ALFRED- THE GREA T.
but surrounded by forests well adapted to cover the
ambush or retreat of invaders, the sea-kings and their
followers swept out year after year from the bays
of Denmark and the fiords of Norway, crossing the
narrow northern seas in their light half-decked boats,
to spoil, and slay, and revel in " the play of swords,
the clash of spear and buckler," " when the hard iron
sings upon the high helmets." In the death-hymn
of Regner Lodbrog are some thirty stanzas — each one
beginning, " We fought with swords," and describing
the joy of some particular battle — which trace the
career of the old Norseman from the distant Goth-
land, up the Vistula, across Europe, in the North-
umbrian land, the isles of the south, the Irish plains,
till he makes an end : " When in the Scottish gulfs,
I gained large spoils for the wolves. We fought with
swords. This fills me still with joy, because I know
a banquet is preparing by the father of the gods.
Soon in the hall of Odin we shall drink mead out of
the skulls of our foes. K brave man shrinks not at
death ; I shall utter no repining words as I approach
the palace of the gods. . . . The fates are come for
me. Odin hath sent them from the habitation of the
gods. I shall quaff full goblets among the gods. The
hours of my life are numbered ; I die laughing." Such
are the last words which the Scalds put into the
mouth of the grim old sea-king, dying in torment
in the serpent-tower of Ella, to whom tradition points
as the father of the two leaders of the first great
Danish invasion of England, the terrible wave which
broke on the East Anglian shores in the year that
THE DANE. 6i
Ethelred came to the throne. The death-hymn may-
be of uncertain origin, but at least it is a genuine and
characteristic Bersirkir hymn ; and if Lodbrog were
not the father of Hinguar and Hubba, they would
seem, at any rate, to have been filled with his spirit.
In 851 a band of Danes had first wintered in Eng-
land, in the Isle of Thanet, and again in 855 another
band wintered in the Isle of Sheppcy ; but these were
small bodies, attempting no permanent settlement,
and easily dislodged. This invasion towards the end
of Z66 was of a far different character. A great army
of the Pagans, the Saxon Chronicle records, now came
over and took up winter quarters among the East
Angles, who would seem at first to have made some
kind of truce with them, and even to have furnished
them with provisions and horses. At any rate, for
the moment the Pagans made no attack on East
Anglia, but early in 867 crossed the Humber and
swooped down upon York city, which they surprised
and took.
There was civil war already in Northumbria at this
time between Osbert the king, and Ella, a man not of
royal blood, whom the Northumbrians had placed on
the throne. Osbert, it is said, had outraged the wife
of one of his nobles, Bruern Brocard by name, who
received him hospitably while her husband was away
at the coast on the king's business, watching for
pirates. Whatever the cause, the civil feud raged so
fiercely that the Danes were in the very heart of the
kingdom before a blow was struck in its defence. Now
at last, urged by the Northumbrian nobles. Osbert
62 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
and Ella made peace, joined their forces, and withoiit
delay marched on York. The pagan army fell back
before them even to the city walls, which the Christians
at once tried to storm, and were partially successful.
A desperate fight took place within and without the
walls, ending in the utter defeat of the Christians and
the deaths of Osbert, Ella, and a crowd of nobles.
The remainder of the people made peace with the
army, whose descendants are probably still living in
and round the city of York. At least their mark is
there to this day in the street of Goodramgate, called
after Gudrum or Goodrum, whom Hinguar and Hubba
left as their deputy to hold down the city and district.
For the remainder of this year the army lay quiet,
exhausted no doubt by that York fight, and waiting
for reinforcements from Denmark. At this juncture,
while the black cloud is gathering in the north,
Ealstan, the famous warrior-bishop of Sherborne, goes
to his rest in peace, leaving the young king and
prince, the grandsons of his old liege lord, Egbert,
who had picked him out fifty years before, with no
wiser counsellor or braver soldier to stand by them in
this hour of need.
Early in 868 Alfred journeys into Mercia to wed
Elswitha, the daughter of Ethelred Mucil, as we
have already heard. Scarcely can he have reached
Wessex and installed his wife at Wantage, or else-
where, when messengers in hot haste summon the
king and him to the help of their brother-in-law,
Buhred, king of Mercia. The pagan army is upon
him. Stealing over swiftly and secretly, " like foxes,"
THE DANE.
from Northumbria, through forest and waste, as is
their wont, they have struck at once at a vital part
of another Saxon kingdom, and stormed Nottingham
town, which they now hold. Ethelred and Alfred
were soon before Nottingham with a force drawn
from all parts of Wessex, eager for battle. But the
wily pagan holds him fast in castle and town, and
the walls are high and strong. The king and prince
watch in vain outside. Soon their troops, hastily
mustered, must get back for harvest. They march
south reluctantly, not, however, before a peace is
made between their brother-in-law and the Pagans,
under which the latter return to York, where they
lie quiet for the whole of 869.
But this year also brought its own troubles to
afflicted England — a great famine and mortality
amongst men, and a pest among cattle. Such times
can allow small leisure to a young prince who carries
in his bosom that handbook in which the Psalms and
services of the hours are written, and who has resolved
for his part to be a true shepherd of his people, a
king indeed, but one who will rule under the eye,
and in the name of the King of kings.
The next year (870) is one full of sorrow, and of
glory, for Christian England. It witnesses the utter
destruction of another Saxon kingdom, adds one
worthy English name to the calendar of saints,
several to the roll of our heroes still remembered,
and a whole people to the glorious list of those who
have died sword in hand and steadfast to the last,
for faith and fatlicrland.
64 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
In the late summer, one division of the pagan army
leaving York take to their ships, and, crossing the
Humber, fall on Lindesey (now Lincolnshire), and
plunder and burn the monastery of Bardeney. The
young Algar, alderman of the shire, the friend of
Ethelred and Alfred, springs to arms, and calls out
the brave men of the Fens. They flock to his standard,
the rich cloisters of the district sending their full
quota of fighting men under lay brother Toly, of
Croyland Abbey. On the 21st of September, St.
Maurice's Day, the Christian host fell on the Pagans
at Kesteven, and in that first fight three kings were
slain, and Algar pursued the Pagans to the entrance
of their camp.
But help for the vanquished was at hand. The
other division of the Pagans, in which were now five
kings — Guthrum, Bagsac, Oskytal, Halfdene, and
Amund — and the jarls Hinguar and Hubba, Frene,
and the two Sidrocs, marching over land through
Mercia, arrive on the field. Algar, Toly, and their
comrades, now fearfully overmatched, receive the
Holy Sacrament in the early morning, and stand
there to Avin or die. Algar commands the centre of
the Christian battle, Toly and Morcar the right wing,
Osgot of Lindesey and Harding of Rehal (we cannot
spare the names of one of them) the left. The Pagans,
having buried their slain kings, hurl themselves on the
Christian host, and through the long day Algar and
his men stand together and beat back wave after wave
of the sea-kings' onslaught. At la.st the Christians,
deceived by a feigned retreat, break their solid ranks
THE DANE. 65
and pursue. Then comes the end. The Pagans
turn, stand, and surrounded and outnumbered, Algar,
Toly, and their men die where they had fought, and
a handful of youths only escape of all the Christian
host to carry the fearful news to the monks of
Croyland. The pursuers are on their track. Croy-
land is burnt and pillaged before the treasures can
be carried to the forests.
Four days later Medeshamsted (Peterborough)
shares the same fate; soon afterwards Huntingdon
and Ely ; and in all those fair shires scarcely man,
woman, or child remain to haunt like ghosts the
homes which had been theirs for generations. The
pagan host, leaving the desolate land a wilderness
behind them, turn south-east and make their head-
quarters at Thetford. Edmamd, king of the East
Anglians, a just and righteous ruler, very dear to his
people — no warrior, it would seem, hitherto, but one
who can at least do a brave leader's part — he now
arms and fights fiercely with the Pagans, and is slain
by them, with the greater part of his followers, near
the village of Hoxne. Tradition says that the king
was taken alive, and, refusing to play the renegade,
was tied to a tree, and shot to death, after undergoing
dreadful tortures. His head was struck off, and the
corpse left for wolf or eagle, while his murderers
fell on town and village, and minster and abbey,
throughout all that was left of East Anglia, so that
the few people who survived fled to the forests for
shelter.
Nevertheless, a monk or two from Croyland, and
S.L. viJl. Y'
66 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
other faithful men of the eastern counties, managed to
steal out of their hiding-places and take up the slain
body and severed head of their good King Edmund.
" They embalmed him with myrrh and sweet spices,
with love, pity, and all high and awful thoughts, con-
secrating him with a very storm of melodious, adoring
admiration and sun-dyed showers of tears ; joyfully,
yet with awe (as all deep joy has something of the
awful in it), commemorating his noble deeds and god-
like walk and conversation while on earth. Till at
length the very Pope and cardinals at Rome were
forced to hear of it; and they summing up as correctly
as they well could with 'Advocatus Diaboli'pleading.s,
and their other forms of process, the general verdict
of mankind declared : that he had in very fact led a
hero's life in this world, and being now gone, was
gone, as they conceived, to God above, and reaping
his reward there." So King Edmund was canonized,
and his body entombed in St. Edmund's shrine, where
a splendid abbey in due time rose over it, some poor
fragments of which may still be seen in the town of
Bury St. Edmunds.
Alas for East Anglia ! there was no one to take
Edmund's place, to play the part for the eastern
counties which Alfred played for Wessex a few years
later. Edwold, the brother of Edmund, on whom the
duty lay, "seeing that a hard lot had fallen on himself
and his brother, retired to the monastery of Carnelia
in Dorsetshire, near a clear well which St. Augustine
had formerly brought out of the earth by prayer to
baptize the people in. And there he led a hermit's
THE DANE. 67
life on bread and water." So East Anglia remained
for years a heathen kingdom, with Guthrum, the most
powerful and latest comer of the pagan leaders, for
king. In the dread pause of the few winter months of
870-71 we may fancy the brave young king of the West
Saxons and the Etheling Alfred warning alderman
and earl, bishop and mitred abbot, and thegn, through-
out Wessex, that their turn had now come. There
was nothing to delay the invaders for an hour between
Thetford and the Thames. Their ships would be in
the river, and their horsemen on the north bank, in the
early spring. Then the last issue would have to be
tried between Christian and Pagan, Saxon and Dane,
for stakes of which not even Alfred could estimate
the worth to England and the world.
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST WAVE.
" Bhs.ed be the Lord my slrciii^th, who tcacheth my hands to war, and my
fingers to fight.'''
Christmas 870-71 must have been a time of intense
anxiety to the whole Christian people of Wessex.
The young- King had indeed shown himself already
a prompt and energetic leader in his march to
Nottingham at the call of his brother-in-law. But, un-
less perhaps in the skirmishes outside that beleaguered
town in the autumn of 869, he had never seen blows
struck in earnest ; had never led and rallied men
under the tremendous onset of the Bersirkir. Alfred,
though already the darling of the people, had even
less experience than Ethelred, who was at least five
years older. He was still a very young man, skilled
in the chase, and inured to danger and hardship, so
far as hunting and manly exercises of all kinds could
make him so, but as much a novice in actual battle as
David when he stood before Saul, ruddy and of a fair
complexion, but ready in the strength of his God, who
had delivered him from the paw of the lion and the
paw of the bear, to go up with his sling and stone and
fight with the Bersirkir of his day. And this gene-
THE FIRST WAVE. 69
ration of tlie West Saxons, who were now to meet
in supreme life-and-dcath conflict such kings as
Guthrum and Bagsac,suchjarls as Hinguar and Sidroc,
" the ancient one of evil da}-s," and their followers —
tried warriors from their youth up — were much in the
same case as their young leaders. The last battle of
any mark in Wessex had been fought eleven years
back, in 860, when a pagan host "came up from the
sea" and stormed and sacked Winchester. Osric alder-
man of Hampshire, and Ethelwulf alderman of Berk-
shire, as we have already heard, caught them on their
return to their ships laden with spoil, and after a hard
fight utterly routed them, rescued all the spoil, and
had possession of the place of death. Of this Alder-
man Ethelwulf we shall hear again speedily, but Osric
would seem to have died since those Winchester days.
A.t any rate we have no m.ention of him, or indeed of
any other known leader except Ethelwulf, in all that
storm of battle which now sweeps down on the rich
kingdom, and its stolid but indomitable sons.
In these days when our wise generation, weighed
down with wealth and its handmaid vices on the one
hand, and exhilarated by some tiny steps it has
managed to make on the threshold of physical know-
ledge of various kinds on the other, would seem to be
bent on ignoring its Creator and God altogether — or
at least of utterly denying that He has revealed, or
is revealing Himself, unless it be through the laws of
Nature — one of the commonest demurrers to Chris-
tianity has been, that it is no faith for fighterS; for the
men who have to do the roughest and hardest work
70 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
for the world. I fear that some sections of Christians
have been too ready to allow this demurrer, and fall
back on the Quaker doctrines ; admitting thereby
that such " Gospel of the kingdom of heaven " as they
can for their part heartily believe in, and live up to,
is after all only a poor cash-gospel, and cannot bear
the dust and dint, the glare and horror, of battle-fields.
Those of us who hold that man was sent into this
earth for the express purpose of fighting — of uncom-
promising and unending fighting with body, intellect,
spirit, against whomsoever or whatsoever causeth or
maketh a lie, and therefore, alas ! too often against
his brother man — would, of course, have to give up
Christianity if this were true ; nay, if they did not
believe that precisely the contrary of this is true, that
Christ can call them as plainly in the drum beating
to battle, as in the bell calling to prayer, can and will
be as surely with them in the shock of angry hosts a.g
in the gathering before the altar. But without enter-
ing further into the great controversy here, I would
ask readers fairly and calmly to consider whether all
the greatest fighting that has been done in the world
has not been done by men who believed, and showed
by their lives that they believed, they had a direct
call from God to do it, and that He was present with
them in their work. And further (as I cheerfully own
that .this test would tell as much in favour of Mahomet
as of Crorrnvcjl, Gustavus Adolphus, John Brown)
whether, on the whole, Christian nations have not
proved stronger in battle than any others. I would
not press the point unfairly, or overlook such facts as
THE FIRST WAVE. 71
the rooting out of the British by these very West
Saxons when the latter were Pagans ; all I maintain
is, that from the time of which we are speaking to the
last great civil war in America, faith in the constant
presence of God in and around them has been the
support of those who have shown the strongest hearts,
the least love of ease and life, the least fear of death
and pain.
But we are wandering from the West Saxon king-
dom and our hero in those early days of the year
871. The Christians were not kept long in suspense.
As soon as the frost had broken up, Danish galleys
were beating up the Thames, and Danish horsemen
stealing their way across Hertfordshire and Bucking-
hamshire. The kings Bagsac, Halfdene, and Guth-
rum, jarls Osbern, Frene, Harald, the two Sidrocs,
and probably Hinguar, led the pagan host in this their
greatest enterprise on British soil. Swiftly, as was
their wont, they struck at a vital point, and seizing
the delta which is formed by the junction of the
Thames and Kennet, close to the royal burgh of
Reading, threw up earthworks, and entrenched them-
selves there. Whether they also took the town at
this time is not clear from the Chronicles, but most
likely they did, and in any case here they had all
they wanted in the shape of a stronghold, a fortified
camp in which their spoils and the women and
wounded could be left, and by which their ships could
lie. Any reader who has travelled on the Great
Western Railway has crossed the very spot, a few
hundred yards east of the station. The present
LIFE OF ALFRED THE ORE A T.
racecourse must have been within the Danish
lines.
Two days sufficed for rest and the first necessary
works, and on the third a large part of the army started
on a plundering and exploring expedition under two
of their jarls. At Englefield, a village still bearing
the same name, some six miles due west of Reading,
in the vale of Kennet — where the present county
member lives in a house which Queen Bess visited
more than once — they came across Alderman Ethel-
wulf, with such of the Berkshire men as he had been
able hastily to gather in these few days. The Chris-
tians were much fewer in number, but the brave
Ethelwulf led them straight to the attack with the
words, "They be more than we, but fear them not.
Our Captain, Christ, is braver than they." The news
of that first encounter must have cheered the King
and Alfred, who were busy gathering their forces
further west, for Ethelwulf slew one of the jarls and
drove the plunderers back to their entrenchments
with a great slaughter. The Saxon Chronicle says
that one of the Sidrocs was the jarl slain at Engle-
field ; but this could scarcely be, as the same authority,
supported by Asser, gives both the Sidrocs on the
death-roll of Ashdown. Four days afterwards Ethel-
red and Alfred march suddenly to Reading with a
large force, and surprise and cut to pieces a number
of the Pagans who were outside their entrenchments.
Then, while the Saxons were preparing to encamp,
kings and jarls rushed out on them with their whole
power, and the tide of battle rolled backwards and
THE FIRST WAVE. 73
forwards over the low meadows outside the royal
burgh, victor^-- inclining now to one side, now to the
other. In the end, after great slaughter on both sides,
the Saxons gave way, and the young king and his
brother fell back from Reading, leaving the body of
the brave and faithful Ethelwulf among the dead.
It is said that the Pagans dragged it to Derby. What
matter ! The strong soul had done its work, and
gone to its reward. Small need of tombs for the
bodies of the brave and faithful — of such men the
whole land and the hearts of its people is the tomb.
A few lines in a later chronicler have here deceived
even so acute and accurate a writer as Dr. Pauli, who
says that Ethelred and Alfred were pursued from
Reading field as far as Twyford, and crossed the
Thames at a ford near Windsor, which was unknown
to the Danes. Had this really been so, they must
have gone due east, away from all their resources,
and, the battle having been fought on the south bank
of the Thames, must have crossed into Mcrcia,
leaving the whole of Wessex open to the pagan host.
Dr. Pauli, and the authorities he has followed, going
on this hypothesis, are at a loss as to the scene of
the next great battle, that of Asccsdune, not knowing
apparently that there is a district of that name in
Berkshire, at the western end of the county, on the
summit of the chalk hills which run through the
county as a backbone from Goring to Swindon.
Tradition agrees with the description of the field in
the oldest chroniclers in marking this Ashdown as the
spot where tlie great fight was fought. Ethelred and
74 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
Alfred then fell back with their broken bands along
the south bank of the Thames westward, until they
struck the hills, and then still back along the ancient
track known as the Ridgeway, past Ilsley and past the
royal burgh of Wantage, Alfred's birthplace, from
which they probably drew the reinforcements which
justified them in turning to bay on the fourth day
after the disaster at Reading. The Pagans were on
their track with their whole host (except King
Guthrum and his men), in two divisions ; one com-
manded by the two kings Bagsac and Halfdene, the
other by the jarls. Ethelred, on perceiving this
disposition of the enemy, divided his forces, taking
command himself of the division which was to act
against the kings, and giving the other to Alfred.
Each side threw up hasty earthworks, the remains of
which may be seen to this day on at least three spots
of the downs, the highest point of which is White
Horse Hill ; and all of which, according to old maps,
are included in the district known as Ashdown.
That highest point had been seized by the Pagans,
and here the opposing hosts rested by their watch-
fires through the cold March night. We may fancy
from the one camp the song of Regner Lodbrog
beguiling the night watches : — " We fought with
swords ! Young men should march up to the conflict
of arms. Man should meet man and never give
ground. In this hath ever stood the nobleness of the
warrior. He who aspires to the love of his mistress
should be dauntless in the clash of arms." In the
other camp we know that by one fire lay a youth who
THE FIRST WAVE. 75
carried in his bos,
when Mercia had risen to new life under her great
brother's rule. Through these same months Guthrum,
Oskytal, and the rest, are wintering at Repton,
after destroying there the cloister where the kingly
line of Mercia lie ; disturbing perhaps the bones of
the great Offa, whom Charlemagne had to treat as
an equal.
Neither of the pagan kings are inclined at this
time to settle in Mercia ; so, casting about what
to do with it, they light on " a certain foolish man,"
a king's thane, one Ceolwulf, and set him up as
a sort of King Popinjay. From this Ceolwulf they
take hostages for the payment of yearly tribute
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
(to be wrung out of these poor Mercians on pain
of dethronement), and for the surrender of the
kingdom to them on whatever day they would
have it back again. Foohsh king's thanes, turned
into King Popinjays by Pagans, and left to play at
government on such terms, are not pleasant or profit-
able objects in such times as these of i,ooo years
since — or indeed in any times for the matter of that.
So let us finish with Ceolwulf, just noting that a year
or two later his pagan lords seem to have found
much of the spoil of monasteries, and the pickings
of earl and churl, of folkland and bookland, sticking
to his fingers, instead of finding its way to their
coffers. This was far from their meaning in set-
ting him up in the high places of Mercia. So they
just strip him, and thrust him out, and he dies in
beggary.
This then is the winter's work of the great pagan
army at Repton, Alfred watching them and theii
work doubtless with keen eye — not without misgivings
too at their numbers, swollen again to terrible pro-
portions since they sailed away down Thames aftei
Wilton figlit. It will take years yet before the gaps
in the fighting strength of Wessex, left by those nine
pitched battles, and other smaller fights, will be filled
by the crop of youths passing from childhood to man-
hood. An anxious thought that for a young king.
The Pagans, however, are not yet ready for another
throw for Wessex ; and so when Mercia is sucked dry
for the present, and will no longer suitably maintain
so great a host, they again sever. Halfdene, who
ALFRED ON THE THRONE. 8g
would seem to have joined them recently, takes a
large part of the army away with him northwards.
Settling his head-quarters "by the river Tyne, he sub-
dues all the land, and " ofttimes spoils the Picts and
the Strathclyde Britons." Amongst other holy places
in those parts, Halfdene visits the Isle of Lindisfarne,
hoping perhaps in his pagan soul not only to commit
ordinary sacrilege in the holy places there, which is
every-day work for the like of him, but even to lay
impious hands on, and to treat with indignity, the
remains of that holy man, St. Cuthbert, of whom
we have already heard, and who has become in due
course patron and guardian saint of hunters, and of
that scourge of Pagans, Alfred the West Saxon.
If such were his thought, he is disappointed of his
sacrilege ; for Bishop Eardulf and Abbot Eadred — •
devout and strenuous persons — having timely warning
of his approach, carry away the sainted body from
Lindisfarne, and for nine years hide with it up and
down the distracted northern counties, now here, now
there, moving that sacred treasure from place to
place until this bitterness is overpast, and holy persons
and things, dead or living, are nc longer in danger,
and the bodies of saints may rest safely in fixed
shrines ; the pagan armies and disorderly persons of
all kinds having been converted, or suppressed, in the
meantime. For which good deed, the royal Alfred
(in whose calendar St. Cuthbert, patron of huntsmen,
stands very high) will surely warmly befriend them
hereafter, when he has settled his accounts with many
persons and things. From the time of this incuision
90 LIFE OF ALFRED THE ORE A T.
of Halfdene, Northumbria may be considered once
more a settled state ; but a Danish, not a Saxon one.
The rest and greater part of the army, under
Guthrum, Oskytal, and Amund, on leaving Repton,
strike south-east, through what was Landlord Ed-
mund's country, to Cambridge, where, in their usual
heathen way, they pass the winter of 875.
I
CHAPTER VIII.
THE SECOND WAVE.
The downfall, exile, and death of his brother-in-law
in 874 must have warned Alfred, if he had any need
of warning, that no treaty could bind these foemen,
and that he had nothing to look for but the same
measure as soon as the pagan leaders felt themselves
strong enough to mete it out to him and Wessex.
In the following year we accordingly find him on the
alert, and taking action in a new direction. These
heathen pirates, he sees, fight his people at terrible
advantage by reason of their command of the sea.
This enables them to choose their own point of
attack, not only along the sea-coast, but up every
river as far as their light galleys can swim ; to retreat
unmolested, at their own time, whenever the fortune
of war turns against them ; to bring reinforcements of
men and supplies to the scene of action without fear
of hindrance. His Saxons have long since given up
their seafaring habits. They have become before all
things an agricultural people, drawing almost every-
thing they need from their own soil. The few foreign
tastes they have are supplied by foreign traders.
However, if Wessex is to be made safe, the sea-
92 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
kings must be met on their own element; and so, with
what expenditure of patience and money, and encou-
raging words and example we may easily conjecture,
the young king gets together a small fleet, and him-
self takes command of it. We have no clue to the
point on the south coast where the admiral of twenty-
five fights his first naval action, but know only that
in the summer of 875 he is cruising with his fleet, and
meets seven tall ships of the enemy. One of these he
captures, and the rest make ofl" after a hard fight — no
small encouragement to the sailor king, who has thus
for another year saved Saxon homesteads from devas-
tation by fire and sword.
The second wave of invasion had now at last
gathered weight and volume enough, and broke on
the king and people of the West Saxons. The year
SyG was still young when the whole pagan army,
which had wintered at and about Cambridge, marched
to their ships, and put to sea. Guthrum was in com-
mand, with the other two kings, Anketel and Amund,
as his lieutenants, under whom was a host as formid-
able as that which had marched across Mercia through
forest and waste, and sailed up the Thames five years
before, to the assault of Reading. There must have
been some few days of harassing suspense, for we
cannot suppose that Alfred was not aware of the
movements of his terrible foes. Probably his new
fleet cruised off the south coast on the watch for
them, and all up the Thames there were gloomy
watchings, and forebodings of a repetition of the evil
days of 871. But the suspense was soon over. Passing
THE SECOND WAVE. 93
by the Thames' mouth, and through Dover Straits,
the pagan fleet sailed, and westward still past many
tempting harbours and rivers' mouths, until they
came off the coast of Dorsetshire. There they land
at Wareham, and seize and fortify the neck of land
between the rivers Frome and Piddle, on which stood,
when they landed, a fortress of the West Saxons and
a monastery of holy virgins. Fortress and monastery
fell into the hands of the Danes, who set to work at
once to throw up earthworks and otherwise fortify
a space large enough to contain their army, and all
spoil brought in by marauding bands from this
hitherto unplundered country. This fortified camp
was soon very strong, except on the western side,
upon which Alfred shortly appeared with a body of
horsemen, and such other troops as could be gathered
hastily together. The detachments of the Pagans,
who were already out pillaging the whole neighbour-
hood, fell back apparently before him, concentrating
on the Wareham camp. Before its outworks Alfred
paused. He is too experienced a soldier now to risk
at the outset of a campaign such a disaster as that
which he and Ethelred had sustained in their attempt
to assault the camp at Reading in 871. He is just
strong enough to keep the Pagans within their lines,
but has no margin to spare. So he sits down before
the camp, but no battle is fought, neither he nor
Guthrum caring to bring matters to that issue. Soon
negotiations are commenced, and again a treaty is
made.
On this occasion Alfred would seem to have taken
94 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T
special pains to bind his faithless foe. All the holy
relics which could be procured from holy places in
the neighbourhood were brought together, that he
himself and his people might set the example of
pledging themselves in the most solemn manner
known to Christian men. Then a holy ring or
bracelet, smeared with the blood of beasts sacrificed
to Woden, was placed on a heathen altar. Upon
this Guthrum and his fellow kings and earls swore
on behalf of the army that they would quit the King's
country and give hostages. Such an oath had never
been sworn by Danish leader on English soil before.
It was the most solemn known to them. They would
seem also to have sworn on Alfred's relics, as an
extra proof of their sincerity for this once, and their
hostages " from amongst the most renowned men in
the army " were duly handed over. Alfred now
relaxed his watch, even if he did not withdraw with
the main body of his army, leaving his horse to see
that the terms of the treaty were performed, and to
watch the Wareham camp until the departure of the
pagan host. But neither oath on sacred ring, nor
the risk to their hostages, weighed with Guthrum
and his followers when any advantage was to be
gained by treachery. They steal out of the camp by
night, surprise and murder the Saxon horsemen,
seize the horses, and strike across the country, the
mounted men leading, to Exeter, but leaving a suffi-
cient garrison to hold Wareham for the present.
They surprise and get possession of the western
capital, and there settle down to pass the winter.
THE SECOND WA VE. 95
Rollo, fiercest of the vikings, is said by Asser to
have passed the winter witli them in their Exeter
quarters on his way to Normandy ; but whetlicr the
great robber himself were here or not, it is certain
that the channel swarmed with pirate fleets, who could
put in to Wareham or Exeter at their discretion, and
find a safe stronghold in either place from which to
carry fire and sword through the unhappy country.
Alfred had vainly endeavoured to overtake the
march to Exeter in the autumn of ^^6, and failing in
the pursuit, had disbanded his own troops as usual,
allowing them to go to their homes until the spring.
Before he could be afoot again in the spring of 877
the inain body of the Pagans at Exeter had made
that city too strong for any attempt at assault, so
the King and his troops could do no more than be-
leaguer it on the land side, as he had done at Ware-
ham. But Guthrum could laugh at all efforts of his
great antagonist, and wait in confidence the sure dis-
banding of the Saxon troops at harvest-time, so
long as his ships held the sea.
Supplies were soon running short in Exeter, but the
Exe was open, and communications going on with
Wareham. It is arranged that the camp there shall be
broken up, and the whole garrison with their spoil
shall join head-quarters. 120 Danish tvar-galleys are
freighted, and beat down channel, but arc bafiled by
adverse winds for nearly a month. The}' and all their
supplies may be looked for any day in the Exe when
thewind changes. Alfred, from his camp before Exeter,
sends to his little fleet to put to sea. He cannot him-
96 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
self be with them as in their first action, for he knows
well that Guthrum will seize the first moment of his
absence to sally from Exeter, break the Saxon lines,
and scatter his army in roving bands over Devonshire,
on their way back to the eastern kingdom. The
Saxon fleet puts out, manned itself, as some say,
partly with sea-robbers, hired to fight their own
people. However manned, it attacks bravely a por-
tion of the pirates. But a mightier power than the
fleet fought for Alfred at this crisis. First a dense
fog, and then a great storm came on, bursting on the
south coast with such fury that the Pagans lost no
less than lOO of their chief ships off Swanage ; as
mighty a deliverance perhaps for England — though
the memory of it is nearly forgotten — as that which
began in the same seas 700 years later, when Drake
and the sea-kings of the i6th century were hanging
on the rear of the Spanish Armada along the Devon
and Dorset coasts, while the beacons blazed up all
over England, and the whole nation flew to arms.
The destruction of the fleet decided the fate of the
siege of Exeter. Once more negotiations are opened
by the Pagans ; once more Alfred, fearful of driving
them to extremities, listens, treats, and finally accepts
oaths and more hostages, acknowledging probably in
sorrow to himself that he can for the moment do no
better. And on this occasion Guthrum, being caught
far from home, and without supplies or ships, " keeps
the peace well," moving as we conjecture, watched
jealously by Alfred, on the shortest line across Devon
and Somerset to some ford in the Avon, and so across
THE SECOND VVA VE. 97
into Mercia, where he arrives during harvest, and
billets his army on Ceohvulf, camping them for the
winter about the city of Gloster. Here they run
up huts for themselves, and make some pretence o\
permanent settlement on the Severn, dividing large
tracts of land amongst those who cared to take them.
The campaigns of SiyG-y are generally looked upon
as disastrous ones for the Saxon arms, but this view
is certainly not supported by the chroniclers. It is
true that both at Wareham and Exeter the Pagans
broke new ground, and secured their positions, from
which no doubt they did sore damage in the neigh-
bouring districts ; but we can trace in these years
none of the old ostentatious daring, and thirst for
battle with Alfred. Whenever he appears the pirate
bands draw back at once into their strongholds, and,
exhausted as great part of Wessex must have been
by the constant strain, the West Saxons show no
signs yet of falling from their gallant king. If he can
no longer collect in a week such an army as fought at
Ashdown, he can still, without much delay, bring to
his side a sufficient force to hem the Pagans in and
keep them behind their ramparts.
But the nature of the service was telling sadly on
the resources of the kingdom south of the Thames.
To the Saxons there came no new levies, while from
the north and east of England, as well as from over
the sea, Guthrum was ever drawing to his standard
wandering bands of sturdy Northmen. The most
important of these reinforcements came to him from
an unexpected quarter this autumn. We have not
S.I.. VIII. U
98 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
heard for some years of Hubba, the brother of Ilin-
guar, the younger of the two vikings who planned
and led the first great invasion in 868. Perhaps he
may have resented the arrival of Guthrum and other
kings in the following years, to whom he had to give
place. Whatever may have been the cause, he seems
to have gone off on his own account, carrying with him
the famous raven standard, to do his appointed work
in these years on other coasts under its ominous shade.
This " war-flag which they call raven " was a sacred
object to the Northmen. When Hinguar and Hubba
had heard of the death of their father, Regner Lodbrog,
and had resolved to avenge him, while they were calling
together their followers, their three sisters in one day
wove for them this war-flag, in the midst of which was
portrayed the figure of a raven. Whenever the flag
went before them into battle, if they were to win the
day the sacred raven would rouse itself and stretch its
wings but if defeat awaited them the flag would hang
round its staff", and the bird remain motionless. This
v/onder had been proved in many a fight, so the wild
Pagans who fought under the standard of Regner's
children believed. It was a power in itself, and
Hubba and a strong fleet were with it.
They had appeared in the Bristol Channel in this
autumn of '^J'J, and had ruthlessly slaughtered and
spoiled the people of South Wales. Here they propose
to winter; but, as the country is wild mountain for the
most part, and the people very poor, they will remain
no longer than they can help. Already a large pait
of the army about Gloster are getting restles.s. The
THE SECOND WA VE. 99
story of their march from Devonshire, through rich
districts of Wessex yet unplundered, goes round
amongst the new-comers. Guthrum has no power,
probably no will, to keep them to their oaths. In the
early winter a joint attack is planned by him and
Hubba on the West Saxon territory. By Christmas
they are strong enough to take the field, and so in
mid-winter, shortly after Twelfth-night, the camp at
Gloster breaks up, and the army " stole away to
Chippenham," recrossing the Avon once more into
Wessex, under Guthrum. The fleet, after a short
delay, cross to the Devonshire coast, under Hubba, in
thirty war-ships.
And now at last the courage of the West Saxons
gives way. The surprise is complete. Wiltshire is at
the mercy of the Pagans, who, occupying the royal
burgh of Chippenham as head-quarters, overrun the
whole district, drive many of the inhabitants " beyond
the sea for want of the necessaries of life," and reduce
to subjection all those that remain. Alfred is at his
post, but for the moment can make no head against
them. His own strong heart and trust in God arc
left him, and with them and a scanty band of followers
he disappears into the forest of Selwood, which then
stretched away from the confines of Wiltshire for
thirty miles to the west. East Somerset, now one of
the fairest and richest of English counties, was then
for the most part thick wood and tangled swamp, but
miserable as the lodging is it is welcome for the time
to the King. In the first months of SyS, Selwood
Forest holds in its recesses the hope of England.
H 2
CHAPTER IX.
ATHELNEY.
" Behold a King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in
Judgment. Aiida man shall be as an hiding-place from the ivind, and
a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the
shado7v of a great rock in a weary land."
At first sight it seems hard to account for the sudden
and complete collapse of the West Saxon power in
January 878. In the campaign of the last year Alfred
had been successful on the whole, both by sea and
land. He had cleared the soil of Wessex from the
enemy, and had reduced the pagan leaders to sue
humbly for terms, and to give whatever hostages he
demanded. Yet three months later the simple cross-
ing the Avon and taking of Chippenham is enough,
if we can believe the chroniclers, to paralyse the
whole kingdom, and to leave Alfred a fugitive, hiding
in Selwood Forest, with a mere handful of followers
and his own family. But there is no doubt or dis-
crepancy in the accounts. The Saxon Chronicle says,
in its short clear style, that the army stole away to
Chippenham during mid-winter, after Twelfth-night,
and sat down there ; " and many of the people they
drove beyond the sea, and of the rest the greater part
A THELNE V. loi
they subdued and forced to obey them, except King
Alfred ; and he with a small band with difficulty
retreated to the woods and the fastnesses of the
moors." Asser and the rest merely expand this
statement in one form or another, leaving the main
facts — the complete success of the blow, and the
inability of Alfred at the moment to ward it off, or
return it, or recover from it — altogether unquestioned.
Some writers have thought to account for it by
transposing a passage from Brompton, narrating
obscurely a battle at Chippenham, and another at a
place called Abendune, in both of which Alfred is
defeated. This occurs in Brompton in the year 8/1,
and, being clearly out of place there, has been seized
on to help out the difficulty in the year 878.
But there does not appear to be the least ground
for taking this liberty with Brompton's text, nor even,
if there were, is he a sufficiently sound authority to
rely upon for any fact which is not to be found in the
Saxon Chronicle, or Asser. Nor indeed is there need
of any such explanation when the facts come to be
carefully examined.
In the first place, this winter inroad on Chippenham
was made at a time of year when even the vikings
and their followers were usually at rest. Guthrum
and his host fell upon the Wiltshire and Somersetshire
men when they were quite unprepared, and before
they had had time to hide away their wives and
children or any provision of corn or beasts. Then the
country was already exhausted. The Pagans, it is
true, had not yet visited this part of Wessex, but the
I02 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
drain of men must have been felt here, in the last
eight years, as well as further east and south. We
remark, too, that these West Saxons are the nearest
neighbours of the Mercians, amongst whom a con-
siderable body of the Danes had been now settled for
some years. Paganism was rife again at Gloster, and
no great harm seemed to come of it. These pagan
settlers, though insolent and overbearing, still lived
side by side with the Saxon inhabitants ; did not
attempt to drive them out or exterminate them ; left
them some portion of their worldly goods. On the
other hand, what hope is there in fighting against a
foe who has nothing to lose but his life, whose numbers
are inexhaustible. Might it not be better to make
any terms with them, such, for instance, as our Mer-
cian brethren have made .-* This young king of ours
cannot protect us, has spent all his treasure in former
wars, has little indeed left but his name. Who is
Alfred } and what is the race of Cerdic .'' Know ye
not that we are consumed }
Here, for the first time, in '^']^, we find traces of
this kind of demoralization and of disloyalty to their
king and land on the part of a portion of his people ;
and the strong and patient soul of Alfred must have
been wrung by an anguish such as he had not yet
known, as he heard from his hiding-place of this
apostasy. Here then our great king touches the
lowest point in his history. So far as outward cir-
cumstances go,humiliation can indeed hardly go further
than this. Are we to believe the story that he had
earned and prepared that humiliation for himself in
ATHELNEY. 103
those first few years of his reign between the autumn
of 872, when the camp at Reading broke up, and the
early spring of 876, when the pagan fleet appeared off
Wareham ? The form in which this story comes down
to us is in itself suspicious. It rests mainly on the
authority of the " Life of St. Neot," a work of the
next century, the author of which is not known ; but
only thus much about him, that he was a monk bent
on exalting the character and history of his saint,
without much care at whose expense this was to be
done. The passage in Asser, apparently confirming
the statement, is regarded by all the best scholars as
spurious, and indeed commences with a reference to
the " Life of St. Neot," so that it could not possibly
be of the same date as the rest of Asser's book, which
was written during the King's lifetime. " The
Almighty," so the anonymous author writes, " not
only granted to this glorious king victories over his
enemies, but also allowed him to be harassed by them,
and weighed down by misfortunes and by the low
estate of his follov/ers, to the end that he might learn
that there is one Lord of all things to whom every
knee must bow, and in whose hand are the hearts of
kings ; who puts down the mighty from their seat, and
exalts them of low degree ; who suffers His servants,
when they are at the height of good fortune, to be
touched by the rod of adversity, that in their humility
they may not despair of God's mercy, and in their
prosperity may not boast of their honours, but may
also know to whom they owe all they have. One
may therefore believe that these misfortunes were
I04' LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
brought on the King because in the beginning of his
reign, when he was a youth and swayed by a youth's
impulses, he would not listen to the petitions which
his subjects made to him for help in their necessities,
or for relief from their oppressors, but used to drive
them from him and pay no heed to their requests.
