Part 1
Transcriber’s Note
Italics are indicated by _underscores_, boldface by =equals signs=.
ASSER’S LIFE OF KING ALFRED
TRANSLATED FROM THE TEXT OF STEVENSON’S EDITION
BY ALBERT S. COOK
PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE IN YALE UNIVERSITY
GINN & COMPANY BOSTON · NEW YORK · CHICAGO · LONDON
COPYRIGHT, 1906 BY ALBERT S. COOK
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
66.1
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PREFACE
The issue of Stevenson’s long and eagerly expected edition of Asser’s _Life of King Alfred_ has provided an opportunity to supply the ever increasing number of the great king’s admirers with a more satisfactory rendering into English of this, perhaps the most precious document, notwithstanding all its faults, for the comprehension of his life and character.
The authenticity of the Life was impugned by Thomas Wright in 1841, by Sir Henry Howorth in 1876–77, and by an unknown writer in 1898, and it had become somewhat the fashion to regard it as a production of a later period, and therefore entitled to but little credence. The doubts as to its authenticity have been satisfactorily dispelled by the two eminent scholars who have most recently discussed the difficulties, Plummer and Stevenson.
The former, in his _Life and Times of Alfred the Great_, Oxford, 1902, says (p. 52): ‘The work which bears Asser’s name cannot be later than 974, and the attempt to treat it as a forgery of the eleventh or twelfth century must be regarded as having broken down. I may add that I started with a strong prejudice against the authenticity of Asser, so that my conclusions have at any rate been impartially arrived at.’ The latter, in his noble edition (Oxford, 1904), remarks (p. vii): ‘In discussing the work I have attempted to approach it without any bias for or against it, and throughout my endeavor has been to subject every portion of it to as searching an examination as my knowledge and critical powers would permit. The net result has been to convince me that, although there may be no very definite proof that the work was written by Bishop Asser in the lifetime of King Alfred, there is no anachronism or other proof that it is a spurious compilation of later date. The serious charges brought against its authenticity break down altogether under examination, while there remain several features that point with varying strength to the conclusion that it is, despite its difficulties and corruptions, really a work of the time it purports to be. This result is confirmed by the important corroboration of some of its statements by contemporary Frankish chroniclers. Thus the profession of belief in its authenticity by 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 an authority to be used with criticism and caution; partly because we have always to be alive to the possibility of interpolation, partly because the writer’s Celtic imagination is apt to run away with him.’ And thus Stevenson (p. cxxx): ‘The work still presents some difficulties. Carelessness of transcription may possibly explain those that are merely verbal, but there still remain certain passages that lay the author open to the charge of exaggeration, such as his mention of gold-covered and silver-covered buildings, if that be the literal meaning of the passage, and his statement that Alfred might, if he had chosen, have been king before his elder brother Æthelred, with whom, it is clear, he was on most intimate terms.’
The style of the book is not uniform. The passages translated from the _Chronicle_ are simpler, while in the more original parts the author displays an unfortunate tendency to a turgid and at times bombastic manner of writing. Indeed, it displays, in many passages, the traits of that Hesperic Latinity which, invented or made fashionable in the sixth century, probably by a British monk in the southwestern part of England, was more or less current in England from the time of Aldhelm until the Norman Conquest. This Hesperic, or Celtic, Latinity has been compared to the mock euphuism of Sir Piercie Shafton in Scott’s _Monastery_ (Professor H. A. Strong, in _American Journal of Philology_ 26. 205), and may be illustrated by Professor Strong’s translation into English of certain sentences from the _Hisperica Famina_, the production, as it is believed, of the monk referred to above: ‘This precious shower of words glitters, by no awkward barriers confining the diction, and husbands its strength by an exquisite balance and by equable device, trilling sweet descant of Ausonian speech through the speaker’s throat by this shower of words passing through Latin throats; just as countless swarms of bees go here and there in their hollow hives, and sip the honey-streams in their homes, and set in order, as they are wont, their combs with their beaks.’
