Alfred in the chroniclers

Preface

I DESIRE in the following pages to present to English readers in a popular and readable form the early authorities for the life of King Alfred of England, which, interesting as they are, are for the most part scarcely known, save to professed students of history, and are in some cases hard to come by.

I give, accordingly, in full, his biography by Asser, his friend and chaplain, and such entries as relate to his reign in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the leading mediaeval historians— Ethelwerd, Florence of Worcester, Henry of Huntingdon, William of Malmesbury, Simeon of Durham, Geoffry Gaimar, Roger of Wendover, etc.

In each case I have made a new translation from the original, and have endeavoured, as far as possible, in my selections from each writer, to confine myself to such events as are narrated by him alone, or with some special colouring of his own ; for each, as a matter of course, made the freest use of the work of his predecessors, and almost invariably without one syllable of acknowledgment. But each adds his own touches to the story — touches which may well be founded on some floating tradition still surviving to his day. I have also prefixed to each a few words of critical notice, and, when needful, a table of contents.

The Introductory Sketch will, I hope, show how the information derived from these various sources combines into an

VI

Preface authentic picture of our hero-King. And this picture I would fain make yet more life-like by the extracts given from his own literary works, his laws, and the beautiful ' Proverbs of Alfred,' which record far-off echoes of his traditional wisdom.

EDWARD CONYBEARE.

Cambridge,

CONTENTS. t$!"*UU

Chapter I. Page

Celtic and Teutonic ideals — Arthur and Alfred — Scope of the present work — English settlement of Britain — Gradual unification — Marks — Kinglets — Bretwaldas — Church of England — Bede's forecast - - - I

Chapter II

Earliest Danish troubles — The Heptarchy — Egbert, first King of the English

— Egbert and Charlemagne—Defiance of Roman claim to Britain - 5

Chapter III

Danish invasions renewed — Sack of London — Battle of Ockley — First Danish settlements — Rail of 870— St. Edmund — Invasion of Wessex — Alfred succeeds to the throne - - - - - - - 10

Chapter IV

Early life of Alfred — His claim to the throne — Designation by Pope Leo- Saracen sack of Rome — Alfred at Rome — Judith, his stepmother- Devout childhood and youth — Friendship with St. Neot — Marriage — Alfred's ' thorn in the flesh ' - - - - - 14

Chapter V

Outset of Alfred's reign — The nine battles of 871— Wessex cleared of Danes — Their settlements elsewhere — Alfred's early reforms — His wondrous versatility ........ 2.0

Chapter VI

Great Danish inroad of 876 — Siege of Wareham — Capture of Exeter — Danish fleet destroyed at Swanage — Alfred the founder of our navy — Danes at Chippenham — Wessex wholly overrun — Alfred unpopular — Danish massacres — Alfred in Athelney — His jewel - - - 25

Chapter X

Alfred's publications — ' The Consolations of Boethius' — Bede's ' History of the Anglican Church ' — Orosius' ' History of the World ' — Its purpose — ' Flowrets from St. Augustine' — Gregory's ' Pastoral Care' - 51

Part II Extracts From The Chroniclers, With Prefatory Notices

1. Asser : ' Of the Deeds of Alfred '['De ^Elfredi rebus gestis'] 83 in. Ethelwerd's Chronicles [Chronica] .... 132 iv. Simeon of Durham : 'Deeds of the English Kings' ['Historia

DE GESTIS REGUM ANGLORUM '] - - - - - I44

v. William ofMalmesbury : ' History of the Kings ' [' Historia vi. Henry of Huntingdon : ' History of the English ' [' Historic vii. Florence of Worcester's Chronicle [Chronicon] - - 173

viii. Geoffry Gaimar: 'The Story of the English' ['L'Estorie

des Engles '] - - - - 177

ix. Roger of Wendover : 'Flowers of History' ['Flores Hisx. John of Wallingford : ' Chronicles of the English '

['Chronica Anglorum '] - - - - - - 189

xi. John of Brompton's Chronicle [Chronicon] - - 195

xii. ' Ingulf ' : ' History of Crowland ' - - - 207

xiii. The Book of Hyde - - ... 216

xiv. Chronicle of the Church of St. Neot ['Fant Sen. Neoti

Chronicon '], or ' The Annals of Asser ' - - 224

N.B. — The whole of the above were originally written in Latin, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which is in Old English, and Gaimar, who wrote in French.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

English History.

