Part 6

King Alfred bids greet Bishop Wærferth with his words lovingly and with friendship; and I let it be known to thee that it has very often come into my mind what wise men there formerly were throughout England, both of sacred and secular orders; and what happy times there were then throughout England; and how the kings who had power over the nation in those days obeyed God and His ministers; how they preserved peace, morality, and order at home, and at the same time enlarged their territory abroad; and how they prospered both with war and with wisdom; and also how zealous the sacred orders were both in teaching and learning, and in all the services they owed to God; and how foreigners came to this land in search of wisdom and instruction, and how we should now have to get them from abroad if we were to have them. So general was its decay in England that there were very few on this side of the Humber who could understand their rituals in English, or translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe that there were not many beyond the Humber. There were so few of them that I cannot remember a single one south of the Thames when I came to the throne. Thanks be to Almighty God that we have any teachers among us now. And therefore I command thee to do as I believe thou art willing, to disengage thyself from worldly matters as often as thou canst, that thou mayest apply the wisdom which God has given thee wherever thou canst. Consider what punishments would come upon us on account of this world, if we neither loved it [wisdom] ourselves nor suffered other men to obtain it: we should love the name only of Christian, and very few the virtues. When I considered all this, I remembered also that I saw, before it had been all ravaged and burned, how the churches throughout the whole of England stood filled with treasures and books; and there was also a great multitude of God’s servants, but they had very little knowledge of the books, for they could not understand anything of them, because they were not written in their own language. As if they had said: ‘Our forefathers, who formerly held these places, loved wisdom, and through it they obtained wealth and bequeathed it to us. In this we can still see their tracks, but we cannot follow them, 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 good and wise men who were formerly all over England, and had perfectly learned all the books, had not wished to translate them into their own language. But again I soon answered myself and said: ‘They did not think that men would ever be so careless, and that learning would so decay; through that desire they abstained from it, since they wished that the wisdom in this land might increase with our knowledge of languages.’ Then I remembered how the law was first known in Hebrew, and again, when the Greeks had learned it, they translated the whole of it into their own language, and all other books besides. And again the Romans, when they had learned them, translated the whole of them by learned interpreters into their own language. And also all other Christian nations translated a part of them into their own language. Therefore it seems better to me, if you think so, for us also to translate some books which are most needful for all men to know into the language which we can all understand, and for you 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 are rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set to learn as long as they are not fit for any other occupation, until they are able to read English writing well: and let those be afterwards taught more in the Latin language who are to continue in learning, and be promoted to a higher rank. When I remembered how the knowledge of Latin had formerly decayed throughout England, and yet many could read English writing, I began, among other various and manifold troubles of this kingdom, to translate into English the book which is called in Latin _Pastoralis_, and in English _Shepherd’s Book_, sometimes word by word, and sometimes according to the sense, as I had learned it from Plegmund my archbishop, and Asser my bishop, and Grimbald my mass-priest, and John my mass-priest. And when I had learned it as I could best understand it, and as I could most clearly interpret it, I translated it into English; and I will send a copy to every bishopric in my kingdom; and in each there is a book-mark worth fifty mancuses.[287] And I command in God’s name that no man take the book-mark from the book, or the book from the monastery. It is uncertain how long there may be such learned bishops as now, thanks be to God, there are nearly everywhere; therefore I wish them[288] always to remain in their places, unless the bishop wish to take them with him, or they be lent out anywhere, or any one be making a copy from them.

APPENDIX II

LETTER FROM FULCO, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS AND PRIMATE OF THE FRANKS, AND _LEGATUS NATUS_ OF THE APOSTOLIC SEE, TO ALFRED, THE MOST CHRISTIAN KING OF THE ANGLES[289]

To Alfred, the most glorious and most Christian King of the Angles, Fulco, by the grace of God Archbishop of Rheims, and servant of the servants of God, wisheth both the sceptre of temporal dominion, ever triumphant, and the eternal joys of the kingdom of heaven.

