THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT a PLUMMEU HENRY FROWDE, M.A. PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD LONDON, EDINBURGH NEW YORK THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT BEING THE FORD LECTURES FOR 1901 BY CHARLES PLUMMER, M.A. FELLOW AKD CHAPLAIN OF CORPUS CHIilSTI COLLEG.5.' GrrOtD WITH AN APPENDIX OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1902 [AU rights reserved'] n OXFORD PRINTED AT THE CLARENDON PRESS BY HORACE HART, M.A. PKINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY SPBECKELS TO THE Rev. JOHN EARLE, M.A. \WLINSOXIAN PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD THESE LECTURES ARE AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BY HIS FRIEND AND FORMER PUPIL THE AUTHOR 102055 PREFACE The present work contains the lectures delivered by me on the Ford foundation in Michaelmas Term, 1901. The lectures are printed substantially as they were delivered, with the exception that certain passages which were shortened or omitted in delivery owing" to want of time are now given in full. In the notes will be found the authorities and arguments on which the conclusions of the text are based. The notes occupy a rather large proportion of the book, because I wished to spare my audience, as far as possible, the discussion of technical details. I have not thought it necessary to recast the form of the lectures. The personal style of address^ naturally employed by a lecturer to his audience, is retained in addressing the larger audience to which I now appeal. The objects which I have aimed at in the lectures are sufficiently explained at the beginning and end of the lectures themselves, and need not be further enlarged on here. In many ways the lectures would no doubt have been improved, if I had been able to make use of Mr. Stevenson^s long-expected edition of Asser. On the other hand there may be advantages in the fact that Mr. Stevenson and myself have worked in perfect independence of one another. I am sorry that I have had to speak unfavourably of some of the recent Alfred literature which has come under my notice. I am a little jealous for the honour of English viii PREFACE historical scholarship ; and I am more than a little jealous that the greatest name in English history should be con- sidered a theme on which any one may try his prentice hand. It suggests the possibility of adding a new chapter to what I have called 'that ever-lenj'thenin"' treatise De casibus illustrium uirorum "^ (p. I7^>). I have, as usual, to thank all the officials of the Clarendon Press, especially my friend Mr. C. E. Doble, for the interest and care which they have bestowed upon the work ; and I must also thank the Delegates for so kindly undertaking the publication of it. The help which I have received in reference to various points is acknowledged in the book itself. For the map I am indebted to the skill of ^Ir. B. V. Darbishire. In the Dedication I have tried to express the gratitude which I owe for the friendship and intellectual sympathy of some quarter of a century. Finally I would record my great obligations to the electors to the Ford Lectureship for the distinguished honour which they did me in appointing me to the post without any solicitation on my part. Corpus Christi College, OxFORr>. March lo, 1902. i CONTENTS TAGE Dedication , v Preface vii List of Abbkeviations ....... x Key to Names on Map xii Introductory i Lecture L The Sources 5 Lecture IL The Sources {continued) 31 Lecture IlL The Life of Alfred prior to his Accession to the Throne 69 Lecture IY. Alfred's Campaigns against the Danes ; Civil Administration -97 Lecture V. Civil xidministration {continued) ; Education ; Lit eraiy Works > . 130 Lecture YL Literary ^Yorks {continued); Summary and Conclusion 166 Appendix. Sermon on the Death of Queen Yictoria . . 205 Addenda 214 Index 215 Map of Alfred's Campaigns .... To face 2)- i LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AA, SS. = Acta Sanctorum, the great Bollandist Collection. Ang. Sac. = Anglia Sacra, ed. Wharton. Ann. Camb. = Annales Cambriae, M.H. B. ; R. S. ; and (more correctly) in Y Cymmrodor, vol. ix. Ann. Wint. = Annales Wintonienses, R. S. Asser. The edition in M. H. B. has been chiefly used, the pages of Wise's edition being given in brackets ; a new edition by Mr. W. II. Stevenson is expected shortly. Bede. For the Latin Text of the Hist. Eccl. my own edition is referred to ; for the Anglo-Saxon Translation Miller's edition, E. E. T. S., i> generally referred to, though Schipper's edition, Bibliothek d. angelsiichsischen Prosa, is occasionally cited. Birch = Birch, Cartularium Saxonicum. 'Blostman' or ' Blooms '= Alfred's translation of the Soliloquies of St. Augustine ; for editions see pp. 128, 194. Boethius, Alfred's translation of, ed. Sedgefield, with Modern English rendering by the same ; both at the Clarendon Press. Bromton = Chronicon Johannis Bromton in vol. i of Twysden's Decern Scriptores. Brut = Brut y Tj'wysogion, M. H. B. ; R. S. ; al-o ed. J. Gwenogfryn Evans in vol. ii of the Rod Book of Hergest. Capgrave = Capgrave's Chronicle of England, ed. Hingeston, K. S. C. E., see Green. Chron., see Sax. Chron. Cura Pastoralis = Pope Gregory's treatise on the Pastoral Care ; Alfred's translation, ed. Sweet, E. E. T. S. Diet. Christ. Biog. = Dictionary of Christian Biography. Diet. Nat. Biog. = Dictionary of National Biogra]ihy. Ducango = Ducange, Glossarium mediae et intiniao Latinitatis, 4to, 1884-7. E. E. T. S. = Early Englisli Text Society. E. II. S. = English Historical Society. Essays. For tlie work quoted by this title, fice p. 6 note. E.T. = English Translation. Ethelw. = Etlulwerdi Chronica, ed. M. II. B. Flor. ^ Florence of Worcester, ed. Thorpe, E. U.S. ; also in M. H. B. LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xi Graimar = Lestorie des Engles solum Gefifrei Gaimar, ed. Martin, 2 vols., E. S. ; also in M. H. B. G. P. = William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum, ed. Hamilton, R. S. G. R. = Gesta Regum, see W. M. Green, C. E. = J. R. Green, The Conquest of England. H. E. = Historia Ecclesiastica, see Bede. H. H. = Henry of Huntingdon, ed. T. Arnold, R. S. Ingulf = Ingulfi Historia Croylandensis, in Fulman's Scriptores, vol. i. K. C. D. = Kemble, Codex Diplomaticus Aeui Saxonici, 6 vols., E. H. S. Lajamon = Lasamon's Brut, ed. Sir F. Madden, 3 vols., 1847. Lib. de Hyda = Liber Monasterii de Hyda, ed. Edwards, R. S. M. H. B. = Monumenta Historica Britannica, vol. i (all published). Migne, Pat. Lat. = Migne, Patrologia Latina. Muratori = Muratori, Scriptores Rerum Italicarum. Orosius, Alfred's Translation of, ed. Sweet, E.E.T.S. Pertz = Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum, folio series. R. S. =-- Rolls Series. R. W. = Roger of Wendover, ed. Coxe, E. H. S. Sax. Chron. = Saxon Chronicle ; except where otherwise indicated, my own edition is referred to. S. C. H. = Stubbs' Constitutional History, cabinet edition, 3 vols., 1874-8. Schmid, Gesetze = Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, von Dr. Reinhold Schmid, 1858. S. D. = Simeon of Durham, ed. T. Arnold, R. S. (For the meaning of the symbols S. D.' and S. D.^, see p. 32 note,) Soliloquies, see Blostman. Thorn = Chronica Gul. Thorn, in Twysden, Decern Scriptores. W. M. = William of Malmesbury ; except where otherwise stated the Gesta Regum is meant ; ed. Stubbs, R. S, Wiilker, Grundriss = Grundriss der angelsachsischen Literatur, von R. Wulker, 1885. KEY TO THE NAMES ON THE MAP ^ffelinga-ig Apuldcr ^\rx Cyniiit Basingas Beamfleot Bearnicscir Bedanford Brecheiniog Brycg Buttingtun CaBginesham Cantwaraburh Cent Cieeceaster Cippenham Cirence.ister Cornwealas Cruland Cynete Defenaa Dorsfeto Dyfed East Engle East Seaxe Ecgbryhtesstan Englafcld Etliandun Exa n coaster Foarnliam Fullanham Gleaweceastor Glewissig Grantebrycg Guilou Gwent Hamtun Hamtunscir Ilroopedun Ilroftvscoastor Ash down Athelney Appledore Kenny Castle Basing Benflect Berksliire Bedford (see Index) Bridgenorth Buttington Keynsham Canterbury Kent Chichester Chippenham Cirencester Cornwall Croyland R. Kennet Devon Dorset (see Index) East Anglia Essex Brixton Deverill Englcfield Edington Exeter F;irnhani Fulham Gloucester (see p. 44) Cambridge R. Wylyo (see Index) Southampton Hanipshiro Kcpton Rochester Hwiccas Parts of Worcester- sliire and Gloucestershire Iglea Legacenster Limenemu])a Lindisse Lundenburh Lyge Menevia Mores-ig Meretun Middeltun Myne Ox na ford Pedride Readingas Sffifern Sandwic Sceaftesburh Sceoburh Scireburne Snotingaham SturemuSa Sumorsneto Sui^rige Su(5seaxo Swanawic S weal we Tomes Tenet Turces-ig l^oodford Use Wfetlingastr.'et Wanating Wenge Wo r ham West Seaxe We))mor Leigh Chester Mouth of Lyrane Lindsey London R. Lea St. Davids Mersea Marton King's Milton Morcia Oxfoid R. Parrett Reading R. Severn Sandwich Shaftesbury Shoebury Sherborne Nottingham Mouth of the Stour Somerset Surrey Sussex Swan age R. Swale R. Thames Thanet Torksey Thetford R. Ouse Wat ling Street Wa ntage R. Wye Wn roll am Wessex Wedmore To foLcev. turemq f8-ig snemiqi»a \l histiti THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED THE GREAT , " •* ■" • * ? \ * 4. L J J -> 1 ' J -' INTRODUCTORY § I. I TiiusT you will not think it inappropriate if [ begin these lectures by paying my humble tribute o£ •everence and gratitude to the memory of the great his- ;orian who, since my appointment to this post of Ford^s uecturer, has been taken from us. I believe that to him am very largely indebted for the honour of appearing )efore you to-day ^ ; and if that were so^ it would only be )f a piece with the many acts of kindness and encourage- nent which he showed me ; encouragement sometimes ouched in that humorous form which he loved, and which vas occasionally misunderstood by those who had not, like limself, the saving gift of humour. It is not easy to neasure the greatness of his loss. He was unquestionably me of the most learned men in Europe ; one of the few vho could venture to assert an historical negative. If he leclared ' there is no authority for such a view or state- nent/ you knew that there was nothing more to be said. 3ut even more wonderful than the extent of his learning vas the way in which he could compress it, and bring it lU to bear upon the particular point with which he was ^ What is stated above is, I from another member of the )elieve, quite correct. I am electoral board, to whom also I lowever informed that the first am indebted for many kind- uggestion of my name came nesses. PLUMMER B SOUTHERN BRITAIN, to illustrate Alfreds Campaigns. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFEED THE GREAT . INTRODUCTORY § I. I TRUST you will not think it inappropriate if in '. begin these lectures by paying my humble tribute of w."stubbs everence and gratitude to the memory of the great his- orian who_, since my appointment to this post of Ford^s jecturer, has been taken from us. I believe that to him '. am very largely indebted for the honour of appearing )efore you to-day ^ ; and if that were so^ it would only be f a piece with the many acts of kindness and encourage- iient which he showed me ; encouragement sometimes ouched in that humorous form which he loved_, and which \^as occasionally misunderstood by those who had not, like dmself, the saving gift of humour. It is not easy to neasure the greatness of his loss. He was unquestionably ne of the most learned men in Europe ; one of the few vho could venture to assert an historical negative. If he ieclared ' there is no authority for such a view or state- oent/ you knew that there was nothing more to be said. 3ut even more wonderful than the extent of his learning vas the way in which he could compress it, and bring it 11 to bear upon the particular point with which he was ^ What is stated above is, I from another member of the elieve, quite correct. I am electoral board, to whom also I lowever informed that the first am indebted for many kind- uggestion of my name came nesses. PLUMMER B 2 LIFE AND Ti:\rES OF ALFRED Tn dealing. I daresay it has happened to you, as it has often W.sJilbhs. happened to myself, to read other books and authorities, and to fancy that one had gained from them fresh facts and views, and then to go back to Stubbs and find that all our new facts and views were there already ; only, until , , . . w^e . had read more widely ourselves, we had not eyes to see all that was written there, ' §' 2; "But with all this, history was never to him mere erudition. It was, on the one hand, the record of human experience, a record ' written for our learning,^ and rich with unheeded lessons; on the other, it was the gradual unfolding to human view of the purposes of God, working themselves out not only in spite of, but often by means of the weakness and waywardness of the human agents. And so he views the characters and the course of history, not, as so many historians do, merely from the outside, but, if I may so speak, from within. The characters of history are no mere puppets, to be dressed in picturesque costumes, and made to strut across the stage of the world : they * are men of like passions with ' us, tempted and sinning, and suffering, as we are tempted, sin, and suffer ; aspiring and achieving, as we too might aspire and achieve. ' History,' he sa^'s, ' cannot be well read as a chess problem, and the man who tries to read it so is not worthy to read it at alP.' And so we have in the Prefaces to Hoveden, Benedict of Peterborough, the Ttlnerarium Ricardi, and Walter of Coventry, those wonderful studies of the cha- racters of Henry II, Richard I, and John, Mhich must always remain as masterpieces of historical portraiture. In the same way the course of history at large is no mere complex of material and mechanical laws; it yields no countenance to that ingenious philosophy which is ^ so ' Benedict of Peterborough, II. vii. f INTRODUCTORY 3 apt/ as he contemptuously says, ' to show that all things in would have been exactly as they are if everything' had w.stnbbs. been diametrically opposite to what it was ^Z ' The ebb and flow of the life of nations is seen/ he says_, ' to depend on higher laws, more general purposes, the guidance of a Higher Hand-/ And so we have those wonderful summaries which conclude the second and third volumes of his Constitutional History, the finest specimens I know of historical generalisations controlled by an absolute mastery of all the facts. § 3. And here we find the secret of his unfailing hope- fulness. The last words of that same second volume must, I think, have dwelt in the hearts of all who have ever read them; where, after speaking of the luxury, the selfishness, the hardness of the fourteenth century, and the lust, the cruelty, the futility of the fifteenth, he concludes : ' Yet out of it emerges, in spite of all, the truer and brighter day, the season of more general conscious life, higher longings, more forbearing, more sympathetic, purer, riper liberty/ While those who remember the Commemo- ration Sermon which he preached at the late Queen''s first jubilee will know that he brought the same wise spirit of hopefulness to the history of our own day. There was much in the tendencies of modern thought and of modern society which, to a man of his strong convictions as a Christian and a Churchman, was justly repugnant. But in his case ^experience,' and history, the record of expe- rience, had ' worked hope.'' Some of us may perhaps remember how in one of his public lectures he himself [juoted the Psalmist^s words : ' I said. It is mine own in- firmity : but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most Highest.-' ^ Hoveden, II. Ixxviii. ^ Const. Hist. ii. 621. B 2 4 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED -f" § 4- It is only of his character as an historian that I have W.Stiibi.s. a right to speak to you from this place ; but perhaps you will forgive me if, as a Churchman, I just briefly put on record my sense of the loss which the Church of England has suffered in his death ; though only the rulers of the Church can fully estimate the value to the Church in these anxious days of that ripe judgement, based on so unique a mastery of the history both of Church and State. We should be false to his own wise spirit of sober hope- fulness if we did not trust that others may be raised u}) in turn to take his place. With these few words of introduction, I turn to the proper subject of these present lectures. LECTURE I THE SOURCES § 5. Whe^t the electors to the Ford Lectureship did Charactei me the great honour of offering* me the lectureship, coupled pj-eseni with the informal suggestion that the present set of lectures. lectures might appropriately be devoted to some subject connected with King Alfred, I warned them, in the letter in which I accepted both the offer and the suggestion, that it was unlikely that on such a well-worked period of English history I should be able to offer anything very new or original. That warning I must now repeat to you. If in the course of our labours I can remove some of the difficulties and confusions which have gathered round the subject, and put in a clearer light some points which have been imperfectly apprehended, that will be all that I can aspire to. For the rest I must be content to put in my own words, and arrange in my own way, what has been previously written by others or by myself; and these lectures may rank as Prolegomena, in the sense in which the late Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, remarked that Dean Alford seemed to have used that word in his edition of the Greek Testament, viz. ' things that have been said before.'' § 6. But if I cannot tell you much that is very new, Preva- I hope that what I shall tell you may be approximately uncHtical true. I shall not tell you, as a recent writer has done, state- that ' by his invention of the shires [Alfred] anticipated about the principles of the County Council legislation of ten Alfred. 6 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED | centuries later ^/ For, in the first place_, Alfred did not ' ^ invent the shires ' ; and secondly, if I may quote a letter of my friend the Rev. C. S. Taylor, whose papers on ( Anglo-Saxon topography and archaeology - are well known j to and appreciated by historical students, it ^is surely a mis- take to make Alfred, as some folks seem to do, into a kind v of ninth century incarnation of a combined School Board and County Council/ Yes, it is surely a mistake ; and no less surely is it a mistake to make him into a nineteenth century radical with a touch of the nonconformist con- I science ^ ; or a Broad-Churchman with agnostic proclivities'*. j Nor shall I, with another recent writer, revive old Dr. .' AVhitaker's theory that St. Neot was an elder brother of Alfred, identical with the somewhat shadowy Athelstan who was under-king of Kent at any rate from 841 to 851 ^. For, firstly, it is very doubtful whether Athelstan was really Alfred's brother, and not rather his uncle ^ ; and secondly, as we shall see later on, St. Neot is an even more shadowy person than the under-king with whom Dr. AVhitaker and Mr. Edward Conybeare would identify him ; so shadowy indeed, as almost to justify an attitude of * Alfred the Great, by Warwick H. Draper, with a Preface by the Lord Bishoj) of Hereford, p. 12. ^ Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaei'logi- cal Society. ^ Mr. Macfadyon's Work seems to mo a little tinged with this view ; Alfred the West Saxon, by Dugald Macfadyen, of. especially pp. 161 ff. * This seems to be the Bishop of Bristol's view : Alfred the Great, containing chapters on his Life anil Times, . . . editeil 1)y Alfred Bowker, pp. 107-112. 1 refer to this work in future as 'Essays.' * Alfred in the Chroniclers, by Edward Conybeare, pp. 17, 27. 36. Pauli had already protested against this view, Konig .Elfred, p. 209. *' See Saxon Chronicle, ii. 75. 76. Two charters. Birch, Nos. 445, 446 ; K. C. D. Nos. 256, 1047, cited V)y Pauli, u. s. p. 53. support the view that Athelstan was the son of yEthelwulf; but, though they are not asterisked by Kemble. I doubt their uenuineness. THE SOURCES 7 ;cepticism towards him as complete as that which Betsy Prig ultimately came to adopt towards the oft-quoted Mrs. Harris : — ^ I don^t believe there never was no such person.' [ shall not repeat William of Malmesbury's confusion of fohn the Old Saxon with John Scotus Erigena ^, and of Sighelm, Alfred's messenger^ with Sighelm, bishop of Sherborne in the following century - ; or Henry of Hunt- ngdon^s assertion ^ that ^^thelwulf before his accession ,vas bishop of Winchester. I shall not speak of an ^ Earl )f Berkshire ' in the ninth century, nor tell you that |A.lfred's Jewel is in the Bodleian ^, or that ' the Danes 'nade their first appearance on these shores in 832 ^.' Nor ?hall I tell you that ' Alfred supplied chapter-headings md prefixed tables of contents to each of his authors, an mprovement hitherto unheard of in literary work, which, simple as it seems now to us, betokened in its first con- ception no small literary genius ^ ' ; for I happen to have bad better opportunities than most people of knowing ^ The tradition about Erigena ^ Essays, pp. 96, 165. las been investigated by Huber, ^ Ed. Arnold, p. 145 ; Mr. Mac- Fohann Scotus Erigena, . . . Miin- fadyen cites the statement from ;hen, 1861, pp. 108 if., "who rightly Hoveden, without definitely ac- egards it as baseless. Yet it still cepting or rejecting it, p. 4. This lovers about ; e. g. Draper, pp. 48, is a nice instance of the growth ^9 ; Macfadyen, pp. 47-49. The of legend. In William of Ma Imes- 3!shop of Bristol seems to me a bury, G. P. pp. 160, 161, ^thel- ittle inconsistent. Essays, pp. wulf before his accession is a sub- :o7 ff. Hul)er himself u. s. makes deacon ; in H. H. he becomes a he extraordinary statement that bishop ; finally Harding's rhym- he Preface to Alfred's version of ing chronicle makes him a car- he Pastoral Care is not extant. dinal, cited by Pauli, Konig Ls it had been printed at least iElfred, p. 54. Pity that no one en times before Huber's book had the courage to make him ippeared, he might have known Pope ! »f its existence. On Erigena * Essays, pp. 83, 89. here is an interesting letter by ^ ibid., p. 11. rVilliam of Malmesbury, printed ^ Conybeai'e, p. 58. n Stubbs' edition, I. x'.iii ff. 8 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED that, in the case of Bedel's Ecclesiastical History, the chapter-heading's were there long before Alfred undertook the work of translation. The same is true of Pope Gregory's Dialogues, and of his Pastoral Care. The only works to which the above remarks could apply would be the Boethius and the Orosius translations ; and even there we cannot be sure that the Latin ^ISS. used by Alfred had no chapter- headings ; certainly the St. Gallon and Donaueschingen MSS. of Orosius have capitula^, though, owing to the free way in which Alfred dealt with the Orosius, the Latin and Anglo-Saxon capitula do not correspond very closely. And the same is true of some Boethius MSS.- It is in truth a little disheartening to have all these old confusions and myths trotted out once more at this time of day as if they were genuine history. The fact is that there has been, if I may borrow a phrase from the Stock Exchange, a 'boom' in things Alfredian lately ; and the literary speculator has rushed in to make his profit. Along with a few persons who are real authorities on the subjects with which they deal, eminent men in other departments of literature and life are engaged to play the parts which the ducal chair- man and the aristocratic director play in the floatation of a company. They may not know very much about the business in hand, but their names look well on a prospectus. Tlic result is not very creditable to English scholarship. liii-ii-^h 's" 7- I would not be understood as wishing to confine the writing of J'higlish history to a small body of experts. It is one of the great characteristics of English learning that it has never been the monopoly of a professional or professorial caste, as in (Jermany, but has been con- ^ For the St. Gnllin MS. of lieitung dor Wi-ltgi'scliichte dcs Orosius, cf. Zangi'iiioistor's edition Orosius (^i886'>. (Texdmcr), pp. 302 ff. For the » g^^^ s^.i,^.pss^ Andiiv fin's Stu- r)onnu("^c]un^('n MS, cf. Schilling, diuni dor nouoron Spraclion, xciv. jElfitd's angolsilclisi'sche Boar- 156, loariiiii}^ uon-pro- I'cssioiial. THE SOURCES 9 tributed to by men of eveiy^ and of no profession. To this fact it owes many of its best qualities — its sanity and common sense, its freedom from fads and far-fetched fancies, its freshness and contact with reality — qualities in which German learning, in spite of its extraordinary depth and solidit}^, is sometimes conspicuously wanting. Still the fact remains, that to write on any period of Qualities early English history requires something more than the for writ- power of construing the Latin Chroniclers in the light of J."» ■^""" classical Latin, and of spelling out the Saxon Chronicle iiistory. with the aid of a translation ^. It needs some knowledge of the general lie of English history, and of the main line of development of English institutions; it needs some grasp of the relations of England to the Continent during the period in question, some pow^r of weighing and com- paring different kinds of historical evidence, some acquaint- ance with the existing literature on the subject^. It must be confessed that in many of the recent writings on King Alfred we look for these requirements in vain. § 8. But, seeing that so many uncritical statements on Need for the subject of King Alfred are abroad, it is all the more gu^vey^ imperative that we should begin our work with a critical of the survey of the materials at our disposal. We shall find them in many respects disappointingly scanty and incom- plete. But we must look that fact full in the face, and must not allow ourselves to supply the defects of the ^ On p. 129 Mr. Conybeare of the sources of English history suggests an emendation of the seems to stop with the Monu- Chroniele which shows that he menta Historica Britannica, 1848. has not mastered the Saxon de- He never even mentions the clension of adjectives. In the Rolls Series. He says, e. g., that same passage of the Chronicle, the Liber de Hyda 'has never Mr. Draper confuses Legaceaster been printed in full,' p. 216. It Chester) with Legraceaster (Lei- was edited for the R. S. by Mr. cester), p. 16. Edward Edwards in 1866 ; cf. ^ Mr. Conybeare's knowledge also pp. 120, 144, 161, 173, 177. lo LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED evidence by the luxuriance of a riotous imagination. The growth of legend is largely due to the unwillingness of men to acquiesce in inevitable ignorance, especially in the ease of historical characters like Alfred, whom w^e rightly desire to honour and to love. Alfred's J 9. The first place in our list of authorities for the life works ( of Alfred must be given to his own literary works. It is true that the evidence which they furnish is mostly in- direct, but it is, for that very reason, all the more secure. It miaht be thouo'ht that the fact that these works consist almost entirely of translations would prevent them from throwing much light on the life and character of their author. In reality the contrary is the truth. Tlieii It was very acutely remarked by Jaffe ^ that if, as lar-eiT' ^^^^^^ alleged, the fact that Einhard's Life of Charles the iiulirJct ; \ Great is obviously modelled on Suetonius' Life of Augustus detracts somewhat from its value as an original portrait, on the other hand the careful way in which Einhard alters those phrases of his model which were not strictly applic- able to his own hero, brings out many a fine shade iu Charles' character of which we should otherwise have been ignorant. In the same way, the manner in which Alfred deals with the works which he translated reveals as much of his mind as an original work could do. And this is not merely the case with works like the Orosius, the Boethius, and the Soliloquies of St. Augustine, in which he allowed himself a large freedom in the way of adapta- tion and addition. Even in the Cura Pastoralis, in which he keeps extremely close to his original, there are little touches which seem to give us glimpses into the king's inmost soul -. ' Cited by EUrt, Litiiatur des Schilling's dissertation, cited MittelaltersimAbendlande, ii.96. above, brings this out very well. ' In regard to the Orosius, See belou', §§ 99-103. THE SOURCES ii And sometimes the evidence is not indirect but direct. l>ut als.. j The well-known and oft-quoted Preface to the Cura Pastoralis is an historical document of the first impor- tance ; and, as a revelation of the author^s mind, it holds, as Professor Earle has said ^, the first place. Next to this would come the Preface to his Laws, which, for the pur- poses of this section, may be included among his literary works, and the mutilated preface to the translation of the Soliloquies of St. Augustine. On all these literary works I shall have much to say later on - ; I only mention them here in their character of historical authorities. § lo. The next place in our list of authorities belongs The on every ground to the Saxon Chronicle. Of the relation ^^^^^ p k-io \ I I^ r>t\ -IT 1 T 1 . Chronicle, or Alrred to the Chronicle 1 may also have somethmg to say subsequently ^. But I have elsewhere "* given my reasons for believing that the idea of a national chronicle, as opposed to local annals, was due to the inspiration of Alfred, and was carried out under his supervision; and I have said that ^ I can well fancy that he may have dictated some of the later annals which describe his own wars.^ For the former view the high authority of the late bishop of Oxford ^ may be quoted, while as to the second point Professor Earle writes ^ : ^ I never can read the annals of 893-897 without seeming to hear the voice of King Alfred.'' My friend Sir Henry Ho worth indeed has a very low opinion of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle; and as regards the early part of the Chronicle I am entirely at one with Sir Henry Ho worth. I have more than once "^ recorded my conviction of the futility of the attempts of Dr. Guest, Mr. Freeman, and Mr. Green, to base an historical account ^ Essays, p. 187. • ^ Hoveden, I, xc. ^ Lectures v, vi. ® Essays, p. 202. ^ § 93, below. ^ Bede, ii. 28 ; Saxon Cliron. * Saxon Chronicle, II. civ. II. cxii. 12 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED of the Saxon Conquest of Britain on the unsubstantial (Ireamwork of traditions embodied in the earlier entries of the Chronicle. But Sir Henry Howorth seems to me to carry his scepticism down to an unduly late period. Any- how, for the period covered by the public activity of Alfred, 868-901, the Chronicle is as nearly contemporary with the events which it records as any written history is likely to be. M»agrc- But granting that the Chronicle is, for this period, Chronicle, trustworthy as far as it goes ; it must be confessed that it is often disappointingly meagre. Of the thirty-four years 868-901, three are entirely vacant \ Eight have merely brief entries of a line or two recording the movements of the Danish army or here ; and of these eight entries the last three have nothing to do with England, being concerned with the doings of the here on the Continent 2. Two other very brief entries deal with the sending of couriers to Home, and with certain obits ^. The date of Alfred's death is barely (and probably wrongly) recorded ^ ; not a word as to its place or circumstances. And there is a singular dearth of any note of panegyric like that which meets us in the records, meagre as they are, of the reigns of Athelstan, Edmund, and Edgar ^. In regard to the doings of Alfred this may be due to the inliuence of Alfred himself; but on the occasion of his death one might have expected, if not the worthy tributes which F^thelwerd and Florence insert at that point ^, at least some recognition of the work which he did. But there is nothing beyond the rather cold statement that ' he was king over the whole Anglekin, except that part which was ' 892, 899, 900. '•' Cf. Ethel red's Laws, viii. 43 : ' 869, 872, 873. 879. 880, 881, 'uton niman us to bysnan . . . 883, 884. yECJelstaii 7 Eadmund 7 Eadgar,' ^ 889, 898. Sell mid, p. 248. * At 901. ^ See § 118 below. THE SOURCES 13 under the power of the Danes/ One would fain hope that this reticence was due to the feeling" so finely expressed by Hallam where he speaks of Sir Thomas More as one ' whose name can ask no epithet ^/ But I do not think it was ; and I rather doubt whether Alfred's greatness was fully appreciated in his own day, except by one or two of those in his immediate neighbourhood. § II. In charters^ which often supplement so usefully Charters the deficiencies of formal histories, the reis^n of Alfred is ^?,*„,^,.^.,. far from rich. The time, indeed, was not favourable to the preservation of documents. Of the destruction of title deeds owing to the troubles of the time we have a striking and pathetic instance ^ : — Burgred, king of Mercia, had_, for a consideration^ granted land to a man named Cered, with remainder to his wife after his death. In course of time Cered died, and his widow Werthryth desired to go to Rome, and to dispose of the land to her husband^s kinsman, Cuthwulf. The charter of the original grant to Cered had however been carried off by the Danes ; and Werthryth consequently could not prove her title. She accordingly appeared before a Mercian Witenagemot held under JEthelred, Alfred^s son-in-law, as ealdorman of ^lercia, and made oath to this effect. Whereupon ^thelred and the Witan allowed a new charter to be made out securing the land to Cuthwulf. And the strong-handed took advantage of this confusion to annex the property of their neighbours. Thus in 896 . ^thelred of Mercia, with Alfred^s permission, held a Witenagemot at Gloucester, in order ' to right many men both clerical and lay in respect of lands and other things [wrongfully] withheld from them ' ; a measure no doubt necessitated by the great campaign of 892-895. Here 1 Const. Hist. i. 28 (ed. 1854). 2 Birch, No. 537 ; K. C. D. No. 304. 14 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Werfertli, bishop of Worcester, complained that he had been robbed of woods at Woodchester, which had be- longed to his see ever since the days of >Ethelbald of Mercia ^. If this was the experience of a powerful bishop, a special friend of the king himself, we may imagine the dangers to which lesser men were exposed. Fortunately among the documents which have been preserved is Alfred's own will, a most interesting relic, on which something will be said later ^. Asser's § 12. We come now to what is the greatest crux in our whole subject, viz. the so-called life of Alfred which bears the name of Asser. It is obvious that if this work is genuine, it is an historical authority of the highest interest j Suspicious and importance. On the other hand, it must be confessed poin s. \)[i2X there are features in it which do excite suspicion. Apart from difficulties of detail, some of which w^ill come up for subsequent consideration, the general form of the work is most extraordinary, and high authorities have pronounced that, in its present sliape, it cannot possibly 'iho work be original ^. The work is made up, as most students know, of two ^^ ^t least two distinct elements. There is a series of parts, annals extending from 851 to S87 inclusive, which are for listic, the most part parallel to the corresponding annals of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. I deliberately choose a neutml phrase ' parallel to,' as I do not wish, at this stage, to pre- judge the question wliether the Latin or the Saxon annals are the more original. Into this series of annals are in- r {h) bio- serted, at various points, sections of biographical matter, of gn.pliical. ^,j^j^j^ ^1^^ earliest refer to iEtholwulf and iEthelbald, one refers to yF]thelred, and the remainder to Alfred. In some cases these biographical sections are introduced by editorial • Birch, No. 574 ; K. C. D. No. ' e.g. Ebort. u. s. iii. 250; Tauli, 1074 ; cf. Orcoii, C. E., p. 133. u. s. p. 4. ^ See below, §§ 63, 64, 82. • THE SOURCES 15 head-links (if I ma}^ borrow a word from tlie Chaucerian specialists)^ consisting- as a rule of very florid and elaborate metaphors ^. But the way in which these biographical Crude sections are inserted is so inconsequent and inartistic,, that ment* one is sometimes almost inclined to think that the compiler, while keeping his annals (as he could hardly help doing) in chronological order, cut up his biographical matter into strips^ put the strips into a hat^ and then took them out in any order which chance might dictate ; much as a famous Oxford parody supposed the names of successful candidates in certain pass examinations to be determined -. It is true that in Florence of Worcester the biographical matter identical with that in Asser is woven much more skilfully into the chronological framework of the story; but, after careful consideration, I do not think that this implies that Florence's Asser was any better arranged than our own. I attribute the changes to Florence's own skill and judge- ment; and Florence had more of both than some of his modern critics are willing to allow. § 13. Another general ground of suspicion is, if I may Excessive so say^ psychological ; and I may illustrate what I mean by a little personal reminiscence. Some few years ago the I was dining in a college not my own^ where one of the junior fellows told us a somewhat startling tale^ prefacing it with the remark that the incident was unquestionably true, as it had happened to himself. ^ Ah/ said the senior fellow, with the frankness which is one of the privileges of seniority, ' whenever a man begins a story in that way, I always know that some bigger lie than usual is going to follow.' Now it is at least curious that our author so ' 473 C [15^ 484 B [39], 485 A brackets. [41]; cf. 491 E [56]. For Asser ^ Echoes from the Oxford Maga- I give references to M. H. B., add- zine, p. 29. ing the pages of Wise's edition in self-asser- tion of author. i6 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED constantly lays stress on the fact that he had himself witnessed some of the most striking of the thing's which he relates, or at least had heard them from those who had seen them. Thus he had frequently (' saepissime ') witnessed Alfred^s skill in hunting ^ ; he had himself seen the little book containing the daily offices and Psalms and prayers which Alfred always carried about with him-; he had with ^ his very own eyes ' often seen Alf red^s maternal grand- mother, Eadburh ^ ; ' with his very own eyes ^ again he had seen the solitary thorn which marked the site of the battle of Ashdown ** ; he had himself surveyed the site of the fort of Cynwit, and verified its capacities for defence ^. He gives us to understand that he, with others, had witnessed Alfred^s mysterious attacks of illness ^ ; that he had not only seen, but read the letters which Alfred re- ceived from the patriarch of Jerusalem "^ ; that he had seen in Athelney Monastery the young Dane whom Alfred was educating there in the monastic life^. So he had heard from various persons different opinions as to the relative guilt of the parties in the alleged rebellion of ^Ethelbald ^ ; he had conversed with many who had seen Offals daughter Eadburh, the Jezebel of Wessex history, in her dishonoured and mendicant old age at Pavia^^; while the story of her crimes in Wessex, which deprived all her successors of the title of queen, he had heard from Alfred himself ^^ He had heard from eye-witnesses how ^Ethelred at Ashdown refused to engage till mass was finished^-, and of the military skill of Abbot John the Old Saxon from those who knew him ^'K Now in all these thinofs there is nothins: ' 474 A [i6]. 6 ^84 C [40]. 10 472 B [12]. »474B[i7]. ^492D[58]. »' 471 C [10]. ' 475 B [19]. "494 A [6r]. 'M76 C [22]. * 477 A [23]. 9 470 D [8]. " 49^ D ^^oi. » 48X C [3a]. piClf)!!. THE SOURCES 17 impossible^ or even improbable. It is only the constant asseveration which excites suspicion. § 14. One general objection which has sometimes been Frankibh brought against our author is, I am convinced, without f^^^sser • foundation: — I mean the presence in him of a certain no ground Prankish element. He uses certain Frankish words, vas- sallns, hidicuhis (a letter ; both these words puzzled the scribes a good deal), comes (in the sense of ealdorman), senior (a lord, seigneur), and possibly others ^. So too the story how Eadburh ^ put her foot in it/ if I may use the phrase, with Charles the Great ^, and of her subsequent fate, evidently reflects the gossip of the Carolingian Courts. It is possible that the story of ^thelbald's incestuous marriage ^ comes from the same source ; as, with the ex- ception of Asser, the only contemporary authorities in which it is found are Frankish ^ ; so too, perhaps, the judgement on Arnulf's conduct in deposing Charles the Fat^, and the more correct form Carloman, as against the Carl of the Chronicle ^. But when we consider that two at least of Alfred^s principal literary and educational coadjutors, Grimbald and John the Old Saxon, came from different parts of the Carolingian empire, that ^Ethelwulf married a Frankish wife, stayed some time at the Prankish Court "^j and had, as the epistles of Lupus of Ferri^res ^ Vasallus, 480 B, 481 D [30, Charles the Great's last wife 33] ; senior, 471 A, B [9, 10], cf. Liutgarde died in 800. His sons 494 E [64] ; indiculus, 487 E his Charles and Pippin seem never to [48] ; comes ( - ealdorman), 469 B, have married. Beorhtric died in D, 470 A, D, 476 A, B, 473 B his, 802. 491 B [5, 6-8, 14, 21 his, 55]. " 472 D [13]. Comes is also used of the Danish ^ See Chronicle, ii. 80, 81. Pru- jarls, 476 A-477 B [21-23]. For dentius and Hincmar are strictly Frankish use of vasallus see contemporary. S. C. H. i. 205 ; for senior, ib. 193. * 491 A [54]. * 471 E [11] ; the circumstances ' 483 D [38]. of the anecdote are possible. "^ 470 C [8] ; Chron. 855. i8 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED show, a Frankish secretary^, that some of these words occur in English charters 2, where likewise they probably bear witness to the influence of Frankish scribes, we shall see that there were plenty of channels through v>^hich these Frankish elements might find their way into the biography of an English king. Moreover, if we should come to the conclusion that the book is mediately or immediately the work of Asser, we may be inclined to connect this element in it with a statement quoted by Leland from a lost life of Grimbald ^, that Asser was one of the ambassadors deputed to bring Grimbald to England *. The description of Paris also looks as if it might rest on personal knowledge ^. Detailed § 15- Of the objections in detail w^hich have been tions • the brought against our author, the most important perhaps Diocese of relates to his statement that Alfred crave him ' Exeter with Exeter. . . . , -. the diocese belonging to it 'both in Cornwall and Saxony/ i. e. Wessex ^. Mr. Wright "^ thought that this was con- clusive evidence that the work was later than the trans- ference of the united see of Cornwall and Devonshire to * Writing to ^thelwulf Lupus turies ; for comes = ealdorraau, ib. says : ' uestrum in Dei cultu fer- 158, 159. uorem ex Felice didici,qui episto- ^ Cited in Diet. Nat. Biog. s. v. larum uestrarum officio fungeba- Grimbald. tur,' Migne, Pat. Lat. cxix. col. * 'Legutos ultra mare. . . di- 459. Writing to Felix himself, rexit/ 487 B [46]. Cf. the letter he says that he had known of Fulk of Rhoims to Alfred, him formerly in the monastery Wise, p. ia8 (if this is genuine, of Fara [Faromoutier-en-Brie, see see § 88 below). Bede, ii. 148], which seems to ' 489 B [51], an addition to the show that Felix was a Frank, ib. Chron. col. 462. The object of these * 'Dedit mihiExanceastre, cum letters was to get the pious ^thel- omni jtarochia quae ad se per- wulf to subscribe to roofing the tinebat in Saxonia et Cornubia,' monastery of Fcrriores with lead. 489 A [51]. On the meaning of ' e. g. for vasallus cf. Pauli, Saxonia see § 30 below. KOnig^lfred, pp. 12, 13; 8. C.H. ' T. Wright, Biographia Bri- i. 156, and the charters there tannica Literaria, Anglo-Saxon cited of the ninth and tenth cen- Period (1842), pp. 405 ff. THE SOURCES 19 Exeter, under Edward the Confessor. I shall show pre- sently that there is evidence, both external and internal, for the existence of our Asser about 975. Meanwhile, I would point out that under the year 875 the "Welsh Annals record the drowning- of Dumgarth, king of Cornwall ^, though it gives one a little start to realise that there were kings in Cornwall as late as the last quarter of the ninth century ^ ; and we know from the Chronicle that in 877 Alfred re- covered Exeter from the Danes. Now the state of affairs in South Wales which Asser represents^ as determining him, at any rate in part, to accept Alfred^s invitation, in the hope of securing his protection for St. David^s, clearly refers to a period 877 x 885. Rotri Mawr is obviously dead, as his sons only are spoken of, and Rotri Mawr was slain in 877 j while Howel, son of Rhys, king of Glewissig, is spoken of as alive ; and he is probably the Howel who died at Rome in 885^, having gone there, it is likely, in expiation of a crime, of which the record is preserved in the Book of Llandaff ^. It seems to me not unlikely that in view of the events of 875 and 877, Alfred may have wished to place the districts round Exeter under episcopal supervision, without necessarily intending to create a definite diocese, and may have thought a Celtic-speaking prelate likely to be more effective than an Englishman ^ ; for at this time the Bristol Channel was not either physically or linguistically a serious barrier between the Celts on either side of it. Whether Asser was already a bishop when he first came When did ' Annales Cambriae, and Brut ^ 488 A-C [49 f-]* y Tywysogion, sub anno. (I shall * Ann. Cambr. and Brut., sub cite the latter work as Brut.) anno. 2 MS. D of the Chron. mentions '^ Ed. J. Gwenogfryn Evans, a king of the West Welsh (i. e. pp. 212, 213. Cornwall) as late as 926. See " Cf. Lingard, Anglo-Saxon Chron. II. viii. Church, ii. 384 (ed. 1858). C Q, 20 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Asser l)econie a Mention of Asser in the Ciira Pas t oral is. Argument to Alfred is difficult to determine. He is often spoken of as bishop of St. David's. Novis, or Nobis, bishop, or, as ) Asser in the passage referred to above patriotically calls him, archbishop of St. David's, died, according to the Welsh Annals, in 873, after a rule of thirty-three years ^ His im- mediate successor was Llunwerth or Llwmbert - ; but when the latter died I have not succeeded in satisfying- myself^. Confirmation of the grant of Exeter to Asser is some- times sought in the fact that Alfred, in the Preface to the Cura Pastoralis, speaks of Asser as ' my bishop,' at a time when Asser cannot have held his later diocese of Sherborne, as one of the copies of Alfred's Cura Pastoralis was actually addressed to Wulfsige, Asser's predecessor in that see. But if Asser was bishop of St. David's when he came to Alfred, I should feel myself precluded from using this argument, for I could not regard it as impossible that \ Alfred should speak of Asser as ' my bishop ' in respect of i his Welsh bishopric, seeing that Asser expressly says that Hemeid, king of Dyfed, had commended himself to Alfred ; or he might be called '■ my bishop ' in regai-d to the position which he held in Alfred's service *. § 16. Another objection has been based on the passage ^ Ann. Cambr. and Brut, s. aa, 840, 873 ; cf. Ang. Sac. ii. 648. The Brut calls liini ' Meurue escob bonheitic,' i.e. ' M. a noble bishop.' The origin of this curious mistake is as follows. Tlie Ann. Canibr. at 873 say ' Nobis episcopus et Meurue moritur.