^^o^ & . ^ '-^ A^ .^ ,^ °^ .#^. '>!.^-.^;-'>'^'r-^ ,^^ °- '^^^''''. ^ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/historyofl/o PREFACE. It is the object of this series of histories to present a clear, distinct, and connected narra- tive of the lives of those great personages who have in various ages of the world made them- selves celebrated as leaders among mankind, and, by the part they have taken in the public affairs of great nations, have exerted the widest influence on the history of the human race. The end which the author has had in view is twofold : first, to communicate such informa- tion in respect to the subjects of his narratives as is important for the general reader to possess ; an^, secondly, to draw such moral lessons from the events described and the characters deline- ated as they may legitimately teach to the peo- ple of the present age. Though written in a direct and simple style, they are intended for, and addressed to, minds possessed of some con- viii Preface. siderable degree of maturity, for such minds only can fully appreciate the character and ac- tion which exhibits itself, as nearly all that is described in these volumes does, in close com- bination with the conduct and policy of govern- ments, and the great events of international history. CONTENTS. I. THE BRITONS 13 II. THE ANGLO-SAXONS 34 fll. THE DANES 57 IV. Alfred's early years 76 V. THE STATE OF ENGLAND 94 VI. Alfred's accession to the throne 115 VII. reverses 131 VIII. THE seclusion 154 IX. reassembling of THE ARMY 172 %'. THE VICTORY OVER THE DANES 190 XI. THE REIG N 209 SII. THE CLOSE OF LIFE 2?>7 E N G K A V I N G S. Pngt . WALL OF SEVERUS 31 ^ BAXON MILITARY CHIEF 41 ^ THE SEA KINGS ' ^ 65 ^ LOTHBROC AND HIS FALCON 103 ANCIENT CORONATION CHAIR 133 THE FIRST BRITISH FLEET 148 ALFRED WATCHING THE CAKES 16i PORTRAIT OF ALFRED 208 • HASTINGS BESIEGED IN THE CHURCH 229 ALFRED THE GREAT. Chapter I. The Britons. Alfred the founder of the British monarchy. ALFRED THE GREAT figures in history as the founder, in some sense, of the Brit* ish monarchy. Of that long succession of sov- ereigns who have held the scepter of that mon- archy, and whose government has exerted so vast an influence on the condition and welfare of mankind, he was not, indeed, actually the first. There were several Tines of insignificant princes before him, who governed such portions of the kingdom as they individually possessed, more like semi-savage chieftains than English kings. Alfred followed these by the principle of hereditary right, and spent his life in laying broad and deep the foundations on which the enormous superstructure of the British empire has since been reared. If the tales respecting his character and deeds which have come down 14 Alfred the Great. [B.C. 800 Hereditary succession. The fabulous age of history. to US are at all worthy of belief, he was an hon- est, conscientious, disinterested, and far-seeing statesman. If the system of hereditary suc- cession would always furnish such sovereigns for mankind, the principle of loyalty would have held its place much longer in tne world than it is now lilcely to do, and great nations, ik)w re- publican, would have been saved a vast deal of trouble and toil expended in the election of their rulers. Although the period of King Alfred's reign seems a very remote one as we look back to- ward it from the present day, it was still eight hundred years after the Christian era that ho ascended his throne. Tolerable authentic his- tory of the British realm mounts up through these eight hundred years to the time of Julius Csesar. Beyond this the ground is covered by a series of romantic and fabulous tales, pretend- ing to be history, which extend back eight hundred years further to the days of Solomon ; so that a much longer portion of the story of that extraordinary island comes before than since the days of Alfred. In respect, however to all that pertains to the interest and import- ance of the narrative, the exploits and the ar- sangements of Alfred are the beginning. B.C. 800.] The Britons. 15 lYadition. Tho Trojan war. Adventures of iEneaa The histories, in fact, of all nations, ancient and modern, run back always into misty regions of romance and fable. Before arts and letters arrived at such a state of progress as that pub- lic events could be recorded in writing, tradi- tion was the only means of handing down the memory of events from generation to genera- tion ; and tradition, among semi-savages, chang- es every thing it touches into romantic and marvelous fiction. The stories connected with the earliest dis- covery and settlement of Great Britain afford very good illustrations of the nature of these fabulous tales. The fallowing may serve as a specimen : At the close of the Trojan war,^ ^neas re- tired with a company of Trojans, who escaped from the city with him, and, after a great vari- ety of adventures, which Virgil has related, he landed and settled in Italy. Here, in process of time, he had a grandson named Silvius, who had a son named Brutus, Brutus being thus iEneas's great-grandson. One day, while Brutus was hunting in tho forests, he accidentally killed his father with * For some account of the circumstances connected witlj rhis war, see our history of Alexander, chap***** iv. 16 Alfred the Great. [B.C. 800. Wanderings of Brutus. Singular treaty of peace. an arrow. His father was at that time King of Alba — a region of Italy near the spot on which Rome was subsequently built — and the accident brought Brutus under such suspicions, and exposed him to such dangers, that he fled from the country. After various wanderings he at last reached Greece, where he collected a number of Trojan followers, whom he found roaming about the country, and formed them into an army. With this half-savage force he attacked a king of the country named Pandra- sus. Brutus was successful in the Avar, and Pandrasus was taken prisoner. This compel- led Pandrasus to sue for peace, and peace was concluded on the following very extraordinary terms : Pandrasus was to give Brutus his daughter Tmogena for a wife, and a fleet of ships as her dowry. Brutus, on the other hand, was to take his wife and all his followers on board of his fleet, and sail away and seek a home in some other quarter of the globe. This plan of a mon- arch's purchasing his own ransom and peace for his realm from a band of roaming robbers, by offering the leader of them his daughter for a wife, however strange to our ideas, was very pharacteristic of the times. Imogena must C.C.800.] The Buitons. 17 Brutus lands on a deserted igland. Response of the oraclo have found it a hard alternative to choose be- tween such a husband and such a father. Brutus, with his fleet and his bride, betooli themselves to sea, and within a short time landed on a deserted island, where they found the ruins of a city. Here there was an ancient temple of Diana, and an image of the goddess, which image was endued with the power of ut- tering oracular responses to those who consult- ed it with proper ceremonies and forms. Biu- tus consulted this oracle on the question in what land he should find a place of final settle- ment. His address to it was in ancient verse, which some chronicler has turned into English rhyme as follows : " Goddess of shades and huntress, who at will Walk'st on the rolling sphere, and through the deep, On thy third reign, the earth, look now and tell What land, what seat of rest thou bidd'st me seek?" To which the oracle returned the following answer : ** Far to the west, in the ocean wide, Beyond the realm of Gaul a land there lies — Sea-girt it lies — where giants dwelt of old. Now void, it fits thy people ; thither bend Thy course ; there shalt thou find a lasting home." It is scarcely necessary to say that this meant Britain. Brutus, following the directions which B i.8 Alfred the Great. [B.C. 800 Brutus passes the Pillars of Hercules. He lands in Britain. the oracle had given him, set sail from the isl- and, and proceeded to the westward through the Mediterranean Sea. He arrived at the Pillars of Hercules. This was the name by which the Rock of Gibraltar and the corresponding prom- ontory on the opposite coast, across the straits, were called in those days ; these clifls having been built, according to ancient tales, by Her- cules, as monuments set up to mark the ex- treme limits of his western wanderings. Bru- tus passed through the strait, and then, turning northward, coasted along the shores of Spain. At length, after enduring great privations and suffering, and encountering the extreme dangers to which their frail barks were neces- sarily exposed from the surges which roll in perpetually from the broad Atlantic Ocean upon the coast of Spain and into the Bay of Biscay they arrived safely on the shores of Britain. They landed and explored the interior. They found the island robed in the richest drapery of fruitfulness and verdure, but it was unoccupied by any thing human. There were wild beasts roaming in the forests, and the remains of a race of giants in dens and caves — monsters as diverse from humanity as the wolves. Brutus and liis followers attacked all these occupants B.C. 800.] The Britons. 1& GiantB and wild beasts. Situation and extent of Great Britain. of the land. They drove the wild beasts into the mountains of Scotland and Wales, and kill- ed the giants. The chief of them, whose name was Gogmagog, was hurled by one of Brutus'8 followers from the summit of one of the chalky cliffs which bound the island into the sea. The island of Great Britain is in the latitude of Labrador, which on our side of the continent is the synonym for ahnost perpetual ice and snow ; still these wandering Trojans found it a region of inexhaustible verdure, fruitfulness, and beauty ; and as to its extent, though often, in modern times, called a little island, they found its green fields and luxuriant forests ex- tending very far and wide over the sea. A length of nearly six hundred miles would seem almost to merit the name of continent, and the dimensions of this detached outpost of the hab- itable surface of the earth would never have been deemed inconsiderable, had it not been that the people, by the greatness of their ex- ploits, of which the whole world has been the theater, have made the physical dimensions of their territory appear so small and insignificant in comparison. To Brutus and his companions the land appeared a world. It was nearly four hundred miles in breadth at the place where 20 Alfred the Great. [B.C. 800 fertility and beauty of tLe island. Successors of Brutua they landed, and, wandering northward, they found it extending, in almost undiminished beauty and fruitfulness, further than they had the disposition to explore it. They might have gone northward until the twilight scarcely dis- appeared in the summer nights, and have found the same verdure and beauty continuing to the end. There were broad and undulating plains in the southern regions of the island, and in the northern, green mountains and romantic glens ; but all, plains, valleys, and mountains, were fer- tile and beautiful, and teeming with abundant sustenance for flocks, for herds, and for man. Brutus accordingly established himself upon the island with all his followers, and founded a A:ingdom there, over which he reigned as the founder of a dynasty. Endless tales are told of the lives, and exploits, and quarrels of his suc- cessors down to the time of Caesar. Conflict- ing claimants arose continually to dispute with each other for the possession of power ; wars were made by one tribe upon another; cities, as they were called — though probably, in fact, they were only rude collections of hovels — were built, fortresses were founded, and rivers were named from princes or princesses drowned in them, in accidental journeys, or by the violence B.C. 800.] The Britons. 21 Tales and legends. The story of King Lear. of rival claimants to their thrones. The pre- tended records contain a vast number of le- gends, of very little interest or value, as the reaier will readily admit when we tell him that the famous story of King Lear is the most en- tertaining one in the whole collection. It is this : There was a king in the line named Lear. He founded the city now called Leicester. He had three daughters, whose names were Gonil- la, Regana, and Cordiella. Cordiella was her father's favorite child. He was, however, jeal- ous of the affections of them all, and one day he called them to him, and asked them for some assurance of their love. The two eldest re- sponded by making the most extravagant prot- estations. They loved their father a thousand times better than their own souls. They could not express, they said, the ardor and strength of their attachment, and called Heaven and earth to witness that these protestations were sincere. Cordiella, all this time, stood meekly and si- lently by, and when her father asked her how it was with her, she replied, '^Father, my love toward you is as my duty bids. What can a father ask, or a daughter promise more ? They who pretend beyond this only flatter." 22 Alfred the Great. [B.C. 800. Honest truth and empty professions. Ingratitude of Lear s daughters The king, who was old and childish, was much pleased with the manifestation of love of- fered by Gonilla and Regana, and thought that the honest Cordiella was heartless and cold He treated her with greater and greater neg- lect, and finally decided to leave her without any portion whatever, while he divided his kingdom between the other two, having pre- viously married them to princes of high rank. Cordiella was, however, at last made choice of for a wife by a French prince, who, it seems, Imew better than the old king how much more to be relied upon was unpretending and honest truth than empty and extravagant profession He married the portionless Cordiella, and took her with him to the Continent. The old king now having given up his king- dom to his eldest daughters, they managed, by artifice and maneuvering, to get every thing else away from him, so that he became wholly dependent upon them, and had to live with them by turns. This was not all ; for, at the Instigation of their husbands, they put so many indignities and affronts upon him, that his life at length became an intolerable burden, and finally he was compelled to leave the realm al- together, and in his destitution and distress he A.D.G3.] Tiii: Bkiions. 23 Julius Cffisar. His conquest of Great Britain. went for refuge and protection to his rejected daughter Cordiella. She received her father with the greatest alacrity and affection. She raised an army to restore him to his rights, and went in person with him to England to assist him in recovering them. She was successful. The old king took possession of his throne again, and reigned in peace for the remainder of his days. The story is of itself nothing very re- markable, though Shakspeare has immortalized it by making it the subject of one of his trag- edies. Centuries passed away, and at length the great Julius Ceesar, who was extending the Roman power in every direction, made his way across the* Channel, and landed in England. The particulars of this invasion are described in our history of Julius Caesar. The Romans retained possession of the island, in a greater or less degree, for four hundred years. They did not, however, hold it in peace all this time. They became continually involved in difficulties and contests with the native Brit- ons, who could ill brook the oppressions of such merciless masters as Roman generals always proved in the provinces which they pretended to govern. One of the most formidable rebell- 24 Alfred the Great. [A.L). 63 Queen Boadicea. Her person and charactet ions that the Romans had to encounter during their disturbed and troubled sway in Britain was led on by a woman. Her name was Boa- dicea. Boadicea, like almost all other heroines, was coarse and repulsive in appearance. She was tall and masculine in form. The tones of her voice were harsh, and she had the counte- nance of a savage. Her hair was yellow. It might have been beautiful if it had been neatly arranged, and had shaded a face which possess- ed the gentle expression that belongs properly to woman. It would then have been called golden. As it was, hanging loosely below her waist and streaming in the wind, it made the wearer only look the more frightful. Still, Bo- adicea was not by any means indifferent to the appearance she made in the eyes of beholders. She evinced her desire to make a favorable im- pression upon others, in her own peculiar way, it is true, but in one which must have been ef- fective, considering what sort of beholders they were in whose eyes she figured. She was dressed in a gaudy coat, wrought of various col- ors, with a sort of mantle buttoned over it. She wore a great gold chain about her neck, and held an ornamented spear in her hand. Thug equipped, she appeared at the head of an army A.D.63.] The Britons. 2r> Death of Boadicea. Final subjugation if the Britona of a hundred thousand men, and gathering them around her, she ascended a mound of earth and harangued them — that is, as many as could stand within reach of her voice — arousing them to sentiments of revenge against their hated op- pressors, and urging them to the highest pitch of determination and courage for the approach- ing struggle. Boadicea had reason to deem the Romans her implacable foes. They had robbed her of her treasures, deprived her of her king- dom, imprisoned her, scourged her, and inflict- ed the worst possible injuries upon her daugh- ters. These things had driven the wretched mother to a perfect phrensy of hate, and arous- ed her to this desperate struggle for redress and revenge. But all was in vain. In encounter- ing the spears of Roman soldiery, she was en- countering the very hardest and sharpest steel that a cruel world could furnish. Her army was conquered, and she killed herself by taking poison in her despair. By struggles such as these the contest be- tween the Romans and the Britons was carried on for m:iny generations ; the Romans conquer- ing at every trial, until, at length, the Britons learned to submit without further resistance to their sway. In fact, there gradually came upon *dij Alfred the Great. [A.D. 200 The Picts and Scots. Their depredations. the stage, during the progress of these centu- ries, a new power, acting as an enemy to both, the Picts and Scots ; hordes of lawless barba- rians, who inhabited the mountains and mo- rasses of Scotland and Ireland. These terrible savages made continual irruptions into the southern country for plunder, burning and de- stroying, as they retired, whatever they could not carry away. They lived in impregnable and almost inaccessible fastnesses, among dark glens and precipitous mountains, and upon gloomy islands surrounded by iron-bound coasts and stormy seas. The Roman legions miade repeated attempts to hunt them out of these re- treats, but with very little success. At length a line of fortified posts v/as established across the island, near where the boundary line now lies between England and Scotland ; and by guarding this line, the Roman generals who had charge of Britain attempted to protect the inhabitants of the southern country, who had learned at length to submit peaceably to their sway. One of the most memorable events which oc- curred during the time that the Romans held possession of the island of Britain was the visit of one of the emperors to this northern cxtrem- A.D.206.] The Britons 27 Visit cf the Emperor Sevcrus. His dissolute Bona, ity of his dominions. The name of this em- peror was Severus. He was powerful and pros- perous at home, but his life was embittered by one great calamity, the dissolute character and the perpetual quarrels of his sons. To remove them from Rome, where they disgraced both themselves and their father by their vicious lives, and the ferocious rivalry and hatred they bore to each other, Severus planned an excur- sion to Britain, taking them with him, in the hope of turning their minds into new channels of thought, and awakening in them some new and nobler ambition. At the time when Severus undertook tliis expedition, he was advanced in age and very infirm. He suffered much from the gout, so that he was unable to travel by any ordinary conveyance, and was borne, accordingly, almost all the*way upon a litter. He crossed the Chan- nel with his army, and, leaving one of his sons ia command in the south part of the island, he advanced with the other, at the head of an enor- mous force, determined to push boldly forward iflto the heart of Scotland, and to bring the war . with the Picts and Scots to an effectual end. He met, however, with very partial success, His soldiers became entangled in bogs and mo- 25 Alfred the Great. [A.D.206 Base conduct ot Bassianus. His interview with his father. rasses ; they fell into ambuscades ; they suffer- ed every degree of privation and hardship for want of water and of food, and were continually entrapped by their enemies in situations where they had to fight in small numbers and at a great disadvantage. Then, too, the aged and feeble general was kept in a continual fever of anxiety and trouble by Bassianus, the son whom he had brought with him to the north. The dissoluteness and violence of his character were not changed by the change of scene. He form- ed plots and conspiracies against his father's authority ; he raised mutinies in the army ; he headed riots ; and he was finally detected in a plan for actually assassinating his father. Se- verus, when he discovered this last enormity of wickedness, sent for his son to come to his im- perial tent. He laid a naked sword before him, and then, after bitterly reproaching hinf with his undutiful and ungrateful conduct, he said, '' If you wish to kill me, do it now. Here I stand, old, infirm, and helpless. You are young and strong, and can do it easily. I am ready Strike the blow." Of course Bassianus shrunk from his father's reproaches, and went away without commit- ting the crime to which he was thus reproach- A..D.206.] The Britons. 29 Pearti vr'th the Picts and Scots. The Wall of Severus fully invited ; but his character remained un- changed; and this constant trouble, added to all the other difficulties which Severus encoun- tered, prevented his accomplishing his object of thoroughly conquering his northern foes. He made a sort of peace with them, and retiring south to the line of fortified posts which had been previously established, he determined to make it a fixed and certain boundary by build- ing upon it a permanent wall. He put the whole force of his army upon the work, and in one or two years, as is said, he completed the structure. It is known in history as the Wall of Severus ; and so solid, substantial, and per- manent was the work, that the traces of it have not entirely disappeared to the present day. The wall extended across the island, from the mouth of the Tyne, on the German Ocean, to the Solway Frith — nearly seventy miles. It was twelve feet high, and eight feet wide. It was faced with substantial masonry on both sides, the intermediate space being likewise fill- ed in with stone. When it crossed bays or mo- rasses, piles w^ere driven to serve as a founda- tion. Of course, such a wall as this, by itself, would be no defense. It was to be garrisoned by soldiers, being intended, in fact, only as a 30 Alfred THE Great. [A.D. 206 Btitions. Castles. Tuirets. Ditch. Military road means to enable a smaller number of troops than would otherwise be necessary to guard the line. For these soldiers there were built great fortresses at intervals along the wall, wherever a situation was found favorable for such struct- ures. These were called stations. The sta- tions were occupied by garrisons of troops, and small towns of artificers and laborers soon sprung up around them. Between the stations, at smaller intervals, were other smaller fortress- es called castles, intended as places of defense, and rallying points in case of an attack, but not for garrisons of any considerable number of men. Then, between the castles, at smaller intervals still, were turrets, used as watch-tow- ers and posts for sentinels. Thus the whole line of the wall was every where defended by armed men. The whole number thus employ- ed in the defense of this extraordinary rampart was said to be ten thousand. There was a broad, deep, and continuous ditch on the north- ern side of the wall, to make the impediment still greater for the enemy, and a spacious and well-constructed military road on the southern side, on which troops, stores, wagons, and bag- gage of every kind could be readily transported along the line, from one end to the other. .V.D.435.] The Brito.ns. 33 Decline of the Roman empire. Distress of the Britons. The wall was a good defense as long as Ro- man soldiers remained to guard it. But in pro- cess of time — about two centuries after Sevo- rus's day — the Roman empire itself began to decline, even in the very seat and center of its power; and then, to preserve their own capital from destruction, the government were obliged to call their distant armies home. The wall was left to the Britons ; but they could not de- fend it. The Picts and Scots, finding out the change, renewed their assaults. They battered down the castles ; they made breaches here and there in the wall ; they built vessels, and, pass- ing round by sea across the mouth of the Sol- way Frith and of the River Tyne, they renew- ed their old incursions for plunder and destruc- tion. The Britons, in extreme distress, sent again and again to recall the Romans to their aid, and they did, in fact, receive from them some occasional and temporary succor. At length, however, all hope of help from this quarter failed, and the Britons, finding their condition desperate, Vv^ere compelled to resort to a desperate remedy, the nature of which will bo explained in the next chapter. C 34 Alfred THE (jtre^-t. [A.D.449 Constitutional and connate differences amonjr men. On AFTER 11. Ihe AnGLO-SaXOjN'S. ANY one who will look around upon the families of his acquaintance will observe that family characteristics and resemblances prevail not only in respect to stature, form, ex- pression of countenance, and other outward and bodily tokens, bu.t also in regard to the consti- ' tutional temperaments and capacities, of the soul. Sometimes v/e find a group in which high intellectual powers and great energy of action prevail for many successive generations, and in all the branches into which the original stock divides ; in other cases, the hereditary tendency is to gentleness and harmlessness of character, with a full development of all the feelings and sensibilities of the soul. Others, again, exhibit congenital tendencies to great physical strength and hardihood, and to powers of muscular exertion and endurance. These differences, notwithstanding all the exceptions and irregularities connected with them, are ob- viously, where thev exist, deeply seated and A.D.449.] The Anglo-Saxons. 35 Characteristics of nations. I ivc great rac0« permanent. They depend very slightly upon any mere external causes. They have, on the contrary, their foundation in some hidden prin- ciples connected with the origin of life, and with the mode of its transmission from parent to offspring, which the researches of philoso- phers have never yet been able to explore. These same constitutional and congenital pe- culiarities which we see developing themselves all around us in families, mark, on a greater scale, the characteristics of the different nations of the earth, and in a degree much higher still, the several great and- distinct races into which the whole human family seems to be divided. Physiologists consider that there are five of these great races, whose characteristics, mental as well as bodily, are distinctly, strongly, and permanently marked. These characteristics descend by hereditary succession from father to son, and though education and outward influ- ences may modify them, they can not essen- tially change them. Compare, for example, the Indian and the African races, each of which has occupied for a thousand years a continent of its own, where they have been exposed to the same variety of climates, and as far as possible to the same general outward influences. How 3G Alfred THE Great. [A.D. 449 Differences of races. The Caucasians. entirely diverse from each other they are, not only in form, color, and other physical marks, but in all the tendencies and characteristics of the soul ! One can no more be changed into the other, than a wolf, by being tamed and do- mesticated, can be made a dog, or a dog, by being driven into the forests, be transformed into a tiger. The difference is still greater be- tween either of these races and the Caucasian race. This race might probably be called the European race, were it not that some Asiatic and some African nations have sprung from it, as the Persians, the Phoenicians, the Egyptians, the Carthaginians, and, in modern times, the Turks. All the nations of this race, whether European or African, have been distinguished by the same physical marks in the conformation of the head and the color of the skin, and still more by those traits of character — the intellect, the energy, the spirit of determination and pride - — which, far from owing their existence to out- ward circumstances, have always, in all ages, made all outward circumstances bend to them. That there have been some great and noble spec- imens of humanity among the African race, for example, no one can deny ; but that there is a marked, and fixed, and permanent constitution- A.D. 449.1 The Anglo-Saxons. 37 Civilization of the Caucnsians. ITicii permanency -^il difference between them and the Caueasian iar»e seems evident from this fact, that for two tlioiisand years each has held its own continent, undisturbed, in a great degree, by the rest of mankind ; and while, during all this time, no nation of the one race has risen, so far as is known, above the very lowest stage of civiliza- tion, there have been more than fifty entirely distinct and independent civilizations origina- ted and fully developed in the other. For three thousand years the Caucasian race have con- tinued, under all circumstances, and in every variety of situation, to exhibit the same traits and the same indomitable prowess. No calami- ties, however great — no desolating wars, no de- structive pestilence, no wasting famine, no night of darkness, however universal and gloomy — lias ever been able to keep them long in degra- dation or barbarism. There is not now a bar- barous people to be found in the whole race, and there has not been one for a thousand years. Nearly all the great exploits, and achieve- ments tooj v/hich have signalized the history of the v^orld, have been performed by this branch of the human family. They have given celeb- rity to every age in which they have lived, and to every country that they have ever possessed. 3S i\LFRED THE Gre\t. [A.D.449. Achievements of the Caucasians. Ancient and modern Caucasians. by some great deed, or discovery, or achieve- ment, which their intellectual energies have ac- complished. As Egyptians, they built the Pyr- amids, and reared enormous monoliths, which remain as perfect now as they were when first completed, thirty centuries ago. As Phoeni- cians, they constructed ships, perfected naviga- tion, and explored, without compass or chart, every known sea. As Greeks, they modeled architectural embellishments, and cut sculpt- ures in marble, and wrote poems and history^ which have been ever since the adm.iration of the world. As Romans, they carried a com- plete and perfect military organization over fifty nations and a hundred millions of people, with one supreme mistress over ail, the ruins of whose splendid palaces and monuments have not yet passed away. Thus has this race gone on, always distinguishing itself, by energy, ac- tivity, and intellectual power, wherever it has dwelt, whatever language it has spoken, and in whatever period of the world it has lived. It has invented printing, and filled every country that it occupies with permanent records of the (>ast, accessible to all. It has explored the heavens, and reduced to precise and exact cal- umniations all the complicated motions there. It A.D.449.] The Anglo-Saxons. 39 Bubordinate diflerences. How accounted for. has ransacked the earth, systematized, arrang- ed, and classified the vast melange of plants, and animals, and ?Tiineral products to be found upon its surface. It makes steam and falling water do more than half the work necessary for feeding and clothing the human race ; and the howling winds of the ocean, the very emblems of resistless destruction and terror, it steadily employs in interchanging the products of the world, and bearing the means of comfort and plenty to every clime. The Caucasian race has thus, in all ages, and in all the varieties of condition in which the different branches of it have been placed, evinced the same great characteristics, mark- ing the existence of som.e innate and constant constitutional superiority ; and yet, in the dif- ferent branches, subordinate differences appear, which are to be accounted for, perhaps, partly by difference of circumstances, and partly, per- haps, by similar constitutional diversities — di versities by w^hich one branch is distinguishc d from other branches, as the whole race is from the other races with which we have compared them. Among these branches, we, Anglo-Sax- ons ourselves, claim for the Anglo-Saxonfj the superiority ovci ^,11 the others 40 Alfred THE Great. [A.D. 441) The Anglo-Saxons. Their early qualities The Anglo-Saxons commenced their career as pirates and robbers, and as pirates and rob- bers of the most desperate and dangerous de- scription. In fact, the character which the An- glo-Saxons have obtained in modern times foi energy and enterprise, and for desperate daring in their conflicts with foes, is no recent fame. The progenitors of the present race were cele- brated every where, and every where feared and dreaded, not only in the days of Alfred, but several centuries before. All the historians of those days that speak of them at all, describe them as universally distinguished above their neighbors for their energy and vehemence of character, their mental and physical superior- ity, and for the wild and daring expeditions to which their spirit of enterprise and activity were continually impelling them. They built ves- sels, in which they boldly put forth on the wa- ters of the German Ocean or of the Baltic Sea on excursions for conquest or plunder. Like their present posterity on the British isles and on the shores of the Atlantic, they cared not, in these voyages, whether it was summer or win ter, calm or storm. In fact, they sailed often in tempests and storms by choice, so as to come jpon their enemies the more unexpectedly ::.--^'! \..D.44a.] The Anglo-Saxons. 