124

ANNEXATION OF NORTHUMBRIA.

[A.D. 926. John; but at the instant he was sworn he fell down, and died three nights after. As connected with this conspiracy of Elfred, though erroneously so in point of time, tradition has associated the fate of Athelstan's younger brother, Edwin. Seduced into the revolt against the king, he was exposed, say the legends, in a rotten boat, with one attendant, his armour-bearer; and, driven out to sea, without oar or rudder, threw himself overboard in wild despair. The faithful follower of Edwin brought his body to land; and the remorse of Athelstan was only alleviated by seven years' penance. Malmesbury says he found the tale, as he found the dream of the shepherd's daughter, in old ballads. The monkish romancers told a similar story of the wife of Offa; and the same interesting fable will always speak to the heart in the Custance of Chaucer, and the Prospero of Shakspeare. Henry of Huntingdon does not receive the story of Malmesbury's old ballad. He says, "By a stroke of adverse fortune, Athelstan lost his brother Edwin, the etheling, a young prince of great energy and high promise, who was unhappily drowned at sea.

The reign of Athelstan was spread over the short term of fifteen years, but it was the culminating point of the glory and power of Saxon England. "The terror of his name," according to Malmesbury, left him the undisputed dominion of the island, with the exception of Northumbria. The Danish chieftain of that district, Sihtric, acknowledged Athelstan's supremacy and received his sister in marriage. The alliance was soon dissolved. The history which bears the name of Matthew of Westminster records that the Dane, who had embraced Christianity, renounced his wife and his faith at the same time (A.D.926). Athelstan was preparing to revenge the injury, when Sihtric died, or was murdered. His sons Guthfric and Anlaf fled, when Athelstan led an army into Northumbria. The vigorous Saxon annexed the Northumbrian kingdom to his dominions. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle gives a pithy summary of the events of this year: "And Sihtric perished; and King

Athelstan obtained the kingdom of the Northumbrians: And he ruled all the kings who were on this island: first, Huwal, king of the West-Welsh ; † and Constantine, king of the Scots; and Uwen, king of the Guentian people ; ‡ and Ealdred, son of Ealdulf, of Bamborough; and they confirmed the peace by pledge, and by oaths, at the place called Eamot, on the 4th of the Ides of July; and they renounced all idolatry, and after that submitted to him in peace." Guthfric returned the next year in arms to claim the Northumbrian kingdom; but he was subdued by Athelstan, and, making his submission, was received with kindness. He soon joined the piratical bands of his

countrymen.

The power which Athelstan had thus won by his sword, he appears to have retained in peace for about ten years. During this period, and in the few subsequent years of his life, his position as the supreme ruler of a great and independent kingdom gave him an European influence, which appears most remarkable at a time which we are little accustomed to consider as one of international amity. Athelstan was the protector and defender of deposed and exiled princes. When the Normans expelled the Duke of Brittany from

* The Saxon Chronicler gives the date of his death as 933, eight years after Athelstan's accession. People of Monmouthshire.

+ People of Cornwall.

A.D. 926---940.]

ATHELSTAN'S CONTINENTAL ÎNFLUENCE.

125

his dominions, Athelstan welcomed and educated his son Alan; who finally drove out the Normans with the Saxon's aid. Haco, the son of the King of Norway, was also welcomed and educated in England, and was assisted by Athelstan in obtaining his throne. Louis IV. of France, in his earlier years, had sought refuge with his maternal uncle, Athelstan, and hence he was called "D'outremer," "from beyond the sea," during the usurpation of Rudolph. Summoned to the throne from his English exile, he was finally protected in his dominion by the English king. The states of France sent deputies to Athelstan, on the death of Rudolph, who took the oath of allegiance to Louis in the presence of Athelstan and his queen; and when the rule of the young Frank was disturbed by his great vassals, another treaty of alliance between the countries was entered into. Daniel, the French historian, has this comment on the event: "This is the first example which we have in our history, not only of an offensive league between France and England, but it is also the first treaty by which these two kingdoms concerned themselves about each other's welfare. Until this event the two nations considered themselves as two worlds, which had no connexion but that of commerce to maintain, and had no interest to cultivate either friendship or enmity in other concerns.' Athelstan had a difficult policy to pursue. Hugh, who married Athelstan's sister, Edgiva (then dead), was one of the great vassals who was opposed to Louis IV.; and the German king, Otho, who had married Elgifa, another sister, had invaded the French dominions. But Athelstan held firmly to the interests of his nephew. The position of England and France at this period was certainly a memorable one. Centuries were to elapse before an alliance could be formed between them as independent nations. The Norman princes ruled England as a province. Their successors claimed France as an inheritance. For nine hundred years since the league with Athelstan, the two nations have, for the most part, "considered themselves as two worlds ;" have maintained little "commerce;" have cultivated small " friendship" in external concerns. A common danger and a common interest have produced a mighty change in our days. May the friendship be preserved when the danger is past!

