The Doomed City; or, the Last days of Durocina. A tale of the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britain, and the mission of Augustine

Front matter

<K_^@^§^^ The Doomed City <K_^^^^K> By THE SAME AUTHOR. STORIES FROM OLD ENGLISH HISTORY. 3/6. A SHEAF OF YULE LOG STORIES. 1/- ÆMILIUS. A Story of the Decian and Valerian Persecutions. 3/6. EVANUS. A Tale of Durocina in the days of Constantine. 3/6. THE VICTOR'S LAUREL. A Tale of the Tenth Persecution in Italy. 3/6. THE CAMP ON THE SEVERN. A Tale of the Tenth Persecution in Great Britain. 2/- THE LAST ABBOT OF GLASTONBURY. A Tale of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. 3/6. FAIRLEIGH HALL. A Tale of the Neighbourhood of Oxford during the Civil Wars. 3/6. THE HEIR OF TREHERNE. A Tale of the Devonshire Rebellion in the days of Edward the Sixth. (In the press.) Englefield "i" The Doomed City ; or, The Last Days of Durocina. A Tale of the A nglo-Saxon Conquest of Britain, and the Mission of Augustine.

By the v EEV. A. D. CEAKE, B.A Fellow of the Eoyal Historical Society ; Vicar of Cholsey, Berks. Author of " Evanus : a Tale of Durocina in the Days of Constantine," &-c NEW AND REVISED EDITION. Oxford and London : MOWBRAY ev CO. 1SS9. TO MY BELOVED WIFE WHOM GOD GAVE ME AT DUROCINA. INDEX. chap. page Historical and Topographical Prologue i I. — On the Hill .. .. .. 8 II. — A British Household .. .. .. 16 III. — A Messenger of Woe .. .. 24 IV. — The Basilican Church . . . . 31 V. — The Camp on the Ford .. .. 41 VI. — In the City .. .. .. 51 VII. — The Gorge of the Thames.. .. 64 VIII.— A Domestic Tragedy .. .. --73 IX. — The Adventures of Basil . . . . 82 X. — The Battle in the Gorge . . . . 92 XL— On the Chilterns .. .. -• 103 XII. — The Passage of the Ford .. ..113 XIII. — The Wattled Town .. .. 123 XIV. — The Sacrifice .. .. •• •• J33 XV. — In Durocina .. •• •• *44 XVI.— Basil's Return .. •• ..158 XVII. — At Brinavis .. ■• ■• '73 INDEX.

PAGE CHAP. XVI. I. —The Love of a Prince .. .. ..183 XIX. — The Smoke of a Furnace . . . . 193 XX. — The Imprisoned Maiden . . . . 203 XXI. — The Presbyter and his Guest .. 213 XXII. — The Conspirators . . . . . . 223 XXIII.— Turning the Tables .. .. 235 XXIV.— The Trial . . . . . . . . 248 XXV.— The Last Night .. .. .. 260 XXVI. — The Doom of Brinavis . . .. .. 271 XXVII. — The Breaking-up of the Camp on the Hill 286 Epilogue .. .. .. .. 297 Notes .. .. .. ..301

Preface

. There are few spots more familiar to tourists on the upper Thames, than the twin hills, crowned with spreading beeches, called the " Wittenham Clumps," but in ancient times, Syno dune. It is seldom that hills of such moderate height command views more beautiful, or richer in historical associations. Below, to the northward, lies the silver Thames, with the ancient city on the opposite side — the Durocina of the Romans, the Civitas Dorcinia, or Dorcic of Bede, the Dorkeceaster of Anglo-Saxon times. Now only a village, it was a city of great influence and power, when the site of the future Oxford was a marsh, and nothing more. It was an important Roman Station, afterwards a Cathedral City of Wessex, when its jurisdiction stretched to the English Channel, and again of Mercia, when its episcopal sway reached to the Humber.

