when we have described the form and symbolism of the alfred jewel, and reviewed the various interpretations which it has evoked, and when we have moreover analyzed its design and considered each several feature, we have not as yet exhausted the matter of our theme. an important part of the problem remains to be discussed, and that is the place of its discovery, the how and the why of its deposit there, and the possibility of light to be derived from the historical associations of the locality. it was found near the isle of athelney. this looks like a piece of circumstantial evidence tending to identify the alfred named in the93 epigraph, and to associate the jewel with the chief and central episode in the career of our national hero. the momentous crisis which is thus reflected in the jewel seems to open a wider view, and to demand some enlargement of this essay, so as to embrace a glimpse of that eventful story.
the isle of athelney.
of all this we now, after the lapse of a thousand years, speak as men who know the sequel, and (because we do know the sequel) it is the harder for us to appreciate the intensity of that crisis. we are helped by the occurrence of an opportune discovery. just when our nation was beginning to be ripe for historical reflection and capable of entering into the struggles of our remote forefathers, there was ‘dug up’ in the locality where alfred took refuge in the year 878, a personal ornament bearing his name in impressive characters. it is to us now as if the king himself had but recently passed that way under such stress of circumstances as constrained him to hide his royal insignia, and as if we somehow by this chance were brought nearer to the burden of his lot, and were made sharers not only in the 94 fruits of his triumph, but also in the toil and the joy of his achievement.
by the sudden surprize with which the danes had broken the peace and come upon him at chippenham in the dead of winter, they had almost fulfilled their design and taken him captive. but he had fled, and they had wessex at will, and were proceeding to divide and occupy the land. the king, with a few companions, had escaped into selwood, and thence by wood and by fen, like hunted creatures, they eluded pursuit, but were never secure until they had passed beyond pedrida.
what were his reflections on finding himself suddenly an outcast in the winter, a fugitive in the wild? he had experienced hair-breadth escapes, but none like this! he had trusted guthrum’s oath, had thought him in earnest this time! and even now he was loth to charge this last perfidy upon him. no! this trick was not his, it came from those buccaneers in the severn sea. mad at the defeat of last summer’s combined scheme, which they had come from far north to support, they had forced guthrum’s95 hand, and compelled him to join them in this winter raid. and they would not stop there! finding that he had given them the slip, they would certainly be down upon some part of the coast of somerset or of devon, and preparations must be made to receive them. odda will surely be stirring: he is safe to be on the alert! i must find out what he is doing, and we must work on a plan; he in devon, and i in somerset!
it was now twelve years since he had come to the front, and had taken his stand by the side of his brother ?thered. the moment when he had begun to share in public affairs had coincided with a great change in the situation. that was the time when the invaders acquired a footing in east anglia: they made there a centre of operations from which they went out and to which they came in—it had become the head quarters of an invading host which manifested a settled design of conquest. previously the incursions of the northmen had been desultory, but from that time they had become methodical. this change had coincided with the death of ?thelbriht in 866, and the accession of ?thered. 96 in the following year had died alhstan, that vigilant patriot, the old warlike bishop of sherborne.
?thered and i were the two youngest of the family, and our relations had been peculiarly close. before we were united by public cares, we had been partners in our private concerns. our several estates had been kept in one and worked in common, under agreed conditions, so that they had remained undivided. our names had been coupled together by the common voice of the nation. the style was ever thus:—?tered cyning and ?lfred his brotur.
oh what a fearful time it was for angelcynn, that five years of ?thered’s reign! northumbria, that old imperial kingdom, was crushed; mercia reduced to make a peace with the heathen, which was the best we could effect by marching in force to nottingham to support burgred and ?thelswith! and, worst of all, the east angles defeated in battle, the good king edmund slain (he fought like a hero, and died like a martyr); the land conquered, possessed, and turned from an anglian into a danish kingdom!
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it was our turn next. all was at length ripe for the subjugation of wessex, and on this aim they brought all their strength to bear. we made a gallant stand at ashdown against overwhelming odds; we slew their kings and jarls, and made their practised braves fly before the rustic militia of ecgberht. eight pitched battles in that year, besides smaller fights without number. but ?thered died at easter. rightly the people revere him as a saint. so i was left to continue the struggle single-handed.
since then they have established themselves in the possession of london, and they have banished burgred and set up for king in mercia a tool of their own; also halfdan has abolished the kingdom of northumbria and partitioned the land. and amidst all this, what a destruction of religious houses, seats of piety and learning and education—lindisfarne, wearmouth, jarrow, york, ripon, bardney, ely, crowland, medeshamstead, and many others.
