BOOK IV. 878. imprisoned chiefs humbly supplicated the mercy of their conqueror. 16 Thus, after a very doubtful struggle for the sovereignty of the island, during twelve years of peril and calamity, the Anglo-Saxons by this battle triumphed over their enemies, and surmounted one of the most formidable invasions that any nation had experienced. To this great achievement, to the talents which planned, and to the energy which accomplished it, words can add no praise. It was the triumph of mind over barbarian strength of a wisely conceiving and arranging intelligence over superiority of number, elation from past successes, and a hardihood of personal valour which no competition could excel. It was as complete in its beneficial effects as it was brilliant in its immediate glory. The immediate conditions which Alfred imposed, were hostages, which were not reciprocal, and oaths that they should leave his dominions. These, however, were of puerile importance, because Godrun, having got released from his confinement, might have acted with the same contempt of diplomatic and religious faith, for which his countrymen were notorious. Alfred had learnt that hosts and hostages were but bonds of sand, and therefore relied no longer upon these. His comprehensive mind conceived and executed the magnanimous policy of making Godrun and his followers his allies, and of leading them to agriculture, civilisation, and Christianity. To effect this, he persuaded them to exchange their Paganism for the Christian religion, and on these terms he admitted 16 Asser, 34. Flor. Wig. 317. Sax. Chron. 85. Whitaker, p. 269., supposes the fortress to which the Danes fled to have been the double entrenchment in Bury-wood, which is thus described by Gough: "On Colerne-down, on the fosse near Wraxhall and Slaughterford, in Bury-wood, is North-wood, a camp of eighteen acres, double works, not Roman: the entrance from Colerne-down." P. 99. them to cultivate and possess East Anglia as peaceful CHAP. colonists. After some weeks, Godrun, to whom the conditions. were acceptable, went with thirty of his chiefs to Aulre17, near Ethelney, where, Alfred standing as his godfather, he was baptized by the name of Ethelstan. The ceremony was completed a week after at the royal town of Wædmor. He stayed twelve days with the king, as his guest, and received magnificent presents at his departure.18 Such a conversion could be but nominal; but the religious tenets of the unreflective mass of mankind are little else. The object of Alfred was to place them immediately under new habits, which would give them dispositions more compatible wit the well-being of society than their ferocious Paganism. To time, reflection, and tuition, he left further progress in the system he revered. Godrun, to fulfil his engagements with Alfred, left Chippenham, and went into Gloucestershire. He remained at Cirencester 19 a year, and then marching into East Anglia, he divided it among his soldiers, and they cultivated it.20 Although the Northmen came to England as the ministers of vengeance, yet, by residing in it for twelve years, they must have become more sensible to the charms of civilised life. The bands under Halfden attested this impression when they cultivated Northumbria. Having thus turned their swords into 17 Asser, 35. Mr. Walker thinks, it was the modern Aulre, an inconsiderable place near Ethelney. Wedmor was not less than twelve miles from it. At Wedmor, the white garments and mystic veil, then appropriated to baptism, were given. Vit. Elf. 35. 18 Asser, 35. MSS. Vesp. D. 14. Flor. 318. Sax. Chron. 85. 19 Cirrenceastre, qui Brittannice Cairceri nominatur, quæ est in meridiana parte Huicciorum; ibique per unum annum mansit. Asser, 35. 20 An. 880. Cirrenceastre deserens, ad orientales Anglos perrexit, ipsam que regionem dividens, cæpit inhabitare. Asser, 35. Dene ron se hene or Cynenceastre on East Engle, and gesæt the loud, and gedælde, Sax. Chron. 86. This printed chronicle dates their occupation of East Anglia in 879. The MS. chronicle places it, like Asser, in 880. Cot. Lib. Tib. B. 4. p. 35. X. 878. BOOK IV. 878. ploughshares, they gave no assistance to Godrun in his invasion of Wessex; and if left unmolested, and not endangered, it was probable they would continue to be pacific. By admitting Godrun to imitate their example, Alfred calmed their inquietude; and by giving this occupation to Godrun, he sccured safety to himself: the beginning change in the manners of the North was cherished in its most important crisis; and, as the Danes became civilised in East Anglia, they were compelled, for their own safety, to form a barrier, defending the most exposed coast of the island from their more ferocious countrymen. 21 21 Saxo places a Gormo Anglicus soon after Ragnar Lodbrog, p. 178. In the Chronicon of Eric he is surnamed Enske, the Englishman, and is there said to have been baptized in England. Langb. i. 158. Hamsfort says, he went to England, and was converted by Alfred; ib. p. 37. If so, he was the Godrun here mentioned. CHAP. XI. Review of the Causes and Consequences of the NORTHMAN Invasions. The Actions of HASTINGS, and his Invasions of ENGALFRED'S Death. LAND. 2 ALFRED having permitted Godrun to colonise East Anglia, the limits of their respective territories were settled by a treaty, which still exists.1 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. Northumbria was afterwards put under Guthred, who governed Deira; and Egbert ruled in Bernicia. 5 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 fythe tha Ælfned cyning and Luthɲun cýning, and ealler Angel cynnes pitan and eal seo theod the on East-Englum beoth, ealle gecpeden hahbath and mid athum gefæstnod for hi fÿlfe and for heoɲa gengran ge for geborene, ge for ungebopene, the godes miltse pecca oththe upe." 2 The words are, "C Ænert ýmb une landgemeɲa upon Temere, and thonne upon Ligan and andlang Ligan oth hine æpylm, thonne on geniht to Bedanfonda, thon upon Uran oth Watlingastret." 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.; Sax. 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. 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 English and Dane, and the mulct for slaughter of them both alike. That a thane of the king's being questioned for manslaughter, or any offence above four marks, shall be tried by twelve of his peers, and others by eleven of their peers, and one of the king's men. That no buying of men, horse, or oxen, shall be justifiable without voucher of the seller, and his avowing the sale. And, lastly, that there shall be no licentious intercourse of the soldiers of the one with those of the other army." p. 68. Herne's ed. 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. CHAP. XI. 878. BOOK IV. 878. Another attempt of the Northmen. 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 military defence and internal peace, and to repel 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. The policy of Alfred's conduct towards Godrun 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. 9 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. 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, 66 to his agenem eande mid ealne ribbe." MSS. Vesp. D. 14. This seems to imply a return to Denmark, as East Anglia was not properly his own country. * Ingulf, 27. Matt. West. 345. Asser, 35, 36. Malmsb. 43. |