The Last of the Vikings

I, Adhelm, Abbot of this monastery of ----, being eye-witness, and likewise participator in the unhappy times my beloved country was subjected to, in consequence of the Norman C...

"Whilst the cooks are busy with our spoil, Beowulf, I propose we practise at the joust," said Oswald. "Rumour hath it this Count William, of Normandy, is collecting an army in o...

We pass over the details of the sturdy struggle and victory over the Danes at Battle-bridge, and the disastrous defeat of Hastings, except just to note that the young chieftain...

Oswald the Saxon, and Beowulf the Saxon Dane, passed out into the night, and continued their course beyond the gates of the city, which were so broken down that they served no l...

"The Saxon cause is lost, Wulfhere, by base-hearted cowardice and treachery," said Oswald, turning to the stalwart "freeman" already introduced to the reader. "Look to the rear,...

Early on the morrow, strange rumours and stories, which made the blood curdle, were brought to the monastery by refugees from far and near. Both gentle and simple fled hither, b...

My readers, I am sure, will pardon me for passing over the bitter sufferings and humiliation I and the members of our Order had to endure, and the still more harrowing cruelties...

The same day, a little before nightfall, Baron Vigneau strode across the greensward to the spot where his own followers were bivouacking beneath some huge beech trees. "Pierre,"...

In the meantime, the darkness had gathered quickly and deepened into night. This was greatly intensified along the forest path by the lofty and overhanging branches of the trees...

To return to myself. I paced to and fro in the abbey grounds in anguish and suspense, waiting for Badger's return, yet almost dreading it, lest he should bring ill news. But mid...

In the meantime, the Normans had made diligent preparation for an assault on the castle. Now the castle could not be described as a very formidable stronghold, or one designed t...

It was only by the exercise of the utmost energy that the soldiery and camp followers of the Normans were prevented from looting the castle. They were somewhat appeased by an un...

The pall of darkness is spread over the face of Nature, and the bold outlines of the mountains are shrouded in its embrace. Under cover of the darkness, a cordon of vigilant and...

Count de Montfort and his daughter Alice were seated together one evening in what was known as the crimson parlour, a comfortable and somewhat elegant room for the period. It wa...

Count de Montfort, the born autocrat, it may be inferred, was not the man to permit any remnant of the conquered Saxons to assume an independent authority, or to defy him in his...

Hanging-Brow Scaur, to which allusion has been made, is a huge peak towering high above the Pennine Range, out of which it springs. A rude cultivation obtains to its very summit...

Great was the chagrin and rage manifested by Vigneau, Count de Montfort, and the Normans generally, at this unexpected rebuff; and increased cruelties and indignities were heape...

It is a lovely morning in August; the hush of perfect restfulness is in the air. The cattle have retired from the heat and glare of the sun, and are quietly chewing the cud bene...

"Yes. Truly it would be an earthly paradise if it were not for the greed and cruelty of man. I think it richer and grander in these leafy solitudes than anything I have seen; or...

The desperate repulse which the Normans received at the hands of the Saxon outlaws, made them exceedingly chary of attempting again the extermination of them. This afforded a we...

Ere long, the hum of voices and the scrambling sound of approaching footsteps were heard. Then hurried orders, given in an undertone, muffled footsteps, as of persons bearing a...

During the time that Oswald was recovering from the prostration consequent upon the fever, he and Wulfhere drew carefully a plan for the fortress already determined upon. Every...

Count De Montfort strolled leisurely to and fro on the rising ground in front of the castle, rapt in admiration of the fine scenery and noble woods which environed it on all its...

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea. The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me."

A few miles down the valley from the Norman headquarters at the castle, and following the trend of the river--because there was on its banks to be found a path, or track, very i...

The burning and rankling feeling of hatred and contempt engendered in the breast of Sigurd against Oswald (as the result of his spying a second time upon the Saxon chieftain and...

Lest it should be imagined that our coquettish little Frenchwoman, Jeannette, had been perfectly quiescent all this time, we proceed to give particulars of some little exploits...

Ethel, deeply muffled and disguised, passed through the little postern-gate of the fortress. A word in the ear of the sentinel who paced to and fro before it on guard, secured i...

Sigurd, after the rebuff he had received at the hands of Oswald, sped him on his way to Scotland, aflame with a wrath which was about equally divided between Oswald and the Norm...

"I say, Alred!" exclaimed the Atheling to the Norman parasite who had accompanied him hither, as they sat drinking wine the same evening, "what sayest thou to the baiting thy Pr...

"This hand, to tyrants ever sworn the foe, For freedom only deals the deadly blow; Then sheathes in calm repose the vengeful blade, For gentle peace in freedom's hallowed shade."

After the incidents narrated in the foregoing chapter, there followed a scene of complete disorder. Many of those who were well affected towards the Prince and his cause, fell a...

Badger, with his valuable plunder, had four good hours start ere daybreak, which was as early as the Normans would be likely to discover their loss. It was slow and tedious work...

It was a most grievous disappointment to Sigurd when the Saxon leaders finally decided not to attack the Normans, and thus checkmate them as they sought to capture the Saxons wh...

Most humiliating and distressing to us _Saxon_ monks was the state of lax morality in which these foreign monks lived. One of the worst vices imported into England by the Norman...

The day appointed for Alice's ill-starred nuptials draws near with ill-omened celerity. Anxious consultations and meetings at the trysting-place with her Saxon lover become most...

The time had now come about on which De Montfort had promised his daughter to Vigneau. As was the wont invariably of the Normans, the ceremony must be preceded by the usual fest...

The same night, following the tragic ending of the tournament, and about two hours after Curfew had rung out its warning to churls, housecarles, and Saxons, all and sundry, who...

We left Sigurd and his two followers in the cave in the mountains. Sigurd, as usual, was restless and eager for further attacks upon the Normans. So, early next morning, one of...

Through the woods with sure-footed fleetness their powerful horses bore Oswald and Wulfhere on the fateful night of their visit to the monastery. Matters of most momentous impor...

After the stirring episode which ended in the removal from the scene of the brothers Vigneau, and their henchman Pierre, the relationship between the outlawed Saxons and the Nor...

Not many months after the foregoing, Sigurd, followed by a score of his wild Vikings, sought the cave of the priest Olaf, and they received of the old priest a very hearty but a...

Not many days were permitted to elapse after the marriage of Oswald and Alice, ere De Montfort, accompanied by his Saxon son-in-law, proceeded to London. The Count knew well tha...

One chill December morning, as certain lay brothers of the monastery of Crowland were engaged gathering faggots in the woods to feed the fires of the Abbey, they came across a s...

We must now make an end for the present of our extracts from these somewhat interesting chronicles. Sigurd, when we last saw him, was lying in the arms of death, overborne by ma...