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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

THE SOURCES OF
MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN

BY

HARRY GLICKSMAN

YALE
DISSERTATION.

REPRINTED FROM
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
IN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
NUMBER 11

THE SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN1
Harry Glicksman
Milton's sources for his History of Britain were of two
principal kinds. There were, first, those general compilatiors,
written during or near his own time, in which the authorities
for early English history were presented to him in an in
termediate manner, and only after free handling by their
interpreters. Secondly, there were those mediaeval sources
which, sometimes in a strict, and at other times in a more
liberal sense may be called original.
Milton consulted works of the former class when he en
countered a period for which a large number of separate
authorities offered distinct contributions. He discovered, for
example, that after the retirement of Agricola and until the
fall of Rome, he would be obliged to piece together a structure
of fact derived from a bewildering array of authors — among
them Eutropius, Dion, Spartianus, Capitolinus, Eumenius,
Zosimus, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Victor Aurelius.2 With
that prospect, he turned to the exhaustive De Primordiis
of Usher,3 published in 1639, which had, for several years
before its appearance, been eagerly awaited by antiquarian

1 The History of Britain, That part especially now call'd England. From
the flrst Traditional Beginning, continu'd to the Norman Conquest. Col
lected out of the antientest and best Authours thereof by John Milton.
London, Printed by J. M. for James Allestryj at the Rose and Crown in
St. Paul's Church- Yard, MDCLXX.
For helpful advice and suggestive material I acknowledge my Indebted
ness to Professor Albert S. Cook, of Tale University, under whose super
vision I made a special study of the History of Britain during the academic.
year 1917-18.
2 See pp. 219 ff. Throughout this article, a page citation is to be re
garded, in the absence of other data, as a reference to Milton's Histo.ru
of Britain in Vol. V of the Bohn edition of the Prose Works.
•James Usher (or Ussher), Archbishop of Armagh (1581-1656). The
work is known both as Britannicarum Eeolesiarum Antiquitates and as
De Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Primordiis.

106 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
scholars. Por its ecclesiastical data Milton had little regard,
but mingled with these he would find material of a political
character that could readily serve his ends. The treatise on
the Roman occupation in Camden's Britannia was another
valuable work; and in two instances Milton renders it plain,
by marginal references, that only through Camden's con
spectus has he found his way to the original sources.* Por
this period, also, he must have summoned the help of the
painstaking Speed, who, with his abundant citations, doubt
less recalled the days of the Commonplace Book; the elaborate
description of British manners and customs in the Second
Book, for instance, shows resemblance, in many features, to
a chapter on the same subject in Speed's work.5 The use
of a conspectus is likewise indicated in the Third Book,
especially for the period dealing with the Britons' resistance
to the Teutonic invaders. Here one meets the names of
Paulus Diaconus, Blondus, Sabellicus, Constantius, Sigonius,
Widukind, and Sigebert,6 each of whom makes a relatively
insignificant contribution; and the direct marginal references
to Usher 's work7 enhance the probability that it was employed
as a vade mecum. It was largely to Usher, though in part
also to Camden and Speed, that Milton seems to have owed
his knowledge of the early British chronicler Nennius, whose
Historia, which did not appear in print until 1691, he used
freely.8 The digests of modern writers were resorted to,
moreover, for the legendary material, which Milton examined
with sceptical scrutiny. He called Holinshed into service

•Pp. 227-9.
sPp. 197-8; see also Speed, History Great Brit., ed. 1627, pp. 166 ft.
•Pp. 241 ff.
'Pp. 245, 251, 256.
8 The following letter from Usher to Sir Simonds D'Ewes is contained
in Parr, Life and Letters of James Usher (p. 506).
Quo tempore & Ninium, (ita enim appello, & vetustissimi codicis author-
itatem, & nominis ejusdem in Ninia, & Niniano expressa vestigia, secutus)
cum variis MSS. a me non indiligenter comparatum, tecum sum communl-
caturus ; ut Bxemplaria Cottoniana (quibus in hac ipsa collatione ego sum
usus) denua consulete necesse non habeas. Nam ad diplomata Anglo-
Saxonica quod attinet: non in uno aliquo volumine simul collecta, sed
per varios illius Bibliothecse libros dispersa ea fuisse animadverti, de
quibus in unum corpus compingendis, dabitur (ut spero) opportunus tecum

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 107
at an early point,9 and there is clear evidence that he con
sulted Stow in recounting the adventures of Ebranc and
Brutus.10 It may be safely assumed, indeed, that Milton,
throughout the work, bore in mind the plan' and the treatment
of Holinshed, of Stow, and of Speed, who were generously
represented in the Commonplace Book.11 To them, notably
Speed, he could revert at any time to learn what sources were
likely to provide the most reliable information, and the widest
range of it, for a given period.
The foregoing suggests an important fact. Milton's em
ployment of the works of modern compilers never enslaved
him. He is always to be conceived as dividing his attention —
or as instructing his readers and amanuenses to divide theirs
— between the conspectus on the one hand, and the original
authority on the other. He has Holinshed, Stow, and Speed
at his elbow while he composes the First Book, but he knows
that Geoffrey, for a half-historical and half-poetical purpose
like that at hand, is the best of the mediaeval chroniclers. He

coram consultandi locus ; Interim ut egregiis tuis conatibus Deus adsit &
benedicat, summis votis exoptat qui
Londini, xii Kal. Jul. Ex. animo tuus est,
An M. D C. X L. ja. Armachanus.
Cf. Nennius, ed. Stevenson, pp. xix-xx. On Usher's interest in early Eng
lish history, see Adams, Old English Scholarship, p. 115.
•P. 167.
10 Pp. 174-5 ; see also Stow, Annates, ed. 1631, p. 9.
11 For a. discussion of this topic, see Charles H. Firth, Milton as an
Historian, Proceedings of the British Academy for 1907-8.
Fueter (.Geschichte der neueren Historiographie, p. 166) implies that
Firth's treatment is inadequate, since the latter compares Milton with
only these three chroniclers. Fueter's criticism is unjust. Holinshed,
Stow, and Speed were, as Firth shows, the modern English historians
whom Milton had read with special attention ; there is hence a special
interest in comparing him with them.
On Milton's relatively sceptical and scientific attitude toward the legend
ary material, see Firth, pp. 233-6. Of special interest is his comment
on the handling of the Arthurian story :
"Milton's treatment of the Arthurian legend is a still more interesting
example of the progress of scepticism. The three chroniclers who were
the standard historians of Milton's time all doubted the details of the
legend, but believed that Arthur was a real king who gained genuine
victories. 'Of this Arthur,' says Holinshed's Chronicle, 'many things are
written beyond credit, for that there is no ancient author of authority that
confirmeth the same ; but surely as may be thought he was some worthy

108 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
consequently follows him page by page. When, in the Second
Book, he takes up the De Primordiis of Usher, he does not
limit himself to the scope of that history. Usher 's scrupulous
respect for ecclesiastical records would persuade Milton to
pay him no more than a grudging heed. He therefore makes
examination, on his own account, of Ammianus Marcellinus
and Dion, of Zosimus and Orosius.12 The employment of
Usher's volume in the Third Book, in like manner, cannot
preclude him from consulting Malmesbury, Huntingdon, Bede,
and Gildas, with all of whom he has independent acquaint
ance, relying upon them, in fact, in other parts of his history.13

man, and by all likelihood a great enemy to the Saxons, by reason whereof
the Welshmen, which are the very Britons indeed, have him in famous
remembrance.' Then at great length he relates the legendary life and
exploits of the hero (Holinshed, Chronicles, ed. 1587, bk. 1, pp. 90-3).
"Stow is briefer, but adopts much the same position. 'Of this Arthur
there be many fabulous reports, but certain he was (saith William of
Malmesbury) a prince more worthy to have advancement by true histories
than false fables, being the only prop and upholder of his country." He
supports the truth of the story by identifying the sites of Mon Badonicus
and the Castle of Camelot, and describing the remains found there (Stow,
Chronicle, ed. 1631, pp. 53-5). The critical Speed quotes Malmesbury
too, and condemns Geoffrey of Monmouth for discrediting the truth about
Arthur by his toys and tales. 'Of his person,' he concludes, 'we make no
doubt, though his acts have been written with too lavish a pen' (Speed,
History of Great Britain, ed. 1632, p. 271).
"Milton is much more thoroughgoing. All that happened about that
time is doubtful. 'The age whereof we now write hath had the ill hap
more than any since the flrst fabulous times, to be surcharged with all
the idle fancies of posterity.* He introduces Arthur by describing him
as a British leader, 'more renowned in songs and romances than true
stories.' With real insight he dismisses at once the mediaeval fictions
and examines the account of Nennius as the only evidence of any real
value." Firth's article, which contains an elaborate treatment of sources, dis
cusses the relation of the History to certain additional fields of interest —
to Milton's biography and personality, his thought and scholarship; to
the literary and philosophical influences which operated upon the com
position and content of the work; and to the political and ecclesiastical
environment of Milton's age.
With respect to the sources, the present article, which includes some of
Firth's material, aims to supplement his treatment by discussing (1) the
comparative attention which Milton gave to his several authorities, and
the relative degrees in which he employed modern compilations and origi
nal sources; (2) the extent to which he put himself in touch with the
accessible authorities; (3) the relation of the History to Wheloc's Anglo-
Saxon scholarship; (4) the use of chronological data; and, especially,
(5) Milton's art as a translator from Latin into English.
12 Pp. 223, 229, 233.
n Pp. 250 ff. - -i

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 109
Milton's tendency, in a word, is not to put his trust in other
men's research, nor to view the original sources through the
medium of digests and synopses; it is rather to make these
cumulative writings serve the ultimate authorities as sup
plements and aids. In this fashion he uses Higden's Poly-
chronicon, Spelman's Concilia, and Calvisius' Opus Chrono-
logicum.1* His impatience with tradition and precedent is
typical of his character. He aims, accordingly, to depend asf
little as possible on those intermediate and superfluous steps
which intervene between himself and the original, and he
ignores them wherever he reasonably can. There are, it is
true, cases in which he is practically compelled to consult
modern historical specialists, but here he manifests similar
intolerance. He feels bound, for instance, to recognize in
Camden the most authoritative English geographer of his
age, and he consequently cites the Britannia whenever ques
tions of topography arise.15 But he takes pains to notify his
readers that he finds it distasteful and beside the purpose
"to wrinkle the smoothness of history with rugged names of
places unknown, better harped at in Camden and other
chorographers. "16 Por occasional bits of Scottish history, or
for points of contact between the English annals and the
Scottish, he turns to Buchanan's Rerum Scoticarum Historia,
but the fanciful accounts of that uncritical historian, whom
he taxes with paraphrasing "the fables of his predecessor
Boethius," invariably repel him.17 It is curious, in the light
of this unmitigated censure, that he distinguishes Buchanan
with any mention whatever. The circumstance is probably
to be explained by his conscientious and scholarly resolve to
gather the accessible data, those both of higher and of lower
merit, for his readers' individual inspection, and partly, it
is feared, by the jrrepressible desire to display his contempt
for Scottish historical writing. Even more surprising is his
use of the Dutch-Danish Pontanus, from whose Rerum Dani-

«Pp. 213, 259, 273, 308.
"B. g., pp. 188, 255, 266, 274, 297, 319, 328, 362, 383.
»P. 299.
"Pp. 242, 261, 305, 331.

