tale of the depredations of these "Danes," "Northmen," "heathen," or "the army," as they are called. A.D. 787. This year Bertric took to wife Eadburga, King 39. Extracts Offa's daughter; and in his days first came three ships of from the Northmen out of Denmark. And then the reeve rode to the Saxon Angloplace, and would have driven them to the king's town, because Chronicle he knew not who they were: and they there slew him. These were the first ships of Danish men which sought the land of the English nation. A.D. 793. This year dire forewarnings came over the land of the Northumbrians and miserably terrified the people; there were excessive whirlwinds, and lightnings; and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. A great famine soon followed these tokens; and a little after that, in the same year, on the 6th before the Ides of January, the ravaging of heathen men lamentably destroyed God's church at Lindisfarne through rapine and slaughter. And Siga died on the 8th before the Kalends of March. A.D. 794. This year Pope Adrian and King Offa died; and Ethelred, king of the Northumbrians, was slain by his own. people on the 13th before the Kalends of May; and Bishop Ceilwulf and Bishop Eadbald went away from the land. And Egfert succeeded to the kingdom of the Mercians and died the same year. And Eadbert, who by a second name was called Pren, obtained the kingdom of Kent. And Ethelherd the ealdorman died on the Kalends of August; and the heathens ravaged among the Northumbrians, and plundered Egfert's monastery at the mouth of the Wear; and there one of their leaders was slain, and also some of their ships were wrecked by a tempest; and many of them were drowned, and some came on shore alive, and they were soon slain at the river's mouth. A.D. 823. This year there was a battle between the Welsh and the men of Devon at Camelford: and the same year Egbert, king of the West Saxons, and Bernulf, king of the Mercians, fought at Wilton, and Egbert got the victory, and there was great slaughter made. He then sent from the army his son Ethelwulf, and Ealstan his bishop, and Wulfherd his ealdorman, of the West Saxons, conquers the kings of the Egbert, king into Kent with a large force, and they drove Baldred the king northwards over the Thames. And the men of Kent, and the men of Surrey, and the South Saxons, and the East Saxons submitted to him; for formerly they had been unjustly forced Mercians and from his kin. And the same year the king of the East Angles Kentishmen and makes them subordinate to himself Also the East Saxons and the kings of East Anglia and Northumbria Sacking of Canterbury and London and the people sought the alliance and protection of King Egbert for dread of the Mercians; and the same year the East Angles slew Bernulf, king of Mercia. A.D. 827. Egbert led an army to Dore against the Northumbrians, and they there offered him obedience and allegiance, and with that they separated. A.D. 845. This year Eanwulf the ealdorman, with the men of Somerset, and Bishop Ealstan, and Osric the ealdorman, with the men of Dorset, fought at the mouth of the Parret against the Danish army, and there made great slaughter, and got the victory. A.D. 851. This year Ceorl the ealdorman, with the men of Devonshire, fought against the heathen men at Wembury, and there made great slaughter and got the victory. And the same year King Athelstan and Elchere the ealdorman fought on shipboard, and slew a great number of the enemy at Sandwich in Kent, and took nine ships, and put the others to flight; and the heathen men, for the first time, remained over winter in Thanet. And the same year came three hundred and fifty ships to the mouth of the Thames, and the crews landed, and took Canterbury and London by storm, and put to flight Berhtwulf, King of the Mercians, with his army, and then went south over the Thames into Surrey; and there King Ethelwulf and his son Ethelbald, with the army of the West Saxons, fought against them at Ockley, and made the greatest slaughter among the heathen army that we have heard reported to the present day, and got the victory. A.D. 855. This year the heathen men, for the first time, remained over winter in Sheppey; and the same year King Ethelwulf gave by charter the tenth part of his land throughout his realm for the glory of God and his own eternal salvation. And the same year he went to Rome in great state, and dwelt there twelve months, and then returned homewards. And then Charles, king of the Franks, gave him his daughter to wife; and after that he came to his people, and they were glad of it. And about two years after he came from France he died, and his body lies at Winchester. Then Ethelwulf's two sons succeeded to the kingdom; Ethelbald succeeded to the kingdom of the West Saxons; and Ethelbert to the kingdom of the Kentishmen, and to the kingdom of the East Saxons, and to Surrey, and to the kingdom of the South Saxons; and then Ethelbald reigned five years. Alfred, his third son, he had sent to Rome; and when Pope Leo heard say that Ethelwulf was dead, he consecrated Alfred king, and held him as his spiritual son at confirmation, even as his father Ethelwulf had requested on sending him thither. of Mercia advise the the Danes A.D. 868. This year the army went into Mercia to Notting- The witan ham, and there took up their winter