With the passage just quoted may be compared an extract from chapter 88 of Asser, the translation of which is given below (pp. 49, 50): ‘Ac deinde cotidie inter nos sermocinando, ad hæc investigando aliis inventis æque placabilibus testimoniis, quaternio ille refertus succrevit, nec immerito, sicut scriptum est, “super modicum fundamentum ædificat justus et paulatim ad majora defluit,” velut apis fertilissima longe lateque gronnios interrogando discurrens, multimodos divinæ scripturæ flosculos inhianter et incessabiliter congregavit, quis præcordii sui cellulas densatim replevit.’ Such Latin as this is difficult to translate into satisfactory English. If one renders it literally, the result is apt to look rather absurd; and beyond a certain point condensation is impracticable, or else misrepresents the original, faults and merits alike.
Hitherto there have been three translations of Asser into English--that by J. A. Giles in Bohn’s _Six Old English Chronicles_, London, 1848; that by Joseph Stevenson in _Church Historians of England_, Vol. 2, London, 1854; and that by Edward Conybeare, _Alfred in the Chroniclers_, London, 1900. As the basis of my work I have taken the translation 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 miss some matter with which he is familiar, such as the story of Alfred and the cakes, that of the raven-banner of the Danes, etc. These are derived from interpolations made in the manuscript by Archbishop Parker, which modern critical scholarship has at length excised. For all matters regarding the manuscript, the earlier editions, etc., as well as for copious illustrative notes on the text, the reader is referred to Stevenson’s edition.
Insertions made in the text by Stevenson, on what he considers sufficient grounds, are indicated by < >. The chapter-divisions and -numbering are Stevenson’s; the chapter-headings mine. Where modern forms of proper names exist, I have not hesitated to adopt them, and in general have tended rather to normalize them than scrupulously to follow the sometimes various spellings of the text. The notes have almost always been derived from Stevenson’s edition, whether or not explicit acknowledgment has been made, but now and then, as in the case of the long note on chapter 56, are my own.
YALE UNIVERSITY July 4, 1905
CONTENTS
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 17
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 32
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 59
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
ASSER’S LIFE OF KING ALFRED
_To my lord Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, the worshipful and pious ruler of all Christians in the island of Britain, Asser, least of all the servants of God, wisheth thousandfold prosperity for both lives, according to the desires of his heart._
=1. Alfred’s Birth and Genealogy.=[1]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 849, Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, was born at the royal vill of Wantage, in Berkshire (which receives its name from Berroc Wood, where the box-tree grows very abundantly). His genealogy is traced in the following order: King Alfred was the son of King Æthelwulf; he of Egbert; he of Ealhmund; he of Eafa; he of Eoppa; he of Ingild. Ingild and Ine, the famous king of the West Saxons, were two brothers. Ine went to Rome, and there ending the present life honorably, entered into the heavenly fatherland to reign with Christ. Ingild and Ine were the sons of Cœnred; he of Ceolwald; he of Cutha[2]; he of Cuthwine; he of Ceawlin; he of Cynric; he of Creoda; he of Cerdic; he of Elesa; he of Gewis, from whom the Welsh name all that people Gegwis[3]; he of 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 worshiped as a god. Sedulius makes mention of him in his metrical _Paschal Poem_, as follows:
If heathen poets rave o’er fancied woe, While in a turgid stream their numbers flow-- Whether the tragic buskin tread the stage, Or waggish Geta all our thoughts engage; If by the art of song they still revive The taint of ill, and bid old vices live; If monumental guilt they sing, and lies Commit to books in magisterial wise; Why may not I, who list to David’s lyre, And reverent stand amid the hallowed choir, Hymn heavenly things in words of tranquil tone, And tell the deeds of Christ in accents all my own?
This Geata was the son of Tætwa; he of Beaw; he of Sceldwea; he of Heremod; he of Itermod; he of Hathra; he of Hwala; he of Bedwig; he of Sceaf[4]; he of Noah; he of Lamech; he of Methuselah; he of Enoch; ; he of Mahalalel; he of Kenan[5]; he of Enosh; he of Seth; he of Adam.