Grievously depopulated and devastated by the Danes in the cruel wars between Sweyn and Ethelred, Canute and Edmund Ironside, it never recovered its prosperity, and, when after the Conquest, the new Norman Bishop looked upon the blackened ruins and shapeless wrecks of the former city, he transferred the " Bishop's stool " to the other extremity of the Diocese at Lincoln. THE DOOMED CITY. X Subsequently a stately Abbey arose to console the inhabitants of the neighbourhood for the loss of their Bishop, but when the dissolution of the Monasteries took place, it lost its last mark of distinction, and sank into a mere village. Further down the stream lies Benson, formerly Bœne singtun, one of the four confederate Towns destroyed by Cuthwulf, in the raid which we shall have further occasion to commemorate.

It was subsequently the scene of the victory gained by King Offa of Mercia, over Kynewulf of Wessex, in the year 777. Behind the hill to the south east, at the distance of three miles, was the old town of Wallingford, once famous for its Castle, and especially for its ancient entrenchments, or British Camp, now called the " Kine-Croft," which figures in the story as " The Camp on the Ford." To the south are the Berkshire downs, famous for Alfred's struggles with the Danes ; that lonely clump on the Berkshire Downs, in the south west, eight miles away in the distance, is the grave of Cwichelm, once king of Wessex. Further west is Wantage, the birth-place of Alfred ; directly in the sunset, rises the ancient beacon, Faringdon Folly, around which once dwelt the Saxon Faringas, and beyond on the left is the last spur of the Berkshire downs, the White Horse Hill, although they continue at a lower elevation as far as Marlborough.

To the north lies Nuneham, embowered in woods, and through one opening one catches a glimpse of the spires of classical Oxford. Between this spot and the Chilterns, which lie in a long line to the north-east, was the debateable ground, which was so often dyed with the blood of Cavaliers and Roundheads. What a view for the student of history to revel in ! Often in his boyish days — for he was one of those boys who love

PREFACE.

. XI history — the author sat on these slopes of ancient Synodune, over the graves of Roman, Briton, Saxon, and Dane, and mused for hours on the past ; the turf was of the softest, and perhaps, lured by the gentle breeze, he sometimes slept and dreamt of the old days ; visions he has since, more than once transferred to paper, and given to the world, which has not received them unkindly. Thus, in these day-dreams, lived again the elegant Roman city, with its temples, basilicas, baths, and amphitheatre, as he has since endeavoured to reproduce it in the story of " Evanus ; " then the terrible days of her fall, after the fierce Cuthwulf forced his way through the gorge of the Thames into the upper valley, as related in this story ; and the awful devastation, when the Danes, descending the river, gave the country on each side to fire and sword, from Oxford to the sea, as represented in " A If gar the Dane."

Then lived again, in imagination, the mediæval city, with its Norman Abbey — which was built as an atonement for the transference of the Episcopal seat to Lincoln in 1088; as pictured in the writer's latest story, "Brian Fitz Count." To turn to the subject of the present volume — an hundred and twenty years had passed away after the landing of Hengest and Horsa, ere the conquering arms of our barbarian ancestors reached Civitas Dorcinia, as Bede calls our city. It does not appear to have been fortified, at least not strongly, perhaps only by a wall to the northward, connecting the two rivers;* for it relied for protection on the fortified camp below, at the Ford of the Weallas, or Wallingford. But what were the circumstances of this tragic conquest and destruction of a populous and wealthy city, which could * Traces of this wall yet remain, stretching from a place called " Wall-End" on the Tame to Burcot Brook, where it joins the Thames.

THE DOOMED CITY. scarcely have been smaller in extent than modern Oxford ? When did it occur, and how ? We read in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, that in the year 571, Cuthwulf, brother of Ceawlin, king of Wessex, and grandson of Cerdic, invaded the basin of the upper Thames ; destroyed or took the four confederate towns of Boenesingtun (Benson), Ægelesbirg (Aylesbury), Egonesham (Ensham), and Lygeansberg (Lenbury), and finally defeated the Britons in a decisive battle at Bedcanford (Bedford). The invasion, according to the late Mr. J. R. Green, in his "Making of England," must have been made by the gorge where the Thames cleaves the chalk downs, between Streatley and Pangbourne, now traversed by the Great Western Main Line, — and the two chief points of resistance would have been as shewn in the story, Streatley (Ad Strata) and Wallingford (The Camp on the Ford), which the Saxons called Wealingaford, or " The Ford of the Welsh."