they have destroyed the powers of northumbria and mercia; but there they had a point in their favour which is against them here. the welsh at the back of those nations were98 always ready to co-operate with the invader, but that is not so here in the west. the cornish have never made common cause with the heathen since the battle of hingston down, in which that coalition was quashed by ecgberht. and we have a still better guarantee in the constant policy of wessex ever since the days of ina and aldhelm. the territorial quarrel was then appeased, and the religious difference too. the west welsh were conquered, but they were never wantonly humiliated, no man was ejected from his own. they appreciated the respect and even honour that was shown to their favourite church of glastonbury. therefore i have good hope of the support of the men of somerset.
true, we have to count upon the hostility of the welsh on the opposite shore of the severn sea, where the danish fleets find harbour and all friendly countenance. still, that is not quite the same thing as having an active enemy behind your back upon the same stretch of territory. here in this west country the people differ only in degrees of allegiance, none are actively hostile. this is the weak point in the position of the invaders. this is the one little99 bit of advantage that still remains to us. i must improve it to the utmost!
but first of all we must provide against a sudden descent on the coast. for the last two years events have succeeded one another at a quickened pace: surprize on surprize! there, under the opposite coast, lies a heathen fleet, ready to be down upon us without notice! the coast-wardens must be kept up to the mark, and i not to be seen in it!
the mobility of these troopers defies calculation! how unexpected and startling was that occupation of wareham last autumn! how daringly defiant of gods and men that breach of their most sacred oath! when by that perjury they had lulled our mistrust, they made a sudden rush for exeter! perfidy is part of their tactics. how wonderful, how divinely providential, that storm off swanage, which wrecked the perfidious plan! and now, not to be baulked, they pounce upon chippenham in time of truce and in mid-winter, thinking to capture me! how great in war is the unexpected! without perfidy, i too must learn to meditate surprize; i must contrive how to100 distract their calculations, and strike where least expected.
with some such a strain of thought as this (if i have followed him aright) now ruminated the undaunted king, in whom thought was the spring of action. moreover, he reasoned thus with himself: ‘so long as winter lasts, they cannot follow me with the host by the way that i have come, but if they learn my whereabouts, they may easily find adventurers who would undertake to kill me. wherefore i must not make myself too freely known, but proceed cautiously, and make proof of men before i trust myself to them. to most i must appear like some mounted yeoman hunter who follows the high deer that abound in the forests about these hills. and as for this sacred toy, this personal enigma, this jewel of ceremony, which many eyes have beheld, i must no longer carry it about me, lest peradventure it make me known unawares. i will bury it in some convenient spot!’
the western boundary of wessex had for centuries been the great wood of which the101 ancient name still survives as a specific element in the historic designation of frome selwood.
this great wood was also called wealwudu, a very natural and appropriate name, because it had long been the barrier between the saxon and the welsh populations. here lies the most fitting scene for the story of denewulf. in the time when the king was a fugitive, he found this man keeping swine in the forest, and he discovered in him a great natural capacity and aptness for good, and after his return to power he educated denewulf, and made him bishop of winchester. this story does not run on all fours, because according to the best authorities denewulf became bishop of winchester in 879, and if he was keeping swine in 878, being already of mature age, it smacks rather of hagiology than of history. but it may be that the marvel has been enhanced in transmission; or if we choose the lowest estimate and call it mere fiction, still it is worth while observing what manner of stories were invented about king alfred.
behind this barrier the danes had never been102 able to get a footing. as if aware how greatly this was needed for the success of their designs upon wessex, they had made several attempts. two great efforts which imply this aim were made at the end of the reign of ecgberht. the force of thirty-five ships which that king repelled at charmouth, on the coast of dorset, seems to indicate something more than merely a plundering incursion.
in 835, a great naval armament (micel sciphere) came to the cornish coast and were joined by the west welsh, and they gathered in force at hingston down, where they probably intended to fortify themselves; when ecgberht appeared with an army, and dispersed them.
the next recorded attempt of the kind was in the year 845, in the reign of ?thelwulf, when the wicengas entered the mouth of the parret, and were met by the posse comitatus of the two shires, somerset and dorset, under their two ealdormen, and alhstan the warlike bishop of sherborne.
only in the very last year (877) their land-force had, by a perfidious surprize, seized exeter,103 acting in concert with a fleet of one hundred and twenty ships, which were to sail up the exe and co-operate with them—but they were wrecked in a storm off swanage [30]. this disaster, combined with the promptitude of the king in assault, had compelled them to capitulate, and had dislodged them from exeter.
