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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of On Some Ancient Battle-Fields in Lancashire, by 
-Charles Hardwick
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-Title: On Some Ancient Battle-Fields in Lancashire
-       And Their Historical, Legendary, and Aesthetic Associations.
-
-Author: Charles Hardwick
-
-Release Date: October 2, 2012 [EBook #40918]
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+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40918 ***
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of On Some Ancient Battle-Fields in Lancashire, by 
-Charles Hardwick
-
-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: On Some Ancient Battle-Fields in Lancashire
-       And Their Historical, Legendary, and Aesthetic Associations.
-
-Author: Charles Hardwick
-
-Release Date: October 2, 2012 [EBook #40918]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT BATTLE-FIELDS IN LANCASHIRE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by sp1nd, Mebyon, Paul Clark and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-    Transcriber's Note:
-
-    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully
-    as possible, including some inconsistencies of hyphenation. Some
-    changes of spelling and punctuation have been made.  They are listed
-    at the end of the text. The errors listed in the Errata have been
-    fixed.
-
-    Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.
-
-
-
-
-ANCIENT BATTLE-FIELDS.
-
-
-
-
- ON SOME
- ANCIENT
- BATTLE-FIELDS IN LANCASHIRE
- AND THEIR
- HISTORICAL, LEGENDARY, AND AESTHETIC ASSOCIATIONS.
-
- BY
-
- CHARLES HARDWICK,
-
- Author of a "History of Preston and its Environs," "Traditions,
- Superstitions and Folk-Lore," "Manual for Patrons and Members of
- Friendly Societies," &c.
-
- MANCHESTER:
- ABEL HEYWOOD & SON, OLDHAM STREET.
- LONDON:
- SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & Co., STATIONERS' HALL COURT.
- 1882.
-
-
-
-
- TO
-
- GEORGE MILNER, ESQ., PRESIDENT,
-
- AND TO THE COUNCIL AND MEMBERS OF THE
-
- MANCHESTER LITERARY CLUB,
-
- THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY ONE OF ITS FOUNDERS.
-
- CHARLES HARDWICK.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE.
-
-
-To the transactions of the Manchester Literary Club (1875-8) I
-contributed four papers on "Some Ancient Battle-fields in Lancashire."
-These essays form the _nuclei_ of the four chapters of the present
-volume. Their original scope, however, has been much extended, and the
-evidences there adduced largely augmented. I have likewise endeavoured
-to still further fortify and illustrate my several positions, by
-citations from well-known, and many recent, labourers in similar or
-cognate fields of enquiry.
-
-I am aware that the precise locality of any given battle-field is of
-relatively little interest to the general historian, the causes of the
-conflict and its political results demanding the largest share of his
-attention. Consequently, doubtful topographical features are often
-either completely ignored, or but slightly referred to. Such a course,
-however, is not permissible to the local student. Scarcely anything
-can be too trifling, in a certain sense, to be unworthy of some
-investigation on his part. This is especially the case with respect to
-legendary stories, and traditional beliefs. Their interest is
-intensified, it is true, to the local reader or student, but the lessons
-they teach, on patient enquiry, will often be found in harmony with
-larger or more general truths, and of which truths they often form apt
-illustrations. "Alas!" truly exclaimed "Verax," in one of his recent
-letters in the _Manchester Weekly Times_, "it is hard to disengage
-ourselves from inherited illusions. They become a part of our being, and
-falsify the standard of comparison." Modern science may be able to
-demonstrate that many of the conceptions respecting physical phenomena
-dealt with in these legendary stories are utterly at variance with now
-well-known facts. This may be perfectly true, but human nature is
-influenced in its action, quite as much by its faiths, beliefs, and
-superstitions, as by the more exact knowledge it may have acquired.
-Subjective truths are as true, as mere facts or actualities, as
-objective ones. Thomas Carlyle forcibly expresses this when he
-asks--"Was Luther's picture of the devil _less a reality_, whether it
-were formed within the bodily eye, or without it?" Mr. J. R. Green, in
-his "Making of England," says--"Legend, if it distorts facts, preserves
-accurately enough the _impressions_ of a vanished time." And these
-impressions being emotionally true, whether scientifically correct or
-not, have ever been, and will continue to be, powerful factors in the
-formation of character, and in the progressive development of
-humanity,--morally, socially, and politically. Our predecessors felt
-their influence and acted accordingly, and many of the presumedly
-exploded old superstitions survive amongst the mass of mankind to a much
-greater degree than we often acknowledge or even suspect; although many
-of their more repulsive forms may have undergone superficial
-transformation amongst the more educated classes.
-
-Referring to superstitious legendary reverence as a marked feature in
-the religious characteristics of the seventeenth century, the author of
-"John Inglesant, a Romance," places in the mouth of the rector of the
-English College, at Rome, in the seventeenth century, the following
-words:--"These things are true to each of us according as we see them;
-they are, in fact, but shadows and likenesses of the absolute truth that
-reveals itself to man in different ways, but always imperfectly, as in a
-glass."
-
-The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that, in the year 685, "it rained
-blood in Britain, and milk and butter were turned into blood."
-Of course, educated persons do not believe this _now_; but our
-conventionally educated predecessors did, and their conduct was sensibly
-influenced by such belief. The Chinese think themselves much superior
-personages, in very many respects, to the "barbarian" European, yet the
-following paragraph "went the round of the papers" during May, in the
-present year:--"The Kaiping coal mines have been closed in deference to
-the opinion expressed by the Censor, that the continued working of them
-would release the earth dragon, disturb the manes of the empress, and
-bring trouble upon the imperial family."
-
-From the very nature of many of the subjects investigated, and the
-character of the only available evidence, some of the inferences drawn
-in the following pages can only be regarded as probabilities, and others
-as merely possibilities, and they are put forth with no higher
-pretensions. In such matters dogmatical insistence is out of place, and
-I have studiously endeavoured to avoid it.
-
- C. H.
-
- 72, Talbot Street, Moss Side, Manchester.
- August, 1882.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
-CHAPTER I.--Early Historical and Legendary Battles.
-
-_The Arthur of History and Legend. King Arthur's presumed Victories on
-the Douglas, near Wigan and Blackrod._
-
-Historical works are chiefly records of battles, squabbles and intrigues
-of diplomatists and politicians. More details now required as to the
-domestic habits and conditions of the people, and the degree and kind of
-intellectual and moral culture which obtained at any given period of
-their history. Progress of man from the savage to a more civilized
-condition. Records of many battles survive, the sites of which are
-either unknown or involved in the greatest obscurity. Many genuine
-historical events are inextricably interwoven with mythical and
-traditionary legends. The Roman conquest of the Brigantes. Remains of
-some of these conflicts in Lancashire. The narratives of Gildas,
-Nennius, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and some others, combinations of historic
-truths with a mass of tradition, superstition, and artistic fiction.
-Wales the birthplace of much of European medićval fiction. Views of Sig.
-Panizzi, Professor Henry Morley, Mr. E. B. Tylor, and Mr. Fiske. The
-Arthurian legends the "source of one of the purest streams of English
-poetry." Notwithstanding untrustworthy strictly historical elements,
-they enshrine much genuine legendary national faith as well as
-superstition. The Rev. John Whitaker's belief in Arthur's historical
-verity. Other advocates of this view: Mr. Haigh, Henry of Huntingdon and
-Professor Fergusson. Arthur's traditionary tomb at Glastonbury, opened
-A.D. 1189. Mr. Haigh's exposition of the fraud then practised. Welsh
-traditions thereon. The Rev. R. W. Morgan's views. William of Newbury's
-contempt for Geoffrey's fictions. Shakspere's almost total absence of
-reference to Arthur. Sir Edward Strachey's comments on the erroneous
-geography in Sir Thomas Malory's work. Mr. J. R. Green's views. Sir G.
-W. Dasent, on the paucity of trustworthy historic record from about
-A.D. 420 to A.D. 730. The deeds of other heroes, especially those of
-Urien, of Rheged, assigned to Arthur by the medićval romance writers.
-Doubts as to the authenticity of the authorship and dates of the
-composition of the works of Gildas and Nennius discussed. No mention of
-Arthur by either Gildas or the Venerable Bede. Mr. Haigh's defence of
-the old histories, and his conjectures as to the authors. Nennius says
-the second, third, fourth, and fifth of Arthur's twelve great victories
-were gained on the banks "of a river called Duglas, in the region
-Linuis." The Rev. John Whitaker's contention that these battles were
-fought on the Douglas, near Wigan and Blackrod. The archćological and
-traditional details advanced in support thereof. Opening of the huge
-barrow "Hasty Knoll," and excavations at Parson's Meadow and Pool
-Bridge, in the last century, where remains were found, which Whitaker
-and others regarded as conclusive evidence that some ancient battles had
-been fought in the localities. Derivation of the word Wigan. Geoffrey's
-single battle on the Douglas, in which Arthur defeated Colgrin. Mr.
-Haigh's arguments respecting the dates of these conflicts. His advocacy
-of the Wigan sites, and identification of another battle on "the river
-Bassas," _i.e._, Bashall Brook, near Clitheroe. His hypothesis that Ince
-is a corruption of Linuis. Probability of the exploits of Cadwallon or
-Cadwalla, king of the Western Britons, being inextricably interwoven
-with the legendary ones of the heroes of the Arthurian romances. Views
-of Lappenberg. Mr. H. H. Howorth and Mr. Haigh on the appropriation by
-the Britons and Danes of the deeds and heroes of their enemies or
-neighbours. Hollingworth, in his "Mancuniensis," refers to the Roman
-conquests in the district by Petilius Cerealis, and afterwards speaks of
-Arthur's great victory near Wigan, and gives credence to the legends
-about the giant Tarquin, his castle at Manchester, and his combats with
-some of Arthur's knights. Bishop Percy on the historical truth
-underlying legend in such ancient ballads as "Chevy Chase," and the
-confusion of incidents and heroes. Professor Boyd Dawkins on "the date
-of the conquest of South Lancashire by the English." Mr. J. R. Green's
-views. During the seventh century many sanguinary battles were fought,
-the sites of which are now unascertainable. Ethelfirth's great victory
-at Bangor-Iscoed. Some of the struggles of this period may have been
-absorbed by the romance writers into their stock of Arthurian legends.
-The Rev. John Whitaker and Tarquin's castle at Manchester. Sir
-"Launcelot du Lake." Martin Mere. Gradual growth of legendary heroic
-fiction. Mr. Tylor's view. The Arthurian legends enshrine some of the
-oldest Aryan myths, and are the source of some of our noblest poetry.
-Sir George Ellis on the foundation of mythic legends. Mr. Fiske on
-artistic legendary development. Mr. E. A. Freeman and Mr. Fiske on the
-historical and legendary Charlemagne. Some of the deeds of Charlemagne,
-probably absorbed into the latter Arthurian legends. Mr. H. H. Howorth
-on Saxo-Grammaticus. Historical and legendary Cromwells, Alexanders, and
-Taliesens. Mr. Kains-Jackson on Arthurian accretions. Mr. F. Metcalfe on
-Alfred the Great and trial by jury. "The famous story of Theophilus."
-The Rev. Sir G. W. Cox on the distribution of ancient Aryan mythic
-heroes. Historical novels. Opinions thereon of Sir Francis Palgrave,
-Dean Milman, Arminius Vámbéry, and Leslie Stephen. Historic and ćsthetic
-truth distinct but not antagonistic. The ideal and the real, or
-subjective and objective truths. Shakspere's treatment in the character
-of Macbeth. Artistic truths not necessarily individual or strictly
-biographical or historical facts, but result from wider generalisation,
-and possess an inherent or subjective vitality of their own. Views of
-Thos. Carlyle, Gervinus, R. N. Wornum, Dr. Dickson White, M. Mallet, and
-Tennyson. Nennius's tenth battle, said by some, but on very inconclusive
-evidence, to have been fought on the Ribble.
-
-
-CHAPTER II.--The Defeat and Death of King Oswald, of Northumbria, by the
-Pagan Mercian King, Penda, at Maserfeld (A.D. 642.)
-
-_The Legend of the Wild Boar, "the Monster in former ages which prowled
-over the neighbourhood of Winwick, inflicting injury on Man and Beast."_
-
-The Venerable Bede and the Saxon Chronicle's account of the battle. The
-site disputed. Some suggest Winwick, in Lancashire, others Oswestry, in
-Shropshire. Dean Howson's suggestion. Different orthographies and
-etymologies of the name Maserfeld. The subject phonetically and
-topographically considered. Views of Mr. Roberts and Mr. Howell W.
-Lloyd. St. Oswald's Well, at Winwick. Its sanctity and legendary
-connection with the death of St. Oswald. The inscription on the church
-dedicated to St. Oswald. Hollingworth's view, in "Mancuniensis."
-Geoffrey of Monmouth's statement that the battle was fought at a place
-called Burne. Oswald's previous victory over Cadwalla at Heavenfield.
-Bede's narrative, and his relation of the miracles performed by the
-Saint's bones, and even the earth taken from the spot on which he fell.
-Curious coincidence revealed during the excavations at "Castle Hill,"
-Penworthan, in 1856. Penda, not Oswald, the aggressor, consequently the
-site of the battle-field may be presumed to be within the Northumbrian
-rather than the Mercian territory. Bryn, Brun, or Burne in the Fee of
-Makerfield. The great barrow or tumulus called "Castle Hill," near
-Newton. Nennius says the battle was fought at Cocboy. Cockedge.
-Latchford. Probable etymology. Professor Dwight Whitney on the
-difficulties inherent in topographical etymology. Winwick, a place of
-victory. At "Winfield" Herman defeated Varus, A.D. 10. Present
-appearance of the "Castle Hill." Mr. Baines and Dr. Kendrick's
-descriptions. Opening of the tumulus in 1843. Description of its
-contents by the Rev. Mr. Sibson and Dr. Kendrick. A burial mound haunted
-by the ghost of a "White Lady." Traditionary burial-place of Alfred the
-Great. Professor Fergusson and B. E. Hildebrand on the contents of Odin
-and Frey's "howes," near Upsala, opened in 1846-7. Similarity to those
-found at "Castle Hill." Dr. Robson's description of two burial mounds
-opened at Arbury, in 1859-60. The contents consisted of burnt bones and
-wood, rude pottery, a stone hammer-head, and a bronze dart. Etymology of
-Arbury. The "Mote Hill," at Warrington, removed in 1852. Opinions
-respecting the date of this tumulus of Pennant, Ormerod, W. T. Watkin,
-and John Whitaker. The Rev. Mr. Sibson thought it a "tumulus or
-burial-place, raised after the battle fought at Winwick." Dr. Kendrick's
-description of its contents. Christian and Pagan modes of sepulture
-contrasted. Description of the latter in "Beowulf," the oldest
-Anglo-Saxon poem extant. Date of first erection of a church at Winwick
-unknown. The date of the erection of the church at Oswestry. St.
-Oswald's church, according to Domesday book held "two carucates of land
-_exempt from all taxation_." In 1828, three large human skeletons found
-eight or ten feet below the floor of the chancel, uncoffined, and
-covered with a heap of large stones. St. Oswald's Well. Opinions of
-Baines respecting the saint's wells at Winwick and Oswestry. "Cae Naef,"
-or "Heaven's Field," site of Oswald's previous victory over Cadwalla.
-Dennis-brook. Sharon-Turner, Camden and Dr. Smith's views of this site.
-Some of the Oswestry traditions evidently have reference to Oswald's
-previous victory. The dedication of the church to St. Oswald could not
-have proceeded from the then British Christians. Contests between the
-disciples of Augustine and Paulinus, and the earlier British Church. The
-Welsh word "tre" means simply hamlet, homestead. Penda's defeat in the
-following year near the river Vinwid. Mr. T. Baines's conjecture as to
-the site being near Winwick. The evidence, however, conclusive as to
-Winwidfield, near Leeds. Mr. J. R. Green on Oswald's and Penda's policy.
-Cromwell's victory at "Red Bank," near Winwick, in 1648. Supposed crest
-of Oswald. Rude sculpture of a "chained hog." Baines's legend of a
-"monster in former ages, which prowled over the neighbourhood inflicting
-injury on man and beast." Other demon-hogs. Mythical monsters,
-"harvest-blasters," huge worms, serpents, dragons, and wild boars,
-common in the North of England. Several instances cited. Mr. Haigh's
-argument as to the site of the poem Beowulf being near Hartlepool,
-Durham. Dr. Phene on Scandinavian and Pictish customs on the
-Anglo-Scottish Border. Aryan myths of the lightning and the storm cloud.
-Mr. Walter Kelly on ancient Aryan personifications of natural phenomena.
-Stormy winds, howling dogs or wolves. The ravages of the whirlwind that
-tore up the earth, the "_work of a wild boar_." Lancashire superstition
-that pigs can "see the wind." Monstrous boar slain in the Greek legend
-of the Kalydonian hunt. Origin of modern heraldry. Totems or beast
-symbols amongst many ancient as well as modern nations or tribes.
-Instances. Views of Mr. E. B. Tylor, the Rev. Isaac Taylor, and others.
-The boar favourite helmet crest or totem amongst the Teutonic invaders.
-Sacred to the goddess Freya. The "_boar of war_." Illustrations from the
-Anglo-Saxon poems Beowulf, the Battle of Finsburgh, the Scandinavian
-Edda, and the ancient British poem Gododin. The boar probably the crest
-of Penda. St. Anthony's pig. Re-crystallisation of ancient myths around
-relatively more modern nuclei. Illustrations from the works of
-Keightley, Mackenzie, Wallace, Bishop Percy, Sir John Lubbock, Arminius
-Vámbéry, John Fiske, and the Vedic hymns. Origin of modern surnames.
-Many beast, bird, or flower symbols. Examples. Shakspere's reference to
-the bear symbol of the Earl of Warwick and the boar of Richard III.
-"Pitris," or ancestral spirits. Their supposed action in the storm and
-the battle-field. Icelandic kindred customs and superstitions. Professor
-Gervinus on the importance and conditions of such critical enquiry.
-Views of Professor Tyndall and Mr. J. A. Farrar.
-
-
-CHAPTER III.--Battles in the Valley of the Ribble near Whalley and
-Clitheroe.
-
-_Wada's Defeat by King Eardulph, at Billangahoh (Langho,) A.D. 798, and
-Contemporary Prophetic Superstitions. The Victory of the Scots at
-Edisford Bridge in 1138. Civil War Incidents during the struggle between
-Charles I. and the English Parliament._
-
-Wada's defeat recorded in the Saxon Chronicle and by Simeon of Durham.
-The Murder of Ethelred (A.D. 794) by Wada and other conspirators. The
-murderous and lawless characteristics of the age illustrated.
-Sharon-Turner's summary of these characteristics. Superstitious
-forewarnings: whirlwinds, lightnings, and fiery dragons. Ravages of
-Danish pirates. Treasons and civil wars. The locality of Wada's defeat
-undisputed. The names of places still retained, with only such phonetic
-changes as philologists anticipate. A probable ancestor of Wada
-mentioned in the "Traveller's Tale." The Legend of St. Christopher.
-Other chieftains referred to in the same poem: "Hwala, once the best."
-and Billing who "ruled the Woerns." Watling-street. Wade and his boats.
-Beautiful scenery in the Ribble valley around the battle-field. Tumuli.
-One superficially opened by Dr. Whitaker, without result. When the mound
-was entirely removed in 1836, the remains of a buried chieftain
-(probably Alric son of Herbert) were discovered. Tradition concerning
-the battle. Two other "lowes" or "mounds," apparently tumuli, on the
-opposite bank of the river. Some confusion in the descriptive references
-to these mounds. Observations of Dr. Whitaker, Canon Raines, Mr. Abram
-and others. Second visit of the present writer to the locality in 1876.
-Curious circular agger. Supposed ancient artificial grout at "Brockhole
-Wood-end." Geological phenomena. Possibly the "lowes" outliers of the
-partially denuded glacial "drift." Further excavations necessary.
-Probable direction of the battle. Dr. Whitaker's argument as to the
-southern boundary of the ancient kingdom of Northumbria discussed. Mr.
-J. R. Green on Anglo-Saxon bishoprics. King Eardulph dethroned. Other
-superstitious warnings attendant thereon. Patriotism and rebellion. The
-fight at Edisford Bridge in 1138. The Bashall Brook the "Bassus"
-according to Mr. Haigh. Bungerley "hyppingstones." Capture of Henry VI.,
-after the battle of Hexham in 1464, by the Talbots of Bashall and
-Salesbury. Civil war incidents during the struggle between Charles I.
-and the English Parliament. Cromwellian traditions respecting the
-destruction of Clitheroe and Bury castles. Captain John Hodgson's
-details of Cromwell's march by Clitheroe and Stonyhurst to the great
-battle at Preston.
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.--Athelstan's great Victory at Brunanburh, A.D. 937, and its
-connection with the great Anglo-Saxon and Danish Hoard, discovered at
-Cuerdale in 1840.
-
-Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian invasions of Britain. First arrival of the
-Danes, A.D. 787. The Anglo-Saxons and Ancient British inhabitants
-Christians, the Scandinavians Pagans. Savage warfare of the period.
-Progress of the invasion. Ella, king of Northumbria and Ragnar Lodbrog.
-The real and mythic Ragnar. Halfden's settlements in Northumbria.
-Athelstan succeeds to the throne of Wessex and its dependencies.
-Submission of the Welsh and Scots. Marriage of Editha, Athelstan's
-sister, to Sihtric, king of Northumbria. Sihtric's relapse into paganism
-and repudiation of his queen. Sudden death of Sihtric. Athelstan's
-vengeance falls upon his sons by a former wife, Anlaf and Godefrid, the
-former of whom fled to Ireland, and the latter sought refuge with
-Constantine, king of the Scots. Athelstan dominant king of all Britain.
-Revolt of the Scottish king and his defeat. Powerful combination of
-Athelstan's enemies. Their defeat and rout at Brunanburh. Difficulty as
-to the exact date of the battle. British Christian chiefs, as on
-previous occasions, espoused the cause of the pagan invaders, and fought
-against their hated rivals of the party of St. Augustine. Defeat of
-Athelstan's two governors, Gudrekir and Alfgeirr. Athelstan's arrival at
-Brunanburh. Anlaf's stratagem in the guise of a harper. Similar story
-related of King Alfred. Improbability of both being historically true.
-Mr. T. Metcalfe's doubts on the subject. Anlaf's midnight assault of
-Athelstan's camp frustrated. Details of the great battle. Total rout of
-Anlaf and his allies. Five "youthful kings" and seven of Anlaf's earls
-slain. Flight of Anlaf to Dublin. Importance of the victory. The famous
-Anglo-Saxon poem. Claims to the title of first king of England
-discussed. The causes of the site of the battle being at the present day
-merely conjectural. The influence of the battle after Danish and
-Norman-French conquests. Suppression of evidence. Henry of Huntingdon's
-views on the subject. Mr. D. Haigh on the destruction of ancient Runic
-inscriptions by the disciples of Augustine and other Christian
-missionaries. Archbishop Parker's labours in the saving of Anglo-Saxon
-MSS. from destruction in the sixteenth century. John Bale's account in
-1549 of the wholesale destruction of MSS. during his day. Thorpe, Dr.
-Grundtvig, and J. M. Kemble's testimony to the ignorance of the
-Anglo-Norman copyists. The great "Cuerdale find" in May, 1840. Mr.
-Hawkins's description of the treasure. Its great value at the time of
-its deposit. The latest coins minted a short time previously to the
-great battle of Brunanburh. Dr. Worsaae's analysis of the "hoard."
-Various places suggested as the probable site of the battle: Colecroft,
-near Axminster, Devonshire; near Beverley, and at Aldborough, Yorkshire;
-Ford, near Bromeridge, Northumberland; Banbury, Oxfordshire; Bourne,
-Brumby, and the neighbourhood of Barton-on-Humber, Lincolnshire. A
-Bambro', a Bambury, and some other places have likewise found advocates.
-Their respective claims discussed. The present writer's position that
-the Cuerdale hoard was buried owing to the disastrous defeat of the
-allies under Anlaf near the "pass of the Ribble." The tradition
-respecting its burial and non-disinterment. The three fords at the
-"pass," at Cuerdale, Walton, and Penwortham, opposite Preston. Evidence
-of the coins. Discovery of Roman remains at Walton, in 1855. Revival of
-the tradition. The hoard at Cuerdale all silver. Finds of Roman hoards
-not uncommon in the county. Other battles known to have been fought in
-the neighbourhood. Two great Roman roads, and some vicinal ways pass
-near the locality. From the positions of the belligerents, the "pass of
-the Ribble" a very probable site of the conflict. The certainty of its
-having taken place in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Anlaf, the
-Dane, ruling chief of Dublin, head of the Confederacy. The ports of
-Ribble and Wyre suitable for the landing of his vessels, and for his
-after escape to Dublin. From a topographical and military point of view,
-"the pass of the Ribble" a very probable site of the conflict. The name
-Brunanburh, in some presumedly corrupted form, very common. Examples.
-Name of place of conflict variously written by the older historians.
-Doomsday book defective in South Lancashire, in consequence of its
-ravaged condition; still many corrupted names remain to furnish
-important etymological evidence in favour of the author's position.
-These evidences and readings in old maps and deeds discussed in detail.
-Origin of the names Brindle (Brunhull, in Saxton's map); Bamber
-(Brunber), Brownedge (Brunedge). Mr. Weddle's view that Weondune is a
-mistake for Weordune. Origin of the names Wearden and Cuerden.
-Etymological and philological evidence considered. Probable modern
-remains of Ethrunnanwerch in Etherington and Rothelsworth. Other names
-of places in Lancashire which require consideration. Proofs that the
-battle was fought not far from the sea shore and not in the interior of
-the country. Other evidence of Athelstan's connection with the district.
-His grant of Amounderness to the Cathedral church at York, A.D. 930. The
-Harleian MSS. "Mundana Mutabilia," of the early part of the seventeenth
-century. Tumulus named "Pickering Castle," near Roman vicinal way.
-Etymological origin of the word "Pickering" discussed. "Pickering
-Castle," a probable corruption of "Bickering Castle," or the castle or
-tumulus of the battle-field. Ancient stone coffin in Brindle
-church-yard. Discovery of Ancient British burial urns at "Low Hill,"
-near Over Darwen, in 1867. Ancient traditions respecting a battle in the
-neighbourhood of Tockholes in Roddlesworth valley. Concluding remarks in
-support of the view that the country south of the "Pass of the Ribble"
-is the most probable site of Athelstan's great victory. More recent
-battles in the neighbourhood. Bruce's foray in 1323, Cromwell's victory
-in 1648, and Milton's sonnet thereon. The number of troops engaged.
-Legends connected with the battle. The Siege of Preston under Wells and
-Carpenter in 1715. March of the "Young Pretender," in 1745. Doggrel
-ballad: "Long Preston Peggy to Proud Preston went."
-
-
-APPENDIX.
-
-The disposal of St. Oswald's remains. The dun bull, the badge of the
-Nevilles. The Genesis of Myths. Anglo-Saxon Helmet.
-
-
-
-
-ERRATA.
-
-
-On page 51, line 21, insert marks of quotation (") after--"_or without
-it_."
-
-Transpose the note on page 65, beginning--"_Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon
-Dictionary_," to page 64, and place the * after "_massacre, etc._," at
-the end of the sixth line from the bottom of the text.
-
-Transpose the note commencing on page 64 to page 65.
-
-For "_Downham_ IN _Yorkshire_" (page 143, fourteenth line from the
-bottom), read "_Downham_ INTO _Yorkshire_."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-EARLY HISTORICAL AND LEGENDARY BATTLES.
-
-THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY, LEGEND, AND ART. KING ARTHUR'S PRESUMED VICTORIES
-ON THE DOUGLAS, NEAR WIGAN AND BLACKROD.
-
-
-It has often been remarked, and with some truth, that our standard
-historical works, until very recent times at least, contained little
-more than the details of battles, the squabbles and intrigues of
-diplomatists and politicians, and the pedigrees of potentates, imperial
-or otherwise. Now-a-days we seek to know more of the domestic habits and
-conditions of the mass of the population, and the degree and kind of
-intellectual and moral culture which obtained amongst a people at any
-given period of their history. But man's advance from the savage to his
-present relatively civilized condition has been one of fierce and
-sanguinary strife, and the piratical and freebooting instincts which he
-inherited, along with some of his nobler attributes and aspirations,
-from his remote ancestors, are by no means extinguished at the present
-time, although, in their practical exhibition, they may generally assume
-a somewhat more decorous exterior. Still, courage and physical
-endurance, however rude and uncouth in outward aspect, as well as
-heroism of a higher mental or moral order, ever possessed, and ever will
-possess, a strange and uncontrollable fascination; and the associations,
-social, political, or religious, attendant upon the more prominent of
-the bloody struggles of the past, excite, in a most powerful degree, the
-emotional as well as the imaginative elements of our being. This is
-notoriously the case when any special interest is superinduced, national
-or provincial. "All men naturally feel more interested in the historical
-associations of their own race than they do in those of any other
-portion of mankind. The soil daily trodden by the foot of any reflecting
-being,--the locality with whose present struggles, progress or decay, he
-is practically acquainted,--whose traditions and folk-lore were first
-fixed in his memory and his heart, long before more exact knowledge or
-cultivated judgment enabled him to test their accuracy or correctly
-weigh their value,--must possess historic reminiscences not only capable
-of commanding his attention, by exciting in the imaginative faculty
-agreeable and healthy sensations, but of teaching him valuable lessons
-in profound practical wisdom."[1]
-
-It might be said, without much exaggeration, that if the soil could be
-endowed with vocal utterance, we might learn that the surface area of
-the earth which has _not_ sustained the shock of battle at some period
-of the world's history is not very much greater than that which has felt
-the tread of armed men in deadly conflict. In the early historic and
-pre-historic times, when clan or sept fought, as a matter of course,
-against clan or sept, for the privilege of existence or the means to
-secure it; or when baron or other chieftain "levied private war" against
-his neighbour, from ambition, passion or greed, numberless fierce and
-bloody struggles must have taken place of which no record has been
-preserved.
-
-The _names_ of many important ancient battle-fields have been handed
-down to the present time, the sites of which are either utterly unknown
-or involved in great obscurity. Some genuine historical events have been
-so inextricably interwoven with the mythical and traditionary legends of
-our forefathers, that it is now impossible to detect with exactness the
-residuum of historical truth therein contained. The battle-fields and
-all authentic record of the battles themselves amongst the inhabitants
-of Britain prior to the Roman conquest are, of course, utterly lost in
-the gloom of the past. Nay, we know, with certainty, very few even of
-the sites of the struggles of the Britons with the victorious Roman
-legions. The locality we now denominate Lancashire was, at that time,
-inhabited by the Volantii and the Sistuntii, Setantii, or Segantii, and
-was included in the "country of the Brigantes," a numerous and warlike
-tribe which frequently "measured blades" with the imperial troops. There
-exists, however, no record to inform us where any specific conflict took
-place, notwithstanding the numerous archćological remains which attest
-the after-presence of the conquerors. Yet we know on the best authority
-that the Brigantes espoused the cause of the Iceni, who inhabited the
-Norfolk of the present day, and were defeated by Ostorius Scapula, in
-the reign of Claudius. Soon after the death of Galba, an insurrection
-broke out amongst them, headed by a chief named Venutius, who had
-married the Brigantine queen, Cartismandua, a woman infamous in British
-history as the betrayer of the brave but unfortunate Caractacus. This
-royal lady likewise played false with her husband, but Fortune refused
-to smile on her second perfidy. She escaped with difficulty to the
-territory occupied by her Roman allies, and Venutius remained master of
-the "country of the Brigantes," and for a considerable time successfully
-resisted the progress of the imperial arms. Petilius Cerealis, however,
-in the reign of Vespatian, after a sanguinary conflict, added the
-greater portion of the Brigantine territory to the Roman province. The
-final conquest was effected about the year 79, by Julius Agricola, in
-the reign of Domitian. Remains of stations established by him are
-numerous in Lancashire. On Extwistle Moor, about five miles to the east
-of Burnley, and about the same distance south of Caster-cliff, a Roman
-station, near Colne, are the remains of two Roman camps and three
-tumuli. The sites are marked in the ordnance map. A few years ago, in
-company with my friend, the late T. T. Wilkinson, I visited this
-locality and inspected the remains. In the transactions of the Historic
-Society of Lancashire, for 1865-6, I described and figured an ancient
-British urn, taken from one of these tumuli. It was in the possession of
-the late Mr. R. Townley Parker, of Cuerden, the owner of the estate. In
-the same paper I have described and figured British remains, including
-about ten cremated interments and a bronze spear-head, found in a mound
-on the Whitehall estate, contiguous to Low Hill House, near Over Darwen,
-the property of Mr. Ellis Shorrock. Similar tumuli have been opened in
-several other places in the county, to which further reference will be
-made. From these remains it is not improbable some of the struggles of
-the Brigantes with the imperial legions took place in these localities,
-or they may have been ordinary burial places of distinguished chieftains
-and their relatives.
-
-After the departure of the Roman legions and their attendant
-auxiliaries, history becomes inextricably allied to, and interwoven
-with, legend and romance. The marvellous narratives of the elder
-"historians," such as Gildas, Nennius, and Geoffrey of Monmouth, may
-have some substratum of fact underlying an immense mass of tradition,
-superstition, and artistic fiction. In the endeavour to unravel this
-complicated web, much ingenuity and valuable time have been expended,
-with but relatively barren results, at least so far as the so-called
-"strictly historical element" is concerned. Mr. E. B. Tylor, in his
-"Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of
-Civilization," referring to the value of "Historical Traditions and
-Myths of Observation" to the ethnologist, says--"His great difficulty in
-dealing with them is to separate the fact and the fiction, which are
-both so valuable in their different ways; and this difficulty is
-aggravated by the circumstance that these two elements are often mixed
-up in a most complex manner, myths presenting themselves in the dress
-of historical narrative, and historical facts growing into the wildest
-myths." The reputed deeds of Arthur and his "Knights of the Round Table"
-have not only given birth to our most famous medićval romances, but they
-have furnished the laureate with themes for several of his more
-delightful poetic effusions. Professor Henry Morley, in his "English
-Writers," regards Geoffrey's work as "a natural issue of its time, and
-the source of one of the purest streams of English poetry." Indeed, it
-appears to be the opinion of many scholars, including Mr. J. D. Harding,
-Rev. T. Price, and Sig. Panizzi, late chief librarian of the British
-Museum, that the entire European cycle of romance "originated in Welsh
-invention or tradition." The last named, in his "Essay on the Narrative
-Poetry of the Italians," prefixed to his edition of Boiardo and Ariosto,
-distinctly states that "all the chivalrous fictions since spread through
-Europe appear to have had their birth in Wales." Mr. Fiske, of Harvard
-University, in his "Myths and Myth-makers," referring to the Greek
-tradition concerning the "Return of the Herakleids," says "it is
-undoubtedly as unworthy of credit as the legend of Hengist and Horsa;
-yet, like the latter, it doubtless embodies a historical occurrence."
-Such may likewise be the case with some of the battles known from
-tradition to the early story-tellers, poets, or romance writers, who
-crystallized, as it were, all their floating warlike legends around the
-names of Arthur and his knights. Our medićval ancestors, with very few
-isolated exceptions, innocently accepted Geoffrey's wild assertions as
-sober historical facts, notwithstanding the gross ignorance and
-falsehood patent in many passages, and the childish superstition and
-credulity which characterise others. Indeed, only about a century ago,
-the Rev. Jno. Whitaker, the historian of Manchester, placed so much
-faith in the statements of Nennius and Geoffrey, that he regarded their
-Arthur as a really historical personage, and he fixed the sites of
-several of his presumed exploits in the county of Lancaster. There may
-undoubtedly have existed, nay, there probably did exist, a British
-chieftain who fought against Teutonic invaders during some portion of
-the two or three centuries occupied in the Anglo-Saxon conquest, whose
-name was Arthur, but his deeds, whatever may have been their extent or
-character, have been so exaggerated and interwoven with far more ancient
-mythical stories, and confounded with those of other warriors, that his
-individuality or personality, in a truly _historical_ sense, is
-apparently lost.
-
-Indeed, Mr. Haigh expressly says--"There was another Arthur, a son of
-Mouric, king of Glamorgan, mentioned in the register of Llandaff." In
-his "History of the Conquest of Britain by the Saxons," by altering the
-time of the "coming of the Angles" to A.D. 428, "in accordance with a
-date supplied by the earliest authority," and of the accession of Arthur
-to A.D. 467, "in accordance with a date given by other authorities," he
-contends that "all anachronisms--involved in the system which is based
-upon the dates in the Saxon Chronicle and the Annals of Cambria,--have
-disappeared one after another; every successive event has fallen into
-its proper place; the Saxon Chronicle and the Brut have been proved
-accordant; and the result is a perfectly connected and consistent
-history, such as has never yet been expected, vindicating the truth of
-our early historians, and showing that authentic materials formed the
-substance of their Chronicles." In another place he contends that, by
-adapting his chronology, "a foundation of historic truth" is discovered
-"in stories which have hitherto been looked upon as mere romances."[2]
-
-Notwithstanding this conviction, Mr. Haigh does not assume that all the
-legendary lore which has attached itself to the name of Arthur is of
-this character. Referring to the traditionary tomb of the hero, he thus
-fearlessly exposes the medićval imposture which sought to demonstrate
-the truth of the legend:--"An ancient sepulchre, intended by those who
-were interested in the search to prove itself the sepulchre of Arthur,
-was opened in A.D. 1189 (the last year of Henry II. and most probably
-the first of Abbot Henry de Soilly, under whom the search was made), in
-the cemetery at Glastonbury. There was on the one hand a superstition
-that he was not dead, and on the other a tradition that he was buried at
-Glastonbury; and it was the policy of Henry II. to establish the truth
-of the latter; and a search was ordered to be made in a spot which was
-sure to be crowned with success by the discovery of an interment. It was
-recognized as a sepulchre; indeed, distinctly marked as such by the
-pyramids (tapering pillar-stones), one at either end,--objects of
-curious interest on account of their venerable antiquity; and William
-of Malmsbury, thirty years before, (at a time when no suspicion that
-Arthur was buried there existed at Glastonbury), had recorded his belief
-that the bodies of those whose names were written on the monuments were
-contained in stone coffins within. To prove that this was the sepulchre
-of Arthur, nothing more was necessary than to forge an inscription,
-which might impose upon the credulity of the twelfth century, but which
-the archćological science of the nineteenth must condemn. The cross of
-lead, which served to identify the remains of Arthur and his queen is
-lost, but a representation of it has been preserved, sufficiently to
-show that its form and character were precisely such as were usual in
-the twelfth century, such as those discovered in the coffins of Prior
-Aylmer (who died A.D. 1137), and of Archbishop Theobald (who died A.D.
-1161), and in the cemetery of Bouteilles, near Dieppe, present. The
-pyramids appear to have resembled the Bewcastle and Ruthwell monuments;
-their age is determined by the names of King Centwine and Bishop
-Hedde,[3] inscribed on the smaller one; to have been the close of the
-seventh, or the beginning of the eighth century; and as the skeleton of
-a man and a woman were found in coffins hollowed out of the trunks of
-oak trees, it is probable that they were those of Wulfred and Eanfled,
-whose names occur in the inscription on the larger one."
-
-Welsh traditions and writers ignore the Glastonbury legend, and regard,
-in some way or other, Arthur as a being exempt from ordinary mortality.
-The Rev. R. W. Morgan, in his "Cambrian History," says,--"His farewell
-words to his knights--'I go hence in God's time, and in God's time I
-shall return,' created an invincible belief that God had removed him,
-like Enoch and Elijah, to Paradise without passing through the gate of
-death; and that he would at a certain period return, re-ascend the
-British throne, and subdue the whole world to Christ. The effects of
-this persuasion were as extraordinary as the persuasion itself,
-sustaining his countrymen under all reverses, and ultimately enabling
-them to realise its spirit by placing their own line of the Tudors on
-the throne. As late as A.D. 1492, it pervaded both England and Wales.
-'Of the death of Arthur, men yet have doubt,' writes Wynkyn de Worde, in
-his chronicle, 'and shall have for evermore, for as men say none wot
-whether he be alive or dead.' The aphanismus or disappearance of Arthur
-is a cardinal event in British history. The pretended discovery of his
-body and that of his queen Ginevra, at Glastonbury, was justly
-ridiculed by the Kymri as a Norman invention. Arthur has left his name
-to above six hundred localities in Britain."
-
-Mr. Haigh, whilst maintaining the substantial historical veracity of
-Arthur's invasion of France, nevertheless adds: "When we consider how
-miserably the history of the Britons has been corrupted, in the several
-editions through which it has passed, we cannot expect otherwise than
-that the Brut should have suffered through the blunders of scribes, and
-the occasional introduction of marginal notes, and even of extraneous
-matter into the text, in the course of six centuries. Such an
-interpolation, I believe, is the story of an adventure with a giant,
-with which Arthur is said to have occupied his leisure, whilst waiting
-for his allies at Barbefleur; and I think the reference to another
-giant-story (not in the Brut), with which it concludes, marks it as
-such. But I am convinced that the story of the Gallic campaign is a part
-of the original Brut, and is substantially true."
-
-Dr. James Fergusson, in his learned and elaborate work on the "Rude
-Stone Monuments of all Countries," although stoutly contending for the
-historical verity of the victories ascribed to Arthur by Nennius,
-somewhat brusquely rejects the Lancashire sites, because, on his visit
-to the localities indicated by Whitaker and others, he found no
-megalithic remains to support his ingenious hypothesis respecting
-battle-field memorials. He says "I am much more inclined to believe that
-Linnuis is only a barbarous Latinization of Linn, which in Gaelic and
-Irish means sea or lake. In Welsh it is Lyn, and in Anglo-Saxon Lin,
-and if this is so, 'In regione Linnuis' may mean in the Lake Country."
-However, he confesses he can find no river Duglas in that district, and
-in another sentence he regards the nearness of the sea to Wigan as an
-objectionable element on military grounds. I hold a contrary view. A
-defeated commander near Wigan had the great Roman road for retreat
-either to the north or south, besides the vicinal ways to Manchester and
-Ribchester. The objection, moreover, is valueless, from the simple fact
-that battles _have_ been fought in the localities, as is attested both
-by historic records and discovered remains.
-
-Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the earlier portion of the twelfth
-century, regarded Arthur as a genuine historical character, and
-attributed the then ignorance of precise localities of the twelve
-battles described by Nennius to "the Providence of God having so ordered
-it that popular applause and flattery, and transitory glory, might be of
-no account."
-
-William of Malmsbury, in the twelfth century, although evidently aware
-of the legendary character of the mass of the Arthurian stories, seems,
-however, to have had some confidence that a substratum of historic truth
-underlying or permeating the mass, might, with skill and diligence,
-eventually be extracted. Probably a few years before Geoffrey's work
-appeared, he writes--"That Arthur, about whom the idle tales of the
-Bretons (_nugć Britonum_) craze to this day, one worthy not to have
-misleading fables dreamed about him, but to be celebrated in true
-history, since he sustained for a long time his tottering country, and
-sharpened for war the broken spirit of his people."
-
-It is a remarkable circumstance that Shakspere, who has availed himself
-so profusely of the old historic and legendary records, as well as of
-the popular superstitions, with two trivial exceptions, which merely
-prove his acquaintance with the traditional hero, never refers to
-Arthur. The exceptions are so slight and even casual that they seem
-rather to confirm the probability that the great poet, in the main,
-endorsed the opinion of William of Newbury as to Geoffrey's presumed
-_historical_ verities. This critical monk, in the latter portion of the
-twelfth century, indignantly exclaims: "Moreover, in his book, that he
-calls the 'History of the Britons,' how saucily and how shamelessly he
-lies almost throughout, no one, unless ignorant of the old histories,
-when he falls upon that book can doubt. Therefore in all things we trust
-Bede, whose wisdom and sincerity are beyond doubt, so that fabler with
-his fables shall be straightway spat out by us all." The fact that the
-story of "Lear" is given pretty fully in Geoffrey's work in no way
-affects this conclusion, as Shakspere, in the construction of his plot,
-has followed an older drama and a ballad rather than the _soi-disant_
-Welsh historian. One allusion by Shakspere to Arthur is in the second
-part of "Henry IV." (Act 3, Scene 2), where Justice Shallow says: "I
-remember at Mile-end Green (when I lay at Clement's Inn, I was then Sir
-Dagonet in Arthur's Show)," &c. The other is in Act 2, Scene 4, of the
-second part of King Henry IV., when Falstaff enters the tavern in
-Eastcheap singing a scrap of an old ballad, as follows: "'_When Arthur
-first in court_'--Empty the jordan--'_And was a worthy king_'--[Exit
-Drawer.]--How now, Mistress Doll?"
-
-Sir Edward Strachey, in his introduction to the Globe edition of Sir
-Thomas Malory's "Morte D'Arthur," confesses that it is impossible to
-harmonise the geography of the work. This, however, is a very ordinary
-condition in most legendary stories, literary or otherwise. Speaking of
-the renowned Caerleon on Usk, he says--"It seems through this, as in
-other romances, to be inter-changeable in the author's mind with
-Carlisle, or (as written in its Anglo-Norman form) Cardoile, which
-latter, in the History of Merlin, is said to be in Wales, whilst
-elsewhere Wales and Cumberland are confounded in like manner. So of
-Camelot, where Arthur chiefly held his court, Caxton in his preface
-speaks as though it were in Wales, probably meaning Caerleon, where the
-Roman amphitheatre is still called Arthur's Round Table." Other
-geographical elements in the work are even more unsatisfactory. There
-is, indeed, a Carlion and a Cćrwent referred to in the Breton
-lai d'Ywenec, and the latter is said to be "on the Doglas," and was the
-capital city of Avoez, "lord of the surrounding country." Even, if the
-scene of the Breton romance be presumed to be in the present
-Monmouthshire, where we yet find the names Caerleon and Caerwint, still
-we have a claimant in the Scottish Douglas, as well as in the Lancashire
-river of that name.
-
-Mr. J. R. Green, in his recently published work, "The Making of
-England," says, "Mr. Skene, who has done much to elucidate these early
-struggles, has identified the sites of" (Arthurian) "battles with spots
-in the north (see his 'Celtic Scotland,' i. 153-154, and more at large
-his 'Four Ancient Books of Wales,' i. 55-58); but as Dr. Guest has
-equally identified them with districts in the south, the matter must
-still be looked upon as somewhat doubtful." The doubt is increased by
-the fact that Hollingworth, Mr. Haigh, the Rev. John Whitaker, and
-others, as well as local tradition, with equal confidence have
-identified some of the struggles with the Lancashire battle-fields now
-under consideration.
-
-Dr. Sir G. Webbe Dasent, in his review of Dr. Latham's Johnson's
-Dictionary, referring to the struggles of the ancient Britons with their
-Anglo-Saxon invaders, has the following very pertinent observations:--
-
-"After the Roman legions left the Britons to themselves, there is
-darkness over the face of the land from the fifth to the eighth century.
-Those are really our dark ages. From 420, when it is supposed that
-Honorius withdrew his troops, to 730, when Bede wrote his history, we
-see nothing of British history. Afar off we hear the shock of arms, but
-all is dim, as it were, when two mighty hosts do battle in the dead of
-night. When the dawn comes and the black veil is lifted, we find that
-Britain has passed away. The land is now England; the Britons
-themselves, though still strong in many parts of the country, have been
-generally worsted by their foes; they have lost that great battle which
-has lasted through three centuries. Their Arthur has come and gone,
-never again to turn the heady fight. Henceforth Britain has no hero, and
-merely consoles herself with the hope that he will one day rise and
-restore the fortunes of his race. But, though there were many battles in
-that dreary time, and many Arthurs, it was rather in the every day
-battle of life, in that long unceasing struggle which race wages with
-race, not sword in hand alone, but by brain and will and feeling, that
-the Saxons won the mastery of the land. Little by little, more by
-stubbornness and energy than by bloodshed, they spread themselves over
-the country, working towards a common unity, from every shore....
-Certain it is that for a long time after the time of Bede, and therefore
-undoubtedly before his day, the Celtic and Saxon kings in various parts
-of the island lived together on terms of perfect equality, and gave and
-took their respective sons and daughters to one another in marriage."
-
-The Arthur of romance is, in fact, the artistic creation of writers of a
-later age, or, indeed, of later ages, than the conquest of Britain by
-the Anglo-Saxons, and not of contemporary historians, bardic or
-otherwise. The British chieftain who fought against Ida and his Angles
-in the north of England, and whose territory, including that of
-subordinate chieftains or allies, is believed at one time to have
-extended from the Clyde to the Ribble, or even the Dee, with an
-uncertain boundary on the east, is named Urien of Rheged, the district
-north of the Solway estuary, including the modern Annandale. He is the
-great hero of the Welsh bard Taliesin. Amongst his other qualities the
-poet enumerates the following: "Protector of the land, usual with thee
-is headlong activity and the drinking of ale, and ale for drinking, and
-fair dwelling and beautiful raiment." Llywarch Hen, or the Old, another
-Keltic poet, who lived between A.D. 550-640, incidentally mentions
-Arthur as a chief of the Kymri of the South, thus, as Professor Henry
-Morley puts it: "What Urien was in the north Arthur was in the south."
-This may well account for the geographical discrepancies referred to by
-Sir Edward Strachey. Llywarch Hen was present at the bloody battle in
-which his lord, Geraint (one of the knights introduced into the
-succeeding romances), and a whole host of British warriors perished. The
-said bard likewise brought away the head of Urien in his mantle, after
-his decapitation by the sword of an assassin. In the early English
-metrical romance, "Merlin," a Urien, King of Scherham, father of the
-celebrated Ywain, is mentioned as the husband of Igerna's third daughter
-by her first husband, Hoel. Urien, of Rheged, is mentioned, however, in
-the same romance as one of the competitors with Arthur for the crown of
-Britain. In Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte D'Arthur," a "King Uriens of
-Gore" is introduced. "Gore" is evidently the Peninsula of Gower, in
-Glamorganshire, South Wales. These, however, are merely some of the
-geographical discrepancies referred to by Sir Edward Strachey; but such
-discrepancies, owing to the intermixture of several legends, under the
-circumstances, are inevitable, and are in themselves evidences of the
-lack of unity in the original sources from which the romance writers
-drew their materials.
-
-Nennius's "History of Britain" was written, according to some
-authorities, at the end of the eighth century. Others ascribe it, in the
-condition at least in which we have it at present, with more
-probability, to the end of the tenth. Geoffrey of Monmouth's work was
-published in the twelfth. He professes, indeed, to have, to some extent,
-translated from an ancient manuscript, brought by "Walter, Archdeacon of
-Oxford," out of Brittany. This, however, notwithstanding Geoffrey's
-deliberate assertion, is doubted and even flatly denied by many
-competent judges. Be this as it may, no such document is otherwise known
-or indeed referred to by any reliable authority. If it ever existed,
-from its inherent defects, it can to us possess little strictly
-historical value, whatever amount of truthful legendary or traditional
-matter it may have furnished to the author of the so-called "Historia
-Britonum." Referring to the too common habit of regarding mere tradition
-as reliable history, Mr. Fiske, in his review of Mr. Gladstone's
-"Juventus Mundi," justly exclaims: "One begins to wonder how many more
-times it will be necessary to prove that dates and events are of no
-_historical_ value unless attested by nearly contemporary evidence."
-
-Now, one of the most significant facts in connection with this
-investigation is that neither Bede nor Gildas makes any mention of
-Arthur. Mr. Stevenson, in the preface to his edition of Gildas's work,
-in the original Latin, says, "We are unable to speak with certainty as
-to his parentage, his country, or even his name, or of the works of
-which he was the author." The title of the old English translation,
-however, is as follows: "The Epistle of Gildas, the most ancient British
-author: who flourished in the yeere of our Lord, 546. And who, by his
-great erudition, sanctitie, and wisdome, acquired the name of
-_Sapiens_." Bede was born in the year 673, and died in 735. The Rev. R.
-W. Morgan (Cambrian History) says, "The genuine works of Aneurin--his
-'British History,' and 'Life of Arthur,'--are lost; the work of Gildas,
-which at one time passed for the former is a forgery by Aldhelm, the
-Roman Catholic monk of Malmesbury." If ever Arthur lived in the flesh it
-must have been in the fifth or sixth centuries, and yet, as I have
-previously observed, these writers make no reference whatever to the
-renowned king and warrior. So that, even if we grant the earlier assumed
-date to the work of Nennius, about three centuries must have elapsed
-between the performance of his deeds and their earliest known record! In
-Geoffrey of Monmouth's case the interval is no less than seven hundred
-years! Mr. John R. Green ("The Making of England") says: "The
-genuineness of Gildas, which has been doubted, may now be looked upon as
-established (see Stubbs and Haddan, 'Councils of Britain,' i. p. 44).
-Skene ('Celtic Scotland,' i. 116, note) gives a critical account of the
-various biographies of Gildas. He seems to have been born in 516,
-probably in the north Welsh valley of the Clwyd; to have left Britain
-for Armorica when thirty years old, or in 546; to have written his
-history there about 556 or 560; to have crossed to Ireland between
-566-569; and to have died there in 570.... Little, however, is to be
-gleaned from the confused rhetoric of Gildas; and it is only here and
-there that we can use the earlier facts which seem to be embedded among
-the later legends of Nennius." Mr. Haigh, however, contends that an
-"earlier S. Gildas" was a relative of Arthur, and was born about A.D.
-425. He says--"He had written, so a British tradition preserved by
-Giraldus Cambrensis" [twelfth century] "informs us, noble books about
-the acts of Arthur and his race, but threw them into the sea when he
-heard of his brother's death;" [at the hands of Arthur] "and this
-tradition he says satisfactorily explains--what has been made the ground
-of an argument against the genuineness of the works ascribed to him--his
-studied silence with regard to Arthur." Mr. Haigh likewise conjectures
-that "Nennius's History of the Britons" was written by St. Albinus, from
-contemporary records which had been carried to Armorica (Brittany), and
-subsequently lost. However, neither traditions first recorded seven
-centuries after the events transpired, nor "lives" of early British
-saints, are considered very trustworthy historical authorities. It
-requires very little knowledge of the state of literature, either in
-England or elsewhere, during these long periods of time, to remove any
-lingering doubt as to the purely legendary character of much of the
-contents of these books, even if we grant, as in the case of the
-Venerable Bede, that the authors themselves honestly related that which
-they honestly, however foolishly, believed to be true. Singularly
-enough, according to Spurrell's dictionary, the modern Welsh word
-_aruthr_ signifies "marvellous, wonderful, prodigious, strange, dire,"
-which is not without significance.
-
-Nennius says:--"A.D. 452. Then it was that the magnanimous Arthur, with
-all the kings and military force of Britain, fought against the Saxons.
-And though there were _many more noble than himself_, yet he was twelve
-times chosen their commander, and was as often conqueror." He then
-informs us that the second, third, fourth, and fifth of these battles
-were fought on the banks of a "river by the Britons called Duglas, in
-the region Linuis." Some copies give "Dubglas," which has been
-identified with the little stream Dunglas, which formed the southern
-boundary of Lothian. The Rev. John Whitaker, however, contends that the
-Douglas, in Lancashire, is the stream referred to. He advances, amongst
-much conjectural matter, the following archćological and traditional
-details, in support of his position:--
-
-"The name of the river concurs with the tradition, and three battles
-prove the notice true.[4] On the traditionary scene of this engagement
-remained till the year 1770 a considerable British barrow, popularly
-denominated Hasty Knoll. It was originally a vast collection of small
-stones taken from the bed of the Douglas, and great quantities had been
-successively carried away by the neighbouring inhabitants. Many
-fragments of iron had been also occasionally discovered in it, together
-with the remains of those military weapons which the Britons interred
-with their heroes at death. On finally levelling the barrow, there was
-found a cavity in the hungry gravel, immediately under the stones, about
-seven feet in length, the evident grave of the British officer, and all
-filled with the loose and blackish earth of his perished remains. At
-another place, near Wigan, was discovered about the year 1741 a large
-collection of horse and human bones, and an amazing quantity of
-horse-shoes, scattered over a large extent of ground--an evidence of
-some important battle upon the spot. The very appellation of Wigan is a
-standing memorial of more than one battle at that place.[5] According to
-tradition, the first battle fought near Blackrode was uncommonly bloody,
-and the Douglas was crimsoned with blood to Wigan. Tradition and remains
-concur to evince the fact that a second battle was fought near Wigan
-Lane, many years before the rencontre in the civil wars.... The defeated
-Saxons appear to have crossed the hill of Wigan, where another
-engagement or engagements ensued; and in forming the canal there about
-the year 1735, the workmen discovered evident indications of a
-considerable battle on the ground. All along the course of the channel,
-from the termination of the dock to the point at Poolbridge, from forty
-to fifty roods in length, and seven or eight yards in breadth, they
-found the ground everywhere containing the remains of men and horses. In
-making the excavations, a large old spur, carrying a stem four or five
-inches in length, and a rowel as large as a half-crown, was dug up; and
-five or six hundred weight of horse-shoes were collected. The point of
-land on the south side of the Douglas, which lies immediately fronting
-the scene of the last engagement, is now denominated the Parson's
-Meadow; and tradition very loudly reports a battle to have been fought
-in it."
-
-The rev. historian of Manchester, referring to the statements in
-Nennius, thus sums up his argument:--
-
-"These four battles were fought upon the river Douglas, and in the
-region Linuis. In this district was the whole course of the current from
-its source to the conclusion, and the words, '_Super flumen quod vocatur
-Duglas, quod est in Linuis_,' shows the stream to have been less known
-than the region. This was therefore considerable; one of the cantreds or
-great divisions of the Sistuntian kingdom, and comprised, perhaps, the
-western half of South Lancashire. From its appellation of Linuis or the
-Lake, it seems to have assumed the denomination from the Mere of
-Marton," [Martin] "which was once the most considerable object in it."
-
-The Rev. R. W. Morgan, in his "Cambrian History," locates the Arthurian
-victories as follows:--"1st, at Gloster; 2nd, at Wigan (The Combats), 10
-miles from the Mersey. The battle lasted through the night. In A.D.
-1780, on cutting through the tunnel, three cart loads of horse-shoes
-were found and removed; 3rd, at Blackrode; 4th, at Penrith, between the
-Loder and Elmot, on the spot still called King Arthur's Castle; 5th, on
-the Douglas, in Douglas Vale; 6th, at Lincoln; 7th, on the edge of the
-Forest of Celidon (Ettrick Forest) at Melrose; 8th, at Cćr Gwynion; 9th,
-between Edinburgh and Leith; 10th, at Dumbarton; 11th, at Brixham,
-Torbay; 12th, at Mont Baden, above Bath."
-
-Geoffrey of Monmouth refers but to one battle on the banks of the
-"Duglas." This he fixes at about the year 500. He tells us that "the
-Saxons had invited over their countrymen from Germany, and, under the
-command of Colgrin, were attempting to exterminate the whole British
-race.... Hereupon, assembling the youth under his command, he marched
-to" [towards] "York, of which when Colgrin had intelligence, he met him
-with a very great army, composed of Saxons, Scots, and Picts, by the
-river Duglas, where a battle happened, with the loss of the greater part
-of both armies. Notwithstanding, the victory fell to Arthur, who pursued
-Colgrin to York, and there besieged him."
-
-Mr. Daniel H. Haigh, one of the latest advocates of the genuine
-historical veracity which underlies much of the Arthurian traditions,
-places, as we have previously observed, Arthur's coronation A.D. 467, or
-about 32 years earlier than the usually received date. He says--"The
-river Douglas, which falls into the estuary of the Ribble, is certainly
-that which is indicated here;" [the second, third, fourth, and fifth
-victories referred to by Nennius] "and although it was one of Arthur's
-tactics to get round his adversaries, so as to be able to attack them
-when least expected (which will account for the scene of this conflict
-being considerably to the west of the direct line from London to York),
-it is extremely improbable that he would have gone so far north as the
-Douglas in Lothian, when his object was to attack Colgrin at York. The
-reading which the Paris MS. and Henry of Huntington give is, I believe,
-correct, and represents Ince, a name which is retained to this day by a
-township near to this river, a little more than a mile to the south-west
-of Wigan, and by another about fifteen miles to the west, and which may
-possibly have belonged to a considerable tract of country.[6]... Neither
-the Brut nor Boece mention more than one battle at this time; but the
-latter says that Arthur 'pursued the Saxons, continually slaughtering
-them, until they took refuge in York,' and that 'having had so frequent
-victories he there besieged them;' and these expressions may well imply
-the four victories, gained in one prolonged contest on the Douglas, and
-another on the river Bassas, _i.e._, Bashall brook, which falls into the
-Ribble near Clithero, in the direct line of Colgrin's flight to York."
-
-If, therefore, the historical hypothesis be accepted, the Lancashire
-sites for these battles would seem as probable as any of the many others
-suggested.
-
-From the remains described by Whitaker, it appears certain that some
-great battles in early times have been fought on the banks of the
-Douglas, traditions concerning which may have served for the foundation
-of the after statements of Nennius and others. There are some recorded
-historical facts which countenance this view. The British warrior, king
-of the Western Britons, Cadwallon or Cadwalla,[7] with his ally, Penda,
-defeated and slew Edwin, King of Northumbria, uncle of St. Oswald, in
-the year 633, at Heathfield.[8] Where Heathfield is we have no perfectly
-satisfactory evidence.[9] The Brit-Welsh poet, Lywarch Hen, or the Old,
-a prince of the Cumbrian Britons, celebrated his praises in song. He
-says--
-
-    Fourteen great battles he fought,
-    For Britain the most beautiful,
-    And sixty skirmishes.
-
-It is by no means improbable that some of Cadwalla's exploits, mythical
-as well as real, have become inextricably interwoven with the legendary
-ones of the heroes of the Arthurian romances. Singularly enough a
-paragraph in Geoffrey of Monmouth's work would seem to countenance this.
-In book 12, chapter 2, of his so-called "History of Britain," he refers
-to negotiations being entered into and afterwards broken off, in the
-year 630, by Cadwalla and Edwin, while their armies lay on the opposite
-banks of _the river Douglas_, the scene of the presumed Arthurian
-victory over Colgrin in the year 500, according to the same authority.
-This circumstance is not without significance, as the legendary Arthur
-has evidently absorbed no inconsiderable portion of the reputations, in
-the North of England, of Urien of Rheged, and other veritable British
-warriors. Indeed, Lappenberg says--"The Welsh historians adopted the
-policy of _purloining from a successful enemy_, and skilfully
-transferring to his British contemporaries, if not to _imaginary
-personages_, the object and reward of his battles, the glory and
-lastingness of his individuality in history;" and, as illustrations of
-this practice, Mr. Daniel H. Haigh, in his "Conquest of Britain by the
-Saxons," adds, "Thus, Coedwealha, Ine, and Ivar are claimed by them as
-Cadwaladyr, Inyr, and Ivor." Mr. Haigh, notwithstanding his faith in the
-substantial accuracy of much of the contents of the works of doubtful
-authority, says--"The peace which Ambrosius established was broken in
-the following year, A.D. 444. The Brut says nothing of this affair; it
-rarely records the defeats of the Britons." And, similarly, the Saxon
-chronicle is equally reticent in the opposite direction!
-
-Indeed, this weakness is not exclusively an attribute of either British
-or Anglo-Saxon historians or romance writers. Mr. H. H. Howorth, in his
-able essay on "The Early History of Sweden," in Vol. 9 of the
-Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, lucidly expounds the
-character of the contents of the professedly Danish History by
-Saxo-Grammaticus. He says--"He had no scaffolding upon which to build
-his narrative. He had to construct one for himself in the best way he
-could, and to piece together the various fragments before him into a
-continuous patchwork. His was not a critical age, and we are not
-therefore surprised to find that his handiwork was exceedingly rude. A
-piece of the history of the Lombards by Paul and Deacon, and another
-taken from the Edda, are thrust in after narratives evidently relating
-to the ninth century, when Ireland had been more or less conquered by
-the Norsemen. Icelanders are introduced into the story a long time
-before the discovery of Iceland. Christianity is professed by Danish
-kings long before it had reached the borders of Denmark. The events
-belonging to one Harald (Harald Blatand) are transferred to another
-Harald who lived two or three centuries earlier, and the joints in the
-patchwork narrative are filled up by the introduction of plausible
-links." He afterwards adds--"The other important fact to remember is
-that our author was patriotic enough to lay under contribution, not only
-materials relating to Denmark, but to _transfer to Denmark the history
-of other countries_. To appropriate not only the traditions of the
-Anglo-Saxons, the Lombards, and the common Scandinavian heritage of the
-Edda, but also the particular histories of Sweden and Norway, and that a
-good deal of what passes for Danish history in his pages is not Danish
-at all, but Swedish, and relates to the rulers of Upsala, and not to
-those of Lethra; topographical boundaries being as lightly skipped over
-by the patriotic old chronicler, whose home materials were so scanty, as
-chronological ones." It is, under such circumstances, vain to expect
-reliable historical evidence of the identity of locality or the names of
-the real warrior chiefs who commanded in many of the presumed Arthurian
-battles and adventures, some of them being evidently mythical or
-artistic creations. Whitaker's "large old spur, carrying a stem four or
-five inches in length, and a rowel as large as a half-crown," does not
-seem to indicate so early a date as the Anglo-Saxon conquests in
-Britain. Mr. Thomas Wright, in his "Celt, Roman and Saxon," referring to
-spurs of the Roman, Saxon and Norman periods, says--"Amongst the
-extensive Roman remains found in the camp at Hod Hill were several spurs
-of iron, which resembled so closely the Norman prick-spurs, that they
-might easily be mistaken for them. I suspect that many of the
-prick-spurs which have been found on or near Roman sites, and hastily
-judged to be Norman, are, especially when made of bronze, Roman. As far,
-however, as comparison has yet been made, the _Roman and the Saxon spurs
-are shorter in the stimulus_ than those of the Norman." Spurs with long
-_stimuli_ or large rowels do not appear to have been in use until some
-time after the Norman Conquest. This, however, does not necessarily
-affect the antiquity of the whole of the remains referred to, which, of
-course, may have been deposited at different periods.
-
-Hollingworth, in his "Mancuniensis," written in the earlier portion of
-the seventeenth century, seems to have been aware of the existence of a
-tradition that referred to several bloody battles fought in Lancashire
-in some portion of the mysterious "olden time." He, however, assigns
-them to the period of the Roman conquest, to which I have previously
-referred. If the incidents in the Arthurian "romances" are no more
-historically tenable than those in the Iliad or the Odyssey, and as the
-Roman invasions of the Brigantine territory are undoubted, the elder
-Manchester historian's conjecture as to the time of the conflicts
-indicated by the tradition and the remains found near Wigan and
-Blackrod, may possibly be preferred to that of his successor, as the
-more probable of the two. Indeed, as has been previously observed, the
-romance writers and story-tellers have evidently absorbed and modified
-the historical traditions of many antecedent periods. Hollingworth
-says--
-
-"In Vespatian's time Petilius Carealic" (Petilius Cerealis) "strooke a
-terror into the whole land by invading upon his first entry the
-Brigantes, the most populous of the whole province, many battailes, and
-bloody ones, were fought, and the greatest part of the Brigantes were
-either conquered or wasted." Hollingworth, indeed, does afterwards refer
-to a battle near Wigan, in which he says Arthur was victorious. His
-words are--"It is certaine that about Anno Domini 520, there was such a
-prince as King Arthur, and it is not incredible that hee or his knights
-might contest about this castle (Manchester) when he was in this
-country, and (as Nennius sayth) he put the Saxons to flight in a
-memorable battell neere Wigan, about twelve miles off."
-
-Bishop Percy, in his introduction to the ancient ballad of
-"Chevy-Chase," says--"With regard to its subject, although it has no
-countenance from history, there is room to think that it had some
-foundation in fact.... There had long been a rivalship between the two
-martial families of Percy and Douglas, which, heightened by the national
-quarrel, must have produced frequent challenges and struggles for
-superiority, petty invasions of their respective domains, and sharp
-contests for the point of honour, which would not always be recorded in
-history. Something of this kind we may suppose gave rise to the ancient
-ballad of the HUNTING O' THE CHEVIAT." He afterwards adds "the tragical
-circumstances recorded in the ballad are evidently borrowed from the
-BATTLE OF OTTERBOURN, a very different event, _but which after times
-would easily confound with it_.... Our poet has evidently jumbled the
-two events together."
-
-During the seventh century many sanguinary encounters must have taken
-place in Lancashire, many of which are unrecorded, and the sites of
-others utterly forgotten. Professor Boyd-Dawkins, in a paper, entitled
-"On the Date of the Conquest of South Lancashire by the English," read
-before the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, referring to
-the subjugation of what he aptly terms the "Brit-Welsh" of Strathclyde,
-(or the north-western part of the present England and the western
-portion of the lowlands of Scotland), by Ethelfrith, the powerful
-Northumbrian monarch, says that Chester was "the principal seat" of
-their power in that district. The whole of Lancashire, at this period,
-it would appear, was unconquered by the Angles or English. Under the
-date 607, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says--"And this year Ethelfrith led
-his army to Chester, and there slew numberless Welshmen: and so was
-fulfilled the prophesy of Augustine, wherein he saith, 'If the Welsh
-will not be at peace with us, they shall perish at the hands of the
-Saxons.' There were also slain two hundred priests who came to pray for
-the army of the Welsh." The death of these ecclesiastics, said to be
-monks of Bangor-Iscoed, was celebrated in song by a native poet.
-Florence of Worcester, referring to this battle, says Ethelfrith "first
-slew _twelve hundred_ British priests, who had joined the army to offer
-prayers on their behalf, and then exterminated the remainder of this
-impious armament." This is evidently an antagonistic priestly
-exaggeration, although other authorities state that the monastery at
-Bangor, at one time, contained 2,400 monks. This powerful body of
-Brit-Welsh Christians, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, "disdained
-subjection to Augustine, and despised his preaching." Hence the strong
-clerical antipathy which characterised the conflict. Chester was utterly
-ruined, and is said to have remained desolate for about two centuries.
-Mr. Boyd Dawkins says--"In all probability South Lancashire was occupied
-by the English at this time, and the nature of the occupation may be
-gathered from the treatment of the city of Chester. A fire, to use the
-metaphor of Gildas, went through the land, and the Brit-Welsh
-inhabitants were either put to the sword or compelled to become the
-bondsmen of the conquerors."
-
-Mr. J. R. Green ("The Making of England") traces Ethelfrith's march
-through Lancashire to his victory at Bangor-Iscoed. He says--"Though the
-deep indent in the Yorkshire shire-line to the west proves how
-vigorously the Deirans had pushed up the river valleys into the moors,
-it shows that they had been arrested by the pass at the head of the
-Ribblesdale; while further to the south the Roman road that crossed the
-moors from York to Manchester was blocked by the unconquered fastnesses
-of Elmet, which reached away to the yet more difficult fastnesses of the
-Peak. But the line of defence was broken as the forces of Ethelfrith
-pushed over the moors along the Ribblesdale into our southern
-Lancashire. His march was upon Chester, the capital of Gwynedd, and
-probably the refuge place of Edwine."
-
-The more northern portion of the county was not subdued till about half
-a century afterwards, when Cumberland and Westmoreland were absorbed
-into the Northumbrian kingdom by Ecfrith (670-685). Mr. J. R. Green, in
-the work referred to, says--"The Welsh states across the western moors
-had owned, at least from Oswald's time, the Northumbrian supremacy, but
-little actual advance had been made by the English in this quarter since
-the victory of Chester, and northward of the Ribble the land between the
-moors and the sea still formed a part of the British kingdom of
-Cumbria. It was from this tract, from what we now know as northern
-Lancashire and the Lake District, Ecgfrith's armies chased the Britons
-in the early years of his reign."
-
-Some severe struggles must have taken place during this period; and,
-therefore, it is by no means improbable that a portion, at least, of the
-remains on the banks of the Douglas, referred to by the Rev. John
-Whitaker as evidence of Arthur's historical existence, may pertain to
-the struggles of the Brit-Welsh and their Angle or English conquerors of
-the seventh century. This confusion of names and dates is a common
-feature in the folk-lore of all nations and periods, but in none is it
-more strongly developed than in the Arthurian romances. The author of
-the metrical "Morte D'Arthur," after describing the victory of the hero
-over his rebellious nephew, Modred, at "Barren-down," near Canterbury,
-tells us that the barrows raised on the burial of the slain were still
-to be seen in his day. Barham Down is still covered with barrows, which
-recent examination has demonstrated to be the remains of a Saxon
-cemetery, and not a battle-field.
-
-Bangor-Iscoed, the Bovium, and, at a later period, the Banchorium, of
-the Romans, is situated on the river Dee, some fourteen miles south of
-Chester. Sharon Turner laments the destruction of its magnificent
-library at the sacking of the monastery, which he regarded as an
-"irreparable loss to the ancient British antiquities." Gildas, the
-quasi-historian, is said to have been one of its abbots. The Brit-Welsh
-commander during this struggle was Brocmail, the friend of Taliesin,
-who, in his poem on the disastrous battle, says--
-
-    I saw the oppression of the tumult; the wrath and tribulation;
-      The blades gleaming on the bright helmets;
-    The battle against the lord of fame, in the dales of Hafren;
-      Against Brocvail[10] of Powys, who loved my muse.
-
-Sharon Turner says the precise date of this battle is uncertain. The
-Anglo-Saxon chronicle says it was fought in the year 607, and the Annals
-of Ulster in 612. Other authorities assign dates between the two.
-
-The Rev, John Whitaker seems to have had not only a perfect faith in the
-historical existence of Arthur, but also of his famous knights of the
-"table round." Following tradition he locates at Castle-field,
-Manchester, the legendary fortress of "Sir Tarquin," a gigantic hero, to
-whose prowess several of Arthur's doughty knights had succumbed, before
-he himself fell beneath the stalwart arm of "Sir Lancelot du Lake."
-Whitaker regards Lancelot's patronymic, "du Lake," as referable to the
-Linius which gave the name to the district, according to the hypothesis
-previously advanced.
-
-It is scarcely necessary to say that, notwithstanding all this
-ingenuity, Sir Tarquin, Sir Lancelot, and their knightly compeers, are
-as much creatures of the imagination as the heroes of any acknowledged
-work of fiction, such as the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" of Homer, or the
-novels of Scott, Thackeray, Lord Lytton, and Dickens.
-
-The _gradual growth_ of what are generally regarded as the _spontaneous_
-products of the imagination, in the region of art, is well expressed in
-Mr. Tylor's admirable work on "Primitive Culture." He says--"Amongst
-those opinions which are produced by a little knowledge, to be dispelled
-by a little more, is the belief in the almost boundless creative power
-in the human imagination. The superficial student, mazed in a crowd of
-seemingly wild and lawless fancies, which he thinks to have no reason in
-nature nor pattern in the material world, at first concludes them to be
-new births from the imagination of the poet, the tale-teller, and the
-seer. But little by little, in what seemed the most spontaneous fiction,
-a more comprehensive study of the source of poetry and romance begins to
-disclose a cause for each fancy, an education that has led up to each
-train of thought, a store of inherited materials from out of which each
-province of the poet's land has been shaped and built over and peopled.
-Backward from our own times, the course of mental history may be traced
-through the changes wrought by modern schools of thought and fancy upon
-an intellectual inheritance handed down to them from earlier
-generations. And through remote periods, as we recede more nearly
-towards primitive conditions of our race, the threads which connect new
-thought with old do not always vanish from our sight. It is in large
-measure possible to follow them as clues leading back to that actual
-experience of nature and life which is the ultimate source of human
-fancy."
-
-Perhaps no finer illustration, at least in English literature, of the
-truthfulness of this position can be cited than the Arthurian
-art-products with which I am dealing. In them we have embodied thoughts
-and fancies of the earlier myth-makers of our common Aryan race, legends
-and quasi-historical traditions of medićval times, the more artistic
-romances of a relatively recent and more highly-cultured period, and,
-lastly, the lyrics of Morris and others, and the splendid capital which
-worthily crowns this truly historic _literary_ column, in the
-exquisitely felt and gracefully wrought "Idylls of the King," by the
-laureate of the Victorian age, Alfred Tennyson. The last named says--
-
-                        Lancelot spoke
-    And answered him at full, as having been
-    With Arthur in the fight which all day long
-    Rang by the white mouth of the violent Glem:
-    And in the four wild battles by the shore
-    Of Douglas.
-
- (_Idylls, p. 162._)
-
-Referring to the parentage of the Arthurian legends, in the essay
-prefixed to his "Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances," Mr.
-George Ellis says--"Although Geoffrey's 'British Chronicle' is justly
-regarded as one of the corner-stones of romantic fiction, yet its
-principal, if not sole effect, was to stamp the names of Arthur, Merlin,
-Kay, and Gawain with the character of historical veracity; and thus to
-authorise a collection of all the fables already current respecting
-these fanciful heroes and their companions. For not one word is to be
-found in that compilation concerning Sir Lancelot and his brothers; Sir
-Tristram; Sir Ywain; Joseph of Arimathea and the Sangrael; the round
-table with its perilous seat; and the various quests and adventures
-which fill so many folio volumes. These were subsequent additions, but
-additions _apparently derived from the same source_. The names, the
-manners of the heroes, and the scenes of their adventures, were still
-British; and, the taste for these strange traditions continuing to gain
-ground for at least two centuries, the whole literature of Europe was
-ultimately inundated by the nursery-tales of Wales and Armorica, as it
-had formerly been by the mythology of Greece and Egypt."
-
-Of course there sometimes _is_, and there oftener _is not_, recognisable
-historical or biographical fact at the basis of so-called historical
-novels, poems, or plays, but the difficulty of separating the one from
-the other is generally insurmountable, and the labour bestowed thereon
-often profitless. This is especially the case where quasi-history has
-become inextricably interwoven with faded nature-myths and more modern
-artistic inventions. Mr. Fiske, in the work previously quoted, has the
-following very pertinent remarks on this subject:--
-
-"I do not suppose that the struggle between light and darkness was
-Homer's subject in the 'Iliad' any more than it was Shakespeare's
-subject in 'Hamlet.' Homer's subject was the wrath of the Greek hero, as
-Shakespeare's subject was the vengeance of the Danish prince.
-Nevertheless, the story of 'Hamlet,' when traced back to its Norse
-original, is unmistakably the quarrel between summer and winter; and the
-moody prince is as much a solar hero as Odin himself. (See Simrock, Die
-Quellen des Shakespeare, I., 127-133.) Of course Shakespeare knew
-nothing of this, as Homer knew nothing of the origin of Achilleus. The
-two stories are therefore not to be taken _as sun-myths in their present
-form_. They are the offspring of other stories which were sun-myths.
-They are stories which conform to the sun-myth type.... The sun and the
-clouds, the light and the darkness, were once supposed to be actuated by
-wills analagous to the human will; they were personified and worshipped
-or propitiated by sacrifice; and their doings were described in language
-which applied so well to the deeds of human or quasi-human beings, that
-in course of time its primitive import faded from recollection. No
-competent scholar now doubts that the myths of the Veda and the Edda
-originated in this way, for philology itself shows that the names
-employed in them are the names of the great phenomena of nature. And
-when once a few striking stories had thus arisen--when once it had been
-told how Indra smote the Panis, and how Sigurd rescued Brynhild, and how
-Odysseus blinded the Kyklops--then certain mythic or dramatic types had
-been called into existence; and to these types, preserved in the popular
-imagination, future stories would inevitably conform.... In this view I
-am upheld by a most sagacious and accurate scholar, Mr. E. A. Freeman,
-who finds in Carlovingian romance an excellent illustration of the
-problem before us."
-
-The Carlovingian romance thus cited is, indeed, almost an exact
-counterpart of the Arthurian one, with the certainly very important
-exception that we can appeal to reliable history in the former case to
-prove our position, while the mythical gloom of legend and tradition
-obscures so much of the probable historical facts in connection with the
-latter that our path is beset with difficulties which cannot be solved
-otherwise than by analogical inference. History informs us of the acts
-and deeds of Karl der Gross, a German by birth, name, race, and
-language. This warrior, who conquered nearly the whole of Europe and
-founded one of the most important dynastic houses in medićval times, was
-born about the year 742, in the castle of Silzburg, in Bavaria, and died
-in 814 at Aachen, now called Aix-la-Chapelle. On the other hand, as Mr.
-Fiske says, "the Charlemagne of romance is a mythical personage. He is
-supposed to be a Frenchman at a time when neither the French nation nor
-the French language can properly be said to have existed; and he is
-represented as a doughty crusader, although crusading was not thought of
-until long after the Karolingian era. He is a myth, and what is more he
-is a solar myth--an _avatar_, or at least a representative of Odin in
-his solar capacity. If in his case legend were not controlled by
-history, he would be for us as unreal as Agamemnon.... To the historic
-Karl corresponds in many particulars the mythical Charlemagne. The
-legend has preserved the fact, which without the information supplied by
-history we might perhaps set down as a fiction, that there was a time
-when Germany, Gaul, Italy, and part of Spain formed a single empire. And
-as Mr. Freeman has well observed, the mythical crusades of Charlemagne
-are good evidence that there _were_ crusades, although the real Karl had
-nothing whatever to do with one."
-
-In the old ballad legend of Sir Guy, of Warwick, this chronological
-confusion is equally apparent. One of the earlier stanzas says--
-
-    Nine hundred twenty yeere and odde
-      After our Saviour Christ his birth,
-    When King Athelstone wore the crowne,
-      I lived heere upon the earth.
-
-And yet this same legendary hero slays Saracens and other "heathen
-pagans" during the crusades some three centuries afterwards. The "Scop"
-or Geeman's song, and others, exhibit similar instances of this
-confusion of personages and dates.
-
-Saxo Grammaticus, the Danish historian, has, like Geoffrey of Monmouth,
-mingled so much legendary and irrelevant matter with his genuine
-material, that it is often difficult and sometimes impossible to
-distinguish one from the other. Mr. H. H. Howorth, in the work
-previously quoted, referring to Harald Hildetand, "the most prominent
-figure in Scandinavian history at the close of the heroic period,"
-says--"Although Saxo's notice of him is long, it will be found to
-contain scarcely anything about him. It is filled up with parenthetical
-stories about other people, referring doubtless to other times
-altogether, while the stories it contains about his exploits in
-Aquitania, and Britain, and Northumbria, show very clearly, as Müller
-has pointed out, that he has confused his doings with those of another,
-and much later, Harald, probably Harald Blaatand (_Op. Cit._ 366, note
-3). It is only when we come to the close of his reign that we have a
-more detailed and valuable story. This is the account of the famous
-fight at Bravalla, of which we have two recensions, one in Saxo and the
-other in the Sogubrot, and which have preserved for us one of the most
-romantic epical stories in the history of the north. The story was
-recorded in verse by the famous champion Starkadr, whom Saxo quotes as
-his authority, and whom he seems closely to follow. Dahlman has, I
-think, argued very forcibly that the form and matter of this saga as
-told by Saxo is more ancient, and preserves more of the local colour of
-the original than that of the Sogubrot (Forsch, etc., 307-308). And yet
-the story as it stands is very incongruous, and makes it impossible for
-us to believe that it was written by a contemporary at all. How can we
-understand Icelanders fighting in a battle a hundred years before
-Iceland was discovered, and what are we to make of such champions as Orm
-the Englishman, Brat the Hibernian, etc., among the followers of Harald?
-It would seem that on such points the story has been somewhat
-sophisticated, perhaps, as in the Roll of Battle Abbey, names have been
-added to flatter later heroes."
-
-It is a recognised element in popular tradition or folk-lore, that the
-deeds of one historic or mythological hero are sure, when he is
-forgotten, to be attributed to some other man of mark, who, for the time
-being, fills the popular fancy. I am, therefore, inclined to think that
-the imaginary victories of Arthur on the continent of Europe in the
-sixth century, as recorded in Geoffrey's tenth book, owe their origin
-mainly to the real ones of Karl der Gross in the ninth. Geoffrey, or his
-Breton authority, had three centuries of tradition to fall back upon,
-time amply sufficient for medićval myth makers and romance writers to
-torture them to their own purposes. Instances of this re-crystallisation
-of several stories, mythical and otherwise, around the name of a single
-hero, by the vulgar, may be found in relatively modern history. There
-is, in the region of traditional lore, in various parts of England, a
-mythical Cromwell, as well as the two well-known historical personages
-of that name. In whatever part of the country stands a ruined castle or
-abbey, or other ecclesiastical edifice, the nearest peasant, or even
-farmer, will assure an inquirer that it was battered into ruin by Oliver
-Cromwell! Here the Secretary Cromwell, of Henry the Eighth's reign, and
-the renowned Protector, of the following century, are evidently
-amalgamated. Indeed, the redoubted Oliver seems to have absorbed all the
-castle and abbey-destroying heroes of the national history, old Time
-himself included. There is a weather-worn statue on the triangular
-bridge at Croyland, erected in honour of King Ethelbald, the founder of
-the neighbouring abbey now in ruins, which is popularly supposed to be
-an effigy of Cromwell, and by some the bridge is likewise named after
-him. It is, however, more than probable that the neighbouring ruin is
-alone responsible for this nomenclature. A similar fate has befallen
-Alexander the Great in the East. Arminius Vámbéry, in his "Travels in
-Central Asia," says--"The history of the great Macedonian is invested by
-the Orientals with all the characteristics of a religious myth; and
-although some of their writers are anxious to distinguish Iskender Zul
-Karnein (the two-horned Alexander), the hero of their fable, from
-Iskenderi Roumi (the Greek Alexander), I have yet everywhere found that
-these two persons were regarded as one and the same." There is likewise
-a mythical as well as an historical Taliesin (the Welsh poet), but they
-are generally confounded by the populace.
-
-Mr. C. P. Kains-Jackson, in "Our Ancient Monuments and the Land around
-them," referring to the huge rock, named "Arthur's Quoit," Gower,
-Llanridian, Glamorganshire, says--"The reason why the name of Arthur
-should attach to the Titantic boulder represented in our engraving does
-not readily appear. The name has probably come by that process of
-accretion which has caused every witty cynicism to be attributed to
-Talleyrand, or, in another way, every achievement of the Third Crusade
-to Richard Coeur de Lion, and every contemporary woodland exploit to
-Robin Hood. No name from Druidical times attaching to the monument, the
-local tradition joined to the rock the name of the only man whose
-legendary repute and fame at all admitted of a super-human feat of
-strength being attributed to him."
-
-Mr. Frederick Metcalfe, in his "Englishman and Scandinavian,"
-says--"Then again our old institution, trial by jury, to our immortal
-King Alfred, the people's darling, it has been assigned, along with
-other tithings, hundreds, and a host of other inventions and
-institutions, which, we are persuaded, he would have been the first to
-repudiate. Indeed, he has become a sort of Odin to some antiquaries, on
-whom everything bearing the stamp of remote antiquity was gathered, the
-invention of names amongst the rest."
-
-The same writer, referring to the "famous story of Theophilus,"
-says--"The legend, as we have said, ran through Europe in various
-shapes, and was fitted to all people imaginable. It is referred to in
-one of Ćlfric's homilies (_i._ 448), while in an Icelandic legend Anselm
-and Theophilus are thus blended. Now we know that Eormenric, who died
-370, Attila, 453, Gundicar of Burgundy, 436, and the Ostrogothic King
-Theordoric or Dietrich, 536, become contemporaries and merge one into
-another in heroic mythus. But one is hardly prepared to find Dietrich of
-Bern and Theophilus of Sicily getting confused into one. But so it is.
-Amongst the Wends it has become a popular story, and is told of Dietrich
-(Theodoric of Verona), who among the peasantry is transmuted into the
-Wild Huntsman."
-
-Mr. W. St. Chad Boscawen, in his learned lecture on "A Chaldean
-Heliopolis," at Manchester, in December, 1881, after referring to the
-manner in which Berosus "had resort to an ingenious literary fiction to
-preserve the continuity of the narrative in his history of Chaldea,
-which he claimed to have based on documentary evidence, extending back
-over fifteen myriads of years," says--"The daily recurring war of day
-and night, which had belonged to the nomadic age, now became national
-wars and combats of Samson, Shamgar, and Gideon, the solar heroes,
-against the dark forces of the Philistine and Midianite. But in this
-period of the heroic age--the 'once upon a time' of the Chaldean
-story-teller, the nation was not one consolidated whole; it was the age
-of polyarchy. The beginning of Nimrod's kingdom was not one capital
-city, it was the tetrapolis of Babel, Akkad, Erech, and Calrech, and
-each city was a little kingdom. So each city had its hero. The giant
-Isdubar was the hero of Erech; Sargon the Moses of Chaldea--the hero of
-Aganne; Etanne and Ner, of Babylon. In the labours and wars of these
-heroes we saw the labours and wars and struggles of the city kingdom,
-but lit with the lustre of divinity which shone forth from the age of
-the gods and clothed with its brightness the characters in the heroic
-age. But, in time, as the nation became consolidated, all became blended
-and absorbed into the great national hero, Isdubar, the great king."
-
-The Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, in his "Mythology of the Aryan Nations,"
-successfully shows that the principal materials of the Arthurian legends
-are identical with those which underlie the Hindoo, Grecian, Teutonic,
-and other common Aryan myths. He contends that Arthur is a solar hero,
-of the same type as Phoibus Chrysâôr, or Heracles, or Bellerophon, or
-Perseus, or Achilleus, or Sigurd; and he illustrates this position by
-the citation of numerous instances in which their common original is
-clearly perceptible, notwithstanding the great modification, especially
-in costume and morals, to which the original materials have been
-subjected. A single instance of this uniformity, but an important one,
-will suffice for the present purpose. The peculiar form as well as the
-name of the supernatural weapon of Indra, the Vedic _lightning_ god,
-has undergone many changes in its progress through the mythical lore of
-the various Aryan nations, and yet its identity is rarely, if ever,
-doubtful. It is the "Durandal" of Roland; it is Arthur's famous sword
-"Excalibur," as well as the similar weapon which no one could draw from
-the "iron anvil-sheaf embedded in stone" except himself. It is the sword
-of the maiden drawn by Balin, after Arthur had failed in the attempt. It
-is the "Macabuin," the weapon of the Manx hero, Olave of Norway; it is
-Odin's sword "Gram," stuck in the roof-tree of Volsung's hall. It is the
-sword of Chrysâôr; it is that of Theseus, and that of Sigurd. It is very
-palpably the spear (Gűngnir) which Odin lent, in the form of a reed, to
-King Erich, in order to ensure him the victory in a battle against
-Styrbjörn. The reed in its flight is said to have assumed the form of a
-spear and _struck with blindness_ the whole of the opposing army. It is
-the arrow with which Apollo slew the Python; it is the lance of St.
-George, the patron saint of England; it is the "sword of sharpness" of
-"Jack-the-Giant-Killer;" nay, it is the relatively humble magic cudgel
-of popular Norse story, which, like Thor's hammer, voluntarily returned
-to the lad's hand on the completion of the rascally innkeeper's
-well-merited castigation.
-
-So fascinating are the so-called "historical novels" of such men as Sir
-Walter Scott and the late Lord Lytton, such "historical plays" as
-Shakspere's, and the popular ballads and other lyric narratives of great
-historical events, that _some_ of the most permanent impressions on the
-mind of the studious, and _many_ on that of the relatively non-studious
-sections of mankind, have been derived therefrom. Indeed, there are
-persons who roundly assert that "good historical novels" convey to the
-ordinary reader a better idea of the manners and customs and general
-aspect of society, as well as of the idiosyncrasies, or special
-characteristics, of distinguished individuals, than historical works of
-a more definite and presumedly more reliable character. Those who
-entertain these views, however, as a rule, are not themselves historical
-students in its higher or more legitimate sense, but merely dabblers in
-history with an ćsthetic object. Besides, if the hypothesis be a sound
-one, these "historical novelists" must themselves be more fully and
-accurately informed concerning all the hard elements of fact and
-individual feeling with which they deal than their rivals (which,
-unfortunately, they never or rarely are), or how could they, by any
-human process, produce their presumedly more truthful artistic
-"counterfeit presentments?" The late Lord Lytton, in the preface to the
-third edition of his novel, "Harold, the last of the Saxon Kings,"
-expressly says "It was indeed my aim to solve the problem how to produce
-the greatest amount of _dramatic effect at the least expense of
-historical truth_."
-
-On the other hand, Sir Francis Palgrave denounces "historical novels" as
-the "mortal enemies to history," and Leslie Stephen adds, "they are
-mortal enemies to fiction" likewise. The latter writer contends, under
-such conditions, one of two evils necessarily results, notwithstanding
-the fact that perhaps an isolated exception or two might be cited in
-opposition: "Either the novel becomes pure cram, a dictionary of
-antiquities dissolved in a thin solution of romance, or, which is
-generally more refreshing, it takes leave of accuracy altogether and
-simply takes the plot and the costumes from history, but allows us to
-feel that genuine moderns are masquerading in the dress of a bygone
-century." Dean Milman, in his review of Ranke's work on the Papacy,
-referring to the scene in the conclave on the elevation of Sixtus V. to
-the Papal chair, which, he says, Gregoria Leti "has drawn with such
-unscrupulous boldness," adds, "All the minute circumstances of his (the
-Pope's) manner, speech, and gesture is like one of Scott's happiest
-historical descriptions, but, we fear, of no better historical authority
-than the picture of our great novelist."
-
-The false impressions often formed of actual fact from implicit reliance
-on artistic fiction, as authority in such matters, is admirably
-illustrated in a passage in "Travels in Central Asia," by Arminius
-Vámbéry. After journeying from Tabris to Teheran, he says--"It is a
-distance of only fifteen, or perhaps we may rather say of only thirteen
-caravan stations; still, it is fearfully fatiguing, when circumstances
-compel one to toil slowly from station to station under a scorching sun,
-mounted upon a laden mule, and condemned to see nothing but such drought
-and barrenness as characterise almost the whole of Persia. How bitter
-the disappointment to him who has studied Persia only in Saadi, Khakani,
-and Hafiz; _or still worse_, who has received his dreamy impressions of
-the East from the beautiful imaginings of Goethe's 'Ost-Westlicher
-Divan,' or Victor Hugo's 'Orientales,' or the magnificent picturings of
-Tom Moore."
-
-If, under circumstances so favourable as those attendant upon such a
-"Dryasdust" historical student as Sir Walter Scott, historical truth is
-violated or perverted as often as it is illustrated, it is painful to
-reflect what must have resulted when solar and other myths, miraculous
-legends and traditions of pagan times, have become interwoven with the
-faith and morals of Christianity, and the pomp and pageantry of medićval
-chivalry! Leslie Stephens asserts that "'Ivanhoe,' and 'Kenilworth,'
-and 'Quentin Durward,' and the rest are, of course, bare, blank
-impossibilities." "No such people," he declares, "ever lived or talked
-on this planet." He is willing to allow that some fragments of genuine
-character may be embedded in what he terms "the plaster of Paris;" but
-he insists that "there is no solidity or permanence in the workmanship."
