Movatterモバイル変換

The issue of Stevenson’s long and eagerly expectededition of Asser’sLife of King Alfred has provided anopportunity to supply the ever increasing number of thegreat king’s admirers with a more satisfactory renderinginto English of this, perhaps the most precious document,notwithstanding all its faults, for the comprehension of hislife and character.

The authenticity of the Life was impugned by ThomasWright in 1841, by Sir Henry Howorth in 1876–77, andby an unknown writer in 1898, and it had become somewhatthe fashion to regard it as a production of a later period,and therefore entitled to but little credence. The doubtsas to its authenticity have been satisfactorily dispelled bythe two eminent scholars who have most recently discussedthe difficulties, Plummer and Stevenson.

The former, in hisLife and Times of Alfred the Great,Oxford, 1902, says (p. 52): ‘The work which bearsAsser’s name cannot be later than 974, and the attempt totreat it as a forgery of the eleventh or twelfth centurymust be regarded as having broken down. I may add thatI started with a strong prejudice against the authenticityof Asser, so that my conclusions have at any rate beenimpartially arrived at.’ The latter, in his noble edition(Oxford, 1904), remarks (p. vii): ‘In discussing the workI have attempted to approach it without any bias for oragainst it, and throughout my endeavor has been to subjectevery portion of it to as searching an examination asvimy knowledge and critical powers would permit. The netresult has been to convince me that, although there may beno very definite proof that the work was written by BishopAsser in the lifetime of King Alfred, there is no anachronismor other proof that it is a spurious compilationof later date. The serious charges brought against itsauthenticity break down altogether under examination,while there remain several features that point with varyingstrength to the conclusion that it is, despite its difficultiesand corruptions, really a work of the time it purportsto be. This result is confirmed by the important corroborationof some of its statements by contemporary Frankishchroniclers. Thus the profession of belief in its authenticityby such eminent historians as Kemble, Pauli, Stubbs,and Freeman agrees with my own conclusion.’

Notwithstanding their general rehabilitation of the work,however, neither critic is prepared to trust it implicitly.Plummer says (p. 52): ‘On the whole, then, Asser is anauthority to be used with criticism and caution; partlybecause we have always to be alive to the possibility ofinterpolation, partly because the writer’s Celtic imaginationis apt to run away with him.’ And thus Stevenson (p. cxxx):‘The work still presents some difficulties. Carelessness oftranscription may possibly explain those that are merelyverbal, but there still remain certain passages that lay theauthor open to the charge of exaggeration, such as his mentionof gold-covered and silver-covered buildings, if that bethe literal meaning of the passage, and his statement thatAlfred might, if he had chosen, have been king before hiselder brother Æthelred, with whom, it is clear, he was onmost intimate terms.’

The style of the book is not uniform. The passagestranslated from theChronicle are simpler, while in themore original parts the author displays an unfortunatetendency to a turgid and at times bombastic manner ofviiwriting. Indeed, it displays, in many passages, the traits ofthat Hesperic Latinity which, invented or made fashionablein the sixth century, probably by a British monk inthe southwestern part of England, was more or less currentin England from the time of Aldhelm until the NormanConquest. This Hesperic, or Celtic, Latinity has been comparedto the mock euphuism of Sir Piercie Shafton inScott’sMonastery (Professor H. A. Strong, inAmericanJournal of Philology 26. 205), and may be illustrated byProfessor Strong’s translation into English of certain sentencesfrom theHisperica Famina, the production, as it isbelieved, of the monk referred to above: ‘This preciousshower of words glitters, by no awkward barriers confiningthe diction, and husbands its strength by an exquisite balanceand by equable device, trilling sweet descant ofAusonian speech through the speaker’s throat by thisshower of words passing through Latin throats; just ascountless swarms of bees go here and there in their hollowhives, and sip the honey-streams in their homes, and set inorder, as they are wont, their combs with their beaks.’

With the passage just quoted may be compared an extractfrom chapter 88 of Asser, the translation of which is givenbelow (pp. 49, 50): ‘Ac deinde cotidie inter nos sermocinando,ad hæc investigando aliis inventis æque placabilibustestimoniis, quaternio ille refertus succrevit, necimmerito, sicut scriptum est, “super modicum fundamentumædificat justus et paulatim ad majora defluit,” velutapis fertilissima longe lateque gronnios interrogando discurrens,multimodos divinæ scripturæ flosculos inhianteret incessabiliter congregavit, quis præcordii sui cellulasdensatim replevit.’ Such Latin as this is difficult to translateinto satisfactory English. If one renders it literally,the result is apt to look rather absurd; and beyond a certainpoint condensation is impracticable, or else misrepresentsthe original, faults and merits alike.

Hitherto there have been three translations of Asser intoEnglish—that by J. A. Giles in Bohn’sSix Old EnglishChronicles, London, 1848; that by Joseph Stevenson inChurch Historians of England, Vol. 2, London, 1854; andthat by Edward Conybeare,Alfred in the Chroniclers,London, 1900. As the basis of my work I have taken thetranslation of Giles, sometimes following it rather closely,and at other times departing from it more or less widely.

The reader familiar with the traditional Asser will misssome matter with which he is familiar, such as the story ofAlfred and the cakes, that of the raven-banner of the Danes,etc. These are derived from interpolations made in themanuscript by Archbishop Parker, which modern criticalscholarship has at length excised. For all matters regardingthe manuscript, the earlier editions, etc., as well as forcopious illustrative notes on the text, the reader is referredto Stevenson’s edition.

Insertions made in the text by Stevenson, on what heconsiders sufficient grounds, are indicated by< >. Thechapter-divisions and -numbering are Stevenson’s; thechapter-headings mine. Where modern forms of propernames exist, I have not hesitated to adopt them, and ingeneral have tended rather to normalize them than scrupulouslyto follow the sometimes various spellings of the text.The notes have almost always been derived from Stevenson’sedition, whether or not explicit acknowledgment hasbeen made, but now and then, as in the case of the longnote on chapter 56, are my own.

1. Alfred’s Birth and Genealogy.1—In the year of ourLord’s incarnation 849, Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons,was born at the royal vill of Wantage, in Berkshire (whichreceives its name from Berroc Wood, where the box-treegrows very abundantly). His genealogy is traced inthe following order: King Alfred was the son of KingÆthelwulf; he of Egbert; he of Ealhmund; he of Eafa;he of Eoppa; he of Ingild. Ingild and Ine, the famousking of the West Saxons, were two brothers. Ine went toRome, and there ending the present life honorably, enteredinto the heavenly fatherland to reign with Christ. Ingildand Ine were the sons of Cœnred; he of Ceolwald; he ofCutha2; he of Cuthwine; he of Ceawlin; he of Cynric; heof Creoda; he of Cerdic; he of Elesa; <he of Esla;> he ofGewis, from whom the Welsh name all that people Gegwis3;<he of Wig; he of Freawine; he of Freothegar;> he2of Brond; he of Beldeag; he of Woden; he of Frithowald;he of Frealaf; he of Frithuwulf; he of Finn<; he of> Godwulf;he of Geata, which Geta the heathen long worshipedas a god. Sedulius makes mention of him in his metricalPaschal Poem, as follows:

This Geata was the son of Tætwa; he of Beaw; he ofSceldwea; he of Heremod; he of Itermod; he of Hathra;he of Hwala; he of Bedwig; he of Sceaf4; he of Noah; heof Lamech; he of Methuselah; he of Enoch; <he of Jared>;he of Mahalalel; he of Kenan5; he of Enosh; he of Seth;he of Adam.

2. Genealogy of Alfred’s Mother.6—The mother of Alfredwas named Osburh, an extremely devout woman, noblein mind, noble also by descent; she was daughter to Oslac,the famous cupbearer of King Æthelwulf. This Oslac3was a Goth by nation, descended from the Goths andJutes—of the seed, namely, of Stuf and Wihtgar, twobrothers and ealdormen. They, having received possessionof the Isle of Wight from their uncle, King Cerdic, andhis son Cynric their cousin,7 slew the few British inhabitantswhom they could find in that island, at a place calledWihtgaraburg8; for the other inhabitants of the island hadeither been slain or had escaped into exile.

3. The Danes at Wicganbeorg and Sheppey.9—In the yearof our Lord’s incarnation 851, which was the third of KingAlfred’s life, Ceorl, Ealdorman of Devon, fought with themen of Devon against the heathen at a place called Wicganbeorg,10and the Christians gained the victory. In that sameyear the heathen first wintered in the island called Sheppey,which means ‘Sheep-island,’ situated in the river Thamesbetween Essex and Kent, though nearer to Kent than toEssex, and containing a fair monastery.11

4. The Danes sack Canterbury.12—The same year a greatarmy of heathen came with three hundred and fifty shipsto the mouth of the river Thames, and sacked Dorubernia,or Canterbury,13 <and also London> (which lies on the northbank of the river Thames, on the confines of Essex andMiddlesex, though in truth that city belongs to Essex);and they put to flight Beorhtwulf, King of Mercia, with allthe army which he had led out to oppose them.

5. Battle of Aclea.14—Having done these things there, theaforesaid heathen host went into Surrey, which is a shiresituated on the south shore of the river Thames, and to thewest of Kent. And Æthelwulf, King of the Saxons, and hisson Æthelbald, with the whole army, fought a long timeagainst them at a place called Aclea,15 that is, ‘Oak-plain’;there, after a lengthy battle, which was fought with muchbravery on both sides, the most part of the heathen hordewas utterly destroyed and slain, so that we never heard oftheir being so smitten, either before or since, in any region,in one day16; and the Christians gained an honorable victory,and kept possession of the battle-field.

6. Defeat of the Danes at Sandwich.17—In that same yearÆthelstan and Ealdorman Ealhere slew a large army ofthe heathen in Kent, at a place called Sandwich, and tooknine ships of their fleet, the others escaping by flight.

7. Æthelwulf assists Burgred.18—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 853, which was the fifth of King Alfred’s life,Burgred, King of the Mercians, sent messengers to beseechÆthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, to come and helphim in reducing to his sway the inhabitants of Mid-Wales,who dwell between Mercia and the western sea, and whowere struggling against him beyond measure. So withoutdelay King Æthelwulf, on receipt of the embassy, movedhis army, and advanced with King Burgred against Wales19;5and immediately upon his entrance he ravaged it, andreduced it under subjection to Burgred. This being done,he returned home.

8. Alfred at Rome.20—In that same year King Æthelwulfsent his above-named son Alfred to Rome, with an honorableescort both of nobles and commoners. Pope Leo atthat time presided over the apostolic see, and he anointedas king21 the aforesaid child22 Alfred in the town, and, adoptinghim as his son, confirmed him.23

9. Other Events of 853.24—That same year also, EaldormanEalhere with the men of Kent, and Huda with the men ofSurrey, fought bravely and resolutely against an army of theheathen in the island which is called Tenet25 in the Saxontongue, but Ruim in the Welsh language. At first theChristians were victorious. The battle lasted a long time;many fell on both sides, and were drowned in the water;and both the ealdormen were there slain. In the same yearalso, after Easter, Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons,gave his daughter to Burgred, King of the Mercians, as hisqueen, and the marriage was celebrated in princely wise atthe royal vill of Chippenham.

10. The Heathen winter in Sheppey.26—In the year of ourLord’s incarnation 855, which was the seventh of the aforesaidking’s life, a great army of the heathen spent the wholewinter in the aforesaid island of Sheppey.

11. Æthelwulf journeys to Rome.27—In that same year theaforesaid worshipful King Æthelwulf freed the tenth partof all his kingdom from every royal service and tribute,and offered it up as an everlasting grant to God the One andThree, on the cross of Christ, for the redemption of hisown soul and those of his predecessors. In the same yearhe went to Rome with much honor; and taking with himhis son, the aforesaid King Alfred, a second time on thesame journey, because he loved him more than his othersons, he remained there a whole year. After this he returnedto his own country, bringing with him Judith,daughter of Charles, King of the Franks.28

12. Rebellion of Æthelbald.29—In the meantime, however,whilst King Æthelwulf was residing this short time beyondsea, a base deed was done in the western part of Selwood,30repugnant to the morals of all Christians. For King Æthelbald,Ealhstan, Bishop of the church of Sherborne, andEanwulf, Ealdorman of Somerset, are said to have formeda conspiracy to the end that King Æthelwulf, on his returnfrom Rome, should not again be received in his kingdom.This unfortunate occurrence, unheard-of in all previous ages,is ascribed by many to the bishop and ealdorman alone,since, say they, it resulted from their counsels. Many alsoascribe it solely to the insolence of the king, because hewas headstrong in this matter and in many other perversities,as I have heard related by certain persons, and as was7proved by the result of that which followed. For on hisreturn from Rome, Æthelwulf’s son aforesaid, with all hiscounselors, or rather waylayers, attempted to perpetratethe crime of repulsing the king from his own kingdom;but neither did God suffer it, nor did the nobles of allWessex consent thereto. For to prevent this irremediabledanger to Wessex of a war between father and son, orrather of the whole nation waging civil war more fiercelyand cruelly from day to day, as they espoused the cause ofthe one or the other,—by the extraordinary clemency of thefather, seconded by the consent of all the nobles, the kingdomwhich had hitherto been undivided was parted betweenthe two, the eastern districts being given to the father, andthe western to the son. Thus where the father ought byjust right to have reigned, there did his unjust and obstinateson bear rule; for the western part of Wessex isalways superior to the eastern.

13. Judith’s Position in Wessex.31—When Æthelwulf, therefore,returned from Rome, the whole nation, as was fitting,so rejoiced32 in the arrival of the ruler that, if he had allowedthem, they would have expelled his unruly son Æthelbald,with all his counselors, from the kingdom. But he, as Ihave said, acting with great clemency and prudent counsel,would not act in this way, lest the kingdom should beexposed to peril. He likewise bade Judith, daughter ofKing Charles, whom he had received from her father, takeher seat by his own side on the royal throne, without anydispute or enmity from his nobles even to the end of hislife, though contrary to the perverse custom of that nation.338For the nation of the West Saxons does not allow thequeen to sit beside the king, nor to be called queen, butonly the king’s wife; which refusal, or rather reproach,the chief persons of that land say arose from a certainheadstrong and malevolent queen of the nation, who didall things so contrary to her lord and to the whole peoplethat not only did the hatred which she brought upon herselfbring to pass her exclusion from the queenly throne,but also entailed the same corruption upon those who cameafter her, since, in consequence of the extreme malignity ofthat queen, all the inhabitants of the land banded themselvestogether by an oath never in their lives to let anyking reign over them who should bid his queen take her seaton the royal throne by his side. And because, as I think,it is not known to many whence this perverse and detestablecustom first arose in Wessex, contrary to the customof all the Germanic peoples, it seems to me right to explainit a little more fully, as I have heard it from my lord Alfredthe truth-teller, King of the Anglo-Saxons, who often toldme about it, as he also had heard it from many menof truth who related the fact, or, I should rather say,expressly preserved the remembrance of it.

14. Offa and Eadburh.34—There was in Mercia in recenttimes a certain valiant king, who was dreaded by all theneighboring kings and states. His name was Offa, and itwas he who had the great dike made from sea to seabetween Wales and Mercia.35 His daughter, named Eadburh,was married to Beorhtric, King of the West Saxons. Themoment she had possessed herself of the king’s good will,and practically the whole power of the realm, she began to9live tyrannically, after the manner of her father. Everyman whom Beorhtric loved she would execrate, and woulddo all things hateful to God and man, accusing to the kingall whom she could, thus depriving them insidiously eitherof life or of power. And if she could not obtain the king’sconsent, she used to take them off by poison, as is ascertainedto have been the case with a certain young man beloved bythe king, whom she poisoned, seeing that she could notaccuse him to the king. It is said, moreover, that KingBeorhtric unwittingly tasted of the poison, though the queenhad intended to give it, not to him, but to the young man;the king, however, was beforehand with him, and so bothperished.