quarters. And Burhred, king of the Mercians, and his witan begged of Ethelred, king of the king to seek West Saxons, and of Alfred his brother that they would help help against them, that they might fight against the army. And then they went with the West Saxon power into Mercia as far as Nottingham, and there they met with the army within the fortress, and besieged them therein but there was no great battle, and the Mercians made peace with the army. A.D. 871. This year the army came to Reading in Wessex; and three days after this, two of their earls rode forth. Then Ethelwulf the ealdorman met them at Englefield, and there fought against them, and got the victory; and there one of them, whose name was Sidrac, was slain. About three days after this, King Ethelred and Alfred his brother led a large force to Reading, and fought against the army, and there was great slaughter made on either hand. And Ethelwulf the ealdorman was slain, and the Danish men had possession of the battlefield. And about four days after this, King Ethelred and Alfred his brother fought against the whole army at Ashdown. And they were in two bodies in the one were Bagsac and Halfdene, the heathen kings, and in the other were the earls. And then King Ethelred fought against the division under the kings, and there King Bagsac was slain; and Alfred his brother against the division under the earls, and there Earl A year of battles between the and the Danes Sidrac the elder was slain, Earl Sidrac the younger, and Earl and And about fourteen days after this, King Ethelred and Alfred his brother fought against the army at Basing, and West Saxons there the Danes obtained the victory. And about two months after this, King Ethelred and Alfred his brother fought against the army at Marden; and they were in two bodies, and they put both to flight, and during a great part of the day were victorious; and there was great slaughter on either hand; but the Danes had possession of the battlefield; and there Bishop Heahmund was slain, and many good men. And after this battle there came a great army in the summer to Reading. And Accession of after this, over Easter, King Ethelred died; and he reigned five years and his body lies at Winburnminster. Then Alfred the son of Ethelwulf, his brother, succeeded to the kingdom of the West Saxons. Alfred the Great And about one month after this, King Alfred with a small band fought against the whole army at Wilton, and put them to flight for a good part of the day; but the Danes had possession of the battlefield. And this year nine general battles were fought against the army in the kingdom south of the Thames, besides which, Alfred the king's brother, and single ealdormen, and king's thanes oftentimes made incursions on them, which were not counted; and within the year nine earls and one king were slain. And that year the West Saxons made peace with the army. A.D. 880. This year the army went from Cirencester to East Anglia, and settled in the land, and apportioned it. And that same year the army, which previously had sat down at Fulham, went over sea to Ghent in France, and besieged it one year. A.D. 882. This year the army went up along the banks of the Meuse far into France, and there stayed one year. And that same year King Alfred went out to sea with his ships, and fought against the forces of four ships of Danish men, and took two of the ships, and the men were slain that were in them; and the forces of two ships surrendered to him, and they were sorely distressed and wounded before they surrendered to him. II. ALFRED AND HIS TIMES It was as leader in these struggles with the Danes that King Alfred obtained his principal fame, although he had many other interests and ambitions. We possess a life of Alfred, from his earliest childhood, written by Asser, a Welsh bishop, whom the king invited to his court in 884 and appointed bishop of Sherborne. This work, as we have it, has been suspected of being in whole or in part a forgery, but the most careful scholars now believe that the greater part of it is genuine. I think it right in this place to briefly relate as much as has 40. Extracts come to my knowledge about the character of my revered lord from Asser's Life of Alfred, king of the Anglo-Saxons, during the years that he was Alfred (894) an infant and a boy. He was loved by his father and mother, and even by all the people, above all his brothers, and was educated altogether at the court of the king. As he advanced through the years of infancy and youth, his form appeared more comely than that of his brothers; in look, in speech, and in manners he was more graceful than they. His noble nature implanted in him from the cradle a love of wisdom above all things; but with shame be it spoken! by the unworthy neglect of his parents and nurses he remained illiterate even till he was twelve years old or more; but he listened with serious attention to the Saxon poems which he often heard recited, and easily retained them in his docile memory. He was a zealous practicer of hunting in all its branches, and hunted with great assiduity and success; for skill and good fortune in this art, as in all others, are among the gifts of God, as we also have often witnessed. On a certain day, therefore, his mother was showing him and his brothers a Saxon book of poetry, which she held in her hand, |