diff options
Diffstat (limited to '17101-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 17101-8.txt | 9312 |
1 files changed, 9312 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/17101-8.txt b/17101-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..265ba03 --- /dev/null +++ b/17101-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9312 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Anglo-Saxon Literature, by John Earle + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Anglo-Saxon Literature + +Author: John Earle + +Release Date: November 19, 2005 [EBook #17101] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Louise Pryor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +{Transcriber's Note: + This e-text contains a number of unusual characters which are + represented as follows: + {+} maltese cross + {&} tironian ampersand + {-o} o-macron + {~c} c-tilde + {^y} y-circumflex + {gh} yogh + {þæt} þ with a stroke through the top. + oe ligatures have been unpacked.} + + + + + +The Dawn of European Literature. + + * * * * * + +ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE. + + +BY JOHN EARLE, M.A. +RECTOR OF SWANSWICK, +RAWLINSON PROFESSOR OF ANGLO-SAXON IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. + + +PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF +THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION +APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING +CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. + + +LONDON: +SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, +NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C.; +43, QUEEN VICTORIA STREET, E.C.; +26, ST. GEORGE'S PLACE, HYDE PARK CORNER S.W. +BRIGHTON: 133, NORTH STREET. +NEW YORK: E. & J.B. YOUNG & CO. + +1884. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The bulk of this little book has been a year or more in type; and, in +the mean time, some important publications have appeared which it was +too late for me to profit by. Among such I count the "Corpus Poeticum +Boreale" by Dr. Gudbrand Vigfusson and Mr. York Powell; the "Epinal +Gloss" and Alfred's "Orosius" by Mr. Sweet, for the Early English Text +Society; an American edition of the "Beowulf" by Professors Harrison and +Sharp; Ælfric's translation of "Alcuin upon Genesis," by Mr. MacLean. To +these I must add an article in the "Anglia" on the first and last of the +Riddles in the Exeter Book, by Dr. Moritz Trautmann. Another recent book +is the translation of Mr. Bernhard Ten Brink's work on "Early English +Literature," which comprises a description of the Anglo-Saxon period. +This book is not new to me, except for the English dress that Mr. +Kennedy has given to it. The German original has been often in my hand, +and although I am not aware of any particular debt, such as it would +have been a duty and a pleasure to acknowledge on the spot, yet I have a +sentiment that Mr. Ten Brink's sympathising and judicious treatment of +our earliest literature has been not only agreeable to read, but also +profitable for my work. + +15, NORHAM ROAD, OXFORD, +_March 15th, 1884._ + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER PAGE + + I.--A PRELIMINARY VIEW 1 + + II.--THE MATERIALS 28 + + III.--THE HEATHEN PERIOD 59 + + IV.--THE SCHOOLS OF KENT 79 + + V.--THE ANGLIAN PERIOD 98 + + VI.--THE PRIMARY POETRY 119 + + VII.--THE WEST SAXON LAWS 150 + +VIII.--THE CHRONICLES 169 + + IX.--ALFRED'S TRANSLATIONS 186 + + X.--ÆLFRIC 207 + + XI.--THE SECONDARY POETRY 225 + + XII.--THE NORMAN CONQUEST, AND AFTER THAT 243 + +INDEX 259 + + + + +ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +A PRELIMINARY VIEW. + + +Anglo-Saxon literature is the oldest of the vernacular literatures of +modern Europe; and it is a consequence of this that its relations with +Latin literature have been the closest. All the vernacular literatures +have been influenced by the Latin, but of Anglo-Saxon literature alone +can it be said that it has been subjected to no other influence. This +literature was nursed by, and gradually rose out of, Latin culture; and +this is true not only of those portions which were translated or +otherwise borrowed from the Latin, but also in some degree even of the +native elements of poetry and laws. These were not, indeed, derived from +Latin sources, but it was through Latin culture that those habits and +facilities were acquired which made their literary production possible. + +In the Anglo-Saxon period there was no other influential literature in +the West except the Latin. Greek literature had long ago retired to the +East. The traces of Greek upon Anglo-Saxon literature are rare and +superficial. Practically the one external influence with which we shall +have to reckon is that of Latin literature, and as the points of contact +with this literature are numerous, it will be convenient to say +something of the Latin literature in a preliminary sketch. + +The Latin literature with which we are best acquainted was the result of +study and imitation of Greek literature. But the old vernacular Latin +was a homely and simple speech, much more like any modern language in +its ways and movements than would be supposed by those who only know +classical Latin. The old Latin poetry was rhythmical, and fond of +alliteration. Such was the native song of the Italian Camenæ, unlike the +æsthetic poetry of the classical age, with its metres borrowed from the +Greek Muses. The old Latin poetry was like the Saxon, in so far as it +was rhythmical and not metrical; but unlike it in this, that the Latin +alliteration was only a vague pleasure of recurrent sound, and it had +not become a structural agency like the alliteration of Saxon poetry. +The book through which juvenile students usually get some taste of old +Latin is Terence, in whose plays, though they are from Greek originals, +something is heard of that rippling movement which has lived through the +ages and still survives in Italian conversation. Reaching backwards from +Terence we come to Plautus and Ennius, and then to Nævius (B.C. +274-202), who composed an epic on the first Punic war. He lamented even +in his time the Grecising of his mother-tongue. He wrote an epitaph upon +himself, to say that if immortals could weep for mortals, the Camenæ +might well weep for Nævius, the last representative of the Latin +language. + +The splendour of classical Latin was short-lived. The time of its +highest elevation is called the Golden Age, of which the early period is +marked by the names of Cicero and Cæsar; the latter (the Augustan +period) by the names of Virgil and Horace. There is a fine forward +movement in Cicero, who studied the best Greek models; but gradually +there came in a taste for curious felicity suggested by the secondary +Greek literature. This adorned the poetry of Virgil; but when it began +to spread to the prose, though the æsthetic effect might be beautiful in +a masterpiece, it was apt to be embarrassing in weaker hands. Æsthetic +prose appears in its most intense and most perfect form in Tacitus, the +great historian of the Silver Age. As new tastes and fashions grew, the +oldest and purest models were neglected, and, however strange it may +sound, Cicero and Cæsar were antiquated long before the end of the first +century. + +The extreme limit of the classical period of Latin literature is the +middle of the second century. The life was gone out of it before that +time, but it had still a zealous representative in Fronto, the worthy +and honoured preceptor of Marcus Aurelius. After this last of the Good +Emperors had passed away, the reign of barbarism began to manifest +itself in art and literature. The accession of Commodus was a tremendous +lapse. + +The point here to be observed is that the classical Latin literature +was not a natural growth, but rather the product of an artificial +culture. It presents the most signal example of the great results that +may spring from the enthusiastic cultivation of a foreign and superior +literature. And it is of the greatest value to us as an example, because +it will enable us better to understand the growth and development of +Anglo-Saxon literature. For just as Latin classical literature was +stimulated by the Greek, so also was Anglo-Saxon literature assisted by +the influence of the Latin. And as the classical student seeks to +distinguish that which is native from that which is foreign in Latin +authors, so also is the same distinction of essential importance in the +study of Anglo-Saxon literature. + +The influence of Greek upon Latin literature was so far like that of +Latin upon Anglo-Saxon, that it was single and unmixed. But then the +influence of Greek upon Latin was altogether an external and invading +influence, like the influence of Latin on modern English; whereas in the +case of Anglo Saxon the literary faculty was first acquired through +Latin culture; the Saxons were exercised in Latin literature before they +discovered the value of their own; they obtained the habits and +instruments of literature through the education that Latin gave them. + +Up to the end of the classical period the Latin had not yet attained, in +literature, the position of a universal language. It was rather the +scholastic language of the Roman aristocracy. There was but one field in +which it occupied the whole area of the Roman world, and that was the +field of law. To this we should add the Latin poetry, which was also +absolute in its own domain. In every other subject Latin was a second +and a subject literary language, the supreme language of literature +being Greek. Greek was the chief literary language even of the Roman +Empire. Of the two languages, Greek was by far the more convenient for +general use. Human thought is naturally serial, and the language that is +to be an acceptable medium of general literature must, above all things, +possess the art of moving forward. In this art the Greek was far in +advance of the Latin, and the curious culture which produced the Latin +classics had, indeed, been productive of much artistic beauty, but had +withal entangled the movement. It is not in Latin but in Greek books +that the knowledge of the ancient world has been preserved. The greatest +works in botany, medicine, geography, astronomy were written not in +Latin but in Greek, even in the most flourishing times of the Roman +power. It is sufficient to mention such names as Dioscorides, Galen, +Strabo, Ptolemy. The greatest works in history, biography, travel, +antiquities, ethics, philosophy were also written in Greek. Such names +as Polybius, Plutarch, Josephus, Pausanias, Dionysius, Epictetus, Lucian +will give the reader means of proof. Fronto could not prevail with a +Roman emperor, his old pupil, to prefer Latin to Greek. Marcus Aurelius +wrote his "Meditations" in Greek. The language of the infant Church, +even in Italy and the West, was not Latin, but Greek. The names of the +first bishops of Rome are Greek names, the Christian Scriptures are in +Greek, and so is the oldest extant Liturgy--the Clementine--which seems +to represent the practice of the West no less than of the East. Not only +the Canonical Scriptures of the New Testament are in Greek, but also +those which were partially or for a time received, as the Epistle of +Clement, the Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas. And a further set of +writings beyond these and inferior to these, but ultimately of great +popularity, were in Greek: I mean the legendary and romantic apocryphal +writings, such as the Acts of Peter and Paul, the Acts of Pilate, and +many others.[1] This latter set was already growing in the second +century, and reached their mature form in the time of Gregory the Great. + +It is not clear how early Latin began to be used as the official +language of the Church, but everything points to an important change +soon after the middle of the second century. Before that time, Justin, +living at Rome, and writing (A.D. 138), for the Roman people to +read, a defence of Christianity, which was addressed to the emperor +Antoninus Pius, wrote it in Greek; but before long another apologetic +writer, Minucius Felix, wrote in Latin. This coincides with other +indications to mark a great transition in the latter half of the second +century. Up to this time two languages were in literary currency, a +foreign scholastic language and an æsthetic vernacular. It was chiefly +the wealthy class that sustained these literary languages in Rome. When +in A.D. 166 the Oriental plague was brought to Italy with the +army returning from Parthia, cultivated society was wrecked, and the +literary movement was greatly interrupted in both languages. This was a +blow to the artificial culture of Greek in Italy, just as the plague of +1349 and following years was a blow to the artificial culture of French +in England. After A.D. 166 a check was given to progress, which +lasted, in the secular domain, until the sixteenth century. + +Let us spend a moment upon the sequel of the old literature, before we +come to the new, which is our proper subject here. + +Under the altered times that now ensued, the continuity of classicism is +seen in two forms of literature--namely, philological criticism and +poetry. The acknowledged model of Latin poetry was Virgil, and his +greatest imitator was Claudian, who had made himself a Latin scholar by +study, much as the moderns do. Claudian is commonly called the last of +the heathen poets. He has also been called the transitional link between +ancient and modern, between heathen and Christian poetry.[2] One +characteristic may be mentioned, namely, his personification of moral or +personal qualities, a sort of allegory destined to flourish for many +centuries, of which the first mature example appears in the "Soul's +Fight" of Prudentius, the Christian poet, who was a contemporary of +Claudian. The school study of the classics produced grammars, and two +authors became chiefly celebrated in this branch, namely, Donatus and +Priscian. Their books were standards through the Dark and Middle +Ages.[3] + +There was one department of prose literature in which Latin was +undisturbed and unsophisticated. This was the department of law and +administration. The legal diction escaped, in a great measure, from the +influence of classicism; it kept on its even way through the whole +period, and as it was an ordinary school subject under the empire, the +language of the law books exercised great influence in the formation of +the prose style that continued through the Middle Ages. + +We now come to the new Latin literature with which we are intimately +concerned. + +By the side of this diminished stream of the elder literature there +rose, after the middle of the second century, a new series of writings, +new in subject, and new also in manner, diction, and spirit. The +phraseology is less literary, and more taken from the colloquial speech +and the usage of everyday life. It seems also to be, in some measure, +the return-language of a colony: some of the earliest and most important +contributions come from Africa, where Latin was now the mother-tongue of +a large population, and that country appears to have escaped the ravages +of the plague. + +The first of these books is one that still bears considerable traces of +classicism. It is entitled "Octavius," and is an apology for +Christianity by Minucius Felix. But immediately after him we come upon a +chief representative of this new literature, which aimed less at form +than at the conveying of the author's meaning in the readiest and most +familiar words. This is strikingly the case with the direct and +unstudied Latinity of the first of the Latin fathers, the African +Tertullian, in whom the contrast with classicism is most pronounced. In +him the old conventional dignity gives place to the free display of +personal characteristics, and no writer (it has been said) affords a +better illustration of the saying of Buffon--"the style is the man." + +Another African writer was Lactantius, to whom has been attributed that +poem of the Phoenix, which most likely served as pattern to the +Anglo-Saxon poet.[4] It consists of 170 lines, hexameters and +pentameters; terse, poetical, classical. This old Oriental fable, as +told by Ovid, was short and simple: "There is a bird that restores and +reproduces itself; the Assyrians call it Phoenix. It feeds on no common +food, but on the choicest of gums and spices; and after a life of +secular length, it builds in a high tree with cassia, spikenard, +cinnamon, and myrrh, and on this nest it expires in sweetest odours. A +young Phoenix rises and grows, and when strong enough it takes up the +nest with its deposit and bears it to the City of the Sun, and lays it +down there in front of the sacred portals." Such is the story in Ovid; +and there we know we have a heathen fable. But in the poem of +Lactantius, it is so curiously, and, as it were, significantly +elaborated, that we hardly know whether we are reading a Christian +allegory or no. Allegory has always been a favourite form with Christian +writers, and more than one cause may be assigned for it. Already there +was, in the taste of the age when the Christian literature arose, a +tendency to symbolism, which is seen outside the pale of Christianity. +Moreover, the long time in which the profession of Christianity was +dangerous, favoured the growth of symbolism as a covert means of mutual +intelligence. Then Christian thought had in its own nature something +which invited allegory, partly by its own hidden sympathies with Nature, +and partly by its very immensity, for which all direct speech was felt +to be inadequate. But what doubtless supplied this taste with continual +nutriment was that all-pervading and unspeakable sweetness of Christ's +teaching by parables. The Phoenix was used upon Roman coins to express +the aspiration for renewed vitality in the empire; it was used by early +Christian writers[5] as an emblem of the Resurrection; and in the +Anglo-Saxon poem the allegory is avowed. + +To Lactantius also has been ascribed another book in which we are +interested. This is a collection of a hundred Latin riddles under the +obscure name of Symposius, which name has by some editors been set +aside in favour of Lactantius for no better reason than because of some +supposed Africanisms. Aldhelm speaks of these riddles under the name of +Symposius. + +A new literature thus rose up by the side of that which was decaying, or +had already decayed. This new literature was the fruit of Christianity; +it was more a literature of the masses than any that had been hitherto +known; it was marked by a strong tinge of the vernacular, and it was +separated in form as well as in matter from the old classical standards. +The spirit of this new literature was characterised by a larger and more +comprehensive humanity. It was animated by those principles of +fellow-feeling, compassion, and hopefulness, which were to prepare the +way for the structure of human society upon new foundations. This, +rather than the classical, is the Latin literature which we have to +follow; this is the preparation for modern literature, and its course +will be found to land us in the Saxon period. + +After the triumph of Christianity, this new literature was much +enlarged, and it appropriated to itself something of the grace and +elegance of the earlier classics; and whether we speak of its contents, +or of its artistic character, we may say it culminated at the end of the +fourth and the beginning of the fifth century in the writings of +Augustine. In his time we find that the contrast between profane and +sacred literature is already long established: the old literature is +called by the pagans liberal, but by the Christians secular. + +The removal of the seat of empire to Constantinople had ultimately the +effect of substituting Greek for Latin as the language of +administration in the East. On the other hand, the growth of the papal +power in the West favoured the establishment of Latin as the sole +language of the West, to the neglect of Greek. Thus East and West were +then divided in language, and Latin became universal in the West. In +Anglo-Saxon, the people of the Eastern Empire are characterised simply +as the Greeks (Crecas). + +The heart of the new Latin literature was in the Scripture translations. +Many exercised themselves in translating, especially the New Testament. +Augustine says the translations were beyond number. But the central and +best known of these many versions is thought to have been made in +Africa. In A.D. 382, Damasus, the bishop of Rome, induced +Jerome to undertake that work of revision which produced the Latin +Bible, which is the only one now generally known, and which is called +the Vulgata, that is to say, the received version. Older italic +versions, so far as they are extant, are now to us among the most +interesting of Christian antiquities. In the early centuries, and +throughout the whole Middle Age, the Scriptures took rank above all +literature, and their influence is everywhere felt. + +The sack of Rome (A.D. 410) drew forth from the pagans a fresh +outcry against Christianity. They sought to trace the misery of the +times to the vengeance of the neglected gods. This accusation evoked +from St. Augustine the greatest of all the apologetic treatises, namely, +his "City of God" (De Civitate Dei). This great work exhibits the +writer's mature and final opinions, and it may be said to represent the +maturity and culmination of that Latin literature which began after +A.D. 166, and continued to progress until it was half quenched +in barbarian darkness. The "City of God" has been called the first +attempt at a philosophy of history; and, again, it has been called the +Cyclopædia of the fifth century. It lays out before us a platform of +instruction on things divine and human, which reigned as a standard for +centuries, even until the theology and philosophy of the school-men had +been summed up by Thomas Aquinas. + +To this great work a companion book was written by Orosius, who had been +Augustine's disciple. This was a compendium of Universal History, and it +was designed to exhibit the troubles that had afflicted mankind in the +ages of heathenism. It became the established manual of history, and +continued to be so throughout our period; and Orosius was for ages the +only authority for the general course of history. This explains how it +came to be one of the small list of Latin books translated by Alfred. + +We have no sooner reached the culmination of that Christian literature +which began after the depression of A.D. 166, than we find +ourselves in the presence of another great fall. The sack of Rome in 410 +shook the minds of men as if it were the end of all things. The fifth +century was a time of ruin, but also it was a time of new beginnings. +Three great events are to be noted in this fifth century: 1. The Western +Empire came to an end; 2. The Franks passed over the Rhine into Gaul, +and became Christian; 3. The Saxons passed over the sea to Britain, and +remained heathen until the close of the sixth century. These three +events group together by a natural connection; it was the expiring +empire that made room for the Frankish and Saxon conquests, and these +two conquests have been, and are, fertile in comparisons and contrasts, +and reciprocal action, not only through our period, but till now and +onward. + +About A.D. 500, Avitus, bishop of Vienne, wrote a Latin poem on +the mighty acts of Sacred History--(De Spiritalis Historiæ Gestis); and +this book has been regarded as the original source of some passages in +Cædmon and Milton.[6] The poem is in five books, of which the first +three--1. On the Creation; 2. The Disobedience; 3. The Sentence of +God--form a whole in themselves; while the remaining two books, which +are nominally on the Flood and the Red Sea, are really on Baptism and +the Spiritual Restoration of Man. So that the whole work comprises a +Paradise Lost and a Paradise Regained. + +We now come to a book which, though not by a Christian author, is so +manifestly influenced by Christianity, and has been so fully recognised +by the Christian public, that it must be included in our list--viz., +"The Comfort of Philosophy," by Boethius. Gibbon even called it a golden +volume, and one which, if we consider the barbarism of the times and the +situation of the author, must be reckoned of almost incomparable merit. +It was composed in the prison to which Theodoric had consigned the +wisest of the old Roman patriciate; and it is commonly regarded as +closing the canon of Roman literature. It was translated into all the +vernaculars, Alfred's translation into English being the first, and +Notker's into High German being the second.[7] Other works of Boethius +lived through the Dark and Middle Ages, especially his translations of +Aristotle, which were standards for the student in philosophy. + +From this time we see a world fallen back into a wild and savage +infancy, and we shall witness the gradual operation of a spiritual power +reclaiming, educating, transforming it. The subject of Anglo-Saxon +literature derives, perhaps, its greatest interest from the fact that it +represents one great stage of this process. + +As we approach the Saxon period we must take particular notice of a new +agency that now comes on the scene. The institution of monachism was one +of considerable standing before the date at which we are now arrived, +but it had never yet found any function of systematic usefulness. +Benedict of Nursia is called the father of monks, not because he first +instituted them, but because he organised and regulated the monastic +life and converted it to a powerful agency for religion and +civilisation. Benedict was born in 480, and he died at Monte Cassino in +543. The Benedictine institution is the great historical fact which +demands our attention in the early part of the sixth century. + +An eminent Benedictine was the Roman Pontiff Gregory, surnamed the +Great. He was born in 540, and died in 604. He designed the conversion +of the Saxons. He was a great author, though he was ignorant of Greek. +We will here notice three of his works--the "Commentary on Job," the +"Pastoral Care," and the "Dialogues." + +The first of these is remarkable as a specimen of that mystical +interpretation of Scripture which characterised the exegesis of the +Middle Ages, and of which manifold examples occur in the Homilies of +Ælfric, who names Gregory as one of his sources. + +The "Pastoral Care" is worthy of its name as a book of direction and +advice from the chief pastor to his subordinates. It is full of grave +practical wisdom, animated by the Christian spirit and the love of +souls. For prudence it is worthy of the pontiff who solved Augustine's +questions, as we read in Beda's history. In this book we discover the +true and legitimate source of the power of the clergy, and we verify the +words of Joseph Butler, who said that if conscience had power as it has +authority, it would govern the world. The power of the clergy is +sometimes explained as a stratagem; he who reads this book will see a +deeper root to that power; he will see that if trickery made that power +to fall, it was something else that caused it to rise. + +A greater contrast than that between the "Pastoral Care" and the +"Dialogues" it is hardly possible to conceive. We cannot wonder that the +identity of authorship has been questioned, and that the "Dialogues" +have been attributed to another Gregory. The difficulty is, however, +lessened if we consider the widely different conditions of the readers +addressed. At a time when an old civilisation and a crude barbarism +were intermingled and living side by side, the one was written for the +highest, the other for the lowest in the intellectual scale. The +"Pastoral Care" was addressed to the Roman clergy, with whom, if +anywhere, something of the old culture still lingered. The "Dialogues" +were intended for the barbarians. The book is addressed to Theodolinda, +the Lombard queen. It is a book full of wonderful, not to say puerile, +stories, in which a religious lesson or moral is always conveyed, but +not always one that carries conviction to the mind of the modern +Christian. It reflects the policy of converting the barbarians by +condescending to their tastes, and belongs to the same system as that +increase of pomp and ceremony which was due to the same motive. This +book far outran the former in popularity. It was among the earliest of +Latin books to be translated into vernacular languages. Gregory's +writings were very influential on popular religious literature +throughout the Dark Ages, and nowhere more so than in England, where he +was honoured as a national apostle. There exists an Anglo-Saxon +translation of the "Dialogues," but it has not yet been edited. + +The time of Gregory the Great was the time in which, to use Dean +Milman's words, "the human mind was finally Christianised." This +triumph, as usually happens, was overdriven. We see a too jealous +exclusion of secular literature, and a too credulous and favourable +disposition towards Christian legends. This was the time when the +secondary apocryphal literature reached its maturity, and was grouped in +collections. An active labourer in this pious work was Gregory of +Tours. He contributed the "Miracles of St. Andrew," and possibly other +pieces. This period, from the middle of the sixth into the early part of +the seventh century, is the period of the greatest literary activity of +the monasteries of Gaul, and the apocryphal collections seem to have +been made in some of these[8] If the Christianised Latin literature +reached its highest excellence in the time of Augustine, it discovered +its extremest tendency in the time of the two Gregories. + +There is yet one form of literature that claims our attention. The Greek +romances of love and marvellous adventure were probably discountenanced +in Christian families, and we may regard the secondary Apocrypha as a +kind of pious substitute for such entertaining works of fiction. But +there was one of these old heathen novels that held its ground, that can +be traced in more than one early monastic library, and that was +translated into every vernacular--Anglo-Saxon first. This was the +Romance of Apollonius of Tyre, from which comes the story of that +Shakespearean play, "Pericles, Prince of Tyre." + +The books which we have noticed between the second and the seventh +centuries may be allowed to represent that Christianised Latin +literature which is the historical bridge between the ancient classical +and the modern vernacular literatures. The latter had as yet no +existence. In Moesia, on the shores of the Danube, a Gothic dialect had +been immortalised by Scripture translations from the Greek as early as +the fourth century; but nothing of the kind had as yet appeared under +the Latin influence in the West. The Merovingian Franks left no +vernacular literature; on the contrary, they rapidly lost their native +speech, and adopted that of the conquered nation. + +The Franks and the Saxons had been neighbours in their native homes, +speaking almost the same mother-tongue; but their migrations led them +into new regions in which they again proved neighbours under altered +conditions. Each was to take a leading part in the formation of modern +Europe, but they were to be divided in that office, their lots being +severally cast with the two great constituent factors of modern +civilisation. The one was to lead the Romanesque, the other the Gothic +division. The Franks became assimilated to the Romanised Gauls, and +formed, with them, one Latin-speaking Church; they raised the standard +of orthodoxy against the Arianism of the other barbarian powers, and the +Frankish king was decorated with the title of Most Christian; the +history of that Church was written in Latin by Gregory of Tours. This +work, upon which he was engaged from A.D. 576 to 592, bears +strong marks of literary degeneracy. Gregory complained of the low state +of education in the cities of Gaul. He became a historian only from a +sense of necessity, and for fear lest the memory of important events +should perish. He has been called the Herodotus of the Franks, and the +Herodotus of barbarism. The history of the Church in Gaul after the +absorption of the Franks is not one of quickened progress but of crime +and torpidity. Gregory the Great justified his mission to the Saxons on +the express ground that the Church of Gaul, whose natural duty it was, +had neglected it. The history of the Merovingian Franks stands in +disadvantageous contrast with the early vigour of the Saxon Churches. +The first great elevation of European culture was to spring, not from +among the Franks, but in the remoter colonies of the Saxons. + +The English conversion began A.D. 597; and two religious +foundations were quickly established:--1. The Minster of St. Saviour, +afterwards called Christ Church, and now Canterbury Cathedral; 2. The +Abbey of SS. Peter and Paul, outside the walls of Canterbury on the +east, which was afterwards called St. Augustine's. Of the foundation of +schools nothing is heard at this time; but a generation later, +A.D. 631, we find the Kentish schools taken as a model for +schools to be founded in East Anglia by Felix.[9] It is an interesting +question whether these were the missionary schools, or whether they were +schools which kept up the traditions of Roman education in a degenerate +form like the schools in Gaul. On the ground that our oldest document is +a Code of the first converted king, it has been too easily inferred, +that before this time the Saxons were wholly destitute of literary +appliances. Were the fact more certain, than it is, the conclusion would +be weak. There are in the Chronicles certain archaic annals which have +been thought to be a possible product of the heathen period. + +The second home of culture was in Northumbria. A wonderful combination +of influences met on this favoured soil. In the extreme province of the +empire, there had been a concentration of military force, to keep the +Picts in check; the centre of Roman government on the island had been at +York, and here, if anywhere, something of the civilisation of Rome would +naturally remain. + +Another important influence was the Irish, or, as it was then called, +the Scotian. It is true that the first evangelist in order of time was +Paulinus, who came from Kent, and represented the Roman mission. But the +savour of the Gospel was first received through the teaching of the +Irish missionaries, of whom the foremost name is Aidan. Never did any +people embrace Christianity with such entire heart as the Irish; and +much of their lofty devotion was communicated to the Angles whom they +converted. + +Upon this, when they were prepared to profit by it, supervened the +mission of Theodore and Hadrian, who implanted the seed of learning, +with great ability, at an opportune moment, and with the most abundant +results. Under the warmth of a first love, all these advantages were +moulded together, and resulted in making Northumbria for three or four +generations the centre of European culture. The seat of this culture was +York, the old Roman capital, and its culmination was under Archbishop +Egbert (734-766), and his successor Albert. The great writings of this +period are in Latin, and the chief names are Aldhelm, Eddi, Winfrid +(Bonifacius), Danihel, Beda, Alcuin. Of vernacular prose the chief +remnant is a series of Northern Annals, between A.D. 737 and +806, which have been embodied in some of the Southern Chronicles. But +what specially characterised this period was a rich development of +sacred poetry, some remnants of which are perhaps extant in our +"Cædmon." But our fullest knowledge of this old poetic strain comes back +to us from Old Saxony, where it was propagated by the Anglian +missionaries, and it survives under a thin disguise in the poem called +the "Heliand." + +In Aldhelm we see that this new learning was not solely ecclesiastical, +but that there was something in it which aimed at recovery of classical +learning. He was distinguished for his elaborate study of Latin metres, +and his commendation of the pursuit. He wrote poems in Latin hexameters, +and among these a Collection of Enigmas, which bore fruit in the later +Anglo-Saxon literature. + +The latter part of the Anglian period produced Alcuin, the distinguished +scholar who was engaged by Charles the Great to organise his new +schools. So we see the lamp of culture pass from Anglia into Frankland, +shortly before the time when Anglia was overrun by the Danes and almost +all the monuments which were destructible perished. + +We may dismiss the Anglian period with the remark, that its achievements +are all the more distinguished from the fact that they belong to a time +when the whole Continent was in the thickest darkness, that is to say, +the seventh and eighth centuries. + +Under Charlemagne a new start was made for the restitution of +literature. He drew learned men to his court, Alcuin from England, +Paulus Diaconus from Italy. Thus he made a new centre for European +learning, and France continued to sustain that character down to the +latter end of the Middle Ages. His chief agent in this great work of +enlightenment was Alcuin, who was educated at York under Egbert, who had +been a disciple of Beda. And so we see the torch of learning handed on +from Northumbria to the Frankish dominions in time to save the tradition +of culture from perishing in the desolation that was near. Among the +names that adorn the annals of revived learning under Charles himself, +we must mention Smaragdus, because Ælfric acknowledges him as one of his +sources. The book referred to would hardly be the "Diadem of Monks," a +selection of pieces from the Fathers with Scripture texts, worked up as +it were into a Whole Duty of Man, although Ælfric would be likely to +know this book; but for the composition of his Homilies it is more +likely that Ælfric would have drawn from another book by Smaragdus, +namely, his commentary on the Epistles and Gospels for Sundays. + +Men who have left their names in history now followed in the work of +sustaining the revival of learning. We must mention Rabanus Maurus, +whose Scripture commentaries were used by the poet of the "Heliand"; and +Walahfrid Strabo, who wrote on plants and had a taste for Greek +etymologies. + +The revival of secular learning brought in its train a strong +development of speculative theology. The ninth century is marked by +controversy on the Eucharist, and on Predestination. The former of +these controversies had an effect upon Anglo-Saxon literature, which +requires us to record one or two main facts in this place. Paschasius +Radbert, a monk of Corbey, who was for a short while Abbot of that +famous monastery, wrote a treatise (the first of its kind) on the +Eucharist, maintaining the change in the elements. The opposite side was +taken by Ratramnus (otherwise called Bertram), a monk of the same house. +His views were adopted by Ælfric in the tenth century, and were embodied +in a Homily, which was welcomed by the English reformers of the +sixteenth century as an antidote to the doctrine of transubstantiation. +Haymo, bishop of Halberstadt, who had studied at Fulda, maintained the +doctrine of the material change in its most extreme form. He was also a +commentator upon the Scriptures, and Ælfric used his commentaries, but +only "sometimes." + +The Danish scourge beggared the land, as in all other respects, so in +learning and in all the liberal arts. We who had formerly sent +instructors to other nations, were now suitors for help in our +destitution. The same national deliverer who rid us of the destroyer, +was also the restorer of education. If he cannot be said to have +effectually restored learning, at least he laboured with so much +earnestness at the task that he may be said to have bespoken an ultimate +though delayed success. Alfred is not more famous for his great battles +than for his great literary efforts. + +The literary restoration of his time is supported by the Carlovingian +schools, and in this we may see a repayment in the ninth century of that +help which Charles had received from England through Alcuin in the +eighth. + +Different in its origin is the remarkable spring of religious and +intellectual life in the tenth century. Ever since the synod of +Aix-la-Chapelle in 813, the religious spirit in Gaul had manifested +itself in the stricter discipline of the Benedictine monasteries, and +this movement reached us in the middle of the tenth century. The +Benedictines had a famous school on the Loire at a place then called +Floriacum, now Fleury or St. Benoît-sur-Loire, and some leading men in +England were in active relations with this house.[10] In the eclipse +which the nominal seat of Christianity was under in the tenth century, +the light of the Church shone in France and England. The reforms of +Æðelwold and Dunstan and Odo are the transmission of this movement to +our island. + +This great movement has only time to take shape enough to declare itself +when it is again interrupted by troublous times, invasions, and wars, +and changes of dynasty, and before any length of peace is again allowed, +by the decisive and final blow of the Norman Conquest, which brought +with it more than a change of dynasty. It changed the whole body of the +governing and influential classes, not from one stratum to another +within the Saxon nation, but by the introduction of a ruling class from +another nation, speaking another language, and one of a different +family. + +The new language thus brought in was no barbarous dialect, but the most +cultivated of the Continental vernaculars. It was the other great factor +of European literature. It had begun to be cultivated later than the +Saxon, but then it had ages of culture at its back. The strength of this +language was in its poetry--just the element which had stagnated in +England. The French taught not only the English but all Europe in +poetry. All modern European poetry is after the French model. + +After the Conquest Saxon literature had a stronghold in the great +religious houses, and here it continued to be cultivated until far into +the twelfth century. This was due not only to the patriotic sentiment, +but also to the interests of their several foundations. The chief +Anglo-Saxon works that we have from the times after the Conquest are +concerned directly or indirectly with the property or privilege of the +religious house from which the books emanate. This is the time that +produced the Worcester chartulary, the Rochester chartulary, the +Peterborough chronicle which embodies the privileges of the house, and +the Winton chartulary. This diplomatic interest was strong and permanent +enough to cause Anglo-Saxon studies to be pursued until late in the +Middle Age, perhaps even down to the time of the Dissolution by Henry +VIII. + +But passing from this, which is an artificial continuation of the old +literature, we may observe that it had a continuation which was +perfectly natural and spontaneous. Examples of this are the late +semi-Saxon Homilies, in which we see the gradual decay of the old +flectional grammar: but the most signal examples are the two great +poetical works of Layamon and Orm. These are full of French influence, +though not in the same manner. Layamon's "Brut" is translated (though +not without original episodes) from the French of Robert Wace: and the +"Ormulum," though drawn as to its matter from Latin comments on the +Gospels, yet is in form deeply imbued with the character of French +poetry. Indeed, the English language became more and more a vehicle for +the reproduction of French literature. This continued to the middle of +the fourteenth century, when the plague, which altered so many things, +altered also this. The supremacy of the French language was broken, the +native language was again heard in legal pleadings, and the poetry of +Chaucer laid the permanent foundation of modern English literature. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] A translation of these writings is given in Clark's "Ante-Nicene +Library," vol. xvi. Among the "Acts of Pilate" are contained the so +called "Gospel of Nicodemus," which is the fountain of that favourite +mediæval subject, "The Harrowing of Hell." + +[2] North Pinder, "Less Known Latin Poets," p. 486. + +[3] Donatus was Jerome's teacher. His name grew into a proverb, insomuch +that an elementary treatise of any sort might in the fourteenth century +be called a "donat." Priscian was a contemporary of Boethius. His +grammar was epitomised by Rabanus Maurus in the ninth century. + +[4] Other Latin poets who touched this subject are--Ovid, "Metam.," xv., +402; Martial, "Epigrams," v., 7; Claudian's First Idyll, a poem of 110 +hexameters, is entirely devoted to it. + +[5] Clemens Romanus; Tertullian, "De Resurrectione Carnis," c. 13. See +Adolf Ebert, "Christlich-Laternische Literatur," vol. i., p. 95. + +[6] Siever's "Der Heliand," p. 18, and references: Guizot, "Histoire de +la Civilisation en France," 18^e Leçon. + +[7] For the Latin text, and the bibliography, there is an admirable +little edition by Peiper, Lipsiæ, 1871. + +[8] R.A. Lipsius, "Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und +Apostellegenden," Braunschweig, 1883, p. 170. + +[9] Bede's "Ecclesiastical History," iii., 18. + +[10] It was destroyed by the Calvinists in 1562. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE MATERIALS. + + +The material of an early Literature is, above all, to be sought in +written Books and documents. But, besides these, there are other +available sources, which may be called in one word the Antiquities of +the nation; and these are of great value as illustrations, that is to +say, though the information they severally give may be uncertain and +inexplicit, yet when they are put side by side with the literature, they +greatly increase its informing power, and often draw, in return, a flow +of light upon themselves. Accordingly the present chapter will fall into +two parts: 1, of writings; 2, of subsidiary sources. + + +I. + +There is a famous book that remains in the place where it was deposited +in the Saxon period. Leofric, who was the tenth bishop of Crediton, and +the first of Exeter, gave to his new cathedral about sixty books, and +the list of these books is extant in contemporary writing. One of them +is thus described:--"I. mycel englisc boc be gehwilcum thingum on leoth +wisan geworht." = One large English book about various things in lay +(song) wise wrought--that is to say, a large volume of miscellaneous +poetry in English. This is the valuable, or rather, invaluable, Exeter +Song Book, often quoted as "Codex Exoniensis." It is still where Leofric +placed it in or about 1050, and it is in the keeping of his cathedral +chapter. The others are dispersed; but many of them are still well +known, as the "Leofric Missal," in the Bodleian; and others are at +Cambridge. + +The general break-up of monastic institutions between 1530 and 1540 +caused the dispersion of many old libraries, whose forgotten treasures +were thus restored to air and light. No doubt many valuable books and +records were irrecoverably lost; as it is reasonable to suppose that +among the parchments then cast upon the world, there existed material +for a continuous and complete history of Anglo-Saxon times. This +reflection may make us the more sensible of our penury, but it will not +diminish the praise of those who saved something from the wreck. + +Matthew Parker, the twentieth archbishop of Canterbury, 1559-1576, has +been called a mighty collector of books. He gave commissions for +searching after books in England and Wales, and presented the choicest +of his miscellaneous collections to his own college at Cambridge, +namely, Benet College (now Corpus Christi), where it still rests. In +this library are some unique books, such as the oldest Saxon chronicle, +which has been thought nearly as old as King Alfred's time. There is +also a fine vellum of the laws of King Alfred, with the elder laws of +King Ine attached in manner of appendix. + +But the most famous book of this great collection is an illuminated +manuscript of the Gospels in Latin (No. 286), which Wanley thought to +be probably one of the very books that were sent to Augustine by +Gregory. Professor Westwood says that the drawings in this manuscript +are the most ancient monuments of Roman pictorial art existing in this +country, and he further proceeds to say that, excepting a fourth-century +manuscript at Vienna, these are the oldest instances of Roman-Christian +iconography of which he can find any notice.[11] + +Parker had singular opportunities, by the time in which he lived, by the +advantages of his high office and personal character, by his power to +command the services of other men, and by their general willingness to +serve him. There were three distinguished searchers after books who were +of the greatest use to him, viz., Bale, Joscelin, Leland. + +John Bale, the antiquary, had been a White Friar in Norwich, then, +changing his party, he became bishop of Ossory, but lived at length on a +prebend he had in the church of Canterbury, where he followed his +studies. Bale, in his preface to Leland's "New Year's Gift,"[12] says +that those who purchased the monasteries reserved the books, some to +scour their candlesticks, some to rub their boots, some they sold to the +grocers and soap-sellers, and some they sent over sea to the +book-binders,[13] not in small numbers, but at times whole ships full, +to the wondering of foreign nations. + +John Leland had a commission under Henry VIII. to travel and collect +books; his Itinerary is a chief book for English topography. Of Joscelin +we shall have occasion to speak below. + +With all his advantages, however, Parker was weighted with the care of +the churches, at a time, too, when that care was unusually heavy; and to +this, as in duty bound, he gave his first thought. Though his example +could not be exceeded, his collections were surpassed, and that by a +gleaner who came after him. Of all book collectors the greatest was +Robert Bruce Cotton, the founder of the Cottonian Library. He was born +at Denton, in Huntingdonshire, and educated at Trinity College, +Cambridge. Cotton's antiquarian tastes declared themselves early; the +formation of a library and museum was his life-long pursuit. Not that +his interests were all confined to this. He wrote on the revenue, warned +King James against the strained exaction of tonnage and poundage, +especially in time of peace; and he counselled the creation of an order +of baronets, each to pay the Crown £1,000 for the honour. In this way he +became a baronet himself in 1611, having been knighted at the king's +accession. Under Charles I. he was molested for his opinions, because he +dared to disapprove of government without parliaments; and he was +touched in his most sensitive part when his own library was sealed +against him. He died 6th May, 1631, and was buried in Conington Church, +where his monument may still be seen. + +His library was further enlarged by his son, Sir Thomas Cotton; and it +was sold to the nation by Sir John Cotton, the fourth baronet, in 1700. +It was lodged in Ashburnham House, in 1731, when a disastrous fire +consumed or damaged many valuable books.[14] Annexed by statute to the +British Museum in 1753, it was moved thither in 1757. + +Among the books that suffered without being destroyed by the fire of +1731, is the unique copy of the Beowulf.[15] One of the Saxon chronicles +was almost consumed; only two or three leaves of it are now extant. But, +happily, this particular chronicle had been printed by Wheloc, without +curtailment or admixture, and so it was the one that could best be +spared. This library also contains the Abingdon and Worcester +chronicles, and, indeed, all the known Saxon chronicles except two. This +collection is the richest in original Anglo-Saxon deeds and abbey +registers. + +Among the Cottonian treasures (Vespasian A.I.) is a glossed psalter, +which was edited by Mr. Stevenson for the Surtees Society, in two vols., +1843-7, as containing a Northumbrian gloss, which is now, however, +supposed to be Kentish.