15. Eadburh’s Further Life.36—King Beorhtric thereforebeing dead, the queen, since she could no longer remainamong the Saxons, sailed beyond sea with countless treasures,and came to Charles,37 King of the Franks. As shestood before the dais, bringing many gifts to the king, Charlessaid to her: ‘Choose, Eadburh, between me and my son, whostands with me on this dais.’ She, without deliberation, foolishlyreplied: ‘If I am to have my choice, I choose your son,because he is younger than you.’ At which Charles smiledand answered: ‘If you had chosen me, you should have hadmy son; but since you have chosen him, you shall haveneither me nor him.’ However, he gave her a large conventof nuns, in which, having laid aside her secular habit, andassumed the dress worn by the nuns, she discharged theoffice of abbess for a few years. As she is said to havelived irrationally in her own country, so she appears tohave acted much more so among a foreign people; for, beingfinally caught in illicit intercourse with a man of her ownnation, she was expelled from the monastery by order of10King Charles. Henceforward she lived a life of shame inpoverty and misery until her death; so that at last, accompaniedonly by one slave, as I have heard from many whosaw her, she begged her bread daily at Pavia,38 and sowretchedly died.

16. Æthelwulf’s Will.39—Now King Æthelwulf lived twoyears after his return from Rome; during which, amongmany other good deeds of this present life, reflecting on hisdeparture according to the way of all flesh, that his sonsmight not quarrel unreasonably after their father’s death,he ordered a will or letter of instructions to be written,40in which he commanded that his kingdom should be dulydivided between his two eldest sons; his private heritagebetween his sons, his daughter, and his relatives; and themoney which he should leave behind him between hissoul41 and his sons and nobles. Of this prudent policy Ihave thought fit to record a few instances out of many forposterity to imitate, namely, such as are understood tobelong principally to the needs of the soul; for the others,which relate only to human stewardship, it is not necessary11to insert in this little work, lest prolixity should createdisgust in those who read or wish to hear. For the benefitof his soul, then, which he studied to promote in allthings from the first flower of his youth, he directed that,through all his hereditary land, one poor man to every tenhides,42 either native or foreigner, should be supplied withfood, drink, and clothing by his successors unto the finalDay of Judgment; on condition, however, that that landshould still be inhabited both by men and cattle, and shouldnot become deserted. He commanded also a large sumof money, namely, three hundred mancuses,43 to be carriedannually to Rome for the good of his soul, to be theredistributed in the following manner: a hundred mancusesin honor of St. Peter, especially to buy oil for thelights of that apostolic church on Easter Eve, and also atcockcrow; a hundred mancuses in honor of St. Paul, forthe same purpose of buying oil for the church of St. Paulthe apostle, to fill the lamps for Easter Eve and cockcrow;and a hundred mancuses for the universal apostolicPope.

17. Æthelbald marries Judith.44—But when King Æthelwulfwas dead <and buried at Winchester>,45 his son Æthelbald,contrary to God’s prohibition and the dignity of aChristian, contrary also to the custom of all the heathen,46ascended his father’s bed, and married Judith, daughterof Charles, King of the Franks, incurring much infamyfrom all who heard of it. During two years and a half of12lawlessness he held after his father the government of theWest Saxons.

18. Æthelbert’s Reign.47—In the year of our Lord’s incarnation860, which was the twelfth of King Alfred’s life,<King> Æthelbald <died, and> was buried at Sherborne.His brother Æthelbert, as was right, added Kent, Surrey,and Sussex to his realm. In his days a great army ofheathen came from the sea, and attacked and laid wastethe city of Winchester. As they were returning ladenwith booty to their ships, Osric, Ealdorman of Hampshire,with his men, and Ealdorman Æthelwulf, with the men ofBerkshire, faced them bravely. Battle was then joined inthe town, and the heathen were slain on every side; andfinding themselves unable to resist, they took to flight likewomen, and the Christians held the battle-field.

19. Æthelbert’s Death.48—So Æthelbert governed hiskingdom five years in peace and love and honor; andwent the way of all flesh, to the great grief of his subjects.He rests interred in honorable wise at Sherborne, by theside of his brother.

20. The Danes in Kent.49—In the year of our Lord’s incarnation864 the heathen wintered in the isle of Thanet,and made a firm treaty with the men of Kent, who promisedthem money for observing their agreement. In themeantime, however, the heathen, after the manner of foxes,burst forth with all secrecy from their camp by night, andsetting at naught their engagements, and spurning thepromised money—which they knew was less than they13could get by plunder—they ravaged all the eastern coastof Kent.

21. Æthelred’s Accession.50—In the year of our Lord’s incarnation866, which was the eighteenth of King Alfred’slife, Æthelred, brother of King Æthelbert, undertook thegovernment of the West Saxon realm. The same year agreat fleet of heathen came to Britain from the Danube,51and wintered in the kingdom of the East Saxons, whichis called in Saxon East Anglia; and there they became inthe main an army of cavalry. But, to speak in nauticalphrase, I will no longer commit my vessel to wave andsail, or steer my roundabout course at a distance from landthrough so many calamities of wars and series of years, butrather return to that which first prompted me to this task:that is to say, I think it right briefly to insert in this placethe little that has come to my knowledge about the characterof my revered lord Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons,during the years of infancy and boyhood.

22. Alfred’s Rearing.52—He was extraordinarily belovedby both his father and mother, and indeed by all the people,beyond all his brothers; in inseparable companionshipwith them he was reared at the royal court.53 As he advancedthrough the years of infancy and youth, he appearedmore comely in person than his brothers, as in countenance,speech, and manners he was more pleasing thanthey. His noble birth and noble nature implanted in himfrom his cradle a love of wisdom above all things, evenamid all the occupations of this present life; but—withshame be it spoken!—by the unworthy neglect of his14parents and governors he remained illiterate till he wastwelve years old or more, though by day and night he wasan attentive listener to the Saxon poems which he oftenheard recited, and, being apt at learning, kept them in hismemory. He was a zealous practiser of hunting in all itsbranches, and followed the chase with great assiduity andsuccess; for his skill and good fortune in this art, and inall the other gifts of God, were beyond those of every oneelse, as I have often witnessed.

23. Alfred and the Book of Saxon Poems.54—Now on a certainday his mother was showing him and his brothers abook of Saxon poetry, which she held in her hand, andfinally said: ‘Whichever of you can soonest learn this volume,to him will I give it.’ Stimulated by these words, orrather by divine inspiration, and allured by the beautifullyilluminated letter at the beginning of the volume, <Alfred>55spoke before all his brothers, who, though his seniors inage, were not so in grace, and answered his mother: ‘Willyou really give that book to that one of us who can firstunderstand and repeat it to you?’ At this his mothersmiled with satisfaction, and confirmed what she hadbefore said: ‘Yes,’ said she, ‘that I will.’ Upon this theboy took the book out of her hand, and went to his masterand learned it by heart,56 whereupon he brought it back tohis mother and recited it.

24. Alfred’s Handbook.57—After this <he learned>55 thedaily course, that is, the celebration of the hours, andafterwards certain Psalms, and many prayers, containedin a book58 which he kept day and night in his bosom, as15I myself have seen, and always carried about with him,for the sake of prayer, through all the bustle and businessof this present life. But, sad to relate, he could not gratifyhis ardent wish to acquire liberal art,59 because, as he waswont to say, there were at that time no good teachers inall the kingdom of the West Saxons.60

25. Alfred’s Love of Learning.61—This he would confess,with many lamentations and with sighs from the bottomof his heart, to have been one of his greatest difficultiesand impediments in this present life, that when he wasyoung and had leisure and capacity for learning, he had nomasters; but when he was more advanced in years, he wascontinually occupied, not to say harassed, day and night,by so many diseases unknown to all the physicians of thisisland, as well as by internal and external anxieties ofsovereignty, and by invasions of the heathen by sea andland, that though he then had some store of teachers andwriters,62 it was quite impossible for him to study. But yetamong the impediments of this present life, from childhoodto the present day [and, as I believe, even until hisdeath],63 he has continued to feel the same insatiable desire.

26. The Danes occupy York.64—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 867, which was the nineteenth of the aforesaidKing Alfred’s life, the army of heathen before mentionedremoved from East Anglia to the city of York, which issituated on the north bank of the river Humber.

27. Defeat of the Northumbrians.64—At that time a violentdiscord arose, by the instigation of the devil, amongthe Northumbrians, as always is wont to happen toa people who have incurred the wrath of God. For theNorthumbrians at that time, as I have said,65 had expelledtheir lawful king Osbert from his realm, and appointed acertain tyrant named Ælla, not of royal birth, over theaffairs of the kingdom. But when the heathen approached,by divine providence, and the furtherance of the commonweal by the nobles, that discord was a little appeased, andOsbert and Ælla uniting their resources, and assemblingan army, marched to the town of York. The heathen fledat their approach, and attempted to defend themselveswithin the walls of the city. The Christians, perceivingtheir flight and the terror they were in, determined to followthem within the very ramparts of the town, and todemolish the wall; and this they succeeded in doing, sincethe city at that time was not surrounded by firm or strongwalls. When the Christians had made a breach, as theyhad purposed, and many of them had entered into the cityalong with the heathen, the latter, impelled by grief andnecessity, made a fierce sally upon them, slew them, routedthem, and cut them down, both within and without thewalls. In that battle fell almost all the Northumbrian17troops, and both the kings were slain; the remainder, whoescaped, made peace with the heathen.

28. Death of Ealhstan.66—In the same year, Ealhstan,Bishop of the church of Sherborne, went the way of allflesh, after he had honorably ruled his see fifty years; andin peace he was buried at Sherborne.

29. Alfred marries.67—In the year of our Lord’s incarnation868, which was the twentieth of King Alfred’s life,the aforesaid revered King Alfred, then occupying onlythe rank of viceroy (secundarii), betrothed68 and espouseda noble Mercian lady,69 daughter of Æthelred, surnamedMucill, Ealdorman of the Gaini.70 The mother of thislady was named Eadburh, of the royal line of Mercia,whom I often saw with my own eyes a few years beforeher death. She was a venerable lady, and after the deceaseof her husband remained many years a chaste widow, eventill her own death.

30. The Danes at Nottingham.71—In that same year theabove-named army of heathen, leaving Northumbria, invadedMercia, and advanced to Nottingham, which is called inWelsh Tigguocobauc,72 but in Latin ‘The House of Caves,’18and wintered there that same year. Immediately on theirapproach, Burgred, King of the Mercians, and all thenobles of that nation, sent messengers to Æthelred,73 Kingof the West Saxons, and his brother Alfred, entreatingthem to come and aid them in fighting against the aforesaidarmy. Their request was readily granted; for thebrothers, as soon as promised, assembled an immense armyfrom every part of their <realm>, and, entering Mercia, cameto Nottingham, all eager for battle. When now the heathen,defended by the castle, refused to fight, and the Christianswere unable to destroy the wall, peace was made betweenthe Mercians and the heathen, and the two brothers,Æthelred and Alfred, returned home with their troops.

31. The Danes at York.74—In the year of our Lord’s incarnation869, which was the twenty-first of King Alfred’s life,the aforesaid army of heathen, riding back to Northumbria,went to the city of York, and there passed the whole winter.

32. The Danes at Thetford.74—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 870, which was the twenty-second of KingAlfred’s life, the above-mentioned army of heathen passedthrough Mercia into East Anglia, and wintered at Thetford.75

33. The Danes triumph.74—That same year Edmund,King of the East Angles, fought most fiercely against thatarmy; but, lamentable to say, the heathen triumphed,for he and most of his men were there slain, while theenemy held the battle-field, and reduced all that region tosubjection.

34. Ceolnoth dies.76—That same year Ceolnoth, Archbishopof Canterbury, went the way of all flesh, and wasburied in peace in that city.

35. The Danes defeated at Englefield.77—In the year ofour Lord’s incarnation 871, which was the twenty-third ofKing Alfred’s life, the heathen army, of hateful memory,left East Anglia, and, entering the kingdom of the WestSaxons, came to the royal vill called Reading, situated onthe south bank of the Thames, in the district called Berkshire;and there, on the third day after their arrival, their<two> ealdormen, with great part of the army, rode forthfor plunder, while the others made an entrenchment betweenthe rivers Thames and Kennet, on the southernside of the same royal vill. They were encountered byÆthelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, with his men, at aplace called Englefield78 <in English, and in Latin ‘TheField of the Angles’>.79 Both sides fought bravely, andmade long resistance to each other. At length one of theheathen ealdormen was slain, and the greater part of thearmy destroyed; upon which the rest saved themselvesby flight, and the Christians gained the victory and heldthe battle-field.

36. Battle of Reading.77—Four days afterwards, KingÆthelred and his brother Alfred, uniting their forces andassembling an army, marched to Reading, where, on theirarrival at the castle gate, they cut to pieces and overthrewthe heathen whom they found outside the fortifications.But the heathen fought no less valiantly and, rushing likewolves out of every gate, waged battle with all theirmight. Both sides fought long and fiercely, but at last,sad to say, the Christians turned their backs, the heathenobtained the victory and held the battle-field, the aforesaidEaldorman Æthelwulf being among the slain.

37. Battle of Ashdown.80—Roused by this grief andshame, the Christians, after four days, with all their forcesand much spirit advanced to battle against the aforesaidarmy, at a place called Ashdown,81 which in Latin signifies‘Ash’s82 Hill.’ The heathen, forming in two divisions,arranged two shield-walls of similar size; and since theyhad two kings and many ealdormen, they gave the middle83part of the army to the two kings, and the other part toall the ealdormen. The Christians, perceiving this, dividedtheir army also into two troops, and with no less zealformed shield-walls.84 But Alfred, as I have been told bytruthful eye-witnesses, marched up swiftly with his men tothe battle-field; for King Æthelred had remained a longtime in his tent in prayer, hearing mass, and declaring thathe would not depart thence alive till the priest had done,and that he was not disposed to abandon the service of Godfor that of men; and according to these sentiments he acted.This faith of the Christian king availed much with theLord, as I shall show more fully in the sequel.

38. Alfred begins the Attack.85—Now the Christians haddetermined that King Æthelred, with his men, shouldattack the two heathen kings, and that his brother Alfred,with his troops, should take the chance of war against allthe leaders of the heathen. Things being so arranged on21both sides, the king still continued a long time in prayer,and the heathen, prepared for battle, had hastened to thefield. Then Alfred, though only second in command, couldno longer support the advance of the enemy, unless heeither retreated or charged upon them without waiting forhis brother. At length, with the rush of a wild boar, hecourageously led the Christian troops against the hostilearmy, as he had already designed, for, although the kinghad not yet arrived, he relied upon God’s counsel andtrusted to His aid. Hence, having closed up his shield-wallin due order, he straightway advanced his standardsagainst the foe. <At length King Æthelred, having finishedthe prayers in which he was engaged, came up, and,having invoked the King of the universe, entered upon theengagement.>86

39. The Heathen Rout and Loss.87—But here I must informthose who are ignorant of the fact that the field of battlewas not equally advantageous to both parties, since theheathen had seized the higher ground, and the Christianarray was advancing up-hill. In that place there was asolitary low thorn-tree, which I have seen with my owneyes, and round this the opposing forces met in strife withdeafening uproar from all, the one side bent on evil, theother on fighting for life, and dear ones, and fatherland.When both armies had fought bravely and fiercely for along while, the heathen, being unable by God’s decreelonger to endure the onset of the Christians, the largerpart of their force being slain, betook themselves to shamefulflight. There fell one of the two heathen kings andfive ealdormen; many thousand of their men were eitherslain at this spot or lay scattered far and wide over the22whole field of Ashdown. Thus there fell King Bagsecg,Ealdorman Sidroc the Elder and Ealdorman Sidroc theYounger, Ealdorman Osbern, Ealdorman Fræna, and EaldormanHarold; and the whole heathen army pursued itsflight, not only until night, but until the next day, evenuntil they reached the stronghold88 from which they hadsallied. The Christians followed, slaying all they couldreach, until it became dark.

