History of England, Part I For the use of Middle Forms of Schools
Tout, T. F. --Powell, F. York
1898
CHAPTER VI:The English Emperor-Kings.
[1] , 's son, and his descendants had to finish the work had begun for them; 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 's reign was stormy, as one of his cousins, wishing to be king in his stead, brought the Danes of and East England upon him. But the English king killed both him and Eohric Guthrum's son, and made the peace of Yttingford in with the new Danish under-king Guthrum Eohricsson, on the same terms as and the first Guthrum's peace at Chippenham. In , Kings Halfdan and Ecwils of were beaten and killed at Wodensfield. In , when his brother-in-law died, gave the aldermanship to his widow, , the famous Lady of the . 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 a good deal of trouble till she took their queen at Brecknock, while had to drive the , 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, reached Stamford, whereupon they and the Danes of the Northeast submitted to him, while those of and Leicester sought peace of his sister. At this hour of success () fell ill at her palace at Tamworth, | |
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and was buried at Gloster,
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2. Hearing [2] that the Danish King of wished to marry her daughter Ælfwyn, now took the great aldermanship into his own hand, cutting it up into shires or sections, each with its own alderman and shire-reeve, so becoming sole ruler of all England south of Trent; and in , when the Welsh Prince of Cumbria, and Regnald the Danish King of and the King of Scots, and their peoples, "chose him to father and lord," he was within the four seas. In this died and was laid beside his father, whom he equalled in worth, excelled in power, and only fell short of in learning. also found time for other matters besides war, for he made many good laws and set up new bishoprics in the south of England. | |
3. [3] His son , a slight, handsome, golden-haired young man, was the favourite of his grandfather , who prophesied that he would be a good king some day, and made him a knight 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 , 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 the oaths they had taken to his father. And when, in , 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, and his brother the Etheling met them in battle, when, as the poem in the says- After this battle 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 , 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 , and the Spear of , 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, , 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. | |
4. [4] 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, , Nottingham, Stamford, and Derby-the old Song in the English Chronicle says:- He also warred with the Danes in , and got them to become Christian; and he took Cumbria from its Welsh princes, and He was killed in his own hall at Pucklechurch by an outlaw named Leof, who on S. Augustine's Day, 26th May , 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. , 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 by his friend , whom he had made abbot there. | |
5. [5] his brother now became king. He conquered , driving out Eiric Bloodax, son of Harold Fairhair, King of the Norwegians (whom the Danes had called in to be their king), and setting aldermen or earls (as the Northmen named them) at Bamborough and 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. was always weak in health, and he died completely broken down in at Frome. His body lies in the old minster at . | |
Of many stories are told. Once while an Icelander, Egil the poet, who had fought against him as henchman of the English king, was driven by stress of weather | |
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into the Humber, brought before him, and doomed to death as a traitor. But since it was then dark he was spared till next morning, and during the night as he lay sleepless he made a fine poem, in a new rhymed metre, in praise of the king's prowess and generosity, and sung it to him as ransom for his head. It has been preserved, and two of its burdens, telling of 's battles in England by land and sea, run-
When fell at Stainmoor in his wife Gunhild had a splendid dirge made over him, wherein it is sung how Woden welcomed him and the five kings that fell with him to Wale-hall, where the heathen heroes sit and feast with the gods. |
6. [6] The sons of had thus not only got into their own hands all the land the Danes had taken and settled, but were now ruling all England immediately without any under-kings. This Settlement of the Danes, which covered the land between Watling Street and the borders of Essex and Bedford to the south, and Tyne to the north, and can be traced by the endings and , which replaced the English and , is a very important thing in English history. Not only did it help to change our tongue by bringing in many words such as which we have preferred to their English equivalents, but had it not been for it, the whole of England would, like the south, have been feudalized, whereas this incoming of fresh Teutonic immigrants, filling the places of those English who had perished in the wars, kept the Danelaw at least in its old ways, so that it was, as in the eighth century, the home of a nation of free land-holding yeomen and franklins, ruling themselves and managing their own affairs, down to the days when the Normans came. | |