43 Courage and enterprise of the Anglo-Saxons. Their nautical exploits. They would build small vessels, or rather boats, of osiers, covering them with skins, and in fleets of these frail floats they would sally forth among the howling winds and foaming surges of the German Ocean. On these expeditions, they all embarked as in a common cause, and felt a common interest. The leaders shared in all the toils and exposures of the men, and the men took part in the counsels and plans of the leaders. Their intelligence and activity, and their resistless courage and ardor, combined with their cool and calculating sagacity, made them successful in every attempt. If they fought, they conquered ; if they pursued their enemies, they were sure to overtake them ; if they retreated, they were sure to make their escape. They were clothed in a loose and flow- ing dress, and wore their hair long and hang- ing about their shoulders ; and they had the art, as their descendants have novv', of contriv- ing and fabricating arms of such superior con- struction and workmanship, as to give them, on this account alone, a great advantage over all cotemporary nations. There were two other points in w^hich there was a remarkable simi- larity between this parent stock in its rude, ear- .Y form, and the extended social prc^geny wliicli 44 Alfred THE GrexVT. [A.D.449 Conjugal fidelity. Pride and love of power. represents it at the present day. One was the extreme strictnesj' of th'eir ideas of conjugal fidelity, and the st^.rn ana rigid severity with which ail violations of femalo virtue were judg- ed. The woman who violated her marriage ^^ows was compelled to iiang herself. Her body was then burned in public, and the accomplice of her crime was executed over the ashes. The other point of resemblance i-etween the ancient Anglo-Saxon.^ and their modern descendants was their indox.iitable pride. They could never endure any thing Mk^- submission. Though sometimes overpowered, they were never con- quered. Though taken prisoners and carried captive, the indomitable spirit which animatea them could never oe re^lV subdued. The Ro- mans used sometimi '^ to compel their prisoners to fight as gladiators, to make spectacles for the amusement of the people of the city. On one occasion, thirty Angio< Saxons, who had been taken captive and were reserved for this fate, strangled themselves rather than submit jo this indignity. The whole nation manifest- ed on all occasions a very unbending and un- submissive will, encountering every possible danger and braving every conceivaHe ill rath- er than succumb or submit to any power ex- A.D.449.J The Anglo-Saxons. 45 Landing of the Anglo-Saxons. Commencement of English hisloiy cept such as they had themselves created for their own ends ; and their descendants, Avheih- cr in England or America, evince much the same spirit still. It was the landing of a few boat-loads of these determined and ferocious barbarians on a small island near the mouth of the Thames, which constitutes the great event of the arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in England, whicli is so celebrat- ed m English history as the epoch which marks the real and true beginning of British great- ness and power. It is true that the history of England goes back beyond this period to nar- rate, as we have done, the events connected wdth the contests of the Romans and the abo- riginal Britons, and the incursions and maraud- ings of the Picts and Scots ; but all these abo- rigines passed gradually — after the arrival of the Ano^lo-Saxons — off the sta^^e. The old stock was wholly displaced. The present mon- archy has sprung entirely from its Anglo-Saxon original ; so that all which precedes the arrival of this new race is introductory and preliminary, like the history, in this country, of the native American tribes before the coming of the En- glish Pilgrims. As, therefore, the landing of the Pilgrims on the Plymouth Rock marks tlio 46 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 419. The three ships. Number of adventurers. true commencement of the history of the Amer- ican Republic, so that of the Anglo-Saxon ad- venturers on the island of Thanet represents and marks the origin of the British monarchy. The event, therefore, stands as a great and conspicuous landmark, though now dim and distant in the remote antiquity in Avhich it oc- curred. And yet the event, though so wide-reaching and grand in its bearings and relations, and in the vast consequences which have flowed and which still continue to flow from it, was appa- rently a minute and unimportant circumstance at the time when it occurred. There were only three vessels at the first arrival. Of their size and character the accounts vary. Some of these accounts say they contained three hund- red men ; others seem to state that the number which arrived at the first landing was three thousand. This, however, would seem impos- sible, as no three vessels built in those days could convey so large a number. We must suppose, therefore, that that number is meant to include those who came at several of the ear lier expeditions, and which were grouped by the historian together, or else that several other vessels or transports accompanied the three. •A..D.449.J The. Anglo-Saxons. 47 Vessels of the .Anglo-Saxons. Ilcngist and Ilorsa which history has specially commemorated as the first arriving. In fact, very little can now be known in re- spect to the form and capacity of the vessels in which these half-barbarous navigators roamed, in those days, over the British seas. Theii name, indeed, has come down to us, and that is nearly all. They were called cyitles ; though ' the name is sometimes spelled, in the ancient chronicles, ceols^ and in other ways. They were obviously vessels of considerable capacity, and were of such construction and such strength as to stand the roughest marine exposures They were accustomed to brave fearlessly ev- ery commotion and to encounter every danger, raised either by winter tempests or summer gales in the restless waters of the German Ocean. The names of the commanders who headed the expedition which first landed have been pre- served, and they have acquired, as might have been expected, a very wide celebrity. They were Hengist and Horsa. Hengist and Horsa were brothers. The place where they landed was the island of Thanet. Thanet is a tract of land at the mouth of the Thames, on the southern si le ; a 48 Alfred THE Great. [A.D. 449. rhe place of landing. The island of Thanet sort of promontory extending into the sea, and forming the cape at the south side of the estu- ary made by the mouth of the river. The ex- treme point of land is -called the North Forci- land, which, as it is the point that thousands of vessels, coming out of the Thames, have to round in proceeding southward on voyages to France, to the Mediterranean, to the Indies, and to America, is very familiarly known to • navis^ators throu2:hout the world. The island of Thanet, of which this North Foreland is the extreme point, ought scarcely to be called an island, since it forms, in fact, a portion of the main land, being separated from it only by a narrow creek or stream, which in former ages, indeed, was wide and navigable, but is now nearly choked ijp and obliterated by the sands and the sediment, which, after being brought down by the Thames, are driven into the creek by the surges of the sea. In the time of Hengist and Horsa the creek was so considerable that its mouth furnished a sufficient harbor for their vessels. They landed at a town called Ebbs-fleet, which is now, how cv:r, at some distance inland. There is some uncertainty in. respect to tho motive which led Hensrist and Horsa to make A.D,449.] The Anglo-Saxons. 49 Objecta of Hengist and Horsa. Vortigenu their first descent upon the English coast. Whether they came on one of their customary piratical expeditions, or were driven on the coast accidentally by stress of weather, or were invited to come by the British king, can not now be accurately ascertained. Such parties of Anglo-Saxons had undoubtedly often landed before under somewhat similar circumstances, and then, after brief incarsions into the interior, had re-embarked on board their ships and sailed away. In this case, however, there was a cer- tain peculiar and extraordinary state of things in the political condition of the country in which they had landed, which resulted in first protract- ing their stay, and finally in establishing them so fixedly and permanently in the land, that they and their followers and descendants soon became the entire masters of it, and have re- mained in possession to the present day. These ci-rcumstances were as follows : The name of the king of Britain at this peri- od was Vortigern. At the time when the An- glo-Saxons arrived, he and his government were nearly overwhelmed with the pressure of difli- culty and danger arising from the incursions of the Picts and Scots ; and Vortigern, instead of being aroused to redoubled vigilance and energy I) 50 Alfred the Great. [A.D.449 Character of Vortigem. He seeks the assistance of the Anglo-Saxons. by the imminence of the danger, as Alfred aft- erward was in similar circumstances, sank down, as w^eak minds always do, in despair, and gave himself up to dissipation and vice — • endeavoring, like depraved seamen on a wreck, to drown his mental distress in animal sensa- tions of pleasure. Such men are ready to seek relief or rescue from their danger from any quarter and at any price. Vortigern, instead of looking upon the Anglo-Saxon intruders as new enemies, conceived the idea of appealing to them for succor. He offered to convey to them a large tract of territory in the part of the island where they had landed, on condition of their aiding him in his contests with his other foes. Hengist and Horsa acceded to this proposal. They marched their followers into battle, and defeated Vortigern's enemies. They sent across the sea to their native land, and invited new ad- venturers to join them. Vortigern was greatly pleased with the success of his expedient. The Picts and Scots were driven back to their fast- nesses in the remote mountains of the north, and the Britons once more possessed their land in peace, by means of the protection and the aid which their new confederates afforded them. A.D.449.J The Anglo-Saxojn s. 51 Increase of the Anglo-Saxons. Story of Rowena In the mean time the Anglo-Saxons wero establishmg and strengthening themselves very rapidly in the part of the island which Vorti- gern had assigned them — which was, as the reader will understand from what has already been said in respect to the place of their land- ing, the southeastern part — a region which now constitutes the county of Kent. In addition, too, to the natural increase of their power from the increase of their numbers and their military force, Hengist contrived, if the story is true, to swell his own personal influence by means of a matrimonial alliance which he had the adroit- ness to effect. He had a daughter named Row- ena. She was very beautiful and accomplish- ed. Hengist sent for her to come to England. When she had arrived he made a sumptuous entertainment for King Vortigern, inviting als8 to it, of course, many other distinguished guests. In the midst of the feast, when the king was in the state of high excitement pro- duced on such temperaments by wine and con vivial pleasure, Rowena came in to offer him more wine. Vortigern was powerfully struck, as Hengist had anticipated, with her grace and beauty. Learning that she was Hengist's daughter, he demanded her hand. Hengist at f)2 Alfred the Great. [A.D.449 Power of Hengist and Horsa. Loog contests. first declined, but, after sufficiently stimulating the monarch's eagerness by his pretended oppo- sition, he yielded, and the king became the gen- eral's son-in-law. This is the story which some of the old chroniclers tell. Modern historians are divided in respect to believing it. Some think it is fact, others fable. At all events, the power of Hengist and Hor- sa gradually increased, as years passed on, until the Britons began to be alarmed at their grow- ing strength and multiplying numbers, and to fear lest these new friends should prove, in the end, more formidable than the terrible enemies whom they had come to expel. Contentions and then open quarrels began to occur, and at length both parties prepared for war. The con- test which soon ensued was a terrible struggle, dr rather series of struggles, which continued for two centuries, during which the Anglo-Sax- ons were continually gaining ground and the Britons losing; the mental and physical supe- riority of the Anglo-Saxon race giving ti^em, with very few exceptions, every where and al- ways the victory. There were, occasionally, intervals of peaco. and partial and temporary friendliness. They accuse Hengist of great treachery on one of A.D.530.] The Anglo-Saxons. 53 Hengist accused of treachery. Exploits of King Arthur. these occasions. He invited his son-in-law, King Vortigern, to a feast, with three hundred of his officers, and then fomenting a quarrel at tlie entertainment, the Britons were all killed in the affray by means of the superior Saxon force which had been provided for the emer- gency. Vortigern himself was taken prisoner, and held a captive until he ransomed himself by ceding three whole provinces to his captor. Hengist justified this demand by throwing the responsibility of the feud upon his guests ; and it is not, in fact, at all improbable that they deserved their share of the condemnation. The famous King Arthur, whose Knights of the Round Table have been so celebrated in ballads and tales, lived and flourished during these wars between the Saxons and the Britons. He was a king of the Britons, and performed wonderful exploits of strength and valor. He was of prodigious size and muscular pow^r, and of undaunted bravery. He slew giants, de- stroyed the most ferocious wild beasts, gained very splendid victories in the battles that ho fought, made long expeditions into foreign coun- tries, having once gone on a pilgrimage to Je- rusalem to obtain the Holy Cross. His wife was a beautiful lady, the daughter of a chieftain 54 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 530. Death of Arthur. His contests with the Saxons of Cornwall. Her name was Guenever.^ On his return from one of his distant expeditions, he found that his nephew, Medrawd, had won her affections while he was gone, and a combat ensued in consequence between him and Me drawd. The combat took place on the coast of Cornwall. Both parties fell. Arthur was mor tally wounded. They took him from the field into a boat, and carried him along the coast till they came to a river. They ascended the river till they came to the town of Glastonbury. They committed the still breathing body to the care of faithful friends there ; but the mortal blow had been given. The great hero died, and they buried his body in the Glastonbury church- yard, very deep beneath the surface of the ground, in order to place it as effectually as possible beyond the reach of Saxon rage and vengeance. Arthur had been a deadly and im- placable foe to the Saxons. He had fought twelve great pitched battles with them, in every one of which he had gained the victory. In one of these battles he had slain, according to the traditional tale, four hundred and seventy men, in one day, with his own hand. Five hundred years after his death. King * Spelled soraetimes Gwenlyfar and Ginovra- A.D.530.J The Anglo-Saxons. 55 King Arthur's grave. Disinterment of his body. Henry the Second, having heard from an an- cient British bard that Arthur's body lay inter- red in the Abbey of Glastonbury, and that the spot was marked by some small pyramids erect- ed near it, and that the body would be found in a rude coffin made of a hollowed oak, ordered search to be made. The ballads and tales which had been then, for several centuries, cir- culating throughout England, narrating and praising King Arthur's exploits, had given him so wide a fame, that great interest was felt in the recovery and the identification of his re- mains. The searchers found the pyramids in the cemetery of the abbey. They dug between them, and came at length to a stone. Beneath this stone^was a leaden cross, with the inscrip- tion in Latin, '' Here lies buried the body of GREAT King Arthur." Going down still below this, they came at length, at the depth of six- teen feet from the surface, to a great coffin, made of the trunk of an oak tree, and within it was a haman skeleton of unusual size. The skull was very large, and showed marks of ten wounds. Nine of them were closed by concre- tions of the bone, indicating that the wounds by which those contusions or fractures had been made had been healed while life continued. 56 Alfred the Great. [A.D.530 Bones of Arthur's wife. Historic doabts, The tenth fracture remained in a condition which showed that that had been the mortal wound. The bones of Arthur's wife were found near those of her husband. The hair was apparent- ly perfect when found, having all the freshness and beauty of life ; but a monk of the abbey, who was present at the disinterment, touched it and it crumbled to dust. Such are the tales which the old chronicles tell of the good King Arthur, the last and great- est representative of the power of the ancient British aborigines. It is a curious illustration of the uncertainty which attends all the early records of national history, that, notwithstand- ing all the above particularity respecting the life and death of Arthur, it is a serious matter of dispute among the learned in modern times whether any such person ever lived. A.D. 450-850.] The Danes. 57 Final subjugation of the Britons. The Saxon I£eptarc)»f Chapter III. The Danes. fflHE landing of Hengist and Horsa, the first -*- of the Anglo-Saxons, took place in the year 449, according to the commonly received chro- nology. It was more than two hundred years after this before the Britons were entirely sub- dued, and the Saxon authority established throughout the island, unquestioned and su- preme. One or two centuries more passed away, and then the Anglo-Saxons had, in their turn, to resist a new horde of invaders, who came, as they themselves had done, across the German Ocean. These new invaders were the Danes. The Saxons were not united under one gen- eral government when they came finally to get settled in their civil polity. The English ter- ritory was divided, on the contrary, into seven or eight separate kingdoms. These kingdoms were ruled by as many separate dynasties, or lines of kings. They were connected with each other by friendly relations and alliances, more 58 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 450-850. Boldness and energy of the Saxons. Story of a Saxon princess, or less intimate, the whole system being known in history by the name of the Saxon Heptarchy. The princes of these various dynasties show- ed in their dealings with one another, and in their relations with foreign powers, the same characteristics of boldness and energy as had always marked the action of the race. Even the queens and princesses evinced, by their courage and decision, that Anglo-Saxon blood lost nothing of its inherent qualities by flowing in female veins. For e:Jtample, a very extraordinary story is told of one of these Saxon princesses. A cer- tain king upon the Continent, whose dominions lay between the Rhine and the German Ocean, had proposed for her hand in behalf of his son, whose name was Radiger. The consent of the princess was given, and the contract closed. The king himself soon afterward died, but be- fore he died he changed his mind in respect to the marriage of his son. It seems that he had himself married a second wife, the daughter of a king of the Franks, a powerful continental people ; and as, in consequence of his own ap- proaching death, his son would come unexpect- edly into possession of the throne, and would need immediately all the support which a pov/- A.D. 450-850.] TheDanes. 59 Faithlessness of Radiger. Indignation of tho princes* erful alliance could give him, he recommended to him to give up the Saxon princess, and con- nect himself, instead, with the Franks, as he himself had done. The prince entered into these views ; his father died, and he immedi- ately afterward married his father's youthful widow — his own step-mother — a union which, however monstrous it would be regarded in our day, seems not to have been considered any thing very extraordinary then. The Anglo-Saxon princess was very indig- nant at this violation of his plighted faith on the part of her suitor. She raised an army and equipped a fleet, and set sail with the force which she had thus assembled across the Ger- man Ocean, to call the faithless Radiger to ac- count. Her fleet entered the mouth of the Rhine, and her troops landed, herself at the head of them. She then divided her army into two portions, keeping one division as a guard for herself at her own encampment, which she established near the place of her landing, while she sent the other portion to seek and attack Radiger, who was, in the mean time, assem- bling his forces, in a state of great alarm at this Budden and unexpected danger. In due time this division returned, reporting 60 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 450-850 Radiger a prisoner. He marries the princesa that they had met and encountered Radiger, and had entirely defeated him. They came back triumphing in their victory, considering, evidently, that the faithless lover had been well punished for his offense. The princess, how- ever, instead of sharing in their satisfaction, ordered them to make a new incursion into the interior, and not to return without bringing Radiger with them as their prisoner. They did so ; and after hunting the defeated and dis- tressed king from place to place, they succeed- ed, at last, in seizing him in a wood, and brought him in to the princess's encampment. He began to plead for his life, and to make ex- cuses for the violation of his contract by urging the necessities of his situation and his father's dying commands. The princess said she was ready to forgive him if he would now dismiss her rival and fulfill his obligations to her. Rad- iger yielded to this demand ; he repudiated his Frank wife, and married the Anglo-Saxon lady in her stead. Though the Anglo-Saxon race continued thus to evince in all their transactions the same ex- traordinary spirit and energy, and met gener- ally with the same success that had character- ized them at the beginning, they seemed at A.i). 450-850.] TheDanes. 61 The Danes. Their habits and character length to find their equals in the Danes. These Danes, however, though generally designated by that appellation in history, were not exclu- sively the natives of Denmark. They came from all the shores of the Northern and Baltic Seas. In fact, they inhabited the sea rather than the land. They were a race of bold and fierce naval adventurers, as the Anglo-Saxons themselves had been tw^o centuries before. Most extraordinary accounts are given of their hardihood, and of their fierce and predatory habits. They haunted the bays along the coasts of Sweden and Norway, and the islands which encumber the entrance to the Baltic Sea. They were banded together in great hordes, each rul- ed by a chieftain, who was called a sea king-^ because his dominions scarcely extended at all to the land. His possessions, his power, his subjects pertained all to the sea. It is true they built or bought their vessels on the shore, and they sought shelter among the islands and in the bays in tempests and storms ; but they prided themselves in never dwelling in houses, or sharing, in any way, the comforts or enjoy- ments of the land. They made excursions ev- ery where for conquest and plunder, and were proud of their successful deeds of violence and 62 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 450-850. Piratical habits of the Danes. Younger sons of noblea wrong. It was honorable to enter into their service. Chieftains and nobles who dwelt upon the land sent their sons to acquire greatness, and wealth, and fame by joining these piratical gangs, just as high-minded military or naval officers, in modern times, would enter into the service of an honorable government abroad. Besides the great leaders of the most power- ful of these bands, there was an infinite num- ber of petty chieftains, who commanded single ships or small detached squadrons. These were generally the younger sons of sovereigns or chieftains who lived upon the land, the elder brothers remaining at home to inherit the throne or the paternal inheritance. It was dis- creditable then, as it is now in Europe, for any branches of families of the higher class to en- gage in any pursuit of honorable industry. They could plunder and kill without dishonor, but they could not toil. To rob and murder was glory ; to do good or to be useful in any way was disgrace. These younger sons went to sea at a very early age too. They were sent often at twelve, that they might become early habituated to the exposures and dangers of their dreadful com- bats, and of the wintery storms, and inured to A.D. 450-850.]' The Danes. 63 Piratical excui'sions. Booty and spoilt the athletic exertions which the sea rigorously exacts of all who venture within her dominion. When they returned they were received with consideration and honor, or with neglect and disgrace, according as they were more or less laden with booty and spoil. In the summer months the land kings themselves would organ- ize and equip naval armaments for similar ex- peditions. They would cruise along the coasts of the sea, to land where they found an un- guarded point, and sack a town or burn a cas- tle, seize treasures, capture men and make them slaves, kidnap women, and sometimes destroy helpless children with their spears in a mannei too barbarous and horrid to be described. On returning to their homes, they would perhaps find their own castles burned and their own dwellings roofless, from the visit of some sim ilar horde. Thus the seas of western Europe were cov- ered in those days, as they are now, with fleets of shipping ; though, instead of being engaged, as now, in the quiet and peaceful pursuits of commerce, freighted with merchandise, mannec! with harmless seamen, and w^elcome wherever they come, they were then loaded only with ammunition and arms, and crowded with fierce 64 Alfred the Great. *[A.D. 450-850 Rag^ar Lodbrog, Harald Defeat of Ragnar. and reckless robbers, the objects of universal detestation and terror. One of the first of these sea kmgs who ac- quired sufficient individual distinction to be personally remembered in history has given a sort of immortality, by his exploits, to the very rude name of Ragnar Lodbrog, and his charac- ter was as rude as his name. Ragnar's father was a prince of Norway. He married, however, a Danish princess, and thus Ragnar acquired a sort of hereditary right to a Danish kingdom — the territory including various islands and promontories at the en- trance of the Baltic Sea. There was, however, a competitor for this power, named Harald. The Franks made common cause with Harald. Ragnar was defeated and driven away from the land. Though defeated, however, he was not subdued. He organized a naval force, and made himself a sea king. His operations on the stormy element of .the seas were conducted with so much decision and energy, and at the same time with so much system and plan, that his power rapidly extended. He brought the other sea kings under his control, and establish- ed quite a maritime empire. He made more and more distant excursions, and at last, in or- A.D. 450-850.] The Dane*. f)7 Ragnar invades Franco. Incursion? into Spain, der to avenge himself upon the Franks for their interposition in behalf of his enemy at home, ho passed through the Straits of Dover, and thence down the English Channel to the mouth of the Seine. He ascended this river to Rouen, and there landed, spreading throughout the country the utmost terror and dismay. From Rouen he marched to Paris, finding no force able to resist him on his way, or to defend the capital. His troops destroyed the monastery of St. Germain's, near the city, and then the King of the Franks, finding himself at their mercy, bought them off by paying a large sum of money. With this money and the other booty which they had acquired, Ragnar and his horde nov/ returned to their ships at Rouen, and sailed away again toward their visual haunts among the bays and islands of the Baltic Sea. This exploit, of course, gave Ragnar Lod- brog's barbarous name a very wide celebrity. It tended, too, greatly to increase and establish his power. He afterward made similar incur- sions into Spain, and finally grew bold enough to brave the Anglo-Saxons themselves on the green island of Britain, as the Anglo-Saxons had themselves braved the aboriginal inhabit- ants two or three centuries before. But R^ag- 6S Alfred the Great. [A.D. 450--850. Ragnar's descent upon Engl -t 1. He Ictses liis sliipsi nar seems to have found the Anglo-Saxon swords and spears ^Yhich he advanced to en-^ counter on landing: in Ensrland much more for- midable than those which were raised against him on the southern side of the Channel. He was destroyed in the contest. The. circum- stances were as follows ; In making his preparations for a descent upon the English coast, he prepared for a very determined contest, knowing well the character of the foes with whom he would have now to deal. He built two enormous ships, much larger than those of the ordinary size, and arm- ed and equipped them in the most perfect man- ner. He filled them with selected men, and sailing down along the coast of Scotland, Ik watched for a place and an opportunity to land Winds and storms are almost always raging among the dark and gloomy mountains and isl ands of Scotland. Ragnar's ships were caught in one of these oales and driven on shore. The ships were lost, but the men escaped to the land. Ragnar, nothing daunted, organized and marshaled them as an army, and marched into the interior to attack any force which might appear against them. His course led him to Northumbria, the most northerly Saxon king' A.D. boO.] The Danes. CI" Ragnar defented by the Saxons. Hie cruel death. dom. Here he soon encountered a very large and superior force, under the command of ElJa, the kmg; but, with the reckless despeiKition which so strongly marked his character, he ad- vanced to attack them. Three times, it is said, he pierced the enemy's lines, cutting his ^yay entirely through them with his little column. He was, however, at length overpowered. His men were cut to pieces, and he was himself taken prisoner. We regret to have to add that our cruel ancestors put their captive to death in a very barbarous manner. They fdled a den with poisonous snakes, and then drove the wretched Ragnar into it. The horrid reptiles killed him with their stings. It was Ella, the king of Northumbria, who ordered and directed this punishment. ^ The expedition of Ragnar thus ended with- out leading to any permanent results in Anglo- Saxon history. It is, however, memorable as the first of a series of invasions from the Danes —or Northmen, as they are sometimes called, lince they came from all the coasts of the Bal- tic and German Seas — which, in the end, gave the Anglo-Saxons infinite trouble. At one time, in fact, the conquests of the Danes threatened to root out and destroy the Anglo-Saxon power 70 Alfred THE Great. [x\.]J. 851. Dangci of the Saxons. Other invtisions from the island altogether. They would prob- ably have actually effected this, had the nation not been saved by the prudence, the courage, ihe sagacity, and the consummate skill of the subject of this history, as Avill fully appear to the reader in the course of future chapters. Ragnar was not the only one of these North- men who made attempts to land in England and to plunder the Anglo-Saxons, even in his own day. Although there were no very regu- lar historical records kept in those early times, still a great number of legends, and ballads, and ancient chronicles have come down to us, narrating the various transactions which occur- red, and it appears by these that the sea kings generally were beginning, at this time, to har- ass the English coasts, as well as all the other shores to which they could gain access. Some of these invasions would seem to have been of a very formidable character. At first these excursions were made in the summer season only, and, after collecting their pmnder, the marauders would return in the au- tumn to their own shores, and winter in the bays and among the islands there. At length, nowever, they grew more bold. A large band of them landed, in the autumn of 851, on the A.D.Sul.] TiiK Danes. 71 Plunder of London and otlier places. Defeat of the Danee. island of Thanet, where the Saxons themselves had landed four centuries before, and began very coolly to establish their winter quarters on English ground. They succeeded in maintain- ing their stay during the winter, and in the spring were prepared for bolder undertakings still. They formed a grand confederation, and col- lected a fleet of three hundred and fifty ships, galleys, and boats, and advanced boldly up the Thames. They plundered London, and then marched south to Canterbury, which they plun- dered too. They went thence into one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms called IMercia, the in- habitants of the country not being able to op- pose any effectual obstacle to their marauding march. Finally, a great Anglo-Saxon force was organized and brought out to meet them. The battle was fought in a forest of oaks, and the Danes were defeated. The victory, how- ever, afTorded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms only a temporary relief. New hordes were contin- ually arriving and landing, growing more and more bold if they met with success, and but lit- tie daunted or discouraged by temporary fail- ures. The most formidable of all these expeditions 72 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 851 rhe sons and relativ3s of Ragnar. Their plans and preparations was one organized and commanded by the sons and relatives of Ragnar, whom, it will be rec- ollected, the Saxons had cruelly killed by pois- onous serpents in a dungeon or den. The rel- atives of the unhappy chieftain thus barbar- ously executed were animated in their enter- prise by the double stimulus of love of plunder and a ferocious thirst for revenge. A consider- able time was spent in collecting a large fleet, and in combining, for this purpose, as many chieftains as could be induced to share in the enterprise. The story of their fellow-country- man expiring under the stings of adders and scorpions, while his tormentors were exulting around him over the cruel agonies which their ingenuity had devised, aroused them to a phren- sy of hatred and revenge. They proceeded, however, very deliberately in their plans. They did nothing hastily. They allowed ample time for the assembling and organizing of the con- federation. When all was ready, ihey found that there were eight kings and twenty earls in the alliance, generally the relatives and com- rades of Ragnar. The two most prominent of these commanders were Guthrum and Hubba. Hubba was one of Ragnar's sons. At length, toward the close of llie summer, the formidable A.D.851.] The Danks The Danes w.ntcr in England. Alarm of the Saxons. expedition set sail. They approached the En- glish coast, and landed without meeting with any resistance. The Saxons seemed appalled and paralyzed at the greatness of the danger. The several kingdoms of the Heptarchy, though they had been imperfectly united, some years before, under Egbert, were still more or less distinct, and each hoped that the one first in- vaded would be the only one which would suf- fer ; and as these kingdoms w^ere rivals, and often hostile to each other, no general league was formed against what soon proved to be the common enemy. The Danes, accordingly, qui- etly encamped, and made calm and deliberate arrangements for spending the winter in their new quarters, as if they were at home. During all this time, notwithstanding the coolness and deliberation with which these avengers of their murdered countryman acted, the fires of their resentment and revenge w^ere slowly but steadily burning, and as soon as the spring opened, they put themselves in battle array, and marched into the dominions of Ella. Ella did all that it was possible to do to meet and oppose them, but the spirit of retaliation and rage w^hich his cruelties had evoked w^as too strong to be resisted. His country was rav- 74 Alfred THE Great. [A.L. 8G7. Horrible death of Ella. Ravages of the Danes. aged, his army was defeated, he was taken prisoner, and the dying terrors and agonies of Ragnar among the serpents were expiated by tenfold worse tortures which they inflicted upon Ella's mutilated body, by a process too horrible to be described. After thus successfully accomplishing tho great object of their expedition, it was to have been hoped that they would leave the island and return to their Danish homes. But they evinced no disposition to do this. On the con- trary, they commenced a course of ravage and conquest in all parts of England, v»^hich con- tinued for several years. The parts of the coun- try which attempted to oppose them they de- stroyed by fire and sword. They seized cities, garrisoned and occupied them, and settled in them as if to make them their permanent homes. One kingdom after another was sub- dued. The kingdom of Wessex seemed alone to remain, and that was the subject of contest. Ethelred was the king. The Danes advanced into his dominions to attack him. In the bat- tle that ensued, Ethelred was killed. The suc- cessor to his throne was his brother Alfred, the subject of this history, who thus found himself suddenly and unexpectedly called upon to as- A..D.8G7.] The Danes. 