40. Battle of Basing.89—After90 fourteen days had elapsedKing Æthelred and his brother Alfred joined their forces,and marched to Basing91 to fight with the heathen. Havingthus assembled, battle was joined, and they held their ownfor a long time, but the heathen gained the victory, andheld possession of the battle-field. After this fight, anotherarmy of heathen came from beyond sea, and joined them.

41. Æthelred’s Death.92—That same year, after Easter, theaforesaid King Æthelred, having bravely, honorably, andwith good repute governed his kingdom five years throughmany tribulations, went the way of all flesh, and was buriedin Wimborne Minster,93 where he awaits the coming ofthe Lord and the first resurrection with the just.

42. Alfred comes to the Throne; Battle of Wilton.94—Thatsame year the aforesaid Alfred, who had been upto that time, during the lifetime of his brothers, onlyof secondary rank, now, on the death of his brother, byGod’s permission undertook the government of the whole23kingdom, amid the acclamations of all the people; andindeed, if he had chosen, he might easily have done so withthe general consent whilst his brother above named wasstill alive, since in wisdom and every other good quality hesurpassed all his brothers, and especially because he wasbrave and victorious in nearly every battle. And when hehad reigned a month almost against his will—for he did notthink that he alone, without divine aid, could sustain theferocity of the heathen, though even during his brothers’lifetimes he had borne the calamities of many—he foughta fierce battle with a few men, and on very unequal terms,against all the army of the heathen, at a hill called Wilton,on the south bank of the river Wiley,95 from which riverthe whole of that shire is named; and after a severeengagement, lasting a considerable part of the day, theheathen, seeing the whole extent of the danger they werein, and no longer able to bear the attack of their enemies,turned their backs and fled. But, shame to say, theytook advantage of their pursuers’ rashness,96 and, againrallying, gained the victory and kept the battle-field. Letno one be surprised that the Christians had but a smallnumber of men, for the Saxons as a people had been allbut worn out by eight battles in this selfsame year againstthe heathen, in which there died one king, nine chieftains,and innumerable troops of soldiers, not to speak of countlessskirmishes both by night and by day, in which the oft-named<King> Alfred, and all the leaders of that people, withtheir men, and many of the king’s thanes, had been engagedin unwearied strife against the heathen. How many thousandheathen fell in these numberless skirmishes God alone24knows, over and above those who were slain in the eightbattles above mentioned.

43. Peace made.97—In that same year the Saxons madepeace with the heathen, on condition that they should taketheir departure; and this they did.

44. The Heathen winter in London.98—In the year of ourLord’s incarnation 872, being the twenty-fourth of KingAlfred’s life, the aforesaid army of heathen went to London,and there wintered; and the Mercians made peace withthem.

45. The Heathen winter in Lindsey.98—In the year of ourLord’s incarnation 873, being the twenty-fifth of KingAlfred’s life, the oft-named army, leaving London, went intoNorthumbria, and there wintered in the shire of Lindsey;and the Mercians again made peace with them.

46. The Danes in Mercia.99—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 874, being the twenty-sixth of King Alfred’slife, the above-named army left Lindsey and marched to Mercia,where they wintered at Repton.100 Also they compelledBurgred, King of Mercia, against his will to leave his kingdomand go beyond sea to Rome, in the twenty-second yearof his reign. He did not live long after his arrival at Rome,but died there, and was honorably buried in the Colony ofthe Saxons,101 in St. Mary’s church,102 where he awaits theLord’s coming and the first resurrection with the just. Theheathen also, after his expulsion, subjected the whole kingdomof Mercia to their dominion; but, by a miserablearrangement, gave it into the custody of a certain foolish25man, named Ceolwulf, one of the <king∮s> thanes, on conditionthat he should peaceably restore it to them on whatsoeverday they should wish to have it again; and to bindthis agreement he gave them hostages, and swore that hewould not oppose their will in any way, but be obedient tothem in every respect.

47. The Danes in Northumbria and Cambridge.103—In the yearof our Lord’s incarnation 875, being the twenty-seventh ofKing Alfred’s life, the above-mentioned army, leavingRepton, separated into two bodies, one of which went withHalfdene into Northumbria, and having wintered therenear the Tyne, and reduced all Northumbria to subjection,also ravaged the Picts and the people of Strathclyde.104The other division, with Guthrum,105 Oscytel, and Anwind,three kings of the heathen, went to Cambridge, and therewintered.

48. Alfred’s Battle at Sea.106—In that same year KingAlfred fought a battle at sea against six ships of the heathen,and took one of them, the rest escaping by flight.

49. Movements of the Danes.107—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 876, being the twenty-eighth year of KingAlfred’s life, the oft-mentioned army of the heathen, leavingCambridge by night, entered a fortress called Wareham,108where there is a monastery of nuns between the two riversFroom <and Tarrant>, in the district which is called in WelshDurngueir,109 but in Saxon Thornsæta,110 placed in a mostsecure location, except on the western side, where there wasa territory adjacent. With this army Alfred made a solemntreaty to the effect that they should depart from him, and26they made no hesitation to give him as many picked hostagesas he named; also they swore an oath on all the relicsin which King Alfred trusted next to God,111 and on whichthey had never before sworn to any people, that they wouldspeedily depart from his kingdom. But they again practisedtheir usual treachery, and caring nothing for either hostagesor oath, they broke the treaty, and, sallying forth by night,slew all the horsemen [horses?] that they had,112 and, turningoff, started without warning for another place called inSaxon Exanceastre, and in Welsh Cairwisc, which meansin Latin ‘The City <of Exe>,’ situated on the eastern bankof the river Wisc,113 near the southern sea which dividesBritain from Gaul, and there passed the winter.

50. Halfdene partitions Northumbria.—In that same yearHalfdene, king of that part of Northumbria, divided up thewhole region between himself and his men, and settledthere with his army.

51. Division of Mercia.114—The same year, in the month ofAugust, that army went into Mercia, and gave part of thedistrict of the Mercians to one Ceolwulf,115 a weak-mindedthane of the king; the rest they divided among themselves.

52. The Danes at Chippenham.116—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 878, being the thirtieth of King Alfred’s life,the oft-mentioned army left Exeter, and went to Chippenham,a royal vill, situated in the north of Wiltshire, on theeast bank of the river which is called Avon in Welsh, and27there wintered. And they drove many of that people bytheir arms, by poverty, and by fear, to voyage beyond sea,and reduced almost all the inhabitants of that district tosubjection.

53. Alfred in Somersetshire.—At that same time theabove-mentioned King Alfred, with a few of his nobles, andcertain soldiers and vassals, was leading in great tribulationan unquiet life among the woodlands and swamps ofSomersetshire; for he had nothing that he needed exceptwhat by frequent sallies he could forage openly or stealthilyfrom the heathen or from the Christians who had submittedto the rule of the heathen.117

54. The Danes defeated at Cynwit.118—In that same yearthe brother119 of Inwar120 and Halfdene, with twenty-threeships, came, after many massacres of the Christians, fromDyfed,121 where he had wintered, and sailed to Devon, wherewith twelve hundred others he met with a miserable death,being slain, while committing his misdeeds, by the king’sthanes, before the fortress of Cynwit,122 in which many ofthe king’s thanes, with their followers, had shut themselvesup for safety. The heathen, seeing that the fortress wasunprepared and altogether unfortified, except that it merelyhad fortifications after our manner, determined not toassault it, because that place is rendered secure by its positionon all sides except the eastern, as I myself have seen,but began to besiege it, thinking that those men wouldsoon surrender from famine, thirst, and the blockade, since28there is no water close to the fortress. But the result didnot fall out as they expected; for the Christians, beforethey began at all to suffer from such want, being inspiredby Heaven, and judging it much better to gain either victoryor death, sallied out suddenly upon the heathen at daybreak,and from the first cut them down in great numbers,slaying also their king, so that few escaped to their ships.

55. Alfred at Athelney.123—The same year, after Easter,King Alfred, with a few men, made a stronghold in a placecalled Athelney,124 and from thence sallied with his vassalsof Somerset to make frequent and unwearied assaults uponthe heathen. And again, the seventh week after Easter, herode to Egbert’s Stone,125 which is in the eastern part ofSelwood Forest (in Latin ‘Great Forest,’ and in WelshCoit Maur). Here he was met by all the neighboring folkof Somersetshire and Wiltshire, and such of Hampshireas had not sailed beyond sea for fear of the heathen; andwhen they saw the king restored alive, as it were, aftersuch great tribulation, they were filled, as was meet, withimmeasurable joy, and encamped there for one night. Atdaybreak of the following morning, the king struck hiscamp, and came to Æglea,126 where he encamped for onenight.

56. Battle of Edington, and Treaty with Guthrum.127—Thenext morning at dawn he moved his standards to Edington,128and there fought bravely and perseveringly by means of aclose shield-wall against the whole army of the heathen,29whom at length, with the divine help, he defeated withgreat slaughter, and pursued them flying to their stronghold.Immediately he slew all the men and carried off allthe horses and cattle that he could find without the fortress,and thereupon pitched his camp, with all his army, beforethe gates of the heathen stronghold. And when he hadremained there fourteen days, the heathen, terrified byhunger, cold, fear, and last of all by despair, begged forpeace, engaging to give the king as many designated hostagesas he pleased, and to receive none from him in return—inwhich manner they had never before made peacewith any one. The king, hearing this embassage, of hisown motion took pity upon them, and received from themthe designated hostages, as many as he would. Thereuponthe heathen swore, besides, that they would straightwayleave his kingdom; and their king, Guthrum, promised toembrace Christianity, and receive baptism at King Alfred’shands—all of which articles he and his men fulfilled asthey had promised. For after <three>129 weeks Guthrum, kingof the heathen, with thirty130 men chosen from his army,came to Alfred at a place called Aller, near Athelney, andthere King Alfred, receiving him as a son by adoption,raised him up from the holy font of baptism. On the eighthday, at a royal vill named Wedmore, his chrism-loosing13130took place. After his baptism he remained twelve dayswith the king, who, together with all his companions, gavehim many rich gifts.132

57. The Danes go to Cirencester.133—In the year of ourLord’s incarnation 879, which was the thirty-first of KingAlfred’s life, the aforesaid army of heathen, leaving Chippenham,as they had promised, went to Cirencester, whichis called in Welsh Cairceri, and is situated in the southern31part of the kingdom of the Hwicce,134 and there they remainedone year.

58. Danes at Fulham.135—In that same year a large armyof heathen sailed from beyond sea into the river Thames,and joined the greater army. However, they wintered atFulham, near the river Thames.

59. An Eclipse.136—In that same year an eclipse137 of the suntook place between nones and vespers, but nearer to nones.

60. The Danes in East Anglia.138—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 880, which was the thirty-second of KingAlfred’s life, the oft-mentioned army of heathen left Cirencester,and went to East Anglia, where they divided up thecountry and began to settle.

61. The Smaller Army leaves England.139—That same yearthe army of heathen, which had wintered at Fulham, leftthe island of Britain, and sailed over sea to East Frankland,where they remained for a year at a place called Ghent.

62. The Danes fight with the Franks.—In the year of ourLord’s incarnation 881, which was the thirty-third of KingAlfred’s life, the army went further on into Frankland, andthe Franks fought against them; and after the battle theheathen, obtaining horses, became an army of cavalry.

63. The Danes on the Meuse.140—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 882, which was the thirty-fourth of KingAlfred’s life, the aforesaid army sailed their ships up intoFrankland by a river called the Meuse, and there winteredone year.

64. Alfred’s Naval Battle with the Danes.141—In that sameyear Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, fought a battle at32sea against the heathen fleet, of which he captured twoships, and slew all who were on board. Two commandersof the other ships, with all their crews, worn out by thefight and their wounds, laid down their arms, and submittedto the king on bended knees with many entreaties.

65. The Danes at Condé.142—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 883, which was the thirty-fifth of King Alfred’slife, the aforesaid army sailed their ships up the river calledScheldt to a convent of nuns called Condé, and thereremained one year.

66. Deliverance of Rochester.143—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 884, which was the thirty-sixth of King Alfred’slife, the aforesaid army divided into two parts: one bodyof them went into East Frankland, and the other, comingto Britain, entered Kent, where they besieged a city calledin Saxon Rochester, situated on the east bank of the riverMedway. Before the gate of the town the heathen suddenlyerected a strong fortress; but they were unable to take thecity, because the citizens defended themselves bravely untilKing Alfred came up to help them with a large army.Then the heathen abandoned their fortress and all thehorses which they had brought with them out of Frankland,and, leaving behind them in the fortress the greaterpart of their prisoners on the sudden arrival of the king,fled in haste to their ships; the Saxons immediately seizedupon the prisoners and horses left by the heathen; and sothe latter, compelled by dire necessity, returned the samesummer to Frankland.

67. Alfred’s Naval Battle at the Mouth of the Stour.144—Inthat same year Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons,shifted his fleet, full of fighting men, from Kent to East33Anglia,145 for the sake of spoil. No sooner had they arrivedat the mouth of the river Stour than thirteen ships ofthe heathen met them, prepared for battle; a fierce navalcombat ensued, and the heathen were all slain; all theships, with all their money, were taken. After this, whilethe victorious royal fleet was reposing,146 the heathen whooccupied East Anglia assembled their ships from everyquarter, met the same royal fleet at sea in the mouth of thesame river, and, after a naval engagement, gained thevictory.

68. Death of Carloman, of Louis II, and of Louis III.147—Inthat same year also, Carloman, King of the WestFranks, while engaged in a boar-hunt, was miserably slainby a boar, which inflicted a dreadful wound on him withits tusk. His brother Louis, who had also been King of theFranks, had died the year before. Both these were sons ofLouis,148 King of the Franks, who also had died in the yearabove mentioned, in which the eclipse of the sun tookplace.149 This Louis was the son of Charles,150 King of theFranks, whose daughter Judith151 Æthelwulf, King of theWest Saxons, took to queen with her father’s consent.

69. The Danes in Old Saxony.152—In that same year agreat army of the heathen came from Germany153 into thecountry of the Old Saxons, which is called in Saxon Eald-Seaxum.To oppose them the same Saxons and Frisiansjoined their forces, and fought bravely twice in that same34year.154 In both these battles the Christians, by God’s mercifulaid, gained the victory.

70. Charles, King of the Alemanni.155—In that same yearalso, Charles, King of the Alemanni, received with universalconsent the kingdom of the West Franks, and allthe kingdoms which lie between the Tyrrhene Sea and thatgulf156 situated between the Old Saxons and the Gauls, withthe exception of the kingdom of Armorica.157 This Charleswas the son of King Louis,158 who was brother of Charles,King of the Franks, father of Judith, the aforesaid queen;these two brothers were sons of Louis,159 Louis being the sonof Charlemagne, son of Pepin.

71. Death of Pope Marinus.160—In that same year PopeMarinus, of blessed memory, went the way of all flesh; itwas he who, for the love of Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons,and at his request, generously freed the SaxonColony in Rome from all tribute and tax. He also sent tothe aforesaid king many gifts on that occasion, amongwhich was no small portion of the most holy and venerablecross on which our Lord Jesus Christ hung for the salvationof all mankind.

72. The Danes break their Treaty.161—In that same yearalso the army of heathen which dwelt in East Anglia disgracefullybroke the peace which they had concluded withKing Alfred.

73. Asser makes a New Beginning.162—And now, to returnto that from which I digressed, lest I be compelled by my35long navigation to abandon the haven of desired rest,163 Ipropose, as far as my knowledge will enable me, to speaksomewhat concerning the life, character, and just conduct,and in no small degree concerning the deeds, of my lordAlfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, after he married thesaid respected wife of noble Mercian race; and, with God’sblessing, I will despatch it concisely and briefly, as I promised,that I may not, by prolixity in relating each newevent, offend the minds of those who may be somewhathard to please.

