Part 4

=75. Alfred’s Children and their Education.=[168]--The sons and daughters whom he had by his wife above-mentioned were Æthelflæd, the eldest, after whom came Edward, then Æthelgivu, then Ælfthryth, and finally Æthelward--besides those who died in childhood. The number of ...[169] Æthelflæd, when she arrived at a marriageable age, was united 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, to which she was consecrate. Æthelward, the youngest, by the divine counsel and by the admirable foresight of the king, was intrusted to the schools of literary training, where, with the children of almost all the nobility of the country, and many also who were not noble, he was under the diligent care of the teachers. Books in both languages, namely, Latin and Saxon, were diligently read in the school.[171] They also learned to write; so that before they were of an age to practise human arts, namely, hunting and other pursuits which befit noblemen, they became studious and clever in the liberal arts. Edward and Ælfthryth were always bred up in the king’s court, and received great attention from their tutors and nurses; nay, they continue to this day, with much love from every one, to show humbleness, affability, and gentleness towards all, both natives and foreigners, while remaining in complete subjection to their father. Nor, among the other pursuits which appertain to this life and are fit for noble youths, are they suffered to pass their time idly and unprofitably without liberal training; for they have carefully learned the Psalms[172] and Saxon books, especially Saxon poems, and are 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 present life, the invasions of the heathen, and his own daily infirmities of body, continued to carry on the government, and to practise hunting in all its branches; to teach his goldsmiths[174] and all his artificers, his falconers, hawkers, and dog-keepers; to build houses, majestic and rich beyond all custom of his predecessors, after his own new designs; to recite the Saxon books, and especially to learn by heart Saxon poems,[175] and to make others learn them, he alone never ceasing from studying most diligently to the best of his ability. He daily attended mass and the other services of religion; recited certain psalms, together with prayers, and the daily and nightly hour-service; and frequented the churches at night, as I have said, that he might pray in secret, apart from others. He bestowed alms and largesses both on natives and on foreigners of all countries; was most affable and agreeable to all; and was skilful in the investigation of things unknown.[176] Many Franks, Frisians,[177] Gauls, heathen,[178] Welsh, Irish,[179] and Bretons,[180] noble and simple, submitted voluntarily to his dominion; and all of them, according to their worthiness,[181] he ruled, loved, honored, and enriched with money and power, as if they had been his own people.[182] Moreover, he was sedulous and zealous in the habit of hearing the divine Scriptures read by his own countrymen, or if, by any chance it so happened that any one arrived from abroad, to hear prayers in company with foreigners. His bishops, too, and all the clergy, his ealdormen and nobles, his personal attendants and friends, he loved with wonderful affection. Their sons, too, who were bred up in the royal household, were no less dear to him than his own; he never ceased to instruct them in all kinds of good morals, and, among other things, himself to teach them literature night and day. But as if he had no consolation in all these things, and suffered no other annoyance either from within or without, he was so harassed by daily and nightly sadness that he complained and made moan to the Lord, and to all who were admitted to his familiarity and affection, that Almighty God had made him ignorant of divine wisdom and of the liberal arts; in this emulating the pious, famous, and wealthy Solomon, King of the Hebrews, who at the outset, despising all present glory and riches, asked wisdom of God, and yet found both, namely, wisdom and present glory; as it is written, ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.’[183] But God, who is always the observer of the thoughts of the inward mind, the instigator of meditations and of all good purposes, and a plentiful aider in the formation of good desires--for He would never inspire a man to aim at the good unless He also amply supplied that which the man justly and properly wished to have--stirred up the king’s mind from within, not from without; as it is written, ‘I will hearken what the Lord God will say concerning me.’[184] He would avail himself of every opportunity to procure assistants in his good designs, to aid him in his strivings after wisdom, that he might attain to what he aimed at; and, like a prudent bee,[185] which, rising in summer at early morning from her beloved cells, steers her course with rapid flight along the uncertain paths of the air, and descends 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 some consolation to the king’s benevolence, enduring no longer his kindly and just complaint, sent as it were certain luminaries, namely, Werfrith,[188] Bishop of the church of Worcester, a man well versed in divine Scripture, who, by the king’s command, was the first to interpret with clearness and elegance the books of the _Dialogues_ of Pope Gregory and Peter, his disciple, from Latin into Saxon, sometimes putting sense for sense; then Plegmund,[189] a Mercian by birth, Archbishop of the church of Canterbury, a venerable man, endowed with wisdom; besides Æthelstan[190] and Werwulf, learned priests and clerks,[191] Mercians by birth. These four King Alfred had called to him from Mercia, and he exalted them with many honors and powers in the kingdom of the West Saxons, not to speak of those which Archbishop Plegmund and Bishop Werfrith had in Mercia. By the teaching and wisdom of all these the king’s desire increased continually, and was gratified. Night and day, whenever he had any leisure, he commanded such men as these to read books to him--for he never suffered himself to be without one of them--so that he came to possess a knowledge of almost every book, though of himself he could not yet understand anything of books, since he had not yet learned to read anything.

