43. Battle of Brunanburk The translation is by Tennyson. Although it does not follow the rhythm of the original, it gives the spirit of the old Anglo-Saxon poem with great success. I Aethelstan, king, He with his brother, Edmund Etheling, Slew with the sword-edge Brake the shield-wall, Hewed the lindenwood, Hacked the battleshield, Sons of Edward with hammered brands. II Theirs was a greatness Theirs that so often in Strife with their enemies Struck for their hoards and their hearths and their homes. III Bowed the spoiler, Fell the shipcrews Doomed to the death. All the field with blood of the fighters Flowed, from when first the great Sun-star of morningtide, Lamp of the Lord God, Lord everlasting, Glowed over earth, till the glorious creature IV There lay many a man Men of the Northland There was the Scotsman Weary of war. V We the West-Saxons, Lasted, in companies Troubled the track of the host that we hated, Grimly with swords that were sharp from the grindstone, Fiercely we hacked at the flyers before us. XIII Also the brethren, King and Etheling, Each in his glory, Went to his own in his own West-Saxonland, XIV Many a carcase they left to be carrion, Left for the white-tailed eagle to tear it, and XV Never had huger Slain by the sword-edge Such as old writers Have writ of in histories III. THE POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF ENGLAND It will be noticed in the extracts from the Chronicle that the defense against the Danes was often carried out by the ealdorman and men of some particular shire. The shire was the most important subdivision of the kingdom. The semiannual meeting of the greater men of the shire in a shire court for purposes of judicial and other action is referred to in various sections of the laws and records. The following record was placed in a blank leaf in a Bible. shire moot (ab. 1000) from the Here is made known in this writing that a shire moot sat 44. A meetat Ægelnoth's stone, in the days of King Cnut. There sat ing of a Æthelstan, bishop, and Ranig, ealdorman, and Edwin, the ealdorman's son, and Leofwine, Wulfsige's son, and Thurkil White; and Tofig Prud came there on the king's errand; and Byrning, shire reeve, and Ægelweard of Frome, and Leofwine of Frome, and Godric of Stoke, and all the thanes in Herefordshire were there. Then came traveling there to the moot Edwin, Eanwen's son, and there raised a claim against his own mother to a portion of land, namely, at Wellington and Coadley. Then asked the bishop who would answer for his mother. Then answered Thurkil White and said that he would, if he Three mesknew the claim. Since he did not know the claim, they deputed sengers sent three thanes from the moot to where she was, which was at shire moot to Fawley. These were Leofwine of Frome, and Ægelsig the Red, the lady who and Winsige Scægthman. And when they came to her they asked what claim she had to the lands for which her son was suing. Then said she that she had no land that in any way belonged to him, and was bitterly angry with her son. Then she called to her Leoflæd, her kinswoman, Thurkil's wife, and spoke to her as follows, before them all: "Here sits Leoflæd, my kinswoman, to whom I give not only my land, but my gold, and garments, and robes, and all that I own, after my day." And she then said to the thanes: "Do thanelike and well; announce my errand to the moot before all the good men, and tell them to whom I have given my land and all my property; and to my own son never anything, and bid them be witnesses of this." And they then did so, rode to the moot, and declared to all the good men what she had laid upon them. Then Thurkil White stood up in the moot and prayed all the thanes owned the land 45. Ordinance of King Edgar for the hundred moot to make a clear grant to his wife of the lands which her kinswoman had given her, and they did so, and Thurkil then rode to St. Æthelbert's monastery, with the leave and witness of ali the folk, and caused it to be set in a Christ's book. More frequent meetings were held of the principal men of the hundred, a subdivision of the shire. In these hundred courts most of the judicial business of the people was carried on, the customary law being enforced and ordeals being ordered or carried out. Courts or moots were also held in the boroughs. This is the ordinance how the hundred shall be held. 1. That they meet always within four weeks: and that every man do justice to another. 2. That a thief shall be pursued. . . . If there be immediate need, let it be made known to the hundredman, and let him inform the tithingman; and let all go forth to where God may direct them to go: let them do justice on the thief, as it was formerly the enactment of Edmund. And let the money value be paid to him who owns the cattle, and the rest be divided into two; half to the hundred, half to the lord, excepting men; and let the lord take possession of the men. ... 5. We have also ordained, if the hundred pursue a trail into another hundred, that notice be given to the hundredman, and that he go with them. If he neglect this, let him pay thirty shillings to the king. . . 7. In the hundred, as in any other court, we ordain that folk-right be pronounced in every suit, and that a term be fixed when it shall be fulfilled. And he who shall break that term, unless it be by his lord's decree, let him make compensation with thirty shillings, and on the day fixed fulfill that which he ought to have done before. . . . 9. Let the iron that is for the threefold ordeal weigh three pounds; and for the single, one pound. And let the hundred court be attended as it was before fixed; and three times in the year let a borough court be held; |