BOOK IV. 855. His presents to the pope. the persons to whom the benefit was granted seem to confine it to monastical persons.27 But whatever was its original meaning, the clergy in after-ages interpreted it to mean a distinct and formal grant of the tithes of the whole kingdom.28 He went afterwards to Rome himself with great magnificence, accompanied by Alfred 29, who was entering his seventh year. As the expeditions of the great to Rome were, in those days, usually by land, Ethelwulph went first into France, where Charles, the French king, received him with honour and royal liberality, and caused him to be conducted through his dominions with every respectful attention. 3o The presents which the West-Saxon king carried to the pope were peculiarly splendid. A crown of pure gold, weighing four pounds, two golden vessels called Baucas, a sword adorned with pure gold, two golden images, four Saxon dishes of silver gilt, besides valuable dresses, are enumerated by his contemporary Anastasius. The king also gave a donative of gold in aliqua parte levigamus."" Ing. p. 17. Malmsb. 41. An alleviation of services is not a grant of tithes. 27 The words in Ingulf are, "famulis et famulabus Dei, Deo servientibus sive laicis miseris." In Malmsbury the same, omitting the epithet "miseris." Famulabus cannot apply to rectors or curates; famulis et famulabus Dei, mean usually monks and nuns. The copy of Matthew of Westminster, for these words, substitutes "Deo et beatæ Mariæ, et omnibus sanctis." But Matthew wrote in the latter end of the thirteenth century. Ingulf's copy is above two centuries more ancient than his. 28 So Ingulf, and Malmsbury, and others state it; but all classes of men who have obtained a grant by deed, try to extend its meaning as far for their own benefit as the construction of the words can be carried. The law itself looks only at the sense of the words used. Asser's opinion of its import would be very valuable if it was clearly given: because, as a contemporary, we should gain from him the meaning given to it at its first publication. If his first sentence stood alone, it would confirm our first construction; but his rhetorical after-phrase adds something, which, if it means anything more, I do not understand it. The passage stands thus: "He liberated the tenth part of all his kingdom from every royal service and contribution, and in an everlasting instrument in the cross of Christ for the redemption of his soul, and of his predecessors, he immolated to the triune Deity." I do not see that these latter words increase the meaning of the first, which express only a liberation from burdens. They seem to add that he offered this liberation as a sacrifice to the Deity. 29 Asser, 9. 30 Annales Bertiniani in Bouquet's Recueil, tom. vii, p. 71. to all the Roman clergy and nobles, and silver to the СНАР. people. 3: Ethelwulph continued a year at Rome, and rebuilt the Saxon school which Ina had founded. 32 By the carelessness of its English inhabitants, it had been set on fire the preceding year and was burnt to ashes.33 One act which he did at Rome evinces his patriotism and influence, and entitles him to honourable remembrance. He saw that the public penitents and exiles were bound with iron, and he obtained an order from the pope that no Englishman out of his country, should be put into bonds for penance. 34 He IV. 855. 856. His mar In his way through France, he discovered that senility gave no exemption from love. In July he riage with sued for an alliance with Judith the daughter of Charles, Judith. and in October was married to her by Hincmar. admitted her to share in the royal dignity, and the diadem was placed on her head. Presents worthy of the high personages concerned were mutually given, and Ethelwulph took shipping for England.35 Few marriages of our sovereigns have been more important in their consequences to the reputation and happiness of England than this, which at the time might have appeared censurable from the disparity of the ages of the parties, and from our aversion to see the hoary head imitating the youthful bridegroom. It was this lady who began the education of Alfred; and to her therefore may be traced all his literary acquisitions. But the connubial felicity of Ethelwulph was in- The revolt terrupted by intelligence of a successful conspiracy 31 Anastasius Bibliothecarius de vitis Pontif. vol. i. p. 403. ed. Rome, 1718. 32 Rudborne, 202. Anastasius describes it as an habitation; quæ in eorum lingua burgus discitur, p. 317. The place where it was situated, was called the Saxon-street, Saxonum vicum. Anast. 363. This school was much attended to by the Anglo-Saxon nobles and sovereigns. 33 Anastasius, p. 317. Rudborne, 202. 35 Annales Bertiniani, p. 72.