of the same nature and motive was the attempt of this spring on the coast of devon at a place which asser calls cynwit, with a force of twenty-three ships, which were wintering on the opposite coast of the severn sea. the repulse was complete and the blow decisive, but the name of the english leader is not given by the contemporary annalist. a hundred and twenty years later, ethelwerd calls him odda the ealdorman of devonshire. the reticence of the chronicle suggests that this achievement was conducted by alfred while he was keeping 104in the background, lest the place of his retreat should become known.
gradually and by the spontaneous action of natural causes, the western barrier of the saxon was moved from the line of selwood to the fenland of pedrida. this barrier was deeper bedded in the soil, was harder to pass, and has left behind it memories more indelible. the first explicit notice of this virtual transfer of the western boundary meets us seventeen years later than the epoch with which we are now engaged, and it may be worth while to go so far out of our way in order the better to realize the import of pedrida.
in the last decade of alfred’s reign, when he was in the agony of that supreme crisis which tested the value of his institutions, a great muster of force was called for, and the extent of the contributing area is sketched by the annalist as matter of amazement. ‘there gathered ?thered aldorman and ?thelm aldorman and ?thelnoth aldorman, and the king’s thanes who were then at home in the fortifications, from every garrison east of pedrida105 (whether west of selwood or east), likewise also north of thames and west of severn:—moreover some part of the welsh nation[31].’
here we mark the startling novelty that the welsh in 894 are seen aiding the saxon against the dane; and we can hardly forgo a passing cry of wonder and pleasure at this signal token of the imperial success of alfred’s policy. but our present concern is with the recognition of pedrida as the westernmost limit of wessex proper instead of selwood, and the implication that the change was recent. we see that selwoodshire (as the intervening district was popularly called) was by 894 quite assimilated and included in the military administration of wessex, but that beyond pedrida some other rule was operative at that time. such a fact reflects back an illustrative light upon the year 878, and helps us to estimate the situation of alfred when he was in somerset beyond pedrida.
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the political division here indicated has left traces which may still be recognized, particularly in the dialect and in folk-lore. of the dialect we have a remarkable monument in mr. elworthy’s works, the dialect of west somerset, and his west somerset word-book. especially to be noted is the ‘u’ of the west country, which is radically one with the welsh ‘u’ and with the french ‘u,’ while at the same time it has a very distinct local character of its own. every englishman who is conversant with the french language knows how hard it is to acquire the utterance of the french ‘u’ after the age of infancy. a like strangeness is experienced by english people born east of pedrida, when they attempt to reproduce the western ‘u.’ in fact, this vowel-sound is keltic; it is a legacy from our british predecessors.
not that this british ‘u’ is absolutely confined to the western promontory: it may be occasionally heard in other parts of the country by a cultivated and observant ear. mr. mayhew once told me that he had heard it in the corn market at oxford. but though not confined to the lands west of pedrida, it is in a peculiar107 manner concentrated there. it is chiefly in devonshire that this peculiar vowel has wakened wider attention, but this is simply because that county has been the most frequented as a place of holiday resort.
the so-called devonian ‘u’ and its contiguous sounds have been described many times from first to last, but it has been mostly in that perfunctory vein which contents the summer tourist. it is rare to catch such a plain and solid illustration as the following, which is quoted from the preface to mr. elworthy’s west somerset word-book:—‘i was a passive listener at brandon’s while a bonnet was being discussed, and when making the payment ventured to remark to the young lady, “you must have been a long time in london.” “oh yes, ten years; but why do you ask?” “only for information,” said i. “and did you come straight from teignmouth?” with much surprise at my supposing she came from devonshire, she said at length that she was a native of newton abbott. i could not pretend to define the precise quality of her two, but it was only in that one word that i recognized her locality.’
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if the vocabulary of this dialect were minutely examined by a competent welsh scholar, some british words might be detected. among those which would deserve early attention are plum (soft, as a bed), pilm or pillum (dust), welt (to beat, thrash).
another local characteristic of the west welsh promontory is this, that it is the peculiar haunt of a race of whimsical or mischievous sprites called piskies or pixies. in south devon and cornwall any one whose conduct is strange and unaccountable is said to be pisky-led. this is a branch of the numerous kindred of that versatile puck, whose memory is kept fresh by the midsummer night’s dream. in an anglo-saxon perambulation of land at weston by bath, we meet with a pucan wyl, puck’s well[32]. the english dialect dictionary preserves the name of aw-puck for will-o’-the-wisp or ignis fatuus, a compound which imports that he is the most dangerous of the species. this name was current in worcestershire, but is now obsolete [33].
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these are the more obvious extant traces of the long isolation of the trans-pedridan world: others there are which have attracted inquiry, such as peculiar customs, implements, songs and song-tunes, which latter have been investigated by dr. bussell and the rev. s. baring-gould.
the somerset to which alfred retired was widely unlike the somerset of to-day. in this respect three points may be taken: (1) differences in the distribution of land and water; (2) differences in the trees and woods and game; (3) differences in the political aspect of the population.