First Saxon settlement in Britain.

Ella of Sussex Bretwalda.

560. Ceawlin of Wessex Bretwalda.

593. Ethelbert of Kent Bretwalda.

597. St. Augustine's Mission to England.

616. Redwald of East Anglia Bretwalda.

617. Edwin of Northumbria Bretwalda.

634. Oswald of Northumbria Bretwalda.

642. Oswy of Northumbria Bretwalda.

658. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury.

688. Ina, King of Wessex.

731. Bede's History ends.

755. Offa King of Mercia.

777. Mercian conquest of Wessex.

787. First Danish inroad.

794. Danish raid on Northumbria.

800. Egbert King of Wessex.

823. Battle of Ellandune.

Egbert lord of South England. 827. Egbert Bretwalda and ' King of the English.'

832. Danish inroads renewed.

833. Danish raid on Dorset.

835. Danish raid on Cornwall.

836. Ethelwulf King of Wessex and Over-

lord of England.

Athelstan [St. Neot] King of Kent.

a.d. Contemporary History. 410. Capture of Rome by Alaric.

St. Augustine writes.

Orosius writes.

500. Theodoric King of Italy. 520. Boethius writes.

590. St. Gregory Pope.

622. Mahomet.

700. [?] English school at Rome

founded. 711. Saracen conquest of Spain.

732. Battle of Tours.

800. Charlemagne Emperor. 814. Louis the Pious Emperor. 817. Partition of the Empire.

829. Second partition.

Chronological Table a.d. English History.

837. Danish raid on Hampshire.

838. Danish raid along East Coast.

839. Danish raid on Kent.

840. Danish raid on Devon.

Battle of Charmouth.

845. Danish raid on Somerset.

Battle of Pedredan.

849. Alfred born.

851. Danes first winter here (in Thanet).

Sack of Canterbury and London.

Battles of Wembury, Sandwich, and Ockley.

Ethelbald King of Kent. 853. Ethelwulf subdues Wales.

Alfred sent to Rome. 855. Danes winter in Sheppey.

Ethelwulf's tithing and pilgrimage to Rome.

He marries Judith, and becomes King of Kent.

Ethelbald King of Wessex. 857. Death of Ethelwulf.

860. Ethelbert King.

Danish raid on Winchester.

861. Death of St. Swithun.

Alfred learns to read.

865. 866.

867. 868.

87 1

872. 873- 874- 875.

Danes harry East Kent

Danes settle in East Anglia.

Ethelred King.

Danes take York.

Danes take Nottingham.

Alfred's marriage.

Great Danish raid.

Sack of Crowland, Peterborough, etc.

Battle of Thetford.

Death of St. Edmund.

Danes invade Wessex.

Battles of Englefield, Reading, Ashdown,

Basing and Merton.

Death of Ethelred.

Accession of Alfred.

Battle of Wilton. Danes leave Wessex.

Danes in London.

Danes in Lindesey.

Danes conquer Mercia.

Danes on the Tyne and at Cambridge.

First English naval victory.

Danes rush Wareham and Exeter.

Danish fleet destroyed at Swanage.

a.d. Contemporary History.

838. Third partition of the Empire.

843. Fourth partition. Charles the Bald King of France.

846. Saracens sack Rome.

847. Leo IV. Pope.

English school burnt down.

858. Nicolas I. Pope.

861. Photian schism. Eastern churches cut off from Rome.

867. Adrian II. Pope.

872. John VIII. Pope.

875. Charles (the Bald) Emperor.

876. Rollo settles in Normandy.

877. Louis (the Stammerer) Em-

peror.