74. Alfred’s Maladies.164—While his nuptials were beinghonorably celebrated in Mercia, among innumerable multitudesof both sexes, and after long feasts by night and by day,he was suddenly seized, in the presence of all the people, byinstant and overwhelming pain, unknown to any physician.No one there knew, nor even those who daily see him upto the present time—and this, sad to say, is the worst ofall, that it should have continued uninterruptedly throughthe revolutions of so many years, from the twentieth to thefortieth year of his life and more—whence such a maladyarose. Many thought that it was occasioned by the favorand fascination of the people who surrounded him; others,by some spite of the devil, who is ever jealous of good men;others, from an unusual kind of fever; while still othersthought it was theficus,165 which species of severe diseasehe had had from his childhood. On a certain occasion ithad come to pass by the divine will that when he hadgone to Cornwall on a hunting expedition, and had turnedout of the road to pray in a certain church in which restsSaint Gueriir [and now also St. Neot reposes there],166 hehad of his own accord prostrated himself for a long time36in silent prayer—since from childhood he had been a frequentvisitor of holy places for prayer and the giving ofalms—and there he besought the mercy of the Lord that,in his boundless clemency, Almighty God would exchangethe torments of the malady which then afflicted him forsome other lighter disease, provided that such diseaseshould not show itself outwardly in his body, lest he shouldbe useless and despised—for he had great dread of leprosyor blindness, or any such complaint as instantly makesmen useless and despised at its coming. When he hadfinished his praying, he proceeded on his journey, and notlong after felt within himself that he had been divinelyhealed, according to his request, of that disorder, and thatit was entirely eradicated, although he had obtained eventhis complaint in the first flower of his youth by his devoutand frequent prayers and supplications to God. For if Imay be allowed to speak concisely, though in a somewhatinverted order, of his zealous piety to God—in his earliestyouth, before he married his wife, he wished to establishhis mind in God’s commandments, for he perceived that hecould not abstain from carnal desires167; and because hesaw that he should incur the anger of God if he did anythingcontrary to His will, he used often to rise at cockcrowand at the matin hours, and go to pray in churchesand at the relics of the saints. There he would prostratehimself, and pray that Almighty God in His mercy wouldstrengthen his mind still more in the love of His service,converting it fully to Himself by some infirmity such as hemight bear, but not such as would render him contemptibleand useless in worldly affairs. Now when he had37often prayed with much devotion to this effect, after aninterval of some time he incurred as a gift from God thebefore-named disease of theficus, which he bore long andpainfully for many years, even despairing of life, until heentirely got rid of it by prayer. But, sad to say, thoughit had been removed, a worse one seized him, as I havesaid, at his marriage, and this incessantly tormented him,night and day, from the twentieth to the forty-fifth year ofhis life. But if ever, by God’s mercy, he was relieved fromthis infirmity for a single day or night, or even for thespace of one hour, yet the fear and dread of that terriblemalady never left him, but rendered him almost useless, ashe thought, in every affair, whether human or divine.

75. Alfred’s Children and their Education.168—The sons anddaughters whom he had by his wife above-mentioned wereÆthelflæd, the eldest, after whom came Edward, thenÆthelgivu, then Ælfthryth, and finally Æthelward—besidesthose who died in childhood. The number of ...169Æthelflæd, when she arrived at a marriageable age, wasunited to Æthelred,170 Ealdorman of Mercia. Æthelgivu,having dedicated her maidenhood to God, entered His service,and submitted to the rules of the monastic life, towhich she was consecrate. Æthelward, the youngest, bythe divine counsel and by the admirable foresight of theking, was intrusted to the schools of literary training,where, with the children of almost all the nobility of thecountry, and many also who were not noble, he was underthe diligent care of the teachers. Books in both languages,namely, Latin and Saxon, were diligently read in theschool.171 They also learned to write; so that before they38were of an age to practise human arts, namely, huntingand other pursuits which befit noblemen, they becamestudious and clever in the liberal arts. Edward and Ælfthrythwere always bred up in the king’s court, and receivedgreat attention from their tutors and nurses; nay, theycontinue to this day, with much love from every one, toshow humbleness, affability, and gentleness towards all,both natives and foreigners, while remaining in completesubjection to their father. Nor, among the other pursuitswhich appertain to this life and are fit for noble youths,are they suffered to pass their time idly and unprofitablywithout liberal training; for they have carefully learnedthe Psalms172 and Saxon books, especially Saxon poems, andare in the habit of making frequent use of books.

76. Alfred’s Varied Pursuits.173—In the meantime, the king,during the wars and frequent trammels of this presentlife, the invasions of the heathen, and his own daily infirmitiesof body, continued to carry on the government, andto practise hunting in all its branches; to teach his goldsmiths174and all his artificers, his falconers, hawkers, anddog-keepers; to build houses, majestic and rich beyond allcustom of his predecessors, after his own new designs; torecite the Saxon books, and especially to learn by heartSaxon poems,175 and to make others learn them, he alonenever ceasing from studying most diligently to the best ofhis ability. He daily attended mass and the other servicesof religion; recited certain psalms, together with prayers,and the daily and nightly hour-service; and frequented thechurches at night, as I have said, that he might pray in39secret, apart from others. He bestowed alms and largessesboth on natives and on foreigners of all countries; wasmost affable and agreeable to all; and was skilful in theinvestigation of things unknown.176 Many Franks, Frisians,177Gauls, heathen,178 Welsh, Irish,179 and Bretons,180 noble andsimple, submitted voluntarily to his dominion; and all ofthem, according to their worthiness,181 he ruled, loved,honored, and enriched with money and power, as if theyhad been his own people.182 Moreover, he was sedulous andzealous in the habit of hearing the divine Scriptures readby his own countrymen, or if, by any chance it so happenedthat any one arrived from abroad, to hear prayersin company with foreigners. His bishops, too, and all theclergy, his ealdormen and nobles, his personal attendantsand friends, he loved with wonderful affection. Their sons,too, who were bred up in the royal household, were no lessdear to him than his own; he never ceased to instruct themin all kinds of good morals, and, among other things, himselfto teach them literature night and day. But as ifhe had no consolation in all these things, and suffered noother annoyance either from within or without, he was so40harassed by daily and nightly sadness that he complainedand made moan to the Lord, and to all who were admittedto his familiarity and affection, that Almighty God hadmade him ignorant of divine wisdom and of the liberalarts; in this emulating the pious, famous, and wealthySolomon, King of the Hebrews, who at the outset, despisingall present glory and riches, asked wisdom of God, andyet found both, namely, wisdom and present glory; as itis written, ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,and all these things shall be added unto you.’183 ButGod, who is always the observer of the thoughts of theinward mind, the instigator of meditations and of all goodpurposes, and a plentiful aider in the formation of gooddesires—for He would never inspire a man to aim at thegood unless He also amply supplied that which the manjustly and properly wished to have—stirred up the king’smind from within, not from without; as it is written, ‘Iwill hearken what the Lord God will say concerning me.’184He would avail himself of every opportunity to procureassistants in his good designs, to aid him in his strivingsafter wisdom, that he might attain to what he aimed at;and, like a prudent bee,185 which, rising in summer at earlymorning from her beloved cells, steers her course withrapid flight along the uncertain paths of the air, anddescends on the manifold and varied flowers of grasses,herbs, and shrubs, essaying that which most pleases her,and bearing it home, he directed the eyes of his mind afar,and sought that without which he had not within, that is,in his own kingdom.186

77. Alfred’s Scholarly Associates: Werfrith, Plegmund,Æthelstan, and Werwulf.187—But God at that time, as someconsolation to the king’s benevolence, enduring no longerhis kindly and just complaint, sent as it were certainluminaries, namely, Werfrith,188 Bishop of the church ofWorcester, a man well versed in divine Scripture, who, bythe king’s command, was the first to interpret with clearnessand elegance the books of theDialogues of PopeGregory and Peter, his disciple, from Latin into Saxon,sometimes putting sense for sense; then Plegmund,189 aMercian by birth, Archbishop of the church of Canterbury,a venerable man, endowed with wisdom; besides Æthelstan190and Werwulf, learned priests and clerks,191 Merciansby birth. These four King Alfred had called to him fromMercia, and he exalted them with many honors and powersin the kingdom of the West Saxons, not to speak of thosewhich Archbishop Plegmund and Bishop Werfrith had inMercia. By the teaching and wisdom of all these the king’sdesire increased continually, and was gratified. Night andday, whenever he had any leisure, he commanded suchmen as these to read books to him—for he never sufferedhimself to be without one of them—so that he came topossess a knowledge of almost every book, though of himselfhe could not yet understand anything of books, sincehe had not yet learned to read anything.

78. Grimbald and John, the Old Saxon.192—But since theking’s commendable avarice could not be gratified even inthis, he sent messengers beyond sea to Gaul, to procureteachers, and invited from thence Grimbald,193 priest andmonk, a venerable man and excellent singer, learned inevery kind of ecclesiastical discipline and in holy Scripture,and adorned with all virtues. He also obtained from thenceJohn,194 both priest and monk, a man of the keenest intellect,learned in all branches of literature, and skilled in manyother arts. By the teaching of these men the king’s mindwas greatly enlarged, and he enriched and honored themwith much power.

79. Asser’s Negotiations with King Alfred.195—At that timeI also came to Wessex, out of the furthest coasts of WesternWales; and when I had proposed to go to him throughmany intervening provinces, I arrived in the country of theSouth Saxons, which in Saxon is called Sussex, under theguidance of some of that nation; and there I first saw himin the royal vill which is called Dene.196 He received mewith kindness, and, among other conversation, besought meeagerly to devote myself to his service and become hisfriend, and to leave for his sake everything which I possessedon the northern and western side of the Severn,promising he would give me more than an equivalent forit, as in fact he did. I replied that I could not incautiouslyand rashly promise such things; for it seemed to me unjustthat I should leave those sacred places in which I had been43bred and educated, where I had received the tonsure, andhad at length been ordained, for the sake of any earthlyhonor and power, unless by force and compulsion. Uponthis he said: ‘If you cannot accede to this, at least grantme half your service: spend six months with me here, andsix in Wales.’ To this I replied: ‘I could not easily orrashly promise even that without the approval of myfriends.’ At length, however, when I perceived that hewas really anxious for my services, though I knew notwhy, I promised him that, if my life were spared, I wouldreturn to him after six months, with such a reply as shouldbe agreeable to him as well as advantageous to me andmine. With this answer he was satisfied; and when I hadgiven him a pledge to return at the appointed time, on thefourth day we rode away from him, and returned to myown country. After our departure, a violent fever seizedme in the city of Cærwent,197 where I lay for twelve monthsand one week, night and day, without hope of recovery.When at the appointed time, therefore, I had not fulfilledmy promise of visiting him, he sent letters to hasten myjourney on horseback to him, and to inquire the cause ofmy delay. As I was unable to ride to him, I sent a replyto make known to him the cause of my delay, and assurehim that, if I recovered from my illness, I would fulfil whatI had promised. My disease finally left me, and accordingly,by the advice and consent of all my friends, for thebenefit of that holy place and of all who dwelt therein,I devoted myself to the king’s service as I had promised, thecondition being that I should remain with him six months44every year, either continuously, if I could spend six monthswith him at once, or alternately, three months in Walesand three in Wessex. It was also understood that heshould in all ways be helpful to St. Davids, as far as hispower extended.198 For my friends hoped by this means tosustain less tribulation and harm from King Hemeid—whooften plundered that monastery and the parish of St. Davids,and sometimes expelled the bishops who ruled over it, ashe did Archbishop Nobis, my relative, and on occasionmyself, their subordinate—if in any way I could securethe notice and friendship of the king.

80. The Welsh Princes who submit to Alfred.199—At thattime, and long before, all the countries in South Walesbelonged to King Alfred, and still belong to him. Forinstance, King Hemeid, with all the inhabitants of theregion of Dyfed,200 restrained by the violence of the six sonsof Rhodri,201 had submitted to the dominion of the king.Howel also, son of Ris, King of Glywyssing,202 and Brochmailand Fernmail, sons of Mouric, kings of Gwent,203 compelledby the violence and tyranny of Ealdorman Æthelredand of the Mercians, of their own accord sought out the sameking,204 that they might enjoy rule and protection from himagainst their enemies. Helised, also, son of Teudubr, Kingof Brecknock, compelled by the violence of the same sonsof Rhodri, of his own accord sought the lordship of the45aforesaid king; and Anarawd, son of Rhodri, with hisbrothers, at length abandoning the friendship of the Northumbrians,from whom he had received no good, but ratherharm, came into King Alfred’s presence, and eagerlysought his friendship. The king received him with honor,adopted him as his son by confirmation from the bishop’shand,205 and bestowed many gifts upon him. Thus he becamesubject to the king with all his people, on condition thathe should be obedient to the king’s will in all respects, inthe same way as Æthelred and the Mercians.

81. How Alfred rewards Submission.206—Nor was it in vainthat they all gained the friendship of the king. For thosewho desired to augment their worldly power obtained power;those who desired money gained money; those who desiredhis friendship acquired his friendship; those who wishedmore than one secured more than one. But all of themhad his love and guardianship and defense from everyquarter, so far as the king, with all his men, could defendhimself. When therefore I had come to him at the royalvill called Leonaford,207 I was honorably received by him,and remained that time with him at his court eight months;during which I read to him whatever books he liked, ofsuch as he had at hand; for this is his peculiar and mostconfirmed habit, both night and day, amid all his otheroccupations of mind and body,208 either himself to read books,or to listen to the reading of others. And when I frequentlyhad sought his permission to return, and had in no46way been able to obtain it, at length, when I had made upmy mind by all means to demand it, he called me to him attwilight on Christmas Eve, and gave me two letters in whichwas a manifold list of all the things which were in the twomonasteries which are called in Saxon Congresbury andBanwell209; and on that same day he delivered to me thosetwo monasteries with everything in them, together with asilken pallium of great value, and of incense a load for astrong man, adding these words, that he did not give methese trifling presents because he was unwilling hereafterto give me greater. For in the course of time he unexpectedlygave me Exeter, with the whole diocese which belongedto him in Wessex and in Cornwall, besides gifts every daywithout number of every kind of worldly wealth; these itwould be too long to enumerate here, lest it should wearymy readers. But let no one suppose that I have mentionedthese presents in this place for the sake of glory or flattery,or to obtain greater honor; I call God to witness that Ihave not done so, but that I might certify to those who areignorant how profuse he was in giving. He then at oncegave me permission to ride to those two monasteries, so fullof all good things, and afterwards to return to my own.

82. The Siege of Paris.210—In the year of our Lord’s incarnation886, which was the thirty-eighth of King Alfred’slife, the army so often mentioned again fled the country,and went into that of the West Franks. Entering theriver Seine with their vessels, they sailed up it as far as thecity of Paris; there they wintered, pitching their camp onboth sides of the river almost to the bridge, in order thatthey might prevent the citizens from crossing the bridge—sincethe city occupies a small island in the middle of the47stream. They besieged the city for a whole year, but, bythe merciful favor of God, and by reason of the bravedefense of the citizens, they could not force their way insidethe walls.

83. Alfred rebuilds London.211—In that same year Alfred,King of the Anglo-Saxons, after the burning of cities andmassacres of the people, honorably rebuilt the city ofLondon, made it habitable, and gave it into the custody ofÆthelred, Ealdorman of Mercia. To this king212 all theAngles and Saxons who hitherto had been dispersed everywhere,or were in captivity with the heathen,213 voluntarilyturned, and submitted themselves to his rule.214

84. The Danes leave Paris.215—In the year of our Lord’sincarnation 887, which was the thirty-ninth of King Alfred’slife, the above-mentioned army of the heathen, leaving thecity of Paris uninjured, since otherwise they could get noadvantage, passed under the bridge and rowed their fleetup the river Seine for a long distance, until they reachedthe mouth of the river Marne; here they left the Seine,entered the mouth of the Marne, and, sailing up it for agood distance and a good while, at length, not withoutlabor, arrived at a place called Chézy, a royal vill, wherethey wintered a whole year. In the following year theyentered the mouth of the river Yonne, not without doingmuch damage to the country, and there remained one year.