=78. Grimbald and John, the Old Saxon.=[192]--But since the king’s commendable avarice could not be gratified even in this, he sent messengers beyond sea to Gaul, to procure teachers, and invited from thence Grimbald,[193] priest and monk, a venerable man and excellent singer, learned in every kind of ecclesiastical discipline and in holy Scripture, and adorned with all virtues. He also obtained from thence John,[194] both priest and monk, a man of the keenest intellect, learned in all branches of literature, and skilled in many other arts. By the teaching of these men the king’s mind was greatly enlarged, and he enriched and honored them with much power.

=79. Asser’s Negotiations with King Alfred.=[195]--At that time I also came to Wessex, out of the furthest coasts of Western Wales; and when I had proposed to go to him through many intervening provinces, I arrived in the country of the South Saxons, which in Saxon is called Sussex, under the guidance of some of that nation; and there I first saw him in the royal vill which is called Dene.[196] He received me with kindness, and, among other conversation, besought me eagerly to devote myself to his service and become his friend, and to leave for his sake everything which I possessed on the northern and western side of the Severn, promising he would give me more than an equivalent for it, as in fact he did. I replied that I could not incautiously and rashly promise such things; for it seemed to me unjust that I should leave those sacred places in which I had been bred and educated, where I had received the tonsure, and had at length been ordained, for the sake of any earthly honor and power, unless by force and compulsion. Upon this he said: ‘If you cannot accede to this, at least grant me half your service: spend six months with me here, and six in Wales.’ To this I replied: ‘I could not easily or rashly promise even that without the approval of my friends.’ At length, however, when I perceived that he was really anxious for my services, though I knew not why, I promised him that, if my life were spared, I would return to him after six months, with such a reply as should be agreeable to him as well as advantageous to me and mine. With this answer he was satisfied; and when I had given him a pledge to return at the appointed time, on the fourth day we rode away from him, and returned to my own country. After our departure, a violent fever seized me in the city of Cærwent,[197] where I lay for twelve months and one week, night and day, without hope of recovery. When at the appointed time, therefore, I had not fulfilled my promise of visiting him, he sent letters to hasten my journey on horseback to him, and to inquire the cause of my delay. As I was unable to ride to him, I sent a reply to make known to him the cause of my delay, and assure him that, if I recovered from my illness, I would fulfil what I had promised. My disease finally left me, and accordingly, by the advice and consent of all my friends, for the benefit of that holy place and of all who dwelt therein, I devoted myself to the king’s service as I had promised, the condition being that I should remain with him six months every year, either continuously, if I could spend six months with him at once, or alternately, three months in Wales and three in Wessex. It was also understood that he should in all ways be helpful to St. Davids, as far as his power extended.[198] For my friends hoped by this means to sustain less tribulation and harm from King Hemeid--who often plundered that monastery and the parish of St. Davids, and sometimes expelled the bishops who ruled over it, as he did Archbishop Nobis, my relative, and on occasion myself, their subordinate--if in any way I could secure the notice and friendship of the king.

=80. The Welsh Princes who submit to Alfred.=[199]--At that time, and long before, all the countries in South Wales belonged to King Alfred, and still belong to him. For instance, King Hemeid, with all the inhabitants of the region of Dyfed,[200] restrained by the violence of the six sons of Rhodri,[201] had submitted to the dominion of the king. Howel also, son of Ris, King of Glywyssing,[202] and Brochmail and Fernmail, sons of Mouric, kings of Gwent,[203] compelled by the violence and tyranny of Ealdorman Æthelred and of the Mercians, of their own accord sought out the same king,[204] that they might enjoy rule and protection from him against their enemies. Helised, also, son of Teudubr, King of Brecknock, compelled by the violence of the same sons of Rhodri, of his own accord sought the lordship of the aforesaid king; and Anarawd, son of Rhodri, with his brothers, at length abandoning the friendship of the Northumbrians, from whom he had received no good, but rather harm, came into King Alfred’s presence, and eagerly sought his friendship. The king received him with honor, adopted him as his son by confirmation from the bishop’s hand,[205] and bestowed many gifts upon him. Thus he became subject to the king with all his people, on condition that he should be obedient to the king’s will in all respects, in the same way as Æthelred and the Mercians.