And first of all we give thanks to our Lord God, the Father of lights, and the Author of all good, from whom is every good gift and every perfect gift, who by the grace of His Holy Spirit hath not only been pleased to cause the light of His knowledge to shine in your heart, but also even now hath vouchsafed to kindle the fire of His love, by which at once enlightened and warmed, you earnestly tender the weal of the kingdom committed to you from above, by warlike achievements, with divine assistance attaining or securing peace for it, and desiring to extend the excellency of the ecclesiastical order, which is the army of God. Wherefore we implore the divine mercy with unwearied prayers that He who hath moved and warmed your heart to this would give effect to your wishes, by replenishing your desire with good things, that in your days both peace may be multiplied to your kingdom and people, and that ecclesiastical order, which as you say hath been disturbed in many ways, either by the continued irruptions 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 our assistance, and since from our see, over which St. Remigius, the apostle of the Franks, presides, you ask for counsel and protection, we think that this is not done without divine impulse. And as formerly the nation of the Franks obtained by the same St. Remigius deliverance from manifold error, and the knowledge of the worship of the only true God, so doth the nation of the Angles request that it may obtain from his see and doctrine one by whom they may be taught to avoid superstition, to cut off superfluities, and to extirpate all such noxious things as bud forth from violated custom or rude habits, and may learn, while they walk through the field of the Lord, to pluck the flowers, and to be upon their guard against the adder.

For St. Augustine, the first bishop of your nation, sent to us by your apostle St. Gregory, could not in a short time set forth all the decrees of the holy apostles, nor did he think proper suddenly to burden a rude and barbarous nation with new and strange enactments; for he knew how to adapt himself to their infirmities, and to say with the Apostle, ‘I have given milk to you to drink, who are babes in Christ, and not meat’ (1 Cor. 3. 2). And as Peter and James, who were looked upon as pillars (Gal. 2. 9), with Barnabas and Paul, and the rest who were met together, did not wish to oppress the primitive Church, which was flowing in from the Gentiles to the faith of Christ, with a heavier burden than 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 managed with you at the beginning. For they required only this for training up the people in the knowledge of God, and turning them from their former barbarous fierceness, namely, that faithful and prudent servants should be placed over the Lord’s household, who should be competent to give out to each of their fellow-servants his dole of food in due season, that is, according to the capacity of each of the hearers. But in process of time, as the Christian religion gained strength, the holy Church felt it neither to be her inclination nor her duty to be satisfied with this, but to take example from the apostles themselves, their masters and founders, who, after the doctrines of the Gospel had been set forth and spread abroad by their heavenly Master Himself, did not deem it superfluous and needless, but convenient and salutary, to establish the perfect believers by frequent epistolary exhortations, and to build them more firmly upon the solid foundation, and to impart to them more abundantly the rule as well of manners as of faith.

Nevertheless, she too, whether excited by adverse circumstances, or nourished by prosperous ones, never ceased to aim at the good of her children, whom she is daily bringing forth to Christ, and, inflamed by the fire of the Holy Spirit, to promote their advancement, both privately and publicly. Hence the frequent calling of councils, not only from the neighboring cities and provinces, but also, in these days, from regions beyond seas; hence synodal decrees so often published; hence sacred canons, framed and consecrated by the Holy Spirit, by which both the Catholic faith is powerfully strengthened, and the unity of the Church’s peace 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 be ignorant of them; the wholesome observance and the religious handing down of which are things ever to be embraced. Seeing that, for the reasons above stated, all these matters have either not been fully made known to your nation, or have now for the most part failed, it hath appeared fit and proper to your Majesty and to your royal wisdom, by a most excellent counsel--inspired, as we believe, from above--both to consult us, insignificant as we are, on this matter, and to repair to the see of St. Remigius, by whose virtues and doctrine the same see or church hath always flourished and excelled all the churches of Gaul since his time in all piety and doctrine.

And since you are unwilling to appear before us, when you present these your requests, without a gift and empty-handed, your Majesty hath deigned to honor us with a present that is both very necessary for the time and well suited to the matter in hand; concerning which we have both praised heavenly Providence with admiration, and have returned no slender thanks to your royal munificence. 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 visible wolves, with which, among other scourges, wielded against us by the righteous judgment of God, our country abounds; and you ask us, in return, that we should send to you certain watch-dogs, not corporeal, that is to say, not such as those with whom the prophet finds fault, saying, ‘Dumb dogs, not able to bark’ (Isa. 56. 10), but such as the Psalmist speaks of, ‘That the tongue of thy dogs may be red through the same’ (Ps. 68. 23), who know how and are qualified to make loud barkings for their Lord, and constantly to guard His flock with most wakeful and most careful watchings, and to drive away to a distance those most cruel wolves of unclean spirits who lie in wait to devour souls.