This conduct gave much pain to the holy man St.
Neot, who was his relation, and often foretold to him
in tlie spirit of prophecy that he would suffer great
adversity on this account. But Alfred neither attended
to the proof of the man of God, nor listened to his
soothsaying. Wherefore, seeing that a man's sins
must be punished, eitlvor in this world or the next,
the true and righteous Judge willed that his sin should
not go unpunished in tins world, to the end that He
might spare him in the world to come. For this cause,
therefore. King Alfred often fell into such great misery
that sometimes none of his subjects knew where he
was or what had become of him."
So writes the monkish historian, upon whose state-
ment one remarks, that in the only place where it
can be tested it is not accurate. The one occasion on
which Alfred fell into such misery that his subjects
did not know where he was, was in this January of
878. We know that for many years before his acces-
sion he was anxiously bent on acquiring knowledge,
and in disciplining himself for his work in life, what-
ever it might be. Patience, humility, and utter for-
gctfulness of self, the true royal qualities, shine out
through every word and act of his life wherever we
can get at them. Indeed, I think no one can be
ATHELNEY. 105
familiar with the authentic records of his words and
works and believe that he could ever have alienated
his people by arrogance, or impatience, or super-
ciliousness. His would seem to be rather one of those
rare natures which march through life without haste
and without faltering ; bearing all things, hoping all
things, enduring all things, but never resting before
the evil which is going on all round him, and of
which he is conscious in his own soul. He may
indeed have alienated some nobles and official per-
sons in his kingdom, by curbing vigorously, and at
once, the powers of the aldermen and reeves. In-
deed, it is said, that in one of those years he hanged
as many as forty- four reeves for unjust judgments,
even for stretching the King's prerogative against
suitors. No doubt, also, his demands on the people
generally for military service, the building of ships,
and restoring of fortified places, were burdensome,
and may have caused some discontent. But there
is no trustworthy evidence, that I have been able
to find, of any disaffection, nor does it need the
suggestion of any such cause to account for the
events of the winter of '^'j'^.
So much then for the monkish tradition of Alfred's
arrogant youth and its results. It cannot be passed
over, but must be read by the light of his later life
and work, as we have it in minute detail.
The King then disappears in January %"]% from the
eyes of Saxon and Northmen, and we must follow
him, by such light as tradition throws upon these
months, into the thickets and marshes of Sehvood It
io6 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
is at this point, as is natural enough, that romance
has been most busy, and it has become impossible
to disentangle the actual facts from monkish legend
and Saxon ballad. In happier times Alfred was in
the habit himself of talking over the events of his
wandering life pleasantly with his courtiers, and there
is no reason to doubt that the foundation of most of
the stories still current rests on those conversations of
the truth-loving King, noted down by Bishop Asser
and others.
The best known of these is, of course, the story of
the cakes. In the depths of the Saxon forests there
were always a few neat-herds and swine-herds, scat-
tered up and down, living in rough huts enough, we
may be sure, and occupied with the care of the cattle
and herds of their masters. Amongst these in Sel-
wood was a neat-herd of the King, a faithful man, to
whom the secret of Alfred's disguise was entrusted,
and who kept it even from his wife. To this man's
hut the King came one day alone, and, sitting him-
self down by the burning logs on the hearth, began
mending his bow and arrows. The neat-herd's wife
had just finished her baking, and having other house-
hold matters to attend to, confided her loaves to the
King, a poor tired-looking body, who might be glad
of the warmth, and could make himself useful by
turning the batch, and so earn his share while she
got on with other business. But Alfred worked away
at his weapons, thinking of anything but the good
housewife's batch of loaves, which in due course were
not only done, but rapidly burning to a cinder. At
A THELNE V. 107
this moment the neat-herd's wife comes back, and
flying to the hearth to rescue the bread, cries out,
"^D'rat the man ! never to turn the loaves when you
see them burning. Vze warrant you ready enough
to eat them when they're done." But besides the
King's faithful neat-herd, whose name is not preserved,
there are other churls in the forest, who must be
Alfred's comrades just now if he will have any. And
even here he has an eye for a good man, and will
lose no opportunity to help one to the best of his
power. Such an one he finds in a certain swine-herd
called Denewulf, whom he gets to know, a thoughtful
Saxon man, minding his charge there in the oak-
woods. The rough churl, or thrall, we know not
which, has great capacity, as Alfred soon finds out,
and desire to learn. So the King goes to work upon
Denewulf under the oak trees, when the swine will
let him, and is well satisfied with the results of his
teaching and the progress of his pupil, as will appear
in the sequel.
But in those miserable days the commonest neces-
saries of life were hard enough to come by for the
King and his few companions, and for his wife and
family, who soon joined him in the forest, even if
they were not with him from the first. The poor
foresters cannot maintain them, nor arc this band
of exiles the men to live on the poor. So Alfred
and his comrades are soon out foraging on the
borders of the forest, and getting what subsistence
they can from the Pagans, or from the Christians
who had submitted to their yoke. So we may
io8 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
imagine them dragging on life till near Easter, when
a gleam of good news comes up from the west, to
gladden the hearts, and strengthen the arms, of these
poor men in the depths of Selwood.
Soon after Guthrum and the main body of the
Pagans moved from Gloster, southwards, the Viking
Hubba, as had been agreed, sailed with thirty ships
of war from his winter quarters on the South Welsh
coast, and landed in Devon. The news of the
catastrophe at Chippenham, and of the disappearance
of the King, was no doubt already known in the
west ; and in the face of it Odda the alderman cannot
gather strength to meet the Pagan in the open field.
But he is a brave and true man, and will make no
terms with the spoilers ; so, with other faithful thegns
of King Alfred and their followers, he throws him-
self into a castle or fort called Cynwith, or Cynnit,
there to abide whatever issue of this business God
shall send them. Hubba, with the war-flag Raven,
and a host laden with the spoil of rich Devon vales,
appear in due course before the place. It is not
strong naturally, and has only " walls in our own
fashion," meaning probably rough earthworks. But
there are resolute men behind them, and on the
whole Plubba declines the assault, and sits down
before the place. There is no spring of water, he
hears, within the Saxon lines, and they are otherwise
wholly unprepared for a siege. A few days will
no doubt settle the matter, and the sword or slavery
will be the portion of Odda and the rest of Alfred's
men ; meantime there is spoil enough in the camp
ATHELNEY. 109
from Devonshire homesteads, which brave men can
revel in round the war-flag Raven, while they watch
the Saxon ramparts. Odda, however, has quite other
views than death from thirst, or surrender. Before
any stress comes, early one morning, he and his
whole force sally out over their earthworks, and from
the first "cut down the pagans in great numbers:"
840 warriors (some say 1,200), with Hubba himself,
are slain before Cynnit fort ; the rest, few in number,
escape to their ships. The war-flag Raven is left in
the hands of Odda and the men of Dev^on.
This is the news which comes to Alfred, Ethelnoth
the alderman of Somerset, Denewulf the swine-herd,
and the rest of the Selwood Forest group, some time
before Easter. These men of Devonshire, it seems,
are still staunch, and ready to peril their lives against
the pagan. No doubt up and down Wessex, thrashed
and trodden out as the nation is by this time, there
are other good men and true, who will neither cross
the sea, or the Welsh marches, or make terms with
the Pagan ; some sprinkling of men who will yet
set life at stake, for faith in Christ and love of
England. If these can only be rallied, who can say
what may follow .-' So, in the lengthening days of
spring, council is held in Selwood, and there will
have been Easter services in some chapel, or her-
mitage, in the forest, or, at any rate, in some quiet
glade. The "day of days" will surely have had
its voice of hope for this poor remnant. Christ is
risen and reigns ; and it is not in these heathen
Danes, or in all the Northmen who ever sailed across
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
the sea, to put back His kingdom, or enslave those
whom He has freed.
The result is, that, far away from the eastern
boundary of the forest, on a rising ground — hill it
can scarcely be called — surrounded by dangerous
marshes formed by the little rivers Thone and Parret,
fordable only in summer, and even then dangerous
to all who have not the secret, a small fortified
camp is thrown up under Alfred's eye, by Ethelnoth
and the Somersetshire men, where he can once again
raise his standard. The spot has been chosen by the
King with the utmost care, for it is his last throw. He
names it the Etheling's eig or island, " Athelney."
Probably his young son, the Etheling of England,
is there amongst the first, with his mother and his
grandmother Eadburgha, the widow of Ethelred
Mucil, the venerable lady whom Asser saw in later
years, and who has now no country but her daughter's.
There are, as has been reckoned, some two acres of
hard ground on the island, and around vast brakes of
alder-bush, full of deer and other game.
Here the Somersetshire men can keep up constant
communication with him, and a small army grows
together. They are soon strong enough to make
forays into the open country, and in many skirmishes
they cut off parties of the Pagans, and supplies.
" For, even when overthrown and cast down," says
Malmesbury, " Alfred had always to be fought with ;
so then, when one would esteem him altogether worn
down and broken, like a snake slipping from the
hand of him who would grasp it, he would suddenly
ATHELNEY. iii
flash out again from his hiding-places, rising up to
smite his foes in the height of their insolent confidence,
and never more hard to beat than after a flight."
But it was still a trying life at Athehiey. Followers
came in slowly, and provender and supplies of all
kinds are hard to wring from the Pagan, and harder
still to take from Christian men. One day, while it
was yet so cold that the water was still frozen, the
King's people had gone out " to get them fish or
fowl, or some such purveyance as they sustained
themselves withal." No one was left in the royal
hut for the moment but himself, and his mother-in-
law Eadburgha. The King (after his constant wont
whensoever he had opportunity) was reading from the
Psalms of David, out of the Manual which he carried
always in his bosom. At this moment a poor man
appeared at the door and begged for a morsel of
bread " for Christ His sake." Whereupon the King,
receiving the stranger as a brother, called to his
mother-in-law to give him to eat Eadburgha replied
that there was but one loaf in their store, and a little
wine in a pitcher, a provision wholly insuflficient for
his own family and people. But the King bade her
nevertheless to give the stranger part of the last loaf,
which she accordingly did. But when he had been
served the stranger was no more seen, and the loaf
remained whole, and the pitcher full to the brim.
Alfred, meantime, had turned to his reading, over
which he fell asleep, and dreamt that St, Cuthbert
of Lindisfarne stood by him, and told him it was he
who had been his guest, and that God had seen his
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
afflictions and those of his people, which were now
about to end, in token whereof his people would
return that day from their expedition with a great
take of fish. The King awaking, and being much
impressed with his dream, called to his mother-in-law
and recounted it to her, who thereupon assured him
that she too had been overcome with sleep, and had
had the same dream. And while they yet talked
together on what had happened so strangely to
them, their servants come in, bringing fish enough, as
it seemed to them, to have fed an army.
The monkish legend goes on to tell that on the
next morning the King crossed to the mainland in a
boat, and wound his horn thrice, which drew to him
before noon 500 men. What we may think of the
story and the dream, as Sir John Spelman says, " is
not here very much material," seeing that whether we
deem it natural or supernatural, " the one as well as
the other serves at God's appointment, by raising or
dejecting of the mind with hopes or fears, to lead
man to the resolution of those things whereof He has
before ordained the event."
Alfred, we may be sure, was ready to accept and
be thankful for any help, let it come from whence it
might, and soon after Easter it was becoming clear
that the time is at hand for more than skirmishing
expeditions. Through all the neighbouring counties
word is spreading that their hero king is alive, and on
foot again, and that there will be another chance
for brave men ere long of meeting once more these
scourges of the land, under his leading.
ATHELNEY. 113
A popular legend is found in the later chroniclers
which relates that at this crisis of his fortunes, Alfred,
not daring to rely on any evidence but that of his
own senses as to the numbers, disposition, and disci-
pline of the pagan army, assumed the garb of a
minstrel, and with one attendant visited the camp of
Guthrum. Here he stayed, "showing tricks and
making sport," until he had penetrated to the King's
tents, and learned all that he wished to know. After
satisfying himself as to the chances of a sudden
attack, he returns to Athclney, and, the time having
come for a great effort, if his people will but make it,
sends round messengers to the aldermen and king's
thegns of neighbouring shires, giving them a tryst
for the seventh week after Easter the second week
in May.
CHAPTER X.
ETHAN DUNE.
*' Unto whom Judas answered. It is no hard matter for many to be shut
up in the hands of a few : and with the God of heaven it is all one to
deliver zuith a great midtitiide or a small company.
"For the victory of battle standeth not in the multitude of an host, but
strength comethfrom heaven.
" They come against us in much P'ride and iniquity, to destroy us, and
our wives and children, and to spoil us.
" But we fight for our lives and our lazus.^'
On or about the I2tli of May, 8yS, King Alfred left
his island in the great wood, and his wife and children
and such household gods as he had gathered round
him there, and came publicly forth amongst his people
once more, riding to Egbert's stone (probably Brixton),
on the east of Selwood, a distance of 26 miles. Here
met him the men of the neighbouring shires — Odda,
no doubt, with his men of Devonshire, full of courage
and hope after their recent triumph ; the men of
Somersetshire, under their brave and faithful Alder-
man Ethelnoth ; and the men of Wilts and Hants,
such of them at least as had not fled the country
or made submission to the enemy. "And when
they saw their king alive after such great tribula-
tion, they received him, as he merited, with joy and
ETHANDUNE. 115
acclamation." The gathering had been so carefully
planned by Alfred and the nobles who had been
in conference or correspondence with him at Athelney,
that t-he Saxon host was organized, and ready for
immediate action, on the very day of muster. Whether
Alfred had been his own spy we cannot tell, but it
is plain that he knew well what was passing in the
pagan camp, and how necessary swiftness and secrecy
were to the success of his attack.
Local traditions cannot be much relied upon for
events which took place a thousand years ago, but
where there is clearly nothing improbable in them
they are at least worth mentioning. We may note,
then, that according to Somersetshire tradition, first
collected by Dr. Giles (himself a Somersetshire man,
and one who, besides his Life of Alfred and other
excellent works bearing on the time, is the author of
the " Harmony of the Chroniclers," published by the
Alfred Committee in 1852), the signal for the actual
gathering of the West Saxons at Egbert's Stone was
given by a beacon lighted on the top of Stourton Hill,
where Alfred's Tower now stands. Such a beacon
would be hidden from the Danes, who must have been
encamped about Westbury, by the range of the Wilt-
shire hills, while it would be visible to the west over
the low country towards the Bristol Channel, and
to the south far into Dorsetshire.
Not an hour was lost by Alfred at the place of
muster. The bands which came together there were
composed of men well used to arms, each band under
its own alderman, or reeve. The small army he had
I 2
ii6 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
himself been disciplining at Athelney, and training in
skirmishes during the last few months, would form a
reliable centre on which the rest would have to form
as best they could. So after one day's halt he. breaks
up his camp at Egbert's Stone and marches to ^Eglea,
now called Clay Hill, an important height, command-
ing the vale to the north of Westbury, which the
Danish army were now occupying. The day's march
of the army would be a short five miles. Here the
annals record that St. Neot, his kinsman, appeared
to him, and promised that on the morrow his mis-
fortunes would end.
There are still traces of rude earthworks round the
top of Clay Hill, which are said to have been thrown
up by Alfred's army at this time. If there had been
time for such a work, it would undoubtedly have been
a wise step, as a fortified encampment here would
have served Alfred in good stead in case of a re-
verse. But the few hours during which the army
halted on Clay Hill would have been quite too short
time for such an undertaking, which, moreover, would
have exhausted the troops. It is more likely that the
earthworks, which are of the oldest type, similar to
those at White Horse Hill, above Ashdown, were
there long before Alfred's arrival in May 878. After
resting one night on Clay Hill, Alfred led out his men
in close order of battle against the pagan host, which
lay at Ethandune. There has been much doubt
amongst antiquaries as to the site of Ethandune, but
Dr. Giles and others have at length established the
claims of Edington, a village seven miles from Clay
ETHANDUNE. wj
Hill, on the north-east to be the spot where the
strength of the second wave of pagan invasion was
utterly broken, and rolled back weak and helpless
from the rock of the West Saxon kingdom,
Sir John Spelman, relying apparently only on the
authority of Nicholas Harpesfeld's " Ecclesiastical
History of England," puts a speech into Alfred's
mouth, which he is supposed to have delivered before
the battle of Edington. He tells them that the great
sufferings of the land had been yet far short of what
their sins had deserved. That God had only dealt
with them as a loving Father, and was now about to
succour them, having already stricken their foe with
fear and astonishment, and given him, on the other
hand, much encouragement by dreams and otherwise.
That they had to do with pirates and robbers, who
had broken faith with them over and over again ; and
the issue they had to try that day was, whether Christ's
faith, or heathenism, was henceforth to be established
in England.
There is no trace of any such speech in the Saxon
Chronicle or Asser, and the one reported does not
ring like that of Judas Maccabeus. That Alfred's
soul was on fire that morning, on finding himself once
more at the head of a force he could rely on, and
before the enemy he had met so often, we may be
sure enough, but shall never know how the fire
kindled into speech, if indeed it did so at all. In
such supreme moments many of the strongest men
have no word to say — keep all their heat within.
Nor have we any clue to the numbers who fought
Ii8 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
on either side at Ethandune, or indeed in any of
Alfred's battles. In the Chronicles there are only a
few vague and general statements, from which little
can be gathered. The most precise of them is that in
the Saxon Chronicle, which gives 840 as the number
of men who were slain, as we heard, with Hubba
before Cynuit fort, in Devonshire, earlier in this same
year. Such a death-roll, in an action in which only a
small detachment of the pagan army was engaged,
would lead to the conclusion that the armies were far
larger than one would expect. On the other hand, it
is difficult to imagine how any large bodies of men
could find subsistence in a small country, which was
the seat of so devastating a war, and in which so much
land remained still unreclaimed. But whatever the
power of either side amounted to we may be quite
sure that it had been exerted to the utmost to bring
as large a force as possible into line at Ethandune.
Guthrum fought to protect Chippenham, his base oi
operations, some sixteen miles in his rear, and all the
accumulated plunder of the busy months which had
passed since Twelfth Night ; and it is clear that his
men behaved with the most desperate gallantry. The
fight began at noon (one chronicler says at sunrise,
but the distance makes this impossible unless Alfred
marched in the night), and lasted through the
greater part of the day. Warned by many previous
disasters, the Saxons never broke their close order,
and so, though greatly outnumbered, hurled back
again and again the onslaughts of the Northmen.
At last Alfred and his Saxons prevailed, and smote
ETHANDUNE. 119
his pagan foes with a very great slaughter, and pur-
sued them up to their fortified camp on Bratton Hill
or Edge, into which the great body of the fugitives
threw themselves. All who were left outside were
slain, and the great spoil was all recovered. The
camp may still be seen, called Bratton Castle, with its
double ditches and deep trenches, and barrow in the
midst sixty yards long, and its two entrances guarded
by mounds. It contains more than twenty acres, and
commands the whole country side. There can be
little doubt that this camp, and not Chippenham,
which is sixteen miles away, was the last refuge of
Guthrum and the great Northern army on Saxon
soil.
So, in three days from the breaking up of his little
camp at Athelney, Alfred was once more king of all
England south of the Thames ; for this army of
Pagans shut up within their earthworks on Bratton
Edge" are little better than a broken and disorderly
rabble, with no supplies and no chance of succour
from any quarter. Nevertheless he will make sure of
them, and above all will guard jealously against any
such mishap as that of %'j6, when they stole out of
Wareham, murdered the horsemen he had left to
watch them, and got away to Exeter. So Bratton
Camp is strictly besieged by Alfred with his whole
power.
Guthrum, the destroyer, and now the King, of East
Anglia, the strongest and ablest of all the Northmen
who had ever landed in England, is now at last fairly
in Alfred's power. At Reading, Wareham, Exeter.
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
he had always held a fortified camp, on a river easily
navigable by the Danish war-ships, where he might
look for speedy succour, or whence at the worst he
might hope to escape to the sea. But now he, with
the remains of his army, are shut up in an inland fort
with no ships on the Avon, the nearest river, even if
they could cut their way out and reach it, and no
hopes of reinforcements over land. Halfdene is the
nearest viking who might be called to the rescue, and
he, in Northumbria, is far too distant. It is a matter
of a few days only, for food runs short at once in the
besieged camp. In former yea,rs, or against any other
enemy, Guthrum would probably have preferred to
sally out, and cut his way through the Saxon lines, or
die sword in hand as a son of Odin should. Whether
it were that the wild spirit in him is thoroughly
broken for the time by the unexpected defeat at
Ethandune, or that long residence in a Christian land
and contact with Christian subjects have shaken his
faith in his own gods, or that he has learnt to measure
and appreciate the strength and nobleness of the man
he had so often deceived, at any rate for the time
Guthrum is subdued. At the end of fourteen days he
sends to Alfred, suing humbly for terms of any kind ;
offering on the part of the army as many hostages as
may be required, without asking for any in return ;
once again giving solemn pledges to quit Wessex for
good ; and, above all, declaring his own readiness to
receive baptism. If it had not been for the last pro-
posal, we may doubt whether even Alfred would have
allowed the ruthless foes with whom he and his people
ETHANDUNK.
had fought so often, and with such varying success, to
escape now. Over and over again they had sworn to
him, and broken their oaths the moment it suited
their purpose ; had given hostages, and left them to
their fate. In all English kingdoms they had now for
ten years been destroying and pillaging the houses of
God, and slaying even women and children. They
had driven his sister's husband from the throne of
Mercia, and had grievously tortured the martyr
Edmund. If ever foe deserved no mercy, Guthri'm
and his army were the men.
When David smote the children of Moab, he
" measured them with a line, casting them down to
the ground ; even with two lines measured he to put
to death, and with one full line to keep alive." When
he took Rabbah of the children of Ammon, "he
brought forth the people that were therein, and put
them under saws and under harrows of iron and under
axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-
kiln." That was the old Hebrew method, even under
King David, and in the ninth century Christianity had
as yet done little to soften the old heathen custom of
" woe to the vanquished." Charlemagne's prosely-
tizing campaigns had been as merciless as Mahomet's.
But there is about this English king a divine patience,
the rarest of all virtues in those who are set in high
places. He accepts Guthrum's proffered terms at
once, rejoicing over the chance of adding these fierce
heathen warriors to the Church of his Master, by an
act of mercy which even they must feel. And so the
remnant of the army arc allowed to march out of their
122 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
fortified camp, and to recross the Avon into Mercia,
not quite five months after the day of their winter
attack, and the seizing of Chippenham. The Northern
army went away to Cirencester, where they stayed over
the winter, and then returning into East Angh'a settled
down there, and Alfred and Wessex hear no more of
them. Never was triumph more complete or better
deseived ; and in all history there is no instance of
more noble use of victory than this. The West Saxon
army was not at once disbanded. Alfred led them
back to Athelney, where he had left his wife and
children ; and while they are there, seven weeks after
the surrender, Guthrum, with thirty of the bravest of
his followers, arrive to make good their pledge.
The ceremony of baptism was performed at Wed-
more, a royal residence which had probably escaped
the fate of Chippenham, and still contained a church.
Here Guthrum and his thirty nobles were sworn in,
the soldiers of a greater than Woden, and the white
linen cloth, the sign of their new faith, was bound
round their heads. Alfred himself was godfather to
the viking, giving him the Christian name of Athel-
stan ; and the chrism-loosing, or unbinding of the
sacramental cloths, was performed on the eighth day
by Ethelnoth, the faithful Alderman of Somersetshire.
After the religious ceremony there still remained the
task of settling the terms upon which the victors and
vanquished were hereafter to live together side by side
in the same island ; for Alfred had the wisdom, even
in his enemy's humiliation, to accept the accomplished
fact, and to acknowledge East Anglia as a Danish
ETHANDUNE. 123
kingdom. The Witenagemot had been summoned to
Wedmore, and was sitting there, and with their advice
the treaty was then made, from which, according to
some historians, Enghsh history begins.
We have stiil the text of the two documents which
together contain Alfred and Guthrum's peace, or the
Treaty of Wedmore ; the first and shorter being
probably the articles hastily agreed on before the
capitulation of the Danish army at Chippenham, the
latter the final terms settled between Alfred and his
witan, and Guthrum and his thirty nobles, after mature
deliberation and conference at Wedmore, but not form-
ally executed until some years later.
The shorter one, that made at the capitulation, runs
as follows : —
ALFRED AND GUTHRUM'S PEACE.
" This is the peace that King Alfred, and King
Guthrum, and the witan of all the English nation
and all the people that are in East Anglia, have all
ordained and with oaths confirmed, for themselves
and their descendants, as well for born as unborn,
who reck of God's mercy, or of ours.
" First, concerning our land boundaries. These
are up on the Thames, and then up on the Lea, and
along the Lea unto its source, then straight to Bed-
ford, then up the Ouse to Watling Street.
"Then there is this : if a man be slain we reckon
all equally dear, English and Dane, at eight half
marks of pure gold, except the churl who dwells on
gavel land and their leisings ; they arc also equally
124 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
dear at 200 shillings. And if a king's thane be
accused of manslaughter, if he desire to clear himself
let him do so before twelve king's thanes. If any
man accuse a man who is of less degree than king's
thane, let him clear himself with eleven of his equals
and one king-'s thane. And so in every suit which
may be for more than four mancuses ; and if he dare
not, let him pay for it threefold as it may be valued.
Of Warrantors.
"And that every man know his warrantor, for men,
and for horses, and for oxen.
" And we all ordained, on that day that the oaths
were sworn, that neither bondman nor freeman might
go to the army without leave, nor any of them to us.
But if it happen that any of them from necessity will
have traffic with us, or we with them, for cattle or
goods, that is to be allowed on this wise : that
hostages be given in pledge of peace, and as evidence
whereby it may be known that the party has a clean
book."
By the treaty Alfred is thus established as king of
the whole of England south of the Thames ; of all the
old kingdom of Essex south of the Lea, including
London, Hertford, and St. Albans ; of the whole of the
great kingdom of Mercia, which lay to the west of
Watling Street, and of so much to the east as lay south
of the Ouse. That he should have regained so much
proves the straits to which he had brought the
Northern army, who would have to give up all their
ETHANDUNE. 125
new settlements round Gloster, That he should have
resigned so much of the kingdom which had acknow-
ledged his grandfather, father, and brothers as over-
lords, proves how formidable his foe still was, even
in defeat, and how thoroughly the north-eastern parts
of the island had by this time been settled by
the Danes.
The remainder of the short treaty would seem
simply to be provisional, and intended to settle the
relations between Alfred's subjects and the army
while it remained within the limits of the new Saxon
kingdom. Many of the soldiers would have to break
up their homes in Glostershire ; and, with this view,
the halt at Cirencester is allowed, where, as we have
already heard, they rest until the winter. While they
remain in the Saxon kingdom there is to be no dis-
tinction between Saxon and Dane. The were-gild, or
life-ransom, is to be the same in each case for men of
like rank ; and all suits for more than four mancuses
(about twenty-four shillings) are to be tried by a jury
of peers of the accused. On the other hand, only
necessary communications are to be allowed between
the Northern army and the people ; and where there
must be trading, fair and peaceful dealing is to be
ensured by the giving of hostages. This last pro-
vision, and the clause declaring that each man shall
know his warrantor, inserted in a five-clause treaty,
where nothing but what the contracting parties must
hold to be of the very first importance would find
place, is another curious proof of the care with which
our ancestors, and all Germanic tribes, guarded against
126 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
social isolation — the doctrine that one man has no-
thing to do with another — a doctrine which the great
body of their descendants, under the leading of
Schultze, Delitzsch, and others, seem likely to repu-
diate with equal emphasis in these latter days, both
in Germany and England.
Thus, in July 878, the foundations of the new
kingdom of England were laid, for new it undoubt-
edly became when the treaty of Wedmore was signed.
The Danish nation, no longer strangers and enemies,
arc recognised by the heir of Cerdic as lawful owners of
the full half of England. Having achieved which result,
Guthrum and the rest of the new converts leave the
Saxon camp and return to Cirencester at the end of
twelve days, loaded with such gifts as it was still in
the power of their conquerors to bestow : and Alfred
was left in peace, to turn to a greater and more
arduous task than any he had yet encountered.
CHAPTER XI.
RETROSPECT.
•• IVhalsoeiir is brought on thee tale checrjully, and be fatietit when tnou
art changed to a lo7u estate. For gold is tried in the fire, and accept-
able vieii in the furnace of adversity."
The great Danish invasion of England in the ninth
century, the history of which we have just concluded,
is one of those facts which meet us at every turn in
the life of the world, raising again and again the
deepest of all questions. At first sight it stands out
simply as the triumph of brute force, cruelty, and
anarchy, over civilization and order. It was eminently
successful, for the greater part of the kingdom re-
mained subject to the invaders. In its progress all
such civilization as had taken root in the land was for
the time trodden out ; whole districts were depopulated ;
lands thrown out of cultivation ; churches, abbeys,
monasteries, the houses of nobles and peasants, razed
to the ground ; libraries (such as then existed) and
works of art ruthlessly burnt and destroyed. It threw
back all Alfred's reforms for eight years. To the
poor East Anglian, or West Saxon churl or monk
who had been living his quiet life there, honestly and
in the fear of God, according to his lights, — to him
hiding away in the swamps of the forest, amongst the
128 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
swine, running wild now for lack of herdsmen, and
thinking bitterly of the sack of his home, and murder
of his brethren, or of his wife and children by red-
handed Pagans, the heavens would indeed seem tc
be shut, and the earth delivered over to the powers
of darkness. Would it not seem so to us, if we were
in like case ? Have we any faith which would stand
such a strain as that ?
Who shall say for himself that he has ? and yet
what Christian does not know, in his heart of hearts,
that there is such a faith, for himself and for the
world — the faith which must have carried Alfred
through those fearful years, and strengthened him to
build up a new and better England out of the ruins
the Danes left behind them ? For, hard as it must
be to keep alive any belief or hope during a time
when all around us is reeling, and the powers of
evil seem to be let loose on the earth, when we look
back upon these " days of the Lord " there is no truth
which stands out more clearly on the face of history
than this, that they all and each have been working
towards order and life, that " the messengers of death
have been indeed messengers of resurrection."
In the case of our fathers, in the England of a
thousand years ago, we have not to go far to learn
what the Danes had to do for them. There is no need
to accept the statements of later writers as to the
condition of the Saxons and Angles at the time of
the invasion. Hoveden, after dwelling on the wars
which were so common between the several kingdoms
in the eighth and early part of the ninth centuries,
RETROSPECT. 129
sums up, that in process of time all "virtue had so
utterly disappeared in them that no nation what-
soever might compare with them for treachery and
villany ; " and in John Hardyng's rhymed Chronicle
we find :
" Thus in defaute of la we and peace conserved
Common profyte was wasted and devoured,
Parcial profyte was sped and obsen'ed,
And Venus also was commonly honoured —
Among them was common, as the carte waye,
Ryot, robbery, oppressyon, night and daye."
Such pictures are, no doubt, very highly coloured, and
there is nothing in contemporary writers to justify
them ; nor can we believe that a nation in so utterly
rotten a state would have met the Danes as the
Angles and West Saxons did. But without going
farther than Alfred's own writings, and the Saxon
Chronicle and Asser, which contain, after all, the
whole of the evidence at first hand which is left to us,
we may see clearly enough that the nation, if not
given over to " riot, robbery, and oppression, night and
day," was settling on its lees. The country had be-
come rich for those times under the long and vigorous
rule of Egbert, and the people were busy and skilful
in growing corn, and multiplying flocks and herds,
and heaping up silver and gold. But the "common
profyte " Avas more and more neglected, as " parcial
profyte," individual gain, came to be the chief object
in men's eyes. Then the higher life of the nation
began to be undermined. The laws were unjustly
interpreted and administered by hereditary aldermen,
S.I- VIII. K
I30 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
who by degrees became almost independent of the
king in their own shires and districts, in all matters
not directly affecting his personal prerogative. The
religious orders, who had been the protectors and
instructors of the people, were tainted as deeply as
the laity with the same self-seeking spirit. Alfred, in
his preface to Gregory's pastoral, speaks sorrowfully
of the wise men who were found formerly throughout
the English race, both of the spiritual and secular
condition — how the kings, and they who then had the
government of the folk, "obeyed God and His mes-
sengers, and maintained their peace, their customs,
and their government at home, and also increased
their country abroad, and sped well both in war and
wisdom " — how the religious orders were " earnest,
both about doctrine and learning, and the services of
God, so that men from abroad sought instruction in
this land, which we must now get from them if we
would have it." In Ethelwulf 's reign both evils must
have grown rapidly, for he was careless of his secular
duties, and left alderman, and reeve, and sheriff more
and more to follow their own ways, while he fostered
the worst tendencies of his clergy, encouraging them
to become more and more priests and keepers of the
conscience, and less shepherds and instructors of the
people. So religion was being separated from morality,
and the inner and spiritual life of the nation was
consequently dying out, and the people were falling
into a dull, mechanical habit of mind. Their religion
had become chiefly a matter of custom and routine ;
and, as a sure consequence, a sensual and grovelling
RETROSPECT. 131
life was spreading through all classes. Soon material
decay would follow, if it had not already begun ; for
healthy, manly effort, honest and patient digging and
delving, planting and building, is not to be had out
of man or nation whose conscience has been put to
sleep. When the corn and wine and oil, the silver
and the gold, have become the main object of worship
— that which men or nations do above all things desire
— sham work of all kinds, and short cuts, by what we
call financing and the like, will be the means by which
they will attempt to gain them.
When that state comes, men who love their country
will welcome Danish invasions, civil wars, potato
diseases, cotton famines, Fenian agitations, whatever
calamity may be needed to awake the higher life
again, and bid the nation arise and live.
That such visitations do come at such times as a
matter of fact is as clear as that in certain states of
the atmosphere we have thunderstorms. The thunder-
storm comes with perfect certainty, and as part of a
natural and fixed order. We are all agreed upon that
now. We all believe, I suppose, that there is an order,
— that there are laws which govern the physical world,
asserting themselves as much in storm and earthquake
as in the succession of night and day, of seed-time
and harvest. We who are Christians believe that order
and those laws to proceed from God, to be expres-
sions of His will. Do we not also believe that men
are under a divine order as much as natural things .â– *
that there is a law of righteousness founded on tlic
will of God, as sure and abiding as the \di\v of
K 2
132 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
gravitation ? that this law of righteousness, this divine
order, under which human beings are living on this
earth, must and does assert and vindicate itself through
and by the acts and lives of men, as surely as the
divine order in nature asserts itself through the agency
of the invisible powers in earth and sea and air ?
Surely Christianity, whatever else it teaches, at any
rate assures us of this. And when we have made this
faith our own, when we believe it, and not merely
believe that we believe it, we have in our hand the
clue to all human history. Mysteries in abundance
will always remain. We may not be able to trace the
workings of the law of righteousness in the confusions
and bewilderments of our own day, or through the
darkness and mist which shrouds so much of the life
of other times and other races. But we know that it
is there, and that it has its ground in a righteous will,
which was the same a thousand years ago as it is
to-day, which every man and nation can get to know ;
and just in so far as they know and obey which will
they be founding families, institutions, states, which
will abide.
If we want to test this truth in the most practical
manner, we have only to take any question which has
troubled, or is troubling, statesmen and rulers and
nations, in our own day. The slavery question is th-e
greatest of these, at any rate the one which has been
most prominently before the world of late. In the
divine order that institution was not recognised, there
was no place at all set apart for it ; on the contrary, He
on whose will that order rests had said that He came
RETROSPECT. 133
to break every yoke. And so slavery would give our
kindred in America no rest, just as it would give us
no rest in the first thirty years of the century. The
nation, desiring to go on living its life, making money,
subduing a continent,
" Pitching new states as old-world men pitch tents,"
tried every plan for getting rid of the " irrepressible
negro" question, except the only one recognised in
the divine order — that of making him free. The
ablest and most moderate men, theWebsters and Clays,
thought and spoke and worked to keep it on its legs.
Missouri compromises were agreed to, " Mason and
Dixon's lines" laid down, joint committees of both
Houses — at last even a "crisis committee," as it was
called — invented plan after plan to get it fairly out of
the way by any means except the only one which the
eternal law, the law of righteousness, prescribed. But
He whose will must be done on earth was no party to
Missouri compromises, and Mason and Dixon's line
was not laid down on His map of North America.
And there never were wanting men who could re-
cognise His will, and denounce every compromise,
every endeavour to set it aside, or escape from
it, as a "covenant with death and hell." Despised
and persecuted men — Garrisons and John Browns — •
were raised up to fight this battle, with tongue and
pen and life's blood, the weak things of this world to
confound the mighty ; men who could look bravely in
the face the whole power and strength of their nation
in the faith of the old prophet : " Associate yourselves
134 J^JFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
and ye sliall be broken in pieces ; gather yourselves
together and it shall come to nought, for God is with
us." And at last the thunderstorm broke, and when
it cleared away the law of righteousness had asserted
itself once again, and the nation was delivered.
And so it has been, and is, and will be to the end
of time with all nations. We have all our " irre-
pressible " questions of one kind or another, more or
less urgent, rising up again and again to torment and
baffle us, refusing to give us any peace until they have
been settled in accordance with the law of righteous-
ness, which is the will of God. No clever handling of
them will put them to rest. Such work will not last.
If we have wisdom and faith enough amongst us to
ascertain and do that will, we may settle them for
ourselves in clear skies. If not, the clouds will gather,
the atmosphere grow heavy, and the storm break in
due course, and they will be settled for us in ways
which we least expect or desire, for it is " the Lord's
controversy."
