A History of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings, translated ... by Benjamin Thorpe ... With additions and corrections by the author and the translator, etc

Preface

. By many it will, without doubt, be thought singular that the history of a state, which has always been of prominent, and often of paramount importance in the affairs of the world, should have been undertaken by one who cannot, in the vocation or position of a professor, have found either an excuse for venturing on a task, however desirable, yet of difficult execution, or superior means of accomplishing it. As unfitting too, and even obnoxious to the charge of presumption, an individual must appear, who, in addition to the above-mentioned objections, has not unlimited leisure to bestow on so great a theme, but, on the contrary, has for many years been attached to a practical calling, which, though favourable to particular historical and juridical investigations, and to the elaboration of his native history, is, nevertheless, wont to stand opposed to a susceptibility for the more general views, to a conception of the more agitated life, and to the poetic and moral elements of general history, and at the same time ad verse to every attempt at vivid powerful description and individual feeling, as foreign and obstructive to the mat ter. These considerations seem to render a few words

PREFACE.

. VI necessary regarding the personal circumstances of the author in reference to his work. The editors of ' The History of the European States1 ' had for some years been seeking for a person willing and qualified to undertake the History of England, but had generally found that the external as well as internal difficulties attending that study had held German scholars aloof. The first historical inquirer of our time, to whom the affairs of England were familiar from his youth, whose premature loss we have never ceased to deplore, had, it is said, at an early period, fostered the hope of being one day enabled to undertake such a work. The most acute also of living historians had, at a later period, actually undertaken it, when another direction given to his investigations withdrew him from all thoughts of England.

May both names remain concealed, in order not, to excite unfavourable comparisons and vain regrets for that which is denied to us ! '2 The question when put to me, • What is to be done ? ' I could at the time answer only by naming certain German scholars, but whose limited leisure and other circumstances proved unfavourable to the undertaking, or Englishmen in clined to devote themselves to the later centuries only of English history. Influenced by these considerations, and as a resolution must be taken — some volumes of 'The History of the European States' having already appeared— I accepted the honourable invitation to com- 1 Geschichte der europaischen Staaten, herausgegeben von A. H. L. Heeren und F. A. Ukert. 2 The literary reader will hardly tail to recognise in the one the cele brated historian of Rome, Barthold George Niebuhr, and in the other the learned and enlightened Lopoi.d Ranke. T.

PREFACE.

. VII pose the history of a country rendered estimable to me by long residence there in early days. Having completed the arrangement of the archives of this city1, and con sequently possessed of a larger share of leisure, I had commenced several historical and juridical works, of which some are, either complete or in part, in the hands of the friends of German history ; but the time consumed in the elaboration of records and other ancient documents was not at the moment sufficiently taken into account, while too much reliance was placed on a bodily frame by no means possessing the vigour of youth ; though the unimpaired consciousness of what England and many of its worthiest natives had been to me, to gether with the magic of other unobliterated delightful recollections, had inspired me with sentiments well be fitting him who should recount to his dear native land the advantages and defects, and so many to us extra ordinary phenomena in the political existence of the English people.

The abode of the author in the city of his birth, the libraries of which, in works relative to the insular kingdom, are richer than most others of Germany ; the valuable community of possession there in knowledge relative to the commerce, the industry and other circumstances of the present England ; the proximity to that country, alike favourable to literary intercourse and personal observation ; the illustrations of the Anglo- Saxon tongue which in common life offer themselves even at this day to the Lower Saxon, — such were the points urged against the doubts of the author as to 1 They perished in the calamitous fire in May 1842. — T.

PREFACE.

. whether he should or should not devote himself to the undertaking, while various occupations connected with the history of the commerce of the middle age, the use of valuable records, of which some are1 preserved at Hamburg, which city, previously to the great elevation of England in the latter years of Queen Elizabeth, was frequently in intimate connexion with the English court, might tend to foster the hope of being useful, even to the scholar, through some new disclosures. When, however, the wished-for leisure for forming the plan of the new undertaking arrived, greater diffi culties than had been anticipated presented themselves, more particularly with reference to the earlier part of the history. The defects of the edited authorities are not unknown in England, and the conviction of the neces sity of a thorough revisal of them had been expressed by Gibbon, who, in his great work, could apply only a very partial remedy to the evil.

Of modern writers, the greater number, though industrious, were wanting both in criticism and in knowledge of general history ; while to the German it could not be difficult to gather new views with regard to old English history, on the paths opened to him by some honoured countrymen and pro fessors, in which the lovers of that study are but too apt to feel delighted and consider themselves rich ; but for the confirmation and establishment of such views, even in cases where they could be proved indisputably just, all authorities and preliminary labours were wanting. Even the simple work of procuring the most important original authors demanded much time, which should 1 For are we may now substitute, were before the eonfagraHon.—T. /

PREFACE.