1. west somerset was separated from east somerset by wide inland waters: the beds of the brue and parret were lakes in the winter, and only passable in summer to those who knew the ground. pedrida was regarded as a natural limit, like the sea itself, dividing nations; it was spoken of in like phraseology. thus we read in 658 how cenwalh warred against the 110 welsh and drave them even unto pedrida[34]; and, in 682, how centwine drave the bret-welsh even unto the sea[35].
the cause of that expanse of water and large area of fenland happened far back beyond historical chronology, and we can only date it by using the geological method of reckoning time. far back in the sub-glacial era a subsidence of the land took place which affected the coast of somerset and north devon. proof of this is found in a submarine forest extending along the south coast of the severn sea, which has long been known. ‘that portion of it visible at porlock was described in 1839 by sir henry de la beche, and more recently by mr. godwin austen in an essay read before the geological society in 1865[36].’
subsequently the rev. h. h. winwood and professor boyd dawkins verified the discovery by a thorough examination of the forest-bed. 111 near minehead the forest consists of oak, ash, alder, and hazel, which grew on a blue clay. an ancient growth of oak, ash, and yew is found everywhere underneath the peat or alluvium in the somersetshire levels. throughout this wide area the trees were destroyed by the growth of peat, or by the deposits of the floods, except at a few isolated spots, which stand at a higher level than usual, in the great flat extending between the polden hills and the quantocks. one of these oases, a little distance to the west of middlezoy, is termed the oaks, because those trees form a marked contrast to the prevailing elms and willows of the district. in the neighbouring ditches, that gradually cut into peat, and then into silt, prostrate oaks are very abundant[37].
subsidence of the land at a remote geological period was the cause of the impassable state of these levels in the time of king alfred, and the modern system of drainage which was carried out at a later date has been the cause of the improved condition which we see now, and 112 which has made the vale of taunton dean proverbial as the garden of england.
2. in alfred’s time the eye was greeted by a variety of trees which are not observable now. the elm predominates all over the plain. i asked the occupier of athelney farm about the trees on his land, and he said there was hardly anything but elm. of other kinds he had only two ash-trees and one beech; ‘but (he added) we find bog-oak in the moors, and it makes good gate-posts.’ the elms have driven out both oak and ash, and whatever other sorts they touched in their ‘wrastling’ progress. these sombre grenadiers dress up their lines so close as to leave little room for other trees. they suck the fruitful soil more than any other tree, and they repay their costly nurture with timber of inferior value. introduced by the romans to serve as stakes and props in the culture of the vine, they have overrun the land like the imported rabbits in some of our colonies. in alfred’s day these hungry aliens had not yet usurped the field, and there was still room for the display of the rich variety of nature—oak, ash, beech, fir, maple, yew, sycamore, hornbeam,113 holly, poplar, aspen, alder, hazel, wych-elm, apple, cherry, juniper, elder, willow, mountain ash, spindle-tree, buckthorn, hawthorn, wild plum, wild pear, service-tree, &c. but now, the fair places of the field are encumbered by the tall cousins of the nettle, and the most diversified of english counties is muffled with a monotonous shroud of outlandish and weedy growth.
in the animal world, likewise, the lapse of a thousand years has brought change. in the pastures the most frequent animal is the cow, and only on rare occasions, as we view the moors from some elevated ‘tump,’ have we the chance to see a little company of antlered deer careering over the open plain, clearing the rhines with an airy bound. in alfred’s time too, cow-keeping was a stock industry, and we read of the king as entertained incognito by one of his own cowherds (apud quendam suum vaccarium).
but the proportion of wild to domesticated animals was far greater then than it is now. the whole stretch of country from pedrida to the end of exmoor, fifty miles long and twenty miles wide, was then almost a continuous forest, abounding with game of all kinds, but 114 especially with red deer, which still continues, though in diminished numbers. this noble creature is thus described by bewick:—
‘the stag or red deer. this is the most beautiful animal of the deer kind. the elegance of his form, the lightness of his motions, the flexibility of his limbs, his bold, branching horns, which are annually renewed, his grandeur, strength, and swiftness, give him a decided pre-eminence over every other inhabitant of the forest[38].’
the red deer still lives and breeds along the southern coast of the severn sea, and this is i believe the only part of great britain in which this right royal animal still ranges at large in all the freedom of nature. i am informed by my friend mr. townshend that in ireland they are kept as an ornament in some gentlemen’s parks, but that in a free state of nature they survive only in the mountains of killarney.