75 Alfred. His sudden elevHtion to pow^r. sume the responsibilities and powers of supreme command, in as dark and trying a crisis of na- tional calamity and danger as can well be con ceived. The manner in which Alfred acted in the emergency, rescuing his country from her perils, and laying the foundations, as he did, of all the greatness and glory which has since ac- crued to her, has caused his memory to be held in the highest estimation among all nations, and has imm.ortalized his name. 70 Alfred the Great. [A. D. 850-855 Alfred s early life. Influences under which his character was formed Chapter IV. Alfred's Early Years. BEFORE commencing the narrative of Al- fred's administration of the public affairs of his realm, it is necessary to go back a little, in order to give some account of the more pri- vate occurrences of his early life. Alfred, like Washington, was distinguished for a very ex- traordinary combination of qualities which ex- hibited itself in his character, viz., the combina- tion of great military energy and skill on the one hand, with a very high degree, on the other, of moral and religious principle, and conscien- tious devotion to the obligations of duty. This combination, so rarely found in the distinguish- ed personages which have figured among man- kind, is, in a great measure, explained and ac- sounted for, in Alfred's case, by the peculiar circumstances of his early history. It was his brother Ethelred, as has already Deen stated, whom Alfred immediately suc- ceeded. His father's name was Ethelwolf; and it seems highly probable that the peculiar turn which Alfred's mind seemed to take in after A.D. 850-855.] Early Years. 77 Alfred's father. Ethelwolf. Monasteries years, was the consequence, in some considera^ ble degree, of this parent's situation and char- acter. Ethelwolf was a younger son, and was brought up in a monastery at Winchester. The monasteries of those days were the seats both of learning and piety, that is, of such learning and piety as then prevailed. The ideas of re- ligious faith and duty which were entertained a thousand years ago were certainly very differ- ent from those which are received now; still, there was then, mingled with much supersti- tion, a great deal of honest and conscientious devotion to the principles of Christian duty, and of sincere and earnest desire to live for the hon- or of God and religion, and for the highest and best welfare of mankind . Monastic establish- ments existed every where, defended by the sa- cred ness w^hich invested them from the storms of violence and war which sw^ept over every thing which the cross did not protect. To these the thoughtful, the serious, and the intellectual retired, leaving the restless, the rude, and the turbulent to distract and terrify the earth with their endless quarrels. Here they studied, they wrote, they read ; they transcribed books, they kept records, they arranged exercises of devo- tion, they educated youth, and, in a word, pei 78 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 850-855 Ethelvvolf reti.'es to a monastery. He is released from his vows, formed, in the inclosed and secluded retreats in which they sought shelter, those intellectual functions of civil life which now can all be per- formed in open exposure, but which in those days, if there had been no monastic retreats to shelter them, could not have been performed at all. For the learning and piety of the present age, whether Catholic or Protestant, to malign the monasteries of Anglo-Saxon times is for the oak to traduce the acorn from vrhich it sprung. Ethelwolf was a younger son, and, conse- (juently, did not expect to reign. He went to the monastery at Winchester, and took the vows. His father had no objection to this plan, satisfied with having his oldest son expect p,nd prepare for the throne. As, however, he ad- vanced toward manhood, the thought of the probability that he might be called to the throne in the event of his brothers death led all par- ties to desire that he might be released from his monastic vows. They applied, accordingly, to the pope for a dispensation. The dispensation was granted, and Ethelwolf became a general in the army. In the end, his brother died, and he became king. He continued, however, during his reign, to manifest the peaceful, quiet, and serious char- A..D.853.J Early Years 79 Cthelwolf's minister. Ethelwolf 's rrligious luibita. acter which had led him to enter the 'monas- tery, and which had probably been strengthen- ed and confirmed by the influences and habitg . to which he had been accustomed there. He had, however, a very able, energetic, and war- like minister, who managed his afl'airs with great ability and success for a long course of years. Ethelwolf, in the mean time, leaving public affairs to his minister, continued to de- vote himself to the pursuits to which his predi lections inclined him. He visited monasteries ; lie cultivated learning; he endowed the Church ; he made journeys to Rome. All this time, his kingdom, which had before almost swallowed up the other kingdoms of the Heptarchy, be- came more and more firmly established, until, at length, the Danes came in, as is described in the last chapter, and brought the whole land into the most extreme and imminent dansrer. The case did not, however, become absolutely desperate until after Ethelwolf's death, as will be hereafter explained. Ethelwolf married a lady whose gentle, quiet, and serious character corresponded with his own. Alfred was the youngest, and, as is often the case with the youngest, the favorite child. He was kept near to his father and mother, and ^0 Alfred THE Great. [A.D. 853 Alfred scn'i to Rome. Pomp of the iourney closely under their influence, until his mother died, which event, h(Avcver, took place when he was quite young. After this, Ethelwolf sent Alfred to Roi.ie. Rome was still more the great center then than it is now of religion and learning. There were schools there, maintain- ed by the various nations of Europe respect- ively, for thv3 education of the "ons of the no- bility. Alfred, however, did not go for this pur- pose. It was only to m£,ke the journey, to see the city, to be introduced to the pope, and to be presented, by mean? of the fame of the ex- pedition, to +he notice The remaining treasure concealed. Abbot Theodore and the monks. and other hiding-places in the woods, and bur- ied the treasures. In the mean time, as soon as the boats and the party of monks which accompanied them had left the abbey, the Abbot Theodore and the old monks that remained with him urged on the work of concealing that part of the treas- ures which had not been taken away. All of the plate which could not be easily transported, and a certain very rich and costly table employ, ed for the service of the altar, and many sacred and expensive garments used by the higher priests in their ceremonies, had been left behind, as they could not be easily removed. These the abbot and the monks concealed in the most secure places that they could find, and then, clothing themselves in their priestly robes, they assembled in the chapel, and resumed their ex- ( rcises of devotion. To be found in so sacred a place and engaged in so holy an avocation would have been a great protection from any Chris- tian soldiery ; but the monks entirely miscon- oeived the nature of the impulses by which hu- man nature is governed, in supposing that it would have any restraining influence upon the Dagan Danes. The first thing the ferocious marauders did, on breaking into ihe sacred pre- 100 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 860.. Slaughter of the abbot and monks. The boy Turgar. cincts of the chapel, was to cut down the ven- erable abbot at the altar, in his sacerdotal robes, and then to push forward the work of slaying every other inmate of the abbey, feeble and helpless as they were. Only one was saved. This one was a boy, about ten years old. His name was Turgar. He was a handsome boy, and one of the Danish chieftains was struck with his countenance and air, in the midst of the slaughter, and took pity on him. The chieftain's name was Count Sidroc. Si- droc drew Turgar out of the immediate scene of danger, and gave him a Danish garment, di- recting him, at the same time, to throw aside his own, and then to follow him wherever he went, and keep close to his side, as if he were a Dane. The boy, relieved from his terrors by this hope of protection, obeyed implicitly. He followed Sidroc eveiy where, and his life was saved. The Danes, after killing all the others, ransacked and plundered the monastery, broke open the tombs in their search for concealed treasures, and, after taking all that they could discover, they set the e^ ^ving what they could from the fire, and 102 Alfred the Great. fA.D. 860 Story of King Edmund. The Dane Lothbroc gathering together the blackened remams of their brethren for interment. They chose one of the monks that had escaped to succeed tha abbot who had been murdered, repaired, so far as they could, their ruined edifices, and mourn- fully resumed their functions as a religious com- munity. Many of the tales which the ancient chroni- clers tell of those times are romantic and incredi- ble ; they may have arisen, perhaps, in the first instance, in exaggerations of incidents and events which really occurred, and were then handed down from generation to generation by oral tradition, till they found historians to record them. The story of the martyrdom of King Edmund is of this character. Edmund was a sort of king over one of the nations of Anglo- Saxons called East Angles, who, as their name imports, occupied a part of the eastern portion of the island. Their particular hostility to Ed- mund was awakened, according to the story, in the following manner : There was a certain bold and adventurous Dane named Lothbroc, who one day took his falcon on his arm and went out alone in a boat on the Baltic Sea, or in the straits connecting it with the German Ocean, intending to go to irapiiisi^^ «!l Wi A..D. 860.] State of England. 105 rh^ falcon. Lotlibroc driven across the Gorman Ocean a Cv^rtain island and hunt. The falcon is a speqies of hawk which they were accustomed to train in those days, to attack and bring down birds from the air, and falconry was, as might have been expected, a very picturesque and ex- citing species of hunting. The game which Lothbroc was going to seeSPconsisted of the wild fowl which frequents sometimes, in vast num- bers, the cliffs and shores of the islands in those seas. Before he reached his hunting ground, however, he was overtaken by a storm, and his boat was driven by it out to sea. Accustomed to all sorts of adventures and dangers by sea and by land, and skilled in every operation re- quired in all possible emergencies, Lothbroc contrived to keep his boat before the wind, and to bail out the water as fast as it came in, until at length, after being driven entirely across the German Ocean, he was thrown upon the En- glish shore, where, with his hawk still upon his arm, he safely landed. He knew that he was in the country of the most deadly foes of his nation and race, and ac« cordingly sought to conceal rather than to make knovrn his arrival. He was, however, found, after a few days, wandering up and down in a solitary wood, and was conducted, together with his hnwk, to King Edmund. 1.06 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 860 Lothbroc taken into Edmund's service. He is murdered by Beom Edmund was so much pleased with his air and bearing, and so astonished at the remarkable manner in which he had been brought to the English shore, that he gave him his life ; and soon discovering his great knowledge and skill as a huntsman, ho received him into his own service, and treated him with great distinction and honor. In addition to his hawk, Lothbroc had a greyhound, so that he could hunt with the king in the fields as well as through the air The greyhound was very strongly attached to his master. The king:'s chief huntsm^r: at this time was Beorn, and Beorn soon became I'ory envious and jealous of Lothbroc, on accounL of his superior power and skill, and of the honoralk distinction which they procured for him. One day, when they two were hunting alone in the woods with their dogs, Beorn killed his rival, and hid his body in a thicket. Beorn went home, his own dogs following him^ while the greyhound re- mained to watch mournfully over the body of his master. They asked Beorn what was be- come of Lothbroc, and he replied that he had gone off into the wood the day before, and he did not know what had become of him. In the mean time, the greyhound remained A.D. &60.] State of England. 107 Lotlibroc's greyhound. Bconi's punishment faithfully watching at the side of the body of his master until hunger compelled him to leave his post in search of food. He went home, and, as soon as his wants were supplied, he returned immediately to the wood again. This he did several days ; and at length his singular con- duct attracting attention, he was followed by some of the king's household, and the body of his murdered master was found. The guilt of the mt^/der was with little diffi- culty brought home to Beorn ; and, as an appro- priate punishment for his cruelty to an unfor- tunate and homeless stranger, the king con- demned him to be put on board the same boat in which the ill-fated Lothbroc had made his perilous voyage, and pushed out to sea. The winds and storms — entering, it seems, into the plan, and influenced by the same prin- ciples of poetical justice as had governed the king — drove the boat, with its terrified mariner, back again across to the mouth of the Baltic, as they had brought Lothbroc to England. The boat was thrown upon the beach, on Lothbroo'a family domain. Now Lothbroc had been, in his own country, a man of high rank and influence. IIo was of royal descent, and had many friends. He had i08 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 860 Lothbroc's sons. Beorn's treachery two sons, men of enterprise and energy ; and it so happened that the landing of Beorn took place so near to them, that the tidings soon came to their ears that their father's boat, in the hands of a Saxon stranger, had arrived on the coast. They immediately sought out the jstranger, and demanded what had become of thoir father. Beorn, in order to hide his own guilt, fabricated a tale of Lothbroc's having been killed by Edmund, the king of the East Angles. The sons of the murdered Lothbroo were incensed at this news. They aroused their countrymxcn by calling upon them every where to aid them in revenging their father's death. A large naval force was accordingly collected, and a formidable descent made upon the English coast. Now Edmund, according to the story, was a humane and gentle-minded man, much more interested in deeds of benevolence and of piety than in warlike undertakings and exploits, and he was very far from being well prepared to meet this formidable foe. In fact, he sought refuge in a retired residence called Heglesdunc. The Danes, having taken some Saxons captive in a city which they had sacked and destroyed, compelled thom to make known the place of A.D.860.] State of Eivjland. 109 Edmund captured by the Danes. Ilia martyrdom. the king's retreat. Hinquar, the captain of the Danes, sent him a summons to come and sur- render both himself and all the treasures of his kingdom. Edmund refused. Hinquar then laid siege to the palace, and surrounded it ; and, finally, his soldiers, breaking in, put Edmund's attendants to death, and brought Edmund him- self, bound, into Hinquar's presence. Hinquar decided that the unfortunate captive should die. He \Yas, accordizigly, first taken to a tree and scourged. Theu he was shot at with arrows, until, as the account states, his body was so full of the arrows that remained in the flesh that there seemed to be no room for more. During all this time Edmund continued to call upon the name of Christ, as if finding spiritual refuge and strength in the Redeemer in this his hour of extremity ; and although these ejacula- tions afforded, doubtless, great support and com- fort to him, they only served to irritate to a per- fect phrensy of exasperation his implacable pa- gan foes. They continued to shoot arrows into him until he was dead, and then they cut off his head and went aw^ay, carrying the dissever- ed head with them. Their object was to pro- vent his friends from having the satisfaction of interring it with the body. They carried it to 110 Alfred the Great. [A.D.860. Ed'nund's friends come from their hiding places. His head found. what they supposed a sufficient distance, and then threw it off into a wood by the way-side, where they supposed it could not easily be found. As soon, however, as the Danes had left the place, the affrighted friends and followers of Ed- mund came out, by degrees, from their retreats and hiding places. They readily found the dead body of their sovereign, as it lay, of course, where the cruel deed of his murder had been performed. They sought with mournful and anxious steps, here and there, all around, for the head, until at length, when they came into the wood where it was lying, they heard, as the historian who records these events gravely tes- tifies, a voice issuing from it, calling them, and directing their steps by the sound. They fol- lowed the voice, and, having recovered the head by means of this miraculous guidance, they buried it with the body."^ * A great many other tales are told of the miraculous phe- nomena exhibited by the body of St. Edmund, which well illustrate the superstitious credulity of those times. One writ- er' says seriously that, when the head was found, a wolf had it, holding it carefully in his paws, with all the gentleness and care that the most faithful dog would manifest in guarding a trust committed to him by his master. This wolf followed the funeral procession Id the tomb where the body was do- A.D.870.J State of England. Ill Credulity of mankind. Comuiiugling of piety and superstitioa It seems surprising to us that reasonable men should so readily believe such tales as these ; but there are, in all ages of the world, certain habits of belief, in conformity to which the whole community go together. We all believe whatever is in harmony with, or analogous to, the general type of faith prevailing in our own generation. Nobody could be persuaded now that a dead head could speak, or a wolf change his nature to protect it ; but thousands will credit a fortune-teller, or believe that a mesmer- ized patient can have a mental perception of scenes and occurrences a thousand miles away. There was a great deal of superstition in the days when Alfred was called to the throne, and there was also, with it, a great deal of genuine honest piety. The piety and the superstition, too, were inextricably intermingled and com- bined together. They were all Catholics then, yielding an iniplicit obedience to the Church of Rome, making regular contributions in money to sustain the papal authority, and looking to Rome as the great and central point of Christian influence and power, and the object of supreme posited, and then disappeared. The head joined itself to the body again where it had been severed, leaving only a purpla line lo mark the place of separation. 112 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 870 Peter-pence. Veneration of the Catholic Church veneration. We have already seen that the Saxons had established a seminary at Rome, which King Ethelwolf, Alfred's father, rebuilt and re-endowed. One of the former Anglo- Saxon kings, too, had given a grant of one penny from every house in the kingdom to the successors of St. Peter at Rome, which tax, though nominally small, produced a very con- siderable sum in the aggregate, exceeding for many years the royal revenues of the kings of England. It continued to be paid down to tho time of Henry VIII., when the reformation swept away that, and all the other national ob- lisfations of Ens^land to the Catholic Church tosrether. In the age of Alfred, however, there were not only these public acts of acknowledgment rec- ognizing the papal supremacy, but there was a strong tide of personal and private feeling, of veneration and attachment id the mother Church, of which it is hard for us, in the pres- ent divided state of Christendom, to conceive. The religious thoughts and affections of every pious heart throughout the realm centered in Rome. Rome, too, was the scene of many miracles, by which the imaginations of the superstitious. and of the truly devout were ex- A..D. 870.] State op England. 113 Kenelm. He is murdered by order of liis sister cited, which impressed them with an idea of power in which they felt a sort of confiding sense of protection. This power was contin- ually interposing, now in one way and now in another, to protect virtue, to punish crime, and to testify to the impious and to the devout, to each in an appropriate way, that their respective deeds were the objects, according to their char- acter, of the displeasure or of the approbation of Heaven. On one occasion, the following incident is said to have occurred. The narration of it will illustrate the ideas of the time. A child of about seven years old, named Kenelm, suc- ceeded to the throne in the Anglo-Saxon line. Being too young to act for himself, he was put under the charge of a sister, who was to act as regent until the boy became of age. The sister, ambitious of making the power thus delegated to her entirely her own, decided on destroying her brother. She commissioned a hired mur- derer to perpetrate the deed. The murderer took the child into a wood, killed him, and hid his body in a thicket, in a certain cow-pasture at a place called Clent. The sister then as- sumed the scepter in her own name, and sup- pressed all inquiries in respect to the fate of hci F 114 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 870. The dove and the writing. The body found. brother ; and his murder might have remained forever undiscovered, had it not been miracu- lously revealed at Rome. A white dove flew into a church there one day, and let fall upon the altar of St. Peter a paper, on which was written, in Anglo-Saxon characters, 5ii ©lent (to\n-hnU% Kenelme fefiifl bearne, lietj untjtx STfjorne, Jeati bercabetr. For a time nobody could read the writing. At length an Anglo-Saxon saw it, and trans- lated it into Latin, so that the pope and all others could understand it. The pope then sent a letter to the authorities in England, who made search and found the body. But we must end these digressions, which we have indulged thus far in order to give the reader some distinct conception of the ideas and habits of the times, and proceed, in the next chapter, to relate the events immediately con- nected with Alfred's accession to the throne. A.D. 87].] Alfred's Accession. 115 ll»e Danes at Reading. Situation at Reading Chapter V I. Alfred's Accession to the Throne A T the battle in which Alfred's brother, ^■^ E their ed, whom Alfred succeeded on the throne, was killed, as is briefly mentioned at the close of chapter fourth, Alfred himself, then a brave and energetic young man, fought by his side. The party of Danes whom they were con- tending against in this fatal fight was the same one that came out in the expedition organized by the sons of Lothbroc, and whose exploits in destroying monasteries and convents were de- scribed in the last chapter. Soon after the events there narrated, this formidable body of marauders moved westward, toward that part of the kingdom where the dominions more par- ticularly pertaining to the family of Alfred lay. There was in those days a certain stronghold or castle on the River Thames, about forty miles west from London, which was not far from the confines of Ethelred's dominions. The large and populous town of Reading now stands upon the spot. It is at the confluence of the Rifei tlG Alfred the Great. [A.D. 871 The Danish castle. Lthelred marches against the Danes. Thames with the Kennet, a small branch of the Thames, which here flows into it from the south. The spot, having the waters of the rivers for a defense upon two sides of it, was easily fortified. A jastle had been built there, and, as usual in such cases, a town had sprung up about the walls. The Danes advanced to this stronghold and took possession of it, and they made it for some time their head-quarters. It was at once the center from which they carried on their enter- prises in all directions about the island, and the refuge to which they could always retreat when defeated and pursued. In the possession of such a fastness, they, of course, became more formi- dable than ever. Kins: Ethelred determined to dislodge them. He raised, accordingly, as large a force as his kingdom would furnish, and, taking his brother Alfred as his second in command, he advanced toward Reading in a very resolute and determined manner. He first encountered a large body of the Danes who were out on a marauding excursion. This party consisted only of a small detachment, the main body of the army of the Danes having been left at Reading to strengthen and complete the fortifications. They were digging a trench from A.D. 871.] Alfred's Accession. H"; rhe Danes fortify their castle. They are defeated river to river, so as completely to insulate the castle, and make it entirely inaccessible on ci- ther side except by boats or a bridge. With the earth thrown out of the trench tliey were mak- ing an embankment on the inner side, so that an enemy, after crossing the ditch, would have a steep ascent to chmb, defended too, as of course it would be in such an emergency, by long lines of desperate men upon the top, hurl- ing at the assailants showers of javelins and ar- rows. While, therefore, a considerable portion of the Danes were at work within and around their castle, to make it as nearly as possible impreg- nable as a place of defense, the detachment above referred to had gone forth for plunder, under the command of some of the bolder and more adventurous spirits in the horde. This party Ethelred overtook. A furious battle was fought. The Danes were defeated, and driven off the ground. They fled toward Reading. Ethelred and Alfred pursued them. The vari- ous parties of Danes that were outside of the fortifications, employed in completing the out- works, or encamped in the neighborhood, were surprised and slaughtered ; or, at least, vast numbers of them were killed, and the rest t^.- .18 ALFREJJ THE GrEAT. [A.D. 871. Defeat of the Saxons Preparations for another battle. treated within the works — all maddened at their defeat, and burning with desire for revenge. The Saxons were not strong enough to dis- possess them of their fastness. On the contra^ ry, in a few days, the Danes, having matured Iheir plans, made a desperate sally against the Saxons, and, after a very determined and ob- stinate conflict, they gained the victory, and drove the Saxons off the ground. Some of the leading Saxon chieftains were killed, and the whole country was thrown into great alarm at the danger which was impending, that the Danes would soon gain the complete and un-. disputed possession of the whole land. The Saxons, however, were not yet prepared to give up the struggle. They rallied their forces, gathered new recruits, reorganized theii ranks, and made preparations Tor another strug- gle. The Danes, too, feeling fresh strength and energy in consequence of their successes, formed themselves in battle array, and, leaving their strong-hold, they marched out into tho open country in pursuit of their foe. The two armies gradually approached each other and prepared for battle. Every thing portended a terriUe conflict, w^hich wa§ to be, in fact, the great final struggle. A.D.871.] Alfred's Accession. 119 ^ecesduno. The night beforelhe battle. The place where the armies met was called in those times ^scesdune, which means Asli- down. It was, in fact, a hill-side covered with ash trees. The name has become shortened and softened in the course of the ten centuries which have intervened since this celebrated bat- tle, into Aston ; if, indeed, as is generally sup- posed, the Aston of the present day is the local- ity of the ancient battle. The armies came into the vicinity of each other toward the close of the day. They were both eager for the contest, or, at least, they pre- tended to be so, but they waited until the morn- ing. The Danes divided their forces into two bodies. Two kings commanded one division, and certain chieftains, called earls^ directed the other. King Ethelred undertook to meet this* order of battle by a corresponding distribution of his own troops, and he gave, accordingly, to Alfred the command of one division, while he himself was to lead the other. All things being thus arranged, the hum and bustle of the two great encampments subsided at last, at a lato hour, as the men sought repose under their rude tents, in preparation for the fatigues and expo- sures of the coming day. Some slept ; others wretched restlessly, and talked together, sleep« 120 Alfred the Great. [A.D.871 Alfred musters his men. Ethelred's religious services less under the influence of that strange excite- ment, half exhilaration and half fear, which pre- vails in a camp on the e^^e of a battle. The camp fires burned brightly ail the night, and the sentinels kept vigilant watch, expecting ev- ery moment some sudden alarm. The night passed quietly away. Ethelrcd and Alfred both arose early. Alfred went out to arouse and muster the men in his division of the encampment, and to prepare for battle. Ethelred, on the other hand, sent for his priest, and, assembling the officers in immediate at- tendance upon him, commenced divine service in his tent — the service of the mass, according to the forms and usages w^hich, even in tha^ early day, were prescribed by the Catholic •Church. Alfred was thus bent on immediate and energetic action, while Ethelred thought that the hour for putting forth the exertion of human strength did not come until time had been allowed for completing, in the most delib- erate and solemn manner, the work of implor- ing the protection of Heaven. Ethelred seems by his conduct on this occa- sion to have inherited from his father, even more than Alfred, the spirit of religious devo- tion, at least so far as the strict and faithful A.D. 871.] Alfred's Accession. V2i Reason for divine service. The war a religious one observance of religious forms was concerned. There was, it is true, a particular reason in thih case why the forms of divine service should bo faithfully observed, and that is, that the war was considered in a great measure a religious war. The Danes were pagans. The Saxons were Christians. In making their attacks upon the dominions of Ethelred, the ruthless invaders were animated by a special hatred of the name of Christ, and they evinced a special hostility toward every edifice, or institution, or observ- ance which bore the Christian name. Tht5 Saxons, therefore, in resisting them, felt that they were not only fighting for their own pos- sessions and for their own lives, but that they were defending the kingdom of God, and that he, looking down from his throne in the heavens, regarded them as the champions of his cause ; and, consequently, that he would either protect them in the struggle, or, if they fell, that he would receive them to mansions of special glory and happiness in heaven, as martyrs who had shed their blood in Jj^is service and for his glory. Taking this view of the subject, Ethelred^ instead of going out to battle at the early dawn, collected his officers into his tent, and formed them into a religious congregation. Alfred, on 122 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 871 Alfred's irapetuMity. Kis great ability the other hand, full of impetuosity and ardor, was arousing his men, animating them by his words of encouragement and by the influence of his example, and making, as energetically as possible, all the preparations necessary for the approaching conflict. In fact, Alfred, though Ms brother was king, and he himself only a lieutenant general under him, had been accustomed to take the lead in all the military operations of the army, on ac- count of the superior energy, resolution, and tact which he evinced, even in this early period of his life. His brothers, though they retained the scepter, as it fell successively into their hands, relied mainly on his wisdom and cour- age in all their eflbrts to defend it, and Ethelred may have been somewhat more at his ease, in listening to the priest's prayers in his tent, from knowing that the arrangements for marshaling and directing a large part of the force were in Buch good hands. The two encampments of Alfred and Ethel- red seem to have been at ^me little distance from each other. Alfred was impatient at Eth- elred's delay. He asked the reason for it They told him that Ethelred was attendirf^ mass, and that he had said he should on no ho i A.D. 871.] Alfred's AccESSiois 123 Battle of ^Escesduae. Flight of the Danca count leave his tent until the servio^ was con- cluded. Alfred, in the mean time, took pos- session of a gentle elevation of land, which now would give him an advantage in the conflict. A single thorn-tree, growing there alone, marked the spot. The Danes advanced to attack him, expecting that, as he was not sustained by Eth- elred's division of the army, he would be easily overpowered and driven from his post. Alfred himself felt an extreme and feverish anxiety at Ethelred's delay. He fought, how- ever, with the greatest determination and brav- ery. The thorn-tree continued to be the center of the conflict for a long time, and, as the morn- ing advanced, it became more and more doubt- ful how it would end. At last, Ethelred, having finished his devotional services, came forth from his camp at the head of his division, and ad- vanced vigorously to his faltering brother's aid. This soon decided the contest. The Danes wera overpowered and put to flight. They fled at first in all directions, wherever each separate band saw the readiest prospect of escape from the immediate vengeance of their pursuers. They soon, however, all began with one accord to seek the roads which would conduct them to their stronghold at Reading. They were madly 124 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 871 Results of the battle. Alfred and Ethelred. pursued, and massacred as they fled, by Alfred's and Ethelred's army. Vast numbers fell. The remnant secured their retreat, shut themselves up within their walls, and began to devote their eager and earnest attention to the work of re- pairing and making good their defenses. This victory changed for the time being the whole face of affairs, and led, in various ways, to very important consequences, the most im- portant of which was, as we shall presently see, that it was the means indirectly of bringing Alfred soon to the throne. As to the cause of the victory, or, rather, the manner in which it was accomplished, the writers of the times give very different accounts, according as their re- spective characters incline them to commend, in man, a feeling of quiet trust and confidence in God when placed in circumstances of difficulty or danger, or a vigorous and resolute exertion of his own powers. Alfred looked for deliver- ance to the determined assaults and heavy blows which he could bring to bear upon his pagan enemies with v/eapons of steel around the thorn- tree in the field. Ethelred trusted to his hope of obtaining, by his prayers in his tent, the ef- fectual protection of Heaven ; and they who have written the story differ, as they who read it will, A.D. 871.] Alfred's Accession. 