[16] A facsimile of this manuscript by the +Palæographical Society, part ii., 18, has a description, from which the +following is taken:--"Written about A.D. 700, the gloss at the +end of the ninth, or beginning of the tenth, and the later additions in +the eleventh century. It formerly belonged to the Monastery of St. +Augustine of Canterbury, and corresponds with Thomas of Elmham's +description of one of the two psalters stated to have been acquired from +Augustine; though the character of the ornamentation clearly shows that +it is of English origin." It is sometimes called the Surtees Psalter; +Professor Westwood calls it "The Psalter of St. Augustine." + +The book which, to the eye of the artist and palæographer, forms the +glory of the Cottonian Library, is that which is marked, Nero D. iv., +and is commonly called the Lindisfarne Gospels. Other names which it has +borne, are:--The Durham Book, because it was long preserved in Durham +Cathedral, and the Gospels of St. Cuthbert, as having been written in +honour of that saint. It is the most elaborately-ornamented of all +Anglo-Saxon manuscripts; it is quite entire, and tells its own origin +and date. Two entries enable us to fix the date of the original Latin +book about 710; the interlinear Saxon gloss may be of the ninth century. + +Locally connected with the Cottonian is the Harleian collection which +was formed by Robert Harley (1661-1724), Earl of Oxford; and it was +purchased for the British Museum in 1753. It contains, without name of +author (Harl. 3,859) the most ancient manuscript (tenth century) of that +"History of the Britons" which now bears the name of Nennius; a few +originals or good early copies of Saxon charters; some abbey registers, +and some Early-English poetry, especially a manuscript of Chaucer's +"Canterbury Tales" (Harley, 7,334), which some have thought to be the +oldest and best. + +A name second only to Cotton is that of Archbishop Laud. He was a +collector of old and rare books in many languages, and we are indebted +to his care for some of the most valuable monuments of the +mother-tongue. He was president of St. John's College, Oxford, and he +had been educated there. Some valuable books he gave to his college, but +his larger donations were to the library of his university, of which he +became vice-chancellor in 1630. These books rest in the Bodleian +Library. + + +THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY + +dates from the year 1598; and here we have an admirable guide in the +"Annals of the Bodleian Library," by Rev. W.D. Macray, whose annalistic +order we will follow. + +1601.--The Library bought the copy of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels, from +which John Foxe had printed the edition of 1571.[17] It is marked Bod. +441. + +1603.--Some manuscripts were given by Sir Robert Cotton, and one of them +(Auct. D., ii. 14:--Bod. 857) is an ancient volume of Latin Gospels, +written probably in the sixth century, which shares with the illuminated +Benet Gospels described above, the traditional reputation of being one +of the books that were sent by Gregory to Augustine. It has no +miniatures, but it has rubrication, and it is in a similar style of +writing with that splendid volume. Thomas Elmham, who was a monk of St. +Augustine's at Canterbury, and wrote a history of his monastery, about +A.D. 1414, gives a list of the books of his house; and there +are two entries of "Textus Evangeliorum," each being particularly +described. Humphrey Wanley (p. 172) identified our two books as those +known to Elmham; and Westwood pronounces them to be two of the oldest +Latin manuscripts written in pure Roman uncials that exist in this +country. + +1635-1640.--In these years Archbishop Laud gave nearly 1,300 +manuscripts, among which there is one (E. 2) that enjoys pre-eminently +the title of "Codex Laudianus." This is a famous manuscript of the Acts +of the Apostles, which has been variously dated from the sixth to the +eighth century. It is the only known manuscript that exhibits certain +irregular readings, seventy-four in number, which Bede, in his +"Retractations on the Acts," quoted from his copy. Wetstein surmised +that this was the very book before Bede when he wrote his +"Retractations."[18] At the end is a Latin Creed, written in the same +uncial character, though not by the same hand, and Dr. Heurtley says it +is one of the earliest, if not the very earliest, of what he calls the +"Manuscript Creeds." He has given a facsimile of it.[19] + +Another of these was the Peterborough chronicle (No. 636), a celebrated +manuscript, containing the most extensive of all the Saxon chronicles. + +1675.--Christopher, Lord Hatton, gave four volumes of Saxon Homilies, +written shortly after the Conquest. These are now among the Junian MSS. +(Nos. 22, 23, 24, 99), simply because Junius had them on loan. Being +among his books at the time of his death, they came back to the +Bodleian, as if part of the Junian bequest. This explains why Hatton +manuscripts, which contain sermons of Ælfric and of Wulfstan, bear the +signatures Jun. 22 and Jun. 99. + +Other Hatton manuscripts, and very precious ones, have retained the name +of their donor, as-- + +Hatton 20.--King Alfred's Translation of Gregory's "Pastoral Care," of +which the king purposed to send a copy to each cathedral church, and +this is the copy sent by the king to Werfrith, bishop of Worcester. + +Hatton 76.--Translation by Werfrith, bishop of Worcester, of Gregory's +"Dialogues," with King Alfred's Preface (in Wanley this is Hatton 100). + +Hatton 65.--The Gospels in Saxon, written about the time of Henry II. + +1678.--Franciscus Junius died at Windsor. He was born at Heidelberg, in +1589, and his vernacular name was Francis Dujon. He lived much in +England, as librarian to Howard, Earl of Arundel. He bequeathed to the +Bodleian his Anglo-Saxon and Northern collections. Among these is a +beautiful Latin Psalter (Jun. 27) of the tenth century, with grotesque +initials and interlinear Saxon. This book has been called "Codex +Vossianus," because Junius obtained it from his relative, Isaac Voss. +Among these also is the unique Cædmon, a MS. of about A.D. +1000, which had been given to Junius by Archbishop Usher, and of which +the earlier history is unknown. Usher, a scholar of European celebrity, +founded the library of Trinity College, Dublin; and in his enquiries +after books for his college he picked up this famous manuscript. It +became a favourite with Junius, who edited the Editio Princeps, +Amsterdam, 1655. Another book (Jun. 121) is a collection of Canons of +the Anglo-Saxon Church, which belonged to Worcester Cathedral. In this +book, fol. 101, the writer describes himself: _Me scripsit Wulfgeatus +scriptor Wigorniensis_ = Me wrote Wulfgeat of Worcester, a writer. This +Wulfgeat is said by Wanley (p. 141) to have lived about A.D. +1064. Junius 22 seems to be written by the same hand; so does Junius 99. +The former contains writings by Ælfric; the latter, some by Ælfric and +some by Wulfstan. Another book of the Junian bequest, hardly less +singular and unique, is the "Ormulum," a poetical exposition of the +Gospels, a work of the thirteenth century, of singular beauty, as +poetry and as English. + +1681.--This is probably the year in which John Rushworth, of Lincoln's +Inn, the historian of the Long Parliament, presented to the library the +book (Auct. D., ii. 19) which is still known as Codex Rushworthianus. It +contains the Gospels in Latin, written about A.D. 800, by an +Irish scribe, who has recorded his name as Macregol, and it is glossed +with an interlinear Anglo-Saxon version by Owun and by Færmen, a priest, +at Harewood. It is described by Westwood. + +1755.--Richard Rawlinson was born in 1690, son of Sir Thomas Rawlinson, +who was lord mayor of London in 1706; was educated at St. John's +College, Oxford, of which he always remained an attached member, and to +which he left by will the bulk of his estate. Though he passed for a +layman, he was a bishop among the Nonjurors, having been ordained deacon +and priest by Bishop Jeremy Collier in 1716, and consecrated bishop 25th +March, 1728. He was through life an indefatigable collector; he +purchased historical materials of all kinds, heraldry, genealogy, +biography, topography, and log-books. He was a repeated benefactor to +the library during his life, but after his death his books and +manuscripts came in overwhelming quantity, so that the staff of the +library could not possibly catalogue them; and it was not until Henry +Octavius Coxe became Bodley's librarian that the extent of the Rawlinson +collection was ascertained. This benefactor founded the Anglo-Saxon +professorship which bears his name. + +1809.--Richard Gough, the eminent topographer and antiquary, died 20th +February; he had bequeathed to the Bodleian all his topographical +collections, together with all his books relating to Saxon and Northern +literature. The following is from his will:--"Also I give and bequeath +to the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars, of the University of Oxford, +my printed Books and Manuscripts on Saxon and Northern Literature, +mentioned in a Catalogue of the same, for the Use of the Saxon professor +in the said University when he shall have occasion to consult them, with +liberty to take them to his Apartments on condition of faithfully +returning them." + +I close these Bodleian notes with the remark that three of the books +above noticed may be easily seen even by the casual visitor. The late +librarian, Henry Octavius Coxe, devised the happy plan of exhibiting +under a glass case a chronological series of manuscripts written by +English scribes, so as to exhibit the progress of the arts of +calligraphy and illuminating in England. This case is in the north wing, +at the further end from the entrance door. Among the selections for this +series occur Alfred's gift-book to Worcester, the "Codex Vossianus," the +"Cædmon," and a fourth book, one that has not yet been described. It is +a volume of Latin Gospels in Anglo-Saxon writing, of about the end of +the tenth century. This book appears, from an entry at the end of it, to +have belonged to the abbey of Barking.[20] + + +CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, OXFORD, + +though not endowed with treasures equal to those of its namesake in +Cambridge, has a few books of very high quality and value. Among these a +Saxon Bede of the tenth century, wanting at the beginning and end, but +otherwise in excellent condition. + +A remarkably interesting manuscript of the Rule of St. Benedict, Latin +and Saxon, which has never yet been published.[21] Mr. H.O. Coxe, in his +catalogue of the manuscripts of the colleges, assigned this book to the +close of the tenth century. The interest of the volume is greatly +increased by some pages of entries, which also tend to fix the date of +the book with greater precision. It was written for the monastery of +Bury St. Edmunds, and it appears to have been still there in the +fourteenth century. It was given by William Fulman, who was a fellow of +this college, to the college library. The same donor gave them their +"Piers Plowman" and their famous manuscript of the "Canterbury Tales." + + +ST. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD, + +has an important manuscript containing (1) Ælfric's Grammar, (2) +Glossary, and (3) the Colloquy of Ælfric Bata, in usum puerorum (for the +boys). On fol. 202, the writer calls himself, "I Ælfric Bata," and says +that his master "Ælfric abbot" was the original author. The writing of +(1) and (2) is in the round, strong, professional hand of the tenth +century; the sequel is in later writing. On the first page is written +in a hand of the fourteenth century "Liber Sci Cuthberhti de Dunelmo" (a +book of St. Cuthbert, of Durham); and next thereto, but in a hand nearly +as old as the MS. itself, "de armario precentoris, qui alienaverit de eo +anathema sit" (is kept in the precentor's chest; whoever alienates it +therefrom, let him be anathema). It was given to the college by +Christopher Coles, who took his degree in 1611. The grammar has been +recently edited by Dr. Zupitza. + + +THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AT CAMBRIDGE + +possesses the oldest manuscript of the ecclesiastical history of Bede +(K.K. 5. 16). It is supposed to have been written shortly after the +death of the venerable author, which happened in 735. This book came +into that library in 1715, with the fine collection of 30,000 volumes +collected by Dr. More, bishop of Ely. This collection was purchased by +George I. for 6,000 guineas, and presented to the University by the +king. This invaluable book is distinctively called Bishop More's +manuscript. + +In the Cathedral Library at Canterbury there are some valuable Saxon +charters;[22]--many more whose natural home was there are in the British +Museum among the Cottonian collections. + +In the library of Lambeth Palace there is an interesting book, which +belonged to Archbishop Parker, and has been well scored by him: but it +is not entered either in the Lambeth catalogue of 1812, or in that of +Benet College. This is the "Gospels of MacDurnan," in Irish calligraphy +of the ninth century, and it contains some valuable Anglo-Saxon +entries.[23] + + +RESEARCH, DISCOVERY, AND RECONSTRUCTION. + +Hitherto we have been describing the collection of material; this it was +that rescued our early history and literature from hopeless oblivion. +The old parchments contained much knowledge that ought to be recovered +and diffused; but this would require preparation and labour. Among the +labourers, Matthew Parker comes first as he does among the collectors. +This prelate was an earnest student in the ancient history of the +country and especially in whatever had relation to the Church. He was +the first editor of a Saxon Homily. It was printed by John Day, and was +entitled, "A Testimony of Antiquity showing the Ancient Faith of the +Church of England touching the Sacrament, &c." The interest of this +publication as understood at the time, lay in its witness against +transubstantiation. It was reprinted at Oxford by Leon Lichfield, 1675. + +In 1571 the Saxon Gospels were published by John Fox, who acknowledges +obligations to Parker in his preface. This book was reprinted at Dort, +in 1665, by Marshall, who was afterwards rector of Lincoln College, in +Oxford. + +In 1574 appeared Parker's edition of Asser's Life of Alfred, and we read +in Strype that "of this edition of Asserius there had been great +expectation among the learned." We can add, that of this edition the +interest is not yet extinct. + +How far Parker's books were done by himself and how far he was dependent +on his literary assistants, is a question of little importance. No +doubt, a great deal of it was the work of his secretary, Joscelin. We +look at Parker as a master builder, not as a journeyman. The name of +Joscelin meets us often when we are following the footsteps of those +times. His writing is seen on many a manuscript, and we have to thank +him for much valuable information. It is chiefly through his annotations +that we know the external and local relations of our several Saxon +chronicles.[24] In August, 1565, he was at St. Augustine's, Canterbury; +and there he found the old transcript of the first life of St. Dunstan, +which is now in the Cotton Library.[25] + +But the chief labourers and reconstructors of the first movement were +William Camden (b. 1551--d. 1623), and Sir Henry Spelman (b. 1562--d. +1641). The name of Camden's "Britannia" is still alive, and is familiar +as a household word with all who explore even a little beyond the beaten +track. But it is otherwise with Sir Henry Spelman, whose studies were +more recondite, and to whom Abraham Wheloc looked back as to "the hero +of Anglo-Saxon literature." His "Glossary" was a work of vast compass, +and for it he corresponded much with learned men abroad; among others +with the famous Northern antiquary, Olaus Wormius, the author of +"Literatura Runica," of which he sent Spelman a copy in October, +1636.[26] His son, Sir John Spelman, wrote the "Life of King Alfred." +Before he died, Sir Henry Spelman founded an Anglo-Saxon chair at +Cambridge; and the first occupant of it was Abraham Wheloc, who edited +Bede in 1643 and with it that Saxon Chronicle which was burnt in 1731. +In 1644 he edited the Anglo-Saxon Laws. His successor was William Somner +(b. 1606--d. 1669), who produced the first Anglo-Saxon dictionary. So +this foundation was not unfruitful. But the chair fell into abeyance, +until it was restored by Dr. Bosworth, and filled by Professor Skeat. + +This, the first movement of reconstruction, had its seat in Cambridge, +under the shadow of Archbishop Parker's library. The next advance, +dating from the middle of the seventeenth century, grew in Oxford, and +was connected with the sojourn of Junius in this place. He was much at +the Bodleian, and he is said to have lodged opposite Lincoln College. He +was a fellow-labourer with Dr. Marshall, the rector of that college, in +the Mæso-Gothic and Anglo-Saxon Gospels which they printed at Dordrecht, +1665. This Oxford period may be said to have culminated in the work of +George Hickes, Nonjuror and Saxonist (b. 1642--d. 1715), the author of +the massive "Thesaurus Linguarum Septentrionalium," Oxford, 1705, a +monument of diligence and insight, to which was appended a work of the +greatest utility and necessity,--the idea was Hickes's, as was also much +of the sustaining energy,--Humphrey Wanley's catalogue of Anglo-Saxon +manuscripts. We must not omit Edmund Gibson (b. 1669--d. 1748), who in +early life produced his admirable "Chronicon Saxonicum," amplifying the +work of Wheloc, and embodying for the first time the Peterborough +manuscript. He was afterwards bishop of London. In 1750 Richard +Rawlinson gave rents of the yearly value of £87. 16s. 8d. to the +University of Oxford, for the maintenance and support of an Anglo-Saxon +lecture or professorship for ever. + +Up to this time it might still be said of the collections that they were +just stored in bulk as goods are stored in great magazines; there was +much to explore and to learn. Important discoveries still remained to be +made by explorers in these and other collections. Wanley's catalogue had +somewhat the effect of running a line of road through a fertile but +unfrequented land; and Conybeare's "Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon +Poetry," published in 1826, fruit of the Oxford chair, had a great +effect in calling the attention of the educated, and more than any other +book in the present century has served as the introduction to Saxon +studies. + +It was not until the close of the eighteenth century that the "Beowulf" +was discovered. Wanley had catalogued it, but without any idea of the +real nature of the book. Thorkelin was, however, attracted from Denmark; +he came and transcribed it, and prepared an edition which was nearly +ready in 1808, when his house was burnt in the bombardment of +Copenhagen. But he began again, and lived to see his name to the Editio +Princeps of "Beowulf," at a time when there were few who knew or cared +for his work. He left two transcripts, which are now our highest source +in many passages of the poem. The original having been scorched in the +fire of 1731, the edges of the leaves went on cracking away, so that +many words which were near the margins and which are now gone, passed +under the eye of Thorkelin. + +In 1832, a learned German, Dr. Blume, discovered at Vercelli, in North +Italy, a thick volume containing Anglo-Saxon homilies, and some sacred +poems of great beauty. The poems were copied and printed under the care +of Mr. Thorpe, by the Record Commission, in a book known as the +"Appendix to Mr. Cooper's Report on the Foedera," a book that became +famous through the complaints that were made because of the long years +during which it was kept back. A few privileged persons got copies, and +when Grimm, in 1840, published the two chief poems of the new find, the +Andreas and the Elene, which he had extracted from Lappenberg's copy, he +had a little fling at "die Recorders," as if they kept the book to +themselves for a rarity to deck their own shelves withal. The poems are +six in number: 1. A Legend of St. Andrew; 2. The Fortunes of the Twelve +Apostles; 3. The Departed Soul's Address to the Body; 4. A Fragment; 5. +A Dream of the Holy Rood; 6. Elene, or The Invention of the Cross. + +In 1851 the first notice of a book of homilies older than Ælfric,--the +property of the Marquis of Lothian, and preserved in the library of +Blickling Hall, Norfolk,--was made public by Mr. Godwin in the +transactions of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society.[27] + +In 1860 was discovered the valuable fragment of an epic poem on King +Waldhere, and the manner of the find shall be told in the words of +Professor George Stephens, which I quote from the Editio Princeps of +"Waldhere," published by him in the same year. "On the 12th of January, +1860, Professor E.C. Werlauff, Chief Librarian of the Great National +Library, Cheapinghaven [Copenhagen], was engaged in sorting some bundles +of papers, parchment leaves, and fragments, mostly taken from books, or +book-backs, which had not hitherto been arranged. While thus occupied, +he lighted upon two vellum leaves of great antiquity, and bearing an Old +English text. He kindly communicated the discovery to me, and the +present work is the result." + + +II. + + +INSCRIPTIONS + +of the Anglo-Saxon period exist both in the learned and the vernacular +language. It is peculiarly interesting, when an inscription is exhumed +that gives us back a contemporary monument, however slight, of that +Anglian Church which was the first-fruit of Christianity in our nation. +About twenty years ago, a stone was found at Wearmouth which had been +buried in the ruins of the monastery ever since the ninth century, and +which came up fresh and clear in almost every letter, bearing, "Hic in +sepulcro requiescit corpore Hereberecht prb.[28] (Here in this tomb +Hereberecht presbiter rests in the body)." A fine inscription from +Deerhurst, in Gloucestershire, is now among the Arundel Marbles at +Oxford. It is printed in Parker's "Glossary of Architecture," and in my +Saxon Chronicles. Often the interest of these Latin inscriptions is +enhanced by a strong touch of the vernacular showing through. This is +the case on a fine monumental stone in Mortimer Church. + + +OF VERNACULAR INSCRIPTIONS + +there is one at Lincoln, in the tower of St. Mary-le-Wigford Church. +Into this tower, which is of early date, a Roman pagan monument (Diis +Manibus, &c.) is walled, and, on the triangular gable of the stone, a +Saxon inscription has been carved. It is imperfect, but the general +sense is clear. It must be read from the lowest and longest line upwards +to the apex. It says: "Eirtig caused me to be made and endowed in honour +of Christ and St. Mary." Perhaps the tower, or even the church, is the +speaker. The founder's name is much defaced: I have adopted the reading +of Rev. J. Wordsworth, who has bestowed attention on this stone. + +A fragment of a similar inscription, but much more copious, was found at +St. Mary's, York, and is described in Hübner, No. 175. + +But the most characteristic of the vernacular inscriptions are those on +sun-dials. There are no less than three of these in the North Riding of +Yorkshire; viz., at Old Byland, and at Edstow near Pickering, and at +Kirkdale.[29] The last is fullest and most perfect, and is, moreover, +dated. It bears: "+ Orm Gamalson bought the minster of S. Gregory when +it was all to broken and to fallen, and he it let make anew from ground +for Christ and S. Gregory in the days of Edward the King and Tosti the +Earl. + and Hawarth wrought me and Brand presbiter. + This is day's +sun-marker, hour by hour." + +The poetical inscription in Runes, on the Ruthwell Cross, is too large a +subject for this place.[30] + + +JEWELLERY. + +The Anglo-Saxons retained an old tradition of decorative art, and they +had among them skilful jewellers. Several specimens have been found, and +are to be seen in museums; but the noblest of all these is that which is +known as the Alfred Jewel. + +The Alfred Jewel was discovered in Newton Park, near Athelney, in the +year 1693, and it found its way to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford by the +year 1718, where it still rests. It consists of an enamelled figure +enshrined in a golden frame, with a golden back to it, and with a thick +piece of rock crystal in front to serve as a glass to the picture. +Imagine a longitudinal section of a pigeon's egg, and let the golden +plate at the back of our jewel represent the plane of the egg's +diameter. From this plane, if we measure three-quarters of an inch in +the girth of the egg, and then take another section parallel to the gold +plate at the back, we obtain the front surface of the crystal through +which the enamelled figure is visible. The smaller end of our oval +section is prolonged and is fashioned like the head of a boar. The snout +forms a socket, as if to fit on to a peg or dole; a cross-pin, to fix +the socket to the dole, is still in place. Around the sloping rim, which +remains, the following legend is wrought in the fabric: ÆLFRED MEC HEHT +GEWYRCEAN (Alfred me commanded to make). The language of the legend +agrees perfectly with the age of King Alfred, and it seems to be the +unhesitating opinion of all those who have investigated the subject that +it was a personal ornament of the great West Saxon king. As to the +manner of wearing it, and as to the signification of the enamelled +figure, there has been the greatest diversity of opinion. Sir Francis +Palgrave suggested that the figure was older than the setting. Perhaps +it was a sacred object, and perhaps one of the presents of Pope Marinus, +or some other potentate; and that the mounting was intended to adapt it +for fixture in the rim of a helmet or crown over the centre of the royal +brow. By its side, in the same glass case, there lies a gold ornament +of far simpler design, but of like adaptation. + + +DRAWING AND ILLUMINATION OF BOOKS. + +This is the branch of Saxon art which is best represented by extant +remains. That the specimens are numerous may be gathered from what has +been said above in the description of manuscripts. There are two +periods, and the change takes place with the revival of learning in the +reign of Edgar. In the earlier period, the drawings and the decorations +are of the same general type as the Irish illuminated books, and it has +been thought that our artists had learnt their art from the Irish; but +now there is a disposition to see in this art a type common to both +islands, and to call it British. The Lindisfarne Gospels (A.D. +710) offer the best example of this kind. In the tenth century, Frankish +art was much imitated, and the Saxon style was altered. But the Saxons, +in their imitations, displayed originality; and they developed a +gorgeous form of decoration, which was recognised as a distinct style, +and was known on the Continent as English work (_opus Anglicum_). The +typical specimen of this kind is the Benedictional of Æthelwold (between +963 and 970). From the same cause, the character of the penmanship also +passes through a corresponding change, but more gradually and +indistinctly.[31] + + +ARCHITECTURE. + +Of Saxon architecture there are many traces; we will take but a few. + +The cathedral at Canterbury was an old church, which had been built by +Christians under the Romans, and which Augustine, by the king's help, +recovered, and consecrated as the Church of St. Saviour;[32] in later +times it came to be called Christ Church. This building lasted all +through the Saxon period; it was enlarged by Abbot Odo, about 950, and +was finally pulled down by Lanfranc, in 1070. But there exists a written +description of this old church by a man who had seen it,--namely, Eadmer +the Precentor, who was a diligent collector of traditions concerning his +cathedral. What makes his description especially valuable to the +architectural historian is the fact that he compares it to St. Peter's +at Rome, and he had been to Rome in company with Anselm. Now, although +the old Basilica at Rome was destroyed in the sixteenth century, yet +plans and drawings which were made before its demolition are preserved +in the Vatican: and, with all these data before him, Professor Willis +reconstructed the plan of the metropolitan church of the Saxon +period.[33] In certain features he used, moreover, the evidence of the +ancient Saxon church at Brixworth.[34] + +Not only from models left in Britain by the Romans, but also through +the frequent visits of our ecclesiastics to Rome, it naturally happened +that the Saxon architecture was imitated from the Roman. Nevertheless, +the Anglo-Saxons appear to have developed a style of their own. Sir +Gilbert Scott in his posthumous Essays characterises this early church +architecture by two features--the square termination of the east end, +and the west end position of the tower. This was quite insular, and not +to be found in Roman patterns. In Professor Willis's plan of the first +cathedral at Canterbury the east and west ends are both apsidal, and the +two towers are placed on the north and south sides of the nave. + +The great discovery, a few years ago, of the Saxon chapel at +Bradford-on-Avon, and the successful way in which it was cleared and +detached from other buildings by Canon Jones, has not only given us so +complete an example of Saxon church architecture as we had nothing like +it before, but it has also improved our faculty of recognising Saxon +work in fragmentary relics, and, if I may so speak, of pulling them all +together. A remarkable passage in William of Malmesbury records that +Aldhelm built a little church (_ecclesiola_) in this place; and the +possibility that this may be that very church is not rejected by the +best judges. Aldhelm died in 709. + +Of Saxon construction a chief peculiarity is that which is called "longs +and shorts." It occurs in coins of towers, in panelling work, and +sometimes in door jambs.[35] Of the latter, a fine example occurs at +Laughton, near Maltby, not many miles distant from Sheffield. What makes +this latter instance more peculiarly interesting, is the fact that over +the churchyard wall on the west, in a small grass field, traditionally +called the Castle Field, there is the well-preserved plan of a Saxon +lordly mansion. The circuit of the earthwork is almost complete, and at +a point in the enceinte there rises the mound on which was pitched the +garrison of the little castle. I use the term castle, as the habits of +the language now require, and as it is expressed in the name of the +spot. But, indeed, castles were little known in England before the +Conquest; had it been otherwise, the Conquest would not have been so +easy.[36] The name and the thing came in with the Normans. Yet there +were ancient places of security, and their great feature was an earthen +mound, upon which a wooden building was pitched. The Saxon mounds often +became, to borrow a phrase from Mr. Freeman, the kernel of the Norman +castle. And there was a traditional method of fortification for the +houses of great men of which Laughton is an example. + + + +SCULPTURE. + +There are several pieces of Anglo-Saxon sculpture extant; and they are +not hard to recognise, because of the peculiar lines of drawing with +which we are already familiar in the illuminated manuscripts. In the +Saxon chapel at Bradford-on-Avon there are two angels, of life size, or +larger, carved in relief on stone. They appear in the wall high above +the chancel arch, towards the nave; and it is supposed from the distance +between them, and from their facing one another, that there was once a +holy rood placed between them, towards which they were in attendance. + +In Bristol Cathedral there is a remarkable piece of Saxon sculpture, +representing a human figure, life size, apparently the Saviour, +delivering a small figure, as it were a soul, out of the mouth of the +dragon. This is carved on the upper side of the massive lid of a stone +coffin. It was discovered about forty years ago, and it may be seen in +the vestry within the Norman chapter-house, where it is masoned into the +wall over the chimney-piece. + + +BURIALS. + +The Saxon graves have yielded many illustrative objects, especially +weapons and personal ornaments, pottery, and glass.[37] + +The Saxon graves were first systematically explored by Bryan Faussett, +of Heppington, in Kent (b. 1720--d. 1776); who was called by his +contemporaries "the British Montfaucon." He is unequalled for the extent +of his excavations, and the distinctness of his well-kept chronicle. +After him, in the next generation, came an interpreter, who was also a +great excavator; James Douglas, author of "Nenia Britannica," 1793. The +Faussett collection is in Liverpool, the Douglas collection (most of it) +in Oxford. + +In more recent times the general accuracy of the results has been +established by means of comparative researches. The tumuli in the old +mother country of the Saxons have been examined, and their affinity with +our Saxon graves has been determined beyond question; while a parallel +comparison has also been instituted between the Frankish graves in +France, and the ancestral Frankish graves in old Franconia over the +Rhine. Thus it is well known what interments are really Saxon. + +The chronology of the varieties of interment is not, however, so +completely ascertained. In the boundaries of property from the tenth +century and onwards we find repeated mention of "heathen burial-places," +and it has perhaps been too readily inferred that all the Saxon graves +in the open country unconnected with churches are older than the +Conversion. Mr. Kemble investigated this subject, and he came to the +conclusion that the cinerary urns were heathen, but that the whole +interments were Christian. His observations were made chiefly in the old +mother country, which lies between the Rhine, the Elbe, and the Main. He +identified the change from cremation to inhumation with that from +heathenism to Christianity. + +The tumular relics of different parts of England suggest old tribal +distinctions of costume and apparel. In Kent the fibulæ are circular and +highly ornamented, but these are sparingly found beyond the area of the +earliest settlers. From Suffolk to Leicestershire the fibulæ are mostly +bridge-shaped. A third variety, the concave or saucer-shaped, is found +in Berkshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire. It is, +however, possible that these distinctions may be partly chronological. + +The most splendid fibula known is of the first kind. It was exhumed by +Bryan Faussett, 5th August, 1771, on Kingston Down in Kent, from a deep +grave containing numerous relics, and such as indicated a lady of +distinction. The Kingston fibula is circular, entirely of gold, richly +set with garnets and turquoise; it is 3œ inches in diameter, Œ inch +in thickness, and weighs 6 oz. 5 dwt. 18 gr. This is the gem of all +Saxon tumular antiquities, and it rests with the other Faussett finds in +the Mayer collection at Liverpool. Near it was found a golden +neck-ornament, weighing 2 dwt. 7 gr. These and other like examples, +though less splendid, from the graves of Saxon ladies, are good +illustrations of the poetic epithet "gold-adorned," which is repeatedly +applied to women of high degree. + +The Saxon pottery is known to us by the burial urns. These are marked by +a local character for the various districts, but still with a generic +resemblance, which is based upon the comprehensive fact that although +they appear like inferior copies from Roman work, yet they are at the +same time like the urns found in Old Saxony and Franconia. + +The glass drinking-vessels are very peculiar, and they are noticed as +such in the poetry.[38] The hooped buckets that have been found in men's +graves only, seem also to answer to expressions in convivial +descriptions. + +Of the tumular remains this general remark may be made, that they richly +illustrate the elder poetry. The abundance and variety of the objects +which remain after so long a time unperished, give a strong impression +of the lavish generosity with which the dead were sent on their way. +Answering to these finds there are two descriptions in the "Beowulf," +one in the beginning where the mythic hero Scyld Scefing is (not buried +but) shipped off to sea; and the other the funeral of Beowulf with which +the poem closes. + +The graves also afford illustration negative as well as positive. The +comparative rarity of swords is a fact that has been particularly +remarked. This too agrees with the poetry in which there are swords of +fame, which are known by their own proper names, and which have an +established pedigree of illustrious owners at the head of which often +stands the name of the divine fabricator, Weland. Perhaps it would not +be too much to say that affinity with the tumular deposits is one of the +notes of the primary poetry. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[11] "Palæographia Sacra Pictoria." + +[12] "Leland's laboryouse journey and serche for Englandes antiquities, +given as a newe years gifte to King Henry VIII., enlarged by John Bale." +London. 1549. + +[13] This is curiously confirmed by the discovery of Waldhere, described +below. + +[14] As this fire is one that the student is only too often reminded of, +a few details may be acceptable. A committee was appointed by the House +of Commons to view the Cotton Library after this disaster, and we learn +from their Report (1732, folio) that "114 volumes are either lost, +burnt, or entirely spoiled, and 98 others damaged so as to be defective; +so that the said library at present consists of 746 entire volumes and +98 defective ones." The collection when purchased had contained 958 +volumes. Of late years great pains have been taken for the preservation +of the fragments by careful mounting. + +[15] Photographed by the Early English Text Society, 1883. + +[16] "Die Sprache des Kentischen Psalters," von Rudolf Zeuner. Halle, +1882. Referring to Mr. Sweet, in Transactions of Philological Society, +1875-6. + +[17] "The Gospels of the fower Evangelistes, translated in the olde +Saxons tyme out of Latin into the vulgare toung of the Saxons, newly +collected out of Auncient Monumentes of the sayd Saxons, and now +published for testimonie of the same." At London. Printed by Iohn Daye, +dwelling ouer Aldersgate, 1571. + +[18] See Scrivener, "Introduction to Criticism of New Testament," ed. 2, +p. 147. + +[19] "Harmonia Symbolica," Oxford, 1858, p. 61. + +[20] Westwood, "Facsimiles," p. 123. + +[21] It was to have been edited by Professor Buckley for the Ælfric +Society, but that society closed its career too soon. + +[22] They were arranged by Kemble; and have recently been facsimiled by +the Ordnance Survey, under the editorship of Mr. W. Basevi Sanders. + +[23] Fully described by Mr. W.B. Sanders in the "Annual Report for 1873 +of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records," p. 271 ff. + +[24] See the particulars in "Two Saxon Chronicles Parallel." Clarendon +Press, 1865. Introduction, pp. vii., xxv., xxviii. + +[25] Stubbs, "Memorials of Saint Dunstan," p. xxx. + +[26] "The Englishman and the Scandinavian," by Frederick Metcalfe, M.A., +1880, p. 11. + +[27] In 1880 these Homilies were edited by Dr. Morris, for the Early +English Text Society, under the name of "The Blickling Homilies." + +[28] Hübner, 197. + +[29] Hübner, 179, 180, 181. + +[30] Kemble, "Archæologia," Anno 1843; Stephens, "Runic Monuments," p. +405. + +[31] Westwood, "Palæographia Sacra Pictoria," and "Facsimiles of +Miniatures from Irish and Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts." + +[32] Beda, "Church History," i., 33. + +[33] "The Architectural History of Canterbury Cathedral," 1845, p. 27. + +[34] "The church at Brixworth has plainly had its walls raised, and a +clerestory with windows added, even in the Saxon period; assuming that +midwall baluster-shafts are to be received as characteristics of this +period, for a triple window with such shafts was inserted in the western +wall when the walls were so raised." _Ibid._, p. 30. See also Haddan and +Stubbs, i., 38. + +[35] Some of the churches in which these features may be observed are +Deerhurst in Gloucestershire; Earl's Barton, Northants; Benet church in +Cambridge; Sompting in Sussex. Figured illustrations may be seen in +Parker's "Introduction to Gothic Architecture." + +[36] Freeman, N.C., ii., 605; "Reign of Rufus" i., 49. + +[37] These are described and figured in Bryan Faussett's "Inventorium +Sepulchrale," ed. Roach Smith; Wylie, "Fairford Graves"; Neville, "Saxon +Obsequies"; Akerman, "Pagan Saxondom"; Kemble, "Horæ Ferales." + +[38] "The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon," by T. Wright, p. 424. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE HEATHEN PERIOD. + + + For many a petty king ere Arthur came + ruled in this isle, and ever waging war + each upon other, wasted all the land; + and still from time to time the heathen host + swarm'd over seas, and harried what was left. + And so there grew great tracts of wilderness, + wherein the beast was ever more and more, + but man was less and less, till Arthur came. + For first Aurelius lived and fought and died, + and after him king Uther fought and died, + but either fail'd to make the kingdom one. + And after these king Arthur for a space, + and thro' the puissance of his Table round, + drew all their petty princedoms under him, + their king and head, and made a realm, and reign'd. + + ALFRED TENNYSON, _The Coming of Arthur_. + + +For the first hundred and fifty years of their life in this island our +ancestors were heathens. This time has no place in the English memory +through any legendary or literary tradition that is associated with the +Saxons. The legends of this time which retain a place in literature are +not Saxon but British. This is the era of Arthur and the Knights of the +Round Table. There is no book or piece of Saxon literature that can in +any substantial sense be ascribed to the heathen period; for I cannot go +with those who assign this high antiquity to the "Beowulf." + +There is a book that claims to be a product of this time, but it is +neither Saxon nor heathen. It bears the name of Gildas, a Briton, and it +is a fervently Christian book, written in Latin. It has two parts, one +being a Lament of the Ruin of Britain, the other a Denunciation of the +conduct of her princes. Its genuineness has been questioned, and it has +also been ably defended.[39] The strong point in favour of the book is, +that it existed and was reputed genuine before the time of Bede, who +used it as an authority, and cited it by the author's name, saying that +"Gildas, their [the Britons'] historian," describes such and such evils +in his "lamentable discourse."[40] Through Bede the information of +Gildas has fallen into the stream of English history, and we cease to be +aware of the original source. For example, the familiar tradition of the +Saxons coming over in "three keels," ordinarily ascribed to Bede, is +taken from Gildas. The date of this author and his work, as now +generally accepted, is this:--That he was born in 520, the year of the +battle of Mons Badonicus, and that he wrote about 564. But this rests on +an ill-jointed and uncertain passage, which was misunderstood by Bede, +if the modern interpretation is right. + +And when we come to look into that Saxon literature which was +subsequently developed, the traces of the heathen period are +unexpectedly scanty, and the very remembrance of heathenism though not +abolished seems already wonderfully remote. But notwithstanding all +this, we cannot treat the subject of Anglo-Saxon literature in any +satisfactory manner without some consideration of the heathen period. +For, on the one hand, history requires it as a background, and the only +appropriate background to our story of the subsequent culture; and, on +the other hand, we shall find, by putting the scattered fragments +together, that such an impression may be gained as is at least +sufficient for a subsidiary purpose. + +Among the extant Saxon writings there is one and only one book, in which +we detect some possible work of this period. This is in the Chronicles. +Between A.D. 450 and 600 we have a sprinkling of curious annals +that are naturally calculated to rivet the attention. They are certainly +of a very distinct and peculiar cast, and it has been thought that they +may possibly represent (through much disguise of transcription) some +kind of contemporary records of the heathen period, whether the original +shape was that of ballads, or of annals kept in Runes. + +These annals are characterised by an occasional touch of poetic fervour, +and by several local details which are stimulating to modern curiosity. +A few examples may be useful:-- + +455. Here[41] Hengest and Horsa fought against Wyrtgeorn, the king, in +the place that is called Agælesthrep; and his brother Horsa was slain; +and after that Hengest took to the kingdom, and Æsc, his son. + +457. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the Brettas in the place that +is called Crecganford; and there they slew 4,000 men; and the Brets then +abandoned Kentland, and in great terror fled to Londonbury. + +473. Here Hengest and Æsc fought against the Walas: and they took +countless spoil: and the Walas fled the Engles like fire. + +491. Here Ælle and Cissa beset Andredescester, and slew all those that +therein dwelt: there was not so much as one Bret remaining. + +571. Here Cuthwulf fought with the Bretwalas at Bedcanford, and took +four towns: Lygeanburg and Ægelesburg (Aylesbury), Bænesingtun +(Bensington) and Egonesham (Ensham). + +584. Here Ceawlin and Cutha fought against the Brettas, in the place +that is named Fethanleag; and Cutha was slain. And Ceawlin took many +towns and countless spoils; and in wrath he returned thence to his own. + +There is about these entries something remote and primitive, and +something, too, of a contemporaneous form, that penetrates even through +the folds of a modern dress. + +If we would gather an idea of the religious sentiments of that heathen +time, two sources are open to us:--1. Classical authors, especially +Cæsar and Tacitus; 2. Incidental notices in domestic writings after the +establishment of Christianity. In regard to both these sources we must +regulate our expectations in accordance with the circumstances. + +1. Cæsar and Tacitus wrote of Germany at large, and not of our +particular tribes in the north-west; yet they naturally touch some +leading points which are of interest for us here. As to their religion, +Cæsar formed a totally different opinion from Tacitus. According to the +former, the Germans knew only those visible and palpably useful gods, +the Sun and the Moon, and Fire; they had never even heard of any others +by report. Tacitus, on the contrary, says, that they worship Hercules +and Mars, and, above all, Mercury; that, at the same time, their +religious sense is eminently spiritual, for they repudiate the thought +of enshrining the celestials within walls, or representing them by the +human form; that they venerate groves and forest-glades, and that by the +names of their gods they understand mysterious beings visible only to +the inward and reverential sight. These estimates are diametrically +opposed, and they have been used by an eminent writer to illustrate the +difficulty of getting at the truth about the religion of barbarians. But +it should be remembered that a long interval had elapsed between Cæsar +and Tacitus; an interval, moreover, that was likely to work some, if not +all, of the changes required to make these estimates compatible with one +another. + +Tacitus informs us about the god Tuisco, whose name we still keep in +Tuesday;[42] about the supremacy of Mercurius,[43] that is, of Woden; +and about the form of the boar as a sacred symbol, which was worn on the +person for a charm against danger.[44] He also relates the hideous +ceremony of a goddess Nerthus, or Mother Earth, who makes her occasional +progresses in a wagon drawn by cows, the attendants being slaves who, +when the rite is done, are all drowned in a mysterious lake.[45] + +2. From the second source we might have expected more than we find. +Knowing that the new religion was not established without struggles and +delays and relapses, we might have expected that the traces of the dying +superstition would have been numerous in Anglo-Saxon literature. And if +we had the domestic writings that were produced in the first Christian +ardour, such an expectation might have been partially fulfilled. But in +any case we should not expect too much from early and unformed +literature. It is the mature fruit of long cultivation to produce a +literature that reflects the present. Almost all early literature is +conventional, because the spontaneous is not esteemed and is not +preserved. But whatever might have happened under other conditions, the +fact now is that the literature of our first Christian era is almost +entirely lost. It perished in the Danish invasions. The works of Beda +are, indeed, preserved, and in one sense they make a large exception to +the general statement, yet the exception is not one that is of great +import for our immediate purpose. His works, even when he is upon a +local subject, breathe little of local curiosity or interest. His was a +cloistered life, his view was ever directed through the vista of books +and learned correspondence towards the central heart of Christianity, +and he deigned but rarely to cast a look behind him at the old +superstitions of his people. His writings, which are all in Latin, +contribute something, but it is little, towards our knowledge of Saxon +heathendom. We are indebted to him for an explicit statement about the +meaning of the word "Easter." It is as follows:--"_Rhedmonath_ is so +called from their goddess _Rheda_, to whom in that month they +sacrificed.... With the people of my nation, the old folk of the Angles, +the month of April, which is now styled Paschal Month, had formerly the +name of _Esturmonath_, after a goddess of theirs who was called +_Eostra_, and whose festival is kept in that month; and they still +designate the Paschal Season from her name, by force of old religious +habit keeping the same name for the new solemnity."[46] This is a sample +of what Beda might have told us about the old heathendom, if he had made +it a subject of inquiry. The information is the more valuable because it +was not forthcoming from any other source. The Germans have an obscure +trace of _Retmonat_; and their _ôstarmânoth_, which remains as a German +name for April (Ostermonat) to the present day, is found as early as +Eginhard, the biographer of Charlemagne. But of the deities there is no +information anywhere but in Beda. The name of Easter appears related to +"East" and the growing strength of the sun. In the Edda a male being, a +spirit of light, bears the name of _Austri_: the German and Saxon tribes +seem to have known only a female divinity in this sense. A being with +attributes taken from the Dawn and from the Spring of the year, so full +of promise and of blessing, might well be tenaciously remembered and +retained for Christian use. + +We will now proceed to notice the sources which preserve some relics of +the old heathenism. + + +THE GENEALOGIES + +bear the greatest testimony to the former dignity of Woden's name. The +royal houses of Kent, Essex, Deira, Bernicia, Wessex, East Anglia, +Mercia,--all trace up to Woden. Some go up far above Woden, who has a +series of mythological progenitors, the oldest of whom appears to be +Scyld, the name which forms the starting-point of the "Beowulf." + + +THE LAWS. + +In the Kentish code of Wihtræd (d. 725) there are penalties set down for +those who sacrifice to devils, meaning heathen gods. + +But, on the whole, it is remarkable how little is found on this subject +in the codes before Alfred. In the Introduction to Alfred's Laws +idolatry is forbidden in two places, not in words of the time, but with +the sanction of Scripture texts. + +In the Laws of Edward and Guthrum heathenism is denounced with +penalties; in the Codes of Æthelred it is forbidden in a hortatory way; +but the most explicit prohibition is that of Canute:-- + +"5. Of Heathenism. And we strictly forbid all heathenism. It is +heathenism for a man to worship idols,--that is, to worship heathen +gods, and the sun or moon, fire or flood, water-wells or stones, or any +kind of wood-trees, or practise witchcraft, or contrive murder by +sorcery." + +The latter words seem to point to that form of sorcery known as +_defixio_, wherein an effigy was maltreated, and incantations were used +to direct the injury against the life or health of some private enemy, +whom the image was taken to represent. + + +CANONS ECCLESIASTICAL. + +In the Canons of Ælfric, c. 35, priests are not to attend funereal +festivities unless they are invited; and if they are invited, they are +to forbid the heathen songs of the lewd men, and their loud +cachinnations; and they are not to eat or drink where the corpse is +deposited (thær thæt lic inne lith), lest they be partakers of the +heathen rite which is there celebrated. This seems to be illustrated by +a prohibition found in the Capitularies of Charlemagne against eating +and drinking over the mounds of the dead; and also by a passage of +Boniface (Epist. 