. IX rather have been devoted to the work itself. A welcome and stimulating phenomenon, therefore, while my volume was in progress, was the work of Sir Francis Pal grave1, which, by the novelty of its views, and the variety and abundance of its matter, both imparted in struction and invited to a completer establishment of the notions it set forth. Not less propitious to my under taking was a correspondence accidentally established with Charles Purton Cooper, Esq., the Secretary of the Parliamentary Commission on the Public Records, who not only made me acquainted with some new sources, but afforded me an opportunity of applying more con formably to the objects of that Commission many hi storic and literary notices, which must otherwise have found a place only as a sort of literary ballast in my work.

That the progress of my labour has been less rapid than could be wished, is partly to be ascribed to the necessity of a new verification and reference of the accounts to their first sources, which will henceforth, in consequence of the better materials at hand, be more rarely requisite ; and partly also to the interest, never yet sufficiently considered, which the history of the unmixed German race in Britain, before their Romanizing by the Normans, must possess among their continental brethren. Of everything, therefore, which could contribute to the groundwork of a history of the Anglo-Saxon period, and which admitted of historic proof, I deemed it right not to be sparing. Much other matter relative to the Anglo- Saxon myths, the old Britons, and the historic sagas 1 Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth. See Literary Intro duction, p. lxviii. — T. X

PREFACE.

connected with the north of England, will probably be communicated in another work. The genealogic tables1, which I have drawn up of the Anglo-Saxon royal houses, will be found at the end of the volume. My earnest endeavour to know and make known those sources of old English history, which are at present accessible, would have been far from successful, had not the chiefs of the libraries at Gottingen, Hanover, Kiel and Wolfenbiittel most kindly favoured me with the long and uninterrupted use of many rare works and manu scripts necessary for such investigations. While feeling it my duty to express to these estimable friends my sin cerest gratitude for the confidence and benevolence shown me, I feel myself called on again to mention my valued friend Mr. Cooper, to whose influential mediation I am indebted not only for many highly interesting and important works for the Norman and later portions of English history, but also for the communication, before the completion of the present work, of several valuable materials, prepared under the Record Commission, for Anglo-Saxon history, which he granted to the then per sonally unknown foreigner, for his particular use, previously to their publication.

May that which is here given appear not wholly unworthy of such honourable confidence ! _s^'I's* J. M. L. Hamburg, 16th September, 1833. 1 These, in the present translation, have not only been revised by me throughout, but also augmented by — 1. a table of the ancestors of Woden, showing also the descents from his several sons ; 2. the ancestors up to Woden of the founders of the Germanic states in Britain ; 3. the genealogy of the princes or ealdormen of Lindisse (Lindsey). — T. Following the example of my worthy and learned friend, the author, and in compliance with the general usage on such occasions, I will endeavour, as briefly as possible, to lay before the few who will honour this hi story with a perusal, an account of the part I have taken in it bevond that of a mere translator. Having been presented by Dr. Lappenberg with a copy of his work immediately on its publication at Hamburg in 1834, the interest excited in me by its perusal was such that I resolved on attempting a version of it into English ; for although histories of the same period in the mother-tongue and of good repute were not wanting, yet it appeared to me that in this were contained many particulars, especially with reference to chronological criticism, and to what may be called the German portion of Anglo-Saxon history, not elsewhere to be found in a condensed form, as well as much other information, which the author's pursuits in the field of old Teutonic literature had enabled him to introduce almost as matter of course, at a time when that field was a sort of terra incognita to most lovers of historic literature in England.

My resolve was partly executed, a translation to the end of the so-called Heptarchy was completed, when, to my mortification, I found that not one of the booksellers to whom it was offered would risk anything in its publication : nor indeed were they to blame, for it seemed at the time that few persons in the country interested themselves much about old history, a study which, from some unknown cause, had unfortunately never found that favour among us with which it has for ages been regarded in Italy, France, and Germany ; though the fruits of the Record Commission, and more especially the hope of the immediate publication of a volume of the late Mr. Petrie's ' Corpus Historicum,' certainly justified the expectation of better days. Discouraged by this some what discreditable stateof things, and far from satisfied with my translation (which was a translation in the strictest sense of the word, without the slightest attempt at addition or rectification by reference to the sources of our early history), I destroyed the labour of many months ; and it was not till the winter of 1842 that cir cumstances induced me again to think of a translation of Lappenberg's Anglo-Saxon History During the intermediate time I had laboured sedulously in the field of Anglo-Saxon literature, and having, while editing for the Government the ' Ancient Laws and Institutes of England,' been put in possession of Mr. Petrie's unfinished volume and other authorities, I could not withstand the temptation thus thrown in my way to test and enlarge the text of Dr. Lappenberg's history by the help of the original writers so fortunately placed within my reach.

This task led ultimately to a new translation of the whole, with many alterations and corrections, and such additions as appeared indispensable to the original, in which the narrative had been abridged and several facts unnoticed, in compliance with the ne cessity of conciseness imposed on the author by the circumstance, that his volume, forming one of a collection, could not be extended beyond a certain limit. On the first notice of my intention to translate his work, Dr. Lappenberg most kindly supplied me with a considerable quantity of matter, both as additions to and corrections of the original, the substance of which will be chiefly found in the text, in new annotations, or embodied with the old ones ; while my own additions and modifications have more especial reference to the text, though a few notes by me1 will be met with occasionally scattered throughout the volumes.