- Asser, 8. The ceremony used at the coronation of Judith yet exists, and may be seen in Du Chesne's Hist. Franc. vol. ii. p. 423. of Wessex. BOOK IV. 856. His deposition. against his power, which menaced him with deposition and exile. It was conducted by Alstan, the bishop, to whom he owed all his prosperity; and Ethelbald, the eldest of the legitimate princes, was placed at the head. The earl of Somerset participated in the rebellion. The principal object was to defeat the plans of Ethelwulph in favour of Alfred, and to invest Ethelbald with the crown. The popular reason was, the elevation of his new wife to the dignity of queen. The crimes of Eadburga had incited the Anglo-Saxon nation to forbid the wife of any other of their kings to be crowned.37 Ethelwulph's visit to Rome without having resigned his crown may have begun the discontent. Two of the preceding sovereigns of Wessex who had taken this step, Ceadwalla and Ina, had first abdicated the throne, though Offa retained it during his journey. But Ethelwulph had been in the church, and had not the warlike character of Offa to impress or satisfy his thanes and eorls. For him therefore to pursue the steps that were so like a re-assumption of his early ecclesiastical character may have dissatisfied the fierce Anglo-Saxons, who thought little of religion until some event roused them to renounce the world altogether. In Selwood Forest the revolters first assembled in strength. The king's absence favoured the scheme; and as his devotion to the Roman see, combined with the prospect of a stripling's succession, to the prejudice of brothers, who to priority of birth added maturity of age, may have diminished the general loyalty; so the circumstances of his marriage concurred, fortunately for the conspirators, to complete 36 Matt. West. 308. Rudborne also states, that some write, quod filii insurrexerunt contra patrem propter invidiam quod frater minimus, viz. Alfredus, ante omnes inunctus erat in regem jussione paterna, p. 201. 37 Asser, 10, 11. See before, p. 360. This degradation of their sovereign's queen was contrary, says Asser, to the custom of all the German nations. his unpopularity. When Ethelwulph returned, he found the combination too powerful to be resisted; but the nobles of all Wessex would not permit him to be absolutely dethroned; they promoted an accommodation between the two parties, on the plan, that Ethelbald should be put in possession of West Saxony, the best portion of the monarchy 38, and that Ethelwulph should be contented with the eastern districts which Ethelstan had enjoyed. The king, averse to war, and perhaps intimidated by the strength of his opponents, submitted to the proposition.39 39 Asser, 9. He remarks that occidentalis pars Saxoniæ semper orientali principalior est, ibid. There is a complimentary letter of Lupus, a French abbot, to Ethelwulph, still existing, soliciting him to be at the expense of covering the church of his monastery with lead. In this he speaks of the good opinion which had spread of Ethelwulph's government, and of the reputation he had acquired by his exertions against the enemies of Christianity, alluding to his victories over the Northmen. Epist. Lupi Bib. Mag. Pat. vol. iii. p. 625. CHAP. IV. 856. BOOK CHAP. V. The Reigns of ETHELBALD and ETHELBERT. ALFRED'S Education. By wresting the sceptre of Wessex from the hand of IV. his father, Ethelbald gained a very short interval 856-860. of regal pomp. The old king survived the disappoint ment of his hope and the diminution of his power but two years, and Ethelbald outlived him scarcely three more. Ethelwulph, by his will, left landed possessions to three of his sons; and it is a proof of his placable disposition, that Ethelbald was one; the others were Ethelred and Alfred; the survivor of the three was to inherit the bequest.1 His other son, his daughter, and kinsmen, and also his nobles, partook of his testamentary liberality. His will displayed both the equity and the piety of his mind.2 Soon after Ethelwulph's decease, Ethelbald married his widow, Judith, in defiance of religious institutions and the customs of every Christian state. On the exhortations of Swithin, he is represented to have dismissed her, and to have passed the remainder of his short life in reputation and justice. He died in 860. 1 See Alfred's will, published by Mr. Astle, which recites this devise. 2 He ordered throughout all his lands, that in every ten manors one poor person, either a native or a foreigner, should be maintained in food and clothing, as long as the country contained men and cattle. He left the pope a hundred mancusses, and two hundred to illuminate St. Peter's and St. Paul's churches at Rome on Easter eve and the ensuing dawn. Asser, 13. 3 Asser, 23. But this author, and they who follow him, are wrong in stating that this was against the custom of the pagans; for Eadbald, king of Kent, had done the same in 616; and the Saxon Chronicle, in mentioning that event, says, he lived" on herhenum theape spa, that he hærde bis fæder lape to pive,” p. 26. 4 Matt, West. 310. Rudborne, 204. |