noble and ignoble, submitted voluntarily to his dominion; and all of them, according to their nation and deserving, were ruled, loved, honoured and enriched with money and power. Moreover, the king was in the habit of hearing the divine scriptures read by his own countrymen, or, if by any chance it so happened, in company with foreigners, and he attended to it with sedulity and solicitude. His bishops, too, and all ecclesiastics, his earls and nobles, ministers and friends, were loved by him with wonderful affection, and their sons, who were bred up in the royal household, were no less dear to him than his own; he had them instructed in all kinds of good morals, and among other things never ceased to teach them letters night and day; but as if he had no consolation in all these things, and suffered no other annoyance either from within or without, yet he was harassed by daily and nightly affliction, that he complained to God and to all who were admitted to his familiar love, that Almighty God had made him ignorant of divine wisdom, and of the liberal arts; in this emulating the pious, the wise, and wealthy Solomon, king of the Hebrews, who at first, despising all present glory and riches, asked wisdom of God and found both, namely, wisdom and worldly glory, as it is written: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you". But God, who is always the inspector of the thoughts of the mind within, and the instigator of all good intentions, and a most plentiful aider, that good desires may be formed-for he would not instigate a man to good intentions, unless he also amply supplied that which the man justly and properly wishes to have instigated the king's mind within; as it is written: "I will hearken what the Lord God will say concerning me". He would avail himself of every opportunity to procure coadjutors in his good designs, to aid him in his strivings after wisdom that he might attain to what he aimed at; and like a prudent bird, which rising in summer with the early morning from her beloved nest, steers her rapid flight through the uncertain tracks of ether, and descends on the manifold and varied flowers of grasses, herbs and shrubs, essaying that which pleases most, that she may bear it to her home, so did he direct his eyes afar, and seek without that which he had not within, namely, in his own kingdom.

But God at that time, as some consolation to the king's benevolence, yielding to his complaint, sent certain lights to illuminate him, namely, Werefrith, bishop of the church of Worcester, a man well versed in divine scripture, who, by the

king's command, first turned the books of the Dialogues of Pope Gregory and Peter, his disciple, from Latin into Saxon, and sometimes putting sense for sense, interpreted them with clearness and elegance. After him was Plegmund, a Mercian by birth, archbishop of the church of Canterbury, a venerable man, and endowed with wisdom; Ethelstan also, and Werewulf, his priests and chaplains, Mercians by birth and erudite. These four had been invited out of Mercia by King Alfred, who exalted them with many honours and powers in the kingdom of the West-Saxons, besides the privileges which archbishop Plegmund and bishop Werefrith enjoyed in Mercia. By their teaching and wisdom the king's desires increased unceasingly, and were gratified. Night and day, whenever he had leisure, he commanded such men as these to read books to him; for he never suffered himself to be without one of them, wherefore he possessed a knowledge of every book, though of himself he could not yet understand anything of books, for he had not yet learned to read anything.

But the king's commendable avarice could not be gratified even in this; wherefore he sent messengers beyond the sea to Gaul, to procure teachers, and he invited from thence Grimbald,1 priest and monk, a venerable man and good singer, adorned with every kind of ecclesiastical discipline and good morals, and most learned in holy scripture. He also obtained from thence John,2 also priest and monk, a man of most energetic talents, and learned in all kinds of literary science, and skilled in many other arts. By the teaching of these men the king's mind was much enlarged, and he enriched and honoured them with much influence.

9. ALFRED'S WARS WITH THE DANES (877-878).

The Saxon Chronicle, from which four of these selections are taken, is a unique authority in two respects. The work of many different hands, it runs side by side with the events which it relates from at least the ninth century to 1154, and besides it is written in the vulgar tongue. No other nation of the

1 From the Flemish convent of St. Bertin at St. Omer.

2 A Saxon from the Monastery of Corbey. "Grimbald and John were Alfred's mass priests, and in full activity at the completion of his translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care, as he mentions them with high praise in the preface, composed after the year 890."-Pauli.

modern world has anything like it. During certain years of Alfred's reign (e.g., 894-897) it gives fairly full details of the fighting, while others (e.g., 872-873, 880-881) are dismissed with a bare and meagre entry. Poverty and love of adventure were the main motives which led Danes, Swedes and Norwegians to harry the seaboard of Western Europe. Their common plan was to fortify an island at a river's mouth, and to use it as a base of operations in pillaging the country round about. Sometimes they were repelled with loss but usually they were bought off or overcame the feeble resistance which was offered. The Northmen when they gained homes in England and France at once dropped their paganism and added a vigorous stock to both countries.

SOURCE.-Saxon Chronicle. Trans. J. A. Giles. London, 1847. P. 355.