-If this be true, how has history fared at the hands of such craftsmen as
-Geoffrey of Monmouth, Archdeacon Walter Map, Sir Thos. Malory, and a
-whole host of medićval romance writers, with their King Arthur, Sir
-Lancelot, Sir Galahad, their magicians, sorcerers, giants, dragons, and
-other monsters? History, in its highest, indeed its only legitimate,
-sense, most unquestionably has suffered to a much greater extent than
-can be conceived, except by those who have patiently plodded amongst the
-details of a portion at least of its dim and dusty, and oft-times
-doubtful, raw material. But, on the other hand, to the novelist or the
-poet _historical_ truthfulness in the incidents of which his plot is
-composed, or _biographical_ truthfulness in the characters delineated,
-is simply surplusage, if it be nothing worse, _ćsthetic_ or artistic
-verities having no necessary foundation thereupon. It is this ćsthetic
-ideal, evolved from _general_ rather than _individual_ truths, this
-poetic element, which lies at the root, and, indeed, furnishes the
-_raison d'ętre_, the very life-giving blood, of such art products as
-those under consideration. Hamlet, Lear, Imogen, Ophelia, Cordelia,
-Oberon, Elaine, Sir Galahad, Achilleus, Arthur, _et hoc genus omne_,
-possess an inherent subjective vitality and truthfulness of their own,
-drawn from the universal and everlasting fountains of human emotion,
-passion, and psychical aspiration, however little realistic, individual,
-or strictly historic value the learned may place on the legends of Saxo
-Grammaticus and Geoffrey of Monmouth, or the myths of our common Aryan
-ancestors. Thos. Carlyle, in "Sartor Resartus," aptly asks--"Was
-Luther's picture of the devil _less a reality_, whether it were formed
-within the bodily eye, or without it?" Dean Milman, in his essay on
-"Pagan and Christian Sepulchres," referring to the "two large mounds
-popularly known as the tombs of the Horatii and the Curiatii," on the
-Appian way, near Rome, says--"Let us leave the legend undisturbed, and
-take no more notice of those wicked disenchanters of our old belief."
-Yet he feelingly and truthfully adds--"They will leave us at least the
-poetry, if they scatter our history into a mist." Truly the ćsthetic
-element, if in itself worthy, will ever survive the destruction of the
-presumed historical verity with which it may have been for ages allied.
-Who now believes in the historic truthfulness of the reputed deeds of
-the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome? And yet the ćsthetic
-beauties of Homer, Ćschylus, Virgil, and Ovid are none the less admired
-and enjoyed. Mr. Philip Gilbert Hamerton, in his Life of J. M. W.
-Turner, when commenting on the lack of "topographical," and other
-realistic truthfulness, both in colour and details, in many of the great
-landscape painter's finest productions, thus aptly deals with the
-difference between ćsthetic and literal truthfulness--"It is with these
-drawings as with the romances of Sir Walter Scott: a time comes in the
-life of every intelligent reader when he perceives that Scott was not,
-and could not be, really true to the times he represented, except when
-they approached very near his own; but a student of literature would be
-much to be pitied who was unable to enjoy 'Ivanhoe' after this
-discovery. So when we have found out the excessive freedom which Turner
-allowed himself; when we have discovered that he is not to be trusted
-for the representation of any object, however important--that his
-chiaroscuro, though effective is arbitrary, and his colour though
-brilliant is false; when we have quite satisfied ourselves, in a word,
-that he is a poet, and not an architectural draughtsman, or an imitator
-of nature, is that a reason why we should not enjoy the poems? There is
-a wide difference, I grant, between the pleasure of real belief and the
-pleasure of confessed imagination: the first belongs to imaginative
-ignorance, and is only possible for the uncritical; the second belongs
-to a state of knowledge, and is only possible for those in whom the
-acquisition of knowledge has not deadened the imaginative faculties.
-Show the 'Rivers of France' to a boy who has the natural faculties which
-perceive beauty, but who is still innocent of criticism, he will believe
-the drawings to be true, and think as he dreams over them that a day may
-come when he will visit these enchanting scenes. Show them to a real
-critic, and he will not accept for fact a single statement made by the
-draughtsman from beginning to end, but he will say--'The poetic power is
-here,' and then he will yield to its influence, and dream also in his
-own way--not like the boy, in simple faith, but in the pleasant
-make-belief faith which is all that the poet asks of us."
-
-This ćsthetic truthfulness, in contradistinction to literal historic
-fact, is admirably expressed by Macaulay in an entry in his journal, in
-August, 1851. He says--"I walked far into Herefordshire," (from Malvern)
-"and read, while walking, the last five books of the 'Iliad,' with deep
-interest and many tears. I was afraid to be seen crying by the parties
-of walkers that met me as I came back; crying for Achilles cutting off
-his hair; crying for Priam rolling on the ground in the court-yard of
-his house; mere imaginary beings, creatures of an old ballad maker who
-died near three thousand years ago."
-
-Lord Byron wrote under the influence of the traditions of his youth or
-of his classical college education, and not as the true poet, when he
-said--"I stood upon the plain of Troy daily for more than a month, in
-1810; and if anything diminished my pleasure it was that the blackguard
-Bryant had impugned its veracity." On the contrary, I felt no such lack
-of pleasurable emotion when I first gazed on the Thames at Datchet, or
-on the withered trunk of "Herne's Oak," or on the Trossachs and Loch
-Katrine, or on the Rialto or the Ducal palace at Venice, or on
-the Colisseum or the adjacent ruins of the "lone mother of dead
-empires," because the mere _historical_ verity of Jack Falstaff's
-unwieldly carcase, or of Shakspere, Otway, Byron or Scott's ideal and
-semi-historical personages, never once entered into my mind. It was
-sufficient for me that the scenes before me were those which were
-contemplated and portrayed by the great dramatists and the great
-novelist and the great poet. For the time being, thanks to the law of
-mental association, to my imagination their characters were as real
-personages as was necessary for the fullest appreciation and enjoyment
-of the ideal of their artistic creators, and anything more, _being
-unnecessary_, might have been intrusive, or even _impertinent_, in the
-original and non-metaphorical meaning of that somewhat abused word.
-Byron spoke more to the purpose in the opening stanzas of the fourth
-canto of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," when, after lamenting the fate of
-Venice, and recalling the glories of her past history, he exclaims:--
-
-        But unto us she hath a spell beyond
-        Her name in story and her long array
-        Of mighty shadows whose dim forms despond
-        Above the dogeless city's vanish'd sway;
-        Ours is a trophy which will not decay
-        With the Rialto; Shylock and the Moor
-        And Pierre can not be swept and worn away--
-        The keystones of the arch! Though all were o'er,
-    For us repeopled were the solitary shore.
-
-He adds, with more significant meaning:--
-
-        The beings of the mind are not of clay;
-        Essentially immortal, they create
-        And multiply in us a brighter ray
-        And more beloved existence.
-
-Dr. Gervinus says--"Shakspere's representations of the passionate, the
-prodigal, the hypocrite, are not portraits of this or that individual,
-but _examples of those passions elevated out of particular into general
-truth_, of which, in real life, we may find a thousand diminished
-copies, but never the original in the exact proportions given by the
-poet." And so it is with the ćsthetic truth embodied in artistic
-creations of a plastic or pictorial character. No one acquainted with
-art products of its class imagines that the colossal statue recently
-erected in Germany to the memory of Hermann, or Arminius, the conqueror
-of the Roman legions under Varus (A.D. 9), is an absolute every-day
-portrait-likeness of that not very morally scrupulous "hero and
-patriot;" or that the faces, figures, costumes, and other accessories,
-in the "Last Supper" of Da Vinci, or the "Cartoons" of Raffaelle,
-represent, _historically_ or _de facto_, the scenes as they actually
-occurred. Though conventionally called "historical pictures," they
-are emphatically creations of the imaginations of the artists,
-notwithstanding their historic basis, and consequently the great truths
-that pervade them, and for which they are justly admired, are of an
-artistic or ćsthetic, and not of a strictly historic, character.
-
-Notwithstanding this general lack of historic truthfulness we,
-nevertheless, do gain valuable knowledge of a psychological,
-ethnological, and even of a strictly historical character from stories
-of the mythical and legendary class; but much of that knowledge pertains
-to the age and its mental associations in which the story-tellers or
-other artistic exponents themselves lived. In the Arthurian romances we
-find an immense amount of historic truthfulness with reference to the
-habits of thought, costume, and religious sentiment, which obtained in
-and about the twelfth century; but which truths are utterly untrue, as
-applied by the writers, to the fifth and sixth, the era in which Arthur
-and his Christian knights, magicians, and giants are presumed to have
-been corporal existences. The same may be said of much of Bede's, and,
-indeed, of most other early chronicles. Although we may refuse our
-assent to the improbable and miraculous stories therein narrated, we
-feel convinced, in Bede's instance especially, that the writer is
-thoroughly in earnest, and honest in his work, and that he, at least,
-correctly describes the manners, customs, faiths, superstitions, and
-legendary history prevalent at the period in which he lived. This view
-is now the one generally accepted by the best historians and
-ethnological and psychological students. Mr. Ralph N. Wornum, in his
-"Epochs of Painting Characterised," says--"Ancient opinions are of
-themselves facts, and the history of any subject is indeed imperfect
-when the ideas of early ages regarding it are altogether overlooked, for
-the impressions and associations made or suggested by any intellectual
-pursuit are, as one of its effects, a part of the subject itself." Mr.
-Tylor, in the work already quoted, says--"The very myths that were
-discarded as lying fables prove to be sources of history in ways that
-their makers and transmitters little dreamed of. Their meaning has been
-misunderstood, but they have a meaning. Every tale that was ever told
-has a meaning for the times it belongs to. Even a lie, as the Spanish
-proverb says, is a lady of birth. ('_La mentira es hija de algo._')
-Thus, as evidence of the development of thought as records of long
-passed belief and usage, even in some measure as materials for the
-history of the nations owning them, the old myths have fairly taken
-their place among historic facts; and with such the modern historian, so
-able and so willing to pull down, is also able and willing to rebuild."
-
-M. Mallet, in his "Northern Antiquities," referring to the
-semi-historical romances of the Scandinavians, says--"It is needless to
-observe that great light may be thrown on the character and sentiments
-of a nation, by those very books, whence we can learn nothing exact or
-connected of their history. The most credulous writer, he that has the
-greatest passion for the marvellous, while he falsifies the history of
-his contemporaries, paints their manners of life and modes of thinking
-without perceiving it. His simplicity, his ignorance, are at once
-pledges of the artless truth of his drawing, and a warning to distrust
-that of his relations."
-
-Dr. A. Dickson White, in his treatise on "The Warfare of Science,"
-forcibly illustrates the absolute necessary harmony of all truth,
-subjective and objective, although we may not always possess sufficient
-insight to perceive it. He says--"God's truths must agree, whether
-discovered by looking within upon the soul, or without upon the world. A
-truth written upon the human heart to-day, in its full play of emotions
-or passions, cannot be at any real variance even with a truth written
-upon a fossil whose poor life ebbed forth millions of years ago."
-
-Professor Gervinus, in his "Shakespeare Commentaries," has skilfully
-analysed the distinction between historic and ćsthetic truth. He
-says--"Where the historian, bound by an oath to the severest truth in
-every single statement, can, at the most, only permit us to divine the
-causes of events and the motives of actions from the bare narration of
-facts, the poet, who seeks to draw from these facts only a _general
-moral truth, and not one of facts_, unites by poetic fiction the action
-and actors in a distinct living relation of cause and effect. The more
-freely and boldly he does this, as Shakespeare has done in 'Richard
-III.,' the more poetically interesting will his treatment of the history
-become, but the more will it lose its historical value; the more truly
-and closely he adheres to reality, as in 'Richard II.,' the more will
-his poetry gain in historic meaning and forfeit in poetic splendour."
-
-Shakspere so thoroughly felt and understood this, that in the
-construction of his plot, and even in the determination of the
-specialities of the characters of Macbeth and his indomitable wife, he
-has selected his incidents from more than one epoch in early Scottish
-history. The famous murder scenes in the first and second acts, so far
-as they are "historically" true, are drawn from the assassination of a
-previous king, Duffe, in 971 or 972, by Donwald, captain of the castle
-of Fores, whose wife is the "historic" original of the "ćsthetic" Lady
-Macbeth of the tragedy, and not the spouse (if he had one) of the
-chieftain who, history simply says, "slew the king [Duncan] at
-Inverness," in an ordinary battle in 1040.
-
-Professor Gervinus adds--"It is a common pride on the part of the poets
-of these historical plays, and a natural peculiarity belonging to this
-branch of the art, that truth and poetry should go hand in hand. It is
-more than probable that 'Henry VIII.' bore at first the title so
-characteristic in this respect--'All is True.' But this truth is
-throughout, as we have seen, not to be taken in the prosaic sense of the
-historian, who seeks it in the historical material in every most minute
-particular, and in its most different aspects; it is only a higher and
-universal truth which is gathered by a poet from a series of historical
-facts, yet which from the very circumstance that it springs from
-historical, true and actual facts, and is supported and held by them,
-acquires, it must be admitted, a double authority, that of poetry and
-history combined. The historical drama, formed of these two component
-parts, is therefore especially agreeable to the imaginative friend of
-history and the realistic friend of poetry."
-
-It will thus be seen that there is no necessary antagonism between
-individual, or historic, and ideal, or ćsthetic, truth. Their respective
-lines of action may be divergent, but they are, when thoroughly
-understood, both in harmony with the great central and "eternal verity"
-which embodies all truth. The only danger to be guarded against by the
-historic or ćsthetic student arises from the too common habit of
-confounding the one with the other.
-
-Tennyson, in his "Queen Mary," says--
-
-    The very Truth and very Word are one,
-    But truth of story, which I glanced at, girl,
-    Is like a word that comes from olden days,
-    And passes thro' the peoples: every tongue
-    Alters it passing, till it spells and speaks
-    Quite other than at first.
-
-Nennius speaks of a tenth battle fought and won by Arthur on the banks
-of the river Trat Treuroit, or Ribroit. This has been identified by
-commentators as the Brue, in Somersetshire, and the Ribble, in
-Lancashire; but the evidence advanced is not very conclusive in favour
-of either locality. Mr. Haigh prefers Trefdraeth, in the island of
-Anglesea, as the place indicated.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE DEFEAT AND DEATH OF ST. OSWALD, OF NORTHUMBRIA, AT MASERFELD,
-
-(A.D. 642).
-
-    THE LEGEND OF THE WILD BOAR, "THE MONSTER IN FORMER AGES, WHICH
-    PROWLED OVER THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF WINWICK, INFLICTING INJURY ON MAN
-    AND BEAST."
-
-
-The Venerable Bede, in the ninth chapter of his "Ecclesiastical History
-of the English Nation," says, in the year 642--"Oswald was killed in a
-great battle, by the same Pagan nation and Pagan king of the Mercians
-who had slain his predecessor, Edwin, at a place called in the English
-tongue, Maserfelth, in the thirty-eighth year of his age, on the fifth
-day of the month of August."
-
-The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the same date, says--"This year Oswald,
-King of the Northumbrians, was slain by Penda and the South-humbrians at
-Maserfeld, on the nones of August, and his body was buried at Bardney
-(Lincolnshire). His sanctity and miracles were afterwards manifested in
-various ways beyond this island, and his hands are at Bamborough"
-(Northumberland), "uncorrupted."
-
-The battle is likewise recorded by relatively more recent chroniclers,
-yet its site, hitherto, has not been satisfactorily determined. Camden,
-Capgrave, Pennant, Sharon Turner, and some others fix it at Oswestry, in
-Shropshire; while Archbishop Usher, Alban Butler, Powell, Dr. Cowper,
-Edward Baines, Thomas Baines, W. Beaumont, Dr. Kendrick, Mr. T. Littler,
-and others prefer the neighbourhood of Winwick, in the "Fee of
-Makerfield," Lancashire.[11]
-
-Mr. Edward Baines says--"The district in which Winwick is seated
-has, from a very distant period, been denominated Mackerfield or
-Macerfield--a battle-field, with variations in the orthography usually
-found in Norman and Anglo-Saxon writers." The late Rev. Edmund Simpson,
-vicar of Ashton-in-Mackerfield, however, disputes this etymology, and
-contends that "Mackerfield is Mag-er-feld, a great plain cultivated:
-_mag_ and _er_ being Gaelic and _feld_ Saxon. Thus Maghull, near
-Liverpool, is a hill on the plain: thus, also, Maghera-felt in Ireland."
-
-The "Fee of Makerfield" was co-extensive with the Newton hundred of the
-Domesday record, and included nineteen townships. It extended from Wigan
-to Winwick, and was traversed in its entire length by the great Roman
-road, which entered Northumbria from the south near Warrington.
-
-Professor Dwight Whitney, in his "Life and Growth of Language" (p. 39),
-says--"_Ćcer_ meant in Anglo-Saxon a 'cultivated field,' as does the
-German acker to the present day; and here, again, we have its very
-ancient correlatives in Sanscrit _agra_, Greek {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER STIGMA~}, Latin _ager_; the
-restriction of the word to signify a field of certain fixed dimensions,
-taken as a unit of measure for fields in general, is something quite
-peculiar and recent. It is analagous with the like treatment of _rod_
-and _foot_ and _grain_, and so on, except that in these cases we have
-saved the old meaning while adding the new."
-
-Field is from A.S., O.S., and Ger. _feld_, Danish _veld_, the open
-_country_, cleared lawn (Collins's Dic. Der.) With respect to acre the
-old meaning is still retained, in one instance at least. We still say
-"God's acre," when speaking of a churchyard or burial ground.
-
-The following are some of the principal variations in the writing of the
-name: Bede calls it Maserfelth, King Alfred writes it Maserfeld, as in
-one MS. of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Another copy, however, has it
-Maresfeld. The latter is probably a clerical error resultant from the
-accidental misplacement of the letters _r_ and _s_ by the copyist, or
-it may be an ordinary example of what philologists call "metathesis," or
-transliteration. Matthew of Westminster writes it Marelfeld, and John of
-Brompton, Maxelfeld. Matthew and John, however, are relatively modern
-authorities in comparison with Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and
-Alfred. Their orthography, however, furnishes an apt illustration of the
-mutation which has taken place in local nomenclature during the
-transition of the language from Anglo-Saxon to modern English, and hence
-the occasional difficulty of satisfactory identification at the present
-day.
-
-The phonetic difficulty between Maserfeld, Macerfeld, and Makerfield is,
-perhaps, not insurmountable. The letter _c_ in English is useless,
-having either the sound of _k_ or _s_. Before _a_, _o_, and _u_, it
-becomes _k_, as in cat, cot, cure; before _e_ and _i_ it becomes _s_, as
-in century, certain, cinder, and city. Cer, likewise, by metathesis, or
-the transposition of the _r_, becomes cre, as in lucre, massacre,
-etc.[12] Thus it would appear the modern word "Makerfield" probably
-accords both etymologically and topographically with the Anglo-Saxon
-name of the site of the battle. As no other hamlet, township, or parish,
-or other territorial designation (the nearest being Macclesfield), does
-this, especially when taken in conjunction with the many corroborative
-evidences, would appear to satisfactorily identify the locality.[13]
-These corroborative evidences are by no means either scanty or
-unimportant.
-
-The parish church of Winwick is dedicated to St. Oswald, and Mr. Baines
-says--"Little more than half a mile to the north, on the road to
-Golborne and Wigan, is an ancient well, which has been known from time
-immemorial by the name of 'St. Oswald's Well.'" This well is still in
-existence, and a certain veneration at the present time hovers about it
-in the minds of others than the superstitious peasantry. On the upper
-portion of the south wall of the church is an inscription in Latin,
-purporting to be a "renovation" of a previous one, by a person named
-Sclater, in the year 1530, in the curacy of Henry Johnson. On a recent
-visit, this inscription, as well as other portions of the edifice, I
-found had undergone further renovation. Gough translates the first three
-lines as follows:--
-
-    This place of old did Oswald greatly love:
-    Who the Northumbers ruled, now reigns above,
-    And from Marcelde did to Heaven remove.
-
-Mr. Beamont gives the translation of the inscription as follows:--
-
-    This place of yore did Oswald greatly love,
-    Northumbria's King, but now a saint above,
-    Who in Marcelde's field did fighting fall,
-    Hear us, oh blest one, when here to thee we call.
-
-            (A line over the porch obliterated.)
-    In fifteen hundred and just three times ten,
-    Sclater restored and built this wall again,
-    And Henry Johnson here was curate then.
-
-This, and its repetition by Hollingworth in his "Mancuniensis," appears
-to have alone constituted "the highest authority" relied upon by Edward
-Baines for his statement that Winwick parish was the favourite residence
-of King Oswald. The inscription does not, as some have assumed, state
-the church is built in, on, or near Marcelde. It merely asserts that
-Oswald died at a place so named, and which may have been Winwick, the
-site of the church dedicated to St. Oswald, or any other locality,
-Marcelde being evidently a corruption and a rythmical contraction of the
-undoubted Anglo-Saxon name of the scene of Oswald's defeat and death.
-
-Objection has been taken to the word "Marcelde," as a bad Latin
-substitute for "Maserfeld." But the goodness or badness of medićval
-Latin substitutes for English names is of no consequence to the question
-at issue, as the reference to the place of Oswald's death is undeniable.
-It is but an apt illustration of the strange transformations local
-nomenclature sometimes has undergone in transmission from past centuries
-to the present time.
-
-Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Welsh Bruts curiously confound the
-incidents attendant upon this and a previous battle, in which Oswald was
-engaged and was victorious. Geoffrey says that Cadwalla, a Brit-Welsh
-king, one of the heroes of Lywrich Hen's poetic effusions, _hearing of
-Oswald's victory over Penda(?)_ at "Heavenfield," "being inflamed with
-rage, assembled his army and went in pursuit of the holy king, Oswald;
-and in a battle which he had with him, at a place called Burne, broke in
-upon him and killed him."
-
-Geoffrey here, as noted by Sharon Turner, shows his irrational
-partiality to the fame of the British chieftain, and his disregard of
-historical truth when it did not minister to his prejudices or
-presumed patriotism. Cadwalla was slain in the battle with Oswald at
-"Heavenfield," in 635, seven years previously to the saintly
-Northumbrian warrior's defeat and death; and, consequently, the British
-hero was, in accordance with ordinary mortal notions, somewhat
-incapacitated for the performance of the after-deeds of valour, ascribed
-to him by his panegyrist--without miraculous intervention--which,
-however, Geoffrey does not even suggest, notwithstanding its presumed
-frequency on other momentous occasions.[14]
-
-Referring to Oswald's death, Bede says--"It is also given out and become
-a proverb, 'that he ended his life in prayer;' for when he was beset
-with weapons and enemies, he perceived he must immediately be killed,
-and prayed to God for the souls of his army, hence it is proverbially
-said, 'Lord have mercy on their souls, said Oswald, as he fell on the
-ground.' His bones, therefore, were translated to the monastery which we
-mentioned (Bardsea), and buried therein; but the king that slew him
-commanded his head, hands, and arms to be cut off from the body, and set
-upon stakes. But the successor in the throne, Oswy, coming thither the
-next year with his army, took them down, and buried his head in the
-church of Lindisfarne, and the hands and arms in the royal city"
-(Bamborough).
-
-Bede relates many anecdotes, illustrative of the sanctity of Oswald, and
-the miracles wrought by his bones, as well as by the earth which
-received his blood on the battle-field. One instance I give entire, in
-Dr. Giles's translation of the venerable historian's own words. In
-chapter x., book iii., he says--
-
-"About the same time, another person of the British nation, _as is
-reported_, happened to travel by the same place, where the aforesaid
-battle was fought, and observing one particular spot of ground, green
-and more beautiful than any other part of the field, he judiciously
-concluded with himself that there could be no other cause for that
-unusual greenness but that some person of more holiness than any other
-in the army had been killed there. He therefore took along with him some
-of that earth, tying it up in a linen cloth, supposing it would some
-time or other be of use for curing sick people, and proceeding on his
-journey, he came at night to a certain village, and entered a house
-where the neighbours were feasting at supper; being received by the
-owners of the house, he sat down with them at the entertainment, hanging
-the cloth in which he had brought the earth, on a post against the wall.
-They sat long at supper and drank hard, with a great fire in the middle
-of the room; it happened that the sparks flew up and caught the top of
-the house, which being made of wattles and thatch, was presently in a
-flame; the guests ran out in a fright, without being able to put a stop
-to the fire. The house was consequently burnt down, only that post on
-which the earth hung remained entire and untouched. On observing this,
-they were all amazed, and inquiring into it diligently, understood that
-the earth had been taken from the place where the blood of King Oswald
-had been shed. These miracles being made known and reported abroad, many
-began daily to frequent that place, and received health to themselves
-and theirs."
-
-In June, 1856, whilst I was engaged superintending the excavations at
-"Castle Hill," Penwortham, near Preston, an incident occurred, which,
-"in the olden time," would have been regarded as a conclusive proof not
-only of the miraculous quality of the earth on which St. Oswald expired,
-but of the site of the battle-field. We found, under the mound
-excavated, the remains of an edifice which had been destroyed apparently
-partly by fire, and on the ruins of which to the height of about 12 or
-14 feet, the Anglo-Saxon tumulus had been piled. The hill, situated at
-the nose of the promontory overlooking the upper portion of the Ribble
-estuary, had evidently been occupied at one time as a _specula_, or
-outpost, in connection with the Roman station at Walton-le-dale. The
-wattle and thatch characteristics of the remains of the fallen roof of
-the edifice were very apparent. But the most remarkable, nay,
-inexplicable feature disclosed, was a single oak pillar, with wooden
-peg-holes in it, standing erect near the centre of the mound, while the
-remainder of the structure was scattered in confusion on a mass of
-debris and vegetable litter, in which were found, together with several
-articles in metal, etc., an enormous quantity of bones of animals,
-evidently killed and eaten for food. To the persistent enquiries of
-several somewhat bewildered persons, anxious to discover an _immediate_
-explanation of so remarkable a fact, I at length yielded, and related,
-in a serious, but not _authoritative_ manner, the statement of Bede, and
-I feel confident several persons returned home with a conviction that
-the story was probable enough, or at least there was something either
-miraculous or "uncanny" about the whole affair. Without, of course,
-assenting to the miraculous medicinal quality of the earth, it is highly
-improbable that so conscientious, if credulous, a writer as Bede would
-relate such a story, unless there had been some substratum of _prosaic
-fact reported to him_, on which the miraculous element might easily have
-been engrafted in those superstitious days. It is not improbable that
-the accidental preservation of the pillar to which was hung the presumed
-sacred earth on which the saintly monarch breathed his last, prevented
-its destruction or removal, and hence its position near the centre of
-the mound raised above the ruined edifice, and, doubtless, afterwards
-used as a "mote hill," or out-of-door justice seat, or place of public
-assembly. If Winwick be the site of the battle-field, the traveller
-passing from thence northward by the great Roman road would arrive at
-Penwortham in time for supper, presuming that his journey commenced
-three or four hours previously.
-
-All this may not be worth much more than some of the idle tales of the
-old "historians" in support of the claims of the Lancashire site as the
-locality of the great battle between the Christian and Pagan elements in
-the population of the northern portion of England in the seventh
-century.[15] Nevertheless, it presents, at least, one of those
-remarkable coincidences that occasionally puzzle our reason and perplex
-our faith. Deeper insight into the psychological aspect of the humanity
-of any period may often be gained by a careful study of their legendary
-lore and cherished superstitions than from the perusal of the more
-orthodox historical chronicles. But there are other evidences respecting
-the site of this important Anglo-Saxon conflict, more reliable than the
-miracles of tradition, which demand our attention.
-
-From the antecedents of the respective belligerents, and the statement
-of Bede, it seems almost certain that the Pagan chieftain, Penda, was
-the aggressor, and, anxious to avenge the death of Cadwalla, his
-quasi-Christian ally, invaded the Northumbrian kingdom, on the frontier
-of which he was successfully confronted by his Christian antagonist. The
-tradition in Geoffrey's day, at least, distinctly states that Oswald's
-conqueror was the aggressor. He says--"inflamed with rage, he went in
-pursuit of the holy king." See Ante, p. 67.
-
-Referring to the antecedents of the war under Oswy, which followed
-Oswald's death, and in which Penda was slain near the river Winwid, Mr.
-Green ("Making of England") says--"That Oswiu strove to avert the
-conflict we see from the delivery of his youngest son, Ecgfrith, as a
-hostage into Penda's hands. The sacrifice, however, proved useless.
-Penda was _again the assailant_, and his attack was as vigorous as of
-old." We, therefore, in the first instance, should naturally look for
-the battle-field in Northumbria, rather than in North Wales,[16] or even
-in Mercia.
-
-Another important element with reference to the disputed site has not
-hitherto, to my knowledge, received the attention it deserves. Geoffrey
-of Monmouth, and the Welsh Bruts, notwithstanding their determination to
-give all the honour to the defunct British chief, Cadwalla, could have
-no motive for falsifying the site of the battle. Indeed, his reference
-to it by name, as will be seen by the extract previously given, is of an
-ordinary passing character.
-
-Now, there is a locality, in the parish of Winwick, and in the "Fee of
-Makerfield," to the north of the great barrow or tumulus, to which I
-shall call further attention, that answers, on true phonetic laws, to
-this nomenclature. Mr. Edward Baines says--"The original proprietors of
-the township of Ashton" (which is the largest township in the old parish
-of Winwick) "derived their name from Bryn Hall, the place of their
-residence, or gave their name to that place, and Alan le Brun occurs in
-the 'Testa de Nevill,' as holding by ancient tenure two bovates of land
-for 6s. of Sir Henry de Le." It is here apparent that the present name
-Bryn was originally Brun, and, as brun and burn are, by what
-philologists term transliteration, but different renderings of the same
-word, meaning a spring or brook, Geoffrey's varied reading of the name
-of the locality--"at a place called _Burne_," strongly supports the
-other evidence in favour of the Lancashire site. Edward Baines,
-referring to the ancient Lancashire family, the Gerards of Bryn,
-says--"This family have had four seats within the township of Ashton,"
-(in Makerfield), "namely, Old Bryn, abandoned five centuries ago; New
-Bryn, erected in the reign of Edward VI.; Garswood, taken down at the
-beginning of the present century; and the new hall, the present
-residence of the family."
-
-Nennius says Penda slew Oswald at the "battle of Cocboy,"[17] and that
-"he gained the victory by diabolical agency." No attempt, however,
-within my knowledge, has been made to identify "Cocboy" with any
-existing locality. There is, however, I understand, a place near the
-ancient pass of the Mersey, or Latchford, and contiguous to the great
-Roman road, named Cockedge. As Cocboy is unknown this may be a
-corruption of it. Etymologists identify _coc_ with the British _gosh_ or
-red. As the new red sandstone crops out in the neighbourhood, this
-interpretation accords with the local condition.
-
-Latchford, too, would be significant, if like _Lich_field, it had its
-root in the Anglo-Saxon _lic_, but this is doubtful. Lichfield or
-Litchfield, the "field of dead bodies," is said to have derived its name
-from the circumstance that "many suffered martyrdom there in the time of
-Dioclesian."[18] In Gibson's "Etymological Geography," _Win_-feld, where
-Arminius, or Hermann, defeated the Roman legions under Varus, A.D. 10,
-is said to signify the "field of victory." A similar etymology is
-equally valid for _Win_wick, and hence its significance. Indeed, the
-intransitive form of the Anglo-Saxon verb _winnan_, whence our _win_,
-signifies "To gain the victory." A similar interpretation will equally
-apply to Winwidfield, near Leeds, the scene of Penda's subsequent defeat
-and death.
-
-When dealing with the identification of modern with ancient names, it is
-well to bear in mind the remarks of so erudite a philologist as
-Professor Dwight Whitney. In his "Life and Growth of Language," he
-says--"It must be carefully noted, indeed, that the reach of phonetics,
-its power to penetrate to the heart of its facts and account for them,
-is only limited. There is always one element in linguistic change which
-refuses scientific treatment, namely, the action of the human will. The
-work is all done by human beings, adapting means to ends, under the
-impulse of motives and the guidance of habits which are the resultant of
-causes so multifarious and obscure that they elude recognition and defy
-estimate." Again, "Every period of linguistic life, with its constantly
-progressive changes of form and meaning, wipes out a part of the
-intermediates which connect a derived element with its original. There
-are plenty of items of word-formation in even the modern Romanic
-languages, which completely elude explanation. Mere absence of evidence,
-then, will not in the least justify us in assuming the genesis of an
-obscure form to be of a wholly different character from that which is
-obvious or demonstrable in other forms. The presumption is wholly in
-favour of the accordance of the one with the other; it can only be
-repelled by direct and convincing evidence." And again, "As linguistics
-is a historical science, so its evidences are historical, and its
-methods of proof of the same character. There is no absolute
-demonstration about it: _there is only probability_, in the same varying
-degree as elsewhere in historical enquiry. There are no rules, the
-strict application of which will lead to infallible results. Nothing
-will make dispensable the wide gathering-in of evidence, the careful
-sifting of it, so as to determine what bears upon the case in hand and
-how directly, the judicial balancing of apparently conflicting
-testimony, the refraining from pushing conclusions beyond what the
-evidences warrant, the willingness to rest, when necessary, in a merely
-negative conclusion, which should characterize the historical
-investigator in all departments."
-
-The most important ancient structure at present remaining in the parish
-of Winwick is an immense tumulus called "Castle Hill." Mr. Edward Baines
-says--"At the distance of half-a-mile from and to the north of Newton,
-stands an ancient barrow, called _Castle Hill_. It is romantically
-situated on elevated ground, at the junction of two streams, whose
-united waters form the brook which flows past the lower part of the town
-of Newton.[19] The sides and summit of the barrow are covered with
-venerable oaks, which to all appearance have weathered the rude and
-wintry blasts for centuries. It is a spot well adapted for the repose of
-the ashes of the mighty dead."
-
-Mr. W. Beamont, in a paper read before the Lancashire and Cheshire
-Historic Society, on the "Fee of Makerfield," etc., in March, 1873,
-says,--"On the west side of this rivulet" (the Golbourne brook), "where
-the red rock rises above it, there is scooped out a rude alcove or cave,
-which the country people assign to Robin Hood, the popular hero, who in
-most of our northern counties divides with Arthur of the Round Table and
-Alfred the Great the right to legendary fame. The Castle Hill, which
-stands in a commanding position above the other bank of the stream, and
-is boul-shaped, is 320 feet in circumference at the base, 226 feet in
-circumference at the top, and it has an elevation of 17 feet above the
-level of the field below."
-
-On a recent visit I found the old oaks, like faithful veteran sentinels,
-still guarding, in Mr. Baines's language, "the repose of the mighty
-dead." One or two of them, however, exhibited unmistakeable evidence
-that the rude blast of the storm-wind and fiery embrace of the
-lightning-flash had shattered their aged limbs, while the benumbing
-grasp of Time had chilled their heretofore invigorating sap. Yet,
-although they are destined, in a relatively very short period, from
-_their_ chronological standpoint, to succumb to the destiny of all
-organic life, and finish their lengthened existence in ignominious
-association with the faggot-shed, still their venerable forms,
-notwithstanding the dilapidations which attest the force of years of
-elemental conflict, in conjunction with the historic and legendary
-memories with which they are associated, render them more suggestive
-teachers in their decay than they were in the pride of their stalwart
-and umbrageous prime.
-
-Another change has likewise come over the scene since Mr. Beamont's
-description was written. The stream near Newton has been blocked by an
-earthen embankment, and the "Castle Hill" now overlooks a beautiful
-artificial lake, with three branches. Robin Hood's cave, alas! had to be
-sacrificed; four or five feet of water now placidly flows over the site
-of its former entrance.
-
-This tumulus, situated on the Gol-_bourne_ brook, in the Fee of
-Mackerfield, was opened on the 8th of July, 1843. An account of this
-excavation, by the Rev. E. Sibson, was published in the "Transactions of
-the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society" at the time, from
-which I gather the following important particulars. Mr. W. Beamont, who
-was present during the excavations, likewise (in the paper previously
-quoted) gives a detailed account of the mode of procedure adopted, and
-of the remains discovered. The mound was found to be artificial, and
-composed of earth, sand, and rock taken from a trench on the south and
-west sides. This trench was then found to be about five feet deep and
-forty feet wide. It appeared to have been originally seven feet deep,
-two of which had been excavated out of the solid rock. A shaft six feet
-wide was sunk in the centre of the tumulus, and an adit to meet it, from
-the west side, on the level of the original soil. Mr. Beamont says--"At
-the distance of about ten feet from the centre of the barrow, on the
-south side of the shaft, a chamber was discovered. The base of this
-chamber was two feet broad, and it was curved. Its length was twenty-one
-feet, its height two feet, and the roof was a semi-circular arch. It
-seemed to be constructed of masses of clay, about a foot in diameter,
-rolled into form in a moist state, and closely compacted by pressure.
-When the chamber was first opened the candles were extinguished, and
-there was great difficulty in breathing. The sides and bottom of the
-chamber were coated with impalpable powder, of smoke colour. The bottom
-of the chamber was covered with a dark-coloured substance. The external
-surface of this substance was like peat earth, being rough, uneven, and
-of a black colour. The inside of it, when broken, was close and compact,
-and somewhat similar to black sealing-wax, which, when examined by the
-microscope, was found to be closely dotted with particles of lime. It
-was thought to be a mixture of wood ashes, half burned animal matter,
-and calcined bones. On this plate of animal matter, which had been
-placed on the edge of the original green sward, was a covering of loose
-earth, about two inches in thickness, which might have fallen from the
-roof and sides of the chamber. Immediately below the plate of animal
-matter a trench had been cut, about fifteen inches deep, and two tiers
-of round oak timber had been placed in it. The first tier was notched
-into the green sward, and the second tier was nine inches below it. The
-horizontal distance of the several pieces was about eighteen inches, and
-the pieces in the lower tier were placed exactly opposite to those in
-the upper one. Several of the pieces were charred, and many of them had
-entirely disappeared, leaving black marks in the sides of the trench,
-where they had formerly been placed. These pieces of oak appeared to
-have been three or four inches in diameter. In almost all the cases the
-wood of these pieces had been absorbed; in some cases the bark on the
-under side of these pieces was carbonised, and had nearly the appearance
-of coal; and in other cases the bark on the under side of these pieces
-retained its original form and colour. In one case, however, one of
-these pieces, in contact with the animal matter, had the appearance of
-dry decayed wood. The trench, below the plate of animal matter, was
-filled with clay."
-
-Mr. Beamont gives several other interesting details, and adds,--"It is
-probable that this chamber contained the original deposit, and that it
-had never been opened before. On the roof of the east side of the
-chamber there was discovered a very distinct and remarkable impression
-of a human body. There was the cavity formed by the back of the head,
-and this cavity was coated with a very thin shell of carbonised matter.
-The depression of the back of the neck, the projection of the shoulders,
-the elevation of the spine, and the protuberance of the lower part of
-the body, were distinctly visible. The body had been that of an adult,
-and the head lay towards the west. The exact form and vertical position
-of the circular chamber was indicated by a ridge on the crest of the
-hill, which was one reason why the tunnel was driven from the bottom of
-the shaft towards the south." The writer further informs us that the
-"Castle Hill is said to be haunted by a white lady, who flits and
-glides, but never walks. She is sometimes seen at midnight, but is never
-heard to speak." The Rev. Mr. Sibson adds--"There is a tradition that
-Alfred the Great was buried here, with a crown of gold, in a silver
-coffin." He likewise says that in a "drift, on the east side of the
-shaft, and near the centre of the hill, a broken whetstone was found. It
-was of freestone of a fine grain, of a dull white colour, slightly
-veined with red; and the surface was finely polished. It was about five
-inches in length and three in breadth." He likewise figures a fragment
-of an urn, apparently of Roman manufacture, from the presence of which
-he inferred that "the Castle Hill had been a place of interment for
-persons of distinction for a long period."
-
-Dr. James Fergusson, in an appendix to his work on "Rude Stone Monuments
-of All Countries," gives, at length, an account of the opening, in 1846,
-of a huge tumulus, named "Oden's Howe," near Upsala, by Herr Hildebrand,
-the royal antiquary of Sweden. The similarity of many of the remains
-brought to light to those found in the "Castle Hill," seems to suggest
-that these tumuli were erected by cognate people, and at no very distant
-periods from each other. Herr Hildebrand says,--"During the diggings
-were found unburnt animal bones, bits of dark wood, charcoal, bits of
-burnt bones, etc. This was evidently a sepulchral mound. Diggings have
-also been made in the smaller cairns near by, and, although they have
-been opened before, burial urns have been found, burnt human bones,
-bones of animals and birds, bits of iron and bronze, etc.... At the
-middle of the howe, the grave-chamber is nine feet above the level of
-the soil, 18 feet under the top of the howe. On the bed of the clay,
-under the great stones, have been found an iron clinker three inches
-long, remains of pine poles partly burnt, a lock of hair chestnut
-coloured, etc. The numerous clusters of charcoal show that the dead had
-been burned on the layer of clay, and the bones have been collected in
-an urn not yet found. In one of the nearest small howes have been found
-a quantity of burnt animal and human bones, two little-injured bronze
-brooches, a fragment of a golden ornament, etc." After further
-examination of the contents of the howe, Herr Hildebrand says, "June
-29th, 1847,--The burial urn has been found in the grave-chamber, also
-have turned up bones of men, horses, dogs, a golden ornament delicately
-worked, a bone comb, bone buttons, etc." He afterwards writes to say
-that the burial urn was found three inches under the soil, and was
-covered with a thin slab. "It was seven inches high, nine inches in
-diameter, filled with burnt bones, human and animal (horse, dog, etc.),
-ashes, charcoal (of needle and leaf trees), nails, copper ornaments,
-bone articles, a bird of bone, etc. In the mass of charcoal also were
-found bones, broken ornaments, bits of two golden bracteates, etc. Coins
-of King Oscar were then placed in the urn, and everything restored as
-before. Frey's Howe was opened, and showed the same results."
-
-"Dr. Fergusson, commenting on this, says--"With a little local industry,
-I have very little doubt, not only that the date of these tombs could be
-ascertained, but the names of the royal personages who were therein
-buried, probably in the sixth or seventh century of our era."
-
-In a paper read before the Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society, in
-March, 1860, the late Dr. Robson says--"In the Ordnance survey as first
-published on the inch scale, about half a mile to the east of Winwick
-church, we find a couple of tumuli, one on each side of a bye-lane; but
-in the later and larger map, a single tumulus is marked, through the
-centre of which the road seems to have been cut. The earlier survey
-gives the more correct representation of the place, as there have
-certainly been at least two barrows, one in the field on the east, the
-other in that of the west side of the lane." The latter is on a farm
-called "Highfields." As the land has long been under cultivation, the
-tumulus was not very well defined, but it appeared to have been about
-thirty yards in diameter. The summit is "distinct enough," says Dr.
-Robson, and "is about six feet above the level of the lane." This mound
-was dug into in November, 1859, and the Dr. records that "deposits of
-burned bones were found at some distance from its centre, on the slopes
-to the east and south. These bones were in small fragments, apparently
-in distinct heaps, mixed with minute particles of burnt wood, and one or
-two fragments of brown, thick, ill-burnt and rude pottery turned up,
-not, however, appearing to have any connection with the bone
-deposits--the only portion of which offering any recognisable character,
-was the head of a thigh bone of a subject twelve or fourteen years old.
-About six feet deep in the centre, the red sandstone rock was
-reached.... Some labourers working in the field on the other side of the
-lane, fifteen years ago, came upon an urn with bones in it, apparently
-of a similar description. This tumulus was removed at the beginning of
-the present year, and the men in their operations cutting into some soft
-black stuff, struck a spade into an urn and broke it into pieces; it
-seems to have been of large size, and has a feathered pattern scored on
-the outside, in other respects agreeing with the fragments already
-described. It contained bones in the same fragmentary state as those
-found on the west side of the lane, and with them a stone hammer-head
-and a bronze dart."
-
-Near these tumuli, on the ordnance map, is a place named Arbury. This
-name has evidently had originally some connection with these mounds. In
-the "Imperial Gazetteer," Arbury, in Herts, on the Icknield-st., is
-described as a "Roman camp," and so is Arbury or Harborough, near
-Cambridge, as well as Arbury Banks, on the Watling-st., near Chipping
-Norton, Northamptonshire. In Anglo-Saxon the prefix _ar_, according to
-Bosworth's Dictionary, signifies "glory, honour, respect, reverence,"
-etc.
-
-Dr. Robson discusses at some length the presumed date of these
-interments, and contends that such nomenclature as "stone and bronze
-periods" only mislead. He says--"In some graves are coins which carry a
-date with them, and in others Roman remains which belong to the first
-four centuries of our era. But in tumuli such as those at Winwick, there
-is nothing to show whether it was raised six centuries before or six
-centuries after that period." From the drawings which accompany Dr.
-Robson's paper, there appears nothing to vitiate the hypothesis that
-these mounds were raised on the battle-field of 642. The stone hammer is
-highly finished and polished. The form of the spear-head agrees with
-some of the examples figured by Mr. Thomas Wright and Mr. L. Jewitt, as
-pertaining to the earlier Anglo-Saxon period. It presents a kind of
-transition from between the shorter Roman bronze and the more elongated
-iron of the later Anglo-Saxon time. The "feathery pattern" scored on
-the pottery resembles the rude "herring-bone," or zig-zag ornamentation
-of late Roman and early Anglo-Saxon masonry.
-
-Another and much larger tumulus until recently was situated opposite to
-the parish church at Warrington, and contiguous to the ancient
-Latchford, by which the British trackway and the great Roman road
-crossed the Mersey. For some miles both on the east and west, in early
-times, no other route was practicable; the mosses on the one hand and
-the tidal estuary on the other presenting insuperable obstacles,
-especially to heavy traffic. The tumulus at Warrington, named the "Mote
-Hill," was entirely removed in 1852. Pennant had conjectured it to be
-Roman; Ormerod, Norman; and John Whitaker, Saxon. In a paper read before
-the Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society, on November, 1852, Dr.
-Kendrick gave a detailed account of the excavation, and exhibited the
-discovered remains. Some of the pottery was rude (apparently
-Romano-British), and cremated human remains were present, as well as an
-immense quantity of the remains of animals. Referring to Whitaker's
-conjecture of the Saxon origin of the mound, or of that race having
-utilised it, Dr. Kendrick says--"to this opinion I think all the
-appearances detailed this evening afford strong support." Mr. Sibson,
-likewise, who was present at the examination of the hill in 1832, and
-again in 1841, coincides in this view, and suggests that it originally
-constituted a _tumulus_, or burial place, raised after the battle fought
-at Winwick. Dr. Kendrick thought that as the church was dedicated to
-St. Elphin, slain in 679, the mound might have covered his remains; but
-the Pagan character of the interment or interments negatives this view.
-
-Mr. W. T. Watkin, in a note to the present writer, says--"Dr. Kendrick's
-account compared with that of Mr. Sibson evidently shows that the mound
-was originally a Roman boundary mark, used afterwards in Saxon and
-medićval times for various purposes. The second excavation merely shows
-the contents of the mound as they _were thrown in_ after the first
-exploration, with the exception of the well and one or two smaller
-details." He adds--"All these things are in accordance with the rules of
-the Roman _agrimensores_." This view seems very probable.[20]
-
-I am inclined to regard these tumuli, in the main, as monuments of the
-site of some great battle or battles, and that amongst others, Maserfeld
-may be, perhaps, the latest and most important fought in the
-neighbourhood previous to the disuse of cremation and the general
-adoption of the modern Christian mode of interment. The whole of these
-large barrows were evidently erected by people who burned and buried
-their dead on the spot where the memorial mound or monument was
-afterwards erected. We know from the Venerable Bede's record, how the
-body of King Oswald was disposed of. Besides the king being a pious
-Christian, such a mode of sepulture would not have been adopted by his
-followers. Penda, on the contrary, was a Pagan, and strongly attached to
-the superstitions and customs of his Teutonic ancestors. We know that
-the Pagan Anglo-Saxons in England practised both modes of interment, the
-burial of the body entire and cremation. Mr. Thomas Wright says--(Celt,
-Roman, and Saxon, p. 401) "The custom in this respect appears to have
-varied with the different tribes who came into the island. In the
-Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Kent, cremation is the rare exception to the
-general rule; while it seems to have been the _predominating practice_
-among the Angles from Norfolk into the centre of Mercia." It is,
-therefore, highly probable, if the battle of Maserfeld was fought in
-this district, that these tumuli, or some portion of them, were raised
-by the Pagan Mercian victors over the bodies of chieftains of their
-party slain in the battle. Nennius says that in the conflict Penda's
-brother Eawa was slain, and, consequently, he and the other Pagan
-chieftains who fell in the battle would be interred in Pagan fashion by
-the victorious survivors.
-
-The oldest Anglo-Saxon poem extant, "Beowulf," the scene of the events
-of which Mr. D. Haigh, in his "Conquest of Britain by the Saxons,"
-contends to be the neighbourhood of Hartlepool, in Durham,[21] has
-preserved to us a description of such a ceremonial in detail. On
-Beowulf's death, his warriors raised a funeral pile to burn the body. It
-was--
-
-    hung round with helmets,
-    with boards of war, [shields]
-    and with bright byrnies, [coats of mail]
-    as he had requested.
-    Then the heroes, weeping,
-    laid down in the midst
-    the famous chieftain,
-    their dear lord.
-    Then began on the hill,
-    the warriors to awake
-    the mightiest of funeral fires;
-    the wood-smoke rose aloft
-    dark from the fire;
-    noisily it went,
-    mingled with weeping.
-
-His faithful followers afterwards erected the barrow over his ashes:--
-
-    a mound over the sea;
-    it was high and broad,
-    by the sailors over the waves
-    the beacon of the war-renowned.
-    They surrounded it with a wall
-    in the most honourable manner
-    that wise men
-    could desire.
-    They put into the mound
-    rings and bright gems,
-    all such ornaments
-    as before from the hoard
-    the fierce-minded men
-    had taken.
-
-The date of the erection of the first parish church at Winwick is not
-known with certainty. Some contend that it was coeval with the
-introduction of Christianity into the North of England by Paulinus.
-Although this is incapable of absolute verification, it is generally
-conceded that a church must have existed for some time antecedent to
-the Norman conquest. The Domesday Survey, under the head of "Newton
-Hundred," seems to confirm this. It says, "Under the reign of King
-Edward" (the Confessor) "there were five hides in Newton: one of these
-was held in demesne. The church of this manor had one carucate of land,
-and St. Oswald, of this village, had two carucates, _exempt from all
-taxation_." Mr. Baines says--"In 1828, while digging a vault in the
-chancel of this church, there were found, at the depth of eight or ten
-feet below the floor, three human skeletons of gigantic size, laid upon
-each other, and over them a rude heap of cubical sandstone blocks of
-irregular dimensions, varying from one to two feet. No remains of
-coffins were found in the grave, and the history of the occupants of
-this mysterious tomb remains undiscovered." It seems, however, not
-improbable that these interments took place anterior to the building of
-the church, that the skeletons were the remains of chieftains who
-perished with Oswald, and that the sacred edifice, dedicated to the
-warrior saint, was afterwards erected on the spot.
-
-The first known record of the old church at Oswestry is thus referred to
-by the Rev. D. R. Thomas (His: Diocese of St. Asaph):--"The Parish
-Church of St. Oswald is first definitely mentioned in 1086 in the Grant
-of Warin, Vicecomes ... to the abbot and monks of Shrewsbury Abbey,
-dedit eis _Ecclesiam Sancti Oswaldi_ cum decima ville;" but there is a
-belief that there was a still earlier one elsewhere than on the present
-site, which may be due partly to the fact that the town was originally
-built on some other site, partly to the circumstance that several of the
-earlier mission stations are still indicated by such names as Maen
-Tysilio, Croes-Wylan, Cae Croes, and Croes Oswaldt, or The Cross; and to
-the tradition which Leyland records, "that at Llanforda was a church
-now" (sixteenth century) "decaid. Sum say this was the paroche church of
-Oswestre."
-
-I have previously referred to the ancient well, situated about
-half-a-mile from Winwick Church, known from time immemorial as "St.
-Oswald's Well." Mr. Edward Baines regards this sacred spring as having
-been originally formed by the excavation of earth on the spot where
-Oswald fell, and he fortifies his position by reference to Bede, who
-says--"Whereupon many took up of the very dust of the place where his
-body fell, and putting it into water, did much good with it to their
-friends who were sick. This custom came so much into use, that the earth
-being carried away by degrees, there remained a hole as deep as the
-height of a man."
-
-Perhaps the most important objection to the Oswestry site lies in the
-fact that there is no satisfactory representative of the name of
-Maserfeld to be found in its neighbourhood.[22] One writer says--"In the
-vicinity of the town, at a place called by the Welsh 'Cae Naef'
-(Heaven's Field) there is a remarkably fine spring of water, which bears
-the name of Oswald's Well, and over which, as recently as the year 1770,
-were the ruins of a very ancient chapel likewise dedicated to him."
-Commenting on this, Mr. E. Baines says--"The well in that country is a
-spring and not a fosse, as described by Bede, and is as the well at
-Winwick," and he regards this feature as additional evidence in favour
-of the presumed Lancashire site of the battle. The saint's _well_ is
-not, however, of much value, as Bede makes no mention of any spring,
-natural or otherwise, and wells dedicated to saints in the "olden time,"
-are common all over the country. Indeed, there is a natural spring near
-the main highway about a mile to the north of Winwick Church, which is
-likewise called St. Oswald's well. From Bede's context it is evident
-Oswald died on the ordinary dry earth, which, in consequence,
-thenceforth produced greener grass than the surrounding land, and the
-_soil_ was afterwards mixed with water and used medicinally. In England
-there are at least five different places named after St. Oswald, and, in
-addition, many ecclesiastical edifices have been dedicated to him.
-
-There is something mysterious, or at least curiously coincident, about
-this Welsh "Cae Naef," or "Heaven's Field," as this latter, according to
-Bede, is the name of the site of the previous battle in 635, when Oswald
-defeated and slew Cadwalla. The same authority likewise refers to it as
-being fought "at a place called Denises-burn, that is Denis's-brook."
-Dr. Giles says "Dilston is identified with the ancient Deniseburn, but
-on no authority." Dilston is situated about two miles from Hexham.
-Sharon Turner says--"Camden places this battle at Dilston, formerly
-Devilston, on a small brook which empties into the Tyne." He adds,
-"Smith, with greater probability, makes Errinburn as the rivulet on
-which Cadwallon perished, and the fields either of Cockley, Hallington,
-or Bingfield, as the scene of the conflict. The Angles called it
-Hefenfield, which name, according to tradition, Bingfield bore." Dr.
-Smith says that Hallington was anciently Heavenfelth, but adds that
-probably the whole country from Hallington southward to the Roman wall
-was originally included in the name. On the place where Oswald is said
-to have raised a cross, as his standard during the battle, a church was
-afterwards erected. Thus it would at first sight appear that Oswestry
-might enter into competition with Bingfield for the site of the
-Heavenfield struggle, rather than with Winwick for that of Maserfeld.
-There is, however, one important fact which fatally militates against
-this. Bede says, referring to the Heavenfield where Cadwalla met his
-death, the "place is near the wall with which the Romans formerly
-enclosed the island from sea to sea, to restrain the fury of the
-barbarous nations, as has been said before." The greater probability is
-as the two engagements are intertwined by the Welsh Bruts, and in the
-Oswestry and Geoffrey traditions, that the place owes its designation
-directly to neither the one nor the other; but that, like the sites I
-have mentioned, the dedication of a church to the saint has been
-sufficient to confer his name on the locality. That a neighbouring well,
-under such circumstances, should receive a similar designation, is too
-ordinary a matter to require special consideration.
-
-It is not at all improbable that, as Geoffrey and the Welsh Bruts both
-refer to the battle in which Oswald fell as fought at or near Burne, the
-Oswestry traditions may have originally only had reference to the battle
-of Denis-BURN or Denis-brook, in which the Welsh Christian hero,
-Cadwalla, was slain by his hated rival, the Anglican Christian king
-Oswald, of Northumbria. It is utterly improbable that the Welsh
-Christians would dedicate a church to St. Oswald. The first Christian
-king of Northumbria, Edwin, the friend of Paulinus and Augustine, was
-slain by Cadwalla, "king of the Britons," or Brit-Welsh, in a battle at
-Heathfield (Hadfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire), A.D. 633, in
-which he was aided by the pagan Penda. The Brit-Welsh Christians and the
-disciples of Augustine and Paulinus hated each other with more than
-ordinary sacerdotal intensity, and the former often entered into
-alliances with the pagan Anglo-Saxons, in order to avenge themselves on
-their detested rivals. One of the subjects of fierce contention between
-them, as is well known, related to the time for the celebration of
-Easter. Bede, referring to the defeat of Edwin at Heathfield and the
-consequences attendant thereon, says--
-
-"A great slaughter was made in the church or nation of the
-Northumbrians; and the more so because one of the commanders by whom it
-was made was a pagan, and the other a barbarian more cruel than a pagan;
-for Penda, with all the nation of the Mercians, was an idolator and a
-stranger to the name of Christ; but Cadwalla, although he bore the name
-and professed himself a Christian, was so barbarous in his disposition
-and behaviour, that he neither spared the female sex, nor the innocent
-age of children, but with savage cruelty put them to tormenting deaths,
-ravaging all their country for a long time, and resolving to cut off all
-the race of the English within the borders of Britain. Nor did he pay
-any respect to the _Christian religion which had newly taken root among
-them_; it being to this day" (the 8th century) "the custom of Britons
-not to pay any respect to the faith and religion of the English, nor to
-correspond with them any more than with pagans."
-
-Unquestionably no Christian church was dedicated to St. Oswald at
-Oswestry until after the final subjection of the district by the
-Anglican Christians. The probability therefore is that the locality was
-merely named, as in the other instances referred to, from the fact that
-it had become the location of a place of worship dedicated to him, and
-that gradually the various traditions about the saint and his rivals
-became inextricably confused. The last syllable "_tre_" is indicative of
-British influence in the formation of the word Oswestry, as in Pentre,
-Gladestry, Coventry (in Radnorshire), Tremadoc, Trewilan, Tredegar,
-etc., which simply means, according to Spurrell's Welsh dictionary,
-"resort, homestead, home, hamlet, town (used chiefly in composition)."
-Indeed, Oswestry is more suggestive of Oswy's-tre, and may refer to a
-successor who, some time after Oswald's death, built a church and
-dedicated it to the saintly monarch.
-
-The pagan Mercian king, Penda, was himself slain in the following year
-by Oswy, the successor to St. Oswald. Bede says "the battle was fought
-near the river Vinwed, which then with the great rains had not only
-filled its channel, but overflowed its banks, so that many more were
-drowned in the flight than destroyed by the sword." Most authorities
-place this battle at Winwidfield, near Leeds. Mr. Thos. Baines, however
-("Historical Notes on the Valley of the Mersey," His. Soc. Lan. and
-Ches. Pro. session 5), claims for Winwick the scene of both engagements.
-He says--"Penda and upwards of thirty of his principal officers were
-drowned in their flight, having been driven into the river Winweyde, the
-waters of which were at that time much swollen by heavy rains. There is
-no stream in England which is more liable to be suddenly flooded than
-the stream which joins the Mersey below Winwick[23], and there both the
-resemblance of the names, and the probability of the fact, induce me to
-think that Penda met with his death within two or three miles of the
-place at which Oswald had fallen."
-
-This seems, at first sight, plausible enough, but as Bede distinctly
-states that "King Oswy concluded the aforesaid war in the country of
-Loides" (Leeds), Winwidfield must unquestionably have preference over
-the Lancashire site, as the scene of Penda's discomfiture and death.
-
-It is generally accepted that Oswald died either at Oswestry or Winwick.
-There are some, however, who accept neither, but contend that the true
-site of the battle may yet, possibly, be found in a different locality.
-This appears to be the opinion of Mr. John R. Green. In support of this
-view he says ("Making of England")--"Though the conversion of Wessex had
-prisoned it (Mercia) within the central districts of England, heathendom
-fought desperately for life. Penda remained its rallying point; and the
-long reign of the Mercian king was in fact one continuous battle with
-the Cross. But so far as we can judge from his acts, Penda seemed to
-have looked on the strife of religion in a purely political light. The
-point of conflict, as before," [that is when Edwin was defeated and
-slain at Hatfield] "seems to have been the dominion over East Anglia.
-Its possession was vital to Mid-Britain as it was to Northumbria, which
-needed it to link itself with its West-Saxon subjects in the south; and
-Oswald must have felt that he was challenging his rival to a decisive
-combat when he marched, in 642, to deliver the East Anglians from Penda.
-But his doom was that of Eadwine; for he was overthrown and slain in a
-battle called the battle of Maserfeld."
-
-If this view be accepted, the claim of Oswestry must be at once
-dismissed, while that of Winwick is rendered still more doubtful. But
-Mr. Green does not state on what authority he relies when he states that
-Oswald "marched in 642, to deliver the East-Anglians from Penda." In
-consequence I am unable to test its value or probability. He certainly
-would not march by either Oswestry or Winwick if such were his
-destination. This statement, however, appears to be not exactly in
-accordance with another by Mr. Green, previously quoted, in which he
-says, referring to the antecedents of the war under Oswy, which
-followed Oswald's death, and in which Penda was slain near the river
-Winwid--"That Oswiu strove to avert the conflict we see from the
-delivery of his youngest son Ecgfrith as a hostage into Penda's hands.
-The sacrifice, however, proved useless. _Penda was again the assailant_,
-and his attack was as vigorous as of old."
-
-If Penda was the assailant, his assault must, in the first instance,
-have been not on Oswald himself, but on his East-Anglian allies, or
-Oswald would not have thought of marching in that direction for their
-relief. But if Penda, having previously humbled the East-Anglians, had
-become aware of such intention on the part of the Northumbrian monarch,
-there is nothing improbable in a vigorous warrior of Penda's stamp, by a
-rapid march, surprising him on the frontier of his own dominions,
-defeating him, and thus warding off the threatened blow. Under such
-circumstances Winwick might very probably have been the scene of the
-conflict. The advocates of Oswestry do not deny the great probability
-that Oswald had a favourite residence in the locality.
-
-The neighbourhood of Winwick, however, is the undisputed site of a
-battle in more recent times. After the Duke of Hamilton's defeat at
-Preston, by Cromwell, in 1648, the former made a stand against his
-pursuers at a place called "Red Bank," where he was totally routed by
-the less numerous but highly disciplined army of his more skilful
-antagonist.
-
-A rude piece of sculpture built in the outer wall, evidently a relic
-from an older edifice, was long supposed to be a representation of the
-crest of St. Oswald; but this is disputed by Mr. Edward Baines. He
-says--"The heralds assign to that monarch azure, a cross between four
-lions rampant, or." He adds--"Superstition sees in the chained hog the
-resemblance of a monster in former ages, which prowled over the
-neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast, and which could only
-be restrained by the subduing force of the sacred edifice." This
-sculpture he regards as not improbably a rude attempt to "represent the
-crest of the Gerrards--a lion rampant, armed and langued, with a coronet
-upon the head." This is certainly more probable than the heralds'
-assignment of "azure, a cross between four lions rampant, or," to
-Oswald, which is suggestive of medićval Norman-French associations and
-nomenclature, without the slightest Anglo-Saxon ingredient. The late Mr.
-T. T. Wilkinson refers to a tradition which asserts that "the demon-pig
-not only determined the site of St. Oswald's Church, at Winwick, but
-gave a name to the parish." This attempt to solve the enigma by the
-assistance of the squeak of a sucking pig, has evidently originated in
-some rural jesting or lame attempt to divine the connection of the
-animal with the church and neighbourhood.
-
-This traditionary "monster in former ages, which prowled over the
-neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast," is worthy of a
-little more serious attention than has hitherto been paid to it. The
-legend is evidently but a northern form of the wide-spread Aryan myth
-concerning Vritra, the dragon, or storm-fiend, who stole the light rain
-clouds (the "herds of Indra," the Sanscrit "god of the clear heaven, and
-of light, warmth, and fertilising rain"), and hid them in the cave of
-the Panis (the dark storm-cloud). Indra, launching his lightning-spear
-into the black thunder-cloud, (personified by the dragon, snake, or
-monster whose poisonous breath parched the earth and destroyed the
-harvest), released the confined waters and thus refertilised the land.
-The Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, in his "Manual of Mythology," says--"In the
-Indian tales Indra kills the dragon Vritra, and in the old Norse legend
-Sigurd kills the great snake Fafnir." The myth survives in the exploits
-of the patron saint of England, St. George, the slayer of the dragon.
-In one Teutonic form Odin, or Wodin, hunted the wild boar, the
-representative of the stormy wind-clouds. His tusk was a type of the
-lightning. This mythical devouring monster is reproduced in Grendel, the
-"great scather," in the old Anglo-Saxon poem "Beowulf," the scene of
-which Mr. D. Haigh, in his "Conquest of the Britons by the Saxons,"
-regards as the neighbourhood of Hartlepool, in Durham.
-
-There exists a great diversity of opinion as to the genesis and original
-habitat of the poem, Beowulf. Mr. Frederick Metcalfe, in his "Englishman
-and Scandinavian," says--"There is, however, one Saxon work which tells
-us of the northern mythology, 'Beowulf,' the oldest heroic, or, as
-some will have it, mythic--perhaps it will be best to call it
-mytho-heroic--poem in any German language, and which has been pronounced
-to be older than Homer." In another place he says--"The date of its
-composition has been much debated. By Conybeare it was thought, in its
-present shape, to be the work of the bards about Canute's court. The
-leading incidents of the plot are as follows:--Beowulf, the son of
-Ecgtheow and prince in Scania (South Sweden), hearing how for twelve
-years King Hrothgar and his people in North Jutland had been mightily
-oppressed by a monster, Grendel, resolves to deliver him, and arrives at
-Hart Hall, the Jutish palace, as an avenger."
-
-Mr. Benjamin Thorpe, in the preface to his edition of the poem (1855)
-says--"With respect to this the oldest heroic poem in any Germanic
-tongue, my opinion is, that it is not an original production of the
-Anglo-Saxon muse, but a metrical paraphrase of an heroic Saga composed
-in the south-west of Sweden, in the old common language of the north,
-and probably brought to this country during the sway of the Danish
-dynasty. It is in this light only that I can view a work evincing a
-knowledge of northern localities and persons, hardly to be acquired by a
-native of England in those days of ignorance with regard to remote
-foreign parts. And what interest could an Anglo-Saxon feel in the
-valourous feats of his deadly foes, the northmen? in the encounter of a
-Sweo-Gothic hero with a monster in Denmark? or with a fire-drake in his
-own country? The answer, I think, is obvious--_none whatever_." In a
-note Mr. Thorpe says--"Let us cherish the hope that the original Saga
-may one day be discovered in some Swedish library." The only MS. of the
-poem extant, (MS. Cott. Vitellius A. 15), he says--"I take to be of the
-first half of the eleventh century."
-
-With respect to the strictly historical character of this poem, Mr.
-Thorpe says--"Preceding editors have regarded the poem of Beowulf as a
-myth, and its heroes as beings of a divine order.[24] To my dull
-perception these appear as real kings and chieftains of the North, some
-of them as Hygelac and Offa, entering within the pale of authentic
-history, while the names of others may have perished, either because the
-records in which they were chronicled are no longer extant, or the
-individuals themselves were not of sufficient importance to occupy a
-place in them."
-
-Mr. Haigh likewise contends for the historic value of the poem; but
-attributes its locality to Britain. Some of the legends and traditions
-of the North of England certainly suggest that the Scandinavian
-population settled there were either acquainted with the poem or the
-legendary elements which strongly characterise it, and upon which it is
-evidently mainly constructed, whatever strictly historical matter, as in
-the romances of Richard Coeur de Lion, Charlemagne, Arthur, and others,
-may have become incorporated therewith.[25]
-
-Mr. John R. Green ("The Making of England") says, "The song as we have
-it now is a poem of the eighth century, the work it may be of some
-English missionary of the days of Beda and Boniface, who gathered in the
-homeland of his race the legend of its earlier prime."
-
-After referring to the interpolations in which there "is a distinctly
-Christian element, contrasting strongly with the general heathen current
-of the whole," Mr. Sweet, in his "Sketch of the History of the
-Anglo-Saxon Poetry," in Hazlitt's edition of Warton's "His. of English
-Poetry," says--"Without these additions and alterations it is certain
-that we have in Beowulf a poem composed before the Teutonic conquest of
-Britain. The localities are purely continental; the scenery is laid
-amongst the Goths of Sweden and the Danes; in the episodes the Swedes,
-Frisians, and other continental tribes appear, while there is no mention
-of England, or the adjoining countries and nations."
-
-Mr. Jno. Fenton, in an able article on "Easter" in the _Antiquary_ for
-April, 1882, says--"To us in western lands the equinox is the beginning
-of spring and the new life of the year; but in the east it is the
-beginning of summer, when the early harvest is also ripe, when the sun
-is parching the grass and drying up the wells, when, as Egyptian
-folk-lore has it, a serpent wanders over the earth, infecting the
-atmosphere with its poisonous breath."[26]
-
-These mythical huge worms, serpents, dragons, wild boars, and other
-monsters, "harvest blasters," are still very common in the North of
-England. The famous "Lambton worm," of huge dimensions and poisonous
-breath, when coiled round a hill, was pacified with copious draughts of
-milk, and his blood flowed freely when he was pierced by the spear-heads
-attached to the armour of the returned Crusader. The Linton worm curled
-itself round a hill, and by its poisonous breath destroyed the
-neighbouring animal and vegetable life. The Pollard worm is described as
-"a venomous serpent which did much harm to man and beast," while that at
-Stockburn is designated as the "worm, dragon, or fiery flying serpent,
-which destroyed man, woman, and child."
-
-In the ancient romance in English verse, which celebrates the deeds of
-the renowned Sir Guy, of Warwick, is the following quaint description
-of a Northumberland dragon, slain by the hero:--
-
-    A messenger came to the king.
-    Syr king he sayd, lysten me now,
-    For bad tydinges I bring you.
-    In Northumberlande there is no man,
-    But that they be slayne everychone;
-    For there dare no man route,
-    By twenty myle rounde aboute,
-    For doubt of a fowle dragon,
-    That sleath men and beastes downe.
-    He is blacke as any cole,
-    Ragged as a rough fole;
-    His body from the navill upwards.
-    No man may it pierce it is so harde;
-    His neck is great as any summere;
-    He renneth as swift as any distrere;
-    Pawes he hath as a lyon;
-    All that he toucheth he sleath dead downe,
-    Great winges he hath to flight,
-    That is no man that bare him might,
-    There may no man fight him agayne,
-    But that he sleath him certayne;
-    For a fowler beast then is he,
-    Ywis of none never heard ye.
-
-The said Guy, amongst other marvellous exploits, killed at "Winsor,"
-
-    A bore of passing might and strength,
-    Whose like in England never was,
-    For hugenesse both in breadth and length.
-
-Mr. Barrett, a saddler, of Manchester, with antiquarian taste, in an
-illuminated MS., now in the Chetham Library, refers to an old tradition
-concerning a dragon whose den was amongst the red sandstone rocks in the
-neighbourhood of Lymm, about five miles from Warrington. Geoffrey of
-Monmouth, in Merlin's prophesy especially, often refers to these
-mythical monsters; and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is equally expressive
-in attributing disaster to their influences. In the latter work we read:
-"A.D. 793. This year dire forewarnings came over the land of the
-Northumbrians, and miserably terrified the people; these were excessive
-whirlwinds and lightnings; and fiery dragons were seen flying in the
-air. A great famine soon followed these tokens." Mr. Baring-Gould says,
-as recently as the year 1600,--"A German writer would illustrate a
-thunderstorm destroying a crop of corn by a picture of a dragon
-devouring the produce of the field with his flaming tongue and iron
-teeth."
-
-That this tradition at Winwick respecting a "monster in former ages,
-which prowled over the neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and
-beast," is a legitimate descendant from our Aryan ancestors'
-personification of natural phenomena, seems very apparent, and aptly
-illustrates what Sir G. W. Dasent terms the "toughness of tradition,"
-especially when interwoven with the marvellous or supernatural. Mr.
-Walter K. Kelly, in his "Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and
-Folk-Lore," says--"These phenomena were noted and designated with a
-watchfulness and a wealth of imagery which made them the principal
-groundwork of all the Indo-European mythologies and superstitions. The
-thunder was the bellowing of a mighty beast or the rolling of a wagon.
-The lightning was a sinuous serpent, or a spear shot straight athwart
-the sky, or a fish darting in zigzags through the waters of heaven. The
-stormy winds were howling dogs or wolves; the ravages of the whirlwind
-that tore up the earth _were the work of a wild boar_."[27] Mr. Fiske,
-in his "Myths and Myth-makers," says that these mythical monsters "not
-only steal the daylight, but they parch the earth and wither the fruits,
-and they slay vegetation during the winter months."
-
-These traditionary "Harvest Blasters," as they are sometimes styled,
-have a wide range, and are not confined even to the various branches of
-the Aryan race.
-
-Most writers agree in assigning the origin of heraldry, in the modern
-acceptation of the term, to the crusades. At least little is recorded
-concerning the "science," or "art," as it is sometimes termed,
-previously to the middle of the twelfth century. It was found necessary
-during the religious wars in the east that the knights should wear some
-device or distinguishing badge on the field of battle, on account of the
-diversity of the languages spoken by the combatants, and hence the term
-"cognizance" was often applied to these symbols. This, in the following
-century, eventuated in the adoption of the warlike badges or "arms" of
-the original bearers by their families. They afterwards became
-hereditary characteristics, and hence the development of the _quasi_
-science. These devices were figured on crest, banner, and shield. One
-authority (Pen. Cyclop.) says--"The crest is said to have been carved on
-light wood, or made of leather, _in the shape of some animal, real or
-fictitious_, and fastened by a fillet of silk round the helmet, over
-which was a large piece of fringed samit or taffeta, pointed with a
-tassel at the end." The same writer adds--"The custom of conferring
-crests as distinguishing marks seems to have originated with Edward
-III., who, in 1333 (Rot. Pat., 9 Edward III.), granted one to William
-Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, his 'tymbre,' as it is called, of the
-eagle. By a further grant, in the thirteenth of the same king (Rot.
-Vasc., 13 Edward III., m. 4), the grant of this crest was made
-hereditary, and the manor of Wodeton given in addition to support its
-dignity."
-
-I am inclined, notwithstanding, to regard heraldry in its more extended
-significance, that is if the term can properly be applied to practices
-anterior to the establishment of heralds, as of much greater antiquity
-than the crusades. Herodotus tells us that the Carians first set the
-Greeks the example of fastening crests upon their helmets, and of
-putting devices upon their shields. The "totems," or beast symbols, of
-our savage ancestors undoubtedly preceded the medićval practice, and
-influenced its incipient development. The "White Horse" of Hengist, the
-"Raven" of the Scandinavian vikings, the "Golden Dragon" of the kings of
-Wessex, as well as others, might be mentioned, which clearly demonstrate
-this position. Uther, the father of Arthur, according to Geoffrey of
-Monmouth, caused "two dragons to be made of gold, which was done with
-wondrous nicety of workmanship." The quasi-historian adds--"He made a
-present of one to the cathedral church of Winchester, but reserved the
-other for himself to be carried along with him to his wars. From this
-time, therefore, he was called Uther Pendragon, which in the British
-tongue signifies the dragon's head." Indeed, amongst savage nations at
-the present or relatively recent time, we find "totems" or symbols, such
-as beaver, snake, hare, cornstalk, black hawk, dog, wolf, bear, beaver,
-little bear, crazy horse, and sitting bull, not only used by the warrior
-chiefs, but even the tribes sometimes take their names therefrom.
-
-Mr. E. B. Tylor, in his "Early History of Mankind," says--"More than
-twenty years ago, Sir George Grey called attention to the divisions of
-the Australians into families, and distinguished by the name of some
-animal or vegetable, which served as their crest or _kobong_." He
-adds--"The Indian tribes" (of America) "are usually divided into clans,
-each distinguished by a _totem_ (Algonquin _do-daim_, that is 'town
-mark,') which is commonly some animal, as a bear, wolf, deer, etc.,
-which may be compared on the one hand to a crest, and on the other to a
-surname."
-
-Indeed, until very recently, some of our own regiments had their "beast
-totem" in the shape of a goat, a bear, or a tiger, which generally
-marched at the head of the corps. The goat, I believe, yet survives, and
-the men of one regiment are designated "tigers" to this day.
-
-The crest is evidently one of the oldest, if not the oldest, forms in
-which the beast symbol was displayed. The bronze Roman helmet, or rather
-bust or head of Minerva, found at Ribchester, in 1796, had originally a
-sphinx as a crest. This appendage, however, having become detached, has
-since been lost. The gladiators' helmet decorations, in the pictures
-found at Pompeii, are generally plumes or tufts of horsehair, but some
-of their shields exhibit devices suggestive of those of more recent
-date. The Roman historians, recording the events pertaining to the
-great Cimbri-Teutonic invasion rather more than a century before the
-Christian era, state that each of the fifteen thousand horsemen, which
-formed the élite of the army of Bojorix, "bore upon his helmet the head
-of some savage beast, with its mouth gaping wide."
-
-Osman, the son of Ertoghrul, was the founder of the Turkish empire (A.D.
-1288-1326). One writer (Pen. Cyc.) says--"The name Osman is of Arabic
-origin (Othman), and signifies literally the bone-breaker; but it also
-designates a species of large vulture, usually called the royal vulture,
-and in this latter acceptation it was given to the son of Ertoghrul."
-
-The Rev. Isaac Taylor, in his "Etruscan Researches," referring to the
-origin of the tribal "totem" of the Asena horde, afterwards named Turks,
-says--"It is not difficult to discover the genesis of the legend. It has
-been already shown that the ancient Ugric word _sena_ meant a 'man.' The
-analogy of a host of ancient tribe-names leaves little doubt that the
-Asena simply called themselves 'the men.' This obvious etymology of the
-name having in lapse of time become obscure by linguistic changes, the
-word _schino_, a wolf, was assumed to be the true source of the national
-appellation, and the myth came into existence as a means of accounting
-for the name of the nation which proudly called itself the 'wolf-race,'
-and bore the wolves' heads as its 'totem.'"
-
-It is said the Kabyls tattoo figures of animals on their foreheads,
-cheeks, nose, or temples, in order to distinguish their various tribes.
-A similar practice obtains generally in central Africa and the Caroline
-archipelago.
-
-The plague, sent by Artemis to punish Ćneus, who had neglected to offer
-up to her a portion of a sacrifice, was a "monstrous boar," afterwards
-slain by Meleagros, Atalanta, and others, in the famous Kalydonian hunt,
-is evidently a Greek form of a mythical "monster, which in former ages
-prowled over the neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast."
-
-The boar, or the boar's head, was a favourite helmet crest or "totem"
-amongst our Teutonic ancestors, both Scandinavian and German. This
-animal was sacred to the goddess Friga, or Freya, whom Tacitus, in his
-"Germania," styles the "mother of the gods," and from whom our Friday is
-named. She was propitiated by the warriors in order to secure her
-protection in battle. This practice is often referred to in the sagas,
-as well as in the earliest known example of Anglo-Saxon poetry extant,
-"Beowulf." The following illustrations are from this remarkable poem:--
-
-    When we in battle our mail hoods defended,
-    When troops rushed together and boar-crests crashed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    Then commanded he to bring in
-    The boar, an ornament to the head,
-    The helmet lofty in war.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    Surrounded with lordly chains,
-    Even as in days of yore,
-    The weapon-smith had wrought it,
-    Had wondrously finished it,
-    Had set it round with shapes of swine,
-    That never afterwards brand or war-knife
-    Might have power to bite it.
-    They seemed a boar's form
-    To bear over their cheeks;
-    Twisted with gold,
-    Variegated and hardened in the fire;
-    This kept the guard of life.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    At the pile was
-    Easy to be seen
-    The mail shirt covered with gore,
-    The hog of gold,
-    The boar hard as iron.
-
-In the episode relating the events attendant on the battle of Finsburgh,
-in the same poem, we find similar importance attached to the boar, as
-the warrior's protector. We read--
-
-    Of the martial Scyldings,
-    The best of warriors,
-    On the pile was ready;
-    At the heap was
-    Easy to be seen
-    The blood-stained tunic,
-    The swine all golden,
-    The boar iron-hard, etc.
-
-In the "Life of Merlin," Arthur and his kinsman, Hoel, are described as
-"two lions," and "two moons." In the same poem, Hoel is styled the
-"Armorican boar."
-
-In the Welsh poem, "The Gododin," by Aneurin, are several allusions to
-the boar and the bull, as warlike appellations:--
-
-    It was like the tearing onset of the woodland boar;
-    Bull of the army in the mangling fight.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    The furze was kindled by the ardent spirit, the bull of conflict.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    And those shields were shivered before the herd of the roaring
-                                                               Beli.[28]
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    The boar proposed a compact in front of the course--the great plotter.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    Adan, the son of Ervai, there did pierce,
-    Adan pierced the haughty boar.
-
-Mr. F. Metcalfe, in his "Englishman and Scandinavian," says--"Indeed
-this porcine device was common to all the Northern nations who
-worshipped Freya and Freyr. The helmet of the Norwegian king, Ali, was
-called Hildigölltr, the boar of war, and was prized beyond measure by
-his victors (Prose Edda, I., 394). But long before that Tacitus (Germ.,
-45) had recorded that the Esthonians, east of the Baltic, wore
-swine-shaped amulets, as a symbol of the mother of the gods.
-
-Tacitus adds--"This" (the wild-boar symbol) "serves instead of weapons
-or any other defence, and gives safety to the servant of the goddess,
-even in the midst of the foe."
-
-This connection of the boar with the religious ceremonies and warlike
-exploits of our pagan ancestors is often referred to in the Edda. The
-valiant Norseman believed that when he entered Walhalla he should join
-the combats of the warriors each morning, and hack and hew away as in
-earthly conflict, till the slain for the day had been "chosen," and
-mealtime arrived, when the vanquished and victorious returned together
-to feast on the "everlasting boar" (soehrimnir), and carouse on mead and
-ale with the Ćsir. The boar's head, which figured so conspicuously in
-the Christmas festivities of our ancestors, is evidently a relic, like
-the mistletoe and the yule-log, of pagan times.
-
-There is nothing, therefore, improbable in the proposition that the
-standard, totem, or helmet-crest of some devastating Teutonic chieftain
-like Penda, the ferocious pagan conqueror of Oswald, may have been of
-this porcine character. The Christian adherents of the Northumbrian king
-and saint would very easily confound him and the devastation attendant
-upon his victorious march through their country, with the dethroned and
-abhorred pagan deity whose emblem formed his crest or "totem," as well
-as with the older wild boar storm-fiend, or "the monster who prowled
-over the neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast," and for the
-subdual of which the sanctity of the edifice of the saintly monarch was
-alone effectual. In the prophecy attributed to Merlin, King Arthur is
-described as the wild boar of Cornwall, that would "devour" his enemies.
-The mingling of ancient superstitious fears with the more modern
-Christianity, especially with reference to such matters as charms,
-prophylactics, etc., is of very common occurrence even at the present
-day. Sir John Lubbock, in his "Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive
-Condition of Man," says--"When man, either by natural progress or the
-influence of a more advanced race, rises to a conception of a higher
-religion, he still retains his old beliefs, which linger on side by side
-with, and yet in utter opposition to, the higher creed. The new and more
-powerful spirit is an addition to the old pantheon, and diminishes the
-importance of the older deities; gradually the worship of the latter
-sinks in the social scale, and becomes confined to the ignorant and
-young. Thus a belief in witchcraft still flourishes amongst our
-agricultural labourers and the lowest class in our great cities, and the
-deities of our ancestors survive in the nursery tales of our children.
-We must, therefore, expect to find in each race traces--nay, more than
-traces--of lower religions."
-
-Some parties regard the Winwick sculpture as "St. Anthony's pig," but
-they acknowledge they know of no connection of that saint with the
-parish. But, as I have shown in the previous chapter, "the deeds of one
-mythical hero are sure, when he is forgotten, to be attributed to some
-other man of mark, who for the time being fills the popular fancy."
-Keightley, in his "Fairy Mythology," says--"Every extraordinary
-appearance is found to have its extraordinary cause assigned, a cause
-always connected with the _history_ or _religion, ancient or modern_, of
-the country, and not unfrequently _varying with the change of faith_.
-The mark on Adam's Peak, in Ceylon, is by the Buddhists ascribed to
-Buddha; by the Mohammedans to Adam."
-
-Mr. Mackenzie Wallace, in his "Russia," speaking of the Finns and their
-Russian neighbours, says--"The friendly contact of two such races
-naturally led to a curious blending of the two religions. The Russians
-adopted many customs from the Finns, and the Finns adopted still more
-from the Russians. When Yumala and the other Finnish deities did not do
-as they were desired, their worshippers naturally applied for protection
-or assistance to the Madonna and the 'Russian god.' If their own
-traditional magic rites did not suffice to ward off evil influences,
-they naturally tried the effect of crossing themselves as the Russians
-do in moments of danger." In another place he says--"At the harvest
-festivals, Tchuvash peasants have been known to pray first to their own
-deities and then to St. Nicholas, the miracle-worker, who is the
-favourite saint of the Russian peasantry. This dual worship is sometimes
-recommended by the Yornzi--a class of men who correspond to the medicine
-men among the Red Indians." He truly observes--"popular imagination
-always uses heroic names as pegs on which to hang traditions."
-
-Bishop Percy, in the preface to his translation of "Mallet's Northern
-Antiquities," says--"Nothing is more contagious than superstition, and
-therefore we must not wonder if, in ages of ignorance, one wild people
-catch up from another, though of very different race, the most arbitrary
-and groundless opinions, or endeavour to imitate them in such rites and
-practices as they are told will recommend them to the gods, or avert
-their anger."
-
-Jacob Grimm says (Deutsche Mythologie)--"A people whose faith is falling
-to pieces will save here and there a fragment of it, by fixing it on a
-new and unpersecuted object of veneration."
-
-It appears, therefore, that the Winwick monster, in this respect, is but
-an apt illustration of ordinary mythological transference of attributes
-or emblems, which in no way invalidates the more remote origin to which
-I have ascribed it, or its connection with the totem or beast symbol of
-the heathen warrior. The boar, indeed, has been a sacred symbol for ages
-amongst the Aryan nations. Herodotus (b. 3, c. 59) says that the
-Eginetć, after defeating the Samians in a sea-fight, "cut off the prows
-of their boats, which represented the figure of a boar, and dedicated
-them in the temple of Minerva, in Egina."
-
-The Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, in his "Introduction to Mythology and
-Folk-Lore," referring to the Greek war god Aręs, says--"In the Odyssey
-his name is connected with Aphrodite, whose love he is said to have
-obtained; but other traditions tell us that when she seemed to favour
-Adonis, Aręs changed himself into a boar, which slew the youth of whom
-he was jealous."
-
-The Mussulman's abhorrence of roast pork is well known. Amongst the
-Turkomans of Central Asia (the ancient home of our Aryan ancestors) the
-prowess of the living animal is likewise regarded with a strange
-superstitious dread, evidently akin to some more ancient belief in the
-supernatural attributes of the animal. Arminius Vámbéry, in his "Travels
-in Central Asia" (having narrowly escaped serious injury from a wild
-porcine assailant), informs us he was seriously assured by a Turkoman
-friend that he might regard himself as very lucky, inasmuch as "death by
-the wound of a wild boar would send even the most pious Mussulman nedgis
-(unclean) into the next world, where a hundred years' burning in
-purgatorial fire would not purge away his uncleanness."
-
-Since the above was written I have perceived a passage in Mr. Fiske's
-essay on "Werewolves," in his "Myths and Myth-makers," that seems not
-only to strengthen the conjecture that the boar was the crest or "totem"
-of the pagan Penda, but likewise the probability of the influence of the
-older mythical story with which I have associated it. The boar, it must
-be remembered, in all the Indo-European mythologies, is associated with
-stormy wind and lightning. Mr. Fiske, referring to what he terms one of
-the "more striking characteristics of primitive thinking," namely, "the
-close community of nature which it assumes between man and brute,"
-says--"The doctrine of metempsychosis, which is found in some shape or
-other all over the world, implies a fundamental identity between the
-two: the Hindu is taught to respect the flocks browsing in the meadow,
-and will on no account lift his hand against a cow, for who knows but
-that it may be his own grandmother? The recent researches of Mr. Lennan
-and Mr. Herbert Spencer have served to connect this feeling with the
-primeval worship of ancestors and with the savage customs of
-totemism.... This kind of worship still maintains a languid existence as
-the state religion of China, and it still exists as a portion of
-Brahmanism; but in the Vedic religion it is to be seen in all its native
-simplicity. According to the ancient Aryan, the Pitris, or 'Fathers'
-(Lat. _Patres_) live in the sky along with Yama, the great original
-Pitri of mankind.... Now if the storm-wind is a host of Pitris, or one
-great Pitri, who appeared as a fearful giant, and is also a pack of
-wolves or wish-hounds, or a single savage dog or wolf, the inference is
-obvious to the mythopoeic mind that men may become wolves, at least after
-death. And to the uncivilised thinker this inference is strengthened, as
-Mr. Spencer has shown by evidence registered on his own tribal 'totem'
-or heraldic emblem. The bears and lions and leopards of heraldry are the
-degenerate descendants of the 'totem' of savagery which designated a
-tribe by a beast symbol. To the untutored mind there is everything
-in a name; and the descendant of Brown Bear, or Yellow Tiger, or
-Silver Hyćna, cannot be pronounced unfaithful to his own style of
-philosophising if he regards _his ancestors, who career about his hut in
-the darkness of the night_, as belonging to whatever order of beasts his
-'totem' associations may suggest."
-
-In the Volsung tale of the Northern mythology the "gods of the bright
-heaven" had to make atonement to the sons of Reidmar, whose brother
-they had slain. This brother was named "the otter."
-
-Modern surnames have been derived from very varied sources, including
-trades, locations, and individual characteristics. Many, identical with
-birds, beasts, and fishes, may have originally been what are vulgarly
-termed "nicknames," or they may be corrupt modern renderings of very
-different ancient words, such as Haddock, from Haydock, a township in
-Lancashire; Winter, from vintner; and Sumner from summoner, &c.
-Nevertheless, the old tribal "totem" or heraldic device of a feudal
-superior may have given rise to some of the following: Wolf, Lyon, Hog,
-Bull, Bullock, Buck, Hart, Fox, Lamb, Hare, Poynter, Badger, Beaver,
-Griffin, Raven, Hawk, Eagle, Stork, Crane, Woodcock, Gull, Nightingale,
-Cock, Cockerell, Bantam, Crow, Dove, Pigeon, Lark, Swallow, Martin,
-Wren, Teal, Finch, Jay, Sparrow, Partridge, Peacock, Goose, Gosling,
-Bird, Fish, Salmon, Sturgeon, Gudgeon, Herring, Roach, Pike, Sprat, &c.
-Some flowers and plants may likewise have formed badges or tribal or
-family symbols or "quarterings," and thus given rise to surnames. We
-have several of this class, such as Plantagenet (the broom), Rose, Lily,
-Primrose, Heath, Broome, Hollyoak, Pine, Thorne, Hawthorne, Hawes,
-Hyacinth, Crabbe, Crabtree, Crabstick, &c. The leek, the Welshman's
-"totem," is not an uncommon name, though generally spelled Leak. I
-never, however, heard of such names as Shamrock or Thistle. On the other
-hand, many families have reversed the process and adopted a symbol or
-crest from a real or fancied similarity of their names and those of the
-selected objects. The figure of a dog is borne on the arms of the Talbot
-family, whence, perhaps, the name. The talbot is a dog noted for his
-quick scent and eager pursuit of game.
-
-Jacob Grimm ("Deutsche Mythologie,") says:--"Even in the middle ages,
-Landscado (scather of the land) was a name borne by noble families." He
-further says:--"Swans, ravens, wolves, stags, bears, and lions, will
-join the heroes, to render them assistance; and that is how animal
-figures in the scutcheons and helmet insignia of heroes are in many
-cases to be accounted for, though they may arise from other causes too,
-_e.g._, the ability of certain heroes to transform themselves at will
-into wolf or swan."
-
-Mr. Charles Elton ("Origins of English History,") says--"The names of
-several tribes, or the legends of their origin, show that an animal, or
-some other real or imaginary object, was chosen as a crest or emblem,
-and was probably regarded with a superstitious veneration. A powerful
-family or tribe would feign to be descended from a swan or a
-water-maiden, or a 'white lady,' who rose from the moon-beams on the
-lake. The moon herself was claimed as the ancestress of certain
-families. The legendary heroes are turned into 'swan-knights,' or fly
-away in the form of wild-geese. The tribe of the 'Ui Duinn,' who claimed
-St. Bridgit as their kinswoman, wore for their crest the figure of a
-lizard, which appeared at the foot of the oak-tree above her shrine. We
-hear of 'griffins' by the Shannon, of 'calves' in the country around
-Belfast; the men of Ossory were called by a name which signifies the
-wild red-deer! There are similar instances from Scotland in such names
-as 'Clan Chattan,' or the Wild Cats, and in the animal crests which have
-been borne from the most ancient times as the emblems or cognizances of
-the chieftains. The early Welsh poems will furnish another set of
-examples. The tribes who fought at Catraeth are distinguished by the
-bard as wolves, bears, or ravens; the families which claim descent from
-Caradock or Oswain take the boar or the raven for their crest. The
-followers of 'Cian the Dog' are called the 'dogs of war,' and the
-chieftain's house is described as the stone or castle of 'the white
-dogs.'"
-
-The writer, in the Pen. Cyclop., of the memoir of Owen Glendwr,
-says--"It was at this juncture that Glendwr revived the ancient prophecy
-that Henry IV. should fall under the name of 'Moldwary,' or 'the cursed
-of God's mouth'; and styling himself 'the Dragon,' assumed a badge
-representing that monster with a star above, in imitation of Uther,
-whose victories over the Saxons were foretold by the appearance of a
-star with a dagger threatening beneath. Percy was denoted 'the Lion,'
-from the crest of his family; and on Sir Edward Mortimer they bestowed
-the title of 'the Wolf.'"
-
-Hugh of Avranche, Earl of Chester, was called Hugh Lupus, from his
-cognizance or favourite device of a wolf's head.
-
-Shakspere has preserved to us at least two noteworthy instances in which
-the "totem" or beast symbol of our savage ancestors survived, with its
-original significance, until the period of the "Wars of the Roses." In
-the Second Part of "King Henry VI." (Act 5, Scene 1), _Warwick_
-exclaims:--
-
-    Now, by my father's badge, old Nevil's crest,
-    The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff,
-    This day I'll wear aloft my burgonet
-    (As on a mountain top the cedar shows,
-    That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm),
-    Even to affright thee with the view thereof.
-
-To which boast _Clifford_ replies:--
-
-    And from thy burgonet I'll rend thy bear,
-    And tread it underfoot with all contempt,
-    Despite the bearward that protects the bear.
-
-_Warwick_, in the following scene, amidst the carnage of battle,
-shouts:--
-
-    Clifford of Cumberland, 'tis Warwick calls!
-    And if thou dost not hide thee from the bear,
-    Now--when the angry trumpet sounds alarm,
-    And _dead men's cries do fill the empty air_--
-    Clifford, I say, come forth and fight with me!
-
-The expression "_dead_ men's cries do fill the empty air," I have
-hitherto regarded, as doubtless most other readers of Shakspere have
-done, as either a misprint or an obsolete form of expression, meaning,
-in the more modern English, "_dying_ men's cries do fill the empty air."
-Taken in connection, however, with the continual reference of Warwick to
-the "rampant bear" as his ancestral "totem" or beast symbol, I am
-inclined to think it is not improbable that Shakspere, who has made use
-of such an enormous number of other superstitious fancies as poetic
-images, as well as illustrations of character, may have had in his mind
-the old belief that the souls of ancestors, "Pitris," or "Fathers,"
-careered and howled amongst the storm-winds in the form indicated by
-their beast symbol or tribal "totem." Poetically, the thought is
-singularly appropriate to the storm and strife of the battlefield, and
-especially to the frenzied agony engendered by the horrors too often
-attendant upon "_domestic_ fury and fierce _civil_ strife." Referring
-to, and quoting from, the "Exodus," a poem of the Coedman school, Mr.