Chronological Table

XI a.d. English History.

878. Danes at Gloucester and Chippenham.

Alfred in Athelney.

English victory at Kinwith.

Decisive battle of Ethandune.

Baptism of Guthrum.

Peace of Wedmore.

879. Danes at Cirencester and Fulham.

Eclipse of sun.

880. Danes settle in East Anglia, or leave

England.

882. Sea-fight with Danes.

883. Alfred's mission to India,

884. Asser joins Alfred.

885. Danes attack Rochester.

Sea-fights at Stourmouth.

886. Alfred restores London.

England.

890. Death of Guthrum.

Overlord of

893- 894.

895. 896.

Danes return to England. Hasting.

Danes defeated at Farnham, Beamfleet,

Buttington, and Chester.

Danes defeated at Chichester.

Danish fleet captured in Lea.

Danes defeated at Bridgenorth.

Danish host breaks up.

898. Danish pirates put down by Alfred's navy. 900[?]. Death of Alfred.

a.d. CONTEMBORARY HISTORY.

879. Louis III. King of France.

880. Danes invade Flanders.

882. Marinus Pope.

883. Danes at Conde.

884. Danes at Amiens. Charles

(the Fat) Emperor.

Adrian III. Pope.

885. Stephen VI. Pope.

886. Danes besiege Paris.

887. Danes at Chezy.

Arnulf Emperor.

890. Danesdefeated in Britanny.

891. Formosus Pope.

896. Boniface VI. Pope.

897. Stephen VII. Pope.

Romanus Pope.

898. Theodorus II. Pope.

John IX. Pope.

900. Benedict IV. Pope.

">r> the. I X^ Century

tftUeys Q

PART I.

INTRODUCTORY SKETCH.

Chapter I

Celtic and Teutonic ideals — Arthur and Alfred — Scope of the present work— English settlement of Britain — Gradual unification — Marks — Kinglets — Bretwaldas — Church of England — Bede's forecast.

T

HROUGH the mist of long-past ages, two heroic names shine out as the special glory of our island, each the peculiar possession of one of the two branches of the Aryan family whose fusion has made Britain what it is. The Celtic ideal has embodied itself in the character of Arthur, the Teutonic in that of Alfred. And it is characteristic of the genius of the two races, that while the individuality of Arthur, as expressed in Cymric legend, is almost wholly mythical, that of Alfred, as handed down by Anglo-Saxon story, is almost entirely historical.

§ 2. ' He is a singular instance,' says Mr. Freeman, 'of a prince who has become a hero of romance; who, as a hero of romance, has had countless imaginary exploits and imaginary y institutions attributed to him, but to whose character romance has done no more than justice, and who appears in exactly the same light in history and in fable. No other man on record has ever so thoroughly united all the virtues, both of the ruler and the private man. ... A saint without superstition, a scholar without ostentation, a warrior all whose wars were fought in defence of his country, a conqueror whose laurels were never stained with cruelty, a prince never cast down by adversity, never lifted up to insolence in the hour of triumph — there is no other name in history to compare with his.'

§ 3. In the ensuing pages it is my object to set before my readers the original authorities on which this eloquent panegyric is grounded, to show Alfred as he lives in the pages of the early chroniclers, from his own friend and contemporary, Asser, to John of Wallingford, five centuries later. Each succeeding writer echoes those who came before, but almost every one adds his own touches to the story of his hero — touches which may perhaps be invention, but which also may, with at least equal probability, embody some floating tradition founded on historic fact.

§ 4. But in order to appreciate the lofty character thus delineated for us, we must have a clear conception of the extraordinary and appalling crisis of our history through which Alfred steered the fortunes of England. Never was nation nearer to utter shipwreck, never was the civilization of any land nearer being whelmed, hopelessly and for ever, beneath the inrushing deluge of barbarism, than when the helm was guided by his hand.