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here it will be useful to read leland’s notes of travel across the lowlands of somerset, especially as they touch some places with which we are concerned. (i quote from the proceedings of the somersetshire arch?ological and natural history society, no. xxxiii, ‘leland in somersetshire, 1540–1542.’)
‘thens to cury-malet a 3. miles, wher is a parke longging to chambernoun of devonshire.
i left this parke a litle on the lift hand, and sone after cam over a great brook, that resith west south west, and rennith east north east into ivel a 2. miles above michelborow by estimation.
(here i cam from the hilly ground to the low and marschy ground of somerseteshir.)
thens to north cury stille by low ground aboute a 2. miles or more. the chirch of welles hath fair landes here.
and hereabout is stoke gregory, wher the chirch of welles hath possessions.
thens about a mile to the ripe of thone ryver, by the which i passed by the space of half a mile, and then i went over thone by a wood bridge.
athelney lyith half a mile lower on thon, and ther is a bridge of wood to entre thabbay[39], and beneth that almost at the very confluence of thone and ivel is another wood bridge over thone.
thonetoun alias tawntoun is a 5. miles by south west from athelney.
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ther is a great bridge on thone at basford a mile lower then thonetoun.
from this bridge by athelney i rode by a low marsch ground a 2. miles to pedertun park.
here at pederton the soyle westward and south west rysith agayn and ys not fenny.
there ys a great numbre of dere longging to this park, yet hath it almost no other enclosure but dikes to let the catelle of the commune to cum yn.
the dere trippe over these dikes and feede al about the fennes, and resort to the park agayn. there is a praty lodge moted yn the parke.
there cummith a praty broke thorough the park, and half a mile beneth the park it goith ynto ivel.
this brooke is caullid peder, and risith west south west yn the hylles aboute a 2. myles of. first it cummith by noth pedreton, a praty uplandisch toun, wher is a fair chirch, the personage whereof was impropriate to mynchin bocland.
then it touchith on south pederton, in the which paroch the parke standith, and so to the ryver of ivel.
from the lodge in pederton parke to northpedertun a mile.
from northpedertun to bridgewater 2. miles. the way or i cam ynto bridgwater was caused with stone more then half a myle.’
here we may observe that leland appears to know of no river parret; to him it was ‘ivel.’ it would be curious to learn when and how a minor tributary gave its name of parret to the117 lower waters of the ivel. it may be surmised that pedrida was never the name of a river, but of a belt of country, and that it may have meant ‘the passage or ford of the peder,’ leland’s ‘praty broke.’ the name seems to contain the welsh rhyd, a ford. at first it may have denoted the ford of the peder, and then by natural extension it may have come to designate the whole fenland of the lower ivel.
3. racial differences were still seen and felt. the west welsh had been conquered, and were now living in peaceful subjection, and forming an outlying part of the kingdom of wessex; but still they were imperfectly assimilated.
the old internecine quarrel between the races had in this western land been hushed and calmed; and on no other border were the british living and mingling with their conquerors on such amicable terms. there was a very great difference between the disposition of the west welsh towards the saxon and that of the ‘north welsh’ on the opposite coast of the severn sea.
these pacific relations were not of recent date; they appear as a deliberate policy in the reign of ina before the end of the seventh118 century, and even earlier indications of this tendency may be gleaned which carry us back two hundred years behind the reign of alfred.
when in 665, wina[40], bishop of winchester, consecrated ceadda (st. chad), he had with him two british bishops as his assistants. these two bishops must have belonged to the west welsh. further, there is reason to believe that ceadwalla, though descended from cerdic, and king of wessex, was half a briton. again: the legendary tales about ina’s legislation which are embodied in the so-called laws of edward the confessor, however unhistorical, have possibly a traditional value as characterizing the attitude of wessex towards her british subjects in the seventh and eighth centuries. in this apocryphal text it is said that by ina’s enactment ‘the british were declared politically equal with the english, and that as he himself had set the example of a welsh marriage, so he would that connubium between the two races should 119be legally recognized.’ these are distorted reminiscences of the historical fact that ina maintained a conciliatory policy towards the conquered british, and in this course he was well supported or perhaps guided by aldhelm, abbot of malmesbury, who in 704 was requested by a synod to write a letter to gerontius (geraint), king of damnonia, and exhort him and his people to conformity with catholic usage in the time of keeping the easter festival. the letter was sent, and it is still extant. it is addressed, in respectful and courteous language—‘to the most glorious prince, swaying the sceptre of the western realm, whom i, the searcher of the heart is my witness, do embrace with brotherly charity—to king geraint and to all god’s priests dwelling in damnonia, aldhelm, &c.[41]’
and when, shortly afterwards, h?dde, bishop of winchester, died, and the moment had arrived for the long-contemplated division of the vast 120diocese of wessex, aldhelm became bishop ‘to the west of the wood,’ over a province which (as ethelwerd tells us) was commonly called selwoodshire. aldhelm died in 709 upon one of his episcopal journeys, at the village of doulting on the western brow of mendip, between wells and frome. his memory has been locally revived in the present century by the discovery of a small saxon church in bradford-on-avon, which has been identified by competent judges with the ecclesiola which william of malmesbury says that aldhelm built in that place. to him was probably due the preservation of the british monastery at glastonbury and its endowment by king ina.
