crowning of Henry II., that most of our knowledge of England after Bæda's time comes. Ælfred also collected all the old English poems he could hear of, being very fond of them from his youth up, as the story about the pretty painted book of songs which he learned shows; but they have unfortunately been lost, as have also Ælfred's Sayings, and his Handbook of notes on all kinds of subjects. He was a good friend to the Church, building and restoring minsters, putting good priests and bishops over his people, and giving alms to the churches in Rome, Jerusalem, and India as well as to the poor at home. His own life was godly and upright; though his health was bad he never spared himself, but worked hard, setting out his time every hour in the day to its appointed task, and taking little ease, though he was fond of hunting and hawking and singing. Alfred, first of all English kings, found out the real way to stop the Danish invasions, by fortifying the towns, building and keeping a fleet, and so ordering his levies that in every shire in Wessex there should be half the fyrd (militia) under arms, while the other half were working at home. He built ships against the ashes "full nigh twice as large as they, some with sixty oars, some with more, both swifter and stancher and higher than the others," after his own design, and got Frisians to teach his English how to manage them. His income he divided into two halves, with the first of which he paid his servants, workmen, and the foreigners who came to see him; the other half he gave to the poor, the monks, and the school. His favourite maxim was that on the welfare of the priest, the soldier, and the yeoman depends the wellbeing of a kingdom; and, in a word, he did all he could to bring this about. So great was his fame that the Welsh princes came of their own will and took him as their lord in 885, swearing to be faithful to him if he would keep them against the Danes. Thus he was Overlord of All Britain south of the Humber, Welsh, Danish, or English. Elfred's last 11. In 892 the Danish Host that had been abroad in Gaul and Germany, where the emperor overthrew them at Löwen, came to England under Hæsten wars against and other leaders, hoping to find an easier prey; Hæsten, 892-897. but Ælfred and his alderman and son-in-law Ethelred of the Marchland took their ships and forts, till in 897 they gave up all hope of winning England, and hiring ships of their Christian kinsmen, went off to Gaul, leaving the English C power unbroken, though it had been sorely tried by a plague during the last three years of the war, in which many men and beasts perished. So, after all, Ælfred's reign ended peacefully; he died on the 26th October 901, and his body was laid in the New Abbey which he founded at Winchester. Never has a nobler king ruled over Englishmen, or one more worthy of honour than "Alfred the truth-teller, England's darling." Eadweard the wins back East England. CHAPTER VI. The English Emperor-Kings. Eadweard, Alfred's son, and his descendants had to finish the work Elfred had begun for them; Elder (901-925) he had forced the Danes to settle and become Christians, they were to bring the Danelaw (as England north and west of Watling Street, which they had settled, was called) bit by bit under their own rule. The beginning of Eadweard's reign was stormy, as one of his cousins, wishing to be king in his stead, brought the Danes of York and East England upon him. But the English king killed both him and Eohric Guthrum's son, and made the peace of Yttingford in 906 with the new Danish underking Guthrum Eohricsson, on the same terms as Ælfred and the first Guthrum's peace at Chippenham. In 911, Kings Halfdan and Ecwils of Northumberland were beaten and killed at Wodensfield. In 912, when his brother-in-law died, Eadweard gave the aldermanship to his widow, Æthelflæd, the famous Lady of the Marchland. Brother and sister laboured for seven years to secure the kingdom against the Danes, by building a line of forts across the land from Bedford to Runcorn, she beginning from the west and he from the east; the Welsh meanwhile giving Æthelflæd a good deal of trouble till she took their queen at Brecknock, while Eadweard had to drive the Great Host, which for the last time tried to land, away to Ireland. Still the work went steadily on till, after the East England Danes had lost their king at Tempsford fight, Eadweard reached Stamford, whereupon they and the Danes of the Northeast Marchland submitted to him, while those of York and Leicester sought peace of his sister. At this hour of success (922) Æthelflæd fell ill at her palace at Tamworth, and was buried at Gloster, "being a woman godly, righteous, and wise, following in all things the footsteps of Ælfred her father." 