* The compiler of the Brut misread this as * No- bilis episcopus Meurue moritur.' ' Ann. Cambr. and Brut 874. ^ A Lumberth, bishop of Me- nevia, dies in 944, Ann. Cambr., or 94a, Brut; but if this is the same person it would give him a tenure of seventy yeai-s. * My friend Bodley's Librarian has kindly called my attention to an interesting inscription found in St. Lawrence's Church at St. He- lier's. Jersey, about ten years ago, which he thinks contirms the idea of the existence of a see at Exeter in early times. The interpretation of the inscription seems to me, however, too uncertain to justify me in making use of it. Lingard, u. 8. suggests that by the grant of Exeter, &c., Asser received the western portion of the diocese of THE SOURCES 21 in wliich Asser relates how_, at the close of his first visit to from the 'Alfred, he promised to return in six months'' time, and give JJf^Assf recension of the' Annals 848-951, both of which are_, for the years 848-888, largely derived, mediately or immedi- ately, from Asser. The explanation of this curious fact given by Mr. Thomas Arnold in his interesting and able introduction to the edition of Simeon in the Rolls Series, is as follows ^. The earlier'recension is the work of a Cuth- bertine monk, writing at Chester-le-Street in the second |[ilace it early in the eleventh century, and this fits in well 3nough w^ith what I have tried to prove above, that it is 'opied, mediately or immediately, from a MS. which •annot be later than 974. § 27. Something" may be done for the text of Asser by Cunjec- cautious conjectural emendation. There are a certain emenda- number of obvious blunders in it due to the carelessness of tion, scribes, the ignorance of editors, possibly even to the mistakes of compositors^. Most of these are concerned with minor details. There is one correction however, with vvhich I will trouble you, as it relates to a point of some historical interest ; and, moreover, converts into a proof of Asserts accuracy, what might have been used as an argu- ment against him, though I am not aware that it has actually been so used. In the somewhat magniloquent passage in which are described the extensive relations which Alfred cultivated with foreign parts, the following sentence occurs ^ : ^ nam etiam de Hiersolyma Abel patri- Alfreds ireha [v. 1. patriarchae] epistolas . . . illi directas uidimus ^^^Jj^ et legimus."* The passage as it stands is open to two with the objections, one historical, the other grammatical. The historical objection is that no one of the name of Abel held the patriarchate of Jerusalem during Alfred's reign ; though our historians go on copying and recopying the name without ever dreaming of verifying the point. The grammatical objection is that the passive participle '^directas' cries aloud for a preposition of agency. By the addition of two vowels and the subtraction (if necessary) of another the passage can be brought into harmony both with his- tory and grammar, thus : ^ ab Elia patriarcha.' Elias III ^ Thus we should read 'ferri' for 'fieri,' 471 E [11]; 'Stratclut- tenses' for ' Stratduttenses ' 478 C [27]. 2 ^^3 D [58]. ^ PLUMMER D . East. 34 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Evidence of the Leech- book, was patriarch of Jerusalem from 879 to 907 ^. In the earlier of the two versions which occur in Simeon of Durham the word ' Abel ' is printed ' a Bel -/ This does justice to the grammar, but not to the history. In the later version, Simeon himself, following* Florence, omits the passage altogether. One would be glad to know whether Florence omitted it because he saw the objections to which it was open. I was first put on the track of this correction by the curious passage of the Leechbook printed by Mr. Cockayne in the second volume of his interesting Anglo- Saxon Leechdoms, where the writer, after giving certain medical recipes, says at the end : * all this my Lord Elias, patriarch of Jerusalem, bade thus say to King Alfred ^' As the MS. from which this is taken is, according to Mr. Cockayne, of the early part of the tenth century*, and of the we are brought very near indeed to Alfred^s time. More- over in the Anglo-Saxon Martyrology printed by the same editor in his work called -The Shrine; a collection of occasional papers on dry subjects,^ two Eastern saints, martyred in Persia in 341, SS. Milus and Senneus, are commemorated at November 15 ^ These are found in no Western Calendar, and Mr. Cockayne thinks that the knowledge of them must have come to England through Alfred^s intercourse with Elias of Jerusalem. The martyr- ology, which is unfortunately incomplete, was not impro- bably drawn up by Alfred's directions, and cannot be later than his reign, as it mentions St. Oswald's body as Anglo Saxon Martyro logy. * Gams, Series Episcoporum, p. 452. Elias' predecessor was Thoo- dosius, c. 864-879 In the whole list of patriarchs there is no Abel or Bel. » S. D. ii. 89. ' ' \)\Q eal hut ))us secgoan iEl- frede cyninge domne Helias Patri- archa Gerusaloni.' ii. 290. * ibid., xxiv. f. ' pp. 147, 148 ; cf. Mas Latrie, Tresor de Chronologie, pp. 791, 835. THE SOURCES '^^ resting at Bardney ^, whence it was translated to Gloucester by ^thelflaed^ lady of the Mercians, and her husband ^thelred, not long after Alfred^s death 2. In one instance, I may remark in passing, the editors have altered Asserts text for the worse, what the Germans call ' Verschlimmbesserung/ It is the passage where Athelney monastery is said to be unapproachable 'nisi cauticis, aut etiam per unum pontem ^/ Here ' cauticis ' has been altered to ' nauticis/ But ' cautica ^ is a perfectly good word, and means causeway, c//aussee *, a much better sense than any that can be got out of ' nauticis ^/ § 28. But even when all has been done that criticism Evidence can do for the restoration and purification of the text, ^Jo*i\s the work still remains a puzzle almost insoluble. What to the can we make out as to the author ? It is clear that he ^x He was was a Celt from South Wales. This is proved partly by a native his language and terminology, partly by his knowledge \Vaies of South Welsh affairs. As to the former point, he has the special Celtic use of the terms ' right-hand '' and ' left ! * Shrine, U.S. p. 113. Aug. 5. But an English writer might ^ In 909 according to MS. C of easily be ignorant of either or the Chronicle (Mercian Register) ; both these translations. It is in 906 according to MS. D. The better therefore not to lay- notice of St. Winnoc as * lord of stress on this point. See the the minster of Wormhoult to the Life of St. Winnoc in Mabillon, south of the sea,' p. 145, Nov. 6, AA. SS. iii. 311, 312 (ed. 1672). . is also emphasised by Mr. Cock- An English writer could hardly ayne as proving that the work is however have been ignorant of I earlier than 900, in which year Oswald's translation, if it had St. Winnoc's body was translated taken place. I to Bergues. But this point, if ^ 493 C [60]. insisted on, would prove the work * See Ducange, s. v. to be earlier than 846. For in ^ Malmesbury says of Athelney : that year St. Winnoc was trans- ' ut nullo modo nisi nauigio adiri i lated from Wormhoult to St. queat,' G. P. p. 199. But ' nau- Omer (orSithiu). The translation ticis' cannot mean 'boats,' but to Bergues in 900 was from only 'sailors.' St. Omer, not from Wormhoult. '■ D 2 Ambigu- ous use of the term Biiiannia. 2,6 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED hand/ to express the ideas of south and north. The Celt always faced the east, and named the quarters of the heaven from that point of view. Thus Chippenham is iu the left-hand part of Wiltshire ^. The author^s own home was to the left and west of Severn -. The Danes throw up earthw^orks on the right-hand side of Reading-^; Sussex is the region of the right-hand Saxons * ; and, lastly, all the regions of the right-hand part of Britannia belonged to Alfred ^. This does not, however, exclude the use of the more ordinary words ^ meridianus ' and ^ aquilonaris ' for south and north ^. § 29. The example last cited brings me to another char- acteristic of the author^s terminology ; viz. his ambiguous use of the word BrUanuia, which sometimes means Britain in the ordinary sense "^ , but more often means Wales. Historians have gone wrong through ignoring this dis- tinction. Thus Dr. Paali"^, in the passage just quoted, takes Brllannla in what is to us the ordinary sense. But that all the southern parts of Britain belonged to Alfred is so obvious as not to be worth saying. That all the southern districts of Wales had submitted to Alfred is a new and most interesting fact. And this clearly is the meaning ; for the statement is introductory to that sketch of the troubles in South Wales which explains both why the South Welsh princes commended themselves to Alfred, and why the author consented to enter his service. More- over this use is paralleled again and again in the Book ' 480 B [30]. ' 487 C [47]. = 476 A [ai]. ' 487 C [47]. » 488 B [49]. * aquiloiiiuis, 469 C [5], 474 C [17] ; iiu'iidianu.s, 469 C [6], 476 A L21], 477 D [35], 479 A [28], 482 C [35]. Ea.^t and west are always ' orientalis,' 'occideutalis,' ' occi- duus.' There is nothing like the Irish 'airther,' Marthar,' 'fore,' and ' hinder,' for east and west. ' 467 [i], 473 C [15], 479 A [28], 483 B [37] ; of. Britannica insida, 483 A [36]. » Konig .Elfred, p. 258. THE SOURCES ^j o£ Llandaff, a primary South Welsh authority. We find there Asserts very phrase ' dextralis pars Britanniae ^ several times repeated^. We have the clergy and people, the inhabitants, the churches, the archbishop, the kings and princes, the kingdom, the islands, ' Dextralis Britanniae -/ To return to Asser : — ^thelwulf reduces ' Britannia'' under Burgred of ^lercia ^ ; Offals dyke divides Mercia from ' Bri- tannia*/ and finally Asser himself agrees to spend half his time ^in Britannia ^ and half with Alfred ' in Saxonia^/ § 30. This brings me to my next point. For our author, as for all branches of the Celtic race, the Germanic tribes settled in Britain bear the common name of Saxons ^. So much is this the case that he once writes ' regnum Orienta- lium Saxonum, quod Saxonice Eastengle dicitur^/ This is a mere slip, for in other cases he has ' Orientales Angli ' quite correctly^. But it shows how much more natural the word ' Saxones ' was to him than the other. So too their language is ^ Saxonica lingua ^,' as opposed to Welsh, Use of tlie terms Saxones and Saxonia. ^ Dextralis [dextera] pars [pla- ga] Britannie, pp. 161, 169, 212, 223, 237. ^ Keges et principes [totiiis re- gni] D. B. pp. 70, 118; omnes Ecclesiae totius D. B. p. 115 ; clerus et populus D. B. p. 165 ; Dubricius archiepiscopus D. B. pp. 163, 192; incolae D. B. p. 230 ; D. B. insulae, p. 162 ; cf. p. 269 : ' [Crrifud] rex Britannie, et lit sic dicam totius Gualie ' ; from which it would seem that ' Britannia ' is a narrower term than 'Gualia'; but their exact relation I do not know. 3 470 A [7]. ' 471 D [10]. ' 487 B, D, 488 A [47-49] ; cf. also 496 A, B [49], where Alfred sends alms to the monasteries not only of ' Saxonia' and Mercia, but also to those of 'Britannia,' Cornwall, Gaul, Armorica, North- umbria, and Ireland. « 477D, 478A[25], 483C[37]. ^ 473 C! [15]. Ethel werd is at the opposite pole to Asser in this respect, for he uses Australes Angli for Sussex, 510 C, D, and Occidentales Angli for We=isex, 509 E, 510 D, 514 D, 515 C, 517 C. We have, however, Saxones Occi- dentales, 519 A. « 474 C [17], 475 D [20] his, 482 D [35], 483 C, D [37, 38], 484 B [39]. 9 470 A [7], 485 D [43], 486 E [46], 492 A [56]. LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED ' Britannicus sermo ^ ' ; a place bears one name. 38 which is ' Saxonice/ ' in English -/ and another, ^ Britannice/ ' in Welsh ^ ^ ; and we hear of the ' Saxon ' poems which Alfred loved from his boyhood ^, and of the ' Saxon ' books ^, in which they and other English writings were contained. So too the country of ^these tribes is ' Saxonia ^/ But here it is important to notice the precise limitations under which Asser uses this last term. It is not coextensive with the whole of Germanic Britain. It includes Wessex. Sussex, Kent, Surrey, and Essex. Cornwall is excluded as being Celtic"^; but Mercia is also excluded^, and ajorfiori, though this is not expressly mentioned. East Anglia and Northumbrian. In other words it includes that part of the island which, at the death of Egbert, was under the direct rule of Wessex ; or, to borrow Bedels useful distinc- tion, it connotes the 'regnum^ as opposed to the ^im- perium ^^'' of the West Saxon house. It is possible that in many cases the term ^ Saxones ' should be understood with a like limitation, for the ^lercii, Northanhymbri, and » 470 A [7]. '' 473 C [15], 478 D [27], 479 A [28], 483B[37], 484A[38], 487C [47]. 3 475 B [19], 478 D [27], 479 A [28], 48oB[3o], 48iD[33], 482C [35]. ' Saxi'iiic I poemata. 473 E [16] ; S. carmina, 485 E [43], 486 A [43]. Cf, wliut is said uf Charlts the Groat, Einhard, c. 29: 'barbara et antiquissima caniiiiia, quibus uotiTuui regum actus et bella canebantur, seripsit memoriaeque maiidauit. Iiiclioauit et gram- inaticain patrii sermunis.' Of his sou Louis the Pious on the otlier hand it is said : 'poetica carmina gentilia, quae in iuuentute didi- cerat, respuit, nee legere, nee au- dire, nee docere uoluit,' Theganus;, Vita Hludouici, c. xx ^^Pertz, ii). « 474 A [16], 485 E [43], 486 A [43], 497 E [71]. ' 471 A [9] ter, 471 C [10], 487 C [47], 488 A [49]. ' 'In Saxonia et in Cornubin,' 489 A [51]. ** 'In omni Saxonia et Mercia, et . . . in . . . Cornubia,' 496 A, B [67]. ' For cases in which it doe:s include Northumbria see Bede, ii. 368. '"^ See Bede, ii. 43. 86. THE SOURCES 39 Orientales Angli are generally mentioned separately. But I do not think that this limitation can be carried out quite so rigorously, for instance where Asser speaks of the ' Schola Saxonum ' at Rome ^, answering to the ' Angelcynnes scolu ' of the Chronicle. In one case he does expressly distinguish ^ Angli et Saxones^.^ § 31. And in this connexion it is deplorable to remark Alfred that for Asser Alfred is always ' king of the Anglo- ^f J;^| Saxons ^ ' ; but then we must remember that Asser never Anglo- had the advantage of reading Mr. Freeman^s history of the Norman Conquest, or of attending the lectures of Professor Napier. But, jesting apart, it is important to note that by the use of this title our author intends to mark a real advance in power and dignity on the part of Alfred as compared with his predecessors, none of whom bears any higher style than that of king of the West Saxons *, and the change of style is justified by the fact that a large number of Mercian Angles became Alfredo's immediate subjects in 878. On the other hand Asser does not exaggerate Alfred^s position, as later Chroniclers do, calling him ^ monarch of the whole of Britain ' and so on ^. If the heading of the work is genuine, as I am inclined for this very reason to think it is, Alfred is j addressed as ^ ruler of all the Christians of the isle of Britain ^.^ In other words the writer recognises exactly the same limitations to Alfred's power as does the Saxon Chronicle, where it says that, after Alfred's occupation of 1 478 B [26], 484 B [39]. * Beorhtric, 471 D [11] ; iEthel- 2 489 C [52]. In the Book of wulf, 469 D [6], 470 B [7], 483 E Llandaff we have in one place : [38] ; ^thelbald, 472 D [13] ; 'inconfinibusBritannie et^wgrZit',' ^thelberht, 473 C [15]; Mi\\&\- p. 192. Asser never has Anglia. red, 475 B [19]. 2 467 his [i, 3], 471 C [10], 473 D 5 See below, § 49. [15], 483 A [36], 483 C [37], 484 ' 467 [i]. B, C [39], 489 B [51], 491 B [55]. 40 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED London, all the English kin submitted to him, except what was under the thraldom of the Danes ^ Other Another term of Celtic orig-in is probably to be found in iM-nis. ^^^^ unique title of ' secundarius ' given by Asser to Alfred during the reign of ^thelred^; but of this I shall have more to say in another lecture ; while for ^ graphium "* in the sense of 'donation ' or 'written grant/ the only other authority quoted is from the life of a Welsh saint ^. Celtic use ^ 32. Another trace of Celtic influence is to be found, iorm ■'- l>elieve, in the innocent-looking passage where it is said (hrmania. that in 884 an army of pagans from Germany, Me Germania,^ invaded the Old or Continental Saxons *. It might be thought that this merely refers to the fact that part, at any rate, of the invading army had wintered at Duisburg on the Rhine ^. But could they be said to be gom^ from Germany when they invaded Saxony? I can- not speak positively as to all the mediaeval uses of the word ' Germania/ but one would think that it must include Saxony ^ But however this may be, the fact remains that Asser nowhere applies the name ' Germania " to any part of the Carolingian empire. The people of that empire are Franks ". Charles the Great ^, Charles the l^ald ^, Charles the Fat '•^, Louis the Stammerer^-, Louis, king of Northern France ^^, are all kings of the Fi*anks. Carloman, king of ' Chron. 886; ef. ihi.l.. 901. all peoples of Germania, II. E. 2 475 A [19], 476 D [22], 477 C I. XV. In Alfred's Orosius Ger- [24]. many inoliuU's all between the ^ 'In sempiternographio,'47oC Khinc, t]i«' Danube, the Don, and [8] ; the very same phrase, Cam- the White Sea, bro-British Saints, p. 100. '^ 483 A [36], 486 B [44]. * 484 A [38] ; the true year is " 477 E [ii^. 885, V. inf. p. 50. '•' 470 C [8]^ 472 D [13], 483 E •' Diimmler, Gesch. d. Ostfriin- [38]. kischeu Reiches, ed. i. ii. 224. '" 491 A [54]. * Bede certainly speaks of " 483 D [38]. Saxons, Angles, Jutes, as being '^ ibid. THE SOURCES 41 Aquitaine and Burgundy, is king of the Western Franks^. We hear also of the kingdom or region of the Western Franks ^, The territory included in the empire as a whole is called Francia^ The eastern kingdom is Francia Orientalis*. The western territory is sometimes called Gallia^, and its inhabitants are Gauls ^, or of Gallic race"^. Charles the Fat, before he gained the western kingdom, is king of the Alamanni^. I believe that Germania here means Norway, a meaning which, strange as it may seem, it unquestionably has in the Welsh Annals. Thus at 1036 the Brut y Tywysogion calls Canute king of England, Denmark, and Germania, while at 1056 the title king of Germania is given to Harold Hardrada. In other words, the invaders of Saxony, according to Asser, came from Norway, and not from Denmark, which he calls Danubium ^. Another very obvious characteristic of the writer is his Other fondness for giving Welsh equivalents for English names character- of places 10. istics. [May I add without offence that I think another Celtic trait in our author is a certain largeness of statement? Mons. Henri Martin, a great admirer of the Celts, notes as characteristic of them a certain 'rebellion against facts ^^^; * 483 D [38]. regnum/ 491 A [54] ; ef. Chron. 2 484 A [38], 489 B [51]. 887 and notes. s 483 A [36] bis ; ibid., C [37] ' 479 A [28], 487 B [46], 498 B his. [67]. ' 483 A, B [36, 37] ; at the « 484 A [39], 486 B [44]. beginning of the annal 886 we ^ 493 E [61], 494 B [62] bis. should probably read : ' [orienta- ^ 484 A [38]. lem] regionem fugiens' ; Florence ^ 473 C [15]. has ' oriental! Francia relicta,' i. ^^ See § 30. 101. In the division which fol- " Histoire de France, i. 36: lowed the deposition of Charles ' leur indomptable personnalit^, the Fat, Arnulf has * orientales toujours prete a reagir contre le regiones Hreni'; Kudolf, 'inter- despotisme du fait,' a passage nam partem regni' ( = J)aet middel alluded to by M. Arnold, Celtic rice, Chron.; ; Odo, ' occidentale Literature, p. 102. 42 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED and there are many things in Asser which we can hardly accept as literally true, though, as I have shown already, and shall have to show again, some of the criticisms directed against him rest on misundigrstandings of his words. Know- ^ ^^^ ^^Q have next to consider the author^s knowledge South of South Welsh affairs. The principal passage is the one ^X^!^^' already alluded to where Asser describes his motives for affairs. •^ entering Alfred's service^. He and his friends hoped thereby to check the mischief inflicted on St. David's by Hemeid, king of Dyfed, who had on one occasion expelled Archbishop Novis, Asserts relative, and himself. Alfred was in a position to help, for some time previously all the princes of South Wales had commended themselves to Alfred ; Hemeid himself, and Ilelised ap Teudyr, king of Brecheiniog, owing to the pressure of the sons of Rotri Mawr, king of North Wales ; while Howel ap Rhys, king of Glewissig, Brochmail and Fern mail, sons of Mourie, kings of Gwent, took the same step, owing to the pressure of ^thelred of Mercia. Even Anaraut, son of Rotri him- self, with his brothers, leaving the friendship of the Northumbrians (by which I take the Northumbrian Danes to be meant) sought the king's friendship ; and after being honourably received by him, and made his godson at con- firmation, agreed to stand to him in the same relation of subordination as ^Ethelred did in Mercia, and was dismissed with rich presents — a scene which almost repeats the sub- mission of Guthrum, and incidentally perhaps supports the view that the defect of which Augustine complained in Welsh baptismal practice, was the omission of the rite of confirmation - ; while the comparison with ^Ethelred of Mercia illustrates the semi-royal position of Alfred's son- in-law'^ at least as forcibly as it illustrates Anaraut's dependence. • 488 AC [48 50]. ^ Bode, ii. 75, 76. = Chron. ii. 118, 119. THE SOURCES 43 § 34. Many years ao-o the late Mr. Bradshaw laid stress on the forms of these Welsh names as showino* that Asser could not be a late forgery ^. This argument becomes of less importance in view of the results we have already arrived at as to the date, and of the fact that names of the same type occur in documents later than the latest date which any reasonable critic could propose for Asser ^. But Eelations the whole passage throws a flood of light on the state of ^.^ Wessex. Wales^ and its relations to the house of Wessex. We see South Wales forced to submit to Wessex by the joint pressure of North Wales and Mercia ; while North Wales, which had remained hostile at any rate up to 880, when a battle was fought which was regarded as avenging the slaughter of Rotri Mawr by the Saxons in 877 ^^ ultimately found it to its interest to seek the shelter of the West Saxon overlord. Thus we see actually going on before our eyes the transition from the state of things under Egbert, when the Celtic population joined eagerly with the Scandinavian invaders in the hope of undoing the work of the Saxon Conquest "^j to a state of things in which they combine with their Saxon rivals against the common foe. It seems to me that such a passage, introduced so incident- ally and naturally, could only have been written by a contemporary writer. Moreover all the South Welsh princes, with two exceptions, are mentioned in the Book of Llandaff, several of them occur in the Annals. Hemeid of Dyfed, Asserts enemy^ died in 892 or 891 ^. Howel ap ^ Collected Papers, p. 467 ; I Brochmail, Elised, Mouric, Eis, have to thank my friend Mr. F. Kotri, Teudur, will all be found Jenkinson, Librarian of the sister in the Index. University, for reminding me of ^ Digal Eotri, ' the avenging of this passage. Eotri,' Ann. Cambr. and Brut, ^ e. g. the Book of Llandaff, sub anno, 880 ; cf. ibid., 877. which is of the twelfth century, * See Chron. 835, and note, though based on older materials ; ^ 892 Ann. Cambr. ; 891 Brut. 44 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Rhys is probably the Howel who died at Rome in 885^ whither he had gone, it is not unlikely, in expiation of the crime — a peculiarly foul case of treachery — recited in the Book of Llandaff -. His district, Glewissig", is often men- tioned in the same authority ; it is ^ roughly the district between the lower courses of the Usk and Towy ^.' Mouric of Gwent and his sons Brochmail and Fenimail also occur frequently *. jNIouric is probably the one whose death is recorded in 873 ^. The only prince as to whom I can find nothing is Helised ap Teudyr of Brecheiniog". But there is a Teudyr ab Elised, king of Brecheiniog ^, contemporary with Llunwerth or Llwmbert, the successor of Novis in the see of St. David's, who is not impossibly his father. Of Novis himself I have said enough above (p. 20). Ev.Mits of Another place where the author shows his knowledge of ^ ■ South Welsh affairs is in the interesting addition which he makes to the Chronicle under 878, to the effect that the heathen force which besieged Cynwit on the north coast of Devon, had wintered in Dyfed, and massacred many Christians there '^. Facts like this explain the change of attitude on the part of the Welsh. South Wales also suffered severely in 89 5 ^. Qiu'stion § 35. I have so far spoken of ' our author ' in the uniV' of singular. But the question must now be faced : is the ;Mitli«>r- work (apart from actual and possible interpolations) the ^"'^* composition of a single hand? When T first took up this He may bo the Ilimeyt who occurs rived from nn eponymous king in No. a of tlio ancient Welsh Gluigiiis. pedigrees, printed from Harleian * pp. 200, 206, 216. 226. 231- MS. 3859, in Y Cymmrodor, ix. £36 ; cf. Pedigree, No. 29, u. s. 171. '•" Ann. Cambr., sub anno. ' Ann. Caml)r., Brut., suit anno. ^ liook of Lhindaft', pp. 238. ^ pp. 212. 213; lio is mentioned, 239. ibid , 226-231. ^ 481 V> [32]. ^ ibid., Index ; in Cambro-lJrit- * 895 Ann. Cambr. ; 894 "Brut. ish Saints, p. 22, the name is de- P THE SOURCES 45 question I rather hoped that the result to be arrived at would be, that the annals were the work of one author, the biographical notes of another, while the florid head-links, of which I spoke before ^, would be the work of the later editor who combined the two documents. This would have been a result dear to the heart of the higher critic. But any such theory, however pretty, will not stand a moment^S examination. Allowing for the difference of subject-matter, the same characteristics appear both in the annalistic and biographical sections. Thus of five instances of the Celtic] use of left and right instead of north and south, two occur/ in the annals and three in the biography ; ^ Britannia,' ii^ the sense of ' Wales,' occurs six times in the biography and once in the annals ^. So there are some not quite common words and expressions, for which the writer has an evident predilection, which are sprinkled about both parts of the work. The details are too dry for reproduction here, and may be safely relegated to the obscurity of a footnote ^. * Above, § 12. they naturally contain a number ' The special use of the term of peculiarities which cannot be •Saxonia' occurs only in the bio- paralleled in the annals, graphy ; but then there was no ^ The biographical sections (B) great occasion to use it in the occupy nearly twice as much annals. Conversely, the seven space as the annalistic (A). For instances in which Welsh equiva- purposes of statistics it is hard to lents for Saxon place-names are draw the line exactly between given occur wholly in the annals. them, because, even in the annals, But this also is quite natural. there are small biographical in- Inthe annals, as we shall see, sertions, and it is difficult to know the writer was translating ; and under which head to class these. he added explanations to make The longer anecdotes about ^thel- his text more intelligible to his wulf, -dCthelbald, and iEthelred Welsh readers. For the same I have counted as B. I give a reason, and also because of their few statistics of the vocabulary, greater length, the biographical It will be seen that some words sections give greater scope for the of frequent occurrence occur only author's idiosyncrasies both of under one heading, and these diction and of style ; and therefore taken alone might support the 46 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED But one instance is of sufficient general interest to merit Peculiar discussion. This is the use of the word ' aedificia ^ in the the word sense of articles of goldsmiths^ work. To this I can pro- aedificia. Juce no parallel from any other writer ; but the meaning seems to me ])ractically certain in three instances, and probable in the fourth ; and of these four cases one occurs in the annals, and the rest in the biography. The first instance is where Alfred, after Guthrum^s baptism, gives him ' multa et optima aedificia ^.' It is clear that Guthrum did not carry away with him edifices^ in the ordinary sense of the w^ord. Lappenberg would alter ' aedificia ' into ' beneficia ^ ' ; ' mit vollem Rechte/ says Pauli ^ ; but this will hardly do in other cases, as we shall see. The next instance is where Asser says that Alfred ' by his novel contrivance made ^^ aedificia '' more venerable and precious than any of his predecessors ^/ Here the ordinary meaning is just possible, though the epithet ' pretiosiora ' and the fact that ' aurifices et artifices ' are mentioned just before, point decidedly the other way. The third passage speaks of ' aedificia of gold and silver incomparably wrought under his instructions ^.' Even the most Celtic imagination cannot suppose that Alfred built edifices, in the ordinary sense, of the precious metals, especially as his own royal halls and chambers are expressly stated to have been of stone and wood^. The fourth passage tells how Alfred tlieory of a douljlc authorship; more lupino. A'; more uulpino, but I do not tliink they do. See A'; ordina])iliter, B^ ; testudo, last note. Adunatus, A^, B' ; A', B" ; uniuersitatis uia (i.e. aedificium (in special sense noted death\ A^ B' ; ultramarinus, in text), A', B' ; aliquantulus, A', A', B' ; uita praesens, B'-. B* ; animoso, A* ; belligorare, A^, ' 482 C [35]. B^ ; curtum, B" ; incessabilitor, ^ 1.321 ; E. T. ii. 55. B^ ; infatigabiliter, A- (the writer ^ Konig iElfred, p. 141. is fond of words ending in -bills, * 486 A [43]. -biliter) ; licentia (in sense of * 492 D [58]. leisure}, B^ ; more aprino. B' ; ^ ibid. THE SOURCES 47 had workmen who were skilled Mn omni terreno aedificio^,' where the meaning is probably the same. The use of the word in so strange a sense in both parts of the work seems to me a strong proof of unity of authorship. The usage^ how^ever, becomes a little less strange if we remember how much of the goldsmith's art at that time would go to the making of shrines and reliquaries^ which really were * edifices ' in miniature. The two middle passages which speak of Alfred's ' novel contrivance,' and of his personal instructions to his workmen, are of singular interest in connexion with the Alfred Jewel ; and the fact that my friend Professor Earle, who has made a special study of that jewels agrees with my interpretation of these passages, adds greatly to my confidence in advancing it. Alfred's love for this kind of art seems to have been hereditary. William of Malmesbury gives an account of a shrine which a^thelwulf had made to contain the bones of St. Aldhelm. ' The covering is of crystal, whereon the king's name may be read in letters of gold ^.' This exactly answers to the character of the Alfred Jewel. ^ '^6. Of Asser's style two prominent characteristics are Asser a fondness for long parentheses ^, and a tiresome trick of ^ 495 D [66]. Alfred's Jewel, though the enamel ^ Gesta Pontificum, pp. 389 f. : of that is ' cloisonne.* Malmes- 'Fastigiumcristallinum rex Ethel- bury speaks in the present tense, wulfus apposuit scrinio, in quo so that the shrine had survived nomen eius litteris aureis est to his time ; and he must have legere.' In front were * ex solido seen it almost daily. In the argento iactae imagines,' i. e. Chron. Monast. Casinensis, under statuettes cast in solid silver ; at the year 1020 we find mentioned : the back 'leuato metallo miracula 'loculus mirificus . . . argento et figurauit,' i.e. scenes represent- auro ac gemmis Anglico opere ' ing Aldhelm's miracles. Does subtiliter ac pulcherrime decora- * metallo leuato' mean that they tus,' Pertz, vii. 649 ; cf. ibid., 712 : were engraved? or does it indi- ' Anglus quidam aurifex.' eate * champleve ' enamel ? The ^ e. g. 486 D [45] neque enim latter would be another link with . . . administraret ; 488 A [49] s style. 48 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Kclatiou repeating a word or phrase, sometimes with a slight varia tion, at intervals, in some cases longer, in others very shorts He certainly would have had no chance with the editor who objected to the quotation ' to the pure all thing: are pure/ on the ground that it sinned against the rule of the office that the same word must not be repeated withii six lines. Occasionally he seems as if he could not get away from a phrase, but clings to it, as a drowning m an^ clings to a plank ; and I think that this feature is due, not to anyTove for these particular words and phrases, but to, a poverty of expression like that which causes the repeti-( tions of an unpractised speaker. These characteristics come out most strongly no doubt in the biographical sections, but they are not wholly absent from the others ^. § 37. The next question which must be considered is qui saepe . . . sub ipsis ; 492 D [59] ueluti gubernator . . . cou- tendit, &c. ^ Instances of recurrence at longer intervals : 469 A [4] nobilis ingenio, nobilis et genere ; 473 D [i6] cum nobilitate generis, nobilis mentis ingenium ; 474 A [17] cre- bris querelis, et intimis suspiriis ; 486 C [45] querelabatur et assiduo geniebat suspirio ; 496 B [67] in quantum infirmitas et possibilitas atque suppetcntia permitteret ; 497 A [69] in qu. poss. aut supp. immo etiam inf. perm. Instances of recurrence at short intervals : 485 D, E [43] artesquae nobilibus conuoniunt, studiaqu. nob. conu. ; 485 K [43] vt maxime Saxoiiica carmina .stuiupt 887 has always been a difficulty. If we could trust the statement that the work was written in Alfred's forty- fifth year, i. e. about 894 ^, we might account for this by supposing that the Chronicle, from which the writer bor- rows so much, had not at that time got much beyond 887. And the work may have been laid aside and never taken up ^ 469 B [5] Sheppey ; 469 C [6] 853, 871. (I do not include under Oakley; 476 C [22] Ashdown ; this head the story of ^thelred 479 A [28] Exeter ; 481 D [33] and his mass.) But the fact that Selwood. Asser was occasionally able to ^ See above, p. 38, note 3. make authentic additions no more ^ 469 B, C [5] Sheppey and disproves the greater originality London ; ib. C, D [6] Surrey, and of the Chron. than similar addi- ' Mediterranei Britones'; 474 C tions in Ethelwerd, who, while [17] York ; 476 A [21] Reading ; following in the main the Chron., 477 D [25] Wilton ; 478 D [27] evidently had other good sources Wareham ; 479 A [28] Exeter ; now lost. On the type of Chron. 480 B [30] Chippenham ; 482 C used by Asser, see Chron. II. [35] Cirencester ; 483 B [37] Ro- Ixxxiv. Chester. ^ 492 C [58] : 'ad quadragesi- * Above, p. 44. Other good mum quintum [annum] quern additions will be found under nunc agit' E 2 52 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED again. Unfortunately this date occurs in one of those suspicious passages about Alfred's illness, though not in the one most open to suspicion. Or, again, the work nmy be mutilated. Assor to § 40. On the whole, then, Asser is an authority to be be used ^^^^ with criticism and caution ; partly because we have caution; always to be alive to the possibility of interpolation, partly because the writer's Celtic imagination is apt to run away but there with him. But that there is a nucleus which is the genuine genuine ^^'^^^ of a single Writer, a South Walian contemporary of nucleus. Alfred, I feel tolerably sure, and I know no reason why \ that South Walian contemporary should not be x\sser of Menevia. There is a slight confirmation of this view in the quotation which the writer makes from Gregory's Cura Pastoralis ^, for we know from Alfred's own mouth that Asser was one of those who helped him in the translation of that work. Another coincidence with Alfred's preface to the Cura Pastoralis is to be found in the phrase ' aliquando sensum ex sensu ponens,' which Asser uses in reference to the translation of Gregory's Dialogues^. Anyhow, as I have shown ^, the work which bears Asser's name cannot be later than 974, and the attempt to treat it as a forgery of the eleventh or twelfth century must be regarded as having broken down. I may add that I started with a strong prejudice against the authenticity of Asser, so that my conclusions have at any rate been impartially arrived at. A |.ii/./.lhig ^ 41, Still the book remains a puzzle both in form and substance. It was a curious work to offer to Alfred if it contained the scandals about .Ethelbald and Judith, and ' 496 A [67], from Cura Past. l>y word, sometimes ' andgit of iii. c. 20. [AngU>-Sax«in Version, andgite,' 'sensum ex sensu.' The cap. xliv.] exact correspondence is curious. ' Alfred says that he translated ^ See above, §§ 24, 25. sometimes * word be worde,' word work. THE SOURCES 53 what we must regard as the idealised description of Alfred's court and administration, I am conscious that I am very far from having solved the problem. I shall be content if I am thought to have contributed something towards a solution, which will perhaps be given before long* by Mr. Stevenson. The suggestion of Mr. Macfadyen that the work was drawn up with a view to Alfred's canonisa- tion ^ may be dismissed at once. People are not canonised in their lifetime. ^ 42. In one class of historical literature, which often Lives of • * f .very usefully supplements more formal histories^ the reign of Alfred is singularly barren, I mean the lives of saints. | We have nothing like the lives of Dunstan, Oswald, and ^Ethelwold, which give us so much help towards the end of the next century; or like the lives of Wilfrid and Cuthbert at an earlier period. The times, indeed, w^ere not favourable to the development of saintship of the mediaeval \ pattern. The monasteries, the chief schools of that type of sanctity, suffered more than any other institutions at the hands of the Danes ; and the . virtues which the age required w^ere of a more active kind than those which went to make up the mediaeval ideal. The title of saint is indeed given by one authority to Werferth, bishop of Worcester; but this rests, as we shall see, on a miscon- ception ; though in truth, as Mr. Taylor has remarked, the conduct of Werferth in accepting the see of Worcester in 872, the very year preceding the expulsion of Burgred, king of Mercia, Alfred^s brother-in-law, by the Danes, w^as as heroic as that of any Christian missionary -. ' u. s. p. 356. ^ Rev. C. S. Taylor, The Danes in Gloucestershire, pp. 7-9. 54 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED them are due some of the prevalent misconceptions as to Alfred's reign. For this very reason something must be said about them. Fivo The existing Lives of St. Neot are, as far as I know, five laves. jj^ number, four in Latin, of which three are in prose and ^ one in verse, and one Anglo-Saxon Life. Besides these there is, as we have seen, a fragment of another Latin Life, embodied in the Annals of St. Neot, and thence transferred by Archbishop Parker to the text of Asser^. Roger of Wendover's account of St. Neot ^ seems also to be based on some Life different from any of those mentioned above. The Of the Latin Lives that have come down to us the earliest j^ii\. ' is that contained in MS. Bodley 379, and printed at the end of Whitaker's Life of St. Neot'^ It may sufficiently chai-acterise this writer's style to say that he describes Wessex as the country of ' the Anglican Saxons who dwell beneath the Zephyr wind"*.' The next Latin Life is that printed by the Bollandists^ from a ^IS. formerly belonging to Bee. It bears within itself clear evidence of being later than the Norman Conquest '''. This is a very pedantic writer. He talks much of form and matter, genus and species ", ' the dry notions of Logicians/ as one translator of Thomas a Kempis ^ depreciatingly calls them ; and is fond of using Greek words like ' anatole,' ' mesembria.' tIm^ 'dysis^' The Metrical Life, printed by Whitaker ^'^^ from , jj-,^"' a MS. belonging to Magdalen College, Oxford, is clearly based on this, of which also John of Tynemouth's Life ^' is a mere abridgement. The Anglo-Saxon Life (or rather ' 480 C-481 B [30-32]. mamioium sul)iug;uotur ditioni." '^ E(i. Coxe, i. 331. 332. p. 320''. ' PP- 339 ff. ' p. 320". * ' Saxones Aiiglit-os Zepliyii " Imitatio. i. 3; Kng. Tran.-l. xiih uonto nioiantos.' p. 350. op. 328, 346, 368 ; Gorhani. surdity is liardly less if we sup- p. 257, pos(^ the earlier .Elfheah to be *' AA. SS, j). 323'': Whitaker, meant, 934-951. But the title of pp. 329, 346, 368. 'Saint' seems to show that the ^ AA. SS. p. 325'; Whitaker, later one is intended. If so, the pp. 333 flf., 347 ft"., 370 flF. ; Gor- life eannot at any rate be earlier ham, p. 258. (Iian 1012. And this alone would I story. •THE SOURCES 57 from the throne^ and his ultimate restoration, and then dies ^. Next comes the invasion of Guthrum. Alfred gives up everything and flies to Athelney ; the cakes are duly burnt ^, and then St. Neot appears in a vision and finally leads the English hosts to victory at Ethandun ^. § 45. It would not be necessary to quote this precious Absunlity stuff, even in outline, were it not that people still continue '^^^^ ^ to treat it as more or less historical. I have already adverted to the strange inconsistency of making Alfred first hear of Neot^s fame after the latter^s return from Rome, although he was his own brother according to the pedigree. This seems to show that the making Neot a son of ^thelwulf was a later development, and not part of the original legend. And, indeed, in the fragment of the Life interpolated in Asser he is no more than Alfred's ^ cognatus ^,' which in mediaeval Latin means cousin, or sometimes brother-in- law, like ' cognato ' in modern Italian^. But if St. Neot ever existed, his connexion with the royal house of Wessex has probably as little basis in fact, as the forged Carolingian pedigree which the later Lives of St. Hubert give to that Saint ^. Another noteworthy point is that the only pope contemporary with Alfred known to these Lives is Marinus "^j though his obscure pontificate only lasted a little over a year (December, 882, to the beginning of 884^), and was some time posterior to the death of Neot, who is represented ^ A A. SS. p. 325'^; Whitaker, ^ Bede, ii. 48, 168, 175,243,371. PP- 335, 349> 372 ; Gorham, pp. ^ Ebert, u. s. ii. 229. 258, 259. ' AA. SS. pp. 323^ 325" ; Whita- ^ AA. SS. p. 327"^ : * panes . . . ker, pp. 328, 348, 368, 370 ; Gor- quos nonnulli liridas appellant' ; ham, p. 258. Whitaker, pp. 351 ff . ; Gorham, * Gregorovius, Gesch. der Stadt p. 259. Rom, iii. 206, 207. The Saxon ^ AA. SS. pp. 327^-328^; Whita- Chronicle dates his pontificate ker, pp. 355 ff., 371 ff. ; Gorham, 883-885, another indication that p. 260. it is a year in advance of the * 481 A [32]. true chronology. 58 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED as dying before the campaign of 878 \ The reason for this prominence is, of course, to be found in the privileges which this pope was said to have granted, at Alfred^s request, to the EngHsh School at Rome -, and still more in the story that he had sent a fragment of the true cross to Alfred ^. I need hardly say that the idea of Alfred's early licentiousness, or of his tyranny at the beginning of his reign, is absolutely inconsistent with authentic history. The year 871, when Wessex was at deathgrips wnth the foe, was not the time, even if Alfred had been the man, for establishing a tyranny. It is pitiable that modern writers should lend even half an ear "* to these wretched tales, which besmirch the fair fame of our hero king, in order to exalt a phantom saint. § 46. But perhaps the worst misconception, and the one which has most injuriously affected English history, is that connected with the withdrawal to Athelney. The Lives represent Alfred on the invasion of Guthrum as becoming not merely a helpless, but a cowardly and criminal fugitive. This view is put most strongly in the Saxon Ijife, which runs as follows ^ : ' Then came Guthrum the heathen king with his cruel host first to the eastern part of Saxland ' AA. SS. p. 325''; Whitaker. being inconsistoif with autlit-nti.- I»P- 335> 349. 372; Goihani, ret-ords. p. 259. ' 'Com ]m GuCruni se hjef"enf - Chron. 885. king mid liis Wivlroowen heie " ibid. 883 ; omitted in MS. 'X ivvost on va^t dsele Sexlaudes . . . ±i\ only. According to Malmosburv, .Elt'rrd king . . . \set ofaxode J)a»t Alfnd gave this relic to Ghiston- se here . . . wtvs . . . swa neh bury, Antiq. Eccl. Glast. p. 316 Englelandc, he sone for fyrht {ed. Gale). tieanies cepte, and his csempen * Even Mr. W. II. Simcox, Eng- eaUe forlet, and his heretogen, lisli Historical Review, i. 232 ; on and call his J eode ; . . . ferde \)u the ground that tl>e evidence is hitigende geond hegos and weges, 'earlier than much whicli wt- geund wudosandfeldes, swa])«et lie accept.' Even were this so, it ... Ix-com to yEC>elingege,' Gor- does net toucli (be lact <>f its ham. p. 239 ; cf. AA. SS. p. 327'. ■ THE SOURCES 59 (Saxonia) . . . When King Alfred . . . learnt that the host . . . was ... so near England, he straightway for fear took to flight, and forsook all his warriors and his captains and all his people, . . . and crept by hedge and lane, through wood and field, till he . . . came to Athelney/ where the cakes are burnt. Now there is no doubt that Wessex was thoroughly surprised by the sudden attack of the Danes at mid-winter, after twelfth-night, HyH^. And it is possible that in this the Danes were hardly Splaying the game.