-Green ("The Making of England") says--"The wolves sang their dread
-evensong; the fowls of war, greedy of battle, dewy feathered, screamed
-around the host of Pharaoh, as wolf howled and eagle screamed round the
-host of Penda." Shakspere places in the mouth of _Calphurnia_, when
-recounting the prodigies which preceded Cćsar's assassination, the
-following remarkable words:--
-
-    The graves have yawn'd and yielded up their dead:
-    Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds
-    In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
-    Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
-    The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
-    Horses did neigh and dying men did groan,
-    And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    When beggars die there are no comets seen:
-    The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
-
-Again, in "Richard III." (Act 3, Scene 2), _Stanley's_ messenger informs
-_Hastings_ that his master had commissioned him to say he had dreamt
-that night "the boar (Richard) had raised off his helm." This, he adds,
-his master regards as a warning to _Hastings_ and himself--
-
-    To shun the danger that his soul divines.
-
-The boar was the cognizance, crest, or "totem" of Richard. In the fourth
-scene of the same act, _Hastings_, on hearing his death sentence,
-exclaims:
-
-    Woe! woe for England! not a whit for me;
-    For I, too fond, might have prevented this:
-    Stanley did dream the boar did raise his helm;
-    But I disdain'd it, and did scorn to fly.
-
-In Act 4, Scene 4, _Stanley_, addressing _Sir Christopher Urswick_,
-says:--
-
-    Sir Christopher, tell Richmond this from me:
-    That in the sty of this most bloody boar,
-    My son, George Stanley, is frank'd up in hold;
-    If I revolt, off goes young George's head;
-    The fear of that withholds my present aid.
-
-In _Richmond's_ address to his army, in the second scene of the fifth
-act, the Aryan personification of the destroying storm-wind and "harvest
-blaster," as well as "the monster in former ages, which prowled over the
-neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast," is very distinctly
-indicated, and adds another link to the chain of evidence by which I
-have endeavoured to justify the hypothesis that the rude sculpture of
-Winwick may represent the crest or "totem" of Penda, the ruthless pagan
-victor in the disastrous fight at Maserfeld, in the year 642. _Richmond_
-says:--
-
-    The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar,
-    _That spoiled your summer fields and fruitful vines_,
-    Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough
-    In your embowell'd bosoms--this foul swine
-    Lies now even in the centre of this isle,
-    Near to the town of Leicester.
-
-There is an old rhyming couplet, referring to the three personages who
-were Richard's chief advisers or instruments, in his usurpation,
-Ratcliffe, Catesby and Lovel, which throws additional light on this
-beast symbolism:--
-
-    The rat and the cat, and Lovel the dog,
-    Do govern all England under the hog.
-
-Amongst our Scandinavian predecessors the customs and superstitions now
-under consideration seem to have been deeply rooted. Sir G. W. Dasent,
-in the introduction to his translation of the Icelandic saga, the "Story
-of Brunt Njal," says the Icelander believed in wraiths and patches and
-guardian spirits, who followed particular persons, and belonged to
-certain families--a belief which seems to have sprung from the habit of
-regarding body and soul as two distinct beings, which at certain times
-took each a separate bodily shape. Sometimes the guardian spirit or
-Jylgja took a human shape, and at others its _form took that of some
-animal to foreshadow the character of the man to whom it belonged_. Thus
-it becomes a bear, a wolf, an ox, and even a fox, in men. The Jylgja of
-women were fond of taking the shape of swans. To see one's own Jylgja
-was unlucky, and often a sign that a man was 'fey,' or death-doomed. So,
-when Thord Freedmanson tells Njal that he sees the goat wallowing in its
-gore in the 'town' of Bergthirsknoll, the foresighted man tells him that
-he has seen his own Jylgja, and that he must be doomed to die. Finer and
-nobler natures often saw the guardian spirits of others.... From the
-Jylgja of the individual it was easy to rise to the still more abstract
-notion of the guardian spirits of a family, who sometimes, if a great
-change in the house is about to begin, even show themselves as hurtful
-to some member of the house. He believed also that some men had more
-than one shape (voru eigi einhamir); that they could either take the
-shapes of animals, as bears or wolves, and so work mischief; or that
-without undergoing bodily change, an access of rage and strength came
-over them, and more especially towards night, which made them more than
-a match for ordinary men."
-
-To those who may fancy that in this inquiry I have carried conjecture
-and apparent analogy beyond the domain of legitimate critical inference,
-I answer in the words of Professor Gervinus, in his comments on the
-sonnets of Shakspere--"The caution of the critic does not require that
-we should repudiate a supposition so extraordinarily probable; it
-requires alone that we should not obstinately insist upon it and set it
-up as an established certainty, but that we should lend a willing ear to
-better and surer knowledge whenever it is offered." Professor Tyndall,
-too, in his "Lectures on Light," referring to the genesis of all
-scientific knowledge, says--"All our notions of nature, however exalted
-or however grotesque, have some foundations in experience. The notion of
-personal volition in nature had this basis. In the fury and the serenity
-of natural phenomena the savage saw the transcript of his own varying
-moods, and he accordingly ascribed these phenomena to beings of like
-passions with himself, but vastly transcending him in power. Thus the
-notion of _causality_--the assumption that natural things did not come
-of themselves, but had unseen antecedents--lay at the root of even the
-savage's interpretation of nature. Out of this bias of the human mind
-to seek for the antecedents of phenomena, all science has sprung."
-
-The value of "comparative folk-lore," in the elucidation of obscure
-passages in the early history of mankind, especially with regard to
-manners, customs, and superstitious faiths, is now pretty generally
-acknowledged by archćological students. Since this chapter was first
-written I find the subject has been ably treated by Mr. J. A. Farrer, in
-the _Cornhill Magazine_ of January, 1875. He says--"The evidence that
-the nations now highest in culture were once in the position of those
-now the lowest is ever increasing, and the study of folk-lore
-corroborates the conclusions long since arrived at by archćological
-science. For, just as stone monuments, flint-knives, lake-piles, and
-shell-mounds point to a time when Europeans resembled races where such
-things are still part of actual life, so do the traces in our social
-organism, of fetishism, totemism, and other low forms of thought,
-connect our past with people where such forms of thought are still
-predominant. The analogies with barbarism that still flourish in
-civilised communities seem only explicable on the theory of a slow and
-more or less uniform metamorphosis to higher types and modes of life,
-and we are forced to believe that ere long it will appear a law of
-development, as firmly established on the inconceivability of the
-contrary, that civilization should emerge from barbarism as that
-butterflies should first be caterpillars, or that ignorance should
-precede knowledge. It is in this way that superstition itself may be
-turned to the service of science."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-BATTLES IN THE VALLEY OF THE RIBBLE, NEAR WHALLEY AND CLITHEROE.
-
-
-    WADA'S DEFEAT BY KING EARDULPH, AT BILLANGAHOH, A.D. 798, AND
-    CONTEMPORARY PROPHETIC SUPERSTITIONS. THE VICTORY OF THE SCOTS AT
-    EDISFORD BRIDGE IN 1138. CIVIL WAR INCIDENTS BETWEEN CHARLES I. AND
-    THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT.
-
-The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the date 798, says--"This year there
-was a great fight at Hwelleage (Whalley), in the land of the
-Northumbrians, during Lent, on the 4th before the Nones of April, and
-there Alric, the son of Herbert, was slain, and many others with him."
-
-Simeon of Durham has the following reference to this battle:--"A.D. 798.
-A conspiracy having been organised by the murderers of Ethelred, the
-king, Wada, the chief of that conspiracy, commenced a war against
-Eardulph, and fought a battle at a place called by the English
-Billangahoh, near Walalega, and, after many had fallen on both sides,
-Wada and his army were totally routed."
-
-[Illustration: MAP 2.]
-
-The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle informs us that four years previously (794),
-"Ethelred, king of the Northumbrians, was slain by his own people, on
-the 13th before the Kalends of May." This Ethelred seems to have been a
-very unfortunate or a very tyrannical ruler, even for those barbarous
-times, for we find, on the same authority, he, in company with Herbert,
-"slew three high reves, on the 11th before the Kalends of April," 778,
-and that afterwards "Alfwold obtained the kingdom, and drove Ethelred
-out of the country; and he (Alfwold) reigned ten years." This same
-Alfwold was evidently regarded as a patriot and not as an usurper, for
-the Chronicle tells us that he "was slain by Siga, on the 8th before the
-Kalends of October; and a heavenly light was frequently seen at the
-place where he was slain; and he was buried at Hexham within the
-church." He was succeeded by his nephew, Osred, who, the Chronicle says,
-afterwards "was betrayed and driven from the kingdom; and Ethelred, the
-son of Ethelwald, again obtained the government." Two years later, from
-the same authority, we learn that "Osred, who had been king of the
-Northhumbrians, having come home from his exile, was seized and slain on
-the 18th before the Kalends of October," (792).
-
-These facts throw much light on the social and political state of the
-country at the period, and demonstrate that Ethelred's murder was by no
-means an exceptional occurrence. Indeed, the slaying of kings by their
-own people appears to have been the rule rather than the exception
-amongst our ancestors, especially in Northumbria, about this period.
-Sharon Turner, in his "History of the Anglo-Saxons," referring to the
-internecine conflicts which took place in the North of England for a
-lengthened period, and especially about this time, says--"Of all the
-Anglo-Saxon Governments the kingdom of Northumbria had been always the
-most perturbed. Usurper murdering usurper is the prevailing incident. A
-crowd of ghastly monarchs pass swiftly along the page of history as we
-gaze, and scarcely was the sword of the assassin sheathed before it was
-drawn against its master, and he was carried to the sepulchre which he
-had just closed upon another. In this manner, during the last century
-and a half, no fewer than seventeen sceptered chiefs hurled each other
-from their joyless thrones, and the deaths of the greatest number were
-accompanied by hecatombs of their friends."
-
-The public mind, under such circumstances, must of necessity have been
-deeply perturbed, and superstition associated the social and political
-anarchy which prevailed with the "war of elements," and other attendant
-mysterious physical phenomena. The trusty old chronicler, duly impressed
-with the solemnity of his theme, informs us that during the year
-preceding the murder of Ethelred "dire forewarnings came over the land
-of the Northumbrians and miserably terrified the people; these were
-excessive whirlwinds and lightnings, and fiery dragons were seen flying
-in the air. A great famine soon followed these tokens; and a little
-after that, in the same year, on the 6th before the Ides of January, the
-ravaging of heathen men lamentably destroyed God's Church at Lindisfarne
-through rapine and slaughter."
-
-The "heathen men" here referred to were Danish rovers. These "Northmen,
-out of Hćretha-land" (Denmark), had a few years previously (787), in
-three ships, "first sought the land of the English nation," and, having
-found it and pronounced it good, they ceased not their invasions until
-they became masters of the entire kingdom, under Canute the Great. This
-conquest of the Northmen mainly resulted from the fact that the English
-monarchs of the Heptarchy were continually at war either with the
-Britons or amongst themselves. "Domestic treason and fierce civil
-strife" added additional strength to the foe, for both regal enemy and
-rebellious subject eagerly sought the aid of the pirates, or selected
-the occasion of their hostile visits to harass their opponents. Although
-we have no record of Danish or other Northmen's ravages in Lancashire in
-the reign of Ethelred or his successor, yet we get a very distinct view
-of their doings on the eastern coast of Northumbria, and of the
-internecine strife which rendered the kingdom a relatively easy prey to
-the brave but brutal and remorseless heathen pirates.
-
-The battles described in the previous chapters were more or less
-conjectural in some of their aspects; at least the true character of the
-presumed Arthurian victories on the Douglas, as well as the site of that
-of Penda over St. Oswald, at Maserfield, have not been demonstrated with
-such certainty as to obtain universal assent. Such, however, is not the
-case with the minor struggle now under consideration. The site assigned
-to it has never been doubted. The names recorded by the old chroniclers
-are still extant in the locality, with such orthographic or phonetic
-changes in their descent from the eighth to the nineteenth century as
-philologists would anticipate. The _Hwelleage_ of the Anglo-Saxon
-Chronicle, as well as the monk of Durham's medićval Latin _Walalega_,
-are identical with the present Whalley; while _Billangahoh_ is
-represented by its descendants Billinge, Billington, and Langho.
-Archćological remains have likewise contributed important evidence.
-Three large tumuli for centuries have marked the scene of the struggle,
-one of which, near to Langho, has been removed, and the remains of a
-buried warrior exhumed. According to J. M. Kemble and other Anglo-Saxon
-scholars, Billington signifies the homestead or settlement of the sept
-or clan of the Billings, as Birmingham is that of the Beormings. This
-rule likewise applies to many other localities where the local
-nomenclature presents similar features. Consequently, from legitimate
-analogy, we learn that Waddington, on the right bank of the Ribble
-opposite Clitheroe, is the homestead, town, or settlement of Wadda and
-his dependents; and Waddow, in its immediate neighbourhood, the how or
-hill of Wadda.
-
-In the fragment of the old Anglo-Saxon poem "The Traveller's Tale,"
-mention is made of a Wada as a chief of the Hćlsings. Mr. Haigh, in his
-"Anglo-Saxon Sagas," regards him as "probably one of the companions of
-the first Hencgest." Hence the probability of his being an ancestor of
-the chief conspirator against King Eardulph. Mr. Kemble ("Saxons in
-England,") says--"Among the heroes of heathen tradition are Wada,
-Weland, and Eigil. All three so celebrated in the mythus and epos of
-Scandinavia and Germany, have left traces in England. Of Wada, the
-"Traveller's Song" declares that he ruled the Hćlsings; and even later
-times had to tell of Wade's _boat_, in which the exact allusion is
-unknown to us: the Scandinavian story makes him wade across the
-Groenasund, carrying his son across his shoulder. Perhaps our tradition
-gives a different version of this story."
-
-This story may have something to do with the genesis of the legend of
-St. Christopher bearing the infant Christ on his shoulders over a broad
-stream, a subject of one of the early medićval pictures discovered some
-time ago, on the removal of the whitewash from the walls of Gawsworth
-Church, near Macclesfield. The historical anachronism in ascribing such
-an action to him may have resulted from the mere transference of it from
-the pagan hero to the Christian saint. The original story seems to have
-been pretty familiar to the people as late as the fourteenth century.
-Mr. Kemble says--"Chaucer once or twice refers to this (Wade's _boat_)
-in such a way as to show that the expression was used in an obscene
-sense. Old women, he says, 'connen so moche craft in Wade's boat.' Again
-of Pandarus:
-
-    'He song, he plaied, he told a tale of Wade.'
-
- _Troil. Cressid._
-
-'In this there seems to be some allusion to what anatomists have termed
-_fossa navicularis_, though what immediate connection there could be
-with the mythical Wade, now escapes us.'"
-
-The "Traveller's Tale" likewise refers to a chieftain named "Billing,"
-who "ruled the Wćrns," and who, in Mr. Haigh's opinion, was likewise a
-"probable associate of Hencgest." Mr. Haigh likewise identifies Whaley
-in Cheshire, Whalley in Northumberland, and Whalley in Lancashire, with
-a chieftain described in the same poem as "Hwala once the best." Dr.
-Whitaker, Mr. Baines, and others, however, derive Whalley from
-_Walalega_, "Field of Wells."
-
-Mr. Jno. R. Green ("Making of England,") says--"In the star-strown track
-of the Milky Way, our fathers saw a road by which the hero-sons of
-Waetla marched across the sky, and poetry only hardened into prose when
-they transferred the name of Watling Street to the great trackway which
-passed athwart the island they had won, from London to Chester. The
-stones of Weyland's Smithy still recall the days when the new settlers
-told one another, on the conquered ground, the wondrous tale they had
-brought with them from their German home, the tale of the godlike smith
-Weland, who forged the arms that none could blunt or break; just as they
-told around Wadanbury and Wadanhlćw the strange tale of Wade and his
-boats. When men christened mere and tree with Scyld's name, at
-Scyldsmere and Styldstreow, they must have been familiar with the story
-of the godlike child who came over the waters to found the royal line of
-the Gwissas. So a name like Hnaef's-scylf was then a living part of
-English mythology; and a name like Aylesbury may preserve the last trace
-of the legend told of Weland's brother, the sun-archer Egil."
-
-Although we possess but little information respecting the details of the
-fight, or of the political complications out of which it arose, we are,
-at least, perfectly certain of the locality of the struggle. In
-addition, the magnificent scenery by which it is surrounded, in which
-grandeur and beauty are seen in the most harmonious combination, the
-interesting archćological remains, and the numerous other historic
-associations of the neighbourhood, including those connected with
-Whalley Abbey, Clitheroe Castle, Mytton, and Stonyhurst, give an
-interest to the locality which is denied to the sites of many
-battle-fields, the names of which have become "household words," not
-merely with one nation or people, but with all the so-called civilised
-section of mankind.
-
-One of the tumuli to which I have referred was partially opened by Dr.
-T. D. Whitaker, the historian of Whalley. But, as in his day Anglo-Saxon
-antiquities were very little sought after and, consequently, very
-imperfectly understood, his labours were productive of nothing but
-negative results. Canon Raines, however, in a note to his edition of the
-"Notitia Cestriensis," published by the Chetham Society, says--"In the
-year 1836, as Thomas Hubbertsty, the farmer at Brockhall, was removing a
-large mound of earth in Brockhall Eases, about five hundred yards from
-the bank of the Ribble, on the left of the road leading from the house,
-he discovered a Kist-vaen, formed of rude stones, containing some human
-bones and the rusty remains of some spear-heads of iron. The whole
-crumbled to dust on exposure to the air. Tradition has uniformly
-recorded that a battle was fought about Langho, Elker and Buckfoot,
-near the Ribble; and a tumulus was opened within two hundred yards of a
-ford of the Ribble (now called Bullasey-ford), one of the very few
-points for miles where that river could be crossed. The late Dr.
-Whitaker repeatedly, but in vain, searched for remains of this battle,
-as he appears to have erroneously concluded that the scene of it was
-higher up the river, near Hacking Hall, at the junction of the Calder
-and the Ribble."
-
-Dr. Whitaker does not appear to have noticed all the tumuli in the
-neighbourhood. In his "History of Whalley" he says--"Of this great
-battle there are no remains, unless _a large tumulus_ near Hacking Hall,
-and in the immediate vicinity of Langho, be supposed to cover the
-remains of Alric, or some other chieftain among the slain." The site of
-the tumulus, on the left bank, or south-east side of the Ribble, is
-marked on the Ordnance map. It is scarcely three quarters of a mile from
-Hacking Hall, and rather more than a mile from Langho chapel. No other
-tumulus is noticed by the Ordnance surveyors on the south-east side of
-the river.
-
-Canon Raines states that the "large mound" removed by Thomas Hubbertsty,
-in 1836, was situated "about five hundred yards from the bank of the
-Ribble," and that the tumulus that had been previously opened was only
-two hundred yards distant from that stream. The "large mound" of Canon
-Raines, removed in 1836, in which remains were found, seems to have been
-a smaller affair than the other tumuli. This is affirmed by Mr. Abram,
-in a very able paper on the history of the township of Billington, in
-the Lancashire and Cheshire Historical Society's Transactions, otherwise
-he says, "the farmer would hardly have undertaken to level it." The
-tumuli on the right bank or north-west side of the river are named
-"lowes" on the six-inch Ordnance map, and "mounds" on the smaller one.
-The former name is evidently the Anglo-Saxon _hloew_, a conical hill or a
-sepulchral mound, or tumulus, in the latter sense a synonym of _beorh_
-or _bearw_, a barrow. Although these large tumuli are on the north-west
-side of the river, the nearest is scarcely half a mile distant from the
-site of the removed one near Bullasey-ford on the south-east.
-
-There is some confusion in the various descriptions of these mounds. Mr.
-Abram says, referring to the large tumulus called the "Lowe" on the
-north-west side of the Ribble--"Into this mound Whitaker had some
-excavation made about the year 1815, but he found the work heavy and
-gave it up without reaching the centre of the tumulus, where the relics
-of sepulture might be expected to be found." As Dr. Whitaker expressly
-says, he saw no remains of the battle except "a large tumulus near
-Hacking Hall," he must not only have been ignorant of the character of
-its immediate neighbour, as well as of the one on the Langho side of the
-river, near Bullasey-ford, if this "lowe" was the mound he but partially
-disturbed. This can scarcely be the tumulus referred to by Canon Raines
-if the distance (two hundred yards) from the river be correct. Neither
-can the five hundred yards distance of Mr. Hubbertsty's mound
-be reconciled with the site of the tumulus at Brockhall, near
-Bullasey-ford. Perhaps his figures have been accidently transposed. I
-had previously laboured under an impression that Hubbertsty had merely
-completely cleared away the mound but imperfectly excavated by Dr.
-Whitaker.
-
-Being anxious to arrive at some more definite knowledge respecting these
-"lowes" or "mounds," on the ninth of Nov., 1876, I visited the locality,
-and by the aid of Mr. Parkinson, the present tenant of Brockhall, I was
-enabled to make a far more detailed inspection of the battle-field than
-on a hurried visit about twenty years previously. Mr. Parkinson pointed
-out the site of the tumulus removed by Mr. Hubbertsty in 1836. Nothing
-of it, of course, now remains. He said that it was the only mound of the
-kind he had ever heard of on the Langho side of the Ribble. He, however,
-pointed out a curious circular agger, about five or six feet broad and a
-couple of feet high, which enclosed a level area some sixteen or
-seventeen yards in diameter. It is evidently an artificial work, but
-without additional evidence it is impossible to say, with any reasonable
-degree of probability, by whom it was constructed, or to what use it was
-originally applied. On the steep promontory called "Brockhole Wood-end,"
-Mr. Parkinson called my attention to curious masses of cemented sand and
-pebble stones, which some persons regarded as artificial grout, that had
-originally formed part of the massive masonry of an ancient building,
-the foundations of which had been undermined by the falling in of the
-earth in consequence of the erosive action of the flood water of
-the Ribble at the base of the cliff. This, however, I found, on
-examination, to be erroneous. The "grout" in question is a geological
-phenomenon, a kind of conglomerate or breccia, formed by the percolation
-of rain water, charged with carbonic acid and lime, through the mass of
-glacial or boulder "till" and its sandy and pebbly contents. The "till"
-contains limestones brought by ice from both the Ribble and the Hodder
-valleys. The phenomenon is a common one to geologists, and the
-"concrete" at "Brockhole Wood-end" is an excellent example of it. On
-gazing across the river at the larger "lowe" of the six-inch Ordnance
-map, Mr. Parkinson remarked that it appeared to him to be what is termed
-by geologists an outlier of the boulder deposits on each side of the
-valley, and therefore, not an artificial mound. He pointed out that the
-flood waters of the Ribble, Hodder, and Calder met in the plain, and
-when the "till" was excavated by a kind of circular motion of the
-combined waters, which the present appearance of the valley indicates,
-the land situated in the centre or vortex would the longer resist the
-abrading action, and eventually, as the passage of the currents became
-enlarged, remain a surviving outlier of the general mass of glacial
-deposit. On passing the river in the ferry-boat, and, by the aid of a
-pickaxe, exposing the material of which this mound is formed, I
-confessed that I could detect no difference in its character or
-structure from that of the neighbouring geological deposits. Still, as
-the mound, if artificial, must have been constructed from the boulder
-clay and its unstratified contents, this is not surprising. It is,
-however, impossible to solve this problem without a much more searching
-investigation. Even if a mound existed at the time the battle was
-fought, nothing is more probable than that it would be utilised by the
-victors in the interment of their honoured dead. The second and
-smaller mound seems very like an artificial one; but this cannot be
-satisfactorily affirmed without more complete investigation. Both mounds
-have been partially opened near their summits, but with only negative
-results, as might have been anticipated, as the Christian Anglo-Saxons
-in such cases buried the body in the earth, and afterwards heaped the
-tumulus or barrow above it, as a monument to the memory of the deceased
-warrior or warriors. This mode of interment had been adopted in the
-instance of the tumulus removed by Mr. Hubbertsty in 1836. Interesting
-results, both to geologists and archćologists, may, therefore, be
-anticipated from a thorough examination of the contents of these
-remarkable "lowes" or "mounds;" but, as some expense would be attendant
-thereupon, they may yet, for some time, remain an interesting puzzle,
-both to the learned and the unlearned in such matters. They are situated
-in the midst of the level alluvial plain. The largest is nearly twenty
-feet high, and forms a prominent object.
-
-When I first visited the locality I was much amused at the rough and
-ready way in which some of the country people accounted for their
-construction, or rather the object thereof. They had seen sheep, when
-the Ribble valley was flooded, mount on the top of them for safety, and
-they innocently concluded that these historic monuments, mementoes of
-deadly civil strife during the eighth century, or of the glacial period
-of geologists, had been erected by some benevolent or thrifty ancestor
-of the owner of the soil for the especial accommodation of ovine
-refugees during the deluges to which the low-lying land on the margin of
-the river is occasionally subjected.
-
-It is, of course, at the present time, impossible to define the extent
-of ground covered by the contending armies during the conflict, or to
-give even a satisfactory outline of the general features of the battle.
-The Roman road, the seventh iter of Richard of Cirencester, which leads
-from the Wyre (the Portus Setantiorum of Ptolemy), by Preston and
-Ribchester to York, passed through the township of Billington, crossed
-the Calder near the present "Potter's Ford," a little above its junction
-with the Ribble, and proceeded a little south of Clitheroe and north of
-Pendle-hill, by Standen Hall, and Worston, in Lancashire, and Downham,
-into Yorkshire. Mr. Abram seems to think that the battle was most
-probably fought on this line of road. He says--"Eardulf encountered the
-insurgent army on the extreme verge of his kingdom (for it seems certain
-that the country south of the Ribble was then a part, not of the Saxon
-kingdom of Northumbria, but that of Mercia). Wada and his army had
-probably been driven upon the neutral territory before the decisive
-battle could be forced upon him."
-
-This notion that the Ribble and not the Mersey was the southern boundary
-of Northumbria in the earlier period of the Heptarchy, was first
-propounded by Dr. Whitaker, but upon very slight evidence. It is
-sufficient here to say that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the date
-923, expressly states that King Edward sent a force of Mercians to take
-possession of "Mameceastre (Manchester), _in Northumbria_, and repair
-and man it." Again, the same chronicle, when referring to this very
-battle, A.D. 798, expressly states that it took place "at Whalley, _in
-the land of the Northumbrians_." Against such evidence, Dr. Whitaker's
-mistaken dialectal argument, as well as that based on the extent of the
-episcopal see of Lichfield, at some period of the Heptarchy, is utterly
-valueless. His authority is the ancient document entitled "De Statu
-Blackborneshire," supposed to have been written in the fourteenth
-century by John Lindeley, Abbot of Whalley. Some notion of the value of
-this monkish compilation, with reference to the earlier history of the
-district, may be gathered from the fact that the author makes Augustine,
-and not Paulinus, the missionary who planted Christianity amongst the
-Northumbrian Angles. Dr. Whitaker likewise contends that the Ribble is
-the _dialectic_ boundary between the two kingdoms. My own observation,
-however, leads me to a very different conclusion. To my ear the change
-is by no means so distinctly marked on the north and south sides of the
-Ribble as it is on the north and south banks of the Mersey. The swampy
-country between the two rivers would rather seem to have been a kind of
-"march" or "debateable ground," during the earlier portion of the
-Anglo-Saxon and Danish periods, districts in it being sometimes governed
-by tributary British chieftains under both Northumbrian and Mercian
-kings as the fortune of war from time to time prevailed. Lancashire is
-not referred to as a county till the middle of the twelfth century. The
-name is never mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. As we find the
-"Lands between the Ribble and the Mersey" are surveyed with those of
-Cheshire, in the Domesday book, it seems highly probable that they
-formed a part of Leofric's earldom of Mercia, at the time of the Norman
-conquest. Consequently it is to the latter and not to the earlier
-portion of the Anglo-Saxon period that the Ribble formed the southern
-boundary of the _earldom_ of Northumbria, rather than of the earlier
-independent _kingdom_.
-
-Mr. J. R. Green ("Making of England,") says--"The first missionaries to
-the Englishmen, strangers in a heathen land, attached themselves
-necessarily to the courts of the kings, who were their earliest
-converts, and whose conversion was generally followed by that of their
-people. The English bishops were thus at first royal chaplains, and
-their diocese was naturally nothing but the kingdom. The kingdom of Kent
-became the diocese of Canterbury, and the kingdom of Northumbria became
-the diocese of York. So absolutely was this the case that the diocese
-grew or shrank with the growth or shrinking of the realm which it
-spiritually represented, and a bishop of Wessex or of Mercia found the
-limits of his see widened or cut short by the triumphs of Wolfhere or of
-Ine. In this way two realms, which are all but forgotten, are
-commemorated in the limits of existing sees. That of Rochester
-represented, till of late, an obscure kingdom of West Kent, and the
-frontier of the original kingdom of Mercia might be recovered by
-following the map of the ancient bishopric of Lichfield."
-
-After describing in detail some of the subdivisions made by Archbishop
-Theodore (A.D. 669-672), he adds--"The see of Lichfield thus returned to
-its original form of a see of the Mercians proper, though its bounds on
-the westward now embraced much of the upper Severn valley, with Cheshire
-and the lands northward to the Mersey."
-
-Notwithstanding this error with regard to the southern boundary of
-Northumbria at that period, the Roman road, in all probability, was
-utilised by the contending forces, and some portion of the main battle
-was, doubtless, fought in its immediate vicinity. On the other hand, it
-is equally probable, as the two larger tumuli are situated on the
-north-west bank of the Ribble, that the chief conflict occurred in their
-neighbourhood. On this hypothesis, Wada and his allies, on leaving
-Waddington, crossed the Hodder, at the ford nearest its mouth, met the
-King's army on the banks of the Ribble, and the possession of
-Bullasey-ford was the immediate object of the encounter in which the
-rebellious chieftain was discomfited. Or the route may have been
-reversed. Wada may have crossed the Ribble, at the Bungerley
-"hyppyngstones," to the north-west of Clitheroe, or the Edisford, to the
-south-west, and after penetrating the southern portion of the present
-county, had to fall back before the advance of the King's army, and,
-unable to retrace his steps he made for the nearer ford at Bullasey,
-where he was defeated and pursued across the river. As the slaughter is
-generally greater when a discomfited enemy is routed, perhaps the two
-large tumuli, named "lowes," mark the spot where the greatest carnage
-ensued. This, however, of course, is merely conjecture. Its value cannot
-be tested unless a thorough investigation of the contents of these huge
-mounds should throw additional light upon the subject.
-
-The good fortune of King Eardulf deserted him on a future occasion. The
-Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says--"A.D. 806. This year the moon was eclipsed
-in the Kalends of September; and Eardulf, King of the Northhumbrians,
-was driven from his kingdom.... Also in the same year, on the 2nd before
-the Nones of June, a cross appeared in the moon on a Wednesday at dawn;
-and afterwards in this year, on the 3rd before the Kalends of September,
-a wonderful circle was seen about the sun." This is the last we hear of
-the victor of Billangahoh, and the manner of his exit from the historic
-stage would seem to indicate that his rule, like that of his
-predecessor, had become so intolerable that further revolts ensued, and
-that Wada's successors, whoever they may have been, being successful in
-their contumacy, would be regarded, not as traitors, but as "saviours of
-their country." Truly, in struggles of this character, in all ages,
-successful "rebels," writing their own history, are ever lauded as
-heroes or patriots, while discomfited rulers are, with equal verity,
-denounced as tyrants and enemies of the common weal.
-
-A little higher up the Ribble than its junction with the Hodder, and
-about a mile below the venerable ruin of the keep of Clitheroe Castle,
-the ancient stronghold of the De Lacies, is a handsome modern bridge,
-named Edisford or Eadsford, to which I have previously referred. The
-country people, however, call it "Itch-uth Bridge," pronouncing the
-latter syllable as in Cuthburt.
-
-Johannes, Prior of Hagulstald, records that in this neighbourhood, in
-the year 1138, one William, the son of the bastard brother of David,
-king of Scotland, when engaged on a foray into England, was gallantly
-encountered by a small band, near Clitheroe, but, being overpowered by
-numbers, the Lancashire men sustained a slight defeat, and the Scots
-took a considerable number of prisoners. The monkish chronicler calls
-the northern assailants "Picts and Scots," and adds that they with
-difficulty held their own till the fight had lasted three hours.
-Tradition has preserved both the memory and the site of this conflict.
-Mr. Edward Baines says:--"Vestiges of this sanguinary engagement have
-been found at Edisford Bridge, and along the banks of the Ribble, during
-successive ages up to the present time."
-
-The "Bashall-brook," after passing "Bashall Hall," enters the Ribble a
-little above Edisford Bridge. This is the stream referred to by Mr.
-Haigh,[29] as the "Bassus" of Nennius, and the site of one of the
-Arthurian victories which attended Colgrin's flight to York, after his
-defeat on the Douglas, near Wigan. I have, however, never heard of any
-legend or tradition which referred to a battle in the neighbourhood,
-except the one recorded by the Prior of Hagulstald.
-
-Near the bridge above Clitheroe may yet be seen the ancient
-"hyppyngstones" to which I have previously referred, and by means of
-which the river was crossed before the erection of the present viaduct.
-These "hyppyngstones" have at least one mournful historical association.
-After the fatal battle of Hexham, in the year 1464, the unfortunate
-Henry the Sixth, the defeated son of the renowned victor at Agincourt,
-was for a time concealed at Bolton-in-Bolland and Waddington Halls. What
-transpired is best told in the words of the old chronicler:--
-
-"Also the same yere, Kinge Henry was taken byside a howse of religione
-[_i.e._, Whalley Abbey] in Lancashyre, by the mene of a blacke monke of
-Abyngtone, in a wode called Cletherwode, beside Bungerley hyppyngstones,
-by Thomas Talbott, of Bashalle, and Jhon Talbott, his cosyne, of
-Colebury [_i.e._, Salesbury, near Ribchester], with other moo; which
-discryvide (him) beynge at his dynere at Waddington Hall; and [he was]
-carryed to London on horsebacke, and his legges bound to the
-styropes."[30]
-
-Mr. J. G. Nichols (Notes and Queries, vol 2., p. 229), says--"Waddington
-belonged to Sir John Tempest, of Bracewell, who was the father-in-law to
-Thomas Talbot. Both Sir John Tempest and Sir James Harrington, of
-Brierley, near Barnsley, were concerned in the king's capture, and each
-received one hundred marks reward, but the fact of Sir Thomas Talbot
-being the chief actor, is shown by his having received the large sum of
-Ł100." In addition to his one hundred marks, Sir James Harrington
-received from Edward IV. large grants of land, forfeited by Richard
-Tunstell, and other "rebels," "for his services in taking prisoner, and
-withholding as such, in diligence and valour, his enemy, Henry, lately
-called Henry VI." Mr. Baines says Sir John Talbot likewise received, "as
-a reward for his perfidy, a grant of twenty marks a year, from Edward
-IV., confirmed by his successor, Richard III., and made payable out of
-the revenues of the county palatine of Lancaster."
-
-In his "History of Craven," Dr. Whitaker gives engravings of the
-unfortunate monarch's boots, gloves, and a spoon, which were preserved
-at Bolton Hall, in Bolland, Yorkshire, then the seat of Sir Ralph
-Pudsey, who married a daughter of Sir Thomas Tunstell. I understand
-these relics of the unfortunate king have been since removed to Hornby
-Castle, Lancashire. The "Old Hall" at Waddington, which has been
-converted into a farmhouse, yet presents some massive masonry, and a
-field in the neighbourhood still retains the name of "King Henry's
-meadow."
-
-The fate of the unhappy monarch is too well known to necessitate further
-reference here.
-
-The neighbourhood of Whalley was the scene of a relatively more recent
-combat, of some local importance. During the civil war between Charles
-I. and his Parliament, the Earl of Derby advanced, in 1643, from
-Preston, to operate in the hundred of Blackburn. One of the "Civil War
-Tracts," edited by Ormerod, and published by the Chetham Society,
-says:--"The Earl of Derby, the Lord Molineux, Sir Gilbert Hoghton,
-Colonel Tildesley, with all the other great papists in the county,
-issued out of Preston, and on Wednesday now came to Ribchester, with
-eleven troops of horse, 700 foot, and an infinite number of clubmen, in
-all conceived to be 5,000." Colonels Ashton and Shuttleworth opposed
-them with some regular troops, and a body of peasantry and militia,
-hastily levied. A regular engagement, or rather a running fight, took
-place between Whalley and Salesbury, in which the Earl was defeated and
-pursued to Ribchester. This success appears to have been the precursor
-of the subsequent declension of the Earl of Derby's military power in
-the county. It was judged to be of so much importance at the time by the
-"Roundheads," that a day of thanksgiving was set apart for the victory
-by order of Parliament.
-
-The ruin of Clitheroe Castle, on its well-wooded limestone eminence
-overlooking the town, forms a picturesque object in the beautiful valley
-of the Ribble. I remember well, in my early boyhood, being seriously
-informed that the venerable feudal stronghold of the De Lacies was
-battered into ruin by no less a personage than the redoubtable Oliver
-Cromwell. The truth of this tradition was implicitly believed by me till
-some slight study of Lancashire history, and a special visit to the
-locality, threw serious doubt upon it. I have likewise a distinct
-recollection of the consternation I caused amongst some aged friends,
-after a careful inspection of the ruined keep, by my informing them that
-if, as the tradition asserted, Cromwell had placed his cannon on "Salt
-Hill," about a mile to the east of the fortress, the said ordnance must
-have possessed some of the marvellous property ascribed to the Hibernian
-weapon, which, on occasion, could "shoot round a corner," the wall of
-the keep presenting the largest amount of superficial damage facing
-directly west. This dilapidated aspect had, in my hearing, often been
-attributed to the pounding the wall had received from Oliver's cannon. A
-careful examination, however, satisfied me that the western face of the
-structure was simply most weather-worn, on account of the lengthened
-action of the prevailing south-westerly winds. Again, "Salt Hill" was
-too far distant for the eight-pounder field pieces of the parliamentary
-army to make any serious impression on the massive walls.[31] But
-tradition is "tough" indeed, and especially if an element of
-superstition or partizan zeal be embedded in it. Of course, my critics
-had not the slightest objection to allow that there might possibly be
-some mistake with regard to the site of his guns, but "everybody knew
-that Cromwell did batter the castle into ruin," notwithstanding; and I
-was frankly told that nobody thanked me for my _mischievous_ endeavour
-to undermine people's faith in the well-known legend!
-
-Cromwell must certainly have _seen_ Clitheroe Castle on his memorable
-forced march from Gisburne to Stonyhurst Hall, on August 16th, 1648, the
-day previous to his decisive victory over the Marquis of Langdale, on
-Ribbleton Moor, and the Duke of Hamilton at Preston and the "Pass of the
-Ribble." But there are two good and sufficient reasons why he did not
-stay to expend his gunpowder on the fortress. In the first place, he had
-not time, having important business on hand that demanded the utmost
-expedition. In the second place, the castle was garrisoned by a portion
-of the Lancashire Militia, who held the stronghold for the Parliament,
-and Cromwell was not the man to amuse himself by bombarding his friends
-on the eve of a great, and, as it proved, a decisive battle.
-
-In point of fact, the castle remained intact, till the end of the civil
-war, when the only recorded instance of its ever having been even
-seriously threatened with a siege, occurred. An ordinance, disbanding
-the militia generally throughout the country, did not, it seems, meet
-with the approval of the Puritan warriors who held possession of the
-Clitheroe fortress, and who, instigated, it was said, by clerical
-advisers, "professed for the Covenant," and, in the first instance,
-flatly refused to disband until their terms were accepted. After the
-enforcement of the law, however, had been entrusted to Major-General
-Lambert, these chivalrous champions of the Covenant thought, under such
-circumstances, discretion was unquestionably the better part of valour,
-and they surrendered the castle to the Parliamentary general without
-further pressure. By an order of a Council of State, several of these
-strongholds throughout the country were dismantled, with a view to
-prevent their military occupation in case of a renewal of the war, and
-amongst those so doomed were the castles of Clitheroe and Greenhaugh, in
-the county of Lancaster. Thus ignominiously expires one element in the
-presumed historic truth of Cromwell's numerous castle and abbey
-battering exploits, referred to at length in the first chapter of this
-work, and on which the most remarkable and wide-spread legend of
-_modern_ and strictly historic times is based.
-
-A still more astounding instance of the appropriation of popular legends
-and famous names by localities that have no historical claims to them
-whatever, is found in connection with the ancient castle at Bury,
-Lancashire. Mr. Edward Baines says--"In the civil wars which raged in
-Lancashire in 1644, Bury Castle was battered by the Parliamentary army
-from an intrenchment called 'Castle-steads,' in the adjoining township
-of Walmersley; and from that period the overthrow of this, as well as of
-a large proportion of other castles of the kingdom, may be dated." Mr.
-Baines gives no authority whatever for this astounding statement. He
-evidently merely repeats a well-known local tradition. It would have
-been worth the while of a local historian, one would think, to have made
-some enquiry as to the history of the edifice at Bury during the century
-which had elapsed between Leland's reference to it, and the redoubtable
-exploit of the Parliamentary army in 1644. The earliest authentic record
-of the castle is no older than the reign of Henry VIII., but from the
-very nature of the record it must have been in existence for a long time
-previously. Leland, the "king's antiquary," when travelling through the
-country "in search of England's antiquities," _circa_ 1542-9, thus
-writes about the place--"Byri-on-Irwell, 4 or V. miles from Manchestre,
-but a poore market. There is a Ruine of a Castel by the paroch chirch yn
-the Towne. It longgid with the Towne sumetime to the Pilkentons, now to
-the Erles of Darby. Pilkenton had a place hard by Pilkenton Park, 3
-miles from Manchestre." Leland's distances are, of course, merely
-guesses. In this respect he is frequently in error. It is certain that
-the de Bury family held land in the parish as recently as 1613, and we
-find the manorial rights, at the time of the "Wars of the Roses," were
-held by the Pilkington family. Sir Thomas Pilkington, a devoted adherent
-to the fortunes of the House of York, obtained from Edward IV. a licence
-to "kernel and embattle" his manor-home at Stand, in Pilkington. It is
-not, therefore, improbable that the Bury castle at this time ceased to
-be a manorial residence, and gradually fell into the ruinous condition
-in which it was seen by Leland.
-
-During the time I was inspecting the excavation by the local
-commissioners of the site of Bury castle, in October, 1865, I was
-courteously permitted by Mr. J. Shaw, of that town, to copy a MS.,
-formerly the property of his late father, and, I understood, in that
-gentleman's handwriting. It is, however, dated "Bury, April 13th, 1840,"
-and signed "T. Crompton," or "Krompton," it is difficult to determine
-which. As the document may be said to embody all the "traditional lore"
-respecting the subject under consideration, I give it entire:--
-
-
-"BURY IN THE OLDEN TIME, OR THE SIEGE OF THE CASTLE, ETC.
-
-"Bury Castle, supposed to be built in the reign of Richard II., in 1380.
-The date when erected cannot be positively ascertained. The coin of the
-Stuarts, etc., have been found in the foundations. The whole of the
-castle was destroyed by the Parliamentary arms, in 1642-3, when the wars
-between Charles I. and Cromwell deluged poor England in the blood of her
-own children. Edward de Bury was attached to the unfortunate Charles's
-cause. He fell, with many others, a prey to the party spirit then raging
-so horribly in the land. The river Irwell passed by the north side of
-the castle, and run by the north-east turret, the site of the castle,
-which forms a parallelogram, was about 11 roods square, and from the
-foundation [the walls] seem to have been about two yards thick, with
-four round towers, about 60 feet high each. A large stone has been found
-which belonged to the archway, with the arms of De Bury engraved
-thereon. This drama [_sic_] is principally taken from a legendary tale
-of Bury Castle. Cromwell's army (by Stanley) was placed on Bury Moor.
-The cannon in an intrenchment at Castle Head [_sic_] on the Walmesley
-side of the river. Lord Strange arrayed his army of 20,000 for the Royal
-cause on Gallow's Hill, Tottington Side. The river opposite the Castle,
-before the course was altered, was about 100 to 120 yards wide."
-
-Traditionary lore, though on the whole generally founded on some
-fact or facts, which have become distorted, owing to their frequent
-oral transmission by persons utterly ignorant of their original
-signification, is scarcely ever to be relied on so far as individuals or
-dates are concerned. The stories do unquestionably attest the retention
-in the popular mind of something of import that took place in that vague
-period denominated the "olden time," but not always accurately what that
-_something_ may have been. The Adam de Bury referred to in the document
-quoted is either a myth, or the name has reference to some earlier
-individual interested in the castle at Bury. Indeed the family appears
-to have become extinct before the commencement of the civil wars
-referred to. On this point the documentary evidence quoted by Mr. E.
-Baines is very conclusive. There can have been no "Adam de Bury attached
-to the unfortunate Charles's cause," or his name would have appeared
-amongst the Lancashire "lords, knights, and gentlemen," who compounded
-with the sequestration commissioners for their estates in 1646.
-
-Cromwell's army could not have been placed on Bury Moor, by either
-Stanley or anyone else, in 1642-3, as that general did not enter
-Lancashire till 1648, and then his route lay by Stonyhurst, Preston,
-Wigan, and Warrington. Lord Strange's "army" of 20,000 men is but
-another form of expression for the public meeting held on Bury Moor, the
-numbers stated as attending which are doubtless much exaggerated. A
-similar meeting was held on Preston Moor, and, singularly enough,
-as it was a numerous one, the same authority employs the same
-terms--20,000--to express the fact. The placing of the cannon at Castle
-Stead is another proof of the ignorance of some of the transmitters of
-the tradition, the ordnance during Charles's time being useless at such
-a distance.
-
-The statement in Mr. Shaw's document that "coin of the Stuarts, etc.,
-have been found in the foundations," is valueless, inasmuch as until the
-excavations in 1865, the soil about the _foundations_ does not appear to
-have been disturbed; and yet above the original surface, remains were
-found of various relatively modern dates, as might have been
-anticipated.
-
-I have said there is generally some germ of truth at the bottom of this
-class of legendary stories. In this case it is not only possible but
-highly probable, that older traditions having reference to the "Wars of
-the Roses," may have been confounded with more recent events. This is by
-no means an uncommon occurrence, as I have previously contended.
-Singularly enough, Mr. Baines laments the lack of historical documents
-relating to Lancashire during this eventful period, and which he
-attributes to the wilful destruction to which they were subjected by the
-partizans of both the contending houses. The only historical event of
-any public interest recorded in connection with the bloody struggle for
-the crown of England between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians,
-relates to the capture of the unfortunate Henry VI. at "Bungerley
-hyppyngstones," previously referred to. It is therefore not improbable
-that some local events, lost to history, may have survived in the
-mutilated form in which tradition presents them at the present day,
-although their strictly historical significance is lost, and, what is
-worse, flagrant error has usurped its place in the popular mind.
-
-It does not appear, on the authority of any trustworthy evidence, that
-Cromwell ever visited Lancashire, at least in a military capacity,
-except on the occasion of his great victory over Langdale and Hamilton
-in 1648. Of his movements immediately preceding that event, we have his
-own statement in a dispatch addressed to "The Honourable William
-Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the House of Commons." He says--"Hearing
-that the enemy was advanced with their army into Lancashire, we marched
-the next day, being the 13th of this instant August, to Otley (_having
-cast off our train_, and sent it to Knaresborough, because of the
-difficulty of marching therewith through Craven, and to the end that we
-might _with more expedition_ attend the enemy's motion): and on the 14th
-to Skipton; the 15th to Gisburne; the 16th to Hodder Bridge,
-over Ribble; where we held a council of war, at which we had in
-consideration, whether we should march to Whalley that night, and so on,
-to interpose between the enemy and his further progress into Lancashire,
-and so southward,--which we had some advertisement the enemy intended,
-and [we are] since confirmed that they intended for London itself: or
-whether to march immediately over the said Bridge, there being no other
-betwixt that and Preston, and there engage the enemy,--who we did
-believe would stand his ground, because we had information that the
-Irish forces under Munro lately come out of Ireland, which consisted of
-twelve hundred horse and fifteen hundred foot, were on their march
-towards Lancashire to join them. It was thought that to engage the enemy
-to fight was our business; and the reason aforesaid giving us hopes that
-our marching on the north side of Ribble would effect it, it was
-resolved we should march over the bridge, which accordingly we did, and
-that night quartered the whole army in the field by Stonyhurst Hall,
-being Mr. Sherburn's house, a place nine miles distant from Preston.[32]
-Very early the next morning we marched towards Preston, having
-intelligence that the enemy was drawing together thereabouts from all
-his out quarters."
-
-At first sight it appears that Cromwell refers to some bridge which
-spanned the river Ribble, and named Hodder Bridge. This, however, is not
-the case. By the word "over" he means _beyond_, that is they passed over
-the Ribble to a bridge spanning the Hodder. Stonyhurst can be approached
-from the east by two bridges over this stream called the "upper" and the
-"lower." Both have been superseded by new structures, but some
-picturesque ruins of their predecessors yet remain. In a note at page
-187, "History of Preston and its Environs," I say--"As Cromwell's army
-advanced by way of Gisburn he would _necessarily_ pass through
-Waddington to the higher bridge, over the river Hodder, on his route to
-Stonyhurst." In this case he could ford the Ribble near Salley Abbey a
-few miles above Clitheroe, or at the Bungerley "hyppyngstones," nearer
-the town. From Cromwell's slight reference to Clitheroe, and his
-uncertainty respecting the troops occupying the place, together with
-Colonel Hodgson's reference to "Waddey," both of which will be again
-referred to, this is the most probable route. But from Gisburn, he _may_
-have come direct to Clitheroe, and, passing through the town, have
-crossed the Ribble at Eddisford a little below, and proceeded from
-thence to Stonyhurst by the "lower bridge of Hodder."
-
-Further, in the evening after the battle, in a letter to the "Honourable
-Committee of Lancashire, sitting at Manchester," dated "Preston, 17th
-August, 1648," Cromwell expresses some uncertainty as to the forces
-stationed at Clitheroe, which evidently shows he made no stay in the
-immediate neighbourhood. He says--"We understand Colonel-General
-Ashton's [forces] are at Whalley; we have seven troops of horse or
-dragoons that we _believe_ lie at Clitheroe. This night I have sent
-order to them expressly to march to Whalley, to join to these companies;
-that so we may endeavour the ruin of the enemy."
-
-Captain John Hodgson, of "Coalley," near Halifax, whom Thomas
-Carlyle somewhat unceremoniously and unnecessarily describes as an
-"honest-hearted, pudding-headed Yorkshire Puritan,"[33] left behind him
-a kind of journal, in which the details of the campaign are described
-with great clearness and minuteness. Hodgson, as his conduct shows, was
-not only an honest, but a brave and skilful soldier. He says--"The next
-day we marched to Clitheroe; and at Waddey [Waddow, between Clitheroe
-and Waddington,] our forlorn of horse took Colonel Tempest and a party
-of horse, for an earnest of what was behind. That night we pitched our
-camp at Stanyares Hall, a Papist's house, one Sherburne; and the next
-morning a forlorn was drawn out of horse and foot; and, at Langridge
-Chapel, our horse gleaned up a considerable parcel of the enemy, and
-fought them all the way until within a mile of Preston."
-
-If any military action, of even trifling importance, had taken place at
-Clitheroe it could not possibly have escaped the notice both of the
-general and his detail-loving "commander of the forlorn of foot." After
-describing the earlier portion of the struggle with Langdale's troops on
-Ribbleton moor, he says--"My captain sees me mounted[34] and orders me
-to ride up to my colonel, that was deeply engaged both in front and
-flank: and I did so, and there was nothing but fire and smoke; and I met
-Major-General Lambert coming off on foot, who had been with his brother
-Bright, and coming to him, I told him where his danger lay, on his left
-wing chiefly. He ordered me to fetch up the Lancashire regiment; and God
-brought me off, both horse and myself. The bullets flew freely; then was
-the heat of the battle that day. I came down to the muir, where I met
-with Major Jackson, that belonged to Ashton's regiment, and about three
-hundred men were come up; and I ordered him to march, but he said he
-would not, till his men were come up. A serjeant, belonging to them,
-asked me, where they should march? I shewed him the party he was to
-fight; and he, like a true bred Englishman, marched, and I caused the
-soldiers to follow him; which presently fell upon the enemy, and losing
-that wing the whole army gave ground and fled. Such valiant acts were
-done by contemptible instruments: The major had been called to a council
-of war, but that he cried _peccavi_."
-
-These Lancashire troops, under the command of "Colonel-General" Ashton,
-appear to have been brave fellows enough; but, like militia-men in
-general, they appear to have had only lax notions of discipline. If not
-actually mutinous, they sometimes lacked the subordination essential to
-military discipline. Their qualities Captain Hodgson sums up in the
-following pithy sentences--"The Lancashire foot were as stout men as
-were in the world, and as brave firemen. I have often told them, they
-were as good fighters, and as great plunderers, as ever went to a
-field."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-ATHELSTAN'S GREAT VICTORY AT BRUNANBURH, A.D. 937.,
-
-AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE GREAT ANGLO-SAXON AND DANISH HOARD,
-DISCOVERED AT CUERDALE, IN 1840.
-
-
-HAROLD--(On the morn of the battle of Senlac or Hastings)--Our guardsmen
-have slept well since we came in?
-
- LEOFWIN.--    *    *    They are up again
-           And chanting that old song of Brunanburg,
-           Where England conquer'd.
-
- _Tennyson's Harold._
-
-
-Upwards of three centuries had elapsed since the departure of the Roman
-legions from Britain, and the presumedly first regularly organised
-invasion of the island by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, when a new
-enemy of the same Teutonic blood and language appeared upon her shores.
-The country had been but partially conquered by the first Teutonic
-invaders. Picts and Scots held their own in Ireland and that portion of
-Great Britain to the north of the estuaries of the Clyde and the Forth.
-The Britons were not only masters in old Cornwall and in a more extended
-territory than is now included in the present principality of Wales,
-but they remained dominant in Strathclyde and Cumberland, which
-comprised the lands on the western side of the island between the Clyde
-estuary and Morecambe Bay. Christianity had become the recognised
-religious faith of both the Britons and the Teutons, but the newly
-arrived kinsmen of the latter were still worshippers of Odin, and
-marched to battle with his sacred "totem" or cognizance, the "swart
-raven" emblazoned on their banners. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the
-date 787, says--"This year king Bertric took to wife Eadburga, King
-Offa's daughter; and in his days first came three ships of Northmen, out
-of Hoeretha-land [Denmark.] And then the reve rode to the place, and
-would have driven them to the king's town, because he knew not who they
-were: and they there slew him. These were the first ships of Danish men
-which sought the land of the English nation." These three ships landed
-in Dorsetshire, and the gerefa or reve, named Beaduheard, of Dorchester,
-supposed them to be contraband traders rather than pirates. This mistake
-cost him his life, as well as the lives of the whole of his retinue.
-
-The conflicts which followed for many years afterwards between these
-heathen pirates and their Christianised kinsmen were characterised by
-deeds of remorseless atrocity as well as of indomitable valour. Truly,
-every now relatively civilized nation has had to pass through what may
-not be inaptly termed its Bashi-Bazouk stage of culture before from it
-evolved its present more highly developed intellectual and moral human
-features. Mr. Jno. R. Green ("Short History of the English People,")
-sums up the more prominent characteristics of this internecine strife as
-follows:--
-
-"The first sight of the Danes is as if the hand of the dial of history
-had gone back three hundred years. The same Norwegian fiords, the same
-Frisian sandbanks, pour forth their pirate fleets as in the days of
-Hengest and Cerdic. There is the same wild panic as the black boats of
-the invaders strike inland along the river reaches, or moor round the
-river islets, the same sights of horror--firing of homesteads, slaughter
-of men, women driven off to slavery or shame, children tossed on pikes
-or sold in the market-place--as when the English invaders attacked
-Britain. Christian priests were again slain at the altar by worshippers
-of Woden, for the Danes were still heathen. Letters, arts, religion,
-governments disappeared before these Northmen as before the Northmen of
-old. But when the wild burst of the storm was over, land, people,
-government reappeared unchanged. England still remained England; the
-Danes sank quietly into the mass of those around them; and Woden yielded
-without a struggle to Christ. The secret of this difference between the
-two invasions was that the battle was no longer between men of different
-races. It was no longer a fight between Briton and German, between
-Englishmen and Welshmen. The Danes were the same people in blood and
-speech with the people they attacked; and were in fact Englishmen
-bringing back to an England that had forgotten its origins the barbaric
-England of its pirate forefathers. Nowhere over Europe was the fight so
-fierce, because nowhere else were the combatants men of one blood and
-one speech. But just for this reason the fusion of the Northmen with
-their foes was nowhere so peaceful and complete."
-
-[Illustration: MAP 3.]
-
-The chief Danish ravages for nearly a century were confined to the
-southern coast and the coast of East Anglia. In 855, the Chronicle
-says--"The heathen men for the first time remained over winter in
-Sheppey." In 867, it records that "this year the Danish army went from
-East Anglia over the mouth of the Humber to York, in North-humbria. And
-there was much dissention among that people, and they had cast out their
-king Osbert, and had taken to themselves a king, Ćlla, not of royal
-blood; but late in the year they resolved that they would fight against
-the army, and therefore they gathered a large force, and fought the army
-at the town of York, and stormed the town, and some of them got within
-and there was an excessive slaughter made of the North-humbrians, some
-within, some without, and the kings were both slain, and the remainder
-made peace with the army."
-
-Some writers say that Ćlla was put to death with the most frightful
-tortures in revenge for similar cruel treatment, on his part, of his
-conquered foe, Ragnar Lodbrock, by the three sons of that somewhat
-mythical hero, named Halfden, Ingwar, and Hubba, who commanded the
-expedition. The story runs that Ragnar, being taken prisoner by Ćlla,
-was thrown into a dungeon, and bitten to death by vipers. This Ragnar,
-however, has proved so troublesome to northern scholars, that many
-regard him as a mythical personage, belonging to an earlier, or what
-they term the "heroic period." Scandinavian reliable _history_ only
-dates from about the middle of the ninth century. Ćlla usurped the
-Northumbrian throne in the year 862, and Mr. J. A. Blackwell, in his
-edition of Mallett's "Northern Antiquities," says "Ragnar's death is
-placed by Suhm, who has brought it down to the latest possible epoch, in
-794, and by other writers at a much earlier period." Some of the deeds
-attributed to this hero are unquestionably mythical. From the "Death
-Song," said to have been written by him, but which Mr. Blackwell regards
-as more probably the composition of a Skald of the ninth century, we
-learn that Ragnar succeeded, like Indra, Perseus, St. George, and other
-solar heroes, in conquering a monster serpent that held in captivity
-Thora, the daughter of a chieftain of Gothland, and received the lady in
-marriage, as the reward of his prowess. In order to protect himself
-against the serpent's venom, it is said that Ragnar "put on shaggy
-trousers, from which circumstance he was afterwards called Lodbrok
-(_Shaggy-brogues_)." Be this as it may, Ingwar, his presumed son, on the
-defeat of Ćlla and Osbert, ascended the Northumbrian throne, and the
-Danes remained masters of the situation, until the partition of the
-kingdom between Godrun and Alfred the Great gave them peaceful
-possession of the territory. In the year 876, Halfden, a famous Danish
-viking, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "appropriated the lands
-of Northumbria; and they thenceforth continued ploughing and tilling
-them." Consequently, from this period, the great mass of the men of
-Scandinavian blood in Northumbria must be regarded rather in the light
-of emigrants or settlers than roving pirates, although, doubtless, with
-them the sword was always ready to supersede the ploughshare whenever
-the arrival of a fleet of their buccaneering relatives on the coast
-afforded an opportunity for a successful foray on the lands of their
-Anglo-Saxon neighbours.
-
-On the death of Edward the Elder, in the year 925, the "right royal"
-grandson of the Great Alfred, the "golden haired" Athelstan, succeeded
-to the kingdom of Wessex and its dependencies, which included the whole
-of England south of the Humber and the Mersey, with the exception of
-Cornwall and East Anglia, and the "overlordship" of the whole of the
-Anglo-Saxon and Danish rulers, as well as those of the Welsh and Scots,
-whose kings rendered him homage and acknowledged him the legitimate
-successor to his father Edward, whom they regarded as "their Father,
-Lord, and Protector." Edward the Elder was, at the time of his highest
-prosperity, unquestionably the most powerful "Bretwalda" or "overlord"
-that had ruled in Britain since the departure of the Romans.
-
-Soon after Athelstan's succession, however, the kings of the present
-Principality, or North Wales, as the whole country from the Severn to
-the Dee was then called, rebelled against the authority of the hated
-fair-haired Sassenach. Athelstan instantly attacked Edwall Voel, king of
-Gwynnedd, and wrested the entire sovereignty of his dominion from him.
-He, however, on the submission of the other Welsh princes, and their
-performance of homage to him at his court held at Hereford, generously
-restored it to him. Afterwards the country between the Severn and the
-Wye were added to Mercia, and a heavy tribute was imposed on all the
-revolted Welsh monarchs. Twenty pounds weight of gold and three hundred
-pounds of silver were to be yearly paid into the treasury, or, as it was
-then styled, the "Hoard" of the "King of London." To this was to be
-added an annual gift of twenty thousand beeves and the swiftest hounds
-and hawks that the country possessed.
-
-The Cornish Britons, or West Welsh, as they were then termed, were
-afterwards subdued, and thus all Britain south of the Humber and the
-Mersey again acknowledged Athelstan's supremacy or "overlordship."
-
-In the year 925, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle informs us that Athelstan and
-Sihtric (or Sigtryg), king of the North-humbrians, "came together at
-Tamworth, on the 3rd before the Kalends of February; and Athelstan gave
-him his sister." But this marriage failed to secure the proposed future
-alliance between the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon sovereigns. The Dane,
-who had embraced Christianity, relapsed into the faith of his
-forefathers and returned his wife to her former home. Sihtric's death,
-however, intervened between the repudiation of Queen Editha, who
-afterwards became Abbess of Tamworth, and the vengeance of Athelstan,
-which fell upon Anlaf and Godefrid, sons of Sihtric by a former
-marriage. Anlaf fled to Ireland, on the east coast of which the Danes
-held the supreme authority, and his brother sought refuge with
-Constantine, king of the Scots. Referring to these events the
-Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says--"A. 926. This year fiery lights appeared in
-the north part of the heavens. And Sihtric perished; and king Athelstan
-obtained the kingdom of the North-humbrians. And he ruled all the kings
-who were in the island; first, Howel, king of the West-Welsh; and
-Constantine, king of the Scots; and Owen, king of the Monmouth people;
-and Aldred, son of Ealdulf, of Bambrough: and they confirmed the peace
-by pledge, and by oaths, at the place which is called Eamot, on the 4th
-before the Ides of July; and they renounced all idolatry, and after that
-submitted to him in peace."
-
-But the peace was not of very long duration, for the king of the Scots
-raised the standard of revolt, and the old Chronicler, or perhaps a
-successor, tells us that in the year 933, "Athelstan went into Scotland,
-as well with a land army as with a fleet, and ravaged a great part of
-it." This defeat of the Scottish king for a time restored Athelstan's
-dominion, but the peace which followed was, four years afterwards,
-broken by a powerful combination of Athelstan's enemies, which shook the
-"overlordship" of the English monarch to its foundation, and threatened
-the safety of his inherited kingdoms. The Scots, the Cumbrian Britons,
-the North and West Welsh, entered into a league with Anlaf of Dublin and
-the Danish chiefs of Northumbria and their Scandinavian allies to lower
-the prestige of the English monarch, and to seat the son of Sihtric on
-the throne of his ancestors. This fierce conflict culminated in the
-great battle of Brunanburh, in the year 937, in which, after a
-desperate two days' struggle, the confederate forces of his enemies were
-utterly routed, and Athelstan reigned supreme monarch to the end of his
-kingly career.
-
-There is some difficulty in determining the exact date of this
-celebrated engagement. Sharon-Turner gives it as 934. Worsaae in his
-"Danes and Norwegians in England," says 937. Ethelwerd's Chronicle says
-939. Sharon-Turner refers to the fact that one MS. of the Anglo-Saxon
-Chronicle gives the date 937, notwithstanding which he prefers 934. Dr.
-Freeman in his "Old English History" adheres to 937, which seems to be
-the most probable date.
-
-We find that British Christians, as on previous occasions, espoused the
-cause of the heathen Danes, rather than fraternize with their hated
-Anglo-Saxon rivals, the disciples of Augustine and Paulinus. Thus many
-elements combined to render this battle one of the bloodiest and most
-destructive ever fought on British soil. The great struggle did not take
-place immediately on the arrival of Anlaf and his allies. Athelstan's
-two governors, Gudrekir and Alfgeirr first confronted the invaders. The
-former was slain and the latter fled to his sovereign, with the news of
-their discomfiture. Athelstan, with wise forethought, tried the effect
-of diplomacy, if only for the purpose of gaining sufficient time for the
-assembling of all his forces before staking his sovereignty upon the
-issue of a single battle.
-
-The authorities, contemporary or nearly so, for the details of this
-decisive campaign, although meagre in comparison with those of more
-recent struggles, are nevertheless fuller than usual for the period. We
-have the poem in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a notice in Ethelwerd's
-Chronicle, and some Scandinavian accounts, notably Egil's Saga.
-Sharon-Turner, however, regards the northern authorities as not entitled
-to implicit reliance, as their great object was the laudation of Egil
-and Thorolf, Scandinavian mercenaries in the pay of Athelstan, who, they
-contend, mainly contributed to the victory by the annihilation of the
-"disorderly Irish" contingent.
-
-Athelstan, when his diplomatic _finesse_ had answered his purpose,
-suddenly appeared at Brunanburh, and pitched his camp in front of the
-enemy. It is related that Anlaf, taken by surprise, imitated Alfred's
-stratagem, and entered the royal camp in the disguise of a harper. He
-was admitted into the presence of Athelstan, who was ever liberal in his
-patronage of poets and musicians, and the Danish king played, sang, and
-danced before the assembled chieftains, at a banquet, in the enjoyment
-of which he found them engaged previously to the holding of a council of
-war. On his dismissal a purse, filled with silver groats, was given to
-him as a reward for his services. Anlaf's observant military eye had
-detected the weakest point in his adversary's position, and the exact
-locality in which the royal tent was pitched, and he determined to
-surprise the camp by a sudden night attack, and either slay or carry off
-the king a prisoner. One false step, however, robbed him of the
-advantage his daring had gained. On leaving the enemy's lines, he was
-observed by a sentinel, who had formerly served under him, to bury the
-king's gratuity, which he disdained to appropriate to other use, in a
-hole in the earth. This aroused the soldier's suspicion, and Athelstan
-was informed of the circumstance. The king, in the first instance, was
-disposed to treat the man somewhat harshly, and demanded why the
-information as to the identity of the pretended itinerant minstrel had
-not been communicated to him before his departure. To this the faithful
-soldier replied, "Nay, by the same oath of fealty which binds me to
-thee, O king, was I once bound to Anlaf; and had I betrayed him, with
-equal justice mightest thou have expected treachery from me. But hear my
-counsel. Whilst awaiting further reinforcements, take away thy tent from
-the spot upon which it now stands, and thus mayest thou ward off the
-blow of thine enemy." This advice Athelstan followed, and shortly
-afterwards the Bishop of Sherborne arrived with his contingent, and
-pitched his tent in the locality vacated by his royal master, which
-circumstance cost him his life during the night surprise which followed.
-We have Alfred's harper story on the authority of Ingulf and William of
-Malmesbury, the former of whom was born in 1030, and the latter in 1095
-or 1096, so that they were recording events which had transpired between
-one and two centuries before their own adult experience. The Anlaf tale
-is too exact a counterpart of the one related about Alfred, not to
-suggest doubt as to its veracity; or, if it be a veritable incident in
-the life of the Scandinavian warrior, the doubt will have to be
-transferred to the story related of his Saxon predecessor. It is not
-very probable so transparent an artifice would succeed a second time,
-especially when played upon such a clear-headed chieftain as Alfred's
-grandson.[35] But, however Anlaf gained his information, the night the
-attack took place, Adils, a Welsh prince, detected the strategy of
-Athelstan. After the death of the Bishop of Sherborne, he and Hyngr (a
-chieftain described in Egil's Saga as a Welshman, but whose name,
-Sharon-Turner thinks, sounds very like a Danish one), led the attack on
-the main body of the English army. But Athelstan was prepared, and
-Thorolf and Alfgeirr's detachments were instantly opposed to them.
-Alfgeirr was soon overpowered and fled, on perceiving which Thorolf
-threw his shield behind him, and hewed his way with his heavy two-hand
-sword through the opposing mass until he reached the standard of Hyngr.
-A few moments decided the fate of that chieftain. Thorolf ordered Egil,
-though weakened by the defeat and flight of Alfgeirr, to resist Adils,
-but to be prepared to retreat to the cover of a neighbouring wood, if
-necessary. Adils, mourning the death of his colleague, at length gave
-way, and the preliminary nocturnal combat ended. After a day's rest,[36]
-Egil led the van of the Anglo-Saxon army, and Thorolf opposed the
-"irregular Irish," which formed part of Anlaf's own division, and
-extended to the wood previously mentioned. Turketal, the English
-chancellor, a man of stalwart proportions, who commanded the citizens of
-London, and Singin of Worcestershire, were opposed to Constantine, king
-of the Scots, while Athelstan, at the head of his West Saxons,
-confronted Anlaf in person. Thorolf attempted to turn the enemies'
-flank, when Adils rushed from his ambush in the wood, and countered the
-movement. Egils saw with dismay Thorolf's banner retreating. He knew by
-this that he must have fallen; and, rushing to the spot, he rallied the
-scattered band, successfully renewed the attack, and, in Sharon-Turner's
-words, "sacrificed Adils to the manes of Thorolf." The Councillor
-pierced the enemy's centre, heedless of the arrows and spears which
-fastened on his armour. Constantine and he met and fought hand to hand
-for some time, and Singer slew the prince, his son, who fought valiantly
-by his father's side. This vigorous and successful onslaught produced a
-panic among the Scots, and correspondingly elated the English. In the
-meanwhile Athelstan and his brother, Edmund, the Atheling, were engaged
-with the main body of the enemy under Anlaf. The grandson of the Great
-Alfred and the presumed grandson of Radnor Lodbrog contended both for
-dominion and renown. In the midst of the fight Athelstan's sword-blade
-snapped near the handle. Another was supplied to him, it was said, by
-miraculous agency, which saved his life. At length the tremendous
-struggle, which lasted throughout the day, was brought to a close by
-Turketal chasing the Scots from the battle-field, and turning Anlaf's
-flank. Immense slaughter ensued; the enemy's ranks began rapidly to
-thin; the English shouted "victory!" and Athelstan, profiting by the
-auspicious opportunity, ordered his banner to the front, and by a
-determined and well-directed onslaught, broke the enemy's now enfeebled
-ranks. They fled in various directions, and, according to Egil's saga,
-"the plain was filled with their bodies." Anlaf and his immediate
-followers narrowly escaped to their ships and embarked for Ireland.
-Sharon-Turner says--
-
-"Thus terminated this dangerous and important conflict. Its successful
-issue was of such consequence, that it raised Athelstan in the eyes of
-all Europe. The kings of the continent sought his friendship, and
-England began to assume a majestic port amid the other nations of the
-west. Amongst the Anglo-Saxons it excited such rejoicings that not only
-their poets aspired to commemorate it, but the songs were so popular,
-that one of them is inserted in the Saxon Chronicle as the best memorial
-of the event."
-
-The following is Dr. Giles's literal rendering of this remarkable poem
-into modern English:--
-
-    A. 937.--Here Athelstan, king,
-    of earls the lord,
-    of heroes the bracelet giver,
-    and his brother eke,
-    Edmund etheling,
-    life-long glory
-    in battle won
-    with edges of swords
-    near Brunanburh.
-    The board-walls they clove,
-    they hewed the war-lindens,
-
-    Hamora lafan'
-    offspring of Edward,
-    such was their noble nature
-    from their ancestors,
-    that they in battle oft
-    'gainst every foe
-    the land defended,
-    hoards and homes.
-    The foe they crushed,
-    the Scottish people
-    and the shipmen
-    fated fell.
-    The field 'dćniede'
-    with warriors' blood,
-    since the sun up
-    at morning tide--
-    mighty planet--
-    glided o'er grounds,
-    God's candle bright,
-    the eternal Lord's--
-    till the noble creature
-    sank to her settle.
-    There lay many a warrior
-    by javelins strewed;
-    northern men
-    over shield shot;
-    so the Scots, eke,
-    weary, war-sad.
-    West Saxons onwards
-    throughout the day,
-    in bands,
-    pursued the footsteps
-    of the loathed nations.
-    They hewed the fugitives
-    behind, amain,
-    with swords mill-sharp.
-    Mercians refused not
-    the hard hand-play
-    to any heroes
-    who, with Anlaf,
-    over the ocean,
-    in the ship's bosom,
-    this land sought
-    fated to the fight.
-    Five lay
-    on the battle-stead,
-    youthful kings,
-    by swords in slumber laid:
-    so seven, eke,
-    of Anlaf's earls;
-    of the army countless,
-    shipmen and Scots.
-    There was made flee
-    the North-men's chieftain,
-    by need constrained,
-    to the ship's prow
-    with a little band.
-    The bark drove afloat;
-    the king departed,
-    on the fallow flood
-    his life preserved.
-    So there, eke, the sage
-    came by flight
-    to his country north,
-    Constantine,
-    hoary warrior.
-    He had no cause to exult
-    in the communion of swords.
-    Here was his kindred band
-    of friends o'erthrown
-    on the folk-stead,
-    in battle slain;
-    and his son he left
-    on the slaughter-place
-    mangled with wounds,
-    young in the fight.
-    He had no cause to boast,
-    hero grizzly haired,
-    of the bill-clashing,
-    the old deceiver;
-    nor Anlaf the moor,
-    with the remnant of their armies;
-    they had no cause to laugh
-    that they in war's works
-    the better men were
-    in the battle-stead,
-    at the conflict of banners,
-    meeting of spears,
-    concourse of men,
-    traffic of weapons,
-    that they on the slaughter-field
-    with Edward's
-    offspring played.
-
-    The North-men departed
-    in their nailed barks--
-    bloody relic of darts--
-    on roaring ocean,
-    o'er the deep water,
-    Dublin to seek;
-    again Ireland
-    shamed in mind.
-
-    So, too, the brothers,
-    both together,
-    king and etheling,
-    their country sought,
-    West-Saxons' land,
-    in the war exulting.
-    They left behind them,
-    the corse to devour,
-    the sallowy kite
-    and the swarthy raven
-    with horned nib,
-    and the dusky 'pada,'
-    erne white-tailed,
-    the corse to enjoy,--
-    greedy war-hawk,
-    and the grey beast,
-    wolf of the wood.
-
-    Carnage greater has not been
-    in this island
-    ever yet
-    of people slain,
-    before this,
-    by edges of swords,
-    as the books say--
-    old writers--
-    since from the east hither
-    Angles and Saxons
-    came to land,--
-    o'er the broad seas
-    Britain sought,--
-    mighty war-smiths
-    the Welsh o'ercame;
-    earls most bold
-    this earth obtained.
-
-Some of the MSS. of the Chronicle have the following additional
-reference to the battle:--
-
-"A. 937. This year King Athelstan and Edmund his brother led a force to
-Brunanburh, and there fought against Anlaf; and Christ helping, had the
-victory; and they there slew five kings and seven earls."
-
-Simeon, of Durham, says one of these five monarchs was "Eligenius, an
-under-king of Deira," or the eastern portion of the then kingdom of
-Northumbria.
-
-Athelstan died in 940, and, in the following year, the Chronicle says
-his successor "Edmund received king Anlaf at baptism." In 942, it
-says--"This year King Anlaf died." There were, however, two other
-chieftains of the same name, who flourished somewhat later.
-
-Historians are scarcely, even at the present day, unanimous in their
-views as to what monarch ought to be regarded as the first "king of
-England." Some say Egbert; but his authority rarely if ever extended
-over the whole of the country now so named, and a very large proportion
-of it was merely a kind of nominal "over lordship," which carried with
-it very little governing influence, and, such as it was, it was held on
-a very precarious tenure. Others contend that the distinction belongs to
-Alfred the Great. Yet Alfred, though beloved by all the English-speaking
-people in the land, was compelled to share the territory with his Danish
-rival, Gothrun. Sharon-Turner says--"The truth seems to be that Alfred
-was the first monarch of the _Anglo-Saxons_, but Athelstan was the first
-monarch of _England_." He adds--"After the battle of Brunanburh,
-Athelstan had no competitor; he was the _immediate Sovereign of all
-England_. He was even _nominal_ lord of Wales and Scotland." This seems
-to be the true solution of the query.
-
-It is a most remarkable circumstance that the site of this great
-victory, notwithstanding the magnitude of the contending armies and the
-importance of its political and social results, was, until recently, at
-least, absolutely unknown, and it cannot yet be said that the true
-locality has been demonstrated with sufficient clearness to entirely
-remove all doubt. Many places have been suggested on the most frivolous
-grounds. The question where is, or was, Brunanburh is still sounding in
-the ear of the historical student, and echo merely answers "Where?" Yet
-I think I have made the nearest approach to the solution of this
-problem, in the "History of Preston and its Environs," that has yet been
-attempted, and further investigation enables me to add considerably to
-the evidence there adduced.
-
-It is, perhaps, necessary that some attempt should be made to determine
-the cause or causes why the site of so important a victory, celebrated
-in the finest extant short poem in the Anglo-Saxon tongue, and so
-important in its political results, should have become lost both to the
-history and tradition of the English victors. At first sight there
-appears something singularly exceptionable in the fact. But a closer
-inspection of the details of what may be termed the Anglo-Saxon period
-of conflict with their Scandinavian enemies, Danish, Norwegian, or
-Norman-French, soon removes this impression, the sites of many other,
-almost equally important struggles, and notoriously some of those in
-which the Great Alfred was engaged, having been subjected to similar
-doubt, if not oblivion.
-
-In the first place it must not be forgotten that after the death of
-Athelstan, the Danish invasions were renewed, and, after various
-successes and defeats, the Scandinavian monarchs, Sweyn and Canute,
-before the end of the tenth century, ruled despotically over all
-England. Even the temporary restoration of the Anglo-Saxon dynastic
-element, in the person of Edward the Confessor, in consequence of his
-Norman-French connection and early education, did little to remove the
-pressure of the foreign yoke, in the provinces at least; and what
-influence it may have exerted was speedily eradicated by the decisive
-victory of William the Norman, near Hastings, in the middle of the
-following century. Conquest, in those days, meant subjugation to the
-extent of a deprivation of all rights--at least all political
-rights--and many social privileges, and absolute serfdom for the great
-mass of the population. Consequently it was the policy of the conquerors
-to ignore, and, as far as possible, enforce the ignorement of all past
-glorious achievements of the ancestors of the subjugated peoples.
-Doubtless, tradition would still, with its tenacious grasp, retain some
-recollection of the great exploits of their forefathers, and, in secret,
-the people would cherish their memory with a more intense love, on
-account of the persecution to which its open expression would be
-subjected. But in those days there were no printing presses, nor
-journalism, local or metropolitan. The people could not read, and even
-the nobles, in the main, like old King Cole, in the song, because he
-could afford to salary a secretary, "scorned the fetters of the four and
-twenty letters, and it saved them a vast deal of trouble." Now, these
-secretaries were almost, if not entirely, ecclesiastics; and they were
-likewise the only literary, or learned men, existing during the period
-to which I refer. These ecclesiastics, in different monasteries, kept
-records of the general events of the period in which they lived, of a
-very meagre character, and devoted more time and space to matters
-ecclesiastical, as might reasonably be anticipated. Again, when the
-Danish and Norman warriors obtained the supreme power, it is easy to
-understand that the ecclesiastical domination was speedily transferred
-to their clerical _confreres_; and, of course, whatever obscurity rested
-on the details of previous victories or glories of the subject race,
-would be intensified rather than lessened, by any action of theirs, even
-supposing (which is anything but probable), that they themselves
-possessed much authentic information respecting such events. Subsequent
-writers, of course, dealt largely in mere conjecture, on the flimsiest
-of evidence; and, as they sometimes differ so widely from each other, or
-as they are so obscure in their topographical definitions and
-nomenclature, little is derivable from their labours of value to the
-modern historian and antiquary. Consequently, although there are many
-references to the great battle itself, both in the several chronicles,
-the poem to which I have referred, and in some Scandinavian sagas,
-written in honour of two of their warriors of the free-lance, or Dugal
-Dalgetty class, who fought on the side of the English monarch, the site
-of the great conflict has remained doubtful to the present time.
-
-Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the earlier portion of the twelfth
-century, referring to the twelve presumed victories of Arthur, accounts
-for the then loss of their sites in the following characteristic
-fashion--"These battles and battle-fields are described by Gildas,"
-[Nennius,] "the historian, but in our times the places are unknown, the
-Providence of God, we consider, having so ordered it that popular
-applause and flattery, and transitory glory, might be of no account."
-
-The clerical historian seems to have thoroughly understood the motives
-of his predecessors in the destruction of the records of a heretical or
-pagan race.
-
-Mr. Daniel H. Haigh, in his "Conquest of Britain by the Saxons,"
-referring to the absence of Runic inscriptions in the south of England,
-and their partial preservation in the Northumbrian kingdom, has the
-following pertinent observations:--
-
-"The first missionaries, St. Augustine and his brethren, used all their
-endeavours to destroy every monument of Runic antiquity, because runes
-had been the means of pagan augury, and of preserving the memory of
-pagan hymns and incantations; for, knowing how prone the common people
-were to their ancient superstitions (of which even after the lapse of
-twelve centuries many vestiges still remain), and how difficult it would
-be to teach them to distinguish the use of a thing from its abuse, they
-feared that their labours would be in vain so long as the monuments of
-ancient superstition remained. So every Runic writing disappeared; and
-we may well believe, that records which to us would be invaluable,
-perished in the general destruction. In the first instance S. Gregory
-had commanded that everything connected with paganism should be
-destroyed; but afterwards, in a letter to S. Milletus, he recommended
-that the symbols only of paganism should be done away with, but that the
-sanctuaries should be consecrated and used as churches. These
-instructions were in force when S. Paulinus evangelized Northumbria; and
-we cannot doubt that the work of destruction would be effectively done
-under the auspices of a prince whose police was so vigorous as we are
-informed that Eadwine's was. But after his death, and the flight of S.
-Paulinus, the restoration of Christianity in Northumbria was effected by
-missionaries of the Irish school, whose fathers in Ireland had pursued
-from the first a different policy, by allowing the memorials of
-antiquity to remain, and contenting themselves with consecrating
-the monuments of paganism, and marking them with the symbols of
-Christianity. Under their auspices Runic writing was permitted, for we
-can trace its use in Northumbria to the very times of S. Oswald, whilst
-every vestige has disappeared of the Runic records of an earlier period.
-Mercia received its Christianity from the Irish school of Lindisfarne,
-and we have runes on the coins of the first Christian kings, Peada and
-OEthelrćd."
-
-But for the zealous labour of Archbishop Parker, in the sixteenth
-century, even few of the remaining Anglo-Saxon MSS. would have been
-preserved to the present day. John Bale, writing in 1549, says--"A great
-number of them that purchased the monasteries reserved the books of
-those libraries; some to scour their candlesticks, some to rub their
-boots, some they sold to grocers and soapsellers, some they sent over
-sea to the book-binders, not in small numbers, but at times whole ships
-full, to the wondering of foreign nations." Religious and political
-rancour has too often consigned to destruction the archives and
-monuments of hated rivals. Cardinal Ximines, somewhat earlier, committed
-to the flames an immense mass of valuable Arabic MSS. and, not long
-afterwards, Archbishop Zumarraga committed a similar act of insensate
-vandalism on the picture-written national archives of Mexico. Our
-medićval historians, indeed, have themselves much to answer for in this
-direction. Strype says that Polydore Vergil, having, by licence from
-Henry VIII., when writing his history, procured many valuable books from
-various libraries in England, on its conclusion, piled "those same books
-together, and set them all on a light fire."
-
-Mr. Frederick Metcalf ("Englishman and Scandinavian") waxed wrath as he
-contemplated the irreparable loss sustained through the ignorance and
-fanaticism of our forefathers. He exclaims--"Cart loads of Old English
-mythical and heroic epics, finished histories in the vernacular, heaps
-of pieces teeming with sprightly humour, with vivid portraiture, with
-precious touches of nature, may or may not have been destroyed by the
-Danes, by the Normans, in their contempt for everything Anglo-Saxon, by
-insensate scribes in want of vellum--who scraped out things of beauty to
-make room for their own doting effusions, or pasted the leaves of MSS.
-together to make bindings--by the Reformers, by the Roundheads, by fire,
-by crass folly."
-
-Independently of wilful neglect or active destruction, the Anglo-Norman
-transcripts of previous Anglo-Saxon MSS. now existing are not only
-rarities, but wretchedly deficient, owing to both accidental damage, and
-the carelessness, or ignorance, of their monkish transcribers. Thorpe,
-referring to the only existing early MS. of the poem "Beowulf," in his
-preface to his work on the "Anglo-Saxon Poems of Beowulf, the Scôp or
-Gleeman's Tale, and the Fight at Finnesburg," says--"Unfortunately, as
-of Cćdmon and the Codex Exoniensis, there is only a single manuscript of
-Beowulf extant, which I take to be of the first half of the eleventh
-century (MS. Cott. Vitellius A. 15). All manuscripts of Anglo-Saxon
-poetry are deplorably inaccurate, evincing, in almost every page, the
-ignorance of an illiterate scribe, frequently (as was the monastic
-custom) copying from dictation; but of all Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, that
-of Beowulf may, I believe, be conscientiously pronounced the worst,
-independently of its present lamentable condition, in consequence of the
-fire at Cotton House, in 1731, whereby it was seriously injured, being
-partially rendered as friable as touchwood. In perfect accordance with
-this judgment of the manuscript and its writer is the testimony of Dr.
-Grundtvig, who says--'The ancient scribe did not rightly understand what
-he himself was writing; and, what was worse, the conflagration in 1731
-had rendered a part wholly or almost illegible.' Mr. Kemble's words are
-to the same effect--'The manuscript of Beowulf is unhappily among the
-most corrupt of all the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, and corrupt they all
-are without exception.'"
-
-My attention was first called to the probable site of Athelstan's great
-victory at Brunanburh, when dealing with the "great Cuerdale Find," of
-May, 1840. Mr. Hawkins, vice-president of the Numismatic Society, who
-devoted much attention to the contents of this remarkable chest, says
-"the hoard consisted of about 975 ounces of silver in ingots, ornaments,
-etc., besides about 7,000 coins of various descriptions." From my own
-knowledge many of the coins and some of the ornaments were never seen by
-Mr. Hawkins. Referring to this subject, in the "History of Preston," I
-say--"Many of the coins unquestionably found their way surreptitiously
-into the hands of collectors; consequently there is some difficulty in
-determining the precise number discovered. It is pretty generally
-believed, however, that the chest originally contained about ten
-thousand coins." These coins were all of silver. "Many of the silver
-rings and smaller bars were, likewise, 'appropriated' before any record
-of the 'find' was made."
-
-The collection contained numismatic treasures both of English and
-foreign mintage, and all were coined antecedent to the great battle,
-although the most modern amongst them date within a very few years of
-that event. Dr. Worsaae, the celebrated Danish antiquary, speaking of
-this "find," says--"To judge from the coins, which, with few exceptions,
-were minted between the years 815 and 930, the treasure must have been
-buried in the first half of the tenth century, or about a hundred years
-before the time of Canute the Great."
-
-My position, therefore, is that this great treasure chest was buried
-near the "pass of the Ribble," at Cuerdale, opposite Preston, during
-this troubled period, and probably on the retreat of the confederated
-Irish, Scotch, Welsh, Scandinavian, and Anglo-Danish armies, after their
-disastrous defeat by the English under Athelstan, at the great battle of
-Brunanburh, in 937, which may not inaptly be styled, on account of its
-magnitude and important results, the Waterloo of the tenth century.
-
-Various places have from time to time been suggested as the probable
-locality of the conflict, but upon the very slenderest of evidence. Some
-say Colecroft, near Axminster, Devonshire. One authority assigns the
-following reason for this site--"Axminster is _supposed_ to have derived
-its present name from a college of priests, founded here by Athelstan,
-to pray for the souls of those who fell in the conflict, and who were
-buried in the cemetery of Axminster; there were five kings and eight
-earls amongst them." A claim has been advanced for Beverley in
-Yorkshire, for a similar reason. But the founding of a monastery, or
-other expression of thanksgiving for a victory, does not necessarily
-indicate the locality of the conflict. William the Conqueror did
-certainly found Battle Abbey on the site of his great victory; but such
-a practice is by no means of ordinary occurrence, and without
-corroborative evidence is valueless. Camden thought the battle was
-fought at Ford, near Bromeridge, in Northumberland. Skene, in his
-"Celtic Scotland," prefers Aldborough, on the Ouse, and regards the huge
-monoliths, known as "the devil's arrows," as memorials of the victory.
-Gibson and others suggest Bromborough, in Cheshire. The editor of the
-"Imperial Gazetteer" assigns Broomridge, no doubt on Camden's authority,
-and Brinkburn, in the Rothsay district, in Northumberland, or some
-other, as probable sites of the battle. Brinkburn is said to be the
-"true situation of Brunanburh," in "Beauties of England and Wales." The
-name was written in 1154, by John of Hexham, Brincaburgh. Banbury, in
-Oxfordshire, and Bourne, and the neighbourhood of Barton-on-Humber, in
-Lincolnshire, and a Bambro', a Bambury, and some other places have
-likewise found advocates.
-
-Dr. Giles, in his annotation of Ethelwerd's Chronicle, fixes Brunanburh
-at Brumby, in Lincolnshire, but he assigns no reasons for his
-preference. Brunton, in Northumberland, and, I believe, some other
-places, have been suggested. The mere identity of the name Brunanburh,
-in some corrupted form, though important, is insufficient, without
-corroborative evidence, simply because the names of so many places, in
-various parts of the country, admit of such derivation. There are
-several even in Lancashire, to which I shall afterwards call attention.
-Localities on the east, the south, and the west coasts of England have
-each found advocates, some, certainly, on very slight grounds. Mr.
-Weddle, of Wargrove, near Warrington, in his essay on the site, in 1857,
-pertinently reminds the investigator that the very "uncertainty of the
-whereabouts of the battle-field" is a good reason why it should be
-sought for "in some place half-forgotten." Such being the case, I may,
-without much presumption, after studying the subject now for five and
-twenty years, adhere to my previously suggested solution of this great
-historical and topographical enigma.
-
-The available evidence is very diversified in its character, and may be
-dealt with under several distinct heads. In the first place I will
-endeavour to show why I maintain that the discovery of the long buried
-treasure at Cuerdale, in 1840, has furnished the key by which we may
-probably unlock the mystery.
-
-From its great value in the tenth century, the evidence of recent
-mintage at the time of its deposition, and the vast number of rare and
-foreign coins, many of which were struck by Scandinavian kings or jarls,
-all lead to the conjecture that the treasure had not originally belonged
-to some private individual or inferior chieftain. It must not be
-forgotten that coin was first made "sterling" in the year 1216, before
-which time Stowe says rents were mostly paid in "kind," and money was
-found only in the coffers of the barons.
-
-The great probability, therefore, appears to be that some powerful
-monarch, or confederacy, owned the chest, and that its burial near one
-of the three fords at the "pass of the Ribble" was caused by some signal
-discomfiture or military defeat, in order to prevent its falling into
-the hands of the enemy. Its non-recovery afterwards would naturally
-result from the slaughter of the parties acquainted with the precise
-locality of its deposit in the disastrous riot attendant upon so great
-victory as that achieved by Athelstan at Brunanburh. Tradition had,
-however, preserved the memory of its burial, but the exact site was
-unknown. It was popularly thought, however, that it could be seen from
-the hill on which the church of Walton-le-dale stands, and which
-overlooks all the three fords which constituted the "famous pass of the
-Ribble." The late Mr. Barton F. Allen, of Preston, remembered that in
-his youth a farmer ploughed a field which had remained in pasture from
-time immemorial, in hope of finding the treasure. At the time I came
-upon the Roman remains, near the great central ford, 1855, I was
-surprised to learn a rumour was abroad that we had "come on't goud" at
-last. This resulted from the fact that the Anglo-Danish hoard consisted
-entirely of silver, and the belief of the workmen that the Roman brass
-coins, found at the time, from their colour, when polished, were golden
-ones. I therefore contend that these facts (taken in conjunction with
-the more important one, that the date of the deposit, as demonstrated by
-the coins themselves, coincides with that of Athelstan's great victory),
-indicate, in a very high degree, the probable connection of the two
-events. The burial of treasure, in times of great disaster, was a very
-ordinary occurrence during the Roman dominion in Britain, and was not
-unusual with their successors, the Anglo-Saxons and Danes. Two hoards,
-one found at Walmersley, to the north of Bury, and the other at Whittle,
-near the present presumed site of Athelstan's victory, to the south of
-the Ribble, from the date of the coins, coincide with the time of the
-defeat of the usurpers Carausius and Allectus, commanders of the Roman
-fleet stationed to protect the shores of Britain from the ravages of
-Saxon pirates. Later the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says--"A. 418, this year
-the Romans collected all the treasures that were in Britain, and some
-they hid in the earth, so that no one has since been able to find them;
-and some they carried with them into Gaul." Ethelwerd's Chronicle
-furnishes further details--"A. 418. In the ninth year also, after the
-sacking of Rome by the Goths, those of Roman race who were left in
-Britain, not bearing the manifold insults of the people, bury their
-treasures in pits, thinking that hereafter they might have better
-fortune, which never was the case; and, taking a portion, assembled on
-the coasts, spread their canvass to the winds, and seek an exile on the
-shores of Gaul."
-
-The "pass of the Ribble" is marked on the old map, published by Dr.
-Whitaker, with the crossed swords, indicative of a battle having been
-fought there, but this, though not unimportant in most cases, is of
-little value as evidence in favour of my hypothesis, inasmuch as, from
-its geographical position, it has, of necessity, often been the site of
-military conflicts, several of which are recorded in both local and
-other historical works.
-
-The site now suggested agrees best, in a topographical sense, with the
-various descriptions of the conflict, the primary object of the war, and
-the necessary movements of the several combatants engaged. The great
-Roman road from the north passed through the county, and entered
-Cheshire at Latchford near Warrington. This road would serve both the
-invading Scots and Athelstan, and his army of West Saxons, Mercians, and
-other allies. A Roman road, from the Ribble and Wyre, called
-"Watling-street," crossed the country to York and the eastern coast. We
-have distinct information that Anlaf's great object was the re-conquest
-of the kingdom of Northumbria, and that, in the first instance, success
-crowned his efforts. Athelstan's two governors, Gudrekir and Alfgeirr,
-were defeated, and the former slain. His colleague fled to his sovereign
-with the tidings of their discomfiture. The grandson of the Great Alfred
-immediately assembled his army and marched northward to confront in
-person his successful rival and his powerful allies. It appears,
-therefore, nearly absolutely certain that the struggle took place in
-Northumbria, or on its border, and, consequently other localities
-outside this region may almost be said to be "not in the hunt." Anlaf
-was the ruling chief of Dublin, and the virtual organizer and head of
-the confederacy. One wing of his army, according to Egil's saga, "was
-very numerous, and consisted of the disorderly Irish." The coast of
-Lancashire being part of the then Danish kingdom of Northumbria, was, in
-every respect, adapted for the landing of this portion of the invading
-army. Hoveden, Mailros, and Simeon of Durham certainly say that Anlaf
-commenced the warfare by "entering the Humber with a fleet of 615
-ships." This, however, may refer merely to the "_fleets of the warriors
-from Norway and the Baltic_," who joined in the confederacy. If Anlaf
-himself commanded this expedition in person, then he must have deputed
-the leadership of his "disorderly Irish" to one of his lieutenants. From
-an inspection of the map it will be found, after the defeat of Gudrekir
-and Alfgeirr, that the "pass of the Ribble," from a military point of
-view, was one of the most probable places at which the junction of the
-allies would take place. The Cumbrian Britons and the North and West
-Welsh could easily, by good Roman roads, join the Scottish monarch, as
-well as Anlaf's Irish troops and the warriors from Norway and the
-Baltic, at this spot, and dispute the passage of the fords with
-Athelstan's forces from the south. The "pass of the Ribble," from a
-topographical and military point of view, may therefore be assumed as
-very probably the site of the conflict.