Then Durocina, only three miles from Boenesingtun, must have fallen. But what scenes of misery and woe, relieved doubtless by many an act of self-devotion, and mitigated by Christian hope and resignation, must have occurred when the victory of Cuthwulf delivered the whole country of the Four Towns, including Durocina, into the hands of our heathen ancestors. We can imagine the scene when the tidings of the approach of the victorious foe, the most ruthless of all invaders, the most cruel of all the barbarians who dismembered the Roman Empire (gens atrocissima), reached our city. All who were able, doubtless fled to their kindred in the yet unsubdued north-west, and the Roman road, which yet remains, leading in that direction, was probably thronged with fugitives; but what of the aged, the bed ridden, and the like ? We are spared, however, all knowledge of the details of individual suffering ; the unhappy race passed away and left

PREFACE.

. XIII no history behind ; we tread upon their graves, we throw up, from time to time, funereal urns and fragments of their pottery ; their coins are so common that each tilling of the fields adds to the accumulation, already great ; each plough boy has his store, if he cares for such things, the faces of their rulers are thus strangely familiar ; but what of the life these people led ? Here, where history fails, fiction may step in, yet not altogether fiction ; for since the publication of Mr. Green's " Making of England," the writer has entertained no manner of doubt as to the main historical facts of the story, or as to the manner in which Durocina fell, one hundred and twenty years and more after the date commonly assigned to the landing of Hengest and Horsa. The author cannot sufficiently express his obligations to the " Making of England," for the light it has shed upon the dark places of history, and he has endeavoured to follow its conclusions in this tale.

But he has not been wholly a man of one book, he has not scrupled to draw illustrations from other sources, especially in these two instances : — When the excavators were digging a cutting in the making of the Great Western Railway, more than forty years ago, near Goring station and nearly opposite Streatley, they came upon the ruins of a Romano-British villa, evidently once the residence of an opulent proprietor. The tesselated pavement was incrusted with a singular brown substance, which the microscope revealed to be none other than human blood. This villa the author has introduced into the story as the " Villa of Constantine," in the chapter entitled "A Domestic Tragedy." Some years ago the writer spent a Sunday at a village on the confines of the counties of Oxford and Warwick, situated on that high table land, which slopes from the valley of the Cherwell to Edge-Hill, and then falls so abruptly into the valley of the Avon.

After the services of the day he extended his walk, with the host of the day as his guide, to a spot where the hilly ground on which the village stood, sank down suddenly into a deep valley, watered by a large brook ; the hills possessed much character, and the view was striking. Immediately below, lay a flat plain on either side of the brook, in high cultivation ; the author asked, " What do you call this pretty valley?" "Burnt Fields," was the reply; " the soil is almost black, and from time to time we turn up bits of metal and stone which have evidently passed through the fire." " How do you account for it, are there no tra ditions ? " "Yes, it was a city in Roman times, and was burnt when they left, but how I can't tell you ; all I know is that we call the place 'Burnt Fields,' or 'Black Ground.' " But the author found, upon further enquiries, that it had been supposed by antiquarians to be the site of the ancient and lost " Brinavis," and he has adopted that hypothesis in his tale and placed the most tragical of his scenes therein.

The greatest difficulty in writing the story has been the nomenclature ; the Latin or Celtic names of the "Four Towns," and of others mentioned in the narrative, have frequently lapsed from remembrance : and the writer, un willing to coin names for them, has been compelled to use the modern appellations, or, at best, those found in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle," in their stead. He would ask the younger reader to remember, that while the new comers called the natives " Weallas," or " Welsh," and the natives their invaders "Saxons" (c.f. Sassenach), the islanders called themselves " Britons," and the Angles,

PREFACE.