In fulfilling this part of my task it has been my endeavour to impart our early story as faithfully as possible, and as fully as the bounds which good taste forbids us to transgress would allow. The passages from the ancient historians, occasionally interwoven into the text, I have rendered, not from the author's German version, but directly from the originals. Should it be objected by any one, that unnecessary pains have sometimes been bestowed in recording, from charters and other sources, the names of petty kings (subreguli), of whom little or nothing, beyond the fact that they once existed, is known to us, an answer is at hand, that the knowledge of a name, especially if in combination with a date, may, in the progress of in- 1 These are distinguished by the initial T. quiry, lead to the knowledge of a fact, and, for numis matic pursuits, such notices are often of the highest utility.

Even legends are not to be indiscriminately rejected, as void of value, in recording the history of times, of which it may be said, that the germ of many an important event, connected with the establishment and progress of religion, as well as many a main spring of action, may sometimes be found in a legend. In conclusion, I will venture to express a hope that, when a new edition of the original shall be called for in Germany — as I trust will ere long be the case — the author will not reject, as unworthy of his notice, some at least of the variations and additions introduced by me into this translation. I am here reminded of the kind interest taken in my labour by my old and much esteemed friend Mr. Richard Taylor, who has not only supplied me with several works of reference, but also obliged me with some judicious observations while the volumes were in the press — services which claim and have my best thanks.

Should this translation meet with a favourable recep tion, it is my intention, if life be granted me, to com municate to English readers the author's ' History of England under the Norman Kings,' or to the accession of the house of Plantagenet. This will be comprised in a single volume. B. T. CONTENTS. VOL. I. LITERARY

Introduction

. Page Necessity of a Literary Introduction xxiii COLLECTIONS OF THE ENGLISH CHRONICLES. Parker. — Savile. — Camden xxiii Twysden Fell. — Gale. — Sparke xxiv Wharton — Hearne. — Record Commission xxv BRITISH OR WELSH AND IRISH AUTHORITIES. The Bards xxvi The Triads. — Gildas xxvii Nennius xxviii Jeffrey of Monmouth xxix Tysilio xxx Ponticus Virunnius. — Le Brut of Robert Wace. — Layamon xxxi Caradoc of Llancarvan. — John Brechfa. — Chronicon Walliæ. — Chronicon Cambriæ (Annales Cambriæ). . .. xxxii Brut y Tywysogion. — Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores Veteres xxxiii ANGLO-SAXON AND EARLY ENGLISH AUTHO- RITIES. Beda xxxiv Earlier Anglo-Saxon Sources, Necrologies, Genealogies, etc. xxxv As6er xxxviii CONTENTS. Page The Saxon Chronicle xxxix Sources of the Saxon Chronicle xli Authors of the same xliii Ethelwerd xliv Florence of Worcester. — Marianus Scotus xlvii Simeon of Durham Chronicle of Melrose. — Henry of Huntingdon xlviii Roger of Hoveden. — Alured of Beverley 1 Ingulf Ii Ailred of Rievaux Hi William of Malmesbury. — Matthew of Westminster .... liii John Wallingford liv NORMAN AUTHORITIES.

Dudo of St. Quentin. — William of Jumieges. — Robert Wace Iv Benoit de Ste. More Geffrei Gaimar lvi William of Poitiers. — Ordericus Vitalis. — Guy (Wido) of Amiens lvii Chronicon Danorum lviii ENGLISH METRICAL CHRONICLERS. Robert of Gloucester Peter Langtoft. — Robert de Brunne lviii LATER CHRONICLERS, etc. John Bromton. — Douglas of Glastonbury lix Charters, Laws (Anglo-Saxon, Welsh) lx-lxii MODERN HISTORIANS. Caxton jxjj Milton. — Langhorne jxjjj Spelman.— Rapin— Carte.— Hume.— Gibbon. — Burke . . Ixiv Mackintosh jxv Whitaker lxvii Henry — Turner. — Lingard jxvij PalSrave ....''.'. CONTENTS. XVII BRITAIN UNDER THE ROMANS. Page Earliest knowledge of Britain. — Phœnicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans 1 Tin Islands and Commerce 4 Descent and Traditions 6 Language 7 Druids 9 Bards 11 Chieftains and Kings 12 Customs, manner of fighting 13 Triads of Dyvnwal Moelmud 14?

Tribes 15 Invasion by C. Julius Cæsar 17 Invasion by Caligula 22 Invasion by Claudius 23 Caractacus (Caradoc) 24 Conquest of Mona 27 Boudicea 28 Agricola 29 Division and form of Government 32 Collegia (Guilds). — Preservation of the Celtic tongue .... 36 British Princes 38 Law of Gavelkind. — State of the countiy under the Cæsars 39 Saxon pirates 43 Carausius 45 Constantine the Great — Christianity 47 High roads 51 Roman structures 52 Picts and Scots 54 Attacotti and Dalreudini. — Princely families 56 Rebellions of the Roman generals 57 British settlement in Armorica 59 Departure of the Roman legions 60 St. Germain. — State of Christianity 62 Pelagius 65 b VOL. I. CONTENTS. XVIII