-
-I have previously referred to the fact that the name Brunanburh, in any
-corrupted form, is of little value in the present investigation without
-very strong supporting evidence, simply because so many localities have
-equal claim to it. The name itself is likewise variously written by the
-older writers when referring to the battle. It is termed "Bellum Brune,"
-or the "Battle of the Brune," in the _Brut y Tywysogion_, or the
-"Chronicle of the Princes of Wales," and the "_Annales Cambria_." Henry
-of Huntingdon calls the locality Brunesburh; and the name is variously
-written by Geffrei Gaimar as Brunewerche, Brunewerce, and Brunewest.
-Ethelwerd, a contemporary chronicler, calls the place Brunandune. The
-author of Egil's saga calls the site Vinheid. Simeon of Durham says the
-battle was fought near Weondune or Ethrunnanwerch, or Brunnan byrge.
-William of Malmesbury gives the name Brunsford, and Ingulph says
-Brunford in Northumbria. Notwithstanding the very important fact that
-the southern portion of the county of Lancaster suffered so much in the
-raids of Gilbert de Lacy and his soldiery after the Norman conquest, and
-the consequent non-productive character of much of the territory at the
-time of the Domesday survey, which caused very few names of places to be
-recorded in that valuable historical document, still I think present
-topographical nomenclature south of the "pass of the Ribble" sufficient
-to identify the locality from etymological evidence equal or superior in
-value to that yet advanced in favour of any other site. The word
-_brunan_ means simply, in modern English, springs, and burh refers to
-any work of military defence of an artificial character. _Brun_ has been
-corrupted, according to the conjectures of the authorities which I have
-previously cited, into _Burn_, _Brom_, _Brum_, _Broom_, _Bran_, _Ban_,
-_Bourne_, _Brink_, and _Brin_.
-
-The name of the parish of Brindle, to the south-east of the "pass of the
-Ribble," has been written in various documents during the past few
-centuries, Burnhull, Brinhill, Brandhill, and, after becoming Brandle
-and Bryndhull, ends in its present Brindle. Now, burn and brun are
-acknowledged to be identical, the metathesis, as philologists term it,
-or transposition of the letter _r_ under such circumstances being very
-common, especially in Lancashire. We say brid for bird, brun for burn,
-brunt for burnt, brast for burst, thurst for thrust, and some others.
-Birmingham is often called "Brummigem." Indeed, Taylor, the "Water
-Poet," in his account of Old Parr, writes it "Brimicham." The short _u_
-with us is ofttimes sounded nearly like _i_, as in burst, burn, etc.,
-like the German _ü_ in Reüter, Müller, Prüssien, etc. Hence the
-interchangeability of brin for brun, of which the following are
-examples: The Icelandic Brynhildr, of the Eddaic poems, is the Brunhild
-of the Nibelungenlied; Brinsley, in Nottinghamshire, is sometimes
-written Brunsley; Burnside, near Kendal, was once Brynshead; Brynn, the
-seat of Lord Gerrard, between Wigan and Newton-in-Mackerfield, was, as I
-have shown in a previous chapter, anciently written Brun; and, in
-addition, I have recently seen, in Herman Moll's atlas, published in
-1723, this same Brindle, south of Ribble, written Brunall, and, what is
-still further corroborative, in Christopher Saxton's much earlier map,
-published in Camden's "Britannia," it is written Brundell, while Bryne
-and Burnley are spelled as at present. _Bryn_ or _bron_ signifies a
-little hill, or the slope of a hill. As _burh_ sometimes signifies a
-hill or eminence, as well as a fortification, the interchange of the
-British _bryn_ with its Teutonic neighbour is in no way remarkable, but
-rather what might have been anticipated. Indeed, we find this phonetic
-substitution in Bernicia (the northern portion of Northumbria), the
-British equivalent being Bryneich. _Brunan_, as I have before said,
-signifies springs. Brindle church is situated on the slope of a hill,
-and the district, as a personal visit, or a glance at the six-inch
-ordnance map, will show, is remarkable for its numerous "wells," from
-which pure water issues from the surface of the ground. Dalton springs,
-Denham springs, and the well-known Whittle springs are in the
-neighbourhood, and one hamlet is named Manysprings.
-
-In addition to Brindle we have Brinscall and Burnicroft, and Brownedge
-or Brunedge within the district. Between what I will now term Brunhull
-and Brunedge, we have the hamlet Bam_ber_, now termed Bamber Bridge.
-Baumber, in Lincolnshire, is sometimes written Bamburgh. Bramber, in
-Sussex, in Herman Moll's map (1723) is written Bamber, and in the
-Domesday survey Branber. Bromley, sometimes written Bramley, in Kent, is
-Brunlei, in the Domboc, and Bromborough, in Cheshire, is written
-Brunburgh, in Herman Moll's map. Hence if _bam_ be likewise a corruption
-of brun, we have Brunberg, with Brunhull and Brunedge in immediate
-contiguity. The Rev. Jno. Whitaker and the Rev. E. Sibson say _bam_
-signifies war. This is a very significant corruption, if a great battle
-were fought in its neighbourhood. Other authorities say _bam_ means a
-"beam, a tree, a wood." This might imply that a fortification or
-stockade occupied the spot, or it might mean the fort in the wood, or in
-the neighbourhood of the wood, like the Welsh Bettws-y-coed. In Egil's
-saga "the wood" is often referred to in the detailed description of the
-battle. We have yet Worden-wood, Whittle-le-woods, Clayton-le-woods, and
-some others contiguous.
-
-Kemble, in his (appendix) list of "patronymical names," which he regards
-as "those of ancient Marks," has two references, from the "Codex
-Diplomaticus," to "Bruningas," but he gives no conjecture as to the
-locality of its modern representative.
-
-Mr. C. A. Weddle, of Wargrove, near Warrington, in 1857, when advocating
-the claims of Brunton, in Northumberland, after summing up the various
-names mentioned by the old writers, and referring to their evident
-corruption and variation, says--
-
-"Two of them in particular, _Weardune and Wendune_, I have never seen
-noticed by any modern writer, yet _Weardune appears to me the most
-important name_, if Brunanburh be excepted, and EVEN THIS IS NOT MORE
-SO. As to Wendune it is evidently a mistake in the transcribing for
-Werdune, the Anglo-Saxon _r_ being merely _n_, with a long bottom stroke
-on the left."
-
-Mr. Weddle finds a Warden Hill, about two miles from the farm-house in
-"Chollerford field," in the neighbourhood of Brunton. This he considers
-as very conclusive evidence in favour of the locality being the
-Brunanburh of which we are in search. If such be the case, the existence
-of Wearden, or Worden, in the immediate neighbourhood of Brunhill,
-Bamber, and Brunedge, must unquestionably be more so, and especially
-when taken in connection with the large amount of corroborative evidence
-with which it is surrounded. The term Weardune is sometimes written
-Weondune, which, after the correction of the _n_, as suggested by Mr.
-Weddle, is Weorden. The ancient seat of the Faringtons, of Leyland and
-Farington, is variously written Werden, Worden, and Wearden, and it is
-pronounced by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood Wearden at the
-present day. It must have been a place of some importance in the time of
-the Roman occupation. Many coins, and a heavy gold[37] signet ring,
-bearing the letters S P Q R, have been found there. The place is
-situated near the great Roman highway, and, if Anlaf's troops covered
-the "pass of the Ribble" near Brunhull, Brunburh and Brunedge, Wearden
-is precisely the neighbourhood where Athelstan's forces, coming from the
-south, would encamp in front of them. Dr. Kuerden, upwards of two
-centuries ago, describes the northern boundary of the township of
-Euxton-burgh as the "Werden broke." Mr. Baines states that there is in
-Leyland churchyard "a stone of the 14th century, covering all that
-remains of the Weardens of Golden Hill." It is highly probable that the
-present Cuerden is itself a corruption of Wearden. The prefix Cuer is
-found in Cuerden, Cuerdale (where the great hoard was found), and
-Cuerdley near Prescot, and in no other part of England. The names in the
-locality, as I have previously said, are not recorded in the Domesday
-survey, but the Norman-French generally represented the English sound
-_w_ by _gu_. Philologists regard the consonants _c_, _q_, _ch_, and _g_,
-as "identical" or "convertible," consequently, if I assume the initial
-_C_ in Cuerden to be equivalent to _G_, we have a Norman-French method
-of writing Wearden. That _cu_ was used to represent the sound of our
-_w_, is demonstrated by a reference to the survey itself, for in the
-Domesday record, Fishwick, now a portion of the borough of Preston, and
-situated on the opposite bank of the Ribble to Cuerdale, is actually
-written Fiscuic. Leland, too, in his Itinerary, spells the river Cocker
-indifferently with the initials C, G, and K. The district in the parish
-of Leyland, anciently styled _Cunnolvesmores_, is sometimes found
-written _Gunoldsmores_.
-
-Simeon of Durham says the battle was fought near Weondune, or
-_Ethrunanwerch_, or Brunnan byrge. I have never seen any attempt to
-identify this Ethrunanwerch with any modern locality in any part of the
-country. There is no such name to be found now, nor anything suggestive
-of it, in a gazetteer of England and Wales, and I therefore presume that
-it has either entirely disappeared or become so altered as to be
-unrecognizable. Consequently, if I fail in an attempt to identify it,
-not much injury will result therefrom. The termination _werch_ presents
-no difficulty. It is evidently _worth_, as in Saddleworth, Shuttleworth,
-etc., and could easily give place to some other suffix indicating
-residence or occupation, or even locality. The prefix Ethrunan is more
-difficult to deal with, and I should perhaps not have attempted its
-solution, if I had not seen on a map the name Rother applied to one of
-the head waters which, uniting near Stockport, form the Mersey. This
-stream is generally called the Etherow.[38] This is the nearest approach
-to Ethrunan that I have been able to meet with. If _rother_, by a kind
-of metathesis, is an equivalent to _ether_, perhaps I can detect two
-distinct remains of the word Ethrunanwerch, in the neighbourhood of
-Wearden. On the ordnance map we have, about a mile from Werden Hall,
-Rotherham Top, and a stream, recently diverted for the purpose of the
-Liverpool water supply, named the Roddlesworth. This word implies a
-place on the bank of a stream, and as the _d_ and _th_ are phonetic
-equivalents, it may be read Rothelsworth or Ethrunlesworth; indeed, Mr.
-Baines expressly says, "Withnall, or Withnell, also a part of the
-lordship of Gunoldsmores, containing Rothelsworth, a name derived from
-Roddlesworth, or Mouldenwater, a rapid stream." On the one-inch to the
-mile ordnance map there is a name which preserves the form of the first
-part of the word without the transposition, or metathesis, to which I
-have referred. Not far from Worden Hall is a small hamlet named
-"Ethrington." The fact that these names exist in the neighbourhood
-strengthens the probability that the etymology is not altogether
-fanciful, and consequently lends support to the presumption that the
-locality suggested may be the true site of Athelstan's great victory.
-
-I have said that there are several places in Lancashire, even, which
-answer to Brunan or Brun. The following are amongst the number: On the
-Wyre, near the commencement of the Roman agger or "_Danes' Pad_,"
-as it is locally termed, which led from the Portus Setantiorum
-of Ptolemy to York, is a place named Bourne, written in the Domesday
-survey Brune. Bourne Hall is situated upon a "dune" or hill, which
-commands a relatively recently blocked up channel of the Wyre.
-Therefore Brunnandune or Brunford would strictly apply to it.
-Bryning-with-Kellamergh, near _Warton_, in the parish of Kirkham, is
-described in a charter of the reign of John, as Brichscrach _Brun_ and
-Kelmers_burgh_. In the time of Henry III. it is described as Brininge.
-Not far from Rochdale is a spot named "Kildanes," near Bamford. The site
-is not much more than two miles from a place named Burnedge or Brunedge.
-There is a Burnage between Manchester and Stockport. Burnley is situated
-on the river Burn, generally, however, called the Brun. This
-demonstrates how utterly impossible it is to identify the locality by
-the name Brunanburh. The Manchester, Rochdale, and Burnley sites are too
-far from the seashore. The fine old poem, describing the battle, says
-emphatically--"There were made flee the Northman's chieftain, By need
-constrained, To the ship's prow, With a little band. The bark drove
-afloat--The king departed--On the fallow flood his life he preserved."
-And, again, the poem says--"The Northmen departed In their nailed barks;
-Bloody relic of darts; On roaring ocean, O'er the deep water, DUBLIN to
-seek; Again Ireland shamed in mind." And further--"West Saxons onwards
-Throughout the day, In numerous bands, Pursued the footsteps of the
-loathed nations." I therefore contend that, in this particular, as well
-as those already disposed of, the "pass of the Ribble" answers to the
-locality of the struggle, as described by contemporary authority. Where
-this topographical feature is wanting, I hold it to be fatal. The ships
-of Anlaf might be attending the army in the estuaries of the Ribble or
-Wyre, and to them the defeated and routed forces would, of course,
-repair with headlong speed, after crossing the fords, the defence of
-which they had so gallantly, if unsuccessfully, attempted. During this
-hasty retreat, I contend it is highly probable the great Cuerdale hoard
-was deposited, and, owing to death, or other disaster, the precise
-locality could not be determined in after times, although the tradition
-of its deposition remained. There is plenty of analagous evidence in
-support of such a conjecture, to some of which I have already referred.
-In the seventh volume of "Collectania Antiqua," Mr. Charles Roach Smith,
-referring to the then recent discovery near the Roman station,
-"Procolitia," near the great Roman Wall, of an enormous mass (15,000) of
-Roman coins, weighing about 400 pounds, says he regards the hoard as
-part of the money set apart for the payment of the troops occupying the
-adjoining castrum, which, _owing to some sudden panic in the reign of
-Gratian_, was concealed in the well or fountain dedicated to a local
-divinity, Conesstina. The Saxon Chronicle, as well as Ethelwerd, as I
-have already stated, refer to the burying of treasure under similar
-circumstances. The former says--"This year (A.D. 418) the Romans
-collected all the treasures that were in Britain, and some they hid in
-the earth, so that no one has since been able to find them, and some
-they carried with them into Gaul."
-
-Athelstan's connection with Preston and its neighbourhood, at the head
-of his army, is attested by stronger evidence than mere tradition. In
-the year 930 he granted the whole of the hundred of Amounderness to the
-cathedral church at York. He is said to have "_purchased_" the territory
-with his own money, a somewhat remarkable financial operation for a
-conquering king in the tenth century, in Anglo-Saxon and Pagan Danish
-times. But perhaps a previous grant to the church at Ripon influenced
-him in this matter.
-
-In the early part of the seventeenth century lived one William Elston,
-who, in a MS. entitled, "Mundana Mutabilia, or Ethelestophylax," now in
-the Harleian collection in the British Museum, placed upon record the
-following interesting particulars relative to this monarch--"It was once
-told me by Mr. Alexander Elston, who was uncle to my father and sonne to
-Ralph Elston, my great grandfather, that the said Ralph Elston had a
-deede or a copy of a deede in the Saxon tongue, wherein it did appear
-that king _Ethelstan lying in camp in this county upon occacon of
-warres_, gave the land of Ethelston vnto one to whom himself was
-Belsyre." (godfather).
-
-The township of Elston, in the parish of Preston, formerly written
-Ethelstan, is situated on the north bank of the Ribble a little above
-Cuerdale and Red Scar.
-
-To the south of Brindle and the east of Worden, near Whittle Springs, is
-a large tumulus, and the hill side on which it is situated has the
-appearance of having been, at some time, disturbed by human agency. A
-Roman vicinal way, from Wigan to Blackburn, or Mellor, where it joins
-the main highway from Manchester to Ribchester, passes near it. Remains
-of this road were discovered near Adlington not many years ago. Another
-ancient road, probably of similar origin, leaves the main Roman military
-way from Warrington to Lancaster at Bamberbridge, and running in the
-direction of Manchester, crosses this in its neighbourhood. This tumulus
-is named "Pickering Castle;" which has an important significance.
-Tumuli are often termed "castles." We have the "Castle Hill" near
-Newton-in-Mackerfield, and the "Castle Hill" at Penwortham, near
-Preston. The tumulus near to "Whittle Springs" is very similar to these
-in appearance, and may, on excavation, prove to be a sepulchral mound.
-Pickering, according to the method of interpretation adopted by John
-Mitchell Kemble, in his "Saxons in England," should indicate the "Mark"
-of a sept or clan bearing that name, like the Faringas as at Farington,
-Billingas as at Billington, and many others. But there is not the
-slightest reference by any writer of such a name ever holding property
-in the neighbourhood, and Mr. Kemble places the Pickering, in Yorkshire,
-only among the probable instances, as he had never met with any account
-of a Saxon family or mark answering to it. As the letters _P_ and _V_
-are interchangeable sounds, "vikingring" has been suggested as the
-original form of the word. Dr. Smith, in his annotations to Marsh's
-"Lectures on the English Languages," speaks of the "Danes being led by
-the vikings, the younger sons of their royal houses." As the old poem
-says--"Five kings lay on the battle-stead. Youthful kings By swords in
-slumber laid. So seven eke Of Anlaf's earls, Of the army countless."
-This interpretation seems not improbable; yet it may be no more than an
-accidental coincidence rather than a legitimate derivation. As _P_ and
-_B_ are equally interchangeable consonants, I am inclined to think that
-"Bickering Castle" may have been the original name of the tumulus.
-_Bicra_, in the modern Welsh, means to fight, from whence our word
-_bickering_. In this case, _ing_ meaning field, the interpretation would
-be the "Castle of the Battle-Field." There is some good analogy in
-support of this view. Mr. Thos. Baines, in his "Lancashire and Cheshire:
-Past and Present," says--"The _Peck_forton Hills extend from Beeston
-Castle to the Dee. On one of them _Bicker_ton Hill, 500 feet high, is a
-strong camp with a double line of earthworks. One front overlooks the
-plain of Cheshire. The earthwork is called the "Maiden Castle." Not far
-from Bickerton Hill is Bickley, where, according to Ormerod, certain
-brass tablets were recently discovered, recording a grant of the freedom
-of the city of Rome to certain troops serving in Britain in the reign of
-Trajan, A.D. 98-117, some of whom may have been stationed in the
-neighbourhood where the tablets were found. We have in Lancashire the
-township of Bickerstaffe, and an adjoining wood named Bickershaw.
-Bickerstaffe was anciently written Bicker_stat_ and Bykyr_stath_. Stadt,
-stad, or stead means a station or settlement. Thus we have battle-wood
-and battle-stead. We have seen that the old poem says--"Five kings lay
-on the _battle-stead_, youthful kings, by swords in slumber laid."
-Besides, we find Bicker and Bickering in Lincolnshire, and Bickerton in
-both Northumberland and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Whatever this may
-be worth, it is most desirable that this tumulus should be dug into, for
-remains might, and probably would, be found which could throw
-additional light upon the subject of the present investigation.
-
-In the yard of Brindle Parish Church, beneath the chancel window, is an
-ancient stone coffin, with a circular hollow for the head of the corpse.
-Nothing further is known respecting it, beyond that it was dug up
-somewhere in the neighbourhood, and had been removed to its present
-position with a view to its preservation.
-
-In 1867 I examined the Ancient British burial mound and its contents,
-then recently discovered in the park land attached to Whitehall, and
-contiguous to that of Low Hill House, the residence of Mr. Ellis
-Shorrock, at Over Darwen, and contributed a paper respecting it to the
-Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society. In that
-paper I say--"I heard that there is a tradition, yet implicitly relied
-on, which speaks of a battle fought in the olden time somewhere in the
-neighbourhood of Tockholes in the Roddlesworth valley, and stories that
-remains, including those of horses, have been found, which are believed
-to confirm it. Respecting this I may have something to say in a future
-paper." What I have to say is this: that if a severe struggle took place
-near the tumulus to which I have referred, the routed army, following
-the Roman vicinal way to Ribchester, would pass by the locality, which
-is not far distant. This adds another link in the chain of evidence by
-which I have sought to demonstrate that the _most probable_ site of
-Athelstan's great victory at Brunanburh is that which I have indicated
-near the famous "pass of the Ribble," to the south of Preston, and that
-the great Cuerdale hoard of treasure was buried on the bank of the
-stream, during the disastrous retreat of the routed confederate armies.
-
-In the appendix to the "History of Preston and its Environs," published
-in 1857, after discussing Mr. Weddle's objections to a Lancashire site,
-I concluded with the following words--"These reasons, in conjunction
-with those advanced in the second chapter of this work, induce the
-author to prefer the locality, in the present state of the evidence, as
-the _most probable_ site of the 'battle of the Brun.'"
-
-Although the evidence advanced in its favour on the present occasion is
-considerably in excess of that previously obtainable, I still merely
-reassert my previous conviction, without dogmatism, that, on weighing
-the whole of the evidence yet adduced, I am justified in maintaining
-that the site I name is the _most probable_ which has yet been
-suggested; indeed, there is very little reliable evidence in favour of
-any other. But, in conclusion, I again reiterate what I wrote
-twenty-five years ago, when dealing with the Roman topography of the
-county, that "no permanent settlement of so difficult a question ought
-to be insisted upon, until every means of investigation and all the
-resources of logical inference have been fairly exhausted."
-
-I have already said that the neighbourhood of Preston and "the pass of
-the Ribble," as might have been expected from its topographical
-position, and consequent strategical importance, has been the scene of
-many known conflicts. Robert Bruce, in 1323, burned the town, but
-ventured no further southward. Holinshed says he "entered into England,
-by Carlisle, kept on his way through Cumberland, Westmoreland, and
-Lancaster, to Preston, which town he burnt, as he had done others in the
-counties he had passed through, and, after three weeks and three days,
-he returned into Scotland without engaging."
-
-Dr. Kuerden, writing shortly before the guild of 1682, laments the
-destruction of documentary evidence relating to this famous Preston
-festival during the turmoil of civil war. After enumerating the dates of
-those still preserved, in his day, in the Corporation records, he
-says--"These are such as doth appeare within the Records and Gild Books,
-that yet remain extant and in being, though some I conceive to be
-omitted, as one Gild in Henry 6th dayes occasion'd, as I conceive, in
-those distractions and civil wars betwixt the Houses of Lancaster and
-York; another Gild Merchant omitted to be kept in K. H. 8th dayes,
-occasioned, as may be thought, by the Revolutions at that time in Church
-affayres; the next that are wanting may be through the loss of Records
-in K. Edw. 3rd dayes [_sic._] wheras the Scottish army burnt the
-Burrough of Preston to the very ground." Kuerden is in error with
-reference to the king's reign in which this disaster occurred; Bruce's
-foray took place in the reign of Edward II.
-
-In the "History of Preston and its Environs," p. 50, I say--"A tradition
-still remains that Roman Ribchester was destroyed by an earthquake;
-another that it was reduced to ashes in the early part of the
-fourteenth century, during the great inroad of the Scots under Bruce.
-Both are highly improbable. Had Roman Ribchester remained a place of any
-importance till the period referred to, it could scarcely have failed to
-have attracted the notice of some of the elder chroniclers or
-topographers. True, the _Saxon village_ may have shared the fate of
-Preston, in the celebrated foray of our northern neighbours, and hence
-the tradition! An earthquake in England, of sufficient magnitude to bury
-a Roman 'city,' (to use the elder Whitaker's emphatic style,) '_must_'
-have found some one to record it. Other facts, however, demonstrate that
-this tradition can have no better foundation than the vague conjecture
-of ignorant peasants; who, on first discovering remains of ancient
-buildings beneath the soil, naturally attributed their subterranean
-location to the action of some earthquake, in that mysterious period
-usually denominated the 'olden time.'" In Leland's day, the remains of
-the Roman temple dedicated to Minerva were believed to have been
-connected with Jewish religious rites and ceremonies, from the simple
-fact that they knew of no other non-Christian sect with whom to
-associate them.
-
-At the commencement of the campaign in 1643 between Charles I. and the
-Parliament, General Fairfax, from his head quarters at Manchester,
-ordered an attack upon Preston, then garrisoned by the king's troops.
-The town was at that time fortified by "inner and outer walls of brick,"
-no vestige of which now remains, although it was recently not very
-difficult to trace their site. The command was entrusted to General Sir
-John Seaton. Captain Booth led the attack, and scaled the outer wall.
-The garrison defended the inner wall with great valour, "with push of
-pike," until Sir John Seaton, having stormed the defences on the eastern
-side, entered the town by Church-street, when they were overpowered, and
-the Parliamentary army obtained complete possession of the town, but not
-before the mayor, Adam Morte, and his son, had fallen in the conflict.
-
-Colonel Rosworm, the celebrated Parliamentary engineer, afterwards
-refortified the town. Shortly afterwards Major-General Seaton and
-Colonel Ashton marched from Preston, with the view to relieve Lancaster,
-then besieged by the Earl of Derby. The earl drew off his troops on
-their approach, and falling suddenly on Preston, in its then defenceless
-state, stormed the works in three places. After an hour's severe
-fighting the place surrendered. Lord Derby secured the magazine, and
-destroyed the military works, fearing the place might again fall into
-the enemy's hands.
-
-In August, 1664, a smart little struggle took place at Ribble Bridge,
-which Colonel Shuttleworth thus describes in his dispatch--"Right
-Honourable,--Upon Thursday last, marching with three of my troops upon
-Blackburn towards Preston, where the ennemie lay, I met eleven of their
-colours at Ribble Bridge, within a mile of Preston, whereupon, after a
-sharp fight, we took the Lord Ogleby, a Scotch Lord, Colonel Ennis, one
-other colonel slaine, one major wounded, and divers officers and
-soldiers to the number of forty in all taken, besides eight or nine
-slaine, with the losse of twelve men taken prisoners, which afterwards
-were released by Sir John Meldrum upon his coming to Preston the night
-following, from whence the enemy fled."
-
-Four years afterwards, Cromwell achieved his great victory over the Duke
-of Hamilton and the Marquis of Langdale. Reference has been made, in the
-previous chapter, to the rapid march of the Parliamentary forces from
-Skipton, by Clitheroe, to Stonyhurst, where they encamped on the evening
-of August 16th, 1648. Some difference respecting the then famous
-"Covenant" prevented Langdale's forces from combining heartily with
-those of the Duke. His English troops were encamped on Ribbleton Moor,
-to the east of Preston. Hamilton's Scotch forces were widely scattered.
-Some of his advanced horse lay at Wigan; his main army occupied Preston,
-while his rear, under Monro, were in the neighbourhood of Garstang.
-Short work was made, notwithstanding the great numerical superiority,
-with such discipline and divided councils, by a soldier of Cromwell's
-calibre. In the words of Thomas Carlyle, he "dashed in upon him, cut him
-in two, drove him north _and_ south, into as miserable ruin as his worst
-enemy could wish." "The bridge of Ribble" was fiercely contested. When
-the Parliamentary troops, with "push of pike" (Cromwell's equivalent for
-the modern phrase "at the point of the bayonet"), at length prevailed,
-the duke's army retreated over the Darwen, which joins the Ribble in the
-immediate neighbourhood. Night put an end to the conflict. Before
-daylight the Royalist army decamped, but was hotly pursued, through
-Chorley, Wigan, and Warrington, into the midland counties, and rapidly
-destroyed. The Duke of Hamilton was taken prisoner at Uttoxeter, and a
-similar fate befel Langdale at Nottingham.[39]
-
-This victory is celebrated as one of Cromwell's greatest military
-achievements, by Milton, in his famous sonnet:--
-
-
-TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL.
-
-    Cromwell, our chief of men, who, through a cloud
-    Not of war only, but detractions rude,
-    Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,
-    To peace and truth thy glorious way has plough'd,
-    And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud
-    Hast reared God's trophies and his work pursued,
-    WHILE DARWEN STREAM WITH BLOOD OF SCOTS IMBUED,
-    And Dunbar field resound thy praises loud,
-    And Worcester's laureat wreath. Yet much remains
-    To conquer still; Peace hath her victories
-    No less renown'd than War; new foes arise
-    Threat'ning to bind our souls with secular chains:
-    Help us to save free conscience from the paw
-    Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw.
-
-The number of the troops engaged in this short but brilliant campaign is
-stated variously by different authorities. There is an entry in the
-records of the Corporation of Preston which says "Decimo Septimo die
-Augustie, 1648, 24 Car,--That Henry Blundell, gent., being mayor of this
-town of Preston, the daie and yeare aforesaid, Oliver Cromwell,
-lieutenant-general of the forces of the Parliament of England, with an
-army of about 10,000 at the most, (whereof 1500 were Lancashire men,
-under the command of Colonel Ralph Assheton, of Middleton), fought a
-battail in and about Preston aforesaid, and over-threw Duke Hamilton,
-general of the Scots, consisting of about 26,000, and of English, Sir
-Marmaduke Langdale and his forces, joined with the Scots, about 4,000;
-took all their ammunition, about 3,000 prisoners, killed many with very
-small losse to the parliament army; and in their pursuit towards
-Lancaster, Wigan, Warrington, and divers other places in Cheshire,
-Staffordshire, and Nottinghamshire, took the said Duke and Langdale,
-with many Scottish earls and lords, and about 10,000 prisoners more, all
-being taken [or] slayne, few escaping, and all their treasure and
-plunder taken. This performed in less than one week."
-
-Captain Hodgson notices the plundering propensities of the enemy, but,
-as we have seen in the previous chapter, he entertained no higher an
-opinion of his Lancashire allies, with respect to their "looting"
-proclivities. His estimate of the numbers of the army of the Parliament
-is somewhat less than that in the Corporation record. He says--"The
-Scots marched towards Kendal, we towards Rippon; where Oliver met us
-with horse and foot. We were then betwixt eight and nine thousand; a
-fine smart army, and fit for action. We marched up to Skipton; and the
-forlorn of the enemy's horse was come to Gargrave, and took some men
-away, and made others pay what money they pleased; having made havock in
-the country, it seems intending never to come there again."
-
-Cromwell, in his despatch "to the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire,
-Speaker of the House of Commons," dated "Warrington, 20th August,
-1648," of course attributes all the honour and glory to the Almighty,
-yet, modestly enough, he claims some credit as due to the Parliamentary
-army, if it rested merely upon the disparity in the number of the
-combatants. He says--"Thus you have a Narrative of the particulars of
-the success which God hath given you; which I could hardly at this time
-have done, considering the multiplicity of business, but truly, when I
-was once engaged in it, I could hardly tell how to say less, there being
-so much of God in it; and I am not willing to say more, lest there
-should seem to be any of man. Only give me leave to add one word,
-showing the disparity of forces on both sides, that you may see, and all
-the world acknowledge, the great hand of God in this business. The Scots
-army could not be less than twelve thousand effective foot, well armed,
-and five thousand horse; Langdale not less than two thousand five
-hundred foot, and fifteen hundred horse; in all Twenty-one-Thousand: and
-truly very few of their foot but were as well armed if not better than
-yours, and at divers disputes did fight two or three hours before they
-would quit their ground. Yours were about two thousand five hundred
-horse and dragoons of your old Army; about four thousand foot of your
-old Army; also about sixteen hundred Lancashire foot, and about five
-hundred Lancashire horse; in all about Eight thousand Six hundred. You
-see by computation about two thousand of the Enemy slain; betwixt eight
-and nine thousand prisoners; besides what are lurking in hedges and
-private places, which the County daily bring in or destroy."
-
-Notwithstanding the great social and political importance of this
-victory, and the renown of the general by whom it was achieved, whose
-very name is yet associated in the minds of some with every odious moral
-feature, and, in the judgment of others, with the highest English
-statesmanship, unselfish patriotism, and sincere religious conviction,
-the amount of legendary story which it has left behind is singularly
-limited. I have heard of several localities in Lancashire, and some
-neighbouring counties, where tradition records that Oliver Cromwell once
-visited the district and slept in some specified house or mansion,
-although there exists not the slightest reliable evidence that Oliver
-was ever in the neighbourhood. This, in some instances, I fancy, may be
-accounted for by the fact that Cromwell's name has become a typical or
-generic one, and has done duty for nearly a couple of centuries with the
-public generally, for every commander, either generals or subordinate
-officers, belonging to the Parliamentary armies.
-
-One tradition, however, was well-known in my youthful days. The mound
-planted with trees on "Walton Flats" was always regarded as "the grave
-of the Scotch warriors." The place was rather a solitary one at night,
-and some superstitious fear was often confessed by others than children,
-when passing it after nightfall. It was in this mound, in 1855, whilst
-looking for remains of the said "Scotch warriors," that I came upon
-evidences of Roman occupation. Faith in the legend was attested when
-one of the workmen informed me that he had found in the mound a
-halfpenny with the figure of a Scotchman in the place of Britannia, on
-the reverse. I found it to be a Roman second brass coin, the military
-costume of a soldier suggesting to the labourer a kilted Highlander.
-Although at various times relics of the fight have been picked up, they
-are now extremely rare. The flood waters of the Ribble have occasionally
-dislodged human bones, including skulls, from the banks, and these are
-almost universally, if somewhat vaguely, associated with "Scotch
-warriors," but without any definite notion as to the period or cause of
-their presence in the neighbourhood. I remember, many years ago,
-suggesting to a very old man employed on a rope-walk near the south bank
-of the river, that, as a number of English, including some Lancashire
-men, were slain in the great battle in 1648, it was possible a portion
-of the bones might belong to them. He did not deny the _possibility_;
-but simply remarked that he had never heard the remains attributed to
-any but the aforesaid "Scotch warriors;" and he was evidently, from his
-point of view, too "patriotic" to entertain, himself, the slightest
-doubt on the subject.
-
-A Protestant minister of Annandale, a Mr. Patten, who accompanied the
-Stuart army, and published a "History of the Rebellion" in 1715,
-condemns the Jacobite leaders for not defending the "Pass of the
-Ribble." The approach to the old bridge down the steep incline from
-Preston was by a lane, which was, he says, "very deep indeed." This lane
-was situated about midway between the present road and the hollow, yet
-visible, by which the Roman road passed to the north. He adds--"This is
-that famous lane at the end of which Oliver Cromwell met with a stout
-resistance from the King's forces, who from the height rolled down upon
-him and his men (when they had entered the lane) huge large millstones;
-and if Oliver himself had not forced his horse to jump into a quicksand,
-he had luckily ended his days there." Commenting on this passage in the
-"History of Preston," I say--"Notwithstanding Mr. Patten's political
-conversion _afterwards_, and his horror of the 'licentious freedom' of
-those who 'cry up the old doctrines of passive obedience, and give hints
-and arguments to prove hereditary right,' he appears to have retained
-all the antipathy of a Stuart partizan to the memory of Oliver Cromwell.
-Yet the loyalty of 1648 became rebellion in 1715, when Mr. Patten's head
-was in danger. Such is the mutation of human dogmatism."
-
-Cromwell, in a letter to the Solicitor-General, "his worthy friend,
-Oliver St. John, Esquire," shortly after the battle, relates an incident
-which illustrates one of the phases of religious thought amongst our
-Puritan ancestors, and which is by no means extinct at the present time.
-He says--"I am informed from good hands, that a poor godly man died in
-Preston, the day before the fight; and being sick, near the hour of his
-death, he desired the woman that cooked to him, to fetch him a handful
-of grass. She did so; and when he received it, he asked, whether it
-would wither or not, now it was cut? The woman said 'yea.' He replied,
-'So should this Army of the Scots do, and come to nothing, so soon as
-ours did but appear,' or words to this effect, and so immediately died."
-
-Thomas Carlyle's old Puritan blood is up, as he contemplates the
-possibility of some adverse critic citing this story as evidence of
-Cromwell's intellectual weakness, or, at least, of his proneness to
-superstition. He almost fiercely exclaims--"Does the reader look with
-any intelligence into that poor old prophetic, symbolic, Death-bed scene
-at Preston? Any intelligence of Prophecy and Symbol, in general; of the
-symbolic Man-child _Mahershalal-hashbaz_ at Jerusalem, or the handful of
-Cut Grass at Preston--of the opening Portals of Eternity, and what
-departing gleams there are in the Soul of the pure and the just?
-Mahershalal-hashbaz ('Hasten-to-the-spoil,' so called), and the bundle
-of Cut Grass are grown somewhat strange to us! Read; and having sneered
-duly,--consider."
-
-In August, 1651, Colonel Lilburne defeated the Earl of Derby at
-Wigan-lane, in which engagement the gallant Major-general Sir Thomas
-Tildesley fell. On the day previous to the battle, a skirmish took place
-between the Royalists and the Parliamentary troops at the "pass of the
-Ribble." In his letter to Cromwell, Lilburne says--"The next day, in the
-afternoone, I having not foot with me, a party of the Enemies Horse fell
-smartly amongst us where our Horses were grazing, and for some space put
-us pretty hard to it; but at last it pleased the Lord to strengthen us
-so as that we put them to flight, and pursued them to _Ribble-bridge_,
-(this was something like our business at _Mussleburgh_), and kild and
-tooke about 30 prisoners, most Officers and Gentlemen, with the loss of
-two men that dyed next morning; but severall wounded, and divers of our
-good Horses killed."
-
-ANNO DOMINI 1715. "Time's whirligig" hath brought about strange changes.
-A "Restoration" and a "Glorious Revolution" have passed across the
-stage. The faithful followers of the dethroned Stuarts, the "royalists"
-of the last century, have been transformed into the "rebels" of this.
-The partizans of Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, styled the "Elder
-Pretender," after a successful march from Scotland, arrived at Preston,
-and took possession of the town.
-
-The "Chevalier" was proclaimed king. Brigadier Macintosh was anxious to
-defend the "pass" at Ribble-bridge, but, as the previous fortifications
-of the town had been destroyed, it was determined instead to barricade
-the entrance to the principal streets. The town was besieged for two
-days by Generals Wills and Carpenter. After a brave defence,
-notwithstanding the incompetency of "General" Forster, the partizans of
-the Stuart were compelled to surrender at discretion.[40]
-
-In 1745, Prince Charles Edward, or the "Young Pretender," as he was
-styled, marched from Scotland on his way to Derby, through Preston; and
-again, a little more expeditiously on his return therefrom.
-
-Mr. Robert Chambers says--"The clansmen had a superstitious dread, in
-consequence of the misfortunes of their party at Preston, in 1715, that
-they would never get beyond this town; to dispel the illusion, Lord
-George Murray crossed the Ribble, and quartered a number of men on the
-other side." A single repulse could scarcely justify such foreboding.
-The name of the Ribble had evidently become associated with previous
-disasters, as well as with the relatively recent surrender of the Scotch
-and English forces under Forster, Derwentwater, and Macintosh in 1715.
-
-Considering the many exquisite poetical effusions which the misfortunes
-of the Stuarts added to Scottish literature, it is surprising that
-nothing, but some of the veriest doggrels in relation thereto, can be
-met with on the southern side of the border. "Brigadier Macintosh's
-Farewell to the Highlands" is beneath criticism, and "Long Preston Peggy
-to Proud Preston went" is not much better. In May, 1847, a story
-appeared in "New Tales of the Borders and the British Isles." It is
-introduced by the first stanza of the ballad. The scene is laid at
-Walton-le-dale and Preston, 1815. It is a sad jumble of fact and
-fiction. It confounds with one another events in the campaigns of 1715
-and 1745, and illustrates, to some extent, the confusion of history and
-artistic fiction discussed in the preceding pages of this work. Peggy,
-who, in her old age, after a somewhat profuse indulgence in ardent
-spirits, had still some remains of a handsome face and fine person,
-frequently sung the song of which she was the heroine, five and twenty
-years after the occurrence of the events which gave rise to it.[41]
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX.
-
-
-THE DISPOSAL OF ST. OSWALD'S REMAINS.
-
-Mr. John Ingram, in his "Claimants to Royalty," referring to the defeat
-of Don Sebastian, King of Portugal, in 1578, by the Moors, says--"After
-the fight, a corse, recognised by one of the survivors as the king's,
-was discovered by the victorious Moors, and forwarded by the Emperor of
-Morocco as a present to his ally, Philip the Second of Spain. In 1583,
-this monarch restored it to the Portuguese, by whom it was interred with
-all due solemnity in the royal mausoleum in the church of Our Lady of
-Belem." It thus seems that Dean Howson's conjecture, referred to at page
-62, is, at least, not without precedent.
-
-
-THE DUN BULL, THE BADGE OF THE NEVILLES.
-
-Mr. W. Brailsford, in "The Antiquary" (August, 1882), referring to the
-marriage which united the properties of the Bulmers and the Nevilles, in
-1190, says--"The dun bull, which is the badge of the Norman Nevilles,
-was in reality derived from the Saxon Bulmers, though it has been
-thought by some antiquarian searchers to have had its origin from the
-wild cattle which, once on a time, like those still existing at
-Chillingham, roamed in the park here, then and at a later date."
-
-
-THE GENESIS OF MYTHS.
-
-When the preceding pages were nearly all in type, I ordered a copy of
-the then just published essay entitled "Myth and Science," by Signor
-Tito Vignoli, in which the gradual development of mythic thought and
-expression is expounded with great clearness and precision. He says, p.
-87-93:
-
-"Doubtless it is difficult for us to picture for ourselves the psychical
-conditions of primitive men, at a time when the objects of perception
-and the apprehension of things were presented by an effort of memory to
-the mind as if they were actual and living things, yet such conditions
-are not hypothetical, but really existed, as any one may ascertain for
-himself who is able to realise that primitive state of mind, and we have
-said enough to show that such was its necessary condition.
-
-"The fact becomes more intelligible when we consider man, and especially
-the uneducated man, under the exciting influence of any passion, and how
-at such times he will, even when alone, gesticulate, speak aloud, and
-reply to internal questions which he imagines to be put to him by absent
-persons, against whom he is at the moment infuriated; the images of
-these persons and things are, as it were, present and in agitation
-within him; and these images, in the fervour of emotion and under the
-stimulus of excitement, appear to be actually alive, although only
-presented to the inward psychical consciousness.
-
-"In the natural man, in whom the intellectual powers were very slowly
-developed, the animation and personification effected by his mind and
-consciousness were threefold: first of the objects themselves as they
-really existed, then of the idea or image corresponding to them in the
-memory, and lastly of the specific types of these objects and images.
-There was within him a vast and continuous drama, of which we are no
-longer conscious, or only retain a faint and distant echo, but which is
-partly revealed by a consideration of the primitive value of words and
-their roots in all languages. The meaning of these, which is now for the
-most part lost and unintelligible, always expressed a material and
-concrete fact, or some gesture. This is true of classic tongues, and is
-well known to all educated people, and it recurs in the speech of all
-savage and barbarous races.
-
-"_Ia Rau_ is used to express _all_ in the Marquesas Isles. _Rau_
-signifies _leaves_, so that the term implies something as numerous as
-the leaves of a tree. _Rau_ is also now used for _sound_, an expression
-which includes in itself the conception of _all_, but which originally
-signified a fact, a real and concrete phenomenon, and it was felt as
-such in the ancient speech in which it was used in this sense. So again
-in Tahiti _huru_, _ten_, originally signified _hairs_; _rima_, _five_,
-was at first used for _hand_; _riri_, _anger_, literally means _he
-shouts_. _Uku_ in the Marquesas Isles means _to lower the head_, and is
-now used for _to enter a house_. _Kůku_, which had the same original
-name in New Zealand, now expresses the act of diving. The Polynesian
-word _toro_ at first indicated anything in the position of a hand with
-extended fingers, whence comes the Tahitian term for ox, _puaátoro_,
-_stretching pig_, in allusion to the way in which an ox carries his
-head. _Toó_ (Marquesas), to put forward the hand, is now used for _to
-take_. _Tongo_ (Marquesas), to grope with extended arms, leads to
-_protongo tongo_, _darkness_. In New Zealand, _wairua_, in Tahiti
-_varua_, signifies soul or spirit, from _vai_, to remain in a recumbent
-position, and _rua_, two; that is _to be in two places_, since they
-believed that in sickness or in dreams the soul left the body.[42]
-Throughout Polynesia, _moe_ signifies a recumbent position or to sleep,
-and in Tahiti _moe pipiti_ signifies a double sleep or dream, from
-_moe_, to sleep, and _piti_, two. In New Zealand, _moenaku_ means to try
-to grasp something during sleep; from _naku_, to take in the fingers.
-
-"We can understand something of the mysterious exercise of human
-intelligence in its earliest development from this habit of symbolizing
-and presenting in an outward form an abstract conception, thus giving a
-concrete meaning and material expression to the external fact. We see
-how everything assumed a concrete, living form, and can better
-understand the conditions we have established as necessary in the early
-days of the development of human life. This attitude of the intelligence
-had been often stated before, but in an incomplete way; the primitive
-and subsequent myths have been confounded together;" [See ante, p.p. 44,
-et seq., et 116.] "and it has been supposed that myth was of
-exclusively human origin, whereas it has its roots lower down in the
-vast animal kingdom.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"Anthropomorphism, and the personification of the things and phenomena
-of nature, and their images and specific types, were the great source
-whence issued superstitions, mythologies, and religions, and, also, as
-we shall presently see, the scientific errors to be found among all the
-families of the human race.
-
-"For the development of myth, which is in itself always a human
-personification of natural objects and phenomena in some form or other,
-the first and necessary foundation consists, as we have abundantly
-shown, in the conscious and deliberate vivification of objects by the
-perception and apprehension of animals. And since this is a condition of
-animal perception, it is also the foundation of all human life, and of
-the spontaneous and innate exercise of the intelligence. In fact, man,
-by a two-fold process, raises above his animal nature a world of images,
-ideas, and conceptions from the types he has formed of various
-phenomena, and his attitude towards this internal world does not differ
-from his attitude towards that which is external. He personifies the
-images, ideas, and conceptions, by transforming them into living
-subjects, just as he had originally personified cosmic objects and
-phenomena.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"This was the source of primitive, confused, and inorganic fetishism
-among all peoples; namely, that they ascribed intentional and conscious
-life to a host of natural objects and phenomena. Hence came the fears,
-the adoration, the guardianship of, or abhorrence for, some given
-species of stones, plants, animals, some strange forms or unusual
-natural object. The subsequent adoration of idols and images, all sorts
-of talismans, the virtue of relics, dreams, incantations and exorcisms,
-had the same origin, and were all due to this primitive genesis of the
-fetish. the internal duplication of the external animation and
-personification of objects."
-
-
-ANGLO-SAXON HELMET.
-
-The remains of a very fine example of the Anglo-Saxon helmet referred to
-in chapter ii., was found by the late Mr. Bateman, in 1848, at Benty
-Grange, in Derbyshire. He says--"It was our good fortune to open a
-barrow which afforded a more instructive collection of relics than has
-ever been discovered in the country, and which are not surpassed in
-interest by any remains hitherto recovered from any Anglo-Saxon burial
-place in the kingdom." Amongst these remains was the head-piece referred
-to. After describing the details of its structure, he adds--"On the
-crown of the helmet is an elliptical bronze plate supporting the figure
-of an animal carved in iron, with bronze eyes, now much corroded, but
-perfectly distinct as the representation of a hog."
-
-
-
-
-INDEX.
-
-
- A.
-
- Abram, 138, 143
-
- Achilleus, 39, 46, 53
-
- Acquitania, 41
-
- Adam's Peak, 117
-
- Adils, 175, et seq.
-
- Agamemnon, 40
-
- Agricola, Julius, 4
-
- Agrimensores, 87
-
- Aix-la-Chapelle, 40
-
- Albinus, St., 20
-
- Alexander, 43, 44
-
- Alfgeirr, 175 et seq. 194
-
- Allectus, 192
-
- Alfred the Great, 44, 63, 77, 81, 168, 173, 175, 194
-
- Ancient Monuments, 44
-
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 7, 27, 32, 35, 61, 130, 131, 134, 143, 165, 167,
-   170, 179, 204
-
- Aneurin, 19, 114
-
- Anlaf, 170, et seq.
-
- Annales Cambria, 195
-
- Anselm, 45
-
- Anthony, St., 116
-
- Arbury, 85
-
- Arminius or Herman, 75
-
- Armorica (Brittany), 18, 20, 38
-
- Artemis, 113
-
- Arthur, 6, et seq., 34, 35, 37, 42, 44, 46, 50, 56, 77, 103, 114, 116
-
- Arthur's Sepulchre at Glastonbury, 8
-
- Aruthur (Welsh word), 21
-
- Aryan Myths, 100
-
- Ćsthetic Truth, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59
-
- Ashton, Col.-Gen., 161, et seq.
-
- Athelstan, King, 41, 164, et seq.
-
- Augustine, St., 32, 94, 184
-
-
- B.
-
- Baines, Edward, 62, 66, 73, 74, 77, 90, 92, 99, 136, 148, 153, 157
-
- Baines, Thomas, 62, 207
-
- Bale, John, 185
-
- Bamborough, 62
-
- Bamber Bridge, 198
-
- Bangor-Iscoed, 32, 33, 34
-
- Barbarism and Civilization, 129
-
- Bardney, Lincolnshire, 61, 68
-
- Barham-Down, 34
-
- Baring-Gould, Rev., 107
-
- Barrett, 107
-
- Battle Abbey, 42
-
- Beamont, W., 64, 66, 77, 78, 81
-
- Bede, the Venerable, 15, 18, 19, 56, 61, 68, 71, 87, 92, 95, 105
-
- Beowulf, 88, 101, 105, 113, 187
-
- Bickerton, 207
-
- Billangahoh, 130, et seq.
-
- Blackrod, 22, 30
-
- "Blackburnshire, De Statu,", 144
-
- Blackwell, J. A., 168
-
- Boar, or Hog, Wild, 61, 99, 100, 108, et seq.
-
- Boscowen, W. St. Chad, 45
-
- Bewcastle and Ruthwell monuments, 9
-
- Boece, 25
-
- Bojorix, 112
-
- Bolton Hall, Bolland, 150
-
- Bosworth, Rev. J., 65
-
- Bovium, 34
-
- Bramha, 120
-
- Bravalla, Fight at, 42
-
- Brigantes, 3, 5, 30
-
- Brindle, 196, 205, 208
-
- Brinhildr or Brunhild, 197
-
- Brit-Welsh, 34, 45, 67, 75
-
- British Urns, 4
-
- Brockhall, 137 et seq.
-
- Brocmail, 35
-
- Bruce, Robert, 210, 211
-
- Brunanburh, 164, et seq.
-
- Brut, 7, 11, 25, 27, 67, 73, 94
-
- Brut-y-Tywysogion, 195
-
- Bryn, Brun, and Burne, 73, 74, 97
-
- Brynhild, 39
-
- Budda, 117
-
- Bullasey-ford, 138, 139, 146
-
- Buried Treasure, 192, 193
-
- Bungerley hyppyngstones 146, 149, 158
-
- Burial Mound, Ancient British 208
-
- Bury, Adam de, 157
-
- Bury Castle, Traditionary Siege of, 154, et seq.
-
- Byron, Lord, 53
-
-
- C.
-
- Cadwalla, or Cadwallon, 26, 27, 63, 67, 72, 93, 94
-
- Caldean Heliopolis, 45
-
- Camden, 93, 189
-
- Cćrwent, 14
-
- Cćdmon, 125, 187
-
- Caerleon on Usk, 14
-
- Camelot, 14
-
- Cannon-balls, 152
-
- Canute, 181, 188
-
- Cardoile, Carlisle, 14
-
- Carausius, 192
-
- Cartismandua, 4
-
- Castle Field, Manchester, 35
-
- Caster-cliff, near Colne, 4
-
- Castle Hill, 70, 77, 78, 84, 206
-
- Castle Stead, near Bury, 157
-
- Carlyle, Thomas, 51, 161, 213, 219
-
- Catraeth, Fight at, 123
-
- Centwine, 9
-
- Chambers, Robert, 222
-
- Charlemagne, 39, 40, 42, 103
-
- Charles I., King, 150, et seq.
-
- Charles Edward Stuart, Prince, 221
-
- Chester, 32, 33, 34
-
- Chevy-Chase, 31
-
- Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, 54
-
- Chivalry, 6
-
- Christianity and Paganism, 165, 166, 172
-
- Christopher, St., Legend of, 135
-
- Chronicles of the Princes of Wales, 195
-
- Civilization, Origin of, 116
-
- Clitheroe Castle, 148, et seq.
-
- Clitheroe Castle, Traditional Siege of, 151, 153
-
- Clifford, Lord, 124
-
- Cocboy, 74
-
- Codoy, 65
-
- Coffins, Oak Tree, 10
-
- Coffin, Stone, at Brindle, 208
-
- Coins, Roman, 200, 204
-
- Colgrin, 24, 27, 148
-
- Conybeare, 101
-
- Constantine, King of the Scots, 171, 176
-
- Coote, H. C., 87
-
- Cox, Rev. Sir G. W., 46, 100, 118
-
- Cremation, 80, 82, 84, 87, 88
-
- Crests, or Totems, 109, seq.
-
- Crusades, 40
-
- Cromwell, 43, 99, 151 et seq., 213 et seq.
-
- Cromwell Legends, 217
-
- Croyland, 43
-
- Cuerdale Find, The Great 188, et seq.
-
- Cuerden, 200
-
-
- D.
-
- Danes' "Pad", 202
-
- Danish Invasions, 133, 165, et seq.
-
- Dasent, Dr. Sir G. W., 15, 108, 127
-
- Darwen, Over, 5, 208
-
- Dawkins, Prof. Boyd, 31, 32, 73
-
- Deira, 35
-
- Denisburn, 93
-
- Derby, Earl of, 150, 155, 212, 220
-
- Dialects, Provincial, 144
-
- Dickens, Charles, 35
-
- Dietrich, 45
-
- Documents, Destruction of, 182, 184, 185, 186
-
- Domesday Book, 89, 196
-
- Douglas, 7, 11, 12, 14, 21, 24, 26, 27, 34, 37, 133, 148
-
- Dragons, 101, 105, 107, 110, 123, 132
-
- Dublin, 203
-
- Durham, Simeon of, 201
-
-
- E.
-
- Eardulph, King, 130, et seq., 147
-
- Earwaker, Mr., 64
-
- Easter, 106
-
- Edda, 28, 39, 115
-
- Editha, Athelstan's Sister, 170
-
- Edisford, 146, 148, 161
-
- Edmund the Atheling, 176
-
- Edwall Voel, King of Gwynnedd, 169
-
- Edward the Confessor, 182
-
- Edward the Elder, King, 169
-
- Edwin, King of Northumbria, 26, 27, 61, 95, 185
-
- Ecgfrith, 34
-
- Egbert, King, 180
-
- Egil, 173, et seq.
-
- Ella, King, 166, 168
-
- Ellis, Mr. G., 37
-
- Elmet, 33
-
- Elphin, St., 87
-
- Elston, William, 205
-
- Elton, C., 122
-
- England, Making of, 15, 19, 21
-
- Erich, King, 47
-
- Ethelbald, King, 43
-
- Ethelfrith, King, 32, 33
-
- Ethelred, King, 130, 133
-
- Ethrunanwerch, 201
-
- Etymological, 62, et seq.
-
- Exoniensis Codex, 187
-
- Extwistle-moor, Remains on, 4
-
-
- F.
-
- Fafnir, 100
-
- Fairfax, Gen., 211
-
- Fairy Mythology, 116
-
- Falstaff, Sir John, 13
-
- Farrar, J. A., 129
-
- Fenton, J., 106
-
- Fergusson, Dr. J., 11, 82, 83
-
- Finns, The, 117
-
- Finnesburg, Fight of, 113, 187
-
- Fiske, Mr., 6, 18, 38, 108, 119
-
- Florence of Worcester, 32
-
- Folk-lore, 129
-
- Forster, Gen., 221
-
- Freeman, E. A., 39, 40, 172
-
- Freya, or Friga, 113, 114
-
- Frey's Howe, Upsala, 83
-
-
- G.
-
- Galahad, Sir, 50
-
- Gargrave, Skirmish near, 215
-
- Gawain, Sir, 37
-
- Gawsworth, 135
-
- Geoffrey of Monmouth, 5, 6, 7, 13, 18, 19, 24, 26, 32, 37, 41, 42
-
- Geological Phenomena, 141
-
- Geraint, 17
-
- Gerards of Bryn, 74
-
- Gervinus, Dr., 55, 58, 59, 128
-
- Giant Stories, 11
-
- Gilbert de Lacy, 196
-
- Gildas, 5, 18, 19, 20, 33, 34, 184
-
- Giles, Dr., 26, 190
-
- Giraldus Cambrensis, 20
-
- Gladstone, W. E., 18
-
- Glendwr, Owen, 123
-
- Gododin, The, 114
-
- Godrun, 168
-
- Golborne, 66, 77, 78
-
- Gothrun, the Dane, 180
-
- Green, J. R., 15, 19, 26, 33, 65, 73, 97, 104, 125, 136, 145, 166
-
- Gregory, St., 184
-
- Grendel, 101
-
- Grimm, J., 22, 118, 122
-
- Gudrekir, 194, 195
-
- Guest, Dr., 15
-
- Guilds, Preston, 210
-
- Ginevra, Queen, 11
-
- Guy of Warwick, Sir, 41, 106
-
- Gwynedd, 33
-
-
- H.
-
- Hacking Hall, 138
-
- Haigh, Mr. D. H., 7, 11, 15, 20, 24, 27, 60, 88, 101, 134, 136, 148,
-   184
-
- Hamilton, Duke of, 99, 153, et seq., 213, 214
-
- Hamlet, 38
-
- Hammerton, P. G., 52
-
- Harald Blatand, etc., 28, 41
-
- Harald Hildetand, 41
-
- Harrington, Sir J., 149, 150
-
- Harold, King, 48
-
- Hartlepool, 101
-
- Hartshorne, Mr., 72
-
- Harvest-Blasters, 109, 126
-
- Hasty Knoll, 21
-
- Hawkins, Mr., 188
-
- Hazlit, 105
-
- Heavenfield, 67, 68, 93
-
- Heathfield, 26, 95
-
- "Heathen-men" (Danes), 132
-
- Helmets, 111, 227
-
- Helmet, Anglo-Saxon, 227
-
- Hengist and Horsa, 6, 110
-
- Henry VI., King, 149, 158
-
- Henry of Huntingdon, 183
-
- Heraclids, 6
-
- Heraldry, 109, et seq.
-
- Herodotus, 110, 118
-
- Hildebrand, Herr, 82, 83
-
- Historia Britonum, 18
-
- Historical Documents, Destruction of, 158
-
- Historical Novels, 47, 48, 50, 52, 54, 57, 59
-
- Historical Pictures, 55
-
- Hodgson, Col., 161, et seq., 214
-
- Hoel, 17
-
- Hollingworth, 15, 30, 66
-
- Homer, 35, 38, 52
-
- Honorius, 15
-
- Horatii and Curiatii, Tombs of, 51
-
- Horse Shoes, Ancient, 23, 24
-
- Howorth, Mr. H. H., 27, 41
-
- Howson, Dean, 62, 68
-
- Hrothgar, 101
-
- Hubbertsty, T., 137, 138, 139, 140
-
- Huntington, Henry of, 12, 25, 195
-
- Hwiccas, or Gewissas, 65
-
- Hygelac, 102
-
- Hyngr, 175, et seq.
-
-
- I.
-
- Iceland, 28, 42
-
- Iceni, 3
-
- Ida, 16
-
- Idylls of the King, 57
-
- Igerna, 17
-
- Illiad, 35, 38
-
- Inaccuracy of Ancient MSS., 187
-
- Indra, 39, 46, 100
-
- Ingulph, 195
-
- Isdubar, Giant, 45
-
-
- J.
-
- Jack the Giant-Killer, 47
-
- Johannes, Prior of Hagulstald, 148
-
- Johnson, Rev. H., 66
-
- Joseph of Arimathea, 37
-
- Jylgja, Guardian Spirit, 127
-
-
- K.
-
- Kabyls, 112
-
- Kains-Jackson, C. P., 44
-
- Kalydonian Hunt, 113
-
- Kay, Sir, 37
-
- Keightley, 116
-
- Kelly, W. K., 108
-
- Kemble, J. M., 65, 135, 187, 198
-
- Kendrick, Dr., 62, 86, 87
-
- King of England, First, 180
-
- Kuerden, Dr., 200, 210
-
- Kyklops, 39
-
-
- L.
-
- Lake District, 34
-
- Lambert, Major-General, 153, 162
-
- Lancashire Civil War Troops, 153, 163
-
- Lancashire Dialect, 75
-
- Lancashire Militia, 216
-
- Landisfarne, 69
-
- Lancelot, Sir, 35, 37, 50
-
- Langdale, Marquis of, 153, et seq., 213, et seq.
-
- Language, Life and Growth of, 75
-
- Langho, 134, et seq.
-
- Lanscado, Scather of the Land, 122
-
- Lappenberg, 27
-
- Latchford, 74, 75, 86, 193
-
- Leofric, Earl, 145
-
- Lichfield, Bishopric of, 146
-
- Lilburne, Col., 220
-
- Lindeley, John, Abbot of Whalley, 144
-
- Linguistics, 75
-
- Linuis, 11, 21, 23, 35
-
- Littler, T., 62
-
- Lloyd, Howel W., 64
-
- Lombards, 28
-
- Loyalty and Rebellion, 219, 221
-
- Lubbock, Sir John, 116
-
- Luther's Picture of the Devil, 51
-
- Llywarch Hen, 17, 26
-
- Lytton, Lord, 35, 47, 48
-
-
- M.
-
- Macaulay, T. B., 53
-
- Magic Cudgel, 47
-
- Mallet, M., 57, 117
-
- Malory, Sir Thomas, 14, 50
-
- Malmesbury, William of, 9, 12, 175, 195
-
- Mameceastre, 144
-
- Manchester, 12, 30, 33
-
- Map, Walter, 18, 50
-
- Marcelde, 66, 67
-
- Martin Mere, 23
-
- Maserfeld, Macerfeld, Marcelde, Mackerfield, 61, 62, et seq.
-
- Meldrum, Sir John, 213
-
- Merchant, Guild, 210
-
- Merlin, 17, 37, 114
-
- Mesbury, 64, 72
-
- Metcalfe, Fred, 44, 101, 114, 175, 186
-
- Metempsychosis, 119
-
- Metrical Romances, 57
-
- Milman, Dean, 49, 51
-
- Milton, John, 214
-
- Missionaries, the first, 145
-
- Modred, 34
-
- Moll, Herman, 197
-
- Monsters, Mythical, 113, 115
-
- Morgan, The Rev. R. W., 10, 19, 24
-
- Morley, Prof. H., 6
-
- Morris, 37
-
- Morte, Adam, 212
-
- Morte, D'Arthur, 14, 34
-
- Mote-hill, Warrington, 86
-
- Müller, Max, 41
-
- Myths, 5, 6, 7, 37, 38, 39, 43, 46, 57
-
- Myths, Genesis of, 224
-
-
- N.
-
- Nennius, 5, 7, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 50, 51, 65, 67, 68, 72, 74,
-   88, 92, 107, 110, 148, 184
-
- Newbury, William of, 13
-
- Nicholas, St., 117
-
- Nichols, J. G., 149
-
- Nimrod, 45
-
- Northumbria, Southern Boundary of, 143, 145
-
- Nursery Tales, 38
-
-
- O.
-
- Odin, 38, 44, 47, 101
-
- Odins' Howe, Upsala, 82
-
- Odyssey, 35, 39, 118
-
- Offa, 102
-
- Origins of English History, 122
-
- Ostorious Scapula, 4
-
- Oswald, St., 26, 33, 61, et seq., 133, 224
-
- Oswald's Well, St., 66, 69, 91
-
- Oswestry, 62, 65, 72, 90
-
- Oswy, 68, 73, 96
-
-
- P.
-
- Palgrave, Sir Francis, 48, 176
-
- Panis, 39
-
- Panizzi, Sig., 6
-
- Paulinus, 89, 94, 144, 185
-
- Pagan Symbols destroyed, 185
-
- Parker, Archbishop, 185
-
- Parkinson, Mr., 140, et seq.
-
- Patten, The Rev. Mr., 218
-
- Penda, 26, 61, 62, 67, 72, 73, 74, 92, 95, 115, 133
-
- Percy, Bishop, 31
-
- Petilius Cerealis, 4, 30
-
- Phene, Dr., 103
-
- Phonetic Laws, 75
-
- Pictish Customs, 103
-
- Pilkington, Sir T., 153
-
- Pitris, or Fathers, 120, 125
-
- Poem, Anglo-Saxon, on the Battle of Brunanburh, 178
-
- Potter's Ford, 143
-
- Prehistoric Battlefields, 3, 30
-
- Preston, Great Battle of, 213, et seq.
-
- Pretender, the Elder, 221
-
- Primitive Culture, 36
-
- Puritan prophetic superstition, 219
-
-
- R.
-
- Raines, Canon, 137, 138
-
- Ragnar Lodbrock, 166, 168
-
- Rebellion and Loyalty, 147
-
- Red Bank, near Winwick, 99
-
- Ribchester, 12, 151, 210, 211
-
- Ribble-bridge, Battle at, 221
-
- Ribbleton Moor, Fight on, 162
-
- Richard III., 125
-
- Richard Coeur de Lion, 44, 102, 103
-
- Richard of Cirencester, 143
-
- Richmond, Earl of, 126
-
- Roach-Smith, C., 204
-
- Roberts, Askew, 64, 91
-
- Robin Hood, 44, 77, 78
-
- Robson, Dr., 83, 85
-
- Roman Remains at Walton, 218
-
- Roman Wall, 204
-
- Round Table, The, 14, 77
-
- Rosworm, Col., 212
-
- Runes, 184
-
- Russians, 117
-
-
- S.
-
- Saga, 102, 127, 183
-
- St. George, 100
-
- Salt Hill, Clitheroe, 152
-
- Samson, 45
-
- Sangraal, 37
-
- Saracens, 41, 103
-
- Saxo-Grammaticus, 28, 41, 42, 51
-
- Saxton, C., 197
-
- Scandinavia, 57, 103
-
- Science, Genesis of, 128
-
- Scop, or Gleeman's Tale, 41, 187
-
- Scotch Warriors, Grave of, 217, 218
-
- Scott, Sir Walter, 35, 47, 49, 52
-
- Seaton, Sir John, 212
-
- Serpents, 104, 106
-
- Setantii, Sistuntii, or Segantii, 3, 23
-
- Shakspere, 13, 38, 47, 58, 123, 128
-
- Sharon-Turner, 34, 67, 73, 175, 176, 177, 180
-
- Sherburne, Bishop of, 174
-
- Shuttleworth, Col., 212
-
- Siege of Preston in 1715, 221
-
- Siege of Preston in 1643, 211
-
- Sigurd, 39, 46, 100
-
- Sihtric or Sigtryg, 170
-
- Simeon of Durham, 130, 179, 194, 195
-
- Sibson, Rev. E., 21, 62, 77, 78, 81, 87
-
- Skene, Mr., 15, 19, 68, 189
-
- Solar Myths, 39, 40, 45, 46
-
- Songs resultant from the Stuart Troubles, 222, 223
-
- Spear Heads, Ancient, 85
-
- Spencer, Herbert, 120
-
- Spurs, Ancient, 23, 29
-
- Stephen, Leslie, 48, 50
-
- Stevenson, Mr., 18
-
- Stone Hammers, 85
-
- Stonyhurst, 152, 157, 160
-
- Strachey, Sir Edward, 14, 16, 17
-
- Stubbs and Haddon (Councils of Britain), 19
-
- Superstitious explanations of Natural Phenomena, 147
-
- Surnames, 121
-
- Sweyn, King, 181
-
- Swords, Magic, 47
-
-
- T.
-
- Tacitus, 114
-
- Talbot, T. and J., 149, 150
-
- Taliesin, 17, 35, 44
-
- Talleyrand, 44
-
- Tarquin, Sir, 35
-
- Taylor, Rev. I., 112
-
- Tempest, Sir John, 149, 150, 162
-
- Tennyson, 37, 60
-
- Thackeray, 35
-
- Theodoric, 45
-
- Theophilus, Story of, 45
-
- Thor, 47
-
- Thorolf, 175, et seq.
-
- Thorpe, B., 101, 102
-
- Tildesley, Sir Thos., 220
-
- Totems, or Crests, 109, et seq.
-
- Traveller's Tale, Poem, 134, 136
-
- Tre, Welsh prefix, 96
-
- Treasure, Buried, 192, 193
-
- Tristan, Sir, 37
-
- Troy, 53
-
- Tumuli, Ancient, 83, 85, 86, 87, 137, et seq., 205, 208
-
- Turketal, the English Chancellor, 176, 177
-
- Turkomans, 118
-
- Turner, J. M. W., 52
-
- Tylor, E. B., 5, 36, 56, 111, 128
-
-
- U.
-
- Ulster, Annals of, 35
-
- Urien of Rheged, 16, 17, 27
-
- Urns, Ancient, 81, 83, 84
-
- Upsala, 29
-
- Uther Pendragon, 110, 123
-
-
- V.
-
- Vámbéry, Arminius, 43, 49, 119
-
- Vergil, Polydore, 186
-
- Venutius, 4
-
- Vicinal ways, Roman, 205, 208
-
- Volsung Tale, 120
-
- Vritra, 100
-
-
- W.
-
- Wada, 130, et seq.
-
- Wada, Weland and Egil, 134
-
- Wade's Boat, 135
-
- Walhalla, 115
-
- Wallace, Mackenzie, 117
-
- Wars of the Roses, 158, 210
-
- Warwick, Earl of, 124
-
- Watkin, W. T., 87
-
- Watling street, 136, 194
-
- Wearden, 199
-
- Weddle, C. A., 190, 199, 209
-
- Well, St. Oswald's, 91, 92
-
- Welsh Tribute, Heavy, 170
-
- Werewolves, 119, 122
-
- West Kent, kingdom of, 145
-
- Weyland's Smithy, 136
-
- Whitney, Professor D., 63, 75
-
- Whitaker, the Rev. Jno., 7, 11, 15, 21, 26, 34, 35, 86, 198
-
- Whitaker, Dr., 136, et seq., 193
-
- White, Dr. A. D., 57
-
- Whittle Springs, 197
-
- Wigan, 12, 22, 30
-
- Wigan Lane, battle of, 220
-
- Wild Huntsman, 45
-
- William, the Norman Conqueror, 182, 189
-
- Wilkinson, T. T., 4, 100
-
- Winwick, 61, et seq.
-
- Winwidfield, 97
-
- Wornum, R., 56
-
- Worsaae, Dr., 188
-
- Worde, Wynkyn de, 10
-
- Worms, Huge, 104, 106
-
- Wright, T., 29, 88
-
-
- X.
-
- Ximines, Cardinal, 186
-
-
- Y.
-
- York, 33
-
- Yornzi, 117
-
- Ywain, Sir, 17, 37
-
-
- Z.
-
- Zumarraga, Archbishop, 186
-
-
-ABEL HEYWOOD AND SON, PRINTERS, MANCHESTER.
-
-
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] His. Preston, viii.
-
-[2] Mr. Haigh's ingenious hypothesis, however, is not accepted by
-historical students generally.
-
-[3] "It was twenty-six feet high, and had inscribed on it these names,
-and two others, Bregored and Beorward. Centwine became King of the West
-Saxons, and Hedde, Bishop of Winchester, in A.D. 676; the former became
-a monk in A.D. 683, the latter died in A.D. 705. Bregored was an Abbot
-of Glastonbury (but not in the times of the Britons, as William of
-Malmsbury concluded from his name, for it is clearly Saxon), and
-Beorward may be the Abbot Beornwald who attested a charter of Ine in
-A.D. 704. The larger pyramid, twenty-eight feet high, which stood at the
-head of the grave, is said to have been in a very ruinous condition, and
-the only intelligible words in the inscription upon it (as given by
-William of Malmsbury), are the names of Wulfred and Eanfled. The
-discovery of these trunk coffins at Glastonbury has not been noticed by
-Mr. Wright, in his account of the similar discoveries at Gristhorpe,
-Beverley, Driffield, and Selby (_Gent. Mag._ 1857. vol. ii. p. 114), nor
-by Mr. Wylie in his paper on the Oberflacht graves (_Archćologia_, vol.
-xxxvi., p. 129), but deserves to be mentioned in connection with them."
-
-[4] The Rev. E. Sibson says:--"A piece of high ground near the Scholes
-is called King Arthur's camp."--_Man. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Transactions,
-April_, 1845.
-
-[5] Giving a man "wigan," in the present vernacular of the county, is
-synonymous to giving him a good threshing.
-
-Jacob Grimm, in his "Deutsche Mythologie," says the Old High German
-_wig_, pugna, seems occasionally to denote the personal god of war.
-
-The modern English word "vie," to contend, to fight, to strive for
-superiority, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon _wigian_, _wiggan_, which
-are cognate to the Gothic _veigan_ (Collins's Dic. Der.) _Wig_, war,
-warfare, battle (Bosworth, A.S. Dic.)
-
-[6] The district referred to is variously written _Linuis_, _Cinuis_,
-and _Inniis_.
-
-[7] Nennius calls him "Catgublaun, king of Guenedot," Gwynedd, North
-Wales.
-
-[8] Anglo-Saxon Chron. and Bede.
-
-[9] Dr. Giles, Mr. Green, and others, say--"Hatfield, in the West Riding
-of Yorkshire, about seven miles to the north-east of Doncaster," and
-this seems the most probable site.
-
-[10] Variation, Brocmail.
-
-[11] Dean Howson, in an address delivered at Chester, in 1873, in
-reference to the disputed site of Oswald's death, said--"He was not
-going to decide between the claims of the two places, but he was
-inclined to think both views might be reconciled. Oswald had a palace at
-Winwick, and there was a well there that bore his name, and an
-inscription that recorded his attachment to the locality. Oswestry was
-said to mean Oswald's tree. There was no reason why they should not
-believe that he was killed at Winwick, and that his head and arms were
-taken away and put on a stump of wood at Oswestry. The conflicting
-statements would then be reconciled." Such an act would, in no way, be
-inconsistent with the character of Penda. He might send the remains to
-his Welsh allies as trophies of his victory over the vanquisher of their
-great chief, Cadwalla.
-
-[12] Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon dictionary, under the letter K, says,
-"Though the A. S. generally used _c_, even before _e_, _i_, and _y_, yet
-as _k_ is sometimes found," he gives a list of words commencing with
-that consonant under such conditions. The Anglo-Saxon "Cymen's ora" is
-now represented by Keynor. Kemble says the homes of the Elsingas
-and Elcinghas, are now represented by Elsing and Elkington, in
-Northamptonshire. Mr. Green speaks of "those Gewissas, the Hwiccas, as
-they were called," and Peille says, "Indo-European _ky_ and _ty_ become
-_ss_, as in 'prasso' for 'prack-yo' (root 'prack,' formative suffix
-'yo.')"
-
-[13] The etymology on which Mr. Howel W. Lloyd, the recent able advocate
-for the Shropshire site, and others, rely, (Earwaker's Local Gatherings
-relating to Lancashire, vol. i., 1876, and the summary, by Mr.
-Askew Roberts, in his "Contributions to Oswestry History,") is as
-follows:--Referring to Mr. Lloyd's paper, Mr. Roberts states his
-position thus:--"Mesbury (now Maesbury, called in Domesday Meresbury), a
-hamlet in the parish of Oswestry, is now called 'Llysfeisir or Llys
-feisydd.'" He adds--"Thus a basis is supplied for a correct inference as
-to the order of nomenclature. 1. The Welsh Te-fesen, corrupted by the
-Saxons into Mesafelth or Maserfelth, and then into Maserfield, the name
-of the district in which is Oswestry, as Winwick is in Makerfield. 2.
-The monastery founded on the spot in honour of St. Oswald, called Album
-Monasterium, Candida Ecclesia Y Fonachlog Wen (by the Welsh according to
-Davies), and Blancmonster and Blancminster by the Normans, all meaning
-the same thing, viz.:--White Monastery, applied latterly also to the
-town, which grew up around the monastery. 3. Mesbury, corrupted into
-Maesbury, when the town in Trefesen, to which a Fitzalan granted a
-charter, grew into a borough; and 4, Oswaldestree or Oswestry, from the
-'tre' or district, or else possibly from the traditional tree, on which
-the king's arm was recorded to have been hung. A further basis is
-supplied for reconciling the statement of Nennius, that the battle was
-fought at Codoy, with that of the Saxon historian that it was fought at
-Maserfield. For just as Winwick is in Mackerfield, so may Codoy have
-been in the larger locality of Maserfield; and Nennius, as a British
-historian, representing, as his editors believe him to do, a much
-earlier author, gives, as might naturally be expected, the precise
-situation of the spot, the territorial appellation only for which
-reached the foreign and more distant chroniclers. From all this it is
-certain that Oswestry had its Maserfield as Winwick its Mackerfield, the
-former, however, more nearly reflecting the ancient British name, as
-well as character of the place, but both alike designating a district
-rather than a town, that being the ancient meaning of the word 'tre.'
-Maserfelth is, therefore, Oak-field, a translation of the original
-British name of Trefesen (compare English 'mast,') and the arms
-connected St. Oswald with the Oak."
-
-[14] There is great difficulty in reconciling the various statements
-respecting this Cadwalla. Mr. Skene ("Four Ancient Books of Wales")
-thinks it not improbable that it was his father, Cadvan, who fell at
-Heavenfield, and not himself. If Cadwalla fought at Maserfeld, Dean
-Howson's conjecture is rendered more probable. See Ante, p. 62. Revenge
-for his father's death might induce him to display his trophies of
-victory over his previously successful rival before his Brit-Welsh
-subjects at a locality afterwards named Oswestry.
-
-[15] Mr. Hartshorne, however, refers to this story in connection with
-his claim of "Maesbrook, a place in a direct line between Maesbury and
-Coedway, and about five miles from Oswestry," as the site of Oswald's
-defeat, and connects a local legend with it.
-
-[16] For a long time after the death of Oswald, the present Shropshire
-remained British, or as Professor Boyd Dawkins appropriately terms it,
-"Brit-Welsh," territory.--See Mr. Green's maps.
-
-[17] The Welsh authorities write this word "Codoy." The Rev. W. Gunn and
-Dr. Giles, "Cocboy."
-
-[18] The martyrdom is a very doubtful matter; indeed, it is more than
-probable this name of the field, and its presumed etymology, gave birth
-to the legend, or it may have been an ancient burial place. A Lancashire
-peasant pronounces the word neither, nather and nother, at the present
-day, while some clergymen pronounce it nigh-ther. The Lancashire
-contraction for James is Jim not Jem, as in the South of England. I have
-often heard China pronounced "Chaney" by Lancashire people. The number
-of ancient burial tumuli to the north of the ford may possibly have
-influenced the local nomenclature. In Webster's dictionary a third
-meaning to the word "latch" is thus described: "3. [Fr. lécher, to lick,
-pour. O. H. Ger. _lecchôn_. See LICK.] To smear [Obs.]"
-
-[19] The Rev. E. Sibson says--"The streams which unite at this barrow
-are the Dene and the Sankey." Mr. Beamont says the tumulus is situated
-on the Golbourne brook.
-
-[20] "Siculus Flaccus says that it was the practice of some
-_agrimensores_ to place under _termini_ ashes, or charcoal, or pieces of
-broken glass or pottery, or _asses_, or lime, or plaster (gypsum)....
-The writer of a later treatise, or rather compilation, attributed to
-Boëthius, speaking upon the same subject, enumerates as the objects to
-be so placed, ashes, or charcoals, or potsherds, or bones, or glass,
-or _assć_ of iron, or brass, or lime, or plaster, or a fictile
-vessel."--"_The Romans of Britain_," _by H. C. Coote F.S.A._
-
-[21] This, of course, is disputed by other authorities. Mr. Thorpe
-regards the only copy now extant as an Anglo-Saxon version of an older
-Scandinavian poem.
-
-[22] Mr. Askew Roberts, in his "Contributions to Oswestry History," has
-the following:--"Is not all the alluvial tract of country which lies
-between Buttington and Oswestry, called in the Welsh tongue 'Ystrad
-Marchell.' = Strata Marcella, at one end of which stood the once famous
-monastery of Ystrad Marchell or Strata Marcella? Is it not more likely
-that Oswald should have been overwhelmed by a combined force
-of Mercians, Welsh, and Angles somewhere in the large plain of
-_Ystradmarchell_, which lies on the boundary of the Welsh and Mercian
-territories, than at Winwick, in Lancashire, and does not the above line
-prove that 'Oswald from Marchelldy [Marcelde the House or Monastery of
-Marchell] did to Heaven remove.'--BONION, writing in _Bygones_, August
-6, 1873." This would have more value had the inscription been on
-Oswestry Church. It is not very probable the Cleric of Winwick would be
-a Welsh scholar, or that he would translate the Welsh word into Latin in
-preference to the English one by which the locality was well known. What
-business had Oswald "somewhere in the large plain of _Ystradmarchell_,
-which lies on the boundary of the Welsh and Mercian territory," if Penda
-were the aggressor, as Geoffrey and others testify. Besides, as Mr.
-Green's maps show, the district in question was, in the seventh century,
-a long way from either the Mercian or Northumbrian boundary. To be in
-the locality at all would constitute Oswald the attacking and not the
-defending party, as Bede's expression, "_pro patria dimicans_," seems to
-imply.
-
-[23] This is a very daring assertion, and is by no means confirmed by a
-visit to the locality.
-
-[24] "Were there no other record of the existence of our own Richard I.
-than the _Romaunt_ bearing his name, and composed within a century of
-his death, he would unquestionably have been numbered by the Mythists
-among their shadowy heroes; for among the superhuman feats performed by
-that pious crusader, we read, in the above mentioned authority, that
-having torn out the heart of a lion, he pressed out the blood, dipt it
-in salt, and ate it without bread; that being sick, and longing after
-pork (which in a land of Moslems and Jews was not to be had),
-
-    "They took a Sarezyne young and fat
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    And soden full hastely,
-    With powder and with spysory,
-    And with saffron of good colour."
-
-Of this Apician dish 'the kyng eet the flesh and gnew the bones.'
-Richard afterwards feasts his infidel prisoners on a Saracen's head
-each, every head having the name of its late owner attached to it on a
-slip of parchment. Surely all this is as mythic as it is possible to be,
-and yet Richard is a really historic earth-born personage."
-
-Yes, there was a truly historical Richard, as there doubtless was an
-Arthur, but the Richard and Arthur of romance, nevertheless, are not
-historical characters, in the strict sense of the word, and ought not to
-be confounded with them.
-
-[25] At the meeting of the British Association, held at York, in 1861,
-Dr. Phene, F.S.A., &c., read a paper on Scandinavian and Pictish customs
-on the Anglo-Scottish Border. He spoke of the persistent retention of
-curious customs, and the handing down from generation to generation of
-the traditionary lore of ages long past, and then referred to some of
-those which were corroborated by ancient monuments of an unusual kind
-still famous on the Scottish border. These consisted of sculptured
-stones, earth works, and actual ceremonies. Quoting from former writers,
-from family pedigrees, and other documents, he showed that the estates
-to which this traditionary lore pertained, had been held alternately by
-those claiming under the respective nationalities, or more local powers,
-and which from their natural defensive features must have been places of
-border importance earlier than history records. The district was
-occupied by the descendants--often still traceable--of Danes, Jutes,
-Frisians, Picts, Scots, Angles, and Normans; and by a comparison of
-several of the languages of these people, as well ancient as now
-existing, and also of the Gothic, it was shown in relation to a
-particular class of the most curious monuments, that the Norse "ormr,"
-Anglo-Saxon "vyrm," old German "wurm," Gothic "vaúrms," pronounced like
-our word worm; and the word "lint," or "lind," also German, and the
-Norse "linni," are all equivalent, and mean serpent; and in some cases
-the two words are united as in modern German "lindwurm," and the Danish
-and Swedish "lindorm." On this apparently rested the names of some of
-the places having these strange traditions, as Linton or serpent town,
-Wormiston or worm's (ormr's) town, Lindisfarne, the Farne serpent
-island, now Holy Island, &c., and also the various worm hills, or
-serpent mounds of those localities. It was curious that the contests to
-which the traditions referred (like that of St. George) were sometimes
-with two dragons, as shown on a sculptured stone in Linton Church, and
-on a similar stone at Lyngby, in Denmark, in the churchyard, where there
-was a tradition that two dragons had their haunt near the church. From
-these and other facts, the author concluded that the contests were
-international, and in the case of two dragons, an allied foe, either
-national, religious, or both, was overcome. He showed from the Scottish
-seals that Scotland used the dragon as an emblem, apparently deriving it
-from the Picts; that the Scandinavians also used it, and that these
-nationalities were antagonistic to the Saxon. In the time of David the
-First of Scotland, the first great centralisation of Saxon power took
-place, and the powerful family of the Cumyns took, apparently by
-conquest, at least two of the localities having these strange
-traditions. And as the political object was to suppress the Celtic and
-Scandinavian, or other local national feeling, there could be little
-doubt that however they obtained them, the persons dispossessed were of
-one or other of the Northern tribes. Hence probably the middle-age
-tradition of the slaying of the serpent or dragon, or the serpent or
-dragon bearer, on the Anglo-Scottish border. But he considered such
-traditions would hardly have originated through such conquests, had not
-previous marvellous stories existed of the prowess and conquest by the
-dragon (bearers) of the lands they invaded, all the wonders of which
-would be transferred to the conqueror's conqueror. Hence these stories
-were not to be set aside with a sneer, as in them was a germ of history,
-giving us, perhaps, the only insight we could obtain of the prehistoric
-customs and mythology of some of the ancient tribes of Britain. Earthen
-mounds, tumuli, standing stones, &c., still existed in some of these
-localities, with all of which the dragon serpent or worm was associated
-in the legends. The author described his personal experiences in the
-still existing dragon ceremonies in the south of France and Spain, which
-were always either on the present national or former less important
-provincial frontiers, and which still formed the subjects of great
-ecclesiastical ceremonies. One of the high ecclesiastical dignitaries of
-the north of England--the Bishop of Durham--is in the position of having
-to take part in such a ceremony. Whenever a bishop of that diocese
-enters the manor of Sockburn for the first time, the Lord of the Manor,
-who holds under the see of Durham, subject to the following tenure, has
-to present the Bishop, "_in the middle of the river Tees_, if the river
-is fordable, with the falchion wherewith the champion Conyers destroyed
-the _worm_, _dragon_, or _fiery flying serpent_ which destroyed man,
-woman, and child" in that district, and an ancient altar called
-"_Greystone_" still marks where the dragon was buried.--_Manchester
-Examiner._
-
-[26] "Klunzinger: Upper Egypt, 184."
-
-[27] "There exists yet a traditionary superstition very prevalent in
-Lancashire and its neighbourhood to the effect that pigs can '_see the
-wind_.' I accidentally heard the observation made, not long ago, in the
-city of Manchester, in what is termed 'respectable society,' and no one
-present audibly dissented. One or two individuals, indeed, remarked that
-they had often heard such was the case, and seemed to regard the
-phenomenon as related to the strong scent and other instincts peculiar
-to animals of the chase. Indeed, Dr. Kuhn says that in Westphalia this
-phase of the superstition is the prevalent one. There pigs are said to
-smell the wind."--_Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore, p. 69._
-
-[28] The Rev. Jno. Williams, in a note to his translation of "The
-Gododin," says:--"Beli, son of Benlli, a famous warrior in North Wales."
-
-[29] See Chapter I., page 25.
-
-[30] Warksworth Chronicle.
-
-[31] Several cannon balls, fired during Cromwell's military operations
-in this short but decisive campaign, have been found in the
-neighbourhood of Ribbleton, Ashton, and Walton-le-dale. They are about
-eight pounds weight each. One of them is in my possession at the present
-time.
-
-[32] This is an error, excusable under the circumstances. Stonyhurst is
-about twelve miles from Preston.
-
-[33] So savage a critic as Joseph Ritson seems to have entertained a
-much higher opinion of Captain Hodgson's literary qualities than the
-"seer of Chelsea." In his preface to the memoir he says--"Without
-meaning to dispute the merit of Defoe, in his peculiarly happy manner of
-telling a story, or, in other words, in the art of book-making, it will
-probably be found, that, truth or falsehood being out of the question,
-in point of importance, interest, and even pleasantry, Captain Hodgson's
-narrative is infinitely superior to the 'Memoirs of a Cavalier.'"
-
-[34] He had overcome a cavalry officer, and "appropriated" his horse.
-
-[35] Mr. F. Metcalfe, in his "Englishman and Scandinavian," says,--"It
-is this same historian (William of Malmesbury), and not Asser, who
-relates the story of Alfred masquerading as a minstrel, and so gaining
-free access to the Danish camp, meanwhile learning their plans. It is
-not mentioned in the most ancient Saxon accounts. Indeed, it sounds more
-like a Scandinavian than a Saxon story, an echo of which has reached us
-in the tale of King Estmere, who adopted a similar disguise. A story was
-current of Olaf Cuaran entering Athelstan's camp disguised as a harper
-two days before the battle of Brunanburh."
-
-[36] Some writers say two days intervened, and Sir Francis Palgrave says
-the main battle was but a continuation of the night attack, and was
-therefore fought on the following day.
-
-[37] Mr. Thompson Watkins, His. Soc. Trans., says the metal is bronze.
-
-[38] In Herman Moll's map, the Etherow, before its junction with the
-Goyt and Tame, is written Mersey.
-
-[39] For details of this battle see "History of Preston and its
-Environs."
-
-[40] For details respecting this siege, see His. Preston, c. v.
-
-[41] Mr. J. P. Morris, in _Notes and Queries_, says--"Many collectors
-have endeavoured, but in vain, to find more of this old Lancashire
-ballad than the two verses given by Dr. Dixon, in his 'Songs and Ballads
-of the English Peasantry,' and by Mr. Harland, in his 'Ballads and Songs
-of Lancashire.' I have much pleasure in forwarding to _Notes and
-Queries_ the following version, which is much more complete than any yet
-given:
-
-    "Long Preston Peggy to Proud Preston went,
-    To view the Scotch Rebels it was her intent;
-    A noble Scotch lord, as he passed by,
-    On this Yorkshire damsel did soon cast an eye.
-
-    He called to his servant, who on him did wait--
-    'Go down to yon maiden who stands in the gate,
-    That sings with a voice so soft and so sweet,
-    And in my name do her lovingly greet.'
-
-    So down from his master away he did hie,
-    For to do his bidding, and bear her reply;
-    But ere to this beauteous virgin he came,
-    He moved his bonnet, not knowing her name.
-
-    'It's, oh! Mistress Madame, your beauty's adored,
-    By no other person than by a Scotch lord,
-    And if with his wishes you will comply,
-    All night in his chamber with him you shall lie.'"
-
-[42] "See Gaussin's _Langue Polynésienne_."
-
-
-
-
-    Transcriber's notes:
-
-    The following is a list of changes made to the original.
-    The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
-
-    Dean Milman, Arminius Vámbęry, and Leslie Stephen.
-    Dean Milman, Arminius Vámbéry, and Leslie Stephen.
-
-    Sir John Lubbock, Arminius Vámbęry, John Fiske,
-    Sir John Lubbock, Arminius Vámbéry, John Fiske,
-
-    The names of places still retained, with only sueh phonetic
-    The names of places still retained, with only such phonetic
-
-    Talbots of Bashall and Salebury. Civil war incidents
-    Talbots of Bashall and Salesbury. Civil war incidents
-
-    influence of the after Danish and Norman-French conquests.
-    influence of the battle after Danish and Norman-French conquests.
-
-    "For "_Downham_ IN _Yorkshire_"
-    For "_Downham_ IN _Yorkshire_"
-
-    "Return of the Heraklieds," says "it is undoubtedly as
-    "Return of the Herakleids," says "it is undoubtedly as
-
-    similar discoveries at Gristhorpe, Beverley, Driffield. and
-    similar discoveries at Gristhorpe, Beverley, Driffield, and
-
-    laid'Ywenec, and the latter is said to be "on the Doglas,"
-    lai d'Ywenec, and the latter is said to be "on the Doglas,"
-
-    mentioned as the husband of Igerna's third danghter by
-    mentioned as the husband of Igerna's third daughter by
-
-    not one capital city, it was the tetrapolis of Babel
-    not one capital city, it was the tetrapolis of Babel,
-
-    we, nevertheless, do gain valuable knowlege of a
-    we, nevertheless, do gain valuable knowledge of a
-
-    ancient correlatives in Sanscrit _agra_, Greek {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER STIGMA~}, Latin
-    ancient correlatives in Sanscrit _agra_, Greek {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER STIGMA~}, Latin
-
-    probably accordsboth etymologically and topographically
-    probably accords both etymologically and topographically
-
-    tranformations local nomenclature sometimes has undergone
-    transformations local nomenclature sometimes has undergone
-
-    England)" says--"That Oswiu strove to avert the
-    England") says--"That Oswiu strove to avert the
-
-    called _Burne_, strongly supports the other evidence in
-    called _Burne_," strongly supports the other evidence in
-
-    burial place, raised after the battle fought at Winwick."
-    burial place, raised after the battle fought at Winwick.
-
-    Newton: one of these was held in desmene. The
-    Newton: one of these was held in demesne. The
-
-    cum decima ville;' but there is a belief that there was a
-    cum decima ville;" but there is a belief that there was a
-
-    and to the tradition which Leyland records, 'that at
-    and to the tradition which Leyland records, "that at
-
-    Sum say this was the paroche church of Oswestre.'"
-    Sum say this was the paroche church of Oswestre."
-
-    Bingfield for the site of the Heavenfeld struggle, rather
-    Bingfield for the site of the Heavenfield struggle, rather
-
-    Jacob Grimm says (Deutsche Myhologie)--"A people
-    Jacob Grimm says (Deutsche Mythologie)--"A people
-
-    in power. Thus the notion of _casualty_--the assumption
-    in power. Thus the notion of _causality_--the assumption
-
-    twenty marks a year, from Edward IV,, confirmed by
-    twenty marks a year, from Edward IV., confirmed by
-
-    relatively more recent combat, of some local importance,
-    relatively more recent combat, of some local importance.
-
-    Preston, to operate in the hundred of Blackburn, One
-    Preston, to operate in the hundred of Blackburn. One
-
-    inhabitants of the neigbourhood Wearden at the present
-    inhabitants of the neighbourhood Wearden at the present
-
-    crosses this in its neighbonrhood. This tumulus is
-    crosses this in its neighbourhood. This tumulus is
-
-    the "battle of the Brun."
-    the 'battle of the Brun.'"
-
-    the 'olden time.' In Leland's day, the remains of the
-    the 'olden time.'" In Leland's day, the remains of the
-
-    Colonel Rosworn, the celebrated Parliamentary engineer,
-    Colonel Rosworm, the celebrated Parliamentary engineer,
-
-    sculls, from the banks, and these are almost universally,
-    skulls, from the banks, and these are almost universally,
-
-    of "General" Forster, the partisans of the Stuart were
-    of "General" Forster, the partizans of the Stuart were
-
-    myths have been confounded together;" [See ante, p.p. 44, et seg.,
-    myths have been confounded together;" [See ante, p.p. 44, et seq.,
-
-    "For the devolpment of myth, which is in itself always a human
-    "For the development of myth, which is in itself always a human
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of On Some Ancient Battle-Fields in
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-Title: On Some Ancient Battle-Fields in Lancashire
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 <div class="transnote">
 <p>Transcriber's Note:</p>
@@ -8412,382 +8373,6 @@ myths have been confounded together;" [See ante, p.p. 44, et <span class="u">seq
 "For the <span class="u">development</span> of myth, which is in itself always a human</p>
 </div>
 
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+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40918 ***</div>
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of On Some Ancient Battle-Fields in Lancashire, by
-Charles Hardwick
-
-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: On Some Ancient Battle-Fields in Lancashire
-       And Their Historical, Legendary, and Aesthetic Associations.