=81. How Alfred rewards Submission.=[206]--Nor was it in vain that they all gained the friendship of the king. For those who desired to augment their worldly power obtained power; those who desired money gained money; those who desired his friendship acquired his friendship; those who wished more than one secured more than one. But all of them had his love and guardianship and defense from every quarter, so far as the king, with all his men, could defend himself. When therefore I had come to him at the royal vill 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, of such as he had at hand; for this is his peculiar and most confirmed habit, both night and day, amid all his other occupations of mind and body,[208] either himself to read books, or to listen to the reading of others. And when I frequently had sought his permission to return, and had in no way been able to obtain it, at length, when I had made up my mind by all means to demand it, he called me to him at twilight on Christmas Eve, and gave me two letters in which was a manifold list of all the things which were in the two monasteries which are called in Saxon Congresbury and Banwell[209]; and on that same day he delivered to me those two monasteries with everything in them, together with a silken pallium of great value, and of incense a load for a strong man, adding these words, that he did not give me these trifling presents because he was unwilling hereafter to give me greater. For in the course of time he unexpectedly gave me Exeter, with the whole diocese which belonged to him in Wessex and in Cornwall, besides gifts every day without number of every kind of worldly wealth; these it would be too long to enumerate here, lest it should weary my readers. But let no one suppose that I have mentioned these presents in this place for the sake of glory or flattery, or to obtain greater honor; I call God to witness that I have not done so, but that I might certify to those who are ignorant how profuse he was in giving. He then at once gave me permission to ride to those two monasteries, so full of all good things, and afterwards to return to my own.

=82. The Siege of Paris.=[210]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 886, which was the thirty-eighth of King Alfred’s life, the army so often mentioned again fled the country, and went into that of the West Franks. Entering the river Seine with their vessels, they sailed up it as far as the city of Paris; there they wintered, pitching their camp on both sides of the river almost to the bridge, in order that they might prevent the citizens from crossing the bridge--since the city occupies a small island in the middle of the stream. They besieged the city for a whole year, but, by the merciful favor of God, and by reason of the brave defense of the citizens, they could not force their way inside the walls.

=83. Alfred rebuilds London.=[211]--In that same year Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, after the burning of cities and massacres of the people, honorably rebuilt the city of London, made it habitable, and gave it into the custody of Æthelred, Ealdorman of Mercia. To this king[212] all the Angles and Saxons who hitherto had been dispersed everywhere, or were in captivity with the heathen,[213] voluntarily turned, and submitted themselves to his rule.[214]

=84. The Danes leave Paris.=[215]--In the year of our Lord’s incarnation 887, which was the thirty-ninth of King Alfred’s life, the above-mentioned army of the heathen, leaving the city of Paris uninjured, since otherwise they could get no advantage, passed under the bridge and rowed their fleet up the river Seine for a long distance, until they reached the mouth of the river Marne; here they left the Seine, entered the mouth of the Marne, and, sailing up it for a good distance and a good while, at length, not without labor, arrived at a place called Chézy, a royal vill, where they wintered a whole year. In the following year they entered the mouth of the river Yonne, not without doing much damage to the country, and there remained one year.

=85. Division of the Empire.=[216]--In that same year Charles,[217] King of the Franks, went the way of all flesh; but Arnolf, his brother’s son, six weeks before he died, had expelled him from the kingdom. Immediately after his death five kings were ordained, and the kingdom was split into five parts; but the principal seat of the kingdom justly and deservedly fell to Arnolf, were it not that he had shamefully sinned against his uncle. The other four kings promised fidelity and obedience to Arnolf, as was meet; for none of these four kings was heir to the kingdom on his father’s side, as was Arnolf; therefore, though the five kings were ordained immediately upon the death of Charles, yet the Empire remained to Arnolf. Such, then, was the division of that realm; Arnolf received the countries to the east of the river Rhine; Rudolf the inner part of the kingdom[218]; Odo the western part; Berengar and Wido, Lombardy, and those countries which are on that side of the mountain. But they did not keep such and so great dominions in peace among themselves, for they twice fought a pitched battle, and often mutually ravaged those kingdoms, and drove one another out of their dominions.

=86. Alfred sends Alms to Rome.=[219]--In the same year in which that army left Paris and went to Chézy,[220] Æthelhelm, Ealdorman of Wiltshire, carried to Rome the alms of King Alfred and of the Saxons.