In due course! perhaps; but what if this due course
means lifetimes, centuries .'' Alas ! this is indeed the
cry which has been going up from the poor earth these
thousands of years —
" The priests and the rulers are swift to wrong,
And the mills of God are slow to grind."
How long, O Lord, how long } The precise times
and seasons man shall never know on this earth.
These the Lord has kept in His own power. But
courage, my brother ! Can we not see, the blindest
RETROSPECT. 135
of us, that the mills are working swiftly, at least in our
day ? This is no age in which shams or untruths,
whether old or new, are likely to have a quiet time or
a long life of it. In all departments of human affairs
— religious, political, social — we are travelling fast, in
England and elsewhere, and under the hand and
guidance, be sure, of Him who made the world, and
is able and willing to take care of it. Only let us
quit ourselves like men, trusting to Him to put down
whatsoever loveth or maketh a lie, and in His own
time to establish the new earth in which shall dweli
rio^hteousness.
CHAPTER XII.
THE king's board OF WORKS.
"Except Che Lord build I he hcmse, their labour is but lost that build."
"Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman wakcth but in vain.'"
It is scarcely possible to exaggerate the amount and
difficulty of the work which lay before Alfred there
at Wed more, when he had at last got fairly rid of
Guthrum and the army, and was able to think about
something else than prompt fighting. The witan
was assembled there, and may probably have coun-
selled their king on many parts of that work. We
only know, that they considered and passed the
Treaty of Wedmore, and forfeited the lands of certain
nobles who had been false to their oaths of alle-
giance. The council would not have remained sitting
a day longer than they could help, as it must have
been already getting towards harvest-time. They
left their king, still young in years, but old in expe-
rience and thoughtfulness, to set about his work of
building up the nation again as best it might please
him
We cannot doubt that with Athelney and Ethandune
fresh in his mind, and Guthrum's army still undis-
banded at Cirencester, his first thought and care will
THE KING'S BOARD OF IVORKS. 137
have been of the defence of the realm for the future,
and one of his first acts to commence the restoration
of the forts and strong places. Dr. Giles points out
the striking contrast in these early wars between the
Saxons and Danes in their skill in the erection and
use of fortifications. Through the whole of these
wars the former seem scarcely ever able to hold a town
or fort, if we except Cynuit ; while the Danes never
lose one. At the beginning of each year of the war
the chroniclers relate monotonously, how the Pagans
seize some town or strong place, such as Nottingham,
Reading, Exeter, Chippenham, apparently without
difficulty, certainly with no serious delay ; but when
once they are in it they arc never dislodged by force.
In the same way, none of their fortified camps, such
as that at Wareham, were ever taken ; and the re-
mains at Ufiington Castle and Bratton Castle show
how skilful they were in these military earthworks, and
what formidable places the crests of hills on the open
downs became under their hands. Alfred never lost
a hint, for he had a mind thoroughly humble, and
therefore open to the reception of new truth ; so in
setting to work to restore the forts which had been
destroyed or damaged, we may be sure he profited
by the lessons of the great struggle. At what time,
or in what order, the restoration took place, we have
no hint. In this, as in almost all parts of Alfred's
work, we only know the results. How efficiently it
was done, however, between the peace of VVedmore
and the next great war, which broke out in S93, we
may gather from the fact that the great leader of
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
that invasion, Hasting, was never able to take an
important town or stronghold.
That terrible viking, who for years had been the
scourge of the French coasts, was in this same
autumn of 879 at Fulham. Dr. Pauli, who has re-
markable sagacity in suggesting what the short vague
notices in the Chronicles really mean, thinks that
Hasting had been with Guthrum both at Ethan-
dune and Chippenham, and from thence accom-
panied the beaten army to Cirencester. That after
the return of the Danish king and his thirty nobles
from their baptism at Wedmore, he left the army,
taking with him his own followers, and all those of
the army who refused to become Christians, and with
these sailed round the south coast, and up the Thames
to Fulham. On the other hand, after such a lesson
of the power wielded by Alfred, and his capacity
as a leader, one must doubt whether so able a com-
man.der as Hasting would have been ready at once
to open another campaign in Wessex. The Saxon
Chronicle simply says that " a body of pirates drew
together, and sat down at Fulham on the Thames;"
Asser, that "a large army of Pagans sailed from
foreign parts into the river Thames, and joined the
army which was already in the country." On the
whole, it seems more probable that Hasting, or
whoever was the leader of the Danes who wintered
at Fulham in this year, came from abroad, and was
joined there by the wild spirits from Guthrum's army,
the resolute Pagans and pirates to whom peaceful life
was thoroughly distasteful. The greater part of thai
THE KINGS BOARD OF WORKS. 139
army certainly never left Cirencester till the next
spring, and remained faithful to the terms of the
Treaty of Wedmore. So the Danes at Fulham,
seeing no chance of rousing their countrymen to
another attempt on Alfred's crown and kingdom, and
witnessing through the autumn and winter months
the vigour with which the King was providing for the
defence of the country, sailed away to Ghent. And
from this time, for upwards of four precious years, no
band of Pagans landed on English soil, and the
whole land had rest, and King Alfred leisure to turn
to all the great reforms that he had in his mind.
So, for one thing, the rebuilding and strengthening
of the fortresses all along the coast could now go on
without hindrance. The whole of the bookland of
England was held subject to the building of bridges
and fortresses, and marching against an enemy, so
that the whole manhood of the kingdom might have
been at once turned upon this work. But Alfred
had learned in the first years of his reign that his
people would not well bear forcing ; moreover, he had
new ideas on the subject of building ; was feeling his
way towards the substitution of stone for wood-work,
and importing the most skilled masons to be found
on the Continent to instruct his own people. In his
scriptural readings, too, he will have become ac-
quainted with the story of Solomon's buildings ; how
that wisest of monarchs, by the forced labour on his
magnificent public works, exhausted the energies and
alienated the affections of his people, an example to
be carefully avoided by a Christian king. Such of the
!4o LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
strong places, then, on the coast and elsewhere as
belonged to the King himself, rose steadily without
haste and without pause from their ruins, with all the
ne^vest improvements which the best foreign workmen,
or the experience of the late war, could suggest. At
first it did not fare so well with those which had to
be entrusted to others, and nothing can give us a more
vivid impression of the dead weight of indifference
and stupidity which Alfred had to contend against
in his early efforts than the passage in Asser which
speaks of this business, of restoring these fortified
places. It occurs under the year ^Zj, by which time
it is plain, from the end of the passage, that the King
had triumphed over all his difficulties, and had inspired
the officers in all parts of his kingdom with some of
his own spirit and energy. "What shall I say,"
writes his faithful friend, " of the cities and towns
which he restored, and of others which he built where
none had been before .'' of the royal halls and chambers
wonderfully erected by his command, with wood and
stone ? of the royal residences, constructed of stone,
removed from their old sites, and handsomely rebuilt
under his direction in more suitable places .â– '" probably
where they were less open to assaults, such as those
which had taken Reading and Chippenham. " Besides
the disease above mentioned, he was disturbed by the
quarrels of his friends, who would voluntarily undergo
little or no toil, though it were for the common need
of the kingdom ; but he alone, sustained by the aid of
Heaven, like a skilful pilot strove to steer his ship laden
with much wealth into the safe and much-desired
THE KING'S BOARD OF WORKS. 141
harbour, though almost all his crew were tired, and
suffered them not to faint, or hesitate, though sailing
amidst the manifold waves and eddies of this present
life. For all his bishops, earls, nobles, favourite
ministers and prefects, who, next to God and the king,
had the whole government of the kingdom, as is
fitting, continually received from him instruction,
respect, exhortation, and command — nay, at last, when
they continued disobedient, and his long patience was
exhausted, he would reprove them severely, and
censure their vulgar folly and obstinacy ; and thus
he directed their attention to his own will, and to the
common interests of the kingdom. Owing, however,
to the sluggishness of his people, these admonitions of
the King were either not fulfilled, or begun late in the
hour of need, and so fell out the less to the advantage
of those who executed them. For I will say nothing
of the castles which he ordered to be built, but which,
being begun late, were never finished, because the
enemy broke in upon them by sea and land, and, as
often fell out, the thwarters of the King's will repented
when it was too late, and were ashamed at their non-
performance of his commands. I speak of repentance
when it is too late," the good Bishop indignantly con-
tinues, " on the testimony of Scripture, by which it
appears that numberless persons have had cause for
too much sorrow after many insidious evils have
come to pass. But though by these means, sad to
say, they may be bitterly afflicted and roused to
sorrow by the loss of fathers, wives, children, ministers,
servant-men, servant-maids, and furniture and house-
142 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
hold stuff, what is the use of hateful repentance, when
their kinsmen are dead, and they cannot aid them, or
redeem those who are captive from captivity ? for
they are not able even to assist those who have
escaped, as they have not wherewith to sustain even
their own lives. They repented, therefore, when it
was too late, and grieved at their incautious neglect of
the King's commands, and praised the King's wisdom
with one voice, and tried with all their power to fulfil
v/hat they had before refused ; that is to say, the
erection of castles, and other things generally useful
to the whole kingdom,"
A vivid picture, truly, of the state of things in
England a thousand years ago, for all of which might
we not without much research find parallels enough
in our own day ? One would fain hope that we are
not altogether without some equivalent in late years
for that patient, never-faltering pressure of the King,
sometimes lighting up into scathing reproof of the
" vulgar folly and obstinacy " of many of those through
whom he has to work. It is refreshing to find a
bishop fairly roused by these squabbles — this un-
reasoning sluggishness of men v/ho called themselves
the King's friends, and should have been doing the
work he had appointed them — denouncing the repent-
ance of such, after the mischief has been done, as
"hateful," not a worthy act at all, or one likely to
deserve the approbation of God or the King, in this
bishop's judgment
The reference to the " breaking in of the enemy by
land and sea" upon the unfii'islicd fortifications, must
THE KINGS BOARD OF WORKS. 143
point to the years between 872 and 878 ; for from the
date of the peace of Wedmore no strong place of the
Saxons was taken during Alfred's life. It was not
until 885 that the Northmen even ventured on any
descent in force on the coast of England. In that
year the army which had gathered round the band of
old heathen rovers who followed Hasting from Ful-
ham to Ghent in the spring of 880, and had been
ravaging the banks of the Meuse and the Scheldt ever
since, after wintering at Amiens, at last broke in two.
One half, under a leader whose name has not come
down to us, took to their ships, and, in their old form,
stole up the Thames and Medway, and made a sudden
dash at Rochester. But now for the first time they
were completely foiled in their first onslaught. They
could not storm the place, which was well fortified
and gallantly held, so they threw up strong works
before the gates, in hopes of taking the town by famine
or storm before succour could arrive. In this, how-
ever, they were soon undeceived. Alfred appeared
promptly in Kent at the head of a strong force, and,
without awaiting his attack, the Danes fled to theii
ships, leaving great spoil which they had brought
with them from France, including a number of horses
and prisoners, in their fortified camp before Rochester
Gate. And so they betake themselves to France again,
having found this visit to England very decidedly
unprofitable.
We may fairly conclude then, that by the year
885 those provoking bishops, earls, nobles, favourite
ministers, and prefects, had come to their senses.
144 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
and had learnt to obey their king's commands, and
to see that there was good reason for anything he
might set them to ,work on. Thus, as the fruit of
years of patient and steady pressure, at last Alfred
has his forts in order, a chain of them all round the
southern coast some say, and his royal residences and
larger towns for the most part sufficiently protected
against sudden attack, so far as walls and ditches will
secure them. London only still lies in a miserably
defenceless state, all the best parts in ruins, the
respectable inhabitants fled across seas or into
Wessex ; and only a wild, lawless population, the
sweepings of many nations and tribes, left to haunt
the river side, picking up a precariou-s living, no one
can tell how, and ready to join any band of marauders
who might be making use of the deserted houses.
The great city which had been almost able to stand
alone, and assert its independence of Mercia or of any
overlord, ever since Ethelwulf's time, has fallen to be
a mere colony of 'long-shore men, gathering round
changing bands of pirates. The city has been Alfred's
ever since the Treaty of Wedmore, and he has been
no doubt carefully considering what can be done, and
preparing to deal with it ; but it is an arduous and ex-
pensive undertaking, and has to wait till more press-
ing building operations — particularly the necessaiy
coast defences — have been completed.
At length in 886 all his preparations are made, and
he marches on London with a sufficient force to deal
with such organized bands of Northmen as might for
the time be holding it, and with the 'long-shore popu-
THE KING'S BOARD OF JVORKS. 145
lation. Ethelwerd's Chronicle speaks of a siege, and
Huntingdon's of a * great force of Danes,' who fled
when the place was invested ; but the Saxon Chronicle
and Asser contain no hint, either of a siege, or of any
organized force within the city. It is probable there-
fore that London submitted to Alfred at once without
a blow. Here, in what had been even in Roman
times the great commercial capital of England, his
splendid organizing talents had full scope during the
year. The accounts in the best authorities agree
entirely as to this work of S?>6. They are short and
graphic. " In this year Alfred, King of the West
Saxons, after the burning of cities and slaying of the
people, honourably rebuilt the city of London, and
made it again habitable. He gave it into the custody
of his son-in-law Ethelred, alderman of Mercia ; to
which king all the Angles and Saxons who before
had been dispersed everywhere, or were in bondage
under the Pagans, voluntarily turned, and submitted
themselves to his dominion." The foreign masons
and mechanics, of whom Alfred by this time had
large numbers in his regular pay, made swift work
with the rebuilding of London ; and within a few
years, under Ethelred's rule, the city had regained
its old pre-eminence. Saxons, Angles, and Danes
thronged to it indiscriminately, the latter occupying
their own quarters. A colony of them settled on the
southern side of the river, and built Southwark (Syd
virke, the southern fortification), where one of the
principal thoroughfares, Tooley Street (a corruption
of St. Olave's Street), still bears the name of the
s.L. vin. L
146 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
patron saint of Norway. On the northern side of
the Thames also, to the west of the city, they esta-
bhshed another settlement, in which was their chief
burial-place, and named it St. Clement Danes. We
may reckon the rebuilding and resettlement of London
as the crowning act of the King's work as a restorer
of the fenced cities of his realm, and have now to
follow him, as well as the confused materials at our
command will allow us, in other departments no less
difficult to handle than this of the Board of Works,
in which his wise and unflagging energy was bringing
order out of chaos, and economizing and developing
the great resources of his kingdom.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE king's war OFFICE AND ADMIRALTY.
"And I took the chief of your tribes, wise men and known, and made than
heads oz>er you, captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and
captains over tens, and officers amongst your tribes.'"
The restoration of all the old fortresSv;s of the king-
dom, and the building of a number of fresh ones,
though apparently the work which Alfred thought
of first, and pressed on most vigorously, was after
all only a reform of second-rate importance com-
pared with the reconstruction and permanent orga-
nization of his army and navy. This also he took
in hand at once, going straight to the root of the
matter, as indeed was always the habit with this
king, his whole nature being of a thoroughness which
would never allow him to work only on the surface.
It is by no means easy to understand the military
organization of the West Saxons before Alfred's
reign, if indeed they had anything that may be
called an organization. That every freeman was
liable to a call to arms whenever the country was
threatened by an enemy, or the king was bent on
invading his neighbour's territory — and that the king
had no force of his own, but was in the hands of his
aldermen and earls, and obliged to rely on what force
L 2
14.8 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
they could bring together — this seems clear enough,
but unfortunately we have no means of knowing with
any accuracy how the call was made, what were the
penalties for disobeying it, or the conditions of service
in the field, — whether the soldier received pay and
rations, or had to support himself. So far as we can
gather from the meagre accounts of the wars in
Ethelwulf's and Ethelred's reign, and of Alfred's
early campaigns, as soon as danger threatened the
hereditary alderman of the shire nearest the point
of attack summoned all freeholders within his juris-
diction, and took the field at once, while the king,
through their aldermen, gathered troops in other
shires, and brought them up to the scene of action
as fast as he could. Thus in 86 1 the Aldermen
Osric and Ethelwulf, with the men of Hants and
Berks, fell at once upon the pillagers of Winchester
without waiting for King Ethelbert ; and again Ethel-
wulf, ten years later, in 871, fights the battle of
Englefield with the first division of the Danish army
from Reading, only three days after the arrival of
the Pagans, before Ethelred and Alfred can come
up. More instances might be cited, if needed, to
show that either the penalties on slackness in coming
to muster were very sharp, or that the zeal of the
West Saxons for fighting was of the strongest. As a
rule, the men of the shire might evidently be relied
on to meet the first brunt of attack. It is equally
clear that these levies could not be depended upon
for any lengthened time. They dwindled away after
a few weeks, or months, on the approach of harvest,
JVAT^ OFFICE AND ADMIRALTY. 149
or the failure in supplies, or zeal. In short, the
system was practically, to a great extent, a voluntary
one, and very • uncertain in its operation, throwing
altogether unfair burdens now on this district, now
on the other, as the Pagans gained a fortified position
in Berkshire, Dorsetshire, or Wiltshire.
During his early campaigns Alfred must have seen
the disadvantage at which he and the West Saxons
were placed by this haphazard system, and have
gradually matured the changes which he was now
able to introduce. These were somewhat as fol-
low. The whole fighting strength of the kingdom was
divided into three parts or companies. Of these, one
company was called out, Asser says, and remained
on duty, " night and day, for one month, after which
they returned to their homes, and were relieved by
the second company. At the end of the second
month, in the same way, the third company reliev^ed
the second, who returned to their homes, where they
spent two months," until their turn for service came
round again. No military service was required of
any man beyond three months in the year, so that
during the three winter months neither of the three
military companies was on duty. Of the company
on duty for the time being, a portion was told off for
the defence of the principal fortresses, and the re-
mainder constituted a body-guard or standing army,
moving about under arms with the King and court.
This at least is the account which has come down
to us, but it is obviously incomplete or incorrect. It
«s quite impossible that a third of the fighting strength
I50 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
of the whole kingdom could have been constantly
maintained under arms by Alfred. For, whatever
may have been the case in the times of his father
and brothers, there can be little doubt that he both
maintained and paid his soldiers. This appears from
his own writings, as well as from the chroniclers. After
declaring that he had never much yearned after
earthly power, the King goes on (in the interpola-
tion in the seventeenth chapter of his translation of
Boethius) : " Nevertheless I was desirous of materials
for the work which I was commanded to perform ;
that is, that I might honourably and fitly exercise
Ihe power which was entrusted to me. Moreover, no
man can show any skill, or exercise or control any
power, without tools and materials; that is, of every
craft the materials without which man cannot exer-
cise the craft. This, then, is a king's material, and
his tools to reign with — that he have his land well
peopled. He must have bead-men and soldiens
and workmen ; without these tools no king can show
his craft. This is also his material that he must
have as well as the tools — provision for the three
classes. This is then their provision ; land to live on,
and pay, and weapons, and meat, and ale, and clothes,
and whatsoever is necessary for the three classes.
He cannot without these preserve the tools, or with-
out the tools accomplish any of those things which
he is commanded to perform. Therefore I was
desirous of materials wherewith to exercise the
power, that my work and the report thereof should
not be forgotten or hidden. For every craft and
W^^A" OFFICE A AW ADMIRALTY. 151
every power soon becomes old, and is passed over
in silence, if it be without wisdom. Because whatso-
evei is done through folly no one can ever reckon for
craft. This I will now truly say, that while I have
lived I have striven to live worthily, and after my
life to leave to the men who were after me my
memory in good works."
I could not touch the passage without quoting it
whole ; for, while treading on dangerous ground, it
seems to me to vindicate " king-craft " as Alfred
understood and practised it, and to throw a gleam
of light on his brave and pious life which we cannot
spare, " King-craft " in the mouth of James I.
meant the professional cleverness of the sovereign —
that cunning, a substitute for courage, by which he,
as king, could gain his selfish ends and exalt his
office, as he understood it. A contemptible, not to
say hateful meaning, which the phrase has retained
ever since in England. Alfred's idea of kingcraft
is "a work which he is commanded to perform,"
which it is woe to him if he fail in performing. The
two ideas are as wide apart as the character and
work of the two kings.
But the evidence does not rest on this passage.
Asser, speaking of the division which the King made
of his income, says that one-third of the part which he
devoted to secular purposes went to pay his soldiers
and ministers ; and Florence, that " he gave the first
portion of his income yearly to his soldiers." Now,
however highly we may be inclined to reckon Alfred's
income, it is quite impossible to suppose that one-
152 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
sixth of it could have found weapons, meat, ale, and
clothes, as well as pay, for anything like a third of
his available force. It is probable, then, that only a
small part of the company whose turn it might be
for active service were actually called out, and kept
under arms, either with the court, or in the fortresses.
These were paid by the King, while the remainder
of the company were not paid, unless they too were
actually called out, though during their month they
were no doubt constantly exercised, and kept in readi-
ness to muster at any moment.
It is not, however, of much importance, even if it
were possible to ascertain the precise detail of Alfred's
military reforms. The essence and result of them is
clear enough ; namely, that he had always a full
third of his whole force ready to act against an
enemy at a moment's notice, and that the burdens
of military service were equally distributed over the
whole kingdom.
Side by side with the fortifications of his coast-
towns, and the re-organization of 'his land-forces, the
King pushed on with energy the construction of such
a navy as would enable him to beat the Northmen
on their own element. We have seen that, early
in his first short interval of peace, he was busy
with this work, having no doubt even then satisfied
himself that his kingdom could only be effectually
defended by sea. In 875 he puts to sea for the
first time, and fights his first naval battle with suc-
cess, taking one of the sea-king's ships. This w'ili
have given him a model upon which to improve
JVA/^ OFFICE AND ADMIRALTY. 153
the build of his own ships. He accordingly, in 877,
" commands boats and long ships to be built through-
out the kingdom, in order that he might offer battle
by sea to the enemy as they were coming, and on
board of these he placed seamen, and appointed
them to watch the seas." The result of this wise
foresight was the destruction of the Danish fleet
off Swanage, on its way to the relief of Exeter.
But the West Saxon ships were no better than
the enemy's, until Alfred's practical sagacity and
genius for mechanics were brought to bear on ship,
building. The precise year in which the great recon-
struction of his fleet was made is not ascertainable.
The Saxon Chronicle places it as late as S97, but
it will be convenient to notice it here while we are
on the subject. The vessels then which, after much
study of the matter, he ordered to be built, were
twice as long and high as those of the Danes, and
had forty, sixty, or in some instances even a larger
number of oars. They were also, it is said, swifter
and steadier than the older vessels, as well as longer
and higher, and " were shapen neither like the Frisian
nor the Danish, but so as it seemed to the King they
would be most efficient." Alfred's galleys are per-
haps less puzzling than the Greek trireme ; at the
same time it is not easy to imagine how the account
in the Chronicle can be correct. Galleys would
naturally be slower in proportion to their height,
though of course much more formidable as fighting-
vessels. The West Saxon was not a seafaring man ;
at best was only inclined to go on board ship for
154 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
some definite and immediate piece of fighting, and
the King's regular fleet was manned by sailors of
many tribes, — Frisians, Franks, Britons, Scots, Armo-
ricans ; even pagan Danes, who took service with
him. And all these, of whatever race, " according
to their merits, were ruled, loved, honoured, and
enriched by Alfred." And in this department, as in
his military reforms, results at once and abundantly
justified his sagacity, for he was never badly worsted
in a sea-fight, and towards the end of his reign his
fleet had swept the coasts of England clear of the
sea-rovers.
Within two years after the peace of Wedmore the
fleet was ready to go to sea, and it was not a day too
soon. At no former time, indeed, were the western
coasts of Europe more terribly scourged by the North-
men. The great empire of Charlemagne, broken into
weak fragments, was overrun by them. The army
that had so recently left Fulham under the leader-
ship of Hasting, reinforced by constant arrivals from
Norway and Denmark, had left Ghent in 88 1, and
laid waste the banks of the Meuse and the Scheldt.
They were even now pressing southwards, and threat-
ening Paris and Amiens. It is a time for vigilance
and prompt action if the new kingdom is to be con-
solidated in peace. One small squadron of the North-
men, sweeping south, turn towards the English coasts
in the hope of plunder, in the summer of 882, and
find the King ready for them. Alfred himself goes
to meet them ; and of the four Danish vessels two
were taken fighting and all hands killed, and the
IVAR OFFICE AND ADMIRALTY. 155
commanders of the remaining two surrendered after
a desperate resistance, " They were sorely distressed
and wounded," the Chronicle remarks, "before they
surrendered."
But the first occasion on which the new organiza-
tion of the forces of the kingdom was put to any
severe test was not until three years later, when the
attempt on Rochester, already mentioned, was made.
To understand the importance of it, we must go back
to the time when Guthrum Athelstan crossed the
Mercian borders, under solemn pledges to settle
quietly down as undisputed king of East Anglia,
under nominal allegiance, indeed, to his great con-
queror, but practically as the equal sovereign of a
friendly but independent kingdom. Unluckily for
the good resolutions of the new convert, there was a
tempter at his elbow. One Isembart, a near relative
of Carloman, king of the Western Franks, had been
exiled by that monarch, and had served with Guthrum
in his last invasion of Wessex. He is bound for his
own country, where there are all manner of chances
in these times for rebels ; and the king of East Anglia,
unable to resist the scent of battle and the chances
of plunder, accompanies him with a force. After a
short career of atrocities, Guthrum Athelstan is de-
feated in a battle near Sancourt, and returns to East
Anglia, having, on the one hand, roused Alfred's
suspicions, and on the other restored his own relations
with Hasting and the Northern bands. During the
next year or two settlements of pirates are allowed
to establish themselves on the East Anglian coasts,
156 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
and before 885 several of the hostages given to Alfred
after the battle of Ethandune had died, and their
places remained unfilled. In short, there are the
gravest reasons for Alfred to doubt the good faith,
or the good-will, of Guthrum Athelstan and his
people.
At this crisis came the Danish descent on Kent
and siege of Rochester, abandoned precipitately by
the invaders on the prompt advance of Alfred, They
fled to their ships and made off, some back to the
French coast, and others across the Thames to Essex.
Here they found shelter and assistance in Bemfleet
and other places, which had become little better than
nests of heathen pirates, without any hindrance, if not
with the open sanction, of the ex-viking, now Chris-
tian king of East Anglia. Alfred's patience is now
fairly exhausted, and, resolved to give his faithless
ally a severe lesson, he gathers a fleet at once in the
Medway, puts troops on board, and sends them after
the last division of the invaders, with orders to retaliate,
or, as Asser puts it, " for the sake of plunder." The
West Saxon fleet soon fell in with sixteen Danish
vessels, followed them up the Stour, and, after a hard
fight, took the whole of them, and put the crews to
the sword. Had the King himself been on board,
the success would most likely have been complete.
As it was, the pirate communities of the East Anglian
coast hastily got together another fleet, with which
they attacked the King's fleet at the mouth of the
river "while they were reposing," and gained some
advantage over them.
II
IVA/i OFFICE AND ADMIRALTY. 157
The Saxon Chronicle and Asser both add to the
occurrences of the year that " the army which dwelt
in East Aiiglia disgracefully broke the peace which
they had concluded with King Alfred." Dr. Pauli
also notices a visit of Rollo to East Anglia at this
same time, the great viking having quitted the siege
of Paris to answer the summons of his old comrade
in arms. But the English chroniclers are silent on
the subject, and it would seem that the cloud passed
away without further hostilities. Alfred had every
reason to be satisfied with the first trial and proof of
his re-organized fleet and army, and had read the
people of the East Anglian coast a lesson which they
would not lightly forget. Guthrum Athelstan, for his
part, may have either repented of his bad faith, and
resolved to amend and live quietly, as we may hope,
or had come to the conclusion, alone or in consulta-
tion with Rollo, that there is nothing but sure and
speedy defeat to be gained by an open rupture with
Alfred. In any case he took no active step to avenge
the invasion of his kingdom, or to retaliate, and from
that time lived peaceably to the day of his death
in 890.
" A Prince, then," says Machiavelli (cap. xiv.), " is to
have no other design, nor thought, nor study but war
and the arts and disciplines thereof : for indeed this
is the only possession worthy of a prince, and is of so
much importance that it not only preserves those that
are born princes in their patrimonies, but advances
men of private condition to that honourable degree."
To which saying those who least admire the great
158 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
Italian will agree to this extent, that the arts and
disciplines of war should form the main object of a
prince's study until he has made his country as safe
against foreign attack as it can be made without
dwarfing the nation's life. This is what Alfred did
for his kingdom and people, between the peace of
Wedmore and the autumn of 885. His reward was
profound peace for eight more j^ears.
I
CHAPTER XIV..
THE kino's laws.
" Give the king Thy judgments, God, and Thy righteousness unto the
king's son.
" Then shall he judge Thy people according to the right, and defeiul
the poor. "
The king's next work after putting his kingdom in
a state of defence, and to the best of his abiHty
ensuring his people a safe country to live in, is to
give them laws for the ordering and governing of
their lives.
This business of laying down rules as to how his
English people shall be governed seems one of alto-
gether startling solemnity and importance to Alfred ;
and is, indeed, not a business which it is desirable thai
any king, or parliament, or other persons or bodies,
should undertake lightly. It would be instructive to
inquire carefully how much of the trouble and misery
which has come upon the land since his time has been
caused by the want of Alfred's spirit in this matter
of law-making. We have had at one time or another,
during the past thousand years, as terrible experience
as most nations of what strong men, or strong classes
of men, can do in the way of making laws to assert
i6o LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
their own wills. The laws imposing all sorts of reli-
gious disabilities, the combination laws, the corn
laws, are only some of the best known instances of
attempts in this direction. The Statute-book is not
yet clear of them, and who can hope that we have
seen their end, though just at present there is happily
no class strong enough to impose its own will on the
nation.? Our sins just now in this matter of law-
making are rather those of indifference, or cowardice.
Hand-to-mouth legislation, as it has been called — a
desire to ride off on side issues, not to meet our
difficulties fairly in the face, but rather to do such
temporary tinkering as will just tide over the imme-
diate crisis — is our temptation.
Here, indeed, in our law-making, as in all other
departments of human life, the loss of faith in God
is bearing its fruit, and taking all nerve and tone out
of our system. For that loss must be fatal to all
high ideal, and without a high ideal no people will
ever have or make good laws. Alfred has left us no
doubt as to his. There is an order laid down from
everlasting for the government of mankind, so he
believes, which is the expression of the will of God,
and to which man has to conform. He himself finds
it about his path, and about his bed, established
already on every side of him. He has become aware
of it gradually, by the experience of his own life,
through his own failures and successes. He has
been educated by these into the knowledge that he,
the King, is himself under a government, even the
government of Him whose laws the material universe,
THE KINGS LA J VS. i6i
all created things, obey, but whose highest empire is
in the hearts and wills of men. Ruling and making
laws are no light matter to one who has made this
discovery ; he can exercise neither function according
to his own pleasure or caprice, or for his own ends.
His one aim as a law-maker must be, to recognise
and declare those eternal laws of God — as a ruler, to
bring his own life, and that of his people, into
accordance with them.
Coming, then, to his task with this view, we find
Alfred's code, or "Alfred's dooms," as they are called,
starting with an almost literal transcript of the Deca-
logue, The only variations of any moment are, that
the second commandment is omitted in its right
place, and stands as the tenth (in the words of the
23d verse of the 20th of Exodus), "Work not thou
for thyself golden gods or silver," and that in the
fourth the Saxon text runs, " In six days Christ
wrought the heavens and earth and all shapen things
that in them are, and rested on the seventh day : and
for that the Lord hallowed it." The substitution of
Christ for the Lord here is characteristic of the King.
Immediately after the ten commandments come se-
lections from the Mosaic code, chiefly from the 21st,
22d, and 23d chapters of Exodus, very slightly
modified.
The most important variations are as follow :—
Exodus xxi. Alfred's Dooms.
1. Now these are the judgments ii. These are the dooms that
which thou shalt set before them. thou shalt set them ; — If any one
2. Ifthoubuy a Hebrew sei-vant, buy a Christian bondsman, be he
S.L. Vlll. JjJ
l62
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
six years he shall serve, and in
the seventh he shall go out free
for nothing.
3. If he came in by himself, he
shall go out by Iiimself : if he were
married, then his wife shall go out
with him.
4. If his master have given him
a wife, and she have born him
sons or daughters ; the wife and
her children shall be her master's,
and he shall go out by himself
5. And if the servant shall
plainly say, I love my master, my
wife, and my children ; I will not
go out free :
6. Then his itiaster shall bring
him unto the judges ; he shall also
bring him unto the door, or unto
the doorpost, and his master shall
bore his ear through with an awl,
and he shall serve him for ever.
bondsman to him six years, the
seventh be he free unbought. With
such clothes as he went in, with
such go he out. If he himself
have a wife, go she out with him.
If, however, tlie lord gave him a
wife, go she and her bairn the
lord's. If then the bondsman
say, I will not go from my lord,
nor from my wife, nor from my
bairn, nor from my goods, let
then his lord bring him to the
church door, and drill through
his ear with an awl, to witness
that he be ever thenceforth a
bondsman.
The dooms continue an almost literal transcript
of the 2 1st chapter of Exodus, with the exception
of the 17th verse, which is omitted. The slight
modifications of the Hebrew Law in the first verses
of the 2 2d chapter are again characteristic.
Exodus xxii.
1. If a man shall steal an ox or
a sheep and kill it, or sell it, he
shall restore five oxen for an ox,
and four sheep for a sheep
2. If a thief be found breaking
up, and be smitten that he die,
there shall no blood be shed for
him.
3. If the sun be risen upon
Alfreii's Dooms.
24. If any one steal another's
ox, and slay or sell him, give he
two for it, and four sheep for one.
If he have not what he may give,
be he himself sold for the fee.
25. If a thief break a man's
house by night and be there slain,
be he not guilty of manslaughter.
If he doeth this after sunrise he is
THE KINGS LAWS. 163
him, there shall be blood shed guilty of manslaughter, and him-
for him ; for he should make full self shall die, unless he did it oi
restitution ; if he have nothing, necessity. If with him be found
then shall he be sold for his theft. alive wliat he before stole, let him
4. If the theft be certainly found pay for it twofold.
in his hand alive, whether it be 26. If any man harm another
ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall man's vineyard, his acres, or any
restore double. of his lands, let him make boot as
5. If a man shall cause a field, men value it.
or a vineyard, to be eaten, and
shall put in his beast, and shall
feed in another man's field ; of the
best of his own field, and of the
best of his own vineyard, shall he
make restitution.
To the 8th verse, treating of property entrusted
to another, Alfred's dooms add, " If it were Hve
cattle, and he say that the army took it, or that it
died of itself, and he have v.'itness, he need not pay
for it. If he have no witness, and they believe him
not, let him then swear." We shall see that the
obligation of an oath, which had no sanction attached
to it apparently by West Saxon law till now, is
very carefully enforced in a later part of the code.
Alfred's dooms then omit from the 7th to the 15th
verse of the chapter inclusive, taking all the rest ;
with the variation, however, as to pledges, that the
Saxons are to return a man's pledged garment before
sunset only "if he have but one wherewith to cover
him."
The 3d and 6th verses of the 23d chapter arc a
puzzle to the King, so he substitutes dooms in his
own language, which are certainly clearer than the
Hebrew ones.
M 2
164
LIFE UF ALFRED THE GREAT.
Exodus xxiii. 3, 6.
3, Neither shalt thou counte-
nance a poor man in his cause.
6. Thou shalt not wrest the
judgment of thy poor in his cause.
Alfred's Dooms.
43. Doom tliou very evenly ;
doom thou not one doom to the
wealthy, another to the poor ; nor
one doom to the more loved, other
to the more loathed doom thou not.
Alfred adopts the next three verses in the following
form : —
Exodus xxiri. 7, 8, 9.
7. Keep thee far from a false
matter, and the innocent and
righteous slay thou not, for I will
not justify the wicked.
8. And thou shalt take no gift ;
for the gift blindeth the wise,
and perverteth the words of the
righteous.
9. Also thou shalt not oppress a
stranger, for ye know the heart of
a stranger, seeing ye were strangers
in the land of Egypt.
Alfred's Dooms.
44. Shun thou aye leasings.
45. A sooth fast man and guilt-
less, slay thou him never.
46. Take thou never meed
monies, for they blind full oft vt'ise
men's thoughts, and turn aside
their words.
47. To the stranger and comer
from abroad, meddle thou not
with him, nor oppress thou him
with no unright.
Then, omitting- all the rest of the Levitical law as
given in this part of Exodus, as to cultivation of the
land, the sabbatical year, sacrifices, and feasts, the
dooms end with : —
48. Swear ye never to heathen gods, nor in notliing call ye to them.
The old Odin worship is not yet quite extinct in
Wessex.
Having finished his extracts from Exodus, in all
forty-eight dooms, the King proceeds : —
" These are the dooms that the Almighty God
himself spake to Moses, and bade him to hold ; and
THE KINGS LAWS. 165
when the Lord's only-begotten Son, our God, that is,
Christ the healer, on middle earth came, He said that
He came not these dooms to break, nor to gainsay,
but with all good to do, and with all mild-heartedness
and lowly-mindedness to teach them. Then after His
throes, ere that His apostles were gone through all the
world to teach, and while yet they were together,
many heathen nations turned they to God. While
they all together were, they send errand-doers to
Antioch, and to Syria, Christ's law to teach. When
they understood that they sped not, then sent they
an errand-writing to them." Then follows verbatim
James' epistle from the Jerusalem council to the
Church at Antioch ; after which Alfred again goes
on : " That ye will that other men do not to you, do
ye not that to other men. From this one doom a
man may think that he should doom every one
rightly ; he need keep no other doom-book. Let
him take heed that he doom to no man that he
would not that he doom to him, if he sought doom
over him."
So far it would seem that the King has no doubt,
or need of consultation with any one. These are,
in his view, the dooms which the Almighty God
himself has given to the king and people of England,
as well as to the Hebrews of old. The remaining
dooms stand on different ground. They are such as
have been ordained by his forefathers and their wise
men, with such additions and variations as he and his
wise men approve. They are introduced thus : —
" Since that time, it happened that many nations
i66 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
took to Christ's faith, and there were many synods
through all the middle earth gathered, and eke
throughout the English race they took to Christ's
faith through holy bishops, and other wise men.
They then set forth, for their mild-heartedness, that
Christ taught as to almost every misdeed, that the
worldly lords might, with their leave, without sin, for
the first guilt, take their fee boot which they then ap-
pointed, except for treason against a lord, to which
they durst not declare any mild-heartedness, for that
the Almighty God doomed none to them that
slighted Him, nor Christ, God's Son, doomed none
to him that sold Him to death, and He bade to
love a lord as himself" Nevertheless, Alfred and
his witan, by the 4th article of their code, modify
this of the synods, and place the king and lords on
the same footing as other freemen, by recognising
the king's and lords' were-gild. " They then," the
preface goes on, " in many synods set a boot for
many misdeeds of men ; and in many books they
wrote here one doom, there another.