But south and west of Watling Street a very different state of things had come about: during the long Danish wars the free yeoman, pressed by hunger, had given up his ethel to his richer neighbour, and sunk to be the rent-paying cottar of the gentry. The gentry, too, having all become either of the king, the aldermen, or the Church, now held all their lands on condition of service; for they had given up their ethels too, taking them back as in return | |
39 | for protection promised them. In fact land in the south of England was no longer allodial but feudal [held by rent, whether payable in kind, money, or service], and the government was almost entirely in the hands of the king and great men; excepting in the cities, where the householders, being richer and better protected by their walls, had been able to keep their old rights in great degree. The king's power also had grown in the wars; he held great state now like the kings abroad, with his Court officers-Staller [Marshall], Dish-thegen [Butler], Bower-thegen [Chamberlain], Hoards-man [Treasurer], and Redesmen [Counsellors of State] about him. We hear more of the Wise Men and less of the Folk-moots in law-making and governing, but of course all this strengthening of the central power was needful if England was to become really one, and where the people were allowed to manage their own local affairs themselves, did little harm. |
7. [7] In the north the people, being many of them new converts, were zealous in wishing to reform the Church in the south, where the nobles and king had got to treat the richer monasteries and cathedrals rather too much as places in which their younger sons and daughters could live comfortable lives; for even the monks and canons were growing lazy in riches, and having left their duties in the world, were, many of them, becoming careless of their duties in the minster. So that the more zealous Churchmen were trying both to bring in stricter rules among the monks themselves, and to replace the married priests in the cathedrals by monks under these rules, who they thought would work harder for the Church and the poor. | |
8. [8] On these accounts the yeomen and bishops of the north were often at odds with the great nobles of the south, and when died their quarrel broke out openly over the choice of a king. The south made head-king, but the north insisted on having an under-king of their own, and chose his brother . Whether by his own fault or not, did not get on well; he quarrelled with Oda the archbishop, the head of the reforming party, about his marriage, which was declared to be contrary to church law; he banished , the cleverest man in England, and after all was forced by Oda and to put away his beautiful wife. How it would all have ended we cannot tell, for died in . | |
9. his brother now ruled alone, he made , his father's friend, whom he had recalled from exile, Archbishop | |
40 | of on Oda's death, and governed by his advice all his days. [1] Though was a monk and a reformer, he managed to please the people of the south as well as the north, and the glories of the reign of , the most prosperous king of his race, are largely owing to his minister's wisdom. |
was born about , and sent by his father, Heahstan, to school at , whence he went as a youth to the court of ; but his talents made the other young thegens jealous, and they behaved so badly to him that he was persuaded to give up his hopes of a worldly career and become a monk. After passing a little time in retirement, he became chaplain to a rich lady, and now people seeing his wisdom and goodness began to think much of him and ask his advice in all kinds of matters; for besides his deep book-learning he was skilled in handicrafts, masonry, carpentering, smith-work, metal-casting, could draw, paint, and design beautifully, was an excellent musician, playing, singing, and composing well, and being especially fond of those old English songs and lays which too had delighted in. He was also believed to have visions from which he was able to foretell the future. In 's days came to court again, and the king seeing his worth, and moved by a narrow escape he had from death when hunting--he just checked his horse in time at the very brink of a high cliff- bethought him of the unkindness with which this pious young priest had formerly been treated, and to show his sorrow for not having stopped it made him Abbot of . In person was small and slight, square headed, light haired, and bright eyed, he had a winning way which drew people to him, was a good and ready speaker, and feared nothing but sin. When had banished him he had gone to Gaunt,, and saw the strict way the monks lived in there, so, now that he was in power, he made the English monks live under this new rule, and though he himself was careful not to offend any one by his changes, Bishops and Æthelwald his friends were not slow in carrying out Oda's plans, and turning married priests out of the cathedrals and enforcing other reforms which the great nobles in the south did not at all like. They also built many new monasteries and nunneries and restored others, in which the king gave them ready help. | |