110 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
carum Historia he strives, with frail success, to develop a
harmonious statement of the Scandinavian ravages.18 There
is here, also, a strong intimation that Milton, in spite of his
stern judgment on the writer, regarded it as too radical and
arbitrary to overlook him altogether. Though he ' ' contributes
nothing,"19 it is the part of wisdom and sound scholarship
to record that he has been searched.
Milton's usual practice, however, is to take his material
from the early authorities. He attempts to discover the
"aneientest author,"20 and this done, he addresses himself
to the task of determining in what manner his successors have
supplemented or repudiated him. He shows his discrimina
tion at the very outset. He knows that behind Geoffrey lie
the fables of Nennius;21 he is also aware that Geoffrey's ac
count is presented, in substance, by the later Matthew of
Westminster.22 Yet in the version of Geoffrey, whom he de
clares to be "the principal author,"23 he sees the most
promising fund for the treatment of the centuries preceding
Caesar's invasion. Since he knows little or nothing of the
more recent science of ethnology, since the terms Celtic, Gaelic,
and Cymric cannot signify to him what they do to subsequent
scholars, he must rest content with the most intelligible and
consistent exposition of the old fables and half-truths that
he can find. Though he condemns Geoffrey for his sim
plicity,21 there is the conviction that he, of all the earlier
writers, will offer the best material. Varying the narrative
with references to Csesar, Mela, Nennius, Virunnius, Gildas,
and Floras;25 with borrowings, as indicated above, from
modem English commentators; and with one quotation, by

18 Pp. 301, 309, 317-8, 347.
>»F. 347.
20 See mention of Bede on p. 221.
21 See p. 167.
32 See Gross, Sources and Lit. Eng. Hist., p. 362.
*> P. 168.
24 Pp. 220-1, 243.
MPp. 165, 166, 167, 171, 179, 180. The reference to Floras seems trace
able to Camden. Milton's passage reads (p. 180) : "Thus much is more
generally believed, that both this Brennus, and another famous captain,
Britomarus, whom the epitomi-st Florus and others mention, were not
Gauls, but Britains; the name of the flrst in that tongue signifying a

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 111
way of tribute, from the verses of his admired ' Spenser,'2'
he; clings to Geoffrey's, story through the whole, of the First
Book. In no other part of the H istory does he employ a
source so freely for the same number of consecutive pages.27
When Milton reaches the Second Book, he has his first op
portunity to make known what he really believes about the
use of historical authorities. He is now within • grasp of
authentic records; he pauses to reflect that "great acts and
great eloquence have most commonly gone hand in hand";28
and he forthwith devotes himself to what he calls the " trans- 1
cription" of the Roman writers. The works of historians of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries might have supplied
¦him with a large proportion of the data affecting the, period
from Caesar's first invasion to the end of Agricola's governor
ship; but the scruples of the true scholar direct him to ascer
tain whether "aught by diligence may be added or omitted,
or by other disposing may be more explained, or more ex
pressed."29 For Caesar's British campaigns he follows the
De Bello Gallico faithfully, though with ample regard for
English idiom,30 using Suetonius, Cicero, Valerius Maximus,
Plutarch, Dion, Pliny, and Bede for only supplementary and
confirmatory minutiae.31 Recogni2;ing that the first century
after Christ is known mainly through Dion's Historia, and
through the Annales and the Vita Agricolce of Tacitus,32 he

king, and of the other a great Britain." Cf. Britannia, ed. Gough, I.
lxxii-iii: "And some think they can easily prove king Brennus, so famous
in Greek and Latin historians, to have been a. Britan. Thus much I
know, that this name is not yet worn out among the Britans, who call a
king in their language Brennvn. The name shews Britomarus, general
among them mentioned by Florus and Appian, to have been a Britan, his
name importing Great Briton."
28 P. 175. The verses are found in F. Q. 2. 10. 24.
27 Specimens of Milton's translation of Geoffrey's text, with the Latin
in parallel columns, are found below, pp. 125-9.
"P. 185.
»P. 186.
30 See, for example, below, p. 130.
"Pp. 186, 188, 189, 192, 195; 196.
32 The following is of interest as an illustration of Milton's close but.
idiomatic rendering of Tacitus:
Britannorum acies in speciem simul The British powers on the hill side;.
ac terrorem editioribus locis con- as might best serve for show and1
stiterat ita, ut primum agmen in terror, stood in : their : battalions ;
aequo, ceteri per adclive iugum the flrst on even ground, the next

112

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES

conexi velut insurgerent; media
campi covinnarius eques strepitu
ac discursu complebat. turn Agri-
cola superante hostium multitudine
veritus, ne in frontem simul et lat-
era suorum pugnaretur, diductis
ordinibus, quamquam porrectior
acies futura erat et arcessendas
plerique legiones admonebant,
promptior in spem et Annus adver-
sis, dimisso equo pedes ante vexilla
constitit (Tit. Agric, ed. Furneaux,
pp. 142-3).
It is enlightening, also, to compare the close translation of Dion in
Petrie's Monumenta Historica Britannica (Ex Scriptoribus Grascis etc.,
p. liv) with Milton's more independent, though accurate, rendering.

rising behind, as the hill ascended.
The field between rung with the
noise of horsemen and chariots
ranging up and down. Agricola.
doubting to be overwinged, stretches
out his front, though somewhat
with the thinnest, insomuch that
many advised to bring up the
legions: yet he not altering, alights
from his horse, and stands on foot
before the ensigns (p. 217).

Plautius, therefore, had much diffi
culty in seeking them out; but
when he did discover them, as they
were not independent but subject to
different kings, he overcame first
Cataratacus, then Togodumnus, the
sons of Cynobellmus, who was now
dead. These taking to flight, he
brought a part of the Boduni, who
were under the dominion of the
Catuellani, to terms of peace. Here
leaving a garrison, he proceeded
farther. But when they arrived at
a certain river, which the barbar
ians supposed the Romans could not
pass without a bridge, and in con
sequence had taken up their posi
tion carelessly on the opposite
bank, he sends forward the Celti,
who, even armed, were accustomed
to swim with ease over the most
rapid rivers; who, attacking them
contrary to their expectation,
wounded not the men indeed, but
the horses which drew their char
iots; which being thrown into con
fusion, they who rode therein were
no longer secure. Next he sent
over Flavius Vespasianus, who af
terwards enjoyed the supreme rule,
and his brother Sabinus as next in
command ; these also, having passed
the river at a certain place, killed
many of the barbarians by surprise.
The rest, however, did not fly, but
the following day again maintained
the conflict nearly on equal terms,
until Cneius Osidius Geta, though

Plautius, after much trouble to find
them out, encountering flrst with
Caractacus, then with Togodum
nus, overthrew them ; and receiving
into conditions part of the Boduni,
who then were subject to the Catuel
lani, and leaving there a. garrison,
went on toward a river : where the
Britons not imagining that Plautius
without a bridge could pass, lay on
the further side careless and secure.
But he sending first the Germans,
whose custom was, armed as they
were, to swim with ease the strong
est current, commands them to
strike especially at the horses,
whereby the chariots, wherein con
sisted their chief art of fight, be
came unserviceable. To second them
he sent Vespasian, who in his lat
ter days obtained the empire, and
Sabinus his brother ; who unexpect
edly assailing those who were least
aware, did much execution. Yet
not for this were the Britons dis
mayed ; but reuniting the next day,
fought with such courage, as made
it hard to decide which way huns
the victory: till Caius Sidius Geta,
at point to have been taken, recov
ered himself so valiantly, as brought
the day on his side ; for which at
Rome he received high honours (pp
200-1).

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 113
assigns to those works the largest share of his attention,
availing himself, however, of Orosius,33 Suetonius, the Historia
of Tacitus, Eutropius, and in one instance even of a Juven-
alian satire, for the filling in and corroboration of his ac
count.34 After the recall of Agricola he turned for special
guidance to the modern writers, in whose works he could find
references to the Historia Augusta, Eumenius, Ammianus,
Prosper Tiro, Zosimus, Procopius, and Socrates.35 Arrived
at the end of the Roman occupation, he must take leave of
the Greek and Roman historians, and rely on the only original
sources, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, that
are offered him — the chronicles of the monks. "Yet these
guides," he comments resignedly, "where can be had no
better, must be followed."36 The language then ensuing
augurs plainly what Milton's policy is to be. "In gross,"
he asserts, referring to the quality of the monkish sources,
"it may be true enough; in circumstances37 each man, as his
judgment gives him, may reserve his faith, or bestow it."
Since the details submitted by the monks need the narrowest
scrutiny, their writings, Milton would argue, must be ex-
in imminent danger of being made
prisoner, ultimately so completely
defeated them, that he received
triumphal honours, although he had
not yet served the office of consul.
" Milton was sometimes constrained to adopt inaccurate references.
Citing Paulus Orosius in support of the statement that "Caesar to his flrst
journey, entertained with a sharp flght, lost no small number of his foot,
and by tempest nigh all of his horse" (pp. 196-7), he remarks that Orosius
"took what he wrote from a history of Suetonius now lost." For Orosius'
statement as to Csssar's flrst journey, see Orosius, Historiarum adversum
Paganos Libri vii, ed. Zangemeister, p. 377. That he believed he was
following Suetonius in his account of Caesar is made clear by a previous
passage: "Hanc historiam Suetonius Tranquillus plenissime explicuit,
cuius nos, conpetentes portiunculas decerpsimus" (ibid., p. 369). Sueton
ius, in fact, furnishes no such data. The conclusion is that Orosius,
using a contraction of Caesar's Commentaries, mistook Caesar for Sueton
ius. Milton was evidently misled by Orosius' error, inferring that the
mysterious work of Suetonius had been lost. See Reifferscheid, Remains of
Suetonius, p. 471.
34 Pp. 196, 199, 207, 219.
"The ecclesiastical historian.
»P. 235.
"The flrst edition (1670) reads circumstance.

m UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES
amined as a whole, and every one in comparison with every
other. This theory is actually applied in the Third Book.
Along with Gildas, the earliest of British historians, who
furnishes him with much material, he considers Bede, who
follows two centuries later, and their followers — Malmesbury,
the imaginary Matthew of Westminster, Huntingdon, and
Florence. With Usher's De Primordiis ready at hand, he
is still sensible of the higher value of original authorities;
and with these early sources before him, he is conscious that
they must be treated as checks and balances upon each other.
In passing from the Teutonic conquest to the Christianiza-
tion of England,38 Milton encounters a monk whom, in spite
of anti-monastic prejudice, he sincerely respects. The Ec
clesiastical History of the Venerable Bede, with its strong
flavor of "superstition and monastical affectation,"39 is not,
to be sure, the kind of work that Milton would select, had he
the choice of his sources. Complaining in one breath that
he is uncertain "whether Beda- was wanting to his matter,
or his matter to him,"40 he acknowledges in the next that
the absence of that author will, for the interval ending at
the ' ' Danish Invasion, ' '41 be felt keenly. His attitude towards
this standard history is, in practical effect, one of honest
appreciation. In the presence of Bede, as in that of Caesar
' and Tacitus, he realizes that he has come into contact with
an ultimate source. Although he ignores most of the re
citals of miraculous intervention, and the long accounts of
ecclesiastical councils, he recognizes that he must delve in
chapters full of such material, in order to construct a re
liable version of the history of the Heptarchy for the seventh
century and the first third of the eighth. The contributions
of subsequent authorities, such as Malmesbury, Huntingdon,
Florence, Matthew of Westminster, and the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, are only incidental. But those and others like
them are, after Bede's departure, the sources in which Milton