§ 5. That crisis was the outcome of a long series of events. Our Anglo-Saxon forefathers had been now for 400 years the inhabiters of Britain. Four centuries had passed

' Since from the East hither Angle and Saxon Sped to this shore, Over the broad brine, Britain beseeking : War-smiths wight, they The Welsh overcame : Earls ever-bold, they The land made their own.'

Song of Brunanburgh.

§ 6. And during that period they had been gradually laying aside the savage ferocity which marked their first onslaught, and which kept them in perpetual warfare not only with the Britons, whose land they were seizing, but amongst each other. At their first settlement the dwellers in each 'mark' (or parish) regarded every stranger entering their bounds as an enemy. But the impulse to coalition made itself felt almost at once, and ever more strongly as time passed on. Mark joined with mark under local kinglets (c proceres,' as Henry of Huntingdon calls them) whose sway embraced a whole district ; the solidarity of each separate horde of invaders reasserted itself under a common chief, sometimes (as til the case of the West Saxons) the actual descendant of the original captain who led them across the sea, sometimes (as in that of the East Angles) merely the most prominent amongst the kinglets of the tribe. And ever and anon there rose into power, now from one tribe, now from another, one of those 'Bretwaldas' whom the popular voice informally acclaimed (by a play upon the word) as the ' Wielder of Britain,' the quasi-Emperor to whom every tribe owed a vague but far from merely nominal allegiance.

§ 7. The idea thus suggested of a common Sovereign and a common political organization for the whole land became fixed by the manner in which the conversion of the English to Christianity developed itself. The loosely-knit system of the Celtic missionaries, whose preaching produced so vast an effect at first, could not, for all their fervour, hold its own in the English mission-field against the compacter energies of their earlier Roman rivals. The 'Italian Mission' triumphed, and every baptized Englishman found himself the subject of a world-wide and straitly-ruled spiritual kingdom, whose claims to his allegiance were held to override every local and every racial distinction. And not only so, but, by the disposition of the earthly Head of that kingdom, the Potentate whom he recognised as beyond all others, ' the Vicar of Christ,'1 he was further knit up with his fellow-countrymen in a narrower local bond which yet embraced all of his tongue and kindred. The ideal with which Gregory the Great sent

1 The title was sometimes applied to a temporal sovereign.

forth Augustine, of a united British Church, including the whole island, and subject, under the Pope, to the Archbishop of Canterbury, was, indeed, never fully carried out ; but that of Pope Hadrian, two generations later, of a united Anglican Church, was not entrusted in vain to the genius of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury 668 to 690, ' the first Archbishop,' as Bede tells us, ' whom the whole English Church obeyed.' Thenceforward every Englishman was a member of the Church of England. Clergy from every kingdom of the Heptarchy met in synod for common counsel and common regulation of their ecclesiastical interests, thus paving the way for a like solidarity of the realm in political affairs also.

§ 8. And with the spread of Christianity the bitterness of intertribal war was immensely softened. The shedding of Christian blood was looked upon as no light matter, and warfare more and more tended, not only to be less deadly, but to cease altogether. When, in 731, Bede concluded his ' Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation,' he thus depicts the striking progress of civilizing influences: 'The Picts have now made a treaty of peace with the English nation, and rejoice in being united in Catholic peace and truth with the Church Universal. The Scots that dwell in Britain,1 content with their own bounds, neither plot nor conspire more against the English. The Britons, though they for the most part hate all English folk, and wrongfully, from wicked use, oppose the appointed Easter of the Catholic Church,2 yet can in no way prevail as they would, the power of God and of man alike letting them. For though in part they are their own masters, yet in part also are they under English sway. Such being the peaceful and calm state of the times, many lay aside their weapons, and incline ... to monastic vows rather than . . . soldiership. What will be the end hereof the next age will show.'

1 The Scots migrated from Ireland in the sixth century A.D., and settled in Galloway. The Picts held all the land north of the Forth.