* Military operations were generally suspended in the winter. Chippenham was a ' villa regia ' as Asser notes ; and it looks as if the Danes, with Boer 'slimness/ had tried to surprise Alfred in his winter home ^. Happily they failed in this, and, as Pauli has finely said ^, Alfred's cause was not hopeless as long as Alfred was alive. For the moment the struggle was converted into a guerilla war. But this is what authentic history has to say about it : ' Here the host . . . stole on Chippenham and surprised Wessex, . . . and most of the people they reduced except the King Alfred *, and he with a little band made his way with difficulty by wood and swamp ; . . , and then after Easter he with his little band made a fort at Athelney, and from that fort kept fighting against the foe ^/ until he in his turn surprised the Danes, and forced them to submit. Athelney, in fact, played no small part in the redemption of England. ' Pauli thinks that the result * ' Butan ))am cyninge ^Ifrede,' was partly due to internal treach- ' diese vier Worte klingen in ihrer ery, Konig Alfred, p. 123 ; cf. trockenen Einfachheit unendlich also Asser, 480 B [30] 'et etiam grossartig,' ibid., 125 note. The a Christianis,' &c. same words are used of Here- " Professor Earle's suggestion, ward, 1071 E, 1072 D ; and Pauli who notes that Alfred's will has remarked that Alfred's posi- shows that he had a 'ham' at tion in Athelnej'- was not unlike Chippenham ; cf. Asser, 480 B Hereward's in Ely, p. 129. [30]. ' Chron. 878, and notes. 2 Konig iElfred; p. 117. 6o LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED § 47. Of later Chroniclers, Ethel werd, at the end of the next century, bases his work mainly on the Chronicle. But, like Asser, he has good additions here and there ; and as he was closely connected with the royal house of Wessex, being" descended from ^thelred, Alfred's brother, and was also highly placed as an ealdorman in Wessex, he may well have had access to authentic sources of information. Un- fortunately there is no one who has worked at Ethelwerd, who will not echo Ranke's sigh : ' wenn er nur verstilndlich ware ^ ! ' ^ If only he were intelligible ! ^ The designation which he gives to himself : * Patricius consul Fabius Quaestor Ethelwerdus ' is but too true an index of the puerile pomposity of his style. Something of this unin- telligibility is no doubt to be put down to the corruption of the text^, of which no MS. is known to exist. But if he fails to make us understand his Latin, his blunders in translating the Chronicle show that he had a very imperfect acquaintance with the Saxon language ^. It is possible that this fact may be due, as Professor York Powell once suggested to me, to his having been brought up on the Continent. The careful Florence gives us less help than usual in this reign, because, as we have seen, he borrows so much from Asser. His splendid and inspiring panegyric on Alfred ^ is almost his only serious addition, though a worthy one, to what we learn from Asser and the Chronicle. Henry of Huntingdon makes no use of Asser, and does little more than reproduce the Chronicle. There is no trace of the use of ancient ballads '', such as we iind in ' Weltgcsehichte, VI. ii. 44. ' On Ethelwerd ef. Chronicle, Etlielweid in liis Preface says : * 316. The fiction-monger of the Mirror of Justices treats it as aheady ancient in the time of Alfred. I owe these references to Sir Frederick Pollock. Simeon of DuiIkuii. 64 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED judges in one year for unjust judgements \ I think it must be admitted that these achievements were highly creditable to one who, in the sam e /mythical realm, had shown in his early yeai-s such licentiousness and tyranny 2. § 50. In some cases we can trace how the later myth arose ; and this furnishes us with an instructive warning as to the danger of listening to the unsupported statements of later chroniclers, as many modern writers are half inclined to do. The following is a good instance : — The Chronicle under 885 tells how Alfred sent a fleet to East Anglia, which defeated a force of sixteen wiking ships at the mouth of the Stour, but on their way home fell in with a superior force of the enemy, and were totally defeated. In the earlier text of Simeon of Durham an elaborate explanation is given of the cause of this defeat ^ ; how the English were surprised, an unarmed multitude, when plunged in lazy sleep; so that to them, says the moralising w^riter, would apply the proverb : ' many shut their eyes when they ought to see/ Will it be believed that this elaborate tale, with its attendant moral, has all grown out of a false reading in the parallel account of Asser? He says that the English were attacked 'cum inde uictrix classis dormirct,' where ' dormiret ' is a cor- ruption of Momum iret,' the Miamweard wendon ' of the Chronicle '*. Florence has ' rediret,' whether that be his substitution for ^ domum iret,' or his own correction of the obviously nonsensical ' dormiret.' This example is further ' Miroir des Justices, pp. 296- Walliiigfoid, p. 535. 298 ; where the nanu'S of the ' See ii. 87. defaulting justices are given, and * cf. S. D.'Mi, 117 : 'duui reuer- very marvellous tliey are. I owe tei-entur dow?t. Hist. i. 145 ; the authority 188 flF, is (iregory of Tours : ' in Basilica ^ 'Cingulo, honore, uostimentis- beati Martini tunica bhatea in- que.' Citiguhim sometimes means dutus est, et chhimyde. imponens 'dignity,' 'office,' v. Ducange, uertici diadema,' ii. 38. sidar dlndom PRIOR TO HIS ACCESSION ^o^ the traditions of the Byzantine Court. If then the im- position of a diadem of some kind on the child^s head formed part of the ceremony of the consular investiture, this would come very near to a royal coronation. I am however inclined to go a step further in the way of suggestion. Ail red of Rievaulx indeed, who compares the anointing of David by Samuel, supposes the pope to have been endowed with the gift of prophecy ^. And a spurious "'' charter ^ represents Alfred as making promises to the pope, as if it was then certain that he would one day become king. But, humanly speaking, it was of course impossible that Alfred's succession to the West Saxon throne should have been foreseen in 853, seeing that he had three brothers livings all older than himself. But is it not possible that Possibly he may titularly have held some subordinate royalty con- rovafty ferred on him by his father for this very object ? Athel- conferred stan, the under- king of Kent, disappears from history after 851. ^thelberht, Alfred''s second brother, was appointed ^ Ed. Migne, col. 718 : ' Leo p. 3 ; Birch, ii. 256 : ' Alfredus tempus et aetatem regnandi re- rex totius Anglie, primus coro- giae unctionis Sacramento praeue- natus'; see the figure of Alfred niens, sicut quondam Samuel pue- in MS. Cott. Claud. D. vi, given rum Dauid, ita eum in regem ... in Draper, p. 130, where the consecrauit.' Later writers made crown and ampulla evidently much of this papal unction, say- allude to the Roman unction and ing not merely that Alfred was coronation. Nicolas Smith, titu- the first English king anointed lar bishop of Chaleedon (f 1655), by the pope, which is true, but says : * hie solus ex omnibus that he was the first English Angliae regibus Diadema et in- king who was ever anointed and augurationem sumpsit a Romano crowned, e. g. Thorn, in Twysden, Pontifice, ut agnoscunt Proto- col. 1777 ; Rudborne, Ang. Sac. i. stantes,' in "Wise's Asser, p. 109. 201, 207 : ' ab ipso descendit I do not know whether modern inunctio regum Angliae '; Chron. Roman controversialists derive Robert of Gloucester, p. 388 : ' so any satisfaction from the same J)at, biuore him, pur king nas ])er reflexion. If so, it would be a non ' ; John de Oxenedes (who pity to deprive them of it. puts the papal coronation after ^ Birch, No. 493 ; K. C. D. No. Alfred's accession to the throne !), 1057. 74 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED to that under-kingdom when ^thelwulf went to Rome in 855 ^. Is it not just possible that in the interval it may have been titularly conferred on Alfred ? What emboldens me to make this suggestion is the curiously interesting parallel of Louis the Pious, who, at the age of three, was crowned by Pope Hadrian I in 781 as king of Aquitaine-. But if this be thought too bold a theory, then I should fall back on the diadem as one of the consular insignia. When in the course of years Alfred inherited his father^s throne, he, and others, may well have seen in the action of him who was Miigh priest that same year,' a prophetic significance ; just as St. John traces a higher inspiration in words ^, which, in the intention of the speaker, simply laid down the doctrine of political expediency in its most brutal form. § 55. Two years later, in 855, ^Ethelwulf went to Rome himself *. As early as the year of his accession, 839, he had formed the plan, and had sent an embassy to the emperor, Louis the Pious, to prepare the way ^ ; and now at last, after sixteen years, he was able to accomplish it. How much the subject filled his thoughts seems to be indicated by the fact that a charter of this year is dated : ' when I set out to go beyond the sea to Rome ^.' He hardly left ^composito regno' as William of Malmesbury states'^, for in 855 the Danes for the second time wintered in the island'^, and a ^NTereian charter of this very year is > Cln-i.n. ii. 82. So tlio Cliar- ^ rnuU'iitius Trocensis;, Pert/, ter, Bucli, No. 467 ; K. C. D. No. i. 433. 269; though the Indiction is * Birch, No. 486; K. C. D. Nm. wrong, and Stul)!)S gives the date 276. as 853, Const. Hist, i. 14a. ^ * Hotnani, oumposito regn--, ^ Ebert, ii. iii ; Wt'bor, Wilt- abiit,' i. 109. gesch. V. 331, 432. * The Chron. says, * aerest,' ' f> r ' John xi. 49-52. the Hrst time,' but an earlier wiu- * Cliron. ; Asser, sub anno. tcring has been mentioned in 851, PRIOR TO HIS ACCESSION 75 dated : ^ when the Pagans were in the country of the Wrekin ^ ' ; though that concerned Mercia more imme- diately than Wessex. Before leaving England ^Ethelwulf entrusted his dominions to his two eldest sons in the way in which they were ultimately divided at his death ; ^thelbald receiving Wessex, and ^thelberht Kent with its dependencies^. The spirit of family partitions, which wrecked the Carolingian empire, threatened the house of Wessex also. Happily the evil consequences were averted, as w^e shall see ^, by the patriotic unselfishness of the two youngest brothers, ^Ethelred and Alfred. ^thelwulf took Alfred with him on this journey to He takes Rome. This fact is not mentioned in the Chronicle, and ^y^ifhim rests only on the authority of Asser ^, and those writers who have copied him. But on the whole the statements | are too precise to be set aside, and we may accept | Dr. Stubbs^ decision : ^ there is no possibility that a single ; visit has been broken into two ^.' That the child returned t to England after his visit in 853, and did not wait at Rome till his father came, is proved by the fact that his signature is affixed to the charter of 855, already cited, which ^Ethel- wulf executed when setting out for Rome ^ : and this is better authority than that of the two recensions of Simeon of Durham; which however both state the fact very distinctly"^. The continental authorities do not mention Alfred ; but ^ Birch, No. 487 ; K. C. D. No. ^ 'Ad patriam atque ad patrem \\ P^ 277. . . . direxit,' S. D.^ ii. 71; 'ad * Chronicle, ii. 82. patrem . . . remisit,' S. D.Mi. loi ^ See below, pp. 86, 89. (of the pope). Both these ver- * 470 C [8]. sions also, especially the second, * W. M. II. xliii. clearly distinguish this journe3^ ® See above, p. 74 ; the other of Alfred's from the one in 853, charters cited by Stubbs, loc. ii. 103. ^ eit. are all spurious. 76 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED >Ethel- they tell how honourably the emperor Charles the Bald wulfsre- 'i-gf^gived ^thelwulf, and escorted him to the borders of his ception ' on the kingdom ^ ; while the Roman historian gives lists of the offerings w^hich the pious monarch made at the holy places ^. Gregorovius indeed says that he came 'to be anointed and crowned by the pope ^/ But he gives no authority, and I do not believe that any exists. Some authorities transfer to this visit the royal unction of Alfred ^_, while another places it at ^thelwulf s death, January, 858 ^. But there is no reason to believe that Alfred remained at Rome after his father left. The object of both versions is to make the story of the unction rather more probable ; but both alike are inconsistent with the fact that Leo lY, who is always represented as the anointing pontiff, died July 1 7, 855 ^. State of ^ -6. According to the Chronicle and Asser, ^thelwulf this time, remained a year in Rome, and according to William of I Malmesbury he restored the ' Schola Saxonum '^ ^ or English hostelry there, which is probable enough, as early in Leo^s reign it had suffered much from fire ^. It is worth while ^ Prudentius Trecensis, Pertz, autliority as '^//eSaxon Clironicle,' i. 449. -without qualification. Mr. Cony- ^ Liber Pontificalis, ed. Du- })eare (u. s. p. 16) goes further, chosne, ii. 148 ; Anastasius in and misrepresents even tliis poor Muratori, SS. III. i. 251 ; on authority : * according to the which see Gregorovius, iii. 149 IT. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle it was on 5 u. s. iii. no. the news of [iEthelbald's] inces- j * So Wendover, i. 290, 291 tuous union reaching Pome that ' (who makes this tinction of Leo " hallowed Alfred to king." ' Alfred as king at his father's /Etlielbald's marriage is not men- request, to the exclusion of his tioned in any MS. of the Chroni- eldor brothers, one of the main cle, not even in F. causes of i'Rthelbald's revolt) ; so • Gregorovius, iii. 112. too a spurious cliarter, Birch, No. "^ Gesta Regum, i. 109, ii. xxxix. I 493; K. C. D. No. 1057. " Lil>- Pontif. ii. in ; or Mura- • The eleventh or twelfth cent. tori, SS. IIL i. 233. For an earlier Epitome of the Chron. known as fire in the same quarter see Chron. MS. F. I may once more protest 816 and notes. On these foreign against the habit of citing this late 'schools' or hostelries at Rome PRIOR TO HIS ACCESSION ^'] to take a glance at the state of Rome at this time. Only nine years before, under Sergius II_, a Saracen fleet had The entered the Tiber and sacked the papal suburb, though they '^^''^^^'^^• probably did not capture Rome itself. St. Peter's, the centre of Western Christendom, the archive, the museum, the treasury of five centuries of Christian devotion, became their prey. The church of his brother apostle St. Paul, scarcely less rich, shared a like fate^. The conquest of Sicily, 837-832, had thrown down the last barrier against Islam ^. The Mediterranean was indeed fast becoming a Saracenic lake ; and the Saracens were, as has been well said ^, to the dwellers on its coasts very much what the Danes and Northmen were to the dwellers on the coasts of Northern Europe, a haunting ever-present dread, which would not let men sleep. Some parts indeed suffered from both plagues alike ^ ; and in Spain we find Saracen and Christian combining against the Dane^, much as we have seen Celt and Saxon combining in England ^. It was to prevent a repetition of the disaster of 846 that Leo IV, with the help of the emperor Lothair ^, built the fortifica- tions which have ever since given to the papal suburb the name of ' the Leonine city."* These fortifications were solemnly consecrated by the pope just a year before Alfred's former visit, viz. on June 27, 852 ^. cf. Chron. ii. 69 ; De' Rossi, Un sterii, w. 37, 38. Tesoro di monete Anglo Sassoni ^ Gregorovius, iii. 65, 66 ; We- (1884), pp. 6, 7. ber, Weltgesch. v. 186 f. ^ Gregorovius, iii. 87 ff. (a fine ^ Conybeare, u. s. p. 15. description) ; Ranke, Weltgesch. * Weber, u. s. pp. 465 f., 505 ff. "VI. ii. I. Compare Alcuin's fine The Monk of St. Gallon actually lines on the state of Rome at the identifies the Saracens and North- end of the eighth century : men, see Ebert, u. s. iii. 220. Roma caput mundi, mundi ^ Weber, u. s. pp. 192, 193. decus, aurea Roma, ® See above, § 34. Nunc remanet tantum saeua ' Ranke, u. s. ruina tibi, ^ Gregorovius, u. s. pp. 97 ff. De Clade Lindisfarnensis Mona- 78 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED ^thol- § 57- It was on his way home in 856 that ^thelwulf ^^^^'^ and, presumably, Alfred also, stayed once more at the inarriago. court o£ Charles the Bald ; and here at Yerberie on October i the elderly ^Ethelwulf was married to the ' emperor^s daughter Judith, a child of twelve or thirteen ^ The motive of this ill-assorted match is thought to have been to cement an alliance between the two monarchs against the wikings, who were the common foes of both. If this was its object, it was a conspicuous failure. As far as I can read the history of the succeeding years, whenever the wikings were defeated on the Continent they threw themselves on England, and conversely ^. So that the success of one kingdom was the disaster of the other. There is no trace of any joint action beneficial to both. And indeed Charles the Bald, a typical Frenchman in many respects, intellectually clever, but caring only for the outward pomp and circumstance of empire, without the strength of character to grasp and hold the reality of power ^, was hardly the man to carry out a consistent policy. ' And afterwards he came home to his people, and they were fain thereof/ says the Chronicle ; using, in regard to ^Ethelwulf's return, almost the same simple and expressive words which it uses afterwards to describe the joy of the ])cople when Alfred emerged from his retreat at Athelney. This seems to me to give the lie direct to Asser's story"* — in itself most suspicious — that .Ethelwulf on his arrival was greeted by a conspiracy of his eldest son /Ethelbald, / Ealhstan, bishop of Sherborne, and Eanwulf, ealdorman of Somerset, to exclude him from the throne, and that .'li^thelwulf, sooner than allow a civil war, consented to * Chron. 855 and notes. u. s. p. 553. ' cf. Riinko, u. s. Vr. ii. 40 ff. ♦ 470 D-471 C [8-10]. = ibid. VI. i, 207. 208 ; Weber, PRIOR TO HIS ACCESSION 79 accept the subordinate kingdom of Kent^ Sia., leaving Wessex to the rebellions son. We have seen that ^thel- ' wulf, on his departure, had divided his kingdoms between his two eldest sons, and it is possible that ^'Ethelbald was less willing than ^thelberht to resign the delegated power. The joy at ^thelwulf^s return may point to trouble in his absence ; and the same may be hinted at where it is said of ^Ethelberht, that he reigned * in all good quietness and peace ^'' This cannot refer to exemption from Danish attacks, for it w^as in his reign that Winchester, the capital of Wessex, was captured ^. One is almost tempted to think that the writer, struck, as everyone must be struck ^, with the parallel between ^thelwulf and Louis the Pious, wished to create an English counterpart to the Liigenfeld, or Field of Lies, w^here Louis was betrayed into the hands of his rebellious sons ■* (June 30, ^^^). Asserts quaint characterisation of an atrocious conspiracy as a ^ mis- fortune ' (infortunium), reminds one of Gibbon^s immortal description in the autobiography of the gentleman who ' was always talking about his faults, which he called his misfortunes/ Here, too, I seem to see traces of the confla- tion of two different traditions ^, which might point to the possibility of interpolation. But even if the story be all Asserts own, we must remember that he was writing at least thirty-eight years after the event ; and surely we in Oxford know that a legend may grow up in a shorter time than that. * Chron. 860 A. ^thelwulf rex a Roma reuertens 2 ibid, iterum in regnum reciperetur,' ' e. g. Pauli, u. s. p. 51 ; S. C. H. i. e. the conspiracy is hatched i. 204. while iEthelwulf is still at Kome ; * Ranke, u. s. VI. i. 57 ff. ; at the end the story of Eadburh Weber, u. s. pp. 460, 461. seems to imply that it was the ' At the beginning of the story marriage with Judith which pro- the conspirators plot ' ne unquam voked the conspiracy. 8o LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED of Judith's marria^ie with /Ethel- l)nhl. § 58. If Judith's marriage to her step-son ^thelbald rested only on the authority of this early part of Asser ^, I should reject it with equal decision ; and with the same sort of inclination to regard it as a fabricated pendant to the second marriage of Louis the Pious to her grandmother, the elder Judith, which caused so much dissension in the Carolingian empire -, and was freely labelled by its op- ponents as ' incestuous,' because the parties to it were said to be within the prohibited degrees ^. But the marriage of Judith to ^thelbald is vouched for by strictly contemporary continental authorities*, one of them being Hincmar, the prelate who blessed the ceremony of her coronation^, so that it is hard to set it aside. And yet it is hard to accept it. One of the few charters of ^thelbald^s reign ^ bears as its first three signatures, 'E^ebald rex, ludith regina, Swithun episcopus.' Did Swithun condone a flagrant case of incest, or does ' regina ' only mean queen-dowager ? Once more : is it not just possible that the whole story may have grown out of a confusion of ^thelbald with Eadbald, the son of JEthelberht of Kent, whose incestuous marriage with his step-mother is mentioned by Bede ^ ? The difference between Eadbald and iEthelbald would not ' 472 D [13]. ' Ranko, u. s. c. 2. Webor, u. s. pp. 450 ff. ' ' renuntia . . . incosto. . .ma- trimonio; quia ista ludith . . . proximo tibi affinis est sanguine/ W. M. Gesta Pont. p. 13. ♦ See Chron. ii. 80, 81. * Prudontius Trecensis, Pertz, i. 450. If his words are to be taken strictly it wo dd seem tliat iEthelwulf placed the crown on the luad of liis cliild bride. (The marriage benediction of Judith i^ ill Bouquet, vii. 621, 622, and is rather a satire on her subse- quent liistory.) So Charles the Great crowned Louis the Pious when he associated him with himself in the imperial power, Sept. 813. Had this precedent been followed, the relations of Papacy and Empire might have been very different, Gregorovius, u. s. pp. 18, 19; Weber, u. s. p. 424. « Birch, No. 495 ; K. C. D. No. 1058. ' II. E. ii. 5. PRIOR TO HIS ACCESSION 8i be very serious^ especially to continental ears and pens. Anyhow, we shall hardly acquiesce in the verdict of a later continental chronicler : ' nor did the king's crime seem grievous to the English, to whom the worship of God was much unknown '^.' §59. Apart from his signatures to charters^, there is no mention of Alfred in our authorities after his second return from Rome till he takes his place upon the stage of history by the side of his brother ^thelred. But no Story ^f account of Alfred's early years could be regarded as com- learning; plete which did not include a discussion of the famous to read, story about his learning to read. I venture to thmk that a good many unnecessary difficulties have been made about the matter. The common view may be expressed in the quaint words of Robert of Gloucester's rhyming Chronicle ^ : — ' Clerc he was god ynow, and yut, as me tel)^ me, He was more j^an ten yer old, ar he couj7e is a be ce.' The original source of all this is of course the well-known passage of Asser ^, where it is said that Alfred ' remained illiterate ' up to his twelfth year or more, though he learned many Saxon poems by heart. Then, after an intervening sentence on his skill as a hunter, comes the pretty story of the book of Saxon poems which he won by learning to read it to his mother. Here there are several points to be noticed. In the first place I believe that ' illiteratus per- mueratus mansit ' means nothing more than that he was ignorant of j'^J^^^q/ Latin. If we consider that Latin was at this time the Latin, universal vehicle of culture in Western Europe, that ^ legere ' ^ lohannes Longus, Pertz, xxv. 502, 506, 515, 520, 522 ; K. C. D. 768. No&. 269, 276, 285, 287, 293, 1061, ^ The genuine charters signed 298. by Alfred prior to his own acces- ^ RqHs Ed. i. 393. sion are, Birch, Nos. 467, 486, * 743 D-744 B [15, 16]. 82 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED is constantly used, and notably in Asser ', of reading Latin ; that all through the Middle Ages the decision ' legit ut clericus/ which entitled an accused person to benefit of clergy, meant that he could read Latin, this interpretation will seem quite natural. Nor does the contrasted statement that Alfred had picked up many Saxon poems by heart oblige us to believe that he could not read his owm language in his thirteenth year. Asser is not so logical in his use of , conjunctions ; and besides this, many, perhaps most, Saxon , / poems could be acquired in no other way ; since they only existed in oral tradition. Alfred's thirteenth year, accord- ing to Asserts date for his birth, would point to 86i. If we remember that we have Alfred's own statement that only ten years later, at his accession in 871, there was scarcely a priest south of the Humber who knew any Latin ^, we shall easily see that Alfred would have little opportunity of making good the defects of his early educa- tion on this side before he came to the throne; and the complaints \thich Asser puts in his mouth, that when he J had leisure to learn, he could find no one to teach him, though rhetorical in form, are true enough in fact ^. Chrono- § 60. Secondly, I can see nothing in the passage which the^inci- obliges US to put the incident of the poetry book in Alfred's ' e.g. 487 B [46], 491 B [55], ' grammatiti.' yElfric, writing to- 492 A [56]. In one place, 485 D wards the end of the next cen- [43], it is used of reading both tury of his own youth, says : * a Latin and Saxon; only in one mass-priest who was my master passage is it used of Saxon alone, could to some extent {he dcele, 474 B [16]. Green, C. E. p. 158, partly) understand Latin,' Pref. rightly understands it in this to Heptateuch ; and speaking of I sense. his own day he adds : * unlearned ' Preface to Cura Pastoral is ; priests, if they understand just cf Asser : * illo tempore lectores a little of Latin books, forthwith boni in toto regno Occidentalium think themselves splendid teach- ) Saxonum non erant,' 474 B [17]. ers,' ibid. p. 2. ^ Hero 'lectures' means teachers ' 474 B, C [17], 486 C [45]. of Latin. Florence substitutes PRIOR TO HIS ACCESSION 83 I thirteenth year. It is true that Asser introduces it with dent of an ' ergo/ But when we have once grasped the thoroughly y^^^^^^^ '^ aimless way in which Asser sprinkles his conjunctions about, we shall not be inclined to lay much stress on this. And, if we are to construe so strictly, the ^ergo^ couples the incident, not to the statement of Alfred^s want of literature, but to the sentence about his skill in hunting ^. The incident may belong therefore to any period anterior to Alfred^s second visit to Rome in 855. This at once gets rid of all the chronological difficulties which have been evolved from the passage. Nor is it necessarily implied that the reading of the Other poetry book was Alfred^s first essay in reading. It is ™^*^^^'" ceptions only said that he went to a master and learnt to read that refuted. particular book. But a child would need help in mastering » a new work, even if he could read to some extent before. Again, the suggestion of Pauli^ and others that even in this case Alfred was merely taught to say the poems by heart, and then repeated them to his mother, is based simply on a piece of bad scholarship. Because in the modern languages recitation means repeating by heart, it does not follow that that is the meaning of the Latin word. 'Recitare'' means ' to read aloud ^ ; it occurs no less than seven times in Asser, and that is the meaning of the word in every case ^. Once more, the mother mentioned in the story is un- The mother ^ Alfred's love of hunting comes [46], 488 D [50] ter, 491 C [55]. out in one or two passages in his To learn by heart is ' memoriter writings, e.g. Bede, i. i ad fin., retinere,' 'memoriter discere,' where Ireland is said to be 'msere 473 E [16], 486 A [43]. But on huntunge heorta 7 rana,' ed. apart from any question of the Miller, p. 30 ; cf. Boethius, xxxii. meaning of ' reeitare,' Asser says § 3, ed. Sedgefield, p. 73. distinctly in this case: 'magi- ^ Konig Alfred, p. 68 ; so Green, strum adiit et legit, quo lecto matri C. E. p. 100. retulit et recitauit.' 3 474 B [16], 486 A [43], 487 A G 3 84 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED in til.- questionably Alfred^s own mother Osburh. That he should orburh. ^^^^ have spoken to Asser of Judith^ who was only some four years older than himself, with all her doubtful after- history, as his mother, is, as Dr. Stubbs says ^, absolutely inconceivable. I'litoi y aucos dies uitam ' 'nobilis ingenio, nobilis et finiuit,' Liber Pontificalis, ii. 148. gcnore,' 469 A [4]. PRIOR TO HIS ACCESSION 85 I the advance which she had made urder Egbert; and indeed ) in some respects that advance was probably greater in ; appearance than in reality. There is no trace of any Limita- exercise of superiority on ^EthelwulFs part in regard to hi^^^^ower Northumbria or East Anglia; and though it is unsafe to argue absolutely from silence, especially where our authorities are so meagre, the inference seems confirmed by the title which ^Ethelwulf gives himself in one of his charters, ^ Rex Australium populorum ^/ a district coin- ' cident with that denoted by Asserts Saxonia, as explained above ^. While a MerciaSr5^harter which makes special provision for the entertainment of heralds [praecones) on their journeys between Mercia and Northumbria, and Mercia and Wessex ^ seems to indicate that those kingdoms existed on a footing of equality and mutual independence. If Burgred of Mercians application to ^thelwulf in 853 for help against the Welsh implies that he regarded the latter in any way as his over-lord, it equally shows that Egbert's reduction of the Welsh had not been permanent. But on the whole I agree with Mr. Green * that the facts Character of iEthelwulf s reign do not bear out that character of ^^^j^'j""^" weakness commonly ascribed to him, which rests, I think, reign, largely on the idea that a reputation for piety is incom- patible with mental vigour. The hold of Wessex on Kent and its dependencies was not relaxed. Egbert himself had found it expedient to conciliate local feeling by making his son ^Ethelwulf under-king of these districts ^, a system for which he could have pleaded the example of the great Charles, with which he must have become acquainted in 1 Birch, No. 436; K. CD. No. 254. * Conquest of England, pp. 73, In Sim. Dun. i. 204, ' Australes 74. Saxones' has the same meaning. ' Birch, No. 395 ; K. C. D. No. ' See above, § 30. 223 ; Stubbs, C. H. i. 172. 3 Birch,No.454; K.C.D.N0.261. 8/5 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED (Question of uEthel- ^Vill. Kiigii of ^thel- bald. The same system was continued at Egbert's death, and again at ^Ethelwulf s departure for Rome, and at his death ; the latter division being pre- seribedj according to Asser -, by the terms of iEthelwulf s will. Whether ^Ethelwulf really did venture to fly so much in the face of Mr. Freeman, as to dispose of his dominions by will, cannot be certainly known, as the will is not in existence. Anyhow, in view of the earlier precedents, I hesitate to accept the theory of Lappenberg and Pauli, that ^thelwulf intended definitely to sever Kent, &c., from Wessex, entailing it on the descendants of ^Ethelberht, who in turn were to remain excluded from the Wessex succession^. Possibly Kent was not at once ripe for incorporation with AVessex, and the arrangement may have been justified as a transitional measure. Happily it came to an end on ^thelbald^s death in 860 ; ^Ethel- berht retained Kent on his accession to Wessex**; ^thelred on this occasion, and Alfred, on the death of ^thelberht, patriotically abstaining from pressing the claims to Kent, which they might have based on the recent precedents. And this I take to be the residuum of fact in Asser's rhetorical statement ^ that Alfred might, if he liked, have assumed the royal power during his brother^s lifetime. § 62. Of yEthelbakPs short reign of two and a half years nothing is recorded in the Chronicle; Asserts state- ment^ that his government was ^unbridled,' I regard as ' Malmesltury has an interesting passage on tlio effects of Egbert's foreign sojourn, G. R i. 105. - 472 B [12]. ^ Pauli, u. s. p. 79 ; following I.-ippcnberg, i. 296 ; E. T. ii. 27. 1 think tliey have been misled bv the Latin version of Alfred's (§ 64^, is of no authority. * ' Ut iustum t-rat,' adds Asser, 473 A [14]. ' 477 C [24] ; of. Lib. de Hyda, j\ 27 : ' Ethelrodus, quern prin- ccps gloriosus Alfrcdus coegit ante sc regnnre.' « 472 D [13]. PRIOR TO HIS ACCESSION Sy a mere flourish, based on his alleged incestuous marriage ; while Henry o£ Huntingdon's pathetic sigh that ^at his death England realised how much she had lost ^/ I take to be an equally valuable joiece of rhetoric on the other side. With ^thelberht's reign of rather over five years the New Danish struggle ^ enters on a new and more serious phase. ^^ ^j^^ Under him, as we have seen ^, Winchester was taken in the Danish year 860, and though the assailants were ultimately driven under off, a severe blow must have been struck at the prestio^e of ^<^hel- ' . . . berht. Wessex by the capture of her capital *. The wintering ^ of the Danes in Thanet in 865, marks, according to Steen- strup^, the beginning of the deliberate and systematic attempt to conquer England. The recent incorporation of Kent with Wessex did not prevent the Kentishmen from making a separate agreement with the foe. The next year, 866, the Danes wintered in East Anglia, and there too a separate peace was made, to be followed, four years ^ See p. 152. aeui Carolini, ii. 59. Cf. also the ^ I use the words Danes and well-known description of the Danish, as the Chronicle does, earlier and very similar ravages for the Scandinavian invaders of the Saxons, Sidonius Apolli- generally, without professing to naris, Epist. viii. 6. distinguish the origin of each ^ ggg above, § 57. separate band. This is the gene- * The Chronicle mentions this ral English use, on the Continent under 860, but only with the the generic name is Nortmanni, vague date ' on his daege,' ' in Northmen ; Green, Conq. Eng. p. his [^thelberht's] time.' This 68 ; cf. Einhard, Vita Car. c. 12 : seems to show that this part of * Dani ac Sueones quos Nortman- the Chronicle cannot have been nos uocamus ' ; ibid. c. 14 : ' Nort- written up till some little time manni qui Dani uocantur.' Ranke after the event. It is a foreign says : ' it is impossible to dis- Chronicler, Prudentius Trecensis, tinguish Danes and Northmen,' who enables us to fix it to the Weltgesch., VI. i. 42. For a vivid year of ^thelberht's accession, description of their ravages in 860, Pertz, i. 454. For what fol- France see Folcuini Gesta Abb. lows the Chronicle is the autho- Lobiensium, cc. 16, 17, Pertz, iv. rity, except where otherwise 61, 62 ; and the verses of Ermol- stated. dus Nigellus, Diimmler, Poetae ^ Vikinger, p. 55. 88 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED later, by the definite conquest of that land, and the death of its martyr-king, St. Edmund. In 867 the never-ending civil discords of Northumbria opened that country also to the invaders; and there too a separate peace was made, and a puppet king, Egbert, was set up by the Danes ^ in the district north of the Tyne, just as they set up CeolwTilf, a few years later, in INIercia. Mercians turn was to come the following year. Accession But meanwhile, in 866, ^Ethelred had succeeded his of iEthel brother /Ethelberht on the throne of AVessex, and it is under red ; ..... AltVed's ^thelred that the public life of Alfred begins. A late fife ^^ authority - states that ^Ethelred was Alfred^s favourite i).'y of the use of the word given by Ducange are as the title of a monastic officer. And this to some extent confirms the suggestion already made ^, that the word is to be traced to Celtic influence ; for in Irish secnah, literally ^ second abbot/ is one of the regular titles of the prior of a monastery. And I look on ^ secundarius ' as the equiva- lent of the Irish ^tanist/ the person appointed or elected during the lifetime of the chief as his future successor^'; and it is to be remarked that the Irish word tanaise or Signiti- fauaisfe, anglicised ^ tanist/ actually means ' secundus.^ The Jj^^^fj^^jJ^ institution of tanistry existed among the Welsh ^, though I have not come across any name for it so closely corre- sponding with the meaning of ^secundarius^ as the Irish fanaisfe. AYhat then I take to be the significance of the title as applied to Alfred is this : that some time between 1 ^thelred^s accession in 866 and 868 a definite agreement was come to. bv which Alfred was recoo-nised as ^Ethelred^s successor^ to the exclusion, for the present at any rate^ of the latter's children (if at this time he had any) ; Alfred in return perhaps definitely abandoning any claim to Kent. This theory derives some confirmation from the very similar arrano'ement which was come to about this time o ' 475 A [19] ; it occurs again berht. which is not impossible ; 476 D [22] ^battle of Ashdown) ; cf. Ailred of Kievaulx' phrase : 477 C [24], in relation to Alfred's ' cum fratribus aliquo tempore accession. In the last passage regnauit,' ed. Migne, col. 719. Alfred is said to have borne the * See above, p. 40. title • uiuentibus fratribus.' The " cf. O'Curry, Manners and Cus- plural is probably mere rhetoric ; toms of the Ancient Irish, I. otherwise it might point to the cxxxii f. arrangement as to the succession * Rhys and Brynmor Jones, having been made under ^thel- The Welsh People, p. 203. 90 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED in regard to the private landed property belonging to the •d'a brothers. In the preamble to Alfred''s will it is stated that ^thelwulf left certain property to be held in comm^-«T by the three brothers, JEthelbald, ^thelred, and Alfred, the ultimate survivor to have the whole. On the death ( ^Ethelbald, ' ^thelred and 1/ says Alfred, • gave our share in trust to our kinsman^, King ^Ethelberht, on condition that he restored it to us [i.e. at his death] in the same state a= he received it. And he did so, not only in respect of that property which he obtained by our concurrence, but also in respect of that which he himself acquired.^ When .Ethelred succeeded, Alfred suggested in the Witan a final division of the property. ^'Ethelrcd pointed out the difficulty of division, and promised that, if Alfred would withdraw his proposal, he (^Ethelred) would leave him not only the whole of the joint property, but also that acquired by him- self separately. To this Alfred agreed. The next clause recites how certain modifications were made at a later time, because the Danish troubles had brought home to the brothers that, under the original agreement, the children of the one who died first might be left without any provision. § 64. It is to be observed in the first place that this will, and the provisions of ^Ethelwulf's will therein recited, have to do solely with the private property of the family ; there is not a word about the royal succession. It is only in the Latin version that this is mentioned ; and tliat the Latin is not the original, is proved by the fact that it is full of the most obvious mistranslations from the Saxon. Indeed, I am not sure that the introduction of the royal ' It ia curious that thougli bcrht 'our kinsman,' ' uncer Alfred speaks of iEtliclbald, ina-g.' The same use occurs in jf^tliolrod and liimsolf as three Bed.', p. 188, where Oswy iscstiin, (2) Iglea, (3' - Exodus XV. 10. Ethundun. has been variously ^ For tho whole of tliis and tho idontifiod. The following series following sections I may rofor to Jiave boon proposed — A. (i) Brix- the Chronicle, with my notes. ton, (^2)Clay Hill noarWarniinstor. * § 46, above. (3: Edington ; B. (as in tho toxt^ ; • 1 givo what boonis to me the C. ^i) Bratton near Westbury, most probable lino of march. But (a) Highley Common near Molk^- HIS CAMPAIGNS AGAINST TPIE DANES 103 ment was fought with the whole Danish army under Battle of Guthrunij which had moved out of Chippenham. The^^*^'^*^" result was a complete victory for Alfred : ' he put them to flight, and rode after them to their fort, and sat down before it for a fortnight, and then the host {Jicre) gave him leading hostages and swore mighty oaths that they would Submia- quit his realm. And they further promised that their king thTl)anps should receive baptism. And so^ it was performed^ and three weeks later [that is, about the end of the first week i in June] the king Guthrum, with twentj'-nine of those that were worthiest in the host, came to him at Aller near Athelney ; and the king received him at baptism, and his chrism-loosing was at Wedmore ; and he was twelve nights with the king, and he honoured him much, and feed his followers/ The ' fort ^ to which Alfred pursued his flying foes was, I think, the Danish lines at Chippenham ; and though high authorities, including Professor Earle, take a different view ^, I am glad to see that I am supported by our military historian, Professor Oman ^. The submission of the Danes would be furthered by a great disaster which Defeat befell another body of them earlier in the year. A wiking £)anes fleet, which had wintered in South Wales ^, crossed to the North opposite coast of Devon ; probably intending, after ravaging the southern coast of the Bristol Channel, as they had already ravaged the northern coast, to effect a junction with the Danes at Chippenham. The men of Devon, under their ealdorman Odda, took refuge in a rude fort *, ham, (3) Heddington on the tion north-west of Chippenham, is Roman road from Bath to Marl- against it. borough. Bratton seems to me ^ viz. that it is Bratton Camp, impossibleonphilologiealgrounds. between Edington and Westbury. Yatton Las also been proposed ' Essays, p. 138. for Ethandun. Philologically it ^ Asser, 481 B [32], v. s. pp.44, is possible ; (of. Yarnton near 51. Oxford = Eardingtun) but itsposi- * 'arcem impr.ratam atque in\- m I04 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED ]>robably Kenny Castle near Appledore. The Danes, under Ubba, the brother of Halfdene and Ing-war^ expected an easy victory _, but the English, sallying out unexpectedly at early dawn, put their foes to rout, slaying over Hoc of them, and driving the rest to their ships -. The mystic Raven Banner fell into the hands of the victors. After the ceremony at Wedmore the Danes retired, in accordance with their promise, to Cirencester -^ and the next year, 879, they withdrew altogether to East Anglia ; while a body of wikings, which had gathered at Fulham, crossed to the Continent. It would seem that, whether by formal com- pact or no *, not only Wessex and its dependencies but l^^ng-lish ^lercia west of Watlin": Street was cleared of the invader. § 70. I have said elsewhere that Alfred holds in real history the place which romance assigns to Arthur ^ ; and certainly, after this mid-May victory of Alfred at Edington, munitam, nisi quod moenia nostra ynore erecta . . . haberet . . . locus tutissimus . . . sicut nos ipsi uidi- mus,' ib. Is any type of eartli- works known which is specifically Welsh ? Asser's episcopal charge of Exeter, if a fact, would account for his knowledge of the district. The name of Odda comes from Ethelwerd, p. 515 D. ' Mediaeval and modern writers, overlooking the word 'brotlier,' write as if it were Ingwar and Halfdene tliemselves who fell ; so S. D. ii. Ill, 114. Professor Oman writes Ingwar and Hubba, <»n I know not what authority. Essays, p. T37. The name Ubba comes only from Gaimar. ' The details are mostly from Asser, u. s. Ho gives the number of slain as 1200 ; i. e. cocc for loccc. Ethelwerd, p. 515 E, says that the Danes were finally vic- torious ; but it is hard to reconcile this with the Chronicle, and still more with Asser. ^ The Chronicle puts this under 879 ; but, seeing that the battle of Ethandun was fought in May, it almost certainly belongs to the same year 878. It is this mistake which throws the chronology of the Chronicle a year wrong from this point up to 897 ( = 896^. * No document exists embody- ing the terms of the agreement of 878. 'Alfred and Guthrum's j^eace,' often confused with the treaty of Wedmore, belongs to 886. Chron. ii. 1 14. HIS CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE DANES 105 liis followers might well have sung the song which our late Laureate places in the mouths of Arthur^s men ^ : — ^Blow trumpet, for the world is white with May; Blow trumpet, the long night hath rolld away ! Blow thro^ the living world — '^ Let the King reign /^ ' Blow, for our Sun is mighty in his May ! Blow, for our Sun is mightier day by day ! Clang battleaxe, and clash brand ! Let the King reign . ' The King will follow Christ ; and we the King In whom high God hath breathed a secret thing. Fall battleaxe, and flash brand ! Let the King reign/ ^The long night has rolled away.' — 'Yea, even like as a dream when one awaketh, so shalt Thou make their image to vanish/ — Every historian is agreed that this is the turning-point in the history, not only of England, but of Western Europe. ^ Wessex was saved ; and in saving Wessex, Alfred saved England ; and in saving England, he saved Western Europe from becoming a heathen Scandinavian power ^/ In recognising the Loss and Danish occupation of East Anglia, Eastern Mercia, and ^^^"* Northumbria, Alfred was hardly making a cession, for they 1 had never been his to cede ; he was at most giving up a shadowy overlordship which neither he, nor his brothers, nor, probably, even his father had ever exercised. The only district which was in strictness ceded was Essex ; and it was a heavy loss that London remained for some years longer a Danish city. But the gains far outweighed the The gain losses ; and we can but ask in wonder what were the causes the^loss ^^ of so great a change. Some light is gained when we have realised that Alfred at Athelney was not burning cakes, ^ Idylls ofthe King, The Coming ^ Chron. u. s. chiefly from of Arthur. Green, Conq. Engl. pp. in ff. U *t w*. io6 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Jjut organising victorj. Then, too, he had good helpers. We have seen what Odda did in Devonshire ; and Ethel- vverd la3'S stress on the co-operation of ^thelnoth, the ealdorman of Somerset, in the dark days of Athelney ^ There is nothing like work in common for a great cause, in face of great difficulties, for cementing friendship -, and perhaps it is to these days that Werferth of Worcester looks back when in one of his charters he speaks of ^thelnoth as ' the friend of us all ''/ § 71. Another and ver}^ important point is this. The chief difficulties of our forefathers under Alfred, as of us, their descendants, in South Africa at the present day, arose from the extreme mobility of the enemy "*, and the way in which they used the horses which they brought with them or captured ^, not indeed for fighting (that was never either the Danish or the Saxon mode of warfare), but for dashing from point to point, and eluding ^ and surprising the enemy. They were, in modern phrase, mounted infantry. It would seem as if the English were learning to copy them in this. ; p. 515 D. ''■ Cf. what is said in tliu Soli- loquies, p. 182 : 'gyf ])oiiiie a^fre gehyreS f- ))U . . . htefst ealle })ino Ireond myd )e. . . on J)ani ilcan weorce, 7 on ])am ilcan willan 6e I e best lyst don' ; cf. Boeth. xxix. § r (p. 66) : 'cyningas ne niagon na^nne weorSscipe forcShrengan buton hioia Jegna fultumo.' ' • urnoealia ireond,' Birch, N<>. 