71), who says that the Franks immolated bulls and goats +to the gods, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. It has been supposed +that a number of teeth, of oxen and sheep or goats, which were found +among heathen Saxon graves at Harnham, near Salisbury, might be evidence +of this practice.[47] + +In the "Laws of the Northumbrian Priests," c. 48, it is enacted:--"If +there be a sanctuary (frith-geard) in any one's land, about a stone, or +a tree, or a wall, or any such vanity, let him that made it pay a fine +(lah-slit), half to Christ, half to the landlord (land-rica); and if the +landlord will not aid in executing the law, then let Christ and the king +receive the mulct." + + +THE POETRY + +preserves many traces of heathendom. The unconscious relics of old +mythology that are imbedded in the recurrent formulæ of the heroic +diction is one of our strongest proofs that this diction was already +matured in heathen times. A very prominent term is Wyrd = Destiny, Fate; +which is the same as the Urðr of the Scandian mythology, one of the +three fates, Urðr, Werðandi, Skuld = Past, Present, Future. In Wyrd, the +whole of the attributes are included under one name; and it counts among +the marks of affinity between the Heliand and our Anglo-Saxon +literature, that the same thing is observed there also, though in a less +distinct manner. In the "Beowulf" it is said:--"Wyrd often keeps alive +the man who is not destined to die, if his courage is equal to the +occasion." Wyrd is said to weave, to prescribe, to ordain, to delude, to +hurt. In Cædmon she is wælgrim = bloodthirsty. And the heathen +association may still be felt, even when the name of Wyrd is displaced +by a name of the Christian's God, as in "Beowulf" where we read:--"The +Lord gave him webs to speed in war."[48] In the Heliand the attributes +are less varied, the vaticination is wanting, and _Wurð_ seems almost +the same as Death. + +But the old tradition of the three mysterious women lived on in this +island. It is now best known to us through the German Fairy Tales, where +we have the three spinning women. In the Middle Ages there was a +remembrance of these mysterious visitants in a certain ceremony of +spreading a table for three, whether for protection to the house at +night, or to bring good luck to the children born in that house. In the +Penitential of Baldwin, Bishop of Exeter (twelfth century), this +superstition is noted, and the latter motive assigned. + +The monks of Evesham kept up a tradition which traced the origin of +their house to a vision of three beautiful maidens, in heavenly +garments, sweetly singing. They were seen by a swineherd in the forest, +when he was in search of a lost swine, and he went to Bishop Ecgwine and +told him. The bishop arrived at the place, was favoured with the same +vision, and founded the monastery there. The device on the abbey seal +represented this vision. + +A less pleasing vision of the Three Sisters is narrated by Wulfstan of +Winchester, a poet of the tenth century, who has left us a Latin poem of +the Miracles of St. Swithun. In it he tells how, coming back one evening +towards Winchester, he was met by two hideous females, who commanded him +to stop, but he ran away in terror; he was then met and stopped by a +third, who struck him a blow from which he suffered for the remainder of +his life; but the three women plunged into the river and disappeared. + +The same three appear in _Macbeth_ as the Weird Sisters; and it is +probably from this connexion that _weird_ has become an adjective for +all that savours of heathenism. + +A frequent word for battle and carnage is _wæl_, and the root idea of +this word is choice, which may be illustrated from the German +_wählen_--to choose. The heathen idea was that Woden chose those who +should fall in battle to dwell with him in Walhalla, the Hall of the +chosen. In the exercise of this choice, Woden acted by female +messengers, called in the Norse mythology _valkyrja_, pl. +_valkyrjor_.[49] + +All superior works in metal, as swords, coats of mail, jewels, are the +productions of Weland, the smith. His father is called Wudga, and his +son is called Wada; and with this child on his shoulder Weland strides +through water nine yards deep. This was matter of popular song down to +Chaucer's time:-- + + He songe, she playede, he told a tale of Wade. + + "Troylus and Crescyde," iii., 615. + +He had by Beadohild another son, in German named Witeche, who inherited +his father's skill and renown. For his violence to Beadohild, Weland was +lamed; but he made for himself a winged garment, wherewith he took his +flight through the air. He is at once the Daidalos and the Hephaistos +of the Greeks. The translator of the Boethian Metres has taken occasion +to bring in this heathen god, whose cult (it seems) was still too +active. In Metre ii., 7, where Boethius has the line-- + + Ubi nunc fidelis ossa Fabricii manent? + +under colour of _faber_ = smith, which the name Fabricius suggests, +Weland is made a fruitful text:-- + + Hwær sind nu thæs wisan + Welandes ban, + thæs goldsmithes + the wæs gio mærost? + Forthy ic cwæth thæs wisan + Welandes ban, + forthy ængum ne mæg + eorthbuendra, + se craft losian + the him Crist onlænth. + Ne mæg mon æfre + thy eth ænne wræccan + his craftes beniman + the mon oncerran mæg + sunnan on swifan + and thisne swiftan rodor + of his riht ryne + rinca ænig. + Hwa wat nu thæs wisan + Welandes ban, + on hwelcum hi hlæwa + hrusan theccen? + + Where now are the bones + of Weland the wise, + that goldsmith + so glorious of yore? + Why name I the bones + of Weland the wise, + but to tell you the truth + that none upon earth + can e'er lose the craft + that is lent him by Christ? + Vain were it to try, + e'en a vagabond man + of his craft to bereave; + as vain as to turn + the sun in his course + and the swift wheeling sky + from his stated career-- + it cannot be done. + Who now wots of the bones + of Weland the wise, + or which is the barrow + that banks them? + +One of the most striking points of contact between our relics of +mythology and those of the Edda occurs in the "Beowulf," where mention +is made of the famous necklace of the Brosings (or, as Grimm would +correct, Brisings). + +In the Edda the goddess Freyja is the owner of a precious necklace, +called _Brîsinga men_. She had acquired this jewel from the dwarfs, and +she kept it in an inaccessible chamber, but, nevertheless, it was stolen +from her by Loki. Therefore Loki is _Brîsings thiofr_, the thief of the +Brising necklace; and Heimdallr fought with Loki for it. When Freyja is +angry the heaving of this ornament betrays her emotion. When Thôrr, to +get his hammer back, disguises himself as Freyja, he fails not to put on +her famous necklace. From its mention in Anglo-Saxon poetry, Grimm would +infer the familiarity of the Saxon race with the whole story.[50] + +But what adds vastly to the interest of this legend is that we find it +in Homer. It is essentially the same with the belt of Aphrodite (Hymn, +l. 88). In Iliad xiv., 214, Aphrodite takes it off and lends it to Hêrê +to charm Zeus withal. When we add that just above in the same context +(Iliad xiv., 165) Hêrê also has a curiously contrived chamber, made for +her by Hephaistos (Vulcan), the parallel is too close to be mistaken. + + +THE GOSPEL TRANSLATION. + +Of the old heathen theogony we have a remarkable document in the names +of the days of the week; and these names are best preserved to us in +the rubrics of the Anglo-Saxon Gospels. These names are supposed to have +come from the western shores of Asia, and to have pervaded the nations +of Europe, both Roman and barbarian, in the first and second centuries. +By a comparison of the sets of names in the two families of nations, we +gain certain leading facts about the chief deities of our heathen +ancestry, which all the rest of the scattered evidence tends to confirm. +Thus our Tuesday, A.-S. Tywes-dæg, compared with the French Mardi and +its Latin original Martis dies, teaches us that the old god Tiw (who was +also called Tir) was recognised as the analogue of the Roman Mars, the +god of war. So Wednesday, A.-S. Wodnes-dæg, compared with the French +Mercredi and its Latin form Mercurii dies, gives us proof that the god +Woden answered to the Roman Mercurius. So, too, Thursday, A.-S. +Thunres-dæg, compared with French Jeudi and Latin Jovis dies, shows that +Thunor (whom the Scandinavians call Thor) is the god of thunder, like +the Latin Jupiter. So again, Friday, A.-S. Frige-dæg, compared with +Vendredi and Veneris dies, gives us the analogy of Frige with Venus.[51] +Saturday, A.-S. Satærnes-dæg, seems like a borrowed name from the Latin +Saturnus. + +Kemble maintained the probability that Sætere was a native divinity, and +considered that the local names of Satterthwaite (Lanc.), and +Satterleigh (Devon), offered some probable evidence in that direction. +More distinct are the local namesakes of Woden. Kemble adduces repeated +instances of Wanborough, formerly Wodnesbrook (Surrey, Wilts, Hants), +Woodnesborough (Kent), Wanstrow, formerly Wodnestreow = Woden's tree +(Somerset), Wansdike, and others. + + +THE HOMILIES + +occasionally denounce and describe the prevalent forms of heathenism +still surviving. Thus Ælfric (i., 474):--"It is not allowed to any +Christian man, that he should recover his health at any stone, or at any +tree." Wulfstan preaches thus:--"From the devil comes every evil, every +misery, and no remedy: where he finds incautious men he sends on +themselves, or sometimes on their cattle, some terrible ailment, and +they proceed to vow alms by the devil's suggestion, either to a well or +to a stone, or else to some unlawful things...."[52] + +In an alliterative homily of the tenth century, the heathen gods that +are combated are Danish:--[53] + + Thes Jovis is arwurthost + ealra thæra goda, + The tha hæthenan hæfdon + on heora gedwilde, + and he hatte Thor + betwux sumum theodum; + thone tha Deniscan leode + lufiath swithost. + ... + Sum man was gehaten + Mercurius on life, + he was swithe facenful + and swicol on dedum, + and lufode eac stala + and leasbrednysse; + thone macodon tha hæthenan + him to mæran gode, + and æt wega gelætum + him lac offrodon, + and to heagum beorgum + him on brohton onsegdnysse. + Thes god was arwurthra + betwux eallum hæthenum, + and he is Othon gehaten + othrum naman on Denisc. + + This Jove is most worshipped + of all the gods + that the heathens had + in their delusion; + and he hight Thor + some nations among; + him the tribes of the Danes + especially love. + ... + There once lived a man + Mercurius hight; + he was vastly deceitful + and sly in his deeds, + eke stealing he loved + and lying device; + him the heathens they made + their majestical god, + and at the cross roads + they offered him gifts, + and to the high hills + brought him victims to slay. + This god was main worthy + all heathens among, + and his name when translated + in Danish is Odin. + +An interesting example of the methods used to wean our simple +forefathers from their old heathen practices may be seen in a "Spell to +restore fertility to land."[54] The preamble sets forth:--"Here is the +remedy whereby thou mayest restore thy fields, if they will not produce +well, or where any uncanny thing has befallen them, like magic or +witchcraft." Four turfs are to be cut before dawn from four corners of +the land, and these are to be stacked in a heap, and upon them are to be +dropped drops of an elaborate preparation whereof one ingredient is holy +water; and over them are to be said words of Scripture and Our Father. +And then the turfs are taken to church, and prayers are said by the +priest while the green of the turfs is turned altarwards; and then, +before sun-down, the turfs are returned to their own original places: +but first, four crosses, made of quickbeam, with the names Matthew, +Mark, Luke, John, written on their four ends, are to be put, one in the +bottom of each pit, and as each turf is restored to its native spot, and +laid on its particular cross, say thus:--"Crux, Mattheus; Crux, Marcus; +Crux, Lucas; Crux, Joannes."[55] Then the supplicant turns eastward, +bows nine times, and says a rhythmic form of prayer, in which some +heathen elements are just discernible. Then he turns three times towards +the sun in its course, and sings Benedicite, Magnificat, and Pater +Noster, and makes a gracious vow, in the friendly comprehension of which +all the neighbourhood is included, gentle and simple. + +This being done, strange seed must be procured, and this must be got +from poor "almsmen"; and the supplicant must give them a double quantity +in return; and then he must collect together all his plough-gear and +tackle, and say over them a poetic formula which has fragments that look +very like the real old heathen charm. It begins with untranslatable +words:-- + + Erce, erce, erce, + eordan modor. + + Erce, erce, erce, + mother of earth. + +Then go to work with the plough, and open the first furrow, and say:-- + + Hál wes thu, folde, + fira modor; + beo thu growende, + on Codes fæthme; + fodre gefylled, + firum to nytte. + + Soil I salute thee, + mother of souls; + be thou growing + by God's grace; + filled with fodder + folks to comfort. + +Then a loaf is to be kneaded and baked, and put into the first furrow, +with yet another anthem:-- + + Ful æcer fodres + fira cinne, + beorht-blowende + thu gebletsod weorth. + + A full crop of fodder + may the folks see; + brightly blossoming, + blessed mote thou be. + +Then follows a chaplet of three repetitions, twice repeated, and this +long day's orison is done. + +Here we have a fair example of the artifice used by the clergy in +transforming old heathen charms into edifying ceremonies. Men are here +led to pray; to exercise themselves in some of the chief liturgical +formularies of the Catholic Church; to accept Christian versions of +their old incantations; to profess good will to their neighbours, high +and low; and to exercise some bounty towards the poor. Natural means are +not neglected; a change of seed is made a part of the ceremonial. + +Such are some of the traces we can gather from the expiring relics of +heathenism. They all come from the Christian period, as was natural, +seeing that the national profession of heathenism ended before our +literature began, unless the annals mentioned at the beginning of this +chapter are exceptions. The facilities of writing must have been very +limited if the only alphabet in use was the Runic. It is, perhaps, a +little too rigid to assume that the use of the Roman alphabet is to be +dated strictly from the Conversion. As the use of Runes did not then +suddenly terminate, but gradually receded before the superior +instrument, so perhaps it is most reasonable to suppose that the +adoption of the Roman alphabet was very gradual, and that the Saxons may +have begun to use it, at least in Kent, before the reign of +Æthelberht.[56] + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[39] T. Wright, "Celt, Roman, and Saxon," p. 389; J.R. Green, "Short +History," i., 2. + +[40] "Ecclesiastical History," i., 22. + +[41] It is the manner of the Saxon chronicles to attach each annal to +its year-date by an adverb of locality--"Here." + +[42] "Germania," c. 2. + +[43] _Id._, c. 9. + +[44] _Id._, c. 45. + +[45] "Germania," c. 40. + +[46] "De Temporum Ratione," c. 13. + +[47] "Archæologia," vol. xxxv., p. 259. + +[48] Compare with this the "Spaedom of the Norns," in Dasent's "Burnt +Njal"; also Gray's "Fatal Sisters," which is another version of the same +original, one remove further off, as Gray knew the poem only through the +Latin of Torfæus. + +[49] The second part of this compound repeats the idea of the first, +namely, choice: it is from the verb to choose, for in certain tenses +this verb changed _s_ to _r_, just as from the verb to _freeze_ we have +_frore_ (Milton), and from _lose_ we have a participle _lorn_. The +Anglo-Saxon form is _wælcyrige_. Grimm's "Teutonic Mythol." tr. +Stallybrass, p. 418. Kemble, "Saxons," i., 402. + +[50] The same keen discoverer scents an old heathen reminiscence also +when the poet of the Heliand makes that holy thing which is not to be +cast before dogs (Matthew vii. 6) a _hêlag halsmeni_ = holy necklace. + +[51] For the distinct attributes of this goddess, who was the wife of +Woden, the reader may consult Grimm's "Teutonic Mythology," who quotes +Paulus Diaconus (eighth century), saying that the Langobards called +Woden's wife _Frea_, and Saxo, p. 13, saying, "Frigga Othini conjux." + +[52] "Über die Werke des altenglischen Erzbischofs Wulfstan," von Arthur +Napier. Weimar, 1882, p. 33. + +[53] Printed in Kemble's "Solomon and Saturn," p. 120. + +[54] Printed in Thorpe's "Analecta" (1846), p. 116. + +[55] This recalls the charm that within living memory was used on +Dartmoor as an evening prayer:-- + + Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, + Bless the bed that I lie on; + Two to head and two to feet, + And four to keep me while I sleep. + +[56] Some Runic alphabets may be seen in my "Philology of the English +Tongue," § 96 (ed. 3, 1879). The best collection of Runic monuments is +in the two folio volumes of Professor George Stephens. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE SCHOOLS OF KENT. + + +§ 1. + +It is a debatable question whether any Roman culture lived through the +Saxon conquest. + +The Saxon conquest of Britain was certainly, on the whole, a destructive +one, and it has been justly contrasted with the Frankish conquest of +Gaul; where the conquerors quickly assimilated with the conquered. The +relics of Roman civilisation which the Saxons adopted, were indeed few. +This is true, as a general statement. But there is some ground for +regarding Kent as a case apart. Here all accounts seem to indicate a +gradual and less violent intrusion of the new race, and to suggest the +possibility that there was not for that area a complete break in the +traditions and customs of life. The capital city itself, Dorobernia +(Canterbury), whatever revolution it may have suffered, was at least not +destroyed. There is nothing that requires us to assume the extinction of +the schools of grammar which existed presumably in Kent as in Gaul. + +The foundation of schools by the Roman mission is not recorded, nor does +Bede say anything to imply it when thirty years later he describes the +foundation of schools in East Anglia. These were founded by king +Sigberct because he desired to have good institutions such as he had +seen in Gaul, and his wishes were carried into effect by bishop Felix, +after the pattern of the schools of Kent.[57] Whether it would be +possible to trace the study of Roman law as a scholastic exercise +through these obscure times, is very doubtful.[58] But certainly there +is something about the Latinity of our earliest legal documents, that +has a local and even a vernacular aspect. Slight as these traces may be, +they are interesting enough to merit consideration. + +In the Kentish laws are preserved our oldest extant relics of ancestral +custom. The first code is that of Æthelberht, with this title:--"This be +the Dooms that Æthelbriht, king, ordained in Augustine's days." It is +much concerned with penalties for personal injuries. These are some of +the "Dooms":-- + + Cap. 40. If an ear be smitten off, 6 shillings amends (bôt). + + " 41. If the ear be pierced through, 3 shillings. + + " 43. If an eye is lost, 50 shillings. + + " 44. If mouth or eye be damaged, 12 shillings. + + " 45. If the nose be pierced, 9 shillings. + + " 51. For the four front teeth, 6 shillings each; the tooth + that stands next, 4 shillings; the next to that, 3 + shillings; and thenceforth, each, 1 shilling. + +Penalties for theft are graduated according to the quality of the person +injured, _i.e._, according to the different orders of men in the body +politic, each of whom has a separate value: king, noble, freeman, serf, +slave. Such we may suppose to have been the primitive institutes of the +tribes in the old mother country on the Continent. But the code is +headed by a captel, in which the property of the Church is valued beyond +that of the king, and the same applies to the higher clergy. "Cap. 1. +The property of God and the Church, 12 fold; Bishop's property, 11 fold; +Priest's, 9 fold [the same as the King's]; Deacon's, 6 fold; Clerk's, 3 +fold." Next follows one that we may well suppose might have been the +first of the pre-Christian code: "Cap. 2. If the king summon his people +to him, and one there do them evil--double bôt, and 50 shillings to the +king." Bede mentions (ii., 5) these laws of Æthelberht, and especially +this feature of them, that they began with the protection of Church +property. He also says, that the king constituted these laws according +to Roman precedent (_juxta exempla Romanorum_), by which some have been +led to expect that there would be an element of Roman law in them. The +imitation consisted only in committing the laws to writing. + +Æthelberht died in 616, and then came a heathen reaction under his son +Eadbald; but he was converted to Christianity in 618 by Bishop +Laurentius. His son Erconbriht, who succeeded in 640, was the first +king who dared to demolish the heathen fanes. Bede informs us that this +king made a law for the observance of the Lenten fast; but no law of the +kind appears until we come to the laws of Wihtred. Ecgbriht succeeded +his father in 664, under whom the waning power of Kent reasserted its +former sway. To him succeeded first Hlothære in 673, and then Eadric. +These two reigns were short, and the names of both the kings stand at +the head of the next Kentish code. + +The introductory sentence of this code was this:--"Hlothhære and Eadric, +kings of the men of Kent, enlarged the laws which their predecessors had +made aforetime, with these dooms following":-- + + Cap. 8. If one man implead another in a matter, and he cite the man + to a 'Methel' or a 'Thing', let the man always give security to the + other, and do him such right, as the Kentish judges prescribe to + them. + +This code has a little series of laws concerning offences to the sense +of honour, and consequent danger to the king's peace:-- + + Cap. 11. If in another's house one man calleth another man a + perjurer, or assail him offensively with injurious words; let him + pay a shilling to the owner of the house, and 6 shillings to the + insulted man, and forfeit 12 shillings to the king. + + Cap. 12. If a man remove another's stoup where men drink without + offence, by old right he pays a shilling to him who owns the house, + and 6 shillings to him whose stoop was taken away, and 12 shillings + to the king. + + Cap. 13. If weapon be drawn where men drink, and no harm be done; a + shilling to the owner of the house, and 12 shillings to the king. + +After a troublous time of encroachment from the side of Wessex, the +kingdom of Kent had again a time of honour, if not of absolute +independence, under king Wihtred (691-725), who, in the preamble to his +laws, is called the most gracious king of the Kentish folk (_se mildesta +cyning Cantwara_). His laws are mostly ecclesiastical. The rights of the +Church and of her ministers, the keeping of the Sunday, manumission of +slaves at the altar, penalties for heathen rites, these subjects make +the bulk of a code of 28 captels, of which the last four are about +theft. The closing provision is characteristic of the state of society: + + Cap. 28. If a man from a distance, or a stranger, go off the road, + and he neither shout nor blow a horn, as a thief he is liable to be + examined, or slain, or redeemed. + +In the preamble this code is precisely dated on the 6th day of August in +Wihtred's fifth year, which is 696. Also it mentions Berghamstyde, which +seems to mean Berkhamstead (Herts), as the place of enactment, and +Gybmund, bishop of Rochester, as having been present. Doubts have been +cast upon the genuineness of this code, but it is defended in Schmid's +introduction. This is the last of the laws of Kent. + +The Kentish laws are found in a register of the twelfth century, which +has a high character for fidelity. No doubt the substance of them is +faithfully preserved. But they are not in the original Kentish dialect; +they have been translated into West Saxon. The translation has not, +however, obliterated all traces of the original; there are some +peculiarities which survive, and which enable us to see through the +present form those traces of a higher antiquity, which strengthen that +confidence which the contents are calculated to inspire. + +The Kentish dialect was the first literary form of the language of our +Saxon ancestors. It has been thought that in the Epinal Gloss, of which +a specimen will be given below, we have the best extant representation +of this ancient dialect. Early in the ninth century we have some +original documents in the Kentish dialect, and these are our surest +guides in judging of other specimens.[59] + +The following extract is from a legal document of the year 832. Luba had +made a deed of gift from her estate to the fraternity of Christ Church +at Canterbury, and the following sanction was appended: + + {+} Ic luba eaðmod godes ðiwen ðas forecwedenan god {&} ðas + elmessan gesette {&} gefestnie ob minem erfelande et + mundlingham ðem hiium to cristes cirican {&} ic bidde {&} an + godes libgendes naman bebiade ðæm men ðe ðis land {&} ðis + erbe hebbe et mundlingham ðet he ðas god forðleste oð + wiaralde ende se man se ðis healdan wille {&} lestan ðet ic + beboden hebbe an ðisem gewrite se him seald {&} gehealden sia + hiabenlice bledsung se his ferwerne oððe hit agele se him + seald {&} gehealden helle wite bute he to fulre bote gecerran + wille gode {&} mannum uene ualete. + + I, Luba, the humble handmaid of God, appoint and establish + these foresaid benefactions and alms from my heritable land + at Mundlingham to the brethren at Christ Church; and I + entreat, and in the name of the living God I command, the + man who may have this land and this inheritance at + Mundlingham, that he continue these benefactions to the + world's end. The man who will keep and discharge this that + I have commanded in this writing, to him be given and kept + the heavenly blessing; he who hinders or neglects it, to + him be given and kept the punishment of hell, unless he + will repent with full amends to God and to men. Fare ye + well. + + +§ 2. + +The middle of the seventh century was a very dark period throughout the +West. The lingering rays of ancient culture had grown very faint in +France, Italy, and Spain. Literary production had ceased in France since +Gregory of Tours and his friend Venantius Fortunatus, the poet; in +Spain, soon after Isidore of Seville, the Christian area had been +narrowed by the Moslem invasion; in Italy, though the tradition of +learning was never extinguished, yet no writer of eminence appeared for +a long time after Gregory the Great. At such a time it was that the seed +of learning found a new and fruitful soil among the Anglo-Saxon people; +and they who had been the latest receivers of the civilising element, +quickly took the lead in religion and learning. + +In the year 668 three remarkable men came into Britain, These were +Theodore, a Greek of Tarsus, who came as Archbishop of Canterbury; +Hadrian, an African monk who had deprecated his own appointment to that +office; and Biscop Baducing (called Benedict Biscop), an Angle of +Northumbria, who had left his retreat in the monastery of Lerins, to +guide and accompany the travellers into his native country. + +This had risen out of an unforeseen event, and had almost the appearance +of accident. But the consequences were great and far-reaching. Theodore +organised the English Church upon lines that proved permanent. A new era +was also inaugurated for literature and art. Literature was represented +by Hadrian, who set up education at St. Augustine's upon an improved +plan; and art, especially in relation to religious and educational +institutions--books, buildings, ritual--was the province of Benedict +Biscop. + +Up to this time education and literature had two rival sources, the old +schools of Kent, and the schools of the Irish teachers. But from +Hadrian's coming a new literary era commences. For more than a hundred +years our island was the seat of learning beyond any other country in +the world of the West. Even Greek learning, extinct elsewhere, was +revived for a time; and Bede, whose childhood had corresponded to the +opening of this new activity, looked back on it when he was old as a +glorious time, and he put it on record that he had known many scholars +to whom both the Latin and Greek languages were as their mother tongue. + +Of those who were formed in the school of Hadrian, the first and most +conspicuous is Aldhelm. His rudimentary education must have been over +before he knew Hadrian. The school of Maidulf gave him his boyish +training at the monastery which was called after the Irish founder, and +which has given name to the town of Malmesbury (Maidulfes burh). So +Aldhelm stands between the two systems, the old Irish and the new +Kentish. His preference was for the latter, but his works retain the +characteristics of both. He has a love of grandiloquence which is both +Keltic and Saxon, and a delight in alliteration which is more especially +Saxon. His familiarity with the national poetry looms often through his +Latin. But his proper characteristics, those whereby he fills a position +altogether his own, are apart from these peculiarities. He is the +scholar of the age, the type of that set whom Bede delighted to recall, +who knew Latin and Greek like their mother tongue. He is the father of +Anglo-Latin poetry. He made a zealous study of the Latin metres, and he +commended the pursuit to other scholars. His Greek knowledge manifests +itself everywhere: not always with a good effect, according to present +taste; but in a manner which is of historical value as demonstrating his +real familiarity with the Greek language. + +Aldhelm's great work, and the work which most conveys his interpretation +of the spiritual conditions of his time, is his book, "De Laude +Virginitatis," in praise of Celibacy. But for the purposes of literary +history, his artistic studies are of more importance than those which +are strictly religious and ecclesiastical. Of the greatest interest for +us are his Riddles. These are short Latin poems somewhat after the model +of Symphosius, whose work he describes,[60] and whom he seems ambitious +to outstrip. The riddles of Symphosius are uniformly of three hexameter +lines, those of Aldhelm vary in length from four lines to sixteen; +rarely more. The external structure is that of the Epigram, with the +object speaking in the first person. The riddles both of Symphosius and +Aldhelm are so closely identified with the vernacular riddles of the +famous Exeter Song Book, that the reader may be glad of a specimen from +each author. It should be premised that in each collection the subject +stands as a title at the head of each piece. The subject of the +sixteenth in Symphosius is the book-moth:-- + +DE TINEA. + + Litera me pavit, nec quid sit litera novi, + In libris vixi nec sum studiosior inde, + Exedi musas nec adhuc tamen ipse profeci. + + I have fed upon literature, yet know not what it is; I have + lived among books, yet am not the more studious for it; I have + devoured the Muses, yet up to the present time I have made no + progress. + +One of Aldhelm's riddles is on the Alphabet; and this will be a fit +specimen here, as containing something that is germane to the history of +literature:-- + + Nos denæ et septem genitæ sine voce sorores, + Sex alias nothas non dicimus adnumerandas, + Nascimur ex ferro rursus ferro moribundæ, + Necnon et volucris pennâ volitantis ad æthram; + Terni nos fratres incertâ matre crearunt; + Qui cupit instanter sitiens audire, docemus, + Turn cito prompta damus rogitanti verba silenter. + + We are seventeen sisters voiceless born; six others, + half-sisters, we exclude from our set; children of iron by + iron we die, but children too of the bird's wing that flies so + high; three brethren our sires, be our mother as may; if any + one is very eager to hear, we tell him, and quickly give + answer without any sound.[61] + +Aldhelm is the first of the Anglo-Latin poets, and he was a classical +scholar at a time when to be so was a great distinction. Both in prose +and verse, his style has the faults which belong to an age of revived +study. His love of learning, his keen appreciation of its beauty and its +value, have tended to inflate his sentences with an appearance of +display. His poetic diction is simpler than that of his prose; but here, +too, he is habitually over-elevated, whence he becomes sometimes +stilted, and oftentimes he drops below pitch with an inadequate and +disappointing close. But we must honour him in the position which he +holds. He is the leader of that noble series of English scholars who +represent the first endeavouring stage of recovery after the great +eclipse of European culture. + +There is nothing of his remaining in the vernacular; but that he was an +English poet we have testimony which, though late, is not to be +disregarded. William of Malmesbury quotes a book of King Alfred's, which +said that Aldhelm had been a peerless writer of English poetry: and he +adds, moreover, that a popular song, which had been mentioned by Alfred +as Aldhelm's, was still commonly sung in his own time--that is, in the +twelfth century. + +Attempts have been made to identify some of our extant Anglo-Saxon +literature with a name so eminent. In 1835 the Anglo-Saxon Psalter of +the Paris manuscript was first printed at Oxford, and as this book gives +a hundred of the Psalms in vernacular poetry, the suggestion that they +might be Aldhelm's, though modernised, had rhetorical attractions for +the editor (Thorpe), and supplied him with material for a few rather +idle sentences of his Latin preface. In 1840 Jacob Grimm edited (from +Thorpe's editio princeps) two poems of the Vercelli book, the "Andreas" +and the "Elene;" and in his preface he sought to fix this poetry upon +Aldhelm by a line of argument altogether fallacious, as was afterwards +shown by Mr. Kemble in his edition of the "Andreas" for the Ælfric +Society. + +That which we have to show for this period in the native Kentish dialect +is less ambitious, but it will not be despised by the considerate +reader. In the beginnings of learning, when students had not the +apparatus of grammars and dictionaries, which now, being common, are +almost as much a matter of course as any gift of nature, it was +necessary for students to make lists of words and phrases for +themselves, and after a while a few of these would be thrown together, +and would be reduced to alphabetical order for facility of reference. It +is to such a process as this that we owe the Glossaries which form an +interesting branch of Anglo-Saxon literature. The Epinal Gloss is the +oldest of these, and it is very valuable because of the archaic forms of +many of the words. A selection is here given by way of specimen:--[62] + + +EPINAL GLOSS. + +(_Cooper, Appendix B, p. 153._) + + _Alba spina_, haegu thorn (hawthorn). + _Aesculus_, boecae (beech). + _Achalantis, luscina_ netigalæ (nightingale). + _Acrifolus_, holegn (holly). + _Alnus_, alaer (alder). + _Abies_, saeppae (fir). + _Argella_, laam (loam). + _Accitulium_, geacaes surae (sorrel). + _Absintium_, uuermod (wormwood). + _Alacris_, snel (swift, German _schnell_). + _Alveus_, stream rad (stream-road = channel). + _Aquilæ_, segnas (military standards). + _Anser_, goos (goose). + _Beta_, berc, _arbor_ (birch). + _Ballena_, hran (whale). + _Buculus_, rand beag (buckler). + _Berruca_, uueartæ (wart). + _Cados_, ambras (casks). + _Chaos_, duolma (confusion, error). + _Cicuta_, hymblicae (hemlock). + _Cofinus_, mand (hamper). + _Fulix_, ganot, dop aenid (gannet, dip-chick). + _Filix_, fearn (fern). + _Fasianus_, uuor hana (pheasant). + _Fungus_, suamm (German _schwamm_). + _Fragor_, suoeg (swough, sough). + _Finiculus_, finugl (fennel). + _Follis_, blest baeelg (blast-bellows). + _Glarea_, cisil (pebble, cf. Chesil Bank). + _Hibiscum_, biscop uuyrt (marsh mallow). + _Horodius_, uualh hebuc (foreign hawk). + _Hirundo_, sualuuae (swallow). + _Intestinum_, thearm (German _Darm_). + _Jungetum_, risc thyfil (jungle). + _Inprobus_, gimach (troublesome). + _Iners_, asolcaen (lazy). + _Inter primores_, bituien aeldrum (among the chief men). + _Juris periti_, red boran (counsellors). + _Invisus_, laath (loath). + _Iuuar_ (= _jubar_), leoma, earendil (gleam, beacon, crest). + _Ignarium_, al giuueorc (fire-work). + _Ibices_, firgen gaett (mountain goats, chamois). + _Lunules_, mene scillingas (coins or bracteates on a necklace). + _Lucius_, haecid (hake, German _Hecht_). + _Lolium_, atae (oats). + _Limax_, snel (snail). + _Ligustrum_, hunaeg sugae (honeysuckle). + _Manipulatim_, threatmelum (in bands). + _Manica_, gloob (glove). + _Mascus_, grima (mask). + _Malva_, cotuc, geormant lab (mallow). + _Mars_, Tiig (cf. Tuesday). + _Ninguit_, hsniuuith (snoweth). + _Nigra spina_, slach thorn (sloe-thorn). + _Nanus_, duerg (dwarf). + _Olor_, aelbitu (the elk, wild swan). + _Piraticum_, uuicing sceadan (pirates). + _Pares_, uuyrdae (Fates). + _Perna_, flicci (flitch). + _Pictus acu_, mið naeðlae sasiuuid (embroidered). + _Pronus_, nihol (perpendicular). + _Pollux_, thuma (thumb). + _Quoquomodo_, aengiþinga (anyhow). + _Rumex_, edroc. + _Ramnus_, theban (thorn). + _Salix_, salch (sallow). + _Sturnus_, staer (starling). + _Titio_, brand (firebrand). + _Tignarius_, hrofuuyrcta (roofwright). + _Vadimonium_, borg (pledge, security). + +In this glossary we see the preparation for our modern Latin-English +dictionaries. Already, as early as the reign of Augustus, the foundation +of the Latin dictionary was laid by Verrius Flaccus, but his dictionary +would naturally consist of Latin words with Latin explanations. But in +the seventh century there was a demand for Latin vocabularies, with +equivalents in the vernacular languages; and here, in the Epinal +Glossary, we have the earliest known example of such a work. At first +such glossaries would be merely lists of words formed in the course of +studying some one or two Latin texts, and in process of time would +follow the compilation of several such glossaries into one, until, in +the tenth and eleventh centuries, we find vocabularies of some compass +(as Ælfric's), and by the fifteenth century we have such bulky +dictionaries as the "Catholicon" and the "Promptorium Parvulorum." + +We will close this chapter with specimens of the "Psalter of St. +Augustine," which received an Anglo-Saxon gloss (dialect Kentish[63]) +at the end of the ninth, or early in the tenth century. The book has +been already described above, p. 33. + +PSALM XLIX. (L.), 7:--"Hear, O my people," &c. + + geher folc min ond sprecu to israhela folce ond + 7. Audi populus meus et loquar Israhel et + + ic cythu the thætte god god thin ic eam + testificabor tibi quoniam Deus Deus tuus ego sum + + na les ofer onsegdnisse thine ic dregu the onsegdnisse + 8. Non super sacrificia tua arguam te holocausta + + soth thine in gesihthe minre sind aa + autem tua in conspectu meo sunt semper + + ic ne on foo of huse thinum calferu ne of eowdum + 9. Non accipiam de domo tua vitulos neque de gregibus + + thinum buccan + tuis hircos + + for thon min sind all wildeor wuda neat in + 10. Quoniam meæ sunt omnes feræ silvarum jumenta in + + muntum ond oexen + montibus et boves + + ic on cneow all tha flegendan heofenes ond hiow + 11. Cognovi omnia volatilia cæli et species + + londes mid mec is + agri mecum est + + gif ic hyngriu ne cweothu ic to the min is sothlice + 12. Si esuriero non dicam tibi, meus est enim + + ymb hwerft eorthan ond fylnis his + orbis terræ et plenitudo ejus + + ah ic eotu flæsc ferra oththe blod + 13. Numquid manducabo carnes taurorum aut sanguinem + + buccena ic drinco + hircorum potabo + + ageld gode onsegdnisse lofes ond geld tham hestan + 14. Immola Deo sacrificium laudis et redde Altissimo + + gehat thin + vota tua + + gece mec in dege geswinces thines thæt ic genere + 15. Invoca me in die tribulationis tuæ ut eripiam + + thec ond thu miclas mec + te et magnificabis me + + D I A P S A L M A. + + to thæm synfullan sothlice cweth god for hwon thu + 16. Peccatori autem dixit Deus Quare tu + + asagas rehtwisnisse mine ond genimes cythnisse mine + enarras justitias meas et adsumes testamentum meum + + thorh muth thinne + per os tuum + + thu sothlice thu fiodes theodscipe ond thu awurpe + 17. Tu vero odisti disciplinam et projecisti + + word min efter the + sermones meos post te + + gif thu gesege theof somud thu urne mid hine ond + 18. Si videbas furem simul currebas cum eo et + + mid unreht hæmderum dæl thinne thu settes + cum adulteris portionem tuam ponebas + + muth thin genihtsumath mid nithe ond tunge thin + 19. Os tuum abundavit nequitia et lingua tua + + hleothrade facen + concinnavit dolum + + sittende with broether thinum thu teldes ond + 20. Sedens adversus fratrem tuum detrahebas et + + with suna moeder thinre thu settes eswic + adversus filium matris tuæ ponebas scandalum + + thas thu dydes ond ic swigade thu gewoendes on unrehtwisnisse + 21. Hæc fecisti et tacui existimasti iniquitatem + + thæt ic wære the gelic + quod ero tibi similis + + ic threu thec ond ic setto tha ongegn onsiene + Arguam te et statuam illa contra faciem + + thinre Ongeotath thas alle tha ofer geoteliath + tuam (22.) intelligite hæc omnes qui obliviscimini + + dryhten ne hwonne gereafie ond ne sie se generge + Dominum ne quando rapiat et non sit qui eripiat + + onsegdnis lofes gearath mec ond ther + 23. Sacrificium laudis honorificabit me et illic + + sithfet is thider ic oteawu him haelu godes + iter est in quo ostendam illi salutare Dei + + +PSALM LXXVI. (LXXVII.) + + Ond smegende ic eam in allum wercum thinum ond + 13. Et meditatus sum in omnibus operibus tuis et + + in gehaeldum thinum ic bieode + in observationibus tuis exercebor + + god in halgum weg thin hwelc god micel + 14. Deus in sancto via tua quis Deus magnus + + swe swe god ur thu earth god thu the doest + sicut Deus noster (15.) tu es Deus qui facis + + wundur ana cuthe thu dydes in folcum megen + mirabilia solus notam fecisti in populis virtutem + + thin gefreodes in earme thinum folc thin + tuam (16.) liberasti in brachio tuo populum tuum + + bearn + filios Israhel et Joseph + + gesegun thec weter god gesegun thec weter ond + 17. Viderunt te aquæ Deus viderunt te aquæ et + + on dreordun gedroefde werun niolnisse mengu + timuerunt turbati sunt abyssi (18.) multitudo + + swoeges wetre stefne saldun wolcen ond sothlice + sonitus aquarum Vocem dederunt nubes et enim + + strelas thine thorh leordun stefn thunurrade thinre + sagittæ tuæ pertransierunt (19.) vox tonitrui tui + + in hweole + in rota + + in lihton bliccetunge thine eorthan ymbhwyrfte gesaeh + Inluxerunt coruscationes tuæ orbi terræ vidit + + ond onstyred wes eorthe + et commota est terra + + in sae wegas thine ond stige thine in wetrum miclum + 20. In mari viæ tuæ et semitæ tuæ in aquis multis + + ond swethe thine ne bioth oncnawen + et vestigia tua non cognoscentur + + thu gelaeddes swe swe scep folc thin in honda + 21. Deduxisti sicut oves populum tuum in manu + + mosi ond aaron + Moysi et Aaron + +These specimens of the Kentish dialect (with the exception of the Epinal +Gloss) are of much later date than the times which our narrative has yet +reached; and they are only offered as a proximate representation of that +which was the first of English dialects to receive literary culture. +This dialect is peculiarly interesting as being that from which the West +Saxon was developed; in other words, it is the earliest form of that +imperial dialect in which the great body of extant Saxon literature is +preserved. But the Kentish did not ripen into the maturer outlines of +the West Saxon without the intervention of a third dialect; and in order +to appreciate this it is necessary for us to review that more spacious +culture of which the scene was laid in the country of the Northern +Angles. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[57] "Ecclesiastical History," iii., 18. + +[58] Aldhelm speaks of the study of Roman law in connexion with other +scholastic studies, as Latin verses and music. But then that was after +the new start given to education by Theodore and Hadrian. A century +later, Alcuin described the studies at V York in this order,--grammar, +rhetoric, law.--Wharton, "Anglia Sacra," ii. 6; Alcuin's poem, "De +Pontificibus &c." + +[59] They are in Kemble, "Codex Diplomaticus," Nos. 226, 228, 229, 231, +235, 238. + +[60] Aldhelm's "Works," ed. Giles, p. 228. + +[61] Seventeen consonants and six vowels; made with iron style and +erased with the same, or else made with a bird's quill; whatever the +instrument, three fingers are the agents; and we can convey answer +without delay even in situations where it would be inconvenient to +speak. + +[62] I have given the _th_, or þ, or ð, as in the manuscript. This is +done in the present instance because a peculiar interest attaches to it +in the earliest specimens of writing. The frequency of _th_, and the +rarity of the monograms, is itself a distinguishing feature. Speaking in +general terms of Anglo-Saxon literature, as it appears in manuscripts, +it might be fairly said that there is no _th_; this sound is represented +by ð or þ. And of these two, the modified Roman character, Ð ð, is found +to prevail over the native Rune (þ) in the oldest extant writings. +Throughout this little book the _th_ is commonly used, as being most +convenient for the general reader. + +[63] Transactions of the Philological Society for 1875-6. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE ANGLIAN PERIOD. + + +While Canterbury was so important a seminary of learning, there was, in +the Anglian region of Northumbria, a development of religious and +intellectual life which makes it natural to regard the whole brilliant +era from the later seventh to the early ninth century as "The Anglian +Period." Not only did the greatest school of the whole island grow up at +York, but also one that, with its important library, was for the time +the most active and useful in the whole of Western Europe. + +The importance of the Anglian period consists in the fact that it +belongs not merely to one nation, but that Anglia became for a century +the light-spot of European history; and that here we recognise the first +great stage in the revival of learning, and the first movement towards +the establishment of public order in things temporal and spiritual. +Happily, the period stands out in a good historical light, and the chief +elements of its influence are finely exhibited in the persons of +representative men or representative groups. + +There is Paulinus, the fugitive missionary from Kent, who made the first +rapid evangelisation of the northern country; King Edwin and his court +form a well-displayed group between the old darkness and the coming +light, as they consult and compare the two; Oswald, returning from exile +to be king, and bringing with him the Scotian type of Christianity; +Aidan, the first Scotian bishop of Lindisfarne, and the model of +pastors; Wilfrid, the champion of Roman unity, confronting Colman at the +synod of Whitby before Oswy, the presiding king, on the absorbing +question of the time; Wilfrid appealing to Rome against Theodore; and +yet again, Wilfrid, the first Anglo-Saxon missionary; Biscop Baducing +(Benedict Biscop), the founder of abbeys, the traveller, the introducer +of arts from abroad; Cædmon, the cowherd, the divinely-inspired singer +and the father of a school of English poetry; Cuthberht, the +shepherd-boy, abbot, bishop, hermit, and finally the national saint of +Northumbria; Willebrord and the two Hewalds, and all the glorious band +of missionaries and martyrs; Winfrid (Boniface), the crown of them all, +apostle of Germany, and martyr; Beda, the teacher and historian; +Ecgberct and Alberct, successively archbishops of York, acknowledged +presidents of Western learning; Alcuin, the bearer of Anglian learning +to the Franks, and the organiser of schools for the future ages. + +After Aldhelm, the first Englishman who appeared as an author was Æddi, +better known as Eddius Stephanus. He was the friend and companion of +Wilfrid in his contentions and troubles, and, after his death, he wrote +a biography of him in Latin. This book is of great value as an +authority, and as illustrating the history of the later seventh and +early eighth century. Wilfrid died in 709, the same year as Aldhelm. + +Wilfrid was the master-spirit of this age. He represented the best aims +of his nation; he understood the needs of the time; he worked for them, +and he suffered for them. With an overbearing spirit, fantastic too +often in his conduct, he saw what was needed--he saw the necessity for +unity with Rome. This was a necessity, not for one country alone, but +for the whole West at that time. Protestant writers have looked at +Wilfrid through a distorting medium. Nowhere, perhaps, is there more +need to allow for difference of times than in estimating Wilfrid. He had +great faults; he quarrelled with the best men; but, on the other hand, +Theodore, the most important of all his adversaries, sought +reconciliation at last, and accused himself of injustice. Wilfrid +initiated the German missions; he impressed on that great field of Saxon +activity the policy of his agitated life, and that policy was ever +militant in Boniface, the chief apostle of Germany, and may be said to +have triumphed when the Roman Empire was renewed in harmony with the +Holy See, and Charles was crowned in 800. Wilfrid, more than any other +man, appears as the ideal representative of that varied influence, +religious, literary, political, which the Anglo-Saxon Church exercised +upon the Western world. + +The beginning of our vernacular literature, so far as it can be treated +chronologically, lies between the years 658 and 680. For these are the +years of the abbacy of Hild at Whitby, and it was in her time that +Cædmon appeared, who had received the gift of divine song in a vision +of the night. When this heavenly call was recognised, the herdsman +became a brother of the religious fraternity, and devoted his life to +the pursuit of sacred poetry. To the lover of the mother tongue it must +appear a singular felicity that Cædmon's first hymn is preserved in a +book that was written not much more than half-a-century after his +death.[64] + + Nu scylun hergan + hefaenricaes uard, + metudæs maecti + end his modgidanc; + uerc uuldurfadur; + sue he uundra gihuaes, + eci dryctin, + or astelidæ. + He aerist scop + aelda barnum + heben til hrofe, + halig scepen; + tha middungeard + moncynnæs uard, + eci dryctin, + æfter tiadæ + firum foldan + frea allmectig. + + Now shall we glorify + the guardian of heaven's realm, + the Maker's might + and the thought of his mind; + the work of the glory-father, + how He of every wonder, + He the Lord eternal + laid the foundation. + He shapèd erst + for the sons of men, + heaven their roof, + holy Creator; + the middle world he, + mankind's sovereign, + eternal captain, + afterwards created, + the land for men + Lord Almighty.