=2. Genealogy of Alfred’s Mother.=[6]--The mother of Alfred was named Osburh, an extremely devout woman, noble in mind, noble also by descent; she was daughter to Oslac, the famous cupbearer of King Æthelwulf. This Oslac was a Goth by nation, descended from the Goths and Jutes--of the seed, namely, of Stuf and Wihtgar, two brothers and ealdormen. They, having received possession of the Isle of Wight from their uncle, King Cerdic, and his son Cynric their cousin,[7] slew the few British inhabitants whom they could find in that island, at a place called Wihtgaraburg[8]; for the other inhabitants of the island had either been slain or had escaped into exile.
=3. The Danes at Wicganbeorg and Sheppey.=[9]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 851, which was the third of King Alfred’s life, Ceorl, Ealdorman of Devon, fought with the men of Devon against the heathen at a place called Wicganbeorg,[10] and the Christians gained the victory. In that same year the heathen first wintered in the island called Sheppey, which means ‘Sheep-island,’ situated in the river Thames between Essex and Kent, though nearer to Kent than to Essex, and containing a fair monastery.[11]
=4. The Danes sack Canterbury.=[12]--The same year a great army of heathen came with three hundred and fifty ships to the mouth of the river Thames, and sacked Dorubernia, or Canterbury,[13] (which lies on the north bank of the river Thames, on the confines of Essex and Middlesex, though in truth that city belongs to Essex); and they put to flight Beorhtwulf, King of Mercia, with all the army which he had led out to oppose them.
=5. Battle of Aclea.=[14]--Having done these things there, the aforesaid heathen host went into Surrey, which is a shire situated on the south shore of the river Thames, and to the west of Kent. And Æthelwulf, King of the Saxons, and his son Æthelbald, with the whole army, fought a long time against them at a place called Aclea,[15] that is, ‘Oak-plain’; there, after a lengthy battle, which was fought with much bravery on both sides, the most part of the heathen horde was utterly destroyed and slain, so that we never heard of their being so smitten, either before or since, in any region, in one day[16]; 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 year Æthelstan and Ealdorman Ealhere slew a large army of the heathen in Kent, at a place called Sandwich, and took nine ships of their fleet, the others escaping by flight.
=7. Æthelwulf assists Burgred.=[18]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 853, which was the fifth of King Alfred’s life, Burgred, King of the Mercians, sent messengers to beseech Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, to come and help him in reducing to his sway the inhabitants of Mid-Wales, who dwell between Mercia and the western sea, and who were struggling against him beyond measure. So without delay King Æthelwulf, on receipt of the embassy, moved his army, and advanced with King Burgred against Wales[19]; and immediately upon his entrance he ravaged it, and reduced it under subjection to Burgred. This being done, he returned home.
=8. Alfred at Rome.=[20]--In that same year King Æthelwulf sent his above-named son Alfred to Rome, with an honorable escort both of nobles and commoners. Pope Leo at that time presided over the apostolic see, and he anointed as king[21] the aforesaid child[22] Alfred in the town, and, adopting him as his son, confirmed him.[23]
=9. Other Events of 853.=[24]--That same year also, Ealdorman Ealhere with the men of Kent, and Huda with the men of Surrey, fought bravely and resolutely against an army of the heathen in the island which is called Tenet[25] in the Saxon tongue, but Ruim in the Welsh language. At first the Christians 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 year also, after Easter, Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons, gave his daughter to Burgred, King of the Mercians, as his queen, and the marriage was celebrated in princely wise at the royal vill of Chippenham.
=10. The Heathen winter in Sheppey.=[26]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 855, which was the seventh of the aforesaid king’s life, a great army of the heathen spent the whole winter in the aforesaid island of Sheppey.
=11. Æthelwulf journeys to Rome.=[27]--In that same year the aforesaid worshipful King Æthelwulf freed the tenth part of all his kingdom from every royal service and tribute, and offered it up as an everlasting grant to God the One and Three, on the cross of Christ, for the redemption of his own soul and those of his predecessors. In the same year he went to Rome with much honor; and taking with him his son, the aforesaid King Alfred, a second time on the same journey, because he loved him more than his other sons, he remained there a whole year. After this he returned to his own country, bringing with him Judith, daughter of Charles, King of the Franks.[28]