85. Division of the Empire.216—In that same year Charles,217King of the Franks, went the way of all flesh; but Arnolf,48his brother’s son, six weeks before he died, had expelledhim from the kingdom. Immediately after his death fivekings were ordained, and the kingdom was split into fiveparts; but the principal seat of the kingdom justly anddeservedly fell to Arnolf, were it not that he had shamefullysinned against his uncle. The other four kings promisedfidelity and obedience to Arnolf, as was meet; fornone of these four kings was heir to the kingdom on hisfather’s side, as was Arnolf; therefore, though the fivekings were ordained immediately upon the death of Charles,yet the Empire remained to Arnolf. Such, then, was thedivision of that realm; Arnolf received the countries tothe east of the river Rhine; Rudolf the inner part of thekingdom218; Odo the western part; Berengar and Wido,Lombardy, and those countries which are on that side ofthe mountain. But they did not keep such and so greatdominions in peace among themselves, for they twicefought a pitched battle, and often mutually ravaged thosekingdoms, and drove one another out of their dominions.

86. Alfred sends Alms to Rome.219—In the same year inwhich that army left Paris and went to Chézy,220 Æthelhelm,Ealdorman of Wiltshire, carried to Rome the almsof King Alfred and of the Saxons.

87. Alfred begins to translate from Latin.221—In that sameyear also the oft-mentioned Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons,by divine inspiration first began, on one and thesame day, to read and to translate; but that this may beclearer to those who are ignorant, I will relate the cause ofthis long delay in beginning.

88. Alfred’s Manual.222—On a certain day we were both ofus sitting in the king’s chamber, talking on all kinds of49subjects, as usual, and it happened that I read to him aquotation out of a certain book. While he was listening toit attentively with both ears, and pondering it deeply withhis inmost mind, he suddenly showed me a little book223which he carried in his bosom, wherein were written thedaily course, together with certain Psalms and prayerswhich he had read in his youth, and thereupon bade mewrite the quotation in that book. Hearing this, and perceivingin part his active intelligence and goodness ofheart, together with his devout resolution of studyingdivine wisdom, I gave, though in secret, yet with handsuplifted to heaven, boundless thanks to Almighty God, whohad implanted such devotion to the study of wisdom in theking’s heart. But since I could find no blank space in thatbook wherein to write the quotation, it being all full ofvarious matters, I delayed a little, chiefly that I might stirup the choice understanding of the king to a higher knowledgeof the divine testimonies. Upon his urging me tomake haste and write it quickly, I said to him, ‘Are youwilling that I should write that quotation on some separateleaf? Perhaps we shall find one or more other such whichwill please you; and if that should happen, we shall be gladthat we have kept this by itself.’ ‘Your plan is good,’said he; so I gladly made haste to get ready a pamphletof four leaves, at the head of which I wrote what he hadbidden me; and that same day I wrote in it, at his request,and as I had predicted, no less than three other quotationswhich pleased him. From that time we daily talkedtogether, and investigated the same subject by the help ofother quotations which we found and which pleased him,so that the pamphlet gradually became full, and deservedlyso, for it is written, ‘The righteous man builds upon a50moderate foundation, and by degrees passes to greaterthings.’224 Thus, like a most productive bee, flying far andwide, and scrutinizing the fenlands, he eagerly and unceasinglycollected various flowers of Holy Scripture, withwhich he copiously stored the cells of his mind.225

89. Alfred’s Handbook.226—When that first quotation hadbeen copied, he was eager at once to read, and to translateinto Saxon, and then to teach many others—even as weare assured concerning that happy thief who recognizedthe Lord Jesus Christ, his Lord, aye, the Lord of all men,as he was hanging on the venerable gallows of the holycross, and, with trustful petition, casting down of his body nomore than his eyes, since he was so entirely fastened withnails that he could do nothing else, cried with humblevoice, ‘O Christ, remember me when thou comest into thykingdom!‘227—since it was only on the cross that he began tolearn the elements of the Christian faith.228 Inspired by God,he began the rudiments of Holy Scripture on the sacred feastof St. Martin.229 Then he went on, as far as he was able, tolearn the flowers230 collected from various quarters by anyand all of his teachers, and to reduce them into the form ofone book, although jumbled together, until it became almostas large as a psalter. This book he called his Enchiridion23151or Handbook,232 because he carefully kept it at hand dayand night, and found, as he then used to say, no smallconsolation therein.

90. Illustration from the Penitent Thief.233—But, as it waswritten by a wise man,234

I see that I must be especially watchful, in that I just nowdrew a kind of comparison, though in dissimilar manner,235between the happy thief and the king; for the cross ishateful to every one in distress.236 But what can he do, if hecannot dislodge himself or escape thence? or in what waycan he improve his condition by remaining there? Hemust, therefore, whether he will or no, endure with painand sorrow that which he is suffering.

91. Alfred’s Troubles.237—Now the king was pierced withmany nails of tribulation, though established in the royalsway; for from the twentieth year of his age to the presentyear, which is his forty-fifth,238 he has been constantly afflictedwith most severe attacks of an unknown disease, so thatthere is not a single hour in which he is not either sufferingfrom that malady, or nigh to despair by reason ofthe gloom which is occasioned by his fear of it. Moreoverthe constant invasions of foreign nations, by which he wascontinually harassed by land and sea, without any intervalof quiet, constituted a sufficient cause of disturbance.

What shall I say of his repeated expeditions againstthe heathen, his wars, and the incessant occupations of52government? Of the daily ... of the239 nations which dwellon240 the Tyrrhene241 Sea to the farthest end of Ireland? Forwe have seen and read letters, accompanied with presents,which were sent to him from Jerusalem by the patriarchElias.242 What shall I say of his restoration of cities andtowns, and of others which he built where none had beenbefore? of golden and silver buildings,243 built in incomparablestyle under his direction? of the royal halls andchambers, wonderfully erected of stone and wood at hiscommand? of the royal vills constructed of stones removedfrom their old site, and finely rebuilt by the king’s commandin more fitting places?

Not to speak of the disease above mentioned, he wasdisturbed by the quarrels of his subjects,244 who would oftheir own choice endure little or no toil for the commonneed of the kingdom. He alone, sustained by the divine53aid, once he had assumed the helm of government, strovein every way, like a skilful pilot, to steer245 his ship, ladenwith much wealth, into the safe and longed-for harbor ofhis country, though almost all his crew were weary, sufferingthem not to faint or hesitate, even amid the wavesand manifold whirlpools of this present life. Thus hisbishops, earls, nobles, favorite thanes, and prefects, who,next to God and the king, had the whole government ofthe kingdom, as was fitting, continually received from himinstruction, compliment, exhortation, and command; nay,at last, if they were disobedient, and his long patience wasexhausted, he would reprove them severely, and censurein every way their vulgar folly and obstinacy; and thushe wisely gained and bound them to his own wishes andthe common interests of the whole kingdom. But if, owingto the sluggishness of the people, these admonitions of theking were either not fulfilled, or were begun late at themoment of necessity, and so, because they were not carriedthrough, did not redound to the advantage of those whoput them in execution—take as an example the fortresseswhich he ordered, but which are not yet begun or, begunlate, have not yet been completely finished—when hostileforces have made invasions by sea, or land, or both, thenthose who had set themselves against the imperial ordershave been put to shame and overwhelmed with vain repentance.I speak of vain repentance on the authority ofScripture, whereby numberless persons have had cause forsorrow when they have been smitten by great harm throughthe perpetration of deceit. But though by this means, sadto say, they may be bitterly afflicted, and roused to grief bythe loss of fathers, wives, children, thanes, man servants,maid servants, products, and all their household stuff,54what is the use of hateful repentance when their kinsmenare dead, and they cannot aid them, or redeem from direcaptivity those who are captive? for they cannot even helpthemselves when they have escaped, since they have notwherewithal to sustain their own lives. Sorely exhaustedby a tardy repentance, they grieve over their carelessnessin despising the king’s commands; they unite in praisinghis wisdom, promising to fulfil with all their might whatbefore they had declined to do, namely, in the constructionof fortresses, and other things useful to the whole kingdom.

92. Alfred builds two Monasteries.246—Concerning his desireand intent of excellent meditation, which, in the midstboth of prosperity and adversity, he never in any wayneglected, I cannot in this place with advantage forbear tospeak. For, when he was reflecting, according to his wont,upon the need of his soul,247 he ordered, among the othergood deeds to which his thoughts were by night and day248especially turned, that two monasteries should be built,one of them being for monks at Athelney.249 This is a placesurrounded by impassable fens and waters on every hand,where no one can enter but by boats, or by a bridge laboriouslyconstructed between two fortresses, at the westernend of which bridge was erected a strong citadel, of beautifulwork, by command of the aforesaid king. In this monasteryhe collected monks of all kinds from every quarter,and there settled them.

93. Monasticism was decayed.250—At first he had no one ofhis own nation, noble and free by birth, who was willingto enter the monastic life, except children, who as yet couldneither choose good nor reject evil by reason of their tenderyears. This was the case because for many years previousthe love of a monastic life had utterly decayed in that aswell as in many other nations; for, though many monasteriesstill remain in that country, yet no one kept the ruleof that kind of life in an orderly way, whether because ofthe invasions of foreigners, which took place so frequentlyboth by sea and land, or because that people abounded inriches of every kind, and so looked with contempt on themonastic life. On this account it was that King Alfredsought to gather monks of different kinds in the samemonastery.

94. Monks brought from beyond Sea.251—First he placedthere John252 the priest and monk, an Old Saxon by birth,making him abbot; and then certain priests and deaconsfrom beyond sea. Finding that he had not so large a numberof these as he wished, he procured as many as possibleof the same Gallic race253; some of whom, being children,he ordered to be taught in the same monastery, and at alater period to be admitted to the monastic habit. I havemyself seen there in monastic dress a young man of heathenbirth who was educated in that monastery, and by nomeans the hindmost of them all.

95. A Crime committed at Athelney.254—There was a crimecommitted once in that monastery, which I would <not>,255by my silence, utterly consign to oblivion, although it isan atrocious villainy, for throughout the whole of Scripture56the base deeds of the wicked are interspersed among thereverend actions of the righteous, like tares and cockleamong the wheat. Good deeds are recorded that they maybe praised, imitated, and emulated, and that those who pursuethem may be held worthy of all honor; and wickeddeeds, that they may be censured, execrated, and avoided,and their imitators be reproved with all odium, contempt,and vengeance.

96. The Plot of a Priest and a Deacon.256—Once upon a time,a certain priest and a deacon, Gauls by birth, of the numberof the aforesaid monks, by the instigation of the devil,and roused by jealousy, became so embittered in secretagainst their abbot, the above-mentioned John, that, afterthe manner of the Jews, they circumvented and betrayedtheir master. For they so wrought upon two hired servantsof the same Gallic race that in the night, when all menwere enjoying the sweet tranquillity of sleep, they shouldmake their way into the church armed, and, shutting itbehind them as usual, hide themselves there, and wait tillthe abbot should enter the church alone. At length, when,as was his wont, he should secretly enter the church byhimself to pray, and, bending his knees, bow before theholy altar, the men should fall upon him, and slay him onthe spot. They should then drag his lifeless body out ofthe church, and throw it down before the house of a certainharlot, as if he had been slain whilst on a visit to her.This was their device, adding crime to crime, as it issaid, ‘The last error shall be worse than the first.’257 Butthe divine mercy, which is always wont to aid the innocent,frustrated in great part the evil design of those evilmen, so that it did not turn out in all respects as they hadplanned.

97. The Execution of the Plot.258—When, therefore, thewhole of the evil teaching had been explained by thosewicked teachers to their wicked hearers, and enforced uponthem, the night having come and being favorable, the twoarmed ruffians, furnished with a promise of impunity, shutthemselves up in the church to await the arrival of theabbot. In the middle of the night John, as usual, enteredthe church to pray, without any one’s knowledge, andknelt before the altar. Thereupon the two ruffians rushedupon him suddenly with drawn swords, and wounded himseverely. But he, being ever a man of keen mind, and, asI have heard say, not unacquainted with the art of fighting,if he had not been proficient in better lore, no sooner heardthe noise of the robbers, even before he saw them, than herose up against them before he was wounded, and, shoutingat the top of his voice, struggled against them with allhis might, crying out that they were devils and not men—andindeed he knew no better, as he thought that no menwould dare to attempt such a deed. He was, however,wounded before any of his monks could come up. They,roused by the noise, were frightened when they heard theword ‘devils’; being likewise unfamiliar with such struggles,they, and the two who, after the manner of the Jews, weretraitors to their lord, rushed toward the doors of the church;but before they got there those ruffians escaped with allspeed, and secreted themselves in the fens near by, leavingthe abbot half dead. The monks raised their nearly lifelesssuperior, and bore him home with grief and lamentations;nor did those two knaves shed tears less than the innocent.But God’s mercy did not allow so horrible a crime to passunpunished: the desperadoes who perpetrated it, and allwho urged them to it, were seized and bound; then, by58various tortures, they died a shameful death. Let us nowreturn to our main narrative.

98. The Convent at Shaftesbury.259—Another260 monasteryalso was built by the aforesaid king as a residence fornuns, near the eastern gate of Shaftesbury; and over it heplaced as abbess his own daughter Æthelgivu, a virgindedicated to God. With her many other noble ladies, servingGod in the monastic life, dwell in that convent. Thesetwo edifices were enriched by the king with much land,and with all sorts of wealth.

99. Alfred divides his Time and his Revenues.261—Thesethings being thus disposed of, the king considered withinhimself, as was his practice, what more would conduce toreligious meditation. What he had wisely begun and usefullyconceived was adhered to with even more beneficialresult; for he had long before heard out of the book of thelaw that the Lord262 had promised to restore to him thetenth many times over; and he knew that the Lord hadfaithfully kept His promise, and had actually restored tohim the tithe manyfold. Encouraged by this precedent,and wishing to surpass the practice of his predecessors, hevowed humbly and faithfully to devote to God half hisservices, by day and by night, and also half of all thewealth which lawfully and justly came every year into hispossession; and this vow, as far as human discretion canperceive and keep, he skilfully and wisely endeavored tofulfil. But that he might, with his usual caution, avoidthat which Scripture warns us against, ‘If thou offerestaright, but dost not divide aright, thou sinnest,’263 he consideredhow he might divide aright that which he had59joyfully vowed to God; and as Solomon had said, ‘Theking’s heart is in the hand of the Lord’264—that is, hiscounsel—he ordered with a divinely inspired policy, whichcould come only from above, that his officers should firstdivide into two parts the revenues of every year.

100. The Threefold Division of Officers at Court.265—Afterthis division had been made, he assigned the first part toworldly uses, and ordered that one third of it should bepaid to his soldiers and to his officers, the nobles who dweltby turns at court, where they discharged various duties, forthus it was that the king’s household was arranged at alltimes in three shifts,266 in the following manner. The king’sattendants being wisely distributed into three companies,the first company was on duty at court for one month,night and day, at the end of which they were relieved bythe second company, and returned to their homes for twomonths, where they attended to their own affairs. At theend of the second month, the third company relieved thesecond, who returned to their homes, where they spenttwo months. The third company then gave place to thefirst, and in their turn spent two months at home. And inthis order the rotation of service at the king’s court wasat all times carried on.

101. The Distribution for Secular Purposes.267—To these,therefore, was paid the first of the three portions aforesaid,to each according to his standing and peculiar service; thesecond to the workmen whom he had collected from manynations and had about him in large numbers, men skilledin every kind of building; the third portion was assigned60to foreigners who came to him out of every nation far andnear; whether they asked money of him or not, he cheerfullygave to each with wonderful munificence accordingto their respective worthiness,268 exemplifying what iswritten, ‘God loveth a cheerful giver.’269

102. The Distribution for Religious Purposes.270—But thesecond part of all his revenues, which came yearly into hispossession, and was included in the receipts of the exchequer,as I mentioned just above, he with full devotion dedicatedto God, ordering his officers to divide it carefully intofour equal parts with the provision that the first partshould be discreetly bestowed on the poor of every nationwho came to him; on this subject he said that, as far ashuman discretion could guarantee, the remark of PopeGregory on the proper division of alms should be followed,‘Give not little to whom you should give much, nor muchto whom little, nor nothing to whom something, nor somethingto whom nothing.’271 The second share to the twomonasteries which he had built, and to those who wereserving God in them, as I have described more at lengthabove. The third to the school272 which he had studiouslyformed from many of the nobility of his own nation, but alsofrom boys of mean condition. The fourth to the neighboringmonasteries in all Wessex and Mercia, and also duringsome years, in turn, to the churches and servants of Goddwelling in Wales, Cornwall,273 Gaul,274 Brittany, Northumbria,61and sometimes, too, in Ireland; according to his means,he either distributed to them beforehand, or agreed tocontribute afterwards, if life and prosperity did notfail him.