[65] + + +BEDA was born in 672, in the neighbourhood of Wearmouth, two +years before Biscop founded an abbey there. Of this abbey Beda became an +inmate in his seventh year, under Abbot Biscop. He was afterwards moved +to the sister foundation at Jarrow, under Abbot Ceolfrid, and there he +lived, with rare absences, the remainder of his life. He was ordained +deacon at the early age of nineteen; in his thirtieth year he was +ordained priest; he died in his sixty-third year, A.D. 735. He +was a very prolific author, and he has left us, at the end of his most +considerable work, a sketch of his life, and a list of his writings, +down to the fifty-ninth year of his age, A.D. 731. The bulk of +his works are theological, chiefly in the form of commentaries, and they +are little more than extracts from the best known of the Fathers. This +was adapted to the needs of the time, and Bede's commentaries were held +in great esteem during the whole period. Ælfric, in the tenth century, +used them largely for his "Homilies." + +Of all Bede's works, the chronological made the greatest immediate +impression, and was of most general use at the time and for some +centuries afterwards. The computation of Easter was the groundwork of +the ecclesiastical year, and every church felt the benefit of his +services. Chronology was then in its early maturity, and the Christian +era was not yet a familiar method of reckoning. Bede was the first +historian who arranged his materials according to the years from the +Incarnation. He had made himself completely master of this subject, and +he left it in such order that nothing more had to be done to it, or +could be improved upon it, for many centuries. + +His fullest and most detailed work on chronology is entitled "De +Temporum Ratione," and to this is added a chronicle of the world. On +this elaborate work he was working down to A.D. 726. We have the +authority of Ideler for saying that this is a complete guide to the +calculation of times and festivals. He treats of the several divisions +of time; and under the months, he speaks of the moon's orbit (c. xvii.), +and its importance for the calendar, and the relation of the moon to the +tides (c. xxix.); then of the equinoxes and solstices, the varying +length of the days, the seasons of the year, the intercalary day, the +cycle of nineteen years, the reckoning Anno Domini (c. xlvii.), +indictions, epacts, the determination of Easter. All these things are +taught with theoretical thoroughness, as well as also in their practical +application. He also (c. lxv.) made a table for Easter from A.D. 532, +"when Dionysius began the first cycle," to A.D. 1063.[66] This is +followed by the "Chronicle or Six Ages of this World," altogether a work +that was a growing nucleus, and went on expanding down to the invention +of printing and the revival of classical literature. + +But the works on which his eminence permanently rests, and by which he +made all posterity indebted to him, are his historical and biographical +writings. He wrote a poem on the miracles of St. Cuthbert, and +afterwards he wrote a prose narrative "Of the Life and Miracles of St. +Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne;" and in this, though a new and +independent work, something of the poem is reproduced. It is in this +prose work that we find the call of Cuthbert on the night of Aidan's +death, the details of his hermit life on the rocky islet of Farne, to +which he had retired for greater rigour of devotion, from which he was +called back to be bishop at Lindisfarne, and to which after two years' +episcopate he again retired for the remnant of his life. + +He wrote also a prose life of St. Felix, drawing his materials from the +metrical life of that saint in hexameters by Paulinus. + +His greatest biographical work is "Lives of the Abbots of Wearmouth and +Jarrow, namely, Benedict, Ceolfrid, Easterwini, Sigfrid, and Hwetbert." +These were the heads of the two sister foundations with which his career +was identified; and some of them had been his own teachers. The Life of +Benedict is the most interesting, as might be expected, and it fills the +largest part of the book. + +Finally, his greatest work, the work which is a gift for all time, is +his "Church History of the Anglian People." This was the work of the +author's mature powers, and some of his earlier writings are made use of +in it. In this history, which is divided into five books, there is, +first, a summary of the history of Britain, from the time of Julius +Cæsar down to the time of Gregory the Great. This part occupies +twenty-two chapters, and is drawn from Orosius and Gildas and +Constantius. The proper narrative of Bede begins at chap. xxiii., and +there the conversion and early history of Saxon Christianity is given +down to the time of the restoration of the old church of St. Saviour +(Canterbury Cathedral), and the institution of the monastery of SS. +Peter and Paul (St. Augustine's). The last chapter is of the decisive +battle of Degsastan, which determined the superiority of the Angles over +the Scotti. The second book begins with the death of Gregory and goes +down to the death of Æduini, King of Northumbria, A.D. 633. In +this book occurs a remarkable speech made by one of Æduini's nobles, in +the debate about a change of religion:-- + +"The present life of man in the world, O king, is, by comparison with +that time which is unknown, like as when you are sitting at table with +your aldermen and thanes in the winter season, the fire blazing in the +midst, and the hall cheerfully warm, while the whirlwinds rage +everywhere outside and drive the rain or the snow; one of the sparrows +comes in and flies swiftly through the house, entering at one door and +out at the other. So long as it is inside, it is sheltered from the +storm, but when the brief momentary calm is past, the bird is in the +cold as before, and is no more seen. So this human life is visible for a +time: but of what follows or what went before we are utterly ignorant. +Wherefore, if this new doctrine should offer anything surer, it seems +worthy to be followed." (ii., 13.) + +The third book goes down to the appointment of Theodore to be Archbishop +of Canterbury, A.D. 665. + +This book contains the decision for Roman unity, and the defeat and +departure of Colman and his Scotian clergy. Bede was a hearty adherent +of the Roman obedience, and his affectionate tribute to the work of the +Irish is all the more remarkable. He pauses upon the record of their +departure as upon the close of a good time that had been, and to which +he looks wistfully back. + +"The great frugality and content of him and his predecessors was +witnessed by the very place they ruled; for at their departure there +were very few buildings besides the church; just what civilised life +absolutely requires, and no more. Their only capital was their cattle; +for if rich men gave them money, they presently gave it to the poor. Of +funds and halls for entertaining the worldly great they had no need, as +such personages never came but to pray and hear the word of God. The +King himself, when occasion required, would come with just five or six +thanes, and after prayer in church would depart; and if it chanced they +took refreshment there, they were content with just the simple every-day +fare of the brothers, and wanted nothing better. For at that time those +teachers made it their entire business to serve not the world but God, +and their whole care to cherish not the belly but the heart. And +consequently the religious garb was at that time in great veneration; so +much so that, wherever a cleric or a monk arrived, he was joyfully +received by all as the servant of God. Even upon the road, if one were +found travelling, they would run to him, and bend the head, and rejoice +if he signed them with the cross, or uttered a blessing; at the same +time they gave careful attention to their words of exhortation. +Moreover, on Sundays they would race to the church or the monasteries, +not to refresh the body, but to hear God's word; and if one of the +priests happened to come to a village, the villagers were quickly +assembled, and were wanting to hear from him the word of life. And, +indeed, the priests on their part or the clerics had no other object in +going to the villages but for preaching, baptising, visiting the sick, +and in a word for the care of souls; being so entirely purged from all +infection of avarice, that none accepted lands and possessions for +building monasteries unless compelled to do so by secular lords. Such +conduct was maintained in the Northumbrian churches for some time after +this date. But I have said enough." (iii., 26.) + +The fourth book goes down to the death, A.D. 687, of the saint +of whom Bede had previously written, both in verse and in prose, the +Saint of Northumbria, St. Cuthbert. + +This book contains another passage to show that Bede looked wistfully +back to a blessed time that had been, and for which he was born too +late. He has been speaking of Theodore and Hadrian, and he is about to +speak of Wilfrid and Æddi, when he thus breaks out:--"Never, never, +since the Angles came to Britain, were there happier times; brave and +Christian kings held all barbarians in awe; the universal ambition was +for those heavenly joys of which men had recently heard; and all who +desired to be instructed in sacred learning had masters ready to teach +them." (iv., 2.) + +This book also contains the history of Cædmon, which is perhaps the most +frequently quoted piece of all Bede's writings:-- + +"In the monastery of this abbess [Hild], there was a certain brother, +eminently distinguished by divine grace, for he was wont to make songs +fit for religion and piety, so that, whatever he learnt out of Scripture +by means of interpreters, this he would after a time produce in his own, +that is to say, the Angles' tongue, with poetical words, composed with +perfect sweetness and feeling. By this man's songs often the minds of +many were kindled to contempt of the world and desire for the celestial +life. Moreover, others after him in the nation of the Angles tried to +make religious poems, but no one was able to equal him. For he learnt +the art of singing not from men, nor through any man's instructions, but +he received the gift of singing unacquired and by divine help. Wherefore +he could never make any frivolous or unprofitable poem, but those things +only which pertain to religion were fit themes for his religious tongue. +During his secular life, which continued up to the time of advanced age, +he had never learnt any songs. And, therefore, sometimes at a feast, +when for merriment sake it was agreed that all should sing in turn, he, +when he saw that the harp was nearing him, would rise from his +unfinished supper and go quietly away to his own home." (iv., 24.) + +On one occasion, when this had happened, he went, not to his home, but +to the cattle sheds, to rest, because it was his turn to do so that +night. In his sleep one appeared to him and bade him sing. He pleaded +inability, but the command was repeated. "What then," he asked, "must I +sing?" He was told he must sing of the beginning of created things. Then +he sang a Hymn of Creation, and this hymn he remembered when he was +risen from sleep, and it was the proof of his divine vocation. The hymn +was preserved in Latin as well as in the original; and both have been +quoted above. The poems which he subsequently wrote are thus +described:-- + +"He sang of the creation of the world and the origin of the human race, +and the whole story of Genesis, of Israel's departure out of Egypt and +entrance into the land of promise, of many other parts of the sacred +history, of the Lord's Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension +into Heaven, of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the doctrine of the +Apostles. Likewise of the terror of judgment to come, and the awful +punishment of hell, and the bliss of the heavenly kingdom, he made many +poems; many others also concerning divine benefits and judgments, in all +which he sought to wean men from the love of sin, and stimulate them to +the enjoyment and pursuit of good action." + +The fifth and last book contains a survey of the condition of the +national Church down to 731, within about four years of the author's +death. + +Books of his on the technicalities of literature are a tract on +"Orthography," another "On the Metric Art," also a book "On Figures and +Tropes of Holy Scripture." Least esteemed have been his poetical +compositions, some of which have been suffered to perish. The poem on +the "Miracles of St. Cuthberht" is extant, but the "Book of Hymns in +Various Metre or Rhythm" is lost, and so also is his "Book of Epigrams +in Heroic or Elegiac Metre." But we are not left without an authentic +specimen of his hymnody, as he has incorporated in his history the Hymn +of Virginity in praise of Queen Ethelthryð, the foundress of Ely. His +extant poetry proves him to have been an accomplished scholar and a man +of cultivated taste rather than of poetic genius. But we could afford to +lose many Latin poems in consideration of the slightest vernacular +effort of such a man. + +Many manuscripts of the "Ecclesiastical History" contain a letter by one +Cuthbert to his fellow-student Cuthwine, describing the manner of Bede's +death. In this letter is contained a pious ditty in the vernacular, +which Bede, who was "learned in our native songs," composed at the time +when he was contemplating the approach of his own dissolution. + + Fore there neidfarae + nænig ni uurthit + thonc snoturra + than him tharf sie + to ymbhycggannae, + aer his him iongae, + huaet his gastae + godaes aeththa yflaes + aefter deothdaege + doemid uueorthae. + + Before the need-journey + no one is ever + more wise in thought + than he ought, + to contemplate + ere his going hence + what to his soul + of good or of evil + after death-day + deemed will be.[67] + + +Other remains in the Northumbrian dialect are the Runic inscription on +the Ruthwell Cross, for which the reader is referred to Professor +Stephens's "Old Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England," +vol. i., p. 405; also the interlinear glosses in the Lindisfarne +Gospels, and in the Durham Ritual. For fuller information on these +glosses I must refer the reader to Professor Skeat's Gospels "in +Anglo-Saxon and Northumbrian Versions Synoptically Arranged;" and more +especially to his preface in the concluding volume, which contains the +fourth Gospel. The Psalter, which was published by the Surtees Society +as Northumbrian, is now judged to be Kentish; but that volume contains, +besides, an "Early English Psalter," which presents a later phase of the +Northumbrian dialect. + +The poetical works which now bear Cædmon's name received that name from +Junius, the first editor, in 1655, on the ground of the general +agreement of the subjects with Bede's description of Cædmon's works. In +this book we find a first part containing the most prominent narratives +from the books of Genesis, Exodus, and Daniel; and a second part +containing the Descent of Christ into Hades and the delivery of the +patriarchs from their captivity, according to the apocryphal Gospel of +Nicodemus and the constant legend of the Middle Ages. This comprises a +kind of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. Of all this, the part which +has attracted most notice is a part of which the materials are found +neither in Scripture nor in any known Apocrypha. The nearest +approximation yet indicated is in the hexameters of Avitus, described +above.[68] This problematical part describes the Fall of Man as the +sequel of the Fall of the Angels, substantially running on the same +lines as Milton's famous treatment of the same subject. It has often +been surmised that Milton may have known of Cædmon through Junius, and +that this knowledge may have affected the cast of his great poem as well +as suggested some of his most famous touches.[69] + +The precipitation is thus described:-- + + 329 wæron tha befeallene + fyre to botme + on tha hatan hell + thurh hygeleaste + and thurh ofermetto. + Sohten other land + thæt wæs leohtes leas + and wæs liges full + fyres fær micel. + + So were they felled + to the fiery abyss + into the hot hell + through heedlessness + and through arrogance. + They arrived at another land + that was void of light + and was full of flame + fire's horror huge.[70] + +When the fallen angel speaks, he begins thus:-- + + 355 Is thes ænga stede + ungelic swithe + tham othrum + the we ær cuthon + heah on heofenrice + the me min hearra onlag. + + This confined place + is terribly unlike + that other one + that we knew before + high in heaven's realm + which my lord conferred on me. + +Having thus begun with a lamentable cry, he gradually recovers composure +and propounds a policy. He observes that God has created a new and happy +being, who is destined to inherit the glory which he and his have +lost:-- + + 394 He hæfth nu gemearcod anne middangeard + thær he hæfth mon geworhtne + æfter his onlicnesse; + mid tham he wile eft gesettan + heofena rice, mid hluttrum saulum. + We thæs sculon hycgan georne, + thæt we on Adame + gif we æfre mægen, + and on his eafram swa some + andan gebetan. + + He hath now designed a middle world + where He man hath made, + after His likeness:-- + with which He will repeople + heaven's realm, with stainless souls. + We must thereto give careful heed + that we on Adam + if we ever may + and on his offspring likewise + our harm redress. + +The way proposed is by inducing them to displease their Maker, and then +they will be banished to the same place and become the slaves of Satan +and his angels. A messenger is required:-- + + 409 Gif ic ænigum thegne + theoden madmas + geara forgeafe + thenden we on than godan rice + gesælige sæton + and hæfdon ure setla geweald, + thonne heme na on leofrantid + leanum ne meahte + mine gife gyldan. + Gif his gien wolde + minra thegna hwilc + gethafa wurthan + thæt he up heonon + ute mihte + cuman thurh thas clustro + and hæfde cræft mid him + thæt he mid fetherhoman + fleogan meahte + windan on wolcne + thær geworht stondath + Adam and Eve + on eorth rice + mid welan bewunden. + and we synd aworpene hider + on thas deopan dalo. + + If I to any thane + lordly treasures + in former times have given, + while we in the good realm + all blissful sate, + and had sway of our mansions:-- + at no more acceptable time + could he ever with value + my bounty requite. + If now for this purpose + any one of my thanes + would himself volunteer + that he from here upward + and outward might go, + might come through these barriers + and strength in him had + that with raiment of feather + his flight could take + to whirl on the welkin + where the new work is standing + Adam and Eve + in the earthly realm + with wealth surrounded-- + and we are cast away hither + into these deep dales! + +Satan rages not so much on account of his own loss as for their gain. If +they could only be ruined by the wrath of God, he declares he could be +at ease even in the midst of woes; and whoever would achieve this he +will reward to his utmost, and give him a seat by his side. Presently we +come to the accoutring of the emissary:-- + + 442 Angan hine tha gyrwan + Godes andsaca + fus on frætwum: + hæfde fræcne hyge. + Hæleth helm on heafod asette + and thone full hearde geband, + spenn mid spangum. + Wiste him spræca fela + wora worda. + + Began him then t' equip + th' antagonist of God, + prompt in harness:-- + he had a guileful mind. + A magic helm on head he set, + he bound it hard and tight, + braced it with buckles. + Speeches many wist he well, + crooked words. + +He takes wing and rises in air; and then comes a passage like Milton:-- + + Swang thæt fyr on twa + feondes cræfte. + + he dashed the fire in two + with fiendish craft.[71] + +Arrived at the garden he takes the shape of a serpent, and winds himself +round the forbidden tree. The description recalls the familiar picture +so vividly that we cannot doubt the same picture was before the eyes of +children in the Saxon period as now. He takes some of the fruit and +finds Adam, and addresses him in a speech. He gives a naïve reason why +he is sent:-- + + 507 Brade synd on worulde + grene geardas, + and God siteth + on tham hehstan + heofna rice + ufan. Alwalda + nele tha earfethu + sylfa habban + that he on thisne sith fare, + gumena drihten:-- + ac he his gingran sent + to thinre spræce. + + Broad are in the world + the green plains, + and God sitteth + in the highest + heavenly realm + above. The Almighty + will not the trouble + himself have, + that He should on this journey fare, + the Lord of men:-- + but He sends his deputy + to speak with thee. + +These poems are surrounded by interesting questions which it is barely +possible here to indicate. Upon the top of the discussion about Milton, +which is not by any means exhausted, there comes a much larger and wider +field of inquiry as to the relation existing between this Miltonic part +(if I may so speak) and the Old Saxon poem of the "Heliand." The +investigation has been admirably started by Mr. Edouard Sievers in a +little book containing this portion of the text, and exhibiting in +detail the peculiar intimacy of relation between it and the "Heliand," +in regard to vocabulary, phraseology, and versification. This part of +Mr. Sievers' work is complete. Probably no one who has gone through his +proofs will be found to question his conclusion, that there is between +the "Heliand" and the Saxon "Paradise Lost" such an identity as +isolates those two works from all other literature, and makes it +necessary to trace them to one source. What remains is only to determine +the order of their affiliation. His theory is that our "Cædmon" contains +a large insertion which has been borrowed, not, of course, from the +"Heliand," because the "Heliand" is a poem solely on the Gospel history, +but from a sister poem to the "Heliand," a corresponding poem on the Old +Testament. Professor George Stephens, of Copenhagen, offered a simpler +explanation. He supposed that our piece is a purely domestic remnant of +that school of English poetry which Bede described, and that the +"Heliand" is a continental offspring of the same school, being a +monument of the poetic culture which was planted along the borders of +the Rhine by the Anglo-Saxon missionaries. + +ALCUIN'S name connects the Anglian period with the great +Frankish revival of literature under Charlemagne. And as he bears a +prominent part in the establishment of literature in its next European +seat, so also he had the grief of witnessing the earlier stages of that +devastation which extinguished the light in his own country. This is how +he writes on hearing of the invasion of Lindisfarne by the northern +rovers in 793, to Bishop Hugibald and the monks of Lindisfarne:-- + +"As your beloved society was wont to delight me when I was with you, so +does the report of your tribulation sadden me continually now that I am +absent from you. How have the heathen defiled the sanctuaries of God, +and shed the blood of the saints round about the altar. They have laid +waste the dwelling-place of our hope; they have trodden down the bodies +of the saints in the temple of God like mire in the street. What can I +say? I can only lament in my heart with you before the altar of Christ, +and say: Spare, Lord, spare Thy people, and give not Thy heritage to the +heathen, lest the pagans say, Where is the God of the Christians? What +confidence is there for the churches of Britain if Saint Cuthbert, with +so great a company of saints, defends not his own? Either this is the +beginning of a greater sorrow, or the sins of the people have brought +this upon them."[72] + +Thus we have arrived at the verge of that catastrophe which closes for +ever the singular greatness of Anglia. Charles brought learning to +France by drawing from Anglia and from Italy the best plants for his new +field; he inherited the civilising labours of the Saxon missionaries in +his dominions beyond the Rhine; he founded a centre of power and a +centre of education together; and France remained the chief seat of +learning throughout the Middle Ages.[73] The glory of a European +position in literature can no longer be claimed for England. Through the +remainder of our narrative we must be content with a provincial sphere; +and our compensation must be found in the fact that the vernacular +element is all the more freely developed. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[64] In the famous manuscript of the "Ecclesiastical History" of Bede, +which is commonly known as the Moore manuscript, because it passed with +the library of Bishop Moore (Ely) to the University of Cambridge, is in +a hand which is thought to be as old as the time of Bede, who died in +735. + +[65] Bede gives the "sense" of this first hymn as follows:--"Nunc +laudare debemus auctorem regni caelestis, potentiam creatoris et +consilium illius, facta patris gloriae; quomodo ille, cum sit aeternus +deus, omnium miraculorum auctor extitit, qui primo filiis hominum caelum +pro culmine tecti, dehinc terram custos humani generis omnipotens +creavit."--"Ecclesiastical History," iv. 24. + +[66] Adolf Ebert's account of Bede in "History of Christian-Latin +Literature," translated by Mayor and Lumby in their admirable edition of +the third and fourth books of Bede's "Church History" (Pitt Press +Series), 1878, p. 11. + +[67] The general correctness of our translation is assured by the fact +that the Latin text in which it is embodied supplies a Latin +translation, thus:--"quod ita latine sonat: 'ante necessarium exitum +prudentior quam opus fuerit nemo existit, ad cogitandum videlicet +antequam hinc proficiscatur anima, quid boni vel mali egerit, qualiter +post exitum judicanda fuerit.'"--"Bedæ Hist. Eccl.," iii., iv. (Mayor +and Lumby), p. 177. + +[68] Page 14. + +[69] There has been a recent discussion of this question by Professor +Wülcker in "Anglia," with a negative result. But the conclusion rests on +too slight a basis. + +[70] "Milton has the same idea in a kindred passage, but it is not so +terse, so condensed, as Cædmon's:-- + + 'Yet from those flames + No light, but rather darkness visible + Served only to discover sights of woe.' + +"In Job x. 22 we also find a similar idea:--'A land of darkness, as +darkness itself; and of the shadow of death without any order, and where +the light is as darkness.' They are all powerful, all dreadful, but +Cædmon's 'without light, and full of flame,' is much the strongest. It +is an Inferno in a line."--ROBERT SPENCE WATSON, "Cædmon," p. 44. + +[71] "Paradise Lost," i., 221:-- + + "Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool + His mighty stature; on each hand the flames, + Driv'n backward, slope their pointing spires, and roll'd + In billows, leave i' th' midst a horrid vale." + +[72] Wright, "Biographia Literaria," Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 353. + +[73] The new start of literature under Charles is briefly and +brilliantly stated in the first paragraph of Adolf Ebert's second +volume. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE PRIMARY POETRY. + + +We have now seen something of a culture that was introduced from abroad, +and guided by foreign models. But our people had a native gift of song, +and a tradition of poetic lore, which lived in memory, and was sustained +by the profession of minstrelsy. The Christian and literary culture +obtained through the Latin tended strongly to the suppression and +extinction of this ancient and national vein of poetry. But happily it +has not all been lost, and it will be the aim of this chapter to present +some specimens of that poetry which is rooted in the native genius of +the race, and which we may call the primary poetry. The poetry which is +manifestly of Latin material we will call the secondary poetry. It is +not asserted that we have two sorts of poetry so entirely separate and +distinct the one from the other, that the one is purely native and +untinged with foreign influence, while the other springs from mere +imitation. The two sorts are not so utterly contrasted as that. Even the +secondary poetry is not without originality. On the other hand the +primary poetry betrays here and there the Latin culture and the +Christian sentiment; and yet if is quite sufficiently distinct and +characterised to justify the plan of grouping it apart from the general +body of the poetical remains. + +The chief features of the Saxon poetry may conveniently be arranged +under three heads: 1. The mechanical formation. 2. The rhetorical +characteristics. 3. The imaginative elements. + +1. Of these the first turns on Alliteration, Accent, and Rhythm; and +this part, which is generally held to belong rather to grammar than to +literature, I have described elsewhere.[74] + +2. The Rhetorical characteristic of Anglo-Saxon poetry which is most +prominent, is a certain repetition of the thought with a variation of +epithet or phrase, in a manner which distinctly resembles the +parallelism of Hebrew poetry. + +3. The Imaginative element resides chiefly in the metaphor, which is +very pervading and seems to be almost unconscious. It seldom rises to +that conscious form of metaphor which we call the Simile, and when it +does it is laconically brief, as in the comparison of a ship with a bird +(fugle gelicost). The later poetry begins to expand the similes somewhat +after the manner of the Latin poets. In Beowulf we have four brief +similes and only one that is expanded; namely, that of the sword-hilt +melting like ice in the warm season of spring (line 1,608). + +We will begin with the "Beowulf," the largest and in every sense the +most important of the remaining Anglo-Saxon poems. It has much in it +that seems like anticipation of the age of chivalry. The story of the +"Beowulf" is as follows:[75]-- + +Hroðgar, king of the Danes, ruled over many nations with imperial sway. +It came into his mind to add to his Burg a spacious hall for the greater +splendour of his hospitality and the dispensing of his bounty. This hall +was named Heorot. But all his glory was undone by the nightly visits of +a devouring fiend; Hroðgar's people were either killed, or gone to safer +quarters. Heorot, though habitable by day, was abandoned at night; no +faithful band kept watch around the seat of Danish royalty; Hroðgar, the +aged king, was in dejection and despair. + +Higelac was king in the neighbouring land of the Geatas, and he had +about him a young nephew, a sister's son, Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow. +Beowulf had great bodily strength, but was otherwise little accounted +of. The young man loved adventure, and hearing of Hroðgar's misery, he +determined to help him. He embarked with fourteen companions, and +reached the coast of the Danes, where he was challenged by the +coast-warden in a tone of mistrust. After a parley, that officer sped +him on his way, and Beowulf's company stood before Hroðgar's gate. Asked +the meaning of this armed visit, the leader answers: "We sit at +Higelac's table: my name is Beowulf. I will tell mine errand to thy +master, if he will deign that we may greet him." Hroðgar knew Beowulf's +name, remembered his father Ecgtheow,[76] had the visitor to his +presence, heard his high resolve, was ready to hope for deliverance, and +prompt to see in Beowulf a deliverer. Festivity is renewed in the +deserted hall, and tales of old achievements revive forgotten +mirth--mirth broken only by the gibes of the eloquent Hunferth, which +give Beowulf occasion to tell the tale of an old swimming-match when he +slew sea-monsters; and all is harmony again. But night descends, and +with it the fears that were now habitual. Beowulf shrinks not from his +adventure; the guests depart, and the king, retiring to his castle, +commits to his visitor the night-watch of Heorot. + + Næfre ic ænegum men + ær alyfde, + siððan ic hond and rond + hebban mihte, + thryth ærn Dena:-- + buton the nu tha! + Hafa nu and geheald + husa selest; + gemyne mærtho, + mægen ellen cyth; + waca with wrathum! + ne bith the wilna gad, + gif thu thæt ellen weorc + aldre gedigest. + + Never I to any man + ere now entrusted, + (since hand and shield + I first could heave) + the Guardhouse of the Danes:-- + never but now to thee! + Have now and hold + the sacred house; + of glory mindful + main and valour prove; + watch for the foe! + no wish of thine shall fail, + if thou the daring work + with life canst do. + +Beowulf and his companions have their beds in the hall. + +They sleep; but he watches. It was not long before the depredator of the +night was there, and a lurid gleam stood out of his eyes. While Beowulf +cautiously held himself on the alert, the fiend had quickly clutched and +devoured one of the sleepers. But now Grendel--such was the demon's +name--found himself in a grasp unknown before. Long and dire was the +strife. The timbers cracked, the iron-bound benches plied, and work +deemed proof against all but fire was now a wreck. Grendel finding the +foe too strong, thought only of escape. He did escape, and got away to +the moor, but he left an arm in Beowulf's grip. + +Early in the morning men came from far and near to see the hideous +trophy on the gable of the hall: men came to rejoice in the great +deliverance; for Heorot, they said, was now purged. Great was their joy. +Mounted men rode over the moor, tracking Grendel's retreat by his blood; +they followed his path to the dismal pool where he had his habitation; +then they turn homewards, riding together and conversing as they go. +They talk of Beowulf, they liken him with Sigemund, that hero of +greatest name. When they come to galloping ground, they break away from +the tales, and race over the turf. In another tale they talk of Heremod; +but he was proud and cold, not like Beowulf, who is as genial as he is +valiant. The early riders are back to Heorot in time to see the king and +the queen moving from bower to hall, the king with his guard, the queen +with her maidens. Then follows a noble scene. Hroðgar sees the hideous +trophy on the gable; he stands on the terrace, and utters a thanksgiving +to God as stately as it is simple. He reviews the woe and the grief, the +disgrace, the helplessness, and the utter despondency of himself and of +his people; "and now a boy hath done the deed which we all with our +united powers could not compass! Verily that woman is blessed that bare +him; and if she yet lives, she may well say that God was very gracious +to her in her childbearing. Beowulf, I will love thee as a son, and thou +shalt lack nothing that it is in my power to give." + +Beowulf spake: "We did our best in a risky tussle; would I could have +brought you the fiend a captive. I could not hold him; he gave me the +slip: but he left a limb behind; _that_ will be his death." Next Heorot +is restored and beautified anew. Marvellous gold-embroidered hangings +drape the walls, the admiration of those who have an eye for such +things. The whole interior had been a wreck, the roof alone remained +entire. Now, it was straight and fair once more; and now it was to be +the scene of such a profusion of gifts as poet had never sung. + +In honour of his victory Beowulf received a golden banner of quaint +device, a helmet, and a coat of mail; but what drew all eyes was the +ancient famous sword now brought forth from the treasure house, and +borne up to the hero. Furthermore, at the king's word, eight splendid +horses, cheek-adorned, were led into the hall; and on one of them was +seen the saddle, the well-known saddle of Hroðgar, wherein he, never +aloof in battle-hour, sate when he mingled in the fray of war. "Take +them," said the king, "take them, Beowulf, both horses and armour; and +my blessing with them." + +The companions of Beowulf were not forgotten: they all received +appropriate gifts. The festivities proceed, and we have a picture of the +course of the banquet. The minstrel's tale on that occasion was the +Fearful Fray in the Castle of Finn, when Danes were there on a visit. +The song being ended, Waltheow the queen bears the cup to the king, and +bids him be merry and bountiful. Her queenly counsel stops not here. The +king had sons of his own; he should give no hint of any other succession +to his seat; while he occupied the throne, he should be large in bounty +and encircle himself with grateful champions. Next, with like ceremony +she honours Beowulf, and hands the cup to him. She also presents her +own special gifts to the deliverer:--bracelets, and a rich garment, and +a collar surpassing all most famed in story since Hama captured the +collar of the Brosings. The queen addresses Beowulf, wishes him joy of +her gifts, exalts his merits, bids him befriend her son and be loyal to +the king. She took her seat, and the revelry grew. Little deemed they, +what next would happen, when the night should be dark, and Hroðgar +asleep in his bower! + +The hall is made ready as a dormitory for the men-at-arms; the benches +are slewed round, and the floor is spread from end to end with beds and +bolsters. Every warrior's shield is set upright at his head, and by the +bench-posts stands his spear, supporting helmet and mail. Such was their +custom; they slept as ever ready to rise and do service to their king. +Horror is renewed in the night; Grendel's fiendish dam visits the hall +and kills one of the sleepers, Æschere by name. + +In the morning the king is in great distress. He sends for Beowulf, who, +after the purging of Heorot, had occupied a separate bower, like the +king. Beowulf arrives, and hopes all is well. Hroðgar spake:--"Ask not +of welfare; sorrow is renewed for the Danish folk! My trusty friend +Æschere is dead; my comrade tried in battle when the tug was for life, +when the fight was foot to foot and helmets kissed:--oh! Æschere was +what a thane should be! The cruel hag has wreaked on him her vengeance. +The country folk said there were two of them, one the semblance of a +woman, the other the spectre of a man. Their haunt is in the remote +land, in the crags of the wolf, the wind-beaten cliffs, and untrodden +bogs, where the dismal stream plunges into the drear abyss of an awful +lake, overhung with a dark and grisly wood rooted down to the water's +edge, where a lurid flame plays nightly on the surface of the flood--and +there lives not the man who knows its depth! So dreadful is the place +that the hunted stag, hard driven by the hounds, will rather die on the +bank than find a shelter there. A place of terror! When the wind rises, +the waves mingle hurly-burly with the clouds, the air is stifling and +rumbles with thunder. To thee alone we look for relief; darest thou +explore the monster's lair, I will reward the adventure with ancient +treasures, with coils of gold if thou return alive!" + +Said Beowulf, the son of Ecgtheow:--"Sorrow not, experienced sire! +Better avenge a friend than idly deplore him:--each must wait the end of +life, and should work while he may to make him a name--the best thing +after life! Bestir thee, guardian of the folk! let us be quick upon the +track of Grendel's housemate. I make thee a promise:--not highest cliff, +not widest field, not darkest wood, nor deepest flood--go where he +will--shall be his refuge! Bear up for one day, and may thy troubles end +according to my wish!" The king mounts, and with his retinue conducts +Beowulf to the charmed lake: the wildness of the way, and the strange +nature of the scenes, are all in keeping. The armed followers sit them +down in a place where they command a view of the dismal water. Monstrous +creatures writhe about the crags; the men shoot some of them. + +Beowulf equips for his adventure. His sword was the famous Hrunting, +lent to him by Hunferth, the boastful orator, he who had gibed at +Beowulf on the day of his arrival. It was a sword of high repute; a +hoarded treasure; its edge was iron; it was damascened with device of +coiled twigs; it had never failed in fight the hand that dared to wield +it. Now Beowulf spoke, ready for action: "Remember, noble Hroðgar, how +thou and I talked together, that if I lost life in thy service thou +wouldest be as a father to me departed:--protect my comrades if I am +taken; and the gifts thou gavest me, beloved Hroðgar, send home to +Higelac. When he looks on the treasures he will know that I found a +bounteous master, and enjoyed life while it lasted. And let Hunferð have +his old sword again: I will conquer fame with Hrunting, or die +fighting." Act followed word: he was gone, and the wave had covered him. +He was most of the day before he reached the depths of the abyss. While +yet on the downward way, he was met by the old water-wolf that had dwelt +there a hundred years, who had perceived the approach of a human +visitor. She clutched him and bore him off, till he found himself with +his enemy in a vast chamber which excluded the water and was lighted by +some strange fire-glow. At once the fight began, and Hrunting rang about +the demon's head; but against such a being the sword was useless, the +edge turned that never had failed before: he flung it from him and +trusted to strength of arm. In his rage he charged so deadly that he +felled the monster to the ground; but she recovered and Beowulf fell. +And now the furious wight thought to revenge Grendel; she plunged her +knife at Beowulf's breast, and his life had ended there but for the good +service of his ringed mail-serk. Protected by this armour, and helped by +Him who giveth victory, he passed the perilous moment, and was on his +feet again. And now he espied among the armour in that place an old +elfin sword, such as no other man might carry; this he seized, and with +the force of despair he so smote that the fell hag lay dead:--the sword +was gory, and the boy was fain of his work. With rage unsated, he ranged +through the place till he came to where Grendel lay lifeless: he smote +the head from the hateful carcase. + +To Hroðgar's men watching on the height the lake appeared as if mingled +with blood, and this seemed to confirm their fears. The day was waning: +the old men about Hroðgar took counsel, and, concluding they should see +Beowulf no more, they moved homeward. But Beowulf's followers, though +sick at heart and with little hope, yet sate on in spite of dejection. + +Meanwhile the huge, gigantic blade had melted marvellously away "likest +unto ice, when the Father (he who hath power over times and seasons, +that is, the true ruler) looseneth the chain of frost and unwindeth the +wave-ropes":--so venomous was the gore of the fiend that had been slain +therewith. Beowulf took the gigantic hilt and the monster's head, and, +soaring up through the waters, he stood on the shore to the surprise and +joy of his faithful comrades, who came eagerly about him to ease him of +his dripping harness. Exulting they return to Heorot, Grendel's head +carried by four men on a pole; they march straight up the hall to greet +the king, and the guests are startled with the ghastly evidence of +Beowulf's complete success. Beowulf tells his story and presents the +hilt to Hroðgar. The aged king extols the unparalleled achievements of +Beowulf, and warns him against excessive exaltation of mind by the +example of Heremod. + +Soon after this we have the parting between the old king and the young +hero, who declares his readiness to come with a thousand thanes at any +time of Hroðgar's need; while Hroðgar's words are of love and admiration +and confidence in his discretion: and so he lets him go not without +large addition of gifts, and embraces, and kisses, and tears. "Thence +Beowulf the warrior, elate with gold, trod the grassy plain, exulting in +treasure; the sea-goer that rode at anchor awaited its lord; then as +they went was Hroðgar's liberality often praised." At the coast they are +met by the coast-warden with an altered and respectful mien: they are +soon afloat, and we hear the whistle of the wind through the rigging as +the gallant craft bears away before the breeze to carry them all merrily +homewards after well-sped adventure. The welcome is worthy of the +work:--Higelac's reception of Beowulf, the joy of getting him back; +Beowulf presenting to his liege lord the wealth he had won; old +reminiscences called up and couched in song; an ancient sword brought +out and presented to Beowulf, and with the sword a spacious lordship, a +noble mansion, and all seigneurial rights. + +And so he dwelt until such time as he went forth with Higelac on his +fatal expedition against the Frisians, who were backed by a strong +alliance of Chauci, and Chattuarii, and Franks; and there Higelac fell, +and his army perished. Beowulf, by prodigious swimming, reached his home +again, where now was a young widowed queen and her infant son. She +offered herself and her kingdom to Beowulf; he preferred the office of +the faithful guardian. At a later time the young king fell in battle, +and then Beowulf succeeded. He reigned fifty years a good king, and +ended life with a supreme act of heroism. He fought and slew a fiery +dragon which desolated his country, and was himself mortally wounded in +the conflict. One single follower, Wiglaf by name, bolder or more +faithful than the rest, was at his side in danger, though not to help; +and he received the hero's dying words:--"I should have given my armour +to my son if I had heir of my body. I have held this people fifty years; +no neighbour has dared to challenge or molest me. I have lived with men +on fair and equal terms; I have done no violence, caused no friends to +perish, and that is a comfort to one deadly wounded who is soon to +appear before the Ruler of men. Now, beloved Wiglaf, go thou quickly in +under the hoary stone of the dragon's vault, and bring the treasures out +into the daylight, that I may behold the splendour of ancient wealth, +and death may be the softer for the sight." When it was done, and the +wondrous heap was before his eyes, the victorious warrior spake:--"For +the riches on which I look I thank the Lord of all, the king of glory, +the everlasting ruler, that I have been able before my death-day to +acquire such for my people. Well spent is the remnant of my life to earn +such a treasure; I charge thee with the care of the people; I can be no +longer here. Order my warriors after the bale-fire to rear a mighty +mound on the headland over the sea: it shall tower aloft on Hronesness +for a memorial to my people: that sea-going men in time to come may call +it Beowulf's Barrow, when foam-prowed ships drive over the scowling +flood on their distant courses." Then he removed a golden coil from his +neck and gave it to the young thane; the same he did with his helmet +inlaid with gold, the collar, and the mail-coat: he bade him use them as +his own. + +"Thou art the last of our race of the Wægmundings; fate has swept all my +kindred off into Eternity; I must follow them." That was his latest +word; his soul went out of his breast into the lot of the just. +Reflections and discourses proper to the occasion are spoken by Wiglaf, +such as chiding of the timorous who stood aloof, and gloomy +anticipations of the future. + + 3,000 Thæt is sio fæhtho + and se feondscipe, + wæl nith wera, + thæs the ic wen hafo, + the us seceath to + Sweona leode + syððan hie gefricgeath + frean userne, + ealdorleasne + thone the ær geheold + with hettendum + hord and rice; + folc ræd fremede, + oððe furthur gen + eorlscipe efnde. + Nu is ofost betost + thæt we theod cyning + thær sceawian + and thone gebringan, + the us beagas geaf, + on âd fære. + Ne scal anes hwæt + meltan mid tham modigan, + ac thær is mathma hord, + gold unrime + grimme geceapod + and nu æt sithestan + sylfes feore + beagas gebohte. + Tha sceal brond gretan + æled theccean, + nalles eorl wegan + maððum to gemyndum, + ne mægth scyne + habban on healse + hring weorthunge, + ac sceal geomor mod + golde bereafod + oft nalles æne + el land tredan; + nu se here wisa + hleahtor alegde, + gamen and gleo dream. + + This is the feud + and this the foeman's hate + the vengeful spite + that I expect + against us now will bring + the Swedish bands; + soon as they hear + our chieftain high + of life bereft-- + who held till now + 'gainst haters all + the hoard and realm; + peace framed at home; + and further off + respect inspired. + Now speed is best + that we our liege and king + go look upon, + And him escort, + who us adorned, + the pile towards. + Not things of petty worth + shall with the mighty melt, + but there a treasure main, + uncounted gold + costly procured + and now at length + with his great life + jewels dear-bought; + them shall flame devour, + burning shall bury:-- + never a warrior bear + jewel of dear memory, + nor maiden sheen + have on her neck + ring-decoration; + nay, shall disconsolate + gold-unadorned + not once but oft + tread strangers' land; + now the leader in war + laughter hath quenched + game and all sound of glee. + +And so this noble poem moves on to its close, ending, like the "Iliad," +with a great bale-fire. Two closing lines record like an epitaph the +praise of the dead in superlatives; not as a warrior, but as a man and a +ruler: how that he was towards men the mildest and most affable, +towards his people he was most gracious and most yearning for their +esteem. + +About the structure of this poem the same sort of questions are debated +as those which Wolff raised about Homer--whether it is the work of a +single poet, or a patchwork of older poems. Ludwig Ettmüller, of Zürich, +who first gave the study of the "Beowulf" a German basis, regarded the +poem as originally a purely heathen work, or a compilation of smaller +heathen poems, upon which the editorial hands of later and Christian +poets had left their manifest traces. In his translation, one of the +most vigorous efforts in the whole of Beowulf literature, he has +distinguished, by a typographical arrangement, the later additions from +what he regards as the original poetry. He is guided, however, by +considerations different from those that affect the Homeric debate. He +is chiefly guided by the relative shades of the heathen and Christian +elements. Wherever the touch of the Christian hand is manifest, he +arranges such parts as additions and interpolations.[77] + +Grein saw in the poem the unity of a single work, and he thought the +motive allegorical. He interpreted the assaults of the water-fiend as +the night attacks of sea-robbers. I cannot see any such allegory as +this, but I agree with him as to the unity of the poem, so far as unity +is compatible with the traces of older materials. And I see allegory +too, but in a different sense. + +The material is mythical and heathen; but it is clarified by natural +filtration through the Christian mind of the poet. Not only are the +heathen myths inoffensive, but they are positively favourable to a train +of Christian thought. Beowulf's descent into the abyss to extirpate the +scourge is suggestive of that Article in the Apostles' Creed which had a +peculiar fascination for the mind of the Dark and Middle Ages; the fight +with the dragon; the victory that cost the victor his life; the one +faithful friend while the rest are fearful--these incidents seem almost +like reflections of evangelical history. Without seeing in the poem an +allegorical design, we may imagine that, with the progress of +Christianity, those parts of the old mythology which were most in +harmony with Christian doctrines had the best chance of survival; and +that, as a poet puts a new physiognomy on an old story without +distorting the tradition, as we have seen in our own day the story of +Arthur told again, not with the elaborate allegory of Spenser, but with +a spiritual transfiguration which makes the "Idylls of the King" truly +an epic of the nineteenth century, so I conceive that Beowulf was a +genuine growth of that junction in time (define it where we may) when +the heathen tales still kept their traditional interest, and yet the +spirit of Christianity had taken full possession of the Saxon mind--at +least, so much of it as was represented by this poetical literature. + +We may not dismiss the "Beowulf" without hazarding an opinion as to the +date of its production. It has been said to be older than the Saxon +Conquest, and some of the materials are doubtless of this antiquity. But +for the poem, as we have it, Kemble assigned it to the seventh century; +then Ettmüller thought it belonged to the ninth; then Grein went back +halfway to the eighth, and this has been adopted by Mr. Arnold, and most +generally followed. I think Ettmüller is the nearest to the mark; and I +would rather go forward to the tenth than back to the eighth. A +pardonable fancy might see the date conveyed in the poem itself. The +dragon watches over an old hoard of gold, and it is distinctly a heathen +hoard (hæðnum horde, 2,217) of heathen gold (hæðen gold, 2,277). In the +same context we find that the monster had watched over this earth-hidden +treasure for 300 years; and if this may be something more than a +poetical number, it may possibly indicate the time elapsed since the +heathen age. Three hundred years would bring us to the close of the +ninth or the beginning of the tenth century, a date which, on every +consideration, I incline to think the most probable.