" I then, Alfred the King, gathered these together,
and bade to write many of these that our forefathers
held, those that to me seemed good : and many of
those that seemed not good I set aside with my
witan's council, and in other wise bade to hold them ;
for that I durst not venture much of mine own to
set in writing, for that it was unknown to me what
of this would be acceptable to those that came after
us. But those that I met with, either in my kinsman
Ina's days, or in Offa's, king of Mercia, or in Ethel
THE KINGS LAWS. 167
bryte's, that first of the English race took baptism,
those that seemed to me the rightest I gathered them
herein, and let the others alone. I then, Alfred, King
of the West Saxons, showed these to all my witan,
and they then said that they all seemed good to them
to hold."
Then follow the collected dooms, approved by
Alfred and his witan, from other sources, and " Ina's
dooms " by themselves, at the end of the code. We
have only room for a few of those which best
illustrate the habits and society of the time.
OF OATHS AND OF PLEDGES.
" It is most needful that every man warily hold his
oath and his pledge. If any man is forced to either
of these in wrong, either to treachery against a lord,
or other unright help, it is better to belie than to
fulfil. If he, however, pledge what it is right for
him to fulfil, and belie that, let him give with lowly-
mindedness his weapon and his goods to his friends
to hold, and be forty nights in prison in a king's
town, and suffer there as the bishop assigns him ;
and let his kinsmen feed him if he himself have no
meat. If he have no kinsmen, or no food, let the
king's reeve feed him. If one should compel him,
and he else will not, if they bind him let him forfeit
his weapons and inheritance. If one slay him, let
him lye without amends. If he flee out ere the time,
and one take him, let him be forty nights in prison,
as he should at first. If, however, he escape, let him
be looked on as a runaway, and be excommunicate
l68 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
of all Christ's churches. If, however, another man
be his surety, let him make boot for the breach of
suretyship as the law may direct, and for the pledge-
breaking as his confessor may shrive him."
It is in this doom that imprisonment is first men-
tioned in the Saxon laws. The doom for treason to
which Alfred refers in his preface as the unpar-
donable sin, and which in fact modifies that startling
assertion, is, —
OF TREACHERY AGAINST A LORD.
"If any one is treacherous about the king's life
by himself, or by protecting outlaws, or their men. be
he liable in his life, and in ail that he owns. If he
will prove himself true, let him do it by the king's
were-gild. In like manner we also appoint for all
ranks, both churl and earl. He that is treacherous
about his lord's life, be he liable in his life and all
that he owns, or by his lord's were prove him true."
Sanctuary in churches is carefully regulated, and
" church-frith " established ; that is to say, if a man
seek sanctuary for any crime which has not come
to light, and confess it in God's name, " be it half
forgiven."
The settlement of the boot for offences against
women form a prominent part of the code. From one
of these dooms (8) it would seem that a nun might be
married with the leave of the king or the bishop, as
a fine of 120 shillings (half to go to the king, and
half to the bishop and the lord of the convent) is
inflicted for taking her without such leave.
THE KINGS LAWS. i6g
The care which our forefathers took to enforce the
responsibility of the several sections of society for
their individual members, may be well illustrated
by the dooms as to " kinless men." " If a man
kinless of father's kin fight, and slay a man, then
if he have mother's kin, let them find a third of the
were, his guild brethren a third, and for a third let
him flee. If he have no mother's kin, let his guild
brethren pay half, and for half let him flee. If a
man slay a kinless man, let half his were be paid
to the king, half to his guild brethren."
The scale by which the diflerent classes of society
were assessed may be gathered from the doom for
housebreaking (40), by which burglary in the king's
house is fixed at one hundred and twenty shillings,
in an archbishop's ninety shillings, a bishop's or
alderman's sixty shillings, a twelve hynde man's
thirty shillings, a six hynde man's fifteen shillings,
a churl's five shillings ; the boot being in each in-
stance double if the offence is committed " while the
army is out," or during Lent. In laws of earlier date
the same penalties had been fixed for offences against
the king and against bishops. Now the king has
established his supremacy in every way.
It has been said that Alfred and his witan first
established a system of entail in England. There is
no foundation for this statement except the doom,
that if a man have inherited book-land " he must not
give it from his kin, if there be writing or witness
that it was forbidden by those that first gained it;"
a somewhat slender ground for the theory.
f7o LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
But the strangest glimpse which we get through
these laws of the state of society of a thousand years
since is in the doom as to feuds. It is too long to
quote, but in substance amounts to this: a man who
has a feud with another may not fight him, if he
finds him at home, without first demanding right
of him ; even then, he may not fight him for seven
days if he will remain within. If he come upon him
abroad unawares, he may fight him if he will not
give up his weapons ; if he will, then he must " hold
him thirty nights and warn his friends of him "
(probably that they may ransom him, but this is
not stated). A man may fight for his lord, and a
lord for his man, without feud. He may also fight
for his born kinsman without feud, except against
his lord, " that we allow not." He may also without
feud fight any man whom he finds insulting his wife,
daughter, sister, or mother.
Holidays, or Massday Festivals, are provided for
all freemen ; twelve days at Yule, " and the day that
Christ overcame the devil, and St. Gregory's day
(probably because of Alfred's reverence for Pope
Gregory), and a fortnight at Easter, St. Peter's and
St. Paul's days," in harvest the full week before St.
Mary's mass, All-Hallows day, and four Wednesdays
in the four Ember Weeks. Serfs or " theow men,"
however, do not fare so well, being left to "whatever
any man give them for God's name."
No less than thirty-three dooms are given up to
the valuing of wounds of all kinds, the boots ranging
from two shillings for a finger-nail, to eighty shillings
THE KING'S LAWS. 171
for an arm, and one hundred shillings for the tendons
of the neck. A man guilty of slander shall lose
his tongue, or pay full were-gild.
Amongst the dooms of " Ina my kinsman," which
are appended to Alfred's, we may note that as to
working on Sundays. If a theow work on Sunday
by his lord's order, the lord must pay thirty shillings
for wite ; if without his lord's order, " let him pay
hide gild," or, in other words, be flogged. If a free-
man work without his lord's order, he must forfeit
his freedom, or pay sixty shillings, and a priest must
forfeit double.
A chance of escape is left, however, for the theow
who has become liable to " hide gild " under the
doom on "Church scots:" "If any man forfeit
his hide and run into a church, let the swingeing
(whipping) be forgiven him."
For the protection of forests it is enacted, that if
any man burn a tree in a wood and it be found out,
" let him pay full wite of sixty shillings, because fire is
a thief ;^^ but, if any one fell many trees in a wood,
" let him pay for three trees, each with thirty idiiillings.
He need not pay for more of them, however many
there might be, because tJie axe is an informer, not a
thief But if any one cut down a tree under which
thirty svv^ine may stand, let him pay sixty shillings wite."
The doom against lurking in secret places, already
noticed, is re-enacted in a modified form : if any far-
coming man, or stranger, journey through a wood out
of the highway, and neither shout nor blow horn, he
may be slain.
172 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
By such dooms, then, did the King and his witan
endeavour to weld into the everyday Hfe of a rude
people, accustomed to settle all disputes and diffi-
culties by free fighting, that one governing doom
of the whole code, " That ye will that other men
do not to you, do ye not that to other men." It may
be impossible to suppress a smile at the strange
company in which the golden rule finds itself in the
code of Alfred and his wise men. The task was by
no means an easy one, and they have, at any rate,
the credit of putting it distinctly forward and doing
their best upon it. Have any of our law-makers
from that time to this aimed at a higher ideal, or
worked it out more honestly according to their
lights } If so, let them cast the first stone at " Alfred's
dooms."
Mr. Thorpe supposes that the same code, with the
dooms of Offa, instead of those of Ina, appended,
was passed by the witan of Mercia, and put in force
in that country. The code was also modified for the
new Danish kingdom of East Anglia.
CHAPTER XV.
THE king's justice.
* And he set judges tn t/ie land, throiigJiout all the fenced cities, city by
city, and said to them, Take heed what ye do : for ye judge not for
man, but for the Lord, and He is with you in the judgment "
The one special characteristic of Englishmen (in-
dubitable and indisputable till of late), reverence
for law and the constable's staff, if it had ever
taken root at all in the country before Alfred's time,
had disappeared during the life-and-death struggle
with the Northmen. When " the army " left Mercia,
and went to settle in their own countr}^, the state
of things which they left behind them in Wessex
was lawless to the last degree. The severe penalties
provided in Alfred's laws for brawling in the king's
hall, or before aldermen in the mote, for disturbing
the folk-mote by weapon drawing, for fighting in
the houses of freemen or churls, show what a pass
things had come to.
On the other hand, it is equally clear that this
readiness to appeal to the strong hand on all occa-
sions was not altogether without justification, for the
ordinary tribunals were fallen into utter disrepute,
scarcely even attempting to do justice between man
174 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
and man. The aldermen of the shires, hereditary
rulers, responsible indeed to the King, but for most
practical purposes independent, were the chief judges,
as well as the chief executive officers, of the kingdom.
They had systematically neglected, and so had be-
come utterly incompetent to fulfil, their judicial duties.
There was scarcely an alderman who could read the
text of the written laws in his own language, or who
had any but the most superficial acquaintance with
the common law, which was even then a precious
inheritance of the tribes of the great German stock.
These judicial duties had consequently fallen into
the hands of their servants, " vice-domini," and other
inferior officers. How these and others carried matters,
and what sort of justice the people got under them,
we may conjecture from the statement in Andrew
Home's " Miroir des Justices," that Alfred had to
hang forty-four of them for scandalous conduct on
the judgment-seat. One Cad wine was thus hanged,
because on the trial of Hachwy for his life he first
put himself on the jury, and then, when three of
the jury were still for finding a verdict of not guilty,
removed these and substituted three others, against
whom he gave Hachwy no right of challenge, aad
sentenced him to death on their verdict. Another,
Freberne, was hanged for sentencing Harpin to death
when the jury were in doubt, and would not find a
verdict of guilty; and Segnar, because he condemned
Elfe to death after he had been acquitted. Dr.
Pauli and others have doubted this evidence, deeming
'juch measures absolutely inconsistent with Alfred's
THE KING'S JUS TICE. 1 7 5
character, and it is certainly difficult to believe that
he would have so punished men for mistakes, as is
the case with some of the forty-four cases cited in
the " Miroir des Justices." But I own it seems to
me that Cadwine and Freberne most thoroughly
deserved hanging, and that Alfred was just the king
to have given them their deserts. Unfortunately,
the treatise which he is said to have written " asrainst
unjust Judges," and his " reports of cases in his time"
{acta viagistratiim siioriiui), which A\'ere extant it
seems in Edward IV.'s reign, are lost. We can get
no nearer the truth, therefore, on this particular
question, but have the best evidence as to the
thorough reform which he introduced in the whole
administration of justice.
The first and most important of his reforms was,
the severance of the executive and judicial functions.
Eut even this step was taken without haste, or in-
justice of any kind. It was only after patient sifting,
and very gradually, that the aldermen and earls were
superseded. The hard-handed, truculent, old warriors,
who had stood so stoutly by him through many a
hard day's fighting, were dear to the King, and were
treated by him with the utmost consideration. He
would give the chiefs who had led men at Ashdown,
and Wilton, and Ethandune, every chance ; would
spend himself in the effort to make them equal to their
duties ; would allow them to do anything, except
injustice to God's poor, and his. For, as Asser tes-
tifies, "he showed himself a minute investigator of
the truth in all his judgments, and this especially
176 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
for the sake of the poor, to whose interests, day and
night, among other duties of this life, he was ever
wonderfully attentive. For in the whole kingdom
the poor beside him had few or no protectors. For
all the powerful and noble men of the nation had
turned their thoughts to worldly rather than to
heavenly things, and each was bent more on his own
profit than on the public good."
There is, in the same author, a very characteristic
account of Alfred's endeavour to educate his aldei-
men and earls as judges, which is for us full of
humour, almost reaching pathos. Alfred, in all the
early years of his reign, was in the habit of inquiring
" into almost all the judgments which were given in his
absence throughout all his realm, whether they were
just or unjust. If he perceived there Avas iniquity
in those judgments, he would summon the judges,
either himself, or through his faithful servants, and
a.sk them mildly why they had judged so unjustly—
whether through ignorance or malevolence, whether
for the love or fear of any, or hatred of others, or,
also, for the desire for money." What happened in
the latter case Asser does not tell us, but the " Miroir
des Justices" may suggest. If, however, "the judges
acknowledged that they had given such judgments
because they knew no better, he would discreetly and
CQoderately reprove their inexperience and folly in
such words as these : * I wonder, truly, at your rash-
ness, that, whereas by God's favour and mine you
have occupied the rank and office of the wise, you
have neglected the studies and labours of the wise.
Seditiously bent on ac that it had
worth in it for other and different times.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE king's exchequer.
" He becomeih poor that deaidh 'vilh a slack hand, but the hand of the
diligent inakcth rich.
" Let thy fountains he dispersed abroad, and rivers oj waters tn the
streets.
" The liberal soul shall be tnade fat, and he that ivatercth shall be
'watered also himself. "
Of all the difficult questions which meet the student
of King Alfred's life and times, there is none more
puzzling than this of his exchequer. We have
already passed in review a portion of the work which
he managed to perform, and much yet remains for us
to glance at. We know that he rebuilt the fortresses,
created a navy composed of ships of a more costly
kind than had yet been in use, and rc-organized his
army so as constantly to have one-third of the free-
men capable of carrying arms ready for immediate
service, and on full pay. Our own experience tells
us that these are three as costly undertakings as
any which a reforming king could take in hand.
Where then did the necessary funds come from }
The rebuilding of fortresses, and marching against
an enemy in the field, were indeed, as we have seen,
igo LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
two of the three duties to which all land granted to
individuals was subject ; but this rule would scarcely
seem to have included such fortresses as were royal
property. These, which were undoubtedly very nu-
merous, the King probably rebuilt at his own charges.
In the same way, the military service which freemen
were bound to render did not include garrison duty,
or the three months' yearly training under arms,
which Alfred enforced after the first great invasion of
Wessex. The reconstruction of the fleet, too, was an
unusual expense, which must probably have fallen on
the King almost exclusively. Mr. Pearson says, " The
church, the army, the fleet, the police, the poor-rates,
the walls, bridges, and highways of the country, were
all local expenses, defrayed by tithes, by personal
service, or by contributions among the guilds." But
this statement can scarcely refer to so early a time as
the ninth century ; and Alfred's own words, and the last
and most authentic portion of Asser's life, lead to the
int"erence that much of the military cost of all kinds
was borne by the King himself. To the outlay for
these purposes, we must add the maintenance of his
court, in a style of magnificence quite unusual before
his time ; the payment of the army of skilled artificers
which he collected, and of his civil officers and min-
isters ; the entertainment of strangers ; his foreign
embassies ; his schools, the ecclesiastical establish-
ments which he founded, endowed, or assisted ; and the
relief of the poor. These must have amounted to very
large sums annually ; while we should have expected
that the sources of the King's wealth would have been
THE KINGS EXCHEQUER. 19)
almost dried up by the long and devastating wars,
Alfred indeed himself states, in the preamble to his
will, that he and his family had been despoiled of
great part of their wealth " by the heathen folk." The
fact, however, remains, that all these things were done
out of the King's revenues, and there is no hint in
chronicler, or law, or charter, that he ever oppressed
his people by any such exactions, legal or illegal, as
have generally been enforced by magnificent monarchs,
from Solomon downwards.
To meet this expenditure, the King's income was
derived from three sources : public revenue, crown
lands, and his private property. The public revenue
arose from several sources, amongst which we may
reckon probably dues in the nature of customs, pay-
able by merchants at the several ports of the king-
dom, and tolls payable by persons trading at the
king's markets, though the authentic notices of the
payment of any such in Alfred's time are very meagre.
Then the king succeeded to the lands of those who
died kinless, and probably to their goods if they were
intestate. Treasure-trove also belonged to him. But
far more important than these must have been the
revenue derived from the were-gild, and other fines
imposed by the laws for damage to person and
property.
The care with which these " boots " are fixed in
Alfred's laws, in which the details of the compensa-
tions awarded in such cases occupy the greater part
of the code, would indicate the revenue from them to
have been considerable. It will have been largest too
192 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
at the time when it was most needed, in the first
years of peace, before the old violent habits of the
people had given way under the even and strong
administration of the King. But even of this revenue
the King only got a portion. For instance, the were-
gild or compensation for manslaughter was (it seems)
divisible into three portions : the first part only, or
" frith-boot," was paid to the King for the breach of his
peace; the second part, or " man-boot," went to the lord
as compensation for the loss of his man ; where the
dead man had no lord, or was a foreigner, two-thirds
went to the King : the third part, called " mag " (or
tribe) boot, or " ern gild " was paid to the dead man's
family, as compensation for the injury caused to them
by his loss. Of the remaining boots, it is probable
that the King got a less share of those inflicted for
injuries to the person not ending fatally, as the claim
of the sufferer in such cases would be paramount to
any other ; while of those inflicted for such offences
as perjury, slander, brawling, he would probably take
the greater part. Still, on the most extravagant
estimate, the income arising from all these sources
must have been very trifling when compared with the
royal outgoings.
The crown lands proper were no doubt of consider-
able extent and value, but there is little evidence
to show of what they consisted. Reading, Dene,
and Leonafbrd, are royal burghs mentioned in the
Chronicles which are not included amongst Alfred's
devises, and were probably crown lands. Alfred's
own lands or family estates, of which he was absolute
THE KINGS EXCHEQUER. 193
owner, and able to dispose by his will, must have been
very extensive. He had estates in every shire in
Wessex, except that portion of Glostershire which
was included in the old West Saxon kingdom. Per-
haps, however, at the date of his will the whole of
Glostershire might have been handed over to Ethelred
the Alderman of Mercia, and the royal estates there
given as part of Ethelswitha's dower. The royal pro-
perties lay most thickly in Wilts, Hants, and Somerset,
in which three shires we find upwards of twenty spe-
cified in the will. Lands in Kent and Sussex are also
devised, so that there was no part of the new kingdom
in which Alfred was not a large proprietor. But how
these lands were cultivated, what part of the produce
was sold, and what forwarded in kind to meet the
consumption of the court, and of that host of soldiers
and mechanics for whom the King undertook to find
bread and meat and beer, as one of the most im-
portant of his royal functions, there is no evidence
to show.
But if we can do little but conjecture more or less
confidently as to the sources or amount of Alfred's
revenue, we know in remarkable detail how he spent
it, from the account given in what Dr. Pauli and
others consider the most authentic part of Asser's life.
The good bishop's preamble to this portion of his
work tells how the King, after the building and
endowing of his monasteries at Athelney and Shaftes-
bury, began to consider " what more he could do to
augment and show forth his piety. That which he
had begun wisely, and thoughtfully conceived for
194 TJFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
the public good, he adhered to with equally bene-
ficial result, for he had heard it out of the book of
the law that the Lord had promised to restore him
tenfold, and he knew that the Lord had kept His
promise, and had actually restored him tenfold.
Encouraged by which example, and wishing to outdo
his predecessors in such matters, he vowed humbly
and faithfully to devote to God half his services both
day and night, and also half of all his wealth, such
as lawfully and justly came annually into his posses-
sion. And this vow, as far as human judgment can
discern, he skilfully and wisely endeavoured to fulfil.
But that he might, with his usual caution, avoid that
which Scripture warns us against, ' if you offer aright,
but do not divide aright, you sin,' he considered how
he might divide aright that which he had vowed to
God ; and as Solomon had said, ' the heart or counsel
of the king is in the hand of God,' he ordered with
wise foresight, which could come only from above,
that his officers should first divide into two parts the
revenues of every year. When this division was made
he assigned the first half to worldly uses, and ordered
that one-third of it should be paid to his soldiers,
and also to his ministers and nobles who dwelt at
court, where they discharged divers duties ; for so the
King's household was arranged at all times into three
classes. His attendants were thus wisely divided into
three companies, so that the first company should be
on duty at court for one month, night and day, at
the end of which time they returned to their homes
?jnd were relieved by the second company. At the
THE KINGS EXCHEQUER. 195
end of the second month, in the same way, the third
company relieved the second, who returned to their
homes, where they spent two months, until their turn
for service came again. The third company also gave
place to the first, in the same way, and also spent
two months at home. Thus was the threefold division
of the companies arranged at all times in the royal
household. To these, therefore, was paid the first
of the three portions, to each according to their
respective dignities and services ; the second to the
workmen whom he had collected from every nation,
and had about him in large numbers, men skilled in
every kind of construction ; the third portion was
assigned to foreigners, who came to him out of every
nation far and near ; whether they asked money of
him or not he cheerfully gave to each with wonderful
munificence, according to their respective merits, as
it is written, ' God loveth a cheerful giver.' "
" But the second part of his revenues, which came
yearly into his possession, and was included in the
receipts of the exchequer, as we mentioned above,
he gave with ready devotion to God, ordering his
ministers to divide it carefully into four parts. The
first part was discreetly bestowed on the poor of every
nation that came to him, and on this subject he said
that, as far as human judgment could guarantee, the
advice of Pope Gregory should be followed, ' Give
not much to whom you should give little, nor little to
whom much, nor something to whom nothing, nor
nothing to whom something.' The second of the
four portions was given to the two monasteries which
O 2
196 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
he had built, and to tho55e who therein dedicated
themselves to God's service. The third portion was
assigned to the schools which he had studiously
collected together, consisting of many of the nobility
of his own nation. The fourth portion was for the
use of all the neighbouring monasteries in all Saxony
and Mercia, and also during some years, in turn, to
the churches and servants of God dwelling in Britain,
Cornwall, Gaul, Armorica, Northumbria, and some-
times also in Ireland ; according to his means he
either distributed to them beforehand, or afterwards,
if life and success should not fail him," meaning,
probably, that the King, when he was in funds, made
his donations to monasteries at the beginning of the
financial year — if otherwise, at the end.
The roundabout way in which the old churchman
and scholar thus puts before us the picture of his
truth-loving friend and king, preaching economy and
order to his people by example, brings it home to us
better than any modern paraphrase. Asser sees the
good work going on under his eyes, the orderly and
wise munificence, and the well-regulated industry of
the King's household, giving tone to all the house-
holds in the realm; nobles and king's thegns, justices,
officers, and soldiers, coming up month by month,
and returning to their own shires, wiser and braver
and thriftier men for their contact with the wisest
and bravest and thriftiest Englishman. Everything
prospers with him ; for all his outlay, Asser sees and
writes : " the Lord has restored him tenfold."
Rulers and workers the like of this king are indeed
I
I
THE KINGS EXCHEQUER. 197
:ipt to get large returns. The things of this world
acknowledge their master, and pour into his lap full
measure, heaped up, and running over. But the ten-
fold return brings its own danger with it, and too
often the visible things bind the strong man. " This
is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail. . . . When goods
increase, they are increased that eat them ; and what
good is there to the owners thereof saving the behold-
ing of them with their eyes. . . . All the labour of
man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is n<^t
filled. . . There is an evil which I have seen under
the sun, and it is common among men. A man to
whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so
that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he
desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof,
but a stranger eateth it : this is vanity, and it is an evil
disease." So mourns the wise king who has bowed
before the " tenfold return," and for whom his wealth
has become a mere dreary burden.
If we would learn how the Saxon king kept the
dominion which the Hebrew king lost over the things
which "the Lord was restoring him tenfold," we shall
perhaps get the key best from himself " Lord," Alfred
writes in his Anglo-Saxon adaptation from St. Au-
gustine's " Blossom Gatherings," " Thou who hast
wrought all things worthy, and nothing unworthy . .
to Thee I call, whom everything loveth that can love,
both those which know what they love, and those
which know not what they love : Thou who art the
Father of that Son who has awakened and yet wakens
us from the sleep of our sins, and warneth us that we
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
come to Thee. For every one falls who flees from
Thee, and every one rises who turns to Thee, ant]
every one stands who abides in Thee, and he dies
who altogether forsakes Thee, and he quickens who
comes to Thee, and he lives indeed who thoroughly
abides in Thee. Thou who hast given us the power
that we should not despond in any toil, nor in Tvay
inconvenience, as is no wonder, for Thou well rulest,
and makest us well serve Thee. . . . Thou hast well
taught us that we may understand that that was
strange to us and transitory which we looked on as
our own — that is, worldly wealth ; and Thou hast also
taught us to understand that that is our own which
we looked on as strange to us — that is, the kingdom
of heaven, which we before disregarded. Thou who
hast taught us that we should do nought unlawful,
hast also taught that we should not sorrow though our
substance waned to us. . . . Thou hast loosed us from
the thraldom of other creatures, and always preparest
eternal life for us, and preparest us also for eternal
life. . . , Hear me, Lord, Thy servant ! Thee alone
I love over all other things ! Thee I seek ! Thee
I follov/ ! Thee I am ready to serve ! Under Thy
government I wish to abide,, for Thou alone reignest."
A strange, incomprehensible, even exasperating
kind of man, this king, to the temper and understand-
ing of our day, which resents vehemently the ex-
pression of any such faith as his. How often during the
last few years have we not heard impatient or con-
temptuous protests against the well-meaning perhaps,
but shallow, and often vulgar, persons who are ashamed
THE KING'S EXCHEQUER. 199
or afraid of doubt, and insist on' using this sort of
precise language about matters which will not bear it,
of which nothing certain is, or can be, known. But
they are for the most part poor creatures (when not
parsons, and therefore tied to their professional shib-
boleths), fools or bigots, useless for this world and in
their relations with visible things, where we can test
them, whatever they may be as to any other, of which
neither they or we can know anything. Do any of
our best intellects, statesmen, scholars, scientific men
— any of those who lead the thought and do the
work of our time — talk thus .?
But this straightforward, practical English king,
the hardest worker probably who ever lived in these
islands, who was the first statesman, scholar, scientific
man, of his day — who fought more pitched battles than
he lived years, and triumphed over the most for-
midable leaders Europe could produce in those wild
times — who re-organized, and put new life into, every
institution of his country, and yet attended to every
detail of business like a common merchant — is pre-
cisely the man who ought to have been free from this
kind of superstition. It is a hard saying in the
mouth of such a ruler of men, this of " Under Thy
government I wish to abide, for Thou alone reignest."
This can scarcely refer to the " tendency by which all
men strive to fulfil the law of their being." What dor-
it m.ean ?
CHAPTER XVII.
THE KINGS CHURCH.
" h not the Lord your God with you ? and hath He not given you rest on
every side ? Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lo-rd your
God : arije, tliei-efore, and build ye the sanctuary of the Lord God. "
" By the end of the seventh century," says Mr. Free-
man, " the independent insular Teutonic Church had
become one of the brightest hghts of the Christian
firmament." The sad change which had come over
her in the first half of the ninth century has already
been noticed. She had entirely ceased to be a mis-
sionary church, and even in the matter of learning
had so deteriorated, that Alfred himself writes in his
[M'cface to the Anglo-Saxon version of Gregory's
Pastoral Care: "So clean was learning now fallen ofij
amongst the English race, that there were very few on
this side the Humber who were able to understand
their service in English, or even to turn a written
letter from Latin into English, and I think that there
were not many beyond the Humber. So few there
were of them, that I cannot think of even one on
the south of the Thames when I first took to the
kingdom." At the same time Alfred also remembers
that when he was young he had seen, " ere all within
^hem was laid waste and burnt up, how the churches
THE KINGS CHURCH.
throughout all the English race stood filled with
treasures and books, also a great multitude of God's
servants, though they knew very little use of those
books, for that they could not understand anything
of them."
At the time of which Alfred is writing, the begin-
ning of his own reign, it would seem too that the class
from which hitherto the superior clergy, the monks
and canons of the cathedrals and abbeys, had been
recruited, had ceased to supply a sufficient number to
fill up vacancies. Their places were being filled by
ihe parochial clergy, or mass priests, who were of a
much lower class socially. For the monks, with the
exception of foreigners (of whom there had always been
^ome in every considerable monastic institution), were
as a rule of the noble class, while the mass priests
were taken from the class of ccorls, who were still
indeed an independent yeomanry, and owners of theii
own land, but in other respects little removed from
the servile class. That this lack of candidates foi
orders was felt before the first invasion appears from
cin incident which happened in the year 870, just
before the first great invasion of Wessex and Alfred's
accession, and consequently before any cathedral or
abbey in Wessex had been plundered or burnt. In
that year, Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury, died,
and " King Ethelred and Alfred his brother took
Ethelred, Bishop of Winchester, and appointed him
Archbishop, because formerly he had been a monk of
that same minster of Canterbury." Now in Ceolnoth's
time there had in one year been a great mortality
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
m Canterbury amongst the monks, so that five only
were left for the work of the Cathedral. He was ob-
liged therefore to brhig in some of " the priests of his
vills, that they should help the few monks who sur-
vived to do Christ's service, because he could not so
readily find monks who would of themselves do that
service." Nevertheless Ceolnoth had been always
anxious to get rid of the mass priests, and the chronicler
reports him as having said, " So soon as God shall give
peace to this land, either these priests shall be monks,
or from elsewhere I will place within the minster as
many monks as may do the service of themselves."
The speech was more probably Ethelred's, who at
any rate, as soon as he was established in the Arch-
bishopric, took counsel how he might expel the clerks
that were therein. This however he could not effect,
" for that the land was much distressed by frequent
battles, and there was warfare and sorrow all his time
over England, so that the clerks remained with the
monks," and he died in 888 without having accom-
plished his object.
This state of things was of course made far worse
by the wai. That which was now the West Saxon
kingdom contained at least five dioceses, besides that
of Canterbury ; of these Winchester, Sherborne, Wells,
were the chief, all of which had been traversed and
plundered at one time or another. The material
prosperity had followed the higher life of the Church,
and there was as much need of restoring the mere
outward framework of churches and monasteries, as
tliat of city walls and fortifications.
THE KING'S CHURCH. 203
To this the King turned his attention soon after the
peace of Wed more. We have heard already that of
the half of his revenue which he dedicated to religious
uses, one-fourth was expended on the two monasteries
of his own foundation, and another fourth on the
monasteries in Wessex and the other English king-
doms. The erection of these two monasteries was the
first ecclesiastical work he took in hand. The one for
monks was built at Athelney, in fulfilment of a vow
which he had made there during his residence on the
island. A bridge " laboriously constructed " was now
thrown over the morass, at the western end of which
was erected a strong tower of beautiful work, to guard
the approach. The monastery and outbuildings occu-
pied the whole island, and being built before the King
had collected his army of artisans, was of wood, the
church small, and supported on four strong pillars of
wood, and surrounded by four smaller cells or chancels.
But it was easier to build the monastery than to fill
it as the King would wish it filled. "At first," says
Asser, " he had no one of his own nation, noble and
free by birth, who was willing to enter the monastic
life, except children, who could neither choose good
or avoid evil, in consequence of their tender years.
For during many previous years, the love of a mo-
nastic life had utterly decayed from that nation, as
well as from many other nations, though many
monasteries remained in the country. As yet no one
directed the rule of that kind of life in a regular way,
for what reason I cannot say, either from the invasions
of foreigners, which took place so frequently both by
204 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
sea and land, or because that people abounded in
dches of every kind, and so looked with contempt on
the monastic life." Alfred was consequently at once
driven abroad, not only for learned monks who were
able to occupy high places, and to instruct those who
should instruct his people in all kinds of learning, but
even for the ordinary brethren. For Athelney he got
as first Abbot, John, priest and monk, an old Saxon
by birth, and soon after him, certain monks and
deacons from beyond the sea. But the monastery
filled so slowly, that the King was soon driven to
procure " as many as he could of the Gallic nation."
Of these, some were children, for whom as well as
for natives a school was established at Athelney, and
they were taught there. Asser himself had seen a
youth of pagan birth who had been educated in the
monastery, and was of great promise.
Alfred's second monastery was one for nuns, built
by the eastern gate of the town of Shaftesbury, The
first abbess was Ethelgiva, his second daughter, who
must have been placed in that position while almost
a child, unless, indeed, the monastery was not built
till a much later period than Asser indicates. In
any case, there seems to have been no difficulty in
finding nuns amongst the Saxon nobles, for many
noble ladies became bound by the rules of monastic
life, and entered the convent at Shaftesbury with the
King's daughter. Besides an original endowment of
lands, these two loundations were permanently sus-
tained by one-eighth part of the royal revenues.
One other monastery Alfred appears to have com-
THE KINGS CHURCH.
menced at Winchester, called the new monastery
which was the latest and most magnificent of his
ecclesiastical buildings. It was intended as his burial-
place, but was not finished at the time of his death.
The chapel was so near the cathedral church of
Winchester, that the chanting of one choir could be
heard in the other building, which seems to have
caused much bitterness between the bishop and abbot
and their respective staffs. To this may be attributed
the hard terms imposed by the bishop on Edward
the elder, Alfred's son and successor, who, being
anxious to complete his father's work, and to add
suitable offices to the new monastery, was charged
by the bishop a mark of gold for every foot of land
he was obliged to buy. These are Alfred's only
ecclesiastical foundations, though he was a munificent
benefactor of others, such as Sherborne and Durham
cathedrals, and the abbeys of Glastonbury and Wilton,
and appropriated one-eighth of his income for distri-
bution to any that had need.
But the building, restoring, and maintaining the
outer fabric of churches, monasteries, and abbeys, was
only the easiest part of the King's work. The dis-
cipline and services of the Church, and the habits
and manners of monks and priests, had fallen into
lamentable confusion. To restore these, Alfred
searched his own and neighbouring kingdoms, and
gathered round him a band of learned and pious
churchmen, of whom he was able to speak with
honourable pride towards the end of his life : "It is
unknown how long there may be so learned bishop?
2o6 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
as, thank God, are now everywhere." We shall have
to notice these friends of the King by themselves ;
here it is only necessary to say that they taught in the
schools, translated books, restored Church discipline,
presided in synods, all under the King's eye, and so re-
stored the character of the Church of England, that
once again " the clergy were zealous in learning and
in teaching, and in all their sacred duties, and people
came from foreign countries to seek instruction."
One of the first effects of this revival was to attract
the notice and approval of the Pope Martinus, who,
cither in the year 882 or '^Z'i), sent an embassy to Alfred
with presents, including " a part of the rood on which
Christ suffered." The King in return, in 883, sent
presents to the Pope by the hands of Sighelm and
Athelstane, two of his nobles, who also presented the
suit of their King and people, that the Saxon schools
at Rome, which were supported by the bounty of his
father Ethelwulf, and in the church attached to which
Buhred, his unhappy brother-in-law, was buried, might
be freed from all toll and tribute. Martinus granted
the request, and died in the next year. But his death
does not seem to have affected Alfred's relations with
the head of the Church. In many subsequent years
English embassies to Rome are mentioned, those, for
instance, of Ethelhelm, Alderman of Wilts in ^^y, and
Beocca in 888, with whom journeyed the widowed
Ethelswitha, Alfred's sister, formerly the lady of
Mercia, to make her grave with her husband. She
never reached Rome, but died on the journey at Pavia.
Indeed, the note in the Saxon Chronicle for the year
THE KINGS CHURCH. 207
889, " in this year there was no journey to Rome, ex-
cept that King Alfred sent two couriers with letters,"
would lead to the inference that an embassy was
regularly sent in ordinary years to carry the offer-
ings of the King and people to the shrine of St. Peter.
Beyond this interchange of courtesies, however, and
the annual gifts, it does not appear that the relations
between the Pope and the English Church became at
all more intimate in Alfred's time. In some respects,
undoubtedly, he asserted his authority over the na-
tional Church, and his superiority to its highest
minister.?, more decidedly than any of his prede-
cessors. In his laws, the second commandment was
virtually restored to the Decalogue ; the King's were-
gild was made higher than an archbishop's, reversing
the older law : the fine for breaking the King's bail
was five pounds' weight of coin ; for breaking an
archbishop's bail, three pounds only : for breaking
into the King's house, 120 shillings ; into an arch-
bishop's, ninety. Again, the way in which the King
addresses and employs his bishops, carrying them
about with him, and using them as translators of
the Scriptures, or of any other work which he desires
to put within reach of his people, shows that he
claimed them as his officers, and that they acknow-
ledged his authority. It is said that he left all the
sees of Wessex vacant for the last years of his reign,
and only under the care of the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, and that the Pope did not even remonstrate
with him, but on his death threatened his successor
with excommunication unless they were filled up.
2o8 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
From this fact Spelman argues that Alfred's " life
and ways were not pleasing to the fathers at Rome."
But this statement does not rest on any trustworthy
authority, and it seems far more probable that Alfred
lived on excellent terms with contemporary popes.
They, for their part, seem to have wisely followed
the liberal policy indicated in Gregory's answers to
Saint Augustine, and to have allowed the Church
in the distant island to develop in its own way
On the other hand, the King evidently entertained
and expressed on all occasions, very real and deep
reverence for the acknowledged head of the Church,
and worked in such noble and perfect harmony
with his own bishops, that no questions seem ever
to have arisen in his reign which could bring the
spiritual and temporal powers into collision. H??
own humble and earnest piety, and scrupulous obser-
vance of all the ordinances of the Church, united with
extraordinary firmness and power of ruling men, no
doubt contributed to this happy result.
And so State and Church worked in harmony side
by side, exercising a concurrent jurisdiction of a very
remarkable kind. Every crime was punishable both
by the civil and spiritual tribunals. The King and
witan, or the judge and jury, or homage (as the case
might be), punished the offender for the damage he
had done to his fellow-citizens, or to the common-
wealth, by fines, or mutilation, or imprisonment. But
the criminal was not thus fully discharged. The moral
sin remained, with which the State did not profess to
deal, but left it to the spiritual powers, aided by the
THE KINGS CHURCH. 209
provisions of the code. Accordingly, for every crime
there was also a penance, to be fixed by bishop or
priest. In short, Alfred and his witan believed that
sin might be rooted out by external sanctions,
penalties affecting body and goods. The Church,
they thought, was the proper authority, the power
which could do this work for the commonwealth, and
accordingly to the Church the duty was entrusted.
Looked at with the experience of another 1,000
years, the wonder is, not that the attempt did not
succeed, but that it worked even for a generation or
so without bringing the two powers into the fiercest
conflict. The singleness of mind and heart, and
earnestness of Alfred, must have inspired in great
measure his aldermen, judges, bishops, all men in
responsible offices. So he could put forth his ideal,
simply and squarely, and expect all Englishmen to
endeavour to realize that — with results even there^and
then of a very surprising kind. For through the mists
of 1,000 years we do here actually see a people trying,
in a somewhat rude and uncouth way, but still
honestly, to found their daily life on the highest ideal
they could hear of — on the divine law as they acknow-
ledged it — of doing as they would be done by.