103. Alfred’s Dedication of Personal Service.275—When theking had arranged all these matters in due order, he rememberedthe text of holy Scripture which says, ‘Whosoeverwill give alms, ought to begin from himself,’276 and prudentlybegan to reflect what he could offer to God from the serviceof his body and mind; for he proposed to offer to Godno less out of this than he had done of external riches.277Accordingly, he promised, as far as his infirmity and hismeans would allow, to render to God the half of his services,bodily and mental, by night and by day,278 voluntarily,and with all his might. Inasmuch, however, as he couldnot distinguish with accuracy the lengths of the nighthours in any way, on account of the darkness, nor frequentlythose of the day, on account of the thick cloudsand rains, he began to consider by what regular means,free from uncertainty, relying on the mercy of God, hemight discharge the promised tenor of his vow undeviatinglyuntil his death.

104. Alfred’s Measure of Time.279—After long reflection onthese things, he at length, by a useful and shrewd invention,commanded his clerks280 to supply wax in sufficient quantity,and to weigh it in a balance against pennies. When enoughwax was measured out to equal the weight of seventy-two62pence, he caused the clerks to make six candles thereof, allof equal weight, and to mark off twelve inches as thelength of each candle.281 By this plan, therefore, those sixcandles burned for twenty-four hours, a night and a day,without fail, before the sacred relics of many of God’select, which always accompanied him wherever he went.Sometimes, however, the candles could not continue burninga whole day and night, till the same hour when theywere lighted the preceding evening, by reason of the violenceof the winds, which at times blew day and nightwithout intermission through the doors and windows282 ofthe churches, the sheathing, and the wainscot,283 the numerouschinks in the walls, or the thin material of the tents;on such occasions it was unavoidable that they should burnout and finish their course before the appointed hour. Theking, therefore, set himself to consider by what means hemight shut out the wind, and by a skilful and cunninginvention ordered a lantern to be beautifully constructedof wood and ox-horn, since white ox-horns, when shavedthin, are as transparent as a vessel of glass. Into this63lantern, then, wonderfully made of wood and horn, as Ibefore said, a candle was put at night, which shone asbrightly without as within, and was not disturbed by thewind, since he had also ordered a door of horn to be madefor the opening of the lantern.284 By this contrivance, then,six candles, lighted in succession, lasted twenty-four hours,neither more nor less. When these were burned out, otherswere lighted.

105. Alfred judges the Poor with Equity.285—When all thesethings were properly arranged, the king, eager to hold tothe half of his daily service, as he had vowed to God, andmore also, if his ability on the one hand, and his maladyon the other, would allow him, showed himself a minuteinvestigator of the truth in all his judgments, and thisespecially for the sake of the poor, to whose interest, dayand night, among other duties of this life, he was everwonderfully attentive. For in the whole kingdom the poor,besides him, had few or no helpers; for almost all thepowerful and noble of that country had turned theirthoughts rather to secular than to divine things: each wasmore bent on worldly business, to his own profit, than onthe common weal.

106. His Correction of Unjust and Incompetent Judges.285—Hestrove also, in his judgments, for the benefit of both64his nobles and commons, who often quarreled fiercelyamong themselves at the meetings of the ealdormen andsheriffs, so that hardly one of them admitted the justiceof what had been decided by these ealdormen and sheriffs.In consequence of this pertinacious and obstinate dissension,all felt constrained to give sureties to abide by thedecision of the king, and both parties hastened to carryout their engagements. But if any one was conscious ofinjustice on his side in the suit, though by law and agreementhe was compelled, however reluctant, to come forjudgment before a judge like this, yet with his own goodwill he never would consent to come. For he knew that inthat place no part of his evil practice would remain hidden;and no wonder, for the king was a most acute investigatorin executing his judgments, as he was in all other things.He inquired into almost all the judgments which weregiven in his absence, throughout all his dominion, whetherthey were just or unjust. If he perceived there was iniquityin those judgments, he would, of his own accord, mildlyask those judges, either in his own person, or throughothers who were in trust with him, why they had judgedso unjustly, whether through ignorance or malevolence—thatis, whether for the love or fear of any one, the hatredof another, or the desire of some one’s money. At length,if the judges acknowledged they had given such judgmentbecause they knew no better, he discreetly and moderatelyreproved their inexperience and folly in such terms asthese: ‘I greatly wonder at your assurance, that whereas,by God’s favor and mine, you have taken upon you therank and office of the wise, you have neglected the studiesand labors of the wise. Either, therefore, at once give upthe administration of the earthly powers which you possess,or endeavor more zealously to study the lessons of wisdom.65Such are my commands.’ At these words the ealdormenand sheriffs would be filled with terror at being thus severelycorrected, and would endeavor to turn with all their mightto the study of justice, so that, wonderful to say, almost allhis ealdormen, sheriffs, and officers, though unlearned fromchildhood, gave themselves up to the study of letters, choosingrather to acquire laboriously an unfamiliar disciplinethan to resign their functions. But if any one, from old ageor the sluggishness of an untrained mind, was unable tomake progress in literary studies, he would order his son,if he had one, or one of his kinsmen, or, if he had no oneelse, his own freedman or servant, whom he had long beforeadvanced to the office of reading, to read Saxon booksbefore him night and day, whenever he had any leisure.And then they would lament with deep sighs from theirinmost souls that in their youth they had never attended tosuch studies. They counted happy the youth of the presentday, who could be delightfully instructed in the liberalarts, while they considered themselves wretched in thatthey had neither learned these things in their youth, nor,now they were old, were able to do so. This skill of youngand old in acquiring letters, I have set forth as a means ofcharacterizing the aforesaid king.

THIS BOOK IS FOR WORCESTER286

King Alfred bids greet Bishop Wærferth with his words lovinglyand with friendship; and I let it be known to thee that ithas very often come into my mind what wise men there formerlywere throughout England, both of sacred and secular orders;and what happy times there were then throughout England; andhow the kings who had power over the nation in those daysobeyed God and His ministers; how they preserved peace, morality,and order at home, and at the same time enlarged their territoryabroad; and how they prospered both with war and withwisdom; and also how zealous the sacred orders were both inteaching and learning, and in all the services they owed to God;and how foreigners came to this land in search of wisdom andinstruction, and how we should now have to get them fromabroad if we were to have them. So general was its decay inEngland that there were very few on this side of the Humberwho could understand their rituals in English, or translate a letterfrom Latin into English; and I believe that there were not manybeyond the Humber. There were so few of them that I cannotremember a single one south of the Thames when I came to thethrone. Thanks be to Almighty God that we have any teachersamong us now. And therefore I command thee to do as I believethou art willing, to disengage thyself from worldly matters as oftenas thou canst, that thou mayest apply the wisdom which God hasgiven thee wherever thou canst. Consider what punishments wouldcome upon us on account of this world, if we neither loved it [wisdom]ourselves nor suffered other men to obtain it: we should love70the name only of Christian, and very few the virtues. When Iconsidered all this, I remembered also that I saw, before it had beenall ravaged and burned, how the churches throughout the whole ofEngland stood filled with treasures and books; and there was also agreat multitude of God’s servants, but they had very little knowledgeof the books, for they could not understand anything of them,because they were not written in their own language. As if theyhad said: ‘Our forefathers, who formerly held these places, lovedwisdom, and through it they obtained wealth and bequeathed it tous. In this we can still see their tracks, but we cannot followthem, and therefore we have lost both the wealth and the wisdom,because we would not incline our hearts after their example.’When I remembered all this, I wondered extremely that the goodand wise men who were formerly all over England, and had perfectlylearned all the books, had not wished to translate them intotheir own language. But again I soon answered myself and said:‘They did not think that men would ever be so careless, and thatlearning would so decay; through that desire they abstained fromit, since they wished that the wisdom in this land might increasewith our knowledge of languages.’ Then I remembered how thelaw was first known in Hebrew, and again, when the Greekshad learned it, they translated the whole of it into their own language,and all other books besides. And again the Romans, whenthey had learned them, translated the whole of them by learnedinterpreters into their own language. And also all other Christiannations translated a part of them into their own language.Therefore it seems better to me, if you think so, for us alsoto translate some books which are most needful for all men toknow into the language which we can all understand, and foryou to do as we very easily can if we have tranquillity enough,that is, that all the youth now in England of free men, who arerich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set tolearn as long as they are not fit for any other occupation, untilthey are able to read English writing well: and let those beafterwards taught more in the Latin language who are to continuein learning, and be promoted to a higher rank. When Iremembered how the knowledge of Latin had formerly decayedthroughout England, and yet many could read English writing,I began, among other various and manifold troubles of this71kingdom, to translate into English the book which is called inLatinPastoralis, and in EnglishShepherd’s Book, sometimes wordby word, and sometimes according to the sense, as I had learned itfrom Plegmund my archbishop, and Asser my bishop, and Grimbaldmy mass-priest, and John my mass-priest. And when I hadlearned it as I could best understand it, and as I could most clearlyinterpret it, I translated it into English; and I will send a copyto every bishopric in my kingdom; and in each there is a book-markworth fifty mancuses.287 And I command in God’s name thatno man take the book-mark from the book, or the book from themonastery. It is uncertain how long there may be such learnedbishops as now, thanks be to God, there are nearly everywhere;therefore I wish them288 always to remain in their places, unless thebishop wish to take them with him, or they be lent out anywhere,or any one be making a copy from them.

To Alfred, the most glorious and most Christian King of theAngles, Fulco, by the grace of God Archbishop of Rheims, andservant of the servants of God, wisheth both the sceptre of temporaldominion, ever triumphant, and the eternal joys of the kingdomof heaven.

And first of all we give thanks to our Lord God, the Fatherof lights, and the Author of all good, from whom is every goodgift and every perfect gift, who by the grace of His Holy Spirithath not only been pleased to cause the light of His knowledgeto shine in your heart, but also even now hath vouchsafed tokindle the fire of His love, by which at once enlightened andwarmed, you earnestly tender the weal of the kingdom committedto you from above, by warlike achievements, with divine assistanceattaining or securing peace for it, and desiring to extendthe excellency of the ecclesiastical order, which is the army ofGod. Wherefore we implore the divine mercy with unweariedprayers that He who hath moved and warmed your heart to this73would give effect to your wishes, by replenishing your desire withgood things, that in your days both peace may be multiplied toyour kingdom and people, and that ecclesiastical order, which asyou say hath been disturbed in many ways, either by the continuedirruptions and attacks of the pagans, or by lapse of years,or by the negligence of prelates, or by the ignorance of subjects,may by your diligence and industry be speedily reëstablished,exalted, and diffused.

And since you wish this to be effected chiefly through ourassistance, and since from our see, over which St. Remigius, theapostle of the Franks, presides, you ask for counsel and protection,we think that this is not done without divine impulse. Andas formerly the nation of the Franks obtained by the same St.Remigius deliverance from manifold error, and the knowledge ofthe worship of the only true God, so doth the nation of the Anglesrequest that it may obtain from his see and doctrine one by whomthey may be taught to avoid superstition, to cut off superfluities,and to extirpate all such noxious things as bud forth from violatedcustom or rude habits, and may learn, while they walkthrough the field of the Lord, to pluck the flowers, and to be upontheir guard against the adder.

For St. Augustine, the first bishop of your nation, sent to usby your apostle St. Gregory, could not in a short time set forthall the decrees of the holy apostles, nor did he think proper suddenlyto burden a rude and barbarous nation with new andstrange enactments; for he knew how to adapt himself to theirinfirmities, and to say with the Apostle, ‘I have given milk to youto drink, who are babes in Christ, and not meat’ (1 Cor. 3. 2). Andas Peter and James, who were looked upon as pillars (Gal. 2. 9),with Barnabas and Paul, and the rest who were met together, didnot wish to oppress the primitive Church, which was flowing infrom the Gentiles to the faith of Christ, with a heavier burdenthan to command them to abstain from things offered to idols,and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood(Acts 15. 29), so also do we know how matters were managedwith you at the beginning. For they required only this for trainingup the people in the knowledge of God, and turning them fromtheir former barbarous fierceness, namely, that faithful and prudentservants should be placed over the Lord’s household, who74should be competent to give out to each of their fellow-servantshis dole of food in due season, that is, according to the capacityof each of the hearers. But in process of time, as the Christianreligion gained strength, the holy Church felt it neither to be herinclination nor her duty to be satisfied with this, but to takeexample from the apostles themselves, their masters and founders,who, after the doctrines of the Gospel had been set forth andspread abroad by their heavenly Master Himself, did not deem itsuperfluous and needless, but convenient and salutary, to establishthe perfect believers by frequent epistolary exhortations, andto build them more firmly upon the solid foundation, and toimpart to them more abundantly the rule as well of manners asof faith.

Nevertheless, she too, whether excited by adverse circumstances,or nourished by prosperous ones, never ceased to aim atthe good of her children, whom she is daily bringing forth to Christ,and, inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, to promote theiradvancement, both privately and publicly. Hence the frequentcalling of councils, not only from the neighboring cities andprovinces, but also, in these days, from regions beyond seas; hencesynodal decrees so often published; hence sacred canons, framedand consecrated by the Holy Spirit, by which both the Catholicfaith is powerfully strengthened, and the unity of the Church’speace is inviolably guarded, and its order is decently regulated:which canons, as it is unlawful for any Christian to transgress,so it is altogether wicked, in clerk and priest especially, to beignorant of them; the wholesome observance and the religioushanding down of which are things ever to be embraced. Seeingthat, for the reasons above stated, all these matters have eithernot been fully made known to your nation, or have now for themost part failed, it hath appeared fit and proper to your Majestyand to your royal wisdom, by a most excellent counsel—inspired,as we believe, from above—both to consult us, insignificant aswe are, on this matter, and to repair to the see of St. Remigius,by whose virtues and doctrine the same see or church hath alwaysflourished and excelled all the churches of Gaul since his timein all piety and doctrine.

And since you are unwilling to appear before us, when youpresent these your requests, without a gift and empty-handed,75your Majesty hath deigned to honor us with a present that is bothvery necessary for the time and well suited to the matter in hand;concerning which we have both praised heavenly Providence withadmiration, and have returned no slender thanks to your royalmunificence. For you have sent unto us a present of dogs, which,of good and excellent breed, are yet only in the body and mortal;and this you do that they may drive away the fury of visiblewolves, with which, among other scourges, wielded against us bythe righteous judgment of God, our country abounds; and youask us, in return, that we should send to you certain watch-dogs,not corporeal, that is to say, not such as those with whomthe prophet finds fault, saying, ‘Dumb dogs, not able to bark’(Isa. 56. 10), but such as the Psalmist speaks of, ‘That thetongue of thy dogs may be red through the same’ (Ps. 68. 23),who know how and are qualified to make loud barkings fortheir Lord, and constantly to guard His flock with most wakefuland most careful watchings, and to drive away to a distancethose most cruel wolves of unclean spirits who lie in wait todevour souls.