[78] + +All the traces of affinity with, or consciousness of, the "Beowulf" that +we can discover--and they are very few--are such as to favour this date. +The only complete parallel to the fable is found in the Icelandic Saga +of Grettir, who is a kind of northern Hercules. This hero performs many +great feats, but there are three which belong to the supernatural. In +one of these he wrestles with a fiend called Glam, and kills him; and +though Glam is not the same as Grendel, yet the circumstances of the +encounter are so full of parallels as to establish, at least, the +literary affinity of the two stories. The other two supernatural feats +are coupled, just in the same way as two of the feats of Beowulf are. It +is two fights, one in a hall and one under a waterfall, with two +monsters of one family. The fight with the troll-wife in the hall is a +true parallel to Beowulf's fight with Grendel; but the fight with the +troll in the cavern under the force is in great essentials and in minute +details so identical with Beowulf's underwater adventure, that one may +call it a prose version of the same thing under different names. A +certain house was haunted. Men that were there alone by night were +missing, and nothing more was heard of them. Grettir came and lay in +that hall. The troll-wife came and he vanquished her. This he had done +under an assumed name, but the priest of the district knows he can be no +other than Grettir, and he asks Grettir what had become of the men who +were lost. Grettir bids the priest come with him to the river. There was +a waterfall, and a sheer cliff of fifty fathom down to the water, and +under the force was seen the mouth of a cavern. They had a rope with +them. The priest drives down a stake into a cleft of the rock and +secured it with stones, and he sate by it. Grettir said, "I will search +what there is in the force, but thou shalt watch the rope." He put a +stone in the bight of the rope, and let it sink down in the water. He +made ready, girt him with a short sword, and had no other weapon. He +leaped off the cliff, and the priest saw the soles of his feet. Grettir +dived under the force, and the eddy was so strong that he had to get to +the very bottom before he could get inside the force, where the river +stood off from the cliff. By a jutting rock he reached the cavern's +mouth. In the cave there was a fire burning on the hearth. A giant sate +there, who at once leaped up and struck at the intruder with a pike made +equally to cut and to thrust. This weapon had a wooden shaft, and men +called it a hepti-sax.[79] Grettir's sword demolishes this weapon, and +the giant stretched after a sword that hung there in the cave. Then +Grettir smote him and killed him, and his blood ran down with the stream +past the rope where the priest sate to watch. The priest concluded that +Grettir was dead, and it being now evening he went home. But Grettir +explored the cave. He found the bones of two men, and put them into a +skin. He swam to the rope and climbed up by it to the top of the cliff. +When the priest came to church next morning he found the bones in the +bag, and a rune-stick whereon the event was carved; but Grettir was +gone. + +The identity is so manifest that we have only to ask which people (if +either) was the borrower, the English or the Danes. And here comes in +the consideration that the geography of the "Beowulf" is Scandinavian. +There is no consciousness of Britain or England throughout the poem. If +this raises a presumption that the Saxon poet got his story from a Dane, +we naturally ask, When is this likely to have happened? and the answer +must be that the earliest probable time begins after the Peace of +Wedmore in 878. + +In the "Blickling Homilies" there is a passage which recalls the +description of the mere in "Beowulf."[80] So far as this coincidence +affects the question, it makes for the date here assigned. + +Beyond the "Beowulf" we have but small and fragmentary remains of the +old heroic poetry. The most important pieces are "The Battle of Finn's +Burgh," and "The Lay of King Waldhere." These are now often printed in +the editions of the "Beowulf." + +Ettmüller conjectured that the "Invitation from a True Lover Settled +Abroad," was not a single lyric, but a beautiful incident taken from +some epic poem.[81] A messenger comes with a token to a lady at home, by +which she may credit his message; he bids her take ship as soon as she +hears the voice of the cuckoo, and go out to him who has all things +ready about him to give her a suitable reception. + +Next we will consider + + +"THE RUINED CITY."[82] + +The subject of this piece is a city in ruins. There is massive masonry: +the place was once handsomely built and decorated and held by warriors, +but now all tumbled about; works of art exposed to view and forming a +strange contrast with the desolation around; there is a wide pool of +water, hot without fire; and there are the once-frequented baths. This +is no vague poetic composition, but the portrait of a definite spot. It +suits the old Brito-Roman ruin of Akeman after 577; and it suits no +other place that I can think of in the habitable world. The old view +that it was a fortress or castle seems misplaced in time, as well as +incompatible with the expressions in the text.[83] + +The poem begins:-- + + Wrætlic is thes weal stan + wyrde gebræcon, + + Stupendous is this wall of stone, + strange the ruin! + +The strongholds are bursten, the work of giants decaying, the roofs are +fallen, the towers tottering, dwellings unroofed and mouldering, masonry +weather-marked, shattered the places of shelter, time-scarred, +tempest-marred, undermined of eld. + + Eorth grap hafath + waldend wyrhtan + forweorene geleorene + heard gripe hrusan + oth hund cnea + wer theoda gewitan. + Oft thes wag gebad + ræg har and read fah + rice æfter othrum + ofstonden under stormum.... + + Earth's grasp holdeth + the mighty workmen + worn away lorn away + in the hard grip of the grave + till a hundred ages + of men-folk do pass. + Oft this wall witnessed + (weed-grown and lichen-spotted) + one great man after another + take shelter out of storms.... + + * * * * * + +How did the swift sledge-hammer flash and furiously come down upon the +rings when the sturdy artizan was rivetting the wall with clamps so +wondrously together. Bright were the buildings, the bath-houses many, +high-towered the pinnacles, frequent the war-clang, many the mead-halls, +of merriment full, till all was overturned by Fate the violent. The +walls crumbled widely; dismal days came on; death swept off the valiant +men; the arsenals became ruinous foundations; decay sapped the burgh. +Pitifully crouched armies to earth. Therefore these halls are a dreary +ruin, and these pictured gables;[84] the rafter-framed roof sheddeth its +tiles; the pavement is crushed with the ruin, it is broken up in heaps; +where erewhile many a baron-- + + glædmod and goldbeorht + gleoma gefrætwed + wlonc and wingal + wig hyrstum scan; + seah on sinc on sylfor + on searo gimmas; + on ead, on æht, + on eorcan stan: + on thas beorhtan burg + bradan rices. + Stan hofu stodan; + stream hate wearp + widan wylme, + weal eal befeng + beorhtan bosme; + thær tha bathu wæron, + hat on hrethre; + thæt wes hythelic! + + joyous and gold-bright + gaudily jewelled + haughty and wine-hot + shone in his harness; + looked on treasure, on silver, + on gems of device; + on wealth, on stores, + on precious stones; + on this bright borough + of broad dominion. + There stood courts of stone! + The stream hotly rushed + with eddy wide, + (wall all enclosed) + with bosom bright, + (There the baths were!) + not in its nature! + That was a boon indeed! + + +"THE WANDERER" (EARDSTAPA).[85] + +In patriarchal or sub-patriarchal times social life was still confined +within the family pale; and the man who belonged to no household was a +wanderer and a vagabond on the face of the earth. Through invasion or +war or other accidents a man who had been the honoured member of a +well-found home might live to see that home broken up or pass into +strange hands, and he might be thus like a plant uprooted when he was +too old to get planted in a fresh connexion. His only chance of any +share in social life was to wander from house to house, getting perhaps +a brief lodging in each; and such a homeless condition might be well +expressed by the compound eardstapa, one who tramps (_stapa_) from one +habitation (_eard_) to another. In such an outcast plight the speaker in +this piece went to sea, and there he often thought of the old happy days +that were gone. He would dream of the pleasure of his old access to the +giefstol of his lord, whom he saluted with kiss and head on knee, and +then he would wake a friendless man in the wintry ocean, and his grief +would be the sorer at his heart for the recollections of lost kindred +that the dream had revived. Such a lot is in ready sympathy with +old-world ruins, of which there were many in England at that time, and +they raise the anticipation of a time when a like ruin will be the end +of all! "It becomes a wise man to know how awful it will be when all +this world's wealth stands waste, as now up and down in the world there +are wind-buffeted walls standing in mouldering decay"--and the +description which follows is either a reminiscence of "The Ruined City," +or else it shows that the subject of ruins was familiar with the +Sc{-o}pas.[86] + + +"THE MINSTREL'S CONSOLATION."[87] + +Ettmüller reckoned this the oldest of the Saxon lyrics; influenced, +perhaps, by the mythical nature of the contents. But, if we regard the +form rather than the material, there is a refinement about the +versification which does not look archaic. The poem is cast in irregular +stanzas, and it has a refrain. The poet, whose name is Deor, has +experienced the fallaciousness of early success. His prospects are +clouded; once the favourite minstrel of his patron, he is now superseded +by a newer Sc{-o}p. His consolation is a well-known one; perhaps the oldest +and commonest of all the formulæ of consolation. Others have been in +trouble before him, and have somehow got over it. This is not conveyed +as a mere generalisation; it is done poetically through striking +examples, of which Weland is the first, and Beadohild the second. After +each example comes the refrain:-- + + thæs ofereode + thisses swa mæg! + + That [distress] he overwent, + So . I . can . this! + +The failures of life's hopes and ambitions have been so often lamented, +that the subject is rather hackneyed and conventional. Here is a piece +out of the beaten track; fresh, though ingenious and artistic. Such a +poem is all the more welcome as the subject belongs to an extinct +career--the career of a court minstrel. + +The Ballads have a peculiar value of their own. There is a sense in +which they are the best representatives of the native muse. There are +several extant specimens of various merit, but two are pre-eminent, and +these are, beyond all doubt, preserved in their original and unaltered +form. They were manifestly produced in the moment when the sensation of +a great event was yet fresh. They are impassioned and effusive, and they +bear good witness to the characteristics of primitive poetry. One +spontaneous element they preserve, which has been quite discarded from +modern poetry, and of which the other traces are few. I mean the poetry +of derision. The light and shade of the ballad is glory and scorn. The +most popular subject of this species of poetry is a battle. Whether your +ballad is of victory or of disaster, these two elements, not indeed with +the same intensity or the same proportions, but still these two, are the +constituents required. Our best examples are the "Victory of Brunanburh" +(937), and the "Disaster of Maldon" (991). + +The battle of Brunanburh was fought by King Athelstan and his brother +Edmund (children of Edward), against the alliance of the Scots under +Constantinus with the Danes under Anlaf. + +Various attempts have been made to present in modern English the Ballad +of Brunanburh, the most successful being that by the Poet Laureate. Our +language is rather out of practice for kindling a poetic fervour around +the sentiment of flinging scorn at a vanquished foe; but the following +will serve to illustrate this heathenish element, or such relics of it +as survived in the tenth century. The person first railed at is +Constantinus:-- + + X. + + Slender reason had + _He_ to be proud of + The welcome of war-knives-- + He that was reft of his + Folk and his friends that had + Fallen in conflict, + Leaving his son, too, + Lost in the carnage, + Mangled to morsels, + A youngster in war! + + XI. + + Slender reason had + _He_ to be glad of + The clash of the war-glaive-- + Traitor and trickster + And spurner of treaties-- + He nor had Anlaf, + With armies so broken, + A reason for bragging + That they had the better + In perils of battle + On places of slaughter-- + The struggle of standards, + The rush of the javelins, + The crash of the charges, + The wielding of weapons-- + The play that they played with + The children of Edward. + + ALFRED TENNYSON, "Ballads and Other Poems," 1880, p. 174. + +The longest of our ballads, though it is imperfect, is that of the +"Battle of Maldon." In the year 991 the Northmen landed in Essex, and +expected to be bought off with great ransom; but Brithnoth, the alderman +of the East Saxons, met them with all his force, and, after fighting +bravely, was killed. The lines here quoted occur after the alderman's +death:-- + + Leofsunu gemælde, + and his linde ahof, + bord to gebeorge; + he tham beorne oncwæth; + Ic thæt gehate, + thæt ic heonon nelle + fleon fotes trym, + ac wille furthor gan, + wrecan on gewinne + mine wine drihten! + Ne thurfon me embe Sturmere + stede fæste hæleth, + wordum ætwitan, + nu min wine gecranc, + thæt ic hlafordleas + ham sithie + wende from wige! + ac me sceal wæpen niman, + ord and iren! + + Then up spake Leveson + and his shield uphove, + buckler in ward; + he the warrior addressed: + I make the vow, + that I will not hence + flee a foot's pace, + but will go forward; + wreak in the battle + my friend and my lord! + Never shall about Stourmere, + the stalwart fellows, + with words me twit + now my chief is down, + that I lordless + homeward go march, + turning from war! + Nay, weapon shall take me, + point and iron. + +Other ballads, or something like ballads, that are embodied in the Saxon +chronicles are:--"The Conquest of Mercia" (942); "The Coronation of +Eadgar at Bath" (973); "Eadgar's Demise" (975); "The Good Times of King +Eadgar" (975); "The Martyr of Corf Gate" (979); "Alfred the Innocent +Ætheling" (1036); "The Son of Ironside" (1057); "The Dirge of King +Eadward" (1065). + +Others there are of which only brief scraps remain, almost embedded in +the prose of the chronicles:--"The Sack of Canterbury" (1011); "The +Wooing of Margaret" (1067); "The Baleful Bride Ale" (1076); "The +High-handed Conqueror" (1086).[88] + +Our last piece shall be "Widsith, or the Gleeman's Song."[89] This is a +string of reminiscences of travel in the profession of minstrelsy; some +part of which has a genuine air of high antiquity.[90] In the course of +a long tradition it has undergone many changes which cannot now be +distinguished. But, besides these, there are some glaring patches of +literary interpolation, chiefly from Scriptural sources. I quote the +concluding lines:-- + + Swa scrithende + gesceapum hweorfath, + gleo men gumena + geond grunda fela; + thearfe secgath + thonc word sprecath, + simle suth oththe north + sumne gemetath, + gydda gleawne + geofum unhneawne, + se the fore duguthe + wile dom aræran + eorlscipe æfnan; + oth thæt eal scaceth + leoht and lif somod: + Lof se gewyrceth + hafath under heofenum + heahfæstne dom. + + So wandering on + the world about, + glee-men do roam + through many lands; + they say their needs, + they speak their thanks, + sure south or north + some one to meet, + of songs to judge + and gifts not grudge, + one who by merit hath a mind + renown to make + earlship to earn; + till all goes out + light and life together. + Laud who attains + hath under heaven + high built renown. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[74] In "A Book for the Beginner in Anglo-Saxon," Clarendon Press +Series; ed. 2 (1879), p. 70. + +[75] The editions and translations are by Thorkelin, Copenhagen, 1815; +Kemble, ed. 1, London, 1833; ed. 2, London, 1835; translation, 1837; +Ettmüller, German translation, Zurich, 1840; Schaldemose, with Danish +translation, Copenhagen, 1851; Thorpe, with English translation, Oxford, +1855; Grundtvig, Copenhagen, 1861; Moritz Heyne, German translation, +Paderborn, 1863; Grein, 1867; Arnold, Oxford, 1876; Moritz Heyne, Text, +ed. 4, 1879. + +[76] + + Wulfgar then spoke to his own dear lord: + "Here are arrived, come from afar + Over the sea-waves, men of the Geats; + The one most distinguished the warriors brave + Beowulf name. They are thy suppliants + That they, my prince, may with thee now + Greetings exchange; do not thou refuse them + Thy converse in turn, friendly Hrothgar! + They in their war-weeds seem very worthy + Contenders with earls; the chief is renowned + Who these war-heroes hither has led." + Hrothgar then spoke, defence of the Scyldings; + "I knew him of old when he was a child; + His aged father was Ecgtheow named; + To him at home gave Hrethel the Geat + His only daughter: his son has now + Boldly come here, a trusty friend sought." + +This is from Mr. Garnett's translation, which is made line for line. +Published by Ginn, Heath, & Co., Boston, 1882. + +[77] Dr. Karl Müllenhof (papers in Haupt's "Zeitschrift") follows the +same line. His treatment is thus described by Mr. Henry Morley:--"The +work was formed, he thinks, by the combination of several old songs--(1) +'The Fight with Grendel,' complete in itself, and the oldest of the +pieces; (2) 'The Fight with Grendel's Mother,' next added; then (3) the +genealogical introduction to the mention of Hrothgar, forming what is +now the opening of the poem. Then came, according to this theory, a +poet, A, who worked over the poem thus produced, interpolated many +passages with skill, and added a continuation, setting forth Beowulf's +return home. Last came a theoretical interloper, B, a monk, who +interspersed religious sayings of his own, and added the ancient song of +the fight with the dragon and the death of Beowulf. The positive critic +not only finds all this, but proceeds to point out which passages are +old, older, and oldest, where a few lines are from poet A, and where +other interpolation is from poet B."--"English Verse and Prose" in +"Cassell's Library of English Literature," p. 11. + +[78] No one needs to be told that the dragon story is of high antiquity. +But even of the elements which have most the appearance of history some +may be traced so far back till they seem to fade into legend. Thus +Higelac can hardly be any other than that Chochilaicus of whom Gregory +of Tours records that he invaded the Frisian coast from the north, and +was slain in the attempt. In our poem, this recurs with variations no +less than four times as a well-known passage in the adventures of +Higelac. But it affords a doubtful basis for argument about the date of +our poem. + +[79] See Dr. Vigfusson's remarks in the Prolegomena to his edition of +the "Sturlinga Saga," Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1878. + +[80] See Dr. Morris's Preface to the Blickling Homilies. + +[81] Cod. Exon., ed. Thorpe, p. 473. + +[82] Cod. Exon., ed. Thorpe, p. 476; Grein, i., 248. + +[83] Years ago I discussed this little poem before the Bath Field Club; +and my arguments were subsequently printed in the "Proceedings" of that +society (1872). Professor Wülcker has since agreed with me that the +subject of the poem is a city, and not a fortress. My identification of +the ruin with Acemanceaster (Bath) has been approved by Mr. Freeman in +his volume on "Rufus." + +[84] The feeling which pervades this remarkable fragment was strangely +recalled by the following passage in a recent book that has interested +many:--"Masses of strange, nameless masonry, of an antiquity dateless +and undefined, bedded themselves in the rocks, or overhung the clefts of +the hills; and out of a great tomb by the wayside, near the arch, a +forest of laurel forced its way, amid delicate and graceful frieze-work, +moss-covered and stained with age. In this strangely desolate and +ruinous spot, where the fantastic shapes of nature seem to mourn in +weird fellowship with the shattered strength and beauty of the old Pagan +art-life, there appeared unexpectedly signs of modern dwelling."--"John +Inglesant," by J.H. Shorthouse, new edition, 1881, vol. ii., p. 320. + +[85] Cod. Exon., ed. Thorpe, p. 286. + +[86] A translation of this poem in Alexandrines appeared in the +_Academy_, May 14, 1881, by E.H. Hickey. + +[87] Cod. Exon., ed. Thorpe, p. 377. His title is "Deor the Scald's +Complaint." I have adopted the title from Professor Wülcker, "Des +Sängers Trost." + +[88] Sometimes a prose passage of unusual energy raises the apprehension +that it may be a ballad toned down. Dr. Grubitz has suggested this view +of the Annal of 755, in which there is a fight in a Saxon castle (burh). +The graphic description of the place, the dramatic order of the +incidents, and the life-like dialogue of the parley, might well be the +work of a poet. + +[89] Kemble called it "The Traveller's Song;" Thorpe, Cod. Exon., p. +318, "The Scop or Scald's Tale." + +[90] A valuable testimony is borne to the substantial antiquity of this +poem, by the fact that Schafarik, who is the chief ethnographer for +Sclavonic literature, regards it as a valuable source on account of the +Sclavonic names contained in it. I am indebted to Mr. Morfil, of Oriel +College, for this information. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE WEST SAXON LAWS. + + +"No other Germanic nation has bequeathed to us out of its earliest +experience so rich a treasure of original legal documents as the +Anglo-Saxon nation has." Such is the sentence of Dr. Reinhold Schmid, +who upon the basis of former labours, and particularly those of Mr. +Benjamin Thorpe, has given us the most compact and complete edition yet +produced of the Anglo-Saxon laws.[91] + +It might seem as if laws were too far removed from the idea of +literature, to merit more than a passing notice here. Writers on modern +English literature generally leave the lawyer's work altogether out of +their field. But these are among the things that alter with age. Laws +become literary matter just as they become old and obsolete. Then the +traces they have left in words and phrases and figures of speech, their +very contrasts with the laws of the present, makes them material +eminently literary. We know what effective literary use Sir Walter Scott +has made of the antiquities and curiosities of law. + +And to this may be added another remark. When we are engaged in +reconstructing an ancient, we might almost say a lost literature, we +need above all things some leading ideas concerning the conditions of +social life and opinion and mental development at the period in +question. Nothing supplies these things so safely as the laws of the +time. + + +INE'S LAWS. + +The oldest extant West Saxon laws are those of King Ine,[92] who reigned +thirty-eight years, A.D. 688-726. As the West Saxon power +gradually absorbed all other rule in this island, we here find ourselves +entering the central stream of history. In the preamble to Ine's Laws +the name of Erconwald, bishop of London, who died in 693, is among the +persons present at the Gemôt. Consequently these laws must be referred +to the first years of Ine's reign, and they must be older than the date +of the Kentish laws of Wihtred. + +The laws of Ine are preserved to us as an appendix of the laws of +Alfred. This is the case in all the manuscripts. Not only does the elder +code follow the younger, but the numbering is continuous as if welding +the two codes into one. Thorpe follows the manuscripts in this +arrangement, though not in the numbering of the sections, and the +student who consults his edition is apt to be confused with this +chronological inversion, unless he has taken note of the cause. Ine +reigned over a mixed population of Saxons and Britons, and his code is +of a more comprehensive character than that of the Kentish kings. His +enactments became, through subsequent re-enactments, the basis of the +laws not only of Wessex, but also of all England. Accordingly they seem +more intelligible to the modern reader.[93] + +9. If any one take revenge before he sue for justice, let him give up +what he has seized, and pay for the damage done, and make amends with +thirty shillings. + +12. If a thief be taken, let him die, or let his life be redeemed +according to his "wer." ... Thieves we call them up to seven men; from +seven to thirty-five a band (_hloth_); after that it is a troop +(_here_). + +32. If a Wylisc-man have a hide of land, his "wer" is 120 shillings; if +he have half a hide, eighty shillings; if he have none, sixty shillings. + +36. He who takes a thief, or has a captured thief given over to him, and +then lets him go or conceals the theft, let him pay for the thief +according to his "wer." If he be an ealdorman, let him forfeit his +shire, unless the king be pleased to show him mercy. + +39. If any one go from his lord without leave, or steal himself away +into another shire, and word is brought; let him go where he before was, +and pay his lord sixty shillings. + +40. A ceorl's close should be fenced winter and summer. If it be +unfenced, and his neighbour's cattle get in through his own gap, he hath +no claim on the cattle; let him drive it out and bear the damage. + +43. In case any one burn a tree in a wood, and it come to light who did +it, let him pay the full penalty, and give sixty shillings, because fire +is a thief. If one fell in a wood ever so many trees, and it be found +out afterwards, let him pay for three trees, each with thirty shillings. +He is not required to pay for more of them, however many they might be, +because the axe is a reporter and not a thief (_forthon seo æsc bith +melda, nalles theof_).[94] + +44. But if a man cut down a tree that thirty swine may stand under, and +it is found out, let him pay sixty shillings. + +52. Let him who is accused of secret compositions clear himself of those +compositions with 120 hides, or pay 120 shillings.[95] + + +ALFRED'S LAWS. + +Here I will quote from the introductory portion a piece which +illustrates the subject generally, and which is rendered interesting by +the wide diversity of comment which it has elicited from Mr. Kemble and +Sir H. Maine. The former is almost outrageously angry at Alfred for +attributing the system of bôts or compensations to the influence of +Christianity; while in the strong terms wherewith treason against the +lord is branded, he can only see "these despotic tendencies of a great +prince, nurtured probably by his exaggerated love for foreign +literature."[96] It is positively refreshing to come out of this heat +and dust into the orderly and consecutive demonstration of Sir H. Maine, +who concludes a course of systematic exposition on the history of +Criminal Law, and indeed concludes his entire book on Ancient Law, with +an appreciative quotation of this passage from the Laws of Alfred. It is +thus introduced:-- + +"There is a passage in the writings of King Alfred which brings out into +remarkable clearness the struggle of the various ideas that prevailed in +his day as to the origin of criminal jurisdiction. It will be seen that +Alfred attributes it partly to the authority of the Church and partly to +that of the Witan, while he expressly claims for treason against the +lord the same immunity from ordinary rules which the Roman Law of +Majestas had assigned to treason against the Cæsar." + + Siththan thæt tha gelamp, thæt monega theoda Cristes + geleafan onfengon, tha wurdon monega seonothas geond ealne + middan geard gegaderode, and eac swa geond Angel cyn, + siththan hie Cristes geleafan onfengon, haligra biscepa and + eac otherra gethungenra witena. Hie tha gesetton for thære + mildheortnesse, the Crist lærde, æt mæstra hwelcre misdæde, + thæt tha woruld hlafordas moston mid hiora leafan buton + synne æt tham forman gylte thære fioh-bote onfon, the hie + tha gesettan; buton æt hlaford searwe, tham hie nane + mildheortnesse ne dorston gecwæthan, fortham the God + Ælmihtig tham nane ne gedemde the hine oferhogodon, ne + Crist, Godes sunu, tham nane ne gedemde, the hyne sealde to + deathe; and he bebead thone hlaford lufian swa hine selfne. + + After that it happened that many nations received the faith + of Christ, and there were many synods assembled through all + parts of the world, and likewise throughout the Angle race + after they had received the faith of Christ, of holy + bishops and also of other distinguished Witan. They then + ordained, out of that compassion which Christ had taught, + in the case of almost every misdeed, that the secular lords + might, with their leave and without sin, for the first + offence accept the money penalty which they then ordained; + excepting in the case of treason against a lord, to which + they dared not assign any mercy, because God Almighty + adjudged none to them that despised Him, nor did Christ, + the Son of God, adjudge any to them that sold Him to death; + and He commanded that the lord should be loved as Himself. + + Hie tha on monegum senothum monegra menniscra misdæda bote + gesetton, and on monega senoth bec hy writon hwær anne dom + hwær otherne. + + They then in many synods ordained a "bot" for many human + misdeeds, and in many a synod-book they wrote, here one + decision, there another. + + Ic tha Ælfred cyning thas togædere gegaderode and awritan + het monege thara, the ure foregengan heoldon, tha the me + licodon; and manege thara the me ne licodon, ic awearp mid + minra witena getheahte, and on othre wisan bebead to + healdenne, fortham ic ne dorste gethristlæcan thara minra + awuht feala on gewrit settan, fortham me wæs uncuth, hwæt + thæs tham lician wolde, the æfter us wæren. Ac tha the ic + gemette, awther oththe on Ines dæge, mines mæges, oththe on + Offan, Myrcena cyninges, oththe on Æthelbryhtes, the ærest + fulluht onfeng on Angel cynne, tha the me ryhtoste thuhton, + ic tha her on gegaderode and tha othre forlet. + + I then, Alfred, king, gathered these together, and I + ordered to write out many of those that our forefathers + held which to me seemed good; and many of those that to me + seemed not good I rejected, with the counsel of my Witan, + and in other wise commanded to hold; forasmuch as I durst + not venture to set any great quantity of my own in writing, + because it was unknown to me what would please those who + should be after us. But those things that I found + established, either in the days of Ine my kinsman, or in + Offa's, king of the Mercians, or in Æthelbryht's, who first + received baptism in the Angle race, those which seemed to + me rightest, those I have here gathered together, and the + others I have rejected. + + Ic tha Ælfred, West seaxna cyning, eallum minum witum thas + geeowde, and hie tha cwædon, thæt him thæt licode eallum to + healdenne. + + I then, Alfred, king of the West Saxons, to all my Witan + showed these; and they then said, that it seemed good to + them all that they should be holden. + + +ALFRED AND GUTHRUM'S PEACE. + +This is a little code which marks a crisis in Alfred's life, and, it may +be added, a crisis also in the life of the nation. When Alfred by his +victory over the Danes in 878 had brought them to sue for peace, the +treaty was made at Wedmore in Somersetshire. The original text of the +peace between Alfred and Guthrum is among the Anglo-Saxon laws, and we +present it to the reader in its entire form. The first item is about the +frontier line between the two races which was drawn diagonally through +the heart of England, cutting Mercia in two, and leaving half of it +under the Danes. The two parts into which the country was thus divided, +were designated severally as the "Engla lagu" and the "Dena lagu." + + + _Ælfredes and Guthrumes frith._ + + This is thæt frith, thæt Ælfred cynincg and Gythrum cyning + and ealles Angel cynnes witan, and eal seo theod the on East + Englum beoth, ealle gecweden habbath, and mid athum + gefeostnod, for hy sylfe and for heora gingran, ge for + geborene, ge for ungeborene, the Godes miltse recce oththe + ure. + + _Alfred and Guthrum's Peace._ + + This is the peace that king Alfred and king Guthrum and the + counsellors of all Angel-kin, and all the people that are in + East Anglia, have all decreed and with oaths confirmed for + themselves and for their children, both for the born and for + the unborn, all who value God's favour or ours. + + Cap. 1. Ærest ymb ure land-gemæra: up on Temese and thonne + up on Ligan, and andlang Ligan oth hire æ wylm, thonne on + gerihte to Bedan forda, thonne up on Usan oth Wætlinga + stræt. + + Cap. 1. First about our land-boundaries:--Up the Thames, + and then up the Lea, and along the Lea to her source, then + straight to Bedford, then up the Ouse to Watling Street. + + 2. Thæt is thonne, gif man ofslagen weorthe, ealle we + lætath efen dyrne Engliscne and Deniscne, to VIII + healfmarcum asodenes goldes, buton tham ceorle the on gafol + lande sit, and heora liesingum, tha syndan eac efen dyre, + ægther to CC scill. + + 2. Videlicet, if a person be slain, we all estimate of + equal value, the Englishman and the Dane, at eight + half-marks of pure gold; except the ceorl who resides on + gafol-land, and their [_i.e._ the Danish] liesings, those + also are equally dear, either at two hundred shillings. + + 3. And gif mon cyninges thegn beteo manslihtes, gif he hine + ladian dyrre, do he thæt mid XII cininges thegnum. + Gif man thone man betyhth, the bith læssa maga thonne se + cyninges thegn, ladige he hine mid XI his gelicena + and mid anum cyninges thægne. And swa ægehwilcere spræce, + the mare sy thonne IIII mancussas. And gyf he ne + dyrre, gylde hit thry gylde, swa hit man gewyrthe. + + 3. And if a king's thane be charged with killing a man, if + he dare to clear himself, let him do it with twelve king's + thanes. If the accused man be of less degree than the + king's thane, let him clear himself with eleven of his + equals, and with one king's thane. And so in every suit + that may be for more than four mancuses. And if he dare + not, let him pay threefold, according as it may be valued. + + _Be getymum._ + + 4. And thæt ælc man wite his getyman be mannum and be horsum + and be oxum. + + _Of Warrantors._ + + 4. And that every man know his warrantor for men and for + horses and for oxen. + + 5. And ealle we cwædon on tham dæge the mon tha athas swor, + thæt ne theowe ne freo ne moton in thone here faran butan + leafe, ne heora nan the ma to us. Gif thonne gebyrige, thæt + for neode heora hwilc with ure bige habban wille, oththe we + with heora, mid yrfe and mid æhtum, thæt is to thafianne on + tha wisan, thæt man gislas sylle frithe to wedde, and to + swutelunge, thæt man wite thæt man clæne bæc hæbbe. + + 5. And we all said on that day when the oaths were sworn, + that neither bond nor free should be at liberty to go to + the host[97] without leave, nor of them any one by the same + rule (come) to us. If, however, it happen, that for + business any one of them desires to have dealings with us + or we with them, about cattle and about goods, that is to + be granted on this wise, that hostages be given for a + pledge of peace, and for evidence whereby it may be known + that the party has a clean back [_i.e._, that he has not + carried off on his back what is not his own]. + + +EADWARD AND GUTHRUM'S LAWS. + +Besides two codes of laws of Eadward, the son of Alfred, we have also a +code entitled as above. Of these laws it is said that they were first +made between Alfred and Guthrum, and afterwards between Eadward and +Guthrum.[98] Many of the enactments of this code were transmitted to +later ordinances. + + This syndon tha domas the Ælfred cyneg and Guthrum cyneg + gecuran. + + These are the dooms that king Alfred and king Guthrum + chose. + + And this is seo gerædnis eac the Ælfred cyng and Guthrum + cyng. and eft Eadward cyng and Guthrum cyng. gecuran and + gecwædon. Tha tha Engle and Dene to frithe and to + freondscipe fullice fengen. and tha witan eac the syththan + wæron eft and unseldan thæt seolfe geniwodon and mid gode + gehihtan. + + And this is the ordinance, also, which king Alfred and king + Guthrum, and afterwards king Eadward and king Guthrum, + chose and ordained, when the English and Danes fully took + to peace and to friendship; and the Witan also, who were + afterward, often and repeatedly renewed the same and + increased it with good. + + +ATHELSTAN'S LAWS. + +Under the name of Athelstan we have five codes, of which the second and +third are mere abstracts in Latin; but the others are in Saxon; and +besides these a substantive ordinance bearing the special title of "The +Judgments of the City of London." This has been described as +follows:--"The rules of the guild composed of thanes and ceorls +(gentlemen and yeomen), under the perpetual presidency of the bishop +and portreeve of London."[99] They combine to protect themselves against +robbery, and this in two ways: (1) by promoting the action of the laws +against robbers; (2) by mutual insurance. + +The determination of this code to the reign of Athelstan is guided by +the mention of the places of enactment, which are Greatley (near +Andover, Hants); Exeter; and Thundersfield (near Horley, Surrey), with +which places all the previous laws of Athelstan are associated. + +From the fourth of the above-mentioned ordinances I will quote the law +about the tracking of cattle lost, stolen, or strayed:-- + +2. "And if any one track cattle within another's land, the owner of that +land is to track it out, if he can; if he cannot, that track is to count +as the fore-oath," _i.e._, the first legal step in an action to recover. + +A more explicit description of the method of tracking cattle occurs in +the Ordinance of the Dunsæte. + +This ordinance is placed by Thorpe between the laws of Æthelred and +those of Cnut. This little code of nine sections is intended to rule the +relations of a border country which, on its home side, is continuous +with Wessex, and on its outer side is next the Welsh. Sir Francis +Palgrave, misled perhaps by a questionable reading in Lambarde (1568), +who has the form Deunsætas, took this to be a treaty between the English +and British inhabitants of Devon, and bestowed on it the succinct title +of the Devonian Compact. But Mr. Thorpe objected to the form "Deun" as +groundless, and he also quoted the text of the code against it; for the +last section speaks thus:--"Formerly the Wentsæte belonged to the +Dunsæte, but that district more strictly belongs to Wessex, for they +have to send thither tribute and hostages." This admits of no +explanation in Devonshire, but in South Wales it does, and we learn from +William of Malmesbury that the river Wye was fixed by King Athelstan as +the boundary between the English and Welsh. On this basis the Wentsæte +will be the people of Gwent, and the Dunsæte will be the Welsh of the +upland or hill-country. + +One of the most remarkable sections of this Code is the first, which +prescribes the method for tracking stolen cattle. + +The laws concerning theft relate almost entirely to the protection of +cattle, and naturally so, because the chief wealth of the time consisted +in flocks and herds. Stolen cattle were tracked by fixed rules. If the +track led into a given district, the men of that district were bound to +show the track out of their boundary or to be responsible for the lost +property. We have just seen this in Athelstan's laws; but in the +previous reign a law of Edward, the son of Alfred, directs that every +proprietor of land is to have men ready to dispatch in aid of those who +are following the track of cattle, and that they are not to be diverted +from this duty by bribes, or inclination, or violence. But the most +explicit text on this subject is in the first chapter of the Ordinance +respecting the Dunset folk, as above said. It runs thus:-- + +"If the track of stolen cattle be followed from station to station, the +further tracking shall be committed to the people of the land, and proof +shall be given that the pursuit is genuine. The proprietor of the land +shall then take up the pursuit, and he shall have the responsibility, +and he shall pay for the cattle by nine days therefrom, or deposit a +pledge by that date, which is worth half more, and in a further nine +days discharge the pledge with actual payment. If objection be made that +the track was wrongly pursued, then the tracker must lead to the +station, and there with six unchosen men, who are true men, make oath +that he by folk-right makes claim on the land that the cattle passed up +that way." + +We cannot follow the laws in detail, but must now conclude this subject +with one or two observations of a general kind. In the above I have +repeatedly used the word "Code"; but this is not to be understood with +technical exactness. Of late years we have heard much of "codifying" our +laws; and this expression suggests the idea of a compact and consistent +body of law, which should take the place of partial, occasional, +anomalous, and often conflicting legislation. Of "codes" in this sense, +there is very little to be found in the whole record of English law. Our +Kentish and West Saxon laws are little more than statements of custom or +amendments of custom; and while Professor Stubbs claims for the laws of +Alfred, Æthelred, Cnut, and those described as Edward the Confessor's, +that they aspire to the character of codes, yet "English law (he adds) +from its first to its latest phase, has never possessed an +authoritative, constructive, systematic, or approximately exhaustive +statement, such as was attempted by the great compilers of the civil and +canon laws, by Alfonso the Wise or Napoleon Bonaparte."[100] + +There is a prominent characteristic of our laws which they have in +common with all primitive codes. These all differ from maturer +collections of laws in their very large proportion of criminal to civil +law. Sir Henry Maine says that, on the whole, all the known collections +of ancient law are distinguished from systems of mature jurisprudence by +this feature,--that the civil part of the law has trifling dimensions as +compared with the criminal.[101] This is strikingly seen in the Kentish +laws; and even in the West Saxon laws a very little study will enable +the reader to verify this characteristic. + +Our next and last observation shall be based on the absence of something +which the reader might possibly expect to find in the Saxon laws. + +Of all the legal institutions that have claimed a Saxon origin, none +compares for importance with that of trial by jury. This has been called +the bulwark of English liberty, and it has been assigned to King Alfred +as the general founder of great institutions. But this is only a popular +opinion. + +Perhaps there is no single matter in legal antiquities that has been so +much debated as the origin of trial by jury. In the vast literature +which the subject has called forth, the most various accounts have been +proposed. It is an English institution, but whence did the English get +it? From which of the various sources that have contributed to the +composite life of the English nation? Was it Anglo-Saxon, or was it +Anglo-Norman, or was it Keltic? Was it a process common to all the +Germanic family? If it was Norman, from which source--from their +Scandinavian ancestors or from their Frankish neighbours? All these +origins have been maintained, and others besides these. According to +some writers, it is a relic of Roman law; some trace it to the Canon +law; and champions have not been wanting to vindicate it as originally a +Slavonic institution which the Angles borrowed from the Werini ere they +had left their old mother country.[102] + +In all this diversity of view there is one fixed point of common +agreement. It is allowed on all hands that England is the arena of its +historical career, and the question therefore always takes this +start,--How did the English acquire it? + +The Anglo-Saxon laws have been diligently scanned to see if the practice +or the germ of it could be discovered there. In Æthelred iii., 3, there +is an ordinance that runs thus:-- + + And gan ut tha yldestan XII thegnas, and se gerefa + mid, and swerian on tham haligdome, the heom man on hand + sylle, thæt hig nellan nænne sacleasan man forsecgan, ne + nænne sacne forhelan. + + Let the XII senior thanes go out, and the reeve + with them, and swear on the halidom that is put in their + hand, that they will not calumniate any sackless man, nor + conceal any guilty one (? suppress any suit). + +This looks like the grand jury examining the bills of indictment before +trial, and determining _primâ facie_ whether they are true bills which +ought to be tried in court. But the progress of modern inquiry has led +to the conclusion, that though there may be rudiments of the principle +in Anglo-Saxon and in all Germanic customs, still it was among the +Franks in the Carling era that a definite beginning can first be +recognised. The Frankish capitularies had a process called Inquisitio, +which was adopted into Norman law, and was there called Enquête; this, +having passed with the Normans into England, was finally shaped and +embodied in the common law among the legal reforms of Henry II. + +Under the Saxon laws, the true men who were sworn to do justice had a +very different part to act from that which falls to the lot of our +English jury. The duty of the latter is to deliver a verdict on matter +of fact as proved by evidence given in court. The judge charges them to +put aside what they may have heard out of court, and let it have no +influence on their verdict, but to let that verdict be strictly based +upon the evidence of witnesses before the court. + +In Æthelred's time it was different. The sworn men were not to judge +testimony truly, but to bear witness truly. They were to bring into +court their own knowledge of the case, and of any circumstances that +threw light upon it, including the general opinion and persuasion of the +neighbourhood. There was no attempt to collect evidence piecemeal, and +to rise above the level of local rumour, by a patient judicial +investigation. This provides us with something like a measure of the +intellectual stage of the public mind in Saxon times, and will perhaps +justify these remarks if they have seemed like drifting away from our +proper subject. The notion of weighing evidence had not taken its place +among the institutions of public life. This has now become with us +almost a popular habit. Proficiency and soundness in it may be rare, but +the appreciation of it, the perception of its power and beauty, and +withal a pride and glory in it, is almost universal. How wide a distance +does this seem to put between us and our Saxon forefathers, only to say +that they had but the most rudimentary notions about the nature of +evidence! + +Witnesses came into court, not to speak, one by one, to a matter of +fact, but to pronounce in a body what they all believed and held. They +came to testify and uphold the popular opinion. Such testimony is like +nothing known to us now, except when witnesses are called to speak to +general character. These witnesses gave their evidence on oath; but it +would naturally happen sometimes that such sworn testimony was to be had +on both sides of the question. When this was the case, there was but one +resource left, and that was the Ordeal--the appeal to the judgment of +God. Such are the devices of inexperienced nations, who have no skill in +sifting out the truth, and are baffled by contending testimony. Nothing +can better illustrate the stage of our national progress in the times +which produced the literature which we are now surveying. + +But, withal, it was in such a rude age that the foundations of English +law were laid, and those customs took a definite form which are the +groundwork of our jurisprudence, and in which consists the distinction +between our English law and the law of the other nations of Western +Europe, who have all (Scotland included) formed their legal system upon +the civil law of Rome. + + +LEGAL DOCUMENTS. + +From the seventh century down to the end of our period we have a series +of legal documents, such as grants of land, purchases, memorials, +written wills, memoranda of nuncupatory wills, royal writs, family +arrangements, interchanges of land. The first thing to be noticed about +this whole body of writings is that they, at the beginning of the +series, are entirely in Latin; then a few words of the vulgar tongue +creep in, and then this native element goes on increasing until we have +entire documents in Saxon. Nevertheless, it remained a prevalent habit +in the case of transfer of land to have the grant written in Latin, and +the boundaries and other details expressed in Anglo-Saxon. This is a +large body of literature, and it fills six octavo volumes in Kemble's +"Codex Diplomaticus." Being of very various degrees of genuineness--some +absolute originals, some faulty copies, some too carefully amended, down +to the veriest forgeries--there is here a good field for the exercise of +critical discrimination. And there are many curious and interesting +details to reward the patient student. The following extract is from a +memorial addressed to Edward, the son of Alfred, touching matters that +had mostly fallen in his father's time; and it opens a glimpse of Alfred +in his bed-chamber receiving a committee that came to report progress. + + Tha bær mon tha boc forth and rædde hie; tha stod seo + hondseten eal thæron. Tha thuhte us eallan the æt thære + some wæran thet Helmstan wære athe thæs the near. Tha næs + Æthelm na fullice gethafa ær we eodan in to cinge and rædan + eall hu we hit reahtan and be hwy we hit reahtan: and + Æthelm stod self thær inne mid; and cing stod thwoh his + honda æt Weardoran innan thon bure. Tha he thæt gedon hæfde + tha ascade he Æthelm hwy hit him ryht ne thuhte thæt we him + gereaht hæfdan; cwæth thæt he nan ryhtre gethencan ne + meahte thonne he thone ath agifan moste gif he meahte. + + Then they brought forward the conveyance and read it; there + stood the signatures all thereon. Then seemed it to all of + us who were at the arbitration, that Helmstan was all the + nearer to the oath. Then was not Æthelm fully convinced + before we went in to the king and explained everything--how + we reported it, and on what grounds we had so reported it: + and Æthelm himself stood there in the room with us; and the + king stood and washed his hands at Wardour in the chamber. + When he had done that, then he asked Æthelm why it seemed + to him not right what we had reported to him; he said that + he could think of nothing more just than that he might be + allowed to discharge the oath if he were able. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[91] The Anglo-Saxon laws have been edited by William Lambarde, London, +1568, 4to.; Abraham Whelock, Cambridge, 1644; Wilkins, London, 1721, +folio; Dr. Reinhold Schmid, Leipzig, 1832; Thorpe, 1840; Schmid, ed. 2, +1858. It is Schmid's second edition that is spoken of above. + +[92] Ine is to be pronounced as a word of two syllables. + +[93] Palgrave, "English Commonwealth," i., 46. + +[94] Grimm, "Legal Antiquities," § 10, quotes some widely-scattered +parallels: from Rügen he produces the proverb, "Mit der exe stelt men +nicht" (with the axe men steal not); and from Wetterau, "Wan einer +hauet, so ruft er" (when one hews, he shouts). He dubs the Anglo-Saxon +formula the more poetical (_poetischer_). + +[95] "These secret compositions are forbidden by nearly every early code +of Europe; for by such a proceeding both the judge and the Crown lost +their profits. The "Capitulary" of 593 puts the receiver of a secret +composition on a level with the thief: 'Qui furtum vult celare, et +occulte sine judice compositionem acceperit, latroni similis est.' And +even now in common law, the rule is to obtain the sanction of the Court +for permission 'to speak with the prosecutor,' and thus terminate the +suit by compounding the affair in private."