2 The Celtic Christians merely differed as to astronomical minutice from the Catholic reckoning ; but these often involved considerable practical divergence in the date of any given Easter. The Picts and Scots renounced these errors in 701, at the instance of Adamnan ; but the Britons (Welsh) long persisted in them.

Chapter II

Earliest Danish troubles— The Heptarchy — Egbert, first King of the English — Egbert and Charlemagne — Defiance of Roman claim to Britain.

w

§ i. "\ ' THEN Bede penned his forecast, he doubtless expected ' the next age ' to perpetuate and develop the Christian civilization which gave so bright a promise. The event was different indeed ; for it turned out to be the age of the last great inroad of Northern barbarians from which Christendom has suffered. Wildlyferocious swarms of heathen pirates, arriving in never-ending succession from the inlets of Norway and Denmark, brought back to Britain all the horrors of the Saxon invasion, and made such havoc that the outlook grew dark and darker. Their black barks were first seen in 787, when, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle narrates : ' This year . . . first came three ships of the Northmen, out of Haeretha-land [Norway]. And then the Reve [Sheriff] rode to the place, and would have driven them to the King's town, because he knew not what men they were. And then and there did they slay him. These were the first ships of Danish men that sought the land of Angle-kin.'1

§ 2. Again, in 794, after ' dire forewarnings over the land, mighty whirlwinds and thunderbolts and fiery dragons flying through the air,' we read that, ' on the 6th of the Ides of January [January 8] heathen? raiders full piteously wasted God's Church at Lindisfarne, with rapine and slaughter.'

§ 3. This expedition was crushed the following year by

1 This was the earliest name for England.

aid of a tempest which cast away the pirates on the Northumbrian coast, and the daunted freebooters made no further attempt on our shores for a generation. And that generation witnessed, just in time, the long-delayed unification of England. Of the seven kingdoms which made up the socalled Heptarchy, three were Saxon. Two of these, Essex and Sussex, yet keep their old name and their old boundaries, as counties ; the third, Wessex, took in all the rest of the island (save Kent and Cornwall) south of the Thames. Three more were Anglian : Northumberland, from the Forth to the Humber, and from the Pennine Hills to the North Sea ; Mercia, from the Humber to the Thames, and to the Welsh border ; and East Anglia, containing Norfolk and Suffolk. And one, Kent, belonged to the earliest of all the English settlers, the Jutes.

§ 4. In the incessant strife always bickering amongst these kingdoms, Wessex early absorbed Sussex and Kent. Essex, in like manner, was annexed by East Anglia, and both East Anglia and Wessex became for awhile subject to Mercia. But the wonderful year 800, which saw the coronation of Charlemagne as Emperor at Rome, witnessed at Kingstonon-Thames a humbler ceremony, which was destined to bring about yet more momentous results. On the ancient coronation stone of the West Saxon monarchs, still to be seen in Kingston Market-place, did Egbert, ' the uniter of the Heptarchy,' the grandfather of Alfred, take his seat (after three years' exile, at Mercian instance, in France) as King of Wessex.

§ 5. Little did those who took part in the acclamations which greeted him imagine that this tributary monarch of a few counties, occupying his position only by the sufferance of his Mercian overlord, was to be the founder of an empire destined to outlast that of the great Charles, and to extend its bounds incomparably further than his ! Yet so it was. This petty under-King of the West Saxons worked his own way to be ' King of the English.' Three generations more, and his descendants were Emperors of Britain ;x nor have

1 This dignity was first attained by Edward, the heroic son of Alfred, in 924, and culminated in the coronation of Edward's great grandson, Edgar the Peaceful, as ' Basileus ; of Britain, 973.

the imperial claims of the British Crown ever been whollylost sight of since. The imperial style, constantly adopted by our monarchs, is not, as is often thought, a mere turgid form of self-glorification, but expresses a historical and political claim of no small importance — the repudiation of the pretensions of Rome to political dominion in our island.1 Nor is it by any mere figure of speech that we now speak of the British ' Empire.' For a dominion uniting under its suzerainty regions in every part of the earth, connected with it by ties of every degree of closeness, from the Channel Islands to the Transvaal, corresponds more nearly to the original idea connoted by the word ' empire ' than anything the world has seen since classical days.