Rome was not the only or the most distant foreign
Church to which Alfred sent embassies. He had
made a vow, before the taking and rebuilding of
London, that, if he should be successful in that under-
taking, he would send gifts to the Christian churches
in the far East, of which uncertain rumours and tra-
ditions still spoke throughout Christendom. The
S.L. VIII. p
2IO LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
apostles St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew had
preached the Gospel in India and founded these
churches, it was said, and it was to them that Alfred,
in performance of his vow, despatched the same Sig-
helm and Athelstan who were the bearers of his gifts
and letters to Pope Martinus. They would seem,
indeed, to have gone on from Rome in the year 883,
by what route we know not, or how long they were
upon their mission, or how they sped, save only that
they came back to their King, bringing greetings
from those distant brethren, and gifts of precious
stones and spices in return for his alms. These
Alfred distributed amongst his cathedrals, in some of
which they were preserved for centuries. Such was
the first intercourse between England and the great
empire which has since been committed to her in the
East. St. Thomas' Christians are still to be found in
Malabar and elsewhere.
Asser also mentions letters and presents sent by
Abel, the patriarch of Jerusalem, to his king. It does
not appear, however, that Alfred sent any embassy to
the Holy Land. Dr. Pauli suggests that these gifts
might have been brought to England by the survivor
of three Scotch pilgrims, whose names a romantic
legend connects with the English king. Dunstane,
Macbeth, and Maclinman, were the three Christians
in question, who, despairing, it would seem, of the
Church in their own country, put to sea in a frail
boat, patched together with ox-hides and carrying a
week's provisions, and landed on the coast of Corn-
wail. From thence they made their way to Alfred's
THE KING'S CHURCH.
court, and were hospitably entertained by him, as
his wont was, and forwarded on their journey, from
which one of them only returned.
Asser speaks also, in general language, of daily
embassies sent to the King by foreign nations, " from
the Tyrrhenian Sea to the farthest end of Ireland."
Of these, however, we have no certain account, but
enough remains to show how the spirit of Alfred
yearned for intercourse with Christians in all parts of
the known world, and how the fame of his righteous
government, and of his restored Church, was going
forth, in these years of peace, to the ends of the earth.
But the greatest work of that Church, as of all true
churches, was the education of the people at home.
Besides the schools attached to his foundations of
Athelney and Winchester, Alfred established many
schools for the laity in different parts of his kingdom.
One was attached to the court, and in it the children
of his nobles, ministers, and friends were educated
with his own children, and " were loved by him with
wonderful affection, being no less dear to him than
his own," They were educated carefully in good
morals, and in the study of their own language, the
King himself constantly superintending, and taking
part in the teaching. To use his own words, he was
desirous " that all the free-born youth of his people
who had the means should persevere in learning so
long as they had no other duties to attend to, nn^i)
they could read the English Scriptures with fluency,
and such as desired to devote themselves to the
service of the Church might be taught Latin."
P 2
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE KINGS FRIENDS.
"â– /4j the judge of tJie people is hwiself, so are his oncers : ana' what matt tht
ruler of Ike city is, Mich are all they that divell therein. "
We have already incidentally come across several of
the statesmen and ecclesiastics who were singled out
and employed by Alfred, and must now endeavour to
make some closer acquaintance with the men through
whom the great reform of the English nation was
wrought out under the great king. Unfortunately, the
memorials of them are scanty, for they were a set of
notable workers, worthy of all honour, and of the
attentive and respectful regard even of the nineteenth
century. They were of all races whom the King could
get at, and of all ranks. Prince, noble, or peasant, rough
skipper, or studious monk, or cunning craftsman, it
was the same to him. The man who could do his
work, this was all he cared for, and, when he had
found him, set him forthwith to do it, with whatever
promotion, precedence, or other material support
might best help him.
John, the old Saxon, sometimes called John of
Corvey, priest and monk, a stern disciplinarian and
courageous person, we have already heard of as first
THE KINGS FRIENDS. 213
Abbot of Athelney, having also the superintendence
of the theological school attached to the King's
monastery there. Alfred himself has studied under
him, and so has come to discern the man's faculty.
For he was the King's mass-priest while Athelney
was building, and helped him in the translation of
" The Hinds' Book " (Gregory's pastoral) into the
English tongue. Abbot John had a difficult, even a
perilous time of it there, in the little island, remote
from men, hemmed in by swamp and forest, where
his monks have no orchards or gardens to till, and his
boys no playground. The King's piety, and love of
his place of refuge, have for once outweighed his
sagacity, or he had not chosen the island for such
purposes. Englishmen cannot be got to live there,
and the Franks and others are jealous of their abbot.
Brooding over it in that solitude, at last a priest and
deacon and two monks, all Franks, plot his murder.
John the Abbot goes constantly at midnight to pray
before the high altar by himself So the plotters bribe
two foreign serving-men to hide in the church armed,
and there slay him ; after which they were to drag out
the body, and cast it before the house of a certain
woman of evil repute. The men on the night appointed
accordingly rushed on the old man as he was kneeling
before the altar. But he, hearing their approach, "being
a man of brave mind, and as we have heard not un-
acquainted with the art of self-defence, if he had not
been the follower of a better calling," rose up before
he was wounded, and strove with them, shouting out
that they were devils. The monks, alarmed by the
214 J-JFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
cries, rush in in time to carry their abbot off badly
wounded, the conspirators mingling their tears with
those of the other monks. In the confusion the
assassins escape for the moment, but in the end all
those concerned were taken and put in prison, " where
by various tortures they came to a disgraceful end."
Nothing more is known of Abbot John's troubles
or successes, and we may hope that he got his
monastery and school into working order, and lived
peaceably there for the rest of his days.
When a boy, Alfred, travelling across France with his
father, had become acquainted, amongst other eminent
scholars, with Grimbald, a priest skilled in music, and
learned in Holy Scripture, and in all doctrine and
discipline of the Church. He has risen since that
time to the dignity of Provost of St. Omers, within the
jurisdiction of Fulk, Archbishop of Rheims. To this
prelate Alfred sends an embassy both of ecclesiastics
and laymen, bearing presents, and praying that Grim-
bald may be allowed to come to England, to assist in
building up and restoring the Church there. The
answer is still extant. Addressing "the most Christian
King of the English," Fulk, "Archbishoj) of Rheims
and the servant of the servants of God," congratulates
Alfred on the success of his temporal arms, and his zeal
for enlarging the Church by spiritual weapons. The
Archbishop prays incessantly that God will multiply
peace to the King's realm in his days, and that the
ecclesiastical orders (" which have, as ye say, in many
ways fallen away, whether by the constant inroads of
heathen men, or because the times are feeble by age.
THE KINGS FRIENDS. 215
or through the neglect of bishops, or ignorance of the
inferior clergy") may by his diligence be reformed,
ennobled, extended. The Archbishop acknowledges,
has evidently been elated by, the King's desire to im-
port doctrine and discipline from the seat of Saint
Remigius, "which, we are constrained to boast, has
always excelled in worship and doctrine all other
French churches." Amongst other presents (for which
grateful thanks) " ye have sent us noble and very
staunch hounds, though carnal, for the controlling of
those visible wolves, with great abundance of which,
amongst other scourges, a just God has afflicted our
land ; asking of us in return hounds, not carnal but
spiritual, not such, however, as those of which the
prophet has said ' many dogs, not able to bark,' but
such as shall know well how for their Lord to bay in
earnest {magnos latratiis f wider e), to guard His flock
with most vigilant watchfulness, and to drive far away
those most cruel wolves of unclean spirits, who are
the betrayers and devourers of souls. Out of such
spiritual watchdogs ye have singled out and asked
from us one of the name of Grimbald, priest and
monk, to whom the universal Church bears record,
she who has nourished him from his childhood in
the true faith, advancing him after her manner to the
dignity of the priesthood, and proclaiming him suited
to the highest ecclesiastical honour, and well fitted to
teach others. This same man has been a most faithful
coadjutor to us, and we cannot without sore affliction
suffer him to be parted from us by so vast a space of
land and sea. But charity taketli no note of sacrifice,
2i6 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T
nor faith of injury, nor can any earthly distance keep
apart those whom the chain of a true affection joins.
Wherefore we grant this request of yours most will-
ingly." Such is the reply, much abridged, of the
worthy Archbishop, evidently a Christian prelate with
large leisure, some sense of humour, and a copious
epistolary gift, who is impressed in his continental
diocese with the vigour and greatness of his corre-
spondent, and " desires that his royal state, piety, and
valour may continue to rejoice and abound in Christ,
the King of kings and Lord of lords."
Grimbald, thus introduced, remains at first by
Alfred's side as one of his mass-priests, assisting
the King in his translations. Afterwards he becomes
professor of divinity in one of the new schools,
probably at Oxford, and then abbot of the new
monastery at Winchester. There has been much
learned controversy as to Grimbald's connexion with
Oxford, in consequence of an interpolation in one
of the early manuscripts of Asser's life, which pur-
ports to give an account of a violent quarrel which
soon arose between Grimbald and the scholars whom
he found there, and who refused to submit to the
" laws, modes, and forms of prelection," which he
desired to introduce. Their own, they maintained,
had been established and approved by many learned
and pious men, notably by St. Germanus, who had
come to Oxford, and stopped there for half a year
on his way to preach against the heresies of Pelagius,
The strife ran so high that the King himself went to
Oxford at Grimbald's summons, and " pnrinr'='d much
THE KINGS FRIENDS. 217
trouble " in hearing the arguments on both sides
Having listened " with unheard of humility, the King
exhorted them, with pious and wholesome admo-
nition, to cherish mutual love and concord, and
decided that each party should follow their own
counsel and keep their own institutions." The whole
story is probably the invention of a later century,
when the claims of the two great universities to
priority of foundation were warmly discussed. There
is no proof that Oxford existed as a place of edu-
cation before Alfred's time, nor is it certain that
he founded schools there, though the "Annals of
Winchester," and other ancient and respectable au-
thorities, so assert, and that he built and endowed
three colleges, " the greater hall, the lesser hall, and
the little hall" of the university, of which halls Uni-
versity College is the lineal survivor. " Grimbald's
crypt," however, may still be seen under the chancel
of St. Peter's Church, the oldest in Oxford, and it
seems more than probable that in some of the manu-
scripts of Asser's life, now lost, there was an account
of the building of the original church on this site
by Grimbald, and its consecration by the Bishop ol
Dorchester. The present church and crypt are un-
doubtedly of later date, but the tradition is strong
enough to support the arguments of the learned.
Those who are interested in the controversy will
find it elaborately summed up in Sir J. Spelman's
Third Book. In any case, it is certain that Alfred
had a mint at Oxford, even if he founded no
schools there.
2i8 â– LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
Of English churchmen, Plegmund, Alfred's Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, a Mercian by birth, is the
most distinguished — said indeed to have been the
first man of his time "in the science of holy learning."
He escaped from the sack of his monastery at the
time of the Danish invasion of Mercia, in 876, and
lived as a hermit in an island four and a half miles
from Chester for fourteen years, till sought out by
A-lfred and promoted to the primacy in 890, on the
death of Archbishop Ethelred. It is more probable,
however, that he was constantly with Alfred much
earlier tjian this, for he is specially named as his
instructor, and seldom quitted the Court till after
his lord's death. He went, however, to Rome in
891 to be consecrated by Pope Formosus ; and again
a second time, after the body of Formosus had been
disinterred and thrown into the Tiber by Stephen his
successor, to be re-consecrated. He survived Alfred
for twenty-three years, and seems to have ruled the
English Church wisely, till his own death.
Another Mercian who was much consulted by
Alfred, and who appears to have frequently visited
him in Wessex, was Werfrith, Bishop of Worcester,
to whom the King's celebrated preface to Gregory's
"Pastoral Care" is addressed, and who, by Alfred's
desire, translated the Dialogues of the same Pope into
Saxon. He was the foremost helper of Alderman
Ethelred and his wife, the Lady of Mercia, Ethelfleda,
Alfred's daughter, and a vigorous organizer and go-
vernor of the things and persons of this world ; ready,
however, as a loyal son of holy Church to extend the
THE KINGS FRIENDS. 219
rights of the see of Worcester whenever opportunity
might offer. A most characteristic instance of this
instinct of Bishop Werfrith's occurs in the report of a
sitting of the Mercian witan, first translated by Dr.
PauH from the Saxon. It is, in fact, the report of an
important parHamentary debate of 1,000 years back,
curious as a contrast to a Hansard's debate of to-da}-
in more ways than one. It can scarcely be abridged
without damage, and is as follows : —
" In the name of Christ our Lord and Saviour.
After eight hundred and ninety-six years had passed
since His birth, in the fourteenth Indiction, the Ealder-
man Ethelred summoned the Mercian witan, bishops,
nobles, and all his forces, to appear at Gloster ;
and this he did with the knowledge and approbation
of King Alfred. There they took counsel together
how they might the most justly govern their com-
munity before God and the world, and many men,
clergy as well as laity, consulted together respecting
the lands, and many other matters which were laid
before them. Then Bishop Werfrith spoke to the
assembled witan, and declared that all forest land
which belonged to Wuduceastre, and the revenues
of which King Ethelbald once bestowed on Worcester
for ever, should henceforth be held by Bishop Wer-
frith for wood and pasture ; and he said that the
revenue should be taken partly at Bislege, partly at
Aefeningas, partly at Scorranstane, and partly at
Thornbyrig, according as he chose. Then all the
witan answered that the Church must make good
her right as well as others. Then Ethelwald (Ealder-
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
man ?) spoke : he would not oppose the right, the
Bishops Aldberht and Alhun had already negotiated
hereon, he would at all times grant to each church
her allotted portion. So he benevolently yielded to
the bishop's claim, and commanded his vassal Ecglaf
to depart with Wulfhun, the priest of the place
(Gloster ? — properly, the inhabitant of the place).
And he caused all the boundaries to be surveyed by
them, as he read them in the old books, and as King
Ethelbald had formerly marked them out and granted
them. But Ethelwald still desired from the bishops
and the diocese, that they should kindly allow him
and his son Alhmund to enjoy the profits of the land
for life ; they would hold it only as a loan, and no
one might deprive them of any of the rights of
pasture, which were granted to him at Langanhrycge
at the time when God gave him the land. And
Ethelwald declared that it would be always against
God's favour for any one to possess it but the lord of
that church to whom it had been relinquished, with
the exception of Alhmund ; and that he, during his
life, would maintain the same friendly spirit of co-
operation with the bishop. But if it ever happened
that Alhmund should cease to recognise the agree-
ment, or if he should be pronounced unworthy to
keep the land, or thirdly, if his end should arrive,
then the lord of the church should enter into posses-
sion, as the Mercian witan had decided at their
assembly, and pointed out to him in the books. This
took place with the concurrence of the Ealderman
Ethelred, of Ethelfleda, of the Ealdermen Ethulf,
THE KINGS FRIENDS.
Ethelferth, and Alhhelm, of the Priests Ednoth,
Elfraed, Werferth, and Ethelwald, of his own kins-
men, Ethelstan and Ethelhun, and Hkewise of Alh-
mund his own son. And so the priest of the place
and Ethelwald's vassal rode over the land, first to
Ginnethlaege and Roddimbeorg, then to Smececumb
and Sengetlege, then to Heardanlege also called
Dryganleg, and as far as Little Naegleslege and the
land of Ethelferth. So Ethelwald's men pointed out
to him the boundaries as they were defined and
shown in the ancient books."
To Bishop Werfrith's zeal and ability it is most
probably owing that the reaction towards paganism
in Mercia, which followed the Danish occupation,
made little progress. All traces of it seem to have
disappeared before Alfred's death, when Central Eng-
land had become as sound as Southern England.
The only native of Wessex who would seem to
have won a place for himself in that little band of
reforming churchmen was Denewulf, Bishop of Win-
chester, an honoured and faithful counsellor of the
King, who is commonly supposed to be the neat-herd
with whom Alfred became acquainted in 878, in
Schvood Forest. If this be so, he could scarcely have
been a wholly uneducated man even then, as Alfred
required scholarship in his bishops, and Denewulf was
consecrated before the end of 881. The story rests
principally on the authority of the Chronicle of
Florence of Worcester, compiled towards the end
of the eleventh century.
But the friend of Alfred's of whom we know most is
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
Asser Menevensis, a Welsh monk, the author of the
Life so often quoted ; and who, during the last
sixteen or seventeen years of his life, was the most
intimate friend and adviser of the King. Somewhere
about the year 884 Asser was either summoned by
Alfred, or came of his own accord, from the monas-
tery of St. David's, on " the furthest western coast of
Wales," to the royal residence at Dene, in Sussex,
where Alfred was then staying with his court. It
would seem that the Welsh prince, Hemeid, who had
sworn allegiance to Alfred to obtain protection against
the six sons of Rotri, was in the habit of plundering
the monastery, and had recently driven Novis, Arch-
bishop of St. David's, Asser's kinsman, out of his
diocese. Novis and his kinsman will no doubt have
reasoned, that a king familiar with the parables
would be wroth at such conduct in a fellow-servant :
and that he who was so bent on establishing mo-
nasteries as schools and refuges for learning in his
own kingdom, will not suffer this kind of doings
by one whom he is protecting. Whether summoned
or not, Asser was received with open arms by the
King, who knew him for a learned and pious man,
and at once admitted him to familiar intercourse.
Soon the King began to press him earnestly to
devote himself to his service, and to give up all he
possessed on the west bank of the Severn, promising
to recompense him amply in his own dominions.
" I replied," Asser continues, " that I could not with-
out thought, and rashly, promise such thing.s, for it
seemed to me wrong to leave those sacred places
THE KING'S FRIENDS. 223
where I had been bred and educated, and had re-
ceived the tonsure and ordination, for the sake of any
earthly honour or promotion. Upon this he said,
' If you cannot altogether accede to my request,
at least let me have your service in part ; spend six
months of the year with me, and the other six in
Wales.' I answered that I could not even promise
this hastily, without the advice of my friends. But at
length, when I saw that he was very anxious for my
service (though I know not why), I promised that if
my life were spared I would come back in six months
with such a reply as would be welcome to him, as well
as advantageous to me and my friends. With this
answer he was content, and when I had given him a
pledge to return at the appointed time, on the fourth
day I left him, and returned on horseback towards my
own country. After my departure I was stricken by
a violent fever at Winchester, where I lay for a year
and a week, night and day, without hope of recovery,
At the appointed time, therefore, I could not redeem
my pledge of returning to him, and he sent messengers
to hasten my journey and ask the cause of the delay.
As I was unable to ride to him I sent a messenger to
tell him the cause of the delay, and to assure him that
if I recovered I would fulfil what I had promised. So
when my sickness left me, by the advice of all my
friends, for the benefit of our holy place and of all who
dwelt therein, I did as I had promised the King, and
devoted myself to his service on condition that I
should remain with him six months in every year,
either continuously, if I could spend six months in
224 LIFE OF A LI RED THE GREAT.
every year with him continuously, or alternately, three
months in Wales, and three in England." Asser
accordingly went to the court at Leonaford, where the
King received him honourably, and he remained eight
months, " during which I read to him whatever books
he liked, and such as we had at hand ; for this is his
regular custom both night and day, amid his many
other occupations of mind and body, either himself to
read books or to listen while others read them."
Asser, however, finds that the six months' compact
is likely to be forgotten, and reminds the King of it
frequently. " At length, when I had made up my
mind to demand leave to go home, he called me to
him at twilight, on Christmas eve, and gave me two
documents in which was a long list of all the things
which were in two monasteries, called in Saxon
Angusbury and Banwell, and at that same time
delivered to me those two monasteries with all those
things which were in them, and a silken pall of great
value, and a load of incense as much as a strong man
could carry, adding that he did not give me these
trifling presents because he was unwilling hereafter to
give me greater ; for in course of time he unexpectedly
gave me Exeter, with all the church property which
belonged to him there and in Cornwall, besides daily
gifts without number, of every kind of worldly wealth,
which it would be too long to recount lest I should
weary my readers. But let no one suppose that I
have mentioned these presents here for the sake of
gloiy or flattery, or to obtain greater honour. I call
God to witness that I have not done so, but that I
THE KINGS FRIENDS. 225
might testify to those who are ignorant how liberal he
is in giving. He then at once gave me leave to ride
to these monasteries, and then to return to my own
country." So Asser was installed as a sort of bishop
in partibus to his own countrymen in Cornwall. So
at least we are driven to conjecture, for the see
of Exeter was not constituted for another century,
nor was he made Bishop of Sherborne till the death
of Wulfsig in the year 900, though Alfred styles him
bishop, and his name is attached to charters as bishop
for many years before that date. We shall have to
return to the good bishop's reminiscences when we
treat of the King's private and literary life.
The other ecclesiastics who worked in that noble
band of the King's helpers, such as Ethelstan and
Werewulf of Mercia, are scarcely more than names to
us, unless we except Joannes Erigena, or Scotus, an
Irishman by birth, who is said by some to have taken
refuge with the King. That Alfred when a boy had
known John at the court of Charles the Bald, where
he was tutor to Judith and her brothers, we have
already heard, and may be sure that he would have
been anxious to obtain the help of so eminent a
scholar and thinker. Moreover, John the Scot, who
has been called the father of the Realists, and had
studied in the East and at Athens, may well have
needed an asylum at this time. He had written
works on the Eucharist, and on predestination, which
had brought him into trouble with the authorities of
the Church, and had not only refused to distinguish
religion from philosophy, on the ground that both
S.L. VIII. Q
226 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
had the same end — the search for truth ; but had
actually maintained that all authority is derived from
reason, and that authority which is not confirmed b}^
reason is of no value. At the same time his famous
retort to Charles — who had asked him sitting at meat
what separates a Scot and a sot {quid interest inter
Scotuin et sotnni) — " the table only " {uieitsa tantnvi),
may have made the French court an undesirable
residence. Still, had he come to England, Asser had
s?irely specially noticed him amongst Alfred's helpers
and friends.
Of laymen a long list might be given, from Ethelred
of Mercia, to Othere and Wulfstan, his sea captains, the
account of whose voyages in the North Sea is inter-
polated by Alfred in his translation of Orosius. But
beyond their names, and offices in the King's house-
hold, there is little to tell of them, though enough
remains to witness to the truth of Asser's eloquent
statement, that " he would avail himself of every
opening to procure helpers in his great designs, to aid
him in his strivings after wisdom ; and like a prudent
bird, which, rising in early morning from her loved
nest, steers her swift flight through the uncertain tract
of air, and descends on the manifold and varied flowers
of grass, herb, and shrub, trying that which pleases
most, that she may bear it to her home, so did he
direct his eyes afar, and seek abroad that which he
had not at home within his own kingdom."
At the same time, though he gathered round
him competent men of all nations and all callings,
wheievcr he could find them, Alfred was singu-
THE KINGS FRIENDS. 227
larly independent of them. He had no indispen-
sable officers. The work which went on so busily
during those years of peace, and was transforming
the life of all southern England, was his own work.
He was not only the inspirer, but in a very real sense
the doer of it, and there is no name of bishop, soldier,
or jurist, which can make good a claim to anything
more than honour reflected from their great King.
In all history it would be hard to find a more striking
example of what one mnn may do for a nation in the
course of a short lifetime.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE KINGS NEIGHBOURS.
^' All kings shall fall down before Jiim : all nations shall do him service.
'^ For he shall deliver the poor when he crieth : the needy also, and him
that lialh no helper.''''
The temptation to over-govern is apt to beset rulers
who have the intense love of order, and genius for
organizing, which distinguished Alfred. It is not easy
for such men to recognise the worth of national or
local habits and customs, or to resist the temptation
of imposing their own laws and methods upon races
which come under their influence, and Christendom has
suffered grievously, and is still suffering, from such
attempts to crush out national life. The surroundings
of Alfred were precisely those most likely to have
prompted such a policy. In the years of rest which
followed the peace of Wedmore the West Saxon
kingdom increased in wealth and power so rapidly
as completely to overshadow its weaker neighbours.
One after another they sought the protection of
Alfred, and in no case was such protection refused,
or any attempt made to fasten on them the West
Saxon code of laws, or to supersede the native
government.
The old enemies of the Saxons and Angles, the
THE KING'S NEIGHBOURS. 229
Britons, who had been forced back into the Welsh
mountains, had maintained their independence against
such kings as Offa and Egbert. There had been
constant wars on the marshes. Often defeated and
invaded, the Celtic tribes had always closed up be-
hind the retreating Saxon armies. They had refused
all allegiance, and held little peaceable intercourse
with their stronger neighbours. In the last of the
Saxon invasions, King Ethelwulf had penetrated to
the Isle of Anglesea, and humbled Rotri Mawr (the
great Roderick), while Alfred was a child. In
revenge, the Welsh had sympathised with and as-
sisted the Dane, and had seriously added to the
peril of the great struggle of his manhood.
Rotri Mawr had left six sons, turbulent men from
their youth up, of whom the leader, probably the
eldest, was Anarant, who had become the friend and
ally of the Northumbrian Danes of Halfdene's army.
The hand of these brethren was heavy on the other
Welsh princes in those disturbed years. Hemcid,
prince of Demetia, the disturber of the prelates and
monastery of St. David's — to appeal against whose
frequent plunderings Asser made his pilgrimage from
that quiet sanctuary in " the extremest western coasts
of Brittain " — was the first to open negotiations with
Alfred. He and his people were driven to this appeal
by the violence of their northern neighbours, the six
sons of Rotri : so they submitted themselves to the
dominion of the King, and obtained his protection.
Then Helloed the son of Tendyr, the king or chief
of the " Brecheinoc " Welsh, occupying the present
230 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
county of Brecknock and neighbouring districts of
Central Wales, came in and made his submission, to
protect his people from the same turbulent neigh-
bours. Further south, Howell the son of Rhys, and
Brochmail and Fernmail, the two sons of Mouric,
who between them held rule over all the tribes in-
habiting Morganwy and Gwent by the Severn, and
whose country marched with that of Ethelred of
Mercia, appealed from that energetic viceroy to King
Alfred, and placed themselves under his protection.
They accused the King's son-in-law of violence and
tyranny ; and we may readily understand that P^thel-
rcd's notions of government were of a kind which
would be likely to bring about frequent collisions with
his neighbours on the opposite bank of the Severn.
All of these " gained the love and guardianship " of
the great King of the West Saxons, "and defence
from every quarter, even as the King with his men
could protect himself" So at last Anarant, the son
of Rotri, with his five brothers, finding that their
occupation was gone, and that the shield of the great
King was cast over all their brother princelings and
their possessions, " abandoning the friendship of the
Northumbrians, from which they had received harm
only, came into King Alfred's presence and eagerly
sought his friendship." This was at once accorded to
them also. They were honourably entertained at court,
and Anarant was " made Alfred's son by confirma-
tion from the bishop's hands," and left for his own
country loaded with many gifts. The same terms of
allegiance were imposed on liim as on Ethelred of
THE KINGS NEIGHBOURS.
Mcrcia : and so, before the year 884, the whole
of Wales was brought under Alfred's sway ; the
intertribal wars and plunderlngs ceased, and the
country enjoyed peace, and the princes the friend-
ship of their great neighbour, and his assistance in
all ways in the improvement of their own people.
Thus the old wounds were closed for the time, and
the two nations settled down in unaccustomed peace,
Celt and Saxon side by side, after upwards of four
centuries of fierce and disastrous warfare. The peace
was of short duration, but it lasted till after Alfred's
death.
The near relationship between the people of the
kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex, and the old rivalry
between their royal houses, must have made the task
of establishing satisfactory relations between them,
now that the supremacy of the latter had been
thoroughly established, even more difficult than in
the case of North Wales. The memories of Penda
and Ofifa, of many battles won on West Saxon soil —
even of tribute paid and allegiance owned — must
still have been fresh in Mercia. But Buhred had
left no children, and the most powerful of the
Mercian nobles was devoted to Alfred. This was
Ethelred, the earl of the Anglian tribe of Hwiccas,
who were settled in the eastern parts of Worcester-
shire and Herefordshire, and had been the chief
bulwark against the Welsh. We do not know any-
thing of his earlier history, and cannot conjecture
therefore how so brave and able a man, at the head
of a tribe inured to the constant warfare of tlic
232 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
marches, made no head against Guthrum and the
pagan army at the time of the Danish occupation
of Mercia. At any rate he had not forfeited the
confidence and goodwill of Alfred, for in the year 880,
the same in which the Danes finally left their camp
at Cirencester and retired into East Anglia, Ethelred
was appointed alderman of Mercia, and acknow-
ledged allegiance to Alfred. We have a charter of
that year signed by him in that capacity, to which
is appended Alfred's signature as his over-lord : " I
Alfred, King, have consented and subscribed." In
like manner, in the year ^^"^i, a gift of church lands
by Alderman Ethelred bears the endorsement, " I
Alfred confirm this gift with the sign of the holy
cross."
But there is stronger proof of the esteem in which
Ethelred was held by his king, in the fact that he
became the husband of Ethelfleda, Alfred's eldest
daughter. The date of the marriage cannot be
ascertained, as no notice of the event occurs in
the Chronicles. But even in those times, when girls
were married at far earlier ages than now, it could
scarcely have happened before 882, for Alfred him-
self was only married in the autumn of ^6'^. But,
both before and after his marriage, the same energy
in his government and loyalty to his king seems
to have distinguished Ethelred. Mercia had its own
witan, which was summoned more frequently than
that of Wessex. It was presided over by Ethelred,
and settled all questions connected with the internal
affairs of the kingdom, subject only to Alfred's
THE KINGS NEIGHBOURS. 233
approval. In the report of the session of the witan
in 896, already given, we find the express state-
ment that it was summoned "with the knowledge
and approbation of King Alfred ; " but neither then,
nor in the earlier sessions of 883 and 886, is there
any trace of his further interference. Mercia was
left to develop itself in its own way, and under its
own laws. We have, unfortunately, no copy of the
code which Alfred caused to be prepared for the
sister kingdom, but the best Anglo-Saxon scholars
agree in holding, that the institutes of Offa were
embodied in it, as we have seen that " Ina's dooms "
were incorporated in the West Saxon code.
The wisdom of this policy may be gathered from
results. The Saxon and Anglian kingdoms re-
mained distinct, but closely confederated, and the
differences of language and custom died out rapidly,
thus preparing the way for a still closer union
During Ethelrcd's life Mercia was consolidated and
strengthened ; and the Welsh on the one side, and
the East Anglians on the other, felt a master's
hand. On his death, in gio, London and Oxford
were at once incorporated in the West Saxon king
dom, and the remainder of Mercia nine years later,
on the death of Ethelfleda.
In like manner Alfred's relations with the new
and enlarged kingdom of East Anglia are charac-
terised at once by prudence and good faith. Until
the outbreak of another war the boundaries of
Guthorm Athelstan's kingdom, as settled by the first
short treaty of Wedmore, w ere scrupulously respected.
234 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
No attempt was made to recover either Essex on
the south, or any of that part of Mercia which lay
to the north and east of Wathng Street. The only
act of sovereignty, on the part of Alfred, was the
introduction into East Anglia of a code of laws
similar in essence to the West Saxon code, but at
the same time carefully recognising and respecting
differences springing from custom and race. This
code, in fact, is the enlarged treaty of Wedmore, to
which reference has been already made.
In the form in which it has come down to us it is
called the treaty of Edward and Guthorm, and may
possibly have been formally agreed to after Alfred's
death by Edward his son and Guthorm II., who is
said to have come to the East Anglian throne in
905, However this may be, there can be no doubt
that the substance of the code was in force before
the death of Guthorm Athelstan in 890, for the pre-
amble begins : " These are the dooms which King
Alfred and King Guthorm chose," and declares that
the same had been repeatedly ratified between the
Saxons and Danes. The differences between the two
codes are greater in appearance than reality. Thus
the code for the Danish kingdom has one doom only
in substitution for the whole Decalogue, and the
greater part of the Lcvitical laws, which are set out
in the West Saxon code. This sweeping doom
declares that "the people shall love one God only,
and zealously renounce every kind of heathendom."
The remainder of the code is taken up with declara-
tions of right, and lists of penalties, founded on the
THE KING'S NEIGHBOURS. 235
same principles, and inflicted for the same classes of
offences, as those in Alfred's dooms. The double
liability of every law-breaker to the temporal and
spiritual power — the necessity for making amends to
the Church, as well as to the Crown and the kin of
the injured man — is enforced throughout. In the
same way the rights of the several classes of society
are valued according to the amount of their property;
but in each case the division of race is also recognised,
the Saxon paying " were " and " wite," the Dane
" lahslit." The only difference of note is, the greater
amount of protection which the Danish code endea-
vours to throw over priests and foreigners. Thus
Article XII. enacts that " if any man wrong an eccle-
siastic, or foreigner, as to money or life, the king, or
earl, or bishop shall be to him in place of a kinsman ;
and let boot be strictly made according as the deed
may be, to Christ, and to the king ; or let Jiim
avenge the deed very deeply who is king among
the people." This distinction may have arisen, from
the necessity of shielding Christian clergy, in those
parts where the majority of the people were still
Pagans, who remembered the sack and burning of
the monasteries ; and from the desire of Alfred to
encourage intercourse between his own immediate
subjects and the East Anglians.
After a few restless years, ending in the out-
break of 8S5, when Alfred's fleet crossed from
Rochester to avenge the breach of peace by the sea-
faring portion of Guthorm Athelstan's people, that
prince seems to have kc^jt faith with his over-lord, and
236 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
to have lived quietly at home. Whether his conver-
sion was sincere or not we cannot tell ; but certainly,
under the influence of the treaty-code, and the inter-
course with the neighbouring kingdoms, and with the
remnants of the old Anglian stock which remained
within their borders, the Danes, who dwelt in all the
central counties bordering on Watling Street, became
a Christian people. In 890 Guthorm Athelstan died,
and was buried at Thetford, He was succeeded by
one Eohric, a Northman, under whom the Danes
settled on the coasts of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex
appear to have returned to their old piratical habits, if
not to heathenism, and to have made common cause
with Hasting in his great invasion of England. But
even after the defeat of the last great viking the policy
of Alfred remained unchanged. With the exception
of the western portion of Essex, which he incorpo-
rated in Mercia for the protection of London, the
boundaries of East Anglia were left as they had been
settled by the treaty of Wedmore.
The Northumbrian kingdom can scarcely be
reckoned amongst the neighbours of Wessex, but
even there Alfred's influence was acknowledged.
After the death of Halfdene, Guthrid, said to have
been a son of Hardicanute, king of Denmark, suc-
ceeded. He was a Christian, and became the firm
ally of Alfred, who assisted him in the restoration of
the Church of Durham, and contributed, out of that
eighth of his income which was set apart for these
purposes, to the needs of other churches and servants
of God dwelling in Northumbria. Unbroken peace
THE KINGS NEIGHBOURS. 237
was maintained between the two kingdoms during all
Alfred's days,
Kent and Sussex were mere appanages of Wessex
before Alfred came to the throne, but had not until
now been thoroughly incorporated. This was now
done. Instead of a cadet of the royal family of
Cerdic ruling as king in one or the other of them, as
Ethel wulf and Athelstan had done, they were now
placed under Alfred's aldermen, and were subject, no
doubt, to the same burdens, and entitled to the same
privileges, as Wiltshire or Berkshire. At the same
time local traditions and customs were respected,
such as gavelkind, which remains in Kent to this
day.
Thus the King lived, in perfect amity with his neigh-
bours, and without a thought of abusing his superior
strength. No soldier of Alfred's ever drew sword
except in defence of his own home and country. He
even put a check on his energetic son-in-law Ethclrcd
of Mercia, when his hand was beginning to be felt too
heavily by the people of North Wales. No great
soldier had ever more plausible pretexts for despoiling
his neighbours. All his boundaries towards the north
and east wanted rectifying, and occasions for quarrel
with the East Anglians, and Welsh, and Northum-
brians were never far to seek. But in his eyes strength
and power were simply trusts, to be used by their
possessors for the benefit of the weak. This was his
reading of the will and meaning of the King who
commanded him, and he acted on it with a single
mind, exercising a forbearance and moderation in his
238 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
wars, negotiations, and treaties, for which it would be
hard to find a parallel.
Indeed, one is at times inclined to be impatient of
his great patience ; to think that for his people's sake
his hand should have been heavier upon Guthorm and
Hasting, when they were in his power ; to wish that
he had not left the task of incorporating all England
in one kingdom to his successors. We are all tempted
in our secret hearts to believe that the great Italian
was right in putting mercy, courteousness, truthful-
ness, in the category of luxuries which princes can
only afford to use with the most guarded moderation.
" The present manner of living," Machiavelli writes
(cap. xiv.), " is so different from the way that ought to
be taken, that he who neglects what is done to follow
what ought to be done, will sooner learn how to ruin
than how to preserve himself. For a tender man, and
one that desires to be honest in everything, must needs
run a great hazard among so many of a contrary
principle. Wherefore it is necessary for a prince that
is willing to subsist to harden himself, and learn to be
good or otherwise according to the exigencies of his
affairs." And again (cap. xix.), " How honourable it is
for a prince to keep his word, and act rather with
integrity than craft, I suppose every one understands.
Nevertheless experience has shown in our times that
those princes who have not pinned themselves up to
that punctuality and preciseness have done great
things, and by their cunning and subtlety not only
circumvented and pierced the brains of those with
whom they had to deal, but have overcome and been
THE KINGS NEIGHBOURS. 239
too hard for those who have been so superstitiously
exact. Nor was there ever any prince that wanted
lawful pretence to justify his breach of promise. And
men are so simple in their temper, and so submissive
to their present necessities, that he that is neat and
cleanly in his collusions shall never want people to
practise them upon. A prince, therefore, is not
obliged to have all the forementioned good qualities
in reality, but it is necessary to have them in appear-
ance ; nay, I will be bold to affirm, that having them
actually, and employing them on all occasions, the}-
are extremely prejudicial. Whereas, having them
only in appearance, they turn to better account. It is
honourable to seem mild, and merciful, and courteous,
and religious, and sincere, and indeed to be so, pro-
vided your mind be so rectified and prepared, that
you can act quite contrary on occasion."
But the more attentively we study Alfred's life, the
more clearly does the practical wisdom of his methods
of government justify itself by results. Of .strong
princes, with minds " rectified and prepared " on the
Machiavellian model, the world has had more than
enough, who have won kingdoms for themselves, and
used them for themselves, and so left a bitter in-
heritance to their children and their people. It is
well that, here and there in history, we can point to
a king whose reign has proved that the highest
success in government is not only compatible with,
but dependent upon, the highest Christian morality.
CHAPTER XX.
THE KING S FOE.