--THORPE. The reason +assigned is, however, not the whole reason. + +[96] "Saxons in England," vol. ii., p. 208. + +[97] _I.e._, go to the Danish camp in East Anglia. + +[98] Here we have to understand two distinct kings of the name of +Guthrum. + +[99] Coote, "The Romans of Britain," p. 397. + +[100] "Documents Illustrative of English History," p. 60. + +[101] "Ancient Law," chap. x. init. + +[102] Palgrave, "Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth;" Stubbs, "Constitutional +History;" Heinrich Brunner, "Die Entstehung der Schwurgerichte," Berlin, +1872. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE CHRONICLES. + + +Of the historical writings that remain from the Anglian period--namely, +those of Æddi and Bede, we have already spoken; the subject of the +present chapter will be the Saxon Chronicles and the Latin histories +which are more or less related to these Chronicles. + +The habit of putting together annals began to be formed very early. In +our Chronicles there are some entries that may perhaps be older than the +conversion of our people. The contributors to Bede's "History" would +appear to have sent in their parts more or less in the annalistic form. +That form is even now but slightly veiled in the grouped arrangement +into which the venerable historian has, with little reconstruction but +considerable skill, cast his materials. Annal-writing, we may venture to +say, had by his time become a recognised habit in literature, and there +is extant a brief Northumbrian Chronicle which ends soon after Bede's +death.[103] Continuous with this we have a series of annals which were +produced in the north, and which are now imbedded in the West Saxon +Chronicles; but the traces of their birth are not obliterated. Such +vernacular annals were probably at first designed as little more than +notes and memoranda to serve for a Latin history to be written another +day; but the Danish wars broke the tradition of Latin learning, and made +a wide opening which gave opportunity for the elevation of a vernacular +literature. There is no part of Anglo-Saxon literature more +characterised by spontaneity than are the Saxon Chronicles. Nowhere can +we better see how the mother-tongue received the devolution of the +literary office in an unexpected way when the learned literature was +suddenly and violently displaced. + +One of the strong features of these Chronicles is the genealogies of the +kings, ascending mostly to Woden as their mythical ancestor. The most +complete of these is that of the West Saxon kings, which is prefixed to +the Parker manuscript in manner of a preface. This genealogy was +originally made for Ecgbryht, who reigned from 800 to 836,--it was made +at his death, and it comprised the accession of his son, Æthelwulf. +Subsequently an addition was made, which continued the line of kings +down to Alfred, and closed with the date of his accession. This, when +combined with the fact that the first hand in this book ends with 891, +seems to fix the date of the Winchester Chronicle. This interesting +appendix is as follows:-- + + Ond tha feng Æthelbald his sunu to rice and heold v gear. + Tha feng Æthelbryht his brother to and heold v gear. Tha + feng Æthered hiera brothur to rice and heold v gear. Tha + feng Ælfred hiera brothur to rice and tha wæs agan his + ielde xxiii wintra, and ccc and xcvi wintra thæs the his + cyn ærest Wessexana lond on Wealum geodon. + + And then Æthelbald his son took to the realm and held it 5 + years. Then succeeded Æthelbryht his brother, and held 5 + years. Then Æthered their brother took to the realm, and + held 5 years. Then took Alfred their brother to the realm, + and then was agone of his age 23 years; and 396 years from + that his race erst took Wessex from the Welsh. + +These Chronicles are remarkable for a certain unconscious ease and +homeliness. Even when, in the course of their progress, they grow more +copious and mature, they hardly discover any consciousness of literary +dignity. Of the Latin writings of the Anglo-Saxon period this could not +be said. This _naïveté_ is naturally more observable in the earlier +parts, which seem like rescued antiquities, which might have been built +into their place when, in the latter end of the eighth or beginning of +the ninth century, the importance of the national and vernacular +chronicle began to be realised. + +Some of the brief entries concerning the various settlements on the +coasts and the early contests with the Britons have the appearance of +traditional reminiscences that had been preserved in popular songs. Such +is that of 473, that the Welsh flew the English like fire; 491, that +Ælle and Cissa besieged Andredescester, and slew all those that therein +dwelt--there was not so much as one Bret left; 584, how that Ceawlin, +in his expedition up the Vale of Severn, where his brother fell, took +many towns and untold spoils, and, angry, he turned away to his own. + +Mingled with these are entries which, though ingenious, are hardly less +spontaneous. Such are those in which there is a manifest rationalising +upon the names of historical sites, and a fanciful discovery of their +heroes or founders. Thus, in 501, we read that Port landed in Britain at +the place called Portsmouth. Now, we know that the first syllable in +Portsmouth is the Latin _portus_, a harbour, and it seems plain that +here we have a name made into a personage. In 534 we read how Cynric +gave the Isle of Wight to Stuf and Wihtgar, and how Wihtgar died in 544, +and was buried at Wihtgaraburg, also called Wihtgaræsburh. Here the +person of Wihtgar has been made out of the name of the place, because +that name was understood as meaning Castle of Wihtgar. But it meant the +Burgh "of" Wihtgar only in the sense of the Burgh which was called +Wihtgar. The last syllable, _gar_, is the British word for burg, +fortress, castle, which the Welsh call _Caer_ to this day. And the +Saxons, having often to use the word _gar_ in this sense--much as our +reporters of New Zealand affairs have to speak of a _pa_--distinguished +the _gar_ that was in Wiht, as Wihtgar, and then they added their own +word, _burh_, as the interpretation of _gar_, and after a time the +historian, finding the name of Wihtgarburh, took Wihtgar for a man, and +called it Wihtgar's Burg, Wihtgaresburh, a genitive form which still +lives in "Carisbrooke." + +The originals of the Chronicles are preserved in seven different books. +They are known by the signatures A, B, C, D, E, F, G. + +A, the famous book in Archbishop Parker's library, preserved in Corpus +Christi College, Cambridge. The structure of this book indicates that it +was made in 891, and, indeed, the penmanship of this copy--at least, of +the compilation--may possibly be as old as the lifetime of King Alfred. +It bears the local impress of Winchester, except in the latest +continuation, 1005-1070, which appears to belong to Canterbury. It seems +to have passed from Canterbury to the place where it is now deposited; +but that it was a Winchester book in its basis seems indicated by the +regular notices of the bishops of Wessex from 634 to 754, by the diction +of the compilation to 891, and especially by that of the remarkable +continuation, 893-897. + +B, British Museum, Cotton Library, Tiberius A. vi. Closes with the year +977, and was probably written at St. Augustine's, Canterbury. + +C, British Museum, Cotton Library, Tiberius B. i. The first handwriting +stops at 1046, and is probably of that date. Closes with 1066. +Apparently a work of the monks of Abingdon. + +D, British Museum, Cotton Library, Tiberius B. iv. The first hand, which +stops at 1016, may well be of that date. Closes with 1079. This book +contains strong internal evidence of being a product of Worcester Abbey. + +E, Bodleian Library, Laud, 636. This is the fullest of all extant +Chronicles; it embodies most of the contents of the others, and it adds +the largest quantity of new and original history. It gives seventy-five +years' history beyond any of the others, and closes with the death of +Stephen in 1154. The local relations of this book are unmistakable. The +first hand ends with 1121, and all the evidence goes to prove that this +book was prepared at that date in the abbey of Peterborough. On Friday, +August 3, 1116, a great fire had occurred at Peterborough which had +destroyed the town and a large part of the abbey, and this book was +apparently undertaken among the acts of restoration. The varying shades +of Saxon which this book contains, both in the compilation and in the +several continuations, render it of great value for the history of the +English language, especially in the obscure period of the twelfth +century. + +F, British Museum, Cotton Library, Domitian A. viij. A bilingual +Chronicle, Latin and Saxon, which, by internal evidence, is assigned to +Christ Church, Canterbury. The abrupt ending at 1058 is no indication of +the book's date: it was written late in the twelfth century. + +G, British Museum, Cotton Library, Otho B. xi. A late copy of A, made +probably in the twelfth century. It nearly perished in the fire of 1731, +and only three leaves have been rescued; but happily the book had, +before this disaster, been published entire and without intermixture by +Wheloc; and, consequently, his edition is now the chief representative +of this authority. + +Of these books there are three which are distinguished above the rest +by individuality of character. These are the Parker book (A); the +Worcester book (D); and the Peterborough book (E). A Chronicle may have +a marked individuality in two ways--that is to say, either in its +compilation or in its continuation. I will give an example of each kind. +The first shall be from the Worcester Chronicle, which combines with the +former stock of southern history a valuable body of northern history +between the years 737 and 806. The following are selected as being +annals which, either wholly or in part, are derived from a northern +source. The new matter is indicated by inverted commas:-- + + 737. Her Forthhere biscop . and Freothogith cwen ferdon to + Rome . "and Ceolwulf cyning feng to Petres scære . and + sealde his rice Eadberhte his fæderan sunu . se ricsade xxi + wintra . And Æthelwold biscop . and Acca forthferdon . and + Cynwulf man gehalgode to biscop . And thy ilcan gære + Æthelbald cyning hergode Northhymbra land." + + 737. Here Forthere bishop (of Sherborne) and Freothogith + queen (of Wessex) went to Rome; "and Ceolwulf, king (of + Northumbria) received St. Peter's tonsure, and gave his + realm to Eadberht, his father's brother's son; who reigned + 21 years. And Æthelwold, bishop (of Lindisfarne) and Acca + died, and Cynwulf was consecrated bishop. And that same + year Æthelbald, king (of Mercia) ravaged the Northumbrians' + land." + + 757. "Her Eadberht Northhymbra cyning feng to scære . and + Oswulf his sunu feng to tham rice, and ricsade an gær . and + hine ofslogon his hiwan . on viii Kl. Augustus." + + 757. "Here Eadberht, king of the Northumbrians, became a + monk; and Oswulf, his son, took to the realm, and reigned + one year, and him his domestics slew, on July 25." + + 762. Her Ianbryht was gehadod to arcebiscop . on thone + XL dæg ofer midne winter . "and Frithuweald biscop + æt Hwiterne forthferde . on Nonas Maius. se wæs gehalgod on + Ceastre on xviii Kl. September . tham vi Ceolwulfes rices . + and he wæs biscop xxix wintra. Tha man halgode Pehtwine to + biscop æt Ælfet ee on xvi Kl. Agustus . to Hwiterne." + + 762. Here Ianbryht was ordained archbishop (of Canterbury) + on the fortieth day after Midwinter (Christmas). "And + Frithuweald, bishop of Whitehorne, died on May 7th. He was + consecrated at York, on the 15th of August, in the sixth + year of Ceolwulf's reign; and he was bishop 29 years. Then + was Pehtwine consecrated to be bishop of Whitehorne at + Ælfet Island on the 17th of July." + + 777. Her Cynewulf and Offa gefliton ymb Benesingtun . and + Offa genom thone tun . "and tha ilcan geare man gehalgode + Æthelberht to biscop to Hwiterne in Eoforwic . on xvii Kl. + Jul'." + + 777. Here Cynewulf and Offa fought about Bensington + (Benson, Oxf.), and Offa took the town. "And that same year + was Æthelberht hallowed for bishop of Whitehorne, at York + on the 15th of June." + + 779. Her Ealdseaxe and Francan gefuhton. "and Northhymbra + heahgerefan forbærndon Beorn ealdorman on Seletune . on + viii Kl. Janr. and Æthelberht arcebiscop forthferde in + Cæstre . in thæs steal Eanbald wæs ær gehalgod . and + Cynewulf biscop gesæt in Lindisfarna ee." + + 779. Here the Old Saxons and the Franks fought. "And + Northumbrian high-reeves burned Beorn the alderman at + Silton on the 25th of December. And Æthelberht, the + archbishop, died at York, into whose place Eanbald had been + previously consecrated; and bishop Cynewulf sate on + Lindisfarne island." + + 782. "Her forthferde Werburh . Ceolredes cwen . and + Cynewulf biscop on Lindisfarna ee . and seonoth wæs æt + Aclæ." + + 782. "Here died Werburh, queen of Ceolred (king of Mercia): + and Cynewulf, bishop of Lindisfarne Island. And synod was + at Aclea." + + 788. "Her wæs sinoth gegaderad on Northhymbra lande æt + Pincanheale . on iiii Non. Septemb. and Aldberht abb . + forthferde in Hripum." + + 788. "Here was a synod gathered in the land of the + Northumbrians at Finchale, on 2nd September. And abbot + Aldberht died at Ripon." + + 793. "Her wæron rethe forebecna cumene ofer Northhymbra + land . and thæt folc earmlice bregdon . thæt wæron ormete + thodenas . and ligræscas . and fyrenne dracan wæron + gesewene on tham lifte fleogende. Tham tacnum sona fyligde + mycel hunger . and litel æfter tham . thæs ilcan geares . + on vi Id. Janv. earmlice hæthenra manna hergung adilegode + Godes cyrican in Lindisfarna ee . thurh hreaflac and + mansliht . and Sicga forthferde on viii Kl. Martius." + + 793. "Here came dire portents over the land of the + Northumbrians, and miserably terrified the people; these + were tremendous whirlwinds, and lightning-strokes; and + fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. Upon these + tokens quickly followed a great famine:--and a little + thereafter, in that same year, on January 8, pitifully did + the invasion of heathen men devastate God's church in + Lindisfarne Island, with plundering and manslaughter. And + Sicga died on Feb. 22." + + 806. "Her se mona athystrode on Kl. Septemb. and Eardwulf + Northhymbra cyning wæs of his rice adrifen . and Eanberht + Hagestaldes biscop forthferde." + + 806. "Here the moon eclipsed on Sept. 1; and Eardwulf, king + of the Northumbrians, was driven from his realm: and + Eanberht, bishop of Hexham, died." + +In these few selections the orthography shows occasional relics of the +northern dialect; and an expression here and there, such as "Ceaster" +for York, indicates the writer's locality. Apart, however, from such +traces, the contents and the domestic interest would sufficiently +declare the home of these annals. They are specimens of the vernacular +annals of the north, which are now best seen in bulk in Simeon of +Durham's Latin Chronicle. + +Our next example will serve to illustrate the free writing of an +original continuation. It is taken from the Winchester Chronicle (A). +This Chronicle exhibits, in the annals of 893-897, the first +considerable piece of original historical composition that we have in +the vernacular. Indeed, we may say that these pages, on the whole, +contain the finest effort of early prose writing that we possess. The +quotation relates how Alfred set to work to construct a navy:-- + + Thy ilcan geare drehton tha hergas on East Englum and on + Northhymbrum West Seaxna lond swithe be thæm suth stæthe . + mid stæl hergum . ealra swithust mid thæm æscum the hie + fela geara ær timbredon. Tha het Alfred cyng timbran lang + scipu ongen tha æscas[104] . tha wæron fulneah tu swa lange + swa tha othru . sume hæfdon lx ara . sume ma. Tha wæron + ægther ge swiftran ge unwealtran . ge eac hieran thonne tha + othru. Næron nawther ne on Fresisc gescæpene . ne on Denisc + . bute swa him selfum thuhte thæt hie nytwyrthoste beon + meahten. + + That same year the armies in East Anglia and in + Northhymbria distressed the land of the West Saxons very + much about the south coast with marauding invasions; most + of all with the "æscas" that they had built many years + before. Then king Alfred gave orders to build long ships + against the "æscas;" those were well-nigh twice as long as + the others; some had 60 oars, some more. Those were both + swifter and steadier, and also higher than the others. They + were not shaped either on the Frisic or on the Danish + model, but as he himself considered that they might be most + serviceable. + +The most extensive original continuations are in the Peterborough +Chronicle (E). From one of these I quote the character of the Conqueror, +which accompanies the record of his death in 1086. The passage is +remarkable as containing the nearest approach to a discovery of +authorship that anywhere occurs in these Chronicles:-- + + Gif hwa gewilnigeth to gewitane hu gedon mann he wæs . + oththe hwilcne wurthscipe he hæfde . oththe hu fela lande + he wære hlaford . Thonne wille we be him awritan swa swa we + hine ageaton . the him onlocodan . and othre hwile on his + hirede wunedon. Se cyng Willelm the we embe specath wæs + swithe wis man . and swithe rice . and wurthfulre and + strengere thonne ænig his foregengra wære . He wæs milde + tham godum mannum the God lufedon . and ofer eall gemett + stearc tham mannum the withcwædon his willan . On tham + ilcan steode the God him geuthe thæt he moste Engleland + gegan . he arerde mære mynster . and munecas thær gesætte . + and hit wæll gegodade . On his dagan wæs thæt mære mynster + on Cantwarbyrig getymbrad . and eac swithe manig other ofer + eall Englaland . Eac this land wæs swithe afylled mid + munecan . and tha leofodan heora lif æfter s{~c}s Benedictus + regule . and se Cristendom wæs swilc on his dæge thæt ælc + man hwæt his hade to belumpe . folgade se the wolde. Eac he + wæs swythe wurthful . thriwa he bær his cyne helm ælce + geare . swa oft swa he wæs on Englelande . on Eastron he + hine bær on Winceastre . on Pentecosten on Westmynstre . on + mide wintre on Gleaweceastre . And thænne wæron mid him + ealle tha rice men ofer call Englaland . arcebiscopas . and + leodbiscopas . abbodas and eorlas . thegnas and cnihtas . + Swilce he wæs eac swythe stearc man and ræthe . swa thæt + man ne dorste nan thing ongean his willan don . He hæfde + eorlas on his bendum the dydan ongean his willan. Biscopas + he sætte of heora biscoprice . and abbodas of heora + abbodrice . and thægnas on cweartern . and æt nextan he ne + sparode his agenne brothor Odo het . he wæs swithe rice + biscop on Normandige . on Baius wæs his biscopstol . and + wæs manna fyrmest to eacan tham cynge. + + If any one wishes to know what manner of man he was, or + what dignity he had, or how many lands he was lord of; then + will we write of him as we apprehended him, who were wont + to behold him, and at one time were resident at his court. + The king William about whom we speak was a very wise man, + and very powerful; and more dignified and more + authoritative than any one of his predecessors was. He was + gentle to those good men who loved God; and beyond all + description stern to those men who contradicted his will. + On that selfsame spot where God granted him that he might + conquer England, he reared a noble monastery, and monks he + there enstalled, and well endowed the place. In his days + was the splendid minster in Canterbury built, and also a + great many others over all England. Also this land was + abundantly supplied with monks; and they lived their life + after St. Benedict's rule; and the state of Christianity + was such in his time, that each man who was so disposed + might follow that which appertained to his order. Likewise + he was very ceremonious:--three times he wore his crown + every year (as often as he was in England); at Easter he + wore it in Winchester, at Pentecost in Westminster, at + Christmas in Gloucester. And then there were with him all + the mighty men over all England; archbishops and suffragan + bishops, abbots and earls, thanes and knights. Withal he + was moreover a very severe man and a violent; so that any + one dared not to do anything against his will. He had earls + in his chains who acted against his will. Bishops he put + out of their bishoprick, and abbots from their abbacy, and + thanes into prison; and at last he spared not his own + brother, who was named Odo; who was a very mighty bishop in + Normandy; at Baieux was his see, and he was the first of + men next to the king. + +These annals being all anonymous, every indication of the date of +writing excites interest. Under 643 the chronicler of B added a single +word to what he had before him (as we may presume) in his copy. That +copy said that the church at Winchester was built by order of King +Cenwalh. The chronicler of B says that the "old" church was built by +Cenwalh. This harmonises excellently with other indications of this +Chronicle, by which it is made probable that it was compiled in or about +977, when Bishop Æthelwold had built a new church at Winchester. + +In the Peterborough Chronicle, under 1041, the accession of Eadward is +accompanied by a benediction which indicates that the writer wrote near +the time, or at least before 1065. He says:--Healde tha hwile the him +God unne = May he continue so long as God may be pleased to grant to +him! And the half legible closing sentence of this Chronicle, in 1154, +is a prayer of the same kind for a new abbot of Peterborough, of whom it +is said that "he hath made a fair beginning." + +The Saxon Chronicles offer one of the best examples of history which has +grown proximately near to the events, of history written while the +impression made by the events was still fresh. It would be difficult to +point to any texts through which the taste for living history--history +in immediate contact with the events--can better be cultivated. + +The Chronicles stretch over a long period of time. As to their contents, +they extend as a body of history from A.D. 449 to 1154--that is, +exclusive of the book-made annals that form a long avenue at the +beginning, and start from Julius Cæsar. The period covered by the age of +the extant manuscripts is hardly less than 300 years, from about A.D. +900 to about A.D. 1200. A large number of hands must have wrought from +time to time at their production, and, as the work is wholly anonymous +and void of all external marks of authorship, the various and several +contributions can only be determined by internal evidence, and this +offers a fine arena for the exercise and culture of the critical +faculty. + +It is no small addition to the charm and value of these Chronicles that +they are in the mother tongue at several stages of its growth, and for +the most part in the best Anglo-Saxon diction. We have, moreover, the +very soil of the history under our feet, and this study would tend to +invest our native land with all the charm of classic ground. + +The Chronicle form is the foundation of the structure of historical +literature. We are no longer content to study history now in one or two +admirable specimens of mature perfection, but rather we seek to know +history as a subject. All who have this aim must study Chronicles, and +nowhere can this kind of documentary record be found in a form +preferable to that of the Saxon Chronicles. + +The Saxon Chronicles are sometimes said to be meagre; indeed, it has +almost become usual to speak of them as meagre. When such a term is +used, it makes all the difference whether it is made vaguely and at +random, or with meaning and discrimination. The Saxon Chronicles stretch +over seven centuries, from the middle of the fifth to the middle of the +twelfth; and it would indeed be wonderful if in such a series of annals +there were not some arid tracts. Certainly, there are meagre places, and +it makes all the difference whether a writer uses this epithet wisely or +as a mere echo. In the following quotation it is justly used:--"For the +history of England in the latter half of the tenth century we have, +except the very meagre notices of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, no +contemporary materials, unless we admit the Lives of the Saints of the +Benedictine revival."[105] In the latter half of the tenth century the +Chronicles really are meagre, and it is a remarkable fact, seeing that +the period was one of revived literary activity. + +This account of the Chronicles would be incomplete without the mention +of a small number of Latin histories which are naturally linked with +them. The Latin book of most mark in this connexion is Asser's "Life of +Alfred"--a book that has long lain under a cloud of doubt, from which, +however, it seems to be gradually emerging. (A foolish interpolation +about Oxford which marred the second edition--that by Camden--has left a +stigma on the name.) It is not easy to answer all the adverse criticism +of Mr. T. Wright; but still I venture to think that the internal +evidence corresponds to the author's name, that it was written at the +time of, and by such a person as, Alfred's Welsh bishop. The evident +acquaintance with people and with localities, the bits of Welsh, the +calling of the English uniformly "Saxons," all mark the Welshman who was +at home in England. In the course of this biography, which seems to have +been left in an unfinished state, there is a considerable extract from +the Winchester Chronicles translated into Latin. + +But the earliest Latin Chronicle which was founded on the Saxon +Chronicles is that of Æthelweard. He is apparently the "ealdorman +Æthelwerd," to whom Ælfric addressed certain of his works; and he may +be the "Æthelwerd Dux" who signs charters, 976-998. His Chronicle closes +with the last year of Eadgar's reign. He took much of his material from +a Saxon Chronicle, like that of Winchester, but he has also matter +peculiar to himself; and this raises a question whether he took such +matter from a Saxon Chronicle now lost. He is grandiloquent and turgid +to an extent which often obscures his meaning. In him we perceive all +the word-eloquence of Saxon poetry, striving to utter itself through the +medium of a Latinity at once crude and ambitious.[106] + +The Chronicle of Florence of Worcester terminates with 1117; but a +continuator carried it on to 1141, making use of the Peterborough +Chronicle (E). The work of Florence is often identifiable with the Saxon +Chronicles, especially with that of Worcester (D). But he has good +original insertions of his own, as in his description of the election +and coronation of Harold, on which Mr. Freeman has dwelt, as a record +intended to correct Norman misrepresentation. + +Simeon of Durham made large use of Florence, and he incorporated the +Northumbrian eighth-century Chronicle, of which a specimen has been +given above. + +Henry of Huntingdon closed his annals at the same date as the latest of +the Saxon Chronicles, A.D. 1154. He is a historian of secondary +rank, with antiquarian tastes, a fondness for the Saxon Chronicles, and +a special fancy for the genealogies and the ballads. To him we owe the +earliest known mention of Stonehenge. + +All these, except Asser and Æthelweard, are, as regards our Chronicles, +subsequent and derivative rather than collateral. They used the +chronicles as translators and compilers merely. The first who attempted +something more was William of Malmesbury. This remarkable writer (who in +1140 came near to being elected Abbot of Malmesbury) was the first after +Beda who left the annal form, and aimed at a more comprehensive +treatment of the national history. He recognised the value of traditions +from the Saxon times, which in his day were still to be gathered, and it +is by the incorporation of such elements that his book has in some +respects the character of a supplement to the Saxon Chronicles. + +We cannot but be struck with the isolation of the Saxon Chronicles. +Great literary products do not grow up alone; but they have, doubtless, +a tendency to create a solitude around them. Professor Stubbs apprehends +such may have been the case with these Chronicles. He has surmised that +probably the Chronicles had the same effect upon the previous schemes of +history that Higden's "Polychronicon" had in the fourteenth century, +that is to say, it would have prevented the writing of new histories, +and caused the neglect or destruction of the old.[107] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[103] Lappenberg, "Geschichte," Introduction, p. xlviii.; referring to +Hickes' "Thesaurus," iii., 288; and the preface to Smith's edition of +Bede. That lover of English history, Dr. Reinhold Pauli, in the +Göttingen "Gelehrt. Anzeig." for 1866, p. 1407, suggested that the whole +mediæval institution of annal-writing came from Northumbria, and was +carried on the mission-path of the Saxons into Frankland and Germany, +and there produced the fine Carlovingian series. + +[104] The "æscas" were the light and speedy galleys of the Danes. + +[105] Professor Stubbs, "Memorials of Saint Dunstan," Rolls Series, p. +ix. + +[106] Reinhold Pauli, "Life of Alfred," anno 877, note. + +[107] Preface to "Chronica Rogeri de Hoveden," Rolls Series, p. xi. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +ALFRED'S TRANSLATIONS. + + +Around the great name of Alfred many attributes have gathered and +clustered, some of which are true, some exaggerated, some impossible. It +is quite unhistorical that Alfred divided the country into shires and +hundreds, or that he instituted trial by jury, or that he founded the +University of Oxford. Under the shadow of great names myths are apt to +spring, that is to say, unconscious authorless inventions, growing up of +themselves round any person or thing which happens to be the subject of +much talk and little knowledge. Had the conditions been favourable in +England as they were in France, the myths about Alfred might have +grouped into an epic cycle, as those about Charlemagne did; and, had the +eleventh century produced a great heroic poem analogous to the "Chanson +de Roland," it would have formed a graceful and much-needed coping to +the now too disjointed pile of Anglo-Saxon literature. + +But, when we come to Alfred's literary achievements, we find no tendency +to exaggerate or embellish the sober truth. His hand is manifest in the +Laws, and strongly surmised in the Chronicles. In both these vernacular +products we find a new start, a fresh impulse, under Alfred. But that +which stamps a peculiar character on his Translations is that here we +discern a new stride in the elevation of the native language to +literary rank. Latin was no longer to be the sole medium of learning and +education. + +The learned language had almost perished out of the island where it had +once so eminently flourished. In the north the seats of learning had +been demolished; and the monasteries of Wessex, their first use as +mission-stations having been discharged, had become secularised in their +habits, and had not become seats or seminaries of learning. Alfred found +no one in his ancestral kingdom who could aid him in the work of +revival. Like Charles the Great, he looked everywhere for scholars, and +drew them to his court. In Mercia, the land adjoining scholastic Anglia, +he found a few learned men--Werferth, bishop of Worcester; Plegmund, who +was elected (A.D. 890) archbishop of Canterbury, and two of +obscurer name;[108] he drew Grimbald from Gaul, and John from Old +Saxony; Asser, from whose pen we know about these scholars, came to him +from South Wales. With the help of such men Alfred gave a new impulse to +literature, not as Charles had done, in Latin merely, but as much, or +even more, in his own vernacular. + +We must not look upon his translations as if they were only makeshifts +to convey the matter of famous books to those who could not read the +originals. Alfred deplored the low state of Latin,--but then he could +substitute his own language for it, and that not merely because he must, +but also because the very scarcity of Latin had favoured the culture of +English. For it was in no dull or stagnant time that Wessex had let +Latin wane; it was in that vigorous stage of youth and growth when +Wessex was fitting herself to take an imperial place at home and raise +her head among the nations. In almost all the transactions of life, +public and private, where Latin was used in other countries, the West +Saxons had for a long time used their own tongue, and hence it came to +pass that, when Alfred sought to restore education and literature, he +found a language nearer to him than the Latin, and one which was fit, if +not to supersede the Latin, yet to be coupled along with it in the work +of national instruction. + +Of all Alfred's translations, the foremost place is due to that of +Gregory's "Pastoral Care."[109] Both internally and externally it is +honoured with marks of distinction. The translation is executed with a +peculiar care, and a copy was to be sent to every See in the kingdom. +The very copy that was destined for Worcester is preserved in the +Bodleian; and there it may be seen by any passing visitor, lying open +(under glass) at the page with the Worcester address, and the bishop's +name (Wærferth) inserted in the salutation. The copy that was addressed +to Hehstan, bishop of London, is not extant; but a transcript of it, +written (in Wanley's opinion) before the Conquest, is in the Cotton +Library, or so much of it as the fire has left. The Public Library at +Cambridge has a representative of the copy which was addressed to +Wulfsige, bishop of Sherborne. Another Cotton manuscript, which was +almost consumed (Tiberius, B. xi.), had happily been described by Wanley +before the fire. In this book the place for the bishop's name was blank; +and there was this marginal note on the first leaf: {+} Plegmunde +arcebisc'. is agifen his boc. and Swiðulfe bisc'. {&} Werferðe bisc'., +_i.e._, Plegmund, archbishop, has received his book, and Swithulf, +bishop, and Werferth, bishop.[110] This book, therefore, of which only +fragments now remain, was like the Hatton manuscript in the Bodleian, +one of Alfred's originals. + +Thus the Bodleian book (Hatton 20, formerly 88), for originality and +integrity remains unique; and from it we quote the opening part of +Alfred's prefatory epistle:-- + + DEOS BOC SCEAL TO WIOGORA CEASTRE. + + Ælfred Kyning hateth gretan Wærferth biscep his wordum + luflice and freondlice; and the cythan hate thæt me com + swithe oft on gemynd, hwelce wiotan iu wæron gyond + Angelcynn, ægther ge godcundra hada ge woruldcundra; and hu + gesæliglica tida tha wæron giond Angelcynn; and hu tha + kyningas gas the thone ónwald hæfdon thæs folces on tham + dagum Gode and his ærendwrecum hersumedon; and hie ægther ge + hiora sibbe ge hiora siodo ge hiora ónweald innanbordes + gehioldon, and eac út hiora ethel gerymdon; and hu him tha + speow ægther ge mid wige ge mid wisdome; and eac tha + godcundan hadas hu giorne hie wæron ægther ge ymb lare ge + ymb liornunga, ge ymb ealle tha thiowotdomas the hie Gode + scoldon; and hu man utanbordes wisdom and lare hieder ón + londe sohte, and hu we hie nu sceoldon ute begietan gif we + hie habban sceoldon. Swæ clæne hio wæs othfeallenu ón + Angelcynne thæt swithe feawa wæron behionan Humbre the hiora + theninga cuthen understondan on Englisc, oththe furthum án + ærendgewrit of Lædene on Englisc areccean; and ic wene thæt + noht monige begiondan Humbre næren. Swæ feawa hiora wæron + thæt ic furthum anne ánlepne ne mæg gethencean besuthan + Temese tha tha ic to rice feng. Gode ælmihtegum sie thonc + thæt we nu ænigne ón stal habbath lareowa. + + THIS BOOK IS TO GO TO WORCESTER. + + Alfred, king, commandeth to greet Wærferth, bishop, with his + words in loving and friendly wise: and I would have you + informed that it has often come into my remembrance, what + wise men there formerly were among the Angle race, both of + the sacred orders and the secular: and how happy times those + were throughout the Angle race; and how the kings who had + the government of the folk in those days obeyed God and his + messengers; and they, on the one hand, maintained their + peace, and their customs and their authority within their + borders, while at the same time they spread their territory + outwards; and how it then went well with them both in war + and in wisdom; and likewise the sacred orders, how earnest + they were, as well as teaching us about learning, and about + all the services that they owed to God; and how people from + abroad came to this land for wisdom and instruction; and how + we now should have to get them abroad if we were going to + have them. So clean was it fallen away in the Angle race, + that there were very few on this side Humber who would know + how to render their services into English; and I ween that + not many would be on the other side Humber. So few of them + were there that I cannot think of so much as a single one + south of Thames when I took to the realm. God Almighty be + thanked that we have now any teachers in office. + +The king goes on to say that he remembered how, before the general +devastation, the churches were well stocked with books, and how there +were plenty, too, of clergy, but they were not able to make much use of +the books, because the culture of learning had been neglected. Their +predecessors of a former generation had been learned, but now the +clergy had fallen into ignorance. Wherefore, it seemed that there was no +remedy but to have the books translated into the language they +understood. And this (the king reflected) was according to precedent; +for the Old Testament was first written in Hebrew, and then the Greeks +in their time translated it into their speech, and subsequently the +Romans did the like for themselves. And all other Christian nations had +translated some Scriptures into their own language. + + Forthy me thincth betre, gif iow swæ thincth, thæt we eac + sumæ bec, tha the niedbethearfostæ sien eallum monnum to + wiotonne, thæt we tha on thæt gethiode wenden the we ealle + gecnawan mægen, and ge don swæ we swithe eathe magon mid + Godes fultume, gif we tha stilnesse habbath, thæt eal sio + gioguth the nu is on Angelcynne friora monna, thara the tha + speda hæbben thæt hie thæm befeolan mægen, sien to + liornunga othfæste, tha hwile the hie to nanre otherre note + ne mægen, oth thone first the hie wel cunnen Englisc gewrit + arædan: lære mon siththan furthur on Læden gethiode tha the + mon furthor læran wille and to hieran hade don wille. Tha + ic tha gemunde hu sio lar Læden gethiodes ær thissum + afeallen wæs giond Angelcynn, and theah monige cuthon + Englisc gewrit arædan, tha ongan ic on gemang othrum + mislicum and manigfealdum bisgum thisses kynerices tha boc + wendan on Englisc the is genemned on Læden Pastoralis, and + on Englisc Hierde boc, hwilum word be worde, hwilum andgit + of andgite, swæ swæ ic hie geliornode æt Plegmunde minum + ærcebiscepe and æt Assere minum biscepe and æt Grimbolde + minum mæsse prioste and æt Johanne minum mæsse prioste. + Siththan ic hie tha gelornod hæfde swæ swæ ic hie forstod, + and swæ ic hie andgitfullicost areccean meahte, ic hie on + Englisc awende; and to ælcum biscepstole on minum rice + wille ane onsendan; and on ælcre bith an æstel, se bith on + fiftegum mancessa. Ond ic bebiode on Godes naman thæt nan + mon thone æstel from thære bec ne do, ne tha boc from thæm + mynstre. Uncuth hu longe thær swæ gelærede biscepas sien, + swæ swæ nu Gode thonc wel hwær siendon; forthy ic wolde + thæt hie ealneg æt thære stowe wæren, buton se biscep hie + mid him habban wille oththe hio hwær to læne sie, oththe + hwa othre biwrite. + + Therefore to me it seemeth better, if it seemeth so to you, + that we also some books, those that most needful are for + all men to be acquainted with, that we turn those into the + speech which we all can understand, and that ye do as we + very easily may with God's help, if we have the requisite + peace, that all the youth which now is in England of free + men, of those who have the means to be able to go in for + it, be set to learning, while they are fit for no other + business, until such time as they can thoroughly read + English writing: afterwards further instruction may be + given in the Latin language to such as are intended for a + more advanced education, and to be prepared for higher + office. As I then reflected how the teaching of the Latin + language had recently decayed throughout this people of the + Angles, and yet many could read English writing, then began + I among other various and manifold businesses of this + kingdom to turn into English the book that is called + "Pastoralis" in Latin, and "Shepherding Book" in English, + sometimes word for word, sometimes sense for sense, just as + I learned it of Plegmund, my archbishop, and of Asser, my + bishop, and of Grimbald, my priest, and of John, my priest. + After that I had learned it, so as I understood it, and as + I it with fullest meaning could render, I translated it + into English; and to each see in my kingdom I will send + one; and in each there is an "æstel," which is of the value + of 50 mancusses. And I command in the name of God that no + man remove the "æstel" from the book, nor the book from the + minster. No one knows how long such learned bishops may be + there, as now, thank God! there are in several places; and + therefore I would that they (the books) should always be at + the place; unless the bishop should wish to have it with + him, or it should be anywhere on loan, or any one should be + writing another copy. + +Here we have a direct statement that the "Pastoral" was translated by +King Alfred himself, after a course of study in which he had been +assisted by Plegmund, Asser, Grimbald, and John. His interest in this +book seems to show that his estimate of it was something like that of +Ozanam, who said that Gregory's "Pastoral Care" determined the character +of the Christian hierarchy, and formed the bishops who formed the +nations. + +Gregory's "Dialogues," on the contrary, were translated, not by the +king, but by Werferth, bishop of Worcester, as we are informed by +Asser.[111] This translation is extant in manuscripts, but it has not +yet been edited. It is, perhaps, the most considerable piece of +Anglo-Saxon literature that yet remains to be made public. And it is +striking, though not unaccountable, that a book which was one of the +most popular ever written,[112] which retained its popularity for +centuries, and which has left behind it in literature and in popular +Christian ethics bold traces of its influence, should, in the modern +revival of Anglo-Saxon, have been so long neglected. As this book is +practically inaccessible, and as it was moreover a book peculiarly +germane and congenial to the average intelligence of these times, it +seems to claim a somewhat fuller notice. + +Here, as in other translations, the king wrote a few words of preface. + + Ic Ælfred gyfendum Criste mid cynehades mærnesse geweorthad + hæbbe cuthlice ongiten, and thurh haligra boca rædunge oft + gehyred . thæt us tham God swa micele healicnysse woruld + gethingtha forgifen hæfth . is seo mæste thearf thæt we + hwilon ure mod gelithian and gebigian to tham godcundum and + gastlicum rihte . betweoh thas eorthlican carfulnysse . and + ic fortham sohte and wilnode to minum getrywum freondum + thæt hy me of Godes bocum be haligra manna theawum and + wundrum awriton thas æfterfyligendan lare . thæt ic thurh + tha mynegunge and lufe getrymmed on minum mode hwilum + gehicge tha heofenlican thing betweoh thas eorthlican + gedrefednyssa . Cuthlice we magan nu æt ærestan gehyran hu + se eadiga and se apostolica wer Scs Gregorius spræc to his + diacone tham wæs nama Petrus . be haligra manna thæawum and + life, to lare and to bysne eallum tham the Godes willan + wyrceath . and he be him silfum thisum wordum and thus cwæth:-- + + I, Alfred, by the grace of Christ, dignified with the + honour of royalty, have distinctly understood, and through + the reading of holy books have often heard, that of us to + whom God hath given so much eminence of worldly + distinction, it is specially required that we from time to + time should subdue and bend our minds to the divine and + spiritual law, in the midst of this earthly anxiety; and I + accordingly sought and requested of my trusty friends that + they for me out of pious books about the conversation and + miracles of holy men would transcribe the instruction that + hereinafter followeth; that I, through the admonition and + love being strengthened in my mind, may now and then + contemplate the heavenly things in the midst of these + earthly troubles. Plainly we can now at first hear how the + blessed and apostolic man St. Gregory spake to his deacon + whose name was Peter, about the manners and life of holy + men for instruction and for example to all those who are + working the will of God; and he spake about himself with + these words and in this manner:-- + + Sumon[113] dæge hit gelamp thæt ic wæs swythe geswenced mid + tham geruxlum and uneathnessum sumra woruldlicra ymbhegena + . for tham underfenge thyses bisceoplican folgothes . On + tham woruld scirum we beoth full oft geneadode thæt we doth + tha thing the us is genoh cuth thæt we na ne sceoldon . Tha + gelyste me thære diglan stowe the ic ær on wæs on mynstre . + seo is thære gnornunge freond . fortham man simle mæg his + sares and his unrihtes mæst gethencean gif he ana bith on + digolnysse . Thær me openlice æt ywde hit sylf eall swa + hwæt swa me mislicode be minre agenre wisan . and thær + beforan minre heortan eagan swutollice comon ealle tha + gedonan unriht the gewunedon thæt hi me sar and sorge + ongebrohton. Witodlice tha tha ic thær sæt swithe geswenced + and lange sorgende . tha com me to min se leofesta sunu + Petrus diacon se fram frymthe his iugothhades mid + freondlicre lufe wæs hiwcuthlice to me getheoded and + getogen . and he simle wæs min gefera to smeaunge haligre + lare . and he tha lociende on me geseah thæt ic wæs + geswenced mid hefigum sare minre heortan . and he thus + cwæth to me, "La leof gelamp the ænig thing niwes . for + hwan hafast thu maran gnornunge thonne hit ær gewunelic + wære?" Tha cwæth ic to him, "Eala Petrus seo gnornung the + ic dæghwamlice tholie symle heo is me eald for gewunan . + and simle heo is me niwe thurh eacan." + + On a certain day it happened that I was very much harassed + with the contentions and worries of certain secular cares, + in the discharge of this episcopal function. In secular + offices we are very often compelled to do the things that + we well enough know we ought not to do. Then my desire + turned towards that retired place where I formerly was in + the monastery. That is the friend of sorrow, because a man + can always best think over his grief and his wrong, if he + is alone in retirement. There everything plainly showed + itself to me, whatever disquieted me about my own + occupation; and there, before the eyes of my heart + distinctly came all the practical wrongs which were wont to + bring upon me grief and sorrow. Accordingly, while I was + there sitting in great oppression and long silence, there + came to me my beloved son Peter the deacon, who, from his + early youth, with friendly love was intimately attached and + bound to me; and he was ever my companion in the study of + sacred lore. And he then looking on me saw that I was + oppressed with the heavy grief of my heart, and he thus + said to me, "Ah, sire, hath anything new happened to thee, + by reason of which thou hast more grief than was formerly + thy wont?" Then said I to him, "Alas, Peter, the grief + which I daily endure it is to me always old for use and + wont; and it is to me always new through the increase of + it." + +The edifying stories are sometimes as grotesque as the strangest +carvings about a mediæval edifice:-- + +A nun,[114] walking in the convent garden, took a fancy to eat a leaf of +lettuce, and she ate, without first making the sign of the cross over +it. Presently she was found to be possessed. At the approach of the +abbot, the fiend protested it was not his fault; that he had been +innocently sitting on a lettuce, and she ate him.