-
-Author: Charles Hardwick
-
-Release Date: October 2, 2012 [EBook #40918]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT BATTLE-FIELDS IN LANCASHIRE ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by sp1nd, Mebyon, Paul Clark and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
-file was produced from images generously made available
-by The Internet Archive)
-
-
-
-
-
-    Transcriber's Note:
-
-    Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully
-    as possible, including some inconsistencies of hyphenation. Some
-    changes of spelling and punctuation have been made.  They are listed
-    at the end of the text. The errors listed in the Errata have been
-    fixed.
-
-    Italic text has been marked with _underscores_.
-
-
-
-
-ANCIENT BATTLE-FIELDS.
-
-
-
-
- ON SOME
- ANCIENT
- BATTLE-FIELDS IN LANCASHIRE
- AND THEIR
- HISTORICAL, LEGENDARY, AND AESTHETIC ASSOCIATIONS.
-
- BY
-
- CHARLES HARDWICK,
-
- Author of a "History of Preston and its Environs," "Traditions,
- Superstitions and Folk-Lore," "Manual for Patrons and Members of
- Friendly Societies," &c.
-
- MANCHESTER:
- ABEL HEYWOOD & SON, OLDHAM STREET.
- LONDON:
- SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & Co., STATIONERS' HALL COURT.
- 1882.
-
-
-
-
- TO
-
- GEORGE MILNER, ESQ., PRESIDENT,
-
- AND TO THE COUNCIL AND MEMBERS OF THE
-
- MANCHESTER LITERARY CLUB,
-
- THIS WORK IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY ONE OF ITS FOUNDERS.
-
- CHARLES HARDWICK.
-
-
-
-
-PREFACE.
-
-
-To the transactions of the Manchester Literary Club (1875-8) I
-contributed four papers on "Some Ancient Battle-fields in Lancashire."
-These essays form the _nuclei_ of the four chapters of the present
-volume. Their original scope, however, has been much extended, and the
-evidences there adduced largely augmented. I have likewise endeavoured
-to still further fortify and illustrate my several positions, by
-citations from well-known, and many recent, labourers in similar or
-cognate fields of enquiry.
-
-I am aware that the precise locality of any given battle-field is of
-relatively little interest to the general historian, the causes of the
-conflict and its political results demanding the largest share of his
-attention. Consequently, doubtful topographical features are often
-either completely ignored, or but slightly referred to. Such a course,
-however, is not permissible to the local student. Scarcely anything
-can be too trifling, in a certain sense, to be unworthy of some
-investigation on his part. This is especially the case with respect to
-legendary stories, and traditional beliefs. Their interest is
-intensified, it is true, to the local reader or student, but the lessons
-they teach, on patient enquiry, will often be found in harmony with
-larger or more general truths, and of which truths they often form apt
-illustrations. "Alas!" truly exclaimed "Verax," in one of his recent
-letters in the _Manchester Weekly Times_, "it is hard to disengage
-ourselves from inherited illusions. They become a part of our being, and
-falsify the standard of comparison." Modern science may be able to
-demonstrate that many of the conceptions respecting physical phenomena
-dealt with in these legendary stories are utterly at variance with now
-well-known facts. This may be perfectly true, but human nature is
-influenced in its action, quite as much by its faiths, beliefs, and
-superstitions, as by the more exact knowledge it may have acquired.
-Subjective truths are as true, as mere facts or actualities, as
-objective ones. Thomas Carlyle forcibly expresses this when he
-asks--"Was Luther's picture of the devil _less a reality_, whether it
-were formed within the bodily eye, or without it?" Mr. J. R. Green, in
-his "Making of England," says--"Legend, if it distorts facts, preserves
-accurately enough the _impressions_ of a vanished time." And these
-impressions being emotionally true, whether scientifically correct or
-not, have ever been, and will continue to be, powerful factors in the
-formation of character, and in the progressive development of
-humanity,--morally, socially, and politically. Our predecessors felt
-their influence and acted accordingly, and many of the presumedly
-exploded old superstitions survive amongst the mass of mankind to a much
-greater degree than we often acknowledge or even suspect; although many
-of their more repulsive forms may have undergone superficial
-transformation amongst the more educated classes.
-
-Referring to superstitious legendary reverence as a marked feature in
-the religious characteristics of the seventeenth century, the author of
-"John Inglesant, a Romance," places in the mouth of the rector of the
-English College, at Rome, in the seventeenth century, the following
-words:--"These things are true to each of us according as we see them;
-they are, in fact, but shadows and likenesses of the absolute truth that
-reveals itself to man in different ways, but always imperfectly, as in a
-glass."
-
-The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that, in the year 685, "it rained
-blood in Britain, and milk and butter were turned into blood."
-Of course, educated persons do not believe this _now_; but our
-conventionally educated predecessors did, and their conduct was sensibly
-influenced by such belief. The Chinese think themselves much superior
-personages, in very many respects, to the "barbarian" European, yet the
-following paragraph "went the round of the papers" during May, in the
-present year:--"The Kaiping coal mines have been closed in deference to
-the opinion expressed by the Censor, that the continued working of them
-would release the earth dragon, disturb the manes of the empress, and
-bring trouble upon the imperial family."
-
-From the very nature of many of the subjects investigated, and the
-character of the only available evidence, some of the inferences drawn
-in the following pages can only be regarded as probabilities, and others
-as merely possibilities, and they are put forth with no higher
-pretensions. In such matters dogmatical insistence is out of place, and
-I have studiously endeavoured to avoid it.
-
- C. H.
-
- 72, Talbot Street, Moss Side, Manchester.
- August, 1882.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS.
-
-
-CHAPTER I.--Early Historical and Legendary Battles.
-
-_The Arthur of History and Legend. King Arthur's presumed Victories on
-the Douglas, near Wigan and Blackrod._
-
-Historical works are chiefly records of battles, squabbles and intrigues
-of diplomatists and politicians. More details now required as to the
-domestic habits and conditions of the people, and the degree and kind of
-intellectual and moral culture which obtained at any given period of
-their history. Progress of man from the savage to a more civilized
-condition. Records of many battles survive, the sites of which are
-either unknown or involved in the greatest obscurity. Many genuine
-historical events are inextricably interwoven with mythical and
-traditionary legends. The Roman conquest of the Brigantes. Remains of
-some of these conflicts in Lancashire. The narratives of Gildas,
-Nennius, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and some others, combinations of historic
-truths with a mass of tradition, superstition, and artistic fiction.
-Wales the birthplace of much of European mediaeval fiction. Views of Sig.
-Panizzi, Professor Henry Morley, Mr. E. B. Tylor, and Mr. Fiske. The
-Arthurian legends the "source of one of the purest streams of English
-poetry." Notwithstanding untrustworthy strictly historical elements,
-they enshrine much genuine legendary national faith as well as
-superstition. The Rev. John Whitaker's belief in Arthur's historical
-verity. Other advocates of this view: Mr. Haigh, Henry of Huntingdon and
-Professor Fergusson. Arthur's traditionary tomb at Glastonbury, opened
-A.D. 1189. Mr. Haigh's exposition of the fraud then practised. Welsh
-traditions thereon. The Rev. R. W. Morgan's views. William of Newbury's
-contempt for Geoffrey's fictions. Shakspere's almost total absence of
-reference to Arthur. Sir Edward Strachey's comments on the erroneous
-geography in Sir Thomas Malory's work. Mr. J. R. Green's views. Sir G.
-W. Dasent, on the paucity of trustworthy historic record from about
-A.D. 420 to A.D. 730. The deeds of other heroes, especially those of
-Urien, of Rheged, assigned to Arthur by the mediaeval romance writers.
-Doubts as to the authenticity of the authorship and dates of the
-composition of the works of Gildas and Nennius discussed. No mention of
-Arthur by either Gildas or the Venerable Bede. Mr. Haigh's defence of
-the old histories, and his conjectures as to the authors. Nennius says
-the second, third, fourth, and fifth of Arthur's twelve great victories
-were gained on the banks "of a river called Duglas, in the region
-Linuis." The Rev. John Whitaker's contention that these battles were
-fought on the Douglas, near Wigan and Blackrod. The archaeological and
-traditional details advanced in support thereof. Opening of the huge
-barrow "Hasty Knoll," and excavations at Parson's Meadow and Pool
-Bridge, in the last century, where remains were found, which Whitaker
-and others regarded as conclusive evidence that some ancient battles had
-been fought in the localities. Derivation of the word Wigan. Geoffrey's
-single battle on the Douglas, in which Arthur defeated Colgrin. Mr.
-Haigh's arguments respecting the dates of these conflicts. His advocacy
-of the Wigan sites, and identification of another battle on "the river
-Bassas," _i.e._, Bashall Brook, near Clitheroe. His hypothesis that Ince
-is a corruption of Linuis. Probability of the exploits of Cadwallon or
-Cadwalla, king of the Western Britons, being inextricably interwoven
-with the legendary ones of the heroes of the Arthurian romances. Views
-of Lappenberg. Mr. H. H. Howorth and Mr. Haigh on the appropriation by
-the Britons and Danes of the deeds and heroes of their enemies or
-neighbours. Hollingworth, in his "Mancuniensis," refers to the Roman
-conquests in the district by Petilius Cerealis, and afterwards speaks of
-Arthur's great victory near Wigan, and gives credence to the legends
-about the giant Tarquin, his castle at Manchester, and his combats with
-some of Arthur's knights. Bishop Percy on the historical truth
-underlying legend in such ancient ballads as "Chevy Chase," and the
-confusion of incidents and heroes. Professor Boyd Dawkins on "the date
-of the conquest of South Lancashire by the English." Mr. J. R. Green's
-views. During the seventh century many sanguinary battles were fought,
-the sites of which are now unascertainable. Ethelfirth's great victory
-at Bangor-Iscoed. Some of the struggles of this period may have been
-absorbed by the romance writers into their stock of Arthurian legends.
-The Rev. John Whitaker and Tarquin's castle at Manchester. Sir
-"Launcelot du Lake." Martin Mere. Gradual growth of legendary heroic
-fiction. Mr. Tylor's view. The Arthurian legends enshrine some of the
-oldest Aryan myths, and are the source of some of our noblest poetry.
-Sir George Ellis on the foundation of mythic legends. Mr. Fiske on
-artistic legendary development. Mr. E. A. Freeman and Mr. Fiske on the
-historical and legendary Charlemagne. Some of the deeds of Charlemagne,
-probably absorbed into the latter Arthurian legends. Mr. H. H. Howorth
-on Saxo-Grammaticus. Historical and legendary Cromwells, Alexanders, and
-Taliesens. Mr. Kains-Jackson on Arthurian accretions. Mr. F. Metcalfe on
-Alfred the Great and trial by jury. "The famous story of Theophilus."
-The Rev. Sir G. W. Cox on the distribution of ancient Aryan mythic
-heroes. Historical novels. Opinions thereon of Sir Francis Palgrave,
-Dean Milman, Arminius Vambery, and Leslie Stephen. Historic and aesthetic
-truth distinct but not antagonistic. The ideal and the real, or
-subjective and objective truths. Shakspere's treatment in the character
-of Macbeth. Artistic truths not necessarily individual or strictly
-biographical or historical facts, but result from wider generalisation,
-and possess an inherent or subjective vitality of their own. Views of
-Thos. Carlyle, Gervinus, R. N. Wornum, Dr. Dickson White, M. Mallet, and
-Tennyson. Nennius's tenth battle, said by some, but on very inconclusive
-evidence, to have been fought on the Ribble.
-
-
-CHAPTER II.--The Defeat and Death of King Oswald, of Northumbria, by the
-Pagan Mercian King, Penda, at Maserfeld (A.D. 642.)
-
-_The Legend of the Wild Boar, "the Monster in former ages which prowled
-over the neighbourhood of Winwick, inflicting injury on Man and Beast."_
-
-The Venerable Bede and the Saxon Chronicle's account of the battle. The
-site disputed. Some suggest Winwick, in Lancashire, others Oswestry, in
-Shropshire. Dean Howson's suggestion. Different orthographies and
-etymologies of the name Maserfeld. The subject phonetically and
-topographically considered. Views of Mr. Roberts and Mr. Howell W.
-Lloyd. St. Oswald's Well, at Winwick. Its sanctity and legendary
-connection with the death of St. Oswald. The inscription on the church
-dedicated to St. Oswald. Hollingworth's view, in "Mancuniensis."
-Geoffrey of Monmouth's statement that the battle was fought at a place
-called Burne. Oswald's previous victory over Cadwalla at Heavenfield.
-Bede's narrative, and his relation of the miracles performed by the
-Saint's bones, and even the earth taken from the spot on which he fell.
-Curious coincidence revealed during the excavations at "Castle Hill,"
-Penworthan, in 1856. Penda, not Oswald, the aggressor, consequently the
-site of the battle-field may be presumed to be within the Northumbrian
-rather than the Mercian territory. Bryn, Brun, or Burne in the Fee of
-Makerfield. The great barrow or tumulus called "Castle Hill," near
-Newton. Nennius says the battle was fought at Cocboy. Cockedge.
-Latchford. Probable etymology. Professor Dwight Whitney on the
-difficulties inherent in topographical etymology. Winwick, a place of
-victory. At "Winfield" Herman defeated Varus, A.D. 10. Present
-appearance of the "Castle Hill." Mr. Baines and Dr. Kendrick's
-descriptions. Opening of the tumulus in 1843. Description of its
-contents by the Rev. Mr. Sibson and Dr. Kendrick. A burial mound haunted
-by the ghost of a "White Lady." Traditionary burial-place of Alfred the
-Great. Professor Fergusson and B. E. Hildebrand on the contents of Odin
-and Frey's "howes," near Upsala, opened in 1846-7. Similarity to those
-found at "Castle Hill." Dr. Robson's description of two burial mounds
-opened at Arbury, in 1859-60. The contents consisted of burnt bones and
-wood, rude pottery, a stone hammer-head, and a bronze dart. Etymology of
-Arbury. The "Mote Hill," at Warrington, removed in 1852. Opinions
-respecting the date of this tumulus of Pennant, Ormerod, W. T. Watkin,
-and John Whitaker. The Rev. Mr. Sibson thought it a "tumulus or
-burial-place, raised after the battle fought at Winwick." Dr. Kendrick's
-description of its contents. Christian and Pagan modes of sepulture
-contrasted. Description of the latter in "Beowulf," the oldest
-Anglo-Saxon poem extant. Date of first erection of a church at Winwick
-unknown. The date of the erection of the church at Oswestry. St.
-Oswald's church, according to Domesday book held "two carucates of land
-_exempt from all taxation_." In 1828, three large human skeletons found
-eight or ten feet below the floor of the chancel, uncoffined, and
-covered with a heap of large stones. St. Oswald's Well. Opinions of
-Baines respecting the saint's wells at Winwick and Oswestry. "Cae Naef,"
-or "Heaven's Field," site of Oswald's previous victory over Cadwalla.
-Dennis-brook. Sharon-Turner, Camden and Dr. Smith's views of this site.
-Some of the Oswestry traditions evidently have reference to Oswald's
-previous victory. The dedication of the church to St. Oswald could not
-have proceeded from the then British Christians. Contests between the
-disciples of Augustine and Paulinus, and the earlier British Church. The
-Welsh word "tre" means simply hamlet, homestead. Penda's defeat in the
-following year near the river Vinwid. Mr. T. Baines's conjecture as to
-the site being near Winwick. The evidence, however, conclusive as to
-Winwidfield, near Leeds. Mr. J. R. Green on Oswald's and Penda's policy.
-Cromwell's victory at "Red Bank," near Winwick, in 1648. Supposed crest
-of Oswald. Rude sculpture of a "chained hog." Baines's legend of a
-"monster in former ages, which prowled over the neighbourhood inflicting
-injury on man and beast." Other demon-hogs. Mythical monsters,
-"harvest-blasters," huge worms, serpents, dragons, and wild boars,
-common in the North of England. Several instances cited. Mr. Haigh's
-argument as to the site of the poem Beowulf being near Hartlepool,
-Durham. Dr. Phene on Scandinavian and Pictish customs on the
-Anglo-Scottish Border. Aryan myths of the lightning and the storm cloud.
-Mr. Walter Kelly on ancient Aryan personifications of natural phenomena.
-Stormy winds, howling dogs or wolves. The ravages of the whirlwind that
-tore up the earth, the "_work of a wild boar_." Lancashire superstition
-that pigs can "see the wind." Monstrous boar slain in the Greek legend
-of the Kalydonian hunt. Origin of modern heraldry. Totems or beast
-symbols amongst many ancient as well as modern nations or tribes.
-Instances. Views of Mr. E. B. Tylor, the Rev. Isaac Taylor, and others.
-The boar favourite helmet crest or totem amongst the Teutonic invaders.
-Sacred to the goddess Freya. The "_boar of war_." Illustrations from the
-Anglo-Saxon poems Beowulf, the Battle of Finsburgh, the Scandinavian
-Edda, and the ancient British poem Gododin. The boar probably the crest
-of Penda. St. Anthony's pig. Re-crystallisation of ancient myths around
-relatively more modern nuclei. Illustrations from the works of
-Keightley, Mackenzie, Wallace, Bishop Percy, Sir John Lubbock, Arminius
-Vambery, John Fiske, and the Vedic hymns. Origin of modern surnames.
-Many beast, bird, or flower symbols. Examples. Shakspere's reference to
-the bear symbol of the Earl of Warwick and the boar of Richard III.
-"Pitris," or ancestral spirits. Their supposed action in the storm and
-the battle-field. Icelandic kindred customs and superstitions. Professor
-Gervinus on the importance and conditions of such critical enquiry.
-Views of Professor Tyndall and Mr. J. A. Farrar.
-
-
-CHAPTER III.--Battles in the Valley of the Ribble near Whalley and
-Clitheroe.
-
-_Wada's Defeat by King Eardulph, at Billangahoh (Langho,) A.D. 798, and
-Contemporary Prophetic Superstitions. The Victory of the Scots at
-Edisford Bridge in 1138. Civil War Incidents during the struggle between
-Charles I. and the English Parliament._
-
-Wada's defeat recorded in the Saxon Chronicle and by Simeon of Durham.
-The Murder of Ethelred (A.D. 794) by Wada and other conspirators. The
-murderous and lawless characteristics of the age illustrated.
-Sharon-Turner's summary of these characteristics. Superstitious
-forewarnings: whirlwinds, lightnings, and fiery dragons. Ravages of
-Danish pirates. Treasons and civil wars. The locality of Wada's defeat
-undisputed. The names of places still retained, with only such phonetic
-changes as philologists anticipate. A probable ancestor of Wada
-mentioned in the "Traveller's Tale." The Legend of St. Christopher.
-Other chieftains referred to in the same poem: "Hwala, once the best."
-and Billing who "ruled the Woerns." Watling-street. Wade and his boats.
-Beautiful scenery in the Ribble valley around the battle-field. Tumuli.
-One superficially opened by Dr. Whitaker, without result. When the mound
-was entirely removed in 1836, the remains of a buried chieftain
-(probably Alric son of Herbert) were discovered. Tradition concerning
-the battle. Two other "lowes" or "mounds," apparently tumuli, on the
-opposite bank of the river. Some confusion in the descriptive references
-to these mounds. Observations of Dr. Whitaker, Canon Raines, Mr. Abram
-and others. Second visit of the present writer to the locality in 1876.
-Curious circular agger. Supposed ancient artificial grout at "Brockhole
-Wood-end." Geological phenomena. Possibly the "lowes" outliers of the
-partially denuded glacial "drift." Further excavations necessary.
-Probable direction of the battle. Dr. Whitaker's argument as to the
-southern boundary of the ancient kingdom of Northumbria discussed. Mr.
-J. R. Green on Anglo-Saxon bishoprics. King Eardulph dethroned. Other
-superstitious warnings attendant thereon. Patriotism and rebellion. The
-fight at Edisford Bridge in 1138. The Bashall Brook the "Bassus"
-according to Mr. Haigh. Bungerley "hyppingstones." Capture of Henry VI.,
-after the battle of Hexham in 1464, by the Talbots of Bashall and
-Salesbury. Civil war incidents during the struggle between Charles I.
-and the English Parliament. Cromwellian traditions respecting the
-destruction of Clitheroe and Bury castles. Captain John Hodgson's
-details of Cromwell's march by Clitheroe and Stonyhurst to the great
-battle at Preston.
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.--Athelstan's great Victory at Brunanburh, A.D. 937, and its
-connection with the great Anglo-Saxon and Danish Hoard, discovered at
-Cuerdale in 1840.
-
-Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian invasions of Britain. First arrival of the
-Danes, A.D. 787. The Anglo-Saxons and Ancient British inhabitants
-Christians, the Scandinavians Pagans. Savage warfare of the period.
-Progress of the invasion. Ella, king of Northumbria and Ragnar Lodbrog.
-The real and mythic Ragnar. Halfden's settlements in Northumbria.
-Athelstan succeeds to the throne of Wessex and its dependencies.
-Submission of the Welsh and Scots. Marriage of Editha, Athelstan's
-sister, to Sihtric, king of Northumbria. Sihtric's relapse into paganism
-and repudiation of his queen. Sudden death of Sihtric. Athelstan's
-vengeance falls upon his sons by a former wife, Anlaf and Godefrid, the
-former of whom fled to Ireland, and the latter sought refuge with
-Constantine, king of the Scots. Athelstan dominant king of all Britain.
-Revolt of the Scottish king and his defeat. Powerful combination of
-Athelstan's enemies. Their defeat and rout at Brunanburh. Difficulty as
-to the exact date of the battle. British Christian chiefs, as on
-previous occasions, espoused the cause of the pagan invaders, and fought
-against their hated rivals of the party of St. Augustine. Defeat of
-Athelstan's two governors, Gudrekir and Alfgeirr. Athelstan's arrival at
-Brunanburh. Anlaf's stratagem in the guise of a harper. Similar story
-related of King Alfred. Improbability of both being historically true.
-Mr. T. Metcalfe's doubts on the subject. Anlaf's midnight assault of
-Athelstan's camp frustrated. Details of the great battle. Total rout of
-Anlaf and his allies. Five "youthful kings" and seven of Anlaf's earls
-slain. Flight of Anlaf to Dublin. Importance of the victory. The famous
-Anglo-Saxon poem. Claims to the title of first king of England
-discussed. The causes of the site of the battle being at the present day
-merely conjectural. The influence of the battle after Danish and
-Norman-French conquests. Suppression of evidence. Henry of Huntingdon's
-views on the subject. Mr. D. Haigh on the destruction of ancient Runic
-inscriptions by the disciples of Augustine and other Christian
-missionaries. Archbishop Parker's labours in the saving of Anglo-Saxon
-MSS. from destruction in the sixteenth century. John Bale's account in
-1549 of the wholesale destruction of MSS. during his day. Thorpe, Dr.
-Grundtvig, and J. M. Kemble's testimony to the ignorance of the
-Anglo-Norman copyists. The great "Cuerdale find" in May, 1840. Mr.
-Hawkins's description of the treasure. Its great value at the time of
-its deposit. The latest coins minted a short time previously to the
-great battle of Brunanburh. Dr. Worsaae's analysis of the "hoard."
-Various places suggested as the probable site of the battle: Colecroft,
-near Axminster, Devonshire; near Beverley, and at Aldborough, Yorkshire;
-Ford, near Bromeridge, Northumberland; Banbury, Oxfordshire; Bourne,
-Brumby, and the neighbourhood of Barton-on-Humber, Lincolnshire. A
-Bambro', a Bambury, and some other places have likewise found advocates.
-Their respective claims discussed. The present writer's position that
-the Cuerdale hoard was buried owing to the disastrous defeat of the
-allies under Anlaf near the "pass of the Ribble." The tradition
-respecting its burial and non-disinterment. The three fords at the
-"pass," at Cuerdale, Walton, and Penwortham, opposite Preston. Evidence
-of the coins. Discovery of Roman remains at Walton, in 1855. Revival of
-the tradition. The hoard at Cuerdale all silver. Finds of Roman hoards
-not uncommon in the county. Other battles known to have been fought in
-the neighbourhood. Two great Roman roads, and some vicinal ways pass
-near the locality. From the positions of the belligerents, the "pass of
-the Ribble" a very probable site of the conflict. The certainty of its
-having taken place in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria. Anlaf, the
-Dane, ruling chief of Dublin, head of the Confederacy. The ports of
-Ribble and Wyre suitable for the landing of his vessels, and for his
-after escape to Dublin. From a topographical and military point of view,
-"the pass of the Ribble" a very probable site of the conflict. The name
-Brunanburh, in some presumedly corrupted form, very common. Examples.
-Name of place of conflict variously written by the older historians.
-Doomsday book defective in South Lancashire, in consequence of its
-ravaged condition; still many corrupted names remain to furnish
-important etymological evidence in favour of the author's position.
-These evidences and readings in old maps and deeds discussed in detail.
-Origin of the names Brindle (Brunhull, in Saxton's map); Bamber
-(Brunber), Brownedge (Brunedge). Mr. Weddle's view that Weondune is a
-mistake for Weordune. Origin of the names Wearden and Cuerden.
-Etymological and philological evidence considered. Probable modern
-remains of Ethrunnanwerch in Etherington and Rothelsworth. Other names
-of places in Lancashire which require consideration. Proofs that the
-battle was fought not far from the sea shore and not in the interior of
-the country. Other evidence of Athelstan's connection with the district.
-His grant of Amounderness to the Cathedral church at York, A.D. 930. The
-Harleian MSS. "Mundana Mutabilia," of the early part of the seventeenth
-century. Tumulus named "Pickering Castle," near Roman vicinal way.
-Etymological origin of the word "Pickering" discussed. "Pickering
-Castle," a probable corruption of "Bickering Castle," or the castle or
-tumulus of the battle-field. Ancient stone coffin in Brindle
-church-yard. Discovery of Ancient British burial urns at "Low Hill,"
-near Over Darwen, in 1867. Ancient traditions respecting a battle in the
-neighbourhood of Tockholes in Roddlesworth valley. Concluding remarks in
-support of the view that the country south of the "Pass of the Ribble"
-is the most probable site of Athelstan's great victory. More recent
-battles in the neighbourhood. Bruce's foray in 1323, Cromwell's victory
-in 1648, and Milton's sonnet thereon. The number of troops engaged.
-Legends connected with the battle. The Siege of Preston under Wells and
-Carpenter in 1715. March of the "Young Pretender," in 1745. Doggrel
-ballad: "Long Preston Peggy to Proud Preston went."
-
-
-APPENDIX.
-
-The disposal of St. Oswald's remains. The dun bull, the badge of the
-Nevilles. The Genesis of Myths. Anglo-Saxon Helmet.
-
-
-
-
-ERRATA.
-
-
-On page 51, line 21, insert marks of quotation (") after--"_or without
-it_."
-
-Transpose the note on page 65, beginning--"_Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon
-Dictionary_," to page 64, and place the * after "_massacre, etc._," at
-the end of the sixth line from the bottom of the text.
-
-Transpose the note commencing on page 64 to page 65.
-
-For "_Downham_ IN _Yorkshire_" (page 143, fourteenth line from the
-bottom), read "_Downham_ INTO _Yorkshire_."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-EARLY HISTORICAL AND LEGENDARY BATTLES.
-
-THE ARTHUR OF HISTORY, LEGEND, AND ART. KING ARTHUR'S PRESUMED VICTORIES
-ON THE DOUGLAS, NEAR WIGAN AND BLACKROD.
-
-
-It has often been remarked, and with some truth, that our standard
-historical works, until very recent times at least, contained little
-more than the details of battles, the squabbles and intrigues of
-diplomatists and politicians, and the pedigrees of potentates, imperial
-or otherwise. Now-a-days we seek to know more of the domestic habits and
-conditions of the mass of the population, and the degree and kind of
-intellectual and moral culture which obtained amongst a people at any
-given period of their history. But man's advance from the savage to his
-present relatively civilized condition has been one of fierce and
-sanguinary strife, and the piratical and freebooting instincts which he
-inherited, along with some of his nobler attributes and aspirations,
-from his remote ancestors, are by no means extinguished at the present
-time, although, in their practical exhibition, they may generally assume
-a somewhat more decorous exterior. Still, courage and physical
-endurance, however rude and uncouth in outward aspect, as well as
-heroism of a higher mental or moral order, ever possessed, and ever will
-possess, a strange and uncontrollable fascination; and the associations,
-social, political, or religious, attendant upon the more prominent of
-the bloody struggles of the past, excite, in a most powerful degree, the
-emotional as well as the imaginative elements of our being. This is
-notoriously the case when any special interest is superinduced, national
-or provincial. "All men naturally feel more interested in the historical
-associations of their own race than they do in those of any other
-portion of mankind. The soil daily trodden by the foot of any reflecting
-being,--the locality with whose present struggles, progress or decay, he
-is practically acquainted,--whose traditions and folk-lore were first
-fixed in his memory and his heart, long before more exact knowledge or
-cultivated judgment enabled him to test their accuracy or correctly
-weigh their value,--must possess historic reminiscences not only capable
-of commanding his attention, by exciting in the imaginative faculty
-agreeable and healthy sensations, but of teaching him valuable lessons
-in profound practical wisdom."[1]
-
-It might be said, without much exaggeration, that if the soil could be
-endowed with vocal utterance, we might learn that the surface area of
-the earth which has _not_ sustained the shock of battle at some period
-of the world's history is not very much greater than that which has felt
-the tread of armed men in deadly conflict. In the early historic and
-pre-historic times, when clan or sept fought, as a matter of course,
-against clan or sept, for the privilege of existence or the means to
-secure it; or when baron or other chieftain "levied private war" against
-his neighbour, from ambition, passion or greed, numberless fierce and
-bloody struggles must have taken place of which no record has been
-preserved.
-
-The _names_ of many important ancient battle-fields have been handed
-down to the present time, the sites of which are either utterly unknown
-or involved in great obscurity. Some genuine historical events have been
-so inextricably interwoven with the mythical and traditionary legends of
-our forefathers, that it is now impossible to detect with exactness the
-residuum of historical truth therein contained. The battle-fields and
-all authentic record of the battles themselves amongst the inhabitants
-of Britain prior to the Roman conquest are, of course, utterly lost in
-the gloom of the past. Nay, we know, with certainty, very few even of
-the sites of the struggles of the Britons with the victorious Roman
-legions. The locality we now denominate Lancashire was, at that time,
-inhabited by the Volantii and the Sistuntii, Setantii, or Segantii, and
-was included in the "country of the Brigantes," a numerous and warlike
-tribe which frequently "measured blades" with the imperial troops. There
-exists, however, no record to inform us where any specific conflict took
-place, notwithstanding the numerous archaeological remains which attest
-the after-presence of the conquerors. Yet we know on the best authority
-that the Brigantes espoused the cause of the Iceni, who inhabited the
-Norfolk of the present day, and were defeated by Ostorius Scapula, in
-the reign of Claudius. Soon after the death of Galba, an insurrection
-broke out amongst them, headed by a chief named Venutius, who had
-married the Brigantine queen, Cartismandua, a woman infamous in British
-history as the betrayer of the brave but unfortunate Caractacus. This
-royal lady likewise played false with her husband, but Fortune refused
-to smile on her second perfidy. She escaped with difficulty to the
-territory occupied by her Roman allies, and Venutius remained master of
-the "country of the Brigantes," and for a considerable time successfully
-resisted the progress of the imperial arms. Petilius Cerealis, however,
-in the reign of Vespatian, after a sanguinary conflict, added the
-greater portion of the Brigantine territory to the Roman province. The
-final conquest was effected about the year 79, by Julius Agricola, in
-the reign of Domitian. Remains of stations established by him are
-numerous in Lancashire. On Extwistle Moor, about five miles to the east
-of Burnley, and about the same distance south of Caster-cliff, a Roman
-station, near Colne, are the remains of two Roman camps and three
-tumuli. The sites are marked in the ordnance map. A few years ago, in
-company with my friend, the late T. T. Wilkinson, I visited this
-locality and inspected the remains. In the transactions of the Historic
-Society of Lancashire, for 1865-6, I described and figured an ancient
-British urn, taken from one of these tumuli. It was in the possession of
-the late Mr. R. Townley Parker, of Cuerden, the owner of the estate. In
-the same paper I have described and figured British remains, including
-about ten cremated interments and a bronze spear-head, found in a mound
-on the Whitehall estate, contiguous to Low Hill House, near Over Darwen,
-the property of Mr. Ellis Shorrock. Similar tumuli have been opened in
-several other places in the county, to which further reference will be
-made. From these remains it is not improbable some of the struggles of
-the Brigantes with the imperial legions took place in these localities,
-or they may have been ordinary burial places of distinguished chieftains
-and their relatives.
-
-After the departure of the Roman legions and their attendant
-auxiliaries, history becomes inextricably allied to, and interwoven
-with, legend and romance. The marvellous narratives of the elder
-"historians," such as Gildas, Nennius, and Geoffrey of Monmouth, may
-have some substratum of fact underlying an immense mass of tradition,
-superstition, and artistic fiction. In the endeavour to unravel this
-complicated web, much ingenuity and valuable time have been expended,
-with but relatively barren results, at least so far as the so-called
-"strictly historical element" is concerned. Mr. E. B. Tylor, in his
-"Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of
-Civilization," referring to the value of "Historical Traditions and
-Myths of Observation" to the ethnologist, says--"His great difficulty in
-dealing with them is to separate the fact and the fiction, which are
-both so valuable in their different ways; and this difficulty is
-aggravated by the circumstance that these two elements are often mixed
-up in a most complex manner, myths presenting themselves in the dress
-of historical narrative, and historical facts growing into the wildest
-myths." The reputed deeds of Arthur and his "Knights of the Round Table"
-have not only given birth to our most famous mediaeval romances, but they
-have furnished the laureate with themes for several of his more
-delightful poetic effusions. Professor Henry Morley, in his "English
-Writers," regards Geoffrey's work as "a natural issue of its time, and
-the source of one of the purest streams of English poetry." Indeed, it
-appears to be the opinion of many scholars, including Mr. J. D. Harding,
-Rev. T. Price, and Sig. Panizzi, late chief librarian of the British
-Museum, that the entire European cycle of romance "originated in Welsh
-invention or tradition." The last named, in his "Essay on the Narrative
-Poetry of the Italians," prefixed to his edition of Boiardo and Ariosto,
-distinctly states that "all the chivalrous fictions since spread through
-Europe appear to have had their birth in Wales." Mr. Fiske, of Harvard
-University, in his "Myths and Myth-makers," referring to the Greek
-tradition concerning the "Return of the Herakleids," says "it is
-undoubtedly as unworthy of credit as the legend of Hengist and Horsa;
-yet, like the latter, it doubtless embodies a historical occurrence."
-Such may likewise be the case with some of the battles known from
-tradition to the early story-tellers, poets, or romance writers, who
-crystallized, as it were, all their floating warlike legends around the
-names of Arthur and his knights. Our mediaeval ancestors, with very few
-isolated exceptions, innocently accepted Geoffrey's wild assertions as
-sober historical facts, notwithstanding the gross ignorance and
-falsehood patent in many passages, and the childish superstition and
-credulity which characterise others. Indeed, only about a century ago,
-the Rev. Jno. Whitaker, the historian of Manchester, placed so much
-faith in the statements of Nennius and Geoffrey, that he regarded their
-Arthur as a really historical personage, and he fixed the sites of
-several of his presumed exploits in the county of Lancaster. There may
-undoubtedly have existed, nay, there probably did exist, a British
-chieftain who fought against Teutonic invaders during some portion of
-the two or three centuries occupied in the Anglo-Saxon conquest, whose
-name was Arthur, but his deeds, whatever may have been their extent or
-character, have been so exaggerated and interwoven with far more ancient
-mythical stories, and confounded with those of other warriors, that his
-individuality or personality, in a truly _historical_ sense, is
-apparently lost.
-
-Indeed, Mr. Haigh expressly says--"There was another Arthur, a son of
-Mouric, king of Glamorgan, mentioned in the register of Llandaff." In
-his "History of the Conquest of Britain by the Saxons," by altering the
-time of the "coming of the Angles" to A.D. 428, "in accordance with a
-date supplied by the earliest authority," and of the accession of Arthur
-to A.D. 467, "in accordance with a date given by other authorities," he
-contends that "all anachronisms--involved in the system which is based
-upon the dates in the Saxon Chronicle and the Annals of Cambria,--have
-disappeared one after another; every successive event has fallen into
-its proper place; the Saxon Chronicle and the Brut have been proved
-accordant; and the result is a perfectly connected and consistent
-history, such as has never yet been expected, vindicating the truth of
-our early historians, and showing that authentic materials formed the
-substance of their Chronicles." In another place he contends that, by
-adapting his chronology, "a foundation of historic truth" is discovered
-"in stories which have hitherto been looked upon as mere romances."[2]
-
-Notwithstanding this conviction, Mr. Haigh does not assume that all the
-legendary lore which has attached itself to the name of Arthur is of
-this character. Referring to the traditionary tomb of the hero, he thus
-fearlessly exposes the mediaeval imposture which sought to demonstrate
-the truth of the legend:--"An ancient sepulchre, intended by those who
-were interested in the search to prove itself the sepulchre of Arthur,
-was opened in A.D. 1189 (the last year of Henry II. and most probably
-the first of Abbot Henry de Soilly, under whom the search was made), in
-the cemetery at Glastonbury. There was on the one hand a superstition
-that he was not dead, and on the other a tradition that he was buried at
-Glastonbury; and it was the policy of Henry II. to establish the truth
-of the latter; and a search was ordered to be made in a spot which was
-sure to be crowned with success by the discovery of an interment. It was
-recognized as a sepulchre; indeed, distinctly marked as such by the
-pyramids (tapering pillar-stones), one at either end,--objects of
-curious interest on account of their venerable antiquity; and William
-of Malmsbury, thirty years before, (at a time when no suspicion that
-Arthur was buried there existed at Glastonbury), had recorded his belief
-that the bodies of those whose names were written on the monuments were
-contained in stone coffins within. To prove that this was the sepulchre
-of Arthur, nothing more was necessary than to forge an inscription,
-which might impose upon the credulity of the twelfth century, but which
-the archaeological science of the nineteenth must condemn. The cross of
-lead, which served to identify the remains of Arthur and his queen is
-lost, but a representation of it has been preserved, sufficiently to
-show that its form and character were precisely such as were usual in
-the twelfth century, such as those discovered in the coffins of Prior
-Aylmer (who died A.D. 1137), and of Archbishop Theobald (who died A.D.
-1161), and in the cemetery of Bouteilles, near Dieppe, present. The
-pyramids appear to have resembled the Bewcastle and Ruthwell monuments;
-their age is determined by the names of King Centwine and Bishop
-Hedde,[3] inscribed on the smaller one; to have been the close of the
-seventh, or the beginning of the eighth century; and as the skeleton of
-a man and a woman were found in coffins hollowed out of the trunks of
-oak trees, it is probable that they were those of Wulfred and Eanfled,
-whose names occur in the inscription on the larger one."
-
-Welsh traditions and writers ignore the Glastonbury legend, and regard,
-in some way or other, Arthur as a being exempt from ordinary mortality.
-The Rev. R. W. Morgan, in his "Cambrian History," says,--"His farewell
-words to his knights--'I go hence in God's time, and in God's time I
-shall return,' created an invincible belief that God had removed him,
-like Enoch and Elijah, to Paradise without passing through the gate of
-death; and that he would at a certain period return, re-ascend the
-British throne, and subdue the whole world to Christ. The effects of
-this persuasion were as extraordinary as the persuasion itself,
-sustaining his countrymen under all reverses, and ultimately enabling
-them to realise its spirit by placing their own line of the Tudors on
-the throne. As late as A.D. 1492, it pervaded both England and Wales.
-'Of the death of Arthur, men yet have doubt,' writes Wynkyn de Worde, in
-his chronicle, 'and shall have for evermore, for as men say none wot
-whether he be alive or dead.' The aphanismus or disappearance of Arthur
-is a cardinal event in British history. The pretended discovery of his
-body and that of his queen Ginevra, at Glastonbury, was justly
-ridiculed by the Kymri as a Norman invention. Arthur has left his name
-to above six hundred localities in Britain."
-
-Mr. Haigh, whilst maintaining the substantial historical veracity of
-Arthur's invasion of France, nevertheless adds: "When we consider how
-miserably the history of the Britons has been corrupted, in the several
-editions through which it has passed, we cannot expect otherwise than
-that the Brut should have suffered through the blunders of scribes, and
-the occasional introduction of marginal notes, and even of extraneous
-matter into the text, in the course of six centuries. Such an
-interpolation, I believe, is the story of an adventure with a giant,
-with which Arthur is said to have occupied his leisure, whilst waiting
-for his allies at Barbefleur; and I think the reference to another
-giant-story (not in the Brut), with which it concludes, marks it as
-such. But I am convinced that the story of the Gallic campaign is a part
-of the original Brut, and is substantially true."
-
-Dr. James Fergusson, in his learned and elaborate work on the "Rude
-Stone Monuments of all Countries," although stoutly contending for the
-historical verity of the victories ascribed to Arthur by Nennius,
-somewhat brusquely rejects the Lancashire sites, because, on his visit
-to the localities indicated by Whitaker and others, he found no
-megalithic remains to support his ingenious hypothesis respecting
-battle-field memorials. He says "I am much more inclined to believe that
-Linnuis is only a barbarous Latinization of Linn, which in Gaelic and
-Irish means sea or lake. In Welsh it is Lyn, and in Anglo-Saxon Lin,
-and if this is so, 'In regione Linnuis' may mean in the Lake Country."
-However, he confesses he can find no river Duglas in that district, and
-in another sentence he regards the nearness of the sea to Wigan as an
-objectionable element on military grounds. I hold a contrary view. A
-defeated commander near Wigan had the great Roman road for retreat
-either to the north or south, besides the vicinal ways to Manchester and
-Ribchester. The objection, moreover, is valueless, from the simple fact
-that battles _have_ been fought in the localities, as is attested both
-by historic records and discovered remains.
-
-Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the earlier portion of the twelfth
-century, regarded Arthur as a genuine historical character, and
-attributed the then ignorance of precise localities of the twelve
-battles described by Nennius to "the Providence of God having so ordered
-it that popular applause and flattery, and transitory glory, might be of
-no account."
-
-William of Malmsbury, in the twelfth century, although evidently aware
-of the legendary character of the mass of the Arthurian stories, seems,
-however, to have had some confidence that a substratum of historic truth
-underlying or permeating the mass, might, with skill and diligence,
-eventually be extracted. Probably a few years before Geoffrey's work
-appeared, he writes--"That Arthur, about whom the idle tales of the
-Bretons (_nugae Britonum_) craze to this day, one worthy not to have
-misleading fables dreamed about him, but to be celebrated in true
-history, since he sustained for a long time his tottering country, and
-sharpened for war the broken spirit of his people."
-
-It is a remarkable circumstance that Shakspere, who has availed himself
-so profusely of the old historic and legendary records, as well as of
-the popular superstitions, with two trivial exceptions, which merely
-prove his acquaintance with the traditional hero, never refers to
-Arthur. The exceptions are so slight and even casual that they seem
-rather to confirm the probability that the great poet, in the main,
-endorsed the opinion of William of Newbury as to Geoffrey's presumed
-_historical_ verities. This critical monk, in the latter portion of the
-twelfth century, indignantly exclaims: "Moreover, in his book, that he
-calls the 'History of the Britons,' how saucily and how shamelessly he
-lies almost throughout, no one, unless ignorant of the old histories,
-when he falls upon that book can doubt. Therefore in all things we trust
-Bede, whose wisdom and sincerity are beyond doubt, so that fabler with
-his fables shall be straightway spat out by us all." The fact that the
-story of "Lear" is given pretty fully in Geoffrey's work in no way
-affects this conclusion, as Shakspere, in the construction of his plot,
-has followed an older drama and a ballad rather than the _soi-disant_
-Welsh historian. One allusion by Shakspere to Arthur is in the second
-part of "Henry IV." (Act 3, Scene 2), where Justice Shallow says: "I
-remember at Mile-end Green (when I lay at Clement's Inn, I was then Sir
-Dagonet in Arthur's Show)," &c. The other is in Act 2, Scene 4, of the
-second part of King Henry IV., when Falstaff enters the tavern in
-Eastcheap singing a scrap of an old ballad, as follows: "'_When Arthur
-first in court_'--Empty the jordan--'_And was a worthy king_'--[Exit
-Drawer.]--How now, Mistress Doll?"
-
-Sir Edward Strachey, in his introduction to the Globe edition of Sir
-Thomas Malory's "Morte D'Arthur," confesses that it is impossible to
-harmonise the geography of the work. This, however, is a very ordinary
-condition in most legendary stories, literary or otherwise. Speaking of
-the renowned Caerleon on Usk, he says--"It seems through this, as in
-other romances, to be inter-changeable in the author's mind with
-Carlisle, or (as written in its Anglo-Norman form) Cardoile, which
-latter, in the History of Merlin, is said to be in Wales, whilst
-elsewhere Wales and Cumberland are confounded in like manner. So of
-Camelot, where Arthur chiefly held his court, Caxton in his preface
-speaks as though it were in Wales, probably meaning Caerleon, where the
-Roman amphitheatre is still called Arthur's Round Table." Other
-geographical elements in the work are even more unsatisfactory. There
-is, indeed, a Carlion and a Caerwent referred to in the Breton
-lai d'Ywenec, and the latter is said to be "on the Doglas," and was the
-capital city of Avoez, "lord of the surrounding country." Even, if the
-scene of the Breton romance be presumed to be in the present
-Monmouthshire, where we yet find the names Caerleon and Caerwint, still
-we have a claimant in the Scottish Douglas, as well as in the Lancashire
-river of that name.
-
-Mr. J. R. Green, in his recently published work, "The Making of
-England," says, "Mr. Skene, who has done much to elucidate these early
-struggles, has identified the sites of" (Arthurian) "battles with spots
-in the north (see his 'Celtic Scotland,' i. 153-154, and more at large
-his 'Four Ancient Books of Wales,' i. 55-58); but as Dr. Guest has
-equally identified them with districts in the south, the matter must
-still be looked upon as somewhat doubtful." The doubt is increased by
-the fact that Hollingworth, Mr. Haigh, the Rev. John Whitaker, and
-others, as well as local tradition, with equal confidence have
-identified some of the struggles with the Lancashire battle-fields now
-under consideration.
-
-Dr. Sir G. Webbe Dasent, in his review of Dr. Latham's Johnson's
-Dictionary, referring to the struggles of the ancient Britons with their
-Anglo-Saxon invaders, has the following very pertinent observations:--
-
-"After the Roman legions left the Britons to themselves, there is
-darkness over the face of the land from the fifth to the eighth century.
-Those are really our dark ages. From 420, when it is supposed that
-Honorius withdrew his troops, to 730, when Bede wrote his history, we
-see nothing of British history. Afar off we hear the shock of arms, but
-all is dim, as it were, when two mighty hosts do battle in the dead of
-night. When the dawn comes and the black veil is lifted, we find that
-Britain has passed away. The land is now England; the Britons
-themselves, though still strong in many parts of the country, have been
-generally worsted by their foes; they have lost that great battle which
-has lasted through three centuries. Their Arthur has come and gone,
-never again to turn the heady fight. Henceforth Britain has no hero, and
-merely consoles herself with the hope that he will one day rise and
-restore the fortunes of his race. But, though there were many battles in
-that dreary time, and many Arthurs, it was rather in the every day
-battle of life, in that long unceasing struggle which race wages with
-race, not sword in hand alone, but by brain and will and feeling, that
-the Saxons won the mastery of the land. Little by little, more by
-stubbornness and energy than by bloodshed, they spread themselves over
-the country, working towards a common unity, from every shore....
-Certain it is that for a long time after the time of Bede, and therefore
-undoubtedly before his day, the Celtic and Saxon kings in various parts
-of the island lived together on terms of perfect equality, and gave and
-took their respective sons and daughters to one another in marriage."
-
-The Arthur of romance is, in fact, the artistic creation of writers of a
-later age, or, indeed, of later ages, than the conquest of Britain by
-the Anglo-Saxons, and not of contemporary historians, bardic or
-otherwise. The British chieftain who fought against Ida and his Angles
-in the north of England, and whose territory, including that of
-subordinate chieftains or allies, is believed at one time to have
-extended from the Clyde to the Ribble, or even the Dee, with an
-uncertain boundary on the east, is named Urien of Rheged, the district
-north of the Solway estuary, including the modern Annandale. He is the
-great hero of the Welsh bard Taliesin. Amongst his other qualities the
-poet enumerates the following: "Protector of the land, usual with thee
-is headlong activity and the drinking of ale, and ale for drinking, and
-fair dwelling and beautiful raiment." Llywarch Hen, or the Old, another
-Keltic poet, who lived between A.D. 550-640, incidentally mentions
-Arthur as a chief of the Kymri of the South, thus, as Professor Henry
-Morley puts it: "What Urien was in the north Arthur was in the south."
-This may well account for the geographical discrepancies referred to by
-Sir Edward Strachey. Llywarch Hen was present at the bloody battle in
-which his lord, Geraint (one of the knights introduced into the
-succeeding romances), and a whole host of British warriors perished. The
-said bard likewise brought away the head of Urien in his mantle, after
-his decapitation by the sword of an assassin. In the early English
-metrical romance, "Merlin," a Urien, King of Scherham, father of the
-celebrated Ywain, is mentioned as the husband of Igerna's third daughter
-by her first husband, Hoel. Urien, of Rheged, is mentioned, however, in
-the same romance as one of the competitors with Arthur for the crown of
-Britain. In Sir Thomas Malory's "Morte D'Arthur," a "King Uriens of
-Gore" is introduced. "Gore" is evidently the Peninsula of Gower, in
-Glamorganshire, South Wales. These, however, are merely some of the
-geographical discrepancies referred to by Sir Edward Strachey; but such
-discrepancies, owing to the intermixture of several legends, under the
-circumstances, are inevitable, and are in themselves evidences of the
-lack of unity in the original sources from which the romance writers
-drew their materials.
-
-Nennius's "History of Britain" was written, according to some
-authorities, at the end of the eighth century. Others ascribe it, in the
-condition at least in which we have it at present, with more
-probability, to the end of the tenth. Geoffrey of Monmouth's work was
-published in the twelfth. He professes, indeed, to have, to some extent,
-translated from an ancient manuscript, brought by "Walter, Archdeacon of
-Oxford," out of Brittany. This, however, notwithstanding Geoffrey's
-deliberate assertion, is doubted and even flatly denied by many
-competent judges. Be this as it may, no such document is otherwise known
-or indeed referred to by any reliable authority. If it ever existed,
-from its inherent defects, it can to us possess little strictly
-historical value, whatever amount of truthful legendary or traditional
-matter it may have furnished to the author of the so-called "Historia
-Britonum." Referring to the too common habit of regarding mere tradition
-as reliable history, Mr. Fiske, in his review of Mr. Gladstone's
-"Juventus Mundi," justly exclaims: "One begins to wonder how many more
-times it will be necessary to prove that dates and events are of no
-_historical_ value unless attested by nearly contemporary evidence."
-
-Now, one of the most significant facts in connection with this
-investigation is that neither Bede nor Gildas makes any mention of
-Arthur. Mr. Stevenson, in the preface to his edition of Gildas's work,
-in the original Latin, says, "We are unable to speak with certainty as
-to his parentage, his country, or even his name, or of the works of
-which he was the author." The title of the old English translation,
-however, is as follows: "The Epistle of Gildas, the most ancient British
-author: who flourished in the yeere of our Lord, 546. And who, by his
-great erudition, sanctitie, and wisdome, acquired the name of
-_Sapiens_." Bede was born in the year 673, and died in 735. The Rev. R.
-W. Morgan (Cambrian History) says, "The genuine works of Aneurin--his
-'British History,' and 'Life of Arthur,'--are lost; the work of Gildas,
-which at one time passed for the former is a forgery by Aldhelm, the
-Roman Catholic monk of Malmesbury." If ever Arthur lived in the flesh it
-must have been in the fifth or sixth centuries, and yet, as I have
-previously observed, these writers make no reference whatever to the
-renowned king and warrior. So that, even if we grant the earlier assumed
-date to the work of Nennius, about three centuries must have elapsed
-between the performance of his deeds and their earliest known record! In
-Geoffrey of Monmouth's case the interval is no less than seven hundred
-years! Mr. John R. Green ("The Making of England") says: "The
-genuineness of Gildas, which has been doubted, may now be looked upon as
-established (see Stubbs and Haddan, 'Councils of Britain,' i. p. 44).
-Skene ('Celtic Scotland,' i. 116, note) gives a critical account of the
-various biographies of Gildas. He seems to have been born in 516,
-probably in the north Welsh valley of the Clwyd; to have left Britain
-for Armorica when thirty years old, or in 546; to have written his
-history there about 556 or 560; to have crossed to Ireland between
-566-569; and to have died there in 570.... Little, however, is to be
-gleaned from the confused rhetoric of Gildas; and it is only here and
-there that we can use the earlier facts which seem to be embedded among
-the later legends of Nennius." Mr. Haigh, however, contends that an
-"earlier S. Gildas" was a relative of Arthur, and was born about A.D.
-425. He says--"He had written, so a British tradition preserved by
-Giraldus Cambrensis" [twelfth century] "informs us, noble books about
-the acts of Arthur and his race, but threw them into the sea when he
-heard of his brother's death;" [at the hands of Arthur] "and this
-tradition he says satisfactorily explains--what has been made the ground
-of an argument against the genuineness of the works ascribed to him--his
-studied silence with regard to Arthur." Mr. Haigh likewise conjectures
-that "Nennius's History of the Britons" was written by St. Albinus, from
-contemporary records which had been carried to Armorica (Brittany), and
-subsequently lost. However, neither traditions first recorded seven
-centuries after the events transpired, nor "lives" of early British
-saints, are considered very trustworthy historical authorities. It
-requires very little knowledge of the state of literature, either in
-England or elsewhere, during these long periods of time, to remove any
-lingering doubt as to the purely legendary character of much of the
-contents of these books, even if we grant, as in the case of the
-Venerable Bede, that the authors themselves honestly related that which
-they honestly, however foolishly, believed to be true. Singularly
-enough, according to Spurrell's dictionary, the modern Welsh word
-_aruthr_ signifies "marvellous, wonderful, prodigious, strange, dire,"
-which is not without significance.
-
-Nennius says:--"A.D. 452. Then it was that the magnanimous Arthur, with
-all the kings and military force of Britain, fought against the Saxons.
-And though there were _many more noble than himself_, yet he was twelve
-times chosen their commander, and was as often conqueror." He then
-informs us that the second, third, fourth, and fifth of these battles
-were fought on the banks of a "river by the Britons called Duglas, in
-the region Linuis." Some copies give "Dubglas," which has been
-identified with the little stream Dunglas, which formed the southern
-boundary of Lothian. The Rev. John Whitaker, however, contends that the
-Douglas, in Lancashire, is the stream referred to. He advances, amongst
-much conjectural matter, the following archaeological and traditional
-details, in support of his position:--
-
-"The name of the river concurs with the tradition, and three battles
-prove the notice true.[4] On the traditionary scene of this engagement
-remained till the year 1770 a considerable British barrow, popularly
-denominated Hasty Knoll. It was originally a vast collection of small
-stones taken from the bed of the Douglas, and great quantities had been
-successively carried away by the neighbouring inhabitants. Many
-fragments of iron had been also occasionally discovered in it, together
-with the remains of those military weapons which the Britons interred
-with their heroes at death. On finally levelling the barrow, there was
-found a cavity in the hungry gravel, immediately under the stones, about
-seven feet in length, the evident grave of the British officer, and all
-filled with the loose and blackish earth of his perished remains. At
-another place, near Wigan, was discovered about the year 1741 a large
-collection of horse and human bones, and an amazing quantity of
-horse-shoes, scattered over a large extent of ground--an evidence of
-some important battle upon the spot. The very appellation of Wigan is a
-standing memorial of more than one battle at that place.[5] According to
-tradition, the first battle fought near Blackrode was uncommonly bloody,
-and the Douglas was crimsoned with blood to Wigan. Tradition and remains
-concur to evince the fact that a second battle was fought near Wigan
-Lane, many years before the rencontre in the civil wars.... The defeated
-Saxons appear to have crossed the hill of Wigan, where another
-engagement or engagements ensued; and in forming the canal there about
-the year 1735, the workmen discovered evident indications of a
-considerable battle on the ground. All along the course of the channel,
-from the termination of the dock to the point at Poolbridge, from forty
-to fifty roods in length, and seven or eight yards in breadth, they
-found the ground everywhere containing the remains of men and horses. In
-making the excavations, a large old spur, carrying a stem four or five
-inches in length, and a rowel as large as a half-crown, was dug up; and
-five or six hundred weight of horse-shoes were collected. The point of
-land on the south side of the Douglas, which lies immediately fronting
-the scene of the last engagement, is now denominated the Parson's
-Meadow; and tradition very loudly reports a battle to have been fought
-in it."
-
-The rev. historian of Manchester, referring to the statements in
-Nennius, thus sums up his argument:--
-
-"These four battles were fought upon the river Douglas, and in the
-region Linuis. In this district was the whole course of the current from
-its source to the conclusion, and the words, '_Super flumen quod vocatur
-Duglas, quod est in Linuis_,' shows the stream to have been less known
-than the region. This was therefore considerable; one of the cantreds or
-great divisions of the Sistuntian kingdom, and comprised, perhaps, the
-western half of South Lancashire. From its appellation of Linuis or the
-Lake, it seems to have assumed the denomination from the Mere of
-Marton," [Martin] "which was once the most considerable object in it."
-
-The Rev. R. W. Morgan, in his "Cambrian History," locates the Arthurian
-victories as follows:--"1st, at Gloster; 2nd, at Wigan (The Combats), 10
-miles from the Mersey. The battle lasted through the night. In A.D.
-1780, on cutting through the tunnel, three cart loads of horse-shoes
-were found and removed; 3rd, at Blackrode; 4th, at Penrith, between the
-Loder and Elmot, on the spot still called King Arthur's Castle; 5th, on
-the Douglas, in Douglas Vale; 6th, at Lincoln; 7th, on the edge of the
-Forest of Celidon (Ettrick Forest) at Melrose; 8th, at Caer Gwynion; 9th,
-between Edinburgh and Leith; 10th, at Dumbarton; 11th, at Brixham,
-Torbay; 12th, at Mont Baden, above Bath."
-
-Geoffrey of Monmouth refers but to one battle on the banks of the
-"Duglas." This he fixes at about the year 500. He tells us that "the
-Saxons had invited over their countrymen from Germany, and, under the
-command of Colgrin, were attempting to exterminate the whole British
-race.... Hereupon, assembling the youth under his command, he marched
-to" [towards] "York, of which when Colgrin had intelligence, he met him
-with a very great army, composed of Saxons, Scots, and Picts, by the
-river Duglas, where a battle happened, with the loss of the greater part
-of both armies. Notwithstanding, the victory fell to Arthur, who pursued
-Colgrin to York, and there besieged him."
-
-Mr. Daniel H. Haigh, one of the latest advocates of the genuine
-historical veracity which underlies much of the Arthurian traditions,
-places, as we have previously observed, Arthur's coronation A.D. 467, or
-about 32 years earlier than the usually received date. He says--"The
-river Douglas, which falls into the estuary of the Ribble, is certainly
-that which is indicated here;" [the second, third, fourth, and fifth
-victories referred to by Nennius] "and although it was one of Arthur's
-tactics to get round his adversaries, so as to be able to attack them
-when least expected (which will account for the scene of this conflict
-being considerably to the west of the direct line from London to York),
-it is extremely improbable that he would have gone so far north as the
-Douglas in Lothian, when his object was to attack Colgrin at York. The
-reading which the Paris MS. and Henry of Huntington give is, I believe,
-correct, and represents Ince, a name which is retained to this day by a
-township near to this river, a little more than a mile to the south-west
-of Wigan, and by another about fifteen miles to the west, and which may
-possibly have belonged to a considerable tract of country.[6]... Neither
-the Brut nor Boece mention more than one battle at this time; but the
-latter says that Arthur 'pursued the Saxons, continually slaughtering
-them, until they took refuge in York,' and that 'having had so frequent
-victories he there besieged them;' and these expressions may well imply
-the four victories, gained in one prolonged contest on the Douglas, and
-another on the river Bassas, _i.e._, Bashall brook, which falls into the
-Ribble near Clithero, in the direct line of Colgrin's flight to York."
-
-If, therefore, the historical hypothesis be accepted, the Lancashire
-sites for these battles would seem as probable as any of the many others
-suggested.
-
-From the remains described by Whitaker, it appears certain that some
-great battles in early times have been fought on the banks of the
-Douglas, traditions concerning which may have served for the foundation
-of the after statements of Nennius and others. There are some recorded
-historical facts which countenance this view. The British warrior, king
-of the Western Britons, Cadwallon or Cadwalla,[7] with his ally, Penda,
-defeated and slew Edwin, King of Northumbria, uncle of St. Oswald, in
-the year 633, at Heathfield.[8] Where Heathfield is we have no perfectly
-satisfactory evidence.[9] The Brit-Welsh poet, Lywarch Hen, or the Old,
-a prince of the Cumbrian Britons, celebrated his praises in song. He
-says--
-
-    Fourteen great battles he fought,
-    For Britain the most beautiful,
-    And sixty skirmishes.
-
-It is by no means improbable that some of Cadwalla's exploits, mythical
-as well as real, have become inextricably interwoven with the legendary
-ones of the heroes of the Arthurian romances. Singularly enough a
-paragraph in Geoffrey of Monmouth's work would seem to countenance this.
-In book 12, chapter 2, of his so-called "History of Britain," he refers
-to negotiations being entered into and afterwards broken off, in the
-year 630, by Cadwalla and Edwin, while their armies lay on the opposite
-banks of _the river Douglas_, the scene of the presumed Arthurian
-victory over Colgrin in the year 500, according to the same authority.
-This circumstance is not without significance, as the legendary Arthur
-has evidently absorbed no inconsiderable portion of the reputations, in
-the North of England, of Urien of Rheged, and other veritable British
-warriors. Indeed, Lappenberg says--"The Welsh historians adopted the
-policy of _purloining from a successful enemy_, and skilfully
-transferring to his British contemporaries, if not to _imaginary
-personages_, the object and reward of his battles, the glory and
-lastingness of his individuality in history;" and, as illustrations of
-this practice, Mr. Daniel H. Haigh, in his "Conquest of Britain by the
-Saxons," adds, "Thus, Coedwealha, Ine, and Ivar are claimed by them as
-Cadwaladyr, Inyr, and Ivor." Mr. Haigh, notwithstanding his faith in the
-substantial accuracy of much of the contents of the works of doubtful
-authority, says--"The peace which Ambrosius established was broken in
-the following year, A.D. 444. The Brut says nothing of this affair; it
-rarely records the defeats of the Britons." And, similarly, the Saxon
-chronicle is equally reticent in the opposite direction!
-
-Indeed, this weakness is not exclusively an attribute of either British
-or Anglo-Saxon historians or romance writers. Mr. H. H. Howorth, in his
-able essay on "The Early History of Sweden," in Vol. 9 of the
-Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, lucidly expounds the
-character of the contents of the professedly Danish History by
-Saxo-Grammaticus. He says--"He had no scaffolding upon which to build
-his narrative. He had to construct one for himself in the best way he
-could, and to piece together the various fragments before him into a
-continuous patchwork. His was not a critical age, and we are not
-therefore surprised to find that his handiwork was exceedingly rude. A
-piece of the history of the Lombards by Paul and Deacon, and another
-taken from the Edda, are thrust in after narratives evidently relating
-to the ninth century, when Ireland had been more or less conquered by
-the Norsemen. Icelanders are introduced into the story a long time
-before the discovery of Iceland. Christianity is professed by Danish
-kings long before it had reached the borders of Denmark. The events
-belonging to one Harald (Harald Blatand) are transferred to another
-Harald who lived two or three centuries earlier, and the joints in the
-patchwork narrative are filled up by the introduction of plausible
-links." He afterwards adds--"The other important fact to remember is
-that our author was patriotic enough to lay under contribution, not only
-materials relating to Denmark, but to _transfer to Denmark the history
-of other countries_. To appropriate not only the traditions of the
-Anglo-Saxons, the Lombards, and the common Scandinavian heritage of the
-Edda, but also the particular histories of Sweden and Norway, and that a
-good deal of what passes for Danish history in his pages is not Danish
-at all, but Swedish, and relates to the rulers of Upsala, and not to
-those of Lethra; topographical boundaries being as lightly skipped over
-by the patriotic old chronicler, whose home materials were so scanty, as
-chronological ones." It is, under such circumstances, vain to expect
-reliable historical evidence of the identity of locality or the names of
-the real warrior chiefs who commanded in many of the presumed Arthurian
-battles and adventures, some of them being evidently mythical or
-artistic creations. Whitaker's "large old spur, carrying a stem four or
-five inches in length, and a rowel as large as a half-crown," does not
-seem to indicate so early a date as the Anglo-Saxon conquests in
-Britain. Mr. Thomas Wright, in his "Celt, Roman and Saxon," referring to
-spurs of the Roman, Saxon and Norman periods, says--"Amongst the
-extensive Roman remains found in the camp at Hod Hill were several spurs
-of iron, which resembled so closely the Norman prick-spurs, that they
-might easily be mistaken for them. I suspect that many of the
-prick-spurs which have been found on or near Roman sites, and hastily
-judged to be Norman, are, especially when made of bronze, Roman. As far,
-however, as comparison has yet been made, the _Roman and the Saxon spurs
-are shorter in the stimulus_ than those of the Norman." Spurs with long
-_stimuli_ or large rowels do not appear to have been in use until some
-time after the Norman Conquest. This, however, does not necessarily
-affect the antiquity of the whole of the remains referred to, which, of
-course, may have been deposited at different periods.
-
-Hollingworth, in his "Mancuniensis," written in the earlier portion of
-the seventeenth century, seems to have been aware of the existence of a
-tradition that referred to several bloody battles fought in Lancashire
-in some portion of the mysterious "olden time." He, however, assigns
-them to the period of the Roman conquest, to which I have previously
-referred. If the incidents in the Arthurian "romances" are no more
-historically tenable than those in the Iliad or the Odyssey, and as the
-Roman invasions of the Brigantine territory are undoubted, the elder
-Manchester historian's conjecture as to the time of the conflicts
-indicated by the tradition and the remains found near Wigan and
-Blackrod, may possibly be preferred to that of his successor, as the
-more probable of the two. Indeed, as has been previously observed, the
-romance writers and story-tellers have evidently absorbed and modified
-the historical traditions of many antecedent periods. Hollingworth
-says--
-
-"In Vespatian's time Petilius Carealic" (Petilius Cerealis) "strooke a
-terror into the whole land by invading upon his first entry the
-Brigantes, the most populous of the whole province, many battailes, and
-bloody ones, were fought, and the greatest part of the Brigantes were
-either conquered or wasted." Hollingworth, indeed, does afterwards refer
-to a battle near Wigan, in which he says Arthur was victorious. His
-words are--"It is certaine that about Anno Domini 520, there was such a
-prince as King Arthur, and it is not incredible that hee or his knights
-might contest about this castle (Manchester) when he was in this
-country, and (as Nennius sayth) he put the Saxons to flight in a
-memorable battell neere Wigan, about twelve miles off."
-
-Bishop Percy, in his introduction to the ancient ballad of
-"Chevy-Chase," says--"With regard to its subject, although it has no
-countenance from history, there is room to think that it had some
-foundation in fact.... There had long been a rivalship between the two
-martial families of Percy and Douglas, which, heightened by the national
-quarrel, must have produced frequent challenges and struggles for
-superiority, petty invasions of their respective domains, and sharp
-contests for the point of honour, which would not always be recorded in
-history. Something of this kind we may suppose gave rise to the ancient
-ballad of the HUNTING O' THE CHEVIAT." He afterwards adds "the tragical
-circumstances recorded in the ballad are evidently borrowed from the
-BATTLE OF OTTERBOURN, a very different event, _but which after times
-would easily confound with it_.... Our poet has evidently jumbled the
-two events together."
-
-During the seventh century many sanguinary encounters must have taken
-place in Lancashire, many of which are unrecorded, and the sites of
-others utterly forgotten. Professor Boyd-Dawkins, in a paper, entitled
-"On the Date of the Conquest of South Lancashire by the English," read
-before the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, referring to
-the subjugation of what he aptly terms the "Brit-Welsh" of Strathclyde,
-(or the north-western part of the present England and the western
-portion of the lowlands of Scotland), by Ethelfrith, the powerful
-Northumbrian monarch, says that Chester was "the principal seat" of
-their power in that district. The whole of Lancashire, at this period,
-it would appear, was unconquered by the Angles or English. Under the
-date 607, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says--"And this year Ethelfrith led
-his army to Chester, and there slew numberless Welshmen: and so was
-fulfilled the prophesy of Augustine, wherein he saith, 'If the Welsh
-will not be at peace with us, they shall perish at the hands of the
-Saxons.' There were also slain two hundred priests who came to pray for
-the army of the Welsh." The death of these ecclesiastics, said to be
-monks of Bangor-Iscoed, was celebrated in song by a native poet.
-Florence of Worcester, referring to this battle, says Ethelfrith "first
-slew _twelve hundred_ British priests, who had joined the army to offer
-prayers on their behalf, and then exterminated the remainder of this
-impious armament." This is evidently an antagonistic priestly
-exaggeration, although other authorities state that the monastery at
-Bangor, at one time, contained 2,400 monks. This powerful body of
-Brit-Welsh Christians, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth, "disdained
-subjection to Augustine, and despised his preaching." Hence the strong
-clerical antipathy which characterised the conflict. Chester was utterly
-ruined, and is said to have remained desolate for about two centuries.
-Mr. Boyd Dawkins says--"In all probability South Lancashire was occupied
-by the English at this time, and the nature of the occupation may be
-gathered from the treatment of the city of Chester. A fire, to use the
-metaphor of Gildas, went through the land, and the Brit-Welsh
-inhabitants were either put to the sword or compelled to become the
-bondsmen of the conquerors."
-
-Mr. J. R. Green ("The Making of England") traces Ethelfrith's march
-through Lancashire to his victory at Bangor-Iscoed. He says--"Though the
-deep indent in the Yorkshire shire-line to the west proves how
-vigorously the Deirans had pushed up the river valleys into the moors,
-it shows that they had been arrested by the pass at the head of the
-Ribblesdale; while further to the south the Roman road that crossed the
-moors from York to Manchester was blocked by the unconquered fastnesses
-of Elmet, which reached away to the yet more difficult fastnesses of the
-Peak. But the line of defence was broken as the forces of Ethelfrith
-pushed over the moors along the Ribblesdale into our southern
-Lancashire. His march was upon Chester, the capital of Gwynedd, and
-probably the refuge place of Edwine."
-
-The more northern portion of the county was not subdued till about half
-a century afterwards, when Cumberland and Westmoreland were absorbed
-into the Northumbrian kingdom by Ecfrith (670-685). Mr. J. R. Green, in
-the work referred to, says--"The Welsh states across the western moors
-had owned, at least from Oswald's time, the Northumbrian supremacy, but
-little actual advance had been made by the English in this quarter since
-the victory of Chester, and northward of the Ribble the land between the
-moors and the sea still formed a part of the British kingdom of
-Cumbria. It was from this tract, from what we now know as northern
-Lancashire and the Lake District, Ecgfrith's armies chased the Britons
-in the early years of his reign."
-
-Some severe struggles must have taken place during this period; and,
-therefore, it is by no means improbable that a portion, at least, of the
-remains on the banks of the Douglas, referred to by the Rev. John
-Whitaker as evidence of Arthur's historical existence, may pertain to
-the struggles of the Brit-Welsh and their Angle or English conquerors of
-the seventh century. This confusion of names and dates is a common
-feature in the folk-lore of all nations and periods, but in none is it
-more strongly developed than in the Arthurian romances. The author of
-the metrical "Morte D'Arthur," after describing the victory of the hero
-over his rebellious nephew, Modred, at "Barren-down," near Canterbury,
-tells us that the barrows raised on the burial of the slain were still
-to be seen in his day. Barham Down is still covered with barrows, which
-recent examination has demonstrated to be the remains of a Saxon
-cemetery, and not a battle-field.
-
-Bangor-Iscoed, the Bovium, and, at a later period, the Banchorium, of
-the Romans, is situated on the river Dee, some fourteen miles south of
-Chester. Sharon Turner laments the destruction of its magnificent
-library at the sacking of the monastery, which he regarded as an
-"irreparable loss to the ancient British antiquities." Gildas, the
-quasi-historian, is said to have been one of its abbots. The Brit-Welsh
-commander during this struggle was Brocmail, the friend of Taliesin,
-who, in his poem on the disastrous battle, says--
-
-    I saw the oppression of the tumult; the wrath and tribulation;
-      The blades gleaming on the bright helmets;
-    The battle against the lord of fame, in the dales of Hafren;
-      Against Brocvail[10] of Powys, who loved my muse.
-
-Sharon Turner says the precise date of this battle is uncertain. The
-Anglo-Saxon chronicle says it was fought in the year 607, and the Annals
-of Ulster in 612. Other authorities assign dates between the two.
-
-The Rev, John Whitaker seems to have had not only a perfect faith in the
-historical existence of Arthur, but also of his famous knights of the
-"table round." Following tradition he locates at Castle-field,
-Manchester, the legendary fortress of "Sir Tarquin," a gigantic hero, to
-whose prowess several of Arthur's doughty knights had succumbed, before
-he himself fell beneath the stalwart arm of "Sir Lancelot du Lake."
-Whitaker regards Lancelot's patronymic, "du Lake," as referable to the
-Linius which gave the name to the district, according to the hypothesis
-previously advanced.
-
-It is scarcely necessary to say that, notwithstanding all this
-ingenuity, Sir Tarquin, Sir Lancelot, and their knightly compeers, are
-as much creatures of the imagination as the heroes of any acknowledged
-work of fiction, such as the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" of Homer, or the
-novels of Scott, Thackeray, Lord Lytton, and Dickens.
-
-The _gradual growth_ of what are generally regarded as the _spontaneous_
-products of the imagination, in the region of art, is well expressed in
-Mr. Tylor's admirable work on "Primitive Culture." He says--"Amongst
-those opinions which are produced by a little knowledge, to be dispelled
-by a little more, is the belief in the almost boundless creative power
-in the human imagination. The superficial student, mazed in a crowd of
-seemingly wild and lawless fancies, which he thinks to have no reason in
-nature nor pattern in the material world, at first concludes them to be
-new births from the imagination of the poet, the tale-teller, and the
-seer. But little by little, in what seemed the most spontaneous fiction,
-a more comprehensive study of the source of poetry and romance begins to
-disclose a cause for each fancy, an education that has led up to each
-train of thought, a store of inherited materials from out of which each
-province of the poet's land has been shaped and built over and peopled.
-Backward from our own times, the course of mental history may be traced
-through the changes wrought by modern schools of thought and fancy upon
-an intellectual inheritance handed down to them from earlier
-generations. And through remote periods, as we recede more nearly
-towards primitive conditions of our race, the threads which connect new
-thought with old do not always vanish from our sight. It is in large
-measure possible to follow them as clues leading back to that actual
-experience of nature and life which is the ultimate source of human
-fancy."
-
-Perhaps no finer illustration, at least in English literature, of the
-truthfulness of this position can be cited than the Arthurian
-art-products with which I am dealing. In them we have embodied thoughts
-and fancies of the earlier myth-makers of our common Aryan race, legends
-and quasi-historical traditions of mediaeval times, the more artistic
-romances of a relatively recent and more highly-cultured period, and,
-lastly, the lyrics of Morris and others, and the splendid capital which
-worthily crowns this truly historic _literary_ column, in the
-exquisitely felt and gracefully wrought "Idylls of the King," by the
-laureate of the Victorian age, Alfred Tennyson. The last named says--
-
-                        Lancelot spoke
-    And answered him at full, as having been
-    With Arthur in the fight which all day long
-    Rang by the white mouth of the violent Glem:
-    And in the four wild battles by the shore
-    Of Douglas.
-
- (_Idylls, p. 162._)
-
-Referring to the parentage of the Arthurian legends, in the essay
-prefixed to his "Specimens of Early English Metrical Romances," Mr.
-George Ellis says--"Although Geoffrey's 'British Chronicle' is justly
-regarded as one of the corner-stones of romantic fiction, yet its
-principal, if not sole effect, was to stamp the names of Arthur, Merlin,
-Kay, and Gawain with the character of historical veracity; and thus to
-authorise a collection of all the fables already current respecting
-these fanciful heroes and their companions. For not one word is to be
-found in that compilation concerning Sir Lancelot and his brothers; Sir
-Tristram; Sir Ywain; Joseph of Arimathea and the Sangrael; the round
-table with its perilous seat; and the various quests and adventures
-which fill so many folio volumes. These were subsequent additions, but
-additions _apparently derived from the same source_. The names, the
-manners of the heroes, and the scenes of their adventures, were still
-British; and, the taste for these strange traditions continuing to gain
-ground for at least two centuries, the whole literature of Europe was
-ultimately inundated by the nursery-tales of Wales and Armorica, as it
-had formerly been by the mythology of Greece and Egypt."
-
-Of course there sometimes _is_, and there oftener _is not_, recognisable
-historical or biographical fact at the basis of so-called historical
-novels, poems, or plays, but the difficulty of separating the one from
-the other is generally insurmountable, and the labour bestowed thereon
-often profitless. This is especially the case where quasi-history has
-become inextricably interwoven with faded nature-myths and more modern
-artistic inventions. Mr. Fiske, in the work previously quoted, has the
-following very pertinent remarks on this subject:--
-
-"I do not suppose that the struggle between light and darkness was
-Homer's subject in the 'Iliad' any more than it was Shakespeare's
-subject in 'Hamlet.' Homer's subject was the wrath of the Greek hero, as
-Shakespeare's subject was the vengeance of the Danish prince.
-Nevertheless, the story of 'Hamlet,' when traced back to its Norse
-original, is unmistakably the quarrel between summer and winter; and the
-moody prince is as much a solar hero as Odin himself. (See Simrock, Die
-Quellen des Shakespeare, I., 127-133.) Of course Shakespeare knew
-nothing of this, as Homer knew nothing of the origin of Achilleus. The
-two stories are therefore not to be taken _as sun-myths in their present
-form_. They are the offspring of other stories which were sun-myths.
-They are stories which conform to the sun-myth type.... The sun and the
-clouds, the light and the darkness, were once supposed to be actuated by
-wills analagous to the human will; they were personified and worshipped
-or propitiated by sacrifice; and their doings were described in language
-which applied so well to the deeds of human or quasi-human beings, that
-in course of time its primitive import faded from recollection. No
-competent scholar now doubts that the myths of the Veda and the Edda
-originated in this way, for philology itself shows that the names
-employed in them are the names of the great phenomena of nature. And
-when once a few striking stories had thus arisen--when once it had been
-told how Indra smote the Panis, and how Sigurd rescued Brynhild, and how
-Odysseus blinded the Kyklops--then certain mythic or dramatic types had
-been called into existence; and to these types, preserved in the popular
-imagination, future stories would inevitably conform.... In this view I
-am upheld by a most sagacious and accurate scholar, Mr. E. A. Freeman,
-who finds in Carlovingian romance an excellent illustration of the
-problem before us."
-
-The Carlovingian romance thus cited is, indeed, almost an exact
-counterpart of the Arthurian one, with the certainly very important
-exception that we can appeal to reliable history in the former case to
-prove our position, while the mythical gloom of legend and tradition
-obscures so much of the probable historical facts in connection with the
-latter that our path is beset with difficulties which cannot be solved
-otherwise than by analogical inference. History informs us of the acts
-and deeds of Karl der Gross, a German by birth, name, race, and
-language. This warrior, who conquered nearly the whole of Europe and
-founded one of the most important dynastic houses in mediaeval times, was
-born about the year 742, in the castle of Silzburg, in Bavaria, and died
-in 814 at Aachen, now called Aix-la-Chapelle. On the other hand, as Mr.
-Fiske says, "the Charlemagne of romance is a mythical personage. He is
-supposed to be a Frenchman at a time when neither the French nation nor
-the French language can properly be said to have existed; and he is
-represented as a doughty crusader, although crusading was not thought of
-until long after the Karolingian era. He is a myth, and what is more he
-is a solar myth--an _avatar_, or at least a representative of Odin in
-his solar capacity. If in his case legend were not controlled by
-history, he would be for us as unreal as Agamemnon.... To the historic
-Karl corresponds in many particulars the mythical Charlemagne. The
-legend has preserved the fact, which without the information supplied by
-history we might perhaps set down as a fiction, that there was a time
-when Germany, Gaul, Italy, and part of Spain formed a single empire. And
-as Mr. Freeman has well observed, the mythical crusades of Charlemagne
-are good evidence that there _were_ crusades, although the real Karl had
-nothing whatever to do with one."
-
-In the old ballad legend of Sir Guy, of Warwick, this chronological
-confusion is equally apparent. One of the earlier stanzas says--
-
-    Nine hundred twenty yeere and odde
-      After our Saviour Christ his birth,
-    When King Athelstone wore the crowne,
-      I lived heere upon the earth.
-
-And yet this same legendary hero slays Saracens and other "heathen
-pagans" during the crusades some three centuries afterwards. The "Scop"
-or Geeman's song, and others, exhibit similar instances of this
-confusion of personages and dates.
-
-Saxo Grammaticus, the Danish historian, has, like Geoffrey of Monmouth,
-mingled so much legendary and irrelevant matter with his genuine
-material, that it is often difficult and sometimes impossible to
-distinguish one from the other. Mr. H. H. Howorth, in the work
-previously quoted, referring to Harald Hildetand, "the most prominent
-figure in Scandinavian history at the close of the heroic period,"
-says--"Although Saxo's notice of him is long, it will be found to
-contain scarcely anything about him. It is filled up with parenthetical
-stories about other people, referring doubtless to other times
-altogether, while the stories it contains about his exploits in
-Aquitania, and Britain, and Northumbria, show very clearly, as Mueller
-has pointed out, that he has confused his doings with those of another,
-and much later, Harald, probably Harald Blaatand (_Op. Cit._ 366, note
-3). It is only when we come to the close of his reign that we have a
-more detailed and valuable story. This is the account of the famous
-fight at Bravalla, of which we have two recensions, one in Saxo and the
-other in the Sogubrot, and which have preserved for us one of the most
-romantic epical stories in the history of the north. The story was
-recorded in verse by the famous champion Starkadr, whom Saxo quotes as
-his authority, and whom he seems closely to follow. Dahlman has, I
-think, argued very forcibly that the form and matter of this saga as
-told by Saxo is more ancient, and preserves more of the local colour of
-the original than that of the Sogubrot (Forsch, etc., 307-308). And yet
-the story as it stands is very incongruous, and makes it impossible for
-us to believe that it was written by a contemporary at all. How can we
-understand Icelanders fighting in a battle a hundred years before
-Iceland was discovered, and what are we to make of such champions as Orm
-the Englishman, Brat the Hibernian, etc., among the followers of Harald?
-It would seem that on such points the story has been somewhat
-sophisticated, perhaps, as in the Roll of Battle Abbey, names have been
-added to flatter later heroes."
-
-It is a recognised element in popular tradition or folk-lore, that the
-deeds of one historic or mythological hero are sure, when he is
-forgotten, to be attributed to some other man of mark, who, for the time
-being, fills the popular fancy. I am, therefore, inclined to think that
-the imaginary victories of Arthur on the continent of Europe in the
-sixth century, as recorded in Geoffrey's tenth book, owe their origin
-mainly to the real ones of Karl der Gross in the ninth. Geoffrey, or his
-Breton authority, had three centuries of tradition to fall back upon,
-time amply sufficient for mediaeval myth makers and romance writers to
-torture them to their own purposes. Instances of this re-crystallisation
-of several stories, mythical and otherwise, around the name of a single
-hero, by the vulgar, may be found in relatively modern history. There
-is, in the region of traditional lore, in various parts of England, a
-mythical Cromwell, as well as the two well-known historical personages
-of that name. In whatever part of the country stands a ruined castle or
-abbey, or other ecclesiastical edifice, the nearest peasant, or even
-farmer, will assure an inquirer that it was battered into ruin by Oliver
-Cromwell! Here the Secretary Cromwell, of Henry the Eighth's reign, and
-the renowned Protector, of the following century, are evidently
-amalgamated. Indeed, the redoubted Oliver seems to have absorbed all the
-castle and abbey-destroying heroes of the national history, old Time
-himself included. There is a weather-worn statue on the triangular
-bridge at Croyland, erected in honour of King Ethelbald, the founder of
-the neighbouring abbey now in ruins, which is popularly supposed to be
-an effigy of Cromwell, and by some the bridge is likewise named after
-him. It is, however, more than probable that the neighbouring ruin is
-alone responsible for this nomenclature. A similar fate has befallen
-Alexander the Great in the East. Arminius Vambery, in his "Travels in
-Central Asia," says--"The history of the great Macedonian is invested by
-the Orientals with all the characteristics of a religious myth; and
-although some of their writers are anxious to distinguish Iskender Zul
-Karnein (the two-horned Alexander), the hero of their fable, from
-Iskenderi Roumi (the Greek Alexander), I have yet everywhere found that
-these two persons were regarded as one and the same." There is likewise
-a mythical as well as an historical Taliesin (the Welsh poet), but they
-are generally confounded by the populace.
-
-Mr. C. P. Kains-Jackson, in "Our Ancient Monuments and the Land around
-them," referring to the huge rock, named "Arthur's Quoit," Gower,
-Llanridian, Glamorganshire, says--"The reason why the name of Arthur
-should attach to the Titantic boulder represented in our engraving does
-not readily appear. The name has probably come by that process of
-accretion which has caused every witty cynicism to be attributed to
-Talleyrand, or, in another way, every achievement of the Third Crusade
-to Richard Coeur de Lion, and every contemporary woodland exploit to
-Robin Hood. No name from Druidical times attaching to the monument, the
-local tradition joined to the rock the name of the only man whose
-legendary repute and fame at all admitted of a super-human feat of
-strength being attributed to him."
-
-Mr. Frederick Metcalfe, in his "Englishman and Scandinavian,"
-says--"Then again our old institution, trial by jury, to our immortal
-King Alfred, the people's darling, it has been assigned, along with
-other tithings, hundreds, and a host of other inventions and
-institutions, which, we are persuaded, he would have been the first to
-repudiate. Indeed, he has become a sort of Odin to some antiquaries, on
-whom everything bearing the stamp of remote antiquity was gathered, the
-invention of names amongst the rest."
-
-The same writer, referring to the "famous story of Theophilus,"
-says--"The legend, as we have said, ran through Europe in various
-shapes, and was fitted to all people imaginable. It is referred to in
-one of AElfric's homilies (_i._ 448), while in an Icelandic legend Anselm
-and Theophilus are thus blended. Now we know that Eormenric, who died
-370, Attila, 453, Gundicar of Burgundy, 436, and the Ostrogothic King
-Theordoric or Dietrich, 536, become contemporaries and merge one into
-another in heroic mythus. But one is hardly prepared to find Dietrich of
-Bern and Theophilus of Sicily getting confused into one. But so it is.
-Amongst the Wends it has become a popular story, and is told of Dietrich
-(Theodoric of Verona), who among the peasantry is transmuted into the
-Wild Huntsman."
-
-Mr. W. St. Chad Boscawen, in his learned lecture on "A Chaldean
-Heliopolis," at Manchester, in December, 1881, after referring to the
-manner in which Berosus "had resort to an ingenious literary fiction to
-preserve the continuity of the narrative in his history of Chaldea,
-which he claimed to have based on documentary evidence, extending back
-over fifteen myriads of years," says--"The daily recurring war of day
-and night, which had belonged to the nomadic age, now became national
-wars and combats of Samson, Shamgar, and Gideon, the solar heroes,
-against the dark forces of the Philistine and Midianite. But in this
-period of the heroic age--the 'once upon a time' of the Chaldean
-story-teller, the nation was not one consolidated whole; it was the age
-of polyarchy. The beginning of Nimrod's kingdom was not one capital
-city, it was the tetrapolis of Babel, Akkad, Erech, and Calrech, and
-each city was a little kingdom. So each city had its hero. The giant
-Isdubar was the hero of Erech; Sargon the Moses of Chaldea--the hero of
-Aganne; Etanne and Ner, of Babylon. In the labours and wars of these
-heroes we saw the labours and wars and struggles of the city kingdom,
-but lit with the lustre of divinity which shone forth from the age of
-the gods and clothed with its brightness the characters in the heroic
-age. But, in time, as the nation became consolidated, all became blended
-and absorbed into the great national hero, Isdubar, the great king."
-
-The Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, in his "Mythology of the Aryan Nations,"
-successfully shows that the principal materials of the Arthurian legends
-are identical with those which underlie the Hindoo, Grecian, Teutonic,
-and other common Aryan myths. He contends that Arthur is a solar hero,
-of the same type as Phoibus Chrysaor, or Heracles, or Bellerophon, or
-Perseus, or Achilleus, or Sigurd; and he illustrates this position by
-the citation of numerous instances in which their common original is
-clearly perceptible, notwithstanding the great modification, especially
-in costume and morals, to which the original materials have been
-subjected. A single instance of this uniformity, but an important one,
-will suffice for the present purpose. The peculiar form as well as the
-name of the supernatural weapon of Indra, the Vedic _lightning_ god,
-has undergone many changes in its progress through the mythical lore of
-the various Aryan nations, and yet its identity is rarely, if ever,
-doubtful. It is the "Durandal" of Roland; it is Arthur's famous sword
-"Excalibur," as well as the similar weapon which no one could draw from
-the "iron anvil-sheaf embedded in stone" except himself. It is the sword
-of the maiden drawn by Balin, after Arthur had failed in the attempt. It
-is the "Macabuin," the weapon of the Manx hero, Olave of Norway; it is
-Odin's sword "Gram," stuck in the roof-tree of Volsung's hall. It is the
-sword of Chrysaor; it is that of Theseus, and that of Sigurd. It is very
-palpably the spear (Gungnir) which Odin lent, in the form of a reed, to
-King Erich, in order to ensure him the victory in a battle against
-Styrbjoern. The reed in its flight is said to have assumed the form of a
-spear and _struck with blindness_ the whole of the opposing army. It is
-the arrow with which Apollo slew the Python; it is the lance of St.
-George, the patron saint of England; it is the "sword of sharpness" of
-"Jack-the-Giant-Killer;" nay, it is the relatively humble magic cudgel
-of popular Norse story, which, like Thor's hammer, voluntarily returned
-to the lad's hand on the completion of the rascally innkeeper's
-well-merited castigation.
-
-So fascinating are the so-called "historical novels" of such men as Sir
-Walter Scott and the late Lord Lytton, such "historical plays" as
-Shakspere's, and the popular ballads and other lyric narratives of great
-historical events, that _some_ of the most permanent impressions on the
-mind of the studious, and _many_ on that of the relatively non-studious
-sections of mankind, have been derived therefrom. Indeed, there are
-persons who roundly assert that "good historical novels" convey to the
-ordinary reader a better idea of the manners and customs and general
-aspect of society, as well as of the idiosyncrasies, or special
-characteristics, of distinguished individuals, than historical works of
-a more definite and presumedly more reliable character. Those who
-entertain these views, however, as a rule, are not themselves historical
-students in its higher or more legitimate sense, but merely dabblers in
-history with an aesthetic object. Besides, if the hypothesis be a sound
-one, these "historical novelists" must themselves be more fully and
-accurately informed concerning all the hard elements of fact and
-individual feeling with which they deal than their rivals (which,
-unfortunately, they never or rarely are), or how could they, by any
-human process, produce their presumedly more truthful artistic
-"counterfeit presentments?" The late Lord Lytton, in the preface to the
-third edition of his novel, "Harold, the last of the Saxon Kings,"
-expressly says "It was indeed my aim to solve the problem how to produce
-the greatest amount of _dramatic effect at the least expense of
-historical truth_."
-
-On the other hand, Sir Francis Palgrave denounces "historical novels" as
-the "mortal enemies to history," and Leslie Stephen adds, "they are
-mortal enemies to fiction" likewise. The latter writer contends, under
-such conditions, one of two evils necessarily results, notwithstanding
-the fact that perhaps an isolated exception or two might be cited in
-opposition: "Either the novel becomes pure cram, a dictionary of
-antiquities dissolved in a thin solution of romance, or, which is
-generally more refreshing, it takes leave of accuracy altogether and
-simply takes the plot and the costumes from history, but allows us to
-feel that genuine moderns are masquerading in the dress of a bygone
-century." Dean Milman, in his review of Ranke's work on the Papacy,
-referring to the scene in the conclave on the elevation of Sixtus V. to
-the Papal chair, which, he says, Gregoria Leti "has drawn with such
-unscrupulous boldness," adds, "All the minute circumstances of his (the
-Pope's) manner, speech, and gesture is like one of Scott's happiest
-historical descriptions, but, we fear, of no better historical authority
-than the picture of our great novelist."
-
-The false impressions often formed of actual fact from implicit reliance
-on artistic fiction, as authority in such matters, is admirably
-illustrated in a passage in "Travels in Central Asia," by Arminius
-Vambery. After journeying from Tabris to Teheran, he says--"It is a
-distance of only fifteen, or perhaps we may rather say of only thirteen
-caravan stations; still, it is fearfully fatiguing, when circumstances
-compel one to toil slowly from station to station under a scorching sun,
-mounted upon a laden mule, and condemned to see nothing but such drought
-and barrenness as characterise almost the whole of Persia. How bitter
-the disappointment to him who has studied Persia only in Saadi, Khakani,
-and Hafiz; _or still worse_, who has received his dreamy impressions of
-the East from the beautiful imaginings of Goethe's 'Ost-Westlicher
-Divan,' or Victor Hugo's 'Orientales,' or the magnificent picturings of
-Tom Moore."
-
-If, under circumstances so favourable as those attendant upon such a
-"Dryasdust" historical student as Sir Walter Scott, historical truth is
-violated or perverted as often as it is illustrated, it is painful to
-reflect what must have resulted when solar and other myths, miraculous
-legends and traditions of pagan times, have become interwoven with the
-faith and morals of Christianity, and the pomp and pageantry of mediaeval
-chivalry! Leslie Stephens asserts that "'Ivanhoe,' and 'Kenilworth,'
-and 'Quentin Durward,' and the rest are, of course, bare, blank
-impossibilities." "No such people," he declares, "ever lived or talked
-on this planet." He is willing to allow that some fragments of genuine
-character may be embedded in what he terms "the plaster of Paris;" but
-he insists that "there is no solidity or permanence in the workmanship."
-If this be true, how has history fared at the hands of such craftsmen as
-Geoffrey of Monmouth, Archdeacon Walter Map, Sir Thos. Malory, and a
-whole host of mediaeval romance writers, with their King Arthur, Sir
-Lancelot, Sir Galahad, their magicians, sorcerers, giants, dragons, and
-other monsters? History, in its highest, indeed its only legitimate,
-sense, most unquestionably has suffered to a much greater extent than
-can be conceived, except by those who have patiently plodded amongst the
-details of a portion at least of its dim and dusty, and oft-times
-doubtful, raw material. But, on the other hand, to the novelist or the
-poet _historical_ truthfulness in the incidents of which his plot is
-composed, or _biographical_ truthfulness in the characters delineated,
-is simply surplusage, if it be nothing worse, _aesthetic_ or artistic
-verities having no necessary foundation thereupon. It is this aesthetic
-ideal, evolved from _general_ rather than _individual_ truths, this
-poetic element, which lies at the root, and, indeed, furnishes the
-_raison d'etre_, the very life-giving blood, of such art products as
-those under consideration. Hamlet, Lear, Imogen, Ophelia, Cordelia,
-Oberon, Elaine, Sir Galahad, Achilleus, Arthur, _et hoc genus omne_,
-possess an inherent subjective vitality and truthfulness of their own,
-drawn from the universal and everlasting fountains of human emotion,
-passion, and psychical aspiration, however little realistic, individual,
-or strictly historic value the learned may place on the legends of Saxo
-Grammaticus and Geoffrey of Monmouth, or the myths of our common Aryan
-ancestors. Thos. Carlyle, in "Sartor Resartus," aptly asks--"Was
-Luther's picture of the devil _less a reality_, whether it were formed
-within the bodily eye, or without it?" Dean Milman, in his essay on
-"Pagan and Christian Sepulchres," referring to the "two large mounds
-popularly known as the tombs of the Horatii and the Curiatii," on the
-Appian way, near Rome, says--"Let us leave the legend undisturbed, and
-take no more notice of those wicked disenchanters of our old belief."
