Part 2
=12. Rebellion of Æthelbald.=[29]--In the meantime, however, whilst King Æthelwulf was residing this short time beyond sea, a base deed was done in the western part of Selwood,[30] repugnant to the morals of all Christians. For King Æthelbald, Ealhstan, Bishop of the church of Sherborne, and Eanwulf, Ealdorman of Somerset, are said to have formed a conspiracy to the end that King Æthelwulf, on his return from 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 also ascribe it solely to the insolence of the king, because he was headstrong in this matter and in many other perversities, as I have heard related by certain persons, and as was proved by the result of that which followed. For on his return from Rome, Æthelwulf’s son aforesaid, with all his counselors, or rather waylayers, attempted to perpetrate the crime of repulsing the king from his own kingdom; but neither did God suffer it, nor did the nobles of all Wessex consent thereto. For to prevent this irremediable danger to Wessex of a war between father and son, or rather of the whole nation waging civil war more fiercely and cruelly from day to day, as they espoused the cause of the one or the other,--by the extraordinary clemency of the father, seconded by the consent of all the nobles, the kingdom which had hitherto been undivided was parted between the two, the eastern districts being given to the father, and the western to the son. Thus where the father ought by just right to have reigned, there did his unjust and obstinate son bear rule; for the western part of Wessex is always superior to the eastern.
=13. Judith’s Position in Wessex.=[31]--When Æthelwulf, therefore, returned from Rome, the whole nation, as was fitting, so rejoiced[32] in the arrival of the ruler that, if he had allowed them, they would have expelled his unruly son Æthelbald, with all his counselors, from the kingdom. But he, as I have said, acting with great clemency and prudent counsel, would not act in this way, lest the kingdom should be exposed to peril. He likewise bade Judith, daughter of King Charles, whom he had received from her father, take her seat by his own side on the royal throne, without any dispute or enmity from his nobles even to the end of his life, though contrary to the perverse custom of that nation.[33] For the nation of the West Saxons does not allow the queen to sit beside the king, nor to be called queen, but only the king’s wife; which refusal, or rather reproach, the chief persons of that land say arose from a certain headstrong and malevolent queen of the nation, who did all things so contrary to her lord and to the whole people that not only did the hatred which she brought upon herself bring to pass her exclusion from the queenly throne, but also entailed the same corruption upon those who came after her, since, in consequence of the extreme malignity of that queen, all the inhabitants of the land banded themselves together by an oath never in their lives to let any king reign over them who should bid his queen take her seat on the royal throne by his side. And because, as I think, it is not known to many whence this perverse and detestable custom first arose in Wessex, contrary to the custom of all the Germanic peoples, it seems to me right to explain it a little more fully, as I have heard it from my lord Alfred the truth-teller, King of the Anglo-Saxons, who often told me about it, as he also had heard it from many men of 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 recent times a certain valiant king, who was dreaded by all the neighboring kings and states. His name was Offa, and it was he who had the great dike made from sea to sea between Wales and Mercia.[35] His daughter, named Eadburh, was married to Beorhtric, King of the West Saxons. The moment she had possessed herself of the king’s good will, and practically the whole power of the realm, she began to live tyrannically, after the manner of her father. Every man whom Beorhtric loved she would execrate, and would do all things hateful to God and man, accusing to the king all whom she could, thus depriving them insidiously either of life or of power. And if she could not obtain the king’s consent, she used to take them off by poison, as is ascertained to have been the case with a certain young man beloved by the king, whom she poisoned, seeing that she could not accuse him to the king. It is said, moreover, that King Beorhtric unwittingly tasted of the poison, though the queen had intended to give it, not to him, but to the young man; the king, however, was beforehand with him, and so both perished.
=15. Eadburh’s Further Life.=[36]--King Beorhtric therefore being dead, the queen, since she could no longer remain among the Saxons, sailed beyond sea with countless treasures, and came to Charles,[37] King of the Franks. As she stood before the dais, bringing many gifts to the king, Charles said to her: ‘Choose, Eadburh, between me and my son, who stands with me on this dais.’ She, without deliberation, foolishly replied: ‘If I am to have my choice, I choose your son, because he is younger than you.’ At which Charles smiled and answered: ‘If you had chosen me, you should have had my son; but since you have chosen him, you shall have neither me nor him.’ However, he gave her a large convent of nuns, in which, having laid aside her secular habit, and assumed the dress worn by the nuns, she discharged the office of abbess for a few years. As she is said to have lived irrationally in her own country, so she appears to have acted much more so among a foreign people; for, being finally caught in illicit intercourse with a man of her own nation, she was expelled from the monastery by order of King Charles. Henceforward she lived a life of shame in poverty and misery until her death; so that at last, accompanied only by one slave, as I have heard from many who saw her, she begged her bread daily at Pavia,[38] and so wretchedly died.