" Frcnuarditcss is in his heart, he deviseth viischiej eontimially ; he smveth
discord.
" Tlierefore shall his calamity come suddenly ; suddenly shall he be hrohen
without remedy."
In the middle of his great reforms, when all England
was thrilling with new life, and order and light were
beginning to penetrate into the most out-of-the-way
comers of the kingdom, the war-cloud gathered again,
and Alfred had once more to arm. It was against
the old enemy, "the army," as the chroniclers style it
— what was left of it, at least, after three years of
precarious fighting and plundering in France and
Flanders, with a huge accession of recruits from
the wild spirits of all the tribes whose struggles were
distracting Europe. The anxiety with which the
English watched their old foes appears from the
care with which their doings are noted year by year
in the Saxon Chronicle. Plegmund, or whoever
was the editor, had clearly an uneasy feeling that
Alfred and his realm had not seen the last of them.
So we hear how they went up the Meuse, and plun-
dered from the Meuse to the Scheldt, and from thence
THE KINGS FOE. 241
crossed to Amiens in 884, the year that Pope Martin
of blessed memory died. In the next year Charles
the Bald was killed by a wild boar while hunting, and
his death was the signal for renewed activity amongst
the Northmen. Another great fleet and army of Pagans
now came from Germany into the country of the Old
Saxons, and were there defeated in two battles. We
have already seen how a division of " the army " in the
same year tried their fortune in Kent, and went back
to the Continent wiser and poorer pirates.
In 'i%6 " the army," reunited again, sailed and
marched up the Seine, and laid siege to Paris, or rather
to the island on which lay all that was left of the city.
For a whole year the Northmen lay about Paris, but
" by the merciful favour of God, and the brave defence
of the citizens, could never force their way inside the
walls." Indeed, it would seem that they never wrested
the bridge from the besieged. At the end of a year
the siege was abandoned, and " the army," passing
under the bridge, which they had failed to destroy or
take, went up the Seine to its junction with the Marne,
and then up that river as far as Chezy, where they
formed one of their fortified camps. In the following
year, on the death of Charles (nephew of Charles the
Bald), the unhappy kingdom of the Franks was broken
into five portions, Arnulf his nephew, who had in fact
usurped the throne in the last few weeks of his uncle's
life, keeping the Rhine provinces, with the nominal title
of Emperor. The new kings were soon quarrelling,
and, as the Saxon Chronicle records, " held their lands
in great discord, and fought two general battles, and
s.L. vni. R
242 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
oft and many times laid waste the country, and each
repeatedly drove out the other."
Thus the descendants, legitimate and illegitimate,
of Charlemagne fought over the shreds of his monster
empire, exhausting its strength in their selfish struggles
(" battles of the kites and crows," as Milton contemp-
tuously summed up the history of similar doings on
the smaller arena of England, amongst the Saxon
princes in the previous century), while, on every
frontier, Saracens, Hungarians, and Scandinavians were
hemming it in, and cutting it short. In the very heart
of it a host of Northmen were holding the richest
portions, and carrying rapine and insult to the gates
of the city where, only fifty years before, the Pa-
ladins of Charlemagne had been holding their great
pageants.
The miseries of the next few years in those fair
\ands are scarcely to be paralleled in modern history.
In 891, however, Arnulf had established his own
authority in the Rhine provinces, and was able to
gather a strong army of Eastern Franks, Saxons, and
Bavarians, and lead them against the common enemy.
After some reverses, he surprised the Danes in the
neighbourhood of Louvaine, and defeated them so
signally that the Low Countries were cleared of them
altogether, and suffered no further, except from occa-
sional flying visits of a few galleys. The remnants of
the broken bands fled southward, attracted towards
" the army " of Hasting, who was now holding the
town of Amiens, and living on the neighbouring dis-
tricts, hiving defeated Odo, the king of the Western
THE KING'S FOE. 243
Franks, in several attempts to dislodge him. Another
year of Danish occupation brought a terrible famine
on the whole country, and effected that in which
King Odo had failed. Hasting could hold Amiens
no longer, and moved with " the army " to the coast,
encamping about Boulogne ; to which place also gravi-
tated the remains of the host which had escaped from
Louvaine, and no doubt all the rascaldom of the
empire. It is probable that Hasting's communica-
tions with his countrymen on the Norfolk and Suffolk
coasts had never been interrupted, and that the old
pirate knew well how rich and prosperous the island
had become since he had sailed away from Fulham
some thirteen years before. He knew also something
of the strength and temper of the King whom, he
would have to meet there, and, had a choice been open
to him, would doubtless have preferred some other
venture. But behind him lay a famine-stricken land ;
round him a larger muster of reckless fighters than
any he had yet led ; before him, within sight, at
an easy day's sail, the shores of a land on which no
hostile foot had been planted for eight long years.
So there, on the cliffs above Boulogne, Hasting, like
a leader of the same type in the first years of this
nineteenth centurj'', planned the invasion of Alfred's
kingdom, and waited for a favourable autumn wind
to carry over his fleet.
Such are, briefly, the details which we gather from
the chroniclers of the events which preceded, and
brought about, the third great invasion which Alfred
had to meet.
K 2
244 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
His great antagonist in this last war was already in
the decline of life, and had grown grey in crime. Of
all the leaders of the hosts of heathen Northmen, who
were the scourge of Western Europe in the ninth
century, he stands out as the most ruthless and false,
as well as one of the ablest and most successful.
" The worst man that ever was born, and who has
done most harm in our age," is the summary of his
character and career in the old French chronicler —
" Le plus mal horn qui une nasquist,
E qui al siecle plus mal fist."
We know something already of his later life since
879. The story of his earlier doings owes probably
much of its romance to the rhyming chroniclers who
sung of his atrocities, but is clear enough in general
outline to claim a place in history, and a moment's
attention from those who would rightly appreciate
our hero-king.
The great and indecisive battle of Fontenoy near
Auxerre, where the grandsons of Charlemagne brought
their rival claims to the decision of the sword in the
year 841, exhausted the empire, and left it open to
the onslaughts of the Northmen, and the freebooters
of all races who swelled their ranks. Within five
years of that great slaughter a formidable army of
these marauders were already in the heart of France,
and had sacked and burnt the town of Amboise, and
plundered the district between the Loire and Cher.
About the year of Alfred's birth they laid siege to
Tours, from which they were repulsed by the gallantry
of the citizens, assisted by the miraculous aid of
THE KINGS FOE. 245
Saint Martin. It is at this siege tliat Hasting first
appears as a leader.
His birth is uncertain. In some accounts he is said
to have been the son of a peasant of Troyes, the
capital of Champagne, and to have forsworn his
faith, and joined the Danes in his early youth, from an
inherent lust of battle and plunder. In others he is
called the son of the jarl Attc. But, whatever his
origin, by the middle of the century he had established
his title to lead the Northern hordes in those fierce
forays which helped to shatter the Carlovingian Empire
to fragments. After the retreat from Tours he and the
Viking Biorn — surnamed " Cote de Fer " from an iron
plate which was said to cover the only vulnerable part
of his body — established themselves in a fortified
camp on the Seine, and from thence plundered the
whole of the neighbouring country, until it was too ex-
hausted to maintain them longer. When the banks of
the Seine were exhausted, the leaders separated, and,
while Biorn pushed up the river again. Hasting put out
to sea, entered the Loire, and established a camp on
a marshy island not far from its mouth. Here he
remained for some time, fulfilling his mission while
anything was left to plunder. When the land was bare,
leaving the despoiled provinces he again put to sea,
and, sailing southwards still, pushed up the Tagus and
Guadalquiver, and ravaged the neighbourhoods of
Lisbon and Seville. But no settlement in Spain was
possible at this time. The Peninsula had lately had for
Caliph Abdalrahman the Second, called El IMouzaffer,
"Tlie Victorious," and the vigour of his rule had made
246 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
the Arabian kingdom in Spain the most efficient
power for defence in Europe. Hasting soon recoiled
from the Spanish coasts, and returned to his old
haunts.
The leaders of the Danes in England, the Sidrocs
and Hinguar and Hubba, had, as we have seen, a'
special delight in the destruction of churches and
monasteries, mingling a fierce religious fanaticism
with their thirst for battle and plunder. This exceed-
ing bitterness of the Northmen may be fairly laid in
great measure to the account of the thirty years of
proselytising warfare, which Charlemagne had waged
in Saxony, and along all the northern frontier of his
empire. The boldest spirits amongst all those German
tribes, who scorned to turn renegades at the sword's
point, had drifted away northwards with a tradition of
deepest hatred to the Cross, and the forms of civilization
which it carried in its wake. The time for vengeance
came before one generation had died out, and the
fairest provinces of the empire were now paying, by
the burning of churches, the sack of abbeys, the
destruction of libraries, and the blood of their children,
for the merciless proselytising of the imperial armies.
The brood of so-called religious wars have brought
more ills on the poor old world than all others that
have ever been hatched on her broad and patient bosom
— a brood that never misses coming home to roost.
Hasting seems to have been filled with a double
portion of this spirit, which he had indulged through-
out his career in the most inveterate hatred to priests
and holy places. It was probably this, coupled with
THE KINGS FOE. 247
a certain weariness — commonplace murder and sacri-
lege having grown tame, and lost their charm — which
incited him to the most daring of all his exploits, a
direct attack on the head of Christendom, and the
sacred city.
Hasting then, about the year 860, planned an attack
on Rome, and the proposal was well received by his
followers. Sailing again round Spain, and pillaging
on their way both on the Spanish and Moorish coasts,
they entered the Mediterranean, and, steering for
Italy, landed in the bay of Spezzia, near the town
of Luna. Luna was the place where the great quarries
of the Carrara marble had been worked ever since
the times of the Cassars. The city itself was, it is
said, in great part built of white marble, and the
candoitia inceuia Lhjke deceived Hasting into the
belief that he was actually before Rome : so he sat
down before the town which he had failed to surprise.
The hope of taking it by assault was soon abandoned,
but Hasting obtained his end by guile. Feigning a
mortal illness, he sent messages to the citizens offering
to leave all his accumulated plunder to the Church if
they would allow his burial in consecrated ground.
The offer was accepted, and a procession of Northmen,
bearing and following the bier of Hasting, was admitted
within the walls. The rites of the Church were duly
performed, but, at the moment when the body was
about to be lowered into the grave, Hasting sprang
from the bier, and, seizing a sword which had been
concealed near him, slew the officiating bishop. His
followers foimd their arms at the same moment ; the
248 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
priests were massacred, the gates thrown open, and
the city taken and spoiled. Luna never recovered its
old prosperity after the raid of the Northmen, and in
Dante's time had fallen into utter decay. But Hasting's
career in Italy ended with the sack of Luna; and,
giving up all hope of attacking Rome, he re- embarked
v/ith the spoil of the town, the most beautiful of the
women, and all youths who could be used as soldiers or
rowers. His fleet was wrecked on the south coasts of
France on its return westward, and all the spoil lost;
but the devil had work yet for Hasting and his men,
Vv^ho got ashore in sufficient numbers to recompense
themselves for their losses by the plunder of Provence.
In these parts he remained until 863. In that year
he received an embassy from Charles the Bald, headed
by the Abbot of St. Denis, and agreed to receive
baptism for a large sum of money, and the cession to
him in fee of the district of Chartres, which he was to
hold as the king's vassal. He seems now to have
lived quietly till the year d>y6, when he joined the
army which Charles the Simple was sending against
Rollo. Hasting undertook a mission to the camp of
his brother pirate on the banks of the Eure, bearing
the king's offer of fiefs, and a permanent settlement
to the Danish leader and his army. His mission
was unsuccessful, and finding himself suspected of
foul dealing, and in consequent danger, on his return
to the French army, he left his adopted home, and
returned to his old life. How he had spent the
intervening years we have partly heard already.
Guthrum, his old companion in arms, died in 890,
THE KINGS FOE. 249
and a feeling of restlessness and rebellion against
the steady, constant pressure of the orderly kingdom
of their liege lord was creeping through the coasts of
East Anglia which were most remote from Alfred's
border. Eohric was either unable, or unwilling, to
restrain the seafaring portion of his people; and so
the encouragement was given to Hasting and " the
army " which brought them eighteen months later to
the hills above Boulogne, and cost England and
Alfred three years of war
CHAPTER XXI.
THE THIRD WAVE.
' Associate yourselves, and yc shall be broken in pieces ; gather yourseiva
together, and' it shall eome to nought: for God is -wiih us."
In the autumn of 893 the great army broke up from
its Boulogne camp. Hasting had now matured all
his plans, and collected a fleet large enough to trans-
port the whole of his troops across the narrow sea.
The ships, Ethelwerd says, were built at Boulogne ;
at any rate they were procured by some means in
such abundance, that when the army embarked, "they
came over in one passage, horses and all." The
first detachment, filling 250 .ships, were sent on by
Hasting to seize the nearest point. They steered
straight across the Channel, and landed without oppo-
sition at the mouth of the little river Rother, about
seven miles west of Dungeness. The Chronicles call
the river Limen (or Lymne) ; but the position of
Appledore, the undoubted site of the first Danish
camp of this year, on the banks of the Rother, seems
to decide the question as to the identity of the
stream up which "they towed their ships for four
miles, to the borders of the Andreds Weald." This
was a forest, 120 miles long, and thirty miles in
TFIL THIRD WAVE. 251
breadth, stretching from Romney Marsh to the eastern
part of Hampshire, Here the Danes stormed a small
fort garrisoned by a few churlish men, and, without
encountering farther resistance, fixed upon Appledore
as the site for a permanent camp, which they forth-
with set to work to establish.
Hasting himself was not long after them. He
sailed with his own immediate followers, in eighty
ships, passed up the Channel, round the North
Foreland, and into the East Swale, the branch of the
Medway which separates the Isle of Sheppey from the
mainland. Some ten miles up the Swale a little creek-
runs south, on which the market-town of Milton, cele-
brated for its native oysters, now stands. This is, no
doubt, the Middleton of the Saxon Chronicle, where
Hasting new "wrought himself a strong fortress."
Remains of fortifications in the neighbouring marshes
are still pointed out as the work of the Danes. Between
the two camps, which would be some twenty-six miles
apart as the crow flies, lay the Andreds Weald, offer-
ing immediate shelter in the event of a reverse to
either wing of the army, and direct communication
with the camp of their comrades. Through the re-
cesses of the great wood they could penetrate west-
ward into the heart of Wessex, and approach within
a few miles of Winchester or Reading without quitting
cover. Both camps were established on the banks
of rivers, navigable to the Danish galleys, so that, if
the worst came, there were always means of retreat
for any who might escape. This position was a \'Qxy
formidable one, and admirably chosen for the ends
252 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
Hasting had in view. The strength of the camps
themselves is proved by the fact, that Alfred nevet
attempted to storm either of them.
The King was now in his forty-fifth year, and had
learnt much in the wars of his youth and early man-
hood. As we might expect, the tactics and method of
defence adopted by him in his mature years offer a
marked contrast to the impetuous gallantry of his
early campaigns. His first act seems to have been, to
send his son Edward, with some light troops, to the
neighbourhood of the two camps, more for the pur-
pose of watching than fighting ; his next, to strengthen
the garrisons of his forts. Then, putting himself at
the head of that portion of his subjects whose turn it
was for military service, he marched into Kent, and
took up a strong position, from whence he could best
watch both the camps. The name of the place where
Alfred laid out his camp is not given in any chronicler.
Possibly it was actually in the Andreds Weald, and
had no name, for it is described (by Florence of
Worcester) as " a place naturally very strong, because
it was surrounded on all sides by water, high rocks,
and overhanging woods." And now at once the value
of the King's army reforms became clear. The Danes
felt the presence of a foe stronger and better disci-
plined than themselves, whose vigilance was unceasing.
The watching army never dwindled, and the invaders
dared not leave their entrenchments except in small
bands. These, however, were active and mischievous.
They stole out for plunder " along the weald in bands
and troops, by whichever border was for the time with-
THE THIRD WAVE. 253
out forces." Then the alarm would be given by the
Etheling Edward, and the marauders were " sought out
by bands from the King's army, or from the burghs."
Thus a desultory warfare continued " almost every
day, either by day or night," as the Saxon Chronicle
describes it, until the theatre of war is suddenly and
completely changed, and the head-quarters of both
sides, and the scene of operations, pass over to the
north of the Thames.
It was now nearly a year from Hasting's landing,
and no help had come to him as yet from the Danes
settled in East Anglia and Northumbria. It is clear
that he had been intriguing with them, for Alfred had
had to exact a renewal of their oaths, and even to take
fresh hostages from the East Angles. Now, as the
desultory war dragged on, week after week, and month
after month, the Danes of the northern kingdom got
more restless and excited, and Hasting, hoping much
from this rekindling of the old race-hatred, and seeing
no chance of doing anything more in his present
position, resolved to abandon his two camps on the
south of the Thames, and cross into East Anglia.
He had never ventured yet out of his fortified camps
in force, but, now that the change of base had been
determined on, it was worth while playing for a large
stake. Accordingly, Hasting sent off his ships to a
rendezvous at Bemfleet, on the Essex coast, and,
starting with the whole of his land-forces, pushed by
Alfred's camp, through the forest, and into Hamp-
shire, where he met one of his marauding parties,
laden with spoil. With this booty, and what he could
254 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
gather himself in his rapid march, he now turned
northwards, hoping to get to the fords of the Thames
before Alfred could overtake him. In this he was
disappointed. The King and the Etheling Edward
caught the Danish army at Farnham, and forced them
to fight. In this first general action of the war the
Saxons were completely victorious. Hasting's army
lost the whole of their plunder, and the horses they
had brought with them from France. One of their
kings (Dr. Pauli suggests Biorn) was desperately
wounikd, and his condition impeded their flight. They
made good their retreat to the Thames, however ; but,
either from panic or want of knowledge, struck it at a
place where there was no ford, and, besides the great
slaughter at Farnham, numbers of them were lost in
crossing the river. The first rally they made was in
an island, at the junction of the Thames and Colnc,
called Thorney Island. Here Hasting halted, and his
ships probably brought him supplies, and the broken
bands of his army joined him. But Alfred was on his
track, and in a short time the island was completely
invested by Saxon troops. It had thus become only
a question of days. If the blockade could have been
maintained, Hasting and the army must have been
soon at Alfred's mercy. Unhappily the besieged,
by the aid of their ships, were better supplied than
the besiegers ; and, moreover, the time of service of
the army which fought at Farnham had expired, and
the reliefs had to be brought up at this critical
inoment. Alfred was himself engaged in bringing up
the relieving force, when news reached him which
THEi THIRD WAVE. 255
induced him at once to change the whole of his plans,
and to abandon for the time the hope of crushing his
foe once for all in Thorney Island.
Although Hasting had suffered so severely in his
march and flight, the sagacity which prompted the
movement was at once justified. Scarcely had the
beaten army appeared to the north of the Thames
when the Danes of the east coast, from Essex to
Northumberland, unable any longer to resist the
contagion of battle, broke into open hostility, and
rushed to the aid of their robber brethren. They
hastily gathered a large fleet, which sailed at once
for the southern coasts of Wessex, for the purpose of
creating a diversion, and raising the blockade of
Hasting at the mouth of the Colne. A hundred of
these ships pushed up the Exe, while forty more
made their way round (the Saxon Chronicle says " by
the north") into the Bristol Channel. Each fleet carried
an armed force besides the crews ; and Exeter in the
south, and some fortress on the north coast of Devon-
shire, were formally invested. This was the news
which reached Alfred on his march towards Essex,
and it had all the effect which Hasting had looked
for. Alfred at once resolved to march westward
himself. The Southern Welsh who dwelt in Cornwall
might follow the example of the East Anglians and
Northumbrians, and join the invaders, and the whole
realm be in a blaze again, as it was in 879. In any
case he could not leave Somerset and Wilts, pro-
bably the richest and most populous parts of the
whole of Wessex, and those in which his own
2S6 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
property was chiefly situate, open to attack from
the west.
The blockade of Thorney Island was therefore
abandoned at once, and Hasting, with the wrecks of
the two armies which had garrisoned the camps of
Appledore and Milton, escaped to Bemfleet. Here he
found his ships lying, and his wife and sons, and the
heavy baggage of his army, already occupying the
old fortifications which had been thrown up there by
some Danish leader, if not by himself, nine years
before. His ranks were soon recruited, by bands of
Danes from the outlying parts of the kingdom. He
lost no time in his trenches, but started at once on
a plundering expedition into Mercia.
Before starting by forced marches for the west,
Alfred had divided his forces, and sent a strong body,
under the command probably of his son Edward, who
had greatly distinguished himself in Farnham fight,
to reinforce Ethelred, who was holding London with
the Mercian troops. That able and energetic leader
immediately planned an attack on the camp at
Bemfleet, in accordance with the wishes of the
citizens of London, who could not brook the constant
menace of such a hornets' nest in their immediate
neighbourhood. So Ethelred marched suddenly upon
Bemfleet camp, and^ for the first time in these wars,
the Danes were thoroughly beaten behind their own
fortifications, and in a position of their own choosing.
The camp was stormed, and all the booty found there
taken, and amongst the prisoners were the wife and
two sons of Hasting. There is a passage in the
THE THIRD WAVE. 257
Saxon Chronicle, and in Florence of Worcester, to the
effect that these boys had shortly before been sent
as hostages to Alfred, who had caused them to be
baptized, he and Ethelred acting as their sponsors,
after which they had been sent back to their father.
And now again Alfred restored them and their mother
to his faithless enemy, but the spoil was shared
amongst the citizens of London and Ethelred's
garrison. The Danish fleet was also captured at
Bemfleet, and all the serviceable vessels were taken
to London or Rochester, while the remnant were
broken up or burnt. Hasting's means of retreat were
thus destroyed, but the disaster only seems to have
braced the nerves of the old pirate for greater efforts.
He returned to the neighbourhood of Bemfleet, col-
lected the remnants of the army, received large re-
inforcements again from East Anglia, and entrenched
another camp at Shobury, some ten miles east of ins
former position. From thence he marched out at the
head of another strong force, along the northern
bank of the Thames, and then up the Severn valley,
thus carrying fire and sword into the heart of
Ethelred's own country. His intention may have been
to relieve the Danish forces in Devonshire, and to cut
Alfred off from his supplies and base. If so, he was
quickly and completely foiled. Ethelred hastened
down to the threatened district, and sent summonses
to all the neighbouring king's aldermen and thanes.
The vigour and alacrity of the response are very
marked. " Then Ethelred," the Saxon Chronicle says,
•'and Ethelhclm the alderman (of Wilts), and Ether-
s.L. viii. g
258 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
noth the alderman (of Somerset), and the king's
thanes who were then at home in the fortified places,
gathered forces from every town east of the Parret,
and as well west as east of Selwood, and also north of
the Thames, and west of the Severn, and also some
part of the North Welsh people." Hasting was now
in the district where Guthrum had attempted a settle-
ment, and which had been the scene of the campaign
of Ethandune. The country knew well what to ex-
pect from the tender mercies of the Dane, and rose as
one man, without a thought of the established courses,
or whose turn it might be for the regular three months'
service. Hasting met the rising by turning north-
wards, abandoning all hope of penetrating Wessex.
He might look for more encouragement, at least for
less enthusiasm of resistance, on the North Welsh
border : so he made no halt till he reached Buttington
in Montgomeryshire, on the banks of the Severn,
where he entrenched himself and waited for Ethelred.
Buttington is a border parish ; Offa's dyke, which runs
through it, is still the boundary between Shropshire
and Montgomeryshire. There are several earthworks
still to be seen in the neighbourhood, and some thirty
years ago a vast deposit of human bones was disco
vered in digging the foundations of the schools there,
near the parish church.
Ethelred on his arrival divided his forces, so that he
might watch both banks of the Severn, and beset
Hasting's camp very straitly, so that no succours or
supplies could reach the besieged. " When they
had now sat there many weeks on both sides the
THE THIRD WAVE. 259
river," the Chronicle tells us, "then were the enemy dis-
tressed for want of food, and having eaten a great part
of their horses, being then starved with hunger, they
went out against the men who were encamped on the
east bank of the river, and fought against them. And
the Christians had the victory. And Ordeh, a king's
thane, and many other king's thanes were slain, and of
the Danish men there was very great slaughter made.
And that part which got away thence was saved by
flight."
Hasting saved himself by crossing the Mercian
border over Watling Street, falling back on a part of
East Anglia far removed from Alfred's influence, and
which had stubbornly resisted all but the semblance
of Christianity. Either the encouragement which he
found here, in the shape of recruits and sympathy,
tempted him to renew the struggle in the north of
Mercia, or he may have thought that his best chance
of succouring his allies in Devonshire lay in piercing
to the west coast at some point where his great fleet,
already in those seas, could fetch him off, and land
him on the shores of the Bristol Channel. At any
rate, after removing the Danish women and children,
and all their possessions, and such ships as were left
them, from Shobury to the island of Mersea — at the
mouth of the Blackwater, a few miles south of Col-
chester, a safer spot, and twenty miles further from
London — and committing the protection of the settle-
ment to the East Anglians of those parts, now his
open allies, Hasting went back again with a fresh
army, " at one stretch, day and night " says the Saxon
S 2
26o LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
Chronicle, and appeared suddenly before Chester.
The royal town was not surprised, and was held by
a strong garrison ; so Hasting swept the country of
cattle, killed the fewpeople he found outside the walls,
eat up or destroyed all the crops, which were still
standing in the late autumn, and then, after two days,
retired into the peninsula of Wirral, and there went
into winter quarters. Alfred meanwhile had compelled
the Danes to raise the sieges of Exeter and the
fortress in North Devon, and had driven them to
their ships ; but as the fleet still hung about the coasts
of Devonshire and South Wales (Cornwall), he did
not think it safe to leave the far west for the present,
being no doubt well satisfied with the reports which
reached him of the vigorous way in which Hasting had
been met when he threatened Central Wessex. So
the King wintered in Devonshire.
The first eventful year of the war was now ended,
and on every side the enormous increase of power in
the nation consequent on Alfred's rule had proved
itself. The pagan army had not only been outfought,
as in past years at Ashdown and Ethandune, but out-
marched and outmanoeuvred by Alfred and Ethelred,
and the Saxon and Mercian levies. They had not taken
a single place of any importance, while one of their
entrenched camps had been stormed, and four others
abandoned. The issue could not be doubtful, unless
some great reinforcements came to Hasting from
over the sea ; but the old pirate was still at the head
of a formidable army, and had opened up a good
recruiting ground on the east coasts. There was no
THE THIRD WAVE. 261
room for carelessness or foolhardiness in the coming
spring.
The campaign of 895 was probably opened by
Ethelred, or some Mercian earl, who made a success-
ful dash at Hasting in the Wirral peninsula, and
carried off all the store of cattle and provision which
he had accumulated, for the Saxon Chronicle notices
this loss as the reason why he broke up his camp
there. So the Danes took the field, and, avoiding
Chester and Mercia for the time, marched into North
Wales. Here, before Ethelred could come at them,
they collected a large booty in the valleys, and then
retreated into Northumbria, " fearing," says Florence,
" to return through Mercia." Dr. Pauli gathers, from
an obscure passage in Ethelward's Chronicle, that on
his march southwards Hasting was intercepted by
Ethelnoth at Stamford, and that a battle was fought
there. In any case, in the course of the summer or
autumn, the main body of the Danes arrived safely
in the isle of Mersea, and received their women and
children from the safe-keeping of their East Anglian
allies.
Here they were joined in the autumn by the fleet
and the remains c f the army which had been in
Devonshire. Foiled at all points by Alfred himself,
and driven to their ships, they had sailed out of the
Exe, and on their voyage eastward had made a sudden
descent on the Sussex coast near Chichester. But the
garrison and citizens turned out and fought them, "slay-
ing many hundreds, and taking some of their ships."
But Hasting was not yet beaten, and, before Alfre(^
262 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
had time to organize an attack on Mersea, put all on
board his fleet and sailed boldly up the Thames and
the Lea, and once more fortified himself in a strong
camp on the latter river, only twenty miles from
London. And so the second year of the war ended.
896 opened with a reverse to the Saxon arms.
Encouraged by the success of the attack on the
Bem fleet camp two years before, and perhaps by the
exploit of the citizens of Chichester in the last
autumn, the men of London and their garrison
marched out to attack Hasting in his camp on the
Lea, without waiting the arrival of Alfred or Ethelred.
They were beaten by the Danes, and retreated on
London, with the loss of four king's thanes. The
King now came up, and established himself between
Hasting's camp and the city, to protect the people
while they reaped their crops. While encamped for
this purpose, Alfred, riding one day along the river,
discovered a place where the stream might be easily
diverted or obstructed, so that it would be impossible
for the Danes to pass down it with their fleet. He
set to the work at once, and at the same time began
to build two forts, one on each side of the Lea, at
the point he had selected for diverting the stream.
Hasting did not wait for the catastrophe. Confiding
the women and children again to the care of the East
Anglians, and abandoning his camp and fleet, he
marched away again north-west, and established him-
self for the winter near Bridgnorth (Cwatbridge) in
Shropshire, distancing the force which Alfred sent in
pursuit. The Londoners took possession of the camp
THE THIRD WAVE. 263
and fleet in great triumph. Those ships which they
could not bring away were burnt, and all which were
" stalworth " they brought down to London. And so
ended the third and last year of Alfred's last war.
In the spring of 897 Hasting broke up his last
camp on English soil. His army was now composed
of Northumbrian and East Anglian Danes, as well as
of his followers who had embarked from Boulogne
three years before. The former marched back to
their own homes, while Hasting, with the remains of
his own followers, felt his way back to some place on
the east coast. Here the women and children re-
joined them, and the baffled pirate leader, getting
together ships enough to carry him and his fortunes,
" went southward over sea to the Seine."
" Thanks be to God ! " the Chronicle sums up, " the
army had not utterly broken down the English nation :
but during those three years it was much more broken
down by the mortality which raged amongst cattle
and amongst men ; and most of all by this, that many
of the most eminent of the King's servants in the land
died during the three years, some of whom were —
Swithulf, bishop of Rochester, and Ceolmund, alder-
man of Kent, and Beorthulf, alderman of Hants, and
Ealherd, bishop of Dorchester, and Eadulf the king's
thane in Sussex, and Beornwulf the wicrecvc of
Winchester, and Ecgulf the king's horse-thane, and
many also besides these, though I have named the
most famous." A goodly list of men who could ill be
spared ; most of them, too, we may note, officers in the
districts which had borne the l)runt of the invasion.
264 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
The embers of the fire which Hasting had kindled
coiitinued to smoulder after he had left the island.
His Northumbrian and East Anghan allies could not
at once give up the excitement of the rover's life,
which was bred in their blood, and of which they had
now again tasted after so many years of abstinence.
They were chiefly dwellers by the sea, and now, aban-
doning all attempts at inland warfare, fitted out small
squadrons of their swift vessels, called " oescs," and in
these cruised off the southern coasts of Wessex, in-
flicting much local damage, and greatly exasperating
Alfred and his people. In the course of the autumn
Alfred's new galleys swept the whole of these ma-
rauders off the sea, capturing twenty of their " oescs "
at one time or another. But the only detailed account
we have of an action between the King's ships and the
pirates suggests rather that the Danes still retained
their mastery as sailors, and that Alfred and his new
ships, with their motley crews, only prevailed against
them by sheer weight and superior numbers.
The story is in the Saxon Chronicle as follows : — '
" Some time in the same year there came six ships to
Wight, and there did much harm, as well as in Devon
and elsewhere along the sea-coast. Then the King com-
manded nine of his new ships to go thither, and they
blockaded the passage from the port to the outer sea.
Then went the pirates with three of their ships out
against them ; and three lay in the upper part of the
port dry, and the crews were gone out of them on
shore. Then the King's ships took two of the three
ships at the outf^r port, and killed the crews, and the
THE THIRD WAVE. 265
other ship escaped. In that also all the men were
killed except five, and it escaped because the King's
ships got aground. They indeed were aground very
disadvantageously, for three lay on that side where
the Danish ships were aground, and all the rest upon
the other side, so that no one of them could get to
the others. But when the water had ebbed many
furlongs from the ships, then the Danish men went
from their three ships to the other three which were
left by the tide on their side, and fought against them
there." "Then might you have seen," says the
Chronicle of Huntingdon, "the English people of
the six ships looking at the battle, and unable to
bear them help, beating their breasts with their hands,
and tearing their hair with their nails" — a grim
little picture of the doings of the ancestors of the
Blakes and Nelsons. " There were slain Lucumon,
the king's reeve, and Wulfheard the Frisian, and
Abbae the Frisian, and Ethelhere the Frisian, and
Ethelferth the king's neatherd ; and of all the
men, Frisians and English, 72, and of the Danish
men, 120. Then, however, the flood-tide came to
the Danish ships before the English could get theirs
off: they therefore rowed away. Nevertheless, they
were so damaged that they could not row round
Sussex ; and there the sea cast two of them on shore,
and the crews were led to the King at Winchester ;
and he commanded them to be there hanged. And
the men who were in the single ship came to East
Anglia sorely wounded."
It appears that Alfred also hanged all that fell into
266 Life of ALFRED THE GREA T.
his hands of the crews of the remainder of the twenty
pirate vessels. Some of his biographers are incHned
to gloss, or extenuate, the King's severity in these last
dealings with the pirates. It seems to me the most
wise and merciful course he could have taken. The
war was now virtually at an end, and it was necessary
to impress upon the loose seafaring population of
Northumbria and East Anglia that they could only
continue it in small marauding excursions on their
own account at the peril of their necks. That the
King, at this triumphant crisis of his life, as well as
on every other occasion, was lenient to his foes, and
scrupulously careful to act up to the high standard he
had set himself, is abundantly clear by the fact that
he exacted no penalty whatever from Northumbria,
and from East Anglia only annexed a corner of Essex.
It would have been easy for him and Ethelred to have
marched from Watling Street to the Forth, and the
Danish under-kings were practically at his mercy.
But they, and the bulk of their people, had taken no
active part with Hasting, and the King would not
punish them for want of power to control the most
turbulent of their people, in such times, and under
3uch temptations. So there was no reckoning for the
past; only, as they could not hinder their nominal
subjects from turning pirates, the King must read a
lesson to such persons. That of Winchester was
enough. There is no hint of any further piracy during
Alfred's reiffn.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE king's home.
" Blessed is the man thai doth meditate good things in wisdom.
" He shall pitch his tent nigh unto her, and shall lodge in a lodgir.g whert
good things are.
" He shall get his children under her shelter, and shall lodge tinder Jher
branches."
We may now take leave of the King's public life.
All that can be told — at least all that the present
writer has to tell of it — lies behind us. How unsatis-
factory the picture is at the best ; how indistinctly
most of the persons stand out from behind the mists
of a thousand years ; how necessary it has been at
every step to hesitate as to the course and meaning
of events ; how many questions of grave importance
remain scarcely stated, and altogether unsolved, no
one can feel more strongly than he does. At the
same time, unless the attempt has wholly failed, he
must have in some sort made clear for his readers the
figure of a king who, having by his own energy, and
by his personal character and genius, won for himself
a position such as no man of the English race ever
had before, or has ever had since, never used, or thought
of using, his strength and wisdom on his own behalf,
or for his own selfish purposes — a king, in short,
268 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
who yielded himself to do the work to which God
had called him, simply and thoroughly, never losing
the consciousness that he was himself under command.
We have still, however, to gather up such fragments
as are left of the home-life of Alfred, and to glance
at the work in which, after all, he probably most
delighted — his writings and translations.
Alfred, as we know, had no settled home. We find
him now in one county, now in another, at one of the
royal residences, which were indeed so numerous that
we can only suppose the accommodation at many of
them to have been of the roughest and simplest de-
scription. The ordinary houses of the Saxon nobles
consisted of a large central hall, with chapel and
rooms for the family attached, and outhouses for the
servants and followers grouped round them. The
whole of these buildings were of wood up to Alfred's
time, and there were no deep moats or military
defences of any kind. The king's residences differed
only in size from those of the nobility ; but Alfred
must have needed much more room than any of
his predecessors, as his court became very large.
Foreigners of all nations flocked to it, for whom
special and liberal provision was made in the distri-
bution of his income ; and, besides his officers of state,
he had always in attendance a strong body of troops,
and a number of skilled artisans and mechanics.
The importance which he attached to the improve-
ment of his own residences, and of the architecture of
his churches and other public buildings, is shown by
the large proportion of his income which, as we have
THE KINGS HOME. 269
seen, was devoted to building purposes. But notwith-
standing all his efforts, and the magnificence of many
of his new buildings, compared with any then known
in England, the quarters in which the royal house-
hold lived were often rough places enough, as we
know incidentally from the history of his most cele-
brated invention — the horn-lantern. At the time that
he made the division of his yearly income in the
manner we have heard, Alfred also resolved to offer
to God no less of the service of his mind and body
than of his worldly wealth. " He accordingly made a
vow to consecrate half of his time to God's service ;
and this vow, so far as his infirmity would allow, he
performed with all his might, by night and day.
But inasmuch as he could not equally distinguish the
length of the hours by night, on account of the darkness,
and also oftentimes of the day on account of the storms
and clouds, he began to consider by what means,
without any uncertainty, relying on the mercy of God,
he might discharge the tenor of his vow till his death
After much thought on these things, he at length hit
on a shrewd invention. He commanded his chaplains
to supply wax of sufficient quantity and quality, and
had it weighed in such a manner that when there was
so much of it in the scales as would equal the weight of
seventy-two pence, he caused the chaplains to make
six candles thereof, of equal length ; so that each
candle might have twelve divisions marked across it.
By this plan, therefore, those six candles burned for
twenty-four hours — a night and day — without fail,
before the sacred relics of many of God's elect, which
270 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
always accompanied him wherever he went. But
sometimes they would not continue burning a whole
day and night, till the same hour that they were
lighted on the previous evening, from the violence of
the wind, which blew without intermission through the
doors and windows of the churches, the fissures at the
divisions in the plankings of the walls, or the thin
canvas of the tents. When, therefore, the candles
burned out and finished their course before the proper
time, the King considered by what means he could
shut out the wind ; and so, by a useful and cunning
invention, he had a lantern beautifully constructed in
wood and white ox-horn, which, when skilfully planed
till it is thin, is no less transparent than a vessel of
glass. This lantern, therefore, was wonderfully made
of wood and horn, as we before said ; and by night a
candle was put into it, which shone as brightly without
as within, and was not extinguished by the wind ; for
the opening of the lantern was also closed up, accord-
ing to the King's command, by a door of horn. By this
contrivance these six candles, lighted in succession,
lasted twenty-four hours — neither more nor less ; and
when these were extinguished, others were lighted."