. XV Saxons, and Jutes became at last known under the collective term " Angli," or " English."* In the present edition some alterations have been made in deference to friendly criticism : the term "English" has been more sparingly used, the invaders of the story were Saxons, not Angles, and the collective term " English ," which obtained within a few generations, would not have been in use amongst Saxons or Jutes at this early period. In the reaction from that mistaken nomenclature which even, after the Conquest, speaks of Englishmen as Saxons, a term which had then long fallen into disuse amongst the natives of England, the writer amongst others had fallen into the opposite error, as he freely confesses, of slightly antedating the use of the word, as a general term for the invaders. Since writing this tale, the author has strangely enough been called to reside again in the neighbourhood of the " Doomed City," of which he wrote, before any such expectation had arisen, and has had many opportunities of correcting his topography by personal visitation of the various spots mentioned in his story.

Of this he has given the reader the benefit in this revised edition, and a portion of the story has been rewritten in consequence, from renewed observation of the country. For other criticisms which have borne their fruit in this revision of a book describing a period of which little is known, and wherein accuracy is only relatively attainable, the writer thanks many kind friends. At the request of many friends a map of the country around Durocina has been added to this edition. The * The earliest date, so far as the author can ascertain, at which the term English was applied to the collective nation, is found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles under the year 616, about half a century after the date of our story. notes at the end of the volume, wherein various points of interest to the local antiquarian are discussed, have been augmented, and partly re-written ; and here the writer must acknowledge his obligations to the labours of his friend, Mr. Hedges, of Wallingford Castle, whose local researches have lasted all through a long life, and borne fruit in that valuable compendium of local archæology, the well-known History of Wallingford A.D. C. 1889. prologue.

HE time was the close of a September day in the year of grace five hundred and seventy. The place was the summit of the Eastern of the twin hills, called " Synodune," which overlooked the junction of the Isis and Tame — and are said to have derived their name from Cyno or Cymbeline, the legendary father of the famed Caractacus. The entrenchment which yet surrounds the hill was there then, and within the enclosure towered the spreading beech as now. Thick soft grass carpeted the space beneath the trees, filled the excavation, and clothed the sides thereof. Below, on the opposite side of the river, lay the Romano-British city of Durocina, the " Kair Dauri " of Cyno — who is said to have defended it bravely, against the legions sent by the Emperor Claudius under his chosen generals, Aulus Plau tius and Vespasian, in the first century of our era; and it is added that when at length the Romans crossed the stream at night and stormed Kair B ■2 Dauri, the remnant, who escaped the first slaughter, took refuge on the eastern of the twin summits, and surrounding themselves with these entrenchments, bade defiance to the foe.

Unable, without unnecessary loss, to storm the hill, the Romans, according to a custom they pursued elsewhere, formed a quadri-lateral camp at the junction of the streams, opposite the hill fort, protected on three sides by the rivers, on the fourth by two parallel mounds, enclosing a deep trench, which were of considerable height, and yet exist, under the name of the Dyke Hills, save where ruthlessly levelled by the farmer. Thence, they carried on their operations against the patriots on Synodune, and elsewhere, cutting off all their supplies; until they starved them into submission and slavery. Then ensued a long interval of comparative peace, under the stern but beneficent and civiliz ing yoke of Rome ; which endured, with brief interruptions, until the fall of the empire of the west — a period of some four centuries.

The Britons learned to love the Roman sway, when once the men who had fought under Caractacus or Boadicea, or had confronted the legions of Plautius or Vespasian, had carried their remem brances of bloodshed and wrong to another tribunal than that of Cæsar. Their children, and grandchildren, became

Prologue

. 3 Romanized ; their speech, their laws, their ideas, those of the mother of nations, across the sea ; and some writers maintain that never was there less crime in the land, never more peace and security for the multitude, than during those four centuries. But they have passed away, and are separated from us, as we stand on Synodune, at the commencement of our story, by three generations of bloodshed, fire, and sword ; it is a hundred and twenty years since the keels of Hengist and Horsa touched the sands of Thanet, — and yet the heathen Saxons have not reached the valley of the upper Thames, and the city of Durocina. And this is owing to a resistance than which history does not record one more heroic, for however unwarlike the first generation of Britons may have been, who fled from the arms of Hengist and Horsa "like fire,"a the succeeding generations learned of necessity how to fight for their country, and since that time, every acre of land has been bought with blood.