-Yet he feelingly and truthfully adds--"They will leave us at least the
-poetry, if they scatter our history into a mist." Truly the aesthetic
-element, if in itself worthy, will ever survive the destruction of the
-presumed historical verity with which it may have been for ages allied.
-Who now believes in the historic truthfulness of the reputed deeds of
-the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome? And yet the aesthetic
-beauties of Homer, AEschylus, Virgil, and Ovid are none the less admired
-and enjoyed. Mr. Philip Gilbert Hamerton, in his Life of J. M. W.
-Turner, when commenting on the lack of "topographical," and other
-realistic truthfulness, both in colour and details, in many of the great
-landscape painter's finest productions, thus aptly deals with the
-difference between aesthetic and literal truthfulness--"It is with these
-drawings as with the romances of Sir Walter Scott: a time comes in the
-life of every intelligent reader when he perceives that Scott was not,
-and could not be, really true to the times he represented, except when
-they approached very near his own; but a student of literature would be
-much to be pitied who was unable to enjoy 'Ivanhoe' after this
-discovery. So when we have found out the excessive freedom which Turner
-allowed himself; when we have discovered that he is not to be trusted
-for the representation of any object, however important--that his
-chiaroscuro, though effective is arbitrary, and his colour though
-brilliant is false; when we have quite satisfied ourselves, in a word,
-that he is a poet, and not an architectural draughtsman, or an imitator
-of nature, is that a reason why we should not enjoy the poems? There is
-a wide difference, I grant, between the pleasure of real belief and the
-pleasure of confessed imagination: the first belongs to imaginative
-ignorance, and is only possible for the uncritical; the second belongs
-to a state of knowledge, and is only possible for those in whom the
-acquisition of knowledge has not deadened the imaginative faculties.
-Show the 'Rivers of France' to a boy who has the natural faculties which
-perceive beauty, but who is still innocent of criticism, he will believe
-the drawings to be true, and think as he dreams over them that a day may
-come when he will visit these enchanting scenes. Show them to a real
-critic, and he will not accept for fact a single statement made by the
-draughtsman from beginning to end, but he will say--'The poetic power is
-here,' and then he will yield to its influence, and dream also in his
-own way--not like the boy, in simple faith, but in the pleasant
-make-belief faith which is all that the poet asks of us."
-
-This aesthetic truthfulness, in contradistinction to literal historic
-fact, is admirably expressed by Macaulay in an entry in his journal, in
-August, 1851. He says--"I walked far into Herefordshire," (from Malvern)
-"and read, while walking, the last five books of the 'Iliad,' with deep
-interest and many tears. I was afraid to be seen crying by the parties
-of walkers that met me as I came back; crying for Achilles cutting off
-his hair; crying for Priam rolling on the ground in the court-yard of
-his house; mere imaginary beings, creatures of an old ballad maker who
-died near three thousand years ago."
-
-Lord Byron wrote under the influence of the traditions of his youth or
-of his classical college education, and not as the true poet, when he
-said--"I stood upon the plain of Troy daily for more than a month, in
-1810; and if anything diminished my pleasure it was that the blackguard
-Bryant had impugned its veracity." On the contrary, I felt no such lack
-of pleasurable emotion when I first gazed on the Thames at Datchet, or
-on the withered trunk of "Herne's Oak," or on the Trossachs and Loch
-Katrine, or on the Rialto or the Ducal palace at Venice, or on
-the Colisseum or the adjacent ruins of the "lone mother of dead
-empires," because the mere _historical_ verity of Jack Falstaff's
-unwieldly carcase, or of Shakspere, Otway, Byron or Scott's ideal and
-semi-historical personages, never once entered into my mind. It was
-sufficient for me that the scenes before me were those which were
-contemplated and portrayed by the great dramatists and the great
-novelist and the great poet. For the time being, thanks to the law of
-mental association, to my imagination their characters were as real
-personages as was necessary for the fullest appreciation and enjoyment
-of the ideal of their artistic creators, and anything more, _being
-unnecessary_, might have been intrusive, or even _impertinent_, in the
-original and non-metaphorical meaning of that somewhat abused word.
-Byron spoke more to the purpose in the opening stanzas of the fourth
-canto of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage," when, after lamenting the fate of
-Venice, and recalling the glories of her past history, he exclaims:--
-
-        But unto us she hath a spell beyond
-        Her name in story and her long array
-        Of mighty shadows whose dim forms despond
-        Above the dogeless city's vanish'd sway;
-        Ours is a trophy which will not decay
-        With the Rialto; Shylock and the Moor
-        And Pierre can not be swept and worn away--
-        The keystones of the arch! Though all were o'er,
-    For us repeopled were the solitary shore.
-
-He adds, with more significant meaning:--
-
-        The beings of the mind are not of clay;
-        Essentially immortal, they create
-        And multiply in us a brighter ray
-        And more beloved existence.
-
-Dr. Gervinus says--"Shakspere's representations of the passionate, the
-prodigal, the hypocrite, are not portraits of this or that individual,
-but _examples of those passions elevated out of particular into general
-truth_, of which, in real life, we may find a thousand diminished
-copies, but never the original in the exact proportions given by the
-poet." And so it is with the aesthetic truth embodied in artistic
-creations of a plastic or pictorial character. No one acquainted with
-art products of its class imagines that the colossal statue recently
-erected in Germany to the memory of Hermann, or Arminius, the conqueror
-of the Roman legions under Varus (A.D. 9), is an absolute every-day
-portrait-likeness of that not very morally scrupulous "hero and
-patriot;" or that the faces, figures, costumes, and other accessories,
-in the "Last Supper" of Da Vinci, or the "Cartoons" of Raffaelle,
-represent, _historically_ or _de facto_, the scenes as they actually
-occurred. Though conventionally called "historical pictures," they
-are emphatically creations of the imaginations of the artists,
-notwithstanding their historic basis, and consequently the great truths
-that pervade them, and for which they are justly admired, are of an
-artistic or aesthetic, and not of a strictly historic, character.
-
-Notwithstanding this general lack of historic truthfulness we,
-nevertheless, do gain valuable knowledge of a psychological,
-ethnological, and even of a strictly historical character from stories
-of the mythical and legendary class; but much of that knowledge pertains
-to the age and its mental associations in which the story-tellers or
-other artistic exponents themselves lived. In the Arthurian romances we
-find an immense amount of historic truthfulness with reference to the
-habits of thought, costume, and religious sentiment, which obtained in
-and about the twelfth century; but which truths are utterly untrue, as
-applied by the writers, to the fifth and sixth, the era in which Arthur
-and his Christian knights, magicians, and giants are presumed to have
-been corporal existences. The same may be said of much of Bede's, and,
-indeed, of most other early chronicles. Although we may refuse our
-assent to the improbable and miraculous stories therein narrated, we
-feel convinced, in Bede's instance especially, that the writer is
-thoroughly in earnest, and honest in his work, and that he, at least,
-correctly describes the manners, customs, faiths, superstitions, and
-legendary history prevalent at the period in which he lived. This view
-is now the one generally accepted by the best historians and
-ethnological and psychological students. Mr. Ralph N. Wornum, in his
-"Epochs of Painting Characterised," says--"Ancient opinions are of
-themselves facts, and the history of any subject is indeed imperfect
-when the ideas of early ages regarding it are altogether overlooked, for
-the impressions and associations made or suggested by any intellectual
-pursuit are, as one of its effects, a part of the subject itself." Mr.
-Tylor, in the work already quoted, says--"The very myths that were
-discarded as lying fables prove to be sources of history in ways that
-their makers and transmitters little dreamed of. Their meaning has been
-misunderstood, but they have a meaning. Every tale that was ever told
-has a meaning for the times it belongs to. Even a lie, as the Spanish
-proverb says, is a lady of birth. ('_La mentira es hija de algo._')
-Thus, as evidence of the development of thought as records of long
-passed belief and usage, even in some measure as materials for the
-history of the nations owning them, the old myths have fairly taken
-their place among historic facts; and with such the modern historian, so
-able and so willing to pull down, is also able and willing to rebuild."
-
-M. Mallet, in his "Northern Antiquities," referring to the
-semi-historical romances of the Scandinavians, says--"It is needless to
-observe that great light may be thrown on the character and sentiments
-of a nation, by those very books, whence we can learn nothing exact or
-connected of their history. The most credulous writer, he that has the
-greatest passion for the marvellous, while he falsifies the history of
-his contemporaries, paints their manners of life and modes of thinking
-without perceiving it. His simplicity, his ignorance, are at once
-pledges of the artless truth of his drawing, and a warning to distrust
-that of his relations."
-
-Dr. A. Dickson White, in his treatise on "The Warfare of Science,"
-forcibly illustrates the absolute necessary harmony of all truth,
-subjective and objective, although we may not always possess sufficient
-insight to perceive it. He says--"God's truths must agree, whether
-discovered by looking within upon the soul, or without upon the world. A
-truth written upon the human heart to-day, in its full play of emotions
-or passions, cannot be at any real variance even with a truth written
-upon a fossil whose poor life ebbed forth millions of years ago."
-
-Professor Gervinus, in his "Shakespeare Commentaries," has skilfully
-analysed the distinction between historic and aesthetic truth. He
-says--"Where the historian, bound by an oath to the severest truth in
-every single statement, can, at the most, only permit us to divine the
-causes of events and the motives of actions from the bare narration of
-facts, the poet, who seeks to draw from these facts only a _general
-moral truth, and not one of facts_, unites by poetic fiction the action
-and actors in a distinct living relation of cause and effect. The more
-freely and boldly he does this, as Shakespeare has done in 'Richard
-III.,' the more poetically interesting will his treatment of the history
-become, but the more will it lose its historical value; the more truly
-and closely he adheres to reality, as in 'Richard II.,' the more will
-his poetry gain in historic meaning and forfeit in poetic splendour."
-
-Shakspere so thoroughly felt and understood this, that in the
-construction of his plot, and even in the determination of the
-specialities of the characters of Macbeth and his indomitable wife, he
-has selected his incidents from more than one epoch in early Scottish
-history. The famous murder scenes in the first and second acts, so far
-as they are "historically" true, are drawn from the assassination of a
-previous king, Duffe, in 971 or 972, by Donwald, captain of the castle
-of Fores, whose wife is the "historic" original of the "aesthetic" Lady
-Macbeth of the tragedy, and not the spouse (if he had one) of the
-chieftain who, history simply says, "slew the king [Duncan] at
-Inverness," in an ordinary battle in 1040.
-
-Professor Gervinus adds--"It is a common pride on the part of the poets
-of these historical plays, and a natural peculiarity belonging to this
-branch of the art, that truth and poetry should go hand in hand. It is
-more than probable that 'Henry VIII.' bore at first the title so
-characteristic in this respect--'All is True.' But this truth is
-throughout, as we have seen, not to be taken in the prosaic sense of the
-historian, who seeks it in the historical material in every most minute
-particular, and in its most different aspects; it is only a higher and
-universal truth which is gathered by a poet from a series of historical
-facts, yet which from the very circumstance that it springs from
-historical, true and actual facts, and is supported and held by them,
-acquires, it must be admitted, a double authority, that of poetry and
-history combined. The historical drama, formed of these two component
-parts, is therefore especially agreeable to the imaginative friend of
-history and the realistic friend of poetry."
-
-It will thus be seen that there is no necessary antagonism between
-individual, or historic, and ideal, or aesthetic, truth. Their respective
-lines of action may be divergent, but they are, when thoroughly
-understood, both in harmony with the great central and "eternal verity"
-which embodies all truth. The only danger to be guarded against by the
-historic or aesthetic student arises from the too common habit of
-confounding the one with the other.
-
-Tennyson, in his "Queen Mary," says--
-
-    The very Truth and very Word are one,
-    But truth of story, which I glanced at, girl,
-    Is like a word that comes from olden days,
-    And passes thro' the peoples: every tongue
-    Alters it passing, till it spells and speaks
-    Quite other than at first.
-
-Nennius speaks of a tenth battle fought and won by Arthur on the banks
-of the river Trat Treuroit, or Ribroit. This has been identified by
-commentators as the Brue, in Somersetshire, and the Ribble, in
-Lancashire; but the evidence advanced is not very conclusive in favour
-of either locality. Mr. Haigh prefers Trefdraeth, in the island of
-Anglesea, as the place indicated.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-THE DEFEAT AND DEATH OF ST. OSWALD, OF NORTHUMBRIA, AT MASERFELD,
-
-(A.D. 642).
-
-    THE LEGEND OF THE WILD BOAR, "THE MONSTER IN FORMER AGES, WHICH
-    PROWLED OVER THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF WINWICK, INFLICTING INJURY ON MAN
-    AND BEAST."
-
-
-The Venerable Bede, in the ninth chapter of his "Ecclesiastical History
-of the English Nation," says, in the year 642--"Oswald was killed in a
-great battle, by the same Pagan nation and Pagan king of the Mercians
-who had slain his predecessor, Edwin, at a place called in the English
-tongue, Maserfelth, in the thirty-eighth year of his age, on the fifth
-day of the month of August."
-
-The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the same date, says--"This year Oswald,
-King of the Northumbrians, was slain by Penda and the South-humbrians at
-Maserfeld, on the nones of August, and his body was buried at Bardney
-(Lincolnshire). His sanctity and miracles were afterwards manifested in
-various ways beyond this island, and his hands are at Bamborough"
-(Northumberland), "uncorrupted."
-
-The battle is likewise recorded by relatively more recent chroniclers,
-yet its site, hitherto, has not been satisfactorily determined. Camden,
-Capgrave, Pennant, Sharon Turner, and some others fix it at Oswestry, in
-Shropshire; while Archbishop Usher, Alban Butler, Powell, Dr. Cowper,
-Edward Baines, Thomas Baines, W. Beaumont, Dr. Kendrick, Mr. T. Littler,
-and others prefer the neighbourhood of Winwick, in the "Fee of
-Makerfield," Lancashire.[11]
-
-Mr. Edward Baines says--"The district in which Winwick is seated
-has, from a very distant period, been denominated Mackerfield or
-Macerfield--a battle-field, with variations in the orthography usually
-found in Norman and Anglo-Saxon writers." The late Rev. Edmund Simpson,
-vicar of Ashton-in-Mackerfield, however, disputes this etymology, and
-contends that "Mackerfield is Mag-er-feld, a great plain cultivated:
-_mag_ and _er_ being Gaelic and _feld_ Saxon. Thus Maghull, near
-Liverpool, is a hill on the plain: thus, also, Maghera-felt in Ireland."
-
-The "Fee of Makerfield" was co-extensive with the Newton hundred of the
-Domesday record, and included nineteen townships. It extended from Wigan
-to Winwick, and was traversed in its entire length by the great Roman
-road, which entered Northumbria from the south near Warrington.
-
-Professor Dwight Whitney, in his "Life and Growth of Language" (p. 39),
-says--"_AEcer_ meant in Anglo-Saxon a 'cultivated field,' as does the
-German acker to the present day; and here, again, we have its very
-ancient correlatives in Sanscrit _agra_, Greek {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER STIGMA~}, Latin _ager_; the
-restriction of the word to signify a field of certain fixed dimensions,
-taken as a unit of measure for fields in general, is something quite
-peculiar and recent. It is analagous with the like treatment of _rod_
-and _foot_ and _grain_, and so on, except that in these cases we have
-saved the old meaning while adding the new."
-
-Field is from A.S., O.S., and Ger. _feld_, Danish _veld_, the open
-_country_, cleared lawn (Collins's Dic. Der.) With respect to acre the
-old meaning is still retained, in one instance at least. We still say
-"God's acre," when speaking of a churchyard or burial ground.
-
-The following are some of the principal variations in the writing of the
-name: Bede calls it Maserfelth, King Alfred writes it Maserfeld, as in
-one MS. of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Another copy, however, has it
-Maresfeld. The latter is probably a clerical error resultant from the
-accidental misplacement of the letters _r_ and _s_ by the copyist, or
-it may be an ordinary example of what philologists call "metathesis," or
-transliteration. Matthew of Westminster writes it Marelfeld, and John of
-Brompton, Maxelfeld. Matthew and John, however, are relatively modern
-authorities in comparison with Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and
-Alfred. Their orthography, however, furnishes an apt illustration of the
-mutation which has taken place in local nomenclature during the
-transition of the language from Anglo-Saxon to modern English, and hence
-the occasional difficulty of satisfactory identification at the present
-day.
-
-The phonetic difficulty between Maserfeld, Macerfeld, and Makerfield is,
-perhaps, not insurmountable. The letter _c_ in English is useless,
-having either the sound of _k_ or _s_. Before _a_, _o_, and _u_, it
-becomes _k_, as in cat, cot, cure; before _e_ and _i_ it becomes _s_, as
-in century, certain, cinder, and city. Cer, likewise, by metathesis, or
-the transposition of the _r_, becomes cre, as in lucre, massacre,
-etc.[12] Thus it would appear the modern word "Makerfield" probably
-accords both etymologically and topographically with the Anglo-Saxon
-name of the site of the battle. As no other hamlet, township, or parish,
-or other territorial designation (the nearest being Macclesfield), does
-this, especially when taken in conjunction with the many corroborative
-evidences, would appear to satisfactorily identify the locality.[13]
-These corroborative evidences are by no means either scanty or
-unimportant.
-
-The parish church of Winwick is dedicated to St. Oswald, and Mr. Baines
-says--"Little more than half a mile to the north, on the road to
-Golborne and Wigan, is an ancient well, which has been known from time
-immemorial by the name of 'St. Oswald's Well.'" This well is still in
-existence, and a certain veneration at the present time hovers about it
-in the minds of others than the superstitious peasantry. On the upper
-portion of the south wall of the church is an inscription in Latin,
-purporting to be a "renovation" of a previous one, by a person named
-Sclater, in the year 1530, in the curacy of Henry Johnson. On a recent
-visit, this inscription, as well as other portions of the edifice, I
-found had undergone further renovation. Gough translates the first three
-lines as follows:--
-
-    This place of old did Oswald greatly love:
-    Who the Northumbers ruled, now reigns above,
-    And from Marcelde did to Heaven remove.
-
-Mr. Beamont gives the translation of the inscription as follows:--
-
-    This place of yore did Oswald greatly love,
-    Northumbria's King, but now a saint above,
-    Who in Marcelde's field did fighting fall,
-    Hear us, oh blest one, when here to thee we call.
-
-            (A line over the porch obliterated.)
-    In fifteen hundred and just three times ten,
-    Sclater restored and built this wall again,
-    And Henry Johnson here was curate then.
-
-This, and its repetition by Hollingworth in his "Mancuniensis," appears
-to have alone constituted "the highest authority" relied upon by Edward
-Baines for his statement that Winwick parish was the favourite residence
-of King Oswald. The inscription does not, as some have assumed, state
-the church is built in, on, or near Marcelde. It merely asserts that
-Oswald died at a place so named, and which may have been Winwick, the
-site of the church dedicated to St. Oswald, or any other locality,
-Marcelde being evidently a corruption and a rythmical contraction of the
-undoubted Anglo-Saxon name of the scene of Oswald's defeat and death.
-
-Objection has been taken to the word "Marcelde," as a bad Latin
-substitute for "Maserfeld." But the goodness or badness of mediaeval
-Latin substitutes for English names is of no consequence to the question
-at issue, as the reference to the place of Oswald's death is undeniable.
-It is but an apt illustration of the strange transformations local
-nomenclature sometimes has undergone in transmission from past centuries
-to the present time.
-
-Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Welsh Bruts curiously confound the
-incidents attendant upon this and a previous battle, in which Oswald was
-engaged and was victorious. Geoffrey says that Cadwalla, a Brit-Welsh
-king, one of the heroes of Lywrich Hen's poetic effusions, _hearing of
-Oswald's victory over Penda(?)_ at "Heavenfield," "being inflamed with
-rage, assembled his army and went in pursuit of the holy king, Oswald;
-and in a battle which he had with him, at a place called Burne, broke in
-upon him and killed him."
-
-Geoffrey here, as noted by Sharon Turner, shows his irrational
-partiality to the fame of the British chieftain, and his disregard of
-historical truth when it did not minister to his prejudices or
-presumed patriotism. Cadwalla was slain in the battle with Oswald at
-"Heavenfield," in 635, seven years previously to the saintly
-Northumbrian warrior's defeat and death; and, consequently, the British
-hero was, in accordance with ordinary mortal notions, somewhat
-incapacitated for the performance of the after-deeds of valour, ascribed
-to him by his panegyrist--without miraculous intervention--which,
-however, Geoffrey does not even suggest, notwithstanding its presumed
-frequency on other momentous occasions.[14]
-
-Referring to Oswald's death, Bede says--"It is also given out and become
-a proverb, 'that he ended his life in prayer;' for when he was beset
-with weapons and enemies, he perceived he must immediately be killed,
-and prayed to God for the souls of his army, hence it is proverbially
-said, 'Lord have mercy on their souls, said Oswald, as he fell on the
-ground.' His bones, therefore, were translated to the monastery which we
-mentioned (Bardsea), and buried therein; but the king that slew him
-commanded his head, hands, and arms to be cut off from the body, and set
-upon stakes. But the successor in the throne, Oswy, coming thither the
-next year with his army, took them down, and buried his head in the
-church of Lindisfarne, and the hands and arms in the royal city"
-(Bamborough).
-
-Bede relates many anecdotes, illustrative of the sanctity of Oswald, and
-the miracles wrought by his bones, as well as by the earth which
-received his blood on the battle-field. One instance I give entire, in
-Dr. Giles's translation of the venerable historian's own words. In
-chapter x., book iii., he says--
-
-"About the same time, another person of the British nation, _as is
-reported_, happened to travel by the same place, where the aforesaid
-battle was fought, and observing one particular spot of ground, green
-and more beautiful than any other part of the field, he judiciously
-concluded with himself that there could be no other cause for that
-unusual greenness but that some person of more holiness than any other
-in the army had been killed there. He therefore took along with him some
-of that earth, tying it up in a linen cloth, supposing it would some
-time or other be of use for curing sick people, and proceeding on his
-journey, he came at night to a certain village, and entered a house
-where the neighbours were feasting at supper; being received by the
-owners of the house, he sat down with them at the entertainment, hanging
-the cloth in which he had brought the earth, on a post against the wall.
-They sat long at supper and drank hard, with a great fire in the middle
-of the room; it happened that the sparks flew up and caught the top of
-the house, which being made of wattles and thatch, was presently in a
-flame; the guests ran out in a fright, without being able to put a stop
-to the fire. The house was consequently burnt down, only that post on
-which the earth hung remained entire and untouched. On observing this,
-they were all amazed, and inquiring into it diligently, understood that
-the earth had been taken from the place where the blood of King Oswald
-had been shed. These miracles being made known and reported abroad, many
-began daily to frequent that place, and received health to themselves
-and theirs."
-
-In June, 1856, whilst I was engaged superintending the excavations at
-"Castle Hill," Penwortham, near Preston, an incident occurred, which,
-"in the olden time," would have been regarded as a conclusive proof not
-only of the miraculous quality of the earth on which St. Oswald expired,
-but of the site of the battle-field. We found, under the mound
-excavated, the remains of an edifice which had been destroyed apparently
-partly by fire, and on the ruins of which to the height of about 12 or
-14 feet, the Anglo-Saxon tumulus had been piled. The hill, situated at
-the nose of the promontory overlooking the upper portion of the Ribble
-estuary, had evidently been occupied at one time as a _specula_, or
-outpost, in connection with the Roman station at Walton-le-dale. The
-wattle and thatch characteristics of the remains of the fallen roof of
-the edifice were very apparent. But the most remarkable, nay,
-inexplicable feature disclosed, was a single oak pillar, with wooden
-peg-holes in it, standing erect near the centre of the mound, while the
-remainder of the structure was scattered in confusion on a mass of
-debris and vegetable litter, in which were found, together with several
-articles in metal, etc., an enormous quantity of bones of animals,
-evidently killed and eaten for food. To the persistent enquiries of
-several somewhat bewildered persons, anxious to discover an _immediate_
-explanation of so remarkable a fact, I at length yielded, and related,
-in a serious, but not _authoritative_ manner, the statement of Bede, and
-I feel confident several persons returned home with a conviction that
-the story was probable enough, or at least there was something either
-miraculous or "uncanny" about the whole affair. Without, of course,
-assenting to the miraculous medicinal quality of the earth, it is highly
-improbable that so conscientious, if credulous, a writer as Bede would
-relate such a story, unless there had been some substratum of _prosaic
-fact reported to him_, on which the miraculous element might easily have
-been engrafted in those superstitious days. It is not improbable that
-the accidental preservation of the pillar to which was hung the presumed
-sacred earth on which the saintly monarch breathed his last, prevented
-its destruction or removal, and hence its position near the centre of
-the mound raised above the ruined edifice, and, doubtless, afterwards
-used as a "mote hill," or out-of-door justice seat, or place of public
-assembly. If Winwick be the site of the battle-field, the traveller
-passing from thence northward by the great Roman road would arrive at
-Penwortham in time for supper, presuming that his journey commenced
-three or four hours previously.
-
-All this may not be worth much more than some of the idle tales of the
-old "historians" in support of the claims of the Lancashire site as the
-locality of the great battle between the Christian and Pagan elements in
-the population of the northern portion of England in the seventh
-century.[15] Nevertheless, it presents, at least, one of those
-remarkable coincidences that occasionally puzzle our reason and perplex
-our faith. Deeper insight into the psychological aspect of the humanity
-of any period may often be gained by a careful study of their legendary
-lore and cherished superstitions than from the perusal of the more
-orthodox historical chronicles. But there are other evidences respecting
-the site of this important Anglo-Saxon conflict, more reliable than the
-miracles of tradition, which demand our attention.
-
-From the antecedents of the respective belligerents, and the statement
-of Bede, it seems almost certain that the Pagan chieftain, Penda, was
-the aggressor, and, anxious to avenge the death of Cadwalla, his
-quasi-Christian ally, invaded the Northumbrian kingdom, on the frontier
-of which he was successfully confronted by his Christian antagonist. The
-tradition in Geoffrey's day, at least, distinctly states that Oswald's
-conqueror was the aggressor. He says--"inflamed with rage, he went in
-pursuit of the holy king." See Ante, p. 67.
-
-Referring to the antecedents of the war under Oswy, which followed
-Oswald's death, and in which Penda was slain near the river Winwid, Mr.
-Green ("Making of England") says--"That Oswiu strove to avert the
-conflict we see from the delivery of his youngest son, Ecgfrith, as a
-hostage into Penda's hands. The sacrifice, however, proved useless.
-Penda was _again the assailant_, and his attack was as vigorous as of
-old." We, therefore, in the first instance, should naturally look for
-the battle-field in Northumbria, rather than in North Wales,[16] or even
-in Mercia.
-
-Another important element with reference to the disputed site has not
-hitherto, to my knowledge, received the attention it deserves. Geoffrey
-of Monmouth, and the Welsh Bruts, notwithstanding their determination to
-give all the honour to the defunct British chief, Cadwalla, could have
-no motive for falsifying the site of the battle. Indeed, his reference
-to it by name, as will be seen by the extract previously given, is of an
-ordinary passing character.
-
-Now, there is a locality, in the parish of Winwick, and in the "Fee of
-Makerfield," to the north of the great barrow or tumulus, to which I
-shall call further attention, that answers, on true phonetic laws, to
-this nomenclature. Mr. Edward Baines says--"The original proprietors of
-the township of Ashton" (which is the largest township in the old parish
-of Winwick) "derived their name from Bryn Hall, the place of their
-residence, or gave their name to that place, and Alan le Brun occurs in
-the 'Testa de Nevill,' as holding by ancient tenure two bovates of land
-for 6s. of Sir Henry de Le." It is here apparent that the present name
-Bryn was originally Brun, and, as brun and burn are, by what
-philologists term transliteration, but different renderings of the same
-word, meaning a spring or brook, Geoffrey's varied reading of the name
-of the locality--"at a place called _Burne_," strongly supports the
-other evidence in favour of the Lancashire site. Edward Baines,
-referring to the ancient Lancashire family, the Gerards of Bryn,
-says--"This family have had four seats within the township of Ashton,"
-(in Makerfield), "namely, Old Bryn, abandoned five centuries ago; New
-Bryn, erected in the reign of Edward VI.; Garswood, taken down at the
-beginning of the present century; and the new hall, the present
-residence of the family."
-
-Nennius says Penda slew Oswald at the "battle of Cocboy,"[17] and that
-"he gained the victory by diabolical agency." No attempt, however,
-within my knowledge, has been made to identify "Cocboy" with any
-existing locality. There is, however, I understand, a place near the
-ancient pass of the Mersey, or Latchford, and contiguous to the great
-Roman road, named Cockedge. As Cocboy is unknown this may be a
-corruption of it. Etymologists identify _coc_ with the British _gosh_ or
-red. As the new red sandstone crops out in the neighbourhood, this
-interpretation accords with the local condition.
-
-Latchford, too, would be significant, if like _Lich_field, it had its
-root in the Anglo-Saxon _lic_, but this is doubtful. Lichfield or
-Litchfield, the "field of dead bodies," is said to have derived its name
-from the circumstance that "many suffered martyrdom there in the time of
-Dioclesian."[18] In Gibson's "Etymological Geography," _Win_-feld, where
-Arminius, or Hermann, defeated the Roman legions under Varus, A.D. 10,
-is said to signify the "field of victory." A similar etymology is
-equally valid for _Win_wick, and hence its significance. Indeed, the
-intransitive form of the Anglo-Saxon verb _winnan_, whence our _win_,
-signifies "To gain the victory." A similar interpretation will equally
-apply to Winwidfield, near Leeds, the scene of Penda's subsequent defeat
-and death.
-
-When dealing with the identification of modern with ancient names, it is
-well to bear in mind the remarks of so erudite a philologist as
-Professor Dwight Whitney. In his "Life and Growth of Language," he
-says--"It must be carefully noted, indeed, that the reach of phonetics,
-its power to penetrate to the heart of its facts and account for them,
-is only limited. There is always one element in linguistic change which
-refuses scientific treatment, namely, the action of the human will. The
-work is all done by human beings, adapting means to ends, under the
-impulse of motives and the guidance of habits which are the resultant of
-causes so multifarious and obscure that they elude recognition and defy
-estimate." Again, "Every period of linguistic life, with its constantly
-progressive changes of form and meaning, wipes out a part of the
-intermediates which connect a derived element with its original. There
-are plenty of items of word-formation in even the modern Romanic
-languages, which completely elude explanation. Mere absence of evidence,
-then, will not in the least justify us in assuming the genesis of an
-obscure form to be of a wholly different character from that which is
-obvious or demonstrable in other forms. The presumption is wholly in
-favour of the accordance of the one with the other; it can only be
-repelled by direct and convincing evidence." And again, "As linguistics
-is a historical science, so its evidences are historical, and its
-methods of proof of the same character. There is no absolute
-demonstration about it: _there is only probability_, in the same varying
-degree as elsewhere in historical enquiry. There are no rules, the
-strict application of which will lead to infallible results. Nothing
-will make dispensable the wide gathering-in of evidence, the careful
-sifting of it, so as to determine what bears upon the case in hand and
-how directly, the judicial balancing of apparently conflicting
-testimony, the refraining from pushing conclusions beyond what the
-evidences warrant, the willingness to rest, when necessary, in a merely
-negative conclusion, which should characterize the historical
-investigator in all departments."
-
-The most important ancient structure at present remaining in the parish
-of Winwick is an immense tumulus called "Castle Hill." Mr. Edward Baines
-says--"At the distance of half-a-mile from and to the north of Newton,
-stands an ancient barrow, called _Castle Hill_. It is romantically
-situated on elevated ground, at the junction of two streams, whose
-united waters form the brook which flows past the lower part of the town
-of Newton.[19] The sides and summit of the barrow are covered with
-venerable oaks, which to all appearance have weathered the rude and
-wintry blasts for centuries. It is a spot well adapted for the repose of
-the ashes of the mighty dead."
-
-Mr. W. Beamont, in a paper read before the Lancashire and Cheshire
-Historic Society, on the "Fee of Makerfield," etc., in March, 1873,
-says,--"On the west side of this rivulet" (the Golbourne brook), "where
-the red rock rises above it, there is scooped out a rude alcove or cave,
-which the country people assign to Robin Hood, the popular hero, who in
-most of our northern counties divides with Arthur of the Round Table and
-Alfred the Great the right to legendary fame. The Castle Hill, which
-stands in a commanding position above the other bank of the stream, and
-is boul-shaped, is 320 feet in circumference at the base, 226 feet in
-circumference at the top, and it has an elevation of 17 feet above the
-level of the field below."
-
-On a recent visit I found the old oaks, like faithful veteran sentinels,
-still guarding, in Mr. Baines's language, "the repose of the mighty
-dead." One or two of them, however, exhibited unmistakeable evidence
-that the rude blast of the storm-wind and fiery embrace of the
-lightning-flash had shattered their aged limbs, while the benumbing
-grasp of Time had chilled their heretofore invigorating sap. Yet,
-although they are destined, in a relatively very short period, from
-_their_ chronological standpoint, to succumb to the destiny of all
-organic life, and finish their lengthened existence in ignominious
-association with the faggot-shed, still their venerable forms,
-notwithstanding the dilapidations which attest the force of years of
-elemental conflict, in conjunction with the historic and legendary
-memories with which they are associated, render them more suggestive
-teachers in their decay than they were in the pride of their stalwart
-and umbrageous prime.
-
-Another change has likewise come over the scene since Mr. Beamont's
-description was written. The stream near Newton has been blocked by an
-earthen embankment, and the "Castle Hill" now overlooks a beautiful
-artificial lake, with three branches. Robin Hood's cave, alas! had to be
-sacrificed; four or five feet of water now placidly flows over the site
-of its former entrance.
-
-This tumulus, situated on the Gol-_bourne_ brook, in the Fee of
-Mackerfield, was opened on the 8th of July, 1843. An account of this
-excavation, by the Rev. E. Sibson, was published in the "Transactions of
-the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society" at the time, from
-which I gather the following important particulars. Mr. W. Beamont, who
-was present during the excavations, likewise (in the paper previously
-quoted) gives a detailed account of the mode of procedure adopted, and
-of the remains discovered. The mound was found to be artificial, and
-composed of earth, sand, and rock taken from a trench on the south and
-west sides. This trench was then found to be about five feet deep and
-forty feet wide. It appeared to have been originally seven feet deep,
-two of which had been excavated out of the solid rock. A shaft six feet
-wide was sunk in the centre of the tumulus, and an adit to meet it, from
-the west side, on the level of the original soil. Mr. Beamont says--"At
-the distance of about ten feet from the centre of the barrow, on the
-south side of the shaft, a chamber was discovered. The base of this
-chamber was two feet broad, and it was curved. Its length was twenty-one
-feet, its height two feet, and the roof was a semi-circular arch. It
-seemed to be constructed of masses of clay, about a foot in diameter,
-rolled into form in a moist state, and closely compacted by pressure.
-When the chamber was first opened the candles were extinguished, and
-there was great difficulty in breathing. The sides and bottom of the
-chamber were coated with impalpable powder, of smoke colour. The bottom
-of the chamber was covered with a dark-coloured substance. The external
-surface of this substance was like peat earth, being rough, uneven, and
-of a black colour. The inside of it, when broken, was close and compact,
-and somewhat similar to black sealing-wax, which, when examined by the
-microscope, was found to be closely dotted with particles of lime. It
-was thought to be a mixture of wood ashes, half burned animal matter,
-and calcined bones. On this plate of animal matter, which had been
-placed on the edge of the original green sward, was a covering of loose
-earth, about two inches in thickness, which might have fallen from the
-roof and sides of the chamber. Immediately below the plate of animal
-matter a trench had been cut, about fifteen inches deep, and two tiers
-of round oak timber had been placed in it. The first tier was notched
-into the green sward, and the second tier was nine inches below it. The
-horizontal distance of the several pieces was about eighteen inches, and
-the pieces in the lower tier were placed exactly opposite to those in
-the upper one. Several of the pieces were charred, and many of them had
-entirely disappeared, leaving black marks in the sides of the trench,
-where they had formerly been placed. These pieces of oak appeared to
-have been three or four inches in diameter. In almost all the cases the
-wood of these pieces had been absorbed; in some cases the bark on the
-under side of these pieces was carbonised, and had nearly the appearance
-of coal; and in other cases the bark on the under side of these pieces
-retained its original form and colour. In one case, however, one of
-these pieces, in contact with the animal matter, had the appearance of
-dry decayed wood. The trench, below the plate of animal matter, was
-filled with clay."
-
-Mr. Beamont gives several other interesting details, and adds,--"It is
-probable that this chamber contained the original deposit, and that it
-had never been opened before. On the roof of the east side of the
-chamber there was discovered a very distinct and remarkable impression
-of a human body. There was the cavity formed by the back of the head,
-and this cavity was coated with a very thin shell of carbonised matter.
-The depression of the back of the neck, the projection of the shoulders,
-the elevation of the spine, and the protuberance of the lower part of
-the body, were distinctly visible. The body had been that of an adult,
-and the head lay towards the west. The exact form and vertical position
-of the circular chamber was indicated by a ridge on the crest of the
-hill, which was one reason why the tunnel was driven from the bottom of
-the shaft towards the south." The writer further informs us that the
-"Castle Hill is said to be haunted by a white lady, who flits and
-glides, but never walks. She is sometimes seen at midnight, but is never
-heard to speak." The Rev. Mr. Sibson adds--"There is a tradition that
-Alfred the Great was buried here, with a crown of gold, in a silver
-coffin." He likewise says that in a "drift, on the east side of the
-shaft, and near the centre of the hill, a broken whetstone was found. It
-was of freestone of a fine grain, of a dull white colour, slightly
-veined with red; and the surface was finely polished. It was about five
-inches in length and three in breadth." He likewise figures a fragment
-of an urn, apparently of Roman manufacture, from the presence of which
-he inferred that "the Castle Hill had been a place of interment for
-persons of distinction for a long period."
-
-Dr. James Fergusson, in an appendix to his work on "Rude Stone Monuments
-of All Countries," gives, at length, an account of the opening, in 1846,
-of a huge tumulus, named "Oden's Howe," near Upsala, by Herr Hildebrand,
-the royal antiquary of Sweden. The similarity of many of the remains
-brought to light to those found in the "Castle Hill," seems to suggest
-that these tumuli were erected by cognate people, and at no very distant
-periods from each other. Herr Hildebrand says,--"During the diggings
-were found unburnt animal bones, bits of dark wood, charcoal, bits of
-burnt bones, etc. This was evidently a sepulchral mound. Diggings have
-also been made in the smaller cairns near by, and, although they have
-been opened before, burial urns have been found, burnt human bones,
-bones of animals and birds, bits of iron and bronze, etc.... At the
-middle of the howe, the grave-chamber is nine feet above the level of
-the soil, 18 feet under the top of the howe. On the bed of the clay,
-under the great stones, have been found an iron clinker three inches
-long, remains of pine poles partly burnt, a lock of hair chestnut
-coloured, etc. The numerous clusters of charcoal show that the dead had
-been burned on the layer of clay, and the bones have been collected in
-an urn not yet found. In one of the nearest small howes have been found
-a quantity of burnt animal and human bones, two little-injured bronze
-brooches, a fragment of a golden ornament, etc." After further
-examination of the contents of the howe, Herr Hildebrand says, "June
-29th, 1847,--The burial urn has been found in the grave-chamber, also
-have turned up bones of men, horses, dogs, a golden ornament delicately
-worked, a bone comb, bone buttons, etc." He afterwards writes to say
-that the burial urn was found three inches under the soil, and was
-covered with a thin slab. "It was seven inches high, nine inches in
-diameter, filled with burnt bones, human and animal (horse, dog, etc.),
-ashes, charcoal (of needle and leaf trees), nails, copper ornaments,
-bone articles, a bird of bone, etc. In the mass of charcoal also were
-found bones, broken ornaments, bits of two golden bracteates, etc. Coins
-of King Oscar were then placed in the urn, and everything restored as
-before. Frey's Howe was opened, and showed the same results."
-
-"Dr. Fergusson, commenting on this, says--"With a little local industry,
-I have very little doubt, not only that the date of these tombs could be
-ascertained, but the names of the royal personages who were therein
-buried, probably in the sixth or seventh century of our era."
-
-In a paper read before the Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society, in
-March, 1860, the late Dr. Robson says--"In the Ordnance survey as first
-published on the inch scale, about half a mile to the east of Winwick
-church, we find a couple of tumuli, one on each side of a bye-lane; but
-in the later and larger map, a single tumulus is marked, through the
-centre of which the road seems to have been cut. The earlier survey
-gives the more correct representation of the place, as there have
-certainly been at least two barrows, one in the field on the east, the
-other in that of the west side of the lane." The latter is on a farm
-called "Highfields." As the land has long been under cultivation, the
-tumulus was not very well defined, but it appeared to have been about
-thirty yards in diameter. The summit is "distinct enough," says Dr.
-Robson, and "is about six feet above the level of the lane." This mound
-was dug into in November, 1859, and the Dr. records that "deposits of
-burned bones were found at some distance from its centre, on the slopes
-to the east and south. These bones were in small fragments, apparently
-in distinct heaps, mixed with minute particles of burnt wood, and one or
-two fragments of brown, thick, ill-burnt and rude pottery turned up,
-not, however, appearing to have any connection with the bone
-deposits--the only portion of which offering any recognisable character,
-was the head of a thigh bone of a subject twelve or fourteen years old.
-About six feet deep in the centre, the red sandstone rock was
-reached.... Some labourers working in the field on the other side of the
-lane, fifteen years ago, came upon an urn with bones in it, apparently
-of a similar description. This tumulus was removed at the beginning of
-the present year, and the men in their operations cutting into some soft
-black stuff, struck a spade into an urn and broke it into pieces; it
-seems to have been of large size, and has a feathered pattern scored on
-the outside, in other respects agreeing with the fragments already
-described. It contained bones in the same fragmentary state as those
-found on the west side of the lane, and with them a stone hammer-head
-and a bronze dart."
-
-Near these tumuli, on the ordnance map, is a place named Arbury. This
-name has evidently had originally some connection with these mounds. In
-the "Imperial Gazetteer," Arbury, in Herts, on the Icknield-st., is
-described as a "Roman camp," and so is Arbury or Harborough, near
-Cambridge, as well as Arbury Banks, on the Watling-st., near Chipping
-Norton, Northamptonshire. In Anglo-Saxon the prefix _ar_, according to
-Bosworth's Dictionary, signifies "glory, honour, respect, reverence,"
-etc.
-
-Dr. Robson discusses at some length the presumed date of these
-interments, and contends that such nomenclature as "stone and bronze
-periods" only mislead. He says--"In some graves are coins which carry a
-date with them, and in others Roman remains which belong to the first
-four centuries of our era. But in tumuli such as those at Winwick, there
-is nothing to show whether it was raised six centuries before or six
-centuries after that period." From the drawings which accompany Dr.
-Robson's paper, there appears nothing to vitiate the hypothesis that
-these mounds were raised on the battle-field of 642. The stone hammer is
-highly finished and polished. The form of the spear-head agrees with
-some of the examples figured by Mr. Thomas Wright and Mr. L. Jewitt, as
-pertaining to the earlier Anglo-Saxon period. It presents a kind of
-transition from between the shorter Roman bronze and the more elongated
-iron of the later Anglo-Saxon time. The "feathery pattern" scored on
-the pottery resembles the rude "herring-bone," or zig-zag ornamentation
-of late Roman and early Anglo-Saxon masonry.
-
-Another and much larger tumulus until recently was situated opposite to
-the parish church at Warrington, and contiguous to the ancient
-Latchford, by which the British trackway and the great Roman road
-crossed the Mersey. For some miles both on the east and west, in early
-times, no other route was practicable; the mosses on the one hand and
-the tidal estuary on the other presenting insuperable obstacles,
-especially to heavy traffic. The tumulus at Warrington, named the "Mote
-Hill," was entirely removed in 1852. Pennant had conjectured it to be
-Roman; Ormerod, Norman; and John Whitaker, Saxon. In a paper read before
-the Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society, on November, 1852, Dr.
-Kendrick gave a detailed account of the excavation, and exhibited the
-discovered remains. Some of the pottery was rude (apparently
-Romano-British), and cremated human remains were present, as well as an
-immense quantity of the remains of animals. Referring to Whitaker's
-conjecture of the Saxon origin of the mound, or of that race having
-utilised it, Dr. Kendrick says--"to this opinion I think all the
-appearances detailed this evening afford strong support." Mr. Sibson,
-likewise, who was present at the examination of the hill in 1832, and
-again in 1841, coincides in this view, and suggests that it originally
-constituted a _tumulus_, or burial place, raised after the battle fought
-at Winwick. Dr. Kendrick thought that as the church was dedicated to
-St. Elphin, slain in 679, the mound might have covered his remains; but
-the Pagan character of the interment or interments negatives this view.
-
-Mr. W. T. Watkin, in a note to the present writer, says--"Dr. Kendrick's
-account compared with that of Mr. Sibson evidently shows that the mound
-was originally a Roman boundary mark, used afterwards in Saxon and
-mediaeval times for various purposes. The second excavation merely shows
-the contents of the mound as they _were thrown in_ after the first
-exploration, with the exception of the well and one or two smaller
-details." He adds--"All these things are in accordance with the rules of
-the Roman _agrimensores_." This view seems very probable.[20]
-
-I am inclined to regard these tumuli, in the main, as monuments of the
-site of some great battle or battles, and that amongst others, Maserfeld
-may be, perhaps, the latest and most important fought in the
-neighbourhood previous to the disuse of cremation and the general
-adoption of the modern Christian mode of interment. The whole of these
-large barrows were evidently erected by people who burned and buried
-their dead on the spot where the memorial mound or monument was
-afterwards erected. We know from the Venerable Bede's record, how the
-body of King Oswald was disposed of. Besides the king being a pious
-Christian, such a mode of sepulture would not have been adopted by his
-followers. Penda, on the contrary, was a Pagan, and strongly attached to
-the superstitions and customs of his Teutonic ancestors. We know that
-the Pagan Anglo-Saxons in England practised both modes of interment, the
-burial of the body entire and cremation. Mr. Thomas Wright says--(Celt,
-Roman, and Saxon, p. 401) "The custom in this respect appears to have
-varied with the different tribes who came into the island. In the
-Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Kent, cremation is the rare exception to the
-general rule; while it seems to have been the _predominating practice_
-among the Angles from Norfolk into the centre of Mercia." It is,
-therefore, highly probable, if the battle of Maserfeld was fought in
-this district, that these tumuli, or some portion of them, were raised
-by the Pagan Mercian victors over the bodies of chieftains of their
-party slain in the battle. Nennius says that in the conflict Penda's
-brother Eawa was slain, and, consequently, he and the other Pagan
-chieftains who fell in the battle would be interred in Pagan fashion by
-the victorious survivors.
-
-The oldest Anglo-Saxon poem extant, "Beowulf," the scene of the events
-of which Mr. D. Haigh, in his "Conquest of Britain by the Saxons,"
-contends to be the neighbourhood of Hartlepool, in Durham,[21] has
-preserved to us a description of such a ceremonial in detail. On
-Beowulf's death, his warriors raised a funeral pile to burn the body. It
-was--
-
-    hung round with helmets,
-    with boards of war, [shields]
-    and with bright byrnies, [coats of mail]
-    as he had requested.
-    Then the heroes, weeping,
-    laid down in the midst
-    the famous chieftain,
-    their dear lord.
-    Then began on the hill,
-    the warriors to awake
-    the mightiest of funeral fires;
-    the wood-smoke rose aloft
-    dark from the fire;
-    noisily it went,
-    mingled with weeping.
-
-His faithful followers afterwards erected the barrow over his ashes:--
-
-    a mound over the sea;
-    it was high and broad,
-    by the sailors over the waves
-    the beacon of the war-renowned.
-    They surrounded it with a wall
-    in the most honourable manner
-    that wise men
-    could desire.
-    They put into the mound
-    rings and bright gems,
-    all such ornaments
-    as before from the hoard
-    the fierce-minded men
-    had taken.
-
-The date of the erection of the first parish church at Winwick is not
-known with certainty. Some contend that it was coeval with the
-introduction of Christianity into the North of England by Paulinus.
-Although this is incapable of absolute verification, it is generally
-conceded that a church must have existed for some time antecedent to
-the Norman conquest. The Domesday Survey, under the head of "Newton
-Hundred," seems to confirm this. It says, "Under the reign of King
-Edward" (the Confessor) "there were five hides in Newton: one of these
-was held in demesne. The church of this manor had one carucate of land,
-and St. Oswald, of this village, had two carucates, _exempt from all
-taxation_." Mr. Baines says--"In 1828, while digging a vault in the
-chancel of this church, there were found, at the depth of eight or ten
-feet below the floor, three human skeletons of gigantic size, laid upon
-each other, and over them a rude heap of cubical sandstone blocks of
-irregular dimensions, varying from one to two feet. No remains of
-coffins were found in the grave, and the history of the occupants of
-this mysterious tomb remains undiscovered." It seems, however, not
-improbable that these interments took place anterior to the building of
-the church, that the skeletons were the remains of chieftains who
-perished with Oswald, and that the sacred edifice, dedicated to the
-warrior saint, was afterwards erected on the spot.
-
-The first known record of the old church at Oswestry is thus referred to
-by the Rev. D. R. Thomas (His: Diocese of St. Asaph):--"The Parish
-Church of St. Oswald is first definitely mentioned in 1086 in the Grant
-of Warin, Vicecomes ... to the abbot and monks of Shrewsbury Abbey,
-dedit eis _Ecclesiam Sancti Oswaldi_ cum decima ville;" but there is a
-belief that there was a still earlier one elsewhere than on the present
-site, which may be due partly to the fact that the town was originally
-built on some other site, partly to the circumstance that several of the
-earlier mission stations are still indicated by such names as Maen
-Tysilio, Croes-Wylan, Cae Croes, and Croes Oswaldt, or The Cross; and to
-the tradition which Leyland records, "that at Llanforda was a church
-now" (sixteenth century) "decaid. Sum say this was the paroche church of
-Oswestre."
-
-I have previously referred to the ancient well, situated about
-half-a-mile from Winwick Church, known from time immemorial as "St.
-Oswald's Well." Mr. Edward Baines regards this sacred spring as having
-been originally formed by the excavation of earth on the spot where
-Oswald fell, and he fortifies his position by reference to Bede, who
-says--"Whereupon many took up of the very dust of the place where his
-body fell, and putting it into water, did much good with it to their
-friends who were sick. This custom came so much into use, that the earth
-being carried away by degrees, there remained a hole as deep as the
-height of a man."
-
-Perhaps the most important objection to the Oswestry site lies in the
-fact that there is no satisfactory representative of the name of
-Maserfeld to be found in its neighbourhood.[22] One writer says--"In the
-vicinity of the town, at a place called by the Welsh 'Cae Naef'
-(Heaven's Field) there is a remarkably fine spring of water, which bears
-the name of Oswald's Well, and over which, as recently as the year 1770,
-were the ruins of a very ancient chapel likewise dedicated to him."
-Commenting on this, Mr. E. Baines says--"The well in that country is a
-spring and not a fosse, as described by Bede, and is as the well at
-Winwick," and he regards this feature as additional evidence in favour
-of the presumed Lancashire site of the battle. The saint's _well_ is
-not, however, of much value, as Bede makes no mention of any spring,
-natural or otherwise, and wells dedicated to saints in the "olden time,"
-are common all over the country. Indeed, there is a natural spring near
-the main highway about a mile to the north of Winwick Church, which is
-likewise called St. Oswald's well. From Bede's context it is evident
-Oswald died on the ordinary dry earth, which, in consequence,
-thenceforth produced greener grass than the surrounding land, and the
-_soil_ was afterwards mixed with water and used medicinally. In England
-there are at least five different places named after St. Oswald, and, in
-addition, many ecclesiastical edifices have been dedicated to him.
-
-There is something mysterious, or at least curiously coincident, about
-this Welsh "Cae Naef," or "Heaven's Field," as this latter, according to
-Bede, is the name of the site of the previous battle in 635, when Oswald
-defeated and slew Cadwalla. The same authority likewise refers to it as
-being fought "at a place called Denises-burn, that is Denis's-brook."
-Dr. Giles says "Dilston is identified with the ancient Deniseburn, but
-on no authority." Dilston is situated about two miles from Hexham.
-Sharon Turner says--"Camden places this battle at Dilston, formerly
-Devilston, on a small brook which empties into the Tyne." He adds,
-"Smith, with greater probability, makes Errinburn as the rivulet on
-which Cadwallon perished, and the fields either of Cockley, Hallington,
-or Bingfield, as the scene of the conflict. The Angles called it
-Hefenfield, which name, according to tradition, Bingfield bore." Dr.
-Smith says that Hallington was anciently Heavenfelth, but adds that
-probably the whole country from Hallington southward to the Roman wall
-was originally included in the name. On the place where Oswald is said
-to have raised a cross, as his standard during the battle, a church was
-afterwards erected. Thus it would at first sight appear that Oswestry
-might enter into competition with Bingfield for the site of the
-Heavenfield struggle, rather than with Winwick for that of Maserfeld.
-There is, however, one important fact which fatally militates against
-this. Bede says, referring to the Heavenfield where Cadwalla met his
-death, the "place is near the wall with which the Romans formerly
-enclosed the island from sea to sea, to restrain the fury of the
-barbarous nations, as has been said before." The greater probability is
-as the two engagements are intertwined by the Welsh Bruts, and in the
-Oswestry and Geoffrey traditions, that the place owes its designation
-directly to neither the one nor the other; but that, like the sites I
-have mentioned, the dedication of a church to the saint has been
-sufficient to confer his name on the locality. That a neighbouring well,
-under such circumstances, should receive a similar designation, is too
-ordinary a matter to require special consideration.
-
-It is not at all improbable that, as Geoffrey and the Welsh Bruts both
-refer to the battle in which Oswald fell as fought at or near Burne, the
-Oswestry traditions may have originally only had reference to the battle
-of Denis-BURN or Denis-brook, in which the Welsh Christian hero,
-Cadwalla, was slain by his hated rival, the Anglican Christian king
-Oswald, of Northumbria. It is utterly improbable that the Welsh
-Christians would dedicate a church to St. Oswald. The first Christian
-king of Northumbria, Edwin, the friend of Paulinus and Augustine, was
-slain by Cadwalla, "king of the Britons," or Brit-Welsh, in a battle at
-Heathfield (Hadfield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire), A.D. 633, in
-which he was aided by the pagan Penda. The Brit-Welsh Christians and the
-disciples of Augustine and Paulinus hated each other with more than
-ordinary sacerdotal intensity, and the former often entered into
-alliances with the pagan Anglo-Saxons, in order to avenge themselves on
-their detested rivals. One of the subjects of fierce contention between
-them, as is well known, related to the time for the celebration of
-Easter. Bede, referring to the defeat of Edwin at Heathfield and the
-consequences attendant thereon, says--
-
-"A great slaughter was made in the church or nation of the
-Northumbrians; and the more so because one of the commanders by whom it
-was made was a pagan, and the other a barbarian more cruel than a pagan;
-for Penda, with all the nation of the Mercians, was an idolator and a
-stranger to the name of Christ; but Cadwalla, although he bore the name
-and professed himself a Christian, was so barbarous in his disposition
-and behaviour, that he neither spared the female sex, nor the innocent
-age of children, but with savage cruelty put them to tormenting deaths,
-ravaging all their country for a long time, and resolving to cut off all
-the race of the English within the borders of Britain. Nor did he pay
-any respect to the _Christian religion which had newly taken root among
-them_; it being to this day" (the 8th century) "the custom of Britons
-not to pay any respect to the faith and religion of the English, nor to
-correspond with them any more than with pagans."
-
-Unquestionably no Christian church was dedicated to St. Oswald at
-Oswestry until after the final subjection of the district by the
-Anglican Christians. The probability therefore is that the locality was
-merely named, as in the other instances referred to, from the fact that
-it had become the location of a place of worship dedicated to him, and
-that gradually the various traditions about the saint and his rivals
-became inextricably confused. The last syllable "_tre_" is indicative of
-British influence in the formation of the word Oswestry, as in Pentre,
-Gladestry, Coventry (in Radnorshire), Tremadoc, Trewilan, Tredegar,
-etc., which simply means, according to Spurrell's Welsh dictionary,
-"resort, homestead, home, hamlet, town (used chiefly in composition)."
-Indeed, Oswestry is more suggestive of Oswy's-tre, and may refer to a
-successor who, some time after Oswald's death, built a church and
-dedicated it to the saintly monarch.
-
-The pagan Mercian king, Penda, was himself slain in the following year
-by Oswy, the successor to St. Oswald. Bede says "the battle was fought
-near the river Vinwed, which then with the great rains had not only
-filled its channel, but overflowed its banks, so that many more were
-drowned in the flight than destroyed by the sword." Most authorities
-place this battle at Winwidfield, near Leeds. Mr. Thos. Baines, however
-("Historical Notes on the Valley of the Mersey," His. Soc. Lan. and
-Ches. Pro. session 5), claims for Winwick the scene of both engagements.
-He says--"Penda and upwards of thirty of his principal officers were
-drowned in their flight, having been driven into the river Winweyde, the
-waters of which were at that time much swollen by heavy rains. There is
-no stream in England which is more liable to be suddenly flooded than
-the stream which joins the Mersey below Winwick[23], and there both the
-resemblance of the names, and the probability of the fact, induce me to
-think that Penda met with his death within two or three miles of the
-place at which Oswald had fallen."
-
-This seems, at first sight, plausible enough, but as Bede distinctly
-states that "King Oswy concluded the aforesaid war in the country of
-Loides" (Leeds), Winwidfield must unquestionably have preference over
-the Lancashire site, as the scene of Penda's discomfiture and death.
-
-It is generally accepted that Oswald died either at Oswestry or Winwick.
-There are some, however, who accept neither, but contend that the true
-site of the battle may yet, possibly, be found in a different locality.
-This appears to be the opinion of Mr. John R. Green. In support of this
-view he says ("Making of England")--"Though the conversion of Wessex had
-prisoned it (Mercia) within the central districts of England, heathendom
-fought desperately for life. Penda remained its rallying point; and the
-long reign of the Mercian king was in fact one continuous battle with
-the Cross. But so far as we can judge from his acts, Penda seemed to
-have looked on the strife of religion in a purely political light. The
-point of conflict, as before," [that is when Edwin was defeated and
-slain at Hatfield] "seems to have been the dominion over East Anglia.
-Its possession was vital to Mid-Britain as it was to Northumbria, which
-needed it to link itself with its West-Saxon subjects in the south; and
-Oswald must have felt that he was challenging his rival to a decisive
-combat when he marched, in 642, to deliver the East Anglians from Penda.
-But his doom was that of Eadwine; for he was overthrown and slain in a
-battle called the battle of Maserfeld."
-
-If this view be accepted, the claim of Oswestry must be at once
-dismissed, while that of Winwick is rendered still more doubtful. But
-Mr. Green does not state on what authority he relies when he states that
-Oswald "marched in 642, to deliver the East-Anglians from Penda." In
-consequence I am unable to test its value or probability. He certainly
-would not march by either Oswestry or Winwick if such were his
-destination. This statement, however, appears to be not exactly in
-accordance with another by Mr. Green, previously quoted, in which he
-says, referring to the antecedents of the war under Oswy, which
-followed Oswald's death, and in which Penda was slain near the river
-Winwid--"That Oswiu strove to avert the conflict we see from the
-delivery of his youngest son Ecgfrith as a hostage into Penda's hands.
-The sacrifice, however, proved useless. _Penda was again the assailant_,
-and his attack was as vigorous as of old."
-
-If Penda was the assailant, his assault must, in the first instance,
-have been not on Oswald himself, but on his East-Anglian allies, or
-Oswald would not have thought of marching in that direction for their
-relief. But if Penda, having previously humbled the East-Anglians, had
-become aware of such intention on the part of the Northumbrian monarch,
-there is nothing improbable in a vigorous warrior of Penda's stamp, by a
-rapid march, surprising him on the frontier of his own dominions,
-defeating him, and thus warding off the threatened blow. Under such
-circumstances Winwick might very probably have been the scene of the
-conflict. The advocates of Oswestry do not deny the great probability
-that Oswald had a favourite residence in the locality.
-
-The neighbourhood of Winwick, however, is the undisputed site of a
-battle in more recent times. After the Duke of Hamilton's defeat at
-Preston, by Cromwell, in 1648, the former made a stand against his
-pursuers at a place called "Red Bank," where he was totally routed by
-the less numerous but highly disciplined army of his more skilful
-antagonist.
-
-A rude piece of sculpture built in the outer wall, evidently a relic
-from an older edifice, was long supposed to be a representation of the
-crest of St. Oswald; but this is disputed by Mr. Edward Baines. He
-says--"The heralds assign to that monarch azure, a cross between four
-lions rampant, or." He adds--"Superstition sees in the chained hog the
-resemblance of a monster in former ages, which prowled over the
-neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast, and which could only
-be restrained by the subduing force of the sacred edifice." This
-sculpture he regards as not improbably a rude attempt to "represent the
-crest of the Gerrards--a lion rampant, armed and langued, with a coronet
-upon the head." This is certainly more probable than the heralds'
-assignment of "azure, a cross between four lions rampant, or," to
-Oswald, which is suggestive of mediaeval Norman-French associations and
-nomenclature, without the slightest Anglo-Saxon ingredient. The late Mr.
-T. T. Wilkinson refers to a tradition which asserts that "the demon-pig
-not only determined the site of St. Oswald's Church, at Winwick, but
-gave a name to the parish." This attempt to solve the enigma by the
-assistance of the squeak of a sucking pig, has evidently originated in
-some rural jesting or lame attempt to divine the connection of the
-animal with the church and neighbourhood.
-
-This traditionary "monster in former ages, which prowled over the
-neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast," is worthy of a
-little more serious attention than has hitherto been paid to it. The
-legend is evidently but a northern form of the wide-spread Aryan myth
-concerning Vritra, the dragon, or storm-fiend, who stole the light rain
-clouds (the "herds of Indra," the Sanscrit "god of the clear heaven, and
-of light, warmth, and fertilising rain"), and hid them in the cave of
-the Panis (the dark storm-cloud). Indra, launching his lightning-spear
-into the black thunder-cloud, (personified by the dragon, snake, or
-monster whose poisonous breath parched the earth and destroyed the
-harvest), released the confined waters and thus refertilised the land.
-The Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, in his "Manual of Mythology," says--"In the
-Indian tales Indra kills the dragon Vritra, and in the old Norse legend
-Sigurd kills the great snake Fafnir." The myth survives in the exploits
-of the patron saint of England, St. George, the slayer of the dragon.
-In one Teutonic form Odin, or Wodin, hunted the wild boar, the
-representative of the stormy wind-clouds. His tusk was a type of the
-lightning. This mythical devouring monster is reproduced in Grendel, the
-"great scather," in the old Anglo-Saxon poem "Beowulf," the scene of
-which Mr. D. Haigh, in his "Conquest of the Britons by the Saxons,"
-regards as the neighbourhood of Hartlepool, in Durham.
-
-There exists a great diversity of opinion as to the genesis and original
-habitat of the poem, Beowulf. Mr. Frederick Metcalfe, in his "Englishman
-and Scandinavian," says--"There is, however, one Saxon work which tells
-us of the northern mythology, 'Beowulf,' the oldest heroic, or, as
-some will have it, mythic--perhaps it will be best to call it
-mytho-heroic--poem in any German language, and which has been pronounced
-to be older than Homer." In another place he says--"The date of its
-composition has been much debated. By Conybeare it was thought, in its
-present shape, to be the work of the bards about Canute's court. The
-leading incidents of the plot are as follows:--Beowulf, the son of
-Ecgtheow and prince in Scania (South Sweden), hearing how for twelve
-years King Hrothgar and his people in North Jutland had been mightily
-oppressed by a monster, Grendel, resolves to deliver him, and arrives at
-Hart Hall, the Jutish palace, as an avenger."
-
-Mr. Benjamin Thorpe, in the preface to his edition of the poem (1855)
-says--"With respect to this the oldest heroic poem in any Germanic
-tongue, my opinion is, that it is not an original production of the
-Anglo-Saxon muse, but a metrical paraphrase of an heroic Saga composed
-in the south-west of Sweden, in the old common language of the north,
-and probably brought to this country during the sway of the Danish
-dynasty. It is in this light only that I can view a work evincing a
-knowledge of northern localities and persons, hardly to be acquired by a
-native of England in those days of ignorance with regard to remote
-foreign parts. And what interest could an Anglo-Saxon feel in the
-valourous feats of his deadly foes, the northmen? in the encounter of a
-Sweo-Gothic hero with a monster in Denmark? or with a fire-drake in his
-own country? The answer, I think, is obvious--_none whatever_." In a
-note Mr. Thorpe says--"Let us cherish the hope that the original Saga
-may one day be discovered in some Swedish library." The only MS. of the
-poem extant, (MS. Cott. Vitellius A. 15), he says--"I take to be of the
-first half of the eleventh century."
-
-With respect to the strictly historical character of this poem, Mr.
-Thorpe says--"Preceding editors have regarded the poem of Beowulf as a
-myth, and its heroes as beings of a divine order.[24] To my dull
-perception these appear as real kings and chieftains of the North, some
-of them as Hygelac and Offa, entering within the pale of authentic
-history, while the names of others may have perished, either because the
-records in which they were chronicled are no longer extant, or the
-individuals themselves were not of sufficient importance to occupy a
-place in them."
-
-Mr. Haigh likewise contends for the historic value of the poem; but
-attributes its locality to Britain. Some of the legends and traditions
-of the North of England certainly suggest that the Scandinavian
-population settled there were either acquainted with the poem or the
-legendary elements which strongly characterise it, and upon which it is
-evidently mainly constructed, whatever strictly historical matter, as in
-the romances of Richard Coeur de Lion, Charlemagne, Arthur, and others,
-may have become incorporated therewith.[25]
-
-Mr. John R. Green ("The Making of England") says, "The song as we have
-it now is a poem of the eighth century, the work it may be of some
-English missionary of the days of Beda and Boniface, who gathered in the
-homeland of his race the legend of its earlier prime."
-
-After referring to the interpolations in which there "is a distinctly
-Christian element, contrasting strongly with the general heathen current
-of the whole," Mr. Sweet, in his "Sketch of the History of the
-Anglo-Saxon Poetry," in Hazlitt's edition of Warton's "His. of English
-Poetry," says--"Without these additions and alterations it is certain
-that we have in Beowulf a poem composed before the Teutonic conquest of
-Britain. The localities are purely continental; the scenery is laid
-amongst the Goths of Sweden and the Danes; in the episodes the Swedes,
-Frisians, and other continental tribes appear, while there is no mention
-of England, or the adjoining countries and nations."
-
-Mr. Jno. Fenton, in an able article on "Easter" in the _Antiquary_ for
-April, 1882, says--"To us in western lands the equinox is the beginning
-of spring and the new life of the year; but in the east it is the
-beginning of summer, when the early harvest is also ripe, when the sun
-is parching the grass and drying up the wells, when, as Egyptian
-folk-lore has it, a serpent wanders over the earth, infecting the
-atmosphere with its poisonous breath."[26]
-
-These mythical huge worms, serpents, dragons, wild boars, and other
-monsters, "harvest blasters," are still very common in the North of
-England. The famous "Lambton worm," of huge dimensions and poisonous
-breath, when coiled round a hill, was pacified with copious draughts of
-milk, and his blood flowed freely when he was pierced by the spear-heads
-attached to the armour of the returned Crusader. The Linton worm curled
-itself round a hill, and by its poisonous breath destroyed the
-neighbouring animal and vegetable life. The Pollard worm is described as
-"a venomous serpent which did much harm to man and beast," while that at
-Stockburn is designated as the "worm, dragon, or fiery flying serpent,
-which destroyed man, woman, and child."
-
-In the ancient romance in English verse, which celebrates the deeds of
-the renowned Sir Guy, of Warwick, is the following quaint description
-of a Northumberland dragon, slain by the hero:--
-
-    A messenger came to the king.
-    Syr king he sayd, lysten me now,
-    For bad tydinges I bring you.
-    In Northumberlande there is no man,
-    But that they be slayne everychone;
-    For there dare no man route,
-    By twenty myle rounde aboute,
-    For doubt of a fowle dragon,
-    That sleath men and beastes downe.
-    He is blacke as any cole,
-    Ragged as a rough fole;
-    His body from the navill upwards.
-    No man may it pierce it is so harde;
-    His neck is great as any summere;
-    He renneth as swift as any distrere;
-    Pawes he hath as a lyon;
-    All that he toucheth he sleath dead downe,
-    Great winges he hath to flight,
-    That is no man that bare him might,
-    There may no man fight him agayne,
-    But that he sleath him certayne;
-    For a fowler beast then is he,
-    Ywis of none never heard ye.
-
-The said Guy, amongst other marvellous exploits, killed at "Winsor,"
-
-    A bore of passing might and strength,
-    Whose like in England never was,
-    For hugenesse both in breadth and length.
-
-Mr. Barrett, a saddler, of Manchester, with antiquarian taste, in an
-illuminated MS., now in the Chetham Library, refers to an old tradition
-concerning a dragon whose den was amongst the red sandstone rocks in the
-neighbourhood of Lymm, about five miles from Warrington. Geoffrey of
-Monmouth, in Merlin's prophesy especially, often refers to these
-mythical monsters; and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is equally expressive
-in attributing disaster to their influences. In the latter work we read:
-"A.D. 793. This year dire forewarnings came over the land of the
-Northumbrians, and miserably terrified the people; these were excessive
-whirlwinds and lightnings; and fiery dragons were seen flying in the
-air. A great famine soon followed these tokens." Mr. Baring-Gould says,
-as recently as the year 1600,--"A German writer would illustrate a
-thunderstorm destroying a crop of corn by a picture of a dragon
-devouring the produce of the field with his flaming tongue and iron
-teeth."
-
-That this tradition at Winwick respecting a "monster in former ages,
-which prowled over the neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and
-beast," is a legitimate descendant from our Aryan ancestors'
-personification of natural phenomena, seems very apparent, and aptly
-illustrates what Sir G. W. Dasent terms the "toughness of tradition,"
-especially when interwoven with the marvellous or supernatural. Mr.
-Walter K. Kelly, in his "Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and
-Folk-Lore," says--"These phenomena were noted and designated with a
-watchfulness and a wealth of imagery which made them the principal
-groundwork of all the Indo-European mythologies and superstitions. The
-thunder was the bellowing of a mighty beast or the rolling of a wagon.
-The lightning was a sinuous serpent, or a spear shot straight athwart
-the sky, or a fish darting in zigzags through the waters of heaven. The
-stormy winds were howling dogs or wolves; the ravages of the whirlwind
-that tore up the earth _were the work of a wild boar_."[27] Mr. Fiske,
-in his "Myths and Myth-makers," says that these mythical monsters "not
-only steal the daylight, but they parch the earth and wither the fruits,
-and they slay vegetation during the winter months."
-
-These traditionary "Harvest Blasters," as they are sometimes styled,
-have a wide range, and are not confined even to the various branches of
-the Aryan race.
-
-Most writers agree in assigning the origin of heraldry, in the modern
-acceptation of the term, to the crusades. At least little is recorded
-concerning the "science," or "art," as it is sometimes termed,
-previously to the middle of the twelfth century. It was found necessary
-during the religious wars in the east that the knights should wear some
-device or distinguishing badge on the field of battle, on account of the
-diversity of the languages spoken by the combatants, and hence the term
-"cognizance" was often applied to these symbols. This, in the following
-century, eventuated in the adoption of the warlike badges or "arms" of
-the original bearers by their families. They afterwards became
-hereditary characteristics, and hence the development of the _quasi_
-science. These devices were figured on crest, banner, and shield. One
-authority (Pen. Cyclop.) says--"The crest is said to have been carved on
-light wood, or made of leather, _in the shape of some animal, real or
-fictitious_, and fastened by a fillet of silk round the helmet, over
-which was a large piece of fringed samit or taffeta, pointed with a
-tassel at the end." The same writer adds--"The custom of conferring
-crests as distinguishing marks seems to have originated with Edward
-III., who, in 1333 (Rot. Pat., 9 Edward III.), granted one to William
-Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, his 'tymbre,' as it is called, of the
-eagle. By a further grant, in the thirteenth of the same king (Rot.
-Vasc., 13 Edward III., m. 4), the grant of this crest was made
-hereditary, and the manor of Wodeton given in addition to support its
-dignity."
-
-I am inclined, notwithstanding, to regard heraldry in its more extended
-significance, that is if the term can properly be applied to practices
-anterior to the establishment of heralds, as of much greater antiquity
-than the crusades. Herodotus tells us that the Carians first set the
-Greeks the example of fastening crests upon their helmets, and of
-putting devices upon their shields. The "totems," or beast symbols, of
-our savage ancestors undoubtedly preceded the mediaeval practice, and
-influenced its incipient development. The "White Horse" of Hengist, the
-"Raven" of the Scandinavian vikings, the "Golden Dragon" of the kings of
-Wessex, as well as others, might be mentioned, which clearly demonstrate
-this position. Uther, the father of Arthur, according to Geoffrey of
-Monmouth, caused "two dragons to be made of gold, which was done with
-wondrous nicety of workmanship." The quasi-historian adds--"He made a
-present of one to the cathedral church of Winchester, but reserved the
-other for himself to be carried along with him to his wars. From this
-time, therefore, he was called Uther Pendragon, which in the British
-tongue signifies the dragon's head." Indeed, amongst savage nations at
-the present or relatively recent time, we find "totems" or symbols, such
-as beaver, snake, hare, cornstalk, black hawk, dog, wolf, bear, beaver,
-little bear, crazy horse, and sitting bull, not only used by the warrior
-chiefs, but even the tribes sometimes take their names therefrom.
-
-Mr. E. B. Tylor, in his "Early History of Mankind," says--"More than
-twenty years ago, Sir George Grey called attention to the divisions of
-the Australians into families, and distinguished by the name of some
-animal or vegetable, which served as their crest or _kobong_." He
-adds--"The Indian tribes" (of America) "are usually divided into clans,
-each distinguished by a _totem_ (Algonquin _do-daim_, that is 'town
-mark,') which is commonly some animal, as a bear, wolf, deer, etc.,
-which may be compared on the one hand to a crest, and on the other to a
-surname."
-
-Indeed, until very recently, some of our own regiments had their "beast
-totem" in the shape of a goat, a bear, or a tiger, which generally
-marched at the head of the corps. The goat, I believe, yet survives, and
-the men of one regiment are designated "tigers" to this day.
-
-The crest is evidently one of the oldest, if not the oldest, forms in
-which the beast symbol was displayed. The bronze Roman helmet, or rather
-bust or head of Minerva, found at Ribchester, in 1796, had originally a
-sphinx as a crest. This appendage, however, having become detached, has
-since been lost. The gladiators' helmet decorations, in the pictures
-found at Pompeii, are generally plumes or tufts of horsehair, but some
-of their shields exhibit devices suggestive of those of more recent
-date. The Roman historians, recording the events pertaining to the
-great Cimbri-Teutonic invasion rather more than a century before the
-Christian era, state that each of the fifteen thousand horsemen, which
-formed the elite of the army of Bojorix, "bore upon his helmet the head
-of some savage beast, with its mouth gaping wide."
-
-Osman, the son of Ertoghrul, was the founder of the Turkish empire (A.D.
-1288-1326). One writer (Pen. Cyc.) says--"The name Osman is of Arabic
-origin (Othman), and signifies literally the bone-breaker; but it also
-designates a species of large vulture, usually called the royal vulture,
-and in this latter acceptation it was given to the son of Ertoghrul."
-
-The Rev. Isaac Taylor, in his "Etruscan Researches," referring to the
-origin of the tribal "totem" of the Asena horde, afterwards named Turks,
-says--"It is not difficult to discover the genesis of the legend. It has
-been already shown that the ancient Ugric word _sena_ meant a 'man.' The
-analogy of a host of ancient tribe-names leaves little doubt that the
-Asena simply called themselves 'the men.' This obvious etymology of the
-name having in lapse of time become obscure by linguistic changes, the
-word _schino_, a wolf, was assumed to be the true source of the national
-appellation, and the myth came into existence as a means of accounting
-for the name of the nation which proudly called itself the 'wolf-race,'
-and bore the wolves' heads as its 'totem.'"
-
-It is said the Kabyls tattoo figures of animals on their foreheads,
-cheeks, nose, or temples, in order to distinguish their various tribes.
-A similar practice obtains generally in central Africa and the Caroline
-archipelago.
-
-The plague, sent by Artemis to punish AEneus, who had neglected to offer
-up to her a portion of a sacrifice, was a "monstrous boar," afterwards
-slain by Meleagros, Atalanta, and others, in the famous Kalydonian hunt,
-is evidently a Greek form of a mythical "monster, which in former ages
-prowled over the neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast."
-
-The boar, or the boar's head, was a favourite helmet crest or "totem"
-amongst our Teutonic ancestors, both Scandinavian and German. This
-animal was sacred to the goddess Friga, or Freya, whom Tacitus, in his
-"Germania," styles the "mother of the gods," and from whom our Friday is
-named. She was propitiated by the warriors in order to secure her
-protection in battle. This practice is often referred to in the sagas,
-as well as in the earliest known example of Anglo-Saxon poetry extant,
-"Beowulf." The following illustrations are from this remarkable poem:--
-
-    When we in battle our mail hoods defended,
-    When troops rushed together and boar-crests crashed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    Then commanded he to bring in
-    The boar, an ornament to the head,
-    The helmet lofty in war.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    Surrounded with lordly chains,
-    Even as in days of yore,
-    The weapon-smith had wrought it,
-    Had wondrously finished it,
-    Had set it round with shapes of swine,
-    That never afterwards brand or war-knife
-    Might have power to bite it.
-    They seemed a boar's form
-    To bear over their cheeks;
-    Twisted with gold,
-    Variegated and hardened in the fire;
-    This kept the guard of life.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    At the pile was
-    Easy to be seen
-    The mail shirt covered with gore,
-    The hog of gold,
-    The boar hard as iron.
-
-In the episode relating the events attendant on the battle of Finsburgh,
-in the same poem, we find similar importance attached to the boar, as
-the warrior's protector. We read--
-
-    Of the martial Scyldings,
-    The best of warriors,
-    On the pile was ready;
-    At the heap was
-    Easy to be seen
-    The blood-stained tunic,
-    The swine all golden,
-    The boar iron-hard, etc.
-
-In the "Life of Merlin," Arthur and his kinsman, Hoel, are described as
-"two lions," and "two moons." In the same poem, Hoel is styled the
-"Armorican boar."
-
-In the Welsh poem, "The Gododin," by Aneurin, are several allusions to
-the boar and the bull, as warlike appellations:--
-
-    It was like the tearing onset of the woodland boar;
-    Bull of the army in the mangling fight.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    The furze was kindled by the ardent spirit, the bull of conflict.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    And those shields were shivered before the herd of the roaring
-                                                               Beli.[28]
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    The boar proposed a compact in front of the course--the great plotter.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    Adan, the son of Ervai, there did pierce,
-    Adan pierced the haughty boar.
-
-Mr. F. Metcalfe, in his "Englishman and Scandinavian," says--"Indeed
-this porcine device was common to all the Northern nations who
-worshipped Freya and Freyr. The helmet of the Norwegian king, Ali, was
-called Hildigoelltr, the boar of war, and was prized beyond measure by
-his victors (Prose Edda, I., 394). But long before that Tacitus (Germ.,
-45) had recorded that the Esthonians, east of the Baltic, wore
-swine-shaped amulets, as a symbol of the mother of the gods.
-
-Tacitus adds--"This" (the wild-boar symbol) "serves instead of weapons
-or any other defence, and gives safety to the servant of the goddess,
-even in the midst of the foe."
-
-This connection of the boar with the religious ceremonies and warlike
-exploits of our pagan ancestors is often referred to in the Edda. The
-valiant Norseman believed that when he entered Walhalla he should join
-the combats of the warriors each morning, and hack and hew away as in
-earthly conflict, till the slain for the day had been "chosen," and
-mealtime arrived, when the vanquished and victorious returned together
-to feast on the "everlasting boar" (soehrimnir), and carouse on mead and
-ale with the AEsir. The boar's head, which figured so conspicuously in
-the Christmas festivities of our ancestors, is evidently a relic, like
-the mistletoe and the yule-log, of pagan times.
-
-There is nothing, therefore, improbable in the proposition that the
-standard, totem, or helmet-crest of some devastating Teutonic chieftain
-like Penda, the ferocious pagan conqueror of Oswald, may have been of
-this porcine character. The Christian adherents of the Northumbrian king
-and saint would very easily confound him and the devastation attendant
-upon his victorious march through their country, with the dethroned and
-abhorred pagan deity whose emblem formed his crest or "totem," as well
-as with the older wild boar storm-fiend, or "the monster who prowled
-over the neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast," and for the
-subdual of which the sanctity of the edifice of the saintly monarch was
-alone effectual. In the prophecy attributed to Merlin, King Arthur is
-described as the wild boar of Cornwall, that would "devour" his enemies.
-The mingling of ancient superstitious fears with the more modern
-Christianity, especially with reference to such matters as charms,
-prophylactics, etc., is of very common occurrence even at the present
-day. Sir John Lubbock, in his "Origin of Civilisation and the Primitive
-Condition of Man," says--"When man, either by natural progress or the
-influence of a more advanced race, rises to a conception of a higher
-religion, he still retains his old beliefs, which linger on side by side
-with, and yet in utter opposition to, the higher creed. The new and more
-powerful spirit is an addition to the old pantheon, and diminishes the
-importance of the older deities; gradually the worship of the latter
-sinks in the social scale, and becomes confined to the ignorant and
-young. Thus a belief in witchcraft still flourishes amongst our
-agricultural labourers and the lowest class in our great cities, and the
-deities of our ancestors survive in the nursery tales of our children.
-We must, therefore, expect to find in each race traces--nay, more than
-traces--of lower religions."
-
-Some parties regard the Winwick sculpture as "St. Anthony's pig," but
-they acknowledge they know of no connection of that saint with the
-parish. But, as I have shown in the previous chapter, "the deeds of one
-mythical hero are sure, when he is forgotten, to be attributed to some
-other man of mark, who for the time being fills the popular fancy."
-Keightley, in his "Fairy Mythology," says--"Every extraordinary
-appearance is found to have its extraordinary cause assigned, a cause
-always connected with the _history_ or _religion, ancient or modern_, of
-the country, and not unfrequently _varying with the change of faith_.
-The mark on Adam's Peak, in Ceylon, is by the Buddhists ascribed to
-Buddha; by the Mohammedans to Adam."
-
-Mr. Mackenzie Wallace, in his "Russia," speaking of the Finns and their
-Russian neighbours, says--"The friendly contact of two such races
-naturally led to a curious blending of the two religions. The Russians
-adopted many customs from the Finns, and the Finns adopted still more
-from the Russians. When Yumala and the other Finnish deities did not do
-as they were desired, their worshippers naturally applied for protection
-or assistance to the Madonna and the 'Russian god.' If their own
-traditional magic rites did not suffice to ward off evil influences,
-they naturally tried the effect of crossing themselves as the Russians
-do in moments of danger." In another place he says--"At the harvest
-festivals, Tchuvash peasants have been known to pray first to their own
-deities and then to St. Nicholas, the miracle-worker, who is the
-favourite saint of the Russian peasantry. This dual worship is sometimes
-recommended by the Yornzi--a class of men who correspond to the medicine
-men among the Red Indians." He truly observes--"popular imagination
-always uses heroic names as pegs on which to hang traditions."
-
-Bishop Percy, in the preface to his translation of "Mallet's Northern
-Antiquities," says--"Nothing is more contagious than superstition, and
-therefore we must not wonder if, in ages of ignorance, one wild people
-catch up from another, though of very different race, the most arbitrary
-and groundless opinions, or endeavour to imitate them in such rites and
-practices as they are told will recommend them to the gods, or avert
-their anger."
-
-Jacob Grimm says (Deutsche Mythologie)--"A people whose faith is falling
-to pieces will save here and there a fragment of it, by fixing it on a
-new and unpersecuted object of veneration."
-
-It appears, therefore, that the Winwick monster, in this respect, is but
-an apt illustration of ordinary mythological transference of attributes
-or emblems, which in no way invalidates the more remote origin to which
-I have ascribed it, or its connection with the totem or beast symbol of
-the heathen warrior. The boar, indeed, has been a sacred symbol for ages
-amongst the Aryan nations. Herodotus (b. 3, c. 59) says that the
-Eginetae, after defeating the Samians in a sea-fight, "cut off the prows
-of their boats, which represented the figure of a boar, and dedicated
-them in the temple of Minerva, in Egina."
-
-The Rev. Sir G. W. Cox, in his "Introduction to Mythology and
-Folk-Lore," referring to the Greek war god Ares, says--"In the Odyssey
-his name is connected with Aphrodite, whose love he is said to have
-obtained; but other traditions tell us that when she seemed to favour
-Adonis, Ares changed himself into a boar, which slew the youth of whom
-he was jealous."
-
-The Mussulman's abhorrence of roast pork is well known. Amongst the
-Turkomans of Central Asia (the ancient home of our Aryan ancestors) the
-prowess of the living animal is likewise regarded with a strange
-superstitious dread, evidently akin to some more ancient belief in the
-supernatural attributes of the animal. Arminius Vambery, in his "Travels
-in Central Asia" (having narrowly escaped serious injury from a wild
-porcine assailant), informs us he was seriously assured by a Turkoman
-friend that he might regard himself as very lucky, inasmuch as "death by
-the wound of a wild boar would send even the most pious Mussulman nedgis
-(unclean) into the next world, where a hundred years' burning in
-purgatorial fire would not purge away his uncleanness."
-
-Since the above was written I have perceived a passage in Mr. Fiske's
-essay on "Werewolves," in his "Myths and Myth-makers," that seems not
-only to strengthen the conjecture that the boar was the crest or "totem"
-of the pagan Penda, but likewise the probability of the influence of the
-older mythical story with which I have associated it. The boar, it must
-be remembered, in all the Indo-European mythologies, is associated with
-stormy wind and lightning. Mr. Fiske, referring to what he terms one of
-the "more striking characteristics of primitive thinking," namely, "the
-close community of nature which it assumes between man and brute,"
-says--"The doctrine of metempsychosis, which is found in some shape or
-other all over the world, implies a fundamental identity between the
-two: the Hindu is taught to respect the flocks browsing in the meadow,
-and will on no account lift his hand against a cow, for who knows but
-that it may be his own grandmother? The recent researches of Mr. Lennan
-and Mr. Herbert Spencer have served to connect this feeling with the
-primeval worship of ancestors and with the savage customs of
-totemism.... This kind of worship still maintains a languid existence as
-the state religion of China, and it still exists as a portion of
-Brahmanism; but in the Vedic religion it is to be seen in all its native
-simplicity. According to the ancient Aryan, the Pitris, or 'Fathers'
-(Lat. _Patres_) live in the sky along with Yama, the great original
-Pitri of mankind.... Now if the storm-wind is a host of Pitris, or one
-great Pitri, who appeared as a fearful giant, and is also a pack of
-wolves or wish-hounds, or a single savage dog or wolf, the inference is
-obvious to the mythopoeic mind that men may become wolves, at least after
-death. And to the uncivilised thinker this inference is strengthened, as
-Mr. Spencer has shown by evidence registered on his own tribal 'totem'
-or heraldic emblem. The bears and lions and leopards of heraldry are the
-degenerate descendants of the 'totem' of savagery which designated a
-tribe by a beast symbol. To the untutored mind there is everything
-in a name; and the descendant of Brown Bear, or Yellow Tiger, or
-Silver Hyaena, cannot be pronounced unfaithful to his own style of
-philosophising if he regards _his ancestors, who career about his hut in
-the darkness of the night_, as belonging to whatever order of beasts his
-'totem' associations may suggest."
-
-In the Volsung tale of the Northern mythology the "gods of the bright
-heaven" had to make atonement to the sons of Reidmar, whose brother
-they had slain. This brother was named "the otter."
-
-Modern surnames have been derived from very varied sources, including
-trades, locations, and individual characteristics. Many, identical with
-birds, beasts, and fishes, may have originally been what are vulgarly
-termed "nicknames," or they may be corrupt modern renderings of very
-different ancient words, such as Haddock, from Haydock, a township in
-Lancashire; Winter, from vintner; and Sumner from summoner, &c.
-Nevertheless, the old tribal "totem" or heraldic device of a feudal
-superior may have given rise to some of the following: Wolf, Lyon, Hog,
-Bull, Bullock, Buck, Hart, Fox, Lamb, Hare, Poynter, Badger, Beaver,
-Griffin, Raven, Hawk, Eagle, Stork, Crane, Woodcock, Gull, Nightingale,
-Cock, Cockerell, Bantam, Crow, Dove, Pigeon, Lark, Swallow, Martin,
-Wren, Teal, Finch, Jay, Sparrow, Partridge, Peacock, Goose, Gosling,
-Bird, Fish, Salmon, Sturgeon, Gudgeon, Herring, Roach, Pike, Sprat, &c.
-Some flowers and plants may likewise have formed badges or tribal or
-family symbols or "quarterings," and thus given rise to surnames. We
-have several of this class, such as Plantagenet (the broom), Rose, Lily,
-Primrose, Heath, Broome, Hollyoak, Pine, Thorne, Hawthorne, Hawes,
-Hyacinth, Crabbe, Crabtree, Crabstick, &c. The leek, the Welshman's
-"totem," is not an uncommon name, though generally spelled Leak. I
-never, however, heard of such names as Shamrock or Thistle. On the other
-hand, many families have reversed the process and adopted a symbol or
-crest from a real or fancied similarity of their names and those of the
-selected objects. The figure of a dog is borne on the arms of the Talbot
-family, whence, perhaps, the name. The talbot is a dog noted for his
-quick scent and eager pursuit of game.
-
-Jacob Grimm ("Deutsche Mythologie,") says:--"Even in the middle ages,
-Landscado (scather of the land) was a name borne by noble families." He
-further says:--"Swans, ravens, wolves, stags, bears, and lions, will
-join the heroes, to render them assistance; and that is how animal
-figures in the scutcheons and helmet insignia of heroes are in many
-cases to be accounted for, though they may arise from other causes too,
-_e.g._, the ability of certain heroes to transform themselves at will
-into wolf or swan."
-
-Mr. Charles Elton ("Origins of English History,") says--"The names of
-several tribes, or the legends of their origin, show that an animal, or
-some other real or imaginary object, was chosen as a crest or emblem,
-and was probably regarded with a superstitious veneration. A powerful
-family or tribe would feign to be descended from a swan or a
-water-maiden, or a 'white lady,' who rose from the moon-beams on the
-lake. The moon herself was claimed as the ancestress of certain
-families. The legendary heroes are turned into 'swan-knights,' or fly
-away in the form of wild-geese. The tribe of the 'Ui Duinn,' who claimed
-St. Bridgit as their kinswoman, wore for their crest the figure of a
-lizard, which appeared at the foot of the oak-tree above her shrine. We
-hear of 'griffins' by the Shannon, of 'calves' in the country around
-Belfast; the men of Ossory were called by a name which signifies the
-wild red-deer! There are similar instances from Scotland in such names
-as 'Clan Chattan,' or the Wild Cats, and in the animal crests which have
-been borne from the most ancient times as the emblems or cognizances of
-the chieftains. The early Welsh poems will furnish another set of
-examples. The tribes who fought at Catraeth are distinguished by the
-bard as wolves, bears, or ravens; the families which claim descent from
-Caradock or Oswain take the boar or the raven for their crest. The
-followers of 'Cian the Dog' are called the 'dogs of war,' and the
-chieftain's house is described as the stone or castle of 'the white
-dogs.'"
-
-The writer, in the Pen. Cyclop., of the memoir of Owen Glendwr,
-says--"It was at this juncture that Glendwr revived the ancient prophecy
-that Henry IV. should fall under the name of 'Moldwary,' or 'the cursed
-of God's mouth'; and styling himself 'the Dragon,' assumed a badge
-representing that monster with a star above, in imitation of Uther,
-whose victories over the Saxons were foretold by the appearance of a
-star with a dagger threatening beneath. Percy was denoted 'the Lion,'
-from the crest of his family; and on Sir Edward Mortimer they bestowed
-the title of 'the Wolf.'"
-
-Hugh of Avranche, Earl of Chester, was called Hugh Lupus, from his
-cognizance or favourite device of a wolf's head.
-
-Shakspere has preserved to us at least two noteworthy instances in which
-the "totem" or beast symbol of our savage ancestors survived, with its
-original significance, until the period of the "Wars of the Roses." In
-the Second Part of "King Henry VI." (Act 5, Scene 1), _Warwick_
-exclaims:--
-
-    Now, by my father's badge, old Nevil's crest,
-    The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff,
-    This day I'll wear aloft my burgonet
-    (As on a mountain top the cedar shows,
-    That keeps his leaves in spite of any storm),
-    Even to affright thee with the view thereof.
-
-To which boast _Clifford_ replies:--
-
-    And from thy burgonet I'll rend thy bear,
-    And tread it underfoot with all contempt,
-    Despite the bearward that protects the bear.
-
-_Warwick_, in the following scene, amidst the carnage of battle,
-shouts:--
-
-    Clifford of Cumberland, 'tis Warwick calls!
-    And if thou dost not hide thee from the bear,
-    Now--when the angry trumpet sounds alarm,
-    And _dead men's cries do fill the empty air_--
-    Clifford, I say, come forth and fight with me!
-
-The expression "_dead_ men's cries do fill the empty air," I have
-hitherto regarded, as doubtless most other readers of Shakspere have
-done, as either a misprint or an obsolete form of expression, meaning,
-in the more modern English, "_dying_ men's cries do fill the empty air."
-Taken in connection, however, with the continual reference of Warwick to
-the "rampant bear" as his ancestral "totem" or beast symbol, I am
-inclined to think it is not improbable that Shakspere, who has made use
-of such an enormous number of other superstitious fancies as poetic
-images, as well as illustrations of character, may have had in his mind
-the old belief that the souls of ancestors, "Pitris," or "Fathers,"
-careered and howled amongst the storm-winds in the form indicated by
-their beast symbol or tribal "totem." Poetically, the thought is
-singularly appropriate to the storm and strife of the battlefield, and
-especially to the frenzied agony engendered by the horrors too often
-attendant upon "_domestic_ fury and fierce _civil_ strife." Referring
-to, and quoting from, the "Exodus," a poem of the Coedman school, Mr.
-Green ("The Making of England") says--"The wolves sang their dread
-evensong; the fowls of war, greedy of battle, dewy feathered, screamed
-around the host of Pharaoh, as wolf howled and eagle screamed round the
-host of Penda." Shakspere places in the mouth of _Calphurnia_, when
-recounting the prodigies which preceded Caesar's assassination, the
-following remarkable words:--
-
-    The graves have yawn'd and yielded up their dead:
-    Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds
-    In ranks and squadrons and right form of war,
-    Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol;
-    The noise of battle hurtled in the air,
-    Horses did neigh and dying men did groan,
-    And ghosts did shriek and squeal about the streets.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    When beggars die there are no comets seen:
-    The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.