125 The old chronicles. The locahty of the batticw on the question to whose instrumentality the victory is to be ascribed. One says that Alfred gained it by his sword. Another, that Alfred exerted his strength and his valor in vain, and was saved from defeat and destruction only by the intervention of Ethelred, bringing with him the blessing of Heaven. In fact, the various narratives of these ancient events, which are found at the present day in the old chronicles that record them, differ always very essentially, not only in respect to matters of opinion, and to the point of view in which they are to be regarded, but also in respect to questions of fact. Even the place where this battle was fought, notwithstanding what we have said about the derivation of Aston from ^scesdune, is not absolutely certain. There is in the same vicinity another town, c^^ ^ ' h- bury, which claims the honor. One reason for supposing that this last is the true locality is that there are the ruins of an ancient monu- ment here, which, tradition says, was a monu- ment built to commemorate the death of a Dan- ish chieftain slain here by Alfred. There is also in the neighborhood another very singular monument, called The White Horse, which also 1ms the reputation of having been fashioned to I'ZG Alfred the Great. [A.D. 87L The \^^lite Horse. Eeath of Ethelrai commemorate Alfred's victories. The White Horse is a rude representatic n of ahorse, formed by cutting away the turf from the &teep slope of a hill, so as to expose a portion of the white surface of the chalky rock below of such a form that the figure is called a horse, though they who see it seem to think it might as well have been called a dog. The name, however, oiThe White Horse has come down with it from an- cient times, and the hill on which it is cut is known as The White Horse Hill. Some ingeni ous antiquarians think they find evidence that this gigantic profile was made to commemorate the victory obtained by Alfred and Ethelred over the Danes at the ancient ^scesdune. However this may be, and whatever view we may take of the comparative influence of Al- fred's energetic action and Ethelred's religious faith in the defeat of the Danes at this great battle, it is certain that the results of it w^ere very momentous to all concerned. Ethelred received a wound, either in this battle or in some of the smaller contests and collisions v/hich followed it, under the effects of which he pined and lingered for some months, and then died. Alfred, by his decision and courage on the day of the battle, and by the ardor and res* i A.D. S71.] Alfred's Accession. 127 Alfred's popularity. He is selected to succeed Ethelred. olution with which he pressed all the subse- quent operations during the period of Ethei- red's decline, made himself still more conspicu- ous in the eyes of his countrymen than he had ever been before. In looking forward to Ethel- red's approaching death, the people, according- ly, began to turn their eyes to Alfred as his successor. There were children of some of his older brothers living at that time, and they, ac- cording to all received principles of hereditary right, would naturally succeed to the throne ; but the nation seems to have thought that the crisis was too serious, and the dangers which threatened their country were too imminent, to justify putting any child upon the throne. The accession of one of those children would have been the signal for a terrible and protracted struggle among powerful relatives and friends for the regency during the minority of the youthful sovereign, and this, while the Danes remained in their strong-hold at Reading, in daily expectation of new re-enforcements from bej'ond the sea, would have plunged the coun- try in hopeless ruin. They turned their eyes toward Alfred, therefore, as the sovereign to whom they were to bow so soon as Ethelred should cease to breathe. 1:^8 Alfred the Great. [A.D.87]. ITie Danes strengthen themselves. Their successes In the mean time, the Danes, far from being subdued by the adverse turn of fortune which had befallen them, strengthened themselves in their fortress, made desperate sallies from their intrenchments, attacked their foes on every pos- sible occasion, and kept the country in contin- ual alarm. They at length so far recruited their strength, and intimidated and discouraged their foes, whose king and nominal leader, Eth- elred, was now less able than ever to resist them, as to take the field again. They fought more pitched battles ; and, though the Saxon chroniclers who narrate these events are very reluctant to admit that the Saxons were really vanquished in these struggles, they allow that the Danes kept the ground which they success- ively took post upon, and the discouraged and disheartened inhabitants of the country were forced to retire. In the mean time, too, new parties of Danes were continually arriving on the coast, and spreading themselves in marauding and plun- dering excursions over the country. The Danes at Reading were re-enforced by these bands, which made the conflict between them and Eth- elred's forces more unequal still. Alfred did his utmost to resist the tide of ill fortune, with the limited and doubtful authority which he A.D.871.] Alhied's Accession 129 Death of Ethelred. His burial at Wimbomo. held ; but all was in vain. Ethelred, worn down, probably, with the anxiety and depres- sion which the situation of his kingdom brought upon him, lingered for a time, and then died, and Alfred was by general consent called to the throne. This was in the year 871. It was a matter of moment to find a safe and secure place of deposit for the body of Ethelred, who, as a Christian slain in contending with |.agans, was to be considered a martyr. Kis memory was honored as that of one who had sacrificed his life in defense of the Christian faith. They knew very well that even his life- less remains w^ould not be safe from the venge- ance of his foes unless they were placed effect- ually beyond the reach of these desperate ma- rauders. There was, far to the south, in Dor- setshire, on the southern coast of England, a monastery, at Wimborne, a very sacred spot, worthy to be selected as a place of royal sepu] fcure. The spot has continued sacred to tl a present day ; and it has now uoon the site, as is supposed, of the ancient monastery, a grand cathedral church or minster, full of monume^nts of former days, and impressing all beholders with its solemn architectural grandeur. Hero they conveyed the body of Ethelred and inter- I VSO Alfred the Great. [A.D. S71, The inscription. Doubts in regard to Ethelred's death red it. It was a place of sacred seclusion, where there reigned a solemn stillness and awe, which no Christian hostility would ever have dared to disturb. The sacrilegious paganism of the Danes, however, would have respected it but little, if they had ever found access to it; but they did not. The body of Ethelred remained undisturbed; and, many centuries afterward, some travelers w^io visited the spot recorded the fact that there was a monument there with this inscription : "IN HOC LOCO QUIESC^T CORPUS ETHELREDl REGIS WEST SAXONUM, MARTYRIS, QUI ANNO DOM- INI DCCCLXXI., XXIIL APRILIS, PER xMANUS DANO- RUM PAGANORUM, OCCUBUIT."* Such is the commonly received opinion of the death of Ethelred. And yet some of the crit- ical historians of modern times, who find cause to doubt or disbelieve a very large portion of what is stated in ancient records, attempt to prove that Ethelred was not killed by the Danes at all, but that he died of the plague, which terrible disease was at that time prevailing in that part of England. At all events, he died, and Alfred, his brother, was called to reign in his stead. * ** Here rests the body of Ethelred, king of West Saxony, the Martyr, who died by the hands of the pagan Danes, on ♦he 2nd of April, in the v^ar of O'lr Lord 871" A.l\ S71.] Rk VERSES 1.'51 Alfrcd'a reluctance to receive the crown. IIi§ nephew ClIAPTEI? Vll. Reverses. r j 1 HE historians say that Alfred was very uri- -*- williiisr to assume the crown when the death of Ethelred presented it to him. If it had been an object of ambition or desire, there would probably have been a rival claimant, whose right w^ould perhaps have proved supe- rior to his ow^n, since it appears that one or more of the brothers who reigned before him left a son, whose claim to the inheritance, if the inheritance had been worth claiming, would have been stronger than that of their uncle The son of the oldest son takes precedence al ways of the brother, for hereditary rights, like w^ater, never move laterally so long as they can continue to descend. The nobles, however, and chieftains, and alj the leading powers of the kingdom of Wessex, which was the particular kingdom w^hich de* scended from Alfred's ancestors, united to urge Alfred to take the throne. His father had, in- deed, designated him as the successor of his VS's Alfred the Great. [A.D. 871 Etiielred's funeral. Coronation of Alfred at "SVinchestrr brothers by his will, though how far a monarch may properly control by his will the disposal of his realm, is a matter of great uncertainty. Alfred yielded at length to these solicitations, and determined on assuming: the sovereis^n power. He first went to Wimborne to attend to the funeral solemnities which were to be ob- served at his royal brother's burial. He then went to Winchester, which, as well as Wim- borne, is in the south of England, to be crowned and anointed king. "Winchester was, even in those early days, a great ecclesiastical center. It was for some time the capital of the West Saxon realm. It was a very sacred place, and the crown was there placed upon Alfred's head, with the most imposing and solemn ceremonies. It is a curious and remarkable fact, that the spots which were consecrated in those early days by the religious establishments of the times, have preserved in almost every case their sacred- ness to the present day. Winchester is now famed all over England for its great Cathedral church, and the vast religious establishment which has its seat there — the annual revenues and expenditures of which far exceed those of many of the states of this Union. The income of the bishop alone was for many years double Coronation Ohjusl. A.D. 871.1 Reverses. • 135 The Lisliop of Winchester. Alfred takes the field against the Danes that of the salary of the President of the United States. The Bishop of Winchester is ^Yidely celebrated, therefore, all over England, for his wealth, his ecclesiastical power, the architec- tural grandeur of the Cathedral church, and the wealth and importance of the college of eccle- siastics over which he presides. It was in Winchester that Alfred was crown- ed. As soon as the ceremony was performed, he took the field, collected his forces, and went to meet the Danes again. He found the coun- try in a most deplorable condition. The Danes had extended and strengthened their positions. They had got possession of many of the towns, and, not content with plundering castles and abbeys, they had seized lands, and were be- ginning to settle upon them, as if they intended to make iVlfred's new kingdom their permanent abode. The forces of the Saxons, on the other hand, were scattered and discouraged. There geemed no hope left to them of making head against their pestiferous invaders. If they were defeated, their cruel conquerors showed no mod- eration and no mercy in their victory ; and if they conquered, it was only to suppress for a moment one horde, with a certainty of being attacked immediately by another, more recently 136 AI.FRED THE Great. [A.D. 871. Battle at Wilton. Defeat of Alfred, arrived, and more determined and relentless than those before them. Alfred succeeded, ho^yever, by means of the influence of his personal character, and by the very active and efficient exertions that he made, in concentrating what forces remained, and in preparing for a renew^al of the contest. The first great battle that was fought v/as at Wilt- on. This w^as within a month of his accession to the throne. The battle w^as veiy obstinately fought ; at the first onset Alfred's troops carried all before them, and there was every prospect that he would win the day. In the end, how^- ever, the tide of victory turned in favor of the Danes, and Alfred and his troops were driven from the field. There was an immense loss on both sides. In fact, both armies were, for the time, pretty effectually disabled, and each seems to have shrunk from a renewal of the contest. Instead, therefore, of fighting again, the two commanders entered into negotiations. Hubba was the name of the Danish chieftain. In the end, he made a treaty with Alfred, by which ho agreed to retire from Alfred's dominions, and leave him in peace, provided that Alfred would not interfere with him in his wars in any other part of England. Alfred's kingdom was Wes- A.D.872.1 Reverses. 137 Treaty with the Danes. They march into Mercia. sex. Besides Wessex, there was Essex, Mercia, and Northumberland. Hubba and his Danes, finding that Alfred was likely to prove too formi- dable an antagonist for them easily to subdue, thou gilt it would be most prudent to give up one kingdom out of the four, on condition of noi having Alfred to contend against in their depre- dations upon the other three. They according- ly made the treaty, and the Danes withdrew. They evacuated their posts and strong-holds in Wessex, and went down the Thames to Lon- don, which was in Mercia, and there commenced a new course of conquest and plunder, where they had no such powerful foe to oppose them. Buthred was the king of Mercia. He could not resist Hubba and his Danes alone, and he could not now have Alfred's assistance. Alfred was censured very much at the time, and has been condemned often since, for having thus made a separate peace for himself and his own immediate dominions, and abandoned his nat- ural allies and friends, the people of the other Saxon kingdoms. To make a peace with sav- age and relentless pagans, on the express con- dition of leavinsr his fellow-Christian nei^hbora at their mercy, has been considered ungenerous, at least, if it was not unjust. On the other 138 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 874. Buthred's misfortunes. He buys off the Danes, hand, those who vindicate his conduct maintain that it was his duty to secure the peace and welfare of his own realm, leaving other sover- eigns to take care of theirs ; and that he wc uld have done very wrong to sacrifice the property and lives of his own immediate subjects to a mere point of honor, when it was utterly out of his power to protect them and his neighbors too. However this may be, Buthred, finding that he could not have Alfred's aid, and that he could not protect his kingdom by any force which he could himself bring into the field, tried negotiations too, and he succeeded in buying off the Danes with money. He paid them a large sum, on condition of their leaving his do- minions finally and forever, and not coming to molest him any more. Such a measure as thitJ is always a very desperate and hopeless one. Buying oft' robbers, or beggars, or false accus- fTS, or oppressors of any kind, is only to encour- age them to come again, after a brief interval, under some frivolous pretext, with fresh de- mands or new oppressions, that they may bo Dought off* again with higher pay. At least .buthred found it so in this case. Hubba went northward for a time, into the kingdom of Nor- thumberland, and, after various conqu'.^sts and A.D.874.J Reverses. 139 Buthrcd's unhnppy end, Ccolwulf. plunderings there, he came back again into Mercia, on the plea that there was a scarcity of provisions in the northern kingdom, and he was obliged to come back. Buthred bought him off again with a larger sum of money. Hubba scarcely left the kingdom this time, but spent the money with his army, in carousings and excesses, and then went to robbing and plundering as before. Buthred, at last, reduced to despair, and seeing no hope of escape from the terrible pest w^ith w^iich his kingdom was infested, abandoned the country and escaped to Rome. They received him as an exiled mon- arch, in the Saxon school, where he soon after died a prey to grief and despair. The Danes overturned what remained of Buthred's government. They destroyed a fa- mous mausoleum, the ancient burial place of the Mercian kings. This devastation of the abodes of the dead was a sort of recreation — a savage amusement, to vary the more serious and dangerous excitements attending their contests with the living. They found an officer of Buthred's government named Ceolwulf, who, though a Saxon, was willing, through his love of place and power, to accept of the office of king in subordination to the Danes, and hold 140 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 874. Halfden ai-rives in England. Alfred's cast> at Warehara. it at their disposal, paying an annual tribute to them. Ceolwulf was execrated by his coun- trymen , who considered him a traitor. He, in his turn, oppressed and tyrannized over them. In the mean time, a new^ leader, w^ith a fresh horde of Danes, had landed in England. His name was Halfden. Halfden came with a con- siderable fleet of ships, and, after landing his men, and performing various exploits and en- countering various adventures in other parts of Eno^land. he be^T^an to turn his thousrhts toward Alfred's dominions. Alfred did not pay par- ticular attention to Halfden's movements at first, as he supposed that his treaty w^ith Hubba had bound the whole nation of the Danes not to encroach upon Ids realm, wdiatever they might do in respect to the other Saxon king- doms. Alfred had a famous castle at Ware- ham, on the southern coast of the island. It was situated on a bay which lies in what is now Dorsetshire. This castle was the strongest place in his dominions. It was garrisoned and guarded, but not with any special vigilance, as no one expected an attack upon it. Halfden brought his fleet to the southern shore of the island, and, organizing an expedition there, ho put to sea, and before any one suspected his de- A.D. «74.] Reverses. 14 J Waz-eham Castle taken by Halfdcu. Contests and trucea sign, he entered the bay, surprised and attacked Wareham Castle, and took it. Alfred and thn people of his reahii were not only astonished and alarmed at the loss of the castle, but they were filled with indignation at the treachery of tho Danes in violating their treaty by attacking it. Halfdcn SQ.id, however, that he was an inde- pendent chieftain, acting in his own name, and was not bound at all by any obligations entered into by Habba I There followed after this a series of contests and truces, 'during which treacherous wars al- ternated with still more treacherous and illu- sive periods of peace, neither party, on tho whole, gaining any decided victory. Tho Danes, at one time, after agreeing upon a ces- sation of hostilities, suddenly fell upon a large squadron of Alfred's horse, who, relying on the truce, were moving across the country too much off their guard. The Danes dismounted and drove off the men, and seized the horses, and thus provided themselves with cavalry, a spe- cies of force which it is obvious they could not easily bring, in any ships which they could then construct, across the German Ocean. Without waiting for Alfred to recover from the surprise and consternation which this unexpected treach.- 142 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 874. The town cf Exeter. It is taken by the Danes ery occasioned, the newly-mounted troop of Danes rode rapidly along the southern coast of England till they came to the town of Exeter. Its name was in those days Exancestcr. It was then, as it is now, a very important town. It has since acquired a mournful celebrity as the place of refuge, and the scene of suffering of Queen Henrietta Maria, the mother of Charles the Second."^ The loss of this place was a new and heavy cloud over Alfred's prospects. It placed the whole southern coast of his realm in the hands of his enemies, and seamed to por- tend for the whole interior of the country a pe- riod of hopeless and irremediable calamity. It seems, too, from various unequivocal state- ments and allusions contained in the narratives of the times, that Alfred did not possess, during this period of his reign, the respect and affection of his subjects. He is accused, or, rather, not directly accused, but spoken of as generally known to be guilty of many faults which alien- ated the hearts of his countrymen from him, and prepared them to consider his calamities as the judgments of Heaven. He was young and ar- dent, full of youthful impetuosity and fire, and • For an account of Henrietta's adventures and sufferhigf at F.xeter, see the History of Charles II., chap. iii. A.D 874.] Reverses. 143 Serious charges against Alfred Love of pleasure. was elated at his elevation to the throne ; and, during the period while the Danes left him in peace, under the treaties he had made with Hubba, he gave himself up to pleasure, and not always to innocent pleasure. They charged him, too, with being tyrannical and oppressive in his government, being so devoted to gratify- ing his own ambition and love of personal indul- gence that he neglected his government, sac- rificed the interests and the welfare of his sub- jects, and exercised his regal powers in a very despotic and arbitrary manner. It is very difficult to decide, at this late day, how far this disposition to find fault with AL fred's early administration of his government arose from, or was aggravated by, the misfor- tunes and calamities which befell him. On th€ one hand, it would not be surprising if, young, and arduous, and impetuous as he was at thi? period of his life, he should have fallen into the errors and faults which youthful monarchs are very prone to commit on being suddenly raised to power. But then, on the other hand, men are prone, in all ages of the world, and most especially in such rude and uncultivated timea as these were, to judge military and govern- mental action by the sole criterion of si^ccess. 144 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 874. Saint Neot He reproaches Alfred with his misdeeds. Thus", when they found that Alfred's measures, one after another, failed in protecting his coun- try, that the impending calamities burst suc- cessively upon them, notwithstanding all Al- fred's efforts to avert them, it was natural that they should look at and exaggerate his faults, and charge all their national misfortunes to the influence of them. There was a certain Saint Neot, a kinsman and religious counselor of Alfred, the history of whose life vras afterward written by the Abbot of Crowland, the monastery whose de- struction by the Danes was described in a former chapter. In this narrative it is said that Neot often rebuked Alfred in the severest terms for his sinful course of life, predicting the most fatal consequences if he did not reform, and using language which only a very culpable degree of remissness and irregularity could justify. ' ' You glory," said he, one day, when addressing the king, '^ in your pride and power, and are de- termined and obdurate in your iniquity. But there is a terrible retribution in store for you. I entreat you to listen to my counsels, amend your life, and govern your people with modera- tion and justice, instead of tyranny and oppres- sion, and thus avert if you can, before it is toe ^ate, the impending judgments of Heaven.'' A.D.870.J Reverses. 145 Justice of Neot's reproaches. Alfred's early sius atoned for. Such language as this it is obvious that only a very serious dereliction of duty on Alfred's part could call for or justify ; but, whatever he may have done to deserve it, his offenses were so fully expiated by his subsequent sufferings, and he atoned for them so nobly, too, by the wisdom, the prudence, the faithful and devoted patriotism of his later career, that mankind have been disposed to pass by the faults of his early years without attempting to scrutinize them too closely. The noblest human spirits are always, in some periods of their existence, or in some aspects of their characters, strange- ly weakened by infirmities and frailties, and deformed by sin. This is human nature. We like to imagine ^hat we find exceptions, and to see specimens of moral perfection in our friends or in the historical characters whose general course of action we admire ; but there are no exceptions. To err and to sin, at some times and in some ways, is the common, universal, and inevitable lot of humanity. At the time when Halfden and his followers seized Wareham Castle and Exeter, Alfred had been several years upon the throne, during which time these derelictions from duty took place, so far as they existed at all. But now, K J 46 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 875 Alfred arouses himself. Convenes an assembly of chiefs and nobles. alarmed at the imminence of the impending danger, which threatened not only the welfare*, of his people, but his own kingdom and even his life — for one Saxon monarch had been driven from his dominions, as we have seen, and had died a miserable exile at Rome — Alfred aroused himself in earnest to the work of regaining his lost influence among his people, and recovering their alienated affections. He accordingly, as his first step, convened a great assembly of the leading chieftains and noblemen of the realm, and made addresses to them, in which he urged upon^them the immi- nence of the danger which threatened their com- mon country, and pressed them to unite vigor- ously and energetically with him to contend against their common foe. They must make great sacrifices, he said, both of their comfort and ease, as well as of their \vealth, to resist successfully so imminent a danger. He sum- moned them to arms, and urged them to con- tribute the means necessary to pay the expense of a vigorous prosecution of the war. These harangues, and the ardor and determination which Alfred manifested himself at the time of" making them, were successful. The nation aroused itself to new exertions, and foi a time 1 AD. 875.J PtEVERSEs. x49 Alfred builds a fleet. Difficulty of pTT-\'r3n^ seamen there was a prospect that the country ^Yould be saved. Anions: the other measures to which Alfred resorted in this emergency was the attempt to encounter the Danes upon their own element, by building and equipping a fleet of ships, with which to proceed to sea, in order to meet and attack upon the water certain new bodies of in- vaders, who were on 'the way to join the Danes already on the island — coming, as rumor said, along the southern shore. In attempting to build up a naval power, the greatest difficulty, always, is to provide seamen. It is much eas- ier to build ships than to train sailors. To man his little fleet, Alfred had to enlist such half-sava2:e foreis^ners as could be found in the ports, and even pirates, as was said, whom ho induced to enter his service, promising them pay, and such plunder as they could take from the enemy. These attempts of Alfred to build and man a fleet are considered the first rude be- ginnings from which the present vast edifice of British naval power took its origin. When the fleet was ready to put to sea, the people throng- ed the shores, watching its movements with the utmost curiosity and interest, earnestly hoping that it misfht be successful in its contests with 150 Alfred the Great. [A.D. S75 Success jf Alfred's fleet. Succession of battles and treaues. the more tried and experienced armaments with which it would have to contend. Alfred was, in fact, successful in the first en- terprises which he undertook with his ships. He encountered a fleet of the Danish ships in the Channel, and defeated them. His fleet cap- tured, moreover, one of the largest of the ves- sels of the enemy ; and, with what would be thought in our day unpardonable cruelty, they threw the sailors and soldiers whom they found on board into the sea, and kept the vessel. After all, however, Alfred gained no con- elusive and decisive victory over his foes. They were too numerous, too scattered, and too firmly seated in the various districts of the island, of some of which they had been in possession for many years. Time passed on, battles were fought, treaties of peace were made, oaths were taken, hostages were exchanged, and then, after a very brief interval of repose, hostilities would break out again, each party bitterly accusing the other of treachery. Then the poor hosta- ges would be slain, first by one party, and after ward, in retaliation, by the other. In one of these temporary and illusive paci- fications, Alfred attempted to bind the Danes by Christian oaths Their custom.ary mode o( A..D. 875J Reverses. 151 The Danish oath. Christian rehcs. binding themselves, in cases where they wished to impose a solemn religious obligation, w^as to swear by a certain ornament which they wore upon their arms, which is called in the chroni- cles of those times a bracelet. What its form and fashion was we can not now precisely know ; but it is plain that they attached some super- stitious, and perhaps idolatrous associations of sacredness to it. To swear by this bracelet was to place themselves under the most solemn ob- ligation that they could assume. Alfred, how- ever, not satisfied with this pagan sanction, made them, in confirming one treaty, swear by the Christian relics, which were certain sup^ posed memorials of our Saviour's crucifixion, or portions of the bodies of dead saints miracu- lously preserved, and to which the credulous Christians of that day attached an idea of sa- credness and awe, scarcely less superstitious than that which their pagan enemies felt for the bracelets on their arms. Alfred could not have supposed that these treacherous covenant- ers, since they would readily violate the faith plighted in the name of what they revered, could be held by what they hated and despised. Perhaps he thought that, though they would be no more likely to keep the new oath than the 152 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 875 The story of Hollo. His famous exploits. old, still, that their violation of it, when it oc« curred, would be in itself a great crime — that his cause would be subsequently strengthened by their thus incurring the special and unmiti- gated displeasure of Heaven. Among the Danish chieftains with whom Al- fred had thus continually to contend in this early par'', of his reign, there was one very fa- mous hero, whose name was Rollo. He in- vaded England Vvdth a wild horde which attend- ed him for a short time, but he soon retired and went to France, where he afterward greatly distinguished himself by his prowess and his exploits. The Saxon historians say that he re- treated from England because Alfred gave him such a reception that he saw that it would be impossible for him to maintain his footing there. His account of it was, that, one day, when he was perplexed with doubt and uncertainty about his plans, he fell asleep and dreamed that he saw a swarm of bees flying southward. This was an omen, as he regarded it, indicating the course which he ought to pursue. He accord- ingly embarked his men on board his ships again, and crossed the Channel, and sought successfully in TSTormandy, a province of France, the kingdom fjnd th^^ hprne whioh, either on ac- A.D. 875.] Reverses. 15S The Danes generally successfiil. Alfrtd's distress count of Alfred or of the bees, he ^Yas not to en- joy in England. The cases, however, in which the Danish chieftains were either entirely conquered or finally expelled from the kingdom were very few. As years passed on, Alfred found his army diminishing, and the strength of his kingdom wasting away. His resources were exhausted, his friends had disappeared, his towns and cas- tles were taken, and, at last, about eight years after his coronation at Winchester as monarch of the most powerful of the Saxon kingdoms, lie found himself reduced to the very last ex* treme of destitution and distress. 154 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878. ilfred's perseverance. Another arrival of Danes. Chapter VIII. The Seclusion. VTOTWITHSTANDING the tide of disas^ -- ^ ter and calamity which seemed to be grad- ually overwhelming Alfred's kingdom, he was not reduced to absolute despair, but continued for a long time the almost hopeless struggle. There is a certain desperation to which men are often aroused in the last extremity, which surpasses courage, and is even sometimes a very effectual substitute for strength ; and Alfred might, perhaps, have succeeded, after all, in sav- ing his affairs from utter ruin, had not a new circumstance intervened, which seemed at once to extinguish all remaining hope and to seal his doom. This circumstance was the arrival of a new band of Danes, who were, it seems, more nu- merous, more ferocious, and more insatiable than any who had come before them. Tho other kingdoms of the Saxons had been already pretty effectually plundered. Alfred's kingdom of Wessex was now, therefore, the most invit* ing field, and, after various excursions of co^^ A.D. S7S.] 'J' HE Seclusion. 155 Alfred's army disorganized. He is left alone. quest and plunder in other parts of the island, they came like an inundation over Alfred's frontiers, and all hope of resisting them seems to have been immediately abandoned. The Saxon armies were broken up. Alfred had lost, it appears, all influence and control over both leaders and men. The chieftains and nobles fled. Some left the country altogether ; others hid themselves in the best retreats and fastness- es that they could find. Alfred himself was obliged to follow the general example. A few attendants, either more faithful than the rest, or else more distrustful of their own resources, and inclined, accordingly, to seek their own per- sonal safety by adhering closely to their sover- eign, followed him. These, however, one after another, gradually forsook him, and, finally, the fallen and deserted monarch was left alone. In fact, it was a relief to him at last to be left alone; for they who remained around him became in the end "a burden instead of afford- ing him protection. They were too few to fight, and too many to be easily concealed. Alfred withdrew himself from them, thinking that, un- der the circumstances in which he was now placed, he was justified in seeking his own per- gonal safety alone. He had a wife, whom he 156 Alfred the Great. [A..1). 