=16. Æthelwulf’s Will.=[39]--Now King Æthelwulf lived two years after his return from Rome; during which, among many other good deeds of this present life, reflecting on his departure according to the way of all flesh, that his sons might not quarrel unreasonably after their father’s death, he ordered a will or letter of instructions to be written,[40] in which he commanded that his kingdom should be duly divided between his two eldest sons; his private heritage between his sons, his daughter, and his relatives; and the money which he should leave behind him between his soul[41] and his sons and nobles. Of this prudent policy I have thought fit to record a few instances out of many for posterity to imitate, namely, such as are understood to belong principally to the needs of the soul; for the others, which relate only to human stewardship, it is not necessary to insert in this little work, lest prolixity should create disgust in those who read or wish to hear. For the benefit of his soul, then, which he studied to promote in all things from the first flower of his youth, he directed that, through all his hereditary land, one poor man to every ten hides,[42] either native or foreigner, should be supplied with food, drink, and clothing by his successors unto the final Day of Judgment; on condition, however, that that land should still be inhabited both by men and cattle, and should not become deserted. He commanded also a large sum of money, namely, three hundred mancuses,[43] to be carried annually to Rome for the good of his soul, to be there distributed in the following manner: a hundred mancuses in honor of St. Peter, especially to buy oil for the lights of that apostolic church on Easter Eve, and also at cockcrow; a hundred mancuses in honor of St. Paul, for the same purpose of buying oil for the church of St. Paul the apostle, to fill the lamps for Easter Eve and cockcrow; and a hundred mancuses for the universal apostolic Pope.
=17. Æthelbald marries Judith.=[44]--But when King Æthelwulf was dead ,[45] his son Æthelbald, contrary to God’s prohibition and the dignity of a Christian, contrary also to the custom of all the heathen,[46] ascended his father’s bed, and married Judith, daughter of Charles, King of the Franks, incurring much infamy from all who heard of it. During two years and a half of lawlessness he held after his father the government of the West Saxons.
=18. Æthelbert’s Reign.=[47]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 860, which was the twelfth of King Alfred’s life, 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 of heathen came from the sea, and attacked and laid waste the city of Winchester. As they were returning laden with booty to their ships, Osric, Ealdorman of Hampshire, with his men, and Ealdorman Æthelwulf, with the men of Berkshire, faced them bravely. Battle was then joined in the town, and the heathen were slain on every side; and finding themselves unable to resist, they took to flight like women, and the Christians held the battle-field.
=19. Æthelbert’s Death.=[48]--So Æthelbert governed his kingdom five years in peace and love and honor; and went the way of all flesh, to the great grief of his subjects. He rests interred in honorable wise at Sherborne, by the side of his brother.
=20. The Danes in Kent.=[49]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 864 the heathen wintered in the isle of Thanet, and made a firm treaty with the men of Kent, who promised them money for observing their agreement. In the meantime, however, the heathen, after the manner of foxes, burst forth with all secrecy from their camp by night, and setting at naught their engagements, and spurning the promised money--which they knew was less than they could get by plunder--they ravaged all the eastern coast of Kent.
=21. Æthelred’s Accession.=[50]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 866, which was the eighteenth of King Alfred’s life, Æthelred, brother of King Æthelbert, undertook the government of the West Saxon realm. The same year a great fleet of heathen came to Britain from the Danube,[51] and wintered in the kingdom of the East Saxons, which is called in Saxon East Anglia; and there they became in the main an army of cavalry. But, to speak in nautical phrase, I will no longer commit my vessel to wave and sail, or steer my roundabout course at a distance from land through so many calamities of wars and series of years, but rather return to that which first prompted me to this task: that is to say, I think it right briefly to insert in this place the little that has come to my knowledge about the character of my revered lord Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, during the years of infancy and boyhood.