582 ; K. C. 1). No. 327. I do not moan to assort that Worlbrth was at Atholnoy or Edington, though ho may have been. But ho and ifilthelnoth wore working for a conunon end, and his district be- uofitod largely by Alfred's victory. * ' Thoy wore the lii>t Europeau warriors who realised the value of quick movement in war,' Green, C. E. p. 89. ' *])aer gehorsude wurdun,' 866 ; ' se gehorsoda hero,' 876, 877 ; *l^a woar]> se here gohursod asfter)>fem gefoohto,' 88 r. Conversely after a defeat: ' liie wurdon ))a?-r be- horsudo,' 885. Asser, describing this last incident, says: ' equis. quos de Francia ^^ocum adduxe- rant, dorolictis,' 483 C [37]; ' hio asfttan him . . . ofor [sc. to Eng- land] mid horsum,' 893 ; cf. Flor. Wig. i. in. * Note the use of ' be.stolan ' for the movonionts of the invader^. 865. 876 '^/*/.s;. 878. \ HIS CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE DANES 107 You may have noticed that in the extract from the Chronicle which I read just now, describing the sequel of the battle of Edington, it is said that Alfred ^rocle after the enemy to their fort/ The only other occasion up to this campaign ^, where any such phrase is used of an English forcCj is in the preceding year, where the Chronicler describes the brave but ineffectual dash which Alfred made to try and intercept the treacherous Danes before they got into Exeter ^. But after all, the greatest of all human causes of success Alfred's (though it is not merely human) is contained in those fiiflueme words of the Chronicler already quoted, *^they were fain of him/ The personality of Alfred was beginning to tell J and to rally to itself all that was worthiest in the nation; It has been compared, not unaptly, to the resurrection of France under Joan of Arc ". § 72. For the next few years Alfred had comparative Compara- peace, the Danes being mostly occupied on the Continent. ^^^ peace. There was a small, but successful, naval engagement in 881 or 882*, and in 884^ a body of the enemy landed in ^ Kent and laid siege to Rochester, throwing up their usual fortifications round their own positions. But the besieged defended themselves successfully till Alfred came with the fyrd, and the besiegers were in their turn besieged, and withdrew, possibly by agreement, to the Continent once more, leaving their prisoners, and the horses which they had brought with them from over seas, in Alfred's ^ Earlier in the annal Alfred not therefore be sure whether • rides ' to Brixton, they also are dated a year in ^ ' Alfred aefteiJ)amgehorsudan advance; but probably in most here mid fierde rad.' cases they are. 3 Sir Walter Besant, Essays, ^ ^hat this and not 885 is the p, 1 7. true date is proved by the Annales * For purely English events we Yedastini, and the Chronicou have not, as a rule, the help of Eeginonis, Pertz, i. 521, 594. the foreign Chronicles, and can- \ ic8 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED hands \ The appearance of their kinsmen in Kent seems Revolt of to have been too much for the loyalty of the Danes in AngHan ^'^^* Anglia. ' They broke the peace with King- Alfred -.' D.in.'s. Alfred at once sent his fleet from Kent ^, where it had no doubt been supporting* his operations at Rochester, across the broad estuary of the Thames, and at the mouth of the Stour, between Essex and Suffolk, the English defeated and captured a fleet of sixteen sail ; but on their way back were met by a superior fleet of East Anglian Danes, and defeated in their turn. It will be remembered that it is in reference to this defeat that the earlier writer in Simeon of Durham gives us the wonderful story based on the corrupt reading in Asser of ' dormiret ' for 'domum iret *.' § 73. The next stage in the liberation of England was a very important one, being nothing less than the acquisition of London by Alfred. This is placed by the Chronicle in 886. But we have seen that the Chronicle is here in advance by a year of the true chronology ; the true date is therefore probably 885. It is clear that Alfred did not gain this great success without the use of force ^; and I am inclined to see in this the culmination of the measures which he took to chastise the East Anglian Danes for their breach of the peace in the preceding year*^. It is with this that we must associate the document known as / Alfred and Guthrum's peace", often wrongly confused with ' Assor, 483 B, C [37]. the brcaoli of tlie peace by the ' This comes at the end of the Danes in the preceding year. It iinnal in the Chronicle, but may even be that a desire to almost certainly refers to an bring out that connexion has led • arlier period of the year. to the mention of the breach ' 'de Cantio/ Asser, u. s. being postponed to the end of the * Sec above, § 50. annal. '•' Chron. ii. 99 f. ' Schmid, Gesetze, pp. 106 flf. • Whatever the date, the Chro- Cf. ib. xxxviii f. ; and see the nicle places the occiii)ation of very interesting remarks of Green, London in close connexion with C. E. pp. 15 1-3. HIS CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE DANES IC9 the settlement of 878. By this treaty the boundaries of ^ 878 were materially modified in Alfred's favour. They now ran up the Thames to the mouth of the Lea, up the Lea to its source, thence to Bedford, and so up the Ouse to Watling- Street. By this, not only London^ but a considerable district east of Watling Street was made over to Alfred. The Danes had paid heavily for their momentary treachery. But again it illustrates the fragmentary nature of our sources^ that we hear nothing* of the military operations which must have led up to this success. It had an immense effect upon Alfred^s position, and Effect of made him more clearly than ever the head of the nation. Alfred's ^ There submitted to him the whole Angle-kin that was \Positioii. not in subjection to the Danes.' The city was restored and fortified, and committed to the care of Alfred's son-in-law, JEthelred, whom soon after 878^ he had made ealdorman of the part of Mercia which fell to him by the settlement of that year. Once, in 851, under Berhtwulf, the Danes had captured London; they had occupied it in 872 under Burgred; it had fallen to their share at the division of Mercia in 877. But never again, after Alfred's restoration "Alfred, of it, was it ever forcibly captured by them or by any other founder^of foreign host. Alfred is rightly called the second founder London, of London ^. Once more, for a few years, Alfred had peace. In 889 Peace. or 890 his old enemy and god-son, Guthrum-Athelstan of East Anglia, died. How far he had really become a Christian we cannot tell. In spite of his baptism Ethel- werd uncharitably dismisses him below : ^ he breathed out ^ Certainly as early as 880; Kanke, u. s. VI. ii. 43: 'Die see the charter Birch, No. 547 ; merkantile Hauptstadt der Welt K. C. D. No. 311. verdankt dem Konig Alfred =^ Essays, pp. 19, 57, 245 ff. ; gleichsam ihre zweite Griindung, ' 110 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED The final storm. Military reforms ; (i) the fyrd divided. ^(0 (2) Forti- fications. his soul to Orcus^^ But for the present the Danes East Anglia made no movement. § 74. In 892 the final storm burst on England ; but tl: result was only to show the strength of the system whic Alfred had built up during the years of peace ^. Th splendid annals 893-7 (892-6 according to the tru chronology), in which, as has been said, we seem to hea the very voice of Alfred himself ^, and beside which, as th' same authority declares*, ^ every other piece of prose no in these Chronicles merely, but throughout the whole rangv of extant Saxon literature, must assume a secondary rank, give us some insight into the reforms which Alfred had effected. (i) To counteract the standing weakness of citizen- armies, which made them liable to melt away at the critical moment, when their short term of service was expired, he divided the fyrd into two divisions, which were to relieve one another at fixed intervals, * so that always half were at home, and half on service/ This measure is particularly interesting, as it may have been suggested to Alfred by his studies in Orosius, where a similar institution is attributed to the Amazons, and in Alfred's translation is described in language very similar to that of the Chronicle^. (2) Besides the two alternating divisions of the fyrd, the Chronicle enumerates ^ the men who were bound to keep the burgs ^.^ If the Danes had taught the Saxons the importance of mobility when in movement, they had no less surely taught them the importance of fortifications when stationar3^ In the first place the towns were en- couraged to fortify themselves — we have a very interesting * 'Oreo tradit spiranien,' j). 517 c. ^ Malmosbiiry has some inltr- ^sting remarks oument, unfortunately without date^ which tells how -Ethelred o£ ^Mercia^ and his wife^ ^Ethelflsed, lady of the Mercians, ^bade w^ork the burg* at Worcester for the })rotection of all the people ^^; while in 898 there w^as ■d formal conference at Chelsea between Alfred_, Ethelred, jEthelflsed^, and Archbishop Plegmund on the fortifications of London ^. But besides this^ fortified camps were erected at strategic points. The important document known as the burghal hidage ^', which is only a very little later than Alfred's reign^ seems to show that certain districts were appurtenant to these burgs, while 'the men who were bound to keep the burgs ^ would possibly hold their lands by a tenure analogous to that known under the feudal system as 'castle-guard/ Asser also insists strongly on the importance which Alfred attached to the construction of ' castella ' or ' arces ' ( = burgs) ; though he also shows that Alfred had considerable difficulty in getting his sub- jects to adopt this novel mode of defence *. It would -eem then that_, in creating the famous lines of forts by which Edward and ^Ethelflaed secured the country which they won from the Danes, they were but carrying out the policy of their father^. (3) It seems to have been part of Alfred's military 3) Num- policy to increase considerably the number of Ihanes^ by thanes in- conferring the privileges^ and enforcing the obligations of creased, thanehood on all owners of five hides of land, an estate ^ Birch, No, 579 ; K. C. D. No. • Alfiedus . . . ciuitates siias et 1075. castella sua renouauit, turres et ^ ' de instauratione urbis Lon- munitiones in locis magis neces- doniae,' Birch, No. 577. sariis construxit, ac totam terrae ^ Birch, No. 1335 ; see Maitland, faciem in formam rniilto meliorem Domesday and Beyond, pp. 187, immutatam, per oppida murata, 188, 502 ff, et alia loca munitissima contra * 493 A, B [59, 60]. barbarosinsuperabilem fore fecit'; ^ There is a good passage on cf. Essays, pp. 141 ff. this point in Ingulf, p. 27 : 112 LIFE AXD TIMES OF ALFRED analogous to the later knight's fee. This would give the king a nucleus of highly equipped troops, whom he could moreover call out on his own authority, without going through the form of consulting the Witan^. It can hardly be a mere accident that, whereas in the records of Alfred's reign, the only mention of king's thanes hitherto has been in connexion with the minor military operations of the great ^year of battles,' 871, in the annals 894-7 they are mentioned no less than six times. (4) These annals also furnish abundant evidence of that increased mobility of the English forces which we have already noticed. They also show ■orti- is) That the English had learned not only to make fortifications, but to storm them '-. After, this preamble we return to the history of Alfred's last contest. § 75. On November i, 891 ^, Arnulf, king of the Eastern Franks, had defeated the Northmen in a brilliant engage- ment on the Dyle, which freed the interior of Germany for ever from these foes. This, and the famine which prevailed on the Continent in 892 in consequence of an exceptionally severe winter, disgusted them with their continental quarters; and in the autumn of 892"^ a fleet of 250 sail put forth from Boulogne, and entered the mouth of the then navigable river Lymne, drew their ships four miles up the river, and, after capturing an unfinished ^ fort, entrenched themselves at Appledore. ' Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 191 ; Kssiiys, pp. 143 ft'. ; Green, C. E. 1>P- 135 ff- '^ Chron. 894, i. 86-7. ^ For tbis event tlie date in tbo Chronicle is apparently correct. * See Diiumiler, u. s. ii. 349 ft'. The foreign Chronicles show clearly that the date is 892, not 893 as in thf Saxon Chron. ' 'samworht,' 'half-wrought.' Mr. Macfadyen ingeniously con- nects this with the pivssngo cited above from Asser, as to the diffi- culty which Alfred had in getting the fortifications constructed which he had ordered. For the justification of the sketch which follows I must refer to my notes to the Chronicle. The only point HIS CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE DANES 113 Shortly after, a smaller detachment of eighty ships under Hsesten sailed into the estuary of the Thames, entered the Swale, and fortified itself at Milton. In view of these ) new encampments on English soil, Alfred, early in 893 (894), exacted oaths from the Northumbrian and East Anglian Danes, with hostages in addition from the latter, that they would take no part with the invaders. This is the first time that we have had mention of any dealings of Alfred with the Northumbrian Danes, and it shows what new possibilities were opening before him; while, on the other side, the important part w^hich, in spite of their A con- oaths, the Northumbrian and East Anglian Danes took attempt to in the following struggle, and the fact that the new in- conquer vaders brought their wives and children with them, prove ° that this was no mere predatory raid, but a deliberate and concerted attempt to conquer England. Alfred w^ith his fyrd took up a position between the two Danish camps, so as to watch them both. Numerous small skirmishes took place, but no general engagement. Meanwhile Alfred was negotiating with the smaller body of Danes at Milton; whom he may have thought to detach by making a separate agreement with them. Hsesten entered into negotiations, and even allowed his two sons to be baptised, Alfred him- self and ^thelred of Mercia acting as sponsors. But on the part of Hsesten the negotiations were only a blind ; if indeed they had not been originally proposed by him with this object. While they were in progress, he Danish ordered the Danes at Appledore to send their ships round cainpai^n. to Benfleet in Essex, and themselves to break out in force, and marching through Surrey, Hampshire, and Berkshire, cross the upper Thames, and then, turning eastwards, regain their ships at Benfleet, to which he himself now on which I have modified my view, is as to the position of But- tington, PLUMMER I 114 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED crossed, threw up a fortification, and occupied himself with harrying the districts, which had been ceded to Alfred by the settlement of 885 (886). This plan was put into execution. . But though the Danes at Appledore succeeded in breaking out, they were pursued by the fyrd under Alfred^s eldest son Edward^, which overtook them (or, in the Chronicler^s words, ' rode before them '), compelled Battle of them to fight a general engagement at Farnham, in which •nin lam. ^|_^^ Danes were defeated, and driven in confusion across the Thames, and up the Hertfordshire Colne, where they took refuge in an island called Thorn ey -, which the fyrd pro- V ceeded to blockade. Unfortunately at this crisis the term of service of Edward's division of the fyrd expired, and their provisions being exhausted they were forced to raise the blockade. Alfred was on his way to relieve them with the other division of the fyrd, when he heard ^ that two fleets of I'll.' Danes Northumbrian and East Anglian Danes were operating in ^ It is only in Ethehverd that has b|>come extinct in one locality. Edward's share in the campaign why not in the other? possibly is mentioned. He would now be l)ecause the thorns have become a little over twenty, if, as Asser extinct which gave the name, says, Alfred was married in 868, Ethehverd may be mistaken as to and Edward was his second child, the name, but it is absolutely 475 A [19], 485 C [42]. certain that the island on which ' This name also comes from the Dahes were blockaded was Ethehverd. Riimsay, Founda- in the Colne: 'hie flugon ofer tions of England, i. 261, sees in Temese, . . . Jia up be Colne on this the ancient name of West- anne iggaS. pa besast sio fierd minster ; and a writer in the hie.' Athenaeum for June 15, 1901, ^ To this year perhaps better takes the same view still more than to any other would apply positively, saying that we shall the very rhetorical description of search the Colne in vain for an Hen. Hunt., how messengei-s island called Thorney. I imagine poured in upon the king, saying we should search the neighbour- that the Danes were in this, that, hood of Westminster with equally and the other quarter, pp. 138, little success J and if the name 139. HIS CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE DANES 115 the west, the larger one of 100 ships besieging- Exeter, the in the smaller one of forty ships besieging an unnamed fort on ^^^^ ' the coast of North Devon. Alfred at once hurried west- ward, detaching however a small force under Edward to watch the Danes at Thorn ey. Alfred was ultimately ^ successful in raising the siege of Exeter; the fate of the North Devon fort is not recorded. Meanwhile Edward, reinforced by ^Ethelred from London, Edward renewed the blockade of Thorney, the Danes having been Ji^^ Danes unable to avail themselves of his temporary absence, owing- in Thorney. to the fact that their chief had been wounded in the battle of Farnham. They had accordingly to submit and give hostages, and were then allowed to march off. Edward and ^thelred returned to London, and collecting reinforce- ments there and from the west, marched to Benfleet, which Capture they found garrisoned by their former antagonists from ^^^^ Thorney ; Hsesten himself with his division being away plundering. The fort was carried, the garrison put to flight, all the women, and children, and plunder captured; Hsesten^s own wife and sons were among the captives, though either now or later Alfred chivalrously restored them, because of the relationship which baptism had created between them. The ships were burned or broken up, or carried off to London and Rochester. It was as complete a victory as could well be imagined. § 76. The defeated Danes fell back on Shoebury, where they were joined by Hsesten, and threw up another forti- fication. They then set out to march up the Thames, being joined by large reinforcements from Northumbria and East Anglia. The object of this move was probably ^ The Chronicle seems to syn- was busied in the west some time chronise the relief of Exeter ap- longer, while the English forces proximately with the capture of were blockading Buttington, the fort at Benfleet ; but Alfred Chron. i. 87. I 2 ii5 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED The Danes to co-operate with their friends in Devonshire against make a Alfred^s force. If so, it was frustrated. The three great acT ealdormen, ^thelred of Mercia, ^thelnoth of Somerset, ng.inc. ^^^ iEthelhelm of Wilts., ^with the thanes who were at home at the forts,"* raised a levy, the extent of which, as Professor Earle has remarked ^, seems to astonish the Chronicler himself, 'from every burg east of Parret, west and east of Selwood, north of Thames, west of Severn, with some of the North Welsh ' ; the co-operation of these last being especially noteworthy. In view of these gather- ing forces the Danes were obliged to head off northwards up the Severn valley, being finally overtaken at Buttington, and blockaded on both sides of the river. The locality of this place has been much disputed ; some authorities placing it at Buttington Tump, at the junction of the Wye with the Severn, others identifying it with Buttington on the borders of Shropshire and Montgomeryshire. Contrary to my foi'mer opinion, I am now inclined to take the latter view ; not because of Sir James Ramsay^s objection that the Severn is too wide to be blockaded at Buttington Tump, for on that theory the river on which the Danes were blockaded would be the Wye ; but because the phrase of the Chronicler that the Danes marched ' up along Severn/ just as they had marched ' up along Thames,^ seems to imply that they followed the Severn valley northwards; whereas to reach Buttington Tump they would have had to cross the Severn and turn south; and moreover, in that case, their fleets in Devonshire would probably have made some attempt to relieve them. However this may be, the English blockaded them for ' many weeks,"* until they were starved out, their horses having all died of hunger or been eaten. They then made a desperate attempt to break through the English lines on the eastern side of the river, ^ The Alfred Jewel, p. 104. HIS CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE DANES 117 but were defeated with loss ; those who escaped returning and retin bury. to Shoebury ; then, leaving their ships, their women, and '* *^ ^""^ their booty in East Anglia, and drawing in large reinforce- ments from East Anglia and Northumbria, they made a sudden dash across England, marching 'without stop- ping^ day or night/ till they reached the ruined Roman walls of Chester, where they fortified themselves for the Tliey winter. The fyrd failed to cut them off before they reached chlli:L%^ Chester, and the approach of winter and the heavy work already done probably prevented them from attempting another blockade ; they therefore contented themselves with destroying everything in the neighbourhood from which the Danes could gather sustenance, and retired. Not since ^ ^ the great year of battles in 871 had there been such a bust- ling year in England, and what a different result ! § 77. The measures taken by the English proved effective, for early in the next year, 894 (895), want of provisions forced the Danes to evacuate Chester, and withdraw into Wales, whence they retired to Mersea in Essex ; ' marching aiuT retire through Northumbria and East Anglia, so as the fyrd ^ ^'^^^* might not reach them^''; words which give eloquent testimony to the changed state of things. At Mersea they were joined by the fleet from Exeter, which had been beaten off with heavy loss in an attempt which they had made on Chichester. At the end of this year and the beginning of the next, 895 (896), the Danes drew their ships up the They Thames and Lea to a spot twenty miles above London, ^^^ and there fortified themselves. An attempt by the garrison selves on of London with other forces to storm the Danish lines ^^ ^^' failed; and so during harvest Alfred encamped in the 1 'anstreces,* literally 'at a attacked the Danes at York, stretch.' p. 518 E. Or is this a punitive ^ Can it be that the fyrd after expedition against the Northum- all did reach tliem ? Ethelwerd brian Danes ? seems to say that ^thelnoth II LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED neig-libourbood to protect the inhabitants of the district, while they were reaping their corn. One day as he was riding up the river, he noticed a spot where it seemed to him possible, by constructing obstacles on eitber side of the stream, to prevent the Danish ships from getting out ^ He at once proceeded to put his plan into execution, but he had hardly begun when the Danes realised that they were out-manoeuvred, and abandoning their ships once more struck off for the upper waters of the Severn. The fyrd pursued, but here again no attempt was made to blockade them, and the Danes wintered at Bridgenorth. The next summer, 896 (897), the Danish host broke up, ' some to East Anglia, some to Northumbria. Those who had no property [in England] got them ships and fared south over sea to the Seine/ The long campaign was over. ' And through God's mercy/ says the Chronicler once more, ' the [Danish] host had not wholly ruined the Angle-kin, but they were much more ruined in those three years with murrain of men and cattle, and with the loss of many of the most excellent king's thanes who passed away in those three years."* § 78. The only thing- that remained to be done was to suppress the predatory raids of Northumbrian and East Anglian ships on the south coasts of Wessex. AVith this object Alfred turned the constructive ability which he un- doubtedly possessed to the building of a new type of ship, ' IIoii. Hunt, says 'fecit ;iqa;un Luyo findi in tria brachia,' p. 150 ; i. o. lio conceives the two obstacles as erected in the river, so dividing it into throe channels, which is porft'ctly possil)lo. Perhaps the worthy archdeacon may even have seen tlie reniainsof Alfred's works. But I cannot now takeSteenstrnp's view that this device may have been suggested to Alfred by Oro sius' account of the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, Lib. ii. c 6. That was effected by diverting the course of the river, which there is no reason to suppose that Alfred attempted. HIS CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE DANES 119 just as Caesar did wlien he invaded Britain ^. They were much larger in all their measurements than the wiking vessels, built neither on Frisian nor Danish lines, but according to the king^s own ideas. To tell the honest truth, they do not seem to have been a great success. In an engagement between nine of the new ships and six wiking vessels in the neighbourhood of the Isle of Wight all the English ships got aground, ' very uncomfortably,^ as the Chronicler quaintly says, six on one side of the strait and three on the other. Moreover at the end of the same annal it is recorded : ' and the same summer perished no less than twenty ships on the South Coast, crews and all ' ; so that the new ships do not seem to have been very capable of weathering a storm. "We have noticed earlier naval opera- tions of Alfred in the years 875, 877, 881 (883), 884 (885). I am, however, inclined to think that both Alfred^s claims to be called the founder of the English navy, and also the previous disuse of the sea by the Saxons have been some- what exaggerated. The mention of Frisians as fighting on the English side " in the naval engagement just referred to, shows indeed that Alfred was glad to avail himself of these skilled mariners, who had probably come over to England in consequence of the wiking settlements in Not a great success Alfred's claim to betlie founder of the English navv doubtful. 1 Bell. Giill. V. I. ^ The connexion of the Frisian language with that of the Angles and Saxons was very close, and they have certain marked char- acteristics in common, pointing to close neighbourhood of their original abodes. Of English dialects the Frisian is nearest to Kentish, except in the northern Frisian islands, where it seems more akin to West-Saxon. I take this from Siebs, Zur Gesch. der engl. -fries. Spraehe, in Paul's Grundriss der germanischen Philologie, 2nd ed. i. 1153 ff., for a reference to which I am indebted to Professor Napier, who tells me that in his judgement Englishmen and Frisians would be quite intelligible to one another^ in the ninth century. There is a sentence of Frisian in Pertz, xxii. 576, which might just as^' well be Anglo-Saxon. ^^^ 120 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Frisia^ just as the Danish descent on Wessex, in 878, drove many West Saxons to take refuge on the Continent. And Asser expressly mentions Frisians among those who settled under Alfred's rule -. There was certainly a naval engagement in 85 1 , under ^thelwulf '^j in which the English were victorious, if not yet earlier in 833 and 840 *. Still it is no doubt true that there was no fleet capable of safe- fruardinff the Eno^lish coasts. The silence of the Chronicle as to any later attacks may indicate that this was effected in Alfred^s later years. Unhappily, for the last four years of Alfred^s reign the Chronicle is silent as to almost every- thing. So the argument is at best precarious. The stress laid on the description of Alfred^s new ships shows that he saw in this the necessary completion of his work for the defence of England; but did it really require such an immense amount of genius to discern that, as the invaders came by sea, it was desirable to stop them, if possible, before they got to land ? § 79. We are constantly being told that 'Peace hath her victories not less renowned than war.^ But the victories * In 882 Charles tlxe Fat had granted West Frieshmd to a wiking Chief GuSfriS, Diimmler, 11. s. ii. 204, 205 ; cf. ibid. 224 ff., 241 ; Wober, u. s. v. 684, 685. For earlier ravages in Frisia, cf. ibid. 495 ; Pertz, i. 445. ' 486 B [44]. Charles the Great also employed Frisians in his fleet for his wars against the Danes, Weber, u. s. p. 421 ; cf. Einhard, Vita Caroli, c. 17. ' Mr. Conybeare says : ' one MS. of the A.-S. Chronicle makes St. Neot [!!] (Athel>,tan of Kent) fight "on shipboard" in 851, but the entry, if correct, stands abso- lutely alone.' The fact is that the entry is found in five MSS. out of six. S is the only one which omits the words ' on scipum.' * See notes to Chron., ad loc. It has, however, been pointed out to me by Mr. A. J. Wyatt, of Christ's College, Cambridge, that the plirase 'ahton wielstowe ge- wald ' looks as if these battles were fought on land ; and I admit that I cannot produce any certain instance of this phrase being applied to a naval victory. The provision that a merchant who fared thrice over sea on his own account sliould rank as a thane is unfortunately of uncertain date, Schmid, pp. Ixiv, 390. CIVIL ADMINISTRATION 121 of peace are worthy of double renown when they have to be won^ as in Alfred^s case, from the ashes left by an exhausting" war. For, as Alfred says himself, ' throughout all England everything was harried and burnt ^■' ^ The most needful of the works of peace is, as men have often learnt by bitter experience, to be prepared for war. Not only the works of peace, but peace itself, are impossible except under the guarantee of an adequate military and naval force. We have said enough already of Alfred's efforts to reorganise his kingdom on this side. Much too would be needed in the way of civil re- Civil organisation, especially in the non-West- Saxon districts g^ti^^/^"^ which had been won from the Danes. And this fact is ( probably the basis of the legend which makes Alfred the inventor of shires, hundreds, and tithings ^. Indeed, in the districts which previously had formed part of Mercia, it is probable that the shire system was introduced for the first[ The shirt time, either now or a little later. For, as Mr. Taylor has ^^^ ^"^' pointed out^, whereas every existing shire division south of the Thames is mentioned in the oldest MS. of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle before the first change of hand at the year 892, there is no mention of any Mercian shire in any MS. of the Chronicle prior to 1000. Legislation too Legisla- would be required, though we must always remember that ^^^„ j^^^. legislation, as we understand it, played a very small part portant times. ^ Preface to Pastoral Care. Cf. ne eardaS nsenig agend frea, ac the description of the Lombard wild-deor abysgiaS );a sto%Ye, J)a ravages in the translation of the ser haefde 7 eardode manna Dialogues, p. 258 : ' nu syndon J)a maenigo.* burga forhergode ... 7 fa ceastra ^ go Freeman, in Diet. Nat. toworpene, cyrcan forbaernde 7 Biog. i. 156 ; cf. S. C. H. i. 99, mynstra toworpene, 7 eac ge- 100 ; 'oecasione barbarorumetiam h%vylce tunas ge wera ge wifa indigenae in rapinas anhelaue- fram haeSenum mannum geweste, rant,' W. M. i. 129. 7 eac fram aelce bigonge ])is land ^ Rev. C. S. Taylor, Origin of ligeS tolysed 7 idlaS in westenne. the Mercian Shires, p. 3. 122 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED in Anglo-Saxon times. The idea of a code or body of statutes covering all departments of civil life was quite foreign to their notions, and every attempt to explain the existing Anglo-Saxon laws on any such hypothesis must be a failure. Into the details of Alfred^s laws I do not propose to enter. To do so with any profit would require more space than I can afford, and a minuter knowledge of the earlier and later laws than I can pretend to. Indeed, I must confess that the study of the Anglo-Saxon laws often reduces me to a state of mental chaos. I may know, as a rule^ the meaning of individual words ; I can construe, though not invariably, the separate sentences. But what it all comes to is often a total mystery. The reason (apart from my own shortcomings) is to be sought in the fact alluded to above, that a very small part of Anglo-Saxon life and institutions is to be found in the laws, which imply a whole body of unwritten custom, of which only the most I salient changes are registered in the laws. And as this body of unwritten custom is, to a large extent, beyond our reach, it is not surprising that the written law, to which it was the key, should often be obscure, d's § 80. The date of Alfred's laws is unfortunately nowhere given. But it must be comparatively late in his reign. The introduction consists, as is well known, largely of /passages taken from the Old and New Testaments, trans- lated from the Vulgate with a degree of skill and freedom, which seems to imply some practice in the woik of transla- tion and adaptation, which, as we shall see, Alfred probably did not begin at any rate before the year 887 \ We may therefore conjecture that the enactment of these laws should be placed either just before, or just after the last great • Bolow, § 90. Cf. M. II. Turk, monograplO ; Schaiid, Gesetze, Tho Legul Code of Alfred tlio j)p. xxxvii If. Great, pp. 50, 51 (a very useful CIVIL ADMINISTRATION 123 struggle with the Danes, 892-6 ; for William of Malmes- buiy^'s statement that while, as a rule, ' inter arma silent leges,"* Alfred carried on his legislation amid the din of war^, need not be taken for more than the rhetorical flourish which it evidently is. One or two points in the preface and in the laws may Points of lust be briefly noted. In the former there is an interesting" ^^^^^'^^^ '' . , ^ connected mistranslation of the fifth commandment^ the feminine ^vith relative in the last clause ; ^ which the Lord thy God ^^^^' giveth thee/ being taken to refer not to land (terra) but to mother (matrem) ; ' honour thy father and thy mother fyg • whom the Lord gave thee ^/ Was it the thankful thought " — ^ of his own noble mother Osburh which prompted this y-% mistake ? The insertion among the causes which excuse the non- return of a deposit, of the case of its having been captured by the enemy ^, throws light on the circumstances of the time_, as does the provision of one of the laws that, for certain offences, the punishment is doubled when the ' fyrd ' is out^. Characteristic too of the times is the fact that treason against the lord is ' boot-less ^/ i. e. incapable of being atoned for by money-payment, and the provision against harbouring the king^s fugitives^. Nor is it ^ 'licet enim, ut quidam ait, ^ ^pset it here name,' Turk, p. leges inter arma sileant, ille inter 74 ; Schmid, p. 62 ; ' here ' is the fremitus armorum leges tulit,' regular name for the Danish, as Gesta Ktgum, i. 129; cf. Robert ' fyrd ' is for the native host, of Gloucester, i. 392 : ' Vor j^ey * Turk, p. 100 ; Schmid, p. 94. me segge Ipat lawes be]) in worre ° Turk, p. 82 ; Schmid, p. 66 ; tyme uorlore, Nas it no5t so bi is Alfred's idea that it was Christi- daye, vor fei he in worre were, anity which first allowed money- Lawes he made rijtuolore and compensation for offences is in- strengorefenerwere.' Cf. Chron. teresting, though unhistorical. Rames., p. 13 : 'Alfredus rex The same idea occurs Oros. 48, Anglicarum legum conditor.' 32. ' Turk, u. s. p. 35. 6 T^^.k^ ^ 3^ . schmid, p. 72. 124 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED surprising that Alfred the truth-teller should be specially severe against falsehood ; if any man commits folk-leasing, i. e, public slander, he is to suffer no lighter punishment than the loss of the offending member ^. At the end of the Apostolic letter, which Alfred translates from Acts xv, is found a version of the golden rule in its negative form, ^ that which ye would not that other men should do to you, do not ye to other men -/ This is not, as is often alleged ^j an insertion made by Alfred from the Sermon on the Mount ^, but is an addition to the text of Acts, found in some Greek and Old Latin MSS., from the latter of which it passed into some MSS. of the Vulgate^. Most characteristic of Alfred^s thought is the comment: ^ by this one law any one may know how he ought to judge another ; he needs no other law book.' § 8i. Asser gives a striking picture^, which there is no reason to distrust, of the pains which Alfred took to secure a good administration of justice, and especially to ' see that such as are in need and necessity have right/ From this point of view we can understand Alfred's recasting the precept of Exodus xxiii. 3: ^pauperis quoque non misere- beris in iudicio,' ' neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause' (R.V.). The warning that justice is no more to be wrested in favour of the i)oor, than of the rich, is one not unneeded now. But undue favouring of the poor was a remote danger in Alfred's day, when, as Asser says, the poor had few helpers, or none, besides the king '. And so Alfred puts the precept in a general form : ' Judge thou very equally, judge not one judgement for the rich, and \ * Turk, p. 96 ; Silimid, p. 88. in its negative form. ^ Turk, p. 80 ; Schmid, p. 66. ' Turk, pp. 37, 38. ' o. g. by Sclunid, p. xxxix. ^ 497 A-D [69-71]. * Matt. vii. 12, -whicli gives ' 497 A [69]. tlie rule in its positive, «nd not CIVIL ADMINISTRxVTION 125 another for the poor^' And it would seem from Asserts account that he kept a control on the local administration of justice, not only by constantly hearing appeals himself, but also by a system of special envoys analogous to the Carolingian ' missi dominici/ and to the later ' justices in eyre ^Z Of Alfred's accessibility as the fountain of justice a very Alfred's pleasant picture is given in a document addressed to Edward ^ijf^w", the Elder detailing the progress of a suit which had come suitors. before his father Alfred : ' we went in to the kins' and told him how we proposed to settle the matter, and the king stood and washed his hands at Wardour within the bower, and when he had finished, he asked us ^/ and so forth. It reminds us of the sketch which Josephus gives of Philip, tetrarch of Ituraea, almost the only amiable member of the odious Herod family; how he would stroll through his little state, with a chariot following him on which w^as his curule chair, and if any of his subjects approached him with their causes, he would at once have the chair brought forward, and sit and give his judgement there and then *. It reminds us still more of the great Charles, of whom Einhard relates : ' When he was putting on his shoes or dressing, he would not only admit his friends, but also, if the Count of the Palace reported that there was some suit which could not be settled without his command, he would have the parties brought in at once, and, as if sitting in his tribunal, would hear the matter, and give his decision ^/ The satisfaction given by Alfred''s decisions appears not ^ Turk, p. 78 ; Schmid, p. 64. Pauli, Konig Alfred, p. 179. ^ 'omnia . . . iudicia, quae in ^ Birch, No. 591 ; K. C. D. No. sua absentia fiebant . . . inuestiga- 328. bat ; . . . iudices aut per se ipsum, * Josephus, Ant. xviii. 4, 6 ; cf. aut per . . . suos fideles . . . in- Schiirer, Gesch. des jiidischen terrogabat,* 497 C [70] ; cf. Stubbs, Volkes, i. 356. Const. Hist. i. 183, 205, 208, 391 ; ^ Einhard, Vita Caroli, c. 24. 126 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Alfred's laws drawn mainly from earlier .sources. only from Asser's panegyric, but also from the document already cited, where the writer continues: ^And, sire, if every judgement which King Alfred gave is to be upset, when shall we come to any conclusion ? ■* § 82. The last section of the Preface to the Laws which tells how Alfred gathered these laws from older sources, / and rejected others, with the advice of his Witan, not ^ daring to add to them many of his own, which might not be suitable to after ages^, has been often quoted as an illustration of Alfred's wise conservatism. It is also the best illustration that we have of the action of the ^Vitenagemot in his reign. Others may be found in the (^•hartcrs, but charters, as we have seen -, are not numerous. The most interesting illustration is to be found in Alfred's \ will, which shows how anxious Alfred was not to bring any undue influence to bear upon his councillors. The will tells us how in a AVitenagemot at Long Dean ^ the pro- visions of ^thelwulf's will and the agreements made between Alfred and his brothers were recited, in order that the Witan might judge whether Alfred's proposed disposition of his property was in harmony with these : ' Then prayed I them all for my love, and gave them my pledge, that I would never bear any grudge against any for what they might conscientiously decide, and that none for love or fear of me should hesitate to declare the law of ' Cf. the very striking parallel of Charles the Great: *cimi ad- iierteret miilta legibiis populi sui deesse, nam Franci duas habent leges [i. e. the Salic and Ripua- rian] in plurimis locis nalde diuersas, cogitauit quae deerant addere, et discropantia unire, praua quoque . . . corrigere ; sed do his nihil aliiid ab eo factum est, nisi quod pauen oapitula . . . legibus addidit,' il)id. e. 29. ^ Above, § ir. ^ Probably Long Dean, three miles from Swanborough Tump, which is between Pewsey and Woodborough, Wilts. [I give this statement as I find it, but I have searched the six-inch Ordnance map in vain.] CIVIL ADMINISTRATION 127 the case''/ The Chronicle does not mention a single meeting o£ the Witan ; and though it would be wrong to argue from this silence^ for the same is true of many other reigns, yet it is probable that the circumstances of the time, combined with Alfred's character and ability, would tend to throw more power into the hands of the king, and to reduce proportionally the importance of the Witenagemot 2. § 83. Of synods or special ecclesiastical legislation I can Obscm-ity find no trace under Alfred. More than one bishop^s see ^.^®?P^^" ^ siastical became temporarily or permanently extinct owing to the history ravages of the Danes ^. The monasteries ' once filled,'' as ^^fred Alfred says, ^ with treasures and books ^ ' were favourite objects of attack. In the Preface to the Cura Pastoralis Alfred thanks God for ^ the learned bishops which we now have ' ; but, with the exception of the two archbishops of Canterbury, iEthelred and Plegmund, Werferth of Worcester, and Asser, it is hard to say anything about any of them. It is the same with the abbots. Thorne, the historian of St. Augustine^s, Canterbury, gives a list of abbots about this time, but he can say nothing as to any of them ^. Beyond the broad fact of the ruin caused by the ravages of the Danes, the whole history of the j Church under Alfred is most obscure^. This does not mean that there is any truth in Ailred of Rievaulx'' myth ^ that Alfred regarded it as a king^s chief dignity to have Alfred's no power in the Churches of Christ. What little evidence f^^ft^on .... to the there is points distinctly the other way ^. There is a curious Church, letter of Pope John YIII to Archbishop ^thelred ^ iii which 1 Birch, No. 553 ; K. C. D. No. ^ Col. 1777. 314; and elsewhere. ^ 'the veil of ninth-century ^ This is specially noticeable darkness,' Stubbs, u. s. i. 236. in the matter of grants of land, ^ Ed. Migne, col. 719. Stubbs, Const. Hist. i. 193. ' Cf. Pauli, p. 153. ^ Stubbs, u. s. i. 129, 130, 240. ^ Mansi, Concilia, xvii. 54; Jaffe, * Preface to Pastoral Care. Reg. Pont. p. 270 ; Chron. ii. 87. 128 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED he says : ^ We admonish you to set yourself as a wall for the house of God not only against the king, but also against all who are minded to act perversely/ There seems some ground for Sir John Spelman^s remark : ' The life and ^ways of Alfred were not perfectly pleasing to the Fathers of Rome ^/ A letter, from Archbishop Fulk of Rheims to / ^thelred^s successor, Plegmund '-, shows that clerical and episcopal marriages were common in England at that time ; ,and there are traces of something like hereditary succession 'to ecclesiastical lands ^. There is no evidence that Alfred attempted to alter this state of things ; there is some evidence that he disapproved it. In the Soliloquies of St. Augustine, the Anglo-Saxon translation of which ^ is almost certainly by Alfred ^, there is a passage in which Augustine declares that he has no desire to marry. This, which in the original is purely personal to Augustine, is by the translator extended to all clergy : ' I say however that it is better for priests not to marry than to marry '^/ Decline Alfred made some attempt to revive the monastic life in tici.s\n/'^l/ England. He built a monastery for men at Athelney ', no ' ' doubt as a thank-offering for the deliverance there begun, and a convent for women at Shaftesbury^; he also made ^ Spelman's Life of Alfred, ed. proostum betere, noDbbe Sonne Hearno, pp. 219 ff. I owe the liaibbe,' [sc. wif], p. 183 ; so in reference to Mr. Macfadyen. the Orosius, 290, i. 2, Alfred ^ Pertz, xiii. 566-8; W. M. strongly condemns the compell- II. xlvii. ing of monks to military service. ^ Birch, No. 582 ; K. C. D. No. ' Asser, 493 C [60]. 