[115] + +In the Dialogues we recognise that peculiar ideal of sanctity which we +identify not so much with Christianity as with mediæval Christianity. +The bright samples of Christian virtues are too like those types which +have afforded material to caricature. For example, Æquitius, the good +abbot, whose virtues adorn a series of narratives, practises in the +following manner the virtue of humility:-- + + Sothlice he wæs swithe waclic on his gewædum and swa + forsewenlic thæt, theah hwilc man him ongean come the hine + ne cuthon, and he thone mid wordum gegrette, he wæs + forsewen thæt he næs ongean gegreted; and swa oft swa he to + othrum stowum faran wolde, thonne wæs his theaw thæt he + wolde sittan on tham horse the he on tham mynstre + forcuthost findan mihte, on tham eac he breac hælftre for + bridele, and wethera fella for sadele. + + Moreover, he was very mean in his clothing, and so abject, + that though any one met him (of those who knew him not), + and he greeted him with words, he was so despised that he + was not greeted in return; and as often as he would travel + to other places, then was it his custom to sit on the horse + that he could find the most despicable in the abbey, on + which, moreover, he used a halter for a bridle, and + sheepskins for saddle. + +Constantius was the name of a sacristan who completely despised all +worldly goods, and his fame was spread abroad. On one occasion, when +there was no oil for the lamps, he filled them with water, and they gave +light just as if it had been oil. Visitors were attracted by the report +of his sanctity. Once a countryman came from a distance (com feorran sum +ceorl) to see a man of whom so much was said. When he came into the +church, Constantius was on a ladder trimming the lamps. He was an +under-grown, slight-built, shabby figure. The countryman inquired which +was Constantius; and, being told, was so shocked and disappointed, that +he spoke sneeringly, "I expected to see a fine man, and this is not a +man at all!" + + Mid tham the se Godes wer Constantius tha this gehyrde, he + sona swithe blithe forlet tha leoht fatu the he behwearf, + and hrædlice nyther astah and thone ceorl beclypte and mid + swithlicre lufe ongann mid his earmum hinc clyppan and + cyssan and him swithe thancian, thæt he swa be him gedemde, + and thus cwæth: "Thu ana hæfdest ontynde eagan on me and me + mid rihte oncneowe." + + When Constantius the man of God heard this, he forthwith in + great joy left the lamps he was attending to, and nimbly + descended and embraced the countryman, and with exceeding + love began to hold him in his arms, and kiss him, and + heartily thank him, that he had so judged of him; and thus + he quoth:--"Thou alone hadst opened eyes upon me, and thou + didst rightly know me." + +Our next and last example is a story of a well-known type, and perhaps +the oldest extant instance of it:-- + + Eac on othrum timan hit gelamp thæt him to becom for + geneosunge thingon swa swa his theaw wæs Servandus se + diacon and abbod thæs mynstres the Liberius se ealdormann + in getimbrode on suth Langbeardena landes dælum. Witodlice + he geneosode Benedictes mynster gelomlice . to tham thæt hi + him betwynon gemænelice him on aguton tha swetan lifes + word . and thone wynsuman mete thæs heofonlican etheles . + thone hi tha gyta fullfremedlice geblissiende thicgean ne + mihton . huru thinga hi hine geomriende onbyrigdon . for + tham the se ylca wer Servandus eac fleow on lare + heofonlicre gife. Sothlice tha tha eallunga becom se tima + hyra reste and stillnysse . tha gelogode se arwurtha + Benedictus hine sylfne on sumes stypeles upflora . and + Servandus se diacon gereste hine on thære nyther flore thæs + ylcan stypeles . and wæs on thære ylcan stowe trumstæger + mid gewissum stapum fram thære nyther flora to thære up + flora. Wæs eac æt foran tham ylcan stypele sum rum hus . on + tham hyra begra gingran hi gereston . Tha tha se drihtnes + wer Benedictus behogode thone timan his nihtlican gebedes + tham brothrum restendum . tha gestod he thurhwacol æt anum + eahthyrle biddende thone ælmihtigan drihten . and tha + færinga on tham timan thære nihte stillnysse him ut + lociendum geseah he ufan onsended leoht afligean ealle tha + nihtlican thystru . and mid swa micelre beorhtnesse scinan + thæt thæt leoht the thær lymde betweoh tham thystrum wæs + beorhtre thonne dæges leoht. Hwæt tha on thysre sceawunge + swythe wundorlic thing æfter fyligde . swa swa he sylf + syththan rehte . thæt eac eall middaneard swylce under anum + sunnan leoman gelogod . wære be foran his eagan gelæded . + Tha tha se arwurtha fæder his eagena atihtan scearpnysse + gefæstnode on thære beorhtnesse thæs scinendan leohtes . + tha geseah he englas ferian on fyrenum cliwene in to + heofenum Gérmanes sawle . se wæs bisceop Capuane thære + ceastre . He wolde tha gelangian him sylfum sumne gewitan + swa miceles wundres. and Servandum thone diacon clypode + tuwa and thriwa . and ofthrædlice his naman nemde mid + hreames micelnysse. Servandus tha wearth gedrefed for tham + ungewunelican hreame swa mæres weres . and he up astah and + thider locode . and geseah eallunga lytelne dæl thæs + leohtes. Tham diacone tha wafiendum for thus mycelum wundre + . se Godes wer be endebyrdnysse gerehte tha thing the thær + gewordene wæron . and on Casino tham stoc wic tham + eawfæstan were Theoprobo thær rihte bebead . thæt he on + thære ylcan nihte asende sumne mann to Capuanan thære byri + . and gewiste and him eft gecythde hwæt wære geworden be + Germane tham bisceope. Tha wæs geworden thæt se the thyder + asended wæs gemette eallunga forthferedne thone arwurthan + wer Germanum bisceop . and he tha smeathancollice axiende + on cneow thæt his forsith wæs on tham ylcan tyman the se + drihtnes wer oncneow his upstige to heofenum. + + Also at another time it happened that there came to him for + a visit, as his custom was, Servandus, the deacon and abbot + of the monastery that Liberius the patrician had formerly + built in South Lombardy (_in Campaniæ partibus_). In fact, + he used to visit Benedict's monastery frequently, to the + end that in each other's company they might be mutually + refreshed with the sweet words of life, and the delectable + food of the heavenly country, which they could not, as yet, + with perfect bliss enjoy, but at least they did in + aspiration taste it, inasmuch as the said Servandus was + likewise abounding in the lore of heavenly grace. When, + however, at length the time was come for their rest and + repose, the venerable Benedict was lodged in the upper + floor of a tower, and Servandus the deacon rested in the + nether floor of the same tower; and there was in the same + place a solid staircase with plain steps, from the nether + floor to the upper floor. There was, moreover, in front of + the same tower a spacious house, in which slept the + disciples of them both. When, now, Benedict, the man of + God, was keeping the time of his nightly prayer during the + brethren's rest, then stood he all vigilant at a window + praying to the Almighty Lord; and then suddenly, in that + time of the nocturnal stillness, as he looked out, he saw a + light sent from on high disperse all the darkness of the + night, and shine with a brightness so great that the light + which then gleamed in the midst of the darkness was + brighter than the light of day. Lo then, in this sight a + very wonderful thing followed next, as he himself + afterwards related; that even all the world, as if placed + under one ray of the sun, was displayed before his eyes. + When, now, the venerable father had fastened the intent + observation of his eyes on the brightness of that shining + light, then saw he angels conveying in a fiery group into + heaven the soul of Germanus, who was bishop of the city + Capua. He desired then to secure to himself a witness of so + great a wonder, and he called Servandus the deacon twice + and thrice; and repeatedly he named his name with a loud + exclamation. Servandus then was disturbed at the unusual + outcry of the honoured man, and he mounted the stairs and + looked as directed, and he saw verily a small portion of + that light. And, as the deacon was then amazed for so great + a wonder, the man of God related to him in order the things + that had there happened; and forthwith he sent orders to + the faithful man Theoprobus in Casinum the chief house, + that he in the self-same night should send a man to the + city of Capua, and should ascertain and report to him what + had happened about Germanus the bishop. Then it came to + pass that he who was thither sent found that the venerable + man, Germanus the bishop had indeed died; and he then + cautiously enquiring, discovered that his departure was at + that very time that the man of God had witnessed his ascent + to heaven. + + Petrus cwæth: "This is swithe wundorlic thing and thearle + to wafienne." Book ii., c. 35. + + Peter said: "This is a very wonderful thing, and greatly to + be marvelled at." + +In the translation of the "Comfort of Philosophy," the translator makes +his greatest effort and exerts the utmost capabilities of his language. +He is not bound by any verbal fidelity to his author; he rather adapts +the book to his own use and mental exercitation. In the original the +author is visited in affliction by Philosophy, and with this heavenly +visitant a dialogue ensues, interspersed with choral odes. Alfred sinks +the First Person of the author, and makes the dialogue run between +Heavenly Wisdom and the Mind (thæt Môd). + +The choral odes (generally called the Metres of Boethius) must have been +very hard for Alfred to translate, and they are done somewhat vaguely. +We have them in two translations, one in prose and the other in verse. +There is no doubt that the poetical version was made from the prose +version, without any fresh reference to the Latin. The two are often +verbally identical, with a little change in the order of words, and some +necessary additions to satisfy the alliteration, or fill out the poetic +rhythm. It was long ago observed by Hickes that the style of these poems +differed little from prose; but it was Mr. Thomas Wright who first +noticed that they were, in fact, merely a versified arrangement of the +prose translation. + +The same critic gave reasons for thinking that the versified metres were +by some later hand, and not by King Alfred. This has been recently the +subject of a very interesting discussion in the German periodical +"Anglia," it being maintained by Dr. M. Hartmann that they are by +Alfred, and the opposite view (that of Mr. T. Wright) being advocated by +Dr. A. Leicht. + +When the Boethian metres make their appearance in Anglo-Saxon poetic +dress, they are considerably expanded. The original prose translation is +itself expansive, because the poetry of Boethius is exceedingly terse, +and cannot be rendered into readable prose without enlargement. The work +of the Saxon versifier is attended with further expansion, because of +the mechanical exigencies of the poetic form. + +The twentieth metre (iii. 9) offers an extreme case of this kind. Here +the original consists of twenty-six hexameters, and the Anglo-Saxon poem +has 281 long lines. In this case, however, the poetic expansion is not +wholly mechanical; the poet has made some real additions to the thought. +The chief of these is a new simile, in which the poising of the Earth in +space is illustrated by the yolk of an egg. The prose translation runs +thus:-- + + Thu gestatholadest eorthan swithe wundorlice and fæstlice + thæt he ne helt on nane healfe . ne on nanum eorthlic + thinge ne stent ne nanwuht eorthlices hi ne healt . thæt + hio ne sige . and nis hire thonne ethre to feallanne of + dune thonne up. + + Thou hast established the earth very wondrously and firmly + that it does not heel[116] over on any side: and yet it + stands not on any earthly thing, nor does anything earthly + hold it up that it sink not; and yet it is no easier for it + to fall down than up. + +The poetic version enlarges as follows:-- + + Thu gestatholadest + thurh tha strongan meaht + weroda wuldor cyning + wunderlice + eorthan swa fæste + thæt hio on ænige + healfe ne heldeth + ne mæg hio hider ne thider + sigan the swithor + the hio symle dyde. + Hwæt hi theah eorthlices + auht ne haldeth + is theah efn ethe + up and of dune + to feallanne + foldan thisse: + thæm anlicost + the on æge bith + geoleca on middan + glideth hwæthre + æg ymbutan . + Swa stent eall weoruld + still on tille + streamas ymbutan + lagufloda gelac + lyfte and tungla + and sio scire scell + scritheth ymbutan + dogora gehwilce. + dyde lange swa. + + Thou didst establish + through strong might + glorious king of hosts + wonderfully + the earth so fast + that she on any + side heeleth not + nor can hither or thither + any more decline + than she ever did. + Lo nothing earthly though + at all sustains her, + it is equally easy + upwards and downwards + that there should be a fall + of this earth: + likest to that + which we see in an egg; + the yolk in the midst + and yet gliding free + the egg round about. + So standeth the world + still in its place, + while streaming around, + water-floods play, + welkin and stars, + and the shining shell + circleth about + day by day now + as it did long ago. + +The translation of Orosius embodies a considerable piece of original +matter. Orosius had given, in the opening of his work, a geographical +sketch of Europe and Asia. In the translation a large addition is made +to the geography of Europe, and it was an addition not merely to this +book, but (so far as appears) to the stock of existing geographical +knowledge. This insertion consists of three parts, 1. A map-like +description of Central Europe; 2. Narrative of Ohthere, who had voyaged +round the North Cape; 3. Voyage of Wulfstan from Denmark along the +southern and eastern coasts of the Baltic. Ohthere's Narrative is +connected with King Alfred by name:--"Ohthere sæde his hlaforde Ælfrede +kynincge thæt he ealra Northmanna northmest bude," _i.e._, Ohthere said +to his lord, King Alfred, that he of all Northmen had the most northerly +home. + +The translation of Beda skips lightly over much of the twenty-two +preliminary chapters, giving good measure, however, to the description +of Britain and to the martyrdom of St. Alban. All about Gregory and +Augustine is full. So also about Eadwine, Oswald, Aidan, Oswy, and St. +Chad. (But all that famous section (iii. 25, 26) which describes the +crisis between the churches, the synod of Whitby, and the Scotian +departure, is omitted altogether). Full measure is given to Theodore, +the synod of Hertford, Wilfrid, Queen Ætheldrith, Hilda, and Cædmon. So +also Cuthbert and John of Hexham. Fully rendered are the failure of the +Irish and the success of the Anglian missions to Germany; also the +visions which we may call Dantesque. (The whole section about Adamnan's +influence and writings (v. 15, 16, 17) is omitted.) But about Aldhelm +and his writings; also Daniel, bishop of Winchester; the end of Wilfrid; +and about Albinus, the successor of Adrian, is fully rendered. + +The Anglo-Saxon Gospels must be mentioned here. This is a book about +which we have no external information, and the manuscripts are +comparatively late. But the diction leads us to place it in or about the +times of Alfred. + +It is probable that the "Beowulf" is the product of the same reign; +while the volume of sacred poetry that is designated by the name of +"Cædmon" appears (at least the first part of it) to be either of this +time or possibly older. + +If with the above we embrace in our view the Laws of this reign and the +evidence of contemporary work in the Chronicles, we must be struck with +the extent of this great muster of native literature. But we shall +hardly do it justice unless we remember that this is the first national +display of the kind in the progress of modern Europe. Native poetry had +been cultivated in the Anglian period, and there had been a vernacular +apparatus to assist the study of Latin, but of a varied and +comprehensive literature in English or any other European vernacular, +we find no trace until now. We must not look upon Alfred's translations +as mere helps to the Latin. What with the freedom and independence of +treatment, and what with the original additions, they have a large claim +to the character of domestic products. The very scheme itself, that of +using translation as a medium of culture, which is now so familiar to +us, was then quite a novel idea. In his preface to the "Pastoral," the +king casts about for precedents, and he finds none but the translations +of Scripture into Greek and into Latin, and these do not, in fact, make +a true parallel. But he could hardly have used this argument without a +conscious pride that he had in his mother tongue an instrument not +unpractised, and not altogether unworthy to be the first of barbarian +languages to tread in the footsteps of the Greek and Latin. + +This, then (I comprise the matter of three previous chapters and of +three that are to follow) is the "Anglo-Saxon"[117] literature, properly +so called; for that expression, if used with technical exactness, +affords a term of distinction for the later literature of the south as +against the earlier literature of the north, which has been called the +Anglian period. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[108] Asser's "Life of Alfred," in "Monumenta Historica Britannica," +487A. + +[109] It was published for the first time in 1871, being edited by Mr. +Sweet for the Early English Text Society. + +[110] Wanley's "Catalogue," p. 217. + +[111] "Monumenta Historica Britannica," 486 E. + +[112] "The 'Dialogues' were printed as early as the year 1458."--T.D. +Hardy in Willelmi Malm. "Gesta Regum," i., 189. + +[113] Here Gregory begins. The translation sometimes deviates from the +text:--"Quadam die nimis quorundam sæcularium tumultibus depressus, +quibus in suis negotiis plerumque cogimur solvere etiam quod nos certum +est non debere, secretum locum petii amicum mæroris, ubi omne quod de +mea mihi occupatione displicebat, se patenter ostenderet, et cuncta quæ +infligere dolorem consueverant, congesta ante oculos licenter venirent. +Ibi itaque cum afflictus valde et diu tacitus sederem, dilectissimus +filius meus Petrus diaconus adfuit, mihi a primævo juventutis flore +amicitiis familiariter obstrictus, atque ad sacri verbi indagationem +socius. Qui gravi excoqui cordis languore me intuens, ait: Num quidnam +tibi aliquid accidit, quod plus te solito mæror tenet? Cui inquam: +Mæror, Petre, quem quotidie patior, et semper mihi per usum vetus est, +et semper per augmentum novus." + +[114] An nunne. This word is of two syllables; there is no silent e +final in Anglo-Saxon. + +[115] Ic sæt me on anum leahtrice, tha com heo and bát me! + +[116] See Skeat, "Etym. Dict.," _v._ "heel" (2). + +[117] This term appears in charters of the tenth century; also Asser +styles the king "Ælfred Angulsaxonum rex," "Mon. Hist. Brit.," 483 C. +See Freeman, "Norman Conquest," vol. i., Appendix A. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +ÆLFRIC. + + +Alfred died in 901. From this to the Norman Conquest there are 165 +years, and the middle of this period is characterised by the works of +the greatest of Anglo-Saxon prose-writers. + +The productions of Alfred and the scholars that surrounded him, are to +be understood as extraordinary efforts, and as beacons to raise men's +minds rather than as specimens of the state of learning in the country, +or even as monuments of attainments that were likely soon to become +general. Although the literary movement under Alfred was so far +sustained that it did not subsequently die out, yet it would perhaps be +too much to say that he achieved a complete revival of learning. In the +inert state of the religious houses, the soil was unprepared. Still, a +taste was kindled which continued to propagate itself until the time +when the religious houses became active seats of education. This did not +happen until the second half of the tenth century, when the reform of +the monasteries by Æthelwold and Dunstan produced that great educational +and literary movement of which the representative name is Ælfric. + +The impetus which Alfred had imparted did not cease with his life. If we +look into the Chronicles, we see that the Alfredian style of work is +continued down to the death of his son Edward, in 924, and that from +that point the stream of history dwindles and becomes meagre. This may +be typical of what happened over a wider surface. The impulse given to +translation may be supposed to have continued, and we may specify two +translations likely to have been made at this time. These are the Four +Gospels[118] and the poetical Psalter.[119] + +A feature of the Gospels is that the name of Jesus is regarded as a +descriptive title, and subjected to translation. It never appears in its +original form, but always as "Se Hælend"--that is, The Healer, The +Saviour. + +To this period, the first half of the tenth century, must be assigned +some translations of another sort. There are some considerable remains +of a translating period that gave to the English reader a mass of +apocryphal, romantic, fantastic, and even heretical reading; and that +period can hardly be any other than this. I imagine that now as a +consequence of the new literary interest awakened by King Alfred, many +old book-chests were explored, and things came to light which had been +stored in the monasteries of Wessex ever since the seventh and eighth +centuries. These writings claim a manifest affinity with the early +products of the Gaulish monasteries, and from these they would naturally +have been diffused in southern Britain. But, since the religious life of +Gaul had been touched and quickened with the reform of the second +Benedict in the ninth century, some old things would have been condemned +and rejected there, which might still enjoy credit with the +old-fashioned clergy of Wessex. + +Of apocryphal materials in Anglo-Saxon literature there are several +varieties. First, there is the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus. This is +from a Latin version of the Greek "Acts of Pilate," and it is our +earliest extant source for that prolific subject, the Harrowing of Hell. +The Greek text laid claim to a Hebrew original:-- + + --her onginnath tha gedonan thing the be urum Hælende + gedone wæron . eall swa Theodosius se mæra casere hyt funde + on Hierusalem on thæs Pontiscan Pilates domerne . eall swa + hyt Nychodemus awrat . eall mid Ebreiscum stafum on manegum + bocum thus awriten: + + --here begin the actual things that were done in connexion + with our Saviour, just as Theodosius the illustrious + emperor found it in Jerusalem in Pontius Pilate's + court-house; according as Nicodemus wrote it down all with + Hebrew writing on many leaves as follows. + +The "Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn" belong to a legendary stock that +has sent its branches into all the early vernacular literatures of +Europe. The germ is found in the Bible and in Josephus. In 1 Kings x. +1, we read that, when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, +she came to prove him with hard questions. Josephus, in the "Jewish +Antiquities," vii. 5, tells a curious story about hard questions passing +between Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre. From such a root appear to have +grown the multiform legends in various languages which passed under such +names as the "Controversy of Solomon," the "Dialogues of Solomon and +Saturn," or of "Solomon and Marculfus." This became at length a mocking +form of literature; often a burlesque and parody of religion. Mr. Kemble +traces these legends to Jewish tradition; but of all the examples +preserved he says "the Anglo-Saxon are undoubtedly the oldest.... With +the sole exception of one French version, they are the only forms of the +story remaining in which the subject is seriously and earnestly treated; +and, monstrous as the absurdities found in them are, we may be well +assured that the authors were quite unconscious of their +existence."[120] There are, however, some places in which one is moved +to doubt whether the extravagance is the product of pure simplicity, and +without the least tinge of drollery. + +But the reader may judge for himself. The fragments preserved are partly +poetical and partly in prose: the poetry is rather insipid; our +quotation shall be from the prose. The subject is the praise and eulogy +of the Lord's Prayer, which is personified and anatomised. Saturnus +asks, "What manner of head hath the Pater Noster?" And, again, "What +manner of heart hath the Pater Noster?" We quote from the answer to the +latter question:-- + + Salomon cwæth. His heorte is xii thusendum sitha beohtre + thonne ealle thas seofon heofenas the us sindon + ofergesette, theah the hi syn ealle mid thy domiscan fyre + onæled, and theah the eal theos eorthe him neothan togegnes + birne, and heo hæbbe fyrene tungan, and gyldenne hracan, + and leohtne muth inneweardne ... ... he is rethra and + scearpra thonne eal middangeard, theah he sy binnan his + feower hwommum fulgedrifen wildeora, and anra gehwylc deor + hæbbe synderlice xii hornas irene, and anra gehwylc horn + hæbbe xii tindas irene, and anra gehwylc tind hæbbe + synderlice xii ordas, and anra gehwylc ord sy xii thusendum + sitha scearpra thonne seo an flan the sy fram + hundtwelftigum hyrdenna geondhyrded . And theah the seofon + middangeardas syn ealle on efn abrædde on thisses anes + onlicnesse, and thær sy eal gesomnod thætte heofon oththe + hel oththe eorthe æfre acende, ne magon by tha lifes linan + on middan ymb fæthmian. And se Pater Noster he mæg anna + ealla gesceafta on his thære swithran hand on anes + wæxæpples onlienesse geth{^y}n and gewringan. And his gethoht + he is springdra and swiftra thonne xii thusendu haligra + gasta, theah the anra gehwylc gast hæbbe synderlice xii + fetherhoman, and anra gehwylc fetherhoma hæbbe xii windas, + and aura gehwylc wind twelf sigefæstnissa + synderlice.--Kemble, pp. 148-152. + + Solomon said: His heart is 12,000 times brighter than all + the seven heavens that over us are set, though they should + be all aflame with the doomsday fire, and though all this + earth should blaze up towards them from beneath, and it + should have a fiery tongue, and golden throat, and mouth + lighted up within ... ... he is fiercer and sharper than + all the world, though within its four corners it should be + driven full of wild deer, and each particular deer have + severally twelve horns of iron, and each particular horn + have twelve tines of iron, and each particular tine have + severally twelve points, and each particular point be + 12,000 times sharper than the arrow which had been hardened + by 120 hardeners. And though the seven worlds should be all + fairly spread out after the fashion of this one, and + everything should be there assembled that heaven or hell or + earth ever engendered, they may not encircle the girth of + his body at the middle. And the Pater Noster, he can by + himself in his right hand grasp and squeeze all creation + like a wax-apple. And his thought it is more alert and + swifter than 12,00 angelic spirits, though each particular + spirit have severally twelve suits of feathers, and each + particular feather-suit have twelve winds, and each + particular wind twelve victoriousnesses all to itself. + +I do not undertake to assert that this piece is as old as the first half +of the tenth century; it is placed here only because this seems to be +the most natural place for the group of literature to which it belongs. +As I said, the reader must judge for himself whether this is perfectly +serious. I believe that these "Dialogues" are the only part of +Anglo-Saxon literature that can be suspected of mockery. The earliest +laughter of English literature is ridicule; and if this ridicule seems +to touch things sacred, it will, on the whole, I think, be found that +not the sacred things themselves, but some unreal or spurious use of +them, is really attacked. So here, if there is any appearance of a sly +derision, the thing derided is not the Pater Noster, but the vain and +magical uses which were too often ascribed to the repetition of it. + +Here we must find a place for the translation of "Apollonius of Tyre." +This has all the features of a Greek romance, but it is only known to +exist in a Latin text, so that it has been questioned whether this +Latin romance is a translation from a Greek original, or a story +originally Latin in imitation of the Greek romancists. With those who +have investigated the subject, the hypothesis of translation is most in +favour, and for the following reason. The story presents an appearance +of double stratification, such as might naturally result if a heathen +Greek romance had been translated into Latin by a Christian. Although +the phenomenon could be equally explained by supposing a Latin heathen +original which had been re-written by a Christian editor, yet the former +is the more natural and the more probable hypothesis.[121] + +We now come to the Blickling Homilies, a recently-published book of +great importance. It is not a homogeneous work, but a motley collection +of sermons of various age and quality. Some of the later sermons are not +so very different from those of Ælfric; but these are not the ones that +give the book its character. The older sort have very distinct +characteristics of their own, and they furnish a deep background to the +Homilies of Ælfric. They are plainly of the age before the great Church +reform of the tenth century, when the line was very dimly drawn between +canonical and uncanonical, and when quotations, legends, and arguments +were admissible which now surprise us in a sermon. Indeed, one can +hardly escape the surmise that the elder discourses may come down from +some time, and perhaps rather an early time, in the ninth century. One +of the sermons bears the date of 971 imbedded in its context; and this, +which is probably the lowest date of the book, is twenty years before +the Homilies of Ælfric appeared. Speaking of that frequent topic of the +time, the end of the world, which is to take place in the Sixth Age, the +preacher says:-- + + --and thisse is thonne se mæsta dæl agangen, efne nigon + hund wintra and lxxi. on thys geare.--P. 119. + + --and of this is verily the most part already gone, even + nine hundred years and seventy-one, in this year. + +Perhaps there is no book which has been published in the present +generation that has done so much for the historical knowledge of +Anglo-Saxon literature. Speaking generally, we may say that it +represents the preaching of the times before Ælfric; that it contains +the sort of preaching that Ælfric sat under in his youth (when not at +Abingdon or Winchester); the sort of preaching, too, that Ælfric set +himself to correct and to supersede. It is a book whose value turns not +so much upon its own direct communications, as on the light it throws +all around it, showing up the popular standards of the time, and +enabling us to recognise the true setting of many a waif and stray of +the old literature. But it is upon the work of Ælfric that it sheds the +most valuable light. There is in Ælfric's Homilies a certain corrective +aim, which was but faintly seen before, and when seen could not be +distinctly explained; but now we have both the aim and the occasion of +it rendered comparatively clear. + +These Homilies supply to those of Ælfric their true historical +introduction. They support the reasons which Ælfric assigns for +producing homilies. In his preface he speaks of certain English books +to which he designs his sermons as an antidote. He had translated his +discourses (he says) out of the Latin, not for pride of learning, "but +because I had seen much heresy (_gedwild_) in many English books, which +unlearned men in their simplicity thought mighty wise." Not only do the +Blickling Homilies contain enough of unscriptural and apocryphal +material to justify the charge of "_gedwild_" in its vaguer sense of +error, but we have also documentary grounds for believing that a careful +theologian of that time, such as Ælfric undoubtedly was, would have +brought them under the indictment of heresy. + +It used to be thought that the oldest extant list of condemned books +proceeded from Pope Gelasius, and was of about A.D. 494; but +now that list is assigned to the eighth or even ninth century. In this +Index we find sources for much of the literature which we have been +considering in this chapter; we find the "Acts of Pilate," "Journeys of +the Apostles," "Acts of Peter," "Acts of Andrew the Apostle," "The +Contradiction of Solomon," "The Book Physiologus."[122] The material +which gives the Blickling collection its peculiar character is largely +apocryphal, and, in the light of the above list, heretical. + +A new vitality is imparted to Ælfric's sermons by their contrast with +these older ones. It is plain that there is a common source behind both +sets of sermons; the well-established series of topics for each occasion +seems clearly to point to some standard collection of Latin homilies +now lost.[123] The evident identity of the lines on which the discourses +run makes comparison the easier and the more satisfactory. In the sermon +for Ascension Day, Ælfric's treatment is in pointed contrast with the +older book. The Blickling is full of the signs and wonders; some, +indeed, Scriptural, but far more apocryphal; and it is effusive over +these. Whereas Ælfric teaches that the visible miracles belonged to the +infancy of the Church, and were as artificial watering to a +newly-planted tree; but, when the heathen believed, then those miracles +ceased. Now (he says) we must look rather for spiritual miracles. The +Homily on St. John Baptist is a good example. According to the old book, +John is called "angelus," because he lived on earth the angelic life, +but Ælfric takes it as messenger, and this may hint the difference of +treatment. In the same discourse there is a contrast which touches the +chronology. The old Homily says that there are only two Nativities kept +sacred by the Church--that of the Lord and that of His forerunner. +Ælfric takes up this topic with a difference. He says that there are +three Nativities, which are celebrated annually, adding that of the +Blessed Virgin to the previous two. Now, it was precisely in the tenth +century that this third began to be observed in the churches of the +West;[124] and the change took place in the interval that separates +these two sets of homilies. + +On the Assumptio St. Mariæ, the elder homily is a jumble of apocryphal +legend. Here Ælfric presents a contrast, and manifestly an intentional +one. In the preamble he recalls certain teaching of Jerome, "through +which he quashed the misguided narrative which half-taught men had told +about her departure." Then, after an exposition of the Gospel for the +day, he returns to the Assumption in a passage which, when read in the +light of the elder Homily, is very pointed:--"What shall we say to you +more particularly about this festival, except that Mary was on this day +taken up to heaven from this weary world, to dwell with Him, where she +rejoices in eternal life for evermore? If we should say more to you +about this day's festival than we read in those holy books which were +given by God's inspiration, we should be like those mountebanks who, +from their own imaginations or from dreams, have written many false +stories; but the faithful teachers, Augustine, Jerome, Gregory, and +other such, have in their wisdom rejected them. But still these absurd +books exist, both in Latin and in English, and misguided men read them. +It is enough for believers to read and to relate that which is true; and +there are very few men who can completely study all the holy books that +were indited by God's Holy Spirit. Let alone those absurd fictions, +which lead the unwary to perdition, and read or listen to Holy +Scripture, which directs us to heaven." + +The Homilies of Ælfric are in two series, of which the first was +published in 990, and addressed to Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury; +the second in 991, after that Danish invasion in which Byrhtnoth fell. +These were long ago published by the Ælfric Society. But there is +another set, appropriated to the commemoration of saints, after the +manner of the Benedictine hagiographies.[125] These have a Latin +preface, pointedly agreeing with the prefaces to the previous series. If +their miraculous narratives sometimes contain what we should not have +expected from Ælfric, and if this leads us to doubt the authorship, we +may reflect that the contrast is not so great as that between the "Cura +Pastoralis" and the "Dialogues" of Gregory. + +As a slight specimen of the character of these latter discourses, I will +give a few lines from that on St. Swithun:-- + + Eadgar cyning tha æfter thysum tacnum . wolde thæt se halga + wer wurde up gedon . and spræc hit to Athelwolde tham + arwurthan bisceope . thæt he hine upp adyde mid + arwurthnysse . Tha se bisceop Athelwold mid abbodum and + munecum dyde up thone sanct mid sange wurthlice . and bæron + into cyrcan sce Petres huse . thær he stent mid wurthmynte + . and wundra gefremath. + + King Eadgar then, after these tokens, willed that the holy + man should be translated, and spake it to Athelwold, the + venerable bishop, that he should translate him with + honourable solemnity. Then the bishop Athelwold, with + abbots and monks, raised the saint with song solemnly. And + they bare him into the church St. Peter's house, where he + stands in honoured memory, and worketh wonders. + + * * * * * + + Seo ealde cyrce wæs eall be hangen mid criccum . and mid + créopera sceamelum fram énde oth otherne . on ægtherum + wáge . the thær wurdon ge hælede . and man ne mihte swa + theah macian hi healfe up. + + The old church was all hung round with crutches and with + stools from one end to the other, on either wall, of + cripples who there had been healed: and yet they had not + been able to put half of them up. + +Ælfric's place in literature consists in this:--That he is the voice of +that great Church reform which is the most signal fact in the history of +the latter half of the tenth century. Of this reform, the first step was +the restoration of the rule of Benedict in the religious houses. The +great movement had begun in Gaul early in the ninth century, and its +extension to our island could hardly be delayed when peaceful times left +room for attention to learning and religion. Both in Frankland and in +England the religious revival followed the literary one; only there it +followed quickly, and here after a long interval.[126] + +The chief author of this revival was Odo (died 961), and the chief +conductors of it were Æthelwold, Dunstan, Oswald. The leaders of this +movement were much in communication with the Frankish monasteries, +especially with the famous house at Fleury on the Loire. Various kinds +of literature were cherished, but that which is most peculiar to this +time is the biographies of Saints. Lanferth, a disciple of Æthelwold, +wrote Latin hagiographies, and from his Latin was derived the extant +homily of the miracles of St. Swithun. Wulstan, a monk of Winchester and +a disciple of Æthelwold, was a Latin poet, and wrote hagiography in +verse; among the rest, he versified the work of Lanferth on St. Swithun. + + +Ælfric was an alumnus of Æthelwold at Winchester, and perhaps at +Abingdon earlier; from Winchester he was sent to Cernel (Cerne Abbas in +Dorsetshire), to be the pastor of Æthelweard's house and people, and +there he wrought at his homilies. The highest title that we find +associated with his name is that of abbot; and this probably is in +relation to Egonesham (Eynsham, Oxon), where Æthelweard founded a +religious house, and Ælfric superintended it. In Æthelweard the +ealdorman we have our first example of a great lay patron of literature: +much of Ælfric's work was undertaken at the instance of Æthelweard. + +It was at his request that he engaged in the translation of the Old +Testament, and when he had done the Pentateuch (with frequent +omissions), and some parts of Joshua and Judges,[127] he ceased, and +declared he would translate no more, having a misgiving lest the +narration of many things unlike Christian morality might confuse the +judgment of the simple. This is the earliest recorded instance of a +devout Christian withholding Scripture from the people for their good. +And, when we take it in conjunction with the authorised diffusion of the +Benedictine hagiographies of the time, we see what was approved placed +by the side of that which was mistrusted. + +The so-called "Canons of Ælfric" are a mixed composition, in which some +matters of historical and doctrinal instruction are united with +directions and regulations and exhortations for correcting the practices +of the ignorant priests. They were compiled by Ælfric, at the request +of Wulfsige, Bishop of Sherborne (A.D. 992-1001), for the +benefit of his clergy. The reformation of the monasteries had already +made considerable progress, and this seems like an extension of the same +movement to embrace the secular clergy. Among the divers matters touched +in the Articles are these:--The relative authority of the councils; the +first four are to be had in reverence like the four gospels (Tha feower +sinothas sind to healdenne swa swa tha feower Cristes bec)--the +vestments, the books, and the garb of the priest; the seven orders of +the Christian ministry; some points of priestly duty as regards +marriages and funerals; of Baptism and the Eucharist, with rebuke of +superstitious practices; the priest to speak the sense of the Gospel to +the people in English on Sundays and high days, as also of the Lord's +Prayer and the Creed; but, withal, the immediate practical aim of the +whole seems, above all things, to be the celibacy of the clergy.[128] + +Ælfric was the author of the most important educational books of this +time that have come down to us--namely, his "Latin Grammar," in English, +formed after Donatus and Priscian; his "Glossary of Latin Words"; and +his "Colloquium," or conversation in Latin, with interlinear Saxon.[129] + +But for us, as for the men of the sixteenth century, the most important +of Ælfric's works are his Homilies. The English of these Homilies is +splendid; indeed, we may confidently say that here English appears fully +qualified to be the medium of the highest learning. And their interest +has been greatly enhanced of late years by two important additions to +our printed Anglo-Saxon library. The first of these was the "Blickling +Homilies," edited by Dr. Morris, which threw a new light upon Ælfric, +and added greatly to the significance of his Homilies. + +The circuit of Anglo-Saxon homiletic literature has again been greatly +enlarged by a more recent publication, namely, that of the "Homilies of +Wulfstan."[130] These homilies are quite distinct in character from all +the preceding. There is nothing of controversy, and little in the shape +of argument: simply the assertion of Christian dogma and the enforcement +of Christian duty. The one topic that lies beyond these was more +practical, in the view of that day, than it is in our view--I mean the +repeated introduction of Antichrist and the near approach of the end of +the world. In the quotation the þ and ð (for th) are kept, as in Mr. +Napier's text. + + Uton beon â urum hlaforde holde and getreowe and æfre + eallum mihtum his wurðscipe ræran and his willan wyrcan, + forðam eall, þet we æfre for rihthlafordhelde doð, eal we + hit doð us sylfum to mycelre þearfe, forðam ðam bið + witodlice God hold, þe bið his hlaforde rihtlice hold; and + eac ah hlaforda gehwylc þæs for micle þearfe, þæt he his + men rihtlice healde. And we biddað and beodað, þæt Godes + þeowas, þe for urne cynehlaford and for eal cristen folc + þingian scylan and be godra manna ælmessan libbað, þæt hy + þæs georne earnian, libban heora lif swa swa bec him + wisian, and swa swa heora ealdras hym tæcan, and began + heora þeowdom georne, þonne mægon hy ægþer ge hym sylfum + wel fremian ge eallum cristenum folce . and we biddað and + beodað, þæt ælc cild sy binnan þrittigum nihtum gefullad; + gif hit þonne dead weorðe butan fulluhte, and hit on + preoste gelang sy, þonne ðolige he his hâdes and dædbete + georne; gif hit þonne þurh mæga gemeleaste gewyrðe, þonne + þolige se, ðe hit on gelang sy, ælcere eardwununge and + wræcnige of earde oððon on earde swiðe deope gebete, swa + biscop him tæce . eac we lærað, þæt man ænig ne læte + unbiscpod to lange, and witan þa, ðe cildes onfôn, þæt heo + hit on rihtan geleafan gebringan and on gôdan þeawan and on + þearflican dædan and â forð on hit wisian to ðam þe Gode + licige and his sylfes ðearf sy; þonne beoð heo rihtlice + ealswa hy genamode beoð, godfæderas, gif by heora godbearn + Gode gestrynað. + + Homily xxiv. + + Let us be always loyal and true to our Lord, and ever by + all means maintain his worship and work his will, because + all that ever we do out of sincere loyalty, we do it all + for our own great advantage, inasmuch as God will assuredly + be gracious to the man who is perfectly loyal to his lord; + and likewise it is the bounden duty of every lord, that he + his men honourably sustain. And we entreat and command, + that God's ministers, who most intercede for our royal + lord, and for all Christian folk, and who live by good + men's alms, that they accordingly give diligent attention + to live their life as the bookes guide them, and so as + their superiors direct them, and to discharge their service + heartily; then may they do much good both to themselves and + to all Christian people. And we entreat and command that + every child be baptised within thirty days; if, however, it + should die without baptism and it be along of the priest, + then let him suffer the loss of his order and do careful + penance; if, however, it happen through the relatives' + neglect, then let him who was in fault suffer the loss of + every habitation, and be ejected from his dwelling, or else + in his dwelling undergo very severe penance, as the bishop + may direct him. Also we instruct you, that none be left + unbishopped too long; and they who are sponsors for a child + are to see that they bring it up in right belief, and in + good manners and in dutiful conduct, and always continually + guide it to that which may be pleasing to God and for his + own good; then will they verily be as they are called, + "godfathers," if they train their god-children for God. + + +Hitherto Wulfstan has been represented in print by one sermon only, the +most remarkable, indeed, of all his discourses--being an address to the +English when the Danish ravages were at their worst, A.D. 1012, +the year in which Ælfheah, Archbishop of Canterbury, was martyred. In +this discourse the miseries of the time are ascribed to the vengeance of +God for national sins; and the coming of Antichrist is said to be near. +Wulfstan was Archbishop of York from 1003 to 1023. Beautiful and +valuable as his sermons are in themselves, their value is greatly +increased by their connexion with the preceding series, and by the +continuity they give to this branch of our old literature. With the +"Blickling Homilies," in all their variety, and those of Ælfric, and +those of Wulfstan, in our possession, it is hardly too much to say that +we have a vernacular series of sermons that fairly represents the +Anglo-Saxon preaching for a period of one hundred and fifty years. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[118] The Anglo-Saxon Version of the Holy Gospels, ed. Thorpe, 1842. + +[119] Edited by Thorpe from the eleventh-century manuscript at Paris; +Oxford, 1835. This contains Psalms li.-cl. in poetry; the first fifty +are in prose. Dietrich (in Haupt's "Zeitschrift") pointed out that the +prose was eleventh-century work, but the poetical version was much +older. He surmised that the prose translation had been made for the +purpose of giving completeness to a mutilated book, and that the whole +Psalter had once existed in Anglo-Saxon verse. Since then some fragments +of the missing psalms have been found. See Grein, "Bibliothek der +Angelsächs. Poesie," vol. ii., p. 412. + +[120] "The Dialogue of Solomon and Saturnus, with an Historical +Introduction." By John M. Kemble, M.A. Ælfric Society, 1848, p. 2. See +Dean Stanley, "Jewish Church," ii. 170. + +[121] Rohde, "Der Griechische Roman," p. 408. + +[122] The list may be seen in the "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities" +_v._ Prohibited Books. + +[123] The series that goes by the name of Eusebius of Emesa has much +general similarity to the required collection. + +[124] "Dictionary of Christian Antiquities," vol. ii., p. 1143. + +[125] This third set of Homilies is now for the first time in course of +publication by the Early English Text Society, under the editorship of +Professor Skeat. + +[126] In like manner the literary revival of the fifteenth century was +followed by the religious revival of the sixteenth. + +[127] "Heptateuchus," ed. Thwaites, 1698: reprinted by Grein. + +[128] "A Collection of all the Ecclesiastical Laws, Canons, &c., &c., of +the Church of England, from its First Foundation to the Conquest, that +have hitherto been published in the Latin and Saxonic Tongues. And of +all the Canons and Constitutions Ecclesiastical, made Since the Conquest +and Before the Reformation ... now first translated into English ... by +John Johnson, M.A., London, 1720." A New Edition, by John Baron, of +Queen's College (now Dr. Baron, Rector of Upton Scudamore), Oxford, John +Henry Parker, 1850. In two volumes, 8vo. Vol. i., p. 388. + +[129] See above, p. 40. The "Colloquium" is printed in Thorpe's +"Analecta." + +[130] Wulfstan, "Sammlung der ihm zugeschriebenen Homilien nebst +Untersuchungen über ihre Echtheit: Herausgegeben von Arthur Napier. +Erste Abtheilung: Text und Varianten. Berlin 1883." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE SECONDARY POETRY. + + How still the legendary lay + O'er poet's bosom holds its sway. + + MARMION. + + +Between the Primary and the Secondary Poetry we must acknowledge a wide +borderland of transition. Some poetical works lying in this interval we +have already found occasion to notice, and have given them such space as +we could afford. We have spoken of the Cædmon, and of the poetical +Psalter; and with these I must group the "Judith," a noble fragment, +which is found in the Cotton Library in the same manuscript volume with +the Beowulf. This fragment preserves 350 long lines at the close of a +poem which appears--by the numbering of the Cantos--to have been of +about four times that length. This remnant contains what would naturally +have been the most vigorous and stirring parts of the poem: the riotous +drinking of Holofernes, the trenchant act of Judith, her return with her +maid to Bethulia, their enthusiastic reception, the muster for battle, +the anticipation of carnage by the birds and beasts of prey, the +destruction of the invading host. + +The poetry which is distinctly Secondary is contained--the best +specimens of it--in two famous books, that of Exeter, and that of +Vercelli; and in both of these books it is largely connected with the +name of a single poet, Cynewulf. Here is at once an indication of the +secondary poetry; not merely that we have a poet's name, for we also +entitle poems by Cædmon's name; but that the poet himself supplies us +with his name, and has left it--vailed and enigmatic--for posterity to +decipher. + +Curiously and fancifully did Cynewulf interweave into the lines of his +verse the Runes which spelt his name; and it needed the skill of Kemble +to explain it to us. There are three of the extant poems in which he has +thus left his mark, namely two in the Exeter book and one in the +Vercelli book. In two cases out of the three this ingenious contrivance +is at the close of the poem. In the Vercelli book it occurs in the +Elene, the last of the poems in the manuscript, and Mr. Kemble remarked +that it was "apparently intended as a tail-piece to the whole +book."[131] This naturally suggests the inference, which indeed is +generally accepted, that all the poems in the Vercelli book are by +Cynewulf. + +But when a like inference is drawn for the Exeter book, inasmuch as the +same Runic device is there found in two pieces, that therefore the book +is simply a volume of Cynewulf's poems, there seems less reason to +acquiesce. That a large part of the book is Cynewulf's poetry will be +generally thought probable. The first thirty-two leaves of the +manuscript, which correspond to the first 103 pages in Thorpe's edition, +contain a series of pieces which are really parts of one whole, as was +shown by Professor Dietrich, of Marburg;[132] and, as one of these +connected pieces has Cynewulf's Runic mark, it seems to follow that the +whole "Christian Epic" is by him. Again in the middle of the volume from +the 65th to the 75th leaf there is the poem of St. Juliana with the +Runes of Cynewulf's name at its close, and this is therefore undoubtedly +his. This brings us to Mr. Thorpe's 286th page. The four pieces which +lie between the above, more especially two of them, St. Guthlac and the +Phoenix, may well be his. But from the close of St. Juliana (Thorpe, p. +286) the pieces become shorter and more miscellaneous, exhibiting +greater diversity both of subject and of quality, being altogether such +as to suggest that they have been collected from various sources and are +of different ages. So that on this view the volume might be interpreted +as containing (1) Poems by Cynewulf; and (2) a miscellaneous collection. +Thus Cynewulf's part would close with "St. Juliana," which ends with the +Runic device, like the Elene closing his poems in the Vercelli +book.[133] About the person of this poet nothing is known, beyond what +the poems themselves may seem to convey. His date has been variously +estimated from the 8th to the 11th century. The latter is the more +probable. If we look at his matter, we observe its great affinity with +the hagiology of the tenth century, the high pitch at which the poetry +of the Holy Rood has arrived, and the expansion given to the subject of +the Day of Judgment. If we consider his language and manner, we remark +the facility and copious flow of his poetic diction, but with a +something that suggests the retentive mind of the student; his +cumulation of old heroic phraseology not unlike the romantic poetry of +Scott, joined occasionally with a departure from old poetic usage which +seems like a slip on the part of an accomplished imitator.[134] +Occasionally he has a Latin word of novel introduction. + +All these signs forbid an early date, but they agree well with Kemble's +view of the time and person of Cynewulf. He proposed to identify our +poet with that Kenulphus who in 982 became abbot of Peterborough, and in +1006 became (after Ælfheah) bishop of Winchester. To this prelate +Ælfric dedicated his Life of St. Æthelwold, and he is praised by Hugo +Candidus as a great emender of books, a famous teacher, to whom (as to +another Solomon) men of all ranks and orders flocked for instruction, +and whom the abbey regretted to lose when after fourteen years of his +presidency he was carried off to the see of Winchester by violence +rather than by election.