The continental alliances of Athelstan, and especially the marriages of his sisters, are indications of a genius for state-craft, such as we scarcely expect in those times. In the personal character of the Saxon we trace "the pride of kings," and the barbaric pomp of self-asserting power. William of Malmesbury saw the tomb of Athelstan opened, a century and a half after his death; and he describes his flaxen hair "beautifully wreathed with golden threads." The kings who sought his alliance approached him with presents, such as would propitiate his love of magnificent display. Norway sent him a ship with golden beak, and purple sail, and gilded shields. Hugh, the great Duke of the Franks, demanded his sister in marriage, with "presents such as might gratify the most boundless avarice"-perfumes, jewels, diadems, caparisoned horses, the sword of Constantine the Great, and the spear of Charlemagne. There is no distinct record that Athelstan was corrupted by this homage; but it is certain that the extension of his power produced the consequence that waits upon successful ambition-the confederacy of the weak against the strong. A league against him was formed by the

inevitable

* Quoted in Turner, book vi. chap. ii.

126

BATTLE OF BRUNAN-BURH.

[A.D. 934.

under-kings of Scotland and Cumberland in 934. Athelstan was prompt in his measures. He marched into Scotland with a great army, and his fleet ravaged the coast as far as Caithness. Anlaf, the son of Guthfric the Dane, had married a daughter of Constantine of Scotland; and the re-establishment of the Northumbrian kingdom was the great object to be attained by the union of all who had felt the power, and were humiliated by the magnificence, of their Saxon lord. The Danes, the Scots, and the Welsh appeared in arms. Anlaf, who had obtained dominion in Ireland and the western isles, with upwards of six hundred ships, entered the Humber. All the North was in insurrection. All the South and East went forth to uphold the integrity of the kingdom. The army of Athelstan was encamped on the Scottish borders of Northumberland, according to Camden. The king commanded, with Edmund his brother; and the chancellor Turketul led the Londoners to the fight. The chroniclers tell the same romantic story, with variations, that they told of Alfred. Anlaf, the Dane, enters the camp of Athelstan as a harper. He plays before the king, and takes a money-reward. But he scorns to retain the price of a hireling's service, and buries the present which he received. A soldier, who had formerly served under Anlaf, knew the supposed harper, and communicated his knowledge to the king, who was indignant that he had not been seized. The honest soldier declared that he should have scorned to betray his former leader, but he warned Athelstan to shift his position. The king followed the timely advice; and when Anlaf attacked the camp at night, he found other victims. Two days after was fought the great battle of Brunan-burh, by which the confederacy against the Saxon power was completely overthrown. Of this decisive conflict Milton says, "They fought with Athelstan at a place called Wendune; others term it Brunanburg, others Bruneford; which Ingulph places beyond Humber; Camden in Glendale of Northumberland, on the Scottish borders-the bloodiest fight, say authors, that ever this island saw. To describe which, the Saxon annalist, wont to be sober and succinct, whether the same or another writer, now labouring under the weight of his argument, and overcharged, runs on a sudden into such extravagant fancies and metaphors as bear him quite beyond the scope of being understood." It is remarkable that a great poet did not see that the "extravagant fancies and metaphors" were part of "the earliest of the few metrical materials for English history;" and were of singular value as illustrations of the spirit in which the Saxon ballads were composed. In later times, the ode on the battle of Brunan-burh has moved the heart " more than with a trumpet," as Sidney was moved by "the old song of Percy and Douglas." We present it entire.

"Here Athelstan, king, of earls the lord, of beorns § the bracelet-giver, and eke his brother, Edmund Etheling, won life-long glory in battle, with edges of swords, near Brunan-burh.

Milton's "History of England" was published in 1670. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was first printed in 1644, with a Latin translation. In that translation the peculiar expressions of the ode are necessarily lost in amplifications and expletives. We can easily understand that the Latin being read to the blind poet, he saw little merit beyond "extravagant fancies and metaphors.'

§ Men fierce as bears: beorn is a title of honour, which has been translated "baron."

A.D. 934.]

ODE ON THE BATTLE OF BRUNAN-BURH.

*

127

"They clove the board-wall, they hewed the war-lindens.† Offspring of Edward they, in battle oft, 'gainst every foe the land defended-its hoards, and its homes. Such was their noble natures, derived from their fathers. The foe they crushed; the Scottish people and the shipmen fated fell.

"The field reek'd with warriors' blood, since the sun was up at morningtide. The mighty planet, God's candle bright, the eternal Lord's, glided o'er grounds, till the noble creature sank to her settle. There lay many a warrior by javelins strewed; northern men, shot over shields; also Scots, weary and war-sad.