Of which number you specially demand one from us, namely,Grimbald, priest and monk, to be sent for this office, and to presideover the government of the pastoral charge. To whom thewhole Church, which hath nourished him, gives her testimonyfrom his childhood, with true faith and holy religion, and whichhath advanced him by regular steps, according to ecclesiasticalcustom, to the dignity of the priesthood. We affirm openly thathe is most deserving of the honor of the episcopate, and that heis fit to teach others also. But indeed we wished that this mightrather take place in our kingdom, and we intended some timeago, with Christ’s permission, to accomplish it in due time, namely,that he whom we had as a faithful son we might have as anassociate in our office, and a most trustworthy assistant in everythingthat pertained to the advantage of the Church. It is notwithout deep sorrow—forgive us for saying so—that we sufferhim to be torn from us, and be removed from our eyes by sovast an extent of land and sea. But as love has no perceptionof loss, nor faith of injury, and no remoteness of regions canpart those whom the tie of unfeigned affection joins together,we have most willingly assented to your request—for to you we76have no power to refuse anything—nor do we grudge him toyou, whose advantage we rejoice in as much as if it were ourown, and whose profit we count as ours: for we know that inevery place one only God is served, and that the Catholic andApostolic Church is one, whether it be at Rome or in the partsbeyond the sea.

It is our duty, then, to make him over to you canonically; andit is your duty to receive him reverentially, that is to say, insuch way and mode as may best conduce to the glory of yourkingdom, to the honor of the Church and our prelacy; and tosend him to you along with his electors, and with certain noblesand great personages of your kingdom, as well bishops, presbyters,deacons, as religious laymen also, who with their own lips promiseand declare to us in the presence of our whole church that theywill treat him with fitting respect during the whole course of hislife, and that they will inviolably keep with the strictest care thecanonical decrees and the rules of the Church, handed down tothe Church by the apostles and by apostolic men, such as theycould then hear from us, and afterwards learn from him theirpastor and teacher, according to the form delivered by us to him.Which when they shall have done, with the divine blessing and theauthority of St. Remigius, by our ministry and the laying on ofhands, according to the custom of the Church, receiving him properlyordained, and in all things fully instructed, let them conducthim with due honor to his own seat, glad and cheerful themselvesthat they are always to enjoy his protection, and constantly to beinstructed by his teaching and example.

And as the members feel a concern for each other, and wheneven one rejoices they rejoice with it, or if even one suffer all theother members sympathize with it, we again earnestly and speciallycommend him to your Royal Highness and to your mostprovident goodness, that he may be always permitted, with unfetteredauthority, without any gainsaying, to teach and to carryinto effect whatever he may discover to be fit and useful for thehonor of the Church and the instruction of your people, accordingto the authority of the canons and the custom of our Church, lest,haply—which God forbid!—any one, under the instigation ofthe devil, being moved by the impulse of spite and malevolence,should excite controversy or raise sedition against him. But77should this happen, it will be your duty then to make special provisionagainst this, and by all means to discourage by your royalcensure all such persons, if they should chance to show themselves,and check barbaric rudeness by the curb of your authority; andit will be his duty always to consult for the salvation of the peoplecommitted to his pastoral skill, and rather to draw all men afterhim by love than to drive them by fear.

May you, most illustrious, most religious, and most invincibleking, ever rejoice and flourish in Christ the Lord of lords.

FOOTNOTES

1 Based on theChronicle under 855.

2 MS.Cudam. So always, but see theChronicle.

3 Bede,Eccl. Hist. 3. 7: ‘The West Saxons, formerly calledGewissae.’ Plummer comments in his edition, 2. 89: ‘It is probablyconnected with the “visi” of “Visigoths,” meaning “west,” andhence would indicate the western confederation of Saxon tribes;... “Gewis” is probably an eponymous hero manufactured out ofthe tribe-name.’ Thegw ofGegwis is a Welsh peculiarity (Stevenson).

4 MS., Stev.Seth (but Stevenson suggestsSceaf in his variants,referring to theChronicle under 855).

5 MS.Cainan, but see Gen. 5. 12 in R. V.

6 Partly from theChronicle, but the whole account of Alfred’s fatherand mother is original.

7 From theChronicle under 530 and 534.

8 Unidentified.

9 From theChronicle.

10 Possibly Wigborough, in the parish of South Petherton in Somersetshire(Stevenson).

11 Minster in Sheppey, founded by St. Sexburh in the seventhcentury; it disappeared during the Danish ravages (Stevenson).

12 From theChronicle.

13 MS.Cantwariorum civitatem; Chron.Cantwaraburg.

14 Based upon theChronicle.

15 Stevenson is inclined to reject this customary identification withOakley, in Surrey.

16 The source—theChronicle—says: ‘And there made the greatestslaughter among the heathen army that we have heard reported to thepresent day.’

17 From theChronicle.

18 Mainly from theChronicle.

19 The ‘North Welsh’ of theChronicle.

20 Based upon theChronicle.

21 MS.in regem.

22 MS.infantem.

23 ‘A letter from the pope to Alfred’s father, regarding the ceremonyat Rome, has been fortunately preserved for us in a twelfth-centurycollection of papal letters, now in the British Museum.... The letteris as follows: “Edeluulfo, regi Anglorum [marginal direction for rubricator].<F>ilium vestrum Erfred, quem hoc in tempore ad SanctorumApostolorum limina destinare curastis, benigne suscepimus, et, quasispiritalem filium consulatus cingulo <cinguliemend. Ewald> honorevestimentisque, ut mos est Romanis consulibus, decoravimus, eo quod innostris se tradidit manibus”’ (Stevenson). TheChronicle has: ‘...consecrated him as king, and took him as bishop-son.’ See p. 29.

24 Based upon theChronicle.

25 Thanet.

26 From theChronicle.

27 Based upon theChronicle.

28 Charles the Bald.

29 Original.

30 Comprising Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall.

31 Chiefly original.

32 From theChronicle.

33 Prudentius of Troyes (inAnnales Bertiniani, an. 856, ed. Waitz,p. 47), says of Bishop Hincmar: ‘Eam ... reginæ nomine insignit,quod sibi suæque genti eatenus fuerat insuetum.’

34 Original.

35 Offa’s Dike; it extended from the mouth of the Dee to that of theSevern.

36 Original.

37 Charlemagne.

38 ‘Pavia was on the road to Rome, and was hence frequented byEnglish pilgrims on their journey to the latter’ (Stevenson). TheChronicle says under 888: ‘Queen Æthelswith, who was King Alfred’ssister, died;and her body lies at Pavia.’ ‘With this story of Eadburh’sbegging in that city we may compare the statement of St. Boniface,written about 747, as to the presence of English prostitutes or adulteressesin the cities of Lombardy, Frankland, or Gaul (Dümmler,EpistolæKarolini Ævi 1. 355; Haddan and Stubbs,Councils 3. 381). Atthe date of this letter the Lombards still spoke their native Germanictongue, and it is probable that as late as Eadburh’s time it was stillthe predominant speech in Lombardy’ (Stevenson).

39 Mostly original.

40 In Alfred’s will (Cart. Sax. 2. 177. 9) he refers to this as ‘Aþulfescinges yrfegewrit’ (Stevenson).

41 That is, for the good of his soul.

42 Lat.manentibus.

43 A mancus was thirty pence, one-eighth of a pound.

44 Original.

45 From Florence of Worcester. TheAnnals of St. Neots have: ‘andburied at Steyning’ (Stemrugam).

46 This last statement is incorrect.

47 From theChronicle under 860. As Æthelbert was already in possessionof Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, it should rather be said that headded Wessex.

48 From theChronicle under 860.

49 Chiefly from theChronicle under 865 and 866.

50 The earlier part from theChronicle.

51 Probably meaning the mouths of the Rhine (Stevenson).

52 Original.

53 Curto, a word showing Frankish influence.

54 Original. Stevenson would refer this event to a date earlier than855.

55 From Florence of Worcester.

56 So Pauli and Stevenson interpretlegit.

57 Original.

58 Cf. chap. 88.

59 The liberal arts were seven, consisting of thetrivium—grammar,logic, and rhetoric—and thequadrivium—arithmetic, geometry,music, and astronomy. This course of study was introduced in thesixth century. Asser here employs the singular,artem, which mightbe translated by ‘education.’

60 See Alfred’s own statement in Appendix I, p. 69.

61 Original.

62 Alfred says (Preface to thePastoral Care): ‘Thanks be toAlmighty God that we have any teachers among us now.’ In thissame Preface he mentions, among those who aided him in the translation,Archbishop Plegmund, Bishop Asser, our author, and the twopriests Grimbold and John. Cf. chaps. 77, 78, 79, 81, 88, andAppendix I, p. 71.

63 Stevenson brackets this clause.

64 Mostly from theChronicle.

65 This clause must refer to the first line of the chapter, as there isno previous mention of the Northumbrians.

66 From theChronicle.

67 Original.

68 ‘Subarravit, formed fromsub andarrha, represents literally theEnglish verbwed, which refers to the giving of security upon theengagement of marriage.... [It] is glossed bybeweddian in Napier’sOld English Glosses’ (Stevenson).

69 William of Malmesbury calls her Æthelswith.

70 Of the Gaini nothing is known.

71 Largely from theChronicle.

72 ‘A compound oftig (Modern Welshtŷ, “house”), andguocobauc(Modern Welshgogofawg), an adjective derived fromgogof, “cave.”... The name ... is certainly applicable to Nottingham, which haslong been famous for the houses excavated out of the soft sandstoneupon which it stands’ (Stevenson). The word Nottingham itself, however,has not this meaning.

73 Here and elsewhere in the text often spelled Æthered.

74 From theChronicle.

75 In Norfolk.

76 Mostly from theChronicle.

77 Chiefly from theChronicle.

78 Five and one-half miles southwest of Reading.

79 Added from Florence of Worcester by Stevenson.

80 Chiefly from theChronicle.

81 The Berkshire Downs (Stevenson).

82 Stevenson is convinced that Æscesdun, though interpreted as‘mons fraxini,’ cannot mean ‘the hill of the ash,’ but that Ash ishere a man’s name.

83 Perhapsmediam is a scribal error forunam orprimam (Stevenson).

84 There is a note on the Germanic shield-wall in my edition ofJudith (305ª), in the Belles Lettres Series.

85 All original except final clause.

86 Supplied by Stevenson from Florence of Worcester.

87 Mostly original.

88 Probably Reading.

89 From theChronicle.

90 Before this sentence occurs the following in the Latin:Quibuscum talia præsentis vitæ dispendia alienigenis perperam quærentibusnon sufficerent. This may represent a sentence in the author’s draftthat was intended, owing to change of construction, to be omitted(Stevenson).

91 In Hampshire.

92 Mostly from theChronicle.

93 In Dorsetshire.

94 Paraphrased and amplified from theChronicle.

95 A tributary of the Nadder, which it joins near Wilton.

96 Or, perhaps, ‘fewness,’ readingpaucitatem forperaudacitatem(Stevenson).

97 Mostly from theChronicle.

98 From theChronicle.

99 Chiefly from theChronicle.

100 In Derbyshire.

101 Among the Germans there were Colonies (Scholæ) of the Frisians,Franks, and Lombards, as well as of the Saxons.

102 Now Santo Spirito in Sassia, near the Vatican.

103 From theChronicle.

104 The valley of the Clyde.

105 Here spelled Gothrum.

106 From theChronicle.

107 Chiefly from theChronicle.

108 In Dorsetshire.

109 Dorchester.

110 For the usual Dornsæte.

111 Here theChronicle has ‘on the holy arm-ring,’ on which theDanes, it would seem, were accustomed to swear.

112 Here theChronicle has: ‘They, the mounted army, stole awayfrom the fierd [the English forces] in the night into Exeter.’ This, ofcourse, is the true account, while the statement in Asser is incredible.

113 Exe.

114 From theChronicle.

115 See chap. 46.

116 Largely from theChronicle.

117 At this point Archbishop Parker interpolated, from theAnnalsof St. Neots, the story of Alfred and the cakes. This story, however,cannot be proved to antedate the Norman Conquest.

118 The first clause from theChronicle; the rest original.

119 Name unknown.

120 Hingwar.

121 Or South Wales. See chap. 80.

122 Site unknown.

123 Mostly from theChronicle.

124 In Somersetshire.

125 Unknown.

126 Or perhaps better, Iglea; see Stevenson’s note on the word, p. 270of his edition. He says: ‘It is probably an older name of SouthleighWood, or of part of it.’

127 Based upon theChronicle.

128 In Wiltshire.

129 Supplied by Stevenson from theChronicle.

130 Properly, as one of thirty, according to theChronicle.

131 Chrism is the term employed for the mixture of oil and balsamemployed in the rite of confirmation, and sometimes for the ceremonyof confirmation itself. In the early church, this ceremony immediatelyfollowed baptism, and was performed by the laying on of hands. Inthe Roman church it is obligatory on all Catholics, and no baptism istheoretically complete without it. It is performed by a bishop (onlyexceptionally by a priest). The ceremony begins with the bishop’s risingand facing the person or persons to be confirmed, his pastoral staffin his hand, and saying: ‘May the Holy Ghost come upon you, andthe power of the Holy Ghost keep you from sins’ (Handbook to Christianand Ecclesiastical Rome: Liturgy in Rome, London, 1897, pp. 169–171).The rite is described in Egbert’sPontifical, which may be takenas representing the custom in the church of Alfred’s time. Lingardsays (Anglo-Saxon Church, London, 1858, 1. 297): ‘According to thatpontifical, the bishop prayed thus: “Almighty and Everlasting God,who hast granted to this thy servant to be born again of water and theHoly Ghost, and hast given to him remission of his sins, send downupon him thy sevenfold Holy Spirit, the Paraclete from heaven,Amen. Give to him the spirit of wisdom and understanding, Amen—thespirit of counsel and fortitude, Amen—the spirit of knowledgeand piety, Amen. Fill him with the spirit of the fear of God and ourLord Jesus Christ, and mercifully sign him with the sign of the holycross for life eternal.” The bishop then marked his forehead withchrism, and proceeded thus: “Receive this sign of the holy crosswith the chrism of salvation in Christ Jesus unto life eternal.” Thehead was then bound with a fillet of new linen to be worn seven days,and the bishop resumed: “O God, who didst give thy Holy Spirit tothine apostles, that by them and their successors he might be given tothe rest of the faithful, look down on the ministry of our lowliness,and grant that into the heart of him whose forehead we have this dayanointed, and confirmed with the sign of the cross, thy Holy Spiritmay descend; and that, dwelling therein, he may make it the templeof his glory, through Christ our Lord.” The confirmed then receivedthe episcopal blessing, and communicated during the mass.’

The chrism-loosing was the ceremony of unbinding the fillet, apparently.

132 MS.ædificia; Stevenson,beneficia.

133 Chiefly from theChronicle.

134 Gloucester, Worcester, etc.

135 Mostly from theChronicle.

136 Mostly from theChronicle.

137 See Stevenson’s interesting note.

138 From theChronicle.

139 Ibid.

140 Ibid.

141 Ibid.

142 Mostly from theChronicle.

143 Largely from theChronicle.

144 Mostly from theChronicle.

145 Cf. chap. 60.

146 The MS. hasdormiret, but perhaps fordomum iret, since theChronicle hashāmweard wendon (Stevenson); so perhaps we shouldread ‘was on its way home.’

147 Chiefly from theChronicle.

148 Louis the Stammerer.

149 Cf. chap. 59.

150 Charles the Bald.

151 Cf. chaps. 11 and 13.

152 From theChronicle.

153 From Duisburg, about January, 884 (Stevenson).

154 There was a battle in Frisia, about December, 884, and a later onein Saxony (Stevenson).

155 Mainly from theChronicle.

156 The North Sea.

157 Brittany.

158 Louis the German.

159 Louis the Pious.

160 Mainly from theChronicle.

161 From theChronicle.

162 Based upon the preface to Eginhard’sLife of Charlemagne.

163 See chap. 21.

164 Original.

165 Perhaps the hemorrhoids.

166 Interpolated some time between 893 and 1000A.D.

167 In Alfred’s prayer at the end of his translation of Boethius, oneof the petitions is: ‘Deliver me from foul lust and from all unrighteousness.’