33 Pp. 267 ff.
"P. 295.
<° Ibid.
" Ibid.

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 115
must repose his faith. It is a dismal prospect he now sees.
Some comfort he finds in the "style and judgment"42 of
Malmesbury, but apart from him he anticipates little except
the irresponsible "conjectures and surmises" of the com
mentators on the "obscure and blockish chronicles." For
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, though in large measure an
original authority, offers only spasmodic help. Wheloc's im
perfect Latin translation interfered somewhat with intelligent
study of this valuable text;43 there seems to have been the
thought, besides, that even in its clearest passages it stood
in constant need of interpretation. It is charged that the
compilers are "ill-gifted with utterance,"44 and, in one in
stance, that they "deliver their meaning with more than
wonted infancy."45 If he places little trust in the "chief
fountain ' ' of his story, as he terms the Chronicle,™ he reposes
"P. 295.
M Abraham Wheloc's edition of Bede's Ecclesiastical History and the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle appeared in 1643. To those unfamiliar with
Anglo-Saxon the printing of the Chronicle was an occasion of special im
portance ; for by the side of the original text was a. Latin translation.
As to Wheloc, see Eleanor N. Adams, Old English Scholarship in England
from 1S66-1800.
It is clear that Milton, apparently unable to read or understand the ,
Anglo-Saxon, relied upon the Latin. He charges the chronicler with run
ning into "extravagant fancies and metaphors" in his version of the Battle
of Brunanburh. Wheloc, indeed, confesses his helplessness before the
task of translating the ballad account of the battle, and feels obliged to
add the following marginal note for the year 938: "Idioma hie et ad
annum 942 et 975 perantiquum et horridum lectoris candorem et dili-
gentiam desiderat." Cf. Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 1. CXXVIII. Wuelcker
(Ccedmon und Milton, Angl. 4.404) enlists Milton's disregard of the ballad
to prove that he was not familiar with Anglo-Saxon.
The chronicler, wishing to name the place of Eadred's death, says simply :
"On Frome" (Sax. Chron. 1. 112). Wheloc misinterpreted the phrase,
translating it "in astatis vigore" (ibid., ed. Wheloc, p. 558). Milton, fol
lowing Wheloc's Latin, says of Eadred that he sickened "in the flower of
his youth" (p. 339). Wheloc was evidently misled by the Anglo-Saxon
adjective from (freom), meaning "strong," "abundant," "virtuous."
Again, Wheloc writes "turn exercitus Ite domum vociferatur," in an at
tempt to render "pa se fyrdstemn for ham." See Sax. Chron. 1. 103 ;
ibid. 2. CXXVIII, note 5 ; ibid., ed. Wheloc, p. 553. Milton writes unsus
pectingly : "Whereat the king's soldiers joyfully cried, out to be dismissed
home" (p. 330).
"P. 324,
"P. 318.
« Ibid.

jig UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
even less in its interpreters, nearly all of them monks, of
whom he contemptuously observes that they "gloss and
comment at their pleasure."47 Approaching his material in
such a spirit, it is little wonder that, instead of casting his
lot with any one writer, he searches among them all, con
vinced that the best is bad enough. To Simeon of Durham's
Historia Regum, which became available in print at the ap
pearance of Twysden's Scriptores Decern in 1652, and pre
sented the annals in a reasonably clear and objective manner,
he gives a certain preference.48 It is evident, in the last
analysis, however, that from Simeon he derives little more
than a prima facie version. He borrows copiously from him,
but only after weighing him with one or more of a number
of others, with the Chronicle, Ethelwerd, Malmesbury, Flor
ence, Huntingdon, Hoveden, Ingulf, and the Flores of the
so-called Matthew of Westminster.48

" Ibid.
"Pp. 296 ff. Firth (p. 230) correctly assumes that Milton used this
edition of Simeon, calling attention to the fact that that author is re
ferred to not only in the last two Books, the Fifth and Sixth, but also
towards the end of the Fourth (see references to Simeon beginning on
p. 296). This circumstance sheds light upon a. biographical passage in
the Second Defense wherein Milton relates that he had hoped, after the
establishment of the Commonwealth, to be released from engagements
in the public behalf, and that he then turned his attention to continuing
the History, which, he declares, was to be "from the earliest times to the
present period" (Bohn 1. 261). "I had already finished four books," he
adds, "when .... I was surprised by an invitation from the
council of state, who desired my services in the office for foreign affairs."
He refers to his appointment, in March 1649, as Secretary for Foreign
Tongues. Since there is clear evidence of the use of Simeon in the
Fourth Book, it is to be inferred that what Milton in 1649 — and until
1654, the date of the publication of the Second Defense — regarded as
the end of the Fourth Book, was a point at or about p. 296 of the Bohn
text, where he is taking reflective leave of Bede's Ecclesiastical History,
and is looking forward, with no little misgiving, to the authority of the
later monks. About six years after, instead of beginning the Fifth Book
at that point, he merely continued the Fourth, including in the latter the
new material from Simeon which had become accessible during the
interval. " For the period of the Saxon Heptarchy, however, Milton's several
authorities gave him only meagre satisfaction. "Such bickerings to re
count, met often in these our writers, what more worth is it," he queries,
"than to chronicle the wars of kites or crows, flocking and fighting in
the air?" (p. 304).

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 117
Milton continues, indeed, during the remainder of the work,
to exercise this caution. At the same time, he is not pre
cluded from laying additional stress, wherever it is merited,
on a given authority. For the reign of Alfred and the events i
immediately preceding it, he summons the aid of Asser ; '
during the succeeding half -century50 he avails himself largely ,
of the Chronicle?1 but never in entire disregard of its com
mentators; for whole portions of the reigns of Ethelred the
Redeless, Cnut, Harold Harefoot, and Edward the Confessor,
he borrows from the clearly arranged narrative of Simeon,
showing, however, in his treatment of the Danish kings, that

Firth (p. 248) quotes this passage, citing Hume (Hist. Eng. 1. 25), who,
referring to the figure of the kites and crows, declares it natural that the
"great learning and vigorous imagination of Milton" could not contend
with the task of bringing orderly arrangement out of the confused trans
actions and battles of the Saxon Heptarchy." Green remarks that Milton
"scorned" as battles of the kites and crows the interesting and significant
"struggles of Northumbrian, Mercian, and West Saxon kings to establish
their supremacy over the general mass of Englishmen" (Making of Eng.,
ed. 1882, p. 245). Plummer, citing Lappenberg, is disposed to connect
the passage, "which for long did so much harm to the study of early Eng
lish history," with the report, by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, of the mur
rain of the birds in 671 (Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 2.29). See also Lap
penberg, A History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings, ed. 1881
(trans. Thorpe), 1. 291-2.
MPp. 327 ff.
M In illustration of a close use of the Chronicle, observe the following
(the Latin is Wheloc's) :
Turn perquam cito postea populus Encouraged by this, the men of
multus, cum de Cantio, turn de Kent, Surrey, and part of Essex,
Suthregia, & East-Saxonia, turn de enterprise the siege of Colchester,
proximis urbibus collectus, Coleces- nor gave over till they won it, sack-
triam quoq ; adibat & obsidebat : ing the town and putting to sword
tamque diu impugnabat, donee ex- all the Danes therein, excepting
pugnabat : & populum ilium totum some who escaped over the wall.
occidebat: (quicquid autem intus To the succour of these a great
erat, diripiebat ; ) hominibus excep- number of Danes inhabiting ports
tis, qui murum transilientes aufu- and other towns in the East-Angles
gerant: verum etiam postea, hac united their force; but coming too
eadem aestate magnus exercitus late, as in revenge beleaguered
East-anglorum, cum agros quidem Maldon (p. 330).
turn portus incolentium se in auxil-
ium conglomerarunt ; arbitrati quo-
que posse suam ulcisci injuriam.
Melodunum itaq ; prof ectl ; ur-
bemque obsidentes, & impugnantes
(Sax. Chron.. ed. Wheloc, p. 553).

118

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES

he esteems the Encomium Emmce a source to be reckoned
with.52 When occasion warrants the relating of personal
anecdotes, or the recounting of picturesque and dramatic
scenes, he acknowledges the skill of Malmesbury and Hunting
don, both excellent story-tellers, who furnish him with the
gossip and the color necessary for such portions of his nar
rative as the adventures of Edgar,53 the Battle of Brunan-

62 Pp. 364 ff. On p. 368, for instance, under the year 1036, Simeon and
the Encomium Emmce are used collaterally (see Simeon 2. 158-9 ; Enc.
Emmce, Scriptores Rerum Danicarum Medii JEvi 2. 497—8). An example
of Milton's more faithful use of Simeon follows :

But Hardecnute the year following,
at a feast wherein Osgod a great
Danish lord gave his daughter in
marriage at Lambeth to Prudon
another potent Dane, in the midst
of his mirth, sound and healthful
to sight, while he was drinking fell
down speechless, and so dying, was
buried at Winchester beside his
father (p. 371).

Anno MXDII. Rex Anglorum Heard-
ecanutus, dura in convivio, in quo
Osgodus Ciapa, magnae vir potentiae,
filiam suam Githam Danico et prae-
potenti viro Tovio, Prudan cogno-
mento, in loco qui dicitur Lam-
hithe, magna cum laetitia tradebat
nuptui, laetus, sospes, et hilaris cum
sponsa prasdicta et quibusdam viris
bibens staret, repente inter biben-
dum miserabili casu ad terram cor-
ruit, et sic mutus permanens VI.
idus Junii feria hi. expiravit, et in
Wintoniam delatus juxta patrem
suum regem Canutum est tumulatus
(Simeon 2. 162).
Observe, also, the following:
IUe vero fugae praasidio celeriter
arrepto, versus austrum cursum
dirigens, brevi Sandicum ad portum
est appulsus, et obsides qui de tota
Anglia patri suo dati fuerant in
terram exposuit, illorumque mant-
bus truncatis, auribus amputatis,
naribus prasseissis abire permisit,
et deinoeps profectus est Dane-
marchiam, anno sequenti reversurus
(Simeon 2. 147).
Writing of the persecution and killing of Archbishop Alfage, Milton says
(P. 355) : 'One Thurn, a converted Dane, pitying him half dead, to put
him out of pain, with a pious impiety, at one stroke of his axe on the
head dispatched him." Firth (Proc. Brit. Acad. 1907-8, p. 246) seems to
imply that the imaginative phrase, "with a pious impiety," is Milton's own
, wl, b°J1rowe'J' however, from Flprence's and Simeon's "impia motus
pietate" (Florence of Worcester, ed. Thorpe, 1. 165; Simeon 2. m).

Canute in all haste sailing back to
Sandwich, took the hostages given
to his father from all parts of Eng
land, and with slit noses, ears
cropped, and hands chopped off,
setting them ashore, departed into
Denmark (p. 357).

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 119
burh,54 Cnut's lesson to flatterers,55 Harold's visit to
Normandy,56 and the battle of Hastings.57 But at almost
any juncture he is likely to consult the pages of Ethelwerd,
or Ingulf, or Florence, or Hoveden. Eadmer, Brompton,
iElred's Vita Edwardi, the laws of Edward the Confessor,
and Matthew Paris, receive smaller recognition.58
The eclectic habit of mind illustrated when Milton handles
a period in which several sources compete has both good and
bad phases. Its advantage is that the author is led to con
sult an authority up to the full measure of what it can pro
fitably bestow. Milton can be depended upon, for instance,
not to exclude Asser in favor of the Chronicle, or Bede in
favor of Malmesbury. His judgment as to the comparative
value of the sources before him is, generally speaking, that
of a sound critic ; and when he excerpts from one or another,
his reader may feel assured that he has a sufficient reason.
The vice in this eclectic temper is that it produces bewildering
effects. In Milton's zealous endeavor to ascertain where his
authorities are honest and accurate, and where they are ^
deceptive and heedless, he too frequently forgets to construct
a theory of his own. He seldom has difficulty in picking
them apart; yet it rarely occurs to him to gather the frag
ments into orderly array. Though he shows every sign of
knowing what the principal writers say about the reputed
British birth of Constantine,59 he expresses no settled opinion
himself. In his closely crowded narrative of the wars and
genealogies of the Heptarchy ;eo in his statement of the stories
associated with iEthelstan ;G1 in his discussion of Harold
Harefoot 's origin,62 and of the relations between Edward the

"Pp.