His taste and genius for science, and for mechanics,
are mentioned in several chroniclers, but there is no
description left of any other invention of his. Asser,
in a passage which sums up his everyday mode of
life, says : " During the frequent wars and other
trammels of this present life, the invasions of the
Pagans, and his own daily infirmities of body, he
continued to carry on the government, and to exercise
THE KINGS HOME. 271
hunting in all its branches ; to teach his workers in
gold and artificers of all kinds, his falconers, hawkers,
and dog-keepers ; to build houses majestic and good
beyond all the precedents of his ancestors by his
new mechanical inventions ; to recite the Saxon
books, and especially to learn by heart the Saxon
poems, and to make others learn them ; and he alone
never desisted from studying to the best of his ability.
He attended the mass, and other daily services of
religion ; he was frequent in psalm-singing and prayer
at the hours both of day and night. He also went to
the churches in the night-time to pray secretly, and
unknown to his courtiers ; he bestowed alms and
largesses on natives and foreigners of all countries ;
he was affable and pleasant to all, and curiously eager
to investigate things unknown."
That part of the above statement which speaks of
the King's teaching his workers in gold has received
curious illustration from the famous jewel found at
Newton Park, near Athelney, in 1693, and which is
now in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. The jewel
consists of a figure holding a flower in each hand,
and composed of blue, green, red, and white enamel,
let into golden cells. The settings and back of the
jewel are of pure gold, the latter being chased in a
graceful pattern. It is about half an inch thick, and
round the outside runs the scroll, "Alfred had me
worked " — " Alfred mec heht gewyrcan " — stamped
on the gold edge.
The above description, from the pen of the in-
timate friend who was at his side during all the
272 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
later years of peace, helps us to picture to our-
selves the life which the King lived in his great
court — half camp, half city — which moved about all
the soutnern counties, stimulating industry, and over-
awing outlaws and lawless men on the one hand, and
exercising on the other a close and severe control
over the acts of aldermen and sheriffs, and the
decisions of judges. In the midst of this home of
work, and with the example of the chief, and most
diligent, worker always before their eyes, his family
grew up round him.
In his private life the King seems to have been as
happy as he deserved to be. Of Queen Ethelswitha
we know nothing, except that she was the faithful
consort of her husband, and bore him many children.
The early training of these must have been her chief
work, and how admirably it was performed may be
inferred from the results. Every child of Alfred
turned out well. The girls of the royal family were
trained in all kinds of womanly work ; the four
daughters of Edward the Elder, who must have been
brought up in Ethelswitha's household, having been
specially distinguished for their great assiduity and
skill in spinning, weaving, and needlework. And the
processes used in these arts were by no means simple.
Bishop Adhelm speaks, even in his time, of webs
formed " with threads of purple and various other
colours woven in with the shuttle, thrown from one
side to the other, thereby forming a variety of
different colours and figures, each in its own proper
compartment knit together with exquisite art."
THE KING'S HOME. 273
The higher education, of girls as well as boys, went
on in the schools attached to the court under Alfred's
own eye. Probably his own daughters were at least
as well taught as Queen Edgitha in the next century,
who was often seen by Ingulphus in his boyhood,
when his father was in the palace, as he came from
school. " When I have met her she would examine
rtie in my learning, and from grammar would proceed
to logic, which she also understood, concluding with
me in most subtle argument ; then causing one of her
attendant maids to present me with a piece of money,
I was dismissed to the larder, where I was sure to get
something to eat." Ethelswitha survived her husband,
and died at the court of her son in 905.
The eldest child, Ethelfleda, born in the first year
of her father's reign, when the Danes were in Reading
camp, was married very early to the gallant Ethelred,
the Alderman of Mercia, Alfred's " princeps militiae,"
as he is sometimes called. She shared the government
with her husband, as Lady of Mercia, and after his
death ruled gallantly in the centre of England, con-
solidating and strengthening the Mercrah frontiers,
against the Welsh on one side, and the R^st Anglians
on the other.
Their second daughter was Ethelgeda, who became
abbess of the great monastery at Shaftesbury, which
the King built soon after the peace of Wedmore.
Her residence there may probably account for the
special attachment which Alfred showed to the town,
which he rebuilt as early as a.d. 880, if we may
accept the evidence of William of Malmesbury, He
274 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
mentions in his chronicle that he had seen a stone
which was dug out of the old walls in his time, and
which bore the inscription, "A.D. 880, Alfredus Rex
fecit hanc Urbem, regni sui 8'."
The third daughter, Elfrida, or Elfrith, became the
wife of Baldwin of Flanders, the eldest son of Judith,
Alfred's old playfellow, who had scandalized Christian
England in the time of his boyhood by her successive
marriages with his father and brother. How or when
the reconciliation between them took place we do not
know.
The boys were Edward, afterwards King Edward
the Elder, and Ethelvvard. Ethelward, the younger
son, showed a turn for study, and, " by the divine
counsels and prudence of the King, was consigned to
the schools of learning, where, with the children of
almost all the nobility of the country, and many also
who were not noble, he prospered under the diligent
care of his teachers." While Ethelward then was
sent to Oxford (or whatever was the leading school
of England), Edward seems never to have got beyond
the school which was attached to his father's court.
Asser states that he and Elfrith were bred up in the
King's court, " and continue there to this day " (pro-
bably about A.D. Z'^']), adding in words which clearly
apply to both the boys, though Ethelward's name is
not mentioned. He continues: "They had the love of
all about them, and showed affability and gentleness
to all, both natives and foreigners, and were in com-
plete subjection to their father. Nor amongst their
other studies which pertain to this life, and are fit for
THE KINGS HOME. 275
noble youths, are they suffered to pass their time idly
and unprofitably without learning the liberal arts ; for
they have carefully learned the Psalms and Saxon
books, especially the Saxon poems, and are con-
tinually in the habit of making use of books."
But Edward inherited all his father's vigour and
courage, as well as his kindly courtesy, and was ad-
dicted to, and no doubt encouraged by Alfred in, the
practice of martial sports, and hunting. There is a
romantic story which connects his first marriage with
a hunting expedition. Turning aside from his sport
to visit an old woman who had been his nurse, he
found living with her a girl of great beauty, named
Edgina. She was the daughter of a shepherd, ac-
cording to William of Malmesbury and Brompton,
but at any rate was of lowly birth, and had dreamt
that the moon shone out of her body so brightly
that it illumxinated all England. She had told the
dream to the old nurse, who had adopted her, and
now the Etheling came to make the dream true.
There has been much discussion whether they were
married, but the better opinion seems to be that
they were. In any case, their son Athelstan was
recognised by Alfred as his grandson when quite a
child, and entrusted to Ethelred and Ethelfleda to
bring up. When old enough to be brought to court,
his guardians presented him to Alfred, who was so
pleased with the boy's look and manner, that he
"blessed him for king after his son Edward," and
gave him a purple robe, a belt set with jewels, and a
Saxon sword in a golden sheath.
T 2
276 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
Edgina died early, and Edward had a large family
by two other wives, of whom three daughters married
the most powerful continental princes : Edgitha, the
Emperor Otho I. ; Edgiva, Charles the Simple ; and
Ethilda, Hugo the Great, Duke of Burgundy and
Neustria, the rival of the Carlovingian line of
Prankish kings.
Readers must fill up for themselves the picture of
the English life round the great King; and a cheerful
and healthy life it must have been, wfth its regular
work interspersed with the well-kept Saints' days
and Sundays, on which no bondman could be made
to work without thereby gaining a right to his
freedom. The discomfort of their houses was little
felt by a hardy race, and, while their useful carpentry
was of the rudest kind, their ornamental furniture
comprised articles inlaid with the precious metals,
and candlesticks and goblets and mirrors of wrought
silver, and hangings of all bright colours. The
descriptions which have reached us of the dresses
and ways of the people go far to prove that England
was merry England a thousand years ago. Men and
women alike delighted in bright colours. The men,
in peace time, wore a tunic of wool or linen, with
sleeves to the wrists, and girded round the waist, and
those who could afford them, bracelets and rings.
The women wore dresses of linen or wool, often
ornamented with embroidery ; and silk hoods with
long' pendants, mantles, girdles, cuffs, and ribands,
were also not unknown to them. Their ornaments
were head-bands, necklaces, bracelets, and rings, many
THE KINGS HOME. 277
of which were of fine workmanship, and enamelled
with gems. Their hair was dressed with curling irons,
and with great care ; long curls being the mark of
a free woman. Even the clergy were addicted to
coloured garments and ornaments, which drew down
on them, and on the people, the severe censures of
stern ecclesiastics such as St. Boniface, who declared
that the vain showiness in the dress of his people
announced the coming of Antichrist.
Gleemen, posture masters, and jugglers were
always at hand to sing and tumble for the amuse-
ment of rich and poor during meals and in the
evenings ; and hunting, and hawking, and sword and
buckler play, and horse-racing, filled up the intervals
of more serious business. In short, in the immediate
neighbourhood of the Court, the life of all but the
King, and his bishops, and immediate attendants,
must have passed in a round of strenuous work
and rough and healthy sport, well calculated to
develop the powers of his vigorous, if somewhat
indolent people.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE KING AS AUTHOR. '
" The lips of the rii^Jiteoiis feed many : but fools die for want
of wisdom."
It is impossible to accept as literally true Assers
statement, that it was not until the year 887 that
Alfred began, on the same day, to read and interpret.
That he could write as well as read when, a boy,
charters bearing his signature as early as 862, in the
form, "I, Alfred, brother to the King, have consented
and subscribed," clearly prove. It was probably,
however, in the month of November 887 that he
began that series of books for his people which form,
after all, his most enduring monument. But for
Alfred's works the Anglo-Saxon spoken in the ninth
century might never have reached us at all. When
he was a boy the literature of his mother-tongue
consisted of a few poems, such as those of C^dmon
and Adhelm, sung by the people, and handed
down from father to son, for even Bede had written
his great work in Latin. When Alfred died he left
all those of his people who could read versions of
the best historical, philosophical, and religious works
which the times afforded in their own mother-tongue.
THE KING AS A UTHOR. 279
Notwithstanding the evidence from the several pre-
faces to the works themselves, and from the pas-
sages interpolated in the text, which contain direct
references to himself, and could scarcely have been
written by any other person, it is almost beyond
belief that he could have translated, paraphrased, and
adapted all the books which are generally attributed
to him. The pressure of public business of all kinds
in the last fifteen years of his life, and the interrup-
tion of the invasion of Hasting, which must have put
a stop to his literary work altogether for three years,
make it almost a physical impossibility ; and we are
driven to the conclusion that Plegmund, Asser, and
his chaplains must have done great part of the work
under his immediate direction and supervision. The
wisdom and breadth of his views will be seen best
by a short notice of the most celebrated of the
works which he left to his people. But the most
fitting introduction to these will be the account
given by Asser of the interview which at last turned
the King to literary work.
" On a certain day," the Bishop writes, " we were
both sitting in the King's chamber, talking on all
kinds of subjects as usual, and it happened that I read
to him a quotation out of a certain book. He heard
it attentively with both his ears, and addressed me
with a thoughtful mind, showing me at the same
moment a book which he carried in his bosom, wherein
the daily courses, and psalms, and prayers which he
had read in his youth were written, and he com-
manded me to write the same quotation in that book.
28o LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
Hearing this, and perceiving his ingenuous benevo-
lence, and devout desire of studying the words of
divine wisdom, I gave, though in secret, boundless
thanks to Almighty God, who had implanted such
a love of wisdom in the King's heart. But I could
not find any empty space in that book wherein to
write the quotation, for it was already full of various
matters ; wherefore I made a little delay, principally
that I might stir up the bright intellect of the King
to a higher acquaintance with the divine testimonies.
Upon his urging me to make haste and write it
quickly, I said to him, ' Are you willing that I should
write that quotation on some leaf apart ? For it is
not certain whether we shall not find one or more
other such extracts which will please you ; and if that
should so happen, we shall be glad that we have kept
them apart' ' Your plan is good,' said he ; and I
gladly made haste to get ready a sheet, in the begin-
ning of which I wrote what he bade me ; and on that
sam^e day I wrote therein, as I had anticipated, no
less than three other quotations which pleased him ;
and from that time we daily talked together, and
found out other quotations which pleased him, so that
the sheet became full, and deservedly so ; according
as it is written, ' The just man builds upon a mode-
rate foundation, and by degrees passes to greater
things.' Thus, like a most productive bee, he flew
here and there, asking questions as he went, until he
had eagerly and unceasingly collected many various
flowers of divine Scripture with which he thickly
stored the cells of his mind.
THE KIXG AS A UTHOR. 281
" Now when that first quotation was copied, he was
eager at once to read, and to interpret in Saxon, and
then to teach others. The King, inspired by God,
began to study the rudiments of divine Scripture on
the sacred solemnity of St. Martin [Nov. 11], and
he continued to learn the flowers collected by certain
masters, and to reduce them into the form of one
book, as he was then able, although mixed one with
another, until it became almost as large as a psalter.
This book he called his Enchiridion or Manual
[Handbook], because he carefully kept it at hand
day and night, and found, as he told me, no small
consolation therein."
This handbook is unfortunately lost, and the only
authentic notices of its contents are two passages in
William of Malmesbury's " Life of Bishop Aldhelm."
From these it would seem that the handbook was not
a mere commonplace book of passages copied from
the books of famous authors, but that Alfred was
himself gathering in it materials for a history of his
country. The first passage cited merely corrects a
statement that Bishop Aldhelm was the nephew oi
King Ina. The second relates how " King Alfred
mentions, that a popular song which was still sung in
the streets was composed by Aldhelm ; adding the
reason why such a man occupied himself with things
which appear to be frivolous. The people at that
time being half barbarians, and caring very little about
church cermons, used to run home as soon as mass
had been chanted. For this reason the holy man
would stand on a bridge which leads from the town
282 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
to the country, and would meet them on their way
home hke one whose profession is the art of singing.
Having done so more than once, he obtained the
favour of the people, who flocked round him. Mixing
by this device by and by the words of Holy Scripture
with his playful songs, he led the people back to a
proper life. Whereas, if he had preferred to act
severely, and by excommunication, he would never
have gained anything by it." This one specimen of
the handbook which remains to us must heighten our
regret at the loss of the remainder.
THE HISTORY OF OROSIUS.
The most arduous of all the King's literary labours
must have been the reproduction of " The Universal
History of Paulus Orosius" in Anglo-Saxon, for
Alfred's work can scarcely be called a translation,
He abridges, paraphrases, or enlarges at discretion,
often leaving out whole chapters, and in places in-
serting entirely new matter. The scope of the work is
summed up by its author in a passage of the forty-
third chapter of the last book (which Alfred has
omitted) in which he addresses his friend St. Augus-
tine, Bishop of Hippo. " I have now set out," writes
Orosius, " by the help of Christ, and in obedience
to your desire, O most blessed father Augustine, the
lusts and punishments of sinful men, the conflicts
of the ages, and the judgments of God, from the
beginning of the world to the present time ; that is
to say, for 5617 years." This history had the highest
THE KING AS A UTHOR. 283
repute in Alfred's time, and for centuries afterwards,
though it is not a compilation which would now
interest any but curious readers.
Orosius was born in Spain about A.D. 380, at Tar-
ragona, and, like the great majority of the most
active intellects of his day, took Orders early in life.
The idea of the Universal History was suggested to
him by St. Augustine, who appreciated the industry
and ability of the young Spanish priest, and wished
for his help in the work which he was himself
engaged upon. This was his treatise " De civitate
Dei," intended to refute the scandalous assertions
of pagan Romans, that Christianity had injured man-
kind rather than benefited them. These writers
founded their argument on the misfortunes which
had befallen the Empire, and particularly on the
recent sack of Rome by Alaric (A.D. 410). All
these they attributed to Christianity, maintaining
that, since Christ's coming there had been no pros-
perity or victories for Rome, whose glory and empire
had miserably declined. In his " City of God "
Augustine was himself showing, from the history
of the Church, that the world was the better for
Revelation. Having come already to his tenth book,
the good Bishop seems to have become conscious
of a weak point in his line of defence. In order
to prove his case, the world as well as the Church
must be called as a witness ; and Orosius undertook
this part of the task by his desire.
The young Spaniard had already proved himself
an able penman in a commentary on the neresies
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
of Priscillian and Origen. Augustine's opinion of
him appears in the letter of introduction with which,
in A.D. 415, he sent him to St Jerome, who was then
Hving at Bethlehem preparing his translation of the
Scriptures, which has since become the Vulgate. Not-
withstanding his successful commentary, it would
seem there were points as to the nature and origin
of the soul on which Orosius was not sure of his
own ground. Augustine, with the utmost frankness,
admits his own inability to clear them up, and so
sends the young man on to the greatest living
scholar, writing of him, " Behold there has come to
me a godly young man, in catholic peace a brother,
in age a son, in rank a co-presbyter, Orosius by
name — of active talents, ready eloquence, ardent
industry, longing to be in God's house a vessel
useful for disproving false and destructive doctrines,
which have destroyed the souls of the Spaniards
more grievously than the swords of the heathen their
bodies. He has hastened hither from the shore of
the ocean, hoping to learn from me whatever of
these matters he wished to know ; but he has not
reaped the fruit of his labour. First I desired him
not to trust too much to fame respecting me ; next
I taught him what I could, and what I could not
I told him where he might learn, and advised him
to come to you. As he has willingly acceded to
my advice, or command, I have asked him on his
leaving you that he would come to us on his way
home." On his return to Africa, Orosius compiled
his History of the World from Adam to Alaric, dedi-
THE KING AS A UTHOR. 285
eating it to St. Augustine. It must have been a
work of extraordinary labour, having regard to the
opportunities and materials at his command, but is
now only interesting as a curiosity. Mindful of the
object of St. Augustine, Orosius sprinkles his narra-
tion here and there with moral Christian sentiments,
as when he comes to Busiris sacrificing strangers :
" I would now that those would answer me who say
that this world is now worse under Christianity than
it was under heathendom. Where is there now in
any part of Christendom that men need dread
amongst themselves to be sacrificed to any gods.'"
or again when speaking of Phalaris' bull : " Why do
men complain of these Christian times, and say that
they are worse than former times, when though they
were with those kings doing evil at their desire, they
might yet find no mercy from them .-' But now
kings and emperors, "though a man sin against their
will, yet, for love of God, grant forgiveness according
to the degree of guilt." For the rest, the History
rambles about from country to country, in a gossiping,
unconnected manner ; and, though probably the best
account of human affairs available to Alfred, would
scarcely detain us but for the additions which he
has made to the text.
Of these, by far the most remarkable are the
accounts of the Northern voyages of Othere and
Wulfstan, two of Alfred's sea-captains. Orosius' first
book is devoted to the geography of the world, and
gives the boundaries of the three continents, and some
description of the countries and people who inhabit
286 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
them, until he comes to the Swedes. Then Alfred
abruptly leaves the text of Orosius, having himself
something much more satisfactory as to those Northern
parts to set before his people. " Othere told his lord,
King Alfred," he breaks in, " that he dwelt northward
of all the Northmen. He said that he dwelt in the
land to the northward, along the west sea ; he said,
however, that that land is very long north from thence,
but it is all waste except in a few places where the
Fins here and there dwell, for hunting in the winter,
and in the summer for fishing in that sea." Then
follows the description of Othere's famous Northern
voyage, on which he started with the true instincts of
an explorer, wishing to know how far the land extended
to the North, and whether any one lived on the other
side of the waste. The description is minute of the
number of days' sail which the old Northman made,
but where he went precisely has puzzled all the
scholars who have ever examined the question to
decide. It seems clear, however, that he actually sailed
round the North Cape, and down into the White Sea,
and that Alfred means to include the whole of Europe
north of the Danube in the word Germania. The only
people Othere finds in Scandinavia are, the Fins, and
Beormas: the former letting their lands lie waste, and
subsisting on fishing, fowling, and hunting ; the latter
having well-cultivated lands. Othere found in these
parts whales with " very noble bones in their teeth,"
some of which he brought to the King, and ship-ropes
made of their hides. But he thought little of this
species of whale, as he calls them, having far better
THE KING AS A UTHOR. 2S7
whale-hunting in his own countrj'-, where the whales
are most of them fifty ells long. Of these, he said, he
and five others had killed sixty in two days.
Othere told his king further of his own home in
"the shire called Halgoland," and how he had 600
tame reindeer of his own, six of which were decoy-
deer, very valuable. Alfred adds that he was one of
the first men of that country, " but had not more than
twenty horned cattle, and twenty sheep, and twenty
swine ; and the little that he ploughed, he ploughed
with horses." But the wealth of Othere and the
other great men of those parts, the King adds, comes
for the most part from rent paid by the Fins — for
what does not appear, so we may suppose that it was
for permission to live, and hunt, and fish. This rent
" is in skins of animals, and birds' feathers, and in
whalebone, and in ships' ropes made of whales' hide,
and of seals." Every man pays according to his birth :
" the best born, it is said, pay the skins of fifteen
martens, and five reindeers, and one bear-skin, ten
ambers of feathers, a bear's or otter's skin kyrtle, and
two ship-ropes, each sixty ells long,"
Wulfstan's voyage from Sleswig to the mouth of the
Vistula follows, with gossip worthy of Herodotus as to
the Esthonians, or inhabitants of Eastland, who lived
at the junction of the "Elbing" with that river: —
" Eastland is very large, and there are in it many
towns, and in every town a king ; and there is also
great abundance of honey and fish ; and the king
and the richest men drink mares' milk, and the poor
and the slaves drink mead. They have many con-
tests amongst themselves ; and there is no ale brewed
288 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GI^EAT.
among the Esthonians, for there is mead enough."
These Esthonians, Alfred notes from Wulfstan, have
the strangest customs with respect to burials and suc-
cessions. The bodies of dead men are kept unburnt as
long as possible by the relatives, according to their
wealth ; kings and other great people lying in state
for half a year. They are able to manage this because
among the Esthonians " there is a tribe which can
produce cold, and so the dead in whom they produce
that cold lie very long there and do not putrefy ;
and if any one sets two vessels full of ale or water,
they contrive that one shall be frozen, be it summei
or be it winter." It is this discovery which enables
the funerals of great men to be postponed for long
intervals, according to the riches of the deceased.
All the while the body is above ground there are
drinking and sports, which last till the day of burial
or burning, as the case may be. " On that day they
divide the dead man's property into five or six por-
tions, according to value, and place it out, the largest
portion about a mile from the dwelling where the
dead man lies, then another, then a third, and so
on till it is all laid within the mile. Then all the
neighbours within five or six miles who have swift
horses, meet and ride towards the property ; and he
who has the swiftest horse comes to the first and
largest portion, and so each after other till the whole
is taken ; and he takes the least portion who takes
that which is nearest the dwelling : and then every
one rides away with the property, and they may have
it all ; and on this account swift horses are there
excessively dear," — as we should conjecture.
THE KING AS AUTHOR. 289
But although such accounts of the customs and
habits of the people amongst whom his captains went
are duly set down by Alfred, his main object in this
part of the work is to lay down the geography of
Germany, the cradle of his own race, as accurately as
possible. The longest of the other additions by Alfred
to his author's text is the description of a Roman
triumph ; but there are a great number of smaller
additions, such as the reference to the climate of
Ireland, which Alfred says is warmer than that of
England, and the fixing of the spot where C?esar
crossed the Thames at Wallingford. Again, he omits
constantly whatever in his judgment was immaterial,
thus in all ways aiming to make his boo'k as useful as
possible for those whom it was his chief aim in all his
literary work to raise and instruct.
BEDE'S "ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY"
The next important work which bears the King's
name is the translation of Bede's " Ecclesiastical His-
tory of the English Nation." Bede was " mass-priest
of the monastery of the blessed apostles Peter and
Paul, which is at Were Mouth," and his famous history
extends from the landing of Julius Caesar to the year
731, when Keolwulf — to whom the book is dedicated
as one " very careful of old men's words and deeds, and
most of all of the great men of our nation " — was
king of Northumbria. In that time of peace " many
in the kingdom of Northumbria, both noble and
ignoble, yearn more," Bede tells his king, " to give
S.L. VIII. U
290 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
themselves and their children to monasteries and to
God's service, than they exercise worldly warfare.
What end the thing is to have, the coming age will
see and behold." We have partly seen what came of
it a century later. Alfred treated the Ecclesiastical
History in the same manner as he had treated Orosius;
freely omitting, and abridging ; and correcting when
his own knowledge as a West Saxon was more accu-
rate than that of the venerable mass-priest, who had
probably never wandered fifty miles from the monas-
tery at Were Mouth.
BOETHIUS.
The " Consolations of Philosophy," which Alfred
also translated, forms a striking contrast to the two
historical works already noticed. Gibbon calls it " a
golden book, not unworthy the leisure of Plato or
Tully;" and Dr. Hook, "the handbook of the Middle
Ages, for all who united piety with philosophy ; " and
it has had two other illustrious English translators —
Chaucer and Queen Elizabeth.
Boethius was a pious and learned Roman senator,
who was consul A.D. 487, two years before the inva-
sion of Italy by Theodoric the Ostrogoth. For many
years he continued in favour at court, and lived to see
the consulate of his sons. But he incurred the anger
of Theodoric for an attack on the Arian heresy, and
for the boldness with which he maintained the ancient
rights of the senate, and was banished from Rome,
and imprisoned at Pavia. Here, before his execution,
A.D. 526, he wrote the "Consolations," in the form of
THE KING AS A UTHOR. 291
a dialogue between himself, or his mind, and Wisdom,
or Reason. The burden of the work is, that every
fortune is good for men, whether it seem good to
them or evil, and that we ought with all our power to
inquire after God every man according to the measure
of his understanding, a philosophy which Alfred's
whole life illustrated, and which he was naturally
anxious to impress upon his people.
There is a short preface to the King's version, which
is held by Dr. Pauli to be the work of some other
hand ; but if not by Alfred, it is full of the manliness
and humility which distinguished him, and explains
so well the method of all his literary work, that it
cannot be omitted here : —
"King Alfred was translator of this book, and
turned it from book-Latin into English, as it is now
done. Sometimes he set word by word, sometimes
meaning by meaning, as he the most plainly and most
clearly could explain it, for the various and manifold
worldly occupations which often busied him both in
mind and in body. The occupations are to us very
difficult to be numbered which in his days came
upon the kingdom which he had undertaken, and yet
when he had learned this book, and turned it from
the Latin into the English language, he afterwards
composed it in verse, as it is now done. And he now
prays, and for God's name implores every one of those
who list to read this book, that he would pray for him,
and not blame him, if he more rightly understand it
than he could. For every man must, according to
the measure of his understanding, and according to
U 2
292 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
his leisure, speak that which he speaketh, and do that
which he doeth."
There is extant a translation of Boethius into Saxon
verse, as mentioned in this preface, but it would seem,
in the judgment of the best scholars, not to have been
the work of Alfred.
GREGORY'S PASTORAL.
Gregory's " Pastoral Care " was also translated
by the King; to it is prefixed the introduction
addressed by him to Bishop Werefi-Jth, from which
quotations have been already made. It commences
with a description of the sad decay of learning in
England, and an exhortation to the Bishop that he,
who is at leisure from the things of this world, will
bestow the wisdom which God has given him where-
ever he is able to bestow it. " Think what punish-
ment shall come upon us on account of this world,
when we have not ourselves loved it in the least
degree, or enabled other men so to do. We have had
the name alone of Christians, and very few of the
virtues. When I then called to mind all this, then I
remembered how I saw, ere that all in them was laid
waste and burnt up, how the churches throughout all
the English race stood filled with treasures and books,
and also a great multitude of God's servants; but they
knew very little use of those books, for that they could
not understand anything of them, because they were
not written in their own language, such as they our
elders spoke." The King goes on to wonder why those
good and wise men, who loved wisdom themselves,
THE KING AS A UTHOR. 2^
and got wealth and left it, had never been willing to
turn any of the books they knew so well into their
own language. But he soon answered himself that
they must have left it undone of set purpose, that
there might be more wisdom and knowledge of
languages in the land. However, he will do what
he can now to remedy all this. " Wherefore I think
it better, if it also appears so to you, that we two
should translate some books, which are the most
necessary for all men to understand ; that we should
turn these into that tongue which we all can know,
and so bring it about, as we very easily may, with
God's help, if we have rest, that all the youth that
now is among the English race, of free men, that have
property, so that they can apply themselves to these
things, may be committed to others for the sake of
instruction, so long as they have no power for any
other employments, until the time that they may
know well how to read English writing. Let men
afterwards further teach them Latin, those whom
they are willing further to teach, and whom they wish
to advance to a higher state.
" When I then called to mind how the learning of
the Latin tongue before this was fallen away through-
out the English race, though many knew how to read
writing in English ; then began I, among other unlike
and manifold businesses of this kingdom, to turn into
English the book that is named in Latin ' Pastoralis/
and in English the ' Hind's book,' one-while word
for word, another-while meaning for meaning, so far
as I learned it with Phlegmund ray archbishop, and
294 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
with Asser my bishop, and with Grimbold my mass-
priest, and with John my mass-priest After I had
then learned them, so that I understood them, and so
that I might read them with the fullest comprehension,
I turned them into English, and to each bishop's see
in my kingdom will send one, and on each is an ' aestel,'
that is of the value of fifty mancuses, and I bid, in
God's name, that no man undo the sestel from the
books, nor the books from the minster. It is unknown
how long there may be so learned bishops as now,
thank God, are everywhere. For this, I would that they
always should be at their place, unless the bishop will
have them with him, or they be anywhere lent, or
some one write others by them."
There are several manuscript copies of the "Pastoral
Care " in Anglo-Saxon in the public libraries of the
country, which are supposed to be some of those re-
ferred to in Alfred's introduction as having been sent
by him as presents to his bishops. The aestel, worth
fifty mancuses, which accompanied each copy, has
disappeared. Alfred, to judge from the care with
which he provided for its circulation, places more
value on this than on any other of his works. To us
it is, perhaps, the least valuable, being occupied chiefly
with the difficulty and importance of the teacher's or
priest's ofiice, the danger of filling it unworthily, and
the duty of all who are thoroughly competent to
undertake it to do so, bearing in mind that he who is
himself under the dominion of evil habits makes a
bad intercessor for, or teacher of, other men.
THE KING AS AUTHOR. 295
BLOSSOM GATHERINGS FROM ST. AUGUSTINE.
The "sayings which King Alfred gathered" out of
the writings of St. Augustine are perhaps the most
instructive of all his works, as they show best where
his natural bent carried him, and what he himself
valued most, and desired most to give to his people.
His own portion of the work consists of some three
clauses of introductory matter. These begin so ab-
ruptly, that it is supposed that some sentences are
lost. Alfred describes himself as in a wood full of
comely trees, fit for javelins and stud shafts, and
helves to all tools, and bay timbers and bolt timbers.
" In every tree I saw something," the King writes,
"which I needed at home, therefore I advise every
one who is able, and has many wains, that he trade
to the same wood where I cut the stud shafts, and
there fetch more for himself, and load his wain with fair
rods, that he may wind many a neat wall, and set
many a comely house, and build many a fair town of
them ; and thereby may dwell merrily and softly, so
as I now yet have not done. But He who taught me,
to whom the wood was agreeable, he may make mc to
dwell more softly in this temporary cottage, the while
that I am in this world, and also in the everlasting home
which He has promised us through St. Augustine, and
St. Gregory, and St. Jerome, and through many other
holy fathers ; as I believe also that for the merits of
all these He will make the way more convenient than
it was before, and especially enlighten the eyes of my
mind, so that I may search out the right way to the
296 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
everlasting home and the everlasting glory, and the
everlasting rest which is promised us through those
holy fathers. May it be so ! " Then he reverts to his
original idea of working in a wood. " It is no wonder
though men swink in timber working, and in the car-
rying and the building : but every man wishes, after
he has built a cottage on his lord's lease by his help,
that he may sometimes rest him therein, and hunt,
and fowl, and fish, and use it every way under the
lease, both on water and on land, until the time that
he earn book-land and everlasting heritage through
his lord's mercy. So do the wealthy Giver, wlio wields
both these temporary cottages and the eternal homes.
May He who shaped both, and wields both, grant me
that I be meet for each, both here to be profitable
and thither to come !" There is something very touch-
ing in this opening, in which Alfred allows his fancy
to play round the idea of a woodman, like one of his
own churls, cutting timber for his house and his
weapons, and building on his lord's land, in the hope
of one day realizing the object of every Saxon man's
ambition, a permanent dwelling, bookland of his own ;
and in the side-glance at his own life of incessant
toil, and longing for a home where a man may dwell
" merrily and softly" in summer and winter, "so as I
now yet have not done." It is only a glance which lie
allows himself, and then the strong fighter turns back to
his work, trusting that He who has shaped and wields
both lives may grant him " both here to be profitable
and thither to come." One more short passage in
troduces his gatherings to those for whom they were
THE KING AS AUTHOR. 297
made. " Augustine, Bishop of Carthage," he writes,
"wrought two books about his own mind. The books
are called ' Soliloquiorum,' that is, of his mind's musing
and doubting, how his reason answered his mind
when his mind doubted about anything, or wished
to know anything which it could not understand
before."
The " blossom gatherings " all bear upon the
problem with which Alfred then opens them, by the
quotation of St. Augustine's saying, "that his mind
went often asking of and searching out various and
rare things, and most of all about himself, what he
was : whether his mind and his soul were mortal and
perishing, or ever living and eternal ; and again about
his good, what it was, and what good it were best for
him to do, and what evil to avoid."
THE KING'S PROVERBS,
The last of the works attributed to Alfred which
need be specially mentioned, is the collection of pro-
verbs, or sayings, in verse and prose, found amongst
the Cotton manuscripts. It is a compilation of much
later date than the ninth century, written in a broken
dialect, between the original Saxon and English. The
compiler has put together some thirty-one stanzas
and paragraphs, each of which begins, " Thus quoth
Alfred, England's comfort," or " England's herdsman,"
or " England's darling," and the collection is prefaced
by a short notice in verse of the occasion on which
the sayings are supposed to have been spoken.
29S LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
" At Sifford there sate many thanes,
Many bishops, many learned,
With earls, and awful knights ;
There was Earl Alfrich very learned in the law ;
There also was Alfred, England's herdsman,
England's darling ;
He was king of England, he taught them,
All who could hear him.
How they should lead their lives.
Alfred was a king of England, that was very strong.
He was both king and scholar, he loved well God's work ;
He was wise and advised in his talk ;
He was the wisest man that was in all England."
This introduction would seem to point to some
particular witan, held probably at Seaford, or Shif-
ford, near Bampton, in Oxfordshire, the tradition of
which was still fresh. There is no mention in the
Saxon Chronicle, or elsewhere, of an)^ such assembly,
but some of the sayings bear a strong resemblance
to parts of Alfred's writings, and may have been
accurately handed down and reported. A specimen
or two will be enough. The opening saying runs : —
" Thus quoth Alfred, England's comfort :
Oh that you would now love and long after your Lord !
He would govern you wisely.
That you might have honour in this world
And yet unite your souls to Christ."
Then come a series of instructions to kings and
officers of state, on the education of young men and
children, and on the use of wealth, in which the
King, speaking to his nobles and to his children,
enforces the direct responsibility of all men to Christ,
and the worthlessness of wealth unless discreetly used,
THE KING AS A UTHOR. 299
— old ideas enough, a thousand years ago, and as
needful of repetition then as now.
" Thus quoth Alfred, England's comfort ; the earl
And the Atheling are under the king,
To govern the land according to law ;
The priest and the knight must both alike judge uprightly ;
For as a man sows
So shall he reap,
And every man's judgment comes home to him to his own doors."
In almost the last of the series, the King addresses
his son :
" Thus quoth Alfred : My dear son, sit thou now
beside me, and I will deliver thee true instruction.
My son, I feel that my hour is near, my face is pale,
my days are nearly run. We must soon part. I
shall to another world, and thou shalt be left alone
with all my wealth. I pray thee, for thou art my
dear child, strive to be a father and a lord to thy
people ; be thou the children's father, and the widow's
friend ; comfort thou the poor and shelter the weak,
and with all thy might right that which is wrong.
And, my son, govern thyself by law, then shall the
Lord love thee, and God above all things shall be thy
reward. Call thou upon Him to advise thee in all
thy need, and so He shall help thee the better to
compass that which thou wouldest."
Besides the works already mentioned, there is a
long list of original writings and translations attri-
buted to Alfred. Of the former, Spelman gives ten,
including "selections from the laws of the Greeks,
Britons, Saxons, and Danes," and original treatises
300 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
"against unjust judges," on "the uncertain fortunes
of kings," and " the acts of magistrates," and " a
manual of meditations." Of the latter, the " Dia-
logues of Pope Gregory," and translations of parts of
the Scriptures, are the only works of his as to which
there is anything like a concurrence of testimony, and
it is more than probable that the former was the work
of Bishop Werefrith under Alfred's supervision. An
old manuscript history of Ely is the authority for the
statement that he translated the whole of the Old
and New Testaments into Saxon ; but the better
opinion seems to be, that the Psalms were the only
portions of the Scriptures which he undertook to
translate, and that he was at work on his Saxon
Psalter at the time of his death.
t
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE KING S DEATH AND WILL.
" A good life hath feio years, hut a good name endurcth for ever. "
" Honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor thai
is measured by number of years.
The world's hardest workers and noblest benefactors
have rarely been long-lived. The constant wear and
stress of such a life as Alfred's must tell its tale, and
the wonder is, not that he should have broken down
so soon, but that he should have borne the strain
so long.
In the fifty-fourth year of his age, "six days before
All-Hallowmass," or on the 26th of October, 901,
"died Alfred, the son of Ethelwulf. He was king
over the whole English nation, except that part which
was under the dominion of the Danes, and he held
the kingdom a year and a half less than thirty years,
and then Edward, his son, succeeded him." Such is
the simple account of the great King's ending in the
Saxon Chronicle. It understates the length of his
reign by a year. Florence and the other chroniclers
tell us nothing more, except that his body was buried
in the new monastery at Winchester, which he had him-
self founded, and which his son was destined to finish.
302 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
We know neither the place or cause of his death ;
and there is some dispute as to his burial-place.