that spot was dear to the british patriot as the mysterious sojourn of their hero, who in due time was to return and revive the ancient glory of the british name. the extant books in which this legend is recorded are later than the time of alfred, but the romance itself is of the sixth century. our oldest english form of it is of about a.d. 1200.
121 the passing of arthur
(from la?amon’s brut, line 28,582.)
arthur wes forwunded
arthur was wounded
wunderliche swithe.
very dangerously.
ther to him com a cnaue,
there to him came a youth
the wes of his cunne;
who was of his kin;
he wes cadores sune,
he was son of cador,
the eorles of cornwaile.
the earl of cornwall.
constantin hehte the cnaue;
constantine hight the youth;
he wes than kinge deore.
to the king he was dear.
arthur him lokede on,
arthur looked upon him,
ther he lai on folden,
where he lay on the ground,
and thas word seide,
and these words said,
mid sorhfulle heorte:
with sorrowful heart:
constantin thu art wilcume,
constantine thou art welcome,
thu weore cadores sune;
thou wert cador’s son;
ich the bitache here,
i here commit to thee,
mine kineriche:
my kingdom:
* * *
* * *
and ich wulle uaren to aualun,
and i will fare to avalon,
to uairest alre maidene;
to the fairest of all maidens;
to argante there quene,
to argante the queen,
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aluen swithe sceone:
elf exceeding sheen;
and heo scal mine wunden
and she shall my wounds
makien alle isunde;
make all sound;
al hal me makien,
all whole me make,
mid halewei?e drenchen.
with healing drinks.
and seothe ich cumen wulle
and sith return i will
to mine kineriche:
to my kingdom:
and wunien mid brutten,
and dwell with britons,
mid muchelere wunne.
with much delight.
?fne than worden,
even with these words,
ther com of se wenden,
lo came from sea wending,
that wes an sceort bat lithen,
that was a short boat sailing,
sceouen mid vthen:
driving with the waves:
and twa wimmen therinne,
and two women therein,
wunderliche idihte:
of wondrous aspect:
and heo nomen arthur anan,
and they took arthur anon,
and aneouste hine uereden,
and straight him bore away,
and softe hine adun leiden,
and softly down him laid,
and forth gunnen hine lithen.
and forth with him to sea
they gan to move away.
tha wes hit iwurthen,
then was it come to pass,
that merlin seide whilen:
what merlin said whilome:
that weore unimete care,
that there should be much curious care
123
of arthures forth fare.
when arthur out of life should fare.
bruttes ileueth ?ete,
britons believe yet,
that he beo on liue,
that he be alive,
and wunnie in aualun,
and dwelling in avalon,
mid fairest alre aluen:
with the fairest of all elves;
and lokieth euere bruttes ?ete,
still look the britons for the day
whan arthur cume lithen.
of arthur’s coming o’er the sea.
all this history was known to alfred and went to swell the stream of his meditations, which tended to assure him that he had a fresh and promising field before him, and to mature in him the purpose of exerting himself to win the hearty attachment of this well-affected but still half alien population.
between twelfth day and easter day of the year 878 there were barely eleven weeks, for easter fell early that year, namely on march 23. of alfred’s doings in that interval we have no information, except in so far as it seems to be indicated that the affair of cynwit was not conducted without his intervention. and we may add the traditional story of the cakes,124 a story which probably dates from alfred’s day, as we have reasonably good evidence that it was current in the tenth century. nor may we omit his espial of the danish camp in minstrel guise, a legend which, though not found in early authorities, yet does claim some credit from the book in which it is narrated, namely the book of hyde—a book in which we might expect to find some early traditions of new minster, one of king alfred’s foundations.
but while we desire to make the most of these items, it must be admitted that they constitute an inadequate furniture for eleven weeks of alfred’s time in the most intense crisis of his life. at any other point in alfred’s career, the silence of so many weeks might not provoke remark, but at this moment it makes a sensible void. if, however, we rightly apprehend the situation of the fugitive king, his hopes and his fears, his aims and his resources, we may (in the light of the great result) indulge a sober imagination without fear of considerable error.