878. Alfred's wito. He retires to Athelney. married when he was about twenty years old ; hat she was not with him now, though she aft- erward joined him. She was in some other place of retreat. She could, in fact, be much more easily concealed than her husband ; for the Danes, though they would undoubtedly have valued her very highly as a captive, would not search for her with the eager and persever- ing vigilance with which it was to be expected they would hunt for their most formidable, but now discomfited and fugitive foe. Alfred, therefore, after disentangling himself from all but one or two trustworthy and faith- ful friends, wandered on toward the west, through forests, and solitudes, and wilds, to get as far away as possible from the enemies who were upon his track. He arrived at last on the remote western frontiers of his kingdom, at a place whose name has been immortalized by its having been for some time the place of his retreat. It was called Athelney.^ Athelney was, however, scarcely deserving of a name, for it was nothing but a small spot of dry land in the midst of a morass, which, as grass would * The name is spelled variously, Ethelney, iEtlielney, ^thelingay, &€. It was in Somersetshire, between the riv- ers Thone and Parrot. A..D. 878.] The Seclusion. 157 The cowherd. He gives Alfred an asylum. grow upon it in the openings among the trees* a simple cow-herd had taken possession of, and built his hut there. The solid land which the cow-herd called hi.s farm was only about two acres in extent. All around it was a black morass, of great extent, wooded with alders, among which green sedges grew, and sluggish streams meandered, and mossy tracts of verdure spread treacherously over deep bogs and sloughs. In the driest sea- son of the summer the goats and the sheep pen- etrated into these recesses, but, excepting in the devious and tortuous path by which the cow-herd found his way to his island, it was almost impassable for man. Alfred, however, attracted now by the imped- iments and obstacles which would have repel- led a wanderer under any other circumstances, went on with the greater alacrity the more in- tricate and entangled the thickets of the morass were found, since these difficulties promised to impede or deter pursuit. He found his way in to the cow-herd's hut. He asked for shelter. People who live in solitudes arc always hospi- table. The cow-herd took the wayworn fugi- tive in, and gave hini food and shelter. Alfred remained his guest for a considerable time. 158 Alfrl-) the Great. [A.D.878 Alfred's acf oimt of himself. The stoiy of Alfred's seclusion. The story is, that after a few days the cow- herd asked hmi who he was, and how he came to be wandering about in that distressed and destitute condition. Alfred told him that he was one of the king's thanes, A thane was a sort of chieftain in the Saxon state. He ac- counted for his condition by saying that Alfred's army nad been beaten by the Danes, and that he, with the other generals, had been forced to fly. He begged the cow-herd to conceal him, and to keep the secret of his character until times should change, so that he could take the field again. The story of Alfred's seclusion on the island^ as it might almost be called, of Ethelney, is told very differently by the different narrators of it. Some of these narrations are inconsistent and contradictory. They all combine, however, though they differ in respect to many ether inci- dents and details, in relating the far-famed story of Alfred's leaving the cakes to burn. It seems that, though the cow-herd himself was allowed to regard Alfred as a man of rank in disguise- though even he did not know that it was the king — his wife was not admitted, even in this partial way, into the secret. She was made to consider the stranger as some common strolling A.D.878.] -The Seclusion. 159 AUred's occupations at Ethelney. His gloomy thoughts. countryman, and the better to sustain this idea, lie was taken into the cow-herd's service, and employed in various ways, from time to time, in labors about the house and farm. Alfred'.-? thoughts, however, were little interested in these occupations. His mind dwelt incessant- ly upon his misfortunes and the calamities which had befallen his kingdom. He was har- assed by continual suspense and anxiety, not being able to gain any clear or certain intelli- gence about the condition and movements of either his friends or foes. He was revolving continually vague and half-formed plans for re- suming the command of his army and attempt- ing to regain his kingdom, and wearying him- self with fruitless attempts to devise means to accomplish these ends. Whenever he engaged voluntarily in any occupation, it would always be something in harmony with these trains of thought and these plans. He would repair and put in order implements of hunting, or any thing else which might be deemed to have some relation to war. He would make bows and ar- rows in the chimney corner — lost, .all the time, in melancholy reveries, or in wild and visionary schemes of future exploits. One evening, while he was thus at work, the IGO Ali'^red the Ctreat. [A.D. 87^. The stDry of the cakes. Its deep interesl cow-hcrd's wife left, for a few moments, some cakes under his charge, which she was baking upon the great stone hearth, in preparation for their common supper. Alfred, as might have been expected, let the cakes burn. The wom- an, when she came back and found them smok- ing, was very angry. She told him that he could eat the cakes fast enough when they were baked, though it seemed he was too lazy and good for nothing to do the least thing in helping to bake them. What wide-spread and lasting effects result sometimes from the most trifling and inadequate causes ! The singularity of such an adventure befalling a monarch in dis- guise, and the terse antithesis of the reproaches with which the woman rebuked him, invest tl 3 incident with an interest which carries it ev^ry where spontaneously among mankind. Millions, within the last thousand years, have heard the name of Alfred, who have known no more of him than this story ; and millions more, who never would liave heard of him but for this story, have been led by it to study the whole history of his. life ; so that the unconscious cow- herd's wife, in scolding the disguised monarcn for forgetting her cakes, was perhaps doing A.D.S78.] The Seclusion. 163 Various accounts of the story of the cakes. more than he ever did himself for the wide ex- tension of his future fame."^ * As this incident has been so famous, it may amuse thai reader to peiiise the ditlerent accounts which are given of it in the most ancient records which now remain. They were wiitten in Latin and in Saxon, and, of course, as given here, ihey are translations. The discrepancies which the reader will observe in the details illustrate well the uncertainty which pertains to all historical accounts that go back to so early an age. ** lie led an unquiet life there, at his cow-herd's. It hap- pened that, on a certain day, the rustic wife of the man pre- pared to bake her bread. The king, sitting then near the hearth, was making ready his bow and arrows, and other war- like implements, when the ill-tempered woman beheld the loaves burning at the fire. She ran hastily and removed them, scolding at the king, and exclaiming, * You man ! you will not turn the bread you see burning, but you will be very glad to eat it when it is done !' This unlucky woman little thought «lie was addressing the King Alfred." In a certain Saxon history the story is told thus : " He took shelter in a swain^s house, and also him and hia evil wife diligently served. It happened that, on one day, the swain's wife heated her oven, and the king sat by it warm- ing himself by the fire. She knew not then that he was the king. Then the evil woman was excited, and spoke to the king with an angry mind. * Turn thou these loaves, that they burn not, for I see daily that thou art a great eater !' He Boon f»beyed this evil woman because she would scold. He then, the good king, with great anxiety and sighing, called to his Lord, imploring his pity." The following account is from a Latin life of St. Neot, which still exists in manuscript, and is of great antiquity : I(i4 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878 Various accor.its ot'ihe story cf the cakes- Alfred was, for a time, extremely depressed and disheartened by the sense of his misfortunes " Alfred, a fugitive, and exiled from his people, came by chance and entered the house of a poor herdsman, and there remained some days concealed, poor and unknown. '' It happened that, on the Sabbath day, the herdsman, as usual, led his cattle to their accustomed pastures, and the king remained alone in the cottage with the man's wife. She, as necessity required, placed a few loaves, which some call lotidas, on a pan, with fire underneath, to be baked for her husband's repast and her own, on his return. " While she was necessarily busied, like peasants, on other offices, she went anxious to the fire, and foimd the bread burning on the other side. She immediately assailed the king with reproaches. * Why, man ! do you sit thinking there, and are too proud to turn the bread ? Whatever be your family, with your manners and sloth, what trust can be put in you hereafter ? If you were even a nobleman, you will be glad to eat the bread which you neglect to attend to.* The king, though stung by her upbraidings, yet heard her with patience and mildness, and, roused by her scolding, took care to bake Ijer bread thereafter as she wished." There is one remaiHlng account, which is as follows : " It happened that the herdsman one day, as usual, led his swine to their accustomed pasture, and the king remained at home alone with the wife. She placed her bread under the ashes of the fire to bake, and was employed in other business, v'hen she saw the loaves burning, and said to the king in her .age, * You will not turn the bread you see burning, though you will be very glad to eat it when done !' The king, with a submitting countenance, though vexed at her upbraidmgs, not only turned the bread, but gave them to the woman well baked and unbroken." It is obvious, from the character of these several accounts A.I). 878.] The Seclusion. 1(35 Effect of Alfred's secluaion on his heart and character. and calamities ; but the monkish writers who described his character and his life say that the influence of his sufferings was extremely salu- tary in softening his disposition and improving his character. He had been proud, and haughty, and domineering before. He became humble, docile, and considerate now. Faults of charac- ter that are superficial, resulting from the force of circumstances and peculiarities of tempta- tion, rather than from innate depravity of heart, are easily and readily burned oft' in the fire of afiliction, while the same severe ordeal seems only to indurate the more hopelessly those pro- pensities which lie deeply seated in an inherent and radical perversity. tliat each writer, taking the substantial fact as the ground- work of his story, has added such details and chosen such expressions for the housewife's reproaches as suited his own individual fancy. We find, unfortunately for the truth and trustworthiness of history, that this is almost always the case, when independent and original accounts of past transactions, whether great or small, are compared. The gravest histo- rians, as w^ell as the lightest story tellers, frame their narra- tions for effect^ and the tendency in all ages to shape and fashion the narrative with a view to the particular effect de- signed by the individual narrator to be produced has been found entirely irresistible. It is necessary to compare, with great diligence and careful scrutiny, a great many different ac counts, in order to learn how little there is to be exactly and confidently believed. 166 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878. Alfred's patience and fortitude. He makes himself known. Alfred, though restless and wretched in his apparently hopeless seclusion, bore his priva- tions with a great degree of patience and forti- tude, planning, all the time, the best means of reorganizing his scattered forces, and of rescu- ing his country from the ruin into which it had fallen. Some of his former friends, roaming as he himself had done, as fugitives about the country, happened at length to come into the neighborhood of his retreat. He heard of them, and cautiously made himself known. They were rejoiced to find their old commander once more, and, as there was no force of the Danes in that neighborhood at the time, they lingered, timidly and fearlessly at first, in the vicinity, until, at length, growing more bold as they found themselves unmolested in their retreat, they began to make it their gathering place and head-quarters. Alfred threw off his dis guise, and assumed his true character. Tidingsi of his having been thus discovered spread con- fidentially among the most tried and faithful of his Saxon followers, who had themselves been seeking safety in other places of refuge. They began, at first cautiously and by stealth, but afterward more openly, to repair to the spot Alfred's family, too, from which he had now A.D. 878.] Tin: Seclusiox. 1^7 Scarcity of provisions. Services ol" the herdsman been for many months entirely separated, con«. trived to rejoin him. The herdsman, who proved to be a man of intelligence and character su- perior to his station, entered heartily into all these movements. He kept the secret faith- fully. He did all in his power to provide foi the wants and to promote the comfort of his warlike guests, and, by his j&delity and devo- tion, laid Alfred under obligations of gratitude to him, which the king, when he was afterward restored to the throne, did not forget to repay. Notwithstanding, however, all the efforts which the herdsman made to obtain supplies, the company now assembled at Ethelney were sometimes reduced to great straits. There were not only the wants of Alfred and his immediate family and attendants to be provided for, but many persons were continually coming and going, arriving often at unexpected times, and acting, as roving and disorganized bodies of sol- diers are very apt to do at such times, in a very inconsiderate manner. The herdsman's farm produced very little food, and the inaccessible- ness of its situation made it difficult to bring in supplies from without. In fact, it was neces- sary, in one part of the approach to it, to use a boat, so that the place is generally called, in his. 1(*8 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 87S Fishing excursions. The story of the boggar, tory, ail island, though it was insulated mainly by swamps and morasses rather than by nav- igable waters. There were, however, sluggish streams all around it, where Alfred's men, when their stores were exhausted, went to fish, under the herdsman's guidance, returning sometimes with a moderate fare, and sometimes with none. The monks who describe this portion of Al- fred's life have recorded an incident as having occurred on the occasion of one of these fishing excursions, v/hich, however, is certainly, in part, a fabrication, and may be wholly so. It was in the winter. The waters about the grounds were frozen up. The provisions in the house w^ere nearly exhausted, there being scarcely any thing remaining. The men went away with their fishing apparatus, and with their bows and ar- rows, in hopes of procuring some fish or fowl to replenish their stores. Alfred was left alone, with only a single lady of his family, who is called in the account ''Mother," though it could not have been Alfred's own mother, as she had been dead many years. Alfred was sitting in the hut reading. A beggar, who had by some means or other found his way in over the frozen morasses, came to the door, and asked for food. Alfred, looking up from his book, asked the A.l). 878.] The Seclusion. 169 Alfred's chari?}'. Hi3 dream. mother, whoever she was, to go and see what there was to give him. She went to make ex- amination, and presently returned, saying that there was nothing to give him. There was only a single loaf of bread remaining, and that would not be half enough for their own wants that very night when the hunting party should return, if they should come back unsuccessful from their expedition. Alfred hesitated a mo- ment, and then ordered half the loaf to be given to the beggar. He said, in justification of tho act, that his trust was now in God, and that the power which once, with five loaves and two small fishes, fed abundantly three thousand men, could easily make half a loaf suffice for them. The loaf was accordingly divided, the beggar w^as supplied, and, delighted with this unex- pected relief, he went away. Alfred turned his attention again to his reading. After a time the book dropped from his hand. He had fall- en asleep. He dreamed that a certain saint appeared to him, and made a revelation to him from heaven. God, he said, had heard his prayers, vras satisfied with his penitence, and pitied his sorrows ; and that his act of charity in relieving the poor beggar, even at the risk of 170 ALFRED THE G R E A T. [A.D. 878 Return of the hunting party. Revival of Alfred's hopes. leaving himself and his friends in utter destitu- tion, was extremely acceptable in the sight of Heaven. The faith and trust which he thus manifested were about to be rewarded. The time for a change had come. He was to be restored to his kingdom, and raised to a new and higher state of prosperity and power than before. As a token that this prediction was true, and would be all fulfilled, the hunting party would return that night with an ample and abundant supply. Alfred awoke from his sleep with his mind filled with new hopes and anticipations. The hunting party returned loaded with supplies, and in a state of the greatest exhilaration at their success. They had fish and game enough to have supplied a little army. The incident of relieving the beggar, the dream, and their unwonted success confirming it, inspired them all with confidence and hope. They began to form plans for commencing offensive operations. They would build fortifications to strengthen their position on the island. They would col- lect a force. They would make sallies to at- tack the smaller parties of the Danes. They would send agents and emissaries about the kingdom to arouse, and encourage, and assem- A.D.878.] The Seclusion. 17] Plana of Alfred and his friends to recover tlie kinidom. ble such Saxon forces as were yet to be found. In a word, they would commence a series of measures for recovering the country from the possession of its pestilent enemy, and for restor- inof the ri2:htful sovereio^n to the throne. The development of these projects and plans, and the measures for carrying them into effect, were very much hastened by an event which sudden- ly occurred in the neighborhood of Ethelney, the account of which, howe,vcr, must be post- poned to the next chapter. 172 Alfred the Great. [A.D.87S Bupposed situation of Ethelney. The jewel of gol.i c ii after i x. Reassembling of the Army. ETHELNEY, though its precise locality can not now be certainly ascertained, was in the southwestern part of England, in Som- ersetshire, which county lies on the southern shore of the Bristol Channel. There is a region of marshes in that vicinity, which tradition as- signs as the place of Alfred's retreat ; and there was, about the middle of this century, a farm- house thisre, which bore the name of Ethelney, though this name may have been given to it in modern times by those who imagined it to be the ancient locality. A jewel of gold, engraved as an amulet to be worn about the neck, and inscribed with the Saxon words which mean '' Alfred had me made," was found in the vicin- • ity, and is still carefully preserved in a museum in England. Some curious antiquarians pro- fess to find the very hillock, rising out of the low grounds around, where the herdsman that entertained Alfred so long lived ; but this, of course, is all uncertain. The peculiarities of A.D. 878.] A.RMV Reassembled 173 (^^hanges produced by time. Alfred fortifies Ethelncy. the spot derived their character from the mo- rasses, and the woods, and the courses of the sluggish streams in the neighborhood, and these are elements of landscape scenery which ten centuries of time and of cultivation would en- tirely change. Whatever may have been the precise situa- tion of the spot, instead of being, as at first, a mere hiding-place and retreat, it became, before many months, as was intimated in the last chapter, a military camp, secluded and conceal- ed, it is true, but still possessing, in a consid- erable degree, the characteristics of a fastness and place of defense. Alfred's company erect- ed something which might be called a wall. They built a bridge across the water where the herdsman's boat had been accustomed to ply. They raised two towers to watch and guard the bridge. All these defenses were indeed of a very rude and simple construction ; still, they answered the purpose intended. They afforded a real protection ; and, more than all, they pro- duced a certain moral effect upon the minds of those whom they shielded, by enabling them to consider themselves as no longer lurking fugi* tives, dependent for safety on simple conceal- ment, but as a garrison, v/eak, it is true, but i74 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878 Elubba in Wales. Castle Kenwith still gathering strength, and advancing gradu- ally toward a condition which would enable them to make positive aggressions upon the enemy. The circumstance which occurred to hasten the development of Alfred's plans, and which was briefly alluded to at the close of the last chapter, was the following : It seems that quite a large party of Danes, under the command of a leader named Hubba, had been making a tour of conquest and plunder in Wales, which coun- try was on the other side of the Bristol Chan- nel, directly north of Ethelney, where Alfred was beo-inninsf to concentrate a force. He O O would be immediately exposed to an attack from this quarter as soon as it should be known that he was at Ethelney, as the distance across the Channel was not great, and the Danes were provided with shipping. Ethelney was in the county called Somerset- shire. To the southwest of Somersetshire, a little below it, on the shores of the Bristol Chan- nel, was a castle, called Castle Kenwith, in Devonshire. The Duke of Devonshire, who held this castle, encouraged by Alfred's prepa- rations for action, had assembled a considerable force her'^., to be ready to co-operate with Al- A.D.878.] Army Reassembled. 173 Ilubba crosses the Channel. He besi«^ges Odun. frecl in the active measures which he was about to adopt. Things being in this state, Hubba brought down his forces to the northern shores of the Channel, collected together all the boats and shipping that he could command, crossed the Channel, and landed on the Devonshire f^hore. Odun, the duke, not being strong enough to resist, fled, and shut himself up, with all his men, in the castle. Hubba advanced to the cas- tle walls, and, sitting down before them, began to consider what to do. Hubba was the last surviving son of Ragner Lodbrog, whose deeds and adventures were re- lated in a former chapter. He was, like all other chieftains among the Danes, a man of great determination and energy, and he had made himself very celebrated all over the land by his exploits and conquests. His particular horde of marauders, too, w^as specially celebrated among all the others, on account of a mysteri- ous and magical banner which they bore. The name of this banner was the Reafan^ that is, the Raven. There was the fisfure of a raven woven or embroidered on the banner. Hubba's three sisters had woven it for their brothers, when they went forth across the German Ocean tc avenge their father's death. It possessed, a 176 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878 I'be matric :.l bnnner. How regarded by the Saxons and Danes. both the Danes and Saxons believed, supernat- ural and magical powers. The raven on tho banner could foresee the result of any battle into w^hich it was borne. It remained lifeless and at rest whenever the result was to be adverse ; and, on the other hand, it fluttered its wings with a mysterious and magical vitality when they who bore it were destined to victory. Tho Danes consequently looked up to this banner with a feeling of profound veneration and awe, and the Saxons feared and dreaded its mysteri- tus power. The explanation of this pretendec' miracle is easy. The imagination of supers! tious men, in such a state of society as that of these half-savage Danes, is capable of much greater triumphs over the reason and the senses than is implied in making them believe that the wings of a bird are either in motion or at rest^ Vvhichever it fancies, when the banner on which the image is embroidered is advancing to the field and fluttering in the breeze. The Castle of Kenwith w^as situated on a rocky promontory, and was defended by a Saxon wall. Hubba saw that it would be difficult to carry it by a direct assault. On the other hand, it was not well supplied with water or provis- ions, and the numerous multitude which had A.D. 878.] Army Reassembled. 177 Hubba's plan of operations. Preparations of Odun. crowded into it, would, as Hubba thought, be speedily compelled to surrender by thirst and famine, if he were simply to wait a short lime, till their scanty stock of food was consumed. Perhaps the raven did not flutter her wings when Hubba approached the castle, but by her apparent lifelessness portended calamity if an attack were to be made. At all events, Hubba decided not to attack the castle, but to invest it closely on all sides, with his army on the land and with his vessels on the side of the sea, and thus reduce it by famine. Pie accordingly stationed his troops and his galleys at their posts, and established himself in his tent, quietly to await the result. He did not have to wait so long as he antici- pated. Odun, finding that his danger was so imminent, nay, that his destruction was inevi- table if he remained in his castle, thus shut in, determined, in the desperation to which the emergency reduced him, to make a sally. Ac- cordingly, one night, as soon as it was dark, so that the indications of any movement within the castle might not be perceived by the sentinels and watchmen in Hubba's lines, he began to marshal aud organize his army for a sudden and furious onset upon the camp of the Dane^. M 178 Alfred the Great. |A.D. 878- Sally of the Saxons. Death of Hubba They waited, when all was ready, till the first break of day. To make the surprise most ef- fectual, it was necessary that it should takn place in the night ; but then, on the other hand, the success, if they should be successful, would require, in order to be followed up wdth ad- vantage, the light of day. Odun chose, there- fore, the earliest dawn as the time for his at- tempt, as this was the only period which would give him at first darkness for his surprise, and afterward light for his victory. The time was well chosen, the arrangements were all well made, and the result corresponded with the character of the preparations. The sally wa? triumphantly successful. The Danes, who vrere all, except their sen- tinels, sleeping quietly and secure, were sud denly aroused by the unearthly and terrific yells with which the Saxons burst into the lines of their encampment. They flew to arms, but the shock of the onset produced a panic and confusion which soon made their cause hopeless. Odun and his immediate followers pressed di- rectly forward into Hubba's tent, where they surprised the commander, and massacred him on the spot. They seized, too, to their inex- pressible joy, the sacred banner, which was in A.D. 878.] Army Reassembled. 179 Capture of the banner. Slaughter of tlie Danes. Hubba's tent, and bore it forth, rejoicing in it, not merely as a splendid trophy of their victory, but as a loss to their enemies which fixed and sealed their doom. The Danes fled before their enemies in ter- ror ^and the consternation which they felt, when they learned that their banner had been cap- tured and their leader slain, was soon chano^ed into absolute despair. The Saxons slew them without mercy, cutting down some as they were running before them in their headlong flight, and transfixing others with their spears and ar- rows as they lay upon the ground, trampled down by the crowds and the confusion. There was no place of refuge to which they could fly except, to their ships. Those, therefore, that escaped the weapons of their pursuers, fled in the direction of the water, where the strong and the fortunate gained the boats and the galleys, while the exhausted and the wounded were drowned. The fleet sailed away from* the coast, and the Saxons, on surveying the scene of the terrible contest, estimated that there were twelve hundred dead bodies lying in the field. This victory, and especially the capture of the Raven, produced vast effects on the mindg both of the Saxons and of the Danes, animat- 180 Alfred the Great. [A.D.878. iVlfred's prospects brightaa. Alarm of the Danes. ing and encouraging the one, and depressing the other with superstitious as well as natural and proper fears. The influence of the battle was sufficient, in fact, wholly to change Al- fred's position and prospects. The news of the discovery of the place of his retreat, and of^tho measures which he was maturing for taking the field again to meet his enemies, spread throughout the country. The people were ev- ery where ready to take up arms and join him. There were large bodies of Danes in several parts of his dominions still, and they, alarmed somewhat at these indications of new efforts of resistance on the part of their enemies, began to concentrate their strength and prepare for another struggle. The main body of the Danes were encamped at a place called Edendune, in Wiltshire. There is a hill near, which the army made their main position, and the marks of their fortifications have been traced there, either in imagination or reality, in modern times. Alfred wished tc gain more precise and accurate information than he yet possessed of the numbers and situ- ation of his foes ; and, in order to do this, in- Ftead of employing a spy, he conceived the de- sign of going himself in disguise to explore iho A.D 878.] Army Reassemblf d. 181 Alfred resolves to explore the Danish camp. His disguise camp of the Danes. The undertaking was full of danger, but yet not quite so desperate as at first it might seem. Alfred had had abundant opportunities during th3 months of his seclusion to become familiar with the modes of speech and the manners of peasant life. He had also, in his early years, stored his memory with Sax- on poetry, as has already been stated. He was fond of music, too, and well skilled in it ; so that he had every qualification for assuminsr the character of one of those r jving harpers, who, in those days, followed armies, to sing songs and make amu.^ement for the soldiers. He de- termined, consequently, to assume the disguise of a harper, and to wander into the camp of the Danes, that he might make his own observa- tions on the nature and magnitude of the force with which he was about to contend. He accordingly clothed himself in the garb of the character which he was to assume, and, taking his harp upon his shoulder, wandered away in the direction of the Northmen's camp. Such a strolling countryman, half musician, half beggar, would enter without suspicion or hinder ance into the canip, even though he be- longed to the nation of the enemy. Alfred was readily admitted, and he wandered at will about 182 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878 AUVed in the Danish camp. He plays for the king tiie linesj to play and sing to the soldiers wher- ever he found groups to listen — intent, appar- ently, on nothing but his scanty pittance of pay, while he was really studying, with the utmost attention and care, the number, and disposition, and discipline of the troops, and all the arrange- ments of the army. He came very near dis- covering himself, however, by overacting his part. His music was so well executed and his ballads were so fine, that reports of the excel- lence of his performance reached the command- er's ears. He ordered the pretended harper to be sent into his tent, that he might hear him play and sing. Alfred went, and thus he had the opportunity of completing his observations in the tent, and in the presence of the Danish king. Alfred found that the Danish camp was in a very unguarded and careless condition. Tho name of the commander, or king, was Guth- rum.^ Alfred, while playing in his presence^ studied his character, and it is improbable that the very extraordinary course which he after- ward pursued in respect to Guthrum may have been caused, in a great degree, by the opportu- * Spelled sometimes Godrun, Gutrum, Gytlirara, and in tarious other ways. 4..D. 878.] Army Reassemblejd. 183 Gu thrum's reception of Alfred. His attendant and companion nity he now enjoyed of domestic access to him and of obtaining a near and intimate view of his social and personal character. Guthrum treated the supposed harper with great kind- ness. He was much pleased both with his sing- ing and his songs, being attracted, too, proba- bly, in some degree, by a certain mysterious interest which the humble stranger must have inspired ; for Alfred possessed personal and in- tellectual traits of character which could not but have given to his conversation and his man- ners a certain charm, notwithstanding all his efforts to disguise or conceal them. How^ever this may be, Guthrum gave Alfred a very friendly reception, and the hour of social intercourse and enjoyment which the general and the ballad-singer spent together was only a precursor of the more solid and honest friend- ship which afterward subsisted between them B.S allied sovereigns. Alfred had one person with him, whom he had brought from Ethelney — a sort of attend- ant — to help him carry his harp, and to be a companion for him on the way. He would have needed such a companion even if he had been only w4iat he seemed ; but for a spy, going in disguise into the camp of such ferocious ene- 184 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878 Alired returns to Ethelney. His plana mies as the Danes, it would seem absolutely indispensable that he should have the support and sympathy of a friend. Alfred, after finishing his examination of the camp of Gu thrum, and forming secretly, in his own mind, his plans for attacking it, moved leisurely away, taking his harp and his attend- ant with him, as if going on in search of some new place to practice his profession. As soon as he was out of the reach of observation, he made a circuit and returned in safety to Ethel- ney. The season was now spring, and every thing favored the commencement of his enter- prise. His first measure was to send out some trusty messengers into all the neighboring counties, to visit and confer with his friends at their va- rious castles and stronsr-holds. These messen- gers were to announce to such Saxon leaders as they should find that Alfred was still alive, and that he was preparing to take the field against the Danes again ; and were to invite them to assemble at a certain place appointed, in a for- est, with as many followers as they could bring, that the king might there complete the organ- ization of an army, and hold consultation with them to mature their plans A.D. 878.] Army Reassembled. 