334-

-5.

35 Pp.
367-
-8.
See
below
pp.
135-
»Fp.
384-
-5.
"Pp.
390 ff.
MPp.
347,
358
, 360
, 368,
384,
388
"P. :
228.
""Pp.
301
ff.
"Pp.
332
ff.
•'P. ;
368.
120 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
Confessor and Duke William;63 and, in short, in many
passages where the sources conflict, Milton leaves his reader
with the sense that the subject has been abandoned pre
maturely.64 The investigator, it is felt, has performed his
labor; as artist and critical collator, however, he has been
neglectful. The objection that Milton is disposed to leave matters half-
determined applies in far less degree to his chronology.65
Contradictions in dates are not so likely to impede him as
discrepancies in incidents. In spite of Huntingdon's asser
tion as to the time of the founding of the East-Saxon kingdom,
he adheres to his own conclusion that it was not long after
the origin of the East-Anglian;66 even the authority of Taci
tus cannot satisfy him that Caractacus resisted the Romans
nine years, for a "truer computation" reveals that it was
only seven.07 Milton's chronology is, in large outline, con
firmed by later historians.68 There is some interest, however,

«3Pp. 384-5.
64 Cf. Stern, Milton und seine Zeit, bk. 4. 136 : "Man sollte wiinschen,
dass die Kritik Milton's sich hie und da nicht bloss auf eine bequeme
Negative beschrankt hatte . . . . Er iiberlasst es haufig dem Leser,
sich selbst ein Urtheil zu bilden und begniigt sich, die verschiedenen ein-
ander widersprechenden Ueberlieferungen neben einander zu stellen."
05 He disclaims any settled opinion as to the chronology of the legendary
period. "Nor have I stood with others computing or collating years and
chronologies," he asserts, "lest I should be vainly curious about the time
and circumstance of things, whereof the substance is so much in doubt"
(p. 184). Holinshed, on the other hand, says that "Brennus and Belinus
began to reigne jointlie as kings in Britaine, in the yeare of the world
3574" (Chronicles, ed. 1807-8, 1. 452). Stow assigns the beginning of
Locrine's reign to 1084 B.C. (Annates, ed. 1631, p. 9).
"P. 257.
<"P. 204.
™ There are, of course, some inaccuracies. In certain cases Milton erred
in his copying. The date 629 (p. 280), for example, should be 628, as it
appears in the source (see Sax. Chron., ed. Wheloc, p. 514). See also
Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 1. 24, and cf. Hodgkin, Hist, of Eng p 161
855, which appears on p. 199 of the flrst edition, should obviously be 865
(the editor of the Bohn edition has substituted the correct date) Asrain
the date 953 (p. 339) should be 952, as it appears in Twysden's edition
of Simeon, which Milton obviously used at this point (see Simeon 2 952
and cf. Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 2.148 and Hodgkin, p 342) The
marginal note (see 1st ed., P. 235 ; Bohn, p. 341) indicating that the date
974 was derived from the Chronicle is wrong, for there Is no entry for

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 121
that year in any MS. Milton perhaps inferred the date from Malmesbury's
account of Edgar's ride on the Dee River (Gesta Regum, ed. Stubbs, 1. 165).
In other cases Milton was faithful to his source, but copied dates which
have since been rejected. The date 681 (p. 289), for instance, which was
derived from Wheloc, p. 517, is more probably 682 (see Sax. Chron., ed.
Plummer, 1. 38-9). As to the date 775 (p. 299), copied from Wheloc, p.
524, see Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 1. 50-1 ; ibid. 2. 53-4 ; Hodgkin, p. 250.
The date 837 (p. 310) should be 840 (see Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 2. 76 ;
on the subject of dislocation of dates in the Chronicle from 754 to 839,
and especially as to this date, see Theopold, Kritische Vntersuchungen
iiber die Quellen zur Angelsachsischen Geschichte, p. 43 ; on the general
topic, see Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 2. ciii). The date 854 (p. 312),
taken from Wheloc, p. 530, should be 855 (see Sax. Chron. 1. 66-7), and
907 (p. 327) should be 906 (see Lappenberg, Hist, of Eng. under the
Anglo-Saxon Kings, ed. 1881 (trans. Thorpe), 2.106; Sax. Chron. 1. 94-5).
938 (the date appears on p. 225 of the flrst edition, but is omitted in the
Bohn edition) should be 937 (see Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 1. 107 ; Hodg
kin, p. 334).
Milton struggles to identify the battle of Cerdicesleah, in 527, with the
fight at Mount Badon (see p. 260). For Cerdic, he argues, having aban
doned his campaigns "on the continent," as well as his conquest of the
Isle of Wight, must have been defeated by the Britons. There was <*
British victory at Badon, he adds, and that was surely the battle of Cerdi
cesleah. The weight of the evidence is, however, against Milton's theory.
The date assigned by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle to Cerdic's battle — 527 —
is probably reliable, and the Annates Cambria? give 516 as the year of
Mount Badon, which Green and Guest would assign to 520 (see Green,
Making of Eng., pp. 88 ff. ; Guest, E. E. Sett., pp. 61-3).
A curious passage, showing Milton's extreme care, appears on p. 298.
It is alleged that Cuthred died "two or three years before" 757, the date
of .asthelbald's death. The words "or three," which are not found in the
flrst edition, appear for the flrst time in the second edition (1677). The
insertion, included among the Errata at the end of the first edition, and
probably made during Milton's lifetime, was evidently intended to place
.Ethelbald's death at the correct distance from Cuthred's, in 754 (see p.
297). There is some uncertainty as to the date 757 (see Sax. Chron., ed.
Plummer, 2. 47). Milton himself, who found 757 (see marginal reference
to sources on p. 176 of the 1st ed.) in Simeon of Durham (see Simeon
1. 41) and in the Continuation of Bede (see Bede, ed. Plummer, 1. 362),
but 755 in the Chronicle (see Sax. Chron., ed. Plummer, 1. 46 ff. ; ibid., ed.
Wheloc, pp. 521 ff.), preferred 757.
For a typical chronological problem, see p. 845: ". . . but sal
lying out, at length gave a stop to the insulting foe, with many season
able defeats ; led by some eminent person, as may be thought, who ex
horted them not to trust in their own strength, but in divine assistance.
And perhaps no other here is meant than the aforesaid deliverance by
German, if computation would permit, which Gildas either not much re
garded, or might mistake ; but that he tarried so long here, the writers
of his life assent not." There is little wonder that Milton became con
fused. Usher cites Bede and Vincentius to the point that Germanus re
turned to Britain shortly after his flrst visit (see Usher, De Primordiis,

122 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
in making a cursory survey of his sources. For the Roman
period, to which the Chronicle, and the Brito-Latin and Anglo-
Latin writers, could supply little in the aggregate, he con
sults in the main the modern treatises, notably those of
Usher, Calvisius, and Stow. These works, with occasional
glances at Matthew of Westminster69 and Florence,70 ac
company him into the Third Book. Commencing with the
Teutonic invasions, however, he follows the Chronicle, though
with incidental reference to Florence, and in a measure to
Bede.71 In the Fourth Book, Bede and the Chronicle are
employed together until the former is supplanted by Simeon.
It is noteworthy, indeed, that from that point Simeon and
the Chronicle furnish Milton with almost all his dates, con
tinuing to do so until the meagreness of Wheloc's version
compels him to lay the Chronicle aside.72 After 1017, he uses
Simeon almost exclusively. The neat and convenient manner
in which the years were listed in the margins of Twysden's
edition went far, no doubt, towards inducing Milton and
his amanuenses to accept the Historia Regum as a chrono
logical guide.73
Milton may accordingly be said to exercise a fairly keen
critical faculty, both in the selecting of his authorities and
in the comparative evaluation of them.74 But he is at his

Elrington ed. of Wks., 5. 434), and in a later passage he quotes Con-
stantius and others to the effect that he died a little after the second.
Milton, however, found it necessary to adjust the British transactions of
Germanus to the long period beginning in 429, the year of his arrival in
Britain (see flrst edition, p. 104; the Bohn editor incorrectly says 426).
and ending in 448 (see p. 247).
Cf. also p. 305: "In Northumberland, Eardulf the year following was
driven out of his realm by Alfwold, who reigned two years in his room ;
after whom Eandred son of Eardulf thirty-three years ; but I see not
how this can stand with the sequel of story out of better authors."
"P. 244.
™P. 248.
"Pp. 255, 261, 262.
'2WheIoc offers little after 975, the date of Edgar's death. Milton's
last date from the Chronicle is 1017, the year of Cnut's accession.
'3 Milton used Simeon's Historia Dunehnensis Ecclesia}, as well as the
Historia Regum. Simeon's writings did not appear in a, printed edition
until 1652, when these histories were included in Roger Twysden's Scrip
tores Decern.
. "An excellent illustration of the scrutiny with which Milton compared
/his sources occurs in the following passage on p. 378: "King Edward on

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 123
the other side made ready above sixty ships at Sandwich well stored with
men and provisions." Simeon (Historia Begum 2. 16&), wno, with an in
cidental glance at John of Brompton, has been closely followed for the
events of the year 1052, speaks of forty ships. Malmesbury, whose name
appears directly at the side of this passage in the margin of the flrst edi
tion, says (Gesta Regum 1. 243) : "Contra quos, a regis parte, plusquam
sexaginta naves in anehoris constiterunt." It is likely that the discovery
of this slight variation prompted Milton to turn from the one narrative
to the other.
See also p. 190 : "Four days after the coming of Cassar, those eighteen
ships . . . were, by a sudden tempest scattered and driven back,
some . . down into the west country ; who finding there no
safety either to land or to cast anchor, chose rather to commit themselves
again to the troubled sea ; and, as Orosius reports, were most of them
cast away." Cassar, whose Commentaries are used at this point, does not
say that most of the ships were cast away. Hence this mention of,
Orosius' account (Historiarum adversum Paganos Libri Til, ed. Zange-
meister, p. 378).
An interesting example of source-collation is the fixing of the boundaries
of Old Saxony (see p. 248). Old Saxony, in the larger sense, extended
from the Elbe to the Rhine (Speed, Hist. Gr. Brit., ed. 1627, p. 286);
Ethelwerd (see Chronicorum Libri IT, ed. Petrie, p. 501) adds that the
Saxons stretched from the Rhine to Denmark. In connection with these
data, Milton reads Usher's description of the narrower Old Saxony, or
Holsatia, finding it bounded on the north by the Eider (EIrington ed. of
Wks., 5. 447).
See also p. 284: " . . . for Beda relates him [Kenwalk] oft-
times afflicted by his enemies, with great losses : and in six hundred and
flfty-two, by the annals, fought a battle (civil war Ethelwerd calls it) at
Bradanford by the river Afene — Camden names the place Bradford in
Wiltshire, by the river Avon, and Cuthred his near kinsman, against
whom he fought, but cites no authority." The reference to the Annals,
as Milton calls the Chronicle, is based upon the following: "652. Her
Cenwalh gefeaht set Bradan forda be Afue." The mention of Ethelwerd
is then prompted by the passage: "Post itaque quadriennium, ipse bel-
Ium gessit civile, in cognominato loco Bradanforda, juxta fiuvium Afene"
(Ethelwerd, ed. Petrie, p. 506).
The same care appears in a passage on p. 292: "Victred, loth to hazard
all, for the rash act of a few, delivered up thirty of those that could be
found accessory, or as others say, pacified Ina with a great sum of
money." Cf. Malmesbury (Gesta Regum, ed. Stubbs, 1. 34) : "Temptant
regium animum muneribus, sollicitant promissis, nundinantur pacem
triginta milibus auri mancis, ut pretio mollitus bellum solveret, metallo
prasstrictus receptui caneret."
Again, Wheloc's Latin is : "Hie Ethelbaldus castellum de Somertone
obsidione cinxit" (Sax. Chron., ed. Wheloc, p. 520). Ethelwerd says (ed.
Petrie, p. 507) : ".^Ethelbald rex in potestatem cepH villam regiam."
Milton, translating both castellum and villa, writes (p. 296) : "Ethelbald
of Mercia besieged and took the castle or town of Somerton." Cf. p. 316
(passage beginning the Danes, not darmg), where Milton translates arx
(Asser, De Rebus Gestis Mlfredi, ed. Stevenson, p. 25) "town and castle" ;
p. 323 (passage beginning and on the bank thereof), where he translates
arcem (Sax. Chron., ed. Wheloc, p. 544) "a castle"; and p. 330 (passage