327. * Ibid. 495 A [64]. W. M. says * First printed by Cockayne in that in the Nuns' Chapterhouse The Shrine; reprinted in Eng- at Shaftesbury was a stone, trans- lischo Studien, xviii, wliero the forrcd thither from the walls of pagination of Cockayne's edition the town, with this inscription : is retained. I cite the pages of 'Anno Dom. Inc. Elfredus rex Cockayne's edition. fecit banc urbem dccclxxx". regni ' See below, § 115. suo viii",' G. 1*. p. 187 (cf. Lib. * 'io cwaoLO ]eah ]a't hyt si do llyda, p. 49. wiiicli reads 're- CIVIL ADMINISTRATION 129 arrangements, though he did not live to cany them out, for founding the New Minster at Winchester^. But he had but small success. The taste for the monastic life hadi almost been extinguished among men in England ; and of he two contradictory causes which Asser suggests ^ for . this fact J viz. the Danish ravages, and the too great riches of the English, which caused them to despise the monastic life, there can be no doubt that the former is nearer the truth. Alfred had accordingly to fill his monasteries with \ foreign monks. The result w^as not always satisfactory, if there is any truth in Asserts story " how tw^o of these foreign monks at Athelney tried to murder their abbot, John the Old Saxon. Besides his own foundations, Alfred w^as a liberal contributor to other monasteries, not only in England, but also in Ireland and on the Continent^. Yet there is no monastic halo round the head of Alfred, like that which adorns his great-grandson Edgar. parauit' for 'fecit'). This shows that Shaftesbury was one of Alfred's 'uiirgs,' and it occurs in the Burghal Hidage with a terri- tory of 700 hides, Maitland, Domes- day, p. 503. It certainly has a most commanding position. ' See the document by which Edward acquires land for carry- ing out his father's intentions, Birch, No. 605 ; K. C. D. No. 1087. The so-called ' golden char- ter' of foundation 'pro anima patris mei Alfredi regis totius Anglie [!] primi coronati,'' is a fla- grant forgery, Birch, No. 602, K. C. D. No. 336; ef. Liber de Hyda, pp. xxiii ff. 2 493 D [61]. ^ 494 [62-64]. * Asser, 496 A, B [67] ; cf. Ein- hard, c. 27, for similar liberality on the part of Charles the Great towards foreign Christians. LECTURE V CIVIL ADMINISTRATION {continued) EDUCATION; LITERARY WORKS § 84. That Alfred would be a careful aud exact steward of all the resources of his kingdom, we may assume without any proof. But, for my own part, I wholly and entirely distrust the account which Asser gives ^ of the minute and mathematical divisions and subdivisions of revenue insti- tuted by Alfred. I regard it as an indication that at this point of his work Asser was attacked by an acute fit of imagination ^. Dr. Stubbs has said that there is no point on which we are more in the dark than on the financial system of the Anglo-Saxons ^. We must also remember that since so much of the revenue of an Anglo-Saxon king was payable in kind, there was much less room for finance, in the strict sense of the word, than in more modern states. Of Alfred^s interest and skill in mechanical and artistic inventions cnougli has perhaps been said already "*. Under this head would come the well-known story of the candles and the lantern shades ''. I cannot myself go into raptures over this, as some writers profess to do. Rut the mention ' 495 C 496 B [65-67]. nur dann beweisen dass es schon '•'The 'Modus tenendi Parlia- damals Ideologen des Feuda- menti ' (Stubbs' Charters, i)]\ lisnius giib,' Vorwaltungsrecht, 50a ff.) is a curious instance of p. 393. a purely imaginary constitution ^ Const. Hist. i. 105, 143. giving itself out as liistorical. It * Above, §j 35, 78, may bo as old as Edward I's reign ; * Asser, 496 C E [68, 69]. if 30, as Gneiut says, *es wurdo rse 1 CIVIL ADMINISTRATION 131 of tents ^ in connexion with this invention, may perhaps indicate that it was specially during campaigns that the need of some such contrivance would be felt. It is one of the many curious parallels between things English and Frankish, that Pope Paul I sent to Pippin, the father of Charles the Great, an instrument for showing the time at night 2. §85. Of Alfred^s intercourse with foreign nations Asser ^ Inter- gives a ' heightened and telling ' picture, speaking of ' daily ^^J embassies of nations who dwell from the Tyrrhene Sea to other the furthest bound of Ireland.' Of relations of Alfred with the Irish princes * I have found no evidence. But an interesting and pathetic instance of accidental intercourse with Ireland is given in the Chronicle under 891 : '^ In this Ireland, year three '' Scots '* (i. e. Irishmen) came to Alfred king, on a boat without oars or rudder. They had stolen away from Ireland, because they would be for God^s love on pilgrimage, they recked not where. The boat on which they fared was wrought of two and a half hides, and they took with them meat for a sevennight. And at the end of a sevennight they came to land in Cornwall, and straight- way fared to Alfred king. Thus were they named, Dub- slane, and Macbeth, and Maelinmain.^ The story is most genuine, and redolent through and through of the spirit of Irish History and Saga. The love of pilgrimage Irish ion ^ ' tentoriorum tennitates.' ann. 807, of a striking clock given ^ Weber, Weltgesch., v. 298 ; to Charles by the king of Persia, Oelsner, Jahrbucher des franki- cited in Hazlitt's edition of schen Keiches unter K. Pippin, Warton's History of English p. 347 : ' direximus [nobis] . . . Poetry, i. 197. libros . . . insimul artem grama- ^ ^^3 q [-^8] ; cf. Einhard, Vita ticam . . . geometricam . . . omnes Car., c. 16. Greco eloquio scriptas, necnon et * Of Charles it is said: 'Scoto- horologium nocturnum.' Cf. rum reges habuit ad suam uolun- also the very curious account tatem,' ibid. sjiveu by Einhard, Annals, ad K 2 132 LIFE AXD TIMES OF ALFRED became a passion in the Irish Church ^ ; the Irish Sagas and the lives of the Irish Saints furnish many illustra- tions of this desire for exile, this self-abandonment (as they deemed it) to the will of God involved in committing" themselves to the deep in a frail skin-covered coracle with- out oarage or steerage, the slender provision of food for the voyage. In the Book of Leinster is a story how throe young Irish clerics set out on a pilgrimage ; ' they took as provision on the sea only three loaves. ''' In the name of Christ " (said they), " let us throw our oars into the sea, and let us commend ourselves to our Lord.'^"* So in the voyage of ^laelduin, the Irish Saga so well known to English readers through Tennyson's poem, Maelduin and his companions exclaim : ^ leave the boat alone, and cease rowing; whither God wills it to be borne, Fle will bear it ^.' According to Ethelwerd ^, these ^ Scots ' after leavins" Alfred went on to Rome and Jerusalem : and if so, it may well be that this was one of the channels whereby Alfred communicated with the East ; for we have seen * that Alfred's intercourse with Elias III, patriarch of Jerusalem, rests on very good evidence. § 86. It so happens that we have an account '" of a pil- grimage to Jerusalem, made just twenty-five years earlier, l)y a Frankish monk named Bernard, who, with two com- ))anions, a Spanish and an Italian monk, set out from Rome about the year (S65 with the blessing of Pope Nicholas (c. 1). From Rome they went to Bari, then *a city of the Saracens,' from the ' sultan ' of which they obtained letters ' The Life of St. Gall, written those and other instances .nre in this very centnry, says: * na- collected, tioni Scotorum eonsuetndo pere- ' 517 E. grinandi iam paene in naturam * Above, § 27. «onuersa est,' Pertz, ii. 30 ; cf. ' Printed in Tobler, Descri- Bede, ii. 170. ptiones Torrno Sanctac, and else- ^ See Chron. ii. 103-105, whore where. CIVIL ADMINISTliATIOX 133 to the rulers of Alexandria and Egyptian Babjdon, i. e. Old Cairo (c. 3). From Bari they walked to Taranto, where they found six ships proceeding to Alexandria with a cargo of 9,cco Christian captives from Beneventum (c. 4). The admiral refused^ however_, to let them land, until they had paid a ransom of six ' aurei ' (c. 5). And when they pre- sented the letters of the sultan of Bari to the gov^ernour of Alexandria they helped them not a whit ; and only on paying thirteen ' denarii ' ^ apiece were they sent on by water with letters to the governour of Cairo (c. 6). Here the same fate awaited them. In spite of all their letters they were thrown into prison, but on payment of another thirteen ' denarii ' per head they were released^ and fur- nished with letters w^hich did really prove effective, though they had to get them sealed, or, as we should say, they had to have their passports visaed in every town which they passed through, and this meant ever fresh exactions (c. 7). From Cairo the}' turned north by the Damietta branch of the Xile and proceeded by Tanis (c. 8) to Farama -, the traditional abode of the Holy Family, where they procured camels on which they crossed the desert (c. 9) to El Arisch, and so by Gaza, Ramleh, and Emma us to Jerusalem, where the patriarch was Theodosius, the imme- diate predecessor of Alfred^s correspondent, Elias III. Here they lodged in the hospice founded for pilgrims by ^ the glorious Emperor Charles,^ near which was the church of St. Mary with a noble library of books, also given by Charles (c. 10). After visiting the holy places (cc. i]-i8), they returned all the way by sea, having an unfavoumble ^ The nominal amount was - At the mouth of the Pelusiao however really doubled, because branch of the Nile, which i.s the Saracens insisted on the now silted up, St. Martin, Diet, money being paid by weiglit, and Geogr. not by tale. liailiost recorded instance of inter- lonrse h«}tween England iind Tndi£ Inter 134 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED passag-e of sixty days to Mont' Auro (c. 19), whence they returned to Rome, ' where innumerable bodies of the saints repose' (c. 20). In some ways, apparently, a pilgrimage to Rome was more dangerous than one to Jerusalem. There is good peace, says the writer, between Christians and pagans both in Egypt and Jerusalem, though they are very strict on all travellers who have no passports (c. 22). In Romagna, on the other hand, things were very bad. and brigands so numerous, that pilgrims had to go in bands and fully armed (c. 23). I have thought it worth while to give an outline of this most interesting little tra€t, because it shows us the route taken, and the difficulties encountered, by a pilgrim to Jerusalem in the reign of Alfred's immediate predecessor ^ But Alfred's messengers went further East than Pales- tine. I have already quoted the passage from the Chronicle which tells how in 883 Alfred sent alms to India to St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew, in fulfilment of the vow wdiich he made ^ when they encamped against the Danes at London.' On the route taken by these messengers I can unfortunately throw no light. But the entry is of tran- scendent interest. It is the first recorded instance of a con- nexion between England and Hindustan, a connexion which has meant so much to India and to England ; for it is, I venture to think, to her government of India that l^ngland largely owes the position in the world which she holds to day. Of missions and alms sent to Rome by Alfred five instances ^ are recorded in the Chronicle, and probably * St. Willibald in the preceding ♦•entury (circa 720), took a very tliflforent route. I give the prin- cipal stages only : Tlie Seine, Rouen, Gorthonicum (?), Lucca, Kome, Naples, Syracuse, Moneni- va^^ia, Cos, Samos, Ephosiis, Mi- letus, Cape Chelidonium, Cyprus. Emesa, Damascus, Jerusalem, This also is printed in Tobler, u. s. - 883; 887, 888, 889, 890. • 3:ducation 135 there were many others not recorded, for the omission of with a formal embassy seems to be noted as exceptional ^ Rome, Of intercourse with the Frankish empire we shall have and tho some illustrations when we come to speak of the foreign ^'"''^".^'^^ ^ » empire. scholars imported by Alfred. § 87. But of all the objects which Alfred had in view Alfred's need of trained the one probably to which he attached most importance was, in the words of our University bidding-prayer, '^a subor succession of persons duly qualified for the service of God in Church and State/ In a passage in the Consolation of Philosophy ^ Boethius says to his instructress : ' Thou knowest that ambition never was my mistress^ though I did desire materials for carrying out my task ' ; ' which task/ adds Alfred, in his own words ^, ^ was that I should virtuously and fittingly administer the authority committed to me. Now no man . . . can . . . administer government, unless he have fit tools and the raw material to work upon. . . . And a king^s raw material and instruments of rule are a well-peopled land, and lie must have men of prayer, men of war, and men of work. . . . Without these tools he cannot perform any of the tasks entrusted to him.' It was with a view to providing these necessary ^ tools,' Court that Alfred seems to have established, probably after the ^*='^^<^'- example of Charles the Great*, a Court school, for the education specially of the sons of the upper classes, in which books of both languages, Latin and Saxon, were read, especially the Psalms and Saxon poems, and writing also was taught; and to these studies the pupils applied ' 889. modern English, in which the 2 Lib. ii. Prosa vii. passages added by Alfred to his ' Anglo-Saxon Version, ch.xvii; original are very conveniently cd. Sedgefield, p. 40 ; thetransla- indicated by italics, p. 41. tion which follows is taken mainly * For Charles' Court school cf. from Mr. Sedgefield's handy ren- Weber, v. 392 ff. dering of Alfred's version into 136 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED themselves, till they were old enough to learn ' hunting- and other arts, befitting well-born men/ This account of Asser^ agrees well with the wish ex- pressed by Alfred in the Preface to the Pastoral Care, * That all the freeborn youth of England who have sufficient means to devote themselves thereto, be set to learninor so long as they are not strong enough for any other occupa- tion, until such time as they can well read English writing. Let those be taught Latin whom it is proposed to educate further, and promote to higher office/ This passage is most interesting ; but we must not, on the strength of it, bring Alfred into court as an advocate either for or against classical education. On the one hand Alfred clearly wished that all who had the time and means should be taught Latin ; on the other hand Latin was then, as it is not now, the sole vehicle of Western culture and science. § 88. But the great difficulty was to find teachers. Of England, the part which had suffered least from the ravages of the Danes was Western Mercia ; moreover OfPa had had a real desire to promote learning in his kingdom, as Alcuin's / letters show ^ ; and from Mercia came Plegmund ", whom Alfred ultimatel}- made archbishop of Canterbury in succes- sion to iEthelred, Werferth, the faithful bishop of Worcester, and two priests, ^Ethclstan and Werwulf, whom Alfred made his chaplains. The fact that Asser applies to these two last the term ^ sacerdotes,' which, as I have elsewhere shown, is ambiguous in mediaeval Latin, sometimes mean- ing bishops, sometimes priests *, has led Roger of AVendover ' 485D-486C[4a-44],496A[67]. Britauuiao, tiil)a praedicationis. ' Writing to Offa Alcuiu says : gladius contra hostos, scutum ' ualdo mihi placet quod tantam contra inimicoa,' Monumont;i liabt'tis inttntioneni lectionis, ut Alouiniana, p. 265. lumen sapiontiao luceat in regno ' *Ph'innnulus . . . magister uestro, quod multis modo extin- KltVedi regis/ G. P. p. 20. guitur in loeis. Vos estis decus * Bode, ii. 55. 56, To avoid thii; EDUCATION 137 not only to convert these priests into bishops, but to give them sees at Hereford and Leicester ^ ; another illustration of the vray in which myths arise. From Wales Alfred got Wales, Asser, as we have seen. But Britain alone could not supply Alfred^s needs ; and the Frankish empire was now to repay and the to England some small portion of the debt which it owed empire^ ^ for Boniface and Alcuin, in the persons of Grimbald and John the Old Saxon. Of the latter not much is known - John tlie He was a monk of Corvey_, and was made by Alfred abbot) saxon. of his new monastery of Athelney. The story of his attempted murder there has been already alluded to ^'. The date of his coming to England is not knov^Ti. The chrono- logy of Grimbald^s life is also very obscure. Mabillon Grimbald. indeed was led to postulate two Grimbalds, who both came to England under Alfred. But his j^erplexity was largely caused by his acceptance of the Oxford inter- polation in Asser as genuine; and his solution is quite incredible. Grimbald was a monk of St. Bertin^s in | Flanders. He held various ofiices in that monastery, and ^ in 892^ on the death of Abbot Budolf, the monks wished him to become their abbot ; but with a view of protecting the monastery against the attacks of Count Baldwin of Flanders, Fulk, archbishop of Rheims, who had been abbot before Rudolf, was allowed to resume the abbacy, and hold it with his archbishopric^. If all this is true, Grimbald >^ cannot have come to England much before 893, and as he is mentioned in the Preface to the Pastoral Care as one of ambiguity Lupus of Ferrieres uses an Athelstan bishop of Hereford the expression 'sacerdos seeundi early in the eleventh century, ordinis,' Vita S. Wigberti, c. 5. This may give us an idea of ^ E. W. i. 324 ; he alters Wer- Wendover's critical skill, wulf's name into Werebert, prob- ^ See Stubbs, W. M. II. xlviii, ably because there was a bishop ' Above, p. 129. of Leicester of that name early * W. M. II. xliv ff. inthe ninth century. There was 138 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Alfred^s helpers in that work (along with Plegmund, Asser, and John), it is obvious that this date for Grimbald's arrival in England, if it be regarded as established, will have a very important bearing on the chronology of hotter of Alfred's writings^. There is a letter extant^ which pur- bishop ports to be Fulk of Rheims' answer to Alfred^s application A K*^ ^'^ for Grimbald. Certainly, if Fulk was holding the abbacy of St. Bertin's at this time, he would be the natural person to give permission to a monk of that house to leave his cloister ^, and Dr. Stubbs thought that the MSS. in which the letter is found were sufficiently ancient to exclude the Quosiion suspicion of forgery. Its authenticity has however been Konuino- doubted *, and I confess it presents one very great difficulty iT'ss. f-Q my mind. The letter throughout is written on the assumption that Grimbald is to be a bishop in England : he is to be placed over the care of pastoral rule, he is already a priest, and is worthy of pontifical honour ; if Alfred will send Grimbald^s electors and certain leading men in Church and State, Fulk will then ordain him (i. e. as bishop, for he was already priest), and they can escort him to his proper see^. Alfred is represented as having stated in his application that, owing to the ravages of the Danes, the lapse of time, the carelessness of prelates, and ' .Toliannos Longus, a later at least as early as 889. And chronicler of St. Bertin's, says the same authority, p. 35, places that Grini))ald came to England his arrival in 885. But I do not in consequence of the ni\irder of attach much weight to any «if Fulk, archbishop of Rheims, these statements. Pertz, XXV. 769 ; as the date of - Printed in Wise's edition <^f this was 900, the date of Grim- Assor, pp. 123 flf., Birch, ii. 190 ft".. bald's arrival would be thrown to and elsewhere, the very end of Alfred's reign. ^ 'nostrum est nobis ilium Tlio Liber do Ilyda, p. 30, says canonice concedere,' Wise, p. 128. that (Jriml)ald was sent for by * e.g. by Pauli, u. s. p. 195; advice of Archbishop yEthelred. A.\. SS. July, ii. 652. This would make the invitation '' Wise, pp. 127, 128. EDUCATION 139 the ignorance of the people, ecclesiastical order had much decayed in England ^^ which is true enough, whoever wrote it. But there is no other evidence anywhere of any inten- tion of making Grimbald a bishop. Dean Hook's idea^ that Alfred intended to make him archbishop of Canter- bury, but finding the appointment of a foreigner unpopular, substituted Plegmund, has not a scrap of evidence to support it ; while if Grimbald did not come to England till 893 the primacy had long been filled up. Ultimately. Grimbald was made abbot of the New Minster at Win- ^ Chester, where he died in 903, and became one of the tutelary saints of that foundation, winning a place in the English Calendar^. The tradition that Asser was one of the embassy sent to escort Grimbald to England has been already alluded to ^. § 89. But it was not only by educational institutions Alfred^ whether in Court or monastery that Alfred endeavoured to ^^^^g . raise the culture of his people. The art of translation, which he had practised at first for his own instruction and edification, he came afterwards to use in order to place within reach of his people^ the most useful works in different branches of knowledge. The object which Alfred their had in view is clearly laid down in the oft-quoted Preface ^^^J*^*^*- to the Pastoral Care. After tracing the practical extinction of the knowledge of Latin south of the Thames^, which ^ Wise, p. 124. did not know a single priest at ^ Lives of the Archbishops of the time of his accession, who Canterbury, i. 322. knew Latin ; south of the Humber 3 St. Grimbald's mass day (July there were very few ; north of 8) is mentioned in the Chron. the Humber he does not think 1075 T) ad init. See Chron. ii. there were many. This confirms 122, 123. the view taken above, that Mercia * A))ove, p. 18. was at this time intellectually the ' *inde perplures instituere least backward part of England. studuit,' Asser, 592 A [56]. The reference to Northumbria * South of the Thames Alfred implies rather Alfred's lack of 140 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED made all the knowledge contained in that language in- accessible to a degree which would have seemed incon- ceivable to previous generations, he continues : ' therefore it seems to me best, if you agree \ that we should trans- late some books, those namely which are most necessary for all men to know^ into the language which we all understand.' sLuiy § 90. The stor\- how Alfred first began to combine Alfred translation with reading- is told in a w^ell-known passage i.egan t.. of Asser". He relates how one day, while the king and himself were reading and talking together, Alfred was much struck b}^ a passage in the work which Asser was reading to him, and begged him to write it down for him in the little book of psalms and prayers which he always carried about with him. Asser suggested that it would be better to start a separate book for such extracts, and went and fetched a quire of parchment, and in course of time the book of translated extracts grew, until it reached nearly the siae of a Psalter. Alfred called it his Encheiridion, 1 ii.^ , ^Manual, or Handbook ^, because he always kept it close at Jl""''' ' hand. This according to Asser took place in the year 887. A great deal of unnecessar}^ mystery has been made al.Hjut this Handbook. Asserts account shows that it was ^ simply what we should call a commonplace book. In the course of years Alfred may have made more than one such commonplace book. The one started at Asserts suggestion afcurute inforinution, tlwin any Tlio pa.-ssage mii-t not ho inter- strong belief tluit thing^s were proted as if Alfred now for the very much better there. first time began ti> read Latin. ' ' forffy me CyncS betre, gif ^ Asser, 491 C-492 li [55-57]. iow swa OyncS,' p. 7; cf. Solil. * 'enchiridion ... id est manua- p. 169: 'gyf )e nil )>inc5 swa swa lis liber,' Asser; the equivalent me fiincfl.' Saxon ' handboc' is found in some - It is the combination of read- MSS. uf W. M., i. 132 note. ing 7cifh frarislation that is new. LITERARY WORKS 141 eontainecl_, according to him^ ' flosculi diuinae scripturae ^ ; that is, probably, extracts from the Bible and the Fathers. But other parts of the volume, or, it may be, a later volume of the same kind, contained historical jottings ; for William of Malmesbury quotes Alfred's Handbook as an authority for the life of Aldhelm, citing Alfred's high appreciation of Aldhelm's Saxon poems, and adding the beautiful tradition how by his skill as a minstrel he would gather the people round him, and gradually turn his song to sacred themes ^. Florence of Worcester - also cites a work which he calls ' Dicta regis .Elfredi ' as an authority on the West Saxon genealogy. Even if we reject the evidence of Malmesbury and Florence as being so much later than Alfred's time, it seems to me quite impossible to identify a theological commonplace book, such as Asser describes, with the translation of Augustine's Soliloquies, as Wiilker was once inclined to do -^j partly on the ground that Asser applies the term 'flosculi' to the Handbook, while the translation of the Soliloquies bears the title ' Blostman ' or Blooms. But the latter work, however free in the way in which it deals with its original, is very much more than a book of extracts. Besides, according to Asser, the Encheiridion was the very first of Alfred's works, whereas all critics are agreed that the Soliloquies are among the last, probably the very last of his works. § 91. Besides the Encheiridion, the only one of the The trans- literary works which owed their origin to .Vlfred mentioned q^qJ^^y's by Asser is the translation of the Dialogues of Gregory Dialogues. ^ Gesta Pont., pp. 333, 336. however, to repeat Wiilker's ^ i. 272. earlier views, e. g. Maefadyen, ^ Article on the ' Blostman ' in p. 330. Wiilker sets aside the Paul and Braune's Beitrage, iv. Florence of Worcester reference, 1T9 ff. (1877). For Wiilker's later a little arbitrarily, as it seems to views, see Grundriss, pp. 390-392, me. Beitr, u. s. p. 128. 4 15-420. Later writers continue, 142 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED I the Great ^. The existence of the Chronicle, at any rate up to 887, is implied in Asserts use of it, but it is nowhere mentioned. The easiest explanation of Asser's silence as to Alfred's other works is that they did not then exist. The date at which Asser professes to be writing is, as we have seen, 894; and this in turn confirms the view derived from the chronology of Grimbald^s life, as to the com- paratively late date at which Alfred commenced his inde- pendent literary career. attriWuJed According to Asser, the translation of the Dialogues was J'o \\C "o^ ^^^^ ^y ^^^^^^^^ himself, but by Bishop ^yerferth at tVrth. his command-; and in the little preface which Alfred pre- fixes to the work he makes no claim of authorship, but merely says : * I besought my trusty friends that out of God's ^ books of the lives and miracles of the saints they would write for me the instruction which follows, so that, strengthened in my mind through memory and love, I may, amid the troubles of this world, sometimes think on the things of heaven.' Whether the expression ' trusty friends ' is merely an impersonal plural for Werferth, or whether others really co-operated, I cannot say; but we may take it that Werferth was mainly responsible, and that in this ' Now at length (1900), after p. 197) that the authority for many vicissitudes and delays, Werferh's authorship of this edited by Hans Ilecht in vol. 5 of translation 'is late and of doubt- Grein-Wiilker's Bibliothek der ful value,' lie goes muc-h further angelsachsischen Prosa. in rejecting Asser than I can go. ' *Werfrithus . . . iniperio regis 3 go in both MSS, according to libros dialogorum Gregorii papae Hecht, and it certainly is so in ... do Latinitate primus in Sa- Hatton. But I suspect that in xonicam linguam, aliquando sen- the original MS. there was simply sum ex sensu p given in brackets. actly the same expression, Solil. * 243, 11. 13; 253, 11 ; 275. 1 p. 180. 277, 19; 299, 15. 17. 19. 21. 2 ' (irundriss, pp. 394 ff. 301, i. 3 ; 311, 25 ; 315. 24 ; 3 ^ 133, 18 (ii. 7) an etymology of 4. 11. 25; 325, 5; 327, i ; 3 Gregory's omitted ; 135, 20 (ii. 7^ 22; 331, 6. 13; 343, i; 367, an alternative interpretation 369, 5 ; 371, 14 ; 373, 23 ; 377. omitted; 401, 28 (iii. 27 'ma- 25; 379, 3; 381. 12; 387, : LITERARY WORKS 153 psalm is often given \ which is possibly an illustration of Asser's statements- as to the special fondness of Alfred for the Psalter. Other insertions consist of brief expla- natory notes; an allusion or metaphor is cleared up^'j a foreign word or custom is explained'*^ a quotation or story is completed ^. Thus after a reference to the institu- tion of the Levirate among the Jews, Alfred adds : ^ this was good law under the old covenant, and to us now it is a parable ^/ The manna is 'the sweet food that came down from heaven "^Z Shittim wood, w^e are told, never rots ^. It does not follow that the explanation is always correct. Thus to Christ^s denunciation of the Pharisees for scrupulosity in tithing herbs is added the statement that they left untithed their more valuable possessions ^. § 97. Occasionally Alfred interprets biblical things by Interpre- Saxon analogies. Thus the Hebrew cities of refuge become gaxon ^ a Saxon ^ f rithstow ^^/ as they do also in Alfred's preface analogies, to his law^s ^^. The Doctors among whom the child Jesus was found were the wisest 'Witan' that there were in 389, 9. 23 ; 395, 12 ; 405, 10 ; 409, * Cf. the marvellous etymology 32 ; 413, 17. 21 ; 421, 10 ; 425, 30 ; of ' sacerdos,' 139, 15. 427, 28. 32; 433, 8. 18; 435,9; ' 37> 5ff. ; 43, 20; loi, i6if. ; 437, 19; 445, 19- 31. 35; 463, 20. 117, 18. 23 ; in two cases the references * 43, 15. are wrong; at 91, 16 Mai. ii. 7 ^ 125, 19. is assigned to Zechariah, though ^ 169, 23. Malachi is given in the original ; ^ 439, 29 ; for other doubtful at 117, 7 I Cor. iv. 21 is assigned interpretations cf. 391, 23; 411, to Galatians. 10. At 391, 23 is an insertion ^ 413, 10; 415, 5; 419, 6; 425, which is unintelligible to me. 20. 25; 429,23; 435, 18; 465,4. Possibly it rests on some differ- 14. 23. enee of reading in the Latin. 2 474 B [16], 485 E [43], 491 C '« 167, 2. [55]. " Turk, u. s. pp. 37, 70 ; Sohmid, 331,21; 103,5; 145,20; 181,12; p. 60; cf. also Boeth. xxxiv. § 8 189, 7; 222, 22; 253, 12; 293, (p. 89); Pss. ix. 9; xvii. i; 2. 4 ; 301, 7 ; 401, 28 ; 421, 19. xxx. 3. 154 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Jerusalem ^. Uriah, whom David murdered, was ' his own loyal thane 2.' In the Soliloquies Alfred speaks of the Apostles as Christ's thanes ^ This process is carried yet further in the sacred epic poetry both of the insular and continental Saxons, the disciples becoming Christ's^ ^ comites^ or ^gesiths,' who are bound to die with their Lord ^. Alfred here also, as in some of his other works^, and in the Laws^, lays great stress on the position of the Lord ^. Once or twice Alfred tones down his original ; thus where Gregory speaking of the death of impenitent sinners says : ' they lament that they refused to serve God now that they can in no wise by service make good the evils of their former negligence,' Alfred in his pity inserts the clause : ^ unless they be helped by repentance and God's mercy ^.' In one instance the explanation given is dogmatic, the reception of 'the spirit of adoption' of which St. Paul speaks, being referred to baptism^. No doubt for many, if not most, of these additions Alfred was indebted to his clerical assistants. Often, without any very distinct addition being made to the text, it is rather freely expanded ^^. Sometimes the rendering is rather loose ^^, as if the mean- ' 385, 22. ^ 263, 21. - 35, 23; of. 63, 3; 373, 18 i» 129, 14 ff. ; 157, 15 ff. ; 215. {Icings liigliways). For thane 21 ff. ; 271, 4. 5 ; 279, 15. 16; 283. cf. Bede, pp. 122, 126, 134, 194. 13 ff. ; 291, 14 ff. ; 306, 5 ff. ; 343. ' p. 197. 8 ff ; 375, 14 ff. ; 387, 2 ff. 25 ff : * So in the continental Ilt'liaiul, 397, 22 ff. ; 433, i ft\ ; 437, 12 ff. ; cf. Ebert, u. s. iii. 102, 103 ; in 445, lo IT. (this expansion of tlio Andreas, ibid. 64 ; in Cjnewulf's niotaplior of a boat making its Christ, tlio Angels are the thanes, Avay against the stream is of great ibid. 51. interest) ; 449, 2 f. ; 451, 28 ff. ; ' Orosius, pp. 218, 296; Solil. 465, 16 ff. p. 196. " 145. 20 ff. ; 149, 24 ff. ; 165, « See above, p. 123. 13 ff- ; n% 10 ff- I 185, 24 ff. ; 207, ' 109, 13 ; 143, I ff- ; 197- 9- '8 ff. ; 313, i ff. ; 325, 8 ff. ; 449. " 251, 18 ; cf. a similar but less 5 ff. ; 457. 6 ff- striking instance, 421, 35. LITERARY WORKS 155 ing of the original had been imperfectly grasped; some- times it is distinctly wrong ^. And throughout one may say that the translation is made (to use Alfredo's own expression) rather ^ sense by sense ' than ' word by word -/ And sometimes^ though the phrase may be very close to The the original^ it seems to bear the stamp of Alfred^s own w^bTars experience. The heading of the fourth chapter must have t^® stamp come straight from his heart : ^ that many times the own ex- business of government and rule distracts the mind of penence. the ruler ^/ MThat/ he exclaims in another place, 'is rule and authority but the soul's tempest which is always buffeting the ship of the heart with the storms of many thoughts^ so that it is driven hither and thither in very narrow straits_, wellnigh wrecked among many mighty rocks "* ? ' Or again : ' the patient must be admonished to strengthen their heart after their great victory, and hold the burg of their mind against marauding bands, and fortify it with battlements ^/ Lastly : ' every host {here) is the less effective when it comes, if its coming is known beforehand. For it finds them prepared whom it thought to take unprepared ^Z In these two last passages we seem almost to hear the echo of Alfred's experience in 878 '^. § 98. The next two works of Alfred to be considered Question 1 75, 14 f. ; 103, 25 ; 149, 4 ff. ; ' 433, 27 ff. ; cf. also Oros. 46, 365, 3 ff. ; 407, 23 ff. ; 427, 17 ; 34. 443, 10. This last instance is of ' Since writing the above ac- some little interest ; Alfred trans- count, I have read two careful lates ' quern Deus suscitauit solutis German dissertations on the rela- doloribus inferni' by 'whom God tion of Alfred's translation of the raised up to loose the prisoners of Cura Pastoralis to the original, hell.' one by Gustav Wack, Greifswald, 2 Preface to Pastoral Care. 1889 ; the other by Albert de ^ 37, II. 12 ; cf. 7, 17. 18 ; 103, I. Witz, Bunzlau, 1889. They go * 59, 3 ff. into greater detail than I have 5 229, 3 ff. The very word done, but come to much the same ' stselherigas ' occurs in the Chro- result, nicle, 897, 156 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED are both historical, viz. the translations of Orosius^ I'lii- versal History, and of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of tlic English Nation. There has been however considerable difference of .opinion as to the order of these two works. The earlier critics, however much they might diifer among themselves as to the succession of Alfred^s works taken as a whole, all, with the exception of Dr. Bosworth, agreed in placing the Orosius before the Bede ^ But in recent times Wiilker 2, August Schmidt ^, and my friend Professor Schipper of Vienna * have argued in favour of the other view. The chief ground on which they have based their conclusion is the greater freedom of the Orosius both in translation and arrangement as compared with the Bede. In the latter the , translation is sometimes quite unduly literal, so as to be almost unintelligible in places without a reference to the original ^ ; while as to arrangement, the modifications of the original are, for the most part, limited to omissions of matters like the Easter Controversy which had ceased to have any living interest, the additions and transpositions being very unimportant. The Orosius on the other hand is not only freer in translation, but is so recast by transposition, addition, and omission, as to be practically a new work. It is argued that this greater free(^lom implies a more practised hand, and therefore a later date. The argument ' Sec tlio table in Wiilker, of tlie Vienna Academy of (Jrundriss, p. 393. Wack, u. s. Sciences). p. 58, would i>ut the Orosius even ' Cf. .Elfric's saying: 'every one before the Cura Pnstoralis. who translates from Latin into ' Wiilker, u. s. p. 396. English should strive that the ' In his useful dissertation : Knglish may have its own idiom, Untersuchungen iiber K. JElfred's otherwise it is very misleading to Boda-iibersetzung, 1889. any one who does not know the * Gegenwiirtiger Stand der Latin idiom.' Preface to Htpta- Forschung iiber K. yElfred's Beda- teuch. iibcrsetzung, 1898 (Sirznngsber. LITERARY WORKS 157 seems to me fallacious. As regards substantial alterations we must bear in mind the different character of the two Character originals. Bede's Ecclesiastical History has always been an o^/^naVs*^ almost sacred book to Englishmen. It needed no recasting, beyond a few omissions, to make it suitable for English readers in Alfred's day. But Orosius^ work, written with the polemical object of enforcing the argument of Augustine's De Ciuitate Dei against the pagan contention that the troubles of the times were due to the introduction of Christianity, by showing, in a survey of universal history, that the evils of pre-Christian days were far greater, and full therefore \ of ecclesiastical gloating over the crimes and calamities of pagan history, required much more drastic treatment. On the occasional over-literalness of the Bede translation I shall and of the have something to say presently. As regards the greater tions. freedom of the Orosius_, any one who has examined in one of our Pass Schools will bear witness that there is a kind of free translation, which is very far from implying a per- fect mastery of the original. And I must confess that Alfred's freedom in the Orosius is often of the latter kind^.* I should say that there are far more serious blunders in translation in the Orosius than in the Bede ; though on the other hand it must be remembered that Bede's Latin ^ is a good deal easier than that of Orosius. § 99. In the Introduction to the second volume of my Argu- Saxon Chronicle ^ I arffued in favour of the priority of ^^^^'^ ^^^ ° .... favour of the Orosius, on the ground of the affinity in diction and the pri- expression between it and the Saxon Chronicle. That the^*^ argument I need not repeat here ; I still think that it has Orosius. force, though I possibly laid too much stress upon it, as ^ See below, and cf. Schilling : ledge,' p. 9; 'his knowledge of ' there are many mistakes in Latin was still small when he translation due to carelessness translated the Orosius,' p. 61. und want of grammatical know- ;is -to tliG order of the Orosins iind Bede trnnsla- tions. 156 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED are both historical, viz. the translations of Orosius^ Uni- versal History, and of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of tlio Eng-lish Nation. There has been however considerable difference of opinion as to the order of these two works. The earlier critics, however much they mig-ht diJfer among- themselves as to the succession of Alfred^s works taken as a whole, all, with the exception of Dr. Bosworth, agreed in placing the Orosius before the Bede \ But in recent times Wiilker 2, August Schmidt ", and my friend Professor Schipper of Vienna * have argued in favour of the other view. The chief ground on which they have based their conclusion is the greater freedom of the Orosius both in translation and arrangement as compared with the Bede. In the latter the translation is sometimes quite unduly literal, so as to be almost unintelligible in places without a reference to the original ^ ; while as to arrangement, the modifications of the original are, for the most part, limited to omissions of matters like the Easter Controversy which had ceased to have any living interest, the additions and transpositions being very unimportant. The Orosius on the other hand is not only freer in translation, but is so recast by transposition, addition, and omission, as to be practically a new work. It is argued that this greater freedom implies a m«^re practised hand, and therefore a later date. The argument ' See the tal)le in Wiilker, fJrundriss, p. 393. ^^'a<'k, ii. s. p. 58, would i>ut tlie Orosius even before tlio Cura Pastoralis. ' Wiilker, u. s. p. 396. ' In Ills useful dissertation : Untersuchungen iiher K. yElfied's Beda-iibersetzung, 1889. * Gogenwiirtiger Stand dtr Forsrhung iiber K. JElfretl's B«'da- iibcrsetzung, 1898 (Sitzungsbti, of tlie Vienna Academy of Sciences). ' Cf jElfric's saying: 'every one who translates from Latin into English should strive that tlie English may have its own idiom, otherwise it is very misleading to any one who does not know the Latin idiom,' Preface to ILpta- t.MIch. LITERARY AA^ORKS 157 seems to me fallacious. As regards substantial alterations we must bear in mind the different character of the two Character originals. Bede's Ecclesiastical History has always been an o^/^nal^J*' almost sacred book to Englishmen. It needed no recasting, beyond a few omissions, to make it suitable for English readers in Alfred's day. But Orosius^ work, written with the polemical object of enforcing the argument of Augustine^s De Ciuitate Dei against the pagan contention that the troubles of the times were due to the introduction of Christianity, by showing, in a survey of universal history, that the evils of pre-Christian days were far greater, and full therefore ^ of ecclesiastical gloating over the crimes and calamities of pagan history, required much more drastic treatment. On the occasional over-literalness of the Bede translation I shall and of tho have something to say presently. As regards the greater tions. freedom of the Orosius, any one who has examined in one of our Pass Schools will bear witness that there is a kind of free translation, which is very far from implying a per- fect mastery of the original. And I must confess that Alfred's freedom in the Orosius is often of the latter kind^. * I should say that there are far more serious blunders in translation in the Orosius than in the Bede ; though on the other hand it must be remembered that Bede's Latin ^ is a good deal easier than that of Orosius. § 99. In the Introduction to the second volume of my Argu- Saxon Chronicle ^ I argued in favour of the priority of ^^^*^ "^ ° .... favour of the Orosius, on the ground of the affinity in diction and the pri- expression between it and the Saxon Chronicle. That the^^ argument I need not repeat here ; I still think that it has Orosius, force, though I possibly laid too much stress upon it, as ^ See below, and cf. Schilling : ledge,' p. 9; 'his knowledge of ' there are many mistakes in Latin was still small when he translation due to carelessness translated the Orosius,' p. 61. and want of grammatical know- 158 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED one is apt to do when one gets hold of an idea which one fancies to be new ^. It is however capable of being reinforced. The second chapter of Bedels first book con- tains an account of Caesar's invasions of Britain. This is a matter which one would take to be of great interest to all inhabitants of this island ^. Yet in the Bede transla- tion it is, in the older recension, omitted altogether, and even in the later recension is passed over with the barest mention ^. But this chapter is almost wholly taken from Orosius ; and when we turn to the Orosius version, we find that Alfred has not only translated the passage in question, but has enriched it with his own local knowledge, telling us that Caesar^s first two engagements with the natives w^ere 'in the land which is called Kent-land,^ and that the third took place 'near the ford which is called Wallingford ^.^ If the Orosius translation preceded the Bede, we can understand why Alfred omitted the corre- sponding passage in the latter. Again, in chapter v of the same book, Bede expressly corrects a mistake of Orosius' as to the wall of Severus, saying that it was not properly a wall, but a rampart of sods with a ditch ; Alfred not only adopts this correction here^, but in another place of the Bede seems to emphasise if', where ' I did not then know that Bede (H. E. i. 3), and this fact Mr. Sweet had already noticed miglit be used as an argument in this attinity, tliough he gave no favour of the priority of the Bede examples, and drew no inference translation. from it, Preface to Pastoral Care, * Ed. Schipper, p. 13 ; the cor- p. xl. responding rjipitulum is however * It is true that in the Orosius translated in both recensions. Alfred omits the conquest of * Orosius, ed. Sweet, p. 238. Britain by Claudius (vii. 6), but * 'mid dice 7 mid eoriwealle,' this may be, as Schilling suggests ' with ditch and earth-wall,' ed. (p. 21), from quasipatriotic mo- Miller, p. 32. tives, because of the ease with ® ' het dician 7 eoriUwall gcwyr- which tlie island was conquered. cun^ = itaUttin fcccrat, ibid. p. 46; He does however give it in the cf. (of a different matter) ibid. LITERARY WORKS 159 there is no special emphasis in the original. In the Orosius 23assage the mistake is uncorrected '. Alfred shows in many ways that he had a good memory, and that he did not shrink from correcting his authors where he thought they needed it ; he would hardly have ignored Bedels correction had he been cognisant of it wdien he was making the translation of Orosius. The only serious argument on the other side is one w^iicli has not, as far Argument as I am aware^ been previously noticed. I mean the other^ affinity of passages in the Orosius with passages in the side. Boethius, which is_, as we shall see 2_, almost certainly later than either the Orosius or the Bede. Of these the most important are two in which Alfred without any hint from the original protests against the doctrine that all things happen by fate ^, a subject which occupies a prominent place in the Boethius. There would_, however, be nothing impossible in the supposition that Alfred may have read the Consolation of Boethius before he undertook the work of translating it, or the subject may have been suggested y, to his active mind in some other way. On the whole the ^^^^' Vl^ question of precedence as between the Orosius and the ^^f^-f^^^^^^^ Bede must be left uncertain; though in accordance with\^ '^^■*^*^^' H my own view I shall take the Orosius first. ''■■■'':^ . § 100. It would be impossible to discuss in detail the Eeiation 1 modifications made by Alfred in his original. They occur q^osj^s p. 366 : ' mid dice 7 mid eor^J- faber (craftsman), as in Boethius wealle utan ymbsealde ' = circum- he seems to connect the name uallante aggere. Fabricius with the same root, pp. ^ p. 270. 