But resistance, if it cannot arrest, only in creases the horrors of conquest, and the progress of the invader has been attested by fields of unburied bones, by the blackened ruins of city and homestead, shunned by the invader as goblin-haunted. a Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The Saxons have not as yet reached this part of Britain, but the)7 are very near ; Ceawlin, King of Wessex, grandson and successor of Cerdic, has pushed his conquest to the opposite side of the southern downs, which we see in the hazy distance, and has halted his lines on the borders of the land of " The Four Confederate Towns. "b Let us now gaze across the river at the Romano-British city of Durocina, the " Kair Dauri " of the ancient Britons. Below us on the north flows the river Isis, which here makes a great bend, changing the direction of its current from south to east : a few furlongs lower down, the Tame, which has also been flowing southward, enters the main stream.

So the two rivers, before their junction, run in directions nearly parallel, and on the tongue of land which is thus formed and protected by the streams. and by a wall which runs from river to river about a mile above their confluence, stands Durocina. Like all cities of any importance, it possesses b Which we only know by the Dames given to them by their conquerors, as Bænesington (Benson), Ægelesbirg (Aylesbury), Lygeansbirg (Lenbury), and Egonesham (En sham).

PROLOGUE.

. 5 its basilica or town-hall ; its temples, now meta morphosed into churches ; its amphitheatre, once the scene of bloody sports, but now devoted to innocent athletic contests ; and it has its cemetery. Within the space are large and beautiful villas, furnished with hypocausts for warming the rooms, adorned by tesselated pavements, and pictured walls. It has its central forum or market-place, from which the principal streets diverge. The main street forming a part of the Iterc from Ælia Castra a to Calleva e traverses the town from north to south, passing through the forum, where the municipal buildings surround a rectangular space, of some magnitude, and crosses the Isis near the junction of the streams, winding round the base of the eastern hill. Another road leaves the city to the east, crossing the smaller stream by a bridge protected by a gateway, beneath a watch tower, roomy enough to hold the city guard in conjunction with similar buildings, at the other entrances of the city.

The level meadow just below us, which is bounded westward and southward by the Isis, which here makes its great bend ; eastward by the Tame, and northward by the magnificent line of c see Note A. d Bicester. e Silchester. earthworks, is the old camp thrown up by the soldiers of Plautius and Vespasian — it now forms a playground for the British youth. Let us gaze upon the more distant prospect — the line of hills in the east is the range of the Chilterns, and in the sonth lies the continuation of the same range traversed by the Icknield Way, on its course for the yet unconquered west. The range is divided by the Tamesis, which cuts its way through at Ad Strata. At one time this upper basin of the river must have been an inland sea, Synodune — an island therein ; and the chalk downs east and south its shores, until the waters found an outlet at the point of least resistance, and formed the gorge of the Tamesis, leading down to the lower basin.

Northward, the view seems to stretch far as the eye can reach, over a smiling country filled with the evidences of human life. Fair villages, isolated villas, line the course of the two streams. Fields, vineyards, meadows, surround them, but they are in turn encompassed by dense forests as yet uncleared. Westward, the greater portion of the land scape is forest-land, dark, unpenetrable, the haunt of wolves, bears, wild cats, and other wild beasts — which stretches to the base of the southern downs for many a weary mile, and fills the vale.

PROLOGUE.

. But it is time to turn from the contemplation of the scenery of our tale — " The Land of the Four Towns," — and to introduce the living characters, the Dramatis Persona of our tale, Enter the first on the stage — a Saxon chieftain.

Chapter I On The Hill He

sun had just gone down, and the harvest moon was shining upon the waters. A solitary figure stood beneath the beeches on the summit of the eastern of the twin clumps of Synodune, or walked to and fro with movements of impatience. The athletic figure, the light hair, and blue eyes, were those of the brave but cruel invaders of Southern Britain — the Saxons. He was not armed for war, but dressed simply, in a kind of tunic with broad sash, whence depended hunting knife and horn, and he bore no other defensive weapon than a slight spear, such as men use in the chase. " Surely she will come ; the slave will not delay the message, the price of its burden was his freedom — nay, his life." He advanced to the edge of the trench and gazed down a steep path, which led to the bridge at the northern side of the hill, nor was his Page 9, patience tried much longer.