among the pieces of genuine tradition which seem to greet the explorer in asser’s life, there125 is perhaps none on which we may more confidently lean than a certain fragment in the paragraph beginning ‘interea tamen rex[42].’
the drift of this context is that with all his wars and frequent interruptions, alfred ruled his kingdom, and ‘practised every branch of the craft of venery; directed his goldsmiths and all his artificers; did moreover instruct the falconers and hawk-catchers and dog-trainers; and by his own novel engineering constructed buildings beyond all former wont, statelier and more costly; had saxon books read to him, and commanded others to learn saxon poems by heart, &c.’
in this passage i seem to recognize a true historic note; and i think that in this picture of the range of his powers, and the roll of his accomplishments, his vast activity and versatility, we have some genuine reminiscences of the personality of alfred. in the emphasis here laid on hunting, we may recognize the king who, some years later, sent a present of wolfhounds to the archbishop of rheims, and such 126dogs, too, that their quality and breed was accentuated by the receiver in his grateful acknowledgement[43]. and when to this we add that he could make and sing a song, could tell a good tale, could make choice of men and win their confidence, we need little aid from imagination to perceive how this mysterious visitor might captivate the british hearts of all somerset like one man, and perhaps set them wondering whether it could be their own ideal king arthur come back to them again.
during nearly three months of that eventful year his aim was to cultivate closer relations with the people of that outlying territory, desiring that they might become attached to him with sentiments of loyalty and friendship. to devote himself to this undertaking was at once his duty, his interest, and his delight. for such an achievement as this he had advantages both natural and acquired. apart from war, there is nothing like hunting for making comrades, if a man have a genial soul and be 127himself a mighty hunter. alfred was a mighty hunter and a genial soul, and close at hand there was one of the finest hunting-grounds in the world.
immediately from the pedridan swamp the ground began to rise to north and north-west towards a run of hilly and woodland country forty miles long, and from ten to twenty miles broad; a country which remains singular to this day for its natural breed of red deer and its chase of the great game. this royal sport survives on exmoor and in the quantocks, and there are minehead people who can tell you that they have seen the stag-hunt scamper through their main street in full cry.
at the entrance of this country, at a point which is conveniently situated for uniting activity inland with a constant observation of the line of pedrida, is a village which is now called north newton, with which petherton park had been so long and closely linked that it went by the popular name of newton park. i am led by a number of small indications to infer that this is the place where alfred had his chief residence during those early months of the year 878.
128
when easter came, his action began to be overt; he dropped personal disguise, and stood forth as ?lfred cyning. ‘when easter came, king alfred, with a small force, constructed a fort at athelney, and out of that fort was warring against the invading host, he and the men of somerset, that portion of them which was nighest[44].’ this is the action of a commander who has made sure of his following, and is now beginning his operations against the enemy. he fortifies himself on the east side of the bridge, where a conical hill offers an opportune position; and from that basis he opens a guerilla warfare with the invaders. he does not show his hand: he rather wants to be thought weak. this naturally draws away from head quarters more and more of the hostile force, who think that they shall presently deal a last blow to the saxon resistance. and so with a petty and apparently futile display of military force, he continues to amuse and distract the enemy for the next six weeks.
129
the impression made on the mind of the people by these events is traceable in two names: athelney, which now represents ?thelinga eig, the island of princes; and borough bridge, which means the bridge at the fortification. the fort which alfred made in 878 is well preserved, the entrenchments occupying the summit of a conical hill near the east end of the bridge which spans the parret, after its junction with the tone.
how the king had employed the unrecorded months is manifest in the result. his muster-roll at brixton deveril, in the words of a contemporary, is brief yet eloquent: ‘then in the seventh week after easter he rode to ecgbrihtes stan, on the eastern side of selwood, and to meet him at that place came the men of somerset, all of them, and the wiltshire men, and of hampshire the part that was on the hither side of the sea; and of him fain they were.’ this passage of the saxon chronicle seems to render a satisfactory account of the manner in which the king had employed his time from epiphany to easter in the year 878.
absorbed in this supreme effort, where his all130 was at stake, he may well have found no time for recovering his buried jewel, and he may never have revisited the spot until his marks were all obliterated.
from the land beyond pedrida, which had hitherto counted to the crown of wessex only as a recent territorial acquisition, now started up around the fugitive king an army of devoted warriors, who resolutely threw their weight into the scale, and rescued the dynasty of their conquerors.
such was the nature of the force which alfred now with a swelling heart perceived to be entirely at his disposal, and he buckled to the task of employing them to the best advantage. from the entrenched hill by borough bridge he prosecuted the war against the danes, whose basis was at chippenham, and this he continued for six weeks. this he could do with a small force, as he had great advantages of position. between him and the foe lay the fenny channel of the brue, which he and his people were expert in crossing. so it was comparatively easy for him to harass them and retire to his fort.