2 Below, § 109. 46, 165; one or two other points ^ pp. 60, 22 ff. ; 62, 9 ff ; cf. of connexion between the Orosius also Oros. 42, 14 with Boet. i, 9. and the Boethius are given below 10 ; Or. 56, 32 with Bo. 9, 29 ; 21, (pp. 177 7i, 184 n) ; cf. also B. xv, I &c. ; Or. 220, 16 with Bo. 34, xvi § i (p. 34) with O. pp. 88, 29 ; Or. 296, 8 with Bo. 7, 2. 3. 220, 226 (Aetna) ; B. xvi § i, 4, In Oros. 72, 8 ff., Alfred seems to xxix § 2 (pp. 34, 39, 66' with 0. connect the word Fabianus with pp. 260, 262 (Nero). i6o LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED on almost every page. I can only indicate their general character, and give a few specimens of some of the more important. And in doing this I very willingly acknow- ledge the help which I have derived from Dr. Hugo Schilling's useful dissertation on the subject^. It may give some measure of the extent of Alfred's changes to note that whereas the original consists of seven books divided into 236 chapters, the Saxon version contains six books with only 84 chapters -. The most important A 296, 1 ff. ; the ironical remark on the loyalty (hlafordhyldo) shown by Rutinus and Stilicho to their master's children. " 136, 27 ff. '- Another change from similar motives is 52, 35 ff. " Below. § 1 10. " 32, 13 ff. ; 58, 7 ff. ; see Schil- ling, p. 56. '* The two Scipios. 224, 24 ff. ; i LITERARY WORKS 165 fusions of personal and geographical appellations ^^ many quaint mistakes of translation^ and of fact, as wlien lie says that Augustus took his name from the eighth month of the year instead of vice versa ^^ turns the snake-charming tribe of Psylli"^ into a kind of serpen t, and infers from Augustus^ heart-broken exclamation, ^ Yare, redde legiones/ that that ill-fated commander had escaped alive from his defeat ^ ; this is only what we might expect, and it would be ungracious to dwell upon such things^. Dr. Schilling has truly and excellently said "^ of the Orosius : ^ We see Alfred here weak in historical and linguistic knowledge ; Alfred's but we see him also simple, high-hearted, and earnest; displayed. full of warm appreciation for all that is good, and of scorn for all that is evil ; putting himself to school that he may educate and raise his people.'' Sextus Julius Caesar and the Praetor Cneius Pompeius, are confused with the two great rivals of later days, and the whole ac- count of the treatment of the former pair by the Senate is extraordinarily funny, 234, 21 ff. ^ The most remarkable instance of this is in the account of Alex- ander's successors and the terri- tories which fell to their lot, 142, 26 ff. (Oros. iii. 23, 7 ff-)- 2 e. g. 190, 29 ; 218, 10 ; 264, 4 (this last may be due to a wrong reading in the Latin text) ; 271, 17- 3 246, 16 ff. * ibid. 32 ff. ^ 250, 10 ff. ^ Dr. Schilling has remarked (p. 59) that Alfred in the Orosius never mastered the fact that a Roman might have not merely two but three names. So when there are two consuls with three names each, he either makes three persons out of them with two names each, e. g. 176, 32; 182, 5 &c., or he omits the two last names altogether, e. g. 202, 18 ; 204, 23 &c. By the time he reached the Boethius he had over- come this difficulty. In two places he says that Marcus was called by another name Tullius, and by a third name Cicero, xviii. § 2, xli. § 3 :pp. 43, 143}. ' p. 6r. LECTURE VI LITERARY WORKS {cojitinned) ; SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION § 104. Y^E have seen ^ that in the case of the Orosius, the only direct hint of authorship contained in the book itself is the address of Ohthere to ' his lord King Alfred ' ; and the earliest external testimony on the subject is to be found in William of Malmesbury in the early part of the twelfth century. But no one has ever doubted King* Alfred^s authorship. Till recently the same might have been said of the Bede ; in 1877 Professor Wiilker spoke of Alfred^s authorship of the Bede as 'a fact which no one hitherto has doubted or could doubt ^,' Since then, however, Mr. Sweet, in his Anglo-Saxon Reader^, and Dr. Thomas Miller in his edition of the Bede translation, published by the Early English Text Society ^, have tried to overthrow the traditional view ; the former, mainly on the ground of that occasional over-literalness of the version already alluded to ^ ; the latter, because he thinks that it shows Mercian characteristics incompatible with a West Saxon orifrin. Now we must admit at once that the book itself contains no direct evidence of authorship, not even such ^ Above, p. 160. in a monograph on the Place ' Paul und Biaune's Bt.it riigo, Names in the English Bede, iv. 127. Quellon und Forschungen (1896). ^ Ed. 2, p. 196. For a copy of this I was indebted * Introduction (1890) ; Dr. to the writer. Miller further enforced his view ' Above, § 98. Alfred, LITERARY WORKS 167 a hint as is dropped in the Orosius. On the other hand the external evidence is very much earlier. ^Elfric, the ^Ifric homilist, distinctly quotes the book as Alfred's. In his fttributiis homily on St. Gregory he says : ' Many books tell of his i^^t^o conversation and holy life, as does Historia Anglorum, which King Alfred translated out of English into Latin. . . . We will however tell you something about him because the fore-said book is not known to all of you, although it is translated into English \' This was written within a hundred years of Alfred's death. For many books of which the authorship has never been doubted we cannot produce evidence anything like as early. I may note in which he passing that in speaking of the translation of Gregory's ^^l ^^} Dialogues JElfric makes no assertion as to the Alfredian case of the authorship, merely saying ' the book has been translated ^^ ^g^^"^- into English, and in it any one who will read it may learn profitably of these matters^.' In another place he gives interesting evidence that, till he himself took pen in hand, Alfred's translations were the only books accessible to those who did not know Latin ^. Moreover the Cambridge University MS. of the Anglo- Evidence Saxon Bede, which is said to be of the middle of the *^^^^^^- eleventh century, has at the beginning and end the follow- ing distich : — ' Historicus quondam fecit me Beda Latinum, Alfred, rex Saxo, transtulit ille pius.' The same MS. contains, between Bede's Preface and the History proper, a copy of the West Saxon genealogy in the exact form in which it appears in MS. 3' of the Saxon Chronicle; i.e. it comes down to the accession of Alfred, and no further. This again connects the work with ^ Homilies, ed. Thorpe, ii. 116-118. « ibid. 358. 3 ibiti^ i^ a^ i68 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Alfred. The Cambridge MS. is_, as far as we can test it, an undoubted copy of one which exists in the library of my own college. This is unfortunately imperfect,, both at the beginning and the end. But if, as is likely, it also contained originally the distich and the pedigree, the evidence is thrown yet further back^. Curiously enough both La^amon - and Rudborne ^ speak of the Saxon version as if it were Bedels own. § 105. The question of its authorship must not be regarded as outside the pale of discussion. Only I do not think that the arguments hitherto advanced are sufficient to establish a negative conclusion. As to Dr. Miller^s INIercian theory, I may say at once that I have no pre- tensions to pose as an expert in early English dialects. I can get up no enthusiasm for the minute distinctions of form and spelling which form their criteria. They have for me only the practical and unpleasant interest that they oblige me often to look up a word in three or four different places in the dictionary before finding it. I may however mention that Professor Schipper, the latest editor of the Anglo-Saxon Bede *, does not regard the Mercian theory ^ Prof. Schipper, Gcgonwiirtiger Stand, &c., p. 6. ^ ' He nom J)a, Englisco hoc, J)a makedo Seint Bcda.' Lajnmon, i. 2. ' 'liljoi- qnom ooniposiiit in lingiia Saxonica do Oostis Anglo- rum . . . cuius cnpiam liabui in Prioratu Canonicorum do Suth- wyk,' Anglia Sacra, i. 183. This is interesting as showing tlmt Saxon studies were not quite extinct oven in the fifteontli century. It is also interesting, because we can almost certainly point to tlie very ' copia ' used by Rudborne. It is the Cotton MS. Otho B. XL This is now terribly injured, owing to the great Cot- tonian fire of 1731. But Wanloy (p. 2 i9\who saw it when complete, describes it as 'exomplum anti- quum primitus Ecclos. Beatae Mariae de Suwika ' (Southwick, Hants) ; cited, ed. Miller, I. xvi. lUidborne also cites Alfred's will, p. 206, though this does not agree with our copies. * In vol. iv of Grein-Wiilkor's Bibliothek dcr angelsiichsischen Prosa, 1897-1899. LITERARY WORKS i6g as established^. But even if it were established^ it does not seem to me incompatible with Alfred^s authorship. It is agreed that all our existing MSS. go back to a single archetype, though they branch off into two groups which form to some extent a twofold recension-. The scribe of that archetypal MS. may have been a Mercian, and there may have been other MSS. in which these Mercian peculiarities were wanting. Even if it be assumed (for it certainly could not be proved), that this Mercian archetype was the original MS. of all, it is equally open to us to suppose that the scribe to whom Alfred dictated his trans- lation in the first instance may have been a Mercian. Or again it is quite possible that the Mercian characteristics, if they exist, may be due to the influence of the Mercian scholars who assisted Alfred in his work — Plegmund, Werferth, and the two Mercian chaplains mentioned by Asser^. And it is some confirmation of this that there is a certain affinity noticeable between the diction and style of the Bede translation and that of the earlier or unrevised version of the Dialogues, which, as we have seen, there is good reason to attribute to Werferth *. ^ Gegenwiii-tiger Stand, &c., I do not pretend that my ob- u. s. pp. 4, 5. serrations are exhaustive. The ^ Ed. Miller, p. xxiii ; ed. Schip- following words occur, so far as per, p. xxix. I know, only in the Bede and in ^ Above, § 88. the Dialogues (the references * I haA'e shown above, p. 145, are to the pages and lines of that there are certain words Hecht's and Miller's editions characteristic of the earlier recen- respectively) :— agendlice = pro- sion of the Dialogues which the prie, D 264, 26 ; B 30, 10 (in the reviser systematically alters into sense of ' arbitrarily ' it occurs others, semninga into fceringa, tid C. P. p. 144) ; allic = catholicus, into tima, ongitan to cncnaican, &c. D 237, 20; B 312, 31 ; ancerlif, In the Bede I have noticed 32 D 210, 26 ; B 364, 30 ; bricsian, instances of setnniyiga, not one of D 343, 37 ; B 244, 22; camphad, fceringa ; 90 of Hd, none of tima ; D 298, 8 ; B 480, 11 ; drihtenlic, 10 of ongitan, 2 of oncnaican. D 309, 26 ; B 158, 10 ; eardunghus, 170 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED § 106. As to the over-literalness of the translation in places^ the fact must be admitted^ though the extent of it has been, I think, somewhat exaggerated. The cases fall under three heads: (i) where a Latin construction is un- idiomatically imitated in the Saxon ^ ; this applies especially to constructions with the ablative absolute ^, the accusative and infinitive^, and the use of the passive voice*, the range of which is much more restricted in Saxon than in Latin ^ ; (2) where a Latin word is translated by a Saxon one which may correspond fairly well with the general meaning of the Latin word, but does not give its sense in the particular passage ^ ; (3) where a phrase or sentence is translated, to D 185, 16 ; B 366, 16 ; efenceaster- waran, D 205, i ; B 62, 20 ; for- dumedness, D 235, 14 ; B 34, 5 ; forst'ttan (in sense of ' obstruct ') D 258, 28 ; B 212, 16 ; fremsum- lice, D 242, 10 ; B 184, 23 ; gefeo- Ian, D 336, 23; B 450, 28; ge- fremedness, D 318, 15 ; B 32, 7 ; gewinfullic, D 222, 9 ; B 56, 9 ; gymeleasness, D 208, 4 ; B 24a, 28; ungebrosnendlie, D 233, 15; B 378, 4 ; ungea^litendlie, D 282, 21 ; B 84, 12. This list too might be easily extended ; and the whulo subject of the relation of the two works is well wortliy of further examination. No doubt the re- semblance is partly duo to the similarity of their sultject matter. The likeness of the two originals is also very strong in parts ; so much so indeed that I think that Bede must, consciously or uncon- sciously, liave modelled his stylo in the Hist. Eccl.on the Dialogues of Gregory. Still the likeness betwe«'n the two translations is, I think, greater than one would expect in the case of two perfectly independent translators, and points to their having been pro- duced under similar influences. * e.g. 114, 29 ; 180, 15 ; 216, 9 ; the references are to the E. E. T. S. edition by Dr. Miller. ' e. g. 38, 24 ; 50, I ; 226, 30 ; 274, 10. ' e.g. 36, 17; 122, 33; 190, 22. 30 ; 266, 32 ; 294, 23 ; 406, 21. * e.g. 32, 7 ; 172, 28; 270, 33- ^ Instead of the passive the im- personal active form is oidinarily used in Anglo-Saxon; not 'the land is called Kent,' but, 'ono calls the land Kent.' In the Celtic languages the so-called passive really is, in origin, au impei-sonal active form, which explains the (at first sight) strange phenomenon that the 'passive' always takes an accusative after it, see Zimmer, Keltische Studien, No. 8. "e.g. 14, 27: 'fram deaSes liOe,' *a mortis articulo' (li5 = LITERARY WORKS 171 use Alfred^s own expression, 'word by word/ instead of 'sense by sense ^/ To all these classes the explanation suggested by Professor Schipper would often apply, viz. that the translator may have embodied in his w^ork inter- linear glosses which had been made to assist him ; and he cites in illustration the difference between the West Saxon and Northumbrian versions of the Gospels, the former of which is a genuine translation, while the latter is an inter- linear gloss made word for word ^. Some however of the cases w^here Latin constructions are reproduced, and also one or two of the second class, give me the impression, not that the translator could not have translated more idiomatically if he had pleased, but rather that he was trying experiments with the language. The development Influence of early prose in almost all European languages has been ^^ ^^/j" largely influenced by Latin models, and it was only experi- prose, ence which could show how far the process of assimilation might be carried. Similarly for some two centuries after the Renaissance English prose literature is full of experi- mentally transplanted Latinisms, of which a large pro- portion failed to make good their footing in the language. Another possibility must also be borne in mind; that the Bede may never have received Alfred^s final revision. We The Bede have seen that in the case of the Dialogues an extensive ha^^ been^ revision was found desirable at a later time, and we seem to finally revised. joint); 32, 8; 128, 14; 214, 17; a cross and pniyed'; i.e. the 269, 9; 274, 11; 278, 2; 294, 7; translator understands by 4n- 308, 22 ; 336, 24 ; 370, 4 ; 462, 7 ; cubuit ' what the Irish call ' cros- 478, 33. An interesting instance figil,' or praying with the body of taking a metaphorical expres- stretched out prostrate on the sion literally occurs 372, 14 (H. E. ground in the form of a cross. iv. 29). The original is 'incu- ^ e. g. 282, 23 ; 294, 23 ; 450,13; buit precibus antistes * ; this is 482, 9. translated *tJa aSenede se biscop ^ Gegenwiirtiger Stand, &c., hine in cruce 7 hine gebaed,' 'the pp. 8-10. bishop stretched himself in 172 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED liave traces of a partial revision of the Bede in tlie younger group of MSS. mentioned above, in which not only does the translation vary, at times very considerably^, but a passage is inserted which the earlier recension omits -, and conversely ^. ^Vhen this partial revision was made I cannot say, but probably not by Alfred himself. On the whole, then, I do not regard Mr. Sweep's or Dr. Miller^s argument as conclusive, either against Alfred^s authorship of the Bede translation, or against the priority of the Orosius. Onn^sions §10/. I have already said* that the principal changes Alfred In ^^^^^ ^Y Alfred in the Bede are in the way of omission, tlio Bode, the additions being comparatively slight. It is worth wdiile to see what considerations guided him in this. First of all he omits almost all documents '', in two instances he just gives a brief summary of a letter in oratio oblicjua^. He seems at first to have intended to omit the interroga- tions and responses of Augustine and Gregory, but after- wards to have changed his mind, as in all the !MSS. they occur after the third book instead of in their proper place near the end of the first "^. He also omits all the metrical compositions, epitaphs, &c.^, which occur in the course of the work. Then, too, he omits almost everything bearing on the Easter Controversy ^ ; partly no doubt because he ' Sec the parallel texts in probably due to some mutilation Scliippcr's edition, pp. 266-270, of tbeir common original. 273-275. * Above, § 98. - ibid. 271-272 ( = M Her, p. 206). ' 11. E. i. 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32; This passage relates to the Easter ii. 4, 8, 10, 11, 17, 18, 19; v. 21. Controversy. ® H.E. i. 23 ; iii. 29; the Canons ' ibid. 276-285 ( = Miller, pp. of the Council of Hertford are 210 ff.). Another pas-ago, Schip- retained, iv. 5. per, pp. 133-140 ( = MilKr, pp. ' ibid. i. 27. iiofT.), is omitted in two of the " ibid. iv. 20 ; v. 7, 8, 19; ii. i, younger group of MSS. ; but as is an exception ; here Gregory's it is contained in the third, its ej)itaph is translated into pi'ose. omission in the two others was * ibi i. ii. 2 (a few lines) ; iii. 3 LITERARY WORKS 173 felt, as modern readers feel, the intolerable tedlousness of the whole thing ; but partly also, we may well believe, because he disliked the bitterness which even the gentle Bede shows on this question ^, for there are little touches which seem to prove that the piety and self-devotion of the Celtic missionaries had made a deep impression on his heart ^. The early history prior to the conversion of the Saxons is also a good deal abbreviated ", no doubt as having less direct interest for his readers. So the description of the sacred -places which Bede largely borrowed from Arculfus is omitted, probably for similar reasons *. § 108. It has often formed a subject both of wonder The addi- and regret that Alfred should not have enriched the Bede important, with additions drawn from his own knowledge of the traditions of his people, as he might so easily have done. Reverence for his original may have had something to do with this; but I agree with Professor Wiilker^ that the main reason probably was, because all that Alfred desired in this line had already been done in the compilation of the Saxon Chronicle. It is confirmatory of this that the chronological summary appended to his history by Bede, (part), 4, 17 (part omitted in a serious perv^ersion of meaning, older recension) ; 25, 26, 28 (a few what is said of Carausius in the lines) ; v. 21. original being transferred to ^ Bede, I. xxxixff. Maximianus in the translation) ; 3 See Miller, pp. Ivii ff. ; and 8 (the passage about Arianism in cf. the characterisation Aidan as Britain omitted), 9, 10, 11 (much 'the good bishop,' 246, 26. One shoi-tened), 17-22; ii.i (shortened), notes too with pleasure the omis- In many cases however, in spite sion of the epithet 'prudens' of the omission of a chapter, the which Bede strangely applies to capitulum belonging to it is re- Coifi's purely material arguments tained and translated. in favour of Christianity, 134, 23 * ibid. v. 15-17. (H. E. ii. 13). ' Grundriss, p. 406, This is ^ H. E. i. 2, 6 (this passage about contested by August Schmidt, Carausius is omitted also in the u. s. pp. 28 ff. Orosius ; here the omission causes 174 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED which had, as I have elsewhere shown ^, such an impor- tant influence on the development of annalistic writing in general, and of the Saxon Chronicle in particular, is omitted in the Bede translation. Smaller additions and expansions there are^ but they seldom really add anything to the narrative. They are as a nile merely inserted to make it a little more clear ^, or a little more vivid, or a little more in accordance with the translator's ideas ^. Occasionally, though rarely, they show a touch of personal feeling; as where Diocletian is characterised as the bad emperor *, Constantine as the good emperor^, and Aidan as the good bishop^. Some- times, as in the other works, they are brief explanations of things which the readers might not know '^. Occasionally statements of Bedels are altered^, or omitted '^, because they were no longer applicable, or they are marked distinctly as being Bedels and not Alfred's ^'^. But in other cases similar statements are retained, though it would not be safe to argue from this that the state of things indicated still subsisted in Alfred's day ^^. ^ Chronicle, II. xxi, Ixi, Ixviii, bounteous hand^ ; 162, 2 ; 370, cxiii. 29; 380, 18; 412, 15; of. 58, 26; 'e.g. 40,8; 46, 11; IT4, 11; 102,31; 130,32; 174, 3off. ; 184, 120, 7 ; 156, I ; 158, 28 ; 164, 14 ; 34 ; 232, 19. 166, 32; 174, 25; 178, 17; 188, * 32, TO. 23. 25 (namo of Bamborougli in- ' 42, 16. serted, wliicli name is nowhere * 246, 26. mentioned by Bede) ; 238, 31 ; '^ e. g. 240, 20 ; 256, 8 ; 346, 7 ; 240, 27 (here the insertion was 390, 6 ; 422, 8 ; 424, 20 ; 428, 24 ; necessitated by the preceding 442, 27. 29 ; 456, 13. omission ; so at 246, 33) ; 242, * 382, 19 ; 422, 15 ff. ; 448, 19 ; 19 ; 264, II ; 338, 8. 25 ; 374, 26 ; 466, 27. 390, 20 ; 394, 24. 29 ; 438, I. 8 ; » 52, 5. ir ; 166, 23 ; 278. 30. 464,6. >o 144,9; 186.33 ; 216,23; 448, ' 166, 10 (the addition of '7 10. cysto,' 'and kissed it,' to the ac- " 150,13; 154,19; 156,5; 166, count of Aidan blessing Oswald's 16; 178, 14; 182, 11; 202, 12; LITERARY WORKS ^15 Here too there are mistakes ^, though fewer and less Mistakes. serious than in the Orosius. In some cases they may be due to erroneous readings in the MS. which Alfred used 2. In one or two instances Alfred^s version shows a remarkable divergence of historical fact, which can hardly arise wholly from misunderstanding ^. But on the whole the translation is a worthy one, ^ Merits <.f preserving, and in one or two instances enhancing'*, the lation! beauty of the original, the most beautiful historical work which the Church had produced since Luke and John wrote their Gospels. One incidental merit of the translation, as Stubbs has remarked^, is that it enables us to equate the Saxon technical terms of officers and institutions with the corre-^ sponding Latin ones ^. 268, 13 (a reference to one of Bede's teachers) ; 446, 19 (state- ment that Daniel was still bishop of Winchester) ; 472, 23 (the statement that the Britons still retained their incorrect Easter, though all the Celts had sub- mitted before the end of the eighth century ; see Bede, I. xxxix). In one case Alfred by inserting the words 'oS )>as tid,' *up to the present time/ does seem to pledge himself to the truth of the state- ment in his own day, 176, 20. ^ 152, 23 (Municipium treated as a proper name) ; 292, 20 ; 334, 7 ; 340, 34 ; 370, 15- 2 118, 7 (episcopum instead of episcopium ; this misreading is found in some Latin MSS.) ; 154, 3 ; and 306, 20 (troicus instead of tragicus or stragicus) ; 242, 31 {a Deo instead of adeo) ; 340, 8 {de tedo instead of detecto) ; 388, 33 {prae- tor the the ponere instead of proponere) ; 436, 26 (siuimet [i. e. sibimet] instead of suimet). 3 4, 2 ff. ; 98, 6 ; 236, 7 ff. ; lesser divergences cf. 178, 258, 15 ; 388, 6. * e.g. Pope Gregory and Anglian slave boys, 96, 31 ; death of Caedmon, 348, 10. ^ Const. Hist. i. 70, 71, iii. ® I give a list of the more im- portant terms : — heretoga = dux, 148 ; ealdormen 7 heretogan = duces regii, 236 ; ealdorman, which in some applications is equivalent to heretoga, is a vaguer and more general term, and re- presents a considerable number of Latin expressions ; thus ealdor- men = duces, 134, 158, 302 ; = maiores natu, 136, 158 ; = maiores, 348, 442, 450 ; = principes, 198, 240, 316, 334 ; = satrapae, 414 ; = subreguli, 298 (bis) ; ealdorman 176 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED § 109. We come now to what is in many respects the most interesting and important of all Alfred's literary = maior domus regiae, 256 (of Ebroin"^ ; J)egna aldormon = pri- mus ministrorum, 264 ; gerefa = praefectus, 194, 256 ; tun gerefa ^ uillicus, 344, 414 ; ge))eahteras = consiliarii, 136, 454 ; witan = consiliarii, 134 ; = seniores, 452 ; in gemote heora weotona = in conuentu seniorum, 162 ; fegn = minister, 134, 146, 158, 196, 294, 462 ; cf. J)inen = ministra, 318 ; )>egnung = ministerium, 196 ; cwene pegn = reginae minister, 330 ; cyninges J-egn = minister regis, 328 ; = miles regis, 150 ; = miles, 222, 302, 326 (fcis), 418, cf. 436 ; Jjegn = miles, 194 ; gesiS = comes, 194, 228, 274, 292, 326, 394 ; gesiSmann = comes, 22 {bis) ; aetJelingas = nobiles, 138, 240, 242 (this is important as showing that oetJeling was not restricted, as in later usage, to members of the royal house, though it is used of them, as the following examples show) ; ajffeling (of a king's bro- ther), 324 ; se geonga ae^eling = rogius iuuenis, iuuenis de regio genere, 130, 306; aeJelingas J)a?s cynecynnes = nobiles ac regii uiri, 140 ; here ^liostilis exercitus, 54 ; = exercitus, 356 ; fyrd = exercitus, 102 ; = expoditio, 30 ; fyrd 7 here = bellum, 168, 208 ; cynelic tun = uilla regia, 140 ; cyninges bold = uilla rcgia, 140 ; ham ^ uicani, 180; tunscipe = uicani, '416 ; wiic = mausio, 332, 388; sundorwic^ niansio, 262; boclanda ivht^prae- diorum possessionos, 236 ; heow- scipc = familia (hide), 333 ; hi- wisc = familia (hide), 456 [his) ; hired = domus (household), 144 ; hignaealdor = pater familiae, 180; geferscipe = domus (household). 264 ; = clerus, 248, 398 ; cf. mid his geferum = cum clero suo, cum clericis suis, 364, 402 ; his preost 7 hond J)eng = clericus illius, 456 ; ealdordom = primatu3, 368 ; aldor- biscop = metropolitanus episcopus. 408 ; regolweard = praepositus. 362 ; so : prafost 7 regolweard, 360 ; prafost 7 ealdorman = pro- positi 232 (these three examples refer to the prior or provost of a monastery). In the Orosius we have se5elingas = regii iuuenes. 44 ; ealdorman = praefectus, 60. 84 ; but the most interesting in- stance is : Asiam [he] haefde Romanum to boclande geseald = traditam per testamentum Ro- manis Asiam, 224 ; cf. the Soli- loquies, p. 164: 'felcne man lyst si^'Can he senig cotlyf on his hlafordes Uvne myd his fultume getimbred haefN, \^t he hine mote hwilum Jiaron gerestan, . . . o'5 J)one fyrst Jie ho hodand 7 ece yrfe J)urh his hlafordes miltse • geearnige.' At p. 176 of the same work is a passage which perhaps illustrates the date of the use of seals in England, for I do not think there is anything corre- sponding to it in the original : 'go) one nu gif '5ines hlafordes aerendgewrit 7 his insegel to •^e cym(5.' Another interesting passage illustrating the meeting of the Witan, the gathering of the f IITERARY WORKS 177 works, viz. the translation of Boethius on the Consolation "• of Philosophy. It is here that the additions made by Alfred to his original give us the clearest insight into his / own character and modes of thought. And the original is Fame in itself one of the most noteworthy books of the Middle original in Ages. Just as Orosius was to those ages the accepted the Middle manual of universal history ^, and the Cura Pastoralis their ^ accepted manual of Spiritual Counsel, so the Consolatio of Boethius was their accepted manual of practical and speculative philosophy; the one channel through which some tincture of ancient speculation passed into the popular thought of the early Middle Ages. Perhaps no book except the Bible and the Imitatio has been translated into so many languages; and in more than one European country the early translations of the Consolatio have had an important influence on the development of a vernacular literature ^. For this popularity several reasons may be Causes of fyrd, the king's household, &c., is at p. 187 : ' geSenc nu hweS'er awiht manna cynges ham sece per cJaer he Sonne on tune byS, o?y?Je his gemot, oSc5e his fyrd ' &c. ; cf. also pp. 200, 204. It is "worth noting that the word ' carcern,' 'prison/ occurs first in Alfred's Laws (see Schmid, Gesetze, Glos- sary, s. V. ), and is also of frequent occurrence in his works, Past, p. 329 ; Oros. p. 214 ; Boeth. i. (pp. 7, 8), xviii. § 4 (p. 45), xxxvii. § I (p. Ill) ; Solil. pp. 202, 203. In the Psalter, which is possibly by Alfred, we have mention of the two shires of Judah and Ben- jamin, ed. Thorpe, p. 113 ; cf. ibid. 29 for an interesting refer- ence to measurement of land with ropes. In the Dialogues we have the following : gerefa = praefectus, 340 ; = tribunus, 220 ; gerefman = primarius, 222 ; = cu- rialis, 308 ; gerefscir = locus prae- fectorum ; prafost = praepositus (in monastic sense), 344 ; ealdor- man = comes, 220, 301. An in- teresting word is wlite-weorcJ, literally ' face-price ' = ransom, 179. ^ See Stewart's Boethius, p. 172 ; Moore, Dante Studies, i. 279-83 ; it may be noted that Augustine, Orosius, Gregory, Bede, and Boethius, all occur in Alcuin's catalogue of the York Library, De Sanctis Ebor. vv. 1535 ff- Still more interesting is the fact that Augustine, Orosius, Boethius, Bede, are mentioned within a few lines of one another, Paradiso, x. 118-32. * On Boethius generally, see 178 LIFE AXD TIMES OF ALFRED given. Something was probably due to the form of the work, which is written in that mixture of verse and prose known as the Satura Menippaea ^. The lyrics of the Consolatio won the enthusiastic admiration of the great Renaissance scholar, F. C. Scaliger^, and I must confess that to me they seem extremely beautiful, though their beauty is of a somewhat frosty order. But if they have something of the hardness and coldness of marble, they have also its purity and high polish ^. But the chief reason was, no doubt, sympathy with the author^s mis- fortunes, whose sudden fall, from being the favourite and chief minister of Theodoric, to prison and to death, made him one of the most signal examples in that ever-lengthening treatise De casibus illustrium uirorum, on which the ^Middle Ages pondered with intense and morbid interest, feeding that contempt for the world"* and all things human, which finds such passionate expression in many mediaeval writings : — ' O esca uermium, o massa pulueris, O ros, uanitas, cur sic extolleris ? ^ ■* To this power of the work as a record of human suffering pathetic testimony is borne by the title of an anonymous French translation of the fifteenth century, which announces Boethius, an essay by II. F. treatises De Contemptu Mundi. Stewart, 1891, a book from which Boccaccio, as Mr. Archer reminds I liavo k'arnt much. See also the me, wrote a treatise De Casibus article on Boethius in Diet. Christ. illustrium uirorum, on which Biog. Chaucer's Monk's Tale with the ^ Stewart, p. 54. same title is founded. ' ibid., 78. 5 jTrojn j^ poem De Contomptu ' Mr. Stewart, p. 106, puts it Mundi by Jacopone ; Trench's the other way; but I think the Sacred Latin Poetry, 3rd ed., above statement does fuller justice p. 270. The Rhythm of Bernard to Boethius. of Morlaix, from which come ' Henry of Huntingdon and '.Torusalem the Golden,' 'Brief Petrarch among others wrote life,' &c., has the same title. I LITERARY WORKS 179 itself as the work of *'un pauvre olerc desole, querant sa consolation par la traduction de cestui livre^''; it is the book to which Dante resorted for comfort after the death of Beatrice^; and our own Sir Thomas More while in prison wrote an imitation of Boethius^ which he calls ^ Three Books of Comfort in Tribulation ^■' '^Dost thou think/ asks Philosophy of Boethius in Alfred^s translation, ' that to thee alone such change of state and sorrow have come * ? ' And, in spite of Tennyson, the fact ^ that loss is common^ does ^make Our own less bitter^''; and the ^ sense of tears in mortal things ^ ^ knits mankind together in bonds of sympathy which do make the common burden lighter. And in the case of Boethius this natural feeling was heightened by the erroneous impression, which pre- vailed in the Middle Ages, that the sufferings of Boethius were due to the rage of an Arian ruler against his Catholic servant ". A superficial inspection of dates is sufficient to dispel this illusion ^ ; and how little support it derives from ^ Stewart, p. 203. * c. viii, Sedgefield, p. 20 ; cf. 3 * Misimi a leggere quello non c. vii. § 2, p. 15. conosciuto da molti libro di ^ In Memoriam, vi. Boezio, nel quale, cattivo e dis- " Matthew Arnold, Geist's cacciato, consolato s' avea,' Conv. Grave. ii. 13. This statement that the .g^^^ l^^rim2.e rerum, et men- book was 'not known by many ^^^ ^^^^^^.^ ^^^ IS curious. On the use of Boethius by Dante, see Dr. Moore, u. s. pp. ^ ^^ ^^^ strength of this, 282-8 P=;s SS6. Boethius obtained the honours 3 I 'have not read this book ^^ saintship, Moore, u. s. p. 282. myself ; but More's great-grand- I>ante places Boethius in heaven, son Cresacre More describes it as t>ut among the theologians in the 'a most excellent book, full of Sun, Paradise, x. 124 fF., not among spiritual and forcible motives, the warriors and martyrs of the expressing lively Sir Thomas' C|'oss in Mars ; though he says of singular resolution to apply all ^^^ soul— those wholesome medicines to 'Ed essa da martiro himself,' Life of Sir T. More, ch. E da esilio venne aquesta pace.* X. ad init. ^ Stewart, p. 33. N 2 i8o LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED the work itself is shown by the fact, that few questions in literary history have been more keenly debated than the question, whether the author was a Christian at all ^. The question turns largely on the authenticity of certain theo- logical tracts which bear the name of Boethius, and do not concern us here ^. On the whole it is probable that Boethius was by profession a Christian, though it would seem that his Christianity did not go very deep. Certainly in the hour of trouble, which generally shows the real basis of a man's thought and character, he turns for consolation, not to the doctrines of Christianity, but to the teachings of Neo platonie philosophy; and I unhesitatingly affirm that there is far more of the spirit of Christianity in the writings of acknowledged pagans like Seneca and Marcus Aurelius, than in this work of a nominal Christian, who enforces the duty of prayer, not by the authority of Christ and Ilis Apostles, but by that of Plato in the Timaeus ^. § no. It might have been thought that this absence of any distinctively Christian character would have militated against the popularity of the Consolatio in the ^Middle Ages. That it did not do so was due partly to causes already enumerated, partly to the fact that the non- Christian character of the work was to some extent con- cealed by the Christian interpretation given to various passages in the commentaries and glosses on Boethius; which interpretations were in turn embodied in the different translations of the Consolatio, at the head of which stands Alfred's version. This interesting fact, that many of the additions in Alfred's Boethius, especially those of a distinctly Christian character, are not really due to Alfred himself but to the ^ Stewart, pp. i (T. placet, in minimis quoquo rebus ' ibid., pp. io8 fl". diuinum pracsidium debet in- ' ' Uti in Timaeo Platoni noatro plorari/ Lib. Ill, Prosa ix. are derived. LITERARY WORKS i8i glosses and commentaries which were used by him or his many of learned assistants^ was first pointed out by Dr. Schepss in additions a very suggestive article in the Archiv flirt's Studium der neueren Sprachen ^. It is much to be regretted that Dr. Schepss^ death prevented him from pursuing this line of investigation further. Till this field has been fully explored, we incur the danger of citing as specially characteristic of Alfred something which he only borrowed from others. In some instances I have noticed that the additions made by Alfred are really taken from, or at least suggested by other passages in the text of Boethius -. But, when all deductions have been made, there remains Yet the enough that we may safely take as evidence of Alfredo's fj^^^^^^ thought and feeling. I have already cited the passage Alfred's bearing on the needs and instruments of a king^. This ^°"° was to some extent suggested by a commentary, but it is instinct with the mind of Alfred, as is the oft-quoted sentence with which the chapter closes : ' My will was to live worthily as long as I lived, and after my life to leave to them that should come after my memory in good works */ Very Alf redian too are the thoughts that reward ' Vol. xciv, 149 ff. ; many of Nimrod's building of the Tower Dr. Schepss' instances are re- of Babel, c. xxxv. § 4 (p. 99). produced in Mr. Sedgefield's In- ^ Thus the addition in c. xxiv. troduction, pp. xsxi ff. Among § 3 (p. 54) on the worth of friends, the most distinctly Christian in- is a repetition of c. xx. ad fin. terpretations are : the references (p. 48) ; the sentence against to the heavenly Jerusalem, c. v. living a soft life, c. xxxix. § 10 § I (p. 11), cf. c. xxxvi. § 2 (p. ad fin. (p. 133), anticipates c. xl. 105) ; and to the martyrs, c. xi. § 3 (p. 138) ; the thought that ad fin. (p. 26) ; the beautiful say- the temporal prosperity of the ing that ' Christ dwelleth in the good is a foreshadowing of their valley of humility,' c. xii (p. 27); eternal happiness, c. xxxix. § 11 the Christian application given to (p. 134), anticipates c. xl. § 2 the fable of Eurydice, c. xxxv. (p. 137). ad fin. (p. 103) ; the identification ' Above, § 87, of the rebellion of the giants with * c. xvii. pp. 40, 41. i82 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED y • should not be looked for in this world ^^ but should be sought from God alone ^ ; mat a good name is better than any wealth ^ ; that true nobility is of the mind, not of the body^j'ihat an honest purpose, is accepted, even though its accomplishment be frustrated^; that a king without free subjects is nothing worth ^ ; that no one should be idle"^, or wish to live a soft lifo*^. But perhaps the noblest passage is that in which by a splendid metaphor Philosophy is made to say : ' When I with my servants mount aloft, then do we look down upon the stormy world, even as the eagle when he soars above the clouds in stormy weather, so that the storms cannot hurt him^''; — a metaphor which so strikingly expresses Alfred^s own soaring superiority to what he elsewhere calls ' the wind of stern labours, and the rain of excessive anxiety ^^Z And this brings me to another point. If any one will look through the additions made by Alfred to the text of Boethius, which are very conveniently distinguished by italic type in !Mr. Sedgefield^s handy rendering of Alfred's version into modern English ^^, he can hardly fail to notice how many of them consist in metaphors and similes ; none perhaps so fine as that just quoted, but often of great interest and beauty ^^. Even where the simile was sug- * c. vii. § 3 (p. i8). peated pp. 82, 83, 86) ; 57 (the ' c. xviii. § 4 (p. 45). wheel, repeated p. 8r, and p. 129, ' c. xiii. p. 28). where there is a hint of it in the * c. XXX. §§ I, 2 (p. 69), text, wlxieh is most eh\borately ' c. xxxvi. § 8 (p. 110} ; e. xli. developed under the influence of a § a (p. 142). commentarj') ; 70, 72, 86 (similes '^ c. xli. § a (p. 14a) of the stars and of soul and body) ; ^ ibid. § 3 (p. 144). 90 (the ingot) ; 93 (sifting meal) ; * See note 2, p. i8r. 108 (child riding a hobby-horse) ; * c. vii. § 3 (p. 18). 97 (chink in the door) ; 117 (scat- ^^ c. xii. ad fin. (p. 27\ tared like smoke) ; ibid, (crash *' Clarendon Press, igoo. of a falling tree) ; 121 (weak '^ See pp. 26, 27, 34, 53 (simile eyes) ; 144 (steersman foreseeing of the rivers and the sea, ro- the tempest). LITERARY WORKS 183 gested by something in the text or commentary which Alfred had before him, it is often developed at much greater length. This is a point of some interest^ because it shows that Alfred^s mind was of the class which deligrhts in parable and figure^ and makes it not unreasonable to look for deeper meanings in what he wrote and wrought ^. § III. I have said that the subject of fate occupies Discussion a prominent place in the Consolatio and in Alfred^s trans- ^^F^^ lation of it ^. The relation of fate to providence, of divine will, foreknowledge to human freedom, the nature of evil, the existence of chance, these are the high themes round which much of the latter part of the argument circles. They are the themes which occupied the more intellectual spirits among Milton^s fallen angels : — 'Others apart sat on a hill retired In thoughts more elevate, and reason^l high Of providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, Fix^d fate, freewill, foreknowledge absolute. And found no end, in wandering mazes lost^' And fallen man has succeeded as little as fallen angel in solving these high doubts. Alfred realises, as indeed does Boethius, the arduous nature of the inquiry ; and his con- clusion is, as we should expect, much more than is the case with Boethius, the conclusion of Christian faith and practical Christian piety : ' I say, as do all Christian men, that it is the divine purpose that rules, and not Fate*.'' He sees, as all moralists have seen, that morality is only possible on a basis of freedom, that fatalism reduces vice and virtue, punishment and reward to unmeaning terms ^. ^ Cf. Earle, Alfred Jewel, pp. ad init. ; cf. above, p. 159. 161 ff. 3 Paradise Lost, ii. 557 ff, 2 See especially cc. xxxix-xli ; * c. xxxix. § 8 (p. 131). cf. also c. V. § 3, c. xi. § 2, c. xx. ' Cf. Dante, Purg. xvi. 70-a. i84 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED ^ To men and to angels God gave the gift of freedom tliat they might do good or evilj whichever they pleased \ . . . Eut if it be true that the good and the wicked are so made as to be unable to act otherwise than they do, then vain is our labour when we pray, and fast, or give alms, if we have no more thank therefor than those who in all things . . . run after their fleshly lusts ^ ; . . . and vain too is the commandment which God gave to man that he should eschew evil and do good^/ God knows all our works, before we even conceive them in our thought ; but this knowledge is not a cause compelling us so to act, any more than the knowledge of the steersman that a storm is coming, is the cause of the storm *. There are other points which illustrate Alfred^s studies, tastes, and circumstances; the saying that in the golden age no one had heard of a pirate host^; the allusion to the wise goldsmith, Weland ^ ; the explanations about India and Thule '^. And there are things in the text itself which evidently come home to Alfred ; the beauty of gems ^, the fairness of the country-side — the fairest of all God's creations^, the song of the birds in the woods ^*^, the worth of friends ^^ ; the stories of kings reduced to poverty ''-, of ^ c. xli. § 2 (p. 142). Kave clio per corrcnte giti - ibid. discende.' ' ibid. § 3 (p. 143). Tarad. xvii. 37-42. * ibid. (p. 144). Dante has a ' Scipherc, c. xv (p. 34\ still more subtle comparison — ^ c. xix (p. 46). *La contingcnza ... " c, xxix. § 3 (p. 67); of. the Tiitta e dipinta ncl cospetto Orosius translation, pp. 10, 24. cterng. ' c. xiii (p. 28). Necessith, perc) quindi non " c. xiv. ad init. (p. 29). prendc, *'' c. xxv (p. 57). Sc non come dal vise in " See note a, p. 181. clio si specchia *" c xxix. § i (p. 65). LITERARY AVORKS 185 the sword of Damocles ^^ the joy of a calm haven after storms^. Here too, as in the case of the Oroslus, Alfred has Omissions. modified his original by omissions as well as additions ; but it is unnecessary to go minutely into this point, as Mr. Sedgefield has prefixed to his edition of Alfred's version an elaborate table showing the relation of that version to the original ^. § 112. In regard to the translation as a whole no doubt No doult has ever been expressed as to the authorship of Alfred * ; Alfred's and it is the only one of Alfred's w^orks which is men- author- tioned by name by Ethelwerd, who wrote towards the end the prose of the tenth century ^. There is, however, an interesting tyansla- literary question connected with it, which is this. The translation exists in only two MSS., one in the Cottonian Collection ^, the other in the Bodleian I In the older or Cottonian MS. the metrical parts of Boethius are, with three excej)tions ^, rendered into alliterative Saxon verse ; I ^ c. xxix. § I (p. 65). ' jiumero ignoto.' ^ c. xxxiv. § 8 ; cf. Spenser's ^ Otho A. vi, of the tenth cen- musical lines : tury, but much injured in the ' Sleepe after toyle, port after Cottonian fire of 1731. stormie seas, ' Bodl. 180(2079) ; early twelfth Ease after warre, death after century. There are also some life does greatly please,' transcripts and various readings Faerie Queene, I. ix. 40; cf. II. taken by Junius from these two xii. 32. MSS. ^ pp. XXV fi". ^ Lib. I. metr. 6 ; Lib. II. metr. * The statement of the late 2 ; Lib. IV, metr, 7. The reason Liber de Hyda, p. 44, that Wer- of this omission is probably due ferth translated the Boethius for to the fact, that in these three Alfred, as well as the Dialogues, instances Alfred's prose transla- is totally unsupported, and the tion omits the formula with which style of the two works is as differ- it generally introduces the Metra : ent as possible. ' Then Wisdom began to sing.' 5 519 A ; he calls it ' liber Boetii Tliis has been made an argument lachrymosus' ; he says, however, against Alfred's authorship of the that Alfred translated other works Metra. But it is surely quite 1 86 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED in the later or Bodleian MS. they are rendered into prose. It is as to Alfred^s authorship of the alliterative poems that the controversy has raged ; and those who deny their authenticity are compelled to deny also the authenticity of the two proems in prose and verse \ in both of which the poems are distinctly ascribed to Alfred. The question, though interesting as a literary problem, is not intrinsically of great importance. The poems are not of the highest order, though they have been, I think, unduly depreciated. Alfred^s fame will not be much exalted if he wrote them, or much depressed if they should be adjudged to another. I must confess, however, that a great deal of the argument on the negative side seems to me to be of that purely arbitrary and subjective kind which in its ultimate analysis amounts to this : ' it can^t have been so, because I don^t think that it was ~' § 113. One thing is agreed on all sides; the verse trans- lation is made from the prose translation, and is not an independent rendering made direct from the Latin; and the main argument of the negative critics is that it is impossible to suppose that a man like Alfred can have possible that Alfred, coming back to his work after some time (see below, pp. 189 f,), and making his alliterative version without fre^h reference to the Latin, shouhl, in the absence of the usual formula, have overlooked the poetical character of these sections. In one case, Lib. I. metr. 7, the in- trtduftory formula is wanting, and yet the section exists in the verse translation. But here the poetical character of the section is much more obvious, and it is followed by a formula which often follows the Metro, 'then was Wisdom silent for a while,* c. vii. ad init. ; so cc. xvii. ad init., xxiv. ad init., xxxix. §§ 2, 4, xli. § 2. A still more frequent concluding formula is ' Cta ongan ho eft spel- lian.' ' Sedge field, pp. i, 151. ^ e. g. Lticht : * schon die ver- iinderte Form, die Alliteration und der mit ihr verbundenc Stil inusskn darauf fiihron dass none Gedanken angerogt wurden, wenn der Dichter derselben fahig war,' cited in Wiilker, Grundriss, p. 431. This 'mussten' is, to use a favourite formula of German criticism, ' rein willkiirlich.' LITERARY WORKS 187 occupied himself in turning Lis own vigorous prose into indifferent verse. On this I would remark : firsts does it | follow^ because Alfred w^as a great man and a great prose- writer, that he was also necessarily a considerable poet ^ ? Secondly, if Alfred wrote the verses, does it necessarily follow that he thought them poor and unworthy of the trouble of making? Great writers are not always gifted with the faculty of self-criticism ; otherwise we should not have Wordsworth taking apparently equal pleasure in the composition of Betty Toy and of Laodamia. Indeed, on my conscience, I believe that he liked Betty Foy the better of the two ^. Thirdly, even if Alfred were conscious of his limitations as a poet, is it not possible that his con- scientious spirit may have felt bound to give as true a representation of the original as possible, by reproducing one of its most salient features, the alternation of verse and prose? In truth this style of criticism, if logically carried out, would lead us very far. It would prove, for Logical instance, that at least two hands were concerned in the If^^^^.'