BOOK 878. CHAP. XI. Review of the Causes and Consequences of the NORTHMAN Invasions. The Actions of HASTINGS, and his Invasions of ENGLAND.- ALFRED'S Death. ALFRED having permitted Godrun to colonise 2 East Anglia, the limits of their respective territories were settled by a treaty, which still exists. By the first article, the boundary was placed in the Thames, the river Lea to its source, and Watling Street to the Ouse. The spaces thus marked, contained Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, part of Hertfordshire, part of Bedfordshire, and a little of Huntingdonshire. 3 These regions were subjected to Godrun, and were filled with Danes. 4 Northumbria was after 1 It is in Wilkins's Leges Anglo-Saxonicæ, p. 47. The beginning may be quoted as an intimation of the parties to such transactions: "This is the frythe tha Ælfred cyning and Guthpun cyning, and ealler Angel cynnes pitan and eal seo theod the on East-Englum beoth, ealle gecpeden habbath and mid athum gefæstnod for hi rýle and foɲ heopa zingpan ze for geborene, ze for ungeborene, the godes miltre pecca oththe upe.” 2 The words are, " Ænert ymb une landzemeɲa upon Temere, and thonne upon Lizan and andlang Ligan oth hipe æpýlm, thonne on zepiht to Bedanfopba, thon upon Uran oth Wærlingartnet." p. 47. 3 Sir John Spelman places Northumbria also under Godrun, p. 66. He is certainly sanctioned by Malmsbury, p. 43.; but Asser, 35.; Florence, 328.; Saxon Chron. 86.; Ethelwerd, 845.; Hunt. 350.; Ingulf, 26.; and Mailros, 144., unite in merely stating Godrun's occupation of East-Anglia. The grammatical construction of the Saxon treaty appears to me to imply no more. 4 The other articles of the treaty are legal regulations. Spelman's Summary may be cited: They provide "that there shall be one and the same estimation of person, both of Eng wards put under Guthred, who governed Deira; C HA P. and Egbert ruled in Bernicia. 5 THE Sovereignty of Mercia, on the defeat of the Danes, fell into the power of Alfred. He did not, however, avowedly incorporate it with Wessex. He discontinued its regal honours, and constituted Ethelred its military commander, to whom he afterwards married his daughter, Ethelfleda, when her age permitted. 7 THE reign of Alfred, from his restoration to his death, was wise and prosperous. One great object of his care was, to fortify his kingdom against hostile attacks. He rebuilt the cities and castles which had been destroyed, and constructed new fortifications in every useful place; and he divided the country into hundreds and tythings for its better lish and Dane, and the mulct for slaughter of them both alike. 5 Mailros, 145. In 890, Godrun died in East Anglia, Flor. 328.; and Guthred in Northumbria died 894. Sim. Dun. 133., and 70. Mailros, 146. 6 Spelman thinks that the superior sovereignty of Alfred was preserved in his treaties with the Danes. He remarks from Malmsbury, that Alfred gave the dominion to Godrun, ut eas sub fidelitate regis jure hereditario foveret, and that the very joining in the laws shows that the one was a vassal. p. 69. 7 It is said in the Saxon life of Neot, that after the pacification, Godrun, with the remains of his army, departed in peace to his own country, "to hir azenen eaɲde mid ealne ribbe." MSS. Vesp. D. 14. This seems to imply a return to Denmark, as East Anglia was not properly his own country. 66 XI. 878. 878. 8 BOOK military defence and internal peace, and to repel IV. that disposition for depredation which was prevailing even among his own subjects. By these defensive precautions, he gave to the country a new face, and not only kept in awe the Northmen who were in it, but was prepared to wage, with advantage, that defensive war, which the means and disposition of the impetuous invaders could never successfully withstand. Another attempt of men. THE policy of Alfred's conduct towards Godrun the North- was evinced and rewarded immediately afterwards. A large fleet of Northmen arrived in the Thames, who joined Godrun, as if desirous to unite with him in a new warfare; but, Alfred having pacified his ambition, these adventurers found no encouragement to continue here. They wintered at Fulham, and then followed their leader, the famous Hastings, into Flanders; and remained a year at Ghent." ALFRED discerned the inestimable benefit to England of creating a naval armament for the protection of its coast from the adventurers that now swarmed on the ocean. This king, who never used war but from necessity, which he deplored, may be considered as the founder of the English navy. In this, however, he was but the copyist of Charlemagne, whose policy of building ships to repress the northern invasions, has been noticed before. 