§ 6. Such are the mighty consequences springing from the coronation of Egbert. Their first manifestation was, however, long in showing itself. Egbert, a statesman of no mean order, gave at first that highest proof of statesmanship — he knew how to wait. For twenty-three years he bided his time, and then suddenly shook off the Mercian yoke. One great victory (at Ellandune)*2 over the midland forces sufficed. Not only was Wessex freed, but the whole Saxon Name. ' The South Saxons, and the East Saxons, and the men of Kent and they of Surrey, came in unto him, for erst had they been wrongly forced from his kin. And the same year did the King of the East Angles and his folk seek wardship from King Egbert for dread of the Mercians.'

§ 7. An attempt by the Mercians to regain their conquests led to the defeat and death of their King, Beornwulf, leaving the kingdom so weakened that, in 827, Egbert was able to subdue it, thus uniting under his sceptre all England south of the Humber. He was now acclaimed Bretwalda, the first Bretwalda since Oswy of Northumberland in 642.

§ 8. This assumption of an almost obsolete title is a striking proof of Egbert's statecraft. The name had been unheard for nearly two centuries, and the last three monarchs who bore

1 So the statutes of 1534 : ' This realm of England is an Empire . . . governed by one Supreme Head . . . having the dignity and royal estate of the Imperial Crown.'

2 Probably Ellingham, in South-west Hampshire.

it had all been Kings of Northumbria. To the dominion of a King of Wessex the Northumbrians would never have submitted without a desperate struggle, which might well have tried Egbert's newly-built edifice of power beyond its strength. But when, as Bretwalda, he claimed their allegiance, and backed his claim by appearing with his full force on their border, they dared not resist.

§ 9. Had Charlemagne been still alive it might well have been otherwise. For his claims, as Roman Emperor, to the old Roman dominion over Britain had been acknowledged by the Northumbrian Princes1 in their dread of subjection to the nearer power of Mercia. And even the great OfTa, the most powerful of all the Mercian Kings, had not dared to violate the frontiers of the new Caesar, though himself refusing to bow to him. An appeal for protection to their Augustus would almost certainly have brought a Roman army to the defence of the Northumbrians so long as Charlemagne was Roman Emperor. But Charlemagne was gone ; the new Western Empire was divided amongst his worthless grandsons, and such outlying fragments as Northumbria had no chance of aid from any of them. The very fact that Egbert had ventured to call himself by a title which implied a claim to dominion over all Britain was in itself a defiance of the imperial counter-claim — a defiance which it was sufficiently plain that the imperial authorities were in no case to take up.

§ 10. Thus, without a battle, Egbert added Northumbria to his dominions, and now at last, in 828, took the new and loftier title, ' King of the English.'2 No contemporary knew him as ' King of England,' for that name for our land did not come into use till the eleventh century,3 and the title was first assumed by Canute. Our earlier monarchs derived their

1 This is found in Eginhard, the biographer of Charlemagne, a.d. 808. See Palgrave, 'English Commonwealth,' i. 484, and Freeman, 'Norman Conquest,'

2 In a charter of this year he first appears as ' Ecgberhtus gratia Dei Anglorum Rex' (Kemble, ' Cod. Dip.,' i. 287).

3 The earlier name (see p. 6) was Anglekin. From the first invasion of Britain, if not earlier, our Teutonic forefathers (whether Angles, Saxons or Jutes) knew their race as a whole by the Anglian name. To the Britons, on the other hand, they were all alike ' Saxons,' as we still find in the Welsh and Gaelic ' Sassenach.'

only territorial designations from their imperial sway over the whole island. Their charters describe them as * Monarchus totius Britanniae,' ' totius Albionis Archon,' ' Britanniarum Rex,' but in speaking of their kingship over their own kinsfolk it is always ' Anglo-Saxonum Rex,' ' Gentis Angligenae Rex,' and such-like racial designations.