-
-Again, in "Richard III." (Act 3, Scene 2), _Stanley's_ messenger informs
-_Hastings_ that his master had commissioned him to say he had dreamt
-that night "the boar (Richard) had raised off his helm." This, he adds,
-his master regards as a warning to _Hastings_ and himself--
-
-    To shun the danger that his soul divines.
-
-The boar was the cognizance, crest, or "totem" of Richard. In the fourth
-scene of the same act, _Hastings_, on hearing his death sentence,
-exclaims:
-
-    Woe! woe for England! not a whit for me;
-    For I, too fond, might have prevented this:
-    Stanley did dream the boar did raise his helm;
-    But I disdain'd it, and did scorn to fly.
-
-In Act 4, Scene 4, _Stanley_, addressing _Sir Christopher Urswick_,
-says:--
-
-    Sir Christopher, tell Richmond this from me:
-    That in the sty of this most bloody boar,
-    My son, George Stanley, is frank'd up in hold;
-    If I revolt, off goes young George's head;
-    The fear of that withholds my present aid.
-
-In _Richmond's_ address to his army, in the second scene of the fifth
-act, the Aryan personification of the destroying storm-wind and "harvest
-blaster," as well as "the monster in former ages, which prowled over the
-neighbourhood, inflicting injury on man and beast," is very distinctly
-indicated, and adds another link to the chain of evidence by which I
-have endeavoured to justify the hypothesis that the rude sculpture of
-Winwick may represent the crest or "totem" of Penda, the ruthless pagan
-victor in the disastrous fight at Maserfeld, in the year 642. _Richmond_
-says:--
-
-    The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar,
-    _That spoiled your summer fields and fruitful vines_,
-    Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough
-    In your embowell'd bosoms--this foul swine
-    Lies now even in the centre of this isle,
-    Near to the town of Leicester.
-
-There is an old rhyming couplet, referring to the three personages who
-were Richard's chief advisers or instruments, in his usurpation,
-Ratcliffe, Catesby and Lovel, which throws additional light on this
-beast symbolism:--
-
-    The rat and the cat, and Lovel the dog,
-    Do govern all England under the hog.
-
-Amongst our Scandinavian predecessors the customs and superstitions now
-under consideration seem to have been deeply rooted. Sir G. W. Dasent,
-in the introduction to his translation of the Icelandic saga, the "Story
-of Brunt Njal," says the Icelander believed in wraiths and patches and
-guardian spirits, who followed particular persons, and belonged to
-certain families--a belief which seems to have sprung from the habit of
-regarding body and soul as two distinct beings, which at certain times
-took each a separate bodily shape. Sometimes the guardian spirit or
-Jylgja took a human shape, and at others its _form took that of some
-animal to foreshadow the character of the man to whom it belonged_. Thus
-it becomes a bear, a wolf, an ox, and even a fox, in men. The Jylgja of
-women were fond of taking the shape of swans. To see one's own Jylgja
-was unlucky, and often a sign that a man was 'fey,' or death-doomed. So,
-when Thord Freedmanson tells Njal that he sees the goat wallowing in its
-gore in the 'town' of Bergthirsknoll, the foresighted man tells him that
-he has seen his own Jylgja, and that he must be doomed to die. Finer and
-nobler natures often saw the guardian spirits of others.... From the
-Jylgja of the individual it was easy to rise to the still more abstract
-notion of the guardian spirits of a family, who sometimes, if a great
-change in the house is about to begin, even show themselves as hurtful
-to some member of the house. He believed also that some men had more
-than one shape (voru eigi einhamir); that they could either take the
-shapes of animals, as bears or wolves, and so work mischief; or that
-without undergoing bodily change, an access of rage and strength came
-over them, and more especially towards night, which made them more than
-a match for ordinary men."
-
-To those who may fancy that in this inquiry I have carried conjecture
-and apparent analogy beyond the domain of legitimate critical inference,
-I answer in the words of Professor Gervinus, in his comments on the
-sonnets of Shakspere--"The caution of the critic does not require that
-we should repudiate a supposition so extraordinarily probable; it
-requires alone that we should not obstinately insist upon it and set it
-up as an established certainty, but that we should lend a willing ear to
-better and surer knowledge whenever it is offered." Professor Tyndall,
-too, in his "Lectures on Light," referring to the genesis of all
-scientific knowledge, says--"All our notions of nature, however exalted
-or however grotesque, have some foundations in experience. The notion of
-personal volition in nature had this basis. In the fury and the serenity
-of natural phenomena the savage saw the transcript of his own varying
-moods, and he accordingly ascribed these phenomena to beings of like
-passions with himself, but vastly transcending him in power. Thus the
-notion of _causality_--the assumption that natural things did not come
-of themselves, but had unseen antecedents--lay at the root of even the
-savage's interpretation of nature. Out of this bias of the human mind
-to seek for the antecedents of phenomena, all science has sprung."
-
-The value of "comparative folk-lore," in the elucidation of obscure
-passages in the early history of mankind, especially with regard to
-manners, customs, and superstitious faiths, is now pretty generally
-acknowledged by archaeological students. Since this chapter was first
-written I find the subject has been ably treated by Mr. J. A. Farrer, in
-the _Cornhill Magazine_ of January, 1875. He says--"The evidence that
-the nations now highest in culture were once in the position of those
-now the lowest is ever increasing, and the study of folk-lore
-corroborates the conclusions long since arrived at by archaeological
-science. For, just as stone monuments, flint-knives, lake-piles, and
-shell-mounds point to a time when Europeans resembled races where such
-things are still part of actual life, so do the traces in our social
-organism, of fetishism, totemism, and other low forms of thought,
-connect our past with people where such forms of thought are still
-predominant. The analogies with barbarism that still flourish in
-civilised communities seem only explicable on the theory of a slow and
-more or less uniform metamorphosis to higher types and modes of life,
-and we are forced to believe that ere long it will appear a law of
-development, as firmly established on the inconceivability of the
-contrary, that civilization should emerge from barbarism as that
-butterflies should first be caterpillars, or that ignorance should
-precede knowledge. It is in this way that superstition itself may be
-turned to the service of science."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-BATTLES IN THE VALLEY OF THE RIBBLE, NEAR WHALLEY AND CLITHEROE.
-
-
-    WADA'S DEFEAT BY KING EARDULPH, AT BILLANGAHOH, A.D. 798, AND
-    CONTEMPORARY PROPHETIC SUPERSTITIONS. THE VICTORY OF THE SCOTS AT
-    EDISFORD BRIDGE IN 1138. CIVIL WAR INCIDENTS BETWEEN CHARLES I. AND
-    THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT.
-
-The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the date 798, says--"This year there
-was a great fight at Hwelleage (Whalley), in the land of the
-Northumbrians, during Lent, on the 4th before the Nones of April, and
-there Alric, the son of Herbert, was slain, and many others with him."
-
-Simeon of Durham has the following reference to this battle:--"A.D. 798.
-A conspiracy having been organised by the murderers of Ethelred, the
-king, Wada, the chief of that conspiracy, commenced a war against
-Eardulph, and fought a battle at a place called by the English
-Billangahoh, near Walalega, and, after many had fallen on both sides,
-Wada and his army were totally routed."
-
-[Illustration: MAP 2.]
-
-The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle informs us that four years previously (794),
-"Ethelred, king of the Northumbrians, was slain by his own people, on
-the 13th before the Kalends of May." This Ethelred seems to have been a
-very unfortunate or a very tyrannical ruler, even for those barbarous
-times, for we find, on the same authority, he, in company with Herbert,
-"slew three high reves, on the 11th before the Kalends of April," 778,
-and that afterwards "Alfwold obtained the kingdom, and drove Ethelred
-out of the country; and he (Alfwold) reigned ten years." This same
-Alfwold was evidently regarded as a patriot and not as an usurper, for
-the Chronicle tells us that he "was slain by Siga, on the 8th before the
-Kalends of October; and a heavenly light was frequently seen at the
-place where he was slain; and he was buried at Hexham within the
-church." He was succeeded by his nephew, Osred, who, the Chronicle says,
-afterwards "was betrayed and driven from the kingdom; and Ethelred, the
-son of Ethelwald, again obtained the government." Two years later, from
-the same authority, we learn that "Osred, who had been king of the
-Northhumbrians, having come home from his exile, was seized and slain on
-the 18th before the Kalends of October," (792).
-
-These facts throw much light on the social and political state of the
-country at the period, and demonstrate that Ethelred's murder was by no
-means an exceptional occurrence. Indeed, the slaying of kings by their
-own people appears to have been the rule rather than the exception
-amongst our ancestors, especially in Northumbria, about this period.
-Sharon Turner, in his "History of the Anglo-Saxons," referring to the
-internecine conflicts which took place in the North of England for a
-lengthened period, and especially about this time, says--"Of all the
-Anglo-Saxon Governments the kingdom of Northumbria had been always the
-most perturbed. Usurper murdering usurper is the prevailing incident. A
-crowd of ghastly monarchs pass swiftly along the page of history as we
-gaze, and scarcely was the sword of the assassin sheathed before it was
-drawn against its master, and he was carried to the sepulchre which he
-had just closed upon another. In this manner, during the last century
-and a half, no fewer than seventeen sceptered chiefs hurled each other
-from their joyless thrones, and the deaths of the greatest number were
-accompanied by hecatombs of their friends."
-
-The public mind, under such circumstances, must of necessity have been
-deeply perturbed, and superstition associated the social and political
-anarchy which prevailed with the "war of elements," and other attendant
-mysterious physical phenomena. The trusty old chronicler, duly impressed
-with the solemnity of his theme, informs us that during the year
-preceding the murder of Ethelred "dire forewarnings came over the land
-of the Northumbrians and miserably terrified the people; these were
-excessive whirlwinds and lightnings, and fiery dragons were seen flying
-in the air. A great famine soon followed these tokens; and a little
-after that, in the same year, on the 6th before the Ides of January, the
-ravaging of heathen men lamentably destroyed God's Church at Lindisfarne
-through rapine and slaughter."
-
-The "heathen men" here referred to were Danish rovers. These "Northmen,
-out of Haeretha-land" (Denmark), had a few years previously (787), in
-three ships, "first sought the land of the English nation," and, having
-found it and pronounced it good, they ceased not their invasions until
-they became masters of the entire kingdom, under Canute the Great. This
-conquest of the Northmen mainly resulted from the fact that the English
-monarchs of the Heptarchy were continually at war either with the
-Britons or amongst themselves. "Domestic treason and fierce civil
-strife" added additional strength to the foe, for both regal enemy and
-rebellious subject eagerly sought the aid of the pirates, or selected
-the occasion of their hostile visits to harass their opponents. Although
-we have no record of Danish or other Northmen's ravages in Lancashire in
-the reign of Ethelred or his successor, yet we get a very distinct view
-of their doings on the eastern coast of Northumbria, and of the
-internecine strife which rendered the kingdom a relatively easy prey to
-the brave but brutal and remorseless heathen pirates.
-
-The battles described in the previous chapters were more or less
-conjectural in some of their aspects; at least the true character of the
-presumed Arthurian victories on the Douglas, as well as the site of that
-of Penda over St. Oswald, at Maserfield, have not been demonstrated with
-such certainty as to obtain universal assent. Such, however, is not the
-case with the minor struggle now under consideration. The site assigned
-to it has never been doubted. The names recorded by the old chroniclers
-are still extant in the locality, with such orthographic or phonetic
-changes in their descent from the eighth to the nineteenth century as
-philologists would anticipate. The _Hwelleage_ of the Anglo-Saxon
-Chronicle, as well as the monk of Durham's mediaeval Latin _Walalega_,
-are identical with the present Whalley; while _Billangahoh_ is
-represented by its descendants Billinge, Billington, and Langho.
-Archaeological remains have likewise contributed important evidence.
-Three large tumuli for centuries have marked the scene of the struggle,
-one of which, near to Langho, has been removed, and the remains of a
-buried warrior exhumed. According to J. M. Kemble and other Anglo-Saxon
-scholars, Billington signifies the homestead or settlement of the sept
-or clan of the Billings, as Birmingham is that of the Beormings. This
-rule likewise applies to many other localities where the local
-nomenclature presents similar features. Consequently, from legitimate
-analogy, we learn that Waddington, on the right bank of the Ribble
-opposite Clitheroe, is the homestead, town, or settlement of Wadda and
-his dependents; and Waddow, in its immediate neighbourhood, the how or
-hill of Wadda.
-
-In the fragment of the old Anglo-Saxon poem "The Traveller's Tale,"
-mention is made of a Wada as a chief of the Haelsings. Mr. Haigh, in his
-"Anglo-Saxon Sagas," regards him as "probably one of the companions of
-the first Hencgest." Hence the probability of his being an ancestor of
-the chief conspirator against King Eardulph. Mr. Kemble ("Saxons in
-England,") says--"Among the heroes of heathen tradition are Wada,
-Weland, and Eigil. All three so celebrated in the mythus and epos of
-Scandinavia and Germany, have left traces in England. Of Wada, the
-"Traveller's Song" declares that he ruled the Haelsings; and even later
-times had to tell of Wade's _boat_, in which the exact allusion is
-unknown to us: the Scandinavian story makes him wade across the
-Groenasund, carrying his son across his shoulder. Perhaps our tradition
-gives a different version of this story."
-
-This story may have something to do with the genesis of the legend of
-St. Christopher bearing the infant Christ on his shoulders over a broad
-stream, a subject of one of the early mediaeval pictures discovered some
-time ago, on the removal of the whitewash from the walls of Gawsworth
-Church, near Macclesfield. The historical anachronism in ascribing such
-an action to him may have resulted from the mere transference of it from
-the pagan hero to the Christian saint. The original story seems to have
-been pretty familiar to the people as late as the fourteenth century.
-Mr. Kemble says--"Chaucer once or twice refers to this (Wade's _boat_)
-in such a way as to show that the expression was used in an obscene
-sense. Old women, he says, 'connen so moche craft in Wade's boat.' Again
-of Pandarus:
-
-    'He song, he plaied, he told a tale of Wade.'
-
- _Troil. Cressid._
-
-'In this there seems to be some allusion to what anatomists have termed
-_fossa navicularis_, though what immediate connection there could be
-with the mythical Wade, now escapes us.'"
-
-The "Traveller's Tale" likewise refers to a chieftain named "Billing,"
-who "ruled the Waerns," and who, in Mr. Haigh's opinion, was likewise a
-"probable associate of Hencgest." Mr. Haigh likewise identifies Whaley
-in Cheshire, Whalley in Northumberland, and Whalley in Lancashire, with
-a chieftain described in the same poem as "Hwala once the best." Dr.
-Whitaker, Mr. Baines, and others, however, derive Whalley from
-_Walalega_, "Field of Wells."
-
-Mr. Jno. R. Green ("Making of England,") says--"In the star-strown track
-of the Milky Way, our fathers saw a road by which the hero-sons of
-Waetla marched across the sky, and poetry only hardened into prose when
-they transferred the name of Watling Street to the great trackway which
-passed athwart the island they had won, from London to Chester. The
-stones of Weyland's Smithy still recall the days when the new settlers
-told one another, on the conquered ground, the wondrous tale they had
-brought with them from their German home, the tale of the godlike smith
-Weland, who forged the arms that none could blunt or break; just as they
-told around Wadanbury and Wadanhlaew the strange tale of Wade and his
-boats. When men christened mere and tree with Scyld's name, at
-Scyldsmere and Styldstreow, they must have been familiar with the story
-of the godlike child who came over the waters to found the royal line of
-the Gwissas. So a name like Hnaef's-scylf was then a living part of
-English mythology; and a name like Aylesbury may preserve the last trace
-of the legend told of Weland's brother, the sun-archer Egil."
-
-Although we possess but little information respecting the details of the
-fight, or of the political complications out of which it arose, we are,
-at least, perfectly certain of the locality of the struggle. In
-addition, the magnificent scenery by which it is surrounded, in which
-grandeur and beauty are seen in the most harmonious combination, the
-interesting archaeological remains, and the numerous other historic
-associations of the neighbourhood, including those connected with
-Whalley Abbey, Clitheroe Castle, Mytton, and Stonyhurst, give an
-interest to the locality which is denied to the sites of many
-battle-fields, the names of which have become "household words," not
-merely with one nation or people, but with all the so-called civilised
-section of mankind.
-
-One of the tumuli to which I have referred was partially opened by Dr.
-T. D. Whitaker, the historian of Whalley. But, as in his day Anglo-Saxon
-antiquities were very little sought after and, consequently, very
-imperfectly understood, his labours were productive of nothing but
-negative results. Canon Raines, however, in a note to his edition of the
-"Notitia Cestriensis," published by the Chetham Society, says--"In the
-year 1836, as Thomas Hubbertsty, the farmer at Brockhall, was removing a
-large mound of earth in Brockhall Eases, about five hundred yards from
-the bank of the Ribble, on the left of the road leading from the house,
-he discovered a Kist-vaen, formed of rude stones, containing some human
-bones and the rusty remains of some spear-heads of iron. The whole
-crumbled to dust on exposure to the air. Tradition has uniformly
-recorded that a battle was fought about Langho, Elker and Buckfoot,
-near the Ribble; and a tumulus was opened within two hundred yards of a
-ford of the Ribble (now called Bullasey-ford), one of the very few
-points for miles where that river could be crossed. The late Dr.
-Whitaker repeatedly, but in vain, searched for remains of this battle,
-as he appears to have erroneously concluded that the scene of it was
-higher up the river, near Hacking Hall, at the junction of the Calder
-and the Ribble."
-
-Dr. Whitaker does not appear to have noticed all the tumuli in the
-neighbourhood. In his "History of Whalley" he says--"Of this great
-battle there are no remains, unless _a large tumulus_ near Hacking Hall,
-and in the immediate vicinity of Langho, be supposed to cover the
-remains of Alric, or some other chieftain among the slain." The site of
-the tumulus, on the left bank, or south-east side of the Ribble, is
-marked on the Ordnance map. It is scarcely three quarters of a mile from
-Hacking Hall, and rather more than a mile from Langho chapel. No other
-tumulus is noticed by the Ordnance surveyors on the south-east side of
-the river.
-
-Canon Raines states that the "large mound" removed by Thomas Hubbertsty,
-in 1836, was situated "about five hundred yards from the bank of the
-Ribble," and that the tumulus that had been previously opened was only
-two hundred yards distant from that stream. The "large mound" of Canon
-Raines, removed in 1836, in which remains were found, seems to have been
-a smaller affair than the other tumuli. This is affirmed by Mr. Abram,
-in a very able paper on the history of the township of Billington, in
-the Lancashire and Cheshire Historical Society's Transactions, otherwise
-he says, "the farmer would hardly have undertaken to level it." The
-tumuli on the right bank or north-west side of the river are named
-"lowes" on the six-inch Ordnance map, and "mounds" on the smaller one.
-The former name is evidently the Anglo-Saxon _hloew_, a conical hill or a
-sepulchral mound, or tumulus, in the latter sense a synonym of _beorh_
-or _bearw_, a barrow. Although these large tumuli are on the north-west
-side of the river, the nearest is scarcely half a mile distant from the
-site of the removed one near Bullasey-ford on the south-east.
-
-There is some confusion in the various descriptions of these mounds. Mr.
-Abram says, referring to the large tumulus called the "Lowe" on the
-north-west side of the Ribble--"Into this mound Whitaker had some
-excavation made about the year 1815, but he found the work heavy and
-gave it up without reaching the centre of the tumulus, where the relics
-of sepulture might be expected to be found." As Dr. Whitaker expressly
-says, he saw no remains of the battle except "a large tumulus near
-Hacking Hall," he must not only have been ignorant of the character of
-its immediate neighbour, as well as of the one on the Langho side of the
-river, near Bullasey-ford, if this "lowe" was the mound he but partially
-disturbed. This can scarcely be the tumulus referred to by Canon Raines
-if the distance (two hundred yards) from the river be correct. Neither
-can the five hundred yards distance of Mr. Hubbertsty's mound
-be reconciled with the site of the tumulus at Brockhall, near
-Bullasey-ford. Perhaps his figures have been accidently transposed. I
-had previously laboured under an impression that Hubbertsty had merely
-completely cleared away the mound but imperfectly excavated by Dr.
-Whitaker.
-
-Being anxious to arrive at some more definite knowledge respecting these
-"lowes" or "mounds," on the ninth of Nov., 1876, I visited the locality,
-and by the aid of Mr. Parkinson, the present tenant of Brockhall, I was
-enabled to make a far more detailed inspection of the battle-field than
-on a hurried visit about twenty years previously. Mr. Parkinson pointed
-out the site of the tumulus removed by Mr. Hubbertsty in 1836. Nothing
-of it, of course, now remains. He said that it was the only mound of the
-kind he had ever heard of on the Langho side of the Ribble. He, however,
-pointed out a curious circular agger, about five or six feet broad and a
-couple of feet high, which enclosed a level area some sixteen or
-seventeen yards in diameter. It is evidently an artificial work, but
-without additional evidence it is impossible to say, with any reasonable
-degree of probability, by whom it was constructed, or to what use it was
-originally applied. On the steep promontory called "Brockhole Wood-end,"
-Mr. Parkinson called my attention to curious masses of cemented sand and
-pebble stones, which some persons regarded as artificial grout, that had
-originally formed part of the massive masonry of an ancient building,
-the foundations of which had been undermined by the falling in of the
-earth in consequence of the erosive action of the flood water of
-the Ribble at the base of the cliff. This, however, I found, on
-examination, to be erroneous. The "grout" in question is a geological
-phenomenon, a kind of conglomerate or breccia, formed by the percolation
-of rain water, charged with carbonic acid and lime, through the mass of
-glacial or boulder "till" and its sandy and pebbly contents. The "till"
-contains limestones brought by ice from both the Ribble and the Hodder
-valleys. The phenomenon is a common one to geologists, and the
-"concrete" at "Brockhole Wood-end" is an excellent example of it. On
-gazing across the river at the larger "lowe" of the six-inch Ordnance
-map, Mr. Parkinson remarked that it appeared to him to be what is termed
-by geologists an outlier of the boulder deposits on each side of the
-valley, and therefore, not an artificial mound. He pointed out that the
-flood waters of the Ribble, Hodder, and Calder met in the plain, and
-when the "till" was excavated by a kind of circular motion of the
-combined waters, which the present appearance of the valley indicates,
-the land situated in the centre or vortex would the longer resist the
-abrading action, and eventually, as the passage of the currents became
-enlarged, remain a surviving outlier of the general mass of glacial
-deposit. On passing the river in the ferry-boat, and, by the aid of a
-pickaxe, exposing the material of which this mound is formed, I
-confessed that I could detect no difference in its character or
-structure from that of the neighbouring geological deposits. Still, as
-the mound, if artificial, must have been constructed from the boulder
-clay and its unstratified contents, this is not surprising. It is,
-however, impossible to solve this problem without a much more searching
-investigation. Even if a mound existed at the time the battle was
-fought, nothing is more probable than that it would be utilised by the
-victors in the interment of their honoured dead. The second and
-smaller mound seems very like an artificial one; but this cannot be
-satisfactorily affirmed without more complete investigation. Both mounds
-have been partially opened near their summits, but with only negative
-results, as might have been anticipated, as the Christian Anglo-Saxons
-in such cases buried the body in the earth, and afterwards heaped the
-tumulus or barrow above it, as a monument to the memory of the deceased
-warrior or warriors. This mode of interment had been adopted in the
-instance of the tumulus removed by Mr. Hubbertsty in 1836. Interesting
-results, both to geologists and archaeologists, may, therefore, be
-anticipated from a thorough examination of the contents of these
-remarkable "lowes" or "mounds;" but, as some expense would be attendant
-thereupon, they may yet, for some time, remain an interesting puzzle,
-both to the learned and the unlearned in such matters. They are situated
-in the midst of the level alluvial plain. The largest is nearly twenty
-feet high, and forms a prominent object.
-
-When I first visited the locality I was much amused at the rough and
-ready way in which some of the country people accounted for their
-construction, or rather the object thereof. They had seen sheep, when
-the Ribble valley was flooded, mount on the top of them for safety, and
-they innocently concluded that these historic monuments, mementoes of
-deadly civil strife during the eighth century, or of the glacial period
-of geologists, had been erected by some benevolent or thrifty ancestor
-of the owner of the soil for the especial accommodation of ovine
-refugees during the deluges to which the low-lying land on the margin of
-the river is occasionally subjected.
-
-It is, of course, at the present time, impossible to define the extent
-of ground covered by the contending armies during the conflict, or to
-give even a satisfactory outline of the general features of the battle.
-The Roman road, the seventh iter of Richard of Cirencester, which leads
-from the Wyre (the Portus Setantiorum of Ptolemy), by Preston and
-Ribchester to York, passed through the township of Billington, crossed
-the Calder near the present "Potter's Ford," a little above its junction
-with the Ribble, and proceeded a little south of Clitheroe and north of
-Pendle-hill, by Standen Hall, and Worston, in Lancashire, and Downham,
-into Yorkshire. Mr. Abram seems to think that the battle was most
-probably fought on this line of road. He says--"Eardulf encountered the
-insurgent army on the extreme verge of his kingdom (for it seems certain
-that the country south of the Ribble was then a part, not of the Saxon
-kingdom of Northumbria, but that of Mercia). Wada and his army had
-probably been driven upon the neutral territory before the decisive
-battle could be forced upon him."
-
-This notion that the Ribble and not the Mersey was the southern boundary
-of Northumbria in the earlier period of the Heptarchy, was first
-propounded by Dr. Whitaker, but upon very slight evidence. It is
-sufficient here to say that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the date
-923, expressly states that King Edward sent a force of Mercians to take
-possession of "Mameceastre (Manchester), _in Northumbria_, and repair
-and man it." Again, the same chronicle, when referring to this very
-battle, A.D. 798, expressly states that it took place "at Whalley, _in
-the land of the Northumbrians_." Against such evidence, Dr. Whitaker's
-mistaken dialectal argument, as well as that based on the extent of the
-episcopal see of Lichfield, at some period of the Heptarchy, is utterly
-valueless. His authority is the ancient document entitled "De Statu
-Blackborneshire," supposed to have been written in the fourteenth
-century by John Lindeley, Abbot of Whalley. Some notion of the value of
-this monkish compilation, with reference to the earlier history of the
-district, may be gathered from the fact that the author makes Augustine,
-and not Paulinus, the missionary who planted Christianity amongst the
-Northumbrian Angles. Dr. Whitaker likewise contends that the Ribble is
-the _dialectic_ boundary between the two kingdoms. My own observation,
-however, leads me to a very different conclusion. To my ear the change
-is by no means so distinctly marked on the north and south sides of the
-Ribble as it is on the north and south banks of the Mersey. The swampy
-country between the two rivers would rather seem to have been a kind of
-"march" or "debateable ground," during the earlier portion of the
-Anglo-Saxon and Danish periods, districts in it being sometimes governed
-by tributary British chieftains under both Northumbrian and Mercian
-kings as the fortune of war from time to time prevailed. Lancashire is
-not referred to as a county till the middle of the twelfth century. The
-name is never mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. As we find the
-"Lands between the Ribble and the Mersey" are surveyed with those of
-Cheshire, in the Domesday book, it seems highly probable that they
-formed a part of Leofric's earldom of Mercia, at the time of the Norman
-conquest. Consequently it is to the latter and not to the earlier
-portion of the Anglo-Saxon period that the Ribble formed the southern
-boundary of the _earldom_ of Northumbria, rather than of the earlier
-independent _kingdom_.
-
-Mr. J. R. Green ("Making of England,") says--"The first missionaries to
-the Englishmen, strangers in a heathen land, attached themselves
-necessarily to the courts of the kings, who were their earliest
-converts, and whose conversion was generally followed by that of their
-people. The English bishops were thus at first royal chaplains, and
-their diocese was naturally nothing but the kingdom. The kingdom of Kent
-became the diocese of Canterbury, and the kingdom of Northumbria became
-the diocese of York. So absolutely was this the case that the diocese
-grew or shrank with the growth or shrinking of the realm which it
-spiritually represented, and a bishop of Wessex or of Mercia found the
-limits of his see widened or cut short by the triumphs of Wolfhere or of
-Ine. In this way two realms, which are all but forgotten, are
-commemorated in the limits of existing sees. That of Rochester
-represented, till of late, an obscure kingdom of West Kent, and the
-frontier of the original kingdom of Mercia might be recovered by
-following the map of the ancient bishopric of Lichfield."
-
-After describing in detail some of the subdivisions made by Archbishop
-Theodore (A.D. 669-672), he adds--"The see of Lichfield thus returned to
-its original form of a see of the Mercians proper, though its bounds on
-the westward now embraced much of the upper Severn valley, with Cheshire
-and the lands northward to the Mersey."
-
-Notwithstanding this error with regard to the southern boundary of
-Northumbria at that period, the Roman road, in all probability, was
-utilised by the contending forces, and some portion of the main battle
-was, doubtless, fought in its immediate vicinity. On the other hand, it
-is equally probable, as the two larger tumuli are situated on the
-north-west bank of the Ribble, that the chief conflict occurred in their
-neighbourhood. On this hypothesis, Wada and his allies, on leaving
-Waddington, crossed the Hodder, at the ford nearest its mouth, met the
-King's army on the banks of the Ribble, and the possession of
-Bullasey-ford was the immediate object of the encounter in which the
-rebellious chieftain was discomfited. Or the route may have been
-reversed. Wada may have crossed the Ribble, at the Bungerley
-"hyppyngstones," to the north-west of Clitheroe, or the Edisford, to the
-south-west, and after penetrating the southern portion of the present
-county, had to fall back before the advance of the King's army, and,
-unable to retrace his steps he made for the nearer ford at Bullasey,
-where he was defeated and pursued across the river. As the slaughter is
-generally greater when a discomfited enemy is routed, perhaps the two
-large tumuli, named "lowes," mark the spot where the greatest carnage
-ensued. This, however, of course, is merely conjecture. Its value cannot
-be tested unless a thorough investigation of the contents of these huge
-mounds should throw additional light upon the subject.
-
-The good fortune of King Eardulf deserted him on a future occasion. The
-Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says--"A.D. 806. This year the moon was eclipsed
-in the Kalends of September; and Eardulf, King of the Northhumbrians,
-was driven from his kingdom.... Also in the same year, on the 2nd before
-the Nones of June, a cross appeared in the moon on a Wednesday at dawn;
-and afterwards in this year, on the 3rd before the Kalends of September,
-a wonderful circle was seen about the sun." This is the last we hear of
-the victor of Billangahoh, and the manner of his exit from the historic
-stage would seem to indicate that his rule, like that of his
-predecessor, had become so intolerable that further revolts ensued, and
-that Wada's successors, whoever they may have been, being successful in
-their contumacy, would be regarded, not as traitors, but as "saviours of
-their country." Truly, in struggles of this character, in all ages,
-successful "rebels," writing their own history, are ever lauded as
-heroes or patriots, while discomfited rulers are, with equal verity,
-denounced as tyrants and enemies of the common weal.
-
-A little higher up the Ribble than its junction with the Hodder, and
-about a mile below the venerable ruin of the keep of Clitheroe Castle,
-the ancient stronghold of the De Lacies, is a handsome modern bridge,
-named Edisford or Eadsford, to which I have previously referred. The
-country people, however, call it "Itch-uth Bridge," pronouncing the
-latter syllable as in Cuthburt.
-
-Johannes, Prior of Hagulstald, records that in this neighbourhood, in
-the year 1138, one William, the son of the bastard brother of David,
-king of Scotland, when engaged on a foray into England, was gallantly
-encountered by a small band, near Clitheroe, but, being overpowered by
-numbers, the Lancashire men sustained a slight defeat, and the Scots
-took a considerable number of prisoners. The monkish chronicler calls
-the northern assailants "Picts and Scots," and adds that they with
-difficulty held their own till the fight had lasted three hours.
-Tradition has preserved both the memory and the site of this conflict.
-Mr. Edward Baines says:--"Vestiges of this sanguinary engagement have
-been found at Edisford Bridge, and along the banks of the Ribble, during
-successive ages up to the present time."
-
-The "Bashall-brook," after passing "Bashall Hall," enters the Ribble a
-little above Edisford Bridge. This is the stream referred to by Mr.
-Haigh,[29] as the "Bassus" of Nennius, and the site of one of the
-Arthurian victories which attended Colgrin's flight to York, after his
-defeat on the Douglas, near Wigan. I have, however, never heard of any
-legend or tradition which referred to a battle in the neighbourhood,
-except the one recorded by the Prior of Hagulstald.
-
-Near the bridge above Clitheroe may yet be seen the ancient
-"hyppyngstones" to which I have previously referred, and by means of
-which the river was crossed before the erection of the present viaduct.
-These "hyppyngstones" have at least one mournful historical association.
-After the fatal battle of Hexham, in the year 1464, the unfortunate
-Henry the Sixth, the defeated son of the renowned victor at Agincourt,
-was for a time concealed at Bolton-in-Bolland and Waddington Halls. What
-transpired is best told in the words of the old chronicler:--
-
-"Also the same yere, Kinge Henry was taken byside a howse of religione
-[_i.e._, Whalley Abbey] in Lancashyre, by the mene of a blacke monke of
-Abyngtone, in a wode called Cletherwode, beside Bungerley hyppyngstones,
-by Thomas Talbott, of Bashalle, and Jhon Talbott, his cosyne, of
-Colebury [_i.e._, Salesbury, near Ribchester], with other moo; which
-discryvide (him) beynge at his dynere at Waddington Hall; and [he was]
-carryed to London on horsebacke, and his legges bound to the
-styropes."[30]
-
-Mr. J. G. Nichols (Notes and Queries, vol 2., p. 229), says--"Waddington
-belonged to Sir John Tempest, of Bracewell, who was the father-in-law to
-Thomas Talbot. Both Sir John Tempest and Sir James Harrington, of
-Brierley, near Barnsley, were concerned in the king's capture, and each
-received one hundred marks reward, but the fact of Sir Thomas Talbot
-being the chief actor, is shown by his having received the large sum of
-L100." In addition to his one hundred marks, Sir James Harrington
-received from Edward IV. large grants of land, forfeited by Richard
-Tunstell, and other "rebels," "for his services in taking prisoner, and
-withholding as such, in diligence and valour, his enemy, Henry, lately
-called Henry VI." Mr. Baines says Sir John Talbot likewise received, "as
-a reward for his perfidy, a grant of twenty marks a year, from Edward
-IV., confirmed by his successor, Richard III., and made payable out of
-the revenues of the county palatine of Lancaster."
-
-In his "History of Craven," Dr. Whitaker gives engravings of the
-unfortunate monarch's boots, gloves, and a spoon, which were preserved
-at Bolton Hall, in Bolland, Yorkshire, then the seat of Sir Ralph
-Pudsey, who married a daughter of Sir Thomas Tunstell. I understand
-these relics of the unfortunate king have been since removed to Hornby
-Castle, Lancashire. The "Old Hall" at Waddington, which has been
-converted into a farmhouse, yet presents some massive masonry, and a
-field in the neighbourhood still retains the name of "King Henry's
-meadow."
-
-The fate of the unhappy monarch is too well known to necessitate further
-reference here.
-
-The neighbourhood of Whalley was the scene of a relatively more recent
-combat, of some local importance. During the civil war between Charles
-I. and his Parliament, the Earl of Derby advanced, in 1643, from
-Preston, to operate in the hundred of Blackburn. One of the "Civil War
-Tracts," edited by Ormerod, and published by the Chetham Society,
-says:--"The Earl of Derby, the Lord Molineux, Sir Gilbert Hoghton,
-Colonel Tildesley, with all the other great papists in the county,
-issued out of Preston, and on Wednesday now came to Ribchester, with
-eleven troops of horse, 700 foot, and an infinite number of clubmen, in
-all conceived to be 5,000." Colonels Ashton and Shuttleworth opposed
-them with some regular troops, and a body of peasantry and militia,
-hastily levied. A regular engagement, or rather a running fight, took
-place between Whalley and Salesbury, in which the Earl was defeated and
-pursued to Ribchester. This success appears to have been the precursor
-of the subsequent declension of the Earl of Derby's military power in
-the county. It was judged to be of so much importance at the time by the
-"Roundheads," that a day of thanksgiving was set apart for the victory
-by order of Parliament.
-
-The ruin of Clitheroe Castle, on its well-wooded limestone eminence
-overlooking the town, forms a picturesque object in the beautiful valley
-of the Ribble. I remember well, in my early boyhood, being seriously
-informed that the venerable feudal stronghold of the De Lacies was
-battered into ruin by no less a personage than the redoubtable Oliver
-Cromwell. The truth of this tradition was implicitly believed by me till
-some slight study of Lancashire history, and a special visit to the
-locality, threw serious doubt upon it. I have likewise a distinct
-recollection of the consternation I caused amongst some aged friends,
-after a careful inspection of the ruined keep, by my informing them that
-if, as the tradition asserted, Cromwell had placed his cannon on "Salt
-Hill," about a mile to the east of the fortress, the said ordnance must
-have possessed some of the marvellous property ascribed to the Hibernian
-weapon, which, on occasion, could "shoot round a corner," the wall of
-the keep presenting the largest amount of superficial damage facing
-directly west. This dilapidated aspect had, in my hearing, often been
-attributed to the pounding the wall had received from Oliver's cannon. A
-careful examination, however, satisfied me that the western face of the
-structure was simply most weather-worn, on account of the lengthened
-action of the prevailing south-westerly winds. Again, "Salt Hill" was
-too far distant for the eight-pounder field pieces of the parliamentary
-army to make any serious impression on the massive walls.[31] But
-tradition is "tough" indeed, and especially if an element of
-superstition or partizan zeal be embedded in it. Of course, my critics
-had not the slightest objection to allow that there might possibly be
-some mistake with regard to the site of his guns, but "everybody knew
-that Cromwell did batter the castle into ruin," notwithstanding; and I
-was frankly told that nobody thanked me for my _mischievous_ endeavour
-to undermine people's faith in the well-known legend!
-
-Cromwell must certainly have _seen_ Clitheroe Castle on his memorable
-forced march from Gisburne to Stonyhurst Hall, on August 16th, 1648, the
-day previous to his decisive victory over the Marquis of Langdale, on
-Ribbleton Moor, and the Duke of Hamilton at Preston and the "Pass of the
-Ribble." But there are two good and sufficient reasons why he did not
-stay to expend his gunpowder on the fortress. In the first place, he had
-not time, having important business on hand that demanded the utmost
-expedition. In the second place, the castle was garrisoned by a portion
-of the Lancashire Militia, who held the stronghold for the Parliament,
-and Cromwell was not the man to amuse himself by bombarding his friends
-on the eve of a great, and, as it proved, a decisive battle.
-
-In point of fact, the castle remained intact, till the end of the civil
-war, when the only recorded instance of its ever having been even
-seriously threatened with a siege, occurred. An ordinance, disbanding
-the militia generally throughout the country, did not, it seems, meet
-with the approval of the Puritan warriors who held possession of the
-Clitheroe fortress, and who, instigated, it was said, by clerical
-advisers, "professed for the Covenant," and, in the first instance,
-flatly refused to disband until their terms were accepted. After the
-enforcement of the law, however, had been entrusted to Major-General
-Lambert, these chivalrous champions of the Covenant thought, under such
-circumstances, discretion was unquestionably the better part of valour,
-and they surrendered the castle to the Parliamentary general without
-further pressure. By an order of a Council of State, several of these
-strongholds throughout the country were dismantled, with a view to
-prevent their military occupation in case of a renewal of the war, and
-amongst those so doomed were the castles of Clitheroe and Greenhaugh, in
-the county of Lancaster. Thus ignominiously expires one element in the
-presumed historic truth of Cromwell's numerous castle and abbey
-battering exploits, referred to at length in the first chapter of this
-work, and on which the most remarkable and wide-spread legend of
-_modern_ and strictly historic times is based.
-
-A still more astounding instance of the appropriation of popular legends
-and famous names by localities that have no historical claims to them
-whatever, is found in connection with the ancient castle at Bury,
-Lancashire. Mr. Edward Baines says--"In the civil wars which raged in
-Lancashire in 1644, Bury Castle was battered by the Parliamentary army
-from an intrenchment called 'Castle-steads,' in the adjoining township
-of Walmersley; and from that period the overthrow of this, as well as of
-a large proportion of other castles of the kingdom, may be dated." Mr.
-Baines gives no authority whatever for this astounding statement. He
-evidently merely repeats a well-known local tradition. It would have
-been worth the while of a local historian, one would think, to have made
-some enquiry as to the history of the edifice at Bury during the century
-which had elapsed between Leland's reference to it, and the redoubtable
-exploit of the Parliamentary army in 1644. The earliest authentic record
-of the castle is no older than the reign of Henry VIII., but from the
-very nature of the record it must have been in existence for a long time
-previously. Leland, the "king's antiquary," when travelling through the
-country "in search of England's antiquities," _circa_ 1542-9, thus
-writes about the place--"Byri-on-Irwell, 4 or V. miles from Manchestre,
-but a poore market. There is a Ruine of a Castel by the paroch chirch yn
-the Towne. It longgid with the Towne sumetime to the Pilkentons, now to
-the Erles of Darby. Pilkenton had a place hard by Pilkenton Park, 3
-miles from Manchestre." Leland's distances are, of course, merely
-guesses. In this respect he is frequently in error. It is certain that
-the de Bury family held land in the parish as recently as 1613, and we
-find the manorial rights, at the time of the "Wars of the Roses," were
-held by the Pilkington family. Sir Thomas Pilkington, a devoted adherent
-to the fortunes of the House of York, obtained from Edward IV. a licence
-to "kernel and embattle" his manor-home at Stand, in Pilkington. It is
-not, therefore, improbable that the Bury castle at this time ceased to
-be a manorial residence, and gradually fell into the ruinous condition
-in which it was seen by Leland.
-
-During the time I was inspecting the excavation by the local
-commissioners of the site of Bury castle, in October, 1865, I was
-courteously permitted by Mr. J. Shaw, of that town, to copy a MS.,
-formerly the property of his late father, and, I understood, in that
-gentleman's handwriting. It is, however, dated "Bury, April 13th, 1840,"
-and signed "T. Crompton," or "Krompton," it is difficult to determine
-which. As the document may be said to embody all the "traditional lore"
-respecting the subject under consideration, I give it entire:--
-
-
-"BURY IN THE OLDEN TIME, OR THE SIEGE OF THE CASTLE, ETC.
-
-"Bury Castle, supposed to be built in the reign of Richard II., in 1380.
-The date when erected cannot be positively ascertained. The coin of the
-Stuarts, etc., have been found in the foundations. The whole of the
-castle was destroyed by the Parliamentary arms, in 1642-3, when the wars
-between Charles I. and Cromwell deluged poor England in the blood of her
-own children. Edward de Bury was attached to the unfortunate Charles's
-cause. He fell, with many others, a prey to the party spirit then raging
-so horribly in the land. The river Irwell passed by the north side of
-the castle, and run by the north-east turret, the site of the castle,
-which forms a parallelogram, was about 11 roods square, and from the
-foundation [the walls] seem to have been about two yards thick, with
-four round towers, about 60 feet high each. A large stone has been found
-which belonged to the archway, with the arms of De Bury engraved
-thereon. This drama [_sic_] is principally taken from a legendary tale
-of Bury Castle. Cromwell's army (by Stanley) was placed on Bury Moor.
-The cannon in an intrenchment at Castle Head [_sic_] on the Walmesley
-side of the river. Lord Strange arrayed his army of 20,000 for the Royal
-cause on Gallow's Hill, Tottington Side. The river opposite the Castle,
-before the course was altered, was about 100 to 120 yards wide."
-
-Traditionary lore, though on the whole generally founded on some
-fact or facts, which have become distorted, owing to their frequent
-oral transmission by persons utterly ignorant of their original
-signification, is scarcely ever to be relied on so far as individuals or
-dates are concerned. The stories do unquestionably attest the retention
-in the popular mind of something of import that took place in that vague
-period denominated the "olden time," but not always accurately what that
-_something_ may have been. The Adam de Bury referred to in the document
-quoted is either a myth, or the name has reference to some earlier
-individual interested in the castle at Bury. Indeed the family appears
-to have become extinct before the commencement of the civil wars
-referred to. On this point the documentary evidence quoted by Mr. E.
-Baines is very conclusive. There can have been no "Adam de Bury attached
-to the unfortunate Charles's cause," or his name would have appeared
-amongst the Lancashire "lords, knights, and gentlemen," who compounded
-with the sequestration commissioners for their estates in 1646.
-
-Cromwell's army could not have been placed on Bury Moor, by either
-Stanley or anyone else, in 1642-3, as that general did not enter
-Lancashire till 1648, and then his route lay by Stonyhurst, Preston,
-Wigan, and Warrington. Lord Strange's "army" of 20,000 men is but
-another form of expression for the public meeting held on Bury Moor, the
-numbers stated as attending which are doubtless much exaggerated. A
-similar meeting was held on Preston Moor, and, singularly enough,
-as it was a numerous one, the same authority employs the same
-terms--20,000--to express the fact. The placing of the cannon at Castle
-Stead is another proof of the ignorance of some of the transmitters of
-the tradition, the ordnance during Charles's time being useless at such
-a distance.
-
-The statement in Mr. Shaw's document that "coin of the Stuarts, etc.,
-have been found in the foundations," is valueless, inasmuch as until the
-excavations in 1865, the soil about the _foundations_ does not appear to
-have been disturbed; and yet above the original surface, remains were
-found of various relatively modern dates, as might have been
-anticipated.
-
-I have said there is generally some germ of truth at the bottom of this
-class of legendary stories. In this case it is not only possible but
-highly probable, that older traditions having reference to the "Wars of
-the Roses," may have been confounded with more recent events. This is by
-no means an uncommon occurrence, as I have previously contended.
-Singularly enough, Mr. Baines laments the lack of historical documents
-relating to Lancashire during this eventful period, and which he
-attributes to the wilful destruction to which they were subjected by the
-partizans of both the contending houses. The only historical event of
-any public interest recorded in connection with the bloody struggle for
-the crown of England between the Yorkists and the Lancastrians,
-relates to the capture of the unfortunate Henry VI. at "Bungerley
-hyppyngstones," previously referred to. It is therefore not improbable
-that some local events, lost to history, may have survived in the
-mutilated form in which tradition presents them at the present day,
-although their strictly historical significance is lost, and, what is
-worse, flagrant error has usurped its place in the popular mind.
-
-It does not appear, on the authority of any trustworthy evidence, that
-Cromwell ever visited Lancashire, at least in a military capacity,
-except on the occasion of his great victory over Langdale and Hamilton
-in 1648. Of his movements immediately preceding that event, we have his
-own statement in a dispatch addressed to "The Honourable William
-Lenthall, Esquire, Speaker of the House of Commons." He says--"Hearing
-that the enemy was advanced with their army into Lancashire, we marched
-the next day, being the 13th of this instant August, to Otley (_having
-cast off our train_, and sent it to Knaresborough, because of the
-difficulty of marching therewith through Craven, and to the end that we
-might _with more expedition_ attend the enemy's motion): and on the 14th
-to Skipton; the 15th to Gisburne; the 16th to Hodder Bridge,
-over Ribble; where we held a council of war, at which we had in
-consideration, whether we should march to Whalley that night, and so on,
-to interpose between the enemy and his further progress into Lancashire,
-and so southward,--which we had some advertisement the enemy intended,
-and [we are] since confirmed that they intended for London itself: or
-whether to march immediately over the said Bridge, there being no other
-betwixt that and Preston, and there engage the enemy,--who we did
-believe would stand his ground, because we had information that the
-Irish forces under Munro lately come out of Ireland, which consisted of
-twelve hundred horse and fifteen hundred foot, were on their march
-towards Lancashire to join them. It was thought that to engage the enemy
-to fight was our business; and the reason aforesaid giving us hopes that
-our marching on the north side of Ribble would effect it, it was
-resolved we should march over the bridge, which accordingly we did, and
-that night quartered the whole army in the field by Stonyhurst Hall,
-being Mr. Sherburn's house, a place nine miles distant from Preston.[32]
-Very early the next morning we marched towards Preston, having
-intelligence that the enemy was drawing together thereabouts from all
-his out quarters."
-
-At first sight it appears that Cromwell refers to some bridge which
-spanned the river Ribble, and named Hodder Bridge. This, however, is not
-the case. By the word "over" he means _beyond_, that is they passed over
-the Ribble to a bridge spanning the Hodder. Stonyhurst can be approached
-from the east by two bridges over this stream called the "upper" and the
-"lower." Both have been superseded by new structures, but some
-picturesque ruins of their predecessors yet remain. In a note at page
-187, "History of Preston and its Environs," I say--"As Cromwell's army
-advanced by way of Gisburn he would _necessarily_ pass through
-Waddington to the higher bridge, over the river Hodder, on his route to
-Stonyhurst." In this case he could ford the Ribble near Salley Abbey a
-few miles above Clitheroe, or at the Bungerley "hyppyngstones," nearer
-the town. From Cromwell's slight reference to Clitheroe, and his
-uncertainty respecting the troops occupying the place, together with
-Colonel Hodgson's reference to "Waddey," both of which will be again
-referred to, this is the most probable route. But from Gisburn, he _may_
-have come direct to Clitheroe, and, passing through the town, have
-crossed the Ribble at Eddisford a little below, and proceeded from
-thence to Stonyhurst by the "lower bridge of Hodder."
-
-Further, in the evening after the battle, in a letter to the "Honourable
-Committee of Lancashire, sitting at Manchester," dated "Preston, 17th
-August, 1648," Cromwell expresses some uncertainty as to the forces
-stationed at Clitheroe, which evidently shows he made no stay in the
-immediate neighbourhood. He says--"We understand Colonel-General
-Ashton's [forces] are at Whalley; we have seven troops of horse or
-dragoons that we _believe_ lie at Clitheroe. This night I have sent
-order to them expressly to march to Whalley, to join to these companies;
-that so we may endeavour the ruin of the enemy."
-
-Captain John Hodgson, of "Coalley," near Halifax, whom Thomas
-Carlyle somewhat unceremoniously and unnecessarily describes as an
-"honest-hearted, pudding-headed Yorkshire Puritan,"[33] left behind him
-a kind of journal, in which the details of the campaign are described
-with great clearness and minuteness. Hodgson, as his conduct shows, was
-not only an honest, but a brave and skilful soldier. He says--"The next
-day we marched to Clitheroe; and at Waddey [Waddow, between Clitheroe
-and Waddington,] our forlorn of horse took Colonel Tempest and a party
-of horse, for an earnest of what was behind. That night we pitched our
-camp at Stanyares Hall, a Papist's house, one Sherburne; and the next
-morning a forlorn was drawn out of horse and foot; and, at Langridge
-Chapel, our horse gleaned up a considerable parcel of the enemy, and
-fought them all the way until within a mile of Preston."
-
-If any military action, of even trifling importance, had taken place at
-Clitheroe it could not possibly have escaped the notice both of the
-general and his detail-loving "commander of the forlorn of foot." After
-describing the earlier portion of the struggle with Langdale's troops on
-Ribbleton moor, he says--"My captain sees me mounted[34] and orders me
-to ride up to my colonel, that was deeply engaged both in front and
-flank: and I did so, and there was nothing but fire and smoke; and I met
-Major-General Lambert coming off on foot, who had been with his brother
-Bright, and coming to him, I told him where his danger lay, on his left
-wing chiefly. He ordered me to fetch up the Lancashire regiment; and God
-brought me off, both horse and myself. The bullets flew freely; then was
-the heat of the battle that day. I came down to the muir, where I met
-with Major Jackson, that belonged to Ashton's regiment, and about three
-hundred men were come up; and I ordered him to march, but he said he
-would not, till his men were come up. A serjeant, belonging to them,
-asked me, where they should march? I shewed him the party he was to
-fight; and he, like a true bred Englishman, marched, and I caused the
-soldiers to follow him; which presently fell upon the enemy, and losing
-that wing the whole army gave ground and fled. Such valiant acts were
-done by contemptible instruments: The major had been called to a council
-of war, but that he cried _peccavi_."
-
-These Lancashire troops, under the command of "Colonel-General" Ashton,
-appear to have been brave fellows enough; but, like militia-men in
-general, they appear to have had only lax notions of discipline. If not
-actually mutinous, they sometimes lacked the subordination essential to
-military discipline. Their qualities Captain Hodgson sums up in the
-following pithy sentences--"The Lancashire foot were as stout men as
-were in the world, and as brave firemen. I have often told them, they
-were as good fighters, and as great plunderers, as ever went to a
-field."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-ATHELSTAN'S GREAT VICTORY AT BRUNANBURH, A.D. 937.,
-
-AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE GREAT ANGLO-SAXON AND DANISH HOARD,
-DISCOVERED AT CUERDALE, IN 1840.
-
-
-HAROLD--(On the morn of the battle of Senlac or Hastings)--Our guardsmen
-have slept well since we came in?
-
- LEOFWIN.--    *    *    They are up again
-           And chanting that old song of Brunanburg,
-           Where England conquer'd.
-
- _Tennyson's Harold._
-
-
-Upwards of three centuries had elapsed since the departure of the Roman
-legions from Britain, and the presumedly first regularly organised
-invasion of the island by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, when a new
-enemy of the same Teutonic blood and language appeared upon her shores.
-The country had been but partially conquered by the first Teutonic
-invaders. Picts and Scots held their own in Ireland and that portion of
-Great Britain to the north of the estuaries of the Clyde and the Forth.
-The Britons were not only masters in old Cornwall and in a more extended
-territory than is now included in the present principality of Wales,
-but they remained dominant in Strathclyde and Cumberland, which
-comprised the lands on the western side of the island between the Clyde
-estuary and Morecambe Bay. Christianity had become the recognised
-religious faith of both the Britons and the Teutons, but the newly
-arrived kinsmen of the latter were still worshippers of Odin, and
-marched to battle with his sacred "totem" or cognizance, the "swart
-raven" emblazoned on their banners. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, under the
-date 787, says--"This year king Bertric took to wife Eadburga, King
-Offa's daughter; and in his days first came three ships of Northmen, out
-of Hoeretha-land [Denmark.] And then the reve rode to the place, and
-would have driven them to the king's town, because he knew not who they
-were: and they there slew him. These were the first ships of Danish men
-which sought the land of the English nation." These three ships landed
-in Dorsetshire, and the gerefa or reve, named Beaduheard, of Dorchester,
-supposed them to be contraband traders rather than pirates. This mistake
-cost him his life, as well as the lives of the whole of his retinue.
-
-The conflicts which followed for many years afterwards between these
-heathen pirates and their Christianised kinsmen were characterised by
-deeds of remorseless atrocity as well as of indomitable valour. Truly,
-every now relatively civilized nation has had to pass through what may
-not be inaptly termed its Bashi-Bazouk stage of culture before from it
-evolved its present more highly developed intellectual and moral human
-features. Mr. Jno. R. Green ("Short History of the English People,")
-sums up the more prominent characteristics of this internecine strife as
-follows:--
-
-"The first sight of the Danes is as if the hand of the dial of history
-had gone back three hundred years. The same Norwegian fiords, the same
-Frisian sandbanks, pour forth their pirate fleets as in the days of
-Hengest and Cerdic. There is the same wild panic as the black boats of
-the invaders strike inland along the river reaches, or moor round the
-river islets, the same sights of horror--firing of homesteads, slaughter
-of men, women driven off to slavery or shame, children tossed on pikes
-or sold in the market-place--as when the English invaders attacked
-Britain. Christian priests were again slain at the altar by worshippers
-of Woden, for the Danes were still heathen. Letters, arts, religion,
-governments disappeared before these Northmen as before the Northmen of
-old. But when the wild burst of the storm was over, land, people,
-government reappeared unchanged. England still remained England; the
-Danes sank quietly into the mass of those around them; and Woden yielded
-without a struggle to Christ. The secret of this difference between the
-two invasions was that the battle was no longer between men of different
-races. It was no longer a fight between Briton and German, between
-Englishmen and Welshmen. The Danes were the same people in blood and
-speech with the people they attacked; and were in fact Englishmen
-bringing back to an England that had forgotten its origins the barbaric
-England of its pirate forefathers. Nowhere over Europe was the fight so
-fierce, because nowhere else were the combatants men of one blood and
-one speech. But just for this reason the fusion of the Northmen with
-their foes was nowhere so peaceful and complete."
-
-[Illustration: MAP 3.]
-
-The chief Danish ravages for nearly a century were confined to the
-southern coast and the coast of East Anglia. In 855, the Chronicle
-says--"The heathen men for the first time remained over winter in
-Sheppey." In 867, it records that "this year the Danish army went from
-East Anglia over the mouth of the Humber to York, in North-humbria. And
-there was much dissention among that people, and they had cast out their
-king Osbert, and had taken to themselves a king, AElla, not of royal
-blood; but late in the year they resolved that they would fight against
-the army, and therefore they gathered a large force, and fought the army
-at the town of York, and stormed the town, and some of them got within
-and there was an excessive slaughter made of the North-humbrians, some
-within, some without, and the kings were both slain, and the remainder
-made peace with the army."
-
-Some writers say that AElla was put to death with the most frightful
-tortures in revenge for similar cruel treatment, on his part, of his
-conquered foe, Ragnar Lodbrock, by the three sons of that somewhat
-mythical hero, named Halfden, Ingwar, and Hubba, who commanded the
-expedition. The story runs that Ragnar, being taken prisoner by AElla,
-was thrown into a dungeon, and bitten to death by vipers. This Ragnar,
-however, has proved so troublesome to northern scholars, that many
-regard him as a mythical personage, belonging to an earlier, or what
-they term the "heroic period." Scandinavian reliable _history_ only
-dates from about the middle of the ninth century. AElla usurped the
-Northumbrian throne in the year 862, and Mr. J. A. Blackwell, in his
-edition of Mallett's "Northern Antiquities," says "Ragnar's death is
-placed by Suhm, who has brought it down to the latest possible epoch, in
-794, and by other writers at a much earlier period." Some of the deeds
-attributed to this hero are unquestionably mythical. From the "Death
-Song," said to have been written by him, but which Mr. Blackwell regards
-as more probably the composition of a Skald of the ninth century, we
-learn that Ragnar succeeded, like Indra, Perseus, St. George, and other
-solar heroes, in conquering a monster serpent that held in captivity
-Thora, the daughter of a chieftain of Gothland, and received the lady in
-marriage, as the reward of his prowess. In order to protect himself
-against the serpent's venom, it is said that Ragnar "put on shaggy
-trousers, from which circumstance he was afterwards called Lodbrok
-(_Shaggy-brogues_)." Be this as it may, Ingwar, his presumed son, on the
-defeat of AElla and Osbert, ascended the Northumbrian throne, and the
-Danes remained masters of the situation, until the partition of the
-kingdom between Godrun and Alfred the Great gave them peaceful
-possession of the territory. In the year 876, Halfden, a famous Danish
-viking, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, "appropriated the lands
-of Northumbria; and they thenceforth continued ploughing and tilling
-them." Consequently, from this period, the great mass of the men of
-Scandinavian blood in Northumbria must be regarded rather in the light
-of emigrants or settlers than roving pirates, although, doubtless, with
-them the sword was always ready to supersede the ploughshare whenever
-the arrival of a fleet of their buccaneering relatives on the coast
-afforded an opportunity for a successful foray on the lands of their
-Anglo-Saxon neighbours.
-
-On the death of Edward the Elder, in the year 925, the "right royal"
-grandson of the Great Alfred, the "golden haired" Athelstan, succeeded
-to the kingdom of Wessex and its dependencies, which included the whole
-of England south of the Humber and the Mersey, with the exception of
-Cornwall and East Anglia, and the "overlordship" of the whole of the
-Anglo-Saxon and Danish rulers, as well as those of the Welsh and Scots,
-whose kings rendered him homage and acknowledged him the legitimate
-successor to his father Edward, whom they regarded as "their Father,
-Lord, and Protector." Edward the Elder was, at the time of his highest
-prosperity, unquestionably the most powerful "Bretwalda" or "overlord"
-that had ruled in Britain since the departure of the Romans.
-
-Soon after Athelstan's succession, however, the kings of the present
-Principality, or North Wales, as the whole country from the Severn to
-the Dee was then called, rebelled against the authority of the hated
-fair-haired Sassenach. Athelstan instantly attacked Edwall Voel, king of
-Gwynnedd, and wrested the entire sovereignty of his dominion from him.
-He, however, on the submission of the other Welsh princes, and their
-performance of homage to him at his court held at Hereford, generously
-restored it to him. Afterwards the country between the Severn and the
-Wye were added to Mercia, and a heavy tribute was imposed on all the
-revolted Welsh monarchs. Twenty pounds weight of gold and three hundred
-pounds of silver were to be yearly paid into the treasury, or, as it was
-then styled, the "Hoard" of the "King of London." To this was to be
-added an annual gift of twenty thousand beeves and the swiftest hounds
-and hawks that the country possessed.
-
-The Cornish Britons, or West Welsh, as they were then termed, were
-afterwards subdued, and thus all Britain south of the Humber and the
-Mersey again acknowledged Athelstan's supremacy or "overlordship."
-
-In the year 925, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle informs us that Athelstan and
-Sihtric (or Sigtryg), king of the North-humbrians, "came together at
-Tamworth, on the 3rd before the Kalends of February; and Athelstan gave
-him his sister." But this marriage failed to secure the proposed future
-alliance between the Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon sovereigns. The Dane,
-who had embraced Christianity, relapsed into the faith of his
-forefathers and returned his wife to her former home. Sihtric's death,
-however, intervened between the repudiation of Queen Editha, who
-afterwards became Abbess of Tamworth, and the vengeance of Athelstan,
-which fell upon Anlaf and Godefrid, sons of Sihtric by a former
-marriage. Anlaf fled to Ireland, on the east coast of which the Danes
-held the supreme authority, and his brother sought refuge with
-Constantine, king of the Scots. Referring to these events the
-Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says--"A. 926. This year fiery lights appeared in
-the north part of the heavens. And Sihtric perished; and king Athelstan
-obtained the kingdom of the North-humbrians. And he ruled all the kings
-who were in the island; first, Howel, king of the West-Welsh; and
-Constantine, king of the Scots; and Owen, king of the Monmouth people;
-and Aldred, son of Ealdulf, of Bambrough: and they confirmed the peace
-by pledge, and by oaths, at the place which is called Eamot, on the 4th
-before the Ides of July; and they renounced all idolatry, and after that
-submitted to him in peace."
-
-But the peace was not of very long duration, for the king of the Scots
-raised the standard of revolt, and the old Chronicler, or perhaps a
-successor, tells us that in the year 933, "Athelstan went into Scotland,
-as well with a land army as with a fleet, and ravaged a great part of
-it." This defeat of the Scottish king for a time restored Athelstan's
-dominion, but the peace which followed was, four years afterwards,
-broken by a powerful combination of Athelstan's enemies, which shook the
-"overlordship" of the English monarch to its foundation, and threatened
-the safety of his inherited kingdoms. The Scots, the Cumbrian Britons,
-the North and West Welsh, entered into a league with Anlaf of Dublin and
-the Danish chiefs of Northumbria and their Scandinavian allies to lower
-the prestige of the English monarch, and to seat the son of Sihtric on
-the throne of his ancestors. This fierce conflict culminated in the
-great battle of Brunanburh, in the year 937, in which, after a
-desperate two days' struggle, the confederate forces of his enemies were
-utterly routed, and Athelstan reigned supreme monarch to the end of his
-kingly career.
-
-There is some difficulty in determining the exact date of this
-celebrated engagement. Sharon-Turner gives it as 934. Worsaae in his
-"Danes and Norwegians in England," says 937. Ethelwerd's Chronicle says
-939. Sharon-Turner refers to the fact that one MS. of the Anglo-Saxon
-Chronicle gives the date 937, notwithstanding which he prefers 934. Dr.
-Freeman in his "Old English History" adheres to 937, which seems to be
-the most probable date.
-
-We find that British Christians, as on previous occasions, espoused the
-cause of the heathen Danes, rather than fraternize with their hated
-Anglo-Saxon rivals, the disciples of Augustine and Paulinus. Thus many
-elements combined to render this battle one of the bloodiest and most
-destructive ever fought on British soil. The great struggle did not take
-place immediately on the arrival of Anlaf and his allies. Athelstan's
-two governors, Gudrekir and Alfgeirr first confronted the invaders. The
-former was slain and the latter fled to his sovereign, with the news of
-their discomfiture. Athelstan, with wise forethought, tried the effect
-of diplomacy, if only for the purpose of gaining sufficient time for the
-assembling of all his forces before staking his sovereignty upon the
-issue of a single battle.
-
-The authorities, contemporary or nearly so, for the details of this
-decisive campaign, although meagre in comparison with those of more
-recent struggles, are nevertheless fuller than usual for the period. We
-have the poem in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a notice in Ethelwerd's
-Chronicle, and some Scandinavian accounts, notably Egil's Saga.
-Sharon-Turner, however, regards the northern authorities as not entitled
-to implicit reliance, as their great object was the laudation of Egil
-and Thorolf, Scandinavian mercenaries in the pay of Athelstan, who, they
-contend, mainly contributed to the victory by the annihilation of the
-"disorderly Irish" contingent.
-
-Athelstan, when his diplomatic _finesse_ had answered his purpose,
-suddenly appeared at Brunanburh, and pitched his camp in front of the
-enemy. It is related that Anlaf, taken by surprise, imitated Alfred's
-stratagem, and entered the royal camp in the disguise of a harper. He
-was admitted into the presence of Athelstan, who was ever liberal in his
-patronage of poets and musicians, and the Danish king played, sang, and
-danced before the assembled chieftains, at a banquet, in the enjoyment
-of which he found them engaged previously to the holding of a council of
-war. On his dismissal a purse, filled with silver groats, was given to
-him as a reward for his services. Anlaf's observant military eye had
-detected the weakest point in his adversary's position, and the exact
-locality in which the royal tent was pitched, and he determined to
-surprise the camp by a sudden night attack, and either slay or carry off
-the king a prisoner. One false step, however, robbed him of the
-advantage his daring had gained. On leaving the enemy's lines, he was
-observed by a sentinel, who had formerly served under him, to bury the
-king's gratuity, which he disdained to appropriate to other use, in a
-hole in the earth. This aroused the soldier's suspicion, and Athelstan
-was informed of the circumstance. The king, in the first instance, was
-disposed to treat the man somewhat harshly, and demanded why the
-information as to the identity of the pretended itinerant minstrel had
-not been communicated to him before his departure. To this the faithful
-soldier replied, "Nay, by the same oath of fealty which binds me to
-thee, O king, was I once bound to Anlaf; and had I betrayed him, with
-equal justice mightest thou have expected treachery from me. But hear my
-counsel. Whilst awaiting further reinforcements, take away thy tent from
-the spot upon which it now stands, and thus mayest thou ward off the
-blow of thine enemy." This advice Athelstan followed, and shortly
-afterwards the Bishop of Sherborne arrived with his contingent, and
-pitched his tent in the locality vacated by his royal master, which
-circumstance cost him his life during the night surprise which followed.
-We have Alfred's harper story on the authority of Ingulf and William of
-Malmesbury, the former of whom was born in 1030, and the latter in 1095
-or 1096, so that they were recording events which had transpired between
-one and two centuries before their own adult experience. The Anlaf tale
-is too exact a counterpart of the one related about Alfred, not to
-suggest doubt as to its veracity; or, if it be a veritable incident in
-the life of the Scandinavian warrior, the doubt will have to be
-transferred to the story related of his Saxon predecessor. It is not
-very probable so transparent an artifice would succeed a second time,
-especially when played upon such a clear-headed chieftain as Alfred's
-grandson.[35] But, however Anlaf gained his information, the night the
-attack took place, Adils, a Welsh prince, detected the strategy of
-Athelstan. After the death of the Bishop of Sherborne, he and Hyngr (a
-chieftain described in Egil's Saga as a Welshman, but whose name,
-Sharon-Turner thinks, sounds very like a Danish one), led the attack on
-the main body of the English army. But Athelstan was prepared, and
-Thorolf and Alfgeirr's detachments were instantly opposed to them.
-Alfgeirr was soon overpowered and fled, on perceiving which Thorolf
-threw his shield behind him, and hewed his way with his heavy two-hand
-sword through the opposing mass until he reached the standard of Hyngr.
-A few moments decided the fate of that chieftain. Thorolf ordered Egil,
-though weakened by the defeat and flight of Alfgeirr, to resist Adils,
-but to be prepared to retreat to the cover of a neighbouring wood, if
-necessary. Adils, mourning the death of his colleague, at length gave
-way, and the preliminary nocturnal combat ended. After a day's rest,[36]
-Egil led the van of the Anglo-Saxon army, and Thorolf opposed the
-"irregular Irish," which formed part of Anlaf's own division, and
-extended to the wood previously mentioned. Turketal, the English
-chancellor, a man of stalwart proportions, who commanded the citizens of
-London, and Singin of Worcestershire, were opposed to Constantine, king
-of the Scots, while Athelstan, at the head of his West Saxons,
-confronted Anlaf in person. Thorolf attempted to turn the enemies'
-flank, when Adils rushed from his ambush in the wood, and countered the
-movement. Egils saw with dismay Thorolf's banner retreating. He knew by
-this that he must have fallen; and, rushing to the spot, he rallied the
-scattered band, successfully renewed the attack, and, in Sharon-Turner's
-words, "sacrificed Adils to the manes of Thorolf." The Councillor
-pierced the enemy's centre, heedless of the arrows and spears which
-fastened on his armour. Constantine and he met and fought hand to hand
-for some time, and Singer slew the prince, his son, who fought valiantly
-by his father's side. This vigorous and successful onslaught produced a
-panic among the Scots, and correspondingly elated the English. In the
-meanwhile Athelstan and his brother, Edmund, the Atheling, were engaged
-with the main body of the enemy under Anlaf. The grandson of the Great
-Alfred and the presumed grandson of Radnor Lodbrog contended both for
-dominion and renown. In the midst of the fight Athelstan's sword-blade
-snapped near the handle. Another was supplied to him, it was said, by
-miraculous agency, which saved his life. At length the tremendous
-struggle, which lasted throughout the day, was brought to a close by
-Turketal chasing the Scots from the battle-field, and turning Anlaf's
-flank. Immense slaughter ensued; the enemy's ranks began rapidly to
-thin; the English shouted "victory!" and Athelstan, profiting by the
-auspicious opportunity, ordered his banner to the front, and by a
-determined and well-directed onslaught, broke the enemy's now enfeebled
-ranks. They fled in various directions, and, according to Egil's saga,
-"the plain was filled with their bodies." Anlaf and his immediate
-followers narrowly escaped to their ships and embarked for Ireland.
-Sharon-Turner says--
-
-"Thus terminated this dangerous and important conflict. Its successful
-issue was of such consequence, that it raised Athelstan in the eyes of
-all Europe. The kings of the continent sought his friendship, and
-England began to assume a majestic port amid the other nations of the
-west. Amongst the Anglo-Saxons it excited such rejoicings that not only
-their poets aspired to commemorate it, but the songs were so popular,
-that one of them is inserted in the Saxon Chronicle as the best memorial
-of the event."
-
-The following is Dr. Giles's literal rendering of this remarkable poem
-into modern English:--
-
-    A. 937.--Here Athelstan, king,
-    of earls the lord,
-    of heroes the bracelet giver,
-    and his brother eke,
-    Edmund etheling,
-    life-long glory
-    in battle won
-    with edges of swords
-    near Brunanburh.
-    The board-walls they clove,
-    they hewed the war-lindens,
-
-    Hamora lafan'
-    offspring of Edward,
-    such was their noble nature
-    from their ancestors,
-    that they in battle oft
-    'gainst every foe
-    the land defended,
-    hoards and homes.
-    The foe they crushed,
-    the Scottish people
-    and the shipmen
-    fated fell.
-    The field 'daeniede'
-    with warriors' blood,
-    since the sun up
-    at morning tide--
-    mighty planet--
-    glided o'er grounds,
-    God's candle bright,
-    the eternal Lord's--
-    till the noble creature
-    sank to her settle.
-    There lay many a warrior
-    by javelins strewed;
-    northern men
-    over shield shot;
-    so the Scots, eke,
-    weary, war-sad.
-    West Saxons onwards
-    throughout the day,
-    in bands,
-    pursued the footsteps
-    of the loathed nations.
-    They hewed the fugitives
-    behind, amain,
-    with swords mill-sharp.
-    Mercians refused not
-    the hard hand-play
-    to any heroes
-    who, with Anlaf,
-    over the ocean,
-    in the ship's bosom,
-    this land sought
-    fated to the fight.
-    Five lay
-    on the battle-stead,
-    youthful kings,
-    by swords in slumber laid:
-    so seven, eke,
-    of Anlaf's earls;
-    of the army countless,
-    shipmen and Scots.
-    There was made flee
-    the North-men's chieftain,
-    by need constrained,
-    to the ship's prow
-    with a little band.
-    The bark drove afloat;
-    the king departed,
-    on the fallow flood
-    his life preserved.
-    So there, eke, the sage
-    came by flight
-    to his country north,
-    Constantine,
-    hoary warrior.
-    He had no cause to exult
-    in the communion of swords.
-    Here was his kindred band
-    of friends o'erthrown
-    on the folk-stead,
-    in battle slain;
-    and his son he left
-    on the slaughter-place
-    mangled with wounds,
-    young in the fight.
-    He had no cause to boast,
-    hero grizzly haired,
-    of the bill-clashing,
-    the old deceiver;
-    nor Anlaf the moor,
-    with the remnant of their armies;
-    they had no cause to laugh
-    that they in war's works
-    the better men were
-    in the battle-stead,
-    at the conflict of banners,
-    meeting of spears,
-    concourse of men,
-    traffic of weapons,
-    that they on the slaughter-field
-    with Edward's
-    offspring played.
-
-    The North-men departed
-    in their nailed barks--
-    bloody relic of darts--
-    on roaring ocean,
-    o'er the deep water,
-    Dublin to seek;
-    again Ireland
-    shamed in mind.
-
-    So, too, the brothers,
-    both together,
-    king and etheling,
-    their country sought,
-    West-Saxons' land,
-    in the war exulting.
-    They left behind them,
-    the corse to devour,
-    the sallowy kite
-    and the swarthy raven
-    with horned nib,
-    and the dusky 'pada,'
-    erne white-tailed,
-    the corse to enjoy,--
-    greedy war-hawk,
-    and the grey beast,
-    wolf of the wood.
-
-    Carnage greater has not been
-    in this island
-    ever yet
-    of people slain,
-    before this,
-    by edges of swords,
-    as the books say--
-    old writers--
-    since from the east hither
-    Angles and Saxons
-    came to land,--
-    o'er the broad seas
-    Britain sought,--
-    mighty war-smiths
-    the Welsh o'ercame;
-    earls most bold
-    this earth obtained.
-
-Some of the MSS. of the Chronicle have the following additional
-reference to the battle:--
-
-"A. 937. This year King Athelstan and Edmund his brother led a force to
-Brunanburh, and there fought against Anlaf; and Christ helping, had the
-victory; and they there slew five kings and seven earls."
-
-Simeon, of Durham, says one of these five monarchs was "Eligenius, an
-under-king of Deira," or the eastern portion of the then kingdom of
-Northumbria.
-
-Athelstan died in 940, and, in the following year, the Chronicle says
-his successor "Edmund received king Anlaf at baptism." In 942, it
-says--"This year King Anlaf died." There were, however, two other
-chieftains of the same name, who flourished somewhat later.
-
-Historians are scarcely, even at the present day, unanimous in their
-views as to what monarch ought to be regarded as the first "king of
-England." Some say Egbert; but his authority rarely if ever extended
-over the whole of the country now so named, and a very large proportion
-of it was merely a kind of nominal "over lordship," which carried with
-it very little governing influence, and, such as it was, it was held on
-a very precarious tenure. Others contend that the distinction belongs to
-Alfred the Great. Yet Alfred, though beloved by all the English-speaking
-people in the land, was compelled to share the territory with his Danish
-rival, Gothrun. Sharon-Turner says--"The truth seems to be that Alfred
-was the first monarch of the _Anglo-Saxons_, but Athelstan was the first
-monarch of _England_." He adds--"After the battle of Brunanburh,
-Athelstan had no competitor; he was the _immediate Sovereign of all
-England_. He was even _nominal_ lord of Wales and Scotland." This seems
-to be the true solution of the query.
-
-It is a most remarkable circumstance that the site of this great
-victory, notwithstanding the magnitude of the contending armies and the
-importance of its political and social results, was, until recently, at
-least, absolutely unknown, and it cannot yet be said that the true
-locality has been demonstrated with sufficient clearness to entirely
-remove all doubt. Many places have been suggested on the most frivolous
-grounds. The question where is, or was, Brunanburh is still sounding in
-the ear of the historical student, and echo merely answers "Where?" Yet
-I think I have made the nearest approach to the solution of this
-problem, in the "History of Preston and its Environs," that has yet been
-attempted, and further investigation enables me to add considerably to
-the evidence there adduced.
-
-It is, perhaps, necessary that some attempt should be made to determine
-the cause or causes why the site of so important a victory, celebrated
-in the finest extant short poem in the Anglo-Saxon tongue, and so
-important in its political results, should have become lost both to the
-history and tradition of the English victors. At first sight there
-appears something singularly exceptionable in the fact. But a closer
-inspection of the details of what may be termed the Anglo-Saxon period
-of conflict with their Scandinavian enemies, Danish, Norwegian, or
-Norman-French, soon removes this impression, the sites of many other,
-almost equally important struggles, and notoriously some of those in
-which the Great Alfred was engaged, having been subjected to similar
-doubt, if not oblivion.
-
-In the first place it must not be forgotten that after the death of
-Athelstan, the Danish invasions were renewed, and, after various
-successes and defeats, the Scandinavian monarchs, Sweyn and Canute,
-before the end of the tenth century, ruled despotically over all
-England. Even the temporary restoration of the Anglo-Saxon dynastic
-element, in the person of Edward the Confessor, in consequence of his
-Norman-French connection and early education, did little to remove the
-pressure of the foreign yoke, in the provinces at least; and what
-influence it may have exerted was speedily eradicated by the decisive
-victory of William the Norman, near Hastings, in the middle of the
-following century. Conquest, in those days, meant subjugation to the
-extent of a deprivation of all rights--at least all political
-rights--and many social privileges, and absolute serfdom for the great
-mass of the population. Consequently it was the policy of the conquerors
-to ignore, and, as far as possible, enforce the ignorement of all past
-glorious achievements of the ancestors of the subjugated peoples.
-Doubtless, tradition would still, with its tenacious grasp, retain some
-recollection of the great exploits of their forefathers, and, in secret,
-the people would cherish their memory with a more intense love, on
-account of the persecution to which its open expression would be
-subjected. But in those days there were no printing presses, nor
-journalism, local or metropolitan. The people could not read, and even
-the nobles, in the main, like old King Cole, in the song, because he
-could afford to salary a secretary, "scorned the fetters of the four and
-twenty letters, and it saved them a vast deal of trouble." Now, these
-secretaries were almost, if not entirely, ecclesiastics; and they were
-likewise the only literary, or learned men, existing during the period
-to which I refer. These ecclesiastics, in different monasteries, kept
-records of the general events of the period in which they lived, of a
-very meagre character, and devoted more time and space to matters
-ecclesiastical, as might reasonably be anticipated. Again, when the
-Danish and Norman warriors obtained the supreme power, it is easy to
-understand that the ecclesiastical domination was speedily transferred
-to their clerical _confreres_; and, of course, whatever obscurity rested
-on the details of previous victories or glories of the subject race,
-would be intensified rather than lessened, by any action of theirs, even
-supposing (which is anything but probable), that they themselves
-possessed much authentic information respecting such events. Subsequent
-writers, of course, dealt largely in mere conjecture, on the flimsiest
-of evidence; and, as they sometimes differ so widely from each other, or
-as they are so obscure in their topographical definitions and
-nomenclature, little is derivable from their labours of value to the
-modern historian and antiquary. Consequently, although there are many
-references to the great battle itself, both in the several chronicles,
-the poem to which I have referred, and in some Scandinavian sagas,
-written in honour of two of their warriors of the free-lance, or Dugal
-Dalgetty class, who fought on the side of the English monarch, the site
-of the great conflict has remained doubtful to the present time.
-
-Henry of Huntingdon, who wrote in the earlier portion of the twelfth
-century, referring to the twelve presumed victories of Arthur, accounts
-for the then loss of their sites in the following characteristic
-fashion--"These battles and battle-fields are described by Gildas,"
-[Nennius,] "the historian, but in our times the places are unknown, the
-Providence of God, we consider, having so ordered it that popular
-applause and flattery, and transitory glory, might be of no account."
-
-The clerical historian seems to have thoroughly understood the motives
-of his predecessors in the destruction of the records of a heretical or
-pagan race.
-
-Mr. Daniel H. Haigh, in his "Conquest of Britain by the Saxons,"
-referring to the absence of Runic inscriptions in the south of England,
-and their partial preservation in the Northumbrian kingdom, has the
-following pertinent observations:--
-
-"The first missionaries, St. Augustine and his brethren, used all their
-endeavours to destroy every monument of Runic antiquity, because runes
-had been the means of pagan augury, and of preserving the memory of
-pagan hymns and incantations; for, knowing how prone the common people
-were to their ancient superstitions (of which even after the lapse of
-twelve centuries many vestiges still remain), and how difficult it would
-be to teach them to distinguish the use of a thing from its abuse, they
-feared that their labours would be in vain so long as the monuments of
-ancient superstition remained. So every Runic writing disappeared; and
-we may well believe, that records which to us would be invaluable,
-perished in the general destruction. In the first instance S. Gregory
-had commanded that everything connected with paganism should be
-destroyed; but afterwards, in a letter to S. Milletus, he recommended
-that the symbols only of paganism should be done away with, but that the
-sanctuaries should be consecrated and used as churches. These
-instructions were in force when S. Paulinus evangelized Northumbria; and
-we cannot doubt that the work of destruction would be effectively done
-under the auspices of a prince whose police was so vigorous as we are
-informed that Eadwine's was. But after his death, and the flight of S.
-Paulinus, the restoration of Christianity in Northumbria was effected by
-missionaries of the Irish school, whose fathers in Ireland had pursued
-from the first a different policy, by allowing the memorials of
-antiquity to remain, and contenting themselves with consecrating
-the monuments of paganism, and marking them with the symbols of
-Christianity. Under their auspices Runic writing was permitted, for we
-can trace its use in Northumbria to the very times of S. Oswald, whilst
-every vestige has disappeared of the Runic records of an earlier period.
-Mercia received its Christianity from the Irish school of Lindisfarne,
-and we have runes on the coins of the first Christian kings, Peada and
-OEthelraed."
-
-But for the zealous labour of Archbishop Parker, in the sixteenth
-century, even few of the remaining Anglo-Saxon MSS. would have been
-preserved to the present day. John Bale, writing in 1549, says--"A great
-number of them that purchased the monasteries reserved the books of
-those libraries; some to scour their candlesticks, some to rub their
-boots, some they sold to grocers and soapsellers, some they sent over
-sea to the book-binders, not in small numbers, but at times whole ships
-full, to the wondering of foreign nations." Religious and political
-rancour has too often consigned to destruction the archives and
-monuments of hated rivals. Cardinal Ximines, somewhat earlier, committed
-to the flames an immense mass of valuable Arabic MSS. and, not long
-afterwards, Archbishop Zumarraga committed a similar act of insensate
-vandalism on the picture-written national archives of Mexico. Our
-mediaeval historians, indeed, have themselves much to answer for in this
-direction. Strype says that Polydore Vergil, having, by licence from
-Henry VIII., when writing his history, procured many valuable books from
-various libraries in England, on its conclusion, piled "those same books
-together, and set them all on a light fire."
-
-Mr. Frederick Metcalf ("Englishman and Scandinavian") waxed wrath as he
-contemplated the irreparable loss sustained through the ignorance and
-fanaticism of our forefathers. He exclaims--"Cart loads of Old English
-mythical and heroic epics, finished histories in the vernacular, heaps
-of pieces teeming with sprightly humour, with vivid portraiture, with
-precious touches of nature, may or may not have been destroyed by the
-Danes, by the Normans, in their contempt for everything Anglo-Saxon, by
-insensate scribes in want of vellum--who scraped out things of beauty to
-make room for their own doting effusions, or pasted the leaves of MSS.
-together to make bindings--by the Reformers, by the Roundheads, by fire,
-by crass folly."
-
-Independently of wilful neglect or active destruction, the Anglo-Norman
-transcripts of previous Anglo-Saxon MSS. now existing are not only
-rarities, but wretchedly deficient, owing to both accidental damage, and
-the carelessness, or ignorance, of their monkish transcribers. Thorpe,
-referring to the only existing early MS. of the poem "Beowulf," in his
-preface to his work on the "Anglo-Saxon Poems of Beowulf, the Scop or
-Gleeman's Tale, and the Fight at Finnesburg," says--"Unfortunately, as
-of Caedmon and the Codex Exoniensis, there is only a single manuscript of
-Beowulf extant, which I take to be of the first half of the eleventh
-century (MS. Cott. Vitellius A. 15). All manuscripts of Anglo-Saxon
-poetry are deplorably inaccurate, evincing, in almost every page, the
-ignorance of an illiterate scribe, frequently (as was the monastic
-custom) copying from dictation; but of all Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, that
-of Beowulf may, I believe, be conscientiously pronounced the worst,
-independently of its present lamentable condition, in consequence of the
-fire at Cotton House, in 1731, whereby it was seriously injured, being
-partially rendered as friable as touchwood. In perfect accordance with
-this judgment of the manuscript and its writer is the testimony of Dr.
-Grundtvig, who says--'The ancient scribe did not rightly understand what
-he himself was writing; and, what was worse, the conflagration in 1731
-had rendered a part wholly or almost illegible.' Mr. Kemble's words are
-to the same effect--'The manuscript of Beowulf is unhappily among the
-most corrupt of all the Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, and corrupt they all
-are without exception.'"
-
-My attention was first called to the probable site of Athelstan's great
-victory at Brunanburh, when dealing with the "great Cuerdale Find," of
-May, 1840. Mr. Hawkins, vice-president of the Numismatic Society, who
-devoted much attention to the contents of this remarkable chest, says
-"the hoard consisted of about 975 ounces of silver in ingots, ornaments,
-etc., besides about 7,000 coins of various descriptions." From my own
-knowledge many of the coins and some of the ornaments were never seen by
-Mr. Hawkins. Referring to this subject, in the "History of Preston," I
-say--"Many of the coins unquestionably found their way surreptitiously
-into the hands of collectors; consequently there is some difficulty in
-determining the precise number discovered. It is pretty generally
-believed, however, that the chest originally contained about ten
-thousand coins." These coins were all of silver. "Many of the silver
-rings and smaller bars were, likewise, 'appropriated' before any record
-of the 'find' was made."
-
-The collection contained numismatic treasures both of English and
-foreign mintage, and all were coined antecedent to the great battle,
-although the most modern amongst them date within a very few years of
-that event. Dr. Worsaae, the celebrated Danish antiquary, speaking of
-this "find," says--"To judge from the coins, which, with few exceptions,
-were minted between the years 815 and 930, the treasure must have been
-buried in the first half of the tenth century, or about a hundred years
-before the time of Canute the Great."
-
-My position, therefore, is that this great treasure chest was buried
-near the "pass of the Ribble," at Cuerdale, opposite Preston, during
-this troubled period, and probably on the retreat of the confederated
-Irish, Scotch, Welsh, Scandinavian, and Anglo-Danish armies, after their
-disastrous defeat by the English under Athelstan, at the great battle of
-Brunanburh, in 937, which may not inaptly be styled, on account of its
-magnitude and important results, the Waterloo of the tenth century.
-
-Various places have from time to time been suggested as the probable
-locality of the conflict, but upon the very slenderest of evidence. Some
-say Colecroft, near Axminster, Devonshire. One authority assigns the
-following reason for this site--"Axminster is _supposed_ to have derived
-its present name from a college of priests, founded here by Athelstan,
-to pray for the souls of those who fell in the conflict, and who were
-buried in the cemetery of Axminster; there were five kings and eight
-earls amongst them." A claim has been advanced for Beverley in
-Yorkshire, for a similar reason. But the founding of a monastery, or
-other expression of thanksgiving for a victory, does not necessarily
-indicate the locality of the conflict. William the Conqueror did
-certainly found Battle Abbey on the site of his great victory; but such
-a practice is by no means of ordinary occurrence, and without
-corroborative evidence is valueless. Camden thought the battle was
-fought at Ford, near Bromeridge, in Northumberland. Skene, in his
-"Celtic Scotland," prefers Aldborough, on the Ouse, and regards the huge
-monoliths, known as "the devil's arrows," as memorials of the victory.
-Gibson and others suggest Bromborough, in Cheshire. The editor of the
-"Imperial Gazetteer" assigns Broomridge, no doubt on Camden's authority,
-and Brinkburn, in the Rothsay district, in Northumberland, or some
-other, as probable sites of the battle. Brinkburn is said to be the
-"true situation of Brunanburh," in "Beauties of England and Wales." The
-name was written in 1154, by John of Hexham, Brincaburgh. Banbury, in
-Oxfordshire, and Bourne, and the neighbourhood of Barton-on-Humber, in
-Lincolnshire, and a Bambro', a Bambury, and some other places have
-likewise found advocates.
-
-Dr. Giles, in his annotation of Ethelwerd's Chronicle, fixes Brunanburh
-at Brumby, in Lincolnshire, but he assigns no reasons for his
-preference. Brunton, in Northumberland, and, I believe, some other
-places, have been suggested. The mere identity of the name Brunanburh,
-in some corrupted form, though important, is insufficient, without
-corroborative evidence, simply because the names of so many places, in
-various parts of the country, admit of such derivation. There are
-several even in Lancashire, to which I shall afterwards call attention.
-Localities on the east, the south, and the west coasts of England have
-each found advocates, some, certainly, on very slight grounds. Mr.
-Weddle, of Wargrove, near Warrington, in his essay on the site, in 1857,
-pertinently reminds the investigator that the very "uncertainty of the
-whereabouts of the battle-field" is a good reason why it should be
-sought for "in some place half-forgotten." Such being the case, I may,
-without much presumption, after studying the subject now for five and
-twenty years, adhere to my previously suggested solution of this great
-historical and topographical enigma.
-
-The available evidence is very diversified in its character, and may be
-dealt with under several distinct heads. In the first place I will
-endeavour to show why I maintain that the discovery of the long buried
-treasure at Cuerdale, in 1840, has furnished the key by which we may
-probably unlock the mystery.
-
-From its great value in the tenth century, the evidence of recent
-mintage at the time of its deposition, and the vast number of rare and
-foreign coins, many of which were struck by Scandinavian kings or jarls,
-all lead to the conjecture that the treasure had not originally belonged
-to some private individual or inferior chieftain. It must not be
-forgotten that coin was first made "sterling" in the year 1216, before
-which time Stowe says rents were mostly paid in "kind," and money was
-found only in the coffers of the barons.
-
-The great probability, therefore, appears to be that some powerful
-monarch, or confederacy, owned the chest, and that its burial near one
-of the three fords at the "pass of the Ribble" was caused by some signal
-discomfiture or military defeat, in order to prevent its falling into
-the hands of the enemy. Its non-recovery afterwards would naturally
-result from the slaughter of the parties acquainted with the precise
-locality of its deposit in the disastrous riot attendant upon so great
-victory as that achieved by Athelstan at Brunanburh. Tradition had,
-however, preserved the memory of its burial, but the exact site was
-unknown. It was popularly thought, however, that it could be seen from
-the hill on which the church of Walton-le-dale stands, and which
-overlooks all the three fords which constituted the "famous pass of the
-Ribble." The late Mr. Barton F. Allen, of Preston, remembered that in
-his youth a farmer ploughed a field which had remained in pasture from
-time immemorial, in hope of finding the treasure. At the time I came
-upon the Roman remains, near the great central ford, 1855, I was
-surprised to learn a rumour was abroad that we had "come on't goud" at
-last. This resulted from the fact that the Anglo-Danish hoard consisted
-entirely of silver, and the belief of the workmen that the Roman brass
-coins, found at the time, from their colour, when polished, were golden
-ones. I therefore contend that these facts (taken in conjunction with
-the more important one, that the date of the deposit, as demonstrated by
-the coins themselves, coincides with that of Athelstan's great victory),
-indicate, in a very high degree, the probable connection of the two
-events. The burial of treasure, in times of great disaster, was a very
-ordinary occurrence during the Roman dominion in Britain, and was not
-unusual with their successors, the Anglo-Saxons and Danes. Two hoards,
-one found at Walmersley, to the north of Bury, and the other at Whittle,
-near the present presumed site of Athelstan's victory, to the south of
-the Ribble, from the date of the coins, coincide with the time of the
-defeat of the usurpers Carausius and Allectus, commanders of the Roman
-fleet stationed to protect the shores of Britain from the ravages of
-Saxon pirates. Later the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says--"A. 418, this year
-the Romans collected all the treasures that were in Britain, and some
-they hid in the earth, so that no one has since been able to find them;
-and some they carried with them into Gaul." Ethelwerd's Chronicle
-furnishes further details--"A. 418. In the ninth year also, after the
-sacking of Rome by the Goths, those of Roman race who were left in
-Britain, not bearing the manifold insults of the people, bury their
-treasures in pits, thinking that hereafter they might have better
-fortune, which never was the case; and, taking a portion, assembled on
-the coasts, spread their canvass to the winds, and seek an exile on the
-shores of Gaul."
-
-The "pass of the Ribble" is marked on the old map, published by Dr.
-Whitaker, with the crossed swords, indicative of a battle having been
-fought there, but this, though not unimportant in most cases, is of
-little value as evidence in favour of my hypothesis, inasmuch as, from
-its geographical position, it has, of necessity, often been the site of
-military conflicts, several of which are recorded in both local and
-other historical works.
-
-The site now suggested agrees best, in a topographical sense, with the
-various descriptions of the conflict, the primary object of the war, and
-the necessary movements of the several combatants engaged. The great
-Roman road from the north passed through the county, and entered
-Cheshire at Latchford near Warrington. This road would serve both the
-invading Scots and Athelstan, and his army of West Saxons, Mercians, and
-other allies. A Roman road, from the Ribble and Wyre, called
-"Watling-street," crossed the country to York and the eastern coast. We
-have distinct information that Anlaf's great object was the re-conquest
-of the kingdom of Northumbria, and that, in the first instance, success
-crowned his efforts. Athelstan's two governors, Gudrekir and Alfgeirr,
-were defeated, and the former slain. His colleague fled to his sovereign
-with the tidings of their discomfiture. The grandson of the Great Alfred
-immediately assembled his army and marched northward to confront in
-person his successful rival and his powerful allies. It appears,
-therefore, nearly absolutely certain that the struggle took place in
-Northumbria, or on its border, and, consequently other localities
-outside this region may almost be said to be "not in the hunt." Anlaf
-was the ruling chief of Dublin, and the virtual organizer and head of
-the confederacy. One wing of his army, according to Egil's saga, "was
-very numerous, and consisted of the disorderly Irish." The coast of
-Lancashire being part of the then Danish kingdom of Northumbria, was, in
-every respect, adapted for the landing of this portion of the invading
-army. Hoveden, Mailros, and Simeon of Durham certainly say that Anlaf
-commenced the warfare by "entering the Humber with a fleet of 615
-ships." This, however, may refer merely to the "_fleets of the warriors
-from Norway and the Baltic_," who joined in the confederacy. If Anlaf
-himself commanded this expedition in person, then he must have deputed
-the leadership of his "disorderly Irish" to one of his lieutenants. From
-an inspection of the map it will be found, after the defeat of Gudrekir
-and Alfgeirr, that the "pass of the Ribble," from a military point of
-view, was one of the most probable places at which the junction of the
-allies would take place. The Cumbrian Britons and the North and West
-Welsh could easily, by good Roman roads, join the Scottish monarch, as
-well as Anlaf's Irish troops and the warriors from Norway and the
-Baltic, at this spot, and dispute the passage of the fords with
-Athelstan's forces from the south. The "pass of the Ribble," from a
-topographical and military point of view, may therefore be assumed as
-very probably the site of the conflict.