877. This year the army 1 came to Exeter from Wareham; and the fleet sailed round westwards; and then a great storm overtook them at sea, and there one hundred and twenty ships were wrecked at Swanwich. And king Alfred with his forces rode after the army which was mounted, as far as Exeter; and they were unable to overtake them before they were within the fortress, where they could not be come at. And they there delivered to him hostages as many as he would have, and swore many oaths; and then they observed the peace well. And afterwards, during harvest, the army went into Mercia, and some part of it they apportioned, and some they delivered to Ceolwulf.

A. 878. This year, during mid-winter, after twelfth night, the army stole away to Chippenham, and overran the land of the West-Saxons, and sat down there; and many of the people they drove beyond sea, and of the remainder the greater part they subdued and forced to obey them, except king Alfred: and he, with a small band, with difficulty retreated to the woods and to the fastnesses of the moors. And the same winter the brother of Hingwar and of Halfdene came with twenty-three ships to Devonshire in Wessex; and he was there slain, and with him eight hundred and forty men of his army: and there was taken the war-flag which they called the Raven. After this, at Easter king Alfred with a small band constructed a fortress at Athelney; and from this fortress, with that part of

the men of Somerset which was nearest to it, from time to time they fought against the army. Then in the seventh week after Easter he rode to Brixton, on the east side of Selwood; and there came to meet him all the men of Somerset, and the men of Wiltshire, and that portion of the men of Hampshire which was on this side of the sea; and they were joyful at his presence. On the following day he went from that station to Iglea,1 and on the day after this to Heddington, and there fought against the whole army, put them to flight, and pursued them as far as their fortress; and there he sat down fourteen days. And then the army delivered to him hostages, with many oaths, that they would leave his kingdom, and also promised him that their king should receive baptism: and this they accordingly fulfilled. And about three weeks after this king Gothrun came to him, with some thirty men who were of the most distinguished in the army, at Aller, which is near Athelney and the king was his godfather at baptism; . . . and he was twelve days with the king; and he greatly honoured him and his companions with gifts.

10. A LETTER FROM CANUTE TO HIS PEOPLE (1027).

"

The motives which might lead a mediæval king to visit Rome were various. Curiosity (or some more vivid appeal to the imagination), reverence for the papacy, and contrition of heart for sins committed, were among the frequent incentives. The saying that "revolutions are not made with rose-water may be applied to government in Canute's generation. He was not a rose-water ruler and he did things which might well trouble his conscience. For instance, on Christmas day of 1017 he ordered the Ealdorman Edric to be slain and his body thrown over London wall where it remained unburied. This might be justified on the ground that Edric was a traitor. But, according to Florence of Worcester, "along with him were slain Norman, son of Leofwin the Ealdorman, who was brother of Earl Leofric, and Ethelward, son of Ethelmar the Ealdorman, and Brihtric, son of Alphege, governor of Devon, all of whom were innocent ".2 At the same time Canute had a high conception of the royal office, and wished to guard his subjects from 1 Probably Highley.

2 Florence of Worcester. Trans. J. Forester. London, 1854. P. 134.

oppression.

The letter which is cited below brings out his fairness of spirit and also the value of church influence over sovereigns in an age of violence.

SOURCE.-Canuti Epistola. Cited in Florence of Worcester's Chronicle (994 ?-1035). Trans. T. Forester. London, 1854. P. 137.

Canute, king of all England, and of Denmark, Norway, and part of Sweden, to Ethelnoth, metropolitan, and Aelfric, archbishop of York, and to all the bishops and prelates, and to the whole nation of the English, both the nobles and the commons, greeting :

I notify to you that I have lately taken a journey to Rome, to pray for the forgiveness of my sins, and for the welfare of my dominions, and the people under my rule. I had long since vowed this journey to God, but I have been hitherto prevented from accomplishing it by the affairs of my kingdom and other causes of impediment. I now return most humble thanks to my God Almighty for suffering me in my lifetime to visit the sanctuary of his apostles, SS. Peter and Paul, and all others which I could find either within or without the city of Rome, and there in person reverentially worship according to my desire. I have performed this chiefly, because I have learnt from wise men that St. Peter the apostle has received from God great power in binding and loosing,1 and carries the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and therefore I esteemed it very profitable to seek his special patronage with the Lord.

Be it known to you that, at the celebration of Easter, a great assembly of nobles was present with our lord, the pope John,2 and Conrad the emperor; 3 that is to say, all the princes of the nations from Mount Garganus to the neighbouring sea.5 All these received me with honour and presented me with magnificent gifts; but more especially was I honoured by the emperor with various gifts and valuable presents, both in gold and silver vessels, and in palls and very costly robes. I spoke with the emperor himself, and the lord pope, and the princes who were there, in regard to the wants of my people, English as well as Danes; that there should be granted to them more

1 St. Matthew, xvi. 18-19.

2 John XIX.

3 Conrad II. Canute was present at his coronation.

4 The most easterly spur of the Neapolitan Apennines, and separated from the main range by a plain. It was famous in the eleventh century for a shrine of St. Michael, after which that in Brittany is copied. 5 The Mediterranean.