§ 11. Nevertheless, Egbert was, to all intents and purposes, King of England, and England was at last a single realm, able to confront, as a united whole, the coming tempest of the Scandinavian invasions. It was but just in time. Only four years later, in 832, the Danes came back, and from thence onward their attacks became unremitting.

Chapter III

Danish invasions renewed — Sack of London — Battle of Ockley — First Danish settlements — Raid of 870 — St. Edmund — Invasion of Wessex — Alfred succeeds to the throne.

§ I. A ¥ A HE Viking attacks at first were mere plundering raids. Summer after summer saw a Danish fleet I — a ' summer-lead,' as it was called — cross the North Sea, to ravage one district or another, never far inland, sometimes to be defeated, sometimes not, but in either event to make off, after an inroad of a few weeks, with their booty. The incomparably superior mobility of sea-borne troops as compared with land forces enabled them to choose their own point of attack, and, ere the hastily-summoned English levies could reach them, to pounce upon some undefended spot, or more than one, in quite another direction. Henry of Huntingdon graphically describes the demoralizing effect of these tactics upon the English armies :

§ 2. ' Wonder was it, how, when the English Kings were hasting to meet them in the East, ere they could come up with their bands, a breathless scout would run in, saying, "Sir King, whither marchest thou? The heathen have landed in the South, a countless fleet. Towns and hamlets are in flames, fire and slaughter on every side." Yea, and that very day another would come running : " Sir King, why withdrawest thou ? A fearsome host has come to shore in the West. If ye face them not speedily, they will hold that ye flee, and will be on your rear with fire and sword." Again on the morrow would dash up yet another, saying, "What place make ye for, noble chieftains ? In the North have the Danes made a raid. Already have they burnt your dwellings. Even now are they sweeping off your goods, tossing your babes on their spear-points, dishonouring your wives, and haling them to captivity." Bewildered by such various tidings of bitter woe, both Kings and people lost heart and strength, both of mind and body, and were utterly cast down.'

§ 3. So things went on for twenty years, during which eight of these miserable summers, with their rapid, rushing invasions, are recorded, and then comes a further step. In 851 we meet in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle with the ominous entry: 'This year did the heathen folk, for the first time, bide over winter.'

§ 4. This was in the island of Thanet, the first permanent abode of the Anglo-Saxon invaders 400 years earlier. Both Danes and English seem to have realized the significance of this fact. The former were encouraged to reinforce their pioneers the next year by no fewer than 350 ships, ten times the average number of a Danish marauding expedition, and the greatness of the peril roused the English to a desperate effort of defence, which proved successful. The Danish crews, leaving their great mass of vessels at the mouth of the Thames, stormed first Canterbury, and then London — the only time in history that our Metropolis has ever been taken by assault — and then poured southward across Surrey. With the whole West Saxon force, Ethelwulf,1 the son and successor of Egbert, and the father of Alfred, met them at Ockley, in their march along the ancient ' Stane Street ' through the Weald. And there, beneath the old oak-trees2 of the Sussex forest, ' made they the greatest slaughter among the heathen host that ever we heard tell of, even unto this day, and there gat they the victory.'3 * The warriors fell like corn in harvest . . . and God vouchsafed the victory to His faithful.'4 1 Thus that self-same day did the Christians win a glorious victory. And they held the battle-stead ; with hymns and praises giving thanks to God.'5 To 'hold the battle-stead ' or 'the death-stead' (wealk-stowe), i.e., to be in final posses-

1 An interesting relic of this King may be seen in the medal-room of the British Museum — a peculiarly-shaped gold ring with the word Exhelwlf {sic) on a ground of blue enamel.