-
-I have previously referred to the fact that the name Brunanburh, in any
-corrupted form, is of little value in the present investigation without
-very strong supporting evidence, simply because so many localities have
-equal claim to it. The name itself is likewise variously written by the
-older writers when referring to the battle. It is termed "Bellum Brune,"
-or the "Battle of the Brune," in the _Brut y Tywysogion_, or the
-"Chronicle of the Princes of Wales," and the "_Annales Cambria_." Henry
-of Huntingdon calls the locality Brunesburh; and the name is variously
-written by Geffrei Gaimar as Brunewerche, Brunewerce, and Brunewest.
-Ethelwerd, a contemporary chronicler, calls the place Brunandune. The
-author of Egil's saga calls the site Vinheid. Simeon of Durham says the
-battle was fought near Weondune or Ethrunnanwerch, or Brunnan byrge.
-William of Malmesbury gives the name Brunsford, and Ingulph says
-Brunford in Northumbria. Notwithstanding the very important fact that
-the southern portion of the county of Lancaster suffered so much in the
-raids of Gilbert de Lacy and his soldiery after the Norman conquest, and
-the consequent non-productive character of much of the territory at the
-time of the Domesday survey, which caused very few names of places to be
-recorded in that valuable historical document, still I think present
-topographical nomenclature south of the "pass of the Ribble" sufficient
-to identify the locality from etymological evidence equal or superior in
-value to that yet advanced in favour of any other site. The word
-_brunan_ means simply, in modern English, springs, and burh refers to
-any work of military defence of an artificial character. _Brun_ has been
-corrupted, according to the conjectures of the authorities which I have
-previously cited, into _Burn_, _Brom_, _Brum_, _Broom_, _Bran_, _Ban_,
-_Bourne_, _Brink_, and _Brin_.
-
-The name of the parish of Brindle, to the south-east of the "pass of the
-Ribble," has been written in various documents during the past few
-centuries, Burnhull, Brinhill, Brandhill, and, after becoming Brandle
-and Bryndhull, ends in its present Brindle. Now, burn and brun are
-acknowledged to be identical, the metathesis, as philologists term it,
-or transposition of the letter _r_ under such circumstances being very
-common, especially in Lancashire. We say brid for bird, brun for burn,
-brunt for burnt, brast for burst, thurst for thrust, and some others.
-Birmingham is often called "Brummigem." Indeed, Taylor, the "Water
-Poet," in his account of Old Parr, writes it "Brimicham." The short _u_
-with us is ofttimes sounded nearly like _i_, as in burst, burn, etc.,
-like the German _ue_ in Reueter, Mueller, Pruessien, etc. Hence the
-interchangeability of brin for brun, of which the following are
-examples: The Icelandic Brynhildr, of the Eddaic poems, is the Brunhild
-of the Nibelungenlied; Brinsley, in Nottinghamshire, is sometimes
-written Brunsley; Burnside, near Kendal, was once Brynshead; Brynn, the
-seat of Lord Gerrard, between Wigan and Newton-in-Mackerfield, was, as I
-have shown in a previous chapter, anciently written Brun; and, in
-addition, I have recently seen, in Herman Moll's atlas, published in
-1723, this same Brindle, south of Ribble, written Brunall, and, what is
-still further corroborative, in Christopher Saxton's much earlier map,
-published in Camden's "Britannia," it is written Brundell, while Bryne
-and Burnley are spelled as at present. _Bryn_ or _bron_ signifies a
-little hill, or the slope of a hill. As _burh_ sometimes signifies a
-hill or eminence, as well as a fortification, the interchange of the
-British _bryn_ with its Teutonic neighbour is in no way remarkable, but
-rather what might have been anticipated. Indeed, we find this phonetic
-substitution in Bernicia (the northern portion of Northumbria), the
-British equivalent being Bryneich. _Brunan_, as I have before said,
-signifies springs. Brindle church is situated on the slope of a hill,
-and the district, as a personal visit, or a glance at the six-inch
-ordnance map, will show, is remarkable for its numerous "wells," from
-which pure water issues from the surface of the ground. Dalton springs,
-Denham springs, and the well-known Whittle springs are in the
-neighbourhood, and one hamlet is named Manysprings.
-
-In addition to Brindle we have Brinscall and Burnicroft, and Brownedge
-or Brunedge within the district. Between what I will now term Brunhull
-and Brunedge, we have the hamlet Bam_ber_, now termed Bamber Bridge.
-Baumber, in Lincolnshire, is sometimes written Bamburgh. Bramber, in
-Sussex, in Herman Moll's map (1723) is written Bamber, and in the
-Domesday survey Branber. Bromley, sometimes written Bramley, in Kent, is
-Brunlei, in the Domboc, and Bromborough, in Cheshire, is written
-Brunburgh, in Herman Moll's map. Hence if _bam_ be likewise a corruption
-of brun, we have Brunberg, with Brunhull and Brunedge in immediate
-contiguity. The Rev. Jno. Whitaker and the Rev. E. Sibson say _bam_
-signifies war. This is a very significant corruption, if a great battle
-were fought in its neighbourhood. Other authorities say _bam_ means a
-"beam, a tree, a wood." This might imply that a fortification or
-stockade occupied the spot, or it might mean the fort in the wood, or in
-the neighbourhood of the wood, like the Welsh Bettws-y-coed. In Egil's
-saga "the wood" is often referred to in the detailed description of the
-battle. We have yet Worden-wood, Whittle-le-woods, Clayton-le-woods, and
-some others contiguous.
-
-Kemble, in his (appendix) list of "patronymical names," which he regards
-as "those of ancient Marks," has two references, from the "Codex
-Diplomaticus," to "Bruningas," but he gives no conjecture as to the
-locality of its modern representative.
-
-Mr. C. A. Weddle, of Wargrove, near Warrington, in 1857, when advocating
-the claims of Brunton, in Northumberland, after summing up the various
-names mentioned by the old writers, and referring to their evident
-corruption and variation, says--
-
-"Two of them in particular, _Weardune and Wendune_, I have never seen
-noticed by any modern writer, yet _Weardune appears to me the most
-important name_, if Brunanburh be excepted, and EVEN THIS IS NOT MORE
-SO. As to Wendune it is evidently a mistake in the transcribing for
-Werdune, the Anglo-Saxon _r_ being merely _n_, with a long bottom stroke
-on the left."
-
-Mr. Weddle finds a Warden Hill, about two miles from the farm-house in
-"Chollerford field," in the neighbourhood of Brunton. This he considers
-as very conclusive evidence in favour of the locality being the
-Brunanburh of which we are in search. If such be the case, the existence
-of Wearden, or Worden, in the immediate neighbourhood of Brunhill,
-Bamber, and Brunedge, must unquestionably be more so, and especially
-when taken in connection with the large amount of corroborative evidence
-with which it is surrounded. The term Weardune is sometimes written
-Weondune, which, after the correction of the _n_, as suggested by Mr.
-Weddle, is Weorden. The ancient seat of the Faringtons, of Leyland and
-Farington, is variously written Werden, Worden, and Wearden, and it is
-pronounced by the inhabitants of the neighbourhood Wearden at the
-present day. It must have been a place of some importance in the time of
-the Roman occupation. Many coins, and a heavy gold[37] signet ring,
-bearing the letters S P Q R, have been found there. The place is
-situated near the great Roman highway, and, if Anlaf's troops covered
-the "pass of the Ribble" near Brunhull, Brunburh and Brunedge, Wearden
-is precisely the neighbourhood where Athelstan's forces, coming from the
-south, would encamp in front of them. Dr. Kuerden, upwards of two
-centuries ago, describes the northern boundary of the township of
-Euxton-burgh as the "Werden broke." Mr. Baines states that there is in
-Leyland churchyard "a stone of the 14th century, covering all that
-remains of the Weardens of Golden Hill." It is highly probable that the
-present Cuerden is itself a corruption of Wearden. The prefix Cuer is
-found in Cuerden, Cuerdale (where the great hoard was found), and
-Cuerdley near Prescot, and in no other part of England. The names in the
-locality, as I have previously said, are not recorded in the Domesday
-survey, but the Norman-French generally represented the English sound
-_w_ by _gu_. Philologists regard the consonants _c_, _q_, _ch_, and _g_,
-as "identical" or "convertible," consequently, if I assume the initial
-_C_ in Cuerden to be equivalent to _G_, we have a Norman-French method
-of writing Wearden. That _cu_ was used to represent the sound of our
-_w_, is demonstrated by a reference to the survey itself, for in the
-Domesday record, Fishwick, now a portion of the borough of Preston, and
-situated on the opposite bank of the Ribble to Cuerdale, is actually
-written Fiscuic. Leland, too, in his Itinerary, spells the river Cocker
-indifferently with the initials C, G, and K. The district in the parish
-of Leyland, anciently styled _Cunnolvesmores_, is sometimes found
-written _Gunoldsmores_.
-
-Simeon of Durham says the battle was fought near Weondune, or
-_Ethrunanwerch_, or Brunnan byrge. I have never seen any attempt to
-identify this Ethrunanwerch with any modern locality in any part of the
-country. There is no such name to be found now, nor anything suggestive
-of it, in a gazetteer of England and Wales, and I therefore presume that
-it has either entirely disappeared or become so altered as to be
-unrecognizable. Consequently, if I fail in an attempt to identify it,
-not much injury will result therefrom. The termination _werch_ presents
-no difficulty. It is evidently _worth_, as in Saddleworth, Shuttleworth,
-etc., and could easily give place to some other suffix indicating
-residence or occupation, or even locality. The prefix Ethrunan is more
-difficult to deal with, and I should perhaps not have attempted its
-solution, if I had not seen on a map the name Rother applied to one of
-the head waters which, uniting near Stockport, form the Mersey. This
-stream is generally called the Etherow.[38] This is the nearest approach
-to Ethrunan that I have been able to meet with. If _rother_, by a kind
-of metathesis, is an equivalent to _ether_, perhaps I can detect two
-distinct remains of the word Ethrunanwerch, in the neighbourhood of
-Wearden. On the ordnance map we have, about a mile from Werden Hall,
-Rotherham Top, and a stream, recently diverted for the purpose of the
-Liverpool water supply, named the Roddlesworth. This word implies a
-place on the bank of a stream, and as the _d_ and _th_ are phonetic
-equivalents, it may be read Rothelsworth or Ethrunlesworth; indeed, Mr.
-Baines expressly says, "Withnall, or Withnell, also a part of the
-lordship of Gunoldsmores, containing Rothelsworth, a name derived from
-Roddlesworth, or Mouldenwater, a rapid stream." On the one-inch to the
-mile ordnance map there is a name which preserves the form of the first
-part of the word without the transposition, or metathesis, to which I
-have referred. Not far from Worden Hall is a small hamlet named
-"Ethrington." The fact that these names exist in the neighbourhood
-strengthens the probability that the etymology is not altogether
-fanciful, and consequently lends support to the presumption that the
-locality suggested may be the true site of Athelstan's great victory.
-
-I have said that there are several places in Lancashire, even, which
-answer to Brunan or Brun. The following are amongst the number: On the
-Wyre, near the commencement of the Roman agger or "_Danes' Pad_,"
-as it is locally termed, which led from the Portus Setantiorum
-of Ptolemy to York, is a place named Bourne, written in the Domesday
-survey Brune. Bourne Hall is situated upon a "dune" or hill, which
-commands a relatively recently blocked up channel of the Wyre.
-Therefore Brunnandune or Brunford would strictly apply to it.
-Bryning-with-Kellamergh, near _Warton_, in the parish of Kirkham, is
-described in a charter of the reign of John, as Brichscrach _Brun_ and
-Kelmers_burgh_. In the time of Henry III. it is described as Brininge.
-Not far from Rochdale is a spot named "Kildanes," near Bamford. The site
-is not much more than two miles from a place named Burnedge or Brunedge.
-There is a Burnage between Manchester and Stockport. Burnley is situated
-on the river Burn, generally, however, called the Brun. This
-demonstrates how utterly impossible it is to identify the locality by
-the name Brunanburh. The Manchester, Rochdale, and Burnley sites are too
-far from the seashore. The fine old poem, describing the battle, says
-emphatically--"There were made flee the Northman's chieftain, By need
-constrained, To the ship's prow, With a little band. The bark drove
-afloat--The king departed--On the fallow flood his life he preserved."
-And, again, the poem says--"The Northmen departed In their nailed barks;
-Bloody relic of darts; On roaring ocean, O'er the deep water, DUBLIN to
-seek; Again Ireland shamed in mind." And further--"West Saxons onwards
-Throughout the day, In numerous bands, Pursued the footsteps of the
-loathed nations." I therefore contend that, in this particular, as well
-as those already disposed of, the "pass of the Ribble" answers to the
-locality of the struggle, as described by contemporary authority. Where
-this topographical feature is wanting, I hold it to be fatal. The ships
-of Anlaf might be attending the army in the estuaries of the Ribble or
-Wyre, and to them the defeated and routed forces would, of course,
-repair with headlong speed, after crossing the fords, the defence of
-which they had so gallantly, if unsuccessfully, attempted. During this
-hasty retreat, I contend it is highly probable the great Cuerdale hoard
-was deposited, and, owing to death, or other disaster, the precise
-locality could not be determined in after times, although the tradition
-of its deposition remained. There is plenty of analagous evidence in
-support of such a conjecture, to some of which I have already referred.
-In the seventh volume of "Collectania Antiqua," Mr. Charles Roach Smith,
-referring to the then recent discovery near the Roman station,
-"Procolitia," near the great Roman Wall, of an enormous mass (15,000) of
-Roman coins, weighing about 400 pounds, says he regards the hoard as
-part of the money set apart for the payment of the troops occupying the
-adjoining castrum, which, _owing to some sudden panic in the reign of
-Gratian_, was concealed in the well or fountain dedicated to a local
-divinity, Conesstina. The Saxon Chronicle, as well as Ethelwerd, as I
-have already stated, refer to the burying of treasure under similar
-circumstances. The former says--"This year (A.D. 418) the Romans
-collected all the treasures that were in Britain, and some they hid in
-the earth, so that no one has since been able to find them, and some
-they carried with them into Gaul."
-
-Athelstan's connection with Preston and its neighbourhood, at the head
-of his army, is attested by stronger evidence than mere tradition. In
-the year 930 he granted the whole of the hundred of Amounderness to the
-cathedral church at York. He is said to have "_purchased_" the territory
-with his own money, a somewhat remarkable financial operation for a
-conquering king in the tenth century, in Anglo-Saxon and Pagan Danish
-times. But perhaps a previous grant to the church at Ripon influenced
-him in this matter.
-
-In the early part of the seventeenth century lived one William Elston,
-who, in a MS. entitled, "Mundana Mutabilia, or Ethelestophylax," now in
-the Harleian collection in the British Museum, placed upon record the
-following interesting particulars relative to this monarch--"It was once
-told me by Mr. Alexander Elston, who was uncle to my father and sonne to
-Ralph Elston, my great grandfather, that the said Ralph Elston had a
-deede or a copy of a deede in the Saxon tongue, wherein it did appear
-that king _Ethelstan lying in camp in this county upon occacon of
-warres_, gave the land of Ethelston vnto one to whom himself was
-Belsyre." (godfather).
-
-The township of Elston, in the parish of Preston, formerly written
-Ethelstan, is situated on the north bank of the Ribble a little above
-Cuerdale and Red Scar.
-
-To the south of Brindle and the east of Worden, near Whittle Springs, is
-a large tumulus, and the hill side on which it is situated has the
-appearance of having been, at some time, disturbed by human agency. A
-Roman vicinal way, from Wigan to Blackburn, or Mellor, where it joins
-the main highway from Manchester to Ribchester, passes near it. Remains
-of this road were discovered near Adlington not many years ago. Another
-ancient road, probably of similar origin, leaves the main Roman military
-way from Warrington to Lancaster at Bamberbridge, and running in the
-direction of Manchester, crosses this in its neighbourhood. This tumulus
-is named "Pickering Castle;" which has an important significance.
-Tumuli are often termed "castles." We have the "Castle Hill" near
-Newton-in-Mackerfield, and the "Castle Hill" at Penwortham, near
-Preston. The tumulus near to "Whittle Springs" is very similar to these
-in appearance, and may, on excavation, prove to be a sepulchral mound.
-Pickering, according to the method of interpretation adopted by John
-Mitchell Kemble, in his "Saxons in England," should indicate the "Mark"
-of a sept or clan bearing that name, like the Faringas as at Farington,
-Billingas as at Billington, and many others. But there is not the
-slightest reference by any writer of such a name ever holding property
-in the neighbourhood, and Mr. Kemble places the Pickering, in Yorkshire,
-only among the probable instances, as he had never met with any account
-of a Saxon family or mark answering to it. As the letters _P_ and _V_
-are interchangeable sounds, "vikingring" has been suggested as the
-original form of the word. Dr. Smith, in his annotations to Marsh's
-"Lectures on the English Languages," speaks of the "Danes being led by
-the vikings, the younger sons of their royal houses." As the old poem
-says--"Five kings lay on the battle-stead. Youthful kings By swords in
-slumber laid. So seven eke Of Anlaf's earls, Of the army countless."
-This interpretation seems not improbable; yet it may be no more than an
-accidental coincidence rather than a legitimate derivation. As _P_ and
-_B_ are equally interchangeable consonants, I am inclined to think that
-"Bickering Castle" may have been the original name of the tumulus.
-_Bicra_, in the modern Welsh, means to fight, from whence our word
-_bickering_. In this case, _ing_ meaning field, the interpretation would
-be the "Castle of the Battle-Field." There is some good analogy in
-support of this view. Mr. Thos. Baines, in his "Lancashire and Cheshire:
-Past and Present," says--"The _Peck_forton Hills extend from Beeston
-Castle to the Dee. On one of them _Bicker_ton Hill, 500 feet high, is a
-strong camp with a double line of earthworks. One front overlooks the
-plain of Cheshire. The earthwork is called the "Maiden Castle." Not far
-from Bickerton Hill is Bickley, where, according to Ormerod, certain
-brass tablets were recently discovered, recording a grant of the freedom
-of the city of Rome to certain troops serving in Britain in the reign of
-Trajan, A.D. 98-117, some of whom may have been stationed in the
-neighbourhood where the tablets were found. We have in Lancashire the
-township of Bickerstaffe, and an adjoining wood named Bickershaw.
-Bickerstaffe was anciently written Bicker_stat_ and Bykyr_stath_. Stadt,
-stad, or stead means a station or settlement. Thus we have battle-wood
-and battle-stead. We have seen that the old poem says--"Five kings lay
-on the _battle-stead_, youthful kings, by swords in slumber laid."
-Besides, we find Bicker and Bickering in Lincolnshire, and Bickerton in
-both Northumberland and the East Riding of Yorkshire. Whatever this may
-be worth, it is most desirable that this tumulus should be dug into, for
-remains might, and probably would, be found which could throw
-additional light upon the subject of the present investigation.
-
-In the yard of Brindle Parish Church, beneath the chancel window, is an
-ancient stone coffin, with a circular hollow for the head of the corpse.
-Nothing further is known respecting it, beyond that it was dug up
-somewhere in the neighbourhood, and had been removed to its present
-position with a view to its preservation.
-
-In 1867 I examined the Ancient British burial mound and its contents,
-then recently discovered in the park land attached to Whitehall, and
-contiguous to that of Low Hill House, the residence of Mr. Ellis
-Shorrock, at Over Darwen, and contributed a paper respecting it to the
-Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Historic Society. In that
-paper I say--"I heard that there is a tradition, yet implicitly relied
-on, which speaks of a battle fought in the olden time somewhere in the
-neighbourhood of Tockholes in the Roddlesworth valley, and stories that
-remains, including those of horses, have been found, which are believed
-to confirm it. Respecting this I may have something to say in a future
-paper." What I have to say is this: that if a severe struggle took place
-near the tumulus to which I have referred, the routed army, following
-the Roman vicinal way to Ribchester, would pass by the locality, which
-is not far distant. This adds another link in the chain of evidence by
-which I have sought to demonstrate that the _most probable_ site of
-Athelstan's great victory at Brunanburh is that which I have indicated
-near the famous "pass of the Ribble," to the south of Preston, and that
-the great Cuerdale hoard of treasure was buried on the bank of the
-stream, during the disastrous retreat of the routed confederate armies.
-
-In the appendix to the "History of Preston and its Environs," published
-in 1857, after discussing Mr. Weddle's objections to a Lancashire site,
-I concluded with the following words--"These reasons, in conjunction
-with those advanced in the second chapter of this work, induce the
-author to prefer the locality, in the present state of the evidence, as
-the _most probable_ site of the 'battle of the Brun.'"
-
-Although the evidence advanced in its favour on the present occasion is
-considerably in excess of that previously obtainable, I still merely
-reassert my previous conviction, without dogmatism, that, on weighing
-the whole of the evidence yet adduced, I am justified in maintaining
-that the site I name is the _most probable_ which has yet been
-suggested; indeed, there is very little reliable evidence in favour of
-any other. But, in conclusion, I again reiterate what I wrote
-twenty-five years ago, when dealing with the Roman topography of the
-county, that "no permanent settlement of so difficult a question ought
-to be insisted upon, until every means of investigation and all the
-resources of logical inference have been fairly exhausted."
-
-I have already said that the neighbourhood of Preston and "the pass of
-the Ribble," as might have been expected from its topographical
-position, and consequent strategical importance, has been the scene of
-many known conflicts. Robert Bruce, in 1323, burned the town, but
-ventured no further southward. Holinshed says he "entered into England,
-by Carlisle, kept on his way through Cumberland, Westmoreland, and
-Lancaster, to Preston, which town he burnt, as he had done others in the
-counties he had passed through, and, after three weeks and three days,
-he returned into Scotland without engaging."
-
-Dr. Kuerden, writing shortly before the guild of 1682, laments the
-destruction of documentary evidence relating to this famous Preston
-festival during the turmoil of civil war. After enumerating the dates of
-those still preserved, in his day, in the Corporation records, he
-says--"These are such as doth appeare within the Records and Gild Books,
-that yet remain extant and in being, though some I conceive to be
-omitted, as one Gild in Henry 6th dayes occasion'd, as I conceive, in
-those distractions and civil wars betwixt the Houses of Lancaster and
-York; another Gild Merchant omitted to be kept in K. H. 8th dayes,
-occasioned, as may be thought, by the Revolutions at that time in Church
-affayres; the next that are wanting may be through the loss of Records
-in K. Edw. 3rd dayes [_sic._] wheras the Scottish army burnt the
-Burrough of Preston to the very ground." Kuerden is in error with
-reference to the king's reign in which this disaster occurred; Bruce's
-foray took place in the reign of Edward II.
-
-In the "History of Preston and its Environs," p. 50, I say--"A tradition
-still remains that Roman Ribchester was destroyed by an earthquake;
-another that it was reduced to ashes in the early part of the
-fourteenth century, during the great inroad of the Scots under Bruce.
-Both are highly improbable. Had Roman Ribchester remained a place of any
-importance till the period referred to, it could scarcely have failed to
-have attracted the notice of some of the elder chroniclers or
-topographers. True, the _Saxon village_ may have shared the fate of
-Preston, in the celebrated foray of our northern neighbours, and hence
-the tradition! An earthquake in England, of sufficient magnitude to bury
-a Roman 'city,' (to use the elder Whitaker's emphatic style,) '_must_'
-have found some one to record it. Other facts, however, demonstrate that
-this tradition can have no better foundation than the vague conjecture
-of ignorant peasants; who, on first discovering remains of ancient
-buildings beneath the soil, naturally attributed their subterranean
-location to the action of some earthquake, in that mysterious period
-usually denominated the 'olden time.'" In Leland's day, the remains of
-the Roman temple dedicated to Minerva were believed to have been
-connected with Jewish religious rites and ceremonies, from the simple
-fact that they knew of no other non-Christian sect with whom to
-associate them.
-
-At the commencement of the campaign in 1643 between Charles I. and the
-Parliament, General Fairfax, from his head quarters at Manchester,
-ordered an attack upon Preston, then garrisoned by the king's troops.
-The town was at that time fortified by "inner and outer walls of brick,"
-no vestige of which now remains, although it was recently not very
-difficult to trace their site. The command was entrusted to General Sir
-John Seaton. Captain Booth led the attack, and scaled the outer wall.
-The garrison defended the inner wall with great valour, "with push of
-pike," until Sir John Seaton, having stormed the defences on the eastern
-side, entered the town by Church-street, when they were overpowered, and
-the Parliamentary army obtained complete possession of the town, but not
-before the mayor, Adam Morte, and his son, had fallen in the conflict.
-
-Colonel Rosworm, the celebrated Parliamentary engineer, afterwards
-refortified the town. Shortly afterwards Major-General Seaton and
-Colonel Ashton marched from Preston, with the view to relieve Lancaster,
-then besieged by the Earl of Derby. The earl drew off his troops on
-their approach, and falling suddenly on Preston, in its then defenceless
-state, stormed the works in three places. After an hour's severe
-fighting the place surrendered. Lord Derby secured the magazine, and
-destroyed the military works, fearing the place might again fall into
-the enemy's hands.
-
-In August, 1664, a smart little struggle took place at Ribble Bridge,
-which Colonel Shuttleworth thus describes in his dispatch--"Right
-Honourable,--Upon Thursday last, marching with three of my troops upon
-Blackburn towards Preston, where the ennemie lay, I met eleven of their
-colours at Ribble Bridge, within a mile of Preston, whereupon, after a
-sharp fight, we took the Lord Ogleby, a Scotch Lord, Colonel Ennis, one
-other colonel slaine, one major wounded, and divers officers and
-soldiers to the number of forty in all taken, besides eight or nine
-slaine, with the losse of twelve men taken prisoners, which afterwards
-were released by Sir John Meldrum upon his coming to Preston the night
-following, from whence the enemy fled."
-
-Four years afterwards, Cromwell achieved his great victory over the Duke
-of Hamilton and the Marquis of Langdale. Reference has been made, in the
-previous chapter, to the rapid march of the Parliamentary forces from
-Skipton, by Clitheroe, to Stonyhurst, where they encamped on the evening
-of August 16th, 1648. Some difference respecting the then famous
-"Covenant" prevented Langdale's forces from combining heartily with
-those of the Duke. His English troops were encamped on Ribbleton Moor,
-to the east of Preston. Hamilton's Scotch forces were widely scattered.
-Some of his advanced horse lay at Wigan; his main army occupied Preston,
-while his rear, under Monro, were in the neighbourhood of Garstang.
-Short work was made, notwithstanding the great numerical superiority,
-with such discipline and divided councils, by a soldier of Cromwell's
-calibre. In the words of Thomas Carlyle, he "dashed in upon him, cut him
-in two, drove him north _and_ south, into as miserable ruin as his worst
-enemy could wish." "The bridge of Ribble" was fiercely contested. When
-the Parliamentary troops, with "push of pike" (Cromwell's equivalent for
-the modern phrase "at the point of the bayonet"), at length prevailed,
-the duke's army retreated over the Darwen, which joins the Ribble in the
-immediate neighbourhood. Night put an end to the conflict. Before
-daylight the Royalist army decamped, but was hotly pursued, through
-Chorley, Wigan, and Warrington, into the midland counties, and rapidly
-destroyed. The Duke of Hamilton was taken prisoner at Uttoxeter, and a
-similar fate befel Langdale at Nottingham.[39]
-
-This victory is celebrated as one of Cromwell's greatest military
-achievements, by Milton, in his famous sonnet:--
-
-
-TO THE LORD GENERAL CROMWELL.
-
-    Cromwell, our chief of men, who, through a cloud
-    Not of war only, but detractions rude,
-    Guided by faith and matchless fortitude,
-    To peace and truth thy glorious way has plough'd,
-    And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud
-    Hast reared God's trophies and his work pursued,
-    WHILE DARWEN STREAM WITH BLOOD OF SCOTS IMBUED,
-    And Dunbar field resound thy praises loud,
-    And Worcester's laureat wreath. Yet much remains
-    To conquer still; Peace hath her victories
-    No less renown'd than War; new foes arise
-    Threat'ning to bind our souls with secular chains:
-    Help us to save free conscience from the paw
-    Of hireling wolves, whose gospel is their maw.
-
-The number of the troops engaged in this short but brilliant campaign is
-stated variously by different authorities. There is an entry in the
-records of the Corporation of Preston which says "Decimo Septimo die
-Augustie, 1648, 24 Car,--That Henry Blundell, gent., being mayor of this
-town of Preston, the daie and yeare aforesaid, Oliver Cromwell,
-lieutenant-general of the forces of the Parliament of England, with an
-army of about 10,000 at the most, (whereof 1500 were Lancashire men,
-under the command of Colonel Ralph Assheton, of Middleton), fought a
-battail in and about Preston aforesaid, and over-threw Duke Hamilton,
-general of the Scots, consisting of about 26,000, and of English, Sir
-Marmaduke Langdale and his forces, joined with the Scots, about 4,000;
-took all their ammunition, about 3,000 prisoners, killed many with very
-small losse to the parliament army; and in their pursuit towards
-Lancaster, Wigan, Warrington, and divers other places in Cheshire,
-Staffordshire, and Nottinghamshire, took the said Duke and Langdale,
-with many Scottish earls and lords, and about 10,000 prisoners more, all
-being taken [or] slayne, few escaping, and all their treasure and
-plunder taken. This performed in less than one week."
-
-Captain Hodgson notices the plundering propensities of the enemy, but,
-as we have seen in the previous chapter, he entertained no higher an
-opinion of his Lancashire allies, with respect to their "looting"
-proclivities. His estimate of the numbers of the army of the Parliament
-is somewhat less than that in the Corporation record. He says--"The
-Scots marched towards Kendal, we towards Rippon; where Oliver met us
-with horse and foot. We were then betwixt eight and nine thousand; a
-fine smart army, and fit for action. We marched up to Skipton; and the
-forlorn of the enemy's horse was come to Gargrave, and took some men
-away, and made others pay what money they pleased; having made havock in
-the country, it seems intending never to come there again."
-
-Cromwell, in his despatch "to the Honourable William Lenthall, Esquire,
-Speaker of the House of Commons," dated "Warrington, 20th August,
-1648," of course attributes all the honour and glory to the Almighty,
-yet, modestly enough, he claims some credit as due to the Parliamentary
-army, if it rested merely upon the disparity in the number of the
-combatants. He says--"Thus you have a Narrative of the particulars of
-the success which God hath given you; which I could hardly at this time
-have done, considering the multiplicity of business, but truly, when I
-was once engaged in it, I could hardly tell how to say less, there being
-so much of God in it; and I am not willing to say more, lest there
-should seem to be any of man. Only give me leave to add one word,
-showing the disparity of forces on both sides, that you may see, and all
-the world acknowledge, the great hand of God in this business. The Scots
-army could not be less than twelve thousand effective foot, well armed,
-and five thousand horse; Langdale not less than two thousand five
-hundred foot, and fifteen hundred horse; in all Twenty-one-Thousand: and
-truly very few of their foot but were as well armed if not better than
-yours, and at divers disputes did fight two or three hours before they
-would quit their ground. Yours were about two thousand five hundred
-horse and dragoons of your old Army; about four thousand foot of your
-old Army; also about sixteen hundred Lancashire foot, and about five
-hundred Lancashire horse; in all about Eight thousand Six hundred. You
-see by computation about two thousand of the Enemy slain; betwixt eight
-and nine thousand prisoners; besides what are lurking in hedges and
-private places, which the County daily bring in or destroy."
-
-Notwithstanding the great social and political importance of this
-victory, and the renown of the general by whom it was achieved, whose
-very name is yet associated in the minds of some with every odious moral
-feature, and, in the judgment of others, with the highest English
-statesmanship, unselfish patriotism, and sincere religious conviction,
-the amount of legendary story which it has left behind is singularly
-limited. I have heard of several localities in Lancashire, and some
-neighbouring counties, where tradition records that Oliver Cromwell once
-visited the district and slept in some specified house or mansion,
-although there exists not the slightest reliable evidence that Oliver
-was ever in the neighbourhood. This, in some instances, I fancy, may be
-accounted for by the fact that Cromwell's name has become a typical or
-generic one, and has done duty for nearly a couple of centuries with the
-public generally, for every commander, either generals or subordinate
-officers, belonging to the Parliamentary armies.
-
-One tradition, however, was well-known in my youthful days. The mound
-planted with trees on "Walton Flats" was always regarded as "the grave
-of the Scotch warriors." The place was rather a solitary one at night,
-and some superstitious fear was often confessed by others than children,
-when passing it after nightfall. It was in this mound, in 1855, whilst
-looking for remains of the said "Scotch warriors," that I came upon
-evidences of Roman occupation. Faith in the legend was attested when
-one of the workmen informed me that he had found in the mound a
-halfpenny with the figure of a Scotchman in the place of Britannia, on
-the reverse. I found it to be a Roman second brass coin, the military
-costume of a soldier suggesting to the labourer a kilted Highlander.
-Although at various times relics of the fight have been picked up, they
-are now extremely rare. The flood waters of the Ribble have occasionally
-dislodged human bones, including skulls, from the banks, and these are
-almost universally, if somewhat vaguely, associated with "Scotch
-warriors," but without any definite notion as to the period or cause of
-their presence in the neighbourhood. I remember, many years ago,
-suggesting to a very old man employed on a rope-walk near the south bank
-of the river, that, as a number of English, including some Lancashire
-men, were slain in the great battle in 1648, it was possible a portion
-of the bones might belong to them. He did not deny the _possibility_;
-but simply remarked that he had never heard the remains attributed to
-any but the aforesaid "Scotch warriors;" and he was evidently, from his
-point of view, too "patriotic" to entertain, himself, the slightest
-doubt on the subject.
-
-A Protestant minister of Annandale, a Mr. Patten, who accompanied the
-Stuart army, and published a "History of the Rebellion" in 1715,
-condemns the Jacobite leaders for not defending the "Pass of the
-Ribble." The approach to the old bridge down the steep incline from
-Preston was by a lane, which was, he says, "very deep indeed." This lane
-was situated about midway between the present road and the hollow, yet
-visible, by which the Roman road passed to the north. He adds--"This is
-that famous lane at the end of which Oliver Cromwell met with a stout
-resistance from the King's forces, who from the height rolled down upon
-him and his men (when they had entered the lane) huge large millstones;
-and if Oliver himself had not forced his horse to jump into a quicksand,
-he had luckily ended his days there." Commenting on this passage in the
-"History of Preston," I say--"Notwithstanding Mr. Patten's political
-conversion _afterwards_, and his horror of the 'licentious freedom' of
-those who 'cry up the old doctrines of passive obedience, and give hints
-and arguments to prove hereditary right,' he appears to have retained
-all the antipathy of a Stuart partizan to the memory of Oliver Cromwell.
-Yet the loyalty of 1648 became rebellion in 1715, when Mr. Patten's head
-was in danger. Such is the mutation of human dogmatism."
-
-Cromwell, in a letter to the Solicitor-General, "his worthy friend,
-Oliver St. John, Esquire," shortly after the battle, relates an incident
-which illustrates one of the phases of religious thought amongst our
-Puritan ancestors, and which is by no means extinct at the present time.
-He says--"I am informed from good hands, that a poor godly man died in
-Preston, the day before the fight; and being sick, near the hour of his
-death, he desired the woman that cooked to him, to fetch him a handful
-of grass. She did so; and when he received it, he asked, whether it
-would wither or not, now it was cut? The woman said 'yea.' He replied,
-'So should this Army of the Scots do, and come to nothing, so soon as
-ours did but appear,' or words to this effect, and so immediately died."
-
-Thomas Carlyle's old Puritan blood is up, as he contemplates the
-possibility of some adverse critic citing this story as evidence of
-Cromwell's intellectual weakness, or, at least, of his proneness to
-superstition. He almost fiercely exclaims--"Does the reader look with
-any intelligence into that poor old prophetic, symbolic, Death-bed scene
-at Preston? Any intelligence of Prophecy and Symbol, in general; of the
-symbolic Man-child _Mahershalal-hashbaz_ at Jerusalem, or the handful of
-Cut Grass at Preston--of the opening Portals of Eternity, and what
-departing gleams there are in the Soul of the pure and the just?
-Mahershalal-hashbaz ('Hasten-to-the-spoil,' so called), and the bundle
-of Cut Grass are grown somewhat strange to us! Read; and having sneered
-duly,--consider."
-
-In August, 1651, Colonel Lilburne defeated the Earl of Derby at
-Wigan-lane, in which engagement the gallant Major-general Sir Thomas
-Tildesley fell. On the day previous to the battle, a skirmish took place
-between the Royalists and the Parliamentary troops at the "pass of the
-Ribble." In his letter to Cromwell, Lilburne says--"The next day, in the
-afternoone, I having not foot with me, a party of the Enemies Horse fell
-smartly amongst us where our Horses were grazing, and for some space put
-us pretty hard to it; but at last it pleased the Lord to strengthen us
-so as that we put them to flight, and pursued them to _Ribble-bridge_,
-(this was something like our business at _Mussleburgh_), and kild and
-tooke about 30 prisoners, most Officers and Gentlemen, with the loss of
-two men that dyed next morning; but severall wounded, and divers of our
-good Horses killed."
-
-ANNO DOMINI 1715. "Time's whirligig" hath brought about strange changes.
-A "Restoration" and a "Glorious Revolution" have passed across the
-stage. The faithful followers of the dethroned Stuarts, the "royalists"
-of the last century, have been transformed into the "rebels" of this.
-The partizans of Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, styled the "Elder
-Pretender," after a successful march from Scotland, arrived at Preston,
-and took possession of the town.
-
-The "Chevalier" was proclaimed king. Brigadier Macintosh was anxious to
-defend the "pass" at Ribble-bridge, but, as the previous fortifications
-of the town had been destroyed, it was determined instead to barricade
-the entrance to the principal streets. The town was besieged for two
-days by Generals Wills and Carpenter. After a brave defence,
-notwithstanding the incompetency of "General" Forster, the partizans of
-the Stuart were compelled to surrender at discretion.[40]
-
-In 1745, Prince Charles Edward, or the "Young Pretender," as he was
-styled, marched from Scotland on his way to Derby, through Preston; and
-again, a little more expeditiously on his return therefrom.
-
-Mr. Robert Chambers says--"The clansmen had a superstitious dread, in
-consequence of the misfortunes of their party at Preston, in 1715, that
-they would never get beyond this town; to dispel the illusion, Lord
-George Murray crossed the Ribble, and quartered a number of men on the
-other side." A single repulse could scarcely justify such foreboding.
-The name of the Ribble had evidently become associated with previous
-disasters, as well as with the relatively recent surrender of the Scotch
-and English forces under Forster, Derwentwater, and Macintosh in 1715.
-
-Considering the many exquisite poetical effusions which the misfortunes
-of the Stuarts added to Scottish literature, it is surprising that
-nothing, but some of the veriest doggrels in relation thereto, can be
-met with on the southern side of the border. "Brigadier Macintosh's
-Farewell to the Highlands" is beneath criticism, and "Long Preston Peggy
-to Proud Preston went" is not much better. In May, 1847, a story
-appeared in "New Tales of the Borders and the British Isles." It is
-introduced by the first stanza of the ballad. The scene is laid at
-Walton-le-dale and Preston, 1815. It is a sad jumble of fact and
-fiction. It confounds with one another events in the campaigns of 1715
-and 1745, and illustrates, to some extent, the confusion of history and
-artistic fiction discussed in the preceding pages of this work. Peggy,
-who, in her old age, after a somewhat profuse indulgence in ardent
-spirits, had still some remains of a handsome face and fine person,
-frequently sung the song of which she was the heroine, five and twenty
-years after the occurrence of the events which gave rise to it.[41]
-
-
-
-
-APPENDIX.
-
-
-THE DISPOSAL OF ST. OSWALD'S REMAINS.
-
-Mr. John Ingram, in his "Claimants to Royalty," referring to the defeat
-of Don Sebastian, King of Portugal, in 1578, by the Moors, says--"After
-the fight, a corse, recognised by one of the survivors as the king's,
-was discovered by the victorious Moors, and forwarded by the Emperor of
-Morocco as a present to his ally, Philip the Second of Spain. In 1583,
-this monarch restored it to the Portuguese, by whom it was interred with
-all due solemnity in the royal mausoleum in the church of Our Lady of
-Belem." It thus seems that Dean Howson's conjecture, referred to at page
-62, is, at least, not without precedent.
-
-
-THE DUN BULL, THE BADGE OF THE NEVILLES.
-
-Mr. W. Brailsford, in "The Antiquary" (August, 1882), referring to the
-marriage which united the properties of the Bulmers and the Nevilles, in
-1190, says--"The dun bull, which is the badge of the Norman Nevilles,
-was in reality derived from the Saxon Bulmers, though it has been
-thought by some antiquarian searchers to have had its origin from the
-wild cattle which, once on a time, like those still existing at
-Chillingham, roamed in the park here, then and at a later date."
-
-
-THE GENESIS OF MYTHS.
-
-When the preceding pages were nearly all in type, I ordered a copy of
-the then just published essay entitled "Myth and Science," by Signor
-Tito Vignoli, in which the gradual development of mythic thought and
-expression is expounded with great clearness and precision. He says, p.
-87-93:
-
-"Doubtless it is difficult for us to picture for ourselves the psychical
-conditions of primitive men, at a time when the objects of perception
-and the apprehension of things were presented by an effort of memory to
-the mind as if they were actual and living things, yet such conditions
-are not hypothetical, but really existed, as any one may ascertain for
-himself who is able to realise that primitive state of mind, and we have
-said enough to show that such was its necessary condition.
-
-"The fact becomes more intelligible when we consider man, and especially
-the uneducated man, under the exciting influence of any passion, and how
-at such times he will, even when alone, gesticulate, speak aloud, and
-reply to internal questions which he imagines to be put to him by absent
-persons, against whom he is at the moment infuriated; the images of
-these persons and things are, as it were, present and in agitation
-within him; and these images, in the fervour of emotion and under the
-stimulus of excitement, appear to be actually alive, although only
-presented to the inward psychical consciousness.
-
-"In the natural man, in whom the intellectual powers were very slowly
-developed, the animation and personification effected by his mind and
-consciousness were threefold: first of the objects themselves as they
-really existed, then of the idea or image corresponding to them in the
-memory, and lastly of the specific types of these objects and images.
-There was within him a vast and continuous drama, of which we are no
-longer conscious, or only retain a faint and distant echo, but which is
-partly revealed by a consideration of the primitive value of words and
-their roots in all languages. The meaning of these, which is now for the
-most part lost and unintelligible, always expressed a material and
-concrete fact, or some gesture. This is true of classic tongues, and is
-well known to all educated people, and it recurs in the speech of all
-savage and barbarous races.
-
-"_Ia Rau_ is used to express _all_ in the Marquesas Isles. _Rau_
-signifies _leaves_, so that the term implies something as numerous as
-the leaves of a tree. _Rau_ is also now used for _sound_, an expression
-which includes in itself the conception of _all_, but which originally
-signified a fact, a real and concrete phenomenon, and it was felt as
-such in the ancient speech in which it was used in this sense. So again
-in Tahiti _huru_, _ten_, originally signified _hairs_; _rima_, _five_,
-was at first used for _hand_; _riri_, _anger_, literally means _he
-shouts_. _Uku_ in the Marquesas Isles means _to lower the head_, and is
-now used for _to enter a house_. _Kuku_, which had the same original
-name in New Zealand, now expresses the act of diving. The Polynesian
-word _toro_ at first indicated anything in the position of a hand with
-extended fingers, whence comes the Tahitian term for ox, _puaatoro_,
-_stretching pig_, in allusion to the way in which an ox carries his
-head. _Too_ (Marquesas), to put forward the hand, is now used for _to
-take_. _Tongo_ (Marquesas), to grope with extended arms, leads to
-_protongo tongo_, _darkness_. In New Zealand, _wairua_, in Tahiti
-_varua_, signifies soul or spirit, from _vai_, to remain in a recumbent
-position, and _rua_, two; that is _to be in two places_, since they
-believed that in sickness or in dreams the soul left the body.[42]
-Throughout Polynesia, _moe_ signifies a recumbent position or to sleep,
-and in Tahiti _moe pipiti_ signifies a double sleep or dream, from
-_moe_, to sleep, and _piti_, two. In New Zealand, _moenaku_ means to try
-to grasp something during sleep; from _naku_, to take in the fingers.
-
-"We can understand something of the mysterious exercise of human
-intelligence in its earliest development from this habit of symbolizing
-and presenting in an outward form an abstract conception, thus giving a
-concrete meaning and material expression to the external fact. We see
-how everything assumed a concrete, living form, and can better
-understand the conditions we have established as necessary in the early
-days of the development of human life. This attitude of the intelligence
-had been often stated before, but in an incomplete way; the primitive
-and subsequent myths have been confounded together;" [See ante, p.p. 44,
-et seq., et 116.] "and it has been supposed that myth was of
-exclusively human origin, whereas it has its roots lower down in the
-vast animal kingdom.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"Anthropomorphism, and the personification of the things and phenomena
-of nature, and their images and specific types, were the great source
-whence issued superstitions, mythologies, and religions, and, also, as
-we shall presently see, the scientific errors to be found among all the
-families of the human race.
-
-"For the development of myth, which is in itself always a human
-personification of natural objects and phenomena in some form or other,
-the first and necessary foundation consists, as we have abundantly
-shown, in the conscious and deliberate vivification of objects by the
-perception and apprehension of animals. And since this is a condition of
-animal perception, it is also the foundation of all human life, and of
-the spontaneous and innate exercise of the intelligence. In fact, man,
-by a two-fold process, raises above his animal nature a world of images,
-ideas, and conceptions from the types he has formed of various
-phenomena, and his attitude towards this internal world does not differ
-from his attitude towards that which is external. He personifies the
-images, ideas, and conceptions, by transforming them into living
-subjects, just as he had originally personified cosmic objects and
-phenomena.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"This was the source of primitive, confused, and inorganic fetishism
-among all peoples; namely, that they ascribed intentional and conscious
-life to a host of natural objects and phenomena. Hence came the fears,
-the adoration, the guardianship of, or abhorrence for, some given
-species of stones, plants, animals, some strange forms or unusual
-natural object. The subsequent adoration of idols and images, all sorts
-of talismans, the virtue of relics, dreams, incantations and exorcisms,
-had the same origin, and were all due to this primitive genesis of the
-fetish. the internal duplication of the external animation and
-personification of objects."
-
-
-ANGLO-SAXON HELMET.
-
-The remains of a very fine example of the Anglo-Saxon helmet referred to
-in chapter ii., was found by the late Mr. Bateman, in 1848, at Benty
-Grange, in Derbyshire. He says--"It was our good fortune to open a
-barrow which afforded a more instructive collection of relics than has
-ever been discovered in the country, and which are not surpassed in
-interest by any remains hitherto recovered from any Anglo-Saxon burial
-place in the kingdom." Amongst these remains was the head-piece referred
-to. After describing the details of its structure, he adds--"On the
-crown of the helmet is an elliptical bronze plate supporting the figure
-of an animal carved in iron, with bronze eyes, now much corroded, but
-perfectly distinct as the representation of a hog."
-
-
-
-
-INDEX.
-
-
- A.
-
- Abram, 138, 143
-
- Achilleus, 39, 46, 53
-
- Acquitania, 41
-
- Adam's Peak, 117
-
- Adils, 175, et seq.
-
- Agamemnon, 40
-
- Agricola, Julius, 4
-
- Agrimensores, 87
-
- Aix-la-Chapelle, 40
-
- Albinus, St., 20
-
- Alexander, 43, 44
-
- Alfgeirr, 175 et seq. 194
-
- Allectus, 192
-
- Alfred the Great, 44, 63, 77, 81, 168, 173, 175, 194
-
- Ancient Monuments, 44
-
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 7, 27, 32, 35, 61, 130, 131, 134, 143, 165, 167,
-   170, 179, 204
-
- Aneurin, 19, 114
-
- Anlaf, 170, et seq.
-
- Annales Cambria, 195
-
- Anselm, 45
-
- Anthony, St., 116
-
- Arbury, 85
-
- Arminius or Herman, 75
-
- Armorica (Brittany), 18, 20, 38
-
- Artemis, 113
-
- Arthur, 6, et seq., 34, 35, 37, 42, 44, 46, 50, 56, 77, 103, 114, 116
-
- Arthur's Sepulchre at Glastonbury, 8
-
- Aruthur (Welsh word), 21
-
- Aryan Myths, 100
-
- AEsthetic Truth, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 58, 59
-
- Ashton, Col.-Gen., 161, et seq.
-
- Athelstan, King, 41, 164, et seq.
-
- Augustine, St., 32, 94, 184
-
-
- B.
-
- Baines, Edward, 62, 66, 73, 74, 77, 90, 92, 99, 136, 148, 153, 157
-
- Baines, Thomas, 62, 207
-
- Bale, John, 185
-
- Bamborough, 62
-
- Bamber Bridge, 198
-
- Bangor-Iscoed, 32, 33, 34
-
- Barbarism and Civilization, 129
-
- Bardney, Lincolnshire, 61, 68
-
- Barham-Down, 34
-
- Baring-Gould, Rev., 107
-
- Barrett, 107
-
- Battle Abbey, 42
-
- Beamont, W., 64, 66, 77, 78, 81
-
- Bede, the Venerable, 15, 18, 19, 56, 61, 68, 71, 87, 92, 95, 105
-
- Beowulf, 88, 101, 105, 113, 187
-
- Bickerton, 207
-
- Billangahoh, 130, et seq.
-
- Blackrod, 22, 30
-
- "Blackburnshire, De Statu,", 144
-
- Blackwell, J. A., 168
-
- Boar, or Hog, Wild, 61, 99, 100, 108, et seq.
-
- Boscowen, W. St. Chad, 45
-
- Bewcastle and Ruthwell monuments, 9
-
- Boece, 25
-
- Bojorix, 112
-
- Bolton Hall, Bolland, 150
-
- Bosworth, Rev. J., 65
-
- Bovium, 34
-
- Bramha, 120
-
- Bravalla, Fight at, 42
-
- Brigantes, 3, 5, 30
-
- Brindle, 196, 205, 208
-
- Brinhildr or Brunhild, 197
-
- Brit-Welsh, 34, 45, 67, 75
-
- British Urns, 4
-
- Brockhall, 137 et seq.
-
- Brocmail, 35
-
- Bruce, Robert, 210, 211
-
- Brunanburh, 164, et seq.
-
- Brut, 7, 11, 25, 27, 67, 73, 94
-
- Brut-y-Tywysogion, 195
-
- Bryn, Brun, and Burne, 73, 74, 97
-
- Brynhild, 39
-
- Budda, 117
-
- Bullasey-ford, 138, 139, 146
-
- Buried Treasure, 192, 193
-
- Bungerley hyppyngstones 146, 149, 158
-
- Burial Mound, Ancient British 208
-
- Bury, Adam de, 157
-
- Bury Castle, Traditionary Siege of, 154, et seq.
-
- Byron, Lord, 53
-
-
- C.
-
- Cadwalla, or Cadwallon, 26, 27, 63, 67, 72, 93, 94
-
- Caldean Heliopolis, 45
-
- Camden, 93, 189
-
- Caerwent, 14
-
- Caedmon, 125, 187
-
- Caerleon on Usk, 14
-
- Camelot, 14
-
- Cannon-balls, 152
-
- Canute, 181, 188
-
- Cardoile, Carlisle, 14
-
- Carausius, 192
-
- Cartismandua, 4
-
- Castle Field, Manchester, 35
-
- Caster-cliff, near Colne, 4
-
- Castle Hill, 70, 77, 78, 84, 206
-
- Castle Stead, near Bury, 157
-
- Carlyle, Thomas, 51, 161, 213, 219
-
- Catraeth, Fight at, 123
-
- Centwine, 9
-
- Chambers, Robert, 222
-
- Charlemagne, 39, 40, 42, 103
-
- Charles I., King, 150, et seq.
-
- Charles Edward Stuart, Prince, 221
-
- Chester, 32, 33, 34
-
- Chevy-Chase, 31
-
- Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, 54
-
- Chivalry, 6
-
- Christianity and Paganism, 165, 166, 172
-
- Christopher, St., Legend of, 135
-
- Chronicles of the Princes of Wales, 195
-
- Civilization, Origin of, 116
-
- Clitheroe Castle, 148, et seq.
-
- Clitheroe Castle, Traditional Siege of, 151, 153
-
- Clifford, Lord, 124
-
- Cocboy, 74
-
- Codoy, 65
-
- Coffins, Oak Tree, 10
-
- Coffin, Stone, at Brindle, 208
-
- Coins, Roman, 200, 204
-
- Colgrin, 24, 27, 148
-
- Conybeare, 101
-
- Constantine, King of the Scots, 171, 176
-
- Coote, H. C., 87
-
- Cox, Rev. Sir G. W., 46, 100, 118
-
- Cremation, 80, 82, 84, 87, 88
-
- Crests, or Totems, 109, seq.
-
- Crusades, 40
-
- Cromwell, 43, 99, 151 et seq., 213 et seq.
-
- Cromwell Legends, 217
-
- Croyland, 43
-
- Cuerdale Find, The Great 188, et seq.
-
- Cuerden, 200
-
-
- D.
-
- Danes' "Pad", 202
-
- Danish Invasions, 133, 165, et seq.
-
- Dasent, Dr. Sir G. W., 15, 108, 127
-
- Darwen, Over, 5, 208
-
- Dawkins, Prof. Boyd, 31, 32, 73
-
- Deira, 35
-
- Denisburn, 93
-
- Derby, Earl of, 150, 155, 212, 220
-
- Dialects, Provincial, 144
-
- Dickens, Charles, 35
-
- Dietrich, 45
-
- Documents, Destruction of, 182, 184, 185, 186
-
- Domesday Book, 89, 196
-
- Douglas, 7, 11, 12, 14, 21, 24, 26, 27, 34, 37, 133, 148
-
- Dragons, 101, 105, 107, 110, 123, 132
-
- Dublin, 203
-
- Durham, Simeon of, 201
-
-
- E.
-
- Eardulph, King, 130, et seq., 147
-
- Earwaker, Mr., 64
-
- Easter, 106
-
- Edda, 28, 39, 115
-
- Editha, Athelstan's Sister, 170
-
- Edisford, 146, 148, 161
-
- Edmund the Atheling, 176
-
- Edwall Voel, King of Gwynnedd, 169
-
- Edward the Confessor, 182
-
- Edward the Elder, King, 169
-
- Edwin, King of Northumbria, 26, 27, 61, 95, 185
-
- Ecgfrith, 34
-
- Egbert, King, 180
-
- Egil, 173, et seq.
-
- Ella, King, 166, 168
-
- Ellis, Mr. G., 37
-
- Elmet, 33
-
- Elphin, St., 87
-
- Elston, William, 205
-
- Elton, C., 122
-
- England, Making of, 15, 19, 21
-
- Erich, King, 47
-
- Ethelbald, King, 43
-
- Ethelfrith, King, 32, 33
-
- Ethelred, King, 130, 133
-
- Ethrunanwerch, 201
-
- Etymological, 62, et seq.
-
- Exoniensis Codex, 187
-
- Extwistle-moor, Remains on, 4
-
-
- F.
-
- Fafnir, 100
-
- Fairfax, Gen., 211
-
- Fairy Mythology, 116
-
- Falstaff, Sir John, 13
-
- Farrar, J. A., 129
-
- Fenton, J., 106
-
- Fergusson, Dr. J., 11, 82, 83
-
- Finns, The, 117
-
- Finnesburg, Fight of, 113, 187
-
- Fiske, Mr., 6, 18, 38, 108, 119
-
- Florence of Worcester, 32
-
- Folk-lore, 129
-
- Forster, Gen., 221
-
- Freeman, E. A., 39, 40, 172
-
- Freya, or Friga, 113, 114
-
- Frey's Howe, Upsala, 83
-
-
- G.
-
- Galahad, Sir, 50
-
- Gargrave, Skirmish near, 215
-
- Gawain, Sir, 37
-
- Gawsworth, 135
-
- Geoffrey of Monmouth, 5, 6, 7, 13, 18, 19, 24, 26, 32, 37, 41, 42
-
- Geological Phenomena, 141
-
- Geraint, 17
-
- Gerards of Bryn, 74
-
- Gervinus, Dr., 55, 58, 59, 128
-
- Giant Stories, 11
-
- Gilbert de Lacy, 196
-
- Gildas, 5, 18, 19, 20, 33, 34, 184
-
- Giles, Dr., 26, 190
-
- Giraldus Cambrensis, 20
-
- Gladstone, W. E., 18
-
- Glendwr, Owen, 123
-
- Gododin, The, 114
-
- Godrun, 168
-
- Golborne, 66, 77, 78
-
- Gothrun, the Dane, 180
-
- Green, J. R., 15, 19, 26, 33, 65, 73, 97, 104, 125, 136, 145, 166
-
- Gregory, St., 184
-
- Grendel, 101
-
- Grimm, J., 22, 118, 122
-
- Gudrekir, 194, 195
-
- Guest, Dr., 15
-
- Guilds, Preston, 210
-
- Ginevra, Queen, 11
-
- Guy of Warwick, Sir, 41, 106
-
- Gwynedd, 33
-
-
- H.
-
- Hacking Hall, 138
-
- Haigh, Mr. D. H., 7, 11, 15, 20, 24, 27, 60, 88, 101, 134, 136, 148,
-   184
-
- Hamilton, Duke of, 99, 153, et seq., 213, 214
-
- Hamlet, 38
-
- Hammerton, P. G., 52
-
- Harald Blatand, etc., 28, 41
-
- Harald Hildetand, 41
-
- Harrington, Sir J., 149, 150
-
- Harold, King, 48
-
- Hartlepool, 101
-
- Hartshorne, Mr., 72
-
- Harvest-Blasters, 109, 126
-
- Hasty Knoll, 21
-
- Hawkins, Mr., 188
-
- Hazlit, 105
-
- Heavenfield, 67, 68, 93
-
- Heathfield, 26, 95
-
- "Heathen-men" (Danes), 132
-
- Helmets, 111, 227
-
- Helmet, Anglo-Saxon, 227
-
- Hengist and Horsa, 6, 110
-
- Henry VI., King, 149, 158
-
- Henry of Huntingdon, 183
-
- Heraclids, 6
-
- Heraldry, 109, et seq.
-
- Herodotus, 110, 118
-
- Hildebrand, Herr, 82, 83
-
- Historia Britonum, 18
-
- Historical Documents, Destruction of, 158
-
- Historical Novels, 47, 48, 50, 52, 54, 57, 59
-
- Historical Pictures, 55
-
- Hodgson, Col., 161, et seq., 214
-
- Hoel, 17
-
- Hollingworth, 15, 30, 66
-
- Homer, 35, 38, 52
-
- Honorius, 15
-
- Horatii and Curiatii, Tombs of, 51
-
- Horse Shoes, Ancient, 23, 24
-
- Howorth, Mr. H. H., 27, 41
-
- Howson, Dean, 62, 68
-
- Hrothgar, 101
-
- Hubbertsty, T., 137, 138, 139, 140
-
- Huntington, Henry of, 12, 25, 195
-
- Hwiccas, or Gewissas, 65
-
- Hygelac, 102
-
- Hyngr, 175, et seq.
-
-
- I.
-
- Iceland, 28, 42
-
- Iceni, 3
-
- Ida, 16
-
- Idylls of the King, 57
-
- Igerna, 17
-
- Illiad, 35, 38
-
- Inaccuracy of Ancient MSS., 187
-
- Indra, 39, 46, 100
-
- Ingulph, 195
-
- Isdubar, Giant, 45
-
-
- J.
-
- Jack the Giant-Killer, 47
-
- Johannes, Prior of Hagulstald, 148
-
- Johnson, Rev. H., 66
-
- Joseph of Arimathea, 37
-
- Jylgja, Guardian Spirit, 127
-
-
- K.
-
- Kabyls, 112
-
- Kains-Jackson, C. P., 44
-
- Kalydonian Hunt, 113
-
- Kay, Sir, 37
-
- Keightley, 116
-
- Kelly, W. K., 108
-
- Kemble, J. M., 65, 135, 187, 198
-
- Kendrick, Dr., 62, 86, 87
-
- King of England, First, 180
-
- Kuerden, Dr., 200, 210
-
- Kyklops, 39
-
-
- L.
-
- Lake District, 34
-
- Lambert, Major-General, 153, 162
-
- Lancashire Civil War Troops, 153, 163
-
- Lancashire Dialect, 75
-
- Lancashire Militia, 216
-
- Landisfarne, 69
-
- Lancelot, Sir, 35, 37, 50
-
- Langdale, Marquis of, 153, et seq., 213, et seq.
-
- Language, Life and Growth of, 75
-
- Langho, 134, et seq.
-
- Lanscado, Scather of the Land, 122
-
- Lappenberg, 27
-
- Latchford, 74, 75, 86, 193
-
- Leofric, Earl, 145
-
- Lichfield, Bishopric of, 146
-
- Lilburne, Col., 220
-
- Lindeley, John, Abbot of Whalley, 144
-
- Linguistics, 75
-
- Linuis, 11, 21, 23, 35
-
- Littler, T., 62
-
- Lloyd, Howel W., 64
-
- Lombards, 28
-
- Loyalty and Rebellion, 219, 221
-
- Lubbock, Sir John, 116
-
- Luther's Picture of the Devil, 51
-
- Llywarch Hen, 17, 26
-
- Lytton, Lord, 35, 47, 48
-
-
- M.
-
- Macaulay, T. B., 53
-
- Magic Cudgel, 47
-
- Mallet, M., 57, 117
-
- Malory, Sir Thomas, 14, 50
-
- Malmesbury, William of, 9, 12, 175, 195
-
- Mameceastre, 144
-
- Manchester, 12, 30, 33
-
- Map, Walter, 18, 50
-
- Marcelde, 66, 67
-
- Martin Mere, 23
-
- Maserfeld, Macerfeld, Marcelde, Mackerfield, 61, 62, et seq.
-
- Meldrum, Sir John, 213
-
- Merchant, Guild, 210
-
- Merlin, 17, 37, 114
-
- Mesbury, 64, 72
-
- Metcalfe, Fred, 44, 101, 114, 175, 186
-
- Metempsychosis, 119
-
- Metrical Romances, 57
-
- Milman, Dean, 49, 51
-
- Milton, John, 214
-
- Missionaries, the first, 145
-
- Modred, 34
-
- Moll, Herman, 197
-
- Monsters, Mythical, 113, 115
-
- Morgan, The Rev. R. W., 10, 19, 24
-
- Morley, Prof. H., 6
-
- Morris, 37
-
- Morte, Adam, 212
-
- Morte, D'Arthur, 14, 34
-
- Mote-hill, Warrington, 86
-
- Mueller, Max, 41
-
- Myths, 5, 6, 7, 37, 38, 39, 43, 46, 57
-
- Myths, Genesis of, 224
-
-
- N.
-
- Nennius, 5, 7, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 50, 51, 65, 67, 68, 72, 74,
-   88, 92, 107, 110, 148, 184
-
- Newbury, William of, 13
-
- Nicholas, St., 117
-
- Nichols, J. G., 149
-
- Nimrod, 45
-
- Northumbria, Southern Boundary of, 143, 145
-
- Nursery Tales, 38
-
-
- O.
-
- Odin, 38, 44, 47, 101
-
- Odins' Howe, Upsala, 82
-
- Odyssey, 35, 39, 118
-
- Offa, 102
-
- Origins of English History, 122
-
- Ostorious Scapula, 4
-
- Oswald, St., 26, 33, 61, et seq., 133, 224
-
- Oswald's Well, St., 66, 69, 91
-
- Oswestry, 62, 65, 72, 90
-
- Oswy, 68, 73, 96
-
-
- P.
-
- Palgrave, Sir Francis, 48, 176
-
- Panis, 39
-
- Panizzi, Sig., 6
-
- Paulinus, 89, 94, 144, 185
-
- Pagan Symbols destroyed, 185
-
- Parker, Archbishop, 185
-
- Parkinson, Mr., 140, et seq.
-
- Patten, The Rev. Mr., 218
-
- Penda, 26, 61, 62, 67, 72, 73, 74, 92, 95, 115, 133
-
- Percy, Bishop, 31
-
- Petilius Cerealis, 4, 30
-
- Phene, Dr., 103
-
- Phonetic Laws, 75
-
- Pictish Customs, 103
-
- Pilkington, Sir T., 153
-
- Pitris, or Fathers, 120, 125
-
- Poem, Anglo-Saxon, on the Battle of Brunanburh, 178
-
- Potter's Ford, 143
-
- Prehistoric Battlefields, 3, 30
-
- Preston, Great Battle of, 213, et seq.
-
- Pretender, the Elder, 221
-
- Primitive Culture, 36
-
- Puritan prophetic superstition, 219
-
-
- R.
-
- Raines, Canon, 137, 138
-
- Ragnar Lodbrock, 166, 168
-
- Rebellion and Loyalty, 147
-
- Red Bank, near Winwick, 99
-
- Ribchester, 12, 151, 210, 211
-
- Ribble-bridge, Battle at, 221
-
- Ribbleton Moor, Fight on, 162
-
- Richard III., 125
-
- Richard Coeur de Lion, 44, 102, 103
-
- Richard of Cirencester, 143
-
- Richmond, Earl of, 126
-
- Roach-Smith, C., 204
-
- Roberts, Askew, 64, 91
-
- Robin Hood, 44, 77, 78
-
- Robson, Dr., 83, 85
-
- Roman Remains at Walton, 218
-
- Roman Wall, 204
-
- Round Table, The, 14, 77
-
- Rosworm, Col., 212
-
- Runes, 184
-
- Russians, 117
-
-
- S.
-
- Saga, 102, 127, 183
-
- St. George, 100
-
- Salt Hill, Clitheroe, 152
-
- Samson, 45
-
- Sangraal, 37
-
- Saracens, 41, 103
-
- Saxo-Grammaticus, 28, 41, 42, 51
-
- Saxton, C., 197
-
- Scandinavia, 57, 103
-
- Science, Genesis of, 128
-
- Scop, or Gleeman's Tale, 41, 187
-
- Scotch Warriors, Grave of, 217, 218
-
- Scott, Sir Walter, 35, 47, 49, 52
-
- Seaton, Sir John, 212
-
- Serpents, 104, 106
-
- Setantii, Sistuntii, or Segantii, 3, 23
-
- Shakspere, 13, 38, 47, 58, 123, 128
-
- Sharon-Turner, 34, 67, 73, 175, 176, 177, 180
-
- Sherburne, Bishop of, 174
-
- Shuttleworth, Col., 212
-
- Siege of Preston in 1715, 221
-
- Siege of Preston in 1643, 211
-
- Sigurd, 39, 46, 100
-
- Sihtric or Sigtryg, 170
-
- Simeon of Durham, 130, 179, 194, 195
-
- Sibson, Rev. E., 21, 62, 77, 78, 81, 87
-
- Skene, Mr., 15, 19, 68, 189
-
- Solar Myths, 39, 40, 45, 46
-
- Songs resultant from the Stuart Troubles, 222, 223
-
- Spear Heads, Ancient, 85
-
- Spencer, Herbert, 120
-
- Spurs, Ancient, 23, 29
-
- Stephen, Leslie, 48, 50
-
- Stevenson, Mr., 18
-
- Stone Hammers, 85
-
- Stonyhurst, 152, 157, 160
-
- Strachey, Sir Edward, 14, 16, 17
-
- Stubbs and Haddon (Councils of Britain), 19
-
- Superstitious explanations of Natural Phenomena, 147
-
- Surnames, 121
-
- Sweyn, King, 181
-
- Swords, Magic, 47
-
-
- T.
-
- Tacitus, 114
-
- Talbot, T. and J., 149, 150
-
- Taliesin, 17, 35, 44
-
- Talleyrand, 44
-
- Tarquin, Sir, 35
-
- Taylor, Rev. I., 112
-
- Tempest, Sir John, 149, 150, 162
-
- Tennyson, 37, 60
-
- Thackeray, 35
-
- Theodoric, 45
-
- Theophilus, Story of, 45
-
- Thor, 47
-
- Thorolf, 175, et seq.
-
- Thorpe, B., 101, 102
-
- Tildesley, Sir Thos., 220
-
- Totems, or Crests, 109, et seq.
-
- Traveller's Tale, Poem, 134, 136
-
- Tre, Welsh prefix, 96
-
- Treasure, Buried, 192, 193
-
- Tristan, Sir, 37
-
- Troy, 53
-
- Tumuli, Ancient, 83, 85, 86, 87, 137, et seq., 205, 208
-
- Turketal, the English Chancellor, 176, 177
-
- Turkomans, 118
-
- Turner, J. M. W., 52
-
- Tylor, E. B., 5, 36, 56, 111, 128
-
-
- U.
-
- Ulster, Annals of, 35
-
- Urien of Rheged, 16, 17, 27
-
- Urns, Ancient, 81, 83, 84
-
- Upsala, 29
-
- Uther Pendragon, 110, 123
-
-
- V.
-
- Vambery, Arminius, 43, 49, 119
-
- Vergil, Polydore, 186
-
- Venutius, 4
-
- Vicinal ways, Roman, 205, 208
-
- Volsung Tale, 120
-
- Vritra, 100
-
-
- W.
-
- Wada, 130, et seq.
-
- Wada, Weland and Egil, 134
-
- Wade's Boat, 135
-
- Walhalla, 115
-
- Wallace, Mackenzie, 117
-
- Wars of the Roses, 158, 210
-
- Warwick, Earl of, 124
-
- Watkin, W. T., 87
-
- Watling street, 136, 194
-
- Wearden, 199
-
- Weddle, C. A., 190, 199, 209
-
- Well, St. Oswald's, 91, 92
-
- Welsh Tribute, Heavy, 170
-
- Werewolves, 119, 122
-
- West Kent, kingdom of, 145
-
- Weyland's Smithy, 136
-
- Whitney, Professor D., 63, 75
-
- Whitaker, the Rev. Jno., 7, 11, 15, 21, 26, 34, 35, 86, 198
-
- Whitaker, Dr., 136, et seq., 193
-
- White, Dr. A. D., 57
-
- Whittle Springs, 197
-
- Wigan, 12, 22, 30
-
- Wigan Lane, battle of, 220
-
- Wild Huntsman, 45
-
- William, the Norman Conqueror, 182, 189
-
- Wilkinson, T. T., 4, 100
-
- Winwick, 61, et seq.
-
- Winwidfield, 97
-
- Wornum, R., 56
-
- Worsaae, Dr., 188
-
- Worde, Wynkyn de, 10
-
- Worms, Huge, 104, 106
-
- Wright, T., 29, 88
-
-
- X.
-
- Ximines, Cardinal, 186
-
-
- Y.
-
- York, 33
-
- Yornzi, 117
-
- Ywain, Sir, 17, 37
-
-
- Z.
-
- Zumarraga, Archbishop, 186
-
-
-ABEL HEYWOOD AND SON, PRINTERS, MANCHESTER.
-
-
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] His. Preston, viii.
-
-[2] Mr. Haigh's ingenious hypothesis, however, is not accepted by
-historical students generally.
-
-[3] "It was twenty-six feet high, and had inscribed on it these names,
-and two others, Bregored and Beorward. Centwine became King of the West
-Saxons, and Hedde, Bishop of Winchester, in A.D. 676; the former became
-a monk in A.D. 683, the latter died in A.D. 705. Bregored was an Abbot
-of Glastonbury (but not in the times of the Britons, as William of
-Malmsbury concluded from his name, for it is clearly Saxon), and
-Beorward may be the Abbot Beornwald who attested a charter of Ine in
-A.D. 704. The larger pyramid, twenty-eight feet high, which stood at the
-head of the grave, is said to have been in a very ruinous condition, and
-the only intelligible words in the inscription upon it (as given by
-William of Malmsbury), are the names of Wulfred and Eanfled. The
-discovery of these trunk coffins at Glastonbury has not been noticed by
-Mr. Wright, in his account of the similar discoveries at Gristhorpe,
-Beverley, Driffield, and Selby (_Gent. Mag._ 1857. vol. ii. p. 114), nor
-by Mr. Wylie in his paper on the Oberflacht graves (_Archaeologia_, vol.
-xxxvi., p. 129), but deserves to be mentioned in connection with them."
-
-[4] The Rev. E. Sibson says:--"A piece of high ground near the Scholes
-is called King Arthur's camp."--_Man. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Transactions,
-April_, 1845.
-
-[5] Giving a man "wigan," in the present vernacular of the county, is
-synonymous to giving him a good threshing.
-
-Jacob Grimm, in his "Deutsche Mythologie," says the Old High German
-_wig_, pugna, seems occasionally to denote the personal god of war.
-
-The modern English word "vie," to contend, to fight, to strive for
-superiority, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon _wigian_, _wiggan_, which
-are cognate to the Gothic _veigan_ (Collins's Dic. Der.) _Wig_, war,
-warfare, battle (Bosworth, A.S. Dic.)
-
-[6] The district referred to is variously written _Linuis_, _Cinuis_,
-and _Inniis_.
-
-[7] Nennius calls him "Catgublaun, king of Guenedot," Gwynedd, North
-Wales.
-
-[8] Anglo-Saxon Chron. and Bede.
-
-[9] Dr. Giles, Mr. Green, and others, say--"Hatfield, in the West Riding
-of Yorkshire, about seven miles to the north-east of Doncaster," and
-this seems the most probable site.
-
-[10] Variation, Brocmail.
-
-[11] Dean Howson, in an address delivered at Chester, in 1873, in
-reference to the disputed site of Oswald's death, said--"He was not
-going to decide between the claims of the two places, but he was
-inclined to think both views might be reconciled. Oswald had a palace at
-Winwick, and there was a well there that bore his name, and an
-inscription that recorded his attachment to the locality. Oswestry was
-said to mean Oswald's tree. There was no reason why they should not
-believe that he was killed at Winwick, and that his head and arms were
-taken away and put on a stump of wood at Oswestry. The conflicting
-statements would then be reconciled." Such an act would, in no way, be
-inconsistent with the character of Penda. He might send the remains to
-his Welsh allies as trophies of his victory over the vanquisher of their
-great chief, Cadwalla.
-
-[12] Bosworth, in his Anglo-Saxon dictionary, under the letter K, says,
-"Though the A. S. generally used _c_, even before _e_, _i_, and _y_, yet
-as _k_ is sometimes found," he gives a list of words commencing with
-that consonant under such conditions. The Anglo-Saxon "Cymen's ora" is
-now represented by Keynor. Kemble says the homes of the Elsingas
-and Elcinghas, are now represented by Elsing and Elkington, in
-Northamptonshire. Mr. Green speaks of "those Gewissas, the Hwiccas, as
-they were called," and Peille says, "Indo-European _ky_ and _ty_ become
-_ss_, as in 'prasso' for 'prack-yo' (root 'prack,' formative suffix
-'yo.')"
-
-[13] The etymology on which Mr. Howel W. Lloyd, the recent able advocate
-for the Shropshire site, and others, rely, (Earwaker's Local Gatherings
-relating to Lancashire, vol. i., 1876, and the summary, by Mr.
-Askew Roberts, in his "Contributions to Oswestry History,") is as
-follows:--Referring to Mr. Lloyd's paper, Mr. Roberts states his
-position thus:--"Mesbury (now Maesbury, called in Domesday Meresbury), a
-hamlet in the parish of Oswestry, is now called 'Llysfeisir or Llys
-feisydd.'" He adds--"Thus a basis is supplied for a correct inference as
-to the order of nomenclature. 1. The Welsh Te-fesen, corrupted by the
-Saxons into Mesafelth or Maserfelth, and then into Maserfield, the name
-of the district in which is Oswestry, as Winwick is in Makerfield. 2.
-The monastery founded on the spot in honour of St. Oswald, called Album
-Monasterium, Candida Ecclesia Y Fonachlog Wen (by the Welsh according to
-Davies), and Blancmonster and Blancminster by the Normans, all meaning
-the same thing, viz.:--White Monastery, applied latterly also to the
-town, which grew up around the monastery. 3. Mesbury, corrupted into
-Maesbury, when the town in Trefesen, to which a Fitzalan granted a
-charter, grew into a borough; and 4, Oswaldestree or Oswestry, from the
-'tre' or district, or else possibly from the traditional tree, on which
-the king's arm was recorded to have been hung. A further basis is
-supplied for reconciling the statement of Nennius, that the battle was
-fought at Codoy, with that of the Saxon historian that it was fought at
-Maserfield. For just as Winwick is in Mackerfield, so may Codoy have
-been in the larger locality of Maserfield; and Nennius, as a British
-historian, representing, as his editors believe him to do, a much
-earlier author, gives, as might naturally be expected, the precise
-situation of the spot, the territorial appellation only for which
-reached the foreign and more distant chroniclers. From all this it is
-certain that Oswestry had its Maserfield as Winwick its Mackerfield, the
-former, however, more nearly reflecting the ancient British name, as
-well as character of the place, but both alike designating a district
-rather than a town, that being the ancient meaning of the word 'tre.'
-Maserfelth is, therefore, Oak-field, a translation of the original
-British name of Trefesen (compare English 'mast,') and the arms
-connected St. Oswald with the Oak."
-
-[14] There is great difficulty in reconciling the various statements
-respecting this Cadwalla. Mr. Skene ("Four Ancient Books of Wales")
-thinks it not improbable that it was his father, Cadvan, who fell at
-Heavenfield, and not himself. If Cadwalla fought at Maserfeld, Dean
-Howson's conjecture is rendered more probable. See Ante, p. 62. Revenge
-for his father's death might induce him to display his trophies of
-victory over his previously successful rival before his Brit-Welsh
-subjects at a locality afterwards named Oswestry.
-
-[15] Mr. Hartshorne, however, refers to this story in connection with
-his claim of "Maesbrook, a place in a direct line between Maesbury and
-Coedway, and about five miles from Oswestry," as the site of Oswald's
-defeat, and connects a local legend with it.
-
-[16] For a long time after the death of Oswald, the present Shropshire
-remained British, or as Professor Boyd Dawkins appropriately terms it,
-"Brit-Welsh," territory.--See Mr. Green's maps.
-
-[17] The Welsh authorities write this word "Codoy." The Rev. W. Gunn and
-Dr. Giles, "Cocboy."
-
-[18] The martyrdom is a very doubtful matter; indeed, it is more than
-probable this name of the field, and its presumed etymology, gave birth
-to the legend, or it may have been an ancient burial place. A Lancashire
-peasant pronounces the word neither, nather and nother, at the present
-day, while some clergymen pronounce it nigh-ther. The Lancashire
-contraction for James is Jim not Jem, as in the South of England. I have
-often heard China pronounced "Chaney" by Lancashire people. The number
-of ancient burial tumuli to the north of the ford may possibly have
-influenced the local nomenclature. In Webster's dictionary a third
-meaning to the word "latch" is thus described: "3. [Fr. lecher, to lick,
-pour. O. H. Ger. _lecchon_. See LICK.] To smear [Obs.]"
-
-[19] The Rev. E. Sibson says--"The streams which unite at this barrow
-are the Dene and the Sankey." Mr. Beamont says the tumulus is situated
-on the Golbourne brook.
-
-[20] "Siculus Flaccus says that it was the practice of some
-_agrimensores_ to place under _termini_ ashes, or charcoal, or pieces of
-broken glass or pottery, or _asses_, or lime, or plaster (gypsum)....
-The writer of a later treatise, or rather compilation, attributed to
-Boethius, speaking upon the same subject, enumerates as the objects to
-be so placed, ashes, or charcoals, or potsherds, or bones, or glass,
-or _assae_ of iron, or brass, or lime, or plaster, or a fictile
-vessel."--"_The Romans of Britain_," _by H. C. Coote F.S.A._
-
-[21] This, of course, is disputed by other authorities. Mr. Thorpe
-regards the only copy now extant as an Anglo-Saxon version of an older
-Scandinavian poem.
-
-[22] Mr. Askew Roberts, in his "Contributions to Oswestry History," has
-the following:--"Is not all the alluvial tract of country which lies
-between Buttington and Oswestry, called in the Welsh tongue 'Ystrad
-Marchell.' = Strata Marcella, at one end of which stood the once famous
-monastery of Ystrad Marchell or Strata Marcella? Is it not more likely
-that Oswald should have been overwhelmed by a combined force
-of Mercians, Welsh, and Angles somewhere in the large plain of
-_Ystradmarchell_, which lies on the boundary of the Welsh and Mercian
-territories, than at Winwick, in Lancashire, and does not the above line
-prove that 'Oswald from Marchelldy [Marcelde the House or Monastery of
-Marchell] did to Heaven remove.'--BONION, writing in _Bygones_, August
-6, 1873." This would have more value had the inscription been on
-Oswestry Church. It is not very probable the Cleric of Winwick would be
-a Welsh scholar, or that he would translate the Welsh word into Latin in
-preference to the English one by which the locality was well known. What
-business had Oswald "somewhere in the large plain of _Ystradmarchell_,
-which lies on the boundary of the Welsh and Mercian territory," if Penda
-were the aggressor, as Geoffrey and others testify. Besides, as Mr.
-Green's maps show, the district in question was, in the seventh century,
-a long way from either the Mercian or Northumbrian boundary. To be in
-the locality at all would constitute Oswald the attacking and not the
-defending party, as Bede's expression, "_pro patria dimicans_," seems to
-imply.
-
-[23] This is a very daring assertion, and is by no means confirmed by a
-visit to the locality.
-
-[24] "Were there no other record of the existence of our own Richard I.
-than the _Romaunt_ bearing his name, and composed within a century of
-his death, he would unquestionably have been numbered by the Mythists
-among their shadowy heroes; for among the superhuman feats performed by
-that pious crusader, we read, in the above mentioned authority, that
-having torn out the heart of a lion, he pressed out the blood, dipt it
-in salt, and ate it without bread; that being sick, and longing after
-pork (which in a land of Moslems and Jews was not to be had),
-
-    "They took a Sarezyne young and fat
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-    And soden full hastely,
-    With powder and with spysory,
-    And with saffron of good colour."
-
-Of this Apician dish 'the kyng eet the flesh and gnew the bones.'
-Richard afterwards feasts his infidel prisoners on a Saracen's head
-each, every head having the name of its late owner attached to it on a
-slip of parchment. Surely all this is as mythic as it is possible to be,
-and yet Richard is a really historic earth-born personage."
-
-Yes, there was a truly historical Richard, as there doubtless was an
-Arthur, but the Richard and Arthur of romance, nevertheless, are not
-historical characters, in the strict sense of the word, and ought not to
-be confounded with them.
-
-[25] At the meeting of the British Association, held at York, in 1861,
-Dr. Phene, F.S.A., &c., read a paper on Scandinavian and Pictish customs
-on the Anglo-Scottish Border. He spoke of the persistent retention of
-curious customs, and the handing down from generation to generation of
-the traditionary lore of ages long past, and then referred to some of
-those which were corroborated by ancient monuments of an unusual kind
-still famous on the Scottish border. These consisted of sculptured
-stones, earth works, and actual ceremonies. Quoting from former writers,
-from family pedigrees, and other documents, he showed that the estates
-to which this traditionary lore pertained, had been held alternately by
-those claiming under the respective nationalities, or more local powers,
-and which from their natural defensive features must have been places of
-border importance earlier than history records. The district was
-occupied by the descendants--often still traceable--of Danes, Jutes,
-Frisians, Picts, Scots, Angles, and Normans; and by a comparison of
-several of the languages of these people, as well ancient as now
-existing, and also of the Gothic, it was shown in relation to a
-particular class of the most curious monuments, that the Norse "ormr,"
-Anglo-Saxon "vyrm," old German "wurm," Gothic "vaurms," pronounced like
-our word worm; and the word "lint," or "lind," also German, and the
-Norse "linni," are all equivalent, and mean serpent; and in some cases
-the two words are united as in modern German "lindwurm," and the Danish
-and Swedish "lindorm." On this apparently rested the names of some of
-the places having these strange traditions, as Linton or serpent town,
-Wormiston or worm's (ormr's) town, Lindisfarne, the Farne serpent
-island, now Holy Island, &c., and also the various worm hills, or
-serpent mounds of those localities. It was curious that the contests to
-which the traditions referred (like that of St. George) were sometimes
-with two dragons, as shown on a sculptured stone in Linton Church, and
-on a similar stone at Lyngby, in Denmark, in the churchyard, where there
-was a tradition that two dragons had their haunt near the church. From
-these and other facts, the author concluded that the contests were
-international, and in the case of two dragons, an allied foe, either
-national, religious, or both, was overcome. He showed from the Scottish
-seals that Scotland used the dragon as an emblem, apparently deriving it
-from the Picts; that the Scandinavians also used it, and that these
-nationalities were antagonistic to the Saxon. In the time of David the
-First of Scotland, the first great centralisation of Saxon power took
-place, and the powerful family of the Cumyns took, apparently by
-conquest, at least two of the localities having these strange
-traditions. And as the political object was to suppress the Celtic and
-Scandinavian, or other local national feeling, there could be little
-doubt that however they obtained them, the persons dispossessed were of
-one or other of the Northern tribes. Hence probably the middle-age
-tradition of the slaying of the serpent or dragon, or the serpent or
-dragon bearer, on the Anglo-Scottish border. But he considered such
-traditions would hardly have originated through such conquests, had not
-previous marvellous stories existed of the prowess and conquest by the
-dragon (bearers) of the lands they invaded, all the wonders of which
-would be transferred to the conqueror's conqueror. Hence these stories
-were not to be set aside with a sneer, as in them was a germ of history,
-giving us, perhaps, the only insight we could obtain of the prehistoric
-customs and mythology of some of the ancient tribes of Britain. Earthen
-mounds, tumuli, standing stones, &c., still existed in some of these
-localities, with all of which the dragon serpent or worm was associated
-in the legends. The author described his personal experiences in the
-still existing dragon ceremonies in the south of France and Spain, which
-were always either on the present national or former less important
-provincial frontiers, and which still formed the subjects of great
-ecclesiastical ceremonies. One of the high ecclesiastical dignitaries of
-the north of England--the Bishop of Durham--is in the position of having
-to take part in such a ceremony. Whenever a bishop of that diocese
-enters the manor of Sockburn for the first time, the Lord of the Manor,
-who holds under the see of Durham, subject to the following tenure, has
-to present the Bishop, "_in the middle of the river Tees_, if the river
-is fordable, with the falchion wherewith the champion Conyers destroyed
-the _worm_, _dragon_, or _fiery flying serpent_ which destroyed man,
-woman, and child" in that district, and an ancient altar called
-"_Greystone_" still marks where the dragon was buried.--_Manchester
-Examiner._
-
-[26] "Klunzinger: Upper Egypt, 184."
-
-[27] "There exists yet a traditionary superstition very prevalent in
-Lancashire and its neighbourhood to the effect that pigs can '_see the
-wind_.' I accidentally heard the observation made, not long ago, in the
-city of Manchester, in what is termed 'respectable society,' and no one
-present audibly dissented. One or two individuals, indeed, remarked that
-they had often heard such was the case, and seemed to regard the
-phenomenon as related to the strong scent and other instincts peculiar
-to animals of the chase. Indeed, Dr. Kuhn says that in Westphalia this
-phase of the superstition is the prevalent one. There pigs are said to
-smell the wind."--_Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore, p. 69._
-
-[28] The Rev. Jno. Williams, in a note to his translation of "The
-Gododin," says:--"Beli, son of Benlli, a famous warrior in North Wales."
-
-[29] See Chapter I., page 25.
-
-[30] Warksworth Chronicle.
-
-[31] Several cannon balls, fired during Cromwell's military operations
-in this short but decisive campaign, have been found in the
-neighbourhood of Ribbleton, Ashton, and Walton-le-dale. They are about
-eight pounds weight each. One of them is in my possession at the present
-time.
-
-[32] This is an error, excusable under the circumstances. Stonyhurst is
-about twelve miles from Preston.
-
-[33] So savage a critic as Joseph Ritson seems to have entertained a
-much higher opinion of Captain Hodgson's literary qualities than the
-"seer of Chelsea." In his preface to the memoir he says--"Without
-meaning to dispute the merit of Defoe, in his peculiarly happy manner of
-telling a story, or, in other words, in the art of book-making, it will
-probably be found, that, truth or falsehood being out of the question,
-in point of importance, interest, and even pleasantry, Captain Hodgson's
-narrative is infinitely superior to the 'Memoirs of a Cavalier.'"
-
-[34] He had overcome a cavalry officer, and "appropriated" his horse.
-
-[35] Mr. F. Metcalfe, in his "Englishman and Scandinavian," says,--"It
-is this same historian (William of Malmesbury), and not Asser, who
-relates the story of Alfred masquerading as a minstrel, and so gaining
-free access to the Danish camp, meanwhile learning their plans. It is
-not mentioned in the most ancient Saxon accounts. Indeed, it sounds more
-like a Scandinavian than a Saxon story, an echo of which has reached us
-in the tale of King Estmere, who adopted a similar disguise. A story was
-current of Olaf Cuaran entering Athelstan's camp disguised as a harper
-two days before the battle of Brunanburh."
-
-[36] Some writers say two days intervened, and Sir Francis Palgrave says
-the main battle was but a continuation of the night attack, and was
-therefore fought on the following day.
-
-[37] Mr. Thompson Watkins, His. Soc. Trans., says the metal is bronze.
-
-[38] In Herman Moll's map, the Etherow, before its junction with the
-Goyt and Tame, is written Mersey.
-
-[39] For details of this battle see "History of Preston and its
-Environs."
-
-[40] For details respecting this siege, see His. Preston, c. v.
-
-[41] Mr. J. P. Morris, in _Notes and Queries_, says--"Many collectors
-have endeavoured, but in vain, to find more of this old Lancashire
-ballad than the two verses given by Dr. Dixon, in his 'Songs and Ballads
-of the English Peasantry,' and by Mr. Harland, in his 'Ballads and Songs
-of Lancashire.' I have much pleasure in forwarding to _Notes and
-Queries_ the following version, which is much more complete than any yet
-given:
-
-    "Long Preston Peggy to Proud Preston went,
-    To view the Scotch Rebels it was her intent;
-    A noble Scotch lord, as he passed by,
-    On this Yorkshire damsel did soon cast an eye.
-
-    He called to his servant, who on him did wait--
-    'Go down to yon maiden who stands in the gate,
-    That sings with a voice so soft and so sweet,
-    And in my name do her lovingly greet.'
-
-    So down from his master away he did hie,
-    For to do his bidding, and bear her reply;
-    But ere to this beauteous virgin he came,
-    He moved his bonnet, not knowing her name.
-
-    'It's, oh! Mistress Madame, your beauty's adored,
-    By no other person than by a Scotch lord,
-    And if with his wishes you will comply,
-    All night in his chamber with him you shall lie.'"
-
-[42] "See Gaussin's _Langue Polynesienne_."
-
-
-
-
-    Transcriber's notes:
-
-    The following is a list of changes made to the original.
-    The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one.
-
-    Dean Milman, Arminius Vambery, and Leslie Stephen.
-    Dean Milman, Arminius Vambery, and Leslie Stephen.
-
-    Sir John Lubbock, Arminius Vambery, John Fiske,
-    Sir John Lubbock, Arminius Vambery, John Fiske,
-
-    The names of places still retained, with only sueh phonetic
-    The names of places still retained, with only such phonetic
-
-    Talbots of Bashall and Salebury. Civil war incidents
-    Talbots of Bashall and Salesbury. Civil war incidents
-
-    influence of the after Danish and Norman-French conquests.
-    influence of the battle after Danish and Norman-French conquests.
-
-    "For "_Downham_ IN _Yorkshire_"
-    For "_Downham_ IN _Yorkshire_"
-
-    "Return of the Heraklieds," says "it is undoubtedly as
-    "Return of the Herakleids," says "it is undoubtedly as
-
-    similar discoveries at Gristhorpe, Beverley, Driffield. and
-    similar discoveries at Gristhorpe, Beverley, Driffield, and
-
-    laid'Ywenec, and the latter is said to be "on the Doglas,"
-    lai d'Ywenec, and the latter is said to be "on the Doglas,"
-
-    mentioned as the husband of Igerna's third danghter by
-    mentioned as the husband of Igerna's third daughter by
-
-    not one capital city, it was the tetrapolis of Babel
-    not one capital city, it was the tetrapolis of Babel,
-
-    we, nevertheless, do gain valuable knowlege of a
-    we, nevertheless, do gain valuable knowledge of a
-
-    ancient correlatives in Sanscrit _agra_, Greek {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH DASIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER STIGMA~}, Latin
-    ancient correlatives in Sanscrit _agra_, Greek {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH OXIA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER STIGMA~}, Latin
-
-    probably accordsboth etymologically and topographically
-    probably accords both etymologically and topographically
-
-    tranformations local nomenclature sometimes has undergone
-    transformations local nomenclature sometimes has undergone
-
-    England)" says--"That Oswiu strove to avert the
-    England") says--"That Oswiu strove to avert the
-
-    called _Burne_, strongly supports the other evidence in
-    called _Burne_," strongly supports the other evidence in
-
-    burial place, raised after the battle fought at Winwick."
-    burial place, raised after the battle fought at Winwick.
-
-    Newton: one of these was held in desmene. The
-    Newton: one of these was held in demesne. The
-
-    cum decima ville;' but there is a belief that there was a
-    cum decima ville;" but there is a belief that there was a
-
-    and to the tradition which Leyland records, 'that at
-    and to the tradition which Leyland records, "that at
-
-    Sum say this was the paroche church of Oswestre.'"
-    Sum say this was the paroche church of Oswestre."
-
-    Bingfield for the site of the Heavenfeld struggle, rather
-    Bingfield for the site of the Heavenfield struggle, rather
-
-    Jacob Grimm says (Deutsche Myhologie)--"A people
-    Jacob Grimm says (Deutsche Mythologie)--"A people
-
-    in power. Thus the notion of _casualty_--the assumption
-    in power. Thus the notion of _causality_--the assumption
-
-    twenty marks a year, from Edward IV,, confirmed by
-    twenty marks a year, from Edward IV., confirmed by
-
-    relatively more recent combat, of some local importance,
-    relatively more recent combat, of some local importance.
-
-    Preston, to operate in the hundred of Blackburn, One
-    Preston, to operate in the hundred of Blackburn. One
-
-    inhabitants of the neigbourhood Wearden at the present
-    inhabitants of the neighbourhood Wearden at the present
-
-    crosses this in its neighbonrhood. This tumulus is
-    crosses this in its neighbourhood. This tumulus is
-
-    the "battle of the Brun."
-    the 'battle of the Brun.'"
-
-    the 'olden time.' In Leland's day, the remains of the
-    the 'olden time.'" In Leland's day, the remains of the
-
-    Colonel Rosworn, the celebrated Parliamentary engineer,
-    Colonel Rosworm, the celebrated Parliamentary engineer,
-
-    sculls, from the banks, and these are almost universally,
-    skulls, from the banks, and these are almost universally,
-
-    of "General" Forster, the partisans of the Stuart were
-    of "General" Forster, the partizans of the Stuart were
-
-    myths have been confounded together;" [See ante, p.p. 44, et seg.,
-    myths have been confounded together;" [See ante, p.p. 44, et seq.,
-
-    "For the devolpment of myth, which is in itself always a human
-    "For the development of myth, which is in itself always a human
-
-
-
-
-
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