Of which number you specially demand one from us, namely, Grimbald, priest and monk, to be sent for this office, and to preside over the government of the pastoral charge. To whom the whole Church, which hath nourished him, gives her testimony from his childhood, with true faith and holy religion, and which hath advanced him by regular steps, according to ecclesiastical custom, to the dignity of the priesthood. We affirm openly that he is most deserving of the honor of the episcopate, and that he is fit to teach others also. But indeed we wished that this might rather take place in our kingdom, and we intended some time ago, with Christ’s permission, to accomplish it in due time, namely, that he whom we had as a faithful son we might have as an associate in our office, and a most trustworthy assistant in everything that pertained to the advantage of the Church. It is not without deep sorrow--forgive us for saying so--that we suffer him to be torn from us, and be removed from our eyes by so vast an extent of land and sea. But as love has no perception of loss, nor faith of injury, and no remoteness of regions can part those whom the tie of unfeigned affection joins together, we have most willingly assented to your request--for to you we have no power to refuse anything--nor do we grudge him to you, whose advantage we rejoice in as much as if it were our own, and whose profit we count as ours: for we know that in every place one only God is served, and that the Catholic and Apostolic Church is one, whether it be at Rome or in the parts beyond the sea.

It is our duty, then, to make him over to you canonically; and it is your duty to receive him reverentially, that is to say, in such way and mode as may best conduce to the glory of your kingdom, to the honor of the Church and our prelacy; and to send him to you along with his electors, and with certain nobles and great personages of your kingdom, as well bishops, presbyters, deacons, as religious laymen also, who with their own lips promise and declare to us in the presence of our whole church that they will treat him with fitting respect during the whole course of his life, and that they will inviolably keep with the strictest care the canonical decrees and the rules of the Church, handed down to the Church by the apostles and by apostolic men, such as they could then hear from us, and afterwards learn from him their pastor and teacher, according to the form delivered by us to him. Which when they shall have done, with the divine blessing and the authority of St. Remigius, by our ministry and the laying on of hands, according to the custom of the Church, receiving him properly ordained, and in all things fully instructed, let them conduct him with due honor to his own seat, glad and cheerful themselves that they are always to enjoy his protection, and constantly to be instructed by his teaching and example.

And as the members feel a concern for each other, and when even one rejoices they rejoice with it, or if even one suffer all the other members sympathize with it, we again earnestly and specially commend him to your Royal Highness and to your most provident goodness, that he may be always permitted, with unfettered authority, without any gainsaying, to teach and to carry into effect whatever he may discover to be fit and useful for the honor of the Church and the instruction of your people, according to the authority of the canons and the custom of our Church, lest, haply--which God forbid!--any one, under the instigation of the devil, being moved by the impulse of spite and malevolence, should excite controversy or raise sedition against him. But should this happen, it will be your duty then to make special provision against this, and by all means to discourage by your royal censure all such persons, if they should chance to show themselves, and check barbaric rudeness by the curb of your authority; and it will be his duty always to consult for the salvation of the people committed to his pastoral skill, and rather to draw all men after him by love than to drive them by fear.

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

FOOTNOTES

[1] Based on the _Chronicle_ under 855.

[2] MS. _Cudam_. So always, but see the _Chronicle_.

[3] Bede, _Eccl. Hist._ 3. 7: ‘The West Saxons, formerly called Gewissae.’ Plummer comments in his edition, 2. 89: ‘It is probably connected with the “visi” of “Visigoths,” meaning “west,” and hence would indicate the western confederation of Saxon tribes; ... “Gewis” is probably an eponymous hero manufactured out of the tribe-name.’ The _gw_ of _Gegwis_ is a Welsh peculiarity (Stevenson).

[4] MS., Stev. _Seth_ (but Stevenson suggests _Sceaf_ in his variants, referring to the _Chronicle_ under 855).

[5] MS. _Cainan_, but see Gen. 5. 12 in R. V.

[6] Partly from the _Chronicle_, but the whole account of Alfred’s father and mother is original.

[7] From the _Chronicle_ under 530 and 534.

[8] Unidentified.

[9] From the _Chronicle_.

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

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

[12] From the _Chronicle_.

[13] MS. _Cantwariorum civitatem_; Chron. _Cantwaraburg_.

[14] Based upon the _Chronicle_.

[15] Stevenson is inclined to reject this customary identification with Oakley, in Surrey.

[16] The source--the _Chronicle_--says: ‘And there made the greatest slaughter among the heathen army that we have heard reported to the present day.’

[17] From the _Chronicle_.

[18] Mainly from the _Chronicle_.

[19] The ‘North Welsh’ of the _Chronicle_.

[20] Based upon the _Chronicle_.

[21] MS. _in regem_.

[22] MS. _infantem_.