185 Selwood Forest. Stone of Egbert The wood on the borders of which they were to meet was an extensive forest of willows, fif- teen miles long and six broad It was known by the name of Selwood Forest. There was a celebrated place called the Stone of Egbert, where the meeting was to be held. Each chief- tain whom the messengers should visit was to be invited to come to the Stone of Egbert at the appointed day, with as many armed men, and yet in as secret and noiseless a manner as possible, so as thus, while concentrating all their forces in preparation for their intended at- tack, to avoid every thing which would tend to put Guthrum on his guard. The messengers found the Saxon chieftains very ready to enter into Alfred's plans. They were rejoiced to hear, as some of them did now for the first time hear, that he was alive, and that the spirit and energy of his former charac- ter were about to be exhibited again. Every thing, in fact, conspired to favor the enterprise. The long and gloomy months of winter were past, and the opening spring brought with it, as usual, excitement and readiness for action. The tidings of Odun's victory over Hubba, and the capture of the sacred raven, which had spread every where, had awakened a general 186 Alfreij THE G RE AT. [A.D. 878 The great m . eting in Selwood Forest. Rejoicings. enthusiasm, and a desire on the part of all the Saxon chieftains and soldiers to try their strength once more with their ancient enemies. Accordingly, those to whom the secret was intrusted eagerly accepted the invitation, or, perhaps, as it should rather be expressed, obeyed the summons which Alfred sent them. They marshaled their forces without any delay, and repaired to the appointed place in Selwood For- est. Alfred was ready to meet them there. Two days were occupied with the arrivals of the different parties, and in the mutual con- gratulations and rejoicings. Growing more bold as their sense of strength increased with their increasing numbers, and with the ardoi' and enthusiasm which their mutual influence on each other inspired, they spent the intervals of their consultations in festivities and rejoic- ings, celebrating the occasion with games and martial music. The forest resounded with the blasts of horns, the sound of the trumpets, the clash of arms, and the shouts of joy and con- gratulation, which all the efforts of the more prudent and cautious could not repress. In the mean time, Guthrum remained in his encampment at Edendune. This seems to have been the principal concentration of the forces A.D. 878.] Army Reassembled. Ibi? Guthnim in his camp. His sense of security. of the Danes which were marshaled for military service ; and yet there were large numbers of the people, disbanded soldiers, or non-combat- ants, who had come over in the train of the ar- mies, that had taken possession of the lands which they had conquered, and had settled upon them for cultivation, as if to make them their permanent home. These intruders were scat- tered in larger or smaller bodies in various parts of the kingdom, the Saxon inhabitants being prevented from driving them away by the in- fluence and power of the armies, which still kept possession of the field, and preserved their military organization complete, ready for action at any time whenever any organized Saxon force should appear. Guthrum, as we have said, headed the larir. est of these armies. He was aware of the in- creasing excitement that was spreading among the Saxon population, and he even heard ru- mors of the movements which the bodies of Saxons made, in going under their several chief- tains to Selwood Forest. He expected that some important movement was about to occur, but he had no idea that preparations so extend- ed, and for so decisive a demonstration, were so far advanced. He remained, therefore, at 188 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878. Alfred marches toward Guthrum's camp. He encamps at iEcglea. his camp at Edendune, gradually completing his arrangements for his summer campaign, but making no preparations for resisting any sud- den or violent attack. When all was ready, Alfred put himself at the head of the forces which had collected at the Egbert Stone, or, as it is quaintly spelled in some of the old accounts, Ecgbyrth-stan. There is a place called Brixstan in that vicinity now, which may possibly be the same name modified and abridged by the lapse of time. Alfred moved forward toward Guthrum's camp. He went only a part of the way the first day, intending to finish the march by getting into the immediate vicinity of the enemy on the morrow. He succeeded in accomplishing this object, and encamped the next night at a place called ^cglea,^ on an eminence from which he could reconnoiter, from a great distance, the position of the army. That night, as he was sleeping in his tent, he had a remarkable dteam. He dreamed that his relative, St. Neot, who has been already mentioned as the chaplain or priest w^ho reprov- * Some think that this place is the modern Leigh ; others, that it was Highley ; either of which names might have been deduced from iEc£^lea. A.D.S7S.] Army Reassembled. 189 Alfred's remarkable dream. Enthusiasm of the army. ed him so severely for his sins in the early part of his reign, appeared to him. The apparition bid him not fear the immense army of pagans whom he was going to encounter on the mor- row. God, he said, had accepted his penitence, and was now about to take him under his spe- cial protection. The calamities which had be- fallen him were sent in judgment to punish the pride and arrogance which he had manifested in the early part of his reign ; but his faults had been expiated by the sufferings he had en- dured, and by the penitence and the piety which they had been the means of awakening in his heart ; and now he might go forward into the battle without fear, as God was about to give him the victory over all his enemies. The king related his dream the next morn- ing to his army. The enthusiasm and ardor which the chieftains and the men had felt be- fore were very much increased by this assur- ance of success. They broke up their encamp- ment, therefore, and commenced the march, which was to bring them, before many hours, into the presence of the enemy, with great alac- rity and eager expectations of success. \M Alfred the Great. [A.D 878, llfied puts his army in motion. Position of Guthrum. Chapter X. The Victory over the Danes. ENCOURAGED by his dream, and anima ted by the number and the elation of hi^ followers, Alfred led his army onward toward the part of the country where the camp of the enemy lay. He intended to surprise them ; and, although Guthrum had heard vague ru- mors that some great Saxon movement was in train, he viewed the sudden appearance of this large and well-organized army with amaze- ment. He had possession of the hill near Edendune, which has been already described. He had es- tablished his head-quarters here, and made his strongest fortifications on the summit of the eminence. The main body of his forces were, however, encamped upon the plain, over which they extended, in vast numbers, far and wide. Alfred halted his men to change the order of march into the order of battle. Here he made an address to his men. As no time was to be lost, he spoke but a few words. Ho reminded A.D. 878.] Saxon Victory. 19j The battle. Defeat of the Dance, them that they were to contend, that day, to rescue themselves and their comitry from the intolerable oppression of a horde of pagan idol- aters ; that God was on their side, and had promised them the victory ; and he urged them to act like men, so as to deserve the success and happiness which was in store for them. The army then advanced to the attack, the Danes having been drawn out hastily, but with as much order as the suddenness of the call would allow, to meet them. When near enough for their arrows to take effect, the long line of Alfred's troops discharged their arrows. They then advanced to the attack with lances ; but soon these and all other weapons which kept the combatants at a distance were thrown aside, and it became a terrible conflict with swords, man to man. It was not long before the Danes began to yield. They were not sustained by the strong assurance of victory, nor by the desperate de- termination which animated the Saxons. The flight soon became general. They could not gain the fortification on the hill, for Alfred had forced his way in between the encampment on the plains and the approaches to the hill. The Danes, consequently, not being able to find ret 192 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878, Flight of the Danes. Pursuit of the Saxons. uge in either part of the position they had tak- en, fled altogether from the field, pursued by Alfred's victorious columns as fast as they could follow. Gu thrum succeeded, by great and vigorous exertions, in rallying his men, or, at least, in so far collecting and concentrating the separate bodies of the fugitives as to change the flight into a retreat, having some semblance of mili- tary order. Vast numbers had been left dead upon the field. Others had been taken prison- ers. Others still had become hopelessly dispers- ed, having fled from the field of battle in di- verse directions, and wandered so far, in their terror, that they had not been able to rejoin their leader in his retreat. Then, great num- bers of those who pressed on under Guthrum's command, exhausted by fatigue, or spent and fainting from their wounds, sank down by the way-side to die, v/hile their comrades, intent only upon their own safety, pressed incessantly on. The retreating army was thus, in a short time, reduced to a small fraction of its original force. This remaining body, with Guthrum at their head, continued their retreat until they reached a castle which promised them protec- tion. Thoy poured in over the drawbridges A.D.878.J Saxon Victory. 193 .Tig Danes shut themselves up in a castle. Elation of the Saxons. iiid throQgh the gates of this fortress in extreme confusion ; and feeling suddenly, and for the 'iioment, entirely relieved at their escape from the imminence of the immediate danger, they shut themselves in. The finding of such a retreat would have been great good fortune for these wretched fu- gitives if there had been any large force in the country to come soon to their deliverance ; but, :cS they were without provisions and without fVater, they soon began to perceive that, unless they obtained some speedy help from without, ...ey had only escaped the Saxon lances and swords to die a ten times more bitter death of thirst and famine ; and there was no force to relieve them. The army which had been thus defeated was the great central force of the Danes upon the island. The other detachments and independent bands which were scattered about the land were thunderstruck at the news of this terrible defeat. The Saxons, too, were every where aroused to the highest pitch of en- thusiasm at the reappearance of their king and ihe tidings of his victory. The whole country o as in arms. Guthrum, however, shut up in jiis castle, and closely invested with Alfred's forces, had no means of knowing what was N 194 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878 Hopeless condition of the Danes. Surrender cf Guthruna. passing without. His numbers Avere so small in comparison with those besieging him that it would have been madness for him to have at- tempted a sally ; and he would not surrender. He waited day after day, hoping against hope that some succor would come. His half-fam- ished sentinels gazed from the watch-towers of the castle all around, looking for some cloud of distant dust, or weapon glancing in the sun, which might denote the approach of friends coming to their rescue. This lasted fourteen days. At the end of that time, the number within this wretched prison who were raving in the delirium of famine and thirst, or dying in agony, became too great for Guthrum to per- sist any longer. He surrendered. Alfred was once more in possession of his kingdom. During the fourteen days that elapsed be- tween the victory on the field of battle and the final surrender of Guthrum, Alfred, feeling that the povrer was now in his hands, had had am- ple time to reflect on the course which he should pursue with his subjugated enemies ; and the result to which he came, and the measure which he adopted, evince, as much as any act of his life, the greatness, and originality, and noble- ness of his character. Here were two distinct A.D.878.J Saxon Victory. 195 ITie Saxons and Danes equally aggressors. Their relations. and independent races on the same island, that had been engaged for many years in a most fierce and sanguinary struggle, each gaining at times a temporary and partial victory, but nei- ther able entirely to subdue or exterminate the other. The Danes, it is true, might be consid- ered as the aggressors in this contest, and, as such, wholly in the wrong; but then, on the- other hand, it was to be remembered that the ancestors of the Saxons had been guilty of pre- cisely the same aggressions upon the Britonsj who held the island before them ; so that the Danes were, after all, only intruding upon in- truders. It was, besides, the general maxim of the age, that the territories of the world were prizes open for competition, and that the right to possess and to govern vested naturally and justly in those who could show themselves the strongest. Then, moreover, the Danes had been now for many years in Britain. Vast numbers had quietly settled on agricultural lands. They had become peaceful inhabitants. They had established, in many cases, friendly relations with the Saxons. They had intermarried with them ; and the two races, instead of appearing, as at fnrst, simply as two hostile armies of com- batants contending on the field, had been, for 196 Alfred the Great. [A.D, 878 Impossibility of expelling tlie Danes. Wise policy. some years, acquiring the character of a mixed population, established and settled, though het- erogeneous, and, in some sense, antagonistic still. To root out all these people, intruders though they were, and send them back again across the German Ocean, to regions where they no longer had friends or home, would have been a desperate — in fact, an impossible under- taking. Alfred saw all these things. He took, in fact, a general, and comprehensive, and impartial view of the whole subject, instead of regarding it, as most conquerors in his situation would' have done, in a partisan^ that is, an exclusively Saxon point of view. He saw how impossible it was to undo w^hat had been done, and wisely determined to take things as they were, and make the best of the present situation of affairs, leaving the past, and aiming only at accom- plishing the best that was now attainable for the future. It would be well if all men who are engaged in quarrels which they vainly en- deavor to settle by discussing and disputing about what is past and gone, and can now nev- er be recalled, would follow his example. In all such cases we should say, let the past be for- gotten, and, taking things as they now are. let A.D.878.1 Saxon Victory. 197 Alfred's generosity. Terms offered Guthrum. US see what we can do to secure peace and hap- piness in future. The policy which Alfred determined to adopt was, not to attempt the utter extirpation of the Danes from England, but only to expel the arm- ed forces from his own dominions, allowing those peaceably disposed to remain in quiet pos- session of such lands in other parts of the isl- and as they already occupied. Instead, there- fore, of treating Guthrum with harshness and severity as a captive enemy, he told him that he was willing not only to give him his liberty, but to regard him, on certain conditions, as a friend and an ally, and allow him to reign as a king over that part of England which his coun- trymen possessed, and which was beyond Al- fred's own frontiers. These conditions were, that Guthrum was to go away with all his forces and followers out of Alfred's kingdom, under solemn oaths never to return ; that he was to confine himself thenceforth to the south- eastern part of England, a territory from which the Saxon government had long disappeared ; that he was to give hostages for the faithful ful- fillment of these stipulations, without, however receiving on his part any hostages from Alfred. There was one other stipulation, more extraor- 198 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878 Gulhnim agrees to become a Christian. Sudden change in his affairs dinary than all the rest, viz., that Guthrum i^hould become a convert to Christianity, and publicly avow his adhesion to the Saxon faith by being baptized in the presence of the leaders of both armies, in the most open and solemn manner. In this proposed baptism, Alfred him- self would stand his godfather. This idea of winning over a pagan soldier to the Christian Church as the price of his ransom from famine and death in the castle to which his direst enemy had driven him — this enemy himself, the instrument thus of so rude a mode of conversion, to be the sponsor of the new com- municant's religious profession— was one in keeping, it is true, with the spirit of the times, but still it is one which, under the circumstan- ces of this case, only a mind of great original- ity and power would have conceived of or at- tempted to carry into effect. Guthrum might well be astonished at this unexpected turn in his affairs. A few days before, he saw himself on the brink of utter and absolute destruction. Shut up with his famished soldiers in a gloomy castle, with the enemy, bitter and implacable, as he supposed, thundering at the gates, the only alternatives before him seemed to be to die of starvation and phrensy within the walls A.D.87S.] Saxon Victory. 199 The terms accepted. The Danes liberated. which covered him, or by a cruel military exe- cution in the event of surrender. He surren- dered at last, as it would seem, only becaubi^ the utmost that human cruelty can inflict is more tolerable than the horrid agonies of thirst and hunger. We can not but hope that Alfred was led, in some degree, by a generous principle of Chris- tian forgiveness in proposing the terms which he did to his fallen enemy, and also that Guthrum, in accepting them, was influenced, in part at least, by emotions of gratitude and by admiration of the high example of Christian virtue which Alfred thus exhibited. At any rate, he did ac- cept them. The army of the Danes were liber- ated from their confinement, and commenced their march to the eastward ; Guthrum him- self, attended by thirty of his chiefs and many other followers, became Alfred's guest for some weeks, until the most pressing measures for the organization of Alfred's government could be at- tended to, and the necessary preparations for the baptism could be made. At length, some weeks after the surrender, the parties all re- paired together, now firm friends and allies, to a place near Ethelney, w^here the ceremony oi baptism was to be performed. 200 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878 Probable effects of Guthrum'a baptism. The cererconiee The admission of this pagan chieftain into the Christian Church did not probably mark any real change in his opinions on the question of paganism and Christianity, but it Avas not the less important in its consequences on that ac- count. The moral effect of it upon the minds of his followers ^yas of great value. It opened the way for their reception of the Christian faith, if any of them should be disposed to receive it. Then it changed wholly the feeling which prevailed among the Saxon soldiery, and also the Saxon chieftains, in respect to these ene- mies. A great deal of the bitterness of exas- peration with which they had regarded them arose from the fact that they were pagans, the haters and despisers of the rites and institutions of religion. Guthrum's approaching baptism w^as to change all this ; and Alfred, in leading him to the baptismal font, was achieving, in the estimation not only of all England, but of France and of Rome, a far greater and nobler victory than when he conquered his armies on the field of Edendune. The various ceremonies connected with the baptism were protracted through several days. They were commenced at a place called Aulre, near Ethelney, whore there was a religious es- x\.D. 878.] Jaxon Victory. 201 Guthrum's new name. Public festivities. tablishment and priests to perform the necessary rites. The new convert was clothed in white garments — the symbol of purity, then custom- arily worn by candidates for baptism — and was covered with a mystic veil. They gave Guth- rum a new name — a Christian, that is, a Saxon name. Converted pagans received always a new name, in those days, when baptized ; and our common phrase, the Christian name^ has arisen from the circumstance. Guthrum's Christian name was Ethelstan. Alfred was his godfather. After "the baptism the whole party proceeded to a town a few miles distant, which Alfred had decided to make a royal res- idence, and there other ceremonies connected with the new convert's admission to the Church were performed, the whole ending with a series of great public festivities and rejoicings. A very full and formal treaty of peace and amity was now concluded between the two sov- ereigns ; for Guthrum was styled in the treaty a king^ and was to hold, in the dominions as- signed him to the eastward of Alfred's realm, an independent jurisdiction. He agreed, how- ever, by this treaty, to confme himself, from that time forward, to the limits thus assigned. If the reader washes to see what part of England 202 Alfred the Great. fA.I).b78 Treaty between Alfred and Guthrum. Kingdom of the latter it was which Guthrum was thus to hold, he can easily identify it by finding upon the map the following counties, which now occupy the same territory, viz., Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge- shire, Essex, and part of Herefordshire. The population of all this region consisted already, in a great measure, of Danes. It was the part most easily accessible from the German Ocean, by means of the Thames and the Medway, and it had, accordingly, become the chief seat of the Northmen's power. Guthrum not only agreed to confine himself to the limits thus marked out, but also to con- sider himself henceforth as Alfred's friend and ally in the event of any new bands of adven- turers arriving on the coast, and to join Alfred in his endeavors to resist them. In hoping that he would fulfill this obligation, Alfred did not rely altogether on Guthrum's oaths or prom- ises, or even on the hostages that he held. He had made it for his interest to fulfill them. By giving him peaceable possession of this terri- tory, after having, by his victories, impressed him with a very high idea of his own great mil- itary resources and power, he had placed his conquered enemy under very strong induce- ments to be satisfied with what he now po<^ A..D.87S.] Saxon Victory. 203 Guthrum faithful to his covenant. Fundamental laws settled. sessed, and to make common cause with Alfred in resisting the encroachments of any new ma- rauders. Guthrum was therefore honestly resolved on keeping his faith with his new ally ; and when all these stipulations were made, and the treat- ies were signed, and the ceremonies of the bap* tism all performed, Alfred dismissed his guest^ with many presents and high honors. There is some uncertainty whether Alfred did not, in addition to the other stipulations un- der which he bound Guthrum, reserve to him- self the superior sovereignty over Guthrum's dominions, in such a manner that Guthrum, though complimented in the treaty with the title of king, was, after all, only a sort of vice roy, holding his throne under Alfred as his liege lord. One thing is certain, that Alfred took care, in his treaty with Guthrum, to settle ali the fundamental laws of both kingdoms, mak- ing them the same for both, as if he foresaw the complete and ejitire union which was ulti mately to take place, and wished to facilitate the accomplishment of this end by having the political and social constitution of the two states brought at once into harmony with each other. It proved, in the end, that Guthrum was 204 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878 Guthrum^ crrvices. Alfred organizes his government faithful to his obligations and promises. Ho settled himself quietly in the dominions which the treaty assigned to him, and made no moro attempts to encroach upon Alfred's realm. Whenever other parties of Danes came upon the coast, as they sometimes did, they found no favor or countenance from him. They came, in some cases, expecting his co-operation ai?d aid ; but he always refused it, and by this dis- couragement, as well as by open resistance, he drove many bands away, turning the tide of invasion southward into France, and other re- gions on the Continent. Alfred, in the mean time, gave his whole time and attention to or- ^ganizing the various departments of his govern- ment, to planning and building towns, repair- ing and fortifying castles, opening roads, estab- lishing courts of justice, and arranging and set- ting in operation the complicated machinery necessary in the working of a well-conducted social state. The nature and operation of some of his plans will be described more fully in the next chapter. In concluding this chapter, we will add, that notwithstanding his victory over Guthrum, and (xuthrum's subsequent good faith, Alfred never enjoyed an absolute peace, but during the whole A.D.878.] Saxon Victory. 20;j Continued trouble from the Danes. AUred'a character. remainder of his reign was more or less molesi cd with parties of Northmen, who came, from time to time, to land on English shores, and who met sometimes with partial and temporary success in their depredations. The most se rious of these attempts occurred near the close of Alfred's life, and will be hereafter described. The generosity and the nobleness of mind which Alfred manifested in his treatment ol Guthrum made a great impression upon man- kind at the time, and have done a great deal to elevate the character of our hero in every sub- sequent age. All admire such generosity in others, however slow they may be to practice it themselves. It seems a very easy virtue when we look upon an exhibition of it like this, where we feel no special resentments ourselves against the person thus nobly forgiven. "We find it, however, a very hard virtue to practice, when a case occurs requiring the exercise of it to- ward a person who has done us an injury. Let those who think that in Alfred's situation they should have acted as he did, look around upon the circle of their acquaintance, and see whether it is easy for them to pursue a similar course toward their personal enemies — those who have 206 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 878. Alfred's kindness of heart. The child in the eagle's nest thwarted and circumvented them in thei^ plans, or slandered them, or treated them with insult and injury. By observing how hard it is to change our own resentments to feelings of for- giveness and good will, we can the better ap- preciate Alfred's treatment of Guthrum. Alfred was famed during all his life for the kindness of his heart, and a thousand stories were told in his day of his interpositions to right the wronged, to relieve the distressed, to com- fort the afflicted, and to befriend the unhappy. On one occasion, as it is said, when he was hunting in a wood, he heard the piteous cries of a child, which seemed to come from the air above his head. It was found, after much look- ing and listening, that the sounds proceeded from an eagle's nest upon the top of a lofty tree. On climbing to the nest, they found the child within, screaming with pain and terror. The eagle had carried it there in its talons for a prey. Alfred brought down the boy, and, after making fruitless inquiries to find its father and mother, adopted him for his own son, gave him a good education, and provided for him well in his fu- ture life. The story was all, very probably, a fabrication ; but the characters of men are some- times very strikingly indicated by the kind of stories that are invented concernin^x them. ro'-eijutiy cv AiJ-^ar^ A.D. 680-890.] Alfred's Re ion, 209 Alired'8 humanity and benevolence. His love of peace. Chapter XI. Character of Alfred's Reign. PERHAPS the chief aspect in which King Alfred's character has attracted the atten- tion of mankind, is in the spirit of humanity and benevolence which he manifested, and in the efforts which he made to cultivate the arts of peace, and to promote the intellectual and social welfare of his people, notwithstanding the warlike ha^'ts to which he was accustomed in his early years, and the w^arlike influences which surrounded him during all his life. Ev- ery thing in the outward circumstances in which he was placed tended to make him a mere military hero. He saw, however, the su- perior greatness and glory of the work of laying the foundations of an extended and permanent power, by a"*^anging in the best possible man- ner the internal organization of the social state. He saw that intelligence, order, justice, and system, prevailing in and governing the institu- tions of a country, constitute the true elements of its greatness, and he acted accordingly O 210 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 880-890. Character of the materials upon which Alfred operated. It is true, he had good materials to work with. He had the Anglo-Saxon race to act upon at the time, a race capable of appreciating and entering into his plans ; and he has had the same race to carry them on, for the ten centu- ries which have elapsed since he laid his foun- dations. As no other race of men but Anglo- Saxons could have produced an Alfred, so, prob ably, no other race could have carried out such plans as Alfred formed. It is a race which ha? always been distinguished, like Alfred their great prototype and model, for a certain cool and intrepid energy in war, combined with and surpassed by the industry, th(> ""v^tem, the effi ciency, and the perseverance v':th which they pursue and perfect all the arts of peace. They systematize every thing. They arrange — they organize. Every thing in their hands takes form, and advances to continual improvement Even while the rest of the world remain inert they are active. When the arts and improve- ments of life are stationary among other na. tions, they are always advancing with them, It is a people that is always making new dis- coveries, pressing forward to new enterprises, framing new laws, constituting new combina- lions and developing new powers ; until now. A.D. 880-890.] Alfre >'s Reign. 211 The difficulties with which Alfred had to contend. after the lapse of a thousand years, the little island feeds and clothes, directly or indirectly, a very large portion of the human race, and di- rects, in a great measure, the politics of the world. Whether Alfred reasoned upon the capaci- ties of the people whom he ruled, and foresaw their future power, or whether he only followed the simple impulses of his own nature in the plans which he formed and the measures which he adopted, we can not know ; but we know that^ in fact, he devoted his chief attention, dur- ing all the j^ears of his reign, to perfecting in the highest degree the internal organization of his realm, considered as a great social commu- nity. His people were in a very rude, and, in fact, almost half-savage state when. he com- menced his career. He had every thing to do, and yef he seems to have had no favorable op- portunities for doing any thing. In the first place, his time and attention were distracted, during his whole reign, by continued difficulties and contentions with various hordes of Danes, even after his peace with Guthrum. These troubles, and the military preparations and movements to which they would naturally give rise, would seem to have been sufficient tu 212 Alfred THE Great. [A.D. 880-890 Alfred's sufferings from dispH.={), His patience. have occupied fully all the powers of his mincl, and to have prevented him from doing any thing effectual for the internal improvement of liis kingdom. Then, besides, there was another difficulty with which Alfred had to contend, w^hich one might have supposed would have paralyzed all his energies. He suffered all his life from some mysterious and painful internal disease, the na- ture of which, precisely, is not known, as the allusions to it, though very frequent through- out his life, are very general, and the physi- cians of the day, wdio probably were not very skillful, could not determine what it was, or do any thing effectual to relieve it.' The disease, whatever it may have been, was a source of continual uneasiness, and sometimes of extreme and terrible suffering. Alfred bore all the pain which it caused him with exemplary patience ; and, though he could not always resist the ten- dency to discouragement and depression with which the perpetual presence of such a torment wears upon the soul, he did not allow it to di- minish his exertions, or suspend, at any time, the ceaseless activity with which he labored for the welfare of the people of his realm. Alfred attached great importance to the edu- A.D. 880-890.] Alfred's Reign. 