=22. Alfred’s Rearing.=[52]--He was extraordinarily beloved by both his father and mother, and indeed by all the people, beyond all his brothers; in inseparable companionship with them he was reared at the royal court.[53] As he advanced through the years of infancy and youth, he appeared more comely in person than his brothers, as in countenance, speech, and manners he was more pleasing than they. His noble birth and noble nature implanted in him from his cradle a love of wisdom above all things, even amid all the occupations of this present life; but--with shame be it spoken!--by the unworthy neglect of his parents and governors he remained illiterate till he was twelve years old or more, though by day and night he was an attentive listener to the Saxon poems which he often heard recited, and, being apt at learning, kept them in his memory. He was a zealous practiser of hunting in all its branches, and followed the chase with great assiduity and success; for his skill and good fortune in this art, and in all the other gifts of God, were beyond those of every one else, as I have often witnessed.
=23. Alfred and the Book of Saxon Poems.=[54]--Now on a certain day his mother was showing him and his brothers a book of Saxon poetry, which she held in her hand, and finally said: ‘Whichever of you can soonest learn this volume, to him will I give it.’ Stimulated by these words, or rather by divine inspiration, and allured by the beautifully illuminated letter at the beginning of the volume, [55] spoke before all his brothers, who, though his seniors in age, were not so in grace, and answered his mother: ‘Will you really give that book to that one of us who can first understand and repeat it to you?’ At this his mother smiled with satisfaction, and confirmed what she had before said: ‘Yes,’ said she, ‘that I will.’ Upon this the boy took the book out of her hand, and went to his master and learned it by heart,[56] whereupon he brought it back to his mother and recited it.
=24. Alfred’s Handbook.=[57]--After this [55] the daily course, that is, the celebration of the hours, and afterwards certain Psalms, and many prayers, contained in a book[58] which he kept day and night in his bosom, as I myself have seen, and always carried about with him, for the sake of prayer, through all the bustle and business of this present life. But, sad to relate, he could not gratify his ardent wish to acquire liberal art,[59] because, as he was wont to say, there were at that time no good teachers in all 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 bottom of his heart, to have been one of his greatest difficulties and impediments in this present life, that when he was young and had leisure and capacity for learning, he had no masters; but when he was more advanced in years, he was continually occupied, not to say harassed, day and night, by so many diseases unknown to all the physicians of this island, as well as by internal and external anxieties of sovereignty, and by invasions of the heathen by sea and land, that though he then had some store of teachers and writers,[62] it was quite impossible for him to study. But yet among the impediments of this present life, from childhood to the present day [and, as I believe, even until his death],[63] he has continued to feel the same insatiable desire.
=26. The Danes occupy York.=[64]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 867, which was the nineteenth of the aforesaid King Alfred’s life, the army of heathen before mentioned removed from East Anglia to the city of York, which is situated on the north bank of the river Humber.
=27. Defeat of the Northumbrians.=[64]--At that time a violent discord arose, by the instigation of the devil, among the Northumbrians, as always is wont to happen to a people who have incurred the wrath of God. For the Northumbrians at that time, as I have said,[65] had expelled their lawful king Osbert from his realm, and appointed a certain tyrant named Ælla, not of royal birth, over the affairs of the kingdom. But when the heathen approached, by divine providence, and the furtherance of the common weal by the nobles, that discord was a little appeased, and Osbert and Ælla uniting their resources, and assembling an army, marched to the town of York. The heathen fled at their approach, and attempted to defend themselves within the walls of the city. The Christians, perceiving their flight and the terror they were in, determined to follow them within the very ramparts of the town, and to demolish the wall; and this they succeeded in doing, since the city at that time was not surrounded by firm or strong walls. When the Christians had made a breach, as they had purposed, and many of them had entered into the city along with the heathen, the latter, impelled by grief and necessity, made a fierce sally upon them, slew them, routed them, and cut them down, both within and without the walls. In that battle fell almost all the Northumbrian troops, and both the kings were slain; the remainder, who escaped, 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 all flesh, after he had honorably ruled his see fifty years; and in peace he was buried at Sherborne.
=29. Alfred marries.=[67]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 868, which was the twentieth of King Alfred’s life, the aforesaid revered King Alfred, then occupying only the rank of viceroy (_secundarii_), betrothed[68] and espoused a noble Mercian lady,[69] daughter of Æthelred, surnamed Mucill, Ealdorman of the Gaini.[70] The mother of this lady was named Eadburh, of the royal line of Mercia, whom I often saw with my own eyes a few years before her death. She was a venerable lady, and after the decease of her husband remained many years a chaste widow, even till her own death.