10. At the beginning of 's reign the Scots and Welsh, after their wont, began to make trouble, but Kenneth was pacified by the gift of Lothian being confirmed to him, | |
41 | and Judwal of Wales had the famous wolves-head tribute laid on him to punish his rebellion. In [1] was solemnly crowned at Bath and thence went to Chester, where there met him six under-kings-the King of Scots and his kinsman and vassal the King of Cumbria, the King of Man, a Northman, and three Welsh kings, who all swore to be faithful to him. It is told that he was rowed down the Dee to S. John's Minster by these six princes, he himself steering; when he told his courtiers, " Those who come after me may indeed call themselves kings, since I have had such honour." kept three fleets, one on each coast, south, east, and west of England, which were continually sailing along, guarding the sea-shore from the Danes, who feared him so much that even their kings in Dublin submitted to him. |
's laws were very stern, and he protected trade by putting down all wrecking and black-mailing of merchants, and keeping the roads clear of thieves and robbers. He governed his kingdom well, though if the songs about him be true, he could not always govern himself, for it is said that his late crowning (seven years after it should have been) was through a penance laid on him because he had carried off a nun. His people, however, rightly loved his good rule, and mourned when, as the old verses tell-
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11. Now north [9] and south again struggled for a king, but got , 's elder son, chosen, though the Queen Ælfthryth and Alderman Ælfhere of the , with the southern nobles, wished for her son . However could not prevent Ælfhere from putting back the married priests in several cathedrals, breaking the new rules of the monasteries, and doing much else against the good laws of King and Bishop Æthelwald. And more ill yet would have happened had it not been for an accident at Calne, when, during a Wise Men's Meeting, while a fierce attack was being made upon 's conduct, the floor gave way and all were dashed down, killed or hurt, save the archbishop, who was standing on the only beam which did not break. Thinking this a sign from God in his favour, | |
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his enemies dared not go as far as they wished against
, though they had made up their minds to rule even at the cost of a crime. On the 18th of March , , who had no knowledge of their illwill to him, rode out in the evening alone to his stepmother's house in the wood near Corfe to ask after a favourite dwarf of his whom he hoped to find there. Ælfthryth came out to answer his questions and begged him to alight, but he would not. Then she offered him a horn of wine, which as he was tired and thirsty he took. As he was drinking it to her health one of her followers thrust a broad knife into his left side. The king with a great cry fell swooning from his saddle, and the frightened horse dashed off dragging him along the rough wood-path by the stirrup-leather, which did not break till he was dead. When his men saw the horse come in bloody and riderless they went to seek him, but the queen had had the body taken up secretly and cast into a ditch, where it was found by a priest and buried with little honour at Wareham. A few of the Wise Men hastily met and chose king. But though the murderers had got their wish, and
Ælfthryth's son was crowned, it did not profit them, and
, as he hallowed the new king, prophesied evil on the reign that had begun so ill. was held a martyr by the monks and the northern English; and Ælfhere, repenting, brought his body with great honour to Shaftesbury, where miracles were believed to be wrought by his tomb. The wicked queen, also stricken by remorse, went into a nunnery at Werewell, where till her death. As the old song says of --
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Footnotes: [1] Eadweard the Elder (901-925) wins back East England. [2] Eadweard, Emperor of Britain, 924. [3] Æthelstan the Steadfast, 925-941. [4] Eadmund the Deed-doer (941-946) wins back the Five Boroughs. [5] Eadred (946-955) wins back Northumberland. [] [955-959.] [6] The south of England now become feudal. [7] Church reforms resisted by southern nobles. [8] Eadwig the Fair, 955-959. [] [955-975.] [1] Dunstan. [1] Eadgar the Peace-winner (955-975), Emperor of all Britain. [9] Eadweard the Martyr, 975-978. [] [978-994.] |