this kind of warfare, continued for six weeks,131 must have had the designed effect of drawing off from the strength of the foe in wiltshire, and causing them to concentrate their attention upon this feigned line of attack. for all this was only to amuse and distract the enemy, and so to facilitate the execution of a very different project, which the king was preparing. what was passing in alfred’s mind may (in all essentials) be read in lord roberts’s narrative of his preparations for attacking the afghans, when they were entrenched on the peiwar kotal in december, 1878[45]. by making display of reconnoitring parties and other preparations as for a front attack, carrying this on to the extent of raising batteries and mounting guns, till he had caused the enemy to make counter dispositions accordingly, he with the utmost secrecy by a circuitous night march made a flank attack, taking them unprepared, and promptly dislodged them from an apparently impregnable position. so alfred, while waging the six weeks’ war, had his trusty messengers abroad all through wiltshire and hampshire, preparing for the tryst at ecgbrihtes stan.
132
well may we exclaim with sir walter besant—‘what follows is like a dream!’ yea, verily, like a dream in its sudden transformation of the whole face and prospect of things, and equally unaccountable too; for no attempt to explain it by natural causes will ever match the stupendous result. it is not in order to dispel an illusion that we seek to trace the plan and the process—the illusion cannot be dispelled. no, rather it is in order to penetrate further into the action of a life that has kindled our admiration. of that life we have a mirror in the enthusiasm with which his presence had fired the welsh of somerset beyond pedrida. it is surely no mere accident that in the memorandum of that resolute force which mustered for his restoration, the first item should be—sumors?te alle.
[30] among promising fields of exercise in exploring the bed of the sea, there is the coast from swanage bay round to st. aldhelm’s head, which might yield some durable relics from the loot of ancient monasteries. and if alfred really did purchase the evacuation of wareham in 877, ‘pecuniam dando,’ as ethelwerd has it, the very coins may still be there, and in a good state of preservation.
[31] ta gegaderode ?tered ealdormon and ?telm ealdorman and ?telnot ealdorman, and ta cinges tegnas te ta ?t ham ?t t?m geweorcum w?ron, of alcre byrig be eastan pedredan, ge be westan sealwuda ge be eastan; ge eac be nortan temese, and be westan s?fern, ge eac sum d?l t?s nore weal cynnes. sax. chron., ā. 894.
[32] kemble, codex diplomaticus, vol. iii, p. 423; birch, cartularium saxonicum, no. 814.
[33] the english dialect dictionary. edited by joseph wright, m.a., ph.d., deputy professor of comparative philology in the university of oxford.
[34] 658. her cenwalh gefeaht ?t peonnum wit walas and hie gefliemde ot pedridan.
[35] 682. on tissum geare centwine gefliemde bret wealas ot s?.
[36] proceedings of the somersetshire arch?ological and natural history society, vol. xviii.
[37] from an address by professor boyd dawkins in the proceedings of the somersetshire arch?ological and natural history society for the year 1872.
[38] a general history of quadrupeds. the figures engraved on wood by thomas bewick, 1820, p. 135. in taunton castle, which is the home and museum of the somersetshire arch?ological and natural history society, the form and beauty of the red deer may be contemplated in a fine specimen which is set up in the great hall, the very hall of the bloody assize.
[39] appendix e.
[40] the west saxon form of this name was wine, but i write it wina, as also i adopt the latin form ina, in place of the genuine ine, lest the english reader should allow it to pass through his mind in the shape of a monosyllable. the anglian forms of these names (in bede) are ini and wini.
[41] ‘domino gloriosissimo occidentalis regni sceptra gubernanti, quem ego, ut mihi scrutator cordis et rerum testis est, fraterna caritate amplector, gerontio regi simulque cunctis dei sacerdotibus per domnoniam conversantibus, althelmus, &c.’ haddan and stubbs, councils and ecclesiastical documents relating to great britain and ireland, vol. iii, p. 268.
[42] in the edition by f. wise (1722) it is on p. 48; in monumenta historica britannica, p. 486.
[43] this letter is printed in the edition of asser by f. wise, p. 123; and the most important parts are given in english by mr. conybeare, alfred in the chroniclers, p. 218.
[44] and t?s on eastron worhte ?lfred cyning, litle werede, geweorc ?t ?telinga eigge, and of tam geweorce was winnende wit tone here, and sumurs?tna se d?l se t?r niehst w?s. sax. chron., ā. 878.
[45] forty-one years in india, chap. xlvi.