213 Alfred's interest in learning. Asser, the Welsh bishop. cation of his people. It was not possible, in those days, to etlacate the mass, for there w^ero no books, and no means of producing them in sufFicient numbers to supply any geneial de- mand. Books, in those days, were extremely costly, as they had all to be vvritten laboriously by hand. The great mass of the population, therefore, w^ho were engaged in the daily toil of cultivating the land, w^ere necessarily left in ignorance ; but Alfred made every effort in his power to aw^aken a love for learning and the arts among the higher classes. He set them, in fact, an efficient example in his own case, by pressing forward diligently in his ow^n studies, even in the busiest periods of his reign. The spirit and manner in \vhich he did this are well illustrated by the plan he pursued in studying Latin. It was this : He had a friend in his court, a man of great literary attainments and great piety, whose name was Asser. Asser was a bishop in Wales when Alfred first heard of his fame as a man of learning and abilities, and Alfred sent for him to come to his court and make him a visit. Alfred was very much pleased wdth what he saw of Asser at this interview, and proposed to him to leave his preferments in Wales, which 214 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 880-890 Alfred's proposals to Asser. Asser's acceptance. were numerous and important, and come into his kingdom, and he would give him greater preferments there. Asser hesitated. Alfred then proposed to him to spend six months every year in England, and the remaining six in Wales. Asser said that he could not give an answer even to this proposal till he had return- ed home and consulted with the monks and other clergy under his charge there. He would, however, he said, at least come back and see Alfred again within the next six months, and give him his final answer. The;i, after having spent four days in Alfred's court, he went away. The six months passed away and he did not return, Alfred sent a messenger into "Wales to ascertain the reason. The messenger found that Asser was sick. His friends, however, had advised that he should accede to Alfred's pro- posal to spend six months of the year in En- gland, as they thought tlmt by that means, through his influence with Alfred, he would be the better able to protect and advance the in- terests of their monasteries and establishments in Wales, So Asser went to England, and be- came during six naonths ii; the year Alfred's constant friend and teacher. In the course of time, Alfred placed him at the head of some of A.D. 880-890.J Alfred's Reign Alfred and Asser. Alfred b Latdu book. the most important establishments and ecclesi. astical charges in England. One day— it was eight or nine years after Alfred's victory over Guthrum and settlement of the kingdom— the king and Asser were en- gaged in conversation in the royal apartments, and Asser quoted sornf^ Latin phrase with which, on its being explained, Alfred was very much pleased, and he asked Asser to write it down for him in his book. So saying, he took from his pocket a little book of prayers and other pieces of devotion, which he was accustomed to carry with him for daily use. It was, of course, in manuscript. Asser looked over it to find a space where he could write the Latin quotation, but there was no convenient vacancy. He then proposed to Alfred that he should make for him another small book, expressly for Latin quota- tions, with explanations of their meaning, if Alfred chose to make them, in the Anglo-Saxon tongue. Alfred highly approved of this sugges- tion. The bishop prepared the little parchment volume, and it became gradually filled with passages of Scripture, in Latin, and striking sentiments, briefly and tersely expressed, ex- tracted from the writings of the Roman poets or of the fathers of the Church. Alfred wrote 216 Alfred THE Great. [A.B. 880-890 Alfred becomes an author. Printing and circulation of hooka. opposite to each quotation its meaning, express- ed in his own language ; and as he made the book his constant companion, and studied it continually, taking great interest in adding to its stores, it ^Yas the means of communicating to him soon a very considerable knowledge of the language, and was the foundation of that- extensive acquaintance with it which he subse- quently acquired. Alfred made great efforts to promote in every way the intellectual progress and improvement of his people. He wrote and translated books, which were published so far as it was possible to publish books in those days, that is, by hav- ing a moderate number of copies transcribed and circulated amons: those who could read them. Such copies were generally deposited at monasteries, and abbeys, and other such places, where learned men were accustomed to assem ble. These writings of Alfred exerted a wide influence during his day. They remained in manuscript until the art of printing was invent- ed, when many of them were printed; others remain in manuscript in the various museums of England, where visitors look at them as cu- riosities, all worn and corroded as they are, and almost illegible by time. These books, though A.D. 880-^90.] Alfred's Reign. 217 . Dfluence of Alfred^s writinga. Founding of th e University of Oxford they exerted great influence at the time when fhey were written, are of little interest or value now. They express ideas in morals and philos- ophy, some of which have become so universal- ly diflused as to be commonplace at the pres- ent day, while others would now be discarded, as not in harmony with the ideas or the philos- ophy of the times. One of the greatest and most important of the measures which Alfred adopted for the in- tellectual improvement of his people was the founding of the great University of Oxford. Oxford was Alfred's residence and capital dur- ing a considerable part of his reign. It is situ- ated on the Thames, in the bosom of a delight- ful valley, where it calmly reposes in the midst of fields and meadows as verdant and beautiful as the imagination can conceive. There was a monastery at Oxford before Alfred's day, and for many centuries after his time acts of endow- ment were passed and charters granted, some of which were perhaps of greater importance than those which emanated from Alfred him- self. Thus some carry, back the history of this famous university beyond Alfred's time ; others consider that the true origin of the pres- ent establishment should be assigned to a later 218 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 880-890 Situation of Oxford. Measures of Alfred date than his day. Alfred certainly adopted very important measures at Oxford for organ- izing and establishing schools of instruction and assembling learned men there from various parts of the world, so that he soon made it a great center and seat of learning, and mankind have been consequently inclined to award to him the honor of having laid the foundations of the vast superstructure which has since grown up on that consecrated spot. Oxford is now a city of ancient and venerable colleges. Its si- lent streets ; its grand quadrangles ; its church- es, and chapels, and libraries ; its secluded walks ; its magnificent, though old and crum- bling architecture, make it, even to the pass- ing traveler, one of the wonders of England ; and by the influence which it has exerted for the past ten centuries on the intellectual ad- vancement of the human race, it is really one of the wonders of the world. Alfred repaired the castles which had become dilapidated in the wars ; he rebuilt the ruined cities, organized municipal governments for them, restored the monasteries, and took great pains to place men of learning and piety in charge of them. He revised the laws of the kingdom, and arranged and systematized them A D. 880-890.] A l f r e d ' s R e tg n. 219 Alfred's personal character. Reforms and impi^vementa in the most perfect manner which was possible in times so rude Alfred's personal character gave him great influence among his people, and disposed them to acquiesce readily in the vast innovations and improvements which he introduced— changes which were so radical and affected so extensive- ly the whole structure of society, and all the customs of social life, that any ordinary sover- eign wmild have met w^ith great opposition in his attempt to introduce them ; but Alfred pos- sessed such a character, and proceeded in such a way in introducing his improvements and re- forms, that he seems to have awakened no jeal- ousy and to have aroused no resistance. He was of a very calm, quiet, and placid temper of mind. The crosses and vexations which disturb and irritate ordinary men seemed never to disturb his equanimity. He was pa- tient and forbearing, never expecting too much of those whom he employed, or resenting angri- ly the occasional neglects or failures in duty on their part, w^hich he w^ell knew must frequently occur. He was never elated by prosperity, nor made moody and morose by the turning of the tide against him. In a word, he was a philos- opher, of a calm, and quiet, and happy temper* 220 Alfrei THE Great. [A.D.e^O-890 Alfred's equanimity. His high and noble aims. araent. He knew well that every man in going through life, whatever his rank and station, must encounter the usual alternations of sun- shine and storm. lie determined that these alternations should not mar his happiness, nor disturb the repose of his soul ; that he would, on the other hand, keeping all quiet within, press calmly and steadily forward in the ac- complishment of the vast objects to w^hich he felt that his life was to be given. He was, ac- cordingly, never anxious or restless, never im- patient, or fretful, never excited or wild ; but always calm, considerate, steady, and persever- ing, he infused his own spirit into all around him. They saw him governed by fixed and per- manent principles of justice and of duty in all that he planned, and in every measure that he resorted to in the execution of his plans. It was plain that his great ruling motive w^as a true and honest desire to promote the welfare and prosperity of his people, and the internal peace, and order, and happiness of his realm, without any selfish or sinister aims of his own. In fact, it seemed as if there were no selfish or sinister ends that possessed any charms for Alfred's mind. He had no fondness or taste for luxury or pleasure, or for aggrandizing him* A..D. 880-890.] Alfred's Reign. 221 Alfred'3 solicitude for his country. His diligoncei self in the eyes of others by pomp and parade. It is true that, as was stated in a former chap- ter, he was charged in early life with a tenden- cy to some kinds of wrong indulgence ; but these charges, obscure and doubtful as they were, pertained only to the earliest periods of his career, before the time of his seclusion. Through all the middle and latter portions of his life, the sole motive of his conduct seems to have been a desire to lay broad, and deep, and lasting foundations for the permanent welfare and prosperity of his realm. It resulted from the nature of the measures which Alfred undertook to effect, that they brought upon him daily a vast amount of labor, as such measures always involve a great deal of minute detail. Alfred could only accomplish this great mass of duty by means of the most unremitting industry, and the most systematic ^nd exact division of tune. There were no clocks or watches in those days, and yet it was very necessary to have some plan for keeping the time, in order that his business might go on regularly, and also that the movements and op- erations of his large household might proceed without confusion. Alfred invented a plan. It was as follows : 222 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 880-390. Piau for dividing time. The wax candles. He observed that the wax candles which were ased in his palace and in the churches burned very regularly, and with greater or less rapidity, according to their size. He ordered some ex- periments to be made, and finally, by means of them, he determined on the size of a candle which should burn three inches in an hour. It is said that the wei<2:ht of wax which he used for each candle was twelve pennyweights, that is, but little more than half an ounce, which would make, one would suppose, a taper rather than a candle. There is, however, great doubt about the value of the various denominations of weight and measure, and also of money used in those days. However this may be, the candles were each a foot long, and of such size that each would burn four hours. They were divided into inches, and marked, so that each inch corre- sponded with a third of an hour, or twenty min- utes. A large quantity of these candles were prepared, and a person in one of the chapels was appointed to keep a succession of them burning, and to ring the bells, or give the other signals, whatever they might be, by which the house- hold was regulated, at the successive periods of time denoted by their burning. As each of these candles was one foot long, A.D. 880-890.] Alfred's Rkign. 223 Working of the system. Jutroduction of plaes. and burned three inches in an hour, it follows that it would last four hours ; when this time was expired, the attendant who had the appa- ratus in charge lighted another. There were, of course, six required for the whole twenty- four hours. The system worked very well, though there was one difficulty that occasioned some trouble in the outset, which, however, was not much to be regretted after all, since the remedying of it awakened the royal ingenuity anew, and led, in the end, to adding to Alfred's other glories the honor of being the inventor of lanterns I The difficulty was, that the wind, which came in very freely in those days, even in royal residences, through the open windows, blew the flames of these horological candles about, so as to interfere quite seriously with the regularity of their burning. There was no glass for win- dows in those days, or, at least, very little. It had been introduced, it is said, in one instance, and that was in a monastery in the north of England. The abbot, whose name was Bene- dict, brought over some workmen from the Con tinent, where the art of making ^lass windows had been invented, and caused them to glaze some windows in his monastery. It was many 224 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 880-890 Ancient windows. Invention of lanterns. years after this before glass came into genera, use even in churches, and palaces, and other costly buildings of that kind. In the mean time, windows were mere openings in stono walls, which could be closed only by shutters ; and inasmuch as when closed they excluded the light as well as the air, they could ordina- rily be shut only on one side of the apartment at a time — the side most exposed to the winds and storms. Alfred accordingly found that the flame ol his candles was blown by the wind, which made the wax burn irregularly ; and, to remedy the (ivil, he contrived the plan of protecting them by thin plates of horn. Horn, when softened hy hot water, can easily be cut and fashioned into any shape, and, when very thin, is almost trans- parent. Alfred had these thin plates of horn prepared, and set into the sides of a box made open to receive them, thus forming a rude sort of lantern, within which the time-keeping can- dles could burn in peace. Mankind have con- sequently given to King Alfred the credit of having invented lanterns. Having thus completed his apparatus for the correct measurement of time, Alfred was en abled to be more and more systematic in the A.D. S80-S90.] Alfred's R e i g n. 225 i^lfred's division of his time. Its wisdom. division and employment of it. One of the his- torians of the day relates that his plan was to give one third of the twenty-four hours to sleep and refreshment, one third to business, and the remaining third to the duties of religion. Under this last head was probably included all thoso duties and pursuits which, by the customs of the day, were considered as pertaining to the Church, such as study, writing, and the con- sideration and management of ecclesiastical affairs. These duties were performed, in those days, almost always by clerical men, and in the retirement and seclusion of monasteries, ana were thus regarded as in some sense religious duties. We must conclude that Alfred classed them thus, as he was a great student and writer all his days, and there is no other place than this third head to which the duties of this nature can be assigned. Thus understood, it was a very wise and sensible division ; though eight hours daily for any long period of time, appro- priated to services strictly devotional, would not seem to be a wise arrangement, especially for a man in the prime of life, and in a position demanding the constant exercise of his powers in the discharge of active duties. Thus the years of Alfred's life passed away, V 226 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 880-890 Alfred's prosperity. Troubles from the Danes his kingdom advancing steadily all the time in good government, wealth, and prosperity. The country was not, however, yet freed entirely from the calamities and troubles arising from the hostility of the Danes. Disorders con- tinually broke out among those who had settled in the land, and, in some instances, new hordes of invaders came in. These were, hovv^ever, in most instances, easily subdued, and Alfred v/ent on with comparatively little interruption for many years, in prosecuting the arts and im- provements of peace. At last, however, toward the close of his life, a famous Northman leader, named Hastings, landed in England at the head of a large force, and made, before he was ex- pelled, a great deal of trouble. An account of this invasion will be given in the next chapter. V.D. S93.J The Close of Lifi;. 227 Dvasion of Hastinn;s. Ills exploits on the Continent Chapter X 1 1. The Close of Life. T was twelve or fifteen years after Alfre(l^«^ restoration to his kingdom, by means of tli^ victory at Edendune, that the great invasion of Hastings occurred. That victory took place in the year 878. It was in the years 893-897 that Hastings and his horde of foUoAvers infested the island, and in 900 Alfred died, so that his reign ended, as it had commenced, with pro- tracted and desperate conflicts wdth the Danes. Hastings was an old and successful soldier before he came to England. He had led a wild life for many years as a sea king on the Ger- man Ocean, performing deeds which in our day entail upon the perpetrator of them the infamy of piracy and murder, but w^hich then entitled the hero of them to a very wdde-spread and hon- orable fame. Afterward Hastings landed upon the Continent, and pursued, for a long time, a glorious career of victory and plunder in France, [n these enterprises, the tide, indeed, sometimes turned against him.. On one occasion, fc^v in- 228 ALFRED THE Great. [A.D. 8^:5 Hastings besieged in a church. The place of landing stance, he found himself obliged to give \Yay before his enemies, and he retreated to a church, which he seized and fortified, making it his cas- tle until a more favorable aspect of his affairs enabled him to issue forth from this retreat and take the field again. Still he was generally v^ery successful in his enterprises ; his terrible ferocity, and that of his savage followers, were dreaded in every part of the civilized world. Hastings had made one previous invasion of England; but Guthrum, faithful to his cove- nants with Alfred, repulsed him. But Guth- rum was now dead, and Alfred had to contend against his formidable enemy alone. Hastings selected a point on the soathern coast of E norland for his landin^^. Guthrum's Danes still continued to occupy the eastern part of England, and Hastings went round on the southern coast until he got beyond their bound- aries, as if he Avished to avoid doing any thing directly to awaken their hostility. Guthrum himself, while he lived, had evinced a determi- nation to oppose Hastings's plans of invasion. Hastings did not know, now that Guthrum was dead, whether his successors would oppose him or not. He determined, at all events, to respect their territory, and so he passed alon^ A.D. 893.] The Close of Life. 231 Forces of the Danes. Romney Marshes. on the southern shore of England till he was beyond their limits, and then prepared to land. He had assembled a large force of his own, and he was joined, in addition to them, by many adventurers who came out to attach themselves to his expedition from the bays, and islands, and harbors which he passed on his way. His fleet amounted at least to two hundred and fifty vessels. They arrived, at length, at a part of tlie coast vrhere there extends a vast tract of low and swampy land, which was then a wild and dismal morass. This tract, which is known in modern times by the name of the Romney Marshes, is of enormous extent, containing, as it does, fifty thousand acres. It is new re- claimed, and is defended by a broad and well- constructed dike from the inroads of the sea. In Hastings's time it was a vast waste of bogs and mire, utterly impassable except by means of a river, which, meandering sluggishly through the tangled wilderness of weeds and bushes in a djep, black stream, found an outlet at last into the sea. Hastings took his vessels into this river, and, following its turnings for some miles, he con- ducted them at last to a place where he found more solid ground to land upon. But this 232 Alfred the Great. [A.D. S93 Landing of Hastings. Alfred marches to attack liim ground, though solid, ^yas ahiiost as ^yild and solitary as the morass. It was a forest of vast extent, which showed no signs of human occu- pancy, except that the peasants who lived in the surrounding regions had come down to the low^est point accessible, and were building a rude fortification there. Hastings attacked them and drove them away. Then, advancing a lit- tle further, until he found an advantageous po- sition, he built a strong fortress himself and es- tablished his army within its lines. His next measure was to land another force near the mouth of the Thames, and bring them into the country, until he found a strong posi- tion where he could intrench and fortify the second division as he had done the first. These two positions w^ere but a short distance from each other. He made them the combined cen- ter of his operations, going from them in all di- rections in plundering excursions. Alfred soon raised an army and advanced to attack him ; and these operations w^ere the commencement of a long and tedious war. A detailed description of the events of this war, the marches and countermarches, the bat- tles and sieges, the various success, first of one party and then of the other, given historically A.D. 893.] I HE Close of Life. 23a Cautious policy of Ali'red. Negotiations. in the order of time, would be ay tedious to road as the war itself was to endure. Alfred was very cautious in all his operations, prefer- ring rather to trust to the plan of wearing out the enemy by cutting off their resources and hemming them constantly in, than to incur the risk of great decisive battles. In fact, watch- fulness, caution, and delay are generally the policy of the invaded when a powerful force has succeeded in establishing itself among them ; Vvdiile, on the other hand, the hope of invaders lies ordinarily in prompt and decided action. Alfred was well aware of this, and made all his arrano^ements with a view to cuttinsf off Hast- ings's supplies, shutting him up into as narrow a compass as possible, heading him off in all his predatory excursions, intercepting all de- tachments, and thus reducing him at length to the necessity of surrender. At Ox^e time, soon after the war began, Hast- ings, true to the character of his nation for treachery and stratagem, pretended that he was ready to surrender, and opened a negotiation for this purpose. He agreed to leave the king- dom if Alfred would allow him to depart peace- ably, and also, which was a point of great im- portance in Alfred's estimation, to have his two 234 Alfred the Great. [ A.D. b93 Treacliciy. Capture of Hastings's wife and cnildren sons baptized. While, however, these negotia- tions were going on between the two camps, Alfred suddenly found that the main body of Hastings's army had stolen away in the rear, and were marching off by stealth to another part of the country. The negotiations were, of course, immediately abandoned, and Alfred set off with all his forces in full pursuit. All hopes of peace were given up, and the usual series of sieges, maneuverings, battles, and retreat3 was resumed again. On one occasion Alfred succeeded in taking possession of Hastings's camp, when he had left it in security, as he supposed, to go off for a time b}^ sea on an expedition. Alfred's soldiers found Hastings's wife and children in the camp, and took them prisoners. They sent the terri- fied captives to Alfred, to suffer, as they sup- posed, the long and cruel confinement or the violent death to which the usages of those days consigned such unhappy prisoners. Alfred bap- tized the children, and then sent them, with their mother, loaded with presents and proofs of kindness, back to Hastinsjs asrain. This generosity made no impression upon the heart of Hastings, or, at least, it produced no effect upon his conduct. He continued tha A.D 893.] The Ci.osk of Life. 22t: Successes of Hastings. A turn of foFtune war as energetically as ever. Months passed away and new re-enforcements arrived, until at length he felt strong enough to undertake an excursion into the very heart of the country. lie moved on for a time with triumphant suc- cess ; but this very success was soon the means of turning the current against him again. It aroused the whole country through which he was passing. The inhabitants flocked to arms. They assembled at every rallying point, and, dravv^ing up on all sides nearer and nearer to Hastings's army, they finally stopped his march, and forced him to call all his forces in, and in- trench himself in the first place of retreat that he could find. Thus his very success was the iiieans of turning his good fortune into disaster. And then, in the same way, the success of Alfred and the Saxons soon bron2:ht disaster upon them too, in their turn ; for, after suc- ceeding in shutting Hastings closely in, and cutting off his supplies of food, they maintained their watch and ward over their imprisoned en- emies so closely as to reduce them to extreme distress — a distress and suffedng which they thought would end in their complete and abso- lute submission. Instead of ending thus, how- ever, it aroused them to desperation. Under 2'S6 Alfrld the Great. [A.D. 890 Desperate sally of the Danes. They sail up the Thitaaefl the influence of the phrensy which such hope- less sufferings produce in characters like theirs, they burst out one day from the place of their confinementj and, after a terrible conflictj whicli choked up a river which they had to pass with dead bodies and dyed its vraters Vv^ith blood, the great body of the starving desperadoes made their escape, and, in a wild and furious excite- ment, half a triumph and half a retreat, they went back to the eastern coast of the island, where they found secure places of refuge to re- ceive them. In the course of the subsequent campaigns; a party of the Danes came up the River Thames with a fleet of their vessels, and an account is given by some of the ancient historians of a measure which Alfred resorted to to entrap them, which would seem to be scarcely credible. The account is, that he altered the course of the river by digging new channels for it, so as to leave the vessels all aground, when, of course, they became helpless, and fell an easy prey to the attacks of their enemies. This is, at least, a very improbahJe statement, for a river like the Thames occupies always the lowest channel of the land through which it passes io the sea. Besides, such a river, in order that it should bo A..D. S9G.] The Closi: of Lu-e. 237 Btury ol the diversion oCthe Thames. The Danes lose ground possible for vessels to ascend it from the ocean . must have the surface of its w^ater very near the level of the surface of the ocean. There can, therefore, be no place tc which such waters could be drawn oft', unless into a valley below the level of the sea. All such valleys, when- ever they exist in the interior of a country, necessarily get filled with water from brooks and rains, and so become lakes or inland seas It is probable, therefore, that it was some other operation v»4iich Alfred performed to imprison the hostile vessels in the river, more possible in its own nature than the drawing oft* of the wa- ters of the Thames from their ancient bed. Year after year passed on, and, though neither the Saxons nor the Danes gained any very per- manent and decisive victories, the invaders were gradually losing ground, being driven from one intrcnchment and one stronghold to another, until, at last, their only places of refuge were their ships, and the harbors along the margin of the sea. Alfred followed on and occupied the country as fast as the enemy was driven away ; and when, at last, they began to seek refuge in their ships, he advanced to the shore, and began to form plans for building ships, and manning and equipping a fleet, to pursue his reti'-.-n^ en- 238 Alfrej the G reat. [iV.D. 696 Alfred builds a fleet It s^ils for the Isle of Wight emies upon their own element. In this under- taking, he proceeded in the same calm, deliber- ate, and effectual manner, as in all his preceding measures. He built his vessels with great care. He made them twice as long as those of the Danes, and planned them so as to make them more steady, mere safe, and capable of carrying a crew of rowers so numerous as to be more active and swift than the vessels of the enemy. When these naval preparations were made, Alfred began to look out for an object of attack on which he could put their efficiency to the test. He soon heard of a fleet of the North- men's vessels on the coast of the Isle of Wight, and he sent a fleet of his own ships to attack them. He charged the commander of this fleet to be sparing of life, but to capture the ships and take the men, bringing as many as possible to him unharmed. There w^ere nine of the English vessels, and when they- reached the Isle of Wight they found six vessels of the Danes in a harbor there. Three of these Danish vessels were afloat, and came out boldly to attack Alfred's armament. The (^ther three were upon the shore, Vv^here they had been left by the tide, and were, of course, disabled and defenseless until the wate? A.D. 896.] The Close of Life. 239 Naval battle. Discomfiture of the Saxona should Tise and float them again. Under theye circumstances, it would seem that the victory for Alfred's fleet would have been easy and sure ; and at first the result was, in fact, in Alfred's favor. Of the three ships that came out to meet him, two were captured, and one escaped, with only five men left on board of it alive. The Saxon ships, after thus disposing of the three living and moving enemies, pushed boldly into the harbor to attack those which were. lying lifeless on the sands. They found, however, that, though successful in the encounter with the active and the powerful, they were destined to disaster and defeat in approaching the de- feuocless and weak. They got aground them- selves in approaching the shoals on which the vessels of their enemies were lying. The tide receded and left three of the vessels on the sands, and kept the rest so separated and so embar- rassed by the difliculties and dangers of their situation as to expose the whole force to the most imminent danger. There was a fierce contest in boats and on the shore. Both parties suffered very severely ; and, finally, the Danes, getting first released, made their escape and put to sea. Notwithstanding this partial discomfiture, 240 AlffxKD the Great. [A.D. 897 Hastings expelled. Alfred devotes himself to peaceful avocation* Alfred soon succeeded in driving the ships of the Danes oft' his coast, and in thus completing the deliverance of his country. Hastings him- self went to France, where he spent the re- mainder of his days in some territories which he had previously conquered, enjoying, while he continued to live, and for many ages afterward, a very extended and very honorable fame. Such exploits as those which he had performed con- ferred, in those days, upon the hero who per- formed them, a very high distinction, the luster of which seems not to have been at all tarnished in the opinions of mankind by any ideas of the violence and wronsf Nvhich the comimission of such deeds involved. Alfred's dominions were now left once more in peace, and he himself resumed again his former avocations. But a very short period of his life, however, now remained. Hastings was finally expelled from England about 897. In 900 or 901 Alfred died. The interval was spent in the same earnest and devoted efforts to promote the welfare and prosperity of his kingdom that his life had exhibited before the war He was engaged diligently and industri- ously in repairing injuries, redressing grievan- ces, and rectifying every thing that was wrong \.l). 9U0.J The Close of Life. 241 administration of justice. Alfred's children. He exacted rigid impartiality in all the courts of justice ; he held public servants of every rank and station to a strict accountability ; and in all the colleges, and monasteries, and ecclesiastical establishments of every kind, he corrected all abuses, and enforced a rigid discipline, faithfully extirpating from every lurking place all sem- blance of immorality or vice. He did these things, too, with so much kindness and consid- eration for all concerned, and was actuated in all he did so unquestionably by an honest and sincere desire to fulfill his duty to his people and to God, that nobody opposed him. The good considered him their champion, the indifferent readily caught a portion of his spirit and wished him success, while the wicked were silenced if they were not changed. Alfred's children had grown up to maturity^ And seemed to inherit, in some degree, their father's character. He had a daughter, named ^thelfleda, who was married to a prince of Mercia, and who was famed all over England for the superiority of her mental powers, her accomplishments, and her moral worth. The name of his oldest son was Edward; he was to succeed Alfred on the throne, and it was a source now of great satisfaction to the king tc Q 2-J2 Alfred the Gkeat. [A.D. 900 Alfred's last days. His parting advice to his son find this son emulating his virtnes, and prepar- ing for an honorable and prosperous reign. Al- fred had warning, in the progress of his disease, of the approach of his end. When he found that the time was near at hand, he called his son Edward to his side, and gave him these his farewell counsels, w^hich express in few words the principles and motives by which his own life had been so fully governed. ''Thou, my dear son, set thee now beside me, and I will deliver thee true instructions. I feol that my hour is coming. My strength is gone ; my countenance is wasted and pale. My days are almost ended. We must now part I go to another world, and thou art to be left alone in the possession of all that I have thus far held. I pray thee, my dear child, to be a father to thy people. Be the children's father and the widow's friend. Comfort the poor, pro- tect and shelter the weak, and, with all thy might, right that which is wrong. And, my son, govern thyself by laiv. Then shall the Lord love thee, and God himself shall be thy reward. Call thou upon him to advise thee in all thy need, and he shall help thee to compass all thy desires." A.D. 900.] The Close of Life. 243 Alfred's death and burial. Lasting honor to his memory. Alfred ^Yas fifty-two years of age when he died. His death was universally lamented. The body was interred in the great cathedral at Winchester. The kingdom passed peace- fully and prosperously to his son, and the ar- rangements which Alfred had spent his life in framing and carrying into effectj soon began to work out their happy results. The construc- tions which he founded stand to the present day, strengthened and extended rather than impair- ed by the hand of time ; and his memory, as their founder, will be honored as long as any remembrance of the past shall endure among the minds of men. 244 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 1013 ♦ The story of Godwin. Contentions between the Saxons and Danes Chapter XIIL The Sequel. FT^HE romantic story of Godwin forms th<3 -■- sequel to the history of Alfred, leading us onward J as it does, toward the next great era in English history, that of William the ConLjueror. Although, as w^e have seen in the last chap- ter, the immediate effects of Alfred's measures w^as to re-establish peace and order in his king- dom^ and although the institutions which he founded have continued to expand and develop themselves down to the present day, still it must not be supposed that the power and prosperity of his hingdom and of the Saxon dynasty con- tinued wholly uninterrupted after his death. Contentions and struggles betw^een the two great races of Saxons and Danes continued for some centuries to agitate the island. The particular details of these contentions have in these days, in a great measure, lost their interest for all but professed historical scholars. It is only the his- tory of great leading events and the lives of really extraordinary men. in the annals of ^nrly A.D. 1013.] The SKyuEi,. 