Some of the chroniclers name the church of St. Peter ;
others, the New Minster monastery. The conflicting
accounts are reconciled by a story, that the canons of
the cathedral church, from jealousy of Grimbald and
the monks of the new monastery, declared that the
spirit of Alfred could not rest, but might be seen
wandering at night within their precincts ; whereupon
Edward at once removed his father's coffin to the
monastery. In the time of Henry I. when the abbey
of New Minster was removed to Hyde from the
immediate neighbourhood of the cathedral, Alfred's
remains were carried with them, and there rested till
the Reformation, when the royal tombs were broken
open at the dissolution of the monastery. But the
" pious Dr. Richard Fox," bishop of Winchester, had
the remains of the kings collected carefully and put
into chests of lead, with inscriptions on each of them,
showing whose bones were within ; and the chests were
placed, under his supervision, on the top of a wall of
rare workmanship, which he was building to enclose
the presbytery of the cathedral. Here the dust of the
great King rested till the taking of Winchester by
the Parliamentary troops, under Sir William Waller,
on the 14th of December, 1642. The Puritan soldiers,
amongst other outrages, threw down and broke open
Bishop Fox's leaden chests, and scattered the contents
all over the cathedral. When the first excitement of
the troops had cooled down, what were left of the
bones of our early kings were reverently collected,
THE KING'S DEA TH AND WILL. 303
and carried to Oxford and " lodged in a repository
building next the public library."
The country had enjoyed such profound peace for
the four years preceding the King's death, that for
two of them the Saxon Chronicle has no entry at all,
and only mentions the deaths of the Alderman of
Wiltshire, and the Bishop of London, in 898. In
Simeon's Chronicle it is stated that Bishop Eardulf,
who had carried the remains of St. Cuthbert about
for nine years through the northern counties, hiding
from King Halfdene's robber troops, and who had at
last been able to deposit them in a shrine of his own
cathedral, died in the same year with Alfred. It is
pleasant to know that our " most noble miser of his
time " must have seen of the travail of his soul and
been satisfied in those last years. His grievous disease
had abated in his forty-fifth year, and he closed his
eyes on peace at home and abroad, in church and
state, abundance in the field and in the stall, and
order and justice established in every corner of hia
kingdom : " His name shall endure under the sun
amongst the posterities, and all the people shall praise
him."
The last monument of his justice and patriotism
is his will, of which happily a perfect copy was pre-
served in the archives of the abbey of New Minster.
The opening recitals have been already quoted.
They show how anxious he was that the memory
of the agreement between himself and his brother
should be kept alive ; and now, in pursuance of that
agreement, he devises eight manors to -^theline, the
304 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
elder son of his brother Ethelward ; and to Ethelwald,
the younger, the manors of Guildford, Godalming,
and Steyning. The principal part of his lands in
Wilts and Somersetshire, including the famous royal
burgh of Wedmore, he leaves to Edward, coupled
with a touching reference to some arrangement which
he had made at some time with his tenants at Ched-
dar : " And I am a petitioner to the families at Ceodre,
that they will choose him (Edward) on the condi-
tions that we had formerly expressed." All his
other children have gifts of manors, and to his wife
he leaves the manors of Wantage, Lambourn, and
Ethandune. The field of Ashdown is scarcely three
miles from Lambourn, and may well have been in-
cluded in that manor. If this be so, the King left
to his faithful helpmate, his birthplace, and the scenes
of his two great victories.
His personalty is also distributed justly and muni-
ficently. To each of his sons he leaves 5(X) pounds ;
to his wife and daughters, lOO pounds each. To each
of his aldermen and his nephews, lOO mancuses ; and
to Ethelred, a sword of the value of lOO mancuses.
Like legacies are left to Archbishop Ethelred, and to
Bishops Werefrith and Asser. Then turning to his
servants and the poor, he bequeaths " 200 pounds for
those men that follow me, to whom I now at Easter-
tide give money," to be divided between them after
the manner that he had up to this time distributed
to them. " Also," he continues, " let them distribute
for me, and for my father, and for the friends that
he interceded for, and I intercede for, 200 pounds, —
THE KING'S DEATH AND WILL. 305
50 to the mass-priests over all my kingdom, 50 to
the poor ministers of God, 50 to the distressed poor,
50 to the church that I shall rest at. And I know
not certainly whether there be so much money; nor
I know not but that there may be more, but so I
suppose. If it be more, be it all common to them
to whom I have bequeathed money. And I will that
my aldermen, and councillors, be all there together
and so distribute it."
He then declares that in former times, when he
had more property and more relations, he had made
other wills which he had burned, all at least that he
could recover. If any of these should be found, let
it stand for nothing. And he wills that all those
who are in possession of any of the lands disposed
of by his father's will should fulfil the intentions
there expressed the soonest they may, and that if any
debt of his remains outstanding his relations should
pay it.
Then follows the passage on the strength of which
Alfred is cited as the author of entails in England :
" And I will that the men to whom I have given my
book-lands do not give it from my kindred after their
day, but I will that it go unto the highest hand to me
unless any one of them have children, then it is to
me most agreeable that it go to that issue on the
male side so long as any be worthy. My grandfather
gave his lands to the spear side, not to the spindle
side. Wherefore if I have given to any woman what
he had acquired, then let my relations redeem it, if
they will have it, while she is living ; if otherwise, let
S.I- VI TI. X
3o6 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
it go after their day as we have determined. Foi
this reason I ordain that they pay for it, because
they will succeed to my estates, which I may give
either to the spindle side or the spear side, as I
will."
Lastly, he is mindful of the slaves on his lands,
whose condition he had greatly improved, but whom
he had not been able entirely to free. " And I
beseech, in God's name, and in His saints', that none
of my relations do obstruct none of the freedom ot
those I have redeemed. And for me the West Saxon
nobles have pronounced as lawful, that I may leave
them free or bond, whether I will. But I, for God's
love and my soul's health, will that they be masters
of their freedom and of their will ; and I, in the living
God's name, entreat that no man do not disturb them,
neither by money exaction, nor by no manner of
means, that they may not choose such man as they
will. And I will that they restore to the families at
Domerham their land deeds and their free liberty,
such master to choose as may to them be most
agreeable, for my sake, and for Ethelfleda's, and for
the friends that she did intercede for, and I do inter-
cede for." These Domerham families of churls would
seem to have dwelt on some estate in which the lady
of Mercia was jointly interested with her father.
" And let them " (my relations and beneficiaries) " seek
also with a living price for my soul's health, as it may
be and is most fitting, and as ye to forgive me shall
be disposed."
These are the last words which " England's Shep-
THE KING'S DEATH AND WILL. 307
herd " left to his country. It is no easy task for any
one who has been studying his life and works to set
reasonable bounds to their reverence, and enthusiasm,
for the man. Lest the reader should think my esti-
mate tainted with the proverbial weakness of bio-
graphers for their heroes, let them turn to the words
in which the earliest, and the last of the English his-
torians of that time, sum up the character of Alfred.
Florence of Worcester, writing in the century after
his death, speaks of him as "that famous, warlike, vic-
torious king; the zealous protector of widows, scholars,
orphans, and the poor ; skilled in the Saxon poets ;
affable and liberal to all ; endowed with prudence,
fortitude, justice, and temperance ; most patient under
the infirmity which he daily suffered ; a most stern in-
quisitor in executing justice ; vigilant and devoted in
the service of God." Mr. Freeman, in his " History
of the Norman Conquest," has laid down the por-
trait in bold and lasting colours, in a passage as
truthful as it is eloquent, which those who are familiar
with it will be glad to meet again, while those who
do not know it will be grateful to me for substi-
tuting for any poor words of my own.
"Alfred, the unwilling author of these great changes,
is the most perfect character in history. He is a
singular instance of a prince who has become a hero
of romance, who, as such, has had countless imaginary-
exploits attributed to him, but to whose character
romance has done no more than justice, and who
appears in exactly the same light in history and in
fable. No other man on record has ever so thoroughly
X Z
3o8 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
united all the virtues both of the ruler and of the
private man. In no other man on record were so
many virtues disfigured by so little alloy. A saint
without superstition, a scholar without ostentation, a
warrior all whose wars were fought in the defence of
his country, a conqueror whose laurels were never
stained by cruelty, a prince never cast down by adver-
sity, never lifted up to insolence in the day of triumph
— there is no other name in history to compare with
his. Saint Lewis comes nearest to him in the union
of a more than monastic piety with the highest civil,
military, and domestic virtues. Both of them stand
forth in honourable contrast to the abject superstition
of some other royal saints, who were so selfishly
engaged in the care of their own souls that they
refused either to raise up heirs for their throne, or to
strike a blow on behalf of their people. But even in
Saint Lewis we see a disposition to forsake an imme-
diate sphere of duty for the sake of distant and un-
profitable, however pious and glorious, undertakings.
The true duties of the King of the French clearly lay
in France, and not in Egypt or Tunis. No such
charge lies at the door of the great King of the West
Saxons. With an inquiring spirit which took in the
whole world, for purposes alike of scientific inquiry
and of Christian benevolence, Alfred never forgot that
his first duty was to his own people. He forestalled
our own age in sending expeditions to explore the
Northern Ocean, and in sending alms to the distant
Churches of India ; but he neither forsook his crown,
like some of his predecessors, nor neglected his duties,
THE KING'S DEATH AND WILL. 309
like some of his successors. The virtue of Alfred, Hke
the virtue of Washington, consisted in no marvellous
displays of superhuman genius, but in the simple,
straightforward discharge of the duty of the moment.
But Washington, soldier, statesman, and patriot, like
Alfred, has no claim to Alfred's further characters
of saint and scholar. William the Silent, too, has
nothing to set against Alfred's literary merits ; and in
his career, glorious as it is, there is an element of
intrigue and chicanery utterly alien to the noble sim-
plicity of both Alfred and Washington. The same
union of zeal for religion and learning with the highest
gifts of the warrior and the statesman is found, on a
wider field of action, in Charles the Great. But even
Charles cannot aspire to the pure glory of Alfred.
Amidst all the splendour of conquest and legislation,
we cannot be blind to an alloy of personal ambition,
of personal vice, to occasional unjust aggressions and
occasional acts of cruelty. Among our own later
princes, the great Edward alone can bear for a
moment the comparison with his glorious ancestor.
And, when tried by such a standard, even the great
Edward fails. Even in him we do not see the same
wonderful union of gifts and virtues which so seldom
meet together; we cannot acquit Edward of occa-
sional acts of violence, of occasional recklessness as to
means ; we cannot attribute to him the pure, simple,
almost childlike disinterestedness which marks the
character of Alfred."
Let Wordsworth, on behalf of the poets of England
complete the picture.
3JO LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
" Behold a pupil of the monkish gown,
The pious Alfred, king to justice dear !
Lord of the harp and liberating spear ;
Mirror of princes ! Indigent renown
Might range the starry ether for a crown
Equal to his deserts, who, like the year,
Pours forth his bounty, like the day doth cheer,
And awes like night, with mercy-tempered frown.
Ease from this noble miser of his time
No moment steals ; pain narrows not his cares —
Though small his kingdom as a spark or geni.
Of Alfred boasts remote Jerusalem,
And Christian India, through her wide-spread clime,
1;: sacred converse gifts with Alfred shareK."
II
CHAPTER XXV.
THE king's successors.
" A good man leaveth an inheritance unto his childreiUs children."
The death of Alfred was the signal for a revolt of
his younger nephew Ethelwald, against the decision
of the witan, who named Edward as his father's suc-
cessor. Ethelwald was a reckless, violent man, who
had scandalized the nation by taking to wife a nun,
"without the King's leave, and against the Bishop's
command." He seized the royal castles of Wimborne
and Christchurch, and in the former the Chronicle
tells us, " sat down with those who had submitted to
him, and had obstructed all the approaches towards
him, and said that he would do one of two things — or
there live, or there lie. But, notwithstanding that, he
stole aAray by night and sought the army in North-
umbria, who received him as their over-lord, and
became obedient to him."
This effort of Ethelwald only proved the soundness
of the foundations of the kingdom which Alfred had
laid. The Pretender fled from Wessex and Mercia
without being able to break the peace, and was not
heard of again for two years. In 904, however, he
came with a fleet of Northmen to Essex, and a portion
312 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
of the Danish people there submitted to him. The
next year he was strong enough to attack his cousin,
and penetrated through Mercia to the Thames, which
he crossed at Cricklade, and committed some depre-
dations in Berkshire. Edward was not in time to
catch him in Wessex, and so followed him with a
.strong force across Watling Street, into East Anglia,
and there overran " all the land between the dikes
and the Ouse, as far north as the fens." Not having
been able to bring Ethelwald to an action, Edward
turned south again, and, being in an enemy's country,
and in face of a strong army, " proclaimed through
his whole force that they should all return together.
Then the Kentish men remained there behind, not-
withstanding his orders, and seven messengers he
had sent to them ;" and, Ethelwald falling on them,
a general action was brought on, in which the loss on
both sides was very great, but on the Danish side both
Ethelwald, and Eohric king of East Anglia, were
slain, and soon afterwards Edward made peace with
the East Angles and Northumbrians.
Ethelred of Mercia died in 910, and London and
Oxford were incorporated in Wessex. In the next
year the Danes broke the peace again, relying pro-
bably on the weakness of a woman's rule in Mercia.
But the lady of Mercia proved as formidable an enemy
as her lord. In concert with her brother she not only
drove the Danes out of her own boundaries, but won
from them, and made safe, one stronghold after
another in the midland counties. Thus in 913,
while Edward invaded Essex, and took and fortified
THE KING'S SUCCESSORS. 313
Hertford, "Ethelfleda, lady of the Mercians, went
with all the Mercians to Tamworth, and there built
a fortress early in the summer ; and, before Lammas,
another at Stafford."
Again, in 915, she fortifies Cherbury, Warburton,
and Runcorn ; in 916, defeats the Welsh, and storms
Brecknock ; and in 917, " God helping her, got pos-
session of the fortress which is called Derby, and all
that owed obedience thereto : and there within the
gates were slain four of her thanes, which caused her
much sorrow." Edward in the meanwhile was steadily
extending his frontier, and gaining the allegiance of
many Danish nobles, such as Thurkytel, the earl, who
" sought to him to be his lord, and all the captains,
and almost all the chief men who owed obedience to
Bedford, and also many of those who owed obedience
to Northampton." The lady of Mercia died in 918 at
Tamworth, when the whole of Mercia came to Edward,
whose niece Elfwina, the only child of Ethelred and
Ethelfleda, came to her uncle's court in Wessex.
Thus the kingdom grew under his hand, disturbed
frequently by raids of the Welsh and Danes, but on
the whole steadily and surely. The North Welsh
sought him to their over-lord in 922, and in 924 " the
King of the Scots, and the whole nation of the Scots,
and all those who dwelt in Northumbria, chose him
for father and for lord."
In the next year he died, and Athelstan was elected
by the witan, and consecrated at Kingston. Dunstan,
who was fated to bring such misery on the royal
family, and on the nation, was born in the same year.
314 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
For fifteen years Athelstan ruled with vigour and
success, extending still the English frontiers. He
gave the South Britons the Tamar instead of the Exe
as their boundary, and occupied Northumbria himself
after Sigtric, the king, had deserted his Saxon wife
Edith, Athelstan's sister. In 937, Scots, Danes, Welsh,
and a great host from Ireland, led by Anlaf, a son of
Sigtric by a former marriage, made a desperate effort
to shake off the over-lordship of Athelstan. Anlaf
landed in the Humber, and after effecting a junction
with his allies, laid siege to York, which was held for
Athelstan. The siege was raised by the news of
Athelstan's crossing the Humber on his march to the
relief of the northern capital, and soon afterwards the
battle of Brumby, near Beverley, was fought, in which
the allies were utterly defeated and five kings slain.
The victory was so complete, and of so great signi-
ficance, that even the Saxon Chronicle breaks away
from its usual severe matter-of-fact form into a song
of triumph. A spirited poem, describing the battle,
and singing the praises of Athelstan, and his young
brother Edmund the Etheling, is given for the year
937. The ring of it is like the death-song of Regner
Lodbrog, as it tells how
" West Saxons onward That they in war's works
Throughout the day The better men were
In bands In the battle-stead
Pursued the footsteps At the meeting of spears,
Of the loathed nations. That they on the slaughter field
* * ♦ With Edward's offspring played.'"
They had no cause to laugh
THE KING'S SUCCESSORS. 315
and how
" King and Etheling And the grey beast
Both together Wolf of the wood.
Their country sought, Carnage greater has not been
West Saxon land ; In this island
Leaving behind them. Ever yet,
The corses to devour. Of people slain
The yellow kite. By edge of sword ;
The swarthy raven As books us tell,
With homed nib. Old writers.
And dusky ' pada,' Since from the East hither
Erne white-tailed, . Angles and Saxons
Greedy war-hawk, ' Came to land."
Edmund the Etheling succeeded his brother in 940,
and on his death in 946, Edred, the youngest of the
sons of Edward, was elected king ; Edwi and Edgar,
the sons of Edmund, being still minors. Both of these
grandsons of Alfred pursued their father's policy, and
Edred finally annexed Northumbria, and divided it
into shires, over which he set his own earls. He died
in 955.
Thus for two generations Alfred's descendants in-
herited his courage and ability, and carried on with
signal success one part of his work. To quote Words-
worth's sonnets once more : —
" The race of Alfred covet glorious pains
When dangers threaten, dangers ever new,
Black tempests bursting, blacker still in view !
But manly sovereignty its hold retains :
The root sincere, the branches bold to strive
With the fierce tempest."
There is, unfortunately, little proof of the truth of
the beautiful concluding lines, —
3i6 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
" While within the round
Of their protection gentle virtues thrive ;
As oft, mid some green spot of open ground
Wide as the oak extends its de^vy gloom
The fostered hyacinths spread their purple bloom."
Rather it would seem that in that half century,
during which England had become one vast camp,
the learning and the arts of peace which Alfred had
so wisely and nobly fostered were fast slipping away
from the people ; and corruptions had again crept into
monasteries and convents (enriched rapidly by the
race of devout warrior princes), which rendered neces-
sary the reforms of Dunstan and Bishop Ethelwald
on the one hand, and led to the disastrous collisions
between Church and State on the other. But we are
not concerned with the later history, and it is only
noticed thus far to show that the King's example
continued to inspire his son and son's sons.
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE END OF THE WHOLE MATTER.
'^ Hear therefore, ye kings, and understand ; learn, ye that be judgei
of the ends of the eatih,
" For /lower is given you of the Lord, and sovereignty from the Highest,
â– who shall try your works, and search out your councils!'''
The readers of this series are specially invited to look
at the men and events which are brought before them
from a religious point of view. That is the central
idea of the books, and the writers may fairly assume
that the public they are addressing is a Christian
public. The controversy which has arisen again in
our time, and is deeply stirring men's minds, as to the
foundations of our faith — the question whether Chris-
tianity is or is not true — does not directly concern us
here. That controversy must always be one of deep
interest, even to Christians who take no part in it.
We ought to welcome with all our hearts the search-
ing scrutiny, which students and philosophers of all
Christian nations, and of all shades of belief, whether
Christian or not, are engaged upon, as to the facts on
which our faith rests. The more thorough that
scrutiny is, the better should we be pleased We
may not wholly agree with the last position which
31 8 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
the ablest investigators have laid down, that unless
the truth of the history of our Lord — the facts of His
life, death, resurrection, and ascension — can be proved
by ordinary historical evidence, applied according to
the most approved and latest methods, Christianity
must be given up as not true. We know that our
own certainty as to these facts does not rest on a
critical historical investigation, while we rejoice that
such an investigation should be made by those who
have leisure, and who are competent for it. At the
same time, as we also know that the methods and
principles of historical investigation are constantly
improving, and being better understood, and that
the critics of the next generation will work, in all
human likelihood, at as great an advantage in this
inquiry over those who are now engaged in it, as our
astronomers and natural philosophers enjoy over
Newton and Franklin — and as new evidence may
turn up any day which may greatly modify their con-
clusions — we cannot suppose that there is the least
chance of their settling the controversy in our time.
Nor, even if we thought them likely to arrive at
definite conclusions, can we consent to wait the result
of their investigations, important and interesting as
these will be. Granting then cheerfully, that if these
facts on the study of which they are engaged are not
facts — if Christ was not crucified, and did not rise
from the dead, and ascend to God His Father — there
has been no revelation, and Christianity will infallibly
go the way of all lies, either under their assaults or
those of their successors — they must pardon us if
THE END OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 319
even at the cost of being thought and called fools foi
our pains, we deliberately elect to live our lives on
the contrary assumption. It is useless to tell us that
we know nothing of these things, that we can know
nothing until their critical examination is over; we
can only say, " Examine away; but we do know some-
thing of this matter, whatever you may assert to the
contrary, and mean to live on that knowledge."
But while we cannot suspend our judgment on the
question until we know how the critics and scholars
have settled it, we must do justice, before passing on,
to the single-mindedness, the reverence, the resolute
desire for the truth before all things, wherever the
search for it may land them, which characterises
many of those who are no longer of our faith, and are
engaged in this inquiry, or have set it aside as hope-
less, and are working at other tasks. The great
advance of natural science within the last few years,
and the devotion with which many of our ablest and
best men are throwing themselves into this study, are
clearing the air in all the higher branches of human
thought, and making possible a nation, and in the
end a world, of truthful men — that blessedest result ol
all the strange conflicts and problems of the age,
which the wisest men have foreseen in their most hope-
ful moods. In this grand movement even those who
are nominally, and believe themselves to be really,
against us, are for us ; all at least who are truthful
and patient workers. For them, too, the spirit of all
truth, and patience, and wisdom is leading ; and their
strivings and victories — ay, and their backslidings
320 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
and reverses — are making clearer day by day that
revelation of the kingdom of God in nature, through
which it would seem that our generation, and those
which are to follow us, will be led back again to that
higher revelation of the kingdom of God in man.
Leaving then on one side the critical and historical
'nquiry, and starting from the assumption of the truth
of revelation as commonly understood amongst us,
and that Christ really was what He claimed to be,
how does this bear on the question from which we
started, — the kingship and government of the nations
and people of the world in which we are living ?
In order to answer the question to any good purpose
for Englishmen, we must ascertain, if possible, what the
common faith of English Christians is ; and to do this
we may fairly turn, in the first place, to the Church of
England, which even yet speaks with some authority.
Her formularies and teaching have stood now for three
hundred years as the expression of the faith of the
English nation. This is gathered up for ordinary
persons in the Book of Common Prayer, which has
been in constant use, on one day at least, in every
week, of every year, in every parish in the land. We
all know that, besides the forms of prayer contained
in that book, which are common to all days, there are
special prayers and services for each week, and for
each festival, intended to direct the mind of the
nation in the act of worship to some particular side of
the truth which the Church teaches. Referring to
these, we find in the services for all those seasons
which we, in common with the rest of Christendom,
THE END OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 321
esteem most holy, one constant declaration as to the
present actual existence of the kingdom of Christ,
occurring over and over again. Thus, on the first day
of the Christian year, Advent Sunday, we pray that we
may cast away the works of darkness, and rise to the
life immortal, "through Him who liveth and reigneth
with Thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever." On
the Third Sunday in Advent, in the collect addressed
directly to Christ himself, we pray that we may be
found an acceptable people " in Thy sight, who livest
and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
ever one God, world without end." On Christmas
Day the same form occurs, and we are again testify-
ing that Christ " liveth and reigneth." In the collect
for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany we speak of
" His eternal and glorious kingdom," where He " liveth
and reigneth." And so again and again, at the'
beginning of Lent, through Easter Week, on the
Day of Ascension, the Sunday after Ascension, Whit-
sunday, Trinity Sunday, we are still in the same
key, repeating the same confession, and declaring
in the most solemn manner, that Christ the -Son
of God has actually set up His kingdom in this
world, and is, now and always, " living and reigning "
in it.
In the same series of services the Church of England
places before the people, day after day, and week after
week, lessons and passages from the Old Testament,
for their guidance and instruction, and these are
associated with passages from the New Testament
selected apparently for the express purpose of showing,
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
that the old covenant is not cancelled, but fulfilled
• and made perfect in the new. By this method we
English churchmen have set before us in our child-
hood, and kept before us all our lives, that wonderful
picture of a nation ruled directly by God himself,
and prospering, or falling into misery and confusion,
precisely as they acknowledge or refuse to acknow-
ledge this rule which the Jewish history contains.
Whatever government they set up for themselves, the
same results follow. Kings, priests, judges, whatever
men succeed to, or usurp, or are thrust into power,
come immediately under that eternal government
which the God of the nation has established, and the
order of which cannot be violated with impunity.
Every ruler who ignores or defies it saps the national
life and prosperity, and brings trouble on his country,
sometimes swiftly, but always surely. There is the
perpetual presence of a King, with whom rulers
and people must come to a reckoning in every
national crisis and convulsion, and who is no less
present when the course of affairs is quiet and
prosperous. The greatest and wisest men of the
nation are those in whom this faith burns most
strongly. Elijah's solemn opening, " As the Lord
liveth, before whom I stand;" David's pleading,
" Whither shall I go then from Thy presence, or
whither shall I go from Thy Spirit .'' " — his confession
that in heaven or hell, or the uttermost parts of
the sea, "there also shall Thy hand lead, and Thy
right hand shall guide me," — are only well-known
instances of a universal consciousness which never
II
THE END OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 323
wholly leaves the men or the nation, however much
they may struggle to get rid of it.
The English Church thus forces on the notice of her
members the constant presence of God in the old
world, and the reality of His government of the
nations, even of those which were ignorant of Him.
She labours to make clear to them the sacredness of
the material earth, and the truth that not only on the
hill of Zion, but in the desert, on the great waters, in
the city, as well as in the hearts and minds of men,
there was always a Divine presence dwelling. Then,
through that unbroken series of services to which
reference has been made already, she declares that
this presence has not left the earth, is not dwelling
less with us English than with the old Hebrews, but
has come nearer to us since the Son of God took flesh,
and revealed to men that King and Father under
whose government they are living, and declared that
He would be with them always, even to the end of
the world.
This belief in this Divine government of the nations,
which is thus wrought into the whole teaching and
confession of the English Church, is probably held by
all sects of nonconformists amongst us. Whatever their
doctrines may be as to election and reprobation, or any
of the other thousand and one shibboleths by which
men's faith is tested, and too sorely tried, there is not
one of them probably which, speaking authoi"itatively
and deliberately, would not admit that Christ is
" living and reigning," not only in the invisible, but
here in the visible world, and that all rulers and
Y 2
324 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
governments are directly subject, and responsible,
to Him.
Turning from the Church to the nation, from
teaching and theory to life and practice, we find at
every step of our history the most striking confirma-
tion of this witness. The revolt against all visible
earthly authority in spiritual things, which had been
smouldering for centuries, broke out in England, as
elsewhere, at the time of the Reformation. Once for
all, the nation then declared that they would have no
man standing in the place of the King and Lord of their
souls, and assuming to dispense with His laws ; that
they were not and would not be responsible to any
vicar of Christ, but only to God himself; and Pope
and priests, and all who supported them, must be
taught this in the most direct and thorough manner.
The English King was the true representative of the
nation in this protest and revolt ; and the moral sense
and conscience of the nation was behind him. And
so it was solemnly declared by the Act of Supremacy,
that " for the increase of virtue in Christ's religion
within this realm of England, the King our sovereign
Lord, his heirs and successors kings of this realm,
shall be the only supreme head on earth of the Church
of England." This direct responsibility of the nation,
and of the King as the nation's representative, to God,
was the root idea and principle of the Reformation
in England. The Tudor princes (with the exception
of course of Queen Mary) in their best moods acknow-
ledged it, and acted on it ; and, while they did so, all
went well. Whenever they or their successors forgot
THE END OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 325
it, again and again in the intervening 300 years, it
has had to assert itself, often in the most unlooked-for
ways, and by the strangest witnesses. And so it
stands in cur own day, the inheritance of many
generations, as fresh, as clear, as strong as ever — a
rock against which churches and sects may dash
themselves, but which neither they, nor all the powers
of earth, can shake.
Had our kings and rulers recognised that one great
principle of the Reformation, that there can be no
spiritual authority on earth with the power to dis-
pense with God's law, and bind and loose man's
consciences, the other great revolt might never have
come at all. But the Reformation had to do its
work in due course, in temporal as well as spiritual
things, in the visible as in the invisible world ; for
the Stuart princes asserted in temporal matters the
powers which the Pope had claimed in spiritual.
They, too, would acknowledge the sanctity of no law
above the will of princes — would vindicate, even with
the sword and scaffold, their own power to dispense
with laws. So the second great revolt and protest
of the English nation came, against all visible earthly
sovereignty in things temporal. Puritanism arose,
and Charles went to the block, and the proclamation
went forth that henceforth the nation would have
no King but Christ ; that He was the only possible
King for the English nation from that time forth, in
temporal as well as spiritual things, and that His
kingdom had actually come. The national conscience
was not with the Puritans as it had been with Henry
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
at the time of the Reformation, but the deepest part
of their protest has held its own, and gained strength
ever since, from their day to ours. The rehgious
source and origin of it was, no doubt, thrust aside
at the Revolution, but the sagacious statesmen of
1688 were as clear as the soldiers of Ireton and
Ludlow in their resolve, that no human will should
override the laws and customs of the realm. So
they too, required of their sovereigns that they
â– should "solemnly promise and swear to govern the
people of this kingdom of England, and the do-
minions thereto belonging, according to the statutes
in Parliament agreed on, and the laws and customs
of the same ; . . . that they will to their power cause
law and justice in mercy to be executed in all their
judgments ; . . . that they will to the utmost of their
power maintain the laws of God, the true profession
of the Gospel, and the Protestant reformed religion
established by law." The same protest in a far dif-
ferent form came forth again at the great crisis at
the end of the eighteenth century, when the revo-
lutionary literature of France had set Europe in a
blaze, and the idea of the rights of man had shrunk
back, and merged in the will of the mob. Against
this assertion of this form of self-will again the
English nation took resolute ground. They had
striven for a law which was above popes and kings,
to which these must conform on pain of suppression.
They strove for it now against mob law, against
popular will openly avowing its own omnipotence,
and making the tyrant's claim to do what was right
THE EXD OF THE IV HOLE MATTER. 327
in its own eyes. And so through our whole history
the same thread has run. The nation, often con-
fusedly and with stammering accents, but still on
the whole consistently, has borne the same witness
as the Church, that as God is living and reigning
there must be a law, the expression of His will, at
the foundation of all human society, which priests,
kings, rulers, people, must discover, acknowledge,
obey.
The old question is coming up again for decision all
over Europe. With us it is narrowed to a single and
simple issue. There are several ways of putting it
amongst us, but the result seems to be much the same.
Whether by those who offer us as a substitute for God,
" a collective humanity into which we are all to be ab-
sorbed," or by those who teach that the people is " the
collective interpreter of the will of God," the old faith
is openly set aside, and we are told that infallibility
is at last found for men, and resides in the majority.
Such doctrines naturally outrage the historical claim-
ant of infallibility on earth. Looking out at the
universal ferment of Christendom, Pius IX. (in his
Encyclical Letter of Dec. 8, 1864) denounces those
"who dare to publish that the will of the people,
manifested by what they call public opinion, or by
other means, constitutes the supreme law, independent
of all Divine or human law, and that, in political
order, events which have been accomplished, by that
very reason that they are accomplished, have the force
of right." The alternative which the Pope would
propose is one which we in England need not discuss ;
328 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
but we are bound, at our peril, and shall be driven m
our time, to consider, whether we are prepared to
acknowledge collective humanity, or public opinion,
or any other abstraction, as the supreme judge and
king of our nation, and of all nations. We may
despise the present advocates of social democracy,
and a " confederate republic of Europe," and make
merry over their sayings and doings at their conven-
tions in Switzerland and elsewhere, but there is no
man Vv^ho knows what is really going on in England
but will admit, that there will have to be a serious
reckoning with them at no very distant day.
Christians, then, may acknowledge at once that, as a
rule, and in the long run, the decision of the people of a
country, fairly taken, is likely to be right, and that the
will of the people is likely to be more just and patient
than that of any person or class. No one can honestly
look at the history of our race in the last quarter of
a century, to go no further back, and not gladly admit
the weight of evidence in favour of this view. There
is no great question of principle which has arisen in
politics here, in which the great mass of the nation has
not been from the first on that which has been at last
acknowledged as the right side. In America, to take
the one great example, the attitude of the Northern
people from first to last, in the great civil war, will
make proud the hearts of English-speaking men as
long as their language lasts.
The real public opinion of a nation, expressing its
deepest convictions (as distinguished from what is
ordinarily called public opinion, the first cry of pro-
THE END OF THE UHOLE MATTER. 329
fessional politicians and journalists, which usually
goes wrong), is undoubtedly entitled to very great
respect. But, after making all fair allowances, no
honest man, however warm a democrat he may be,
can shut his eyes to the facts which stare him in the
face at home, in our colonies, in the United States,
and refuse to acknowledge that the will of the majority
in a nation, ascertained by the best processes yet
known to us, is not always or altogether just, or
consistent, or stable ; that the deliberate decisions of
the people are not unfrequently tainted by ignorance,
or passion, or prejudice.
Are we, then, to rest contented with this ultimate
regal power, to resign ourselves to the inevitable, and
admit that for us, here at last in this nineteenth cen-
tury, there is nothing higher or better to look for;
and if we are to have a king at all, it must be king
people or king mob, according to the mood in which
our section of collective humanity happens to be ?
Surely we are not prepared for this any more than the
Pope is. Many of us feel that Tudors, and Stuarts,
and Oliver Cromwell, and cliques of Whig or Tory
aristocrats, may have been bad enough ; but that any
tyranny under which England has groaned in the
past has been light by the side of what we may come
to, if we are to carry out the new political gospel
to its logical conclusion, and surrender ourselves to
government by the counting of heads, pure and simple.
But if we will not do this, is there any alternative,
since we repudiate personal government, but to fall
back on the old Hebrew and Christian faith, that the
LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
nations are ruled by a living, present, invisible King,
whose will is perfectly righteous and loving, the same
yesterday, to-day, and for ever? It is beside the
question to urge that such a faith throws us back on
an invisible power, and that we must have visible
rulers. Of course we must have visible rulers, even
after the advent of the " confederate social republic of
Europe." When the whole people is king it must have
viceroys like other monarchs. But is public opinion
visible .'' Can we see "collective humanity".'' Is it
easier for princes or statesmen — for any man or men
upon whose shoulders the government rests — to ascer-
tain the will of the people than the will of God .''
Another consideration meets us at once, and that is,
that this belief is assumed in our present practice.
Not to insist upon the daily usage in all Christian
places of worship and families throughout the land,
the Parliament of the country opens its daily sittings
with the most direct confession of this faith which words
can express, and prays — addressing God, and not
public opinion, or collective humanity — "Thy king-
dom come. Thy will be done." Surely it were better
to get rid of this solemn usage as a piece of cant,
which must demoralize the representatives of the
nation, if we mean nothing particular by it, and either
recast our form of prayer, substituting "the people,"
or what else we please, for " God," or let the whole
business alone, as one which is past man's under-
standing. If we really believe that a nation has no
means of finding out God's will, it is hypocritical and
cowardly to go on praying that it may be done.
THE END OF THE WHOLE MATTER. r,i
That will may be unjust, unloving, variable, for
anything we know; and as honest men and citizens
we cannot wish, or ask, that our country may be ruled
by it.
But it will be said, assuming all that is asked, what
practical difference can it possibly make in the govern-
ment of nations ? Admit as pointedly as you can, by
profession and by worship, and honestly believe, that
a Divine will is ruling in the world, and in each nation,
what will it effect ? Will it alter the course of events
one iota, or the acts of any government or governor ?
Would not a Neapolitan Bourbon be just as ready to
make it his watchword as an English Alfred ? Might
not a committee of public safety placard the scaffold
with a declaration of this faith ? It is a contention
for a shadow.
Is it so ? Does not every man recognise in his
own life, and in his observation of the world around
him, the enormous and radical difference between
the two principles of action, and the results which
they bring about ? What man do we reckon worthy
of honour, and delight to obey and follow — him who
asks when he has to act, what will A, B, and C say
to this? or him who asks, is this right, true, just,
in harmony with the will of God ? Don't we despise
ourselves when Ave give way to the former tendenc)',
or, in other words, when we admit the sovereignty
of public opinion ? Don't we feel that we are in
the right and manly path when we follow the latter ?
And if this be true of private men, it must hold
in the case of those who are in authority.
332 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREA T.
Those rulers, whatever name they may go by, who
turn to what constituents, leagues, the press are
saying or doing, to guide them as to the course they
are to follow, in the faith that the will of the majo-
rity is the ultimate and only possible arbiter, will
never deliver or strengthen a nation however skilful
they may be in occupying its best places.
All the signs of our time tell us that the day of
earthly kings has gone by, and the advent to power
of the great body of the people, those who live by
manual labour, is at hand. Already a considerable
percentage of them are as intelligent and provident
as the classes above them, and as capable of con-
ducting affairs, and administering large interests suc-
cessfully. In England, the co-operative movement,
and the organization of the trade societies, should be
enough to prove this, to any one who has eyes, and is
open to conviction. In another generation that num-
ber will have increased tenfold, and the sovereignty
of the country will virtually pass into their hands.
Upon their patriotism and good sense the for-
tunes of the kingdom, of which Alfred laid the deep
foundations a thousand years ago, will depend as
directly and absolutely as they have ever depended
on the will of earthly king or statesman. It is vain
to blink the fact that democracy is upon us, that
" new order of society which is to be founded by
labour for labour," and the only thing for wise men
to do is to look it in the face, and see how the
short intervening years may be used to the best
advantage. Happily for us, the task has been already
THE END OF THE WHOLE MATTER. 333
begun in earnest. Our soundest and wisest political
thinkers are all engaged upon the great and inevitable
change, whether they dread, or exult in, the prospect.
Thus far, too, they all agree, that the great danger of
the future lies in that very readiness of the people to
act in great masses, and to get rid of personal and
individual responsibility, which is the characteristic
of the organizations by which they have gained, and
secured, their present position. Nor is there any
difference as to how this danger is to be met. Our
first aim must be to develop to the utmost the sense
of personal and individual responsibility.
But how is this to be done .â– ' To v/hom are men
wielding great powers to be taught that they are
responsible .'' If they can learn that there is still a
King ruling in England through them, whom if they
will fear they need fear no other power in earth or
heaven, whom if they can love and trust they will
want no other guide or helper, all will be well, and we
may look for a reign of justice in England such as she
has never seen yet, whatever form our government
may take. But, in any case, those who hold the
old faith will still be sure, that the order of God's
kingdom will not change. If the kings of the earth
are passing away, because they have never acknow-
ledged the order which was established for them,
the conditions on which they were set in high places,
those who succeed them will have to come under
the same order, and the same conditions. When the
great body of those who have done the hard work of
the world, and got little enough of its wages hitherto
334 LIFE OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
—the real stuff of which every nation is composed —
have entered on their inheritance, they may sweep
away many things, and make short work with throne?
and kings. But there is one throne which they cannot
pull down — the throne of righteousness, which is over
all the nations ; and one King whose rule they cannot
throw off — the Son of God, and Son of Man, who
will judge them as He has judged all kings and all
governmen<-s before them.
THE END.
RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY.
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