^f ^ \ ^ this style composition of the third book of Wordsw^orth^s Prelude, ofcriti- That book contains the glorious and well-known lines : — ^^^"^' 'And from my pillow, looking forth by light Of Moon or favouring Stars, I could behold The antechapel where the statue stood Of Newton with his prism and silent face, The marble index of a mind for ever Voyaging through strange seas of thought, alone.^ But it also contains the no less well-known, but most inglorious line : ' So Hai-tmann, in Wiilker, more trouble than almost any- p. 425. thing of equal length I have ever ' Of Betty Foy he says, 'I never written,' Morley's edition, pp. 83, wrote anything with so much 530. glee ' ; of Laodamia, ' It cost me I'luba- bilitythat tlie prose version of the Motra was in- tended merely as a basis for tlie verse transla- tion. 1 88 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED And at the IIooj:) alighted, famous Inn. It would also prove (to take a closer parallel) that the late Professor Conington never wrote a verse translation of the Aeneid. Unlike Alfred, Mr. Conington was, as we all know, a very considerable Latin scholar; but I must be pardoned for saying that, like Alfred, he was not a very considerable poet. He wrote a prose translation of the Aeneid, of which he thought so little that it was not published till after his death ; he wrote a verse translation of the same poem, of which he evidently thought a good deal. Yet can we not imagine a German critic a thousand years hence arguing that the author of the prose translation could never have penned a couplet like the following ? — ' Three calves to Eryx next he kills, A lambkin's blood to Tempest spills ^■' J 114. For my own part, so far from regarding the existence of the prose translation of Boethius' Metra as inconsistent with Alfred^s authorship of the alliterative version, I am inclined to regard the former as intended ^ from the first to serve as the basis of the latter. I would bring into connexion with this the interesting statement of William of Malmesbury, that Asser, for Alfred's benefit, unravelled the meaning of the De Consolatione in plainer words ; ' a labour/ says Malmesburv, with the sniff of the superior person, 'in those days necessary, in ours ridicu- lous ~.' Zimmermann understood this as meaning a pre- i ' p. 167: 'Tres Eryci uitulos, et Tempestatibus agnani,' Aen. v. 772. ^ The passage occurs botli in the Gesta Rrgum and in the Ck'sta Pontificum. In the former it runs thus: 'sensum librorum Boetii do Consolatione planiori- bus uerbis enodauit, quos rex ipse in Anglicam linguam uertit,' i. 131 ; in the latter 'elucidauit' is substituted for 'enodauit,' and the supercilious words are added : Mabore illis diebus necessario, nostris ridicule,' p. 177. The G. Pont, is later than the G. Reguni, see G. E., I. xix. LITERARY WORKS 189 liminaiy translation made by Asser. ' Entschieden falscli/ cries Professor Wiilker^, with the usual brusqueness of a German critic. But the criticism may be retorted on his own explanation that Asser glossed a manuscript for the king^s use. The passage clearly refers to a paraphrase of the original in simpler language, and more natural order, like that which occupies the margin of some of the Delphin Classics, an illustration which had occurred to myself before I knew that Dr. Schepss had also made use of it in his admirable essay referred to above ^. It is an iilustra- interesting fact that in the case of early High German t^Toj^^^^ we possess just such a paraphrase of this very work. High This is how Mr. Stewart, in his excellent monograph on version. Boethius, describes the translation of the Consolatio made by Notker III of St. Gallen, about a century after Alfred^s time : ^ His method of translation is to give a sentence or group of words of the original, which he arranges for the sake of his pupils in as simple and straightforward a form as possible, followed by the German equivalent. This last is expanded, as the occasion seems to require, by passages of explanation and paraphrase of varying length ^.' Except as to the ' German equivalent/ this illustrates very aptly what I conceive to have been Asserts procedure. It also illustrates the way in which many of Alfred^s additions may have found their way into his translation. And it would be especially in the poetical portions of the work that such a paraphrase, giving the words of the original in a less intricate order, would be required. So that while Asser paraphrased Boethius^ poetry in prose, Alfred, by a reverse process, first translated Asser''s prose into prose, and then at a later time paraphrased his own prose version in verse. That, in the interval which elapsed between the Mutual two versions, the earlier edition should have been copied ^ Grundriss, p. 427. 2 u g^ p j^^ 3 ^^ g^ p^ j^^. 190 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED and circulated, that at a later time scribes should have prefixed to copies of the first edition the prose proem which in strictness is only applicable to the second, is easily intelligible ^ ; and it is curious that to this also an almost exact parallel can be produced from the foi-tunes of the Consolatio in another European country. There exist in French two thirteenth-century translations of the Conso- latio. To quote Mr. Stewart once more : ' The one is in prose, a word-for-word rendering; . . . the other, a more scholarly performance, follows the scheme of the Latin original ' ; i.e. in the alternation of vei'se and prose. Yet to both versions the same prologue is prefixed, in which the translation which follows is in each case attributed to Jehan de Meun^. That Alfred intended from the first to give a verse rendering of the Metra, and that he did not see his way at once to carry out his intention, seems to me to be hinted at in a passage near the end of the book, which has very little corresponding to it in the original : ' It is nigh unto the time when I had purposed to take other work in hand, and I have not yet done with this ; ... I cannot now so soon sing it, nor have I leisure therefor ^.' Another point which, as Hartmann showed*, tells in favour of Alfred^s authorship is the way in which in the poems references are made to the prose portions of the work. ' Tho first edition •would probably have no preface of its own, because Alfred regarded it as only a preliminary draft. ^ Stewart, u.s., p. 203. ' c. xxxix, § 4 ad fin. (p. 127^ Leioht is absolutely arbitrary when he says : * wir diirfen nicht annehmen dass er, als er an seine Prosa-Uebersetzung ging, schon den Plan liatto, spiiter der Form seiner Vorlage insofern melir Ge- rochtigkeit widerfahren zu lassen, als er die Metra in das Gewand der angelsiiehsischen Dichtung klei- den wollte,' Wiilker, p. 430, This is precisely -what we may very fairly suppose on the evidence. * In Wiilker, Grundriss, p. 426 ; e.g. ix. 61 (p. 164% xxi. 3, 4 (p. 185), xxvi. 3 (p. i93\ xxvii. 30 (p. 198). LITERARY WORKS 191 On the whole I regard the attack on Alfred^s authorship The attack of the Metra as having* decidedly broken down ^ ; and in down, this opinion I am glad to have the concurrence of a very competent critic in the Times of August 20, 1901. I am breaking no confidence in identifying that critic with my friend and teacher Professor Earle. § 115. The last undoubted w^ork of Alfred's that has Alfred's come down to us is one which bears the title ^ Blooms/ or, ^j^^ Solilo- as we might say, ^ Anthology ^/ The first two books are ^uies, or ^ derived mainly from St. Augustine's two books of Solilo- ' quies. The first book and part of the second follow the original fairly closely, but the remainder of the second v^ book is very free, and is mainly Alfred's own. The third book is based to some extent on St. Augustine's Epistle to < Paulina on the Vision of God, with additions from the De Ciuitate Dei, St. Gregory's Dialogues, the Moralia, together with reflexions of Alfred's own 2. The use of the De Ciui- tate Dei is especially interesting, as it was the favourite ^ The two points in which the who merely gives one as a speci- Metra are said to show less ac- men), or printing them as a sort curacy than the prose version, of appendix at the end. It would viz. the making Ulysses king of be fairer to print them in the Thracia instead of Ithaca, and text in parallel columns with the calling Homer the friend as well prose version, an arrangement as the teacher of Virgil, are possibly which would also greatly facilitate merely due to the needs of allitera- the study of them. They have, tion, xxvi. 7 ; xxx. 3 (pp. 193, be it remembered, the authority 203). Almost the only thing in of the MS. which is by nearly 200 the Metra to which there is years the more ancient of the two. nothing corresponding in the ' On the editions of this work, prose version is the well-known see above, p. 128, note 4. See also simile of the egg, xx. 169 ff. (p. Professor Wiilker's interesting 182), and this, though possibly Essay, Paul undBraune,Beitrage, suggested by a commentary, is iv. 101 ff., to which I am much thoroughly Alfredian. Editors indebted ; also Grundriss, pp. have, I think, unduly prejudiced 415 ff. the question by either omitting ^ Wulker, Beitrage, pp. 119, the Metra altogether (as Cardale, 120. 192 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED book of Charles the Great ^. It is a notev\'orthy proof of Alfred^s advance in literary art, that whereas in this third book his materials were not originally in dialogue form, he has very skilfully thrown them into that form in order to make them harmonise with the first two books. The work has come down to us in a pitiable condition, in a single late and corrupt manuscript, mutilated both at the beginning and end, and with evident lacunae in other places. At the beginning part of the preface is gone; at the end I do not myself think that more is lost than part of the final colophon; the concluding words of the actual text seem to me to mark undoubtedly the close of the work. Professor Wiilker indeed thought otherwise; but he was led to his conclusion partly by the wish to give greater probability to his theory which would identify this work with Alfred^s Encheiridion or Commonplace Book ; a theory from which, as already stated -, I strongly dissent, and which Wiilker himself has since withdrawn ^. Still even in its ruin the work reflects clearly the features of its author. The Preface in particular is so characteristic that, as it is comparatively little known, I give it here: — ' I gathered me then staves, and props, and bars, and helves for each of my tools, and boughs ; and for each of the works that I could work, I took the fairest trees, so far as I might carry them away. Nor did I ever bring any burden home without longing to bring home the whole wood, if that might be; for in every tree I saw something of which I had need at home. Wherefore I exhort every one who is strong and has many wains, that he direct his steps to the same wood where I cut the projis. Let him there get him others, and load his wains with fair twigs, * * Dc'Ioctabatiir et libris S. Einhard, c. 24. Augii8tini, praooipucquo liis qui ^ Above, p. 141. do Ciuitato Dei praetitulati sunt,* ^ Grundriss, p. 419. LITERARY WORKS 193 that he may weave thereof many a goodly waiii; and set up many a noble house^ and build many a pleasant town^ and dwell therem in mirth, and ease, both winter and summer, as I could never do hitherto. But He who taught me to love that wood, He may cause me to dwell more easily, both in this transitory dwelling . . . while I am in the world, and also in the eternal home which He has promised us through . . . the holy fathers. And so I believe He will do for their merits, both make this [earthly] way better than it was- ere this, or at least enlighten the eyes of my mind, that I may find the right way to the eternal home, and to the eternal country, and to the eternal rest, which is promised to us. through the holy fathers. So be it.' § 116. It is Alfred looking back over the whole of his Signifi- storm-tossed life, and realising that the calm haven is close t^jg at hand ^, and that he must leave it to others to carry on Preface, the work which he had begun. Professor Wiilker, in the interest of the theory alluded to above, says that this preface refers to a larger collection than any to be found in these three books of ' Blooms ^.' True ; most true. But the larger collection to which it refers is not this, or any other single work of his, however hypothetically enlarged ; but the whole of his literary works. And just as the Preface to the Pastoral Care is in some sense a Prologue to It is the the whole collection, so this is, in a very real sense, the to^Ai*fred's Epilogue. We may not, here in Oxford, claim Alfred as literary works our founder; but surely our hearts may be uplifted at the thought, that in all that we do here in the cause of true learning and of genuine education, we are carrying on the work which Alfred left us to do. The book is in other ways also the most mature of The most Alfred's works. It is very closely related to the Boethius ^ Above, § 90. ^ Beitriige, u. s. pp. 129, 130. 194 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED both in thought and diction ^. And just as in the Orosius we had a foretaste of the discussion on fate which holds so prominent a place in the Boethius ~, so the subject of the immortality of the soul^ which is only just touched on in the Boethius"', is here developed at length^. And here, as in the Boethius, Alfred^s conclusion is much more dis- tinctly Christian than that of his original. The Soliloquies is one of Augustine^s earliest works, written at a time when a good deal of the gentile rhetorician still hung about him ^. It must be confessed that his philosophical arguments on * Evil is really non-existent, Boethius, xxxv. § 5, xxxvii. § 4 (pp. loo, 114) ; Blooms, p. 165. God the highest good and happi- ness, Boet. xxxiv. §§ 2, 5, 6 (pp. 84, 86, 87) ; Bl. p. 166. God regnlates all things with His bridle, Boet. xx. § i (p. 49) ; Bl. p. 168. God gave freedom to men, Boot. xli. §§ 3. 4 (pp. 143. 145) ; Bl. p. 168. The open door, Boet. xxxv. § 3 (P' 97) ; Bl. p. 169. Metaphor of the Egg, Boet. Metr. xx. 169 ff. (p. 182) ; Bl. p. 174 (this has an im- portant bearing on the authorship of the verse translation of the Metra). Calm haven (weather) after storms. Boot, xxxiv. § 8 (p. 89) ; Bl. p. 179. Metaphor of weak eyes, Boet. xxxviii. § 5 (p. 121) ; Bl. p. 182. Against a soft life, Boet. xl. § 3 (p. 138) ; Bl. p. 184. The leech gives difTeront kinds of medicine, Boet. xxxix. § 9 (p. 132) ; Bl. p. 189. Things lighted by the sun, Boet. xxxiv. § 5 (p. 86); Bl. p. 180. Men and angels im- mortal, Boet. xlii. (p. 148) ; Bl. p. 191. Various j^aths all leading to one end, Boot. xxiv. § i (p. 52); Bl. p. 187. Tlie soul released from prison at death, Boet. xviii. § 4 (P- 45' > Bl. p. 202. For an analysis of the thought and diction of the 'Blooms' as com- pared with the Boethiu?, see a good Essay by F. G. Hubbard, Modern Language Notes, ix. 322 ff. My own list was made independ- ently. Mr. Hubbard remarks that in several cases a passage, which is an addition to the original in the 'Blooms,' corresponds with a translated passage in the Boethius. This seems to show that the Anglo-Saxon Boethius was one of the sources of the ' Blooms.' which must therefore be later than the Boethius. There is a dissertation by Hulme : Die Sprache der altengl. Bearbeitimg der Soliloquien, Freiburg im Breisgau, 1894 ; but it is purely philological. A new edition of the 'Blooms' may bo expected shortly from Mr. H. L. Hargrove - of Yale. 2 See above, pp. 159, 183-4. ' xi. § 2 (p. 26). * pp. 192-5, ^98, 199- ^ See Ebert, Literatur des Mittclalter.^, i. 240, 241. LITERARY WORKS 195 this subject are not very convincing, but in Alfred tliey arc strongly reinforced by the authority of Scripture and of the fathers. Here, too, many of the additions which Alfred makes to Wealth of his original consist of those similes and parables ^ which ^^°^' ^"^' he loved so well ; the most beautiful perhaps being one in which the soul made fast to* God is compared to a ship riding securely on her anchor^. § 117. I have said that in the third book Alfred casts Confusion into a dialogue form materials which have not that shape ^nd^rans- in the original. The interlocutors still remain as before, later. Augustine and Reason. It is a quaint proof of the completeness with which Alfred lost the sense of transla- tion in the consciousness of authorship, that in a passage where the De uidendo Deo is spoken of, the Augustine of the dialogue is made to say : ' I have not now leisure to go through all that book 2/ although the historical Augustine was the actual author of it. Of thoughts characteristic of Alfred I will quote but Charac- two. The first is this : ' No man may do aught of good though ts.u unless God work with him. And yet no one should be idle and not attempt something in proportion to the powers which God gives him ^/ The other is contained in the last sentence of the book ^. And I think you will feel with me that we have here Hhe conclusion of the whole matter'; that anything added to this would be of the nature of an anticlimax : ' Therefore he seems to me a very foolish man, and very wretched, who will not increase his understanding while he is in the world, and ever wish and long to reach that endless life where all shall be made clear.^ ^ Some of these are cited above, also the metaphor of the ship in p. 194, note I. Asser, 492 D [59], ' P- 175 ; cf. p. 179 ; of this too =* p. 200. there is an anticipation in the * p. 179. Boethius, x. ad fin. (p. 23) ; cf. ^ p. 204. 3 ig6 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Tliey are the last words not merely of this book ; they are the last words of Alfred to us all across the chasm of a thousand years. We have seen some reason for thinking that the earliest of Alfred's own works, the Pastoral Care, cannot be earlier than 894^; and as the years 894-6 were largely occupied with warfare -, it is probable that Alfred's literary activity falls mainly into the last four years of his reign, those four silent years for which our authorities fail us almost wholly, but in which Alfred had something of that ^stillness' for which he wishes in the Preface to the Pastoral Care. One little glimpse we do get of him during his later years. William of !Malmesbury, who had special materials for the life of Athelstan ^, tells us how he, a child, like Alfred himself, of singular beauty and attractiveness, was invested by his famous grandsire, who discerned his early promise, with a scarlet cloak, a jewelled belt, and a Saxon sword with golden scabbard^. And thus Alfred inherited the twofold blessing of the Psalmist : ' Thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.' Nor was it least among Alfred's blessings that he left a son like Edward, and a grandson like Athelstan, to carry on his work. ^ Above, § 88. ^ I do not, however, regard •with some critics tlie occurrence of military operations in any yoar as necessarily excluding all literary activity in that year. Considering Alfnd's energy, and the fact that military operations were to a large extent suspended in the winter, tho assumption seems to mo rather rash ; Asser distinctly says that Alfred carried on his studies * inter omnia alia mentis ot corporis imjjedimenta,' 488 D [50] ; and Alfred tells how ho began the Cura Past oralis ' ongemang o>"rum mislicuni 7 manifealdum bisgum t^isses kyne- rices ' ; cf. also Boethius, Prose Preface, 3 \V. M. II. Ix. flf. * ibid. i. 145 ; so in 838 : ' Im- perator [Louis the Pious] filium jiuum Karolum armis uirilibus, i. e. enso cinxit, corona regali cnput insigniuit,' Theganus, Vita Illudouici, Pertz, ii. 643. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIOIN' 197 S 118. It was while he was occupied with these hif^h Beath and cliaractcr thoughts of Providence and immortality, that he passed of AlfrocL away. How the call came to him to quit these shadows for the 'life w^here all things are made clear ■* we do not know. We only know that it came on October 26, and probably in the year 900 ^ He w^as only fifty-two. But \ even if the tradition of his constant illness be rejected, he had been through what might w^ell have worn out even a strong man in a shorter time. Those who ^vitnessed the extinction of so great a light might have exclaimed with Shakespeare's tawny queen : 'And there is nothing left remarkable Beneath the visiting* moon-/ Florence's noble panegyric on Alfred is well known, wdiere he tells how there passed away 'Alfred the king of the Anglo-Saxons, the son of the most pious king ^thelwulf, the famous, the warlike, the victorious, the careful provider for the widow, the helpless ^, the orphan and the poor ; the most skilled of Saxon poets, most dear to his own nation, courteous to all, most liberal; endowed with prudence, fortitude, justice and temperance; most patient in the infirmity from which he continually suffered; the most discerning investigator in executing justice, most watchful and devout in the service of God*.' Even the turgid, ^ See Chronicle, ii. 112-4; and paraphrased ^fm eart fultumiend add to the references there given, ])ara \e nabbaS nawSer ne feeder Eamsay, Foundations of England, ne modor.' Cf. the elegy on the 1. 267 ; and an interesting little death of Charles the Great : — monograph on Alfred's Boyhood ' Pater cunctorum orphanorum, and Death, by W. B. Wildman, omnium Sherborne, 1898. Peregrinorum, uiduarum, uir- ^ Antony and Cleopatra, iv. ginum.' 13. 67. Printed at the end of Einhard's ' 'Pupillorum'; in Ps. ix. 34 Life (ed. Pertz, 1863), j). 41. (x. 16) 'pupillo tu eris adiutor' is * i. ti6. 198 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED tasteless Ethelwerd becomes simple and dignified in the face of this great event. ^ There passed from the world/ he says, 'the high-souled Alfred, the immovable pillar of the West Saxons ; a man full of justice, learned in discourse, imbued especially with the sacred Scriptures, . . . whose ^^ , , body rests at Winchester in peace. O reader, breathe the k^vt* •«^ prayer " Christ, the Redeemer, save his soul ^,'^ ' He must '^"^^^^ '•^^- be a stern Protestant who would refuse to obey Ethelwerd's behest. L.ssoiis of § 119- Some of us probably know the story of the little Allied s Ijq^ who, when asked in an examination paper a foolish question as to what Alfred, if he were alive now, would think of certain present-day problems, made the sage reply: ' If King Alfred were alive now, he would be much too old to take any interest in politics/ It was an instance, sublime, though unconscious, of answering a fool according to his folly. And yet we should surely be wrong if we thought that, because Alfred died a thousand years ago, his 1 life and work have therefore no lessons for ourselves. Ainiy. The question may not be of dividing the national militia into two 2^arts, one to be at home and one out; but the problem still confronts us how to provide an army which shall both defend our shores at home, and also be adequate to the needs of the empire abroad. The question may not Navy. be whether our ships shall be built on Frisian or on Danish lines ; but there are problems of naval construction on the right solution of which the safety of England may very Lcarnijig. largely depend. The knowledge of Latin is happily not extinct among us now, as it practically was in Alfred^s day; but the necessity still exists, which he felt so strongly, to mediate between the best thoughts of the past and the JMuca- needs and aspirations of the present ; while in education ' p. 5'9 A. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 199 we have hardly perhaps fully realised even Alfred's modest wish that ' all the youth of England of free men ... be set to learn . . . until that they are well able to read English writing ^■' Again, few things are more striking in Alfred, than the Unity of way in which he keeps an equal hand on all branches of traJion^f' the national life, army, navy, church, justice, finance, education, learning. It is no doubt a harder task to co-ordinate the administration of an empire with world- wide possessions and world-wide resj^onsibilities, than of a little state like Wessex. But we need somethinor" of this o unifying guidance from above, if our government is not to fall apart into a chaos of independent, and possibly jealous and hostile departments. But above all we need Alfred^s high faith ; a faith first of all, unswerving, unfaltering, Faith in in an over- ruling Providence, the guidance of a Higher ^^^^^ Hand ; but faith also in the destiny of his country and and in his people. Had he, like Burgred of Mercia, given up -^'^s^-^^^^'- the struggle in despair, and gone as a pilgrim to Rome, no one in his own day would have thought the worse of him ; and he might have won that pale halo of mediaeval saintship, which, as it was, he did not gain^. But England would have been lost to Christianity ^ ; and Alfred had faith that it was not in the purposes of God so far to roll back the tide of progress, as to let England become once more a heathen land. Surely Alfred stands high in the muster roll of those ^ Who through faith subdued kingdoms, ' Preface to Pastoral Care. came into my hands after the 2 Henry VI in 1441 did apply first three lectures were in type. to Eugenius IV for Alfred's canon- The author, Mr. W. E. Collins, isation, Bekynton's Correspond- goes further than I can go in ence, i. 118, Polls Series. I owe rejecting Asser, but his article is this reference to an interesting well worthy of attention, article in the London Quarterly ^ See Pauli, u. s. p. 126 ; cf. for January 1902, which only Essays, p. 13. 200 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED wrought righteousness^ . . . turned to flight the armies of the ahens^/ And we need scarcely less that force of individual character which was the secret^ as we have seen, of so much of Alfred^s power. To realise this, we have only to compare him for instance with Henry II, a man who in mere intellectual capacity was possibly his superior, and whose reign conferred incalculable benefits upon England. But his aims were merely selfish, and his life impure; and so the greatness of his achievement is known to few beyond professed students of history ^. § 1 20. Of some points in which our late Queen resembled her great ancestor I had the honour of speaking before the University in another place ^. But when we think of kings and emperors worthy to be compared with our own Alfred, the four names which perhaps most readily occur to us are Marcus Aurelius, the imperial saint of paganism, Louis IX, the royal saint of mediaevalism, Charles the Great, and our own Edward I. But the sad self-suppres- sion of ^Marcus Aurelius, the melancholy refrain which seems to sigh through the golden book of his thoughts, ^Entbehren sollst du, sollst entbehren •*,' is as unlike Alfred's glad and willing service as anything ckn be. VCharles the Great is of course one of the most towering ' Hob. xi. 33, 34. 2 'Henry stands ^vitli Alfroil, Canut«>, William tlio Conqueror, and Edward I, one of the conscious creators of English greatness . . . If ho liad been a better man, his work would liave been second to that of no character in history ; had he been a weaker one than he was, England might have had to imdergo for six hundred years the fate of Fi-ance,' Stubbs, Bene- dict of Peterborougli, II. xxxiii. xxxvi. ^ Sermon preached before tlie University on the Sunday follow- ing the death of Her late Maj«>sty ; now printed as an appendix to thf present volume. * Faust, Part I, Scene iv. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 201 figures in the whole of history. AHke in physical and intellectual strength he is head and shoulders above all his predecessors and successors. We have noticed several points of taste and character in which Alfred resembled him ^, and they were alike too in the large and generous activities of their many-sided natures. Charles worked no doubt on a gigantic scale^ to which Alfred can make no pretence. But this very fact has given to Alfred^s work a permanence which is wanting to that of Charles. Every succeeding century has but verified more and more Alfred's vision of a united England, and has led her on gradually to an empire of which neither Charles nor Alfred could have dreamed ■^. Every succeeding century has given the lie to Charles's system of a united Germany and France : fji€ya €pyov, o ov hvo y avhpe (jyipoiev, oloL vvv ^poTOL €L(t\ 6 hi pnv pia 77aAAe koI otos*^. But, apart from this, there are stains on Charles's character, ^^^ from which Alfred is free; the lax morality for which Walafrid Strabo in a curious passage places him in purgatory^, the occasional outbursts of cruelty which on ^ one occasion led him to execute 4,500 rebel Saxons on a single day ^, have no counterpart in our English hero-king. Edward I is one of the noblest monarchs who ever sat Edward I. upon an earthly throne; brave, and dutiful, and true. But we have only to think of his lawyerlike, almost trades- manlike, way of suing for his pound of flesh on the letter of his bond, and then recall Alfred's comment on the golden 1 Above, pp. 38, 120, 125-6, 129, 2 'Usque ad quattuor milia 131, 135, 160, 191. quingenti traditi, et . . . in loco - Cf. Lord Roseberj-'s inspiring qui Ferdi [Verden] uocatur, iussu address at Winchester (Hnm- regis omnes una die decollati phreys', Piccadilly). sunt,' Einliardi Annales, sub anno 3 Iliad, V. 303, 304. 782. * Cited by Ebert, ii. 151. 203 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED rule : ' by this one law every one may know how he ought to judge another^ he needs no other law book ^/ in order to feel the difference between them. It is only when I think of St. Louis that my heart becomes a little divided. St. Louis is, to my thinking, one of the most beautiful characters in the whole of histor3\ His saintliness is no doubt of the mediaeval type. But this is not surprising, seeing that he lived in the thirteenth century, the central and culminating period of the Middle Ages. Dante, and Joan of Arc, and Thomas a Kempis are mediaeval too. And he went on Crusade, when, according to every utilitarian standard, he woukl liave been better employed in governing his own kingdom. Yet I, at least, cannot love him less, because as a ^ young man '' he ' saw visions,' and went on the quest of the Holy Grail. And he was fortunate in his biographer. What would we not give to have, instead of Asserts stilted and confused Latin, a memoir of Alfred in our native tongue which might rank with Joinville's picture of his master ? And yet in some ways the very saintliness of Louis became a curse to France ; for it shed a consecration on an evil despotism, which finally exploded in one of the most hideous convulsions in history : ' Sword and fire, Red ruin, and the breaking up of laws'-.' It seems a hard thing to say, but there is a very real con- nexion between St. Louis and the French Revolution. Alfred on the other hand is one of the very few rulers whose work in life, and whose memory after death have Ijcen, as far as may be said of anything here below, an unmixed blessing to their peoples. Alfred's aspiration lias indeed been abundantly fulfilled : ' ^Ty will was ' Si.0 abovt', p. 124. ^ Tennyson, Guinevere. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 203 lu live worthily as long" as T lived; and after my life to leave to tliem that should come after my memory in good works "'Z If I have done something in these lectures to place so great a memory in a clearer light, and to sweep away some of the false traditions by which it has been obscured, I shall regard myself as having done a real, if humble, service, not only to historical truth, but also to the national life. We need to keep our historical memories not only fresh but true. For, in the words of the great liistorian, with the remembrance of whom I began these lectures : ^ The healthy nation has a memory as well as aspirations involved in the consciousness of its identity ; it has a past no less living than its future V ^ Above, p. 181. ^ Hoveden, IV. L\x>:i, \ Suhjectio7i to the Higher Pozuers H Sermon Preached before the University of Oxford ON Sunday, January 27, 1901 BEING THE SUNDAY AFTER THE DEATH OF OUR LATE MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN QUEEN VICTORIA REV. CHARLES PLUMMER, M.A, FELLOW AND CHAPLAIN OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD \ I APPENDIX ' Let ev&ry soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God : the powers that be are ordained of God. . . . Render therefore to all their dues : tribute to whom tribute is due ; custom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear ; honour to whom honour.' — Eom. xiii. i, 7. It is impossible, I think, to read the Epistles of the New Testament Avith any degi'ee of attention, and not to see how anxious the writers are that the Christianity which they preach should not be regarded as a reyolutionary and explosiye force, upsetting and destroying existing institutions, social and political ; how concerned they are that their conyerts should give no offence (beyond what was inyolyed in the fact of their religion) to the heathen neighbours among whom they liyed ; that they should ' Walk in wisdom toAyard them that are Ayithout',' and haye their ' conyersation honest among the Gentiles ^ ' ; how careful they are to say no word w^hich should disturb the existing relations of slayes and masters, of wiyes and husbands, of subjects and soyereigns; eyen though the soyereign, the husband, the master might be heathen, and the slaye, the wife, the subject might be Christian. If there must be a breach, let it come from the heathen member of the bond. The rule for the Christian was : ' let him not depart^.' And, in thus writing, the Apostles Avere but following out the teaching and example of our Lord Himself. When He compares the kingdom of Ileayen to leayen*, He means, ^ Col. iv. 5 ; cf. I Thess. iv. 12. ^ i Cor. vii. 10-17. ' I Pet. ii. 12. * Matt. xiii. 33 ; Luke xiii. 21. 2o8 APPENDIX I suppose, that the working of His doctrine was to l3e, as a rule, gradual and assimilative, not sudden and explosive. And He Himself always refused to assume the part of a political agitator, or even of a social reformer, which Ills followers sometimes wished to thrust upon Ilim. 'He with- drew Himself,' when the multitudes threatened to 'take Ilim by force, to make Ilim a king^'; lie would not Ije 'a judge or a divider ' in matters of inheritance ^ All social and political problems He left men to work out for themselves with the powers which God has given them, under the guidance and control of God's ordinary providence; and to ripply for themselves to the solution of these problems the principles of His teaching, under the ordinary operations of the Holy Spirit. And this refusal to interfere with the normal development of human society emphasises all the more, as has l)een remarked ^ His uncompromising vindication of the law of marriage, as the one social institution the sanctity of which is above all human laws : * God made them male and female *.' He would not agitate against the tribute ^ ; though the refusal probably cost Him the popularity which had manifested itself so noisily in the triumphal entry. And, in His trial before Pilate, He distinctly recognised the Roman provincial govern- ment of Judaea, heathen and foreign though it was, as being divinely ordered : * Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above ^' "When the publicists of the middle ages, witli Dante at their liead, laid stress on the birth and death of Christ under the Koman Empire as giving a divine authority to that Empire, i\nd to the mediaeval Empire which claimed to be its successor^, ^ Jolin vi. 15. * J(»lin xix. ir. ' Luke xii. 14. ^ Panto, M(>narolua, Lib. i; cf. ' Latham, Pastor Pastorum. Piirg. xxxii, 102: jip. 403 fT. * r>i qui'lla Rnma oiule Cristo e * (ion. i. 27; Miitt, xix. 4; Koniano,' Mark x. 6. though this is not the tomporal, ^ Mark xii, 13 ff. and parallels, but the eternal Rome. APPENDIX 209 they were but carrying to somewhat fanciful extremes an argu- ment based upon undoubted facts. And so St. Paul, in the passage which I haye taken for my text, claims no less than a divine sanction for the civil power : ' The powers that be are ordained of God. . . . Render therefore to all their dues.' And the magnitude of the claim is enhanced, if Ave remember that this was written, not under any of the better Roman emperors; not under Trajan, whose virtues so touched the heart of the Middle Ages, that they represented his soul as transferred to Paradise through the intercession of St. Gregory, the apostle of the English ^ ; not under a philo- sophic saint like Marcus Aurelius ; but, probably, under the vain and vicious Nero. If then such was the claim on the duty of subjects then, how much greater the claim on us, who, for more than sixty years, have lived under one of the "very best of Christian sovereigns. We can most of us remember the kind of thought and speech which was prevalent not so many years ago. It was a common impression then that the part to be played by the institution of Royalty in the future history of the world was a very slight one. The growth of popular power, the spread of education, and other causes, would reduce it to be nothing more than the veil, and a very transparent veil, of a Democracy. The history of the last quarter of a century has signally falsified this forecast ; and the present state of Europe gives it an emphatic contradiction. At the present moment the question of war or peace, that is for thousands, if not millions, the question of life or death, hangs upon the fiat of some four or five men. Nor is the view of the insignificance of Royalty borne out by the history of England as a whole. The story of English Royalty reaches back some fourteen hundred years. In 519, according to the traditional account, Gertie and Cynric assumed the kingship of the West Saxons ; ^ Dante, Purg. x. 82 ff. ; Parad. xx. 43 ff. PLUMMER P 2IO LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED and the reflexion of the compiler of the Saxon Chronicle, writing probably under Alfred, that 'the royal house of the West Saxons has ruled ever since that day,' has, with the exception of the Norman period, remained almost literally true down to the present time. For it was Wessex Avhich grew into England; and the first idea of union, loosely and imperfectly realised under Egbert, was gradually wrought out in many years of suffering. Alfred saved England from the Danes, though at a tremendous sacrifice, and holds in real history the place which romance assigns to Arthur ; a Christian king, ' Scarce other than my own ideal knight,' who rolls back the tide of heathen conquest from his native land. We call him, and we call him rightly, 'Alfred the Great.' But in days nearer his own he was known as ' England's Darling.' W.ill not the historian of the future see a certain sad appropriateness in the fact that the Queen should have died in the year which is to celebrate the millenary of the death of this, the greatest of her ancestors, the one whom she so much resembled in her unswerving loyalty to duty, lier constant labour for the good of her people, her unfaltering allegiance to truth ? ' The most thoughtful provider for the widow, the defenceless, the orphan, and the poor, . . . most beloved by his i:>eople,' says Florence of Alfred. Asser calls him ' Alfred the truth-teller ' ; and we all remember how the great tribune of the people, as he was sometimes called, declared that the Queen was the most truthful person he had ever known. So too after the fierce suffering of the Norman Conquest, it was Henry II who knit the framework of the country together by an administrative system, under the forms of which we, to a large extent, still live; while Edward I, taking up the idea, which Simon de Montfort seemed to have lighted upon almost by accident, made popular representation the permanent basis of our constitution, on the express ground that ' Avhat touches all, should be approved by all.' APPENDIX 211 Once more, in the religious crisis of the sixteenth century, Henry VIII and Elizabeth, Avhatever their shortcomings, did much to impress upon the English Church that sane and sober character of a via media, which, in spite of extremists on either side, it has kept ever since. We do not, at this stage of our national history, expect seryices quite of this kind from the Crown. And yet the seryices which it has rendered during the late reign haye been simply immense. To take only two of the most obyious ; two, on which the late Mr. Bagehot was fond of dwelling : — (i) It has been the symbol and sign of our unity, not only as a nation, but as an empire. In eyery quarter of the globe, millions upon millions of her subjects, who knew little or nothing of the nature of Parliaments, of the theory of constitu- tional goyernment, of the responsibility of ministers, of the rise and fall of parties, looked up to the Queen as the bond of union between them, the mother and head of a yast family dispersed throughout the whole world ; and this feeling had been deepened and strengthened to an extraordinary degree by the eyents of the last fifteen months. (2) And closely connected with this is the second point. The experience of more than three-and-sixty years has taught us to look up to the Crown as the head of our home and family life. This has not always, indeed has not often been the case, in English, or in any other history. The feeling in our own case has owed something to the homely yirtues of King George III, but almost eyerything to the unfailing loye and sympathy of the Queen. In joy and sorrow, the humblest of her subjects might feel that they had a share in her sympathy and care. And this sympathy was not of that easy kind which stoops from painless heights to look upon the woes of others, but had been won through depths of suffering and sorrow ; and the comfort which she gaye to others was, in the Apostle's words, ' the comfort wherewith ' she herself had been ' comforted of God\' ^ 2 Cor. 1. 4. P 2 212 LIFE AND TIMES OF ALFRED Perhaps it is these two elements which come out most strongly in the universal grief called forth by the heavy blow which has fallen upon us. We have lost our mother, the head of our vast family; and we go forth, like orphans in the night, to meet the unknown trials of a new century, with- out the guidance of that wisely moderating hand, without the sympathy of that feeling heart, to which we had learned to turn with a habit wdiich had become an instinct. * Render therefore to all their dues : tribute to whom tribute is due ; . . . fear to whom fear ; honour to whom honour.' May we not add, what was hardly possible in the then circumstances of the Roman world, ' love to whom love ' ? * I exhort therefore,' says the Apostle in another place, ' that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men ; for kings, and for all that are in authority ; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty ^' Surely we have need, at the present time, to obey this exhortation. ' Supplications, prayers, inter- cessions,' shall we not offer these for our new ruler and all his subjects? One of the earliest Christian prayers which has come down to us is a prayer for rulers in the Epistle of St. Clement of Rome*: — 'Do Thou, Lord, direct their counsel, according to that which is good and well-pleasing in Thy sight; that, administering in peace and gentleness, with godli- ness, the power which Thou hast given them, they may obtain Thy favour.' Eighteen centuries have not made that prayer obsolete, or unnecessary. If there is much that is hopeful and encouraging in the opening of the new era, there is also not a little to cause anxiety even to the most buoyant ; and problems have to be faced, which may atYect not merely the well-being, but the very existence of our Church and Empire. 