[23] ‘A letter from the pope to Alfred’s father, regarding the ceremony at Rome, has been fortunately preserved for us in a twelfth-century collection of papal letters, now in the British Museum.... The letter is as follows: “_Edeluulfo, regi Anglorum_ [marginal direction for rubricator]. ilium vestrum Erfred, quem hoc in tempore ad Sanctorum Apostolorum limina destinare curastis, benigne suscepimus, et, quasi spiritalem filium consulatus cingulo honore vestimentisque, ut mos est Romanis consulibus, decoravimus, eo quod in nostris se tradidit manibus”’ (Stevenson). The _Chronicle_ has: ‘... consecrated him as king, and took him as bishop-son.’ See p. 29.

[24] Based upon the _Chronicle_.

[25] Thanet.

[26] From the _Chronicle_.

[27] Based upon the _Chronicle_.

[28] Charles the Bald.

[29] Original.

[30] Comprising Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall.

[31] Chiefly original.

[32] From the _Chronicle_.

[33] Prudentius of Troyes (in _Annales 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 the Severn.

[36] Original.

[37] Charlemagne.

[38] ‘Pavia was on the road to Rome, and was hence frequented by English pilgrims on their journey to the latter’ (Stevenson). The _Chronicle_ says under 888: ‘Queen Æthelswith, who was King Alfred’s sister, died; _and her body lies at Pavia_.’ ‘With this story of Eadburh’s begging in that city we may compare the statement of St. Boniface, written about 747, as to the presence of English prostitutes or adulteresses in the cities of Lombardy, Frankland, or Gaul (Dümmler, _Epistolæ Karolini Ævi_ 1. 355; Haddan and Stubbs, _Councils_ 3. 381). At the date of this letter the Lombards still spoke their native Germanic tongue, and it is probable that as late as Eadburh’s time it was still the predominant speech in Lombardy’ (Stevenson).

[39] Mostly original.

[40] In Alfred’s will (_Cart. Sax._ 2. 177. 9) he refers to this as ‘Aþulfes cinges 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. The _Annals of St. Neots_ have: ‘and buried at Steyning’ (_Stemrugam_).

[46] This last statement is incorrect.

[47] From the _Chronicle_ under 860. As Æthelbert was already in possession of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, it should rather be said that he added Wessex.

[48] From the _Chronicle_ under 860.

[49] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_ under 865 and 866.

[50] The earlier part from the _Chronicle_.

[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 than 855.

[55] From Florence of Worcester.

[56] So Pauli and Stevenson interpret _legit_.

[57] Original.

[58] Cf. chap. 88.

[59] The liberal arts were seven, consisting of the _trivium_--grammar, logic, and rhetoric--and the _quadrivium_--arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. This course of study was introduced in the sixth century. Asser here employs the singular, _artem_, which might be translated by ‘education.’

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

[61] Original.

[62] Alfred says (Preface to the _Pastoral Care_): ‘Thanks be to Almighty God that we have any teachers among us now.’ In this same Preface he mentions, among those who aided him in the translation, Archbishop Plegmund, Bishop Asser, our author, and the two priests Grimbold and John. Cf. chaps. 77, 78, 79, 81, 88, and Appendix I, p. 71.

[63] Stevenson brackets this clause.

[64] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.

[65] This clause must refer to the first line of the chapter, as there is no previous mention of the Northumbrians.

[66] From the _Chronicle_.

[67] Original.

[68] ‘_Subarravit_, formed from _sub_ and _arrha_, represents literally the English verb _wed_, which refers to the giving of security upon the engagement of marriage.... [It] is glossed by _beweddian_ in Napier’s _Old English Glosses_’ (Stevenson).

[69] William of Malmesbury calls her Æthelswith.

[70] Of the Gaini nothing is known.

[71] Largely from the _Chronicle_.

[72] ‘A compound of _tig_ (Modern Welsh _tŷ_, “house”), and _guocobauc_ (Modern Welsh _gogofawg_), an adjective derived from _gogof_, “cave.” ... The name ... is certainly applicable to Nottingham, which has long been famous for the houses excavated out of the soft sandstone upon 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 the _Chronicle_.

[75] In Norfolk.

[76] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.

[77] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_.

[78] Five and one-half miles southwest of Reading.

[79] Added from Florence of Worcester by Stevenson.

[80] Chiefly from the _Chronicle_.

[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 is here a man’s name.

[83] Perhaps _mediam_ is a scribal error for _unam_ or _primam_ (Stevenson).

[84] There is a note on the Germanic shield-wall in my edition of _Judith_ (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 the _Chronicle_.

[90] Before this sentence occurs the following in the Latin: _Quibus cum talia præsentis vitæ dispendia alienigenis perperam quærentibus non sufficerent._ This may represent a sentence in the author’s draft that was intended, owing to change of construction, to be omitted (Stevenson).

[91] In Hampshire.

[92] Mostly from the _Chronicle_.

[93] In Dorsetshire.