A light female form, clad in the attire of a British maiden, came timidly up the slope, her only protector a large wolf-hound. The dog growled as he approached. He wasted small time over the animal, but hastened to greet the maiden whom he clasped to his breast. " Rowena, thou art kind and true." " But how hast thou endangered thyself, Her mann, in seeking me ; dost thou not know that my people would slay thee like a dog did they suspect thy presence ? " "The weapon is not forged that shall drink my blood, Rowena. I stand on ground which shall yet be mine and thine, for thou shalt share it with me. The slave, Uther, gave thee the bracelet which was to serve as a token ? " " He did." " And he has earned life and freedom thereby. And now, dear bird, wilt thou not fly with me to the shelter of our new homes, where thou mayest live secure whilst the wrath of the gods devour this fated land."

" Hermann, I am a Christian, and thou ? " " I worship the Thunder-God, indeed, and thou the pale Christ who hung from the rood ; but yet I have a claim upon thee. I saved thee from shame and death, and in return, oh, ungrateful one, thou hast stolen my heart." " Nay, thou gavest it me." " I have done so ; but hast thou given me thine in return ? " " I cannot wed the foe of my people." " So thou hast ever told me. I would not take thee by force, as the captive of my bow and spear, as thou knowest I might have done." " I should then have been a slave, not a wife." " Most true. We Gewissas seek wives ; hence I have come hither to woo thee — a free man to a free woman." " I can but tell thee that my heart is thine, but that I cannot wed the foe, the deadly foe, of my people, and my God." " Thou lovest another ?

" " Nay, if I wed not thee, I wed none else. But listen — a band of men approaches." " Can the slave have been false ? " " O fly, Hermann, fly ; that white road thou seest in the moonlight leads to the Icknield Way ; once there, thou art safe." " Farewell, dear one, till I claim thee as my own ; it will not be long ere I seek thee at Dorcic."' And he disappeared among the brushwood which then covered the southern slope of the hill. f So called by the Saxons. — Bede iii. 7. A band of men came slowly up the ascent, and as they reached the trench, divided themselves so as to encircle it. They left a watch at each hundred steps, and then the remainder mounted the summit. They found the maiden alone. " Rowena," exclaimed her brother, for it was he who led the party, "alone, here, at this hour !

" " I love the hill by moonlight, Morgan." " Hast thou been alone ? quite alone? " " Why shouldest thou deem otherwise. I would return now; thy valiant companions destroy the charm of solitude." " Search the hill, search every bush. Can that dog, Uther, have deceived me ? " They searched the grove on the summit, they searched the trench beneath, and all in vain. Meanwhile Rowena, with an air of offended dignity, was slowly descending the hill, as if too indignant to speak with her brother, who de spatched men in every direction, in pursuit of Hermann, of whom we need only say in anticipa tion, that all returned without news, save one, and he never returned at all. Morgan overtook his sister, just upon the bridge. " Rowena, my dear sister, thou shouldst have no secrets from thy brother ; thy father's death hath left me thy natural protector."

" Thou dost not use the trust generously, my Morgan ; how didst thou penetrate my secret ? had not thy search been in vain, I had never forgiven thee : for the brother should not harm one to whom alone he owes his sister's preservation." " I can acknowledge no debt of gratitude to these heathen wolves ; but, my sister, I did not gain the knowledge in any unworthy way. Uther thought that his word obliged him to deliver the message first to you ; he had not promised to tell no one else, and he thought it most consistent with his fidelity to our house, to warn me of what he thought your danger." " And wouldst thou have slain my pre server ? " " A thousand times, yes, if I could ; sooner than see thee disgrace thy family, thyself, and thy God, by becoming his bride." " I shall never become his bride ; I have said as much."