2. Hearing that the Danish King of York wished to marry her daughter Ælfwyn, Eadweard now took Eadweard, Emthe great aldermanship into his own hand, peror of Britain, cutting it up into shires or sections, each with 924. its own alderman and shire-reeve, so becoming sole ruler of all England south of Trent; and in 924, when the Welsh Prince of Cumbria, and Regnald the Danish King of York and the King of Scots, and their peoples, "chose him to father and lord," he was Emperor of all Britain within the four seas. In 925 this Unconquered King died and was laid beside his father, whom he equalled in worth, excelled in power, and only fell short of in learning. Eadweard also found time for other matters besides war, for he made many good laws and set up new bishoprics in the south of England. Ethelstan the 3. His son Æthelstan, a slight, handsome, golden-haired young man, was the favourite of his grandfather Ælfred, who prophesied that he would be a Steadfast, 925good king some day, and made him a knight 941. when he was yet a child by giving him a red cloak, a jewelled belt, and a Saxon sword in a golden sheath. He was brought up by his aunt Æthelflæd, from whom he learned the wisdom that is to be found in books as well as the way to rule men. There was great joy at his crowning at Kingston, feasts and bonfires all over the south of England. He began his reign by making the Welsh, Scottish, and Danish under-kings and earls renew to himself at Eamote in 926 the oaths they had taken to his father. And when, in 937, the turbulent Constantine of Scotland sent for his son-in-law, the Northmen's king, Anlaf o' the Sandal, from Ireland, and, breaking the peace and his oaths, marched into England, where the wicking fleet joined him, Æthelstan and his brother Eadmund the Etheling met them in battle, when, as the poem in the Old English Chronicle says— "Life-long worship They won in the strife: with the edge of the sword Of their fathers within them to stand in the fight Against every loathed foeman aye keeping their land, Their hoard, and their home. The hot fighters bowed down, Fell death doomed the field streamed With swordsmen's blood: from when the sun At morning-tide (most clear of stars) Glided first o'er the deep: (bright candle of God) excellent handiwork Sunk to its seat. There lay smitten On the field of battle five young kings Lulled by the sword and seven lords by them, Of the Fleet and the Scots. Put to flight there The hoary war-hero: never dare boast him Of that clashing of blades. He was shorn of his kindred, Stricken low in the strife. His son too he left On the field of death: worn down by his wounds. But the King and the Etheling sought their own country, For the greedy war-hawk: and that grey beast English and Saxons: came up from the east After this battle Ethelstan had little more trouble with the Scots or Northmen. He laid a tribute on the Welsh of Wales, and took Devonshire from the Welsh of Cornwall, setting English people in Exeter, fortifying it, and making it a great trading port. His great deeds made him famous, and many foreign kings sought his friendship. Harold Fairhair of Norway sent him his son to foster, and gave him a fine warship with a gilt prow and purple sails, and a row of gilt and painted shields round the gunwales. Hugh, Duke of the Franks, sought his sister in marriage, and sent him the Sword of Constantine, and the Spear of Charles the Great, and the holy Banner of S. Maurice as gifts, besides a piece of the True Cross, which was counted the most precious of all. Another sister was already married to the Emperor Otto, and two others afterwards wedded the King of Arles and the King of the Franks. On October 27, 941, Æthelstan died, and his body lies in Malmesbury Minster, to which he had given the morsel of the True Cross and many other noble gifts. He was brave and open-handed, mild to the poor, lowly to the clergy, and stern to the nobles. His laws were many and good. Eadmund the Deed-doer (941946) wins back 4. Eadmund his brother, who had fought by his side at Brunanbury, was now chosen king. He got the whole Danelaw south of Humber into his hands, and made it part of his own kingdom for ever. Of this Reconquest of the Five Boroughs -Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stamford, and Derby-the old Song in the English Chronicle says: "They were aforetime Beneath the Northmen: bowed by need In the heathen's For many days To his worship thralling chains until he freed them that sure helper in war, the Five The heir of Eadweard: Eadmund the king." He also warred with the Danes in Northumberland, and got them to become Christian; and he took Cumbria from its Welsh princes, and “let it all to Malcolm the Scots' king on the understanding that he would be his fellow-worker both by sea and land." He was killed in his own hall at Pucklechurch by an outlaw named Leof, who on S. Augustine's Day, 26th May 946, when he knew that he could not be lawfully slain, dared to sit down at the king's table, and threatened the cupbearer, who wished to put him out. Eadmund, seeing him, leaped up, caught him by the hair, and threw him on the floor, but before any one could come up Leof drew his knife and thrust it through the king as he held him down. His body was buried at Glastonbury by his friend Dunstan, whom he had made abbot there. Northumberland. 5. Eadred his brother now became king. He conquered Northumberland, driving out Eiric Bloodax, son Eadred (946of Harold Fairhair, King of the Norwegians 955) wins back (whom the Danes had called in to be their king), and setting aldermen or earls (as the Northmen named them) at Bamborough and York to rule under himself, giving the northernmost part, the Lothians, round Edinburgh to the King of Scots to hold of him as he already held Cumbria. Eadred was always weak in health, and he died completely broken down in 955 at Frome. His body lies in the old minster at Winchester. Of Eiric Bloodax many stories are told. Once while "In grim helm crowned he held the land, And dripping brand in York's good burgh," an Icelander, Egil the poet, who had fought against him as henchman of the English king, was driven by stress of weather |