'And giving of thanks.' Shall we not render that too? Shall we not thank God that for more than three-and-sixty years He gave us such a Queen ? I dare say many of us read with absorbing interest those ' I Tim. ii. i. 2. ' c Ixi. APPENDIX 213 extracts, covering the past century, which the Times reprinted from its own columns at the end of the year. But, among all those extracts, there was nothing, I think, more interesting than to read the proclamation issued by the Queen at her accession, three-and-sixty years before, and to note how exactly her hopes and promises were fulfilled. It is one of the sternest tests which can be applied to a life of any length. To most of us, if confronted in middle or declining years with the hopes and resolutions of our youth, would they not sound more like sarcasms than like proj)hecies ? Lastly, let us remember, that every great life, and every great example which is lived before us, brings with it a corresponding weight of obligation and responsibility. Let us prfty with St. Ignatius that it may not turn to a witness against ourselves : evxofJ-ai tva fxr] ets /xaprvpLOv avTo KTi^croivraL \ 1 Ad Philad. c. 6. I ADDENDA Page 19. If the view taken in the text is correct, we might borrow a phrase from the Saxon Chronicle, and say that Asser was bishop at Exeter, rather than bishop of Exeter. See Chron. 897 and note. Page 28. The medical friend who is cited on p. 21 has also given me his opinion with reference to the passage in Asser describing the mysterious disease with which Alfred was said to have been attacked during his marriage festivities. He thinks the malady indicated was probably stone in the bladder ; and that it possibly teas connected with the 'fie as' from which Alfred is said to have suffered. The latter was either piles or prolapsus of the rectum, conditions often caused in the young by the straining induced sympathetically by the presence of a stone in the bladder. This makes the medical aspect of the case more intelligible. It does not, however, affect the literary and historical inconsistencies of the account which I have pointed out in the text. Page 62. Opponents of the genuineness of Asser endeavour to meet some of the arguments advanced in the text, by saying that the forger made use of genuine documents. This does not touch the argument from the unity of style and diction. Waiving this, the difference between us is reduced to the question : Is Asser a genuine work which has been largely interpolated ? or is it a spurious work embodying many genuine elements? The former seems to me more probable. But thus stated, the question rather resembles the famous problem in the Oxford Spectator, whether a certain College ribbon was a blue ribbon with two white stripes, or a white ribbon with three blue stripes. And there I am content to knive the matter. INDEX [The references are to the Pages.] Abel, see Elias. 'aedificia/ special meaning of, in Asser, 46, 47. ^Ifheah, bishop of Winchester (934-51)? 56 n. ^Ifheah, bishop of Winchester, and archbishop of Canterbury, St. Xeot said to have been a friend of (!), 56. ^Ifric, the homilist, not the author of the Anglo-Saxon life of St. Neot, 55, 56 n. ; his views on the state of English learning, 82 w. ; cites the Anglo-Saxon Bede as Alfred's, but not the Dialogues, 167. ^thelbald, king of the Mercians, 14. ^thelbald, king of the West Saxons, 39 n. ; matter relating to, in Asser, 14; alleged rebellion of, 16, 76 ?t., 78, 79, 91 ; alleged incestuous marriage of, 17, 52, 76 n., 80, 87 ; governs Wessex in his father's absence, 75, 79 ; obscurity of his reign, 86, 87 ; his death, 86 ; his share of his father's property, 90, 91. ^thelberht, king of Kent, father of Eadbald, 80. iEthelberht, king of the West Saxons, 39 n. ; made under-king of Kent, 73-5, 79, 86 ; retains Kent on his succession to Wessex, 86 ; his struggle against the Danes, 79, 87 ; his death, 88 ; Alfred's succession possibly ar- ranged under, 89 n. ; his share in his father's property, 90, gi, iEthelflaed, lady of the Mercians, daughter of Alfred, and wife of ^thelred of Mercia, 35 ; trans- lates St. Oswald's body to Glou- cester, 35 ; fortifies Worcester, III ; attends the conference of Chelsea, iii ; military policy of, III. ^thelhelm, ealdorman of Wilts., co-operates against the Danes, 116. ^thelnoth, ealdorman of Somer- set, services of, against the Danes, to6, 116; attacks the Danes at York, 117^. ^thelred, king of theWest Saxons, 39 n. ; matter relating to, in Asser, 14 ; his conduct at Ashdown, 16, 93, 94 ; Alfred sexjundarius under, 40, 88-91 ; confused with Alfred, and with Aldfrid, 65 ; abstains from claiming Kent, 75, 86 ; succeeds iEthelberht, 88 ; relations of Alfred with, 88 ; Burgred asks help of, 88 ; marches to Nottingham, 88 ; appoints ^thelred to Canterbury, 88 n. ; his share of his father's pro- perty, 90, 91 ; his children, 91 ; campaign of, against the Danes, 92-5 ; his death, 92, 95 ; his 2l6 INDEX character, 95, 96 ; interred at Wimborne, 98 ; regarded as a mai-tyr, 98 n. ^Ethelred, archbishop of Canter- bury, 127; appointed by ^thel- red and Alfred jointly, 88 n.; letter of John VIII to, 127 ; said to have advised the summoning of Grimbald, 138. ^thelred, ealdorman of the Mer- cians, Witenagemots held by, 13, 14 ; husband of ^theiflsed, 35 ; translates St. Oswald's body to Gloucestei*, 35 ; his pressure on the Welsh, 42 ; his semi-royal position, 42 ; London entrusted to, 109 ; fortifies Worcester, 11 1 ; attends the conference of Chel- sea. Ill; acts as sponsor to one of Hsesten's sons, 113; co-ope- rates with Edward, ^thelnoth, and jEtlielhelm against the Danes, 115-6. ^thelred II, king of the English, Edgar's reign regarded as a golden age under, 67. iEthelweard, son of Alfred, said to have studied at Oxford, iEthelwold, bishop of Winchester, St. Neot said to have been a friend of(!), 56. /Ethehvulf, king of the West Saxons, 39 n. ; Athelstan, king of Kent, probably brother of, 6 n. ; said to have been in holy orders before his accession, 7 ; matter relating to, in Asser, 14 ; Burg- red of Mercia asks help of, 85, 88 ; his second marriage witli Judith, 17, 78, 80 n. ; stays at the Court of Charles the Bald, 17, 76, 78 ; has a Prankish secre- tary» 17, 18 ; Lupus of Ferril-res corrtsponds witli, iSn., 71 ». ; his liberality, 18 n., 71 n.; reduces Wales under Burgred, 37, 85 ; has a shrine made for relics of St. Aldhelm, 47 ; his will, 86, 90, | 91, 126 ; St. Neot made son of, > 6j 55? 57 ; letter of Leo IV to, r 70, 72 ; his visit to Rome, 74-6, 84, 86 ; letter of, to Louis the Pious, 74; divides his domini- ons, 75, 86 ; restores the Schola "^ Saxonum, 76 ; his return to England, 78 ; alleged rebellion against, see^thelbald ; hisdeath, 79, 84 ; character of his reign, 85 ; compared with Louis the Pious, 79, 80 ; did not divorce Osburli, 84 ; made under-king of Kent by Egbert, 85 ; Ealhswith, daughter of, 88 ; naval engage- ment under, 120. ^thelwulf, ealdorman of Berk- shire, defeats Danes at Engle- field, 93 ; slain, 93. Alamanni, Charles the Fat, king of, 41. Alcuin, letter of, to Offa, 136; services of, to Prankish educa- tion, 137. Aldfrid, king of the Northum- brians, confused with .^Ethelrod, Aldlielm, St., bishop of Sher- burne, ^thelwulf has a shrine made for the relics of, 47 ; Alfred's admiration for the Saxon poems of, 141. Alfred the Great, king of the West Saxons, uncritical state- ments relating to, 5-9 ; not the inventor of sliires, 6, cf. 121; or of chapter-headings, 7 ; not brotlier of St. Neot, 6, 56, 57 ; probably nephew of Athelstan, kingofKent,6 ; liistorical autho- rities for reign of, 10-6S ; laws of. INDEX 217 1 21-6; preface to, 11 ; relation of, to Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 11, 146-7, 173; reticence of Chron- icle as to, II, 12 ; panegyrics of Ethelwerd and Florence on, 12, 197-8 ; not fully appreciated in his own day, 13 ; his reign poor in charters, 13 ; and in saints' lives, 53 ; will of, 14, 90-1, 126 ; life of, by Asser, see Asser ; skill of, in hunting, 16, 81, 83 ; book of prayers, &c., always carried by, 16, 140; Eadburh, maternal grandmother of, 16 ; mysterious illness of, 16, 25-8, 215; corre- sponds with Elias III, patriarch of Jerusalem, 16, 33, 34, 132 ; educates a young Dane at Athel- ney, 16 ; relates the story of Eadburh, 16 ; imports Grimbald and John the Old Saxon from the Continent, 17, 137 ; question of grant of Exeter to Asser by, 18- 20, 215 ; recovers Exeter from the Danes, 19, 101-2 ; Asser enters service of, 19, 36-7, 42, 137 ; his protection desired for St. Davids, 19, 42 ; Welsh princes commend themselves to, 20, 36, 42, 43 ; sends to Asser, 21 ; born at Wantage, 22, 70 ; legends rela- ting to, 24, 56-9, 62-8, 73 w.; foreign relations of, 33, 13 1-5 ; his fondness forSaxon poems, 38, 82, 83 ; called 'king of the Anglo- Saxons ' in Asser, 39 ; part of Mercia acquired by, 39 ; power of, exaggerated by later writers, 39, 129 n.; occupation of London by, 39, 40 ; his title of ' secun- darius,' 40, 88-91 ; Anaraut of N. Wales submits and becomes godson to, 42 ; his interest in craftsmanship, 46, 47, 130-1 ; ideal description of Court of, in Asser, 53, 130; Danes try to seize, at Chippenham, 59, 102, 162 ; withdrawal of, to Athelney, 57-9, 102 ; confused with ^thel- red, 65 ; said to have sent alms to Jerusalem, 65 ; false pedigree of, 65 ; his alleged division of his time and revenues, 65 n., 130; his fame obscured by Edgar, 67, 129 ; date of birth of, 69, 70 ; taken to Rome in 853, 70 ; again in 855, 75, 76 ; his con- firmation and unction by Leo IV, 71-4, 76 ; story of his learning to read, 81-4 ; abstains from claiming Kent, 75, 86, 89 ; rela- tions of, with ^theli-ed, 88 ; marches to Nottingham, 88 ; joins in appointing ^thelred to Canterbury, 88 w. ; marriage of, 91 ; his year of battles, 92-5 ; his accession and his task, 95-7 ; question of his election, 9 1 n., 97- 8 ; his unwillingness to assume power, 97 ; sends alms and mis- sions to Rome, 12, 99, 134-5 ; and India, 99, 134; success of, against the Danes at London, 99, 100; against a Danish fleet, 100 ; fortifies Athelney, 102 ; his successful campaign of Edington, 102-5, cf. 149, 162 ; Guthrum submits and becomes godson to, 103 ; importance of his victory, 105 ; causes of success of, 105-7 ; relieves Rochester, 107, ic8 ; sends a fleet against the East Anglian Danes, 64, 108 ; gains possession of London, 108, 109 ; the second founder of London, 109; military reforms of, iio- 2, 121; holds a conference at Chelsea, iii ; exacts oaths from the Northumbrian and East Anglian Danes, 113; watches 2l8 INDEX and negotiates with the Danes in Kent, 113, cf. 163; acts as sponsor to one of Haesten's sons, 113; relieves Exeter, 11 4-5; re- stores Haesten's wife and sons, 115; watches, and blockades the Danes on the Lea, 118 ; his new ships, 118, 119 ; his claim to be the founder of the English navy, 119, 120, cf. 163 ; his adminis- tration of justice, 124-6; rela- tions of, to the Witenagemot, 126-7; to the Church, 127-8; attempts to revive monasticism, 128-9 ; provides for founda- tion of the New Minster, Win- chester, 129; liberality of, to foreign monasteries, 129; three 'Scots' come to, 131; educa- tional measures of, 1 35-40 ; writes the Preface to the trans- lation of Gregory's Dialogues, 142-3 ; character of his religious thought, 143-5 ; body of scribes maintained by, 146 >i.; said to have translated part of the Psalter, 147-9 > ^^^ ^^^ whole of the Bible, 150-1 ; other Avorks ascribed to, 151 ; his intercourse with strangers, 160 ; called 'Eng- land's darling,' 161, 210; his fondness for similes, 182-3 ; chronology of his literary works, 137-8, 196 ; invests his grandson Atholbtan, 196; death of, 11, 197-8 ; buried at Winchester, 198 ; lessons of life of, 198-200 ; Henry VI applies for canonisa- tion of, 199^. ; comparison of, with other sovereigns, 200-2, 210; no deductions to be made from fame of, 202-3 ; his trans- lations valuable as authorities, 10, II, 155, 164, 174, 1 81-5; tlieir educational purpose, 139, 140, 165 ; their origin, 140 ; the Handbook, 140-1. See Augustine, Bede, Boethius, Gregory, Oro- sius. Alfred Jewel, the, 7, 47. Aller, Somerset, Gutlirum bap- tised at, 103. Amazons, organisation of, no, 163. Anaraut, son of Rotri Mawr, king of N. Wales, submits to Alfred and becomes his godson, 42, Anglia, use of term in Book of Llandaflf, 39 71. Anglo-Saxons, Alfred called ' king ' of, 39. Annals of Asser, or St. Neot, see Neot, St. Appledore, Kent, Danes entrench themselves at, 112. Aquitaine, kings of, see Carloman, Louis the Pious. Arnulf, Emperor, deposes Charles the Fat, 17, 41 n. ; king of the Eastern Kingdom, 41 n. ; defeats the Danes on the Dyle, 112. Arthur, King, Alfred compared with, 104, 210. Ashdown, Berks., solitary thorn marks the site of, 16, 94; battle of, and iEthelred's conduct at, 16, 93, 94. Asser, bishop of Sherborne, 20, 127 ; said to have brought Grim- bald to England, 18, 139; question of his appointment as bishop at Exeter, 18-20 ; his reason for entering Alfred's service, 19, 36 ; date of his consecration as bishop unctrtain, 19, 20; called bishop of St. Davids, 20 ; mentioned in the Preface to the Pastoral Care, 20, 52, 138, 143 n. ; question of his illness, 21 ; returns to St. Davids, 21 ; Alfred sends to, 21 ; ( I INDEX 219 his agreement with Alfred, 37, 137; expelled from St. Davids by Hemeid, 42 ; suggests the composition of the Handbook, 140 ; said to have helped Alfred with the Boethius translation, 188-9. Asser, life of Alfred attributed to, its composite character, [4, 15 ; relation of Simeon of Durham to, 23j 3i> 32, 34) 64 ; relation of, to Chronicle, 14, 48-51, 93 n. ; re- lation of Florence to, 15, 22, 23, 25, 28, 34, 49, 60, 64; excessive self-assertion of, 15-17 ; Frankish element in, 17, 18; date of, 19, 29-33, 51, 52 ; corruption of text of, 21-30; MSS. of, 22, 32, 33; Wise's edition of, 22 ; relation of Annals of Asser to, 22; emenda- tion of text of, 33-5 ; Celtic characteristics of, 35-42 ; know- ledge of South "Welsh affairs shown in, 35, 42-4 ; does not exaggerate Alfred's position, 39 ; terminology of, in regard to the Carolingian Empire, 40, 41 ; probably the work of a single hand, 44-8 ; curious meaning of ' aedificia * in, 46, 47 ; style of, 47, 48 ; abrupt termination of. 51, 52 ; probably genuine, but to be used with caution, 52, 214 ; ideal- ised description of Alfred's Court in, 53, 130; used by William of Malmesbury, 62. Asser, Annals of, see Neot, St. Athelney, Somerset, unapproach- able position of, 35 ; Alfred's withdrawal to, 57-9, 102, 105, 106 ; Alfred fortifies, 102 ; Alfred moves out of, 102, cf. 162 ; monastery of, founded by Alfred, 68, 128; disorders in, 129, 137; young Dane educated by Alfred in, 16 ; abbot of, see John the Old Saxon. Athelstan, under-king of Kent, 73 ; not identical with St. Neot, 6 ; probably Alfred's uncle, 6 ; fights a naval battle, 120 n. Athelstan, Mercian priest, chap- lain to Alfred, 136. Athelstan, bishop of Hereford, 137 w. Athelstan, king of the West Saxons, panegyrics on, in Chronicle and Laws, 12 ; Wil- liam of Malmesbury's special sources for reign of, 62 ; in- vestiture of, by Alfred, 196. Augustine, St., bishop of Hippo, his Soliloquies, 194 ; Alfred's translation of, 10, 11, 128, 19 1-6 ; relation of, to the Boethius trans- lation, 194-5 ; not identical with Alfred's Handbook, 141, 192 ; his De Ciuitate Dei, 157 ; used by Alfred, 191 ; a favourite book with Charles the Great, 19 1-2 ; his De Videndo Deo, used by Alfred, 191. Augustine, archbishop of Canter- bury, complaints of, in regard to Welsh baptisms, 42. Bardney, Lines, St. Oswald's body removed fi-om, 35. Basing, Hants, battle of, 93, 95. Bede, the Venerable, his Bccl. Hist., 8, 157 ; style of, influenced by Gregory's Dialogues, 170 w.; his bitterness on the Easter Controversy, 173 ; Anglo-Saxon translation of, 8, 166-75 5 ^^- lation of, to the Orosius trans- lation, 156-9 ; to the translation of the Dialogues, 169, 170. Bel, see Elias. Benfleet, Essex, Danes fortify 220 INDEX themselves at, 113-4; captured by the English, 115. Beorhtric, ki ng of the West Saxons, 39 n. ; Eadburh, wife of, 16, 17 ; dies, 802, 17 n. Beornred, king of the Mercians, annexes monastic property, 66. Bergues, d«5p. Nord, France, St. Winnoc's body translated to, 35. Birhtwulf, king of the Mercians, 109. Berkshire, ealdorman of, see ^thel- wulf. Bernard, Frankish monk, pil- grimage of, to Jerusalem, 132-4. Bernard of Morlaix, his rhythm De Contemptu Mundi, 1 78 n. Berry, Jehan, due de, former owner of the Latin-Saxon psalter, 148. Birinus, bishop of the West Saxons, baptises Cuthred of Wessex, 72. Boccaccio, his treatise De Casibus illustrium uironim, 17S n. Boethius, his treatment by Thco- doric, 178-9; his Christianity superficial, 180 ; his De Consola- tione Philosophiae, 8, 177-80 ; Alfred's translation of, 8, 10, ^35? ^77? 1S0-5; its relation to the Orosius translation, 159; to the Soliloquies, 194-5 ; wrongly assigned to Werferlh, 1S5 n. ; mentioned by Ethel werd, 185 ; question as to Alfred's author- ship of the verse translation of the Metra in, 185-91, 194 n. Boniface, St., the apostle of Ger- many, 137. Boulogne, dop. Pas -de - Calais, Danos embark at, 112. Brecbeiniog, South Welsh king- di)m, nearly identical with Breck- nockshire ; kings of, see Helised, Teudyr. Bridgenorth, Shropshire, Danes winter at, 118. Bristol Channel, not a barrier between the Welsh and Cornish- men, 19 ; ravaged by Danes, 103. Britannia, ambiguous use of term by Asser, 36, 37. Brixton Deverill, Wilts., Alfred musters his forces at, 102. Brochmail, son of Mouric, joint I king of Gwent, submits to Alfred, 42, 44. Burgred, king of the Mercians, grants land to Cered, 13 ; iEthel- wulf reduces Wales under, 37, 85, 88; brother-in-law of Alfred, 53, 88 ; asks help of ^thelred and Alfred, 88 ; expelled by Danes, 53, 100 ; dies at Rome, 98 n., 100, cf. 199 ; reason for his failure to help Wessex, 99 ; im- poses taxes to buy off the Danes, 100. Burgs, construction of, by Alfred, 110, III. Burgundy, king of, sec Carloman ; count of Upper, see Rudolf. Buttington, Montgomery, Danes blockaded at, 116. Cambridge, Danes winter at, 100. Canulen, William, his connexion with the Oxford interpolation in Assor, 24. Canterbury, archbishops of, see ^Elfheah, yEthelred, Augustine, Dunstan, Parker, Matthew, Pleg- mund. Canute, king of England, called * king of Germania,' 41 ; recon- ciled with the English at Oxford, 67 ; one of the creators of Eng- land's greatness, 200 «. INDEX 221 Carl, see Carloman. Carloman, king of Aquitaine and Burgundy, name correct inAsser, 17 ; called ' Carl ' in Chron., 17 ; called 'king of the Western Franks' in Asser, 40, 41. Ceolwulf, king of the Mercians, set up by the Danes, 66, 88, 100 ; exactions of, 66 ; stripped of part of Mercia, 102. Cered, receives land from Burgred of Mercia, 13 ; Werthryth, widow of, 13 ; Cuthwulf, kinsman of, 13- Charles the Great, Emperor, Ead- burh offends, 17 ; Liutgarde^ wife of, 1 7 w. ; Pippin and Charles, sons of, 17 ; his fondness for ancient poetiy, 38 w. ; begins a Frankish grammar, 38 n. ; called ' king of the Franks ' by Asser, 40 ; crowns Louis the Pious, 80 n. ; divides his dominions, 85 ; Fri- sians serve in navy of, 120 n. ; his administration of justice, 125 ; his legislation, 126 w. ; his liberality to foreign Christians, 129 71.; king of Persia sends a clock to, 131 w. ; relations of, with Irish princes, 131 n.; Pippin, father of, 131 ; founds a hospice and library at Jerusalem, 133 ; Court school of, 135 ; his inter- course with strangers, 160 ; his fondness for the De Ciuitate Dei, 191-2 ; comparison of, with Al- fred, 200-1 ; Einhard's life of, see Einhard. Charles, son of Charles the Great, unmarried, 17 n. Charles the Bald, king of the Franks, 40 ; receives ^thelwulf, 17, 76, 78 ; Judith, daughter of, 78 ; character of, 78 ; investiture of, by Louis the Pious, 196 n. Charles the Fat, -king of the Franks, 40 ; deposed by Arnulf, 17, 41 n. ; called 'king of the Alamanni,' 41 ; grants West Friesland to Guthfrith, 120 n. Charters, fewness of, belonging toAlfred's reign, 13; destruction of, by Danes, 13 ; Frankish ele- ments in, 18. Chaucer, his Monk's Tale founded on Boccaccio, 178 w. Chelsea, Middlesex, conference at. III. Chester, Danes fortify themselves at, but evacuate, 117. Chichester, Sussex, abortive Danish attack on, 117. Chippenham, Wilts., Danes try to seize Alfred at, 59, 61, 102, 162 ; captured by Alfred, 103. Chronicle, Anglo-Saxon, relation of Alfred to, 11, 145-6 ; value of, for reign of Alfred, 11-13 ; reti- cence of, as to Alfred, 12, 13 ; relation of, to Asser, 14, 48-51, 93 n. ; to Ethelwerd, 51 n., 60 ; to Henry of Huntingdon, 60, 61 ; to William of Malmesbury, 62 ; to Anglo-Saxon translation of Oro- sius, 146, 157-8 ; chronological error in, 50, 10471., 108, no, 113. Cirencester, Glouc, Danes retire to, 104. Clovis, king of the Franks, re- ceives consular insignia from Constantinople, 72, 73. Colne, E., Herts, Danes blockaded on, 1 14-5. Constantinople, Clovis receives consular insignia from, 72. Copenhagen, bombardment of, by Nelson, i6.-5. Cornwall, episcopal supervision of, 18-20 ; kings of, 19 (seeDum- garth) ; St. Guerier and St. Neot 222 INDEX buried in, 26 ; not included in Saxonia, 38 ; St. Neot settles in, 56- Corvey, Westphalia, John the Old Saxon, a monk of, 137. Croyland, Lines, monastery of, 66, 67 ; abbot of, see Ingulf ; monk of, see Tolius. Cuthbert, St., part played by, in the legends of Alfred, 62. Cuthred, joint king of the West Saxons, baptised by Birinus, 72. Cuthwulf, kinsman of Cered, 13 ; buys land of Cered's widow, Werthryth, 13; charter granted to, 13. Cj-nwit, Devon, fort of, surveyed by Asser, 16 ; besieged by the Danes, 44 ; Danes defeated at, 104. Danes, generic name for Scandi- navian invaders, 87 n. ; move- ments of, 12, 49, 75, 87, 88, 92-5, 98-104, 107, 108, 1 1 2-8 ; destruc- tion of documentsby, 13 ; division of Mercia by, 24 ; Celts take part with, 43, 99 ; in Northumbria, 42 ; winter in Dyfed, and besiege Cynwit, 44, 51 ; monasteries ra- vaged by, 53, 66, 127, 129 ; Burg- red expelled by, 53, 100; try to surprise Alfred at Chippenham, 57-9,61 ; young Dane educated by Alfred at Atlielney, 16; ravages of, 66, 77, 87?!., 121, 127, 129, 136, 138 ; winter in England, 74, 87 ; mobility of, 106, 107. Dante, his use of Boethius, 179; Ills theory of the Empire, 208-9. Dunubium, see Denmark. David, comparison of Alfred with, 149. Denmark, called 'Danubium' by Asser, 41 ; Canute, king of, 41. Devon, men of, resist the Danes, 103, 104 ; ealdorman of, see Odda. Driffield, Yorks., Aldfrid of North- umbria dies at, 65. Dubslane, one of three ' Scots ' who came to Alfred, 131. Duisburg, on the Rhine, Danes winter at, 40. Dumgarth, king of Cornwall, drowned in 875, 19. Dunstan, archbishop of Canter- bury, St. Neot said to have been a monk under (!;, 56. Durham, Simeon of, see Simeon. Dyfed, South Welsh kingdom, including Pembrokeshire and part of Carmarthenshire, Danes winter in, 44, 51, 103 ; king of, see Hemeid. Dyle, R., Belgium, Arnulf defeats the Danes on, 112. Eadbald, king of Kent, his in- cestuous marriage, 80. Eadburh, Alfred's maternal grand- mother, often seen by Asser, 16. Eadburh, daughter of Oflfa, and wife of Beorhtric of Wessex, her crimes, and subsequent mis- fortunes, 16, 17, 79 n. ; ofifends Charles the Great, 17. Eafa, of Wessex, confused with Off:\ of Mercia, 66. Ealhswith, daughter of ^thel- wulf, and wife of Burgred of Mercia, 88. Eanwulf, ealdorman of Somerset, alleged rebellion of, against ^thelwulf, 78, 79. East Anglia, not included in Saxonia, 38 ; Alfred sends fleet to, 64, 108 ; relation of, to Wessex, 85 ; occupied and con- quered by the Danes, 87, 88, 92, 105 ; Danes retire to, 104 ; Danes INDEX 223 of, rebel and ai'e punished', 108, 109 ; Alfred exacts oaths and hostages from, 113; share of, in the campaigns of 893 £f., 11 3-5, 1 1 7-8 ; kings of, see Edmund, Guthrum, Sigbert. Ecgbryhtesstan, identifications of, 102 n. Edgar, king of the West Saxons, panegyrics on, in Chronicle and Laws, 12 ; eclipses the fame of Alfred, 67, 129; English and Danes reconciled on basis of law of, 67 ; made a Confessor, 67 ; called ' darling of the English,' 161 71. Edington, Wilts,, battle of, 57, 61, 102, 103, 162. Edmund, St., king of the East Angles, martyred by the Danes, 88. Edmund, king of the West Saxons, panegyrics on, in Chronicle and Laws, 12. Edward, king of the West Faxons, son of Alfred, 96 w., 196 ; called 'the Great,' g6n. ; militaiy policy of. III ; defeats the Danes at Farnham, 114; blockades them on the Colne, 11 4-5 ; captures Benfleet, 115; document ad- dressed to, 125-6 ; carries out Alfred's foundation of the New Minster, I29n. Edward the Confessor, king of England, transference of See of Devon and Cornwall to Exeter by, 18, 19. Edward I, king of England, com- parison of, with Alfred, 200-2 ; bases the constitution on popular representation, 210; one of the creators of England's greatness, 200 w. Egbert, king of the West Saxons, Celts under, take part with the Danes, 43 ; advance of Wessex under, 85 ; reduces the Welsh, 85 ; makes iEthelwulf king of Kent, 85 ; his dominions divided at his death, 86 ; his sojourn on the Continent, 86 ; union of England under, 210. Egbert, king of part of North- umbria, set up by the Danes, 88. Einhard, his life of Charles the Great modelled on Suetonius' life of Augustus, 10. Elfred, see -^thelred. Elias III, patriarch of Jerusalem, Alfred corresponds with, 16, 33, 34, 132; miscalled Abel, and Bel, 33-4. Elised, see Helised. Elizabeth, queen of England, ecclesiastical policy of, 211. Ely, Cambridgeshire, Hereward's defence of, 59. England, English, kings of, see ^thelred II, Canute, Edward the Confessor, Edward I, George III, Henry II, Henry VI, Henry VIII, John, Richard I, William I ; queens of, see Eliza- beth, Victoria. Englefield, near Reading, Berks., Danes defeated at, 93. Essex ceded to the Danes, 105. Ethandun, identifications of, 102-3 71. Ethelwei'd, the Chronicler, cor- ruption of text of, 21, 60 ; termi- nology of, 37 >2. ; relation of, to the Chron., 51 71., 60; obscurity of, 60 ; his panegyric on Alfred, 12, 198; exaggerates Alfred's position, 63*1. ; mentions Alfred's Boethius, 185. Eugenius IV, Pope, Henry VI 224 INDEX applies to, for Alfred's canonisa- tion, 199 n. Exe. R., Devon, Alfred blockades mouth of, 10 1. Exeter, Devon, question of grant to Asser of See at, 18-20 ; trans- ference of bishopric to, under Edward theConf., 18-20 ; Danes steal away to, 49, 107 ; Danes occupy, loi ; recovered from the Danes by Alfred, 19, 102 ; be- sieged by the Danes, but relieved by Alfred, 115, cf. 117. Faremoutier-en-Bric(Fara), Lupus and Felix at monastery of, 18 n. Farnliam, Surrey, Edward defeats the Danes at, it 4. Felix, Frankish secretary of ^thel- wulf. Lupus of Ferrieres corre- sponds with, 17, 18 n. ; previously at Faremoutier, 17, 18 n. Fernmail, son of Mouric, joint king of Gwent, submits to Alfred, 42, 44. Ferrieres, d«;p. Loiret, abbot of, see Lupus. Florence of Worcester, relation of, to Asser, 15, 22, 23, 25, 28, 34, 49, 60, 64 ; his panegyric on Alfred, 12, 60, 197. France, king of, see Louis, St. Francia, tt-rm applied to the Caro- lingian Empire, 41. Fraiiki.sh element in Asser, 17, i^. Franks, kings of, see Carloman, Charles the Great, Charles the Bald, Charles the Fat, Clovis, Louis the Stammerer, Louis of Northern France ; Felix, a Frank, 18 n. Frisia, wiking settlements in, 1 19, 120. Frisians, serve in Alfred's navy, 119 ; and in that of Charles the Great, I20n. ; language of, akin to English, 1 19 n. ; settle in Eng- land, 120. Fulham, Middlesex, Danes evacu- ate, 104. Fulk, abp. of Rheims, letter of, to Abp. Plegmund, 1 28 ; doubtful letter of, to Alfred, 138-9 ; abbot of St. Bertin's, 137-8 ; murder of, 138 n. Fyrd, the native militia of the English, reorganised by Alfred, no. Galli, term applied to inhabi- tants of the Western Kingdom. 41. Gallia, term applied to the Western Kingdom, 41. George III. king of England, in- fluence of character of, 211. Germania, name given by Welsh writerstoNorway, 40, 41 ; Bede's and Alfred's uses of the term, 40 n., 160. Glastonbury, Somerset, St. Neot said to have been a monk at, 56 ; Alfred gives fragment of theTrue Cross to, 58 n. Glewissig, South Welsh kingdom, including the district between lower Usk and Towy. 44 ; king of, see Howel. Gloucester, Mercian Witenagemot held at, 13; St. Oswald's body translated to, 35. Gregory the Great, Pope, soul of Trajan granted to prayers of, 209 ; his Moralia used by Alfred. 191 ; his Dialogues, 8, 143-4; used by Alfred in the 'Blost- man,' 143-4; Bede's style influ- enced by, i7on. ; Anglo-Saxon translation of, 8, 141, 171 ; two recensions of, 145-6, 169; men- INDEX 225 tioned in Asser, 52. 141 ; cited by J^lfric, 167 ; ascribed to Wer- ferth, 142, 169 ; Alfred writes the preface to, 142-3 ; relation of, to Bede translation, 169, 170; his Pastoral Care, 8, 15 1-2 ; cited in Asser, 52 ; Alfred's translation of, 8, 10, 152-5; Preface to, 11, 20, 52, 136, 139, 140, 143, 193, 196, 199. Grimbald, a monk of St. Bertin's, 137 ; brought to England by Alfred, 17, 137; said to have been escorted to England by Asser, 18, 139; chronology of his life, 137-8 ; letter of Fulk of Rheims respecting, 138-9; made abbot of the New Minster, 1 39 ; dies, 139 ; helps Alfred with the Pastoral Care, 137, 143 n. Gualia, Wales, use of term, 37 w. Guerier, St., alleged visit of Alfred to shrine of, in Cornwall, 26, 29. Guthfrith, wiking chief, receives a grant of West Friesland, 120 n. Guthrum, Danish king of East Anglia, invasion of, 57-9 ; his submission and baptism, 42, 46, 68, 71, 103 ; death of, 109, no. Gvvent, South Welsh kingdom, including parts of Monmouth- shire and Herefordshire, kings of, see Brochmail, Fernmail, Mouric. Hadrian I, Pope, crowns Louis the Pious as king of Aquitaine, 74. Hsesten, Danish chief, his military movements, and treacherous ne- gotiations, 113, 115. Half dene, Danish chief, 104. Hampshire, men of, rally to Alfred, 102. Harold Hardrada, king of Norway, called king of Germania, 41. Heahmund, bishop of Shei-borne, killed at Marton, 92. Helised ap Teudyr, king of Bre- cheiniog, submits to Alfred, 42, 44. Hemeid, kingof Dyfed, commends himself to Alfred, 20, 42 ; perse- cutes St. Davids, 42 ; dies, 43. Henry de Ferrers, owns Ashdown Manor in Domesday, 94. Henry II, king of England, cha- racter of, by Stubbs, 2 ; com- parison of, with Alfred, 200 ; English administrative system due to, 210. Henry VI, king of England, applies to the Pope for Alfred's canonisa- tion, 199 n. Henry of Huntingdon, his mis- takes, 7 ; relation of, to Chron., 60,61 ; his treatise De Contemptu Mundi, 178 n. Henry VIII, king of England, ecclesiastical policy of, 211. Hereford, bishop of, see Athelstan. Hereward, his defence of the isle of Ely, 59 n. Hierosolyma, see Jerusalem. Howel, son of Rhys, king of Glewissig, dies at Rome in 885, 19, 44; his crime, 19, 44; sub- mits to Alfred, 42. Hubert, St., forged pedigree of, 57- Huntingdonshire, translation of St. Neot's relics to, 29. Iglea, identifications of, 102 n. India, Alfred sends alms to, 65, 66, 99, 134; first recorded in- stance of relations between Eng- land and, 134. Ingulf, abbot of Croyland, 2a6 INDEX Chronicle of, a forgery, but contains genuine traditions, 66, 99- Ingwar, Danish chief, 104. Ireland, Alfred said to have been sent to, 62 ; a good country fox- hunting, 83 n.; relations of Alfred with, 129, 131-2 ; love of pil- grimage in Chui-ch of, 131-2 ; relations of Charles the Great with, T31 n. Jacopone, his poem De Contemptu Mundi, 178. Jehan de Meun, two French trans- lations of Boethius' Consolatio ascribed to, 190. Jerusalem, Alfred said to have sent alms to, 65 ; three * Scots ' goto, 132; account of pilgrimages to, 132-4 ; Charles the Great founds a hospice and library at, 133 ; patriarchs of, see Elias, Theodosius. Joan of Arc, Alfred compared with, 107. John, king of England, character of, by Stubbs, 2. John the Old Saxon, abbot of Athelney, 66 n., 137 ; John Scotus Erigena confused with, 7 ; mili- taiy skill of, 16, 66 n. ; ln\!Ught to England by Alfred, 17, 137; two of his monks try to murder, 129, 137 ; helps Alfred with the Pastoral Care, 138, 14371. John VIIT, Pope, letter of, to Abp. iEthelrod, 127-8. John Scotus Erigona, commonly confused witli Jolin tho Old Saxon, 7. Joinville, his biograi)hy of St. Louis, 202. Juditli, second wife of Louis tho Pious, So. Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, marriage with iEthelwulf, 17, 78, 80 »i.; alleged marriage with ^thelbald, 17, 52, 76)1., 80. Kenny Castle, see Cynwit. Kent, kings of, see ^thelberht, Eadbald ; under-kings of, se^ ^thelberht, ^thelwulf, Athel- stan ; was Alfred ever under-kin? of? 74 ; makes a separate agree- ment with the Danes, 87. Langtoft, confusions of, 65. Latin, the sole vehicle of Western mediaeval culture, 81, 82, 136 ; decline of, in England, 82, 139. 140 ; influence of, on early ver- nacular prose, 171. Law, character of Anglo-Saxon, 121-2. Lea, R., Danes fortify themselves on, but are forced to retire from, 1 1 7-8. Leicester, confused with Chester, 9 n. ; bishop of, see Werebert. Leigh, near Westbury, Wilts., Alfred advances to, 102. Leo IV, Pope, letter of, to iEthel- wulf, 70, 72 ; confirms and anoints Alfred, 71-4, 76; forti- fies the Leonine suburb, 77 ; his death, 76. Liutgarde, wife of Charles tho Great, dies Soo, 17 n. LlandafF, Book of, cited, 37, 39».. 43, 44- Llunwerth, bishop of St. Davids, succeeds Nobis, 20, 44. Llwmbert, see Llunwerth. London, captured by the Danes in 85T, 109; Danes winter at, 90, 100, 109 ; retain possession of, under treaty of Wcdmore, 105, INDEX 22 109 ; acquired by Alfred, 108, 109 ; Alfred the second founder of, 109 ; committed to the care of ealdorman JEthelred, 109 ; conference on fortifications of, III ; reinforcements raised from, 115; captured Danish ships brought to, 115 ; garrison of, fail to storm Danish lines, 117. Long Dean, Wilts., Witenagemot held at, 1 26. Lothair I, Emperor, assists Leo IV to fortify the papal suburb, 77' Louis the Pious, Emperor, refuses to read the old heathen poems, 38 n. ; crowned king of Aqui- taine, at the age of three, 74 ; letter of ^thelwulf to, 74 ; his sons rebel against, 79 ; compared with ^thelwulf, 79 ; crowned by Charles the Great, 80 n. ; in- vestiture of Charles the Bald by, 1 9'') n. Louis the Stammerer, king of the Franks, 40. Louis, king of Northern France, called king of the Franks, 40. Louis, St., king of Fj-ance, com- parison of, with Titus, 161 Ji. ; with Alfred, 200, 202. Lupus, abbot of Ferrieres, corre- sponds with ^thelwulf and Felix, 17, 18 n., 71 n. ; previously at Faremoutier, 1 8 n. Lymne, R., Kent, Danes enter mouth of, 112. Macbeth, one of three 'Scots 'who come to Alfred, 131. Maelduin, the Voyage of, 132. Maelinmain, one of three ' Scots ' who came to Alfred, i.^i. Malmesbury, Wilts., William of, see William. MarcusAurelius, Roman Emperor, compai-ison of, with Alfred, 200. Marinus, Pope, St. Neot said to have visited, 56-8 ; grants privi- leges to English School at Rome, 58 ; said to have sent a fragment of the True Cross to Alfred, 58. Martia, legendary British Queen, Marton, Wilts., battle of, 92, 93, 95- Mercia, Witenagemots of, 13, 14 ; division of, by the Danes, 24, 102 ; not included in Saxonia, 38 ; Alfred acquires part of, 39 ; relation of, to Wessex, 85 ; Danes invade, 88, 99, 100 ; Welsh in- vade, 99 ; western part of, cleared of the Danes, 104 ; shire system introduced into, 121 ; supplies Alfred with teachers, 136, cf. 139??., 169; kings of, see Mthe\- bald, Beornred, Berhtwulf, Burg- red, Ceolwulf, Offa, Penda ; lady of, see ^thelfleed; ealdorman of, see iEthelred. Meretun, see Marton. Mersea, Essex, Danes retire to, 117. Milton (King's), Kent, Danes for- tify themselves at, 113 ; nego- tiations of Alfred with Danes at, 113, cf. 163. Milus, Eastern Saint, 34. Modus tenendi Parliament!, un- historical character of, 130 n. Modwenna, St., Alfred said to have been cured by, 63. More, Sir Thomas, Hallam's cha- racter of, 13; imitates Boethius' Consolatio, 179. Mouric, king of Gwent, father of Brochmail and Fernmail, 42, 44. Nachededorn, see Naked-thorn. 228 INDEX Naked-thorn, name of a Berkshire Hundred and Manor in Domes- day, 94. Nelson, Lord, anecdote of, 163. Neot, St., not identical with Athel- stan, king of Kent, 6; buried in Cornwall, 26, 29 ; translated to Huntingdonshire, 29 ; lives of, 24, 53-9, 67 ; the source of base- less legends about Alfred, 24, 27, 28, 53, 54, 67 ; made a son of ^thelwulf, ^^, 57; alleged devo- tion of Alfred to, 67, 68 ; Annals of, their i-elation to Asser, 22. Nero, Roman Emperor, Epistle to the Romans written under, 209. Newniinster, Winchester, Alfred plans the foundation of, 68, 129 ; abbot of, ftee Grimbald. Nicholas I, Pope, di^patches pil- grims to the East, 132. Nobis, bishop of St. Davids, ex- pelled by Hemeid of Dyfed, 42 ; dies in 873, 20 ; succeeded by Llunwerth, 20, 4^1. Northmen, use of the term, 87/1., see Danes. Northumbria, not included in Saxonia, 38 ; Danes in, 42 ; re- lation of, to Wessex, 85 ; con- quered by the Danes, 88 ; their occupation of, recognised at Wedmore, 105 ; relations of Al- fred with, 113 ; share of, in the campaigns of 893 ff., 113-5,1 17-8; stale of learning in, 139, 14071. ; kings of, see Aldfrid, Egbert, Os- wald ; «!arl of, see Siward. Norway, called Germania by Welsh writers, 40, 41 ; king of. sec Harold Hardrada. Notker III, of St. Gallen, trans- lates Boethius' C'onsolatio into High German, 189. Nottingham, Danes winter at, 88; -^thelred and Alfred march against, 88. Novis, see NoVjis. Odda, ealdorman of Devon, de- feats the Danes, 103, 104, ic6. Odo, count of Paris, king of the Western Kingdom, 41 m. Offa, king of the Mercians, Ead- burh, daughter of, 16 ; his dyke, 37 ; code of, 63 n. ; Alfr. d made descendant of, 65 ; his patronage of learning, 136. Ohthere, a Northman, voyage of, 160. Orosius, his universal history, 8, 157 ; Alfred's translation of, 8, 10, no, 159-65 ; relation of, to Chronicle, 146, 157-8; to the Bede translation, 156-9; to the Boethius translation, 159. Osburh, first wife of ^thelwulf. and mother of Alfred, 81, 83, 84. 123 ; not divorced by ^Ethelwulf, 84. Oswald, St , king of the Northum- brians, his body translated frojn Bardney to Glouce-ter, 34, 35. Oxford, interpolation in Asser relating to, 23, 24; legends re- lating to, 63, 68 ; English and Danes reconciled at, 67 ; Uni- versity of, carries on Alfred's work, 193 ; bishop of, sec Stubbs, William. Paris, descrij^tion of, by Asser, 18 ; count of, see Odo. Parker, Matthew, archbishop of Canterliury, interpolates the text of Asser, 24. Paul I. Pope, sends a liorologe to Pil>pin the Short, 131. Pavia, Eadburh of We.- sex, a men- dicant at, 16. INDEX 229 Penda, king of the Mercians, attacks the East Angles, 66. Persia, SS. Milus and Senneus martyred in, 34 ; king of, sends a clock to Charles tlie Great, 131 w. Petrarch, his treatise De Con- temptu Mundi, ijSn. Philip, tetrarch of Ituraea, his accessibility to suitors, 125. Pilgrimages, passion for, in ninth century, 71. Pippin, father of Charles the Great, Paul I sends a horologe to, 131. Pippin, son of Charles the Great, unmarried, 17 n. Plegmund, archbishop of Canter- bury, 127, 139 ; attends the con- ference of Chelsea, iii ; letter of Fulk of Kheims to, 128; a Mercian, 136 ; helps Alfred with the Pastoral Care, 138, 143 n. Psalter, Alfred's fondness for, 16, 140, 153 ; said to have translated part of, 147-9. Eeading, Berks , battles of, 93, 98 ; Danes abandon, 99. Relics, passion for, in ninth cen- tury, 71, 144-5. Repton, Derbyshire, Danes winter at, and destroy monastery of, 100. Rheims, dep. Marne, archbishop of, see Fulk. Rhys, father of Howel, king of Glewissig, 19, 42, 44, Richard I, king of England, char- acter of, by Stubbs, 2. Rochester, Kent, besieged by the Danes, and relieved by Alfred, 107, 108 ; captured Danish ships brought to, 115. Roger of Wendover, 25 ; uses a life of St. Neot, 54 ; his mistakes and confusions, 6^, 76 n. Rome, Werthryth goes to, 13 ; Howel ap Rhys dies at, 19, 44 ; English School at, see Saxones ; St. Neot visits, 56 ; visits of Alfred to, 70-6; ^thelwulf's visit to, 74-6 ; intellectual poverty of, 71 ; pilgrimages to, 71 ; attacks of the Saracens on, 77 ; Leonine suburb of, 77 ; Burg- red dies at, 98 w., ico, cf. 199; Alfred sends missions and alms to, 12, 99, 134-5,- three 'Scots' go to, 132 ; dangers of a pilgrim.- age to, 134. Rotri Mawr, king of North Wales, slain in 877, 19,43; sons of, 9, 42 ; Anaraut, son of, 42 ; avenged, 43- Rough thorn Farm, possibly marked the site of battle of Ash- down, 94. Rudolf, count of Upper Burgundy, king of the Middle Kingdom, 41 n. Rudolf, abbot of St. Bertin's, 137. St. Bertin's, Flanders, Grimbald, amonkof, 137; Fulk and Rudolf, abbots of, 137 ; attacks of Count Baldwin on, 137. St. Davids, Pembrokeshire, Alfred's protection desired for, 19, 42 ; Asser returns to, 21 ; Hemeid persecutes, 42 ; bishops of, see Asser, Llunwerth, Nobis. St. Omer, dep. Pas- de- Calais, France, St. Winnoc's body trans- lated to, and from, 35 n. Saracens, ravages of, 77 ; power of, in Italy and the East, 132-4 ; good police of, 134. Saxones, use of term by Asser, 37-9 ; school of, at Rome, 39, 230 INDEX 58 ; burnt, 76 ; restored by ^thelwulf, 76. Saxonia, meaning of, in Asser, 37, cf. 18, 85. Saxons, the Old or Continental, invaded by the Danes, 40 ; 4,500 of, massacred by Charles the Great, 201. Scots, see Ireland. Seals, use of, in England, 1 76 n. Secundarius, meaning of title, 40, 89-91. Seine, R, Danes retire to, 118. Senneus, Eastern saint, 34. Sergius II, Pope, ravages of Sara- cens under, 77. Severn, R., Danes march up, 116; march to, 1 1 8. Sevenis, wall of, 158-9, i6in. Shaftesbury, Wilts., one of Alfred's 'burgs,' I29n. ; monastery of, founded by Alfred, 68, 1 28. Slierborne, possible division of diocese of, 20, 21 Ji. ; bishops of, see Aldhelm, Asser, Heahmund, Wulfsigo. Shire-system, n(>t invented by Alfred, 6, cf. 121. Shoebury, Essex, Danes fortify themselves at, 115, 117. Sicily, conquered by Saracens, 77- Sigbert, ex -king of tlie East Angles, leads his subjects agaiust I'enda, 66. Simeon of Durham, relation of, to Asser, 23, 31, 32, 34, 64 ; double recension of jiart of, 31, 32, 61, 62. Simon do Montfort, experiment of representation tried by, 210. Sitliiu, see St. Omcr. Siward, earl of Northunibria, anecduto of, 61. Somerset, men of, rally to Alfred, 102 ; ealdormenof, seeJEthelnoth, Eanwulf. Southwick, Hants, priory of, for- merly owned Cotton MS. Otho, B. xi, 168 n. Spain, ravages of Danes in, 77. Stour, R., Essex, wikings de- feated at mouth of, 64, 108. Stubbs, "William, Lord Bishop of Oxford, his character as an his- torian and view of history, 1-3 ; his hopefulness, 3 ; loss to the Church by his death, 3-4. Suetonius, his life of Augustus copied by Einhard, 10. Swale, R., Kent, Danes enter, 113. Swanage, Dorset, Danish fleet wrecked off, loi. Tanistry, institution of, 89. Teudyr ab Elised, king of Brech- einiog, father of Helised ap Teudyr, 42, 44. Thames, R., Danes driven across, 114; march up, 115, n6 ; draw their ships up, 117. Thanes, increase of, under Alfred, III, 112. Thanet, Kent, Danes winter in, 87. Theodorio, the Ostrogoth, his treatment of Boethius, 17S-9. Theodosius, patriarch of Jerusa- lem, 34 7t., 133. Thomas, St., the Apostle, see India. Thorney, island on the Hert- fordshire Culne, Danes block- aded in, 1 14-5. Titus, Roman Emperor, anecdote of, 161 ; St. Louis compared to, 161 n. Tolius, mythical monk of Croy- laiid, 66. Torksey, Lines, Danes winter at, ICO. INDEX 231 Trajan, Roman Emperor, medi- aeval legend of, 209. Tyne, R, Egbert, king of district north of, 88 ; Danes winter on, 100. Ubba, Danish chief, defeated at Kenny Castle, 104. Verberie, France, dep. Oise,^thel- wulf marries Judith at, 78. Verden, Hanover, Charles the Great executes 4,500 Saxons at, 201 n. Victoria, queen of England, com- parison of, with Alfred, 200, 210 ; funeral sermon on, 207-13. "Wales, Danes retire to, 117 ; kings of North, see Anaraut, Eotri. Wallingford, Berks., Caesar fights a battle near, 158. Wanating, see Wantage. Wantage, Berks., Alfred born at, 22, 70. Wai-dour, Wilts., Alfred at, 125. Wareham, Dorset, Danes occupy, and evacuate, 100, loi. Wedmore, Somerset, Guthrum's chrism-loosing at, 103. Welsh, act in concert with the Danes, 99, of. 43 ; princes of, submit to Alfred, see Alfred ; co-operate against the Danes, 1 16. Wendover, Bucks, Roger of, see Roger. Werebert, bishop of Leicester, T37n. Werferth, bishop of Worcester, 127 ; robbed of woods at Wood- chester, 14 ; his heroism, 53 ; called St. Werferth, 53, 67 ; friendship of, with ^thelnoth, 106 ; a Mercian, 136, 169 ; trans- lation of Gregory's Dialogues ascribed to, 142, 169 ; Boethius translation wrongly assigned to, 185 n. Werthryth, widow of Cered, 13; disposes of her land to Cuthwulf, 13 ; her title-deeds carried off by the Danes, 13. Werwulf, Mercian priest, cliap- lain to Alfred, 136. Wessex, relations of, to other kingdoms, 85 ; cleared of the Danes, 104 ; Danes ravage coasts of, 118 ; kings of, see -^thelbald, ^thelberht, ^thelred, ^thel- wulf, Alfred, Athelstan,Beorhtric, Cuthred, Edgar, Edmund, Ed- ward, Egbert ; bishop of, see Birinus. Wight, Isle of, naval engagement off, 119. William I, king of England, owns the site of the battle of Ash- down, 94 ; one of the creators of England's greatness, 210. William of Malmesbury, his con- fusions and mistakes, 7 ; his account of Alfred, 62, 151 ; had special sources for Athelstan's reign, 62 ; relation of, to Asser and Chron., 62 ; his assertion that Alfred translated part of the Psalter, 147-50 ; librarian of Malmesbury, 150 ; his account of Alfred's Boethius translation, 1S8-9. Willibald, St., pilgrimage of, to Jerusalem, 134?!. Wilton, Wilts., battle of, 98, 99. Wilts , men of, rally to Alfred. 102 ; ealdornian of, see ^thel- helm. Wimborne, Dorset, ^thelred in- terred at, 98. Winchester, ^Ethelwulf said to have been bishop of, 7 Asser 232 taken ill at, 21 ; captured by Danes, 79, 87 ; New Minster at, see Newminster ; connexion of Chronicle with, 147, 151 ; and of Domesday with, 151 ; Alfred buried at, 198 ; bishops of, see ^Ifheah, I and II, iEthclwold. Winnoc, St., his body translated fromWoi-mhoulttoSt. Omer, and thence to Bergues, 35 n. Woodchester, Gloucestershire, bishop Werferth robbed of woods at, 14. Worcester, fortified by ^thelred and -Sthelflsed. iii ; bishop of, INDEX see Wei%i-th ; Florence of, see Florence. Wormhoult, d6p. Nord, France ; St. Winnoc's body translated from, 35 n. Wrekin, the, Shropshire, Danes in the district of, 75. Wulfsige, bishop of Sherborne, a copy of the Pastoral Care ad- dressed to, 20 ; succeeded by Asser, 20 n. Wulfstan, voyage of, 160. York, Danes at, 92 ; ^thelnoth attacks the Danes at, 117 n. OF THE UNIVERSITY a i RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT TO^-^ 202 Main Library LOAN PERIOD 1 HOME USE 2 3 4 5 6 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS Renewals and Recharges may be made 4 days prior to the due date. Books may be Renewed by calling 642-3405 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW , ^SlA^^ ^y APp 4 2006 FORM NO. DD6 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY BERKELEY, CA 94720 I U.C. BERKELEY LIBRARltb COmVIBSSD UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY :^^ ;^'^!C