124 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
best in the literary methods he pursues when the source-texts
are converted into a new fabric of his own. Here he is the
artist, no less than the critic. In his use of the modern com
pilers, whom he consults either for general direction or for
borrowings of minor consequence, there is no opportunity to
give these methods free play, and little stimulus to exercise
the imaginative and constructive faculties. It is when he sets
out to translate the older writers — Caesar, or Tacitus, or
Bede, or Huntingdon — that both his literary scholarship and
his literary art stand forth. Should any one desire to know
how far freedom and fidelity may be conserved together in
the translating of Latin texts, he can do no better than to
compare passages in the History of Britain with their
originals. Doing so, he discerns the fine quality of Milton's
feeling for both Latin and English idiom, and the subtle
adaptability with which he could bear both in mind at one
time; his alert sense of the proper scope of condensation and
amplification; and his intense interest in translation as an
art. It is not word by word that he follows his sources, nor
line by line ; but with a certain flexible sympathy that catches
the whole meaning of entire passages, suffusing them, in the
process, with independent charm.75 The boy who wrote Latin
poems at Cambridge is reflected in the mature author of the
History of Britain.
In order to illustrate Milton 's rendering of the Latin texts,
I have chosen a few specimens, which show both original and
beginning whereupon the English, from towns and cities), where he trans
lates burgum (ed. Wheloc, p. 552) "town and castle."
For miscellaneous collations, see p. 189 (on Caesar's landing in Britain) ;
p. 219 (on the events succeeding Agricola's governorship) ; pp. 220-1 (on
the historicity of King Lucius) ; p. 250 (on the aggressions of the Scots
and Picts) ; p. 252 (on Guortimer's encounters with the Saxons) ; p. 256
(on King Nazaleod) ; p. 258 (a comparison of Gildas with the "Saxon
relators") ; p. 295 (a comparison of Bede with the Chronicle); p. 305 (on
the period of Eanred's reign) ; p. 309 (on the extent of the slaughter at
the Carr River) ; p. 334 (on the nomenclature of Brunanburh) ; p. 342
(on Edgar's dominion) ; p. 349 (on ^thelred's entertainment of Anlaf) :
p. 361 (on the alleged identity of "Sherastan" and "Scorastan") ; p. 364
(on the manner of Eadric's death) ; p. 370 (on the place of Harold Hare-
foot's death) ; and p. 384 (on Tostig's revenge).
"In general, Milton's translations are also notable for their concise
ness. Compare, for example, the two translations below. The original

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN

125

adaptation, and which I now submit. The following transla
tion of Geoffrey reveals the ability of the translator to
convert a story told in the ancient tongue into the "plain
and lightsom brevity" with which he proposed to distinguish
his version of the pre-Roman fables.76

Post ilium Arthgallo frater ejus
regio diademate insignitur, qui m
omnibus suis aetibus germano di-
versus extitit. Nobiles namque
ubique laborabat deponere, et ig-
nobiles exaltare, divitibus quibus-
que sua auferre, infinitos thesauros
accumulans. Quod heroes regni
diutius ferre recusantes, insurrex-
erunt in ilium, et a solio regio de-
posuerunt. Erexerunt exinde Eli-
durum fratrem ejus, qui postea
propter misericordiam, quam in
fratrem fecit, Pius vocatus fuit:
nam cum regnum emenso quia

Archigallo, the second brother,
followed not his example; but de
pressed the ancient nobility; and,
by peeling the wealthier sort,
stuffed his treasury, and took the
right way to be deposed.
Elidure, the next brother, sur-
named the Pious, was set up in
his place: a mind so noble, and so
moderate, as almost is incredible
to have been ever found. For,
having held the sceptre five years,
hunting one day in the forest of
Calater, he chanced to meet Ms de
posed brother, wandering in a

which is an extract from a purported letter of Queen Emma in the En
comium Emmce Regince (see Scriptores Rerum Danicarum Medii JEvi
2.497), reads: "Miror quid captetis consilii, dum sciatis, intermissionis
vestra? dilatione, invasoris vestri imperii fieri cotidie soliditatem."

Milton (p. 369).
I admire what Counsel yee take,
knowing that your delay, is a daily
strengthning to the Reign of your
Usurper.

Holinshed (Chronicles, ed. 1807-8,
1. 734).
I marvell what you doo deter
mine, sith you know by the delay
of your ceassing to make some en
terprise, the grounded force of the
usurper of your kingdom is dailie
made the stronger.
It is pertinent here to quote Professor Wendell's apt comment on the
Latinity of Milton's prose : "We might study in some detail the . . .
fact that he [Milton] was among the last writers of English prose who,
when moved to earnest expression, instinctively thought in Latin terms ;
and who therefore suffused what they supposed to be vernacular expres
sion with such sustained and sonorous rhythm as would have animated
their phrases if they had actually written Latin" (Barrett Wendell, The
Temper of the 11th Cent, in Eng. Lit., pp. 307-8).
™P. 165. Milton says (ibid.): "I have therefore determined to bestow
the telling over even of these reputed tales; be it for nothing else but in
favour of our English poets and rhetoricians, who by their art will know
how to use them judiciously." Wordsworth, having read this passage,
wrote his Artegal and Elidure "as a token of affectionate respect for the
memory of Milton." For Milton's version of the story, see p. 182.

126

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES

quennio possedisset, forte in Cala-
therio nemore venans, obviavit
fratri suo qui depositus fuerat.
Ipse vero peragratis quibuseunque
provineialibus regnis auxiliuni
qusesiverat, ut amissum honorem
recuperare quivisset, nee usquam
invenerat: et cum supervenientem
paupertatem diutius ferre non po-
tuisset, reversus est in Britanniam,
deeem solummodo militibus sosi-
atus. Petens ergo illos quos du-
dum habuerat amieos, praadictuni
nemus prseteribat: quum Elidurus
ipsius frater ipsum non speratuin
aspexit. Quo viso, cucurrit Eli
durus, et amplexatus est ilium, in-
finita oseula ingeminans. Et ut
diu miseriam fratris deflevit, duxit
ilium secum in civitatem Alclud,
et in thalamo suo oeculuit."

mean condition; who had been
long in vain beyond the seas, im
portuning foreign aids to his re-
storcment; and was now, in a poor
habit, with only ten followers,
privately returned to find subsis
tence among his secret friends.
At the unexpected sight of him,
Elidure himself also then but
thinly accompanied, runs to him
with open arms; and after many
dear and sincere welcomings, con
veys him to the city Alclud; there
hides him in his own bedchamber."

17 Geoffrey, ed. San Marte, pp. 41-2.
78 P. 182.
Milton frequently adorns his material with effective dramatic and rhe
torical touches. Compare the following:

In his rebus circiter dies decern
eonsumit, ne nocturnis quidem tem-
poribus ad laborem militum inter-
missis (Caesar, ed. Celsus (London,
1819), 1. 183).

.... and with a dreadful in
dustry of ten days, not respiting
the soldiers day or night, drew up
all his ships . . (p. 193).

Further :
Pugnare adversus suos propinquos
et compatriotas pene omnes abhor-
rebant (Simeon of Durham, ed.
Arnold, 2.169).
Further :
Quod neque insequi cedentes pos-
sent, neque ab signis discedere
auderent (Caesar 1.188).

Further :
Hoc anno de tota Anglia LXXII.
millia et de Londonia XV. millia
librae exercitui Danorum sunt per-
solutae (Simeon 2. 155. With col
lateral use of Henry of Hunting
don and Matthew of Westminster).

and the soldiers on either
side soon declared their resolution
not to fight English against Eng
lish (p. 379).

 for that the foot in heavy
armour could not follow their cun
ning flight, and durst not by ancient
discipline stir from their ensign
. ... (p. 194).
. . to maintain which, the
next year he squeezed out of the
English, though now his subjects,
not his enemies, seventy-two, some
say, eighty-two thousand pounds,
besides fifteen thousand out of Lon
don (p. 364).

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN

127

In Milton's rendering of Geoffrey's account of Lear and
his daughters, special attention is called to the italicized
passages.

Dato igitur fatis Bladud, erigi-
tur Leir ejusdem filius in regem,
qui sexaginta annis patriam virili-
ter rexit. ^Sdificavit autem super
fluvium Soram civitatem, qure Bri-
tannice Kserleir, Saxonice vero
Leir-Cestre nuncupatur : Cui ne-
gata maseulini sexus prole, natse
sunt tantummodo tres filisB, vo-
cataj: Gonorilla, Began, Cordeilla.
Qui eas miro amore sed magis natu
minimam, Cordeillam videlicet, di-
ligebat. Cumque in senectutem
vergere ctepisset, cogitavit regnum
suum ipsis dividere: easque tali-

Further :
Crebra hinc praelia (Tacitus,
Annates, ed. Furneaux, 2. 263).
Cf. also:
Et nox quidem gaudio praedaque
lEEta victoribus (Tacitus, Tita Agri-
colae, ed. Furneaux, p. 148).
Again (observe Milton's rhetorical
independence) :
Moris namque continui erat genti,
sicut et nunc est, ut infirma esset
ad retundenda hostium tela et for-
tis esset ad civilia bella et pecca-
torum onera sustinenda, infirma, in-
quam, ad exequenda pacis ac veri-
tatis insignia et fortis ad scelera
et mendacia (Gildas, De Excidio et
Conquestu Britannia, ed. Momms-
en. In Monumenta Germanics His
torica, Auct. Ant. 13.36).
Again :
Quibus omnibus ad velle peraetis
(Simeon 2.145).
Again :
Vallum magnum . . . impera-
vit (Asser, De Rebus Gestis ffil-
fredi, ed. Stevenson, p. 12).

Hitherto, from father to son, the
direct line hath run on: but Leir,
who next reigned, had only three
daughters, and no male issue:
governed laudibly and built Casr-*
lier, now Leicester, on the bank of
Sora. But at last, falling through
age, he determined to bestow his
daughters, and so among them to
divide his kingdom. Yet first, to
try which of them loved him best,
(a trial that might have made
him, had he known as wisely how
to try, as he seemed to know how
much the trying behooved him,) he
A
small frays and bicker
ings . . . (p. 205).

The Romans jocund of this vic
tory, and the spoil they got, spent
the night (p. 218).
And this quality their valour had,
against a foreign enemy to be ever
backward and heartless ; to civil
broils eager and prompt. In mat
ters of government, and the search
of truth, weak and shallow ; in
falsehood and wicked deeds, preg
nant and industrious (p. 246).

These things flowing to his wish
(p. 356).
He drew a trench of wonderous
length (p. 302).