=87. Alfred begins to translate from Latin.=[221]--In that same year also the oft-mentioned Alfred, King of the Anglo-Saxons, by divine inspiration first began, on one and the same day, to read and to translate; but that this may be clearer to those who are ignorant, I will relate the cause of this long delay in beginning.

=88. Alfred’s Manual.=[222]--On a certain day we were both of us sitting in the king’s chamber, talking on all kinds of subjects, as usual, and it happened that I read to him a quotation out of a certain book. While he was listening to it attentively with both ears, and pondering it deeply with his inmost mind, he suddenly showed me a little book[223] which he carried in his bosom, wherein were written the daily course, together with certain Psalms and prayers which he had read in his youth, and thereupon bade me write the quotation in that book. Hearing this, and perceiving in part his active intelligence and goodness of heart, together with his devout resolution of studying divine wisdom, I gave, though in secret, yet with hands uplifted to heaven, boundless thanks to Almighty God, who had implanted such devotion to the study of wisdom in the king’s heart. But since I could find no blank space in that book wherein to write the quotation, it being all full of various matters, I delayed a little, chiefly that I might stir up the choice understanding of the king to a higher knowledge of the divine testimonies. Upon his urging me to make haste and write it quickly, I said to him, ‘Are you willing that I should write that quotation on some separate leaf? Perhaps we shall find one or more other such which will please you; and if that should happen, we shall be glad that we have kept this by itself.’ ‘Your plan is good,’ said he; so I gladly made haste to get ready a pamphlet of four leaves, at the head of which I wrote what he had bidden me; and that same day I wrote in it, at his request, and as I had predicted, no less than three other quotations which pleased him. From that time we daily talked together, and investigated the same subject by the help of other quotations which we found and which pleased him, so that the pamphlet gradually became full, and deservedly so, for it is written, ‘The righteous man builds upon a moderate foundation, and by degrees passes to greater things.’[224] Thus, like a most productive bee, flying far and wide, and scrutinizing the fenlands, he eagerly and unceasingly collected various flowers of Holy Scripture, with which he copiously stored the cells of his mind.[225]

=89. Alfred’s Handbook.=[226]--When that first quotation had been copied, he was eager at once to read, and to translate into Saxon, and then to teach many others--even as we are assured concerning that happy thief who recognized the Lord Jesus Christ, his Lord, aye, the Lord of all men, as he was hanging on the venerable gallows of the holy cross, and, with trustful petition, casting down of his body no more than his eyes, since he was so entirely fastened with nails that he could do nothing else, cried with humble voice, ‘O Christ, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom!‘[227]--since it was only on the cross that he began to learn the elements of the Christian faith.[228] Inspired by God, he began the rudiments of Holy Scripture on the sacred feast of St. Martin.[229] Then he went on, as far as he was able, to learn the flowers[230] collected from various quarters by any and all of his teachers, and to reduce them into the form of one book, although jumbled together, until it became almost as large as a psalter. This book he called his Enchiridion[231] or Handbook,[232] because he carefully kept it at hand day and night, and found, as he then used to say, no small consolation therein.

=90. Illustration from the Penitent Thief.=[233]--But, as it was written by a wise man,[234]

Of watchful minds are they whose pious care It is to govern well,

I see that I must be especially watchful, in that I just now drew a kind of comparison, though in dissimilar manner,[235] between the happy thief and the king; for the cross is hateful to every one in distress.[236] But what can he do, if he cannot dislodge himself or escape thence? or in what way can he improve his condition by remaining there? He must, therefore, whether he will or no, endure with pain and sorrow that which he is suffering.

=91. Alfred’s Troubles.=[237]--Now the king was pierced with many nails of tribulation, though established in the royal sway; for from the twentieth year of his age to the present year, which is his forty-fifth,[238] he has been constantly afflicted with most severe attacks of an unknown disease, so that there is not a single hour in which he is not either suffering from that malady, or nigh to despair by reason of the gloom which is occasioned by his fear of it. Moreover the constant invasions of foreign nations, by which he was continually harassed by land and sea, without any interval of quiet, constituted a sufficient cause of disturbance.

What shall I say of his repeated expeditions against the heathen, his wars, and the incessant occupations of government? Of the daily ... of the[239] nations which dwell on[240] the Tyrrhene[241] Sea to the farthest end of Ireland? For we have seen and read letters, accompanied with presents, which were sent to him from Jerusalem by the patriarch Elias.[242] What shall I say of his restoration of cities and towns, and of others which he built where none had been before? of golden and silver buildings,[243] built in incomparable style under his direction? of the royal halls and chambers, wonderfully erected of stone and wood at his command? of the royal vills constructed of stones removed from their old site, and finely rebuilt by the king’s command in more fitting places?