10 Alfred had already experienced the effi 8 Ingulf, 27. Matt. West. 345. 9 Asser, 35, 36. Malmsb. 43. 10 About this time kings seem to have thought of navies. In 888, Mahomet, the Saracen king in Corduba, ordered ships to be built at Corduba, Hispali, and in other places where wood abounded. Of this king it is said, that as he was walking in his garden, a soldier exclaimed, "What a beautiful place! XI. cacy of a few ships of war. In 882, he was pre- CHA P. pared to engage in a naval conflict, and took two ships. The chief of two others and the crews, but not until they were all wounded, submitted to him, "1 878. 884. Another THE army of the Northmen on the Scheld divided into two branches. One moved against attempt. Eastern France; the other invaded England, and besieged Rochester. They built a castle against its gate, but the valour of the citizens prolonged their defence, till Alfred, with a great army, approached to relieve them. On the king's sudden presence, the Pagans abandoned their tower, all the horses which they had brought from France, and the greatest part of their captives, and fled with precipitation to their ships. Compelled by extreme necessity, they returned in the same summer to France. 12 ALFRED, improving the hour of success, directed his fleet, full of warriors, to the East Anglians, where bands of depredation had arrived or were forming. They met thirteen war-ships of the Danes ready for battle. The Saxons attacked and took them, with all their booty; the crews fighting fiercely, till every one perished. But the Saxons forgot the suspicious vigilance which should always be maintained on an enemy's coast. The Danes gathered all their ships together, and coming on the fleet of Alfred, which was at the mouth of the river, they obtained a vic What a delightful day! How charming would life be if death never came !"—"You are wrong," answered Mahomet ; "if death never had come, I should not have reigned here." Rod. Tol. Hist. Arab. c. 28. p. 24. Asser, 36. Sax. Chron. 86. 12 Asser, 37. IV. BOOK tory of superiority or surprise. 13 The colonising followers of Godrun broke their treaty with Alfred; but as no account of the consequences is transmitted to us, the peace was probably soon restored. 14 884. Actions of THE most brilliant incident in the life of Alfred, was his defence of England against the formidable Hastings, which has not hitherto been sufficiently remarked. In his struggles against the Northmen, over whom he prevailed at Eddinton, he had to oppose power rather than ability; but in resisting Hastings, he had to withstand a skilful veteran, disciplined in all the arts of war by thirty years' practice of it; renowned for his numerous successes in other regions, and putting in action a mass of hostility, which might have destroyed a man of less ability than the Saxon king. HASTINGS must have long been a favourite of tradition, because he was one of those heroic and successful adventurers, whom popular fame loves to celebrate, and sometimes to fancy. Time has, however, so much to record, such numerous characters to perpetuate, that it suffers many to fall into the shroud of oblivion, of whom our curiosity would desire a distinct memorial. Hastings has scarcely survived the general lot. 15 We know him 13 Asser, 38. The Cotton MSS. and the editions of Parker and Camden say, the English fleet dormiret. Florence, in relating the incident, substitutes the word rediret, p. 321.; and the Saxon Chron. p. 87., hampeaɲd pendon. 14 Asser, 39. A great army of Northmen was at this time attacking the continental Saxons and Frisians. ibid. 38. 15 Dudo has attempted to draw his character; but he has only recollected and applied to him thirty-two vituperative epithets from the Latin language, strung into hexameters. One of the historian's bright ideas is, that Hastings should be non atramento verum carbone notandus. p. 63. |