128

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES

bus maritis copulare, qui easdeni
cum regno haberent. Sed ut sciret
quae illarum maj ore regni parte
dignior esset, adivit singulas ut in-
terrogaret, qua; ipsum magis dili-
geret. Interrogante ergo illo Gon-
orilla prius numina easli testata
est, patrem sibi plus cordi esse
, quam animam, quse in corporc suo
degebat: cui pater: "Quoniam se-
nectutem meam vitae tuse prtepo-
suisti, te, charissima filia, maritabo
juveni quemeunque elegeris cum
tertia parte Britannia?. " . . . . De-
inde Eegan, quce secunda erat, er-
emplo sororis sum benivolentiam
patris allicere volens, jurejurando
respondit: se nullatenus conoep-
tum exprimere aliter posse, nisi
quod ipsum super omnes creaturas
diligeret. Credulus ergo pater
eadem dignitate, quam primoge-
nitae promiserat, cum alia tertia
parte regni earn maritavit. At
Cordcilla ultima, cum intellexissel
eum prcedictarum adulationibus ac-
quievisse: tentare ilium cupiens
aliter respondere perrexit: "Est
uspiam, mi pater, filia, qua; patrem
suum plus quam patrem diligere
prresumat? non reor equidem ul-
lam esse, qua? hoe fateri audeat:
nisi joeosis verbis veritatem celare
nitatur. Nempe ego dilexi te
semper ut patrem: nee adhuc a
proposito meo divertor. Etsi a me
magis extorquere insistis, audi cer-
titudinem amoris, quem adversus
te habeo: et interrogationibus tuis
finem impone. Etenim quantum
habes, tantum vales, tantumque te
diligo."  Porro pater ratus,
earn ex abundantia cordis dixisse.
vehementer indignans, quod re-
sponsurus erat manifestare non

resolves a simple resolution, to ask
them solemnly in order ; and which
of them should profess largest, her
to believe. Gonorill, the eldest,
apprehending too well her father's
weakness, makes answer, invoking
Heaven, "That she loved him
above her soul." "Therefore,"
quoth the old man, overjoyed
"since thou so honourest my de
clining age, to thee and the hus
band thou shalt choose, I give the
third part of my realm. ' ' So fair
a speeding, for a few words soon
uttered, was to Began, the second,
ample instruction what to sny.
She, on the same demand, spares
uo protesting; and the gods must
witness, that otherwise to express
her thoughts she knew not, but
that ' ' She loved him above all
creatures;" and so receives an
equal reward with her sister. But
Cordeilla, the youngest, though
hitherto test beloved, and now be
fore her eyes the rich and present
hire of a little easy soothing, the
danger also, and the loss likely to
betide plain dealing, yet moves not
from the solid purpose of a sin
cere and virtuous answer: "Fath
er, ' ' saith she, ' ' my love towards
you is as my duty bids: what
should a father seek, what can a
child promise more? They, who
pretend beyond this, flatter. ' '
When the old man, sorry to hear
this, and wishing her to recall
those words, persisted asking;
with a loyal sadness at her fath
er's infirmity, but something, on
the sudden, harsh, and glancing
rather at her sisters than speak
ing her own mind, ' ' Two ways
only," saith she, "I have to an-

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN

129

distulit: "Quia in tantum senectu-
tem patris tui sprevisti, ut vel eo
amore, quo me sorores tuse dili-
gunt, dedignata es diligere, et ego
te dedignabor, nee usquam in reg
no meo cum tuis sororibus partem
habebis  Non dico tamen, cum
filia mea sis, quia te extemc
alicui (si ilium fortuna obtulerit)
utcunque maritem. Illud autem
affirmo, quod numquam eo honore
quo sorores tuas te maritare la
borabo. Quippe eum te hucusque
plus quam eeteras dilexerim: tu
vero me minus quam cetera? dili-
gas." ....Nee mora: consilio
procerum regni dedit prsedictas
puellas duas duobus dueibus, Cor-
nubia? videlicet et Albania? cum
medietate tantum insula?: dum
ipse viveret. Post obitum autem
ejus totam monarehiam Britannia?
eisdem concessit habendam.™

swer what you require me: the
former, your command is, I should
recant; accept then this other
which is left me; look how much
you have, so much is your value,
and so much I love you." "Then
hear thou, ' ' quoth Leir, now all in
passion, "what thy ingratitude
hath gained thee: because thou
hast not reverenced thy aged father
equal to thy sisters, part in my
kingdom, or what else is mine,
reckon to have none. ' ' And, with
out delay, gives in marriage his
other daughters, Gonorill to Mag-
launus duke of Albania, Began to
Henninus duke of Cornwal; with
them in present half his kingdom;
the rest to follow at his death.80

"Geoffrey, pp. 24-6.
s»Pp. 175-6.
Imaginative ardor obtains freer rein in the metrical rendering of the
oracular verses delivered to the legendary Brutus by Diana. The source
and the translation follow:

Brutus, far to the west, in th' ocean
wide,
Beyond the realm of Gaul, a land
there lies,
Seagirt it lies, where giants dwelt
of old,
Now void it fits thy people ; thither
bend
Thy course, there shalt thou find a
lasting seat,
Where to thy sons another Troy
shall rise ;
And kings be born of thee, whose
dreaded might
Shall awe the world, and conquer
nations bold (p. 171).
Of somewhat like interest is the translation of the Latin couplet dis
closing the murder of Kenelm, and found by Milton in the Flores Histori-

Brute, sub occasu solis trans Gal-
lica regna,
Insula in Oceano est undique
clausa mari :
Insula in Oceano est habitata Gy-
gantibus olim,
Nunc deserta quidem : gentibus
apta tuis.
Hanc pete ; namque tibi sedes erit
ilia perennis :
Hie net natis altera Troja tuis:
Hie de prole tua reges nascentur:
et ipsis
Totius terras subditus orbis erit
(Geoffrey, p. 13).

130

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES

In the ensuing, Milton blends his own characteristic fluency
with Caesar's plain directness.

At illi, intermisso spatio, impru-
dentibus nostris atque occupatis
in munitione castrorum, subito se
ex sylvis ejecerunt, impetuque in
eos facto, qui erant in statione
pro castris collocati, aeriter pug-
naverunt: duabusque missis sub-
sidio cohortibus a Caesare, atque
his primis legionum duarum, eum
ha? perexiguo intermisso loci spatio
inter se, eonstitissent, novo genere
pugnse perterritis nostris, per me-
dios audaeissime perruperunt, se-
que inde ineolumes reeeperunt.81

Here the British horse and chari
oteers .... after some pause, while
Ca?sar, who thought the day's
work had been done, was busied
about the intrenching of his camp,
march out again, give fierce as
sault to the very stations of his
guards and sentries; and while the
main cohorts of two legions, that
were sent to the alarm, stood
within a small distance of each
other, terrified at the newness and
boldness of their fight, charged
back again through the midst,
without the loss of a man."2

Milton frequently condenses, and with considerable dis
crimination. Compare the extracts below, with special refer
ence to the italicized passages.

Ceterum animorum provineias
prudens, simulque doctus per
aliena experimenta parum profici
armis, si iniuria? sequerentur, cau-
sas bellorum statuit excidere. a se
suisque orsus primum domum suam
eoercuit, quod plerisque haud min
us arduum est quam provinciam
regere. nihil per libertos servos-
que publicx rei, non studiis pri
vates nee ex commendatione aut

But by far not so famous was
Agrieola in bringing war to a
speedy end, as in cutting off the
causes from whence war arises.
Por he knowing that the end of
war was not to make way for in
juries in peace, began reformation
from his own house; permitted
not his attendants and followers
to sway, or have to do at all in
public affairs: lays on with equal-

arum of the imaginary Matthew of Westminster. The couplet reads
(Flor. Hist. 1. 412) :
In clenc sub spina jacet in convalle bovina,
Vertice privatus, Kenelmus rege creatus.
Milton's translation is (p. 306) :
Low in the mead of kine under a thorn,
Of head bereft, lieth poor Kenelm kingborn.
For a more prosaic treatment, compare Speed, Hist. Gr. Brit., ed. 1627,
p. 322.
a Caesar, ed. Celsus, 1.187.
82 P. 194.

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN

131

preeibus centurionem militesve as-
cire, sed optimum quemque fidissi-
mum putare. amnio scire, non
omnia exsequi. parvis peccatis
veniam, magnis severitatem com-
modare; nee posna semper, sed soe-
pius poenitentia contentus esse; of-
fleiis et administrationibus potius
non peccaturos prceponere, quam
damnare cum peecassent. mtmen-
ti et tributorum exaetionem a?qual-
itate munerum mollire, circumcisis
qua? in qua?stum reperta ipso tri-
buto gravius tolerabantur. nam-
que per ludibrium adsidere elausis
horreis et emere ultro frumenta ae
ludere pretio cogebantur. divortia
itinerum et longinquitas regionum
indicebatur, ut civitates proximis
hibernis in remota et avia defer-
rent, donee quod omnibus in
promptu erat paucis lucrosum fier-
et. Ha?e primo statim anno compri-
mendo egregiam farnam paci cir-
cumdedit, quae vel incuria vel in-
tolerantia priorum haud minus
quam bellum tim'ebatur. sed ubi
cestas advenfi, contracto exercitu
multus in agmine, laudare modes-
tiam, disiectos goer cere; loca cas-
tris ipse caper e, aesiuaria ac silvas
ipse praetemptare ; et nihil interim
apud hostis quietum pati, quo min
us subitis excursibus popularetur ;
atque ubi satis terryerat, parcendo
rursus invitamenta pads ostentare.
quibus rebus multas civitates, quae
in ilium diem ex aequo egerant,
datis obsidibus iram posuere, et
proesidiis castellisque circumdatce
sunt tanta ratione curaque, ut nul
la ante Britannice nova pars pari-
ter illaeessita transient.
Sequens hiems saluberrimis con-

ity the proportions of corn and
tribute that were imposed; takes
off exactions, and the fees of en
croaching officers, heavier than the
tribute itself. Por the countries
had been compelled before, to sit
and wait the opening of public
granaries, and both to sell and to
buy their corn at what rate the
publicans thought fit; the purvey
ors also commanding when they
pleased to bring it in, not to the
nearest, but still to the remotest
places, either by the compounding
of such as would be excused, or by
eausing a dearth, where none was,
made a particular gain. These
grievances and the like, he in the
time of peace removing, brought
peace into some credit; which be
fore, since the Eomans coming,
had as ill a name as war. The
summer following, Titus then em
peror, he so continually with in
roads disquieted the enemy over all
the isle, and after terror so allur
ed them with his gentle demean
our, that many cities which till
that time would not bend, gave
hostages, admitted garrisons, and
came in voluntarily. The winter
he spent all in worthy actions;
teaching and promoting like a
public father the institutes and
customs of civil life. The inhabi
tants rude and scattered, and by
that the proner to war, he so per
suaded to build houses, temples,
and seats of justice; and by prais
ing the forward, quickening the
slow, assisting all, turned the
name of necessity into an emula
tion. He caused moreover the
noblemen's sons to be bred up in
liberal arts ; and by preferring the

132

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES

siliis absumpta. namque ut homi
nes dispersi ae rudes eoque in bel-
la faciles quieti et otio per volup-
tates adsuescerent, hortari priva-
tim, adiuvare publice, ut templa
fora domos extruerent, laudando
promptos et castigando segnes : ita
honoris a?mulatio pro necessitate
erat. iam vero prineipum filios
liberalibus artibus erudire, et in-
genia Britannorum studiis Gallor-
um anteferre, ut qui modo linguam
Romanam abnuebant, eloquentiam
coneupiscerent. inde etiam habitus
nostri honor et frequens toga.
paulatimque discessum ad deleni-
menta vitiorum, porticus et balinea
et eonviviorum elegantiam. idque
apud imperitos humanitas vocaba-
tur, cum pars servitutis esset.88

wits of Britain before the studies
of Gallia, brought them to affect
the Latin eloquence, who before
hated the language. Then were
the Eoman fashions imitated, and
the gown; after a while the incite
ments also and materials of vice,
and voluptuous life, proud build
ings, baths, and the elegance of
banqueting; which the foolisher
sort called civility, but was indeed
a secret art to prepare them for
bondage- *¦

It is interesting to notice the graceful ease with which he
weaves his own comment on Redwald's attitude towards re
ligion into the straightforward account of the Ecclesiastical
History.