"West-Saxons onwards, in bands, throughout the day, pursued the footsteps of the loathed nations. They hewed the fugitives behind, amain, with swords mill-sharp. Mercians refused not the hard hand-play to any heroes who, with Anlaf, over the ocean in the ship's bosom, this land sought, fated to the fight.

"Five lay on the battle-stead, § youthful kings by swords in slumber laid; so seven eke of Anlaf's earls; shipmen and Scots of the army countless.

“There was made to flee the North-men's chieftain; by need constrained to the ship's prow with a little band. The bark drove afloat. The king, out-going on the fallow flood,|| his life preserved. So there, also, Constantine, hoary warrior, came by flight to his north country. He had no cause to exult in the communion of swords.

"Here was his kindred band of friends o'erthrown on the folk-stead, in battle slain; and his son he left on the slaughter-place, mangled with wounds, young in the fight. He the grizly-haired beorn, the old deceiver, had no cause to boast of the bill-clashing; nor had Anlaf any more, with the remnant of their armies.

"They had no cause to exult that they in war's works the better men were in the battle-stead, at the conflict of banners, the meeting of spears, the concourse of men, the traffic of weapons-that they on the slaughter-field with Edward's offspring played.

"The North-men departed in their nailed barks; bloody relic of darts, o'er the deep water, Dublin to seek,-again to seek Ireland, shamed in mind. "So too the brothers, both together, king and Etheling, their country sought, the West-Saxons' land, in war exulting.

"They left behind them, the corse to devour, the sallow kite, and the swart raven with horned beak, and the dusky vulture, and the white-tailed heron :the corse to enjoy came the greedy war-hawk, and the grey beast, the wolf of the wood.

Carnage greater has not been in this island ever yet, never before this, of people slain by edges of swords. So books us tell; books of old writers: since from the east hither Angles and Saxons came to land,- since o'er the broad seas mighty war-smiths sought Britain, the Welsh overcame, and earls most bold this earth obtained." T

*The wooden wall of shields. Setl-gang is sun-setting.

The linden spears.
S Place, homestead.

The term, as applied to land, has reference to colour. So the brown sea.

The translation in the "Monumenta Historica Britannica" is more imbued with the spirit of the original than any with which we are acquainted. The poem, as there presented in the Saxon rhythm, has a corresponding translation line by line; but as no translation can give a metrical notion of the original, we have run it on in paragraphs, making some inversions here and there to aid the reader.

128

CODE OF ATHELSTAN-HIS DEATH.

[A.D. 940.

The terrors of that "slaughter-place" left Athelstan in peace for his few remaining years. He promulgated a code of laws, as his father and grandfather had done. They are conceived in a spirit of justice, according to the opinions and manners of the age. In the payment of tithes, the king claims no exception for his "own goods; both of live stock and of the year's earthly fruits;" and he calls upon his bishops and ealdormen to do the like. He commands his reeves "that ye entirely feed one poor Englishman, if ye have him, or that ye find another;" and that " ye redeem one 'wite-theow' (penal slave)." We understand this to apply to those reeves who had the charge of the king's manors; on which it was probable that there was abundance, and that none, or very few, of the unfree were in the condition of "a poor Englishman." It has been hastily assumed that the whole land was so flourishing, that poverty was not readily to be found. The criminal laws were severe; but they had some discrimination. No thief was to be spared; but his age must exceed twelve years. We do not, now, put children under twelve to death, but we punish them, and then leave them to perish. The bishops and reeves, and guildmen of the City of London ordered that "no thief be spared over twelve pence, and no person over twelve years;" but, with these limitations, they entered into a compact which rendered the escape of the plunderer almost impossible. They formed themselves into an association, common enough even at this day, for the prosecution of felons. Each

member of the Guild contributed fourpence a-year for the common use; the money was held by a committee of ten men, who had to decide," what they shall disburse when aught is to pay, and what they should receive when money should arise to us at our common suit." Our principle of association for public objects, and which could only exist under a condition of individual freedom, may thus be distinctly traced to the modes in which our ancestors defended their property, and asserted their rights, nine hundred years ago.

Athelstan died in the year 940, and was buried in the Abbey of Malmesbury. Two sons of his uncle Ethelward had fallen in the battle of Brunan-burh, and the king had ordered them to be interred in the church which he had so richly

endowed. What is called the tomb of Athelstan is still shown at Malmesbury. In a visit to this interesting little town we were somewhat surprised to find how the memory of Athelstan still lingers there. Over the antiquarian conviction that the noble ruins of the abbey are Norman, rides the popular belief that the solemn porches and the lofty arches belong to