168 Original.

169 This is the beginning of a corrupt sentence, of which nothing hasbeen made.

170 MS.Eadredo.

171 See Appendix I, p. 70.

172 See chaps. 24 and 88.

173 Original.

174 Cf. Alfred’s jewel, and the book upon it by Professor Earle.

175 See chaps. 23 and 75.

176 Our first accounts of Arctic exploration are from his pen. For hisinterest in geographical discovery see the narratives of Ohthere andWulfstan, in his translation of Orosius. In 897, according to theChronicle, he was experimenting with new war-galleys: ‘They werealmost twice as long as the others. Some had sixty oars, some more.They were swifter, steadier, and higher than the others, and werebuilt, not on a Frisian or Danish model, but according to his personalnotions of their utility.’

177 There were Frisians in his fleet in 897 (Chronicle).

178 Northmen; such were Ohthere and Wulfstan (see note 1, above).

179 Three such came to him in 891 (Chronicle).

180 MS.Armorici. See chap. 102.

181 Or, ‘degrees’; cf. p. 60.

182 See chap. 101.

183 Matt. 6. 33.

184 Ps. 85. 8.

185 Cf. chap. 88; Stevenson gives a number of parallels from ancientand mediæval authors, beginning with Lucretius (3. 9) and Seneca(Epist. 84.3).

186 Cf. chap. 24.

187 Original.

188 See Appendix I, p. 69. In Alfred’s will he gives Werfrith (Wærferth)a hundred marks.

189 See Appendix I, p. 71.

190 Perhaps Bishop of Ramsbury (909A.D.). The later MSS. of theChronicle say, under the year 883: ‘And in the same year Sighelmand Æthelstan took to Rome the alms that King Alfred sent, and alsoto India to St. Thomas’ and St. Bartholomew’s.’

191 Or, ‘chaplains.’ See p. 61, note 6.

192 Original.

193 Probably from the monastery of St. Bertin, at St. Omer (Pas-de-Calais).See Appendix I, p. 71, and Appendix II, pp. 75 ff.

194 Cf. chap. 94, and Appendix I, p. 71.

195 Original.

196 Perhaps Dean, near Eastbourne, in Sussex.

197 Five miles southwest of Chepstow. ‘There was an abbey there,where a traveling ecclesiastic would be likely to stay, and it was onthe great Roman road to South Wales, by which a traveler from Wessexto St. Davids would proceed’ (Stevenson).

198 The MS. seems to be corrupt at this point, so that what I havegiven is a loose conjectural rendering of the Latin: ...et illa adjuvareturper rudimenta Sancti Dequi in omni causa, tamen pro viribus.

199 Original.

200 Pembrokeshire and part of Carmarthenshire.

201 ‘Rhodri Mawr (the Great), King of Gwyneth, who acquired therule of the whole of North and Mid-Wales and Cardigan’ (Stevenson).

202 Old name of Glamorgan and part of Monmouthshire.

203 In Monmouthshire.

204 Alfred.

205 See chaps. 8 and 56.

206 Original.

207 Perhaps Landford in Wiltshire.

208 In Alfred’s Preface to his translation of Boethius we are told:‘[He made this translation as well as he could], considering the variousand manifold worldly cares that oft troubled him both in mind andbody.’ The similarity of phrase is striking.

209 Both in Somersetshire; these monasteries are otherwise unknown.

210 Largely from theChronicle.

211 Largely from theChronicle.

212 Namely, Alfred.

213 A mistranslation from theChronicle; it should read, ‘were not incaptivity,’ etc.

214 Here follows Camden’s famous (forged?) interpolation aboutGrimbald and Oxford.

215 Much expanded from theChronicle.

216 From theChronicle.

217 Charles the Fat.

218 Burgundy.

219 Chiefly from theChronicle.

220 Cf. chap. 84.

221 Original.

222 Original.

223 Cf. chap. 24.

224 Author unknown.

225 Cf. chap. 76.

226 Original.

227 Luke 23. 42.

228 The following phrases, introduced at this point, seem to be corrupt:Hic aut aliter, quamvis dissimili modo, in regia potestate.

229 November 11.

230 Alfred calls the passages which he translated from St. Augustine’sSoliloquies by the name of ‘flowers’ or ‘blossoms’ (blōstman). SeeHargrove’s edition (Yale Studies in English XIII), and his version intomodern English (Yale Studies in English XXII).

231 The application of the word to a work of St. Augustine’s gave itgreat currency in the Frankish Latin of the period.

232 The Handbook seems to have been known to William of Malmesbury(d. 1143); cf. hisGesta Pontificum, pp. 333, 336.

233 Original.

234 Unknown.

235 Cf. note 5, chap. 80.

236 ...unicuique ubicumque male habet.

237 Original.

238 Cf. chap. 74.

239 MS. corrupt:De cotidiana nationum.

240 This makes no sense; yet the Latin is:quæ in Tyrreno mari usqueultimum Hiberniæ finem habitant.

241 Cf. chap. 70.

242 Perhaps Elias III, patriarch from about 879 to 907; the MS. readsAbel. Stevenson’s emendation is supported by the fact that certainmedical recipes are related to have been sent to Alfred by the patriarchElias (Cockayne,Leechdoms 2. 290).

243 Stevenson says: ‘Possibly he intended to refer to the use of the preciousmetals in sacred edifices. We are told, on the doubtful authorityof William of Malmesbury, that King Ine built a chapel of gold andsilver at Glastonbury. A ninth-century writer records that Ansegis,abbot of Fontenelle, 806–833, partly decorated a spire of the abbey withgilt metal, and another writer of that period mentions the golden doorsof the “basilica” of St. Alban in his description of the imperial palaceat Ingelheim. Giraldus Cambrensis ascribes the use of golden roofs orroof-crests to the Romans at Caerleon-on-Usk. The idea that a king’spalace ought to be decorated with the precious metals is probably anoutcome of the late Roman rhetoric and Byzantine magnificence.’

244 The early part of the sentence is corrupt in the MS.

245 The figure is found as early as Sophocles and Aristophanes.

246 Original.

247 This corresponds to the OE.sāwle þearf.

248 The Latin has:inter cetera diuturna et nocturna bona. Stevensondoes not emend, but it seems as though we should readdiurna. Compare,for example, in Stevenson’s edition,78. 14, 35, 39;99. 10;100. 11;103. 9.

249 Cf. chap. 55. The second monastery was for nuns, and at Shaftesbury;see chap. 98.

250 Original.

251 Original.

252 Cf. chap. 78.

253 Cf. chap. 78.

254 Original.

255 Supplied by Stevenson.

256 Original.

257 Matt. 27. 64.

258 Original.

259 Original.

260 Cf. chap. 92.

261 Original.

262 This passage is somewhat corrupt.

263 Gen. 4. 7, in the old Latin version, following the Septuagint.

264 Prov. 21. 1.

265 Original.

266 Cf. theChronicle under 894: ‘The King had divided his forcesinto two, so that one half was constantly at home, the other half in thefield.’

267 Original.

268 Or, ‘rank’ (dignitatem), as in line 3 of the chapter.

269 2 Cor. 9. 7.

270 Original.

271 Incorrectly quoted from thePastoral Care 3. 20: ‘Ne quædamquibus nulla, ne nulla quibus quædam, ne multa quibus pauca, ne paucapræbeant quibus impendere multa debuerunt.’

272 See chaps. 75 and 76.

273 See chaps. 74 and 81.

274 See chaps. 78 and 94.

275 Original.

276 Not from the Bible, but from St. Augustine’sEnchiridion de Fide,chap. 20: ‘Qui enim vult ordinate dare eleemosynam, a se ipso debetincipere.’

277 Readingdivitiis for thedivinis of the text.

278 Cf. chap. 99.

279 Original.

280 Or, ‘chaplains.’ See p. 41, note 5.

281 ‘As these six candles weighed 72 pennyweights, each one was ofthe weight of 12d. The weight of the OE. penny was 22½ Troy grains,so that each candle would weigh roughly ⅝ oz. avoirdupois. As thecandles were twelve inches long, they would be very thin in proportionto their length. A modern beeswax candle burns at a considerablyquicker rate than is here assumed, but we do not think this condemnsthe figures given in this chapter as imaginary. The candle of Alfred’stime was probably not moulded, and the wick would not be made ofcotton, as in the modern ones. Rushes, tow, and the hards of flax wereused for wicks. Aldhelm refers to the use of linen or flax wicks, butalso to those made of rushes. It is therefore hardly possible to reproducethe candles used by Alfred for the purpose of testing this chapter’(Stevenson).

282 Readingfenestras for thefenestrarum of the text.

283 Meanings doubtful.

284 ‘Ducange objected that horn lanterns were known to the Greeksand Romans long before Alfred’s time. But the passages adduced bySalmasius, to whom he refers, and such others as we have been ableto gather, do not clearly describe a horn lantern lit by a candle, butrather screens formed of horn to place round oil lamps. It is possible,therefore, that Alfred may really be the inventor of the horn lanternas we know it. The door in the side, which would be rendered necessaryby the change of the candles every four hours, is here described,and seems to be a new feature’ (Stevenson).

285 Original.

286 The name of the diocese and of the bishop of course varied inthe different copies.

287 Cf. p. 11, note 2.

288 The books.

289 From Rev. Joseph Stevenson’s translation ofThe Book of Hyde, inChurch Historians of England (London, 1854), Vol. 2, Part 2, pp. 499–503.The translator states that the text of the letter printed by Wisein his edition of Asser (see Stevenson’s edition of Asser, p. 308) ‘hasbeen employed in correcting the many obscurities and errors of thecopy inserted in theLiber de Hida.’ Of the letter our editor says: ‘It... seems to be genuine. There is no conceivable motive for forgingsuch a letter. We can discover no grounds for Pauli’s condemnationof it.... As Malmesbury,Gesta Regum, c. 122 (p. 130), states thatGrimbald was sent to Alfred at his request by the Archbishop ofRheims, he would seem to have been acquainted with this letter.’

Movatterモバイル変換

ASSER’S
LIFE OF KING ALFRED

PREFACE

CONTENTS

ASSER’S LIFE OF KING ALFRED

APPENDIXES

APPENDIX I
Alfred’s Preface to his translation of Gregory’sPastoral Care

THIS BOOK IS FOR WORCESTER286

APPENDIX II
Letter from Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims and Primateof the Franks, andlegatus natus of the ApostolicSee, to Alfred, the most Christian King of theAngles289

FOOTNOTES

INDEX

Transcriber’s Notes

	PAGE
1.	Alfred’s Birth and Genealogy	1
2.	Genealogy of Alfred’s Mother	2
3.	The Danes at Wicganbeorg and Sheppey	3
4.	The Danes sack Canterbury	3
5.	Battle of Aclea	4
6.	Defeat of the Danes at Sandwich	4
7.	Æthelwulf assists Burgred	4
8.	Alfred at Rome	5
9.	Other Events of 853	5
10.	The Heathen winter in Sheppey	6
11.	Æthelwulf journeys to Rome	6
12.	Rebellion of Æthelbald	6
13.	Judith’s Position in Wessex	7
14.	Offa and Eadburh	8
15.	Eadburh’s Further Life	9
16.	Æthelwulf’s Will	10
17.	Æthelbald marries Judith	11
18.	Æthelbert’s Reign	12
19.	Æthelbert’s Death	12
20.	The Danes in Kent	12
21.	Æthelred’s Accession	13
22.	Alfred’s Rearing	13
23.	Alfred and the Book of Saxon Poems	14
24.	Alfred’s Handbook	14
25.	Alfred’s Love of Learning	15
26.	The Danes occupy York	16
27.	Defeat of the Northumbrians	16
28.	Death of Ealhstan	17
29.	Alfred marries	17x
30.	The Danes at Nottingham	17
31.	The Danes at York	18
32.	The Danes at Thetford	18
33.	The Danes triumph	18
34.	Ceolnoth dies	18
35.	The Danes defeated at Englefield	19
36.	Battle of Reading	19
37.	Battle of Ashdown	20
38.	Alfred begins the Attack	20
39.	The Heathen Rout and Loss	21
40.	Battle of Basing	22
41.	Æthelred’s Death	22
42.	Alfred comes to the Throne; Battle of Wilton	22
43.	Peace made	24
44.	The Heathen winter in London	24
45.	The Heathen winter in Lindsey	24
46.	The Danes in Mercia	24
47.	The Danes in Northumbria and Cambridge	25
48.	Alfred’s Battle at Sea	25
49.	Movements of the Danes	25
50.	Halfdene partitions Northumbria	26
51.	Division of Mercia	26
52.	The Danes at Chippenham	26
53.	Alfred in Somersetshire	27
54.	The Danes defeated at Cynwit	27
55.	Alfred at Athelney	28
56.	Battle of Edington, and Treaty with Guthrum	28
57.	The Danes go to Cirencester	30
58.	Danes at Fulham	31
59.	An Eclipse	31
60.	The Danes in East Anglia	31
61.	The Smaller Army leaves England	31
62.	The Danes fight with the Franks	31
63.	The Danes on the Meuse	31
64.	Alfred’s Naval Battle with the Danes	31
65.	The Danes at Condé	32xi
66.	Deliverance of Rochester	32
67.	Alfred’s Naval Battle at the Mouth of the Stour	32
68.	Death of Carloman, of Louis II, and of Louis III	33
69.	The Danes in Old Saxony	33
70.	Charles, King of the Alemanni	34
71.	Death of Pope Marinus	34
72.	The Danes break their Treaty	34
73.	Asser makes a New Beginning	34
74.	Alfred’s Maladies	35
75.	Alfred’s Children and their Education	37
76.	Alfred’s Varied Pursuits	38
77.	Alfred’s Scholarly Associates: Werfrith, Plegmund, Æthelstan, and Werwulf	41
78.	Grimbald and John, the Old Saxon	42
79.	Asser’s Negotiations with King Alfred	42
80.	The Welsh Princes who submit to Alfred	44
81.	How Alfred rewards Submission	45
82.	The Siege of Paris	46
83.	Alfred rebuilds London	47
84.	The Danes leave Paris	47
85.	Division of the Empire	47
86.	Alfred sends Alms to Rome	48
87.	Alfred begins to translate from Latin	48
88.	Alfred’s Manual	48
89.	Alfred’s Handbook	50
90.	Illustration from the Penitent Thief	51
91.	Alfred’s Troubles	51
92.	Alfred builds Two Monasteries	54
93.	Monasticism was decayed	55
94.	Monks brought from beyond Sea	55
95.	A Crime committed at Athelney	55
96.	The Plot of a Priest and a Deacon	56
97.	The Execution of the Plot	57
98.	The Convent at Shaftesbury	58
99.	Alfred divides his Time and his Revenues	58
100.	The Threefold Division of Officers at Court	59xii
101.	The Distribution for Secular Purposes	59
102.	The Distribution for Religious Purposes	60
103.	Alfred’s Dedication of Personal Service	61
104.	Alfred’s Measure of Time	61
105.	Alfred judges the Poor with Equity	63
106.	His Correction of Unjust and Incompetent Judges	63
APPENDIXES		67
	Appendix I: Alfred’s Preface to his Translation of Gregory’s Pastoral Care	69
	Appendix II: Letter from Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims, to Alfred	72
INDEX		79

Movatterモバイル変換

ASSER’SLIFE OF KING ALFRED

PREFACE

CONTENTS

ASSER’S LIFE OF KING ALFRED

APPENDIXES

APPENDIX IAlfred’s Preface to his translation of Gregory’sPastoral Care

THIS BOOK IS FOR WORCESTER286

APPENDIX IILetter from Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims and Primateof the Franks, andlegatus natus of the ApostolicSee, to Alfred, the most Christian King of theAngles289

FOOTNOTES

INDEX

Transcriber’s Notes

ASSER’S
LIFE OF KING ALFRED

APPENDIX I
Alfred’s Preface to his translation of Gregory’sPastoral Care

APPENDIX II
Letter from Fulco, Archbishop of Rheims and Primateof the Franks, andlegatus natus of the ApostolicSee, to Alfred, the most Christian King of theAngles289