Et quidem pater eius Eeduald
iamdudum in Cantia sacramentis
Christiana? fidei inbutus est, sed
frustra; nam rediens domum ab
uxore sua et quibusdam peruersis
doctoribus seductus est, atque a
sinceritate fidei deprauatus habuit
posteriora peiora prioribus; ita ut
in morem antiquorum Samaritan-
orum et Ghristo seruire uideretur
et diis, quibus antea seruiebat; at
que in eodem fano et altare hab-
eret ad saerifieium Christi, et aru-
lam ad uictimas da?moniorum.85

He had formerly in Kent re
ceived baptism, but coming home,
and . persuaded by his wife, who
still it seems was his chief coun
sellor to good or bad alike, re
lapsed into his old religion: yet
not willing to forego his new,
thought it not the worst way, lest
perhaps he might err in either, for
more assurance to keep them
both; and in the same temple
erected one altar to Christ, another
to his idols.'6

83 Tacitus, Tit. Agric, ed. Furneaux, pp. 113-8.
»Pp. 213-4.
85 Bede, Ecclesiastical History, ed. Plummer, 1.116.
86 P. 276.
Milton displays considerable skill in the manipulation of parenthetical

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN

133

Although the following passages show ruthless condensa
tion, the translator contrives to express his feeling against
mediaeval asceticism.

Accepit autem rex Ecgfrid con-
iugem nomine iEdilthrydam, filiam
Anna regis Orientalium Anglorum,
cuius sepius mentionem fecimus,
uiri bene religiosi, ac per omnia
mente et opere egregii; quam et
alter ante ilium uir habuerat uxo-
rem, princeps uidelicet Australium
Gyruiorum uocabulo Tondberct.
Sed illo post modicum temporis.
ex quo eam accepit, defuncto, data
est regi praefato; cuius consortio
cum xii annis uteretur, perpetna
tamen mansit uirginitatis integri-
tate gloriosa; sieut mihimet scisci-
tanti, cum hoc, an ita esset, qui-
busdam uenisset in dubium, beatic
memoria? Uilfrid episcopus refcre-
bat, dicens se testem integritatis
eius esse eertissimum; adeo vt
Ecgfridus promiserit se ei terras
ac peeunias multas esse donatur-
um, si regina? posset persuadere
eius uti conubio, quia sciebat illam
nullum uirorum plus illo diligere.
Nee diffidendum est nostra etiam
aetate fieri potuisse, quod aeuo
praecedente aliquoties factum fidel-
es historiae narrant; donante uno

Another adversity befel Eefrid
in his family, by means of Ethild-
rith his wife, king Anna's daugh
ter, who having taken him for her
husband, and professing to love
him above all other men, persisted
twelve years in the obstinate re
fusal of his bed, thereby thinking
to live the purer life. So per
versely then was chastity instruct
ed against the apostle's rule. At
length obtaining of him with much
importunity her departure, she
veiled herself a nun, then made
abbess of Ely, died seven years
after the pestilence; and might
with better warrant have kept
faithfully her undertaken wedlock,
though now canonized St. Audrey
of Ely.88

matter. Compare with its Latin source the text within the parentheses
below.

Cognomento quidem coloniae non
insigne, sed copia negotiatorum et
oommeatuum maxim e celebre (Taci
tus, Annates 2. 431).

But Suetonius at these tidings not
dismayed, through the midst of his
enemy's country, marches to Lon
don (though not termed a colony,
yet full of Roman inhabitants, and
for the frequency of trade, and
other commodities, a town even
then of principal note) with purpose
to have made there the seat of war
(p. 209).

134 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
eodemque Domino, qui se nobiscum
usque in finem sasculi manere pol-
licetur. Nam etiam signum diuini
miraculi, quo eiusdem femina? se-
pulta caro eorrumpi non potuit,
indicio est, quia uirili contactu in
corrupt- durauerit.
Qua. multum diu regem postu-
lans, ut saeculi curas relinquere, at
que in monasterio, tantum uero
regi Christo seruire permitteretur;
ubi uix aliquando inpetrauit, in-
trauit monasterium Aebba? abba-
tissae, qua? erat amita regis Ecg-
fridi, positum in loco, quem Coludi
urbem nominant, aecepto uelamine
sanetimonialis habitus a praefato
antistite Uilfrido. Post annum
uero ipsa, facta est abbatissa in
regione, qua? uocatur Elge; ubi
constructo monasterio uirginuni
Deo deuotarum perplurium mater
uirgo, et exemplis uita? ca?lestis
esse coepit et monitis. De qua fer-
unt, quia, ex quo monasterium
petiit, numquam lineis, sed solum
laneis uestimentis uti uoluerit;
raroque in calidis balneis, praefer
inminentibus sollemniis maioribus,
uerbi gratia paschae, pentecostes,
epifaniae, lauari uoluerit; et tnuc
nouissima omnium, lotis prius suo
suarumque ministrarum obsequio
ceteris, qua? ibi essent, famulis
Christi; raro prater maiora sol-
lemnia, uel artiorem neeessitatem,
plus quam semel per diem mandu-
cauerit; semper, si non infirmitas
grauior prohibuisset, ex tempore
matutina? synaxeos, usque ad or-
tum diei, in ecclesia precibus in-
tenta persteterit. Sunt etiam, qui
dicant, quia per prophetiae spiri-
tum, et pestilentiam, qua ipsa es
set moritura, pradixerit, et nu-

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN
merum quoque eorum, qui de suo
monasterio hac essent de mundo
rapiendi, palam cunctis prsesenti-
bus intimauerit. Eapta est autem
ad Dominum in medio suorum,
post annos VII, ex quo abbatissa?
gradum suseeperat; et seque, ut
ipsa iusserat, non alibi quam in
medio eorum, iuxta ordinem, quo
transierat, ligneo in locello sepul-
ta.8'

In the following passages one may observe Milton's treat
ment of episodic material found in Huntingdon and Malmes
bury.

Tertium, quod cum maximo vi-
gore imperii, sedile suum in littore
maris, cum ascenderet, statui jussit.
Dixit autem mari ascendenti ' ' Tu
meas ditionis es; et terra in qua
sedeo mea est: nee fuit qui impune
meo resisteret imperio. Impero
igitur tibi ne in terram meam as-
cendas, nee vestes nee membra
dominatoris tui madefacere prao-
sumas. " Mare vero de more con-
seendens pedes regis et crura sine
reverentia madefeeit. Bex igitur
resiliens ait : " Sciant omnes habi-
tantes orbem, vanam et frivolam

He caused his royal seat to be
set on the shore, while the tide
was coming in; and with all the
state that royalty could put into
his countenance, said thus to the
sea ; ' ' Thou, Sea, belongest to me,
and tho land whereon I sit is
mine; nor hath any one unpunish
ed resisted my commands: 1
charge thee come no further upon
my land, neither presume to wet
the feet of thy sovereign lord. ' '
But the sea, as before, came roll
ing on, and without reverence both
wet and dashed him. Whereat the

"Ecclesiastical History, ed. Plummer, 1.243-4.
88 P. 291. In the passage immediately following the account of St.
Audrey's death, the translator manages to include one of his character
istic attacks against Ireland (see also pp. 197, 223 ; also Eikonoklastes
(Bohn 1. 407 ff.), First Def. (Bohn 1. 201), Obprv. Art. P. (Bohn 2. 181),
and Of. Ref. (ed. Hale, pp. 57-8). Cf. source and translation:

Anno dominicae incarnationis
DCLXXXIIII. Ecgfrid rex Nordan-
hymbrorum, misso Hiberniam cum
exercitu duce Bercto, uastauit mis-
ere gentem innoxiam, et natloni
Anglorum semper amicissimam, ita
ut ne ecclesiis quidem aut monas-
teriis manus parceret hostilis (Eccl.
Hist., ed. Plummer, 1. 266).

In the mean while Ecfrid had
sent Bertus with power to subdue
Ireland, a harmless nation, saith
Beda, and ever friendly to the Eng
lish ; in both which they seem to
have left a posterity much unlike
them at this day ; miserably wasted,
without regard had to places hal
lowed or profane.

136

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES

regum esse potentiam, nee regis
quempiam nomine dignum prsetcr
Eum, cujus nutui caelum, terra,
mare, legibus obediunt aeternis."

king quickly rising wished all
about him to behold and consider
the weak and frivolous power of
a king, and that none indeed de
served the name of king, but he
whose eternal laws both heaven,
earth, and sea obey."

Kened king of Scots, then in
the court of Edgar, sitting one
day at table, was heard to say jest
ingly among his servants, he won
dered how so many provinces could
be held in subjection by sueh a
little dapper man: his words were
brought to the kings ear; he send3
for Kened as about some private
business, and in talk drawing him
forth to a secret place, takes from
under his garment two swords,
which he had brought with him,
gave one of them to Kened; and
now, saith he, it shall be tried
which ought to be the subject; for
it is shameful for a king to boast
at table, and shrink in fight.
Kened much abashed fell presently
at his feet, and besought him to
pardon what he had simply spok-
88 Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, ed. Arnold, p. 189.
30 Pp. 367-8. The prefatory note to Wordsworth's A Fact, and an
Imagination; or Canute and Alfred, on the Sea-Shore declares that "one
or two expressions are taken from Milton's History of England." The
part of the poem so borrowed is apparently the following:
Deaf was the Sea;
Her waves rolled on, respecting his decree
Less than they heed a breath of wanton air.
— Then Canute, rising from the invaded throne,
Said to his servile Courtiers, — '"Poor the reach,
The undisguised extent, of mortal sway !
He only is a King, and he alone
Deserves the name (this truth the billows preach)
Whose everlasting laws, sea, earth, and heaven, obey."
Milton, rather typically, adds his own comment on Cnut's lesson, re
marking that the truth which the King intended to impress "needed no
such laborious demonstration," and, further, that it was "so evident of
"tself  that unless to shame his court-flatterers, who would not
else be convinced, Canute needed not to have gone wetshod home."

Denique in quodam convivio, ubi
se plerumque fatuorum dicacitas
liberius ostentat, fama est Kin-
nadium regem Seottorum ludibun-
dum dixisse, mirum videri tarn viii
homuncioni tot provincias subjici;
idque a quodam mimo sinistra aure
acceptum, et Edgaro postmodum
sollempni convitio in os objectum.
At ilie, re suis eelata, Kinnadium,
quasi magni mysterii consultandi
gratia, aceersiit, longeque in syl-
vam seducto, unum ex duobus,
quos secum attulerat, ensibus tra-
didit; "Et nunc," inquit, "lice-
bit vires tuas experiare cum soli
simus. Jam enim faxo ut appar-
eat quis alteri merito supponi de-
beat; tu quoque ne pedem referas
quin mecum rem ventiles. Turpe
est enim regem in convivio esse

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN

13T

dicaculum, nee esse in pra?lio
promtulum. "Confusus ilie, nee
verbo mutire ausus, ad pedes dom-
ini regis procidit, simplicis joci
veniam precatus et confestim con-
secutus."1

en, no way intended to his dis
honour or disparagement; where
with the king was satisfied."

The following versions of Harold's death at Hastings show
Milton's peculiar skill in selecting elements from two distinct
sources, and in reducing them to a form wherein personal
point of view transfigures the details supplied by the originals.
The Latin accounts are those of Malmesbury and Simeon
respectively.