245 William the Conqueror. Godwin's parentage. ages, which can now attract the general atten- tion even of cultivated minds. The vast move- ments which have occurred and are occurring in the history of mankind in the present cen- tury, throw every thing except what is really striking and important in early history into the shade. The era which comes next in the order of time to that of Alfred in the course of English history, as worthy to arrest general attention, is, as we have already said, that of William the Conqueror. The life of this sovereign forms the subject of a separate volume of this series. He lived two centuries after Alfred's day ; and al- though, for the reasons above given, a full chron- ological narration of the contentions between the Saxon and Danish lines of kings which took place during this interval would be of little in- terest or value, some general knowledge of the state of the kingdom at this time is important, and may best be communicated in connection with the story of Godwin. Godwin was by birth a Saxon peasant, of Warwickshire. At the time when he arrived at manhood, and was tending his father's flocks and herds like other peasants' sons, the Saxona and the Danes were at war. It seems that one 246 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 1013. Ethelred. His marriage. Caimte the Dane of Alfred's descendants, named Ethelred, dis- pleased his people bv his misgovernment, and was obli2:ed to retire from Ens^land. He went across the Channel, and married there the sister of a Norman chief named Richard. Her name was Emma. Ethelred hoped by this alliance to obtain Richard's assistance in enabling him to recover his kingdom. The Danish population, how^ever, took advantage of his absence to put one of their own princes upon the throne. His name was Canute. He figures in English histo- ry, accordingly, among the other English kings, as Canute the Dane, that appellation being giv- en him to mark the distinction of his origin in respect to the kings who preceded and followed him, as they were generally of the Saxon line. It was this Canute of w^iom the famous story is told that, in order to rebuke his flatterers, who, in extolling his grandeur and power, had represented to him that even the elements were subservient to his will, he took his stand upon the sea-shore wiien the tide w^as coming in, with his flatterers by his side, and commanded the rising waves not to approach his royal feet. He kept his sycophantic courtiers in this ridiculous position until the encroaching w^aters drove theui 'away, and then dismissed them overwhelm_cd A.D. 1013.] The Sequel. 247 War between Ethelred and Canute. Death of Ethelred with cc nfasion. The story is told in a thousand different ways, and with a great variety of dif- ferent embellishments, according to the fancy of the several narrators ; all that there is now any positive evidence for believing, however, is. that probably some simple incident of the kind occurred, out of which the stories have grown. Canute did not hold his kingdom in peace. Ethelred sent his son across the Channel into Enfjfland to negotiate with the AnHo-Saxon powers for his own restoration to the throne. An arrangement was accordingly made with them, and Ethelred returned, and a violent civil war immediately ensued between Ethelred and the Anglo-Saxons on the one hand, and Canute and the Danes on the other. At length Ethel- red fell, and his son Edmund, who was at the time of his death one of his generals, succeeded him. Emma and his two other sons had been left in Normandy. Edmund carried on the war against Canute with great energy. One of his battles was fought in the county of Warwick, in the heart of England, where the peasant God- win lived. In this battle the Danes were de- feated, and the discomfited generals fled in all directicms from the field wherever they saw the readiest hope of concealment or safety. One of 248 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 1013. Ulf in the wood. His bewilderment them, named Ulf,^ took a by-way, which led him in the direction of Godwin's father's farm Night came on, and he lost his way in a wood. Men, when flying under such circumstances from a field of battle, avoid always the public roads, and seek concealment in unfrequented paths, where they easily get bewildered and lost. Ulf wandered about all night in the forest, and when the morning came he found himself ex- hausted with fatigue, anxiety, and hunger, cer- tain to perish unless he could find some succor, and yet dreading the danger of being recognized as a Danish fugitive if he were to be discovered by any of the Saxon inhabitants of the land. At length he heard the shouts of a peasant who was coming along a solitary pathway through the wood, driving a herd to their pasture. Ulf would gladly have avoided him if he could have gone on without succor or help. His plan was to find his way to the Severn, where some Dan- ish ships were lying, in hopes of a refnge on board of them. But he was exhausted with hunger and fatigue, and utterly bewildered and lost; so he was compelled to go forward, and take the risk of accosting the Saxon stranger. He accordingly went up to him, and asked "* Pronouncei Oolf. A.D.1013.] The Sequel. 249 Ulf rescued by Godwin. His offers to GodwU. him his name. Godwin told him his name, and the name of his father, who lived, he said, at a little distance in the wood. While he was an- swering the question, he gazed very earnestly at the stranger, and then told him that he per- ceived that he was a Dane — a fugitive, he sup- posed, from the battle. Ulf, thus finding that he could not be concealed, begged Godwin not to betray him. He acknowledged that he was a Dane, and that he had made his escape from the battle, and he wished, he said, to find his way to the Danish ships in the Severn. He heo-P-ed Godwin to" conduct him there. God- win replied by saying that it was unreasonable and absurd for a Dane to expect guidance and protection from a Saxon. Ulf offered Godwin all sorts of rewards if he would leave his herd and conduct him to a place of safety. Godwin said that the attempt, were he to make it, would endanger his own life without saving that of the fugitive. The coun- try, he said, was all in arms. The peasantry, emboldened by the late victory obtained by the Saxon army, were every where rising ; and al- though it was not far to the Severn, yet to at- tempt to reach the river while the country was in such a state of excitement would be a des- 250 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 1013. The gold rin^. Concealment in the herdsman's hut perate undertaking. They ^Yould almost cer- tainly be intercepted ; and, if intercepted, their exasperated captors ^yo^ld show no mercy, God- win said, either to him or to his guide. Amonsr the other inducements which Ulf offered to Godwin was a valuable gold ring, which he took from his fmger, and which, he said, should be his if he would consent to be his guide. Godwin took the ring into his hand, examined it with much apparent curiosity, and seemed to hesitate. At length he yielded ; though he seems to have been induced to yield, not by the value of the offered gift, but by com- passion for the urgency of the distress which the offer of it indicated, for he put the ring back into Ulf 's hand, saying that he would not take any thing from him, but he would try to save him. Instead, however, of undertaking the appar- ently hopeless enterprise of conducting Ulf to the Severn, ho took him to his father's cottage and concealed him there. During the day they formed plans for journeying together, not to the ?ihips in the Severn, but to the Danish camp. They were to set forth as soon as it was dark. When the evening came and all was ready, and they were about to commence their d:ingerou3 A..D. lOiS.J The Sequel. 25i Rodwin's father's charge to Ulf. Ill's fidelity. jouniey, the old peasant, Godwin's ifather, with an anxious countenance and manner, gave Ulf this solemn charge : '' This is my only son. In going forth to guide you under these circumstances, he puts his life at stake, trusting to your honor. He can not return to me again, as there will be no more safety for him among his own countrymen after having once been a guide for you. When, therefore, you reach the camp, present my son to your king, and ask him to receive him into his service. He can not come again to me." Ulf promised very earnestly to do all this and much more for his protector ; and then bidding the father farewell, and leaving him in his soli- tude, the two adventurers sallied forth into th(i dark forest and went their way. After various adventures, they reached the camp of the Danes in safety. Ulf faithfully fulfilled the promises that he had made. He introduced Godwin to the king, and the king was so much pleased with the story of his gen- eraPs escape, and so impressed with the marks of capacity and talent w^hich the young Saxon manifested, that he gave Godwin immediately a military command in his army. In fact, a young man who could leave his home and his 252 Alfred the Grext. [A.D. 1013. Godwin's rise to power. His daughter Edith father, and abandon the cause of his country- men forever under such circumstances, must have had something besides generosity tovv^ard a fugitive enemy to impel him. Godwin was soon found to possess a large portion of that pe- culiar spirit which constitutes a soldier. He was ambitious, stern, energetic, and always successful. He rose rapidly in influence and rank, and in the course of a few years, during which King Canute triumphed wholly over his Saxon enemies, and established his dominion over almost the whole realm, he w^as promoted to the rank of a king, and ruled, second only to Canute himself, over the kingdom of Wessex, one of the most important divisions of Canute's empire. Here he lived and reigned in peace and prosperity for many years. He was married, and he had a daughter named Edith, who was as gentle and lovely as her father was terrible and stern. They said that Edith sprung from Godwin like a rose from its stem of thorns. A writer who lived in those days, and record ed the occurrences of the times, says that, when he was a boy, his father was employed in some way in Godwin's palace, and that in going to and from school he was often met by Edith ^ who was walking, attended by her maid. On A.D.1013.J The Sequel. 253 Kdith's gentleness and kindness. Conquests of Canute. such occasions Edith would stop him, ho said, and question him about his studies, his gram- mar, his logic, and his verses ; and she would often draw him into an argument oil those sub- tle points of disputation which attracted so much attention in those days. Then she would commend him for his attention and progress, and order her woman to make him a present of some money. In a word, Edith was so gen- tle and kind, and took so cordial an interest in whatever concerned the welfare and happiness of those around her, that she was universally beloved. She became in, the end, as we shall see in due time, the English queen. In the mean time, while Godwin was govern- ing, as vicegerent, the province which Canute had assigned him, Canute himself extended bis own dominion far and wide, reducing first all England under his sway, and then extending his conquests to the Continent. Edmund, the Saxon kmg, was dead. His brothers Edward and Alfred, the two remaining sons of Ethelred, were with their mother in Normandy. They, of course, represented the Saxon line. The Sax- en portion of Canute's kingdom would of course look to them as their future leaders. Under these circumstances, Canute conceived the idea 254 Alfred thi: (J re at. [A.D. 1013. Canute marries Emma. Policy of this act. of propitiating the Saxon portion of the popula- tion, and combining, so far as was possible, the claims of the two lines, by making the widow Emma his own wife. He made the proposal to her, and she accepted it, pleased with the idea of being once more a queen. She came to En- gland^ and they were married. In process of time they had a son, who was named Hardi- canute, which means Canute the strong. Canute now felt that his kingdom was se- cure ; and he hoped, by making Hardicanute his heir, to perpetuate the dominion in his own fam- ily. It is true that he had older children, whom the Danes might look upon as more properly his heirs ; and Emma had also two older children, the sons of Ethelred, in Normandy. These the Saxons would be likely to consider as the right- ful heirs to the throne. There was danger, there- fore, that at his death parties would again be formed, and the civil wars break out anew. Canute and Emma therefore seem to have act- ed wisely, and to have done all that the nature of the case admitted to prevent a renewal of these dreadful struggles, by concentrating their combined influence in favor of Hardicanute, •who, though not absolutely the heir to either line, still combined, in some degree, the claima' A. D. 1031.] The Sequel. 253 Canute's government. j^is dcata of both of them. Canute also did all in his pow- er to propitiate his Anglo-Saxon subjects. IIo devoted himself to promoting the welfare of tha kingdom in every way. He built towns, he constructed roads, he repaired and endowed the churches. He became a very zealous Chris- tian, evincing the ardor of his piety, whether real or pretended, by all the forms and indica- tions common in those days. Finally, to crown all, he \vent on a pilgrimage to Rome. He set out on this journey with great pomp and pa- rade, and attended by a large retinue, and yet still strictly like a pilgrim. He walked, and carried a wallet on his back, and a long pilgrim's staff in his hand. This pilgrimage, at the time when it occurred, filled the world with its fame. At length King Canute died, and then, un- fortunately, it proved that all his seemingly wise precautions against the recurrence of civil wars were taken in vain. It happened that Hardicanute, whom he had intended should suc- ceed him, was in Denmark at the time of his father's death. Godwin, however, proclaimed him king, and attempted to establish his author- ity, and to make Emma a sort of regent, to govern in his name until he could be brought nome. The Danish chieftains, on the other 25(5 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 1031 Harold's accession. The panic. hand, elected and proclaimed one of Canute's older sons, whose name was Harold ;^ and they succeeded in carrying a large part of the coun- try in his favor. Godwin then summoned Em- ma to join him in the west with such forces as she could command, and both parties prepared for war. Then ensued one Of those scenes of terror anc suffering which war, and sometimes the mere fear of war, brings often in its train. It was expected that the first outbreak of hostilities would be in the interior of England, near the banks of the Thames, and the inhabitants of the whole region were seized with apprehen- sions and fears, which spread rapidly, increased by the influence of sympathy, and excited more and more every day by a thousand groundless rumors, until the whole region was thrown into a state of uncontrollable panic and confusion. The inhabitants abandoned their dwellings, and lied in dismay into the eastern part of the isl- and, to seek refuge among the fens and marshes ef Lincolnshire, and of the other counties around. Here, as has been already stated in a previous chapter when describing the Abbey of Croyland, were a great many monasteries, and convents, • SpelJerl sometime? HeralJ, A.D.1037.] The Sequel. ^57 Tlio fugiti%'es in the Lincolnshire fens. Alarm of the monks, and hermitages, and other religious establish- ments, filled with monks and nuns. The wretch- ed fugitives 'from the expected scene of war crowded into this region, besieging the doors of the abbe}s and monasteries to beg for shelter, or food, or protection. Some built huts among the willow woods which grew in the fens ; oth- ers encamped at the road-sides, or under the monastery walls, wherever they could find the semblance of shelter. They presented, of course, a piteous spectacle — men infirm with sickness or age, or exhausted with anxiety and fatigue ; children harassed and way-worn ; and helpless mothers, with still more helpless babes at their breasts. The monks, instead of being moved to compassion by the sight of these unhappy sufferers, were only alarmed on their own ac- count at such an inundation of misery. They feared that they should be overwhelmed them- selves. Those whose establishments were largo and strong, barred their doors against the sup- pliants, and the hermits, who lived alone in de- tached and separate solitudes, abandoned their osier huts, and fled themselves to seek some place more safe from such intrusions. And yet, after all, the whole scene was only a fake alarm. Men acting in a panic are al' 258 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 1037. The country settled. Submission of Godwin and Emma most always running into the ills which they think they shun. The war did not break out on the banks of the Thames at all. Hardicanute, deterred, perhaps, by the extent of the sup- port which the claims of Harold were receiving, did not venture to come to England, and Emma and Godwin, and those who would have taken their side, having no royal head to lead them, gave up their opposition, and acquiesced in Harold's reign. The fugitives in the marshes and fens returned to their homes ; the country became tranquil ; Godwin held his province as a sort of lieutenant general of Harold's king- dom, and Emma herself joined his court in London, where she lived with him ostensibly on very friendly terms. Still, her mind was ill at ease. Harold, though the son of her husband, was not her own son, and the ambitious spirit which led her to marry for her second husband her first hus- band's rival and enemy, that she might be a sec- ond time a queen, naturally made her desire that one of her own offspring, either on the Danish or the Saxon side, should inherit the kingdom ; for the reader must not forget that Emma, besides being the mother of Hardica- nute by her second husband Canute, the Danish A.D. 1037.] The Sequel. 259 Emma's family. - Her plans. sovereign, was also the mother of Edward and Alfred by her first husband Ethelred, of the Anglo-Saxon line, and that these two sons were in Normandy now. The family connection will be more apparent to the eye by the following scheme : Ethelred the Saxon. Emma. Canute the Dane. Edward. Hardicanute. Alfred, Harold was the son of Canute by a former marriage. Emma, of course, felt no maternal interest in him, and though compelled by cir- cumstances to acquiesce for a time in his pos- session of the kingdom, her thoughts were con- tinually with her own sons ; and since the at- tempt to bring Hardicanute to the throne had failed, she began to turn her attention toward her Norman children. After scheming for a time, she wrote letters to them, proposing that they should come to England. She represented to them that the Anglo-Saxon portion of the people were ill at ease under Harold's dominion, and would glad- ly embrace any opportunity of having a Saxon king. She had no doubt, she said, that if one of them were to appear in England and claim the throne, the people would rise in mass to 260 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 1037. Alfred's expedition. Godwin goes tx) meet him, support him, and he woiild easily get possession of the reahii. She invited them, therefore, to icpair secretly to England, to confer with her on the subject; charging them, however, to bring very few, if any, Norman attendants with them, as the English people were inclined to be very jealous of the influence of foreigners. The brothers were very much elated at re- ceiving these tidings ; so much so that in their zeal they were disposed to push the enterprise much faster than their mother had intended. Instead of going, themselves, quietly and se- cretly to confer with her in London, they organ- ized an armed expedition of Norman soldiers The youngest, Alfred, with an enthusiasm char- acteristic of his years, took the lead in these measures. He undertook to conduct the expe- dition. The eldest consented to his making the attempt. He landed at Dover, and began his march through the southern part of the country. Godwin went forth to meet him. Whether he would join his standard or meet him as a foe, no one could tell. Emma consid- ered that Godwin was on her side, though even she had not ' recommended an armed invasion of the country. It is very probable that Godwin himself was AD 1037.] The Sequel. 2(il Godwin's designs. His address to the Saxon chiefa. uncertain, at first, what course to pursue, and that he intended to have espoused Prince Alfred's cause if he had found that it presented any rea- sonable prospect of success. Or he may have felt bound to serve Harold faithfully, now that he had once given in his adhesion to him. Of course, he kept his thoughts and plans to him- self, leaving the world to see only his deeds. But if he had ever entertained any design of espousing Alfred's cause, he abandoned it be- fore the time arrived for action. As he advanc- ed into the southern part of the island, he call- ed together the leading Saxon chiefs to hold a council, and he made an address to them when they were convened, which had a powerful in- fluence on their minds in preventing their de- ciding in favor of Alfred. However much they might desire a monarch of their own line, this, he said, was not the proper occasion for effect- ing their end. Alfred was, it was true, an An- glo-Saxon by descent, but he was a Norman by birth and education. All his friends and sup- porters were Normans. He had come now into the realm of England with a retinue of Nor- man followers, who would, if he were success- ful, monopolize the honors and offices which ha would have to bestow. He advised the Anglo- 862 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 1037. Defeat of Alfred. Execution of his companions Saxon chieftains, therefore, to remain inactive; to take no part in the contest, but to wait for some other opportunity to re-establish the Sax- on line of kings. The Anglo-Saxon chieftains seem to have considered this good advice. At any rate, they made no movement to sustain young Alfred's cause. Alfred had advanced to the town of Guilford. Here he was surrounded by a force which Harold had sent against him. There was no hope or possibility of resistance. In fact, his enemies seem to have arrived at a time when he did not expect an attack, for they en- tered the gates by a sudden onset, when Al- fred's followers were scattered about the town, at the various houses to which they had been distributed. They made no attempt to defend themselves, but were taken prisoners one by one, wherever they were found. They were bound with cords, and carried away like ordi- nary criminals. Of Alfred's ten principal Norman companions, nine were beheaded. For some reason or other the life of one was spared. Alfred himself was charged with having violated the peace of his country, and was condemned to lose his eyes. The torture of this operation, and the inflam- A.D.1037.] The Sequel. 263 Alfred's cruel fate. Banishment of Emma. mation which followed, destroyed the unhappy prince's life. Neither Emma nor Godwin did any thing to save him. It was wise policy, no doubt, in Emma to disavow all connection with her son's unfortunate attempt, now that it had failed ; and ambitious queens have to follow the dictates of policy, instead of obeying such impulses as maternal love. She was, however, secretly indignant at the cruel fate which her son had endured, and she considered Godwin as having betrayed him. After this dreadful disappointment, Emma was not likely to make any farther attempts to place either of her sons upon the throne ; but Harold seems to have distrusted her, for he ban- ished her from the realm. She had still her Saxon son in Normandy, Alfred's brother Ed- ward, and her Danish son in Denmark. She went to Flanders, and there sent to Hardica- nute, urging him by the most earnest impor- tunities to come to England and assert his claims to the crown. He was doubly bound to do it now, she said, as the blood of his murder- ed brother called for retribution, and he could have no honorable rest or peace until he had avenged it. There was no occasion, however, for Hardi- 264 Alfred the Great. [A.D, 1040. Accession of Hardicanute. His indignities to Harold's remains. Canute to attempt force for the recovery of his kingdom, for not many months after these transactions Harold died, and then the country seemed generally to acquiesce in Hardicanute's accession. The Anglo-Saxons, discouraged per- haps by the discomfiture of their cause in the person of Alfred, made no attempt to rise. Hardicanuto came accordingly and assumed the throne. But, though he had not courage and energy enough to encounter his rival Harold during his lifetime, he made what amends he could by offering base indignities to his body after he was laid in the grave. His first public act after his accession was •to have the body disinterred, and, after cutting off the head, he threw the mangled remains into the Thames. The Danish fishermen in the river found them, and buried them again in a private sepulcher in London, with such concealed marks of respect and honor as it was in their power to bestow. Hardicanute also instituted legal proceedings to inquire into the death of Alfred. He charged the Saxons with having betrayed him, especial- ly those who were rich enough to pay the fines, by which, in those days, it was very customary for criminals to atone for their crimes. Godwin himself was brought before the tribunal, and A.D. 1040.] The Sequel. 265 Godwin's trial. His costly presents to I lardicanutfi. charged with being accessory to Alfred's death. Godwin positively asserted his innocence, and brought witnesses to prove that he was entire- ly free from all participation in the affair. He took also a much more effectual method to se- cure an acquittal, by making to King Hardica- nute some most magnificent presents. One of these was a small ship, profusely enriched and ornamented with gold. It contained eighty sol- diers, armed in the Danish style, with weapons of the most highly-finished and costly construc- tion. They each carried a Danish axe on the left shoulder, and a javelin in the right hand, both richly gilt, and they had each of them a bracelet on his arm, containing six ounces of solid gold. Such at least is the story. The presents might be considered in the light either of a bribe to corrupt justice, or in that of a fine to satisfy it. In fact, the line, in those days, between bribes to purchase acquittal and fines atoning for the offense seems not to have been very accurately drawn. Hardicanute, when fairly established on hia throne, governed his realm like a tyrant. He op- pressed the Saxons especially without any mer- cy. The effect of his cruelties, and those of the Danes who acted under him^ was, however, not 266 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 1041. II ardicanute's tyranny. His death. Final expulsion of the Danes. to humble and subdue the Saxon spirit, but to awaken and arouse it. Plots and conspiracies began to be formed against him, and against the whole Danish party. Godwin himself be- gan to meditate some decisive measures, when, suddenly, Hardicanute died. Godwin immedi-^ ately took the field at the head of all his forces, and organized a general movement throughout the kingdom for calling Edward, Alfred's broth- er, to the throne. This insurrection was tri- umphantly successful. The Danish forces that undertook to resist it were driven to the north- ward. The leaders were slain or put to flight. A remnant of them escaped to the sea-shore, where they embarked on board such vessels as they could find, and left England forever ; and this was the final termination of the political authority of the Danes over the realm of En- gland — the consummation and end of Alfred's military labors and schemes, "coming surely at last, though deferred for two centuries after his decease. What follows belongs rather to the history of William the Conqueror than to that of Al - fred, for Godwin invited Edward, Emma's Norman son, to come and assume the crown ; and his coming, together with that of the many A.D.1041.] The Sequel. 267 Edward invited to the throne. Bis coronation Norman attendants that accompanied or follow- ed him, led, in the end, to the Norman invasion and conquest. Godwin might probably have made himself king if he had chosen to do so. His authority over the whole island was para- mount and supreme. But, either from a natu- ral sense of justice toward the rightful heir, or from a dread of the danger which always at- tends the usurping of the royal name by one who is not of royal descent, he made no attempt to take the crown. He convened a great as- sembly of all the estates of the realm, and there it was solemnly decided that Edward should bo invited to come to England and ascend the throne. A national messenger was dispatched to Normandy to announce the invitation. It was stipulated in this invitation that Ed- ward should bring very few Normans with him. He came, accordingly, in the first instance, al- most unattended. He was received with great joy, and crowned king with splendid ceremo- nies and great show, in the ancient cathedral at Winchester. He felt under great obliga- tions to Godwin, to whose instrumentality he was wholly indebted for this sudden and most brilliant change in his ^rtunes ; and partly im- pelled by this feeling of gratitude, and partly 2b8 Alfred the Great. [A.D. 104L Edward marries Edith. Godwin's difficulties allured by Edith's extraordinary charms, he pro- posed to make Edith his wife. Godwin made no objection. In fact, his enemies say that he made a positive stipulation for this match be- fore allowing the measures for Edward's eleva- tion to the throne to proceed too far. However this may be, Godwin found himself, after Ed- ward's accession, raised to the highest pitch of honor and power. From being a young herds- man's son, driving the cows to pasture in a wood, he had become the prime minister, as it were, of the whole realm, his four sons being great commanding generals in the army, and his daughter the queen. The current of life did not flow smoothly with him, after all. We can not here describe the various difficulties in which he became involved with the king on account of the Normans, who were continually coming over from the Conti- nent to join Edward's court, and whose coming and growing influence strongly awakened the jealousy of tho English people. Some narra- tion of these event*^ wiil more properly precede the history of "William the Conqueror. We ac- cordingly close this story of Godwin here by giving the circumstances of his death, as related by the historians of the time. The readers of A.D. 1041.] The Sequel. 269 Story of Godwin's death. His protestations of innocence this narrative will, of course, exercise severally their own discretion in determining how far they will believe the story to be true. The story is, that one day he was seated at Edward's table, at some sort of entertainment, when one of his attendants, who was bringing in a goblet of wine, tripped one of his feet, but contrived to save himself by dexterously bringing up the other in such a manner as to cause some amusement to the guests ; Godwin said, refer- ring to the man's feet, that one brother saved the other, ^^Yes," said the king, '^brothers have need of brothers' aid. Would to God that mine were still alive." In saying this he di- rected a meaning glance toward Godwin, which seemed to insinuate, as, in fact, the king had sometimes done before, that Godwin had had some agency in young Alfred's death. Godwin was displeased. He reproached the king with the unreasonableness of his surmises, and sol- emnly declared that he was wholly innocent of all participation in that crime. He imprecated the curse of God upon his head if this declara- tion was not true, wishing that the next mouth- ful of bread that he should eat might choke him if he had contributed in any way, directly or indirectly, to Alfred's unhappy end. So saying, 270 Alfred the Great. [A.D.1041 Godwiu's death. His sons. he put the bread into his mouth, and in the act of swallowing it he was seized with a paroxysm of coughing and suffocation. The attendants hastened to his relief, the guests rose in terror and confusion. Godwin was borne away by two of his sons, and laid on his bed in convul- sions. He survived the immediate injury, but after lingering five days he died. Edward continued to reign in prosperity long after this event, and he employed the sons of Godwin as long as he lived in the most honor- able stations of public service. In fact, when he died, he named one of them as his successes to the throne The End- BOOKS M THE ABBOTTS. THE FRANCONIA STORIES., By Jacob Abbott. In Ten Volumes. Beautifully Illus- trated. 16mo, Cloth, 90 cents per Vol. ; the set complete, in case, $9 00. 1. Malleville. 6. Stuyvesant. 2. Mary Bell. 7. Agnes. 3. Ellen Linn. 8. Mary Erskine. 4. Wallace. 9. Rodolphus. 5. Beechnut. 10. Caroline. MARCO PAUL SERIES. Marco Paul's Voyages and Travels in the Pursuit of Knowledge. By Jacob Abbott. Beautifully Illustrated. Complete in 6 Volumes, 16mo, Cloth, 90 cents per Volume. Price of the set, in case, $5 40. In New York. In Boston. On the Erie CanaL At the Springfield Arm- In the Forests of Maine. ory. In Vermont. RAINBOW AND LUCKY SERIES. By Jacob Abbott. Beautifully Illustrated. 16mo, Cloth, 90 cents each. Handle. Selling Lucky. Rainbow's Journey. Up the River. The Three Pines. YOUNG CHRISTIAN SERIES. By Jacob Abbott. In Four Volumes. Richly Illus- trated with Engravings, and Beautifully Bound. 12mo, Cloth, $1 7.5 per Vol. The set complete. Cloth, $7 00 ; in Half Calf, $14 00. 1. The Young Christian. 2. The Corner Stone. 3. The ■V7ay to Do Good. 4. Hoaryhead and M'Donner. 2 Books by the Abbotts, HARPER'S STORY BOOKS. A Series of Narratives, Biographies, and Tales, for the In- struction and Entertainment of the Young. By Jacob Ab- bott. Embellished with more than One Thousand beauti- ful Engravings. Square -ito, complete in 1 2 large Volumes, or 36 small ones. "IlAErEii's Stoey Books" can be obtained complete in Twelve Volumes, bouud in blue and gold, each one containing Three Sto- ries, for $21 00, or in Thirty-six thin Volumes, bound in crimson and gold, each containing One Story, for $32 40. The volumes may be had separately— the large ones at $1 75 each, the others at 90 cents each. VOL. I. BRUNO ; or, Lessons of FideUty, Patience, and Self-De- nial Taught by a Dog. 'WILLIE AND THE MORTGAGU : showing How Much may be Accomplished by a Boy. THE STRAIT GATE; or, The Kule of Exclusion from Heaven. VOL. IL THE LITTLE LOUVRE ; or, The Boys' and Girls' ricture-Gallery. PRANK ; or. The Philosophy of Tricks and Mischief. EMMA ; or, The Three Misfortunes of a Belle. VOL. III. VIRGINIA ; or, A Little Light on a Very Dark Saving. TIMBOO AND JOLIBA ; or, The Art of Being Useful. TIMBOO AND FANNY; or, The Art of Self-Instmc- tion. VOL. IV. THE HARPER ESTABLISHMENT ; or, How the Story Books are Made. FRANKLIN, the Ai)prentice-Boy. THE STUDIO ; or. Illustrations of the Theory and Prac- tice of Drawing, for Young Artists at Home. VOL. V. THE STORY OF ANCIENT HISTORY, from the Earliest Periods to the Fall of the Eoman Empire. THE STORY OF ENGLISH HISTORY, from the Earliest Periods to the American Revolution. THE STORY OF AMERICAN HISTORY, from the Earliest Settlement of the Country to the Establisli- ment of the Federal Constitutiou. M P-^-'-U^^ •* o^^'^ '"^ /'^^*^^^G^' - 0^ 5<. -^^0^ >;^°^ ^fX^ o. ''/.-^'.^^^^ ^ . . s '^ A^ # ^o. " ' - . ^ ■ %. .^^' -v.v ':-.%> *\##^:^ '^<-^ "i/' < ■^0' ^o^ . ^>h^ °- ,.A^ cP /^/•*-"0 ^Af^ %> ,# *\"^^f^^> ^ao^ .4 O ■^^d< .•^-^ ^ ', . ... . ^^ °^- .S" '-0 ' / , , v^" -* ^i V ^■' •"/ -%. ,^^ ^o. "' ''^-.,<^^ ^c^.-^f^^^^ '^o:.,.^^^' ^ c^^-^. %..^^ '4. " "^^ ' . . s ■> v^ «:^ 9<. 9. ., rP^_-^. % cP •-.#y% \ ^4^9.. -^^:y-^ ^