=30. The Danes at Nottingham.=[71]--In that same year the above-named army of heathen, leaving Northumbria, invaded Mercia, and advanced to Nottingham, which is called in Welsh Tigguocobauc,[72] but in Latin ‘The House of Caves,’ and wintered there that same year. Immediately on their approach, Burgred, King of the Mercians, and all the nobles of that nation, sent messengers to Æthelred,[73] King of the West Saxons, and his brother Alfred, entreating them to come and aid them in fighting against the aforesaid army. Their request was readily granted; for the brothers, as soon as promised, assembled an immense army from every part of their , and, entering Mercia, came to Nottingham, all eager for battle. When now the heathen, defended by the castle, refused to fight, and the Christians were unable to destroy the wall, peace was made between the 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 incarnation 869, 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’s incarnation 870, which was the twenty-second of King Alfred’s life, the above-mentioned army of heathen passed through 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 that army; but, lamentable to say, the heathen triumphed, for he and most of his men were there slain, while the enemy held the battle-field, and reduced all that region to subjection.
=34. Ceolnoth dies.=[76]--That same year Ceolnoth, Archbishop of Canterbury, went the way of all flesh, and was buried in peace in that city.
=35. The Danes defeated at Englefield.=[77]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 871, which was the twenty-third of King Alfred’s life, the heathen army, of hateful memory, left East Anglia, and, entering the kingdom of the West Saxons, came to the royal vill called Reading, situated on the south bank of the Thames, in the district called Berkshire; and there, on the third day after their arrival, their ealdormen, with great part of the army, rode forth for plunder, while the others made an entrenchment between the rivers Thames and Kennet, on the southern side of the same royal vill. They were encountered by Æthelwulf, Ealdorman of Berkshire, with his men, at a place called Englefield[78] .[79] Both sides fought bravely, and made long resistance to each other. At length one of the heathen ealdormen was slain, and the greater part of the army destroyed; upon which the rest saved themselves by flight, and the Christians gained the victory and held the battle-field.
=36. Battle of Reading.=[77]--Four days afterwards, King Æthelred and his brother Alfred, uniting their forces and assembling an army, marched to Reading, where, on their arrival at the castle gate, they cut to pieces and overthrew the heathen whom they found outside the fortifications. But the heathen fought no less valiantly and, rushing like wolves out of every gate, waged battle with all their might. Both sides fought long and fiercely, but at last, sad to say, the Christians turned their backs, the heathen obtained the victory and held the battle-field, the aforesaid Ealdorman Æthelwulf being among the slain.
=37. Battle of Ashdown.=[80]--Roused by this grief and shame, the Christians, after four days, with all their forces and much spirit advanced to battle against the aforesaid army, at a place called Ashdown,[81] which in Latin signifies ‘Ash’s[82] Hill.’ The heathen, forming in two divisions, arranged two shield-walls of similar size; and since they had two kings and many ealdormen, they gave the middle[83] part of the army to the two kings, and the other part to all the ealdormen. The Christians, perceiving this, divided their army also into two troops, and with no less zeal formed shield-walls.[84] But Alfred, as I have been told by truthful eye-witnesses, marched up swiftly with his men to the battle-field; for King Æthelred had remained a long time in his tent in prayer, hearing mass, and declaring that he would not depart thence alive till the priest had done, and that he was not disposed to abandon the service of God for that of men; and according to these sentiments he acted. This faith of the Christian king availed much with the Lord, as I shall show more fully in the sequel.
=38. Alfred begins the Attack.=[85]--Now the Christians had determined that King Æthelred, with his men, should attack the two heathen kings, and that his brother Alfred, with his troops, should take the chance of war against all the leaders of the heathen. Things being so arranged on both sides, the king still continued a long time in prayer, and the heathen, prepared for battle, had hastened to the field. Then Alfred, though only second in command, could no longer support the advance of the enemy, unless he either retreated or charged upon them without waiting for his brother. At length, with the rush of a wild boar, he courageously led the Christian troops against the hostile army, as he had already designed, for, although the king had not yet arrived, he relied upon God’s counsel and trusted to His aid. Hence, having closed up his shield-wall in due order, he straightway advanced his standards against the foe. [86]