Valuit haec vicissitudo, modo il-
lis, modo istis vincentibus, quan
tum Haroldi vita moram fecit; at
ubi jactu sagitta? violato cerebro
proeubuit, fuga Anglorum peren-
nis in nocte fuit.08
Ab hora tamen diei tertia usque
noetis crepusculum suis adversariis
restitit fortissime, et seipsum pug-
nando tarn fortiter defendit et
tarn strenue, ut vix ab hostili in-
terimi posset agmine. At post
quam ex his et ex illis quampluri-
mi corruere, heu! ipsemet cecidit
crepusculi tempore.04

Thus hung the victory wavering
on either side from the third hour
of day to evening; when Harold
having maintained the fight witli
unspeakable courage and personal
valour, shot into the head with an
arrow, fell at length, and left his
soldiers without heart longer to
withstand the unwearied enemy."

In the first edition (on p. 112), the names of Malmesbury,
Huntingdon, Ethelwerd, Bede, and Nennius are noted op
posite the passage which appears in the right-hand column
below. The left-hand column contains passages from the

91 Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, ed. Stubbs, 1. 177.
82 P. 342.
83 Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, ed. Stubbs, 2. 303.
91 Simeon, Historia Regum, ed. Arnold, 2. 181.
95 P. 391.

138

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES

several sources.96 The italicized passage in Milton's text
illustrates his skill in weaving and assimilating material.

Quapropter, sicut hi quibus ;d
muneris est lascivientes arboris
ramos solent suceidere, ut reliquoi-
um, vita? succo suo possit sufficere,
sic incola? aliquorum expulsione
matrem allevant, ne tam numero-
sa? prolis pastu exhausta succum-
bat: sed, ut facti minuant invidi
am, sorte ducunt ' elimihandos.
Inde est quod illius terra? hominos
invenerint sibi ex necessitate vir-
tutem, ut natali solo ejeeti pe'-e-
grinas sedes armis vendicent.97
Inierunt autem certamen contra
Pictos et Seottos, qui jam vener-
unt usque ad Stanfordiam, qua?
Sita est in australi parte Lincoln-
ise, distans ab ea quadraginta mil-
iariis.88 Et mox contra Scotos causa pro-
bationis mittuntur: tandem non
morata juventus, pectora induunt
armis, temptant quoque pra?lia
peregrina: miseetur viro vir, mit
Germanus, ruit Scotus, ex utraque
parte miserrima casdes: victorob
post Saxones existunt."9
Quod ubi domi nuntiatum est,
simul et insulae fertilitas, ac seg-
nitia Brettonum; mittitur cou-
festim illo elassis prolixior, anna-
tbrum ferens manum fortiorem,
quae praemissae adiuncta cohorti in-

The British Nennius writes, that
these brethren were driven into
exile out of Germany, and to Vor-
tigern who reigned in much fear,
one while of the Picts, then of the
Bomans and Ambrosius, came op
portunely into the haven. For it
was the custom in Old Saxony,
when their numerous offspring
overflowed the narrowness of their
bounds, to send them out by lot
into new dwellings wherever they
found room, either vacant or to be
forced. But whether sought, or
unsought, they duelt not here long
without employment. For the
Scots and Picts were now come
down, some say as far as Stam
ford, in Lincolnshire, whom per
haps not imagining to meet new
opposition, the Saxons, though not
till after a sharp encounter, put to
flight: and that more than once;
slaying in fight, as some Scotch
writers affirm, their king Eugenius
the son of Fergus. Hengist perceiv
ing the island to be rich and fruit
ful, but her princes and other in
habitants given to vicious ease,
sends word home, inviting others
to a share of his good success.
Who returning with seventeen
ships, were grown up now to a

""For passages containing the material from Nennius, see Usher, De
Primordiis, ed. 1687, pp. 207, 239. Cf. Nennius, Historia Britonum, ed.
Stevenson, p. 24 (in Collection of Monastic Chronicles, published by Eng.
Hist. Soc). As to the manner in which Nennius may have been sug
gested to Milton at this point, see the marginal references in Bede, Eccles
iastical History, ed. Wheloc, pp. 58-9. As to the Scottish authority, cf.
Buchanan, History of Scotland, trans. Aikman, 1. 227.
87 Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, ed. Stubbs, 1. 8-9.
98 Huntingdon, ed. Arnold, p. 38.
"Ethelwerd, ed. Petrie, p. 502.

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 139
uincibilem fecit exercitum. Suscep- sufficient army, and entertained
erunt ergo, qui aduenerant, donan- without suspicion on these terms,
tibus Britannis, locum habitationis that they "should bear the brunt
inter eos, ea coiidicione, ut hi pro of war against the Picts, receiving
patriae pace et salute contra aduer- stipend, and some place to inhab-
sarios militarent, illi militantibus it."2
debita stipendia conferrent.1
When ^he History of Britain is compared with the works ( >
of other writers • 1 English history belonging to Milton's age ^ i
and to that immediately preceding it, one finds that the author
has, in tne large, been diligent and circumspect in choosing
his authorities. There are numerous instances in which Hol
inshed and Speed consult modern digests totally ignored by
him ; but it cannot be urged that they have, on the whole,
succeeded better than he in tracing their way to the ultimate
springs. Bearing in mind the general availability, in the
seventeenth century, of printed editions relating to the sources
aud literature of English history, Milton may be said to
have put himself in touch with a considerable part of the
entire field. If his work does not derive from the leading
Welsh sources, the Annales Cambrice and the Brut y Tywy-
sogion; if it disregards Eddius' Life of Wilfrith and the val
uable Lestorie des Engles of Geoffrey Gaimar ; if, in the period
of the Danish invasions, it might have been enriched through
the Heimskringla af Snorre Sturlasson, it should not be for
gotten that these writings were not accessible in print until
after his time,3 and that the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries did much towards introducing British and English
material to historical scholars. In like manner, if his narra
tive of the Norman Conquest is uninfluenced by the stimu
lating pictures of the Bayeux Tapestsy, it is to be recalled
that this highly interesting piece of work was employed,
throughout the seventeenth century, chiefly as a festal decora-

xBede, Eccl. Hist., ed. Plummer, 1. 31. See also Nennius, ed. Steven
son (in Collection of Monastic Chronicles), p. 28.
2 P. 250.
8 See Gross, Sources and Lit. Eng. Hist., pp. 237, 347, 107, 364, 255.
See also Hodgkin, Hist. Eng., Appendix I, where the authorities for pre-
Conquest history are discussed.

140 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
tion for the nave of Bayeux Cathedral.4 Yet some sources
there were, overlooked or ignored by Milton, that he might
have used. The contributions of the Norman William of
Jumieges5 and William of Poitiers,6 bearing closely on the
events of the Conquest and on Duke William's career, were
included in Duchesne's Historice Normannorum Scriptores,
published at Paris in 1619; yet he appears to owe no debt
to these writers, who, along with other Norman and Anglo-
Norman authorities, have been studied with eagerness by
more recent historians. Nor can it be denied that he un
justly withholds recognition from the ecclesiastical writers
and the theologians. Especially as to the former, his posi
tion is outspoken; he discerns no good purpose in reporting
the "long bead-roll of archbishops, bishops, abbots, abbesses,
and their doings, neither to religion profitable, nor to moral
ity. ' '7 He resorts to the Ecclesiastical History, to be sure, but
he picks his way gingerly, that he may avoid "bead-rolls"
and the like. He manifests respect for Alcuin ; yet instead of
gaining a first-hand acquaintance, in accessible editions,8
with the material furnished to English history by this
' ' learned monk, ' '9 as he calls him, he is content to know him
through the pages of Malmesbury. It is certain that he had
some familiarity with the early laws.10 In Wheloc's volume
of 1644, which added Lambarde's Archaionomia to Bede and
the Chronicle,11 he might have found them in Latin parallel
texts. He makes no truly earnest attempt, however, to enlist
their aid in reaching historical fact.12 Milton's selection of
his sources, in a word, is that of a judicious and conservative
scholar who, though in no danger of missing the great high-

* Fowke, The Bayeux Tapestry, p. 3.
8 Gross, p. 375.
'Ibid., P. 386.
'P. 299.
»See Hardy, Cat. of Materials, 1. 688.
»P. 307.
'"See First Def. (Bohn 1. 173).
11 See Adams, Old Eng. Scholarship, p. 54. As to the volume of 1643
see supra, p. 115, note 43.
12 Such passages as those on pp. 260-1, p. 249, and p. 358 are excep
tional.

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 141
ways of research, is prevented by the difficulties of investiga
tion, by the accumulation of other interests,13 and by no small
degree of personal and traditional prejudice, from searching
out the narrow bypaths where rich yields are also to be found.

18 Though Milton had originally proposed to bring the History down to
his own time, he concluded it at the Norman Conquest. The composition
of the text progressed intermittently during a period commencing about
1645 (but no earlier than 1643, the date of the publication of Wheloc's
volume), and ending about 1660 (see Firth, pp. 229-30). Cf. Masson, The
Life of John Milton etc., 6. 642-3. As to Wheloc's book, cf. Stern, Milton
und seine Zeit, bk. i. 134.

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Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Ed. Plummer and Earle. 2 vols.
Oxford. 1892-9.
 Trans. J. A. Giles. London. 1847.
Asser. De Rebus Gestis Mlfredi. Ed. Stevenson. Oxford.
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 Trans. A. S. Cook. Boston. 1906.
Bede. Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum. Ed. Plum
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 Trans. A. M. Sellar. London. 1907.
Buchanan, George. The History of Scotland. Trans. Aik-
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CiESAR, C. Julius. Commentarii de Bella Gallico. In Vol.
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Camden, William. Britannia. A Chorographical Descrip
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Eadmer. Historia Novorum in Anglia. Ed. Rule. Rolls
Ser. London. 1884.
Encomium Emm2e Reginze. Scriptores Rerum Danicarum
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Ethelwerd. Chronicorum Libri Quatuor. Ed. Petrie.
Monumenta Historica Britannica, pp. 499-521. London
1848.
 Trans. J. A. Giles. In Six Old English Chronicles.
London. 1848.

SOURCES OF MILTON'S HISTORY OF BRITAIN 143
Euteopius. Breviarium ab Urbe Condita cum Pauli Addi-
tamentis et Versionibus Greeds. Ed. Droysen. In
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Florence of Worcester. Chronicon ex Chronicis. Ed.
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 Trans. J. A. Giles. In Six Old English Chronicles.
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Gildas. De Excidio et Conquestu Britannia. Ed. Momm-
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 Trans. J. A. Giles. In Six Old English Chronicles.
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Holinshed, Raphaell. Chronicles of England, Scotland,
and Ireland. 6 vols. London. 1807-8.
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4 vols. London. 1868-71.
Huntingdon, Henry of. Historia Anglorum. Ed. Arnold.
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Ingulf. Historia Croylandensis. Trans. Riley. London
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Malmesbury, William of. De Gestis Regum Anglorum.
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 Trans. J. A. Giles. London. 1847.
Matthew of Westminster. (Imaginary author). Flores
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Nennius. Historia Brittonum. Ed. Mommsen. Monu
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 Ed. Stevenson. (In Collection of Monastic Chronicles.
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 Trans. J. A. Giles. In Six Old English Chronicles
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144 UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN STUDIES
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Sigonius, Carolus. Historiarum de Occidentali Imperio
Libri XX. In Opera Omnia. 7 vols. Milan. 1732-7.
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 Historia Regum. In Vol. II of Opera Omnia.
 Trans. J. Stevenson. In Vol. Ill, pt. 2, Church His
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Spelman, Henry. Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents
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Suetonius (C. Suetonius Tranqutllus). Opera Omnia.
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Tacitus, Cornelius. Annalium ab Excessu Divi Augusti
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 Vita Agrieola,. Ed. Furneaux. Oxford. 1898.
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i .:.