[135] + +The Canto in the "Christian Epic" in which the Cynewulf-Runes appear, is +on the near approach of Domesday. This piece closes with a prolonged and +detailed Simile, such as occurs only in the later poetry. Life is a +perilous voyage, but there is a heavenly port and a heavenly pilot:-- + + Nu is thon gelicost + swa we on laguflode + ofor cald wæter + ceolum lithan + geond sidne sæ + sund hengestum + flod wudu fergen. + + Now it is likest to that + as if on liquid flood + over cold water + in keels we navigated + through the vast sea + with ocean-horses + ferried the floating wood. + + Is thæt frecne stream + ytha ofermæta + the we her onlacath + geond thas wacan woruld + windge holmas + ofer deop gelad. + + A frightful surge it is + of waves immense + that here we toss upon + through this uncertain world-- + windy quarters + over a deep passage. + + Wæs se drohtath strong + ær thon we to londe + geliden hæfdon + ofer hreone hrycg-- + tha us help bicwom + thæt us to hælo + hythe gelædde + Godes gæst sunu: + + It was discipline strong + ere we to the land + had sailed (if at all) + o'er the rough swell-- + when help to us came, + so that us into safety + portwards did guide + God's heavenly Son: + + And us giefe sealde + thæt we oncnawan magun + ofer ceoles bord + hwær we sælan sceolon + sund hengestas + ealde yth mearas + ancrum fæste. + + And he gave us the gift + that we may espy + from aboard o' the ship, + place where we shall bind + the steeds of the sea, + old amblers of water, + with anchors fast. + + Utan us to thære hythe + hyht stathelian + tha us gerymde + rodera waldend + halge on heahthum + the he heofnum astag. + + Let us in that port + our confidence plant, + which for us laid open + the Lord of the skies, + (holy port in the heights) + when he went up to heaven. + +The grandest of the allegorical pieces is that on the Phoenix. Of the +pedigree of the fable we have already spoken; as also of the Latin poem +which the Anglo-Saxon poet followed. It is rather an adaptation than a +translation, and it has a second part in which the allegory is +explained. At the close there is a playful alternation of Latin and +Saxon half-lines, which does not at all lessen the probability that the +poet may have been the ingenious Cynewulf. + + Hafað us alysed + lucis auctor, + þæt we motun her + merueri, + god dædum begietan + gaudia in celo, + þær we motun + maxima regna + secan, and gesittan + sedibus altis, + lifgan in lisse + lucis et pacis, + agan eardinga + alma letitiæ, + brucan blæd daga;-- + blandem et mitem + geseon sigora frean + sine fine, + and him lof singan + laude perenne, + eadge mid englum + alleluia. + + Us hath a-loosed + the author of light, + that we may here + worthily merit, + with good deeds obtain + delights in the sky, + where we may be able + magnificent realms + to seek, and to sit + in heavenly seats, + live in fruition + of light and of peace, + have habitations + happy and glad, + brook genial days:-- + gentle and kind + see Victory's Prince + for ever and ever, + and praise to him sing, + perennial praise, + happy angels among + Alleluia! + +Of the other allegorical pieces the Whale was derived from the book +Physiologus, and probably the Panther also. The whale is used as a +similitude of delusive security. The story reappears in the Arabian +Nights, where it is the chief incident in the first voyage of Sindbad. +The monster lies on the sea like an island, and deludes the unsuspecting +mariner. + + Is þæs hiw gelic + hreofum stane, + swylce worie + bi wædes ofre + sond beorgum ymbseald + sæ ryrica mæst,[136] + swa þæt wenaþ + wæg liþende, + þæt hy on ealond sum + eagum wliten; + and þonne gehydaþ + heah stefn scipu + to þam únlonde + oncyr rapum; + setlað sæ mearas + sundes æt ende.[137] + + In look it is like + to a stony land, + with the eddying whirl + of the waves on the bank, + with sandheaps surrounded + a mighty sea-reef; + so they wearily ween + who ride on the wave, + that some island it is + they see with their eyes; + and so they do fasten + the high figure-heads + to a land that no land is + with anchor belayed; + sea-horses they settle + no farther to sail. + +When they have lighted their fires, and are getting comfortable, then +all goes down. This is an apologue of misplaced confidence in things +earthly. + +But the great and absorbing subject of poetry in this age is +Hagiography. We still see the old discredited apocryphal literature in +occasional use, but it retires before the more approved medium of +popular edification, the Lives and Miracles of the Saints. These offer +material very apt for poetical treatment. Even the Homilies, when on the +lives of Saints, are often clothed in the poetic garb. + +In the Exeter book there are two of this class of poems; St. Guthlac and +St. Juliana. In St. Juliana, a characteristic passage is that in which +the tempter visits her in the guise of an angel of light, advising her +to yield and to sacrifice to the gods. At her prayer, the fiend is +reduced to his own shape, reminding us of a famous passage in Milton. +St. Guthlac is distressed by fiends, and among the trials to which he is +exposed, one is this, that he sees in vision the evil life of a +disorderly monastery. When he has endured his trials, and he returns to +his chosen retreat, the welcome of the birds is very charming. + +But the greatest pieces of this sort are the two in the Vercelli book; +the Andreas and the Elene. + +In the Andreas we have an ancient legend which is now known only in +Greek, but which no doubt lay before the Anglo-Saxon poet in a Latin +version. In this story Matthew is imprisoned in Mirmedonia, and he is +encouraged by the hope that Andrew shall come to his aid. Andrew is +wonderfully conveyed to Mirmedonia, where he arrives at a time of +famine, and he finds the people casting lots who shall be slain for the +others' food. On the intervention of Andrew the devil comes on the scene +and suggests that he is the cause of their troubles. Then follows a long +series of tortures to which the saint is subjected. When his endurance +has been put to extreme proof, the word of deliverance comes to him and +he puts forth miraculous power. He calls for a flood, and it comes and +sweeps the cruel persecutors away. But the whole ends in a general +conversion, and the drowned are restored to life. He is escorted to his +ship and has a happy voyage back to Achaia like the return of any hero +crowned with success. Here we are reminded of the return of Beowulf; and +widely different as the two poems are, they have not only points of +similarity but also a certain likeness of type. There is, however, this +great dissimilarity, that in the Andreas the poet stops to speak of +himself and of his inadequate performance, but still he will give us a +little more. The most novel and extraordinary part is the voyage of +Andrew to Mirmedonia. The ship-master is a Divine person, and the +instructive conversation which the saint addresses to him, is +exceedingly well managed, for while it verges on the humorous, it is +perfectly reverent; a strong contrast with the free use of such +situations in the later mediæval drama. Another feature which calls for +notice is the sarcasm with which the drowning people are told there is +plenty of drink for them now. + +The "Elene" opens with the outbreak of barbarian war, and Constantine in +camp on the Danube, frightened at the multitude of the Huns. In a dream +of the night he sees an angel who shows him the Cross, and tells him +that with this "beacon" he shall overcome the foe. II. Comforted by his +dream, he had a cross made like that of the vision, and under this +ensign he was victorious. Then he assembles his wise men to inquire of +them who the god was that this sign belonged to? No one knew, until some +christened folk, who (according to this poet) were then very few, gave +the required information. Constantine is baptised by Silvester. III. +Zealous to recover the true Cross, he sends his mother, Elene, with a +great equipment to Judea. IV. She proclaims an assembly, and 3,000 come +together, and she requires of them to choose those who can answer +whatever questions she may ask. V. They select 500 for that purpose. +When they are come to the queen, she addresses a chiding speech to them +about their blindness in rejecting Him who came according to prophecy; +but she does not reveal her aim. Afterwards, the Jews in consternation +discuss among themselves what the imperial lady can mean. At length one +Judas divines that she wants the Cross which is hidden, and which it is +of the greatest consequence to keep from discovery; for his grandfather +Zacheus, when a-dying, told his son, the speaker's father, that whenever +that Cross was found the power of the Jews would end. VI. The speaker +further said that his father told him the history of the Saviour's life, +and how his son Stephen had believed in him and had been stoned. The +speaker was a boy when his father told him this, and seems to have thus +learnt about his brother Stephen for the first time.[138] VII. When they +are summoned into the imperial presence they all profess to know nothing +about the subject of her inquiry, they had never heard of such a thing +before! She threatens. Then they select Judas as a wise man who knows +more than the rest, and they leave him as a hostage. VIII. The queen +will know where the Rood is. Judas pleads that it all happened so long +ago that he knows nothing about it. She says it was not so long ago as +the Trojan war, and yet people know about that. When he persists, she +orders him to be imprisoned and kept without food. He endures for six +days, but on the seventh he yields. IX. Released from prison he leads +the way to Calvary. He utters a fervent supplication in Hebrew, in which +he pleads that He who in the famous times of old revealed to Moses the +bones of Joseph would make known by a sign the place of the Rood, vowing +to believe in Christ if his prayer is granted. X. A steam rises from the +ground. There they dig, and at a depth of twenty feet three crosses are +found. Which is the holy Rood? A dead man is carried by; Judas brings +the corpse in contact with the crosses one after another, and the touch +of the third restores life. XI. Satan laments that he has suffered a new +defeat, which is all the harder as the agent is "Judas," a name so +friendly to him before! He threatens a persecuting king who shall make +the newly-converted man renounce his faith. Judas returns a spirited +answer, and Helena rejoices to hear the new convert rise superior to the +Wicked one. XII. The report spreads, to the joy of Christians and the +confusion of the Jews. The queen sends an embassy to the emperor at Rome +with the happy tidings. The greatest curiosity was displayed in the +cities on their road. Constantine, in his exaltation, sent them quickly +back to Helena with instructions to build a church in their united names +on the sacred spot of the discovery. The queen gathered from every side +the most highly-skilled builders for the church; and she caused the holy +Rood to be studded with gold and jewels, and then firmly secured in a +chest of silver:-- + + Tha seo cwen bebeád + cræftum get{^y}de + sundor âsecean + tha selestan + tha the wrætlicost + wyrcan cuthon + stân-gefôgum + on tham stede-wange + girwan Godes tempel + swa hire gasta weard + reórd of roderum . + Heo tha rôde heht + golde beweorcean + and gimcynnum + mid tham æthelestum + eorcnanstânum + besettan searocræftum; + and tha in seolfren fæt + locum belûcan . + Thær thæt lifes treó + sêlest sigebeáma + siththan wunode + æthelu anbroce . + + Then the queen bade + of craftsmen deft + at large to seek + the skilfullest, + the most curious + and cunning to work + structures of stone;-- + upon that chosen site + God's temple to grace + as the Guarder of souls + gave her rede from on high. + She the Rood hight + with gold to inlay + and the glory of gems, + with the most prized + of precious stones + to set with high art;-- + and in a silver chest + secure enlock:-- + so there the Tree of life + dearest of trophies + thenceforward dwelt; + fabric of honour. + +XIII. Helena sends for Eusebius, "bishop of Rome," and he, at her +bidding, makes Judas bishop in Jerusalem, and changes his name to +Cyriacus. Then she inquires after the nails of the crucifixion, and, at +the prayer of Cyriacus, their hiding-place is revealed. When the nails +were brought to the queen she wept aloud, and the fountain of her tears +flowed over her cheeks and down upon the jewels of her apparel. XIV. She +seeks guidance by oracle as to the disposal of the nails. She is +directed to make of them rings for the bridle of the chief of earthly +kings. He who rides to war with such a bridle should be invincible; and +a prophecy to that effect is quoted! Helena obeys, and sends the bridle +over sea to Constantine,--"no contemptible gift!" Helena assembles the +chief men of the Jews, bids them submit to Cyriacus, and keep up the +anniversary of the Finding of the Cross. Finally, for those who keep the +day is proclaimed a benediction so unmeasured and profuse as to leave +behind it an air in which the solemn evaporates in the histrionic. + +Here more than in any other piece of Anglo-Saxon poetry we feel near the +mediæval drama. Almost every canto is like a scene; and little +adaptation would be required to put it upon the stage. The narrative at +the beginning is like a prologue, and then after the close of the piece +we have an epilogue, in which the author speaks about himself, and +weaves his name with Runes into the verses in the manner already +described. + +The briefest fragment in the Vercelli book is about False Friendship; +and it contains a long-drawn simile in which the bee is rather hardly +treated. + + Anlice beoð + swa þa beon berað + buton ætsomne; + arlicne anleofan + and ætterne tægel + habbað on hindan; + hunig on muðe + wynsume wist: + hwilum wundiað + sare mid swice + þonne se sæl cymeð. + Swa beoð gelice + þa leasan men, + þa þe mid tungan + treowa gehatað + fægerum wordum, + facenlice þencað; + þonne hie æt nehstan + nearwe beswicað: + habbað on gehatum + hunig smæccas, + smeðne sib cwide; + and in siofan innan + þurh deofles cræft + dyrne wunde. + + Likened they are + to the bees who bear + both at one time, + food for a king's table, + and venomous tail + have in reserve; + honey in mouth, + delectable food: + in due time they wound + sorely and slyly + when the season is come. + Such are they like, + the leasing men, + those who with tongue + give assurance of troth + with fair-spoken words, + false in their thought; + then do they at length + shrewdly betray: + in profession they have + the perfume of honey, + smooth gossip so sweet; + and in their souls purpose, + with devilish craft, + a stab in the dark. + +The "Runic Poem"[139] is a string of epigrams on the characters of the +Runic alphabet, beginning with F, U, Þ, O, R, C, according to that +primitive order, whence that alphabet was called the "Futhorc." Each of +these characters has a name with a meaning, mostly of some well-known +familiar thing, apt subject for epigram. + +When learned men began to look at the Runes with an eye of erudite +curiosity, they often ranged them in the A, B, C order of the Roman +alphabet; hence it gives the Rune poem some air of antiquity that it +runs in the old Futhorc order. And, indeed, some of the versicles may +perhaps be ancient; that is, they may possibly date from a time when +Runes were still in practical use. But certainly much of this chaplet of +versicles must be regarded as late and dilettante work. The Rune names +are not all clearly authentic; for example, "Eoh" is rather dubious; but +the poet treats the name as meaning Yew, and gives us an interesting +little epigram on the Yew-tree:-- + + EOH bith utan + unsmethe treow + heard hrusan fæst + hyrde fyres + wyrtrumum underwrethed + wynan on æthle. + + YEW is outwardly + unpolished tree; + hard and ground-fast, + guardian of fire; + with roots underwattled + the home of the Want.[140] + +The Riddles are mostly after Simphosius and Aldhelm;[141] but some are +aboriginal. The form is mostly that of the epigram, only instead of +having the name of the subject at the head of the piece as with +epigrams, these little poems end with a question what the subject is. +These Riddles are found in the Exeter book in three batches; Grein has +drawn them all together, and made eighty-nine of them. That on the +Book-Moth, of which the Latin has been given above, p. 88, is unriddled +by the translator:-- + + Moððe word fiæt; + me þæt þuhte + wrætlicu wyrd + þa ic þæt wundor gefrægn; + þæt se wyrm forswealg + wera gied sumes + þeof in þystro + þrymfæstne cwide + and þæs strangan staðol. + Stælgiest ne wæs + wihte þy gleawra + þe he þam wordum swealg. + + Moth words devoured; + to me it seemed + a weird event + when I the wonder learnt; + that the worm swallowed + sentence of man + (thief in the dark) + document sure, + binding and all. + The burglar was never + a whit the more wise + for the words he had gulped. + +Toward the end of the period, the poetic form becomes much diluted. The +poetic diction wanes, so does the figured style and the parallel +structure; and what remains is an alliterative rhythmical prose, which, +from the nature of the subjects treated, appears to have been very +taking for the ear of the people. Of this sort is the Lay of King Abgar, +which Professor Stephens assigns to the reign of Cnut. The Abgar legend +is in Eusebius (died 340) "History," i. 13. Abgar, king of Edessa, being +sick, wrote a letter to the Saviour (it being the time of His earthly +ministry) praying him to come and heal him, and adding, that if, as he +hears, the Jews seek to persecute Him, his city of Edessa, though a +little one, is stately, and sufficient for both. + + ... and ic wolde the biddan + thæt thu gemedemige the sylfne + thæt thu siðige to me + and mine untrumnysse gehæle + for than the ic eom yfele gahæfd. + Me is eac gesæd + thæt tha Judeiscan syrwiath + and runiath him betwynan + hu hi the berædan magon, + and ic hæbbe ane burh, + the unc bam genihtsumath. + + ... and I would thee pray, + that thou condescend + to come unto me, + and my infirmity cure, + for I am in evil case. + To me is eke said + that the Jews are plotting + and rowning together + how they may destroy thee; + and I have a burgh + large enough for us both.[142] + +The impression which this secondary poetry leaves is, that the old +ancestral form could no longer furnish an adequate poetry for the +growing mind of the nation. In contrast with the expanding prose, it +seems to shrink and fade before our eyes. Its only means of enlargement +seems to be in forgetting its own traditions and assimilating itself to +the prose. Moreover, we have traces of various tentative sallies; one +poet trying rhymes,[143] another trying hexameters,[144] which reminds +us of the efforts and essays of the unsatisfied poetic genius in the +middle of the sixteenth century. The Benedictine revival had drawn off +the interest from the old native themes of song to subjects less fitted +for poetry, or with which the poetry of the time was not yet skilled to +deal. The old poetry fitted the old heroic themes with which it had +grown up; and now it throve better on apocryphal and legendary fables +than on the verities of the faith which were rather beyond its strength. +In the new zeal the old vein of poetry was lost or neglected, and its +place was not yet appropriately filled. + +For this want a provision was already making in the south. A fresh +spirit of poetry had risen in the region where Roman and Arabic fancy +met, and, after kindling France, was coming to England on the wings of +the French language. With the new romances came new models of poetic +form. A long struggle ensued between the native garb of English poetry +and that of the French. Both lived together until the fourteenth +century, when the victory of the French form was finally determined in +Chaucer; and France set the fashion in poetry to England, as it did +generally to modern Europe. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[131] In Wright's "Biographia Literaria," Anglo-Saxon Period, p. 502, +_seq._, these three Runic passages are collected and translated. In +Bosworth's "Anglo-Saxon Dictionary," ed. Toller, v. Cynewulf; the Runic +passage is quoted from the Elene, and translated. This poet's Runic +device affects us somewhat as when, at the end of a volume of +Coleridge's poems, we come upon his epitaph, written by himself:-- + + "Stop, Christian passer-by!--Stop, child of God! + And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sod + A poet lies, or that which once seem'd he-- + Oh, lift one thought in prayer for S.T.C.!" + +[132] In Haupt's "Zeitschrift," ix. + +[133] We have already seen in the chapter on the West Saxon laws, that a +bookmaker of the Saxon period appended the laws of Ine to the laws of +Alfred, as if he found it natural to treat the old material as an +appendix to the new.--But there is also something on the other side. In +the after part of the Exeter book there are three batches of riddles, +and the first riddle of the first series (Thorpe, p. 380), is a charade +upon the name of Cynewulf, as was shown by Heinrich Leo. This has +naturally led to the surmise that Cynewulf has had more to do with the +riddles than simply to preface them in his own honour. + +[134] Thus:--"ofer ealne yrmenne grund." Juliana _init._; and in the +same poem we find "bealdor" used of a woman! + +[135] All this is marred by William of Malmesbury, who represents him as +having trafficked for this promotion, and as having been cut off before +he had long enjoyed it. And yet the two pictures are not incompatible. +The poetry sets before us a poet of the most splendid gifts, but I know +nothing that indicates a superiority of character. Indeed, the +comparison with Solomon suggests a moral type to which the known and +supposed writings of Cynewulf aptly correspond. + +[136] "Dorsum immane mari summo." Æneid i. + +[137] Milton has set this to his own deep music:-- + + "Him haply slumb'ring on the Norway foam, + The pilot of some small night-founder'd skiff + Deeming some island, oft, as seaman tell, + With fixed anchor...." + +[138] The reader will not stumble at a few historical inaccuracies in a +narrative where a speaker in Helena's time is a brother of the +protomartyr. + +[139] Kemble, "Runes of the Anglo-Saxons," pp. 13-19. Grein, vol. ii., +p. 351; and literary notice at p. 413. + +[140] It may not be known to all readers, that this is an English word; +and historically, perhaps, the best English name, for the mole (talpa). +Along the Elbe it appears in a form nearer to that of the text: "Win +worp oder Wind-worp, _der Maulwurf_." Bremisch-Niedersachsisches +Wörterbuch. + +[141] See Prof. Dietrich in Haupt's "Zeitschrift," xi. + +[142] Prof. Stephens, "Tvende Olde-Engelske Digte," Kiobenhavn, 1853. + +[143] "The Riming Poem," Cod. Exon. ed. Thorpe, p. 352. + +[144] Stubbs, "St. Dunstan," Preface. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE NORMAN CONQUEST AND AFTER THAT. + + +The first of these chapters took a brief survey of the literature that +preceded and elevated the Anglo-Saxon literature: this concluding +chapter must be still briefer in sketching the manner of its decline. It +would be true to say that the Norman Conquest dealt a fatal blow to +Anglo-Saxon literature; but it would also be true to say that the +cultivation of Anglo-Saxon literature never came to an end at all. I +will presently endeavour to reconcile this seeming contradiction; but +first I have some little remainder to tell of the main narrative. + +There are two small sets of writings which have not yet been described. +These are the liturgical and scientific remains. Of liturgical, we have +the "Benedictionale of Æðelwold,"[145] and we have the so-called "Ritual +of Durham," with its interlinear Northumbrian gloss. But the most famous +book of this kind is that which is called "The Leofric Missal," because +Leofric, the first Bishop of Exeter (of Crediton, 1046-1050; of Exeter, +1050-1072) gave it to his cathedral. It is now in the Bodleian Library. +"It is one of the only three surviving Missals known to have been used +in the English Church during the Anglo-Saxon period," the other two +being the Missal of Robert of Jumièges, Archbishop of Canterbury, now in +Rouen Library, and the "Rede Boke of Darbye," in the Parker Library at +Cambridge.[146] + +It may seem almost idle to talk of the "scientific" remains of +Anglo-Saxon times. For Science, in its grandest sense,--the recognition +of constant order in nature and the reign of law,--had not yet dawned +upon the world. Science, in this sense, dates only from the seventeenth +century, and its patriarchal names are Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler. +But, nevertheless, the earlier and feebler efforts at the explanation of +phenomena have a real and a lasting value for human history, and what +they lack in scientific quality has somehow the effect of throwing them +all the more into the arms of the literary historian. + +There is, however, one small Anglo-Saxon writing which needs not this +apology, and which may be considered as a real contribution even to +science. I mean the Geography which King Alfred inserted into his +translation of Orosius. All our other scientific relics are but +compilation and translation in the primitive paths of Medicine, and +Botany, and Astronomy. + +We have some considerable lists of Anglo-Saxon Botany. The vernacular +names of plants, many of them, seem to indicate a Latin tradition dating +from Roman times.[147] In the medical treatises we see the practice of +medicine greatly mingled with superstition. Witchcraft is reckoned among +the causes of disease, and formulæ are provided for breaking the spell. +The "Leech Book" contains a series of prescriptions for divers ailments, +with directions for preparation and medical treatment. One batch of +these prescriptions is said to have been sent to King Alfred by Elias, +Patriarch of Jerusalem. A very popular book was the Herbarium of +Apuleius. It was translated into Anglo-Saxon, and four manuscripts of +this translation are still extant.[148] + +On astronomical and cosmical matters there exists a well-written little +treatise of unknown authorship. It has been attributed to Ælfric, and it +is most likely a work of his time. It seems to have been very +popular.[149] It is, as it professes to be in the prologue, a popular +abridgment of Beda, "De Natura Rerum." It begins with a succinct +abstract of the creation, the sixth day being thus rendered:-- + + On ðam syxtan dæge he gescop eall deor cynn, {&} ealle nytena + þe on feower fotum gað, {&} þa twegen menn Adam {&} Efan. + + On the sixth day he created all animal-kind, and all the + beasts that go on four feet, and the two men Adam and Eve. + +The eclipse of the moon is well explained. After saying that Night is +the shade of the earth when the sun goes down under it, before it comes +up the other side,-- + + Woruldlice uðwitan sædon, {þæt} seo sceadu astihð up oð + ðæt heo becymð to þære lyfte ufeweardan, and þonne be yrnð + se mona hwiltidum þonne he full byð on ðære sceade + ufeweardre, and faggeteð oððe mid ealle asweartað, for þam + þe he næfð þære sunnan leoht þa hwile þe he þære sceade ord + ofer yrnð oð ðæt þære sunnan leoman hine eft onlihton. + + Worldly philosophers said, that the shadow mounts up until + it arrives at the top of the atmosphere, and then sometimes + the moon when he is full runs into the upper part of the + shadow, and is darkened or utterly blackened, forasmuch as + he hath not the sun's light so long as he traverses the + shadow's point until that the sun's rays again enlighten + him. + +The Norman Conquest gave the death-blow to our old native literature, in +the sense that the use of the literary Anglo-Saxon in its first +integrity, as at once a learned language and a spoken language, did not +extend beyond the generation that witnessed that great dynastic change. +In this strict sense we might point to the close of the Worcester +Chronicle in 1079 as the termination of Anglo-Saxon literature. There +is, indeed, a Saxon Chronicle that was even begun after that date, one +which comprises the whole Saxon period, and was continued by original +writers down to 1154, but it is not written in normal Anglo-Saxon. It +represents the flectional decay which the living and popular English was +undergoing. + +It exhibits, also, something of that new growth which was to compensate +for the loss of flection. And it already bears marks of that French +influence which was so largely to affect the whole complexion of the +language. I quote from the last Annal in the Saxon Chronicle of +Peterborough:-- + + 1154. On þis gær wærd þe King Stephan ded and bebyried þer + his wif and his sune wæron bebyried æt Faures feld, þet + minstre hi makeden . Þa þe King was ded, þa was þe eorl + beionde sæ . and ne durste nan man don oþer bute god for þe + micel eie of him . Þa he to Engle land com . þa was he + under fangen mid micel wurtscipe . and to king bletcæd in + Lundene on þe Sunnen dæi be foren midwinter dæi . and held + þær micel curt. + + In this year was King Stephen dead and buried where his + wife and his son were buried at Feversham, the minster he + made. When the King was dead, then was the earl beyond sea, + and no man durst do other than good for the great awe of + him. When he came to England, then was he received with + great worship, and consecrated king in London on the Sunday + before Christmas Day; and he held there a great court. + +Here, then, at the very latest, we must close the canon of Anglo-Saxon +literature. And here our subject branches in two; we have to follow with +a brief glance what happened in two divergent lines of succession. As +when, in the early mountainous course of some growing river, a broken +hill has fallen across its bed, the old water-way is choked, and the +descending waters make new channels to the right and to the left; so it +was with the fortunes of our native language and literature after the +Norman Conquest. The stream of largest volume was the spontaneous and +popular utterance which amused in hall and taught in church; the lesser +stream was the artificial maintenance of Anglo-Saxon literature which +went on in the old seats of religion and learning. + +The Norman Conquest brought in a vast body of romantic literature. +Heroic or entertaining tales in a ballad form were at that time highly +popular; and a peculiar talent for this sort of narrative was developed +in France and among the Normans. The oldest French romances were those +of which the central figure was Charles the Great. It was one of these, +the "Song of Roland," that animated the conquering Normans at Senlac. +According to high authorities, it was in the next generation after the +Conquest that the "Chanson de Roland" took that final epic form which +now it bears, and probably the poet's home was in England.[150] For a +long time the speech of the upper society was wholly French. The two +languages quickly met one another in the market, and in all the +necessary business of life; but in respect of literature they long stood +apart. Such was the state of things in this island during the time in +which the Carling cycle prevailed. With that cycle the English language +never came into contact at all in its palmy days; and the few Carling +poems that exist in English are of later date, and are of a mixed +nature. When at length, towards the close of the twelfth century, a +literary intercourse had sprung up between the two languages, the hero +of popular song was no longer Charles, but Arthur. In the English poetry +of Layamon (1205), founded upon the French of Robert Wace, we see the +story of Arthur in that early stage where it still purports to be +history rather than romance. Layamon represents the first great step +from the old literature to the new; and he is the first to give an +English home to that ideal king who was to be the chosen theme of +Spenser and of Tennyson. We will quote the death of Arthur and his +funeral cortège:-- + + +THE PASSING OF ARTHUR. + +Line 28,582. + + Tha nas ther na mare, + i than fehte to laue, + of twa hundred thusend monnen, + tha ther leien to-hawen; + buten Arthur the king one, + and of his cnihtes tweien. + Arthur wes forwunded + wunderliche swithe. + Ther to him com a cnaue, + the wes of his cunne; + he wes Cadores sune, + the eorles of Cornwaile. + Constantin hehte the cnaue; + he wes than kinge deore. + Arthur him lokede on, + ther he lai on folden, + and thas word seide, + mid sorhfulle heorte. + Constantin thu art wilcume, + thu weore Cadores sune: + ich the bitache here, + mine kineriche: + and wite mine Bruttes, + a to thines lifes: + and hald heom alle tha la{gh}en, + tha habbeoth istonden a mine da{gh}en: + and alle tha la{gh}en gode, + tha bi Vtheres da{gh}en stode. + And ich wulle uaren to Aualun, + to uairest alre maidene; + to Argante there quene, + aluen swithe sceone: + and heo scal mine wunden, + maiken all isunde, + al hal me makien, + mid halewei{gh}e drenchen. + And seothe ich cumen wulle + to mine kineriche: + and wunien mid Brutten, + mid muchelere wunne. + + Then was there no more + in that fight left alive, + out of 200,000 men, + that there lay cut to pieces; + but Arthur the King only + and two of his knights. + Arthur was wounded + dangerously much. + There to him came a youth + who was of his kin; + he was son of Cador, + the earl of Cornwall. + Constantine hight the youth; + to the king he was dear. + Arthur looked upon him, + where he lay on the ground, + and these words said, + with sorrowful heart. + Constantine thou art welcome + thou wert Cador's son: + I here commit to thee, + my kingdom; + and guide thou my Britons + aye to thy life's cost; + and assure them all the laws, + that have stood in my days: + and all the laws so good, + that by Uther's days stood. + And I will fare to Avalon, + to the fairest of all maidens; + to Argante the queen, + elf exceeding sheen: + and she shall my wounds, + make all sound; + all whole me make, + with healing drinks. + And sith return I will, + to my kingdom: + and dwell with Britons, + with mickle joy. + + Æfne than worden, + ther com of se wenden, + that wes an sceort bat lithen, + sceouen mid vthen: + and twa wimmen therinne, + wunderliche idihte: + and heo nomen Arthur anan, + and aneouste hine uereden, + and softe hine adun leiden, + and forth gunnen hine lithen. + + Even with these words, + lo came from sea wending, + that was a short boat moving, + driving with the waves: + and two women therein, + of marvellous aspect: + and they took Arthur anon, + and straight him bore away + and softly down him laid, + and forth with him to sea they gan to move away. + + Tha wes hit iwurthen, + that Merlin seide whilen; + that weore unimete care, + of Arthures forth-fare. + + Then was it come to pass + what Merlin said whilome; + that there should be much curious care, + when Arthur out of life should fare. + + Bruttes ileueth {gh}ete, + that he beo on liue, + and wunnie in Aualun, + mid fairest alre aluen: + and lokieth euere Bruttes {gh}ete, + whan Arthur cume lithen. + + Britons believe yet, + that he be alive, + and dwelling in Avalon + with the fairest of all elves: + still look the Britons for the day + of Arthur's coming o'er the sea. + +In this poetry there is a new vein of popularity. Since we left the +primary poetry we have been on the track of a literature whose spring +was in book-learning. A foreign erudition had thrown the lore of the +native minstrel into the shade. But some relics of domestic material +reappear with the new gush of popular song in the 13th century. Among +the mass of stories which fill that time, we find here and there an old +English tale, and sometimes it is a translation back from the French. +The romance of King Horn is one of these. The names of the personages, +and the general course of the plot--the Saracens notwithstanding--are +essentially Saxon. There are lines which are almost pure Saxon poetry, +and there are incidents that recall the Beowulf. + +The story is as follows:--Horn was the son of the King of Suddene; he +was of matchless beauty, and he had twelve companions, among whom two +were specially dear to him; they were Athulf and Fikenild, the best and +the worst. The land was conquered by Saracens, who slew the king, but +sent off Horn and his twelve in a ship to perish at sea. They came to a +land where the king was Aylmar, who thus addressed them:-- + + Whannes beo {gh}e, faire gumes, + That her to londe beoth icume, + Alle throttene + Of bodie swithe kene. + +"Whence be ye, fair gentlemen, that here to land are come? All thirteen +of body very keen. By him that made me, so fair a band saw I at no time; +say what ye seek?" Horn tells his story, and Aylmar likes him, and bids +Athelbrus, his steward, teach him woodcraft, and the harp and song, and +also to carve and be cupbearer:-- + + Bifore me to kerve + And of the cupe serve. + +The Princess Rymenhild falls in love with Horn, and this is an occasion +to prove the loyalty of Athulf. She orders Athelbrus to send Horn to +her; but he, fearing the consequences, and being specially responsible +for Horn, sends Athulf instead. Athulf finds that the princess has been +deceived, and declares at once that he is not Horn. When at length Horn +does meet Rymenhild, he points out to her the inequality of his rank. +She gets her father to knight him. She also gives him a ring, in which +the stones are of such virtue that if he looks on them and thinks of her +he need fear no wounds:-- + + The stones beoth of suche grace + That thu ne schalt in none place + Of none duntes beon of drad. + +He rides forth in search of adventures to prove his knighthood. He falls +in with a crew of Saracens, slays 100 of them, and brings the head of +the master Saracen on the point of his sword to the king, where he sits +in hall among his knights, and presents it in acknowledgment of his +dubbing (compare p. 130 above). Fikenild tells Aylmar of Horn's love +for his daughter, and Aylmar banishes Horn. Departing, he promises +Rymenhild to return in seven years or she shall be free to marry +another. He leaves the faithful Athulf behind to look after Rymenhild. + +He arrives at the court of King Thurston, and there he calls himself +Cutberd. The land is infested by pagan invaders. Cutberd slays a giant +and many of the Saracens who were with him. Thurston offers him his +daughter and the kingdom with her. Cutberd tells the king that it must +not be so, but that he will claim his reward when he has relieved the +king of all his troubles, which will be at seven years' end (compare p. +131 above). + +Meanwhile, Rymenhild is sought in marriage by King Modi, and the day is +fixed. In her distress she sends in all directions to seek Horn; her +messenger finds Horn and delivers his message, but he never returns to +the princess, because he is drowned. Now Horn tells King Thurston his +story, and entreats his help. He adds that he will provide a worthy +husband for his daughter, namely, Athulf, one of the best and truest of +knights. Thurston assembles his men and they go with Horn. Horn leaves +them under the wood while he goes towards the palace. He meets a palmer +and changes clothes with him. In the palace he takes his place with the +beggars, and when Rymenhild rises to offer wine to the guests he gets +speech of her and lets her see the ring she had given him. This leads to +a full recognition and the betrothal of Horn with Rymenhild. Such is the +tale of King Horn. + +But, of all the old native stories that crop up in this later time, the +most remarkable is the "Lay of Havelok the Dane," a large subject which +we can only just indicate here.[151] + +Of the learned branches a good deal continued unbroken by the Conquest. +Such was mostly the case with Homilies and Lives of saints, and Poetry +of the allegorical and instructive kind. + +In the Exeter Song-book we saw pieces that had been taken from the old +book "Physiologus." This allegorical poetry retained its place through +all the changes.[152] Here is a passage from the "Whale," in the +language of the thirteenth century:-- + + Wiles that weder is so ille, + the sipes that arn on se fordriven + (loth hem is deth, and lef to liven) + biloken hem and sen this fis; + an eilond he wenen it is. + Thereof he aren swithe fagen, + and mid here migt tharto he dragen, + sipes onfesten, + and alle up gangen. + Of ston mid stel in the tunder + wel to brennen one this wunder, + warmen hem wel and heten and drinken; + the fir he feleth and doth hem sinken, + for sone he diveth dun to grunde, + he drepeth hem alle withuten wunde. + +These examples may suffice to represent that new literature which began +to rise after the violent removal of the old. They do not belong to the +history of Anglo-Saxon literature except indirectly as a foil and a +contrast. They show how ready were new forms to take the place of the +old. But while the English language was thus following the natural and +spontaneous course of its development, there still survived a powerful +interest in the old classical Englisc. The seat of this literature was +in the old monasteries, which became strongholds of ancient culture and +tradition. The old books were perused and re-copied, and a scholarly +knowledge of the old language was made an object of study. This was +sustained not only by sentiment, and curiosity, and literary taste, but +also by a sense of corporate interest. The titles of the old +monasteries to their lands were wholly or very largely contained in +Saxon writings, and these grew in importance with the growing habits of +documentary legality under Norman rule. A language which was at once +native and recondite, far more recondite than the Latin of the ordinary +scholar, could not but be impressive as a documentary medium. The number +of extant Saxon books and deeds which were either originally composed +after the Conquest, or at least re-copied and re-edited, is quite enough +to prepare us to receive what Matthew Parker said in the Latin preface +to his edition (1574) of "Asser":-- + + "Furthermore; inasmuch as the medium of many legal documents and + venerable memorials and royal charters preserved in archives, + dating, some before, some after, the coming of the Normans into + England, is Saxon both in language and in writing, I will advise + all who study the institutions of this realm, to undergo the slight + and insignificant labour which is necessary to make themselves + masters of this language. If they will but do this, they will + doubtless make discoveries daily, and will bring to light things + which now lie hidden and remote; yea, they will without effort + clear up the intricacies and perplexities of a great number of + things. And in ages past there were societies of religious persons + who were ordered by our forefathers for this work, that some among + them might be trained in the knowledge of this tongue, and might + transmit the same in succession to those who came after. To wit, in + Tavistock Abbey, in the county of Devon, and in many other + fraternities (within my memory) this was an established thing; to + the end, as I suppose, that acquaintance with a literature whose + language is antiquated might not perish for lack of use." + +Thus we see that in the centuries between the Conquest and the +Reformation the old ENGLISC was a recognised subject of study; +and that it enjoyed, as the Latin did, the honours of an ancient +language which was too much esteemed to be allowed to perish. And, +therefore, it was said above that the Anglo-Saxon language and +literature never died out; for the knowledge of it was kept up till the +time when, through the general Revival of learning, new motives were +supplied for its diligent study, and the very man in whom the new +movement is impersonated is he who testifies that the study had lasted +down to a time within his own memory. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[145] Written and illustrated with miniatures by order of Æðelwold, +Bishop of Winchester, A.D. 963-984. Hexameter verses in a +superior style of penmanship, namely, the old Latin rustic, record the +history of the book, and give the scribe's name as Godeman, perhaps the +Abbot of Thorney, who began A.D. 970. The illuminations are +engraved in "Archæologia," xxiv. + +[146] The "Leofric Missal," edited by F.E. Warren, B.D., Clarendon +Press, 1883. + +[147] Particulars may be found in my "English Plant Names from the Tenth +to the Fifteenth Century," Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1880. + +[148] The medical treatises have been collected in three volumes (Rolls +Series) by Mr. Cockayne, under the title of "Saxon Leechdoms." + +[149] There are four copies of it in the Cotton Library, and one in +Cambridge University library; some also in other collections. It has +been printed from a Cotton manuscript written, the editor says, about +A.D. 990. "Popular Treatises on Science," edited by T. Wright, +1841. + +[150] "La Chanson de Roland," par Léon Gautier, ed. 7 (1880), +Introduction. + +[151] This poem, of which there are many external traces, had long been +given up as lost, was deplored by Tyrwhitt and by Ritson, and was +accidentally discovered in a Bodleian manuscript, latent amidst legends +of saints. From this unique MS. it was edited by Sir F. Madden; and +again (1868) by the Rev. W.W. Skeat, who says in his preface:--"There +can be little doubt that the tradition must have existed from +Anglo-Saxon times, but the earliest mention of it is presented to us in +the French version of the Romance.... The story is in no way connected +with France; ... From every point of view, ... the story is wholly +English," p. iv. + +[152] An old English Miscellany, containing a "Bestiary," &c., ed. R. +Morris (E.E.T.S.), 1872, p. 17. The "Phisiologus" is quoted in Chaucer, +apparently from this very "Bestiary"; and Dr. Morris says that scraps of +it are found even in Elizabethan writers. I add a translation of the +piece quoted:--"Whilst that weather is so bad, the ships that are driven +about on the sea (death is unwelcome, men love to live) look about them +and see this fish; they ween it is an island. They are very glad of it, +and with all their might they draw towards it, make the ships fast, and +all go ashore. With stone and steel and tinder they make a good fire on +this monster, and warm themselves well, and eat and drink; the whale +feels the fire and makes them sink, for he quickly dives to the bottom, +he kills them all without wound." + + + + +INDEX. + + +Abgar, Lay of, 241 + +Abingdon Chronicle, 32, 173 + +Ælfric, Abbot, 23, 40, 67, 207, 213, 221, 245 + Bata, 40 + +Ælfheah, Archbishop, 224 + +Æthelberht, 81 + +Æthelred's Laws, 164 + +Æthelweard, 183, 220 + +Æthelwold, Bishop, 25, 51, 181, 207, 219, 243 + +Aidan, Bishop, 99 + +Alcuin, 23, 99, 117 + +Aldhelm, 21, 53, 86 + +Alfred, 15, 24, 186 ff., 207, 244 + +Alfred Jewel, 49 + +Alfred's Laws, 154 ff. + +Andreas, the, 90, 233 f. + +"Anglo-Saxon," 206 + +Apollonius of Tyre, 18, 212 + +Apuleius, 245 + +Architecture, 52 + +Arnold, Thomas, 121, 136 + +Arthur, 59, 249 + +Arundel Marbles, 48 + +Ashburnham House, 32 + +Ashmolean Museum, 49 + +Asser, 43, 183, 187, 256 + +Athelstan's Laws, 159 + +Augustine, Archbishop, 52 + +Avitus, Bishop, 14 + + +Ballads, the, 145 ff. + +Baron, Dr., 221 + +Beda, 21, 64, 81, 102 ff., 204, 245 + +Benedict of Nursia, 15 + of Aniane, 209 + +Beowulf, the, 32, 45, 58, 68, 71, 120 ff., 225 + +Biscop, Benedict, 86, 99 + +Blickling Homilies, 47, 139, 213 ff. + +Blume, Dr., 46 + +Bodleian Library, 34 + +Boethian Metres, 71, 202 ff. + +Boethius, 14, 201 ff. + +Boniface (Winfrid), 21 + +Bosworth, Dr., 44, 226 + +Bradford-on-Avon, 53 + +Buckley, Professor, 40 + +Burials, Saxon, 55 + +Byrhtnoth, 217 + + +Cædmon, 14, 22, 39, 68, 99, 111 + +Cæsar, 62 + +Camden, William, 43, 183 + +Canons of Ælfric, 67, 220 + +Canterbury, 20, 79, 98 + +Carling Romances, 248 + +Cenwalh, 180 + +Ceolfrid, Abbot, 102 + +Charles the Great, 187, 248 + +Chaucer, 27, 242, 254 + +Chronicles, the, 20, 22, 61, 169 ff. + +Cockayne, Oswald, 245 + +Colman, Bishop, 99 + +Conybeare, 45 + +Cotton Library, 32, 245 + +Cotton, Sir Robert, 31, 35 + +Coxe, Henry Octavius, 39, 40 + +Cuthbert, St., 99, 104 + +Cynewulf, 226 ff. + + +Danihel, Bishop, 21 + +Dasent, Sir George, 68 + +Day, John, 35, 42 + +Days of the Week, 73 + +Dialogues, Gregory's, 16, 36, 193 ff. + of Solomon, &c., 210 ff. + +Dietrich, Professor, 208, 227, 240 + +Documents, Legal, 167 + +Dunstan, Archbishop, 25, 43, 207, 219 + +Durham Ritual, 111, 243 + + +Eadmer, 52 + +Ebert, Adolf, 103, 118 + +Edda, the, 65 + +Eddi, 21, 99 + +Edwin, King, 98 + +Egbert, Archbishop, 21, 99 + +Elene, the, 90, 234 ff. + +Epinal Gloss, 91, 97 + +Ettmüller, Ludwig, 121, 134 + +Eusebius of Cæsarea, 241 + of Emesa, 216 + +Evesham, 69 + +Exeter Book, 29, 88, 225 ff., 254. + +Eynsham, 220 + + +Felix, Bishop, 80 + +Florence, 184 + +Floriacum, 25 + +Frankish Art, 51 + Graves, 56 + +Freeman, E.A., 54, 141, 184, 206 + +Futhorc, the, 239 + + +Gibson, Edmund, 45 + +Gildas, 60 + +Glossaries, 90 + +Godeman, 243 + +Gospels in A.-S., 73, 205, 208 + +Gough, Richard, 39 + +Gregory the Great, 15, 20, 85 + of Tours, 18, 19, 85 + +Grein, Dr., 121, 135, 208, 220, 239. + +Grettir, Saga of, 137 + +Grimbald, 187 + +Grimm, Jacob, 46, 73, 153 + +Grundtvig, Dr., 121 + +Guthlac, St., 227, 232 + +Guthrum, 156, 159 + + +Hadrian, Abbot, 21, 85 + +Harley, Robert, 34 + +Hatton, Lord, 36 + +Havelok the Dane, 254 + +Heliand, the, 22, 23, 68, 116 + +Henry of Huntingdon, 184 + +Heyne, Moritz, 121 + +Hickes, George, 44 + +Hickey, E.H., 144 + +Higden, 185 + +Hild, Abbess, 100 + +Homilies of Ælfric, 74, 102, 214 ff. + of Wulfstan, 222 ff. + see Blickling. + +Horn, Romance of, 251 ff. + +Hugo Candidus, 229 + + +Illuminated Books, 51 + +Ine's Laws, 151 + +Inscriptions, 47 + +Irish Teachers, 86 + +Isidore of Seville, 85 + + +Jarrow, 103 + +Jerome, 217 + +Jewellery, 49 + +John of Saxony, 187 + +Joscelin, 43 + +Judith, the, 225 + +Juliana, St., 227, 232 + +Junius, Franciscus, 37, 44, 112 + + +Kemble, J.M., 90, 121, 154, 210, 226, 228, 239 + +Kentish Dialect, 84, 90, 97 + Laws, 80 + + +Lambarde, William, 150 + +Lanferth, 219 + +Lappenberg, J.M., 46, 169 + +Laud, Archbishop, 34 + +Laws, the, 66, 150 ff. + +Layamon, 27, 249 + +Leofric, Bishop, 28, 244 + Missal, 29, 243 + +Lumby, Professor, 103 + +Lindisfarne, 117 + Gospels, 33, 51, 111 + + +Macray, W.D., 34 + +Madden, Sir F., 254 + +Maidulf, 86 + +Maine, Sir H., 154, 163 + +Marshall, Dr., 44 + +Matthew Parker, 29, 42, 256 + +Mayor, Professor, 103 + +Metcalfe, F., 44 + +Milton, John, 14, 112, 115, 232 + +More, Bishop, 41, 101 + +Morfil, W.R., 148 + +Morley, Henry, 134 + +Morris, Dr. R., 222, 254 + +Müllenhof, Dr. Karl, 134 + + +Napier, Arthur, 222 + +Nicodemus, Gospel of, 209 + +Northumbria, 21 + +Northumbrian Dialect, 111 + +Notker, 15 + + +Odin, 75 + +Odo, Archbishop, 25, 219 + +Orm, 27 + +Orosius, 13, 204 + +Oswald, Bishop, 219 + + +Palgrave, Sir Francis, 152, 164 + +Panther, the, 231 + +Parker, Archbishop, 29, 42, 256 + +Parker, J.H., 54 + +Parker Library, 44, 244 + +Pastoral Care, the, 16, 36, 188 ff. + +Paulinus, Bishop, 98 + +Pauli, Reinhold, 169 + +Paulus Diaconus, 23 + +Pericles (Shakespeare), 18 + +Peterborough Chronicle, 26, 36, 178, 181, 184 + +Phoenix, the, 9, 227, 230 + +Physiologus, the, 215, 231, 254 + +Pilate, Acts of, 209 + +Plegmund, Archbishop, 187 + +Psalter (Kentish), 94 + (Poetical), 90, 208 + + +Rawlinson, Richard, 38, 45 + +Riddles, 87, 240 + +Robert of Jumièges, 244 + +Rochester Book, 26 + +Ruined City, the, 140 + +Rule of St. Benedict, 40 + +Runes, 78, 111, 226, 238 + +Runic Poem, 239 + +Rushworth, John, 38 + +Ruthwell Cross, 111 + + +Sanders, W. Basevi, 41 + +Schaldemose, 121 + +Schmid, Reinhold, 150 + +Scott, Sir Walter, 150, 228 + +Sculpture, 55 + +Sievers, Edouard, 116 + +Sigeric, Archbishop, 217 + +Simeon of Durham, 177, 184 + +Simposius, 10, 240 {Transcriber's note: Symposius and Simphosius in text} + +Skeat, Professor, 44, 111, 218, 254 + +Smaragdus, 23 + +Solomon and Saturn, 209 ff. + +Somner, William, 44 + +Spell, 75 + +Spelman, Sir Henry, 43, 44 + Sir John, 44 + +Spenser, Edmund, 136, 249 + +St. Augustine's, Canterbury, 20, 35 + +Stallybrass, J.S., 70 + +Stephens, Professor George, 47, 111, 117, 241 + +Stubbs, Professor, 162, 183, 185 + +Sweet, Mr., 33 + +Swithun, St., 69, 218, 219 + + +Tacitus, 62 + +Tavistock, 256 + +Tennyson, Alfred, 136, 147, 249 + +Theodore, Archbishop, 21, 85, 100 + +Thorkelin, G.J., 45, 121 + +Thorney, 243 + +Thorpe, Benjamin, 46, 121, 150, 208, 222 + +Thwaites, Edward, 220 + +Trial by Jury, 163 ff. + + +Vercelli Book, 46, 90, 225, 233 ff. + +Vigfusson, Dr. Gudbrand, 138 + + +Wace, Robert, 27, 249 + +Walahfrid Strabo, 23 + +Waldhere (Fragment), 47 + +Wanley, Humphrey, 45 + +Warren, F.E., 244 + +Watson, R. Spence, 113 + +Wearmouth, 102 + +Weland, 58, 70 + +Werfrith, Bishop, 36, 187, 189, 193 + +Westwood, Professor, 30, 39, 51 + +Whale, the, 231, 255 + +Wheloc, Abraham, 43, 150 + +Whitby, 99 + +Widsith, the, 148 + +Wilfrid, 99, 100 + +Wilkins, Bishop, 150 + +Willebrord, 99 + +William of Malmesbury, 185 + +Winchester Chronicle, 171, 178 + +Winfrid (Boniface), 21, 99 + +Winton Book, 26 + +Woden, 66 + +Worcester Chartulary, 26 + Chronicle, 32, 173 + +Wordsworth, Canon, 48 + +Wright, Thomas, 183, 226, 245 + +Wülcker, Professor, 112, 140 + +Wulfstan, Archbishop, 224 + +Wulstan, Latin poet, 219 + + +York, 21 + + +Zeuner, Rudolf, 33 + +Zupitza, Julius, 41 + + +THE END. + + * * * * * + +WYMAN AND SONS, PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET, LONDON, W.C. + + + + +CORRIGENDA. + +{Transcriber's note: These corrections have been made in the transcribed +text, except the first, which refers to a page heading.} + +Page 103, Heading, _for_ "Anglican" _read_ "Anglian." + + " 115, line 22, _for_ "vora" _read_ "wora." + + " 150, " 23, _for_ "Lombarde" _read_ "Lambarde." + + " 154, " 16, _for_ "History" _read_ "history." + + " 208, " 12, _for_ "translations" _read_ "translation." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Anglo-Saxon Literature, by John Earle + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANGLO-SAXON LITERATURE *** + +***** This file should be named 17101-8.txt or 17101-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/1/0/17101/ + +Produced by David Starner, Louise Pryor and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |