The History of Alfred of Beverley 9781783274888, 9781800108967

Table of contents :
Front cover
About the pagination of this eBook
Contents
Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
Alfred of Beverley – Man, Milieu & Memory
Text and Translation
Appendices
General Index

Citation preview

About the pagination of this eBook Due to the unique page numbering scheme of this book, the electronic pagination of the eBook does not match the pagination of the printed version. To navigate the text, please use the electronic Table of Contents that appears alongside the eBook or the Search function. For citation purposes, use the page numbers that appear in the text.

THE HISTORY OF ALFRED OF BEVERLEY

Boydell Medieval Texts

Boydell Medieval Texts is a series of parallel text volumes (Latin/English) presenting major medieval works, which aims to meet both the requirement of scholarly editions to the highest standard and the need for readily available translations at an affordable price for libraries and students who require access to the content of the works. The series volumes will be issued initially in hardback, followed by distribution in electronic form to a variety of platforms such as JSTOR. A year after publication, a paperback version of the translation only will be produced, with appropriately revised introduction and footnotes. The editors of the series are Rodney Thomson and Michael Bennett, both Emeritus Professors of Medieval History at the University of Tasmania.

Previously Published William of Malmesbury: Miracles of the Blessed Virgin Mary edited and translated by R. M. Thomson and M. Winterbottom For and Against Abelard: The invective of Bernard of Clairvaux and Berengar of Poitiers edited and translated by R. M. Thomson and M. Winterbottom

THE HISTORY OF ALFRED OF BEVERLEY Edited by J. P. T. Slevin Translated by L. Lockyer

THE BOYDELL PRESS

© J. P. T. Slevin and L. Lockyer 2023 All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner The right of J. P. T. Slevin and L. Lockyer to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 First published 2023 The Boydell Press, Woodbridge ISBN 978-1-78327-488-8 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-80010-896-7 (ePDF) The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620–2731, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate

Contents

vi List of Illustrations vii Preface ix Acknowledgements xi List of Abbreviations INTRODUCTION xix

Alfred of Beverley – Man, Milieu & Memory

xxviii

Date and Circumstances of the History

xxxii

Sources

xxxii i. Introduction xxxii ii. Henry of Huntingdon xxxv iii. Geoffrey of Monmouth xliii iv. The Worcester Chronicle xlvii v. The Durham Historia Regum

liii

The Afterlife of Alfred

lx Manuscripts lxx

Historical Place, Purpose & Value

lxxv

Editions

lxxv i. Previous Edition lxxvi ii. This Edition

1

TEXT AND TRANSLATION

165 Appendices 172 General Index

v

Illustrations

Plates 1. Corpus Christi College Oxford, MS 157 f. 50. Reproduced by kind permission of the Masters and Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Oxford xliv 2. William Caxton, Descripcion of Britayne (1480), Chapter 4 (‘Marvels and Wonders’). Reproduced by kind permission of The British Library

lix

3. Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson B 200 f. 1. Reproduced by kind permission of the Bodleian Library, Oxford

lxi

4. Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 384 f. 122. Reproduced by kind permission of the National Library of Wales

lxv

5. London, British Library, MS Cotton Cleopatra A I f. 20 v. Reproduced by kind permission of The British Library

lxvii

Figures 1. Charters

xx

2. Sectional Plan of the Historia Regum (HR) Attributed to Symeon of Durhamxlix 3. List of Surviving Manuscripts

lxii

4. The Relationship of the Manuscripts

lxx

Map 1. Centres of Historical Writing in Yorkshire and Surrounds, 1100–1200

xvii

The editor and publisher are grateful to all the institutions and persons listed for permission to reproduce the materials in which they hold copyright. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders; apologies are offered for any omission, and the publisher will be pleased to add any necessary acknowledgement in subsequent editions. vi

Preface

The History of Alfred of Beverley narrates the history of Britain from its supposed foundation by the Trojan Brutus down to the death of Henry I in 1135. The History of Alfred of Beverley is the more appropriate name for the Latin text which has become known, from its previous edition in 1716, as Alfred’s Annals. The text, for its greater part, is not written in annalistic form but is comprised of self-contained chapters which each address a distinct narrative theme. Within the chapters, dating is predominantly supplied by regnal year. Compiled over the years c.1148–c.1151, and at a time of crisis and schism in the church of York, the work was sparked by the appearance in c.1136 of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, and by the astonished reaction in literate circles of the time to that work. What appears to have been Alfred’s original intention, to make excerpts of those parts of the work which did not ‘exceed the bounds of credibility’, developed into a more ambitious attempt to integrate Geoffrey’s History into an existing understanding of Britain’s early history, based largely on the accounts of classical authorities such as Orosius, Eutropius and Suetonius, and on Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica. The historian Henry of Huntingdon, a decade earlier, had written an epitome of Geoffrey’s History, the Epistola ad Warinum, including it in copies of his Historia Anglorum (HA) which circulated from the early 1140s, but he inserted it only as a standalone piece. Henry made no attempt to revise the early sections of the HA in the light of Geoffrey’s newly revealed history – an indication, perhaps, of misgivings about its veracity. Alfred is the first Insular chronicler attempting to do so, and his abridgement and general handling of the text therefore provides valuable insight into the very earliest reception to Geoffrey’s History. To assimilate the History of the Kings of Britain within existing historical understanding required its content to be significantly adapted. Alfred therefore reworks its two-thousand-year continuous narrative, dividing it into five distinct historical periods, designated the quinque status, and these occupy the first five chapters of the book. Alfred’s periodization of Britain’s early history, from its foundation to the end of the dominion of the British kings, was later to be vii

Preface

taken over by Ranulf Higden in his influential fourteenth-century universal history, Polychronicon, and from there it passed to William Caxton and Tudor historiography. Chapters six to nine of Alfred’s History narrate the foundation of the heptarchic English kingdoms, the emergence of West Saxon hegemony and the creation of the kingdom of England, the Danish wars and the coming of the Normans. Alfred compiles his account from three main sources: from Lincoln, the HA of Henry of Huntingdon (a source of particular influence in the compilation); from Worcester, the Accounts and Genealogies of the Saxon dynasties contained in the preliminary section of the Chronicle of John of Worcester; and, from Durham, the Historia Regum attributed to Symeon of Durham. Although well over 90 percent of the content derives from these sources, by the skilful selection, weaving and arranging of his material, Alfred composes his own distinct historical account, creating new narrative from old.

viii

Acknowledgements

This edition began its life at the photocopying machine at the Institute of Historical Research in 2003 when emeritus Professor John Gillingham, then teaching a module on a Medieval History Master’s course at Birkbeck College, U.O.L. (Historical Writing in Twelfth-Century England), suggested to the editor that he might ‘take a look at Alfred of Beverley’ as a dissertation subject. I am thankful I had the good sense to take the professor’s advice. The ‘look’ at Alfred later continued its journey to doctoral research, under the inspirational guidance of Professor Julia Crick, Professor of Palaeography and Manuscript Studies at Kings College, London. Later still, assisted by Dr Lynda Lockyer, the task of preparing, editing and translating the present text of Alfred’s history began. Special thanks must here be given to Professor David D’Avray, for encouraging the project and for bringing together both fledgling editor and so able a translator as Lynda, to progress the task. Along the way, thanks and gratitude must be expressed to the many scholars who have so freely given their time and advice, for without their help and support, the edition could never have been completed. Thanks therefore first to Julia Crick, David Rollason, Huw Pryce and Ian Short. Thanks also to Nicholas Orme, Christopher Holdsworth, David Luscombe, Paul Brand and Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan. Thanks also to Astrid Khoo, former research assistant on the Exon Domesday Project, who provided expert palaeographical support. Paul Russell of the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Studies at Cambridge University generously provided access to a microfilm of a manuscript witness of Alfred’s history, BnF, MS Lat 4126, part of the Department’s Geoffrey of Monmouth Research Project collection. The librarians and staff at the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the National Library of Wales and the Institute of Historical Research in London have all provided invaluable support in locating texts and manuscripts relevant to the study. Finally, a special thanks to both the editor of the Boydell Medieval Text series, Professor Rodney Thomson, for providing critical editorial support, and to Richard Barber of Boydell and Brewer, for entrusting to two independent ix

Acknowledgements

researchers the important task of bringing a neglected medieval chronicle to print, and thus making it accessible to the wider scholarly community. We hope we have done justice to the task. J.P.T.S. & L.L.

x

Abbreviations

AB

Alfred of Beverley.

ANS

Anglo-Norman Studies.

ASC

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: A Revised Translation, ed. D. Whitelock with David C. Douglas and Susie L. Tucker (London, 1961).

ASW

F. E. Harmer, Anglo-Saxon Writs (Manchester, 1952).

BMBTC

Richard Morris and Eric Cambridge, with an Appendix by Ian Doyle, ‘Beverley Minster Before the Early Thirteenth Century’ in Medieval Art and Architecture in the East Riding of Yorkshire, ed. C. Wilson (British Archaeological Association Conference Transactions, 9, 1989), pp. 9–32.

BMF

Beverley Minster Fasti, ed. Richard T. W. McDermid, YARS, vol. cxlix (Huddersfield, 1990).

Brett

M. Brett, ‘John of Worcester and his contemporaries’, in The Writing of History in the Middle Ages: Essays presented to Richard William Southern, eds R. H. C. Davis and J. M. Wallace-Hadrill (Oxford, 1981), pp. 101–26.

CBMLC

Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues.

Chron. Steph.

Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, ed. R. Howlett, 4 vols, Rolls Series (RS) (London, 1884–89).

CJW ii, iii

The Chronicle of John of Worcester, vol. ii, ed. R. R. Darlington, P. McGurk and J. Bray (OMT, 1995), vol. iii, ed. and trans. P. McGurk (Oxford, 1998).

CPEE

Chronica Pontificum Ecclesiae Eboracensis.

CS

Councils and Synods with Other Documents relating to the English Church, vol. i (871–1204), eds D. Whitelock, M. Brett and C. N. L. Brooke (2 parts: Oxford, 1981). xi

Abbreviations

CSEL

Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vienna 1866–).

DC

Descriptive Catalogue of Materials Relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland, ed. T. D. Hardy, 2 vols, RS (London, 1862–71).

DEB

Gildas, De Excidio Britonum. The Ruin of Britain and other works, ed. and trans. Michael Winterbottom (Chichester, 2002).

Eadmer, HN

Eadmeri Historia Novorum in Anglia, ed. J. M. Rule, RS (London, 1884).

EAW

Epistola Ad Warinum Britonum, HA, vol. viii, pp. 558–83.

EEA

English Episcopal Acta v. York 1070–1154, ed. Janet Burton (British Academy, Oxford, 1988).

EYC

Early Yorkshire Charters, vols i–iii, ed. W. Farrer (Edinburgh 1914–16); vols iv–xii, ed. C. T. Clay (YASRS, extra series, 1935–65).

FW MHB

Florentii Wigorniensis in Monumenta Historica Britannica, ed. H. Petrie and illustrated by J. Sharp, vol. i (London, 1848), pp. 616–44.

FW Thorpe

Florentii Wigorniensis Monachi, Chronicon ex Chronicis, ed. B. Thorpe, Sumptibus Societatis, vol. i (London, 1848).

Gaimar

Geffrei Gaimar, Estoire des Engleis, ed. I. Short (Oxford, 2009).

GC Opera

Giraldus Cambrensis Opera, eds J. S. Brewer, J. F. Dimock and G. F. Warner, 8 vols, RS (London, 1861–91).

GC Works

The Historical Works of Gervase of Canterbury, ed. William Stubbs, 2 vols, RS (London, 1879–80).

GM

Geoffrey of Monmouth.

GND

The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumièges, Orderic Vitalis and Robert of Torigni, ed. E. M. C. van Houts, 2 vols, OMT (Oxford, 1992–5).

GP

William of Malmesbury, Gesta Pontificum Anglorum, ed. N. E. S. A. Hamilton, RS (London, 1870).

GRA

William of Malmesbury, Gesta Regum Anglorum, eds R. A. B. Mynors, R. M. Thomson and M. Winterbottom, 2 vols, OMT (Oxford, 1998–99). xii

Abbreviations

Green HI

Judith A. Green, Henry I, King of England and Duke of Normandy (Cambridge, 2009).

GS

Gesta Stephani, eds K. R. Potter and R. H. C. Davis (Oxford, 1976).

HA

Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum. The History of the English People, ed. and trans. Diana Greenway, OMT (Oxford, 1996).

HAB

Historia Aluredi Beverlacensis, The History of Alfred of Beverley.

HB

Nennius, British History and The Welsh Annals, ed. and trans. John Morris (London, 1980).

HBC

Handbook of British Chronology, eds E. B. Fryde, D. E. Greenway, S. Porter and I. Roy (London, 1986).

HC

Hugh the Chanter, History of the Church of York 1066– 1127, ed. C. Johnson, rev. M. Brett, C. N. L. Brooke and M. Winterbottom (Oxford, 1990).

HCY

Historians of the Church of York and of its Archbishops, ed. J. Raine, 3 vols, RS (London, 1879–94).

HE

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, eds B. Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1969; rev. edn. 1990).

Hearne, ABA

Aluredi Beverlacensis Annales, sive Historia de Gestis Regum Britanniae Libris IX (Oxford, 1716).

HH

Henry of Huntingdon.

HN

The Historia Novella by William of Malmesbury, ed. K. R. Potter, NMT (London, 1955).

HR

Symeon of Durham, Historia Regum, in SD, vol. ii, pp. 1–283.

HRB

Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain, ed. M. D. Reeve and trans. Neil Wright, Arthurian Studies LXIX (Woodbridge, 2007).

HTC

Hugh the Chanter. The History of the Church of York 1066–1127, ed. Charles Johnson, NMT (London, 1961), rev. M. Brett, C. N. L. Brooke and M. Winterbottom, OMT (Oxford, 1990). xiii

Abbreviations

HWAB

John P. Slevin, ‘The Historical Writing of Alfred of Beverley’ (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Exeter, 2013). Available in Open Research Exeter http://hdl.handle. net/10871/14432.

HWE i, ii

Antonia Gransden, Historical Writing in England c.550 to c.1307, i (London, 1974); Historical Writing in England ii, c.1307 to the Early Sixteenth Century, ii (London, 1982).

JH

John of Hexham’s continuation of SD HR in Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, ed. T. Arnold, 2 vols, RS (London, 1882–5), ii. pp. 283–332.

JW

John of Worcester.

Kirby EEK

D. P. Kirby, The Earliest English Kings (London, 1991).

Leach BCAB

Memorials of Beverley Minster: The Chapter Act Book of the Collegiate Church of S. John of Beverley AD 1286–1347, ed. A.F. Leach, 2 vols, Surtees Society (SS) (Durham, 1898– 1903).

Memorials

Memorials of St Edmund’s Abbey, ed. T. Arnold, 3 vols, RS (London, 1890–96), i. pp. 26–92.

MGH

Monumenta Germaniae Historica (Scriptores Rerum Germanicarum).

MHB

Monumenta Historica Britannica, vol. i, ed. H. Petrie and J. Sharp (London, 1848).

MLGB

Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. N. R. Ker, Royal Historical Society, Guides and Handbooks no. 3 (London, 1964).

Narratio

Hugh of Kirkstall, Narratio de Fundatione Fontanis Monasterii, in Memorials of the Abbey of St Mary of Fountains, 3 vols, i, ed. J. R. Walbran, SS, 42 (Durham, 1863).

NMT

Nelson’s Medieval Texts.

Observations

John P. Slevin, ‘Observations on the twelfth-century Historia of Alfred of Beverley’, Haskins Society Journal, 27 (2015), pp. 101–28.

ODNB

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Om.

Material omitted by AB in quoting from source material in History.

OMT

Oxford Medieval Texts. xiv

Abbreviations

OV

The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis, ed. M. M. Chibnall, 6 vols, OMT (Oxford, 1969–80).

PHR

Paulus Historia Romana, MGH, ed. H. Droysen (Berlin, 1879).

PO

Pauli Orosii Historiarum Adversum Paganos Libri VII, ed. K. Zangemeister, CSEL, v (Vienna, 1882).

Polychron

Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden Monachi Cestrensis, eds Churchill Babington and J. R. Lumby, 9 vols, RS (London, 1865–86).

RH

Roger of Howden, Chronica Rogeri de Houedene, ed. W. Stubbs, 4 vols, RS (London, 1868–71).

R. Hexham

De Gestis Regis Stephani et de Bello Standardii in Chron. Steph., vol. iii, pp. 137–78.

RHS

Royal Historical Society.

Rollason HRAD ‘Symeon of Durham’s Historia de Regibus Anglorum et Dacorum as a Product of Twelfth-century Historical Workshops’ in The Long Twelfth-Century View of the Anglo-Saxon Past, eds Martin Brett and David A. Woodman (Ashgate, 2015), pp. 95–111. RRAN

Regesta Regum Anglo-Normannorum, 4 vols: vol. i, eds H. W. C. Davis and R. J. Whitwell (Oxford, 1913); vol. ii, eds C. Johnson and H. A. Cronne (Oxford, 1956); vols iii and iv, eds H. A. Cronne, R. H. C. Davis and H. W. C. Davis (Oxford, 1968).

RS

Rolls Series.

Ruff. Charters

Rufford Charters, ed. C. J. Holdsworth, Thoroton Society Record Series, 4 vols (29, 30, 32, 34) (Nottingham, 1972–81).

Torigni

The Chronicle of Robert of Torigni, in Chron. Steph., vol. iv, pp. 3–315.

Sawyer ASC

Anglo-Saxon Charters. An Annotated List and Bibliography, ed. P. H. Sawyer, RHS (London, 1968).

SD

Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, ed. T. Arnold, 2 vols, RS (London, 1882–85).

SS

Surtees Society.

Tatlock

J. S. P. Tatlock, The Legendary History of Britain. Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae and its early Vernacular Versions (Berkeley, 1950). xv

Abbreviations

VCH Bev

The Victoria History of the Counties of England. A History of the County of York East Riding, ed. K. J. Allison, vol. vi, The Borough and Liberties of Beverley (Oxford, 1989).

WM

William of Malmesbury.

WN HRA

William of Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicarum in Chron. Steph., vol. i, I–408, vol. ii, pp. 1–385.

WP Gesta

The Gesta Guillelmi of William of Poitiers, eds and trans. R. H. C. Davis and Marjorie Chibnall (Oxford, 1998).

YASRS

Yorkshire Archaeological Society Record Series.

xvi

Map 1  Centres of Historical Writing in Yorkshire and Surrounds, 1100–1200

xvii

Introduction

Alfred of Beverley – Man, Milieu & Memory What little is known of Alfred the man derives from three principal sources: the surviving charters in which he appears as a witness, internal evidence from the History he wrote and his commemoration in later historical and hagiographical literature.

Charters Five charters survive in which Alfred of Beverley is named as a witness. These confirm that he was active during the period c.1135–54 and give information about the religious communities with which he had contact and the circle in which he moved. In the East Riding of Yorkshire such contact included the Augustinian priories of Bridlington, founded before 1114; Warter, founded in 1132, and the Gilbertine priory of Watton, a double house of canons and nuns founded in c.1150 x 1153 by Eustace fitz John and his wife Agnes.1 Alfred’s attestation of William Tyson’s confirmation of a gift of land in Averham, in the East Riding, to the Cistercian Rufford Abbey (Nottinghamshire), founded in 1146, is of particular interest. Preserved in the fifteenth-century Rufford cartulary, the attestation not only shows Alfred’s association with a Cistercian abbey located over sixty miles from Beverley, but also names Ernaldo filio Alueredi as a witness (Figure 1, charter no. 5). The name Ernaldus is not listed immediately after Alueredo Sacrista – he is the twelfth named and Alfred is third – but there are reasonable grounds to consider that Ernaldus was the son of Alfred the sacrist. We learn from this charter therefore that Alfred was a family man, either married, or (in common with many secular clerks of the period) living in concubinage. In all these charters Alfred is named as sacrist – in later medieval sources he is described as thesaurarius, treasurer – attesting evolution in the organisation of the church of Beverley and in the role of its dignitaries over the period. In charter no. 2, in favour of the burgesses of Beverley, given by Archbishop William fitz Herbert (c.1143), 1 

Janet Burton, The Monastic Order in Yorkshire, 1069–1215 (Cambridge, 1999), p. 137.

xix

Introduction

Figure 1  Charters Where Printed

Date

Details of Charter

Principal Witnesses

1

EYC i. no. 104

c.1135–47

Cyrograph of the confirmation of Thurstan (provost) and the Beverley Chapter, of alms to canons of Bridlington priory, as originally granted by Thomas (provost) and the canons of his time.

William, dean of York. Simon, Ralph, Roger, canons of Beverley. Aluredus Sacrista. Total witnesses: 14.

2

EYC i. no. 105 EEA v. no. 86

c.1143–47

Charter of Archbishop William fitz Herbert of York to the burgesses of Beverley confirming the previous grant of Archbishop Thurstan of free burgage to Beverley, as per York.

William of Aumale, Robert de Stuteville (III), Everard de Ros. Thurstan (provost); Ivo abbot of Warter; Simon and Ralph, canons of Beverley. Magistro Alfrido sacrista Total witnesses: 20.

3

EYC ii. no. 1108 EEA v. no. 129

c.1151–53

Notification by Archbishop Henry Murdac of York before the Beverley Chapter of confirmation of the gift of Eustace fitz John to the nuns of Watton priory. The gift to support 13 canons of the order of Sempringham to minister to the nuns.

Adam, abbot of Meaux. William (cantor) and Robert (archdeacon) of York. Canons of Beverley: Aelward, Ralph, Simon, Roger, William Morin. Warin (clerk of the counts), William of Warter, Hugh and Richard Murdac and their sons Hugh and Stephen. Aluredus sacrista Total witnesses: 26.

4

EYC x. no. 67 EEA v. no. 128

c.1151

Confirmation by Archbishop Henry Murdac of York and notification to Robert (the dean) and the Chapter of York of the grants made to the church of St James and the canons of Warter priory for the construction of an abbey by William de Roumare, earl of Lincoln and family.

William (cantor) and Robert (the archdeacon) of York. Canons of Beverley: Aelward, Ralph, Simon, Nicholas, William, Philip. Alueredus Sacrista. Total witnesses: 8.

5

EYC xii. c.1146–54 no. 109 Rufford Charters ii. no. 303

Grant in free alms by William Tison to Rufford Abbey (Cistercian) of land in ‘Arthes’ in Averham, East Riding of Yorkshire.

Canons of Beverley: Simon et Roger. Stephen Murdac. Alueredo sacrista, Ernaldo filio Alueredi Total witnesses: 17

xx

Introduction

Alfred is described as Magister – although the school at which he earned his title remains unknown.2 Alfred’s co-witnesses in the five charters number over eighty and are a source of valuable information. Fifteen are senior clergy, including dignitaries and officers of the chapters of York and Beverley and abbots and priors of East Riding religious houses. Other witnesses represent a cross section of the landowning aristocracy of the East Riding of Yorkshire. Amongst them is William le Gros, count of Aumale (c.1110–1179) who had been a leading lay opponent of Archbishop Henry Murdac in the disputed election in 1141 and again in 1147, but who later, having reconciled with Archbishop Henry, founded the Cistercian abbey of Meaux in January 1151. William also founded the priory of Thornton (1139), the abbey of Bytham (1147), and was co-founder of North Ormsby Priory (1148–54).3 Other notable witnesses are Robert de Stuteville III (d.1183), a benefactor of Meaux Abbey and probable founder of Keldholme Priory4 and Everard de Ros, nephew of Walter Espec, Lord of Helmsley and one of William of Aumale’s principal tenants in the strategically important lordship of Holderness in the East Riding.5 Everard’s presence as a witness alongside Alfred (Figure 1, charter no. 2) is noteworthy because it places Alfred within touching distance of a leading literary patron of the period. Everard’s uncle, Walter Espec, founder of the Augustinian priory of Kirkham (c.1121) and Fountains (1132) and lover of history, was the magnate who lent lady Constance fitz Gilbert the copy of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s HRB which Geoffrey Gaimar used as a source text for his Estoire des Engleis, as he himself informs us in the Estoire.6 Among senior ecclesiastical figures in the group of co-witnesses are William of Sainte-Barbe, dean of York and supporter of Henry Murdac in the York archiepiscopal election of 1141 and later bishop of Durham (1143–1152), William

The authenticity of this charter of Archbishop William has recently been challenged. See David X. Carpenter and Richard Sharpe, ‘Subversive Acts: The Early Charters of the Borough of Beverley’, History. The Journal of the Historical Association, vol. 103, December 2018, pp. 715–924 at 719–36. The authors set out evidence that the charter to the burgesses of Beverley (c.1143) granting them free burgage, as earlier granted by Archbishop Thurstan, and long regarded as one of England’s earliest town charters, was one of three charters forged by the burgesses of Beverley in c.1180. This was done, it is argued, in order to obtain an authentic royal town charter from Henry II after the death of Archbishop Roger of Pont l’Evêque in c. November 1181, and before a new archbishop was in place. The charter granted by Henry II confirmed the liberties and free customs which Archbishops Thurstan and William had supposedly granted the burgesses of Beverley and which Henry’s grandfather (Henry I) had confirmed, and was issued at Arundel castle c. February 1182 and is printed in EYC, i, no. 110, pp. 103–04. 3  Paul Dalton, ‘William le Gros, count of Aumale and earl of York (c.1110–1179)’, ODNB, 59 (Oxford, 2004), pp. 122–23. 4  Hugh M. Thomas, ‘Stuteville, Robert (III) de (d. 1183), ODNB, 53 (Oxford, 2004), p. 259. 5  Paul Dalton, Conquest, Anarchy and Lordship, Yorkshire 1066–1154 (Cambridge, 1994), p. 182. 6  Gaimar, pp. 348–51, lines 6435–6483. 2 

xxi

Introduction

d’ Eu the precentor (c.1140–c.1178)7 and Robert Butevilain, archdeacon and later dean of York (1158–1186). Robert is described as magister in a charter of Henry Murdac in favour of Kirkstall Abbey8 in which one of the co-attestors was Nicholas de Trailly, the same York canon whom Geoffrey Gaimar had singled out, in the epilogue of the Estoire des Engleis, as a source who could attest the veracity of his historical account.9 Two prominent monastic leaders in the region are among the co-attestors: Adam, first abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Meaux and formerly monk of Fountains (1151–60) and Ivo, abbot of Warter priory, which, during its Arrouaisian phase (c.1142–c.1197), assumed the title of abbey.10

The Church of St John of Beverley The collegiate church of St John the Evangelist and St John of Beverley, at the time of Alfred, served as the mother church of the East Riding of Yorkshire, providing pastoral care for an area extending from the Humber River in the south to Folkton in the north, and from Holderness in the East to the borders of York in the west.11 Ministering for so large an area, Beverley acted as a departmental sub cathedral in the administration of the vast diocese of York and its archbishops held a stall in the choir12 and a residence in the town.13 The church had been named mynstre in a writ of Edward the Confessor (c.1060–65) to Earl Tosti and the king’s thegns in Yorkshire confirming Archbishop Ealdred (1061–1069) as sole temporal lord of Beverley, under the king, authorising him to draw up a privilegium for the lands belonging to the minster.14 The writ confirmed that this privilege was to be enjoyed by successor bishops and that minster life and assembly should always be maintained at Beverley ‘as long as any man shall live’. The contribution of the last three Anglo-Saxon archbishops of York – Ælfric Puttoc (1023–1051), Cynesige (1051–1060) and Archbishop Ealdred – to establishing Beverley’s pre-eminent position in the East Riding is well-attested. The anonymous Chronica Pontificum Ecclesiae Eboracensis (hereafter CPEE),

D. Carpenter, ‘The Dignitaries of York Minster in the 1170s: A Reassessment’, Northern History, xliii (March, 2006). On the evidence of two previously unpublished charters, it has been established that William d’Eu survived until 1178 or later. 8  EEA, v. no. 121. 9  Gaimar, p. 350, line 6482. 10  Burton, Monastic Order, p. 96, note 118. 11  For summary surveys of the church and town of Beverley in the eleventh and twelfth centuries see R. E. Horrox, ‘Medieval Beverley’ in VCH Bev, pp. 2–57; Leach, BCAB, i. pp. ix–cvi; BMF, pp. xv–xxx; D. M. Palliser, ‘The Early Medieval Minster’ in Beverley Minster an Illustrated History, ed. Rosemary Horrox (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 23–35; BMBTC, pp. 9–32. 12  Leach, BCAB, i. p. xlvii. 13  Horrox, Medieval Beverley, VCH Bev, p. 14. 14  ASW, no. 7, pp. 135–38; Sawyer, 1067, p. 318; EYC, i. 87, pp. 85–86. 7 

xxii

Introduction

compiled shortly after the death of Archbishop Thurstan in 1140,15 provides considerable detail of their benefactions to the minster.16 Archbishop Ælfric secured St John’s canonization in 1037 and translated his relics to a magnificent new shrine.17 Cynesige added a high stone tower with two bells, continued work on the building of a communal dormitory and refectory, and adorned the church with books and ornaments. Archbishop Ealdred completed the building of the minster refectory and dormitory begun by his two predecessors,18 improving and extending them. He built a new presbytery dedicated to St John the Evangelist, and, according to the anonymous author of the CPEE, ‘adorned it with “sculptures and paintings of incomparable beauty”’.19 Then he purchased from King Edward the rights for Beverley to hold an annual fair on the feast of St John the Baptist: “feriam quoque annuam in nativitate Sancti Joahannis Baptistae cum libertatibus et optimis consuetudinibus a rege Edwardo datis xii. marcis comparavit”.20 Ealdred promoted both the cult of St John and Beverley’s attractiveness as a pilgrimage centre by commissioning the professional hagiographer Folcard, a monk of St Bertin’s at St Omer, to write a life of St John in the 1060s.21 York’s first Norman archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux (1070–1100), Hugh the Chanter informs us, remodelled the chapter of York, turning it from one where the canons lived in common, into a prebendal system, where each canon ‘might cultivate his own share for his own sake’.22 Beverley, however, retained its communal character for the greater part of the twelfth century, with a common dormitory and refectory – known later as the Bedern – and corporate fund.23 According to the later medieval Beverley Provosts Book (c.1415),24 Archbishop Thomas I in 1092 created a provostry in Beverley, appointing his nephew Thomas (later Archbishop Thomas II of York) as its first provost, to administer the assets and income of the minster and with the authority to appoint the dignities of chancellor, precentor and sacrist. An important component of Beverley’s income was a grain render from every parish of the East Riding, described as thraves in a writ of Henry (c.1122 x 1127) to the sheriffs and king’s officials in Yorkshire.25 A charter of BMBTC, p. 12. Pars Prima of the chronicle extending to the death of Thurstan in 1140 is printed in HCY, ii. pp. 312– 87. The chronicle is mainly derived from Bede, Symeon of Durham, Hugh the Chanter and Folcard, but for Beverley it provides original testimony. See the discussion in HCY, ii. pp. xxi–xxii. 17  HCY, ii. p. 343. 18  Ibid., ii. p. 353. 19  Ibid., ii. p. 354. 20  Ibid., ii. p. 354. 21  Ibid., i. pp. 239–60. Frank Barlow, The English Church 1000–1066 (London, 1979), pp. 89–90. 22  HC, pp. 18–19. 23  BMF, pp. xviii–xix, where the author contends that the introduction of a prebendal system at Beverley is likely to have begun during the early years of the episcopacy of Roger of Pont l’Evêque (1154–81). 24  Leach, BCAB, ii. 332–33. 25  EYC, i. no. 97, p. 93. 15  16 

xxiii

Introduction

King Stephen to the church of Beverley (1136), confirming the privileges, gifts, liberties and midsummer fair granted to the church of St John by King Edward and William I, stated the thraves due were ‘four from each plough and ploughshare throughout the East Riding, and on the king’s demesne manors’.26 Stephen’s charter also confirmed Beverley to have the right of a peace league around the church of St John of Beverley as granted by King Æthelstan – the earliest record linking Æthelstan to Beverley. From roughly this time, however, accounts of the foundation of Beverley by Æthelstan, elaborated at various levels of detail, appear in hagiographical, chronicle and literary sources.27 Charters and episcopal acta of the period c.1140–1160 preserve the names of provosts, sacrists and canons active in Beverley at the time of Alfred. Provosts include Thurstan (c.1142–c.1152)28 and Thomas Becket (c.1154–1162).29 Alfred himself is the first recorded sacrist, but by c.1157 a Robert was attesting as sacrist in his place.30 The names of seven canons from the time include Aelward, Ralph, Simon, Nicholas, William, Philip and Roger (Figure 1). Those of the dignitaries of precentor and chancellor and the canons’ vicars – the clerks who deputised for the canons when they were absent from the minster – have come down to us only from later in the twelfth century.31 That the canons were at hand to witness episcopal charters in sizeable groups during the episcopacy of Henry Murdac in the early 1150s suggests a largely residentiary chapter leading a local, corporate existence.32 The surviving charters therefore provide a snapshot of the community of clergy, lay aristocrats and local gentry among whom Alfred moved. The sources of the books used to compile his History are also suggested. Alfred is linked to wellestablished religious communities, such as Warter, Kirkham and the Augustinian priory of Bridlington. Bridlington, some twenty miles north-east of Beverley, was RRAN, iii. no. 99, p. 36; EYC, i. no. 99, pp. 93–94. For a discussion on medieval thraves and their value see BMF, p. xvi, note 9. 27  A version of the Æthelstan foundation story is found in a collection of miracle stories appended to the earliest extant copy of Folcard’s Life of St John from the Cistercian Abbey of Holme Cultram in Cumbria (BL, MS Cotton Faustina B. IV) and written in a hand of c.1175 (BMBTC, p. 29, note. 52). The collection is printed in HCY, i, pp. 261–91. Aelred of Rievaulx’s Genealogia Regum Anglorum, a mirror for princes written for Henry, duke of Anjou, in 1153, contains a version of the foundation account very similar to that contained in the Holme Cultram manuscript (The Genealogia is printed in PL, CXCV, Cols 711–38 at col. 724–25). See also Aelred of Rievaulx: The Historical Works, ed. Marsha L. Dutton and trans. Jane Patricia Freeland (Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2005), pp. 90–92. The Liberties of Beverley text, attributed to Alfred of Beverley, contains a further version of the story (see p. xxvi, below). 28  EYC, i. no. 152. 29  Ibid., i. no. 155. 30  Ibid., xii. no. 23 and see BMF, p. 113. 31  BMF, p. 123. A magister William is the first known precentor from c.1199. The first known magister scolarum or chancellor, is magister Angotus c.1178 (BMF, p. 118). The earliest vicars named date from the early thirteenth century (BMF, p. 127). 32  BMF, p. xx. 26 

xxiv

Introduction

a centre of some literary accomplishment at the time. Its prior was Robert, ‘the Scribe’ (c.1147–50–c.1160), author of The Bridlington Dialogue and glosses on Exodus, the Minor Prophets and St Paul. Robert’s commentary on the Minor Prophets was requested by Gervase, abbot of the Cistercian abbey of Louth Park in Lincolnshire, founded in 1139 by Bishop Alexander of Lincoln. The priory was thus in contact with other communities with scholarly interests, extending beyond the East Riding of Yorkshire,33 and its scholarly interests are attested by five surviving books from the period.34 A book list from Bridlington is preserved in a late twelfth century glossed copy of the gospel of St Mark (BL MS Harley 50) which lists some seventy-seven major titles and some forty parvi libelli contained in the priory’s magnum armarium.35

Internal Evidence The little Alfred reveals of himself in the History is found early. In the prologue we are told of his interest in history and, with due modesty, that he was considered by his peers to be an accomplished writer – suggesting his community might have encouraged him in his historical enterprise. At the conclusion of the prefatory descriptive survey of Britain, he comments that the removal of the Flemings by Henry I in c.1110 to Rhos in Dyfed, Pembrokeshire, Wales, occurred ‘in our own time’, providing a clue to a likely date of birth. As noted, a Robert attests as sacrist in c.1157, along with the chapter of Beverley, in a charter of Watton Priory, suggesting that Alfred had died and been replaced by that date.36 If he were alive in 1110 and lived to old age, as described in hagiographical sources,37 it appears likely that he was born in the closing decades of the eleventh century.

Commemoration Two late fourteenth-century items – one from Beverley, the other from York – indicate that Alfred’s memory as a scholar and historian was actively preserved in both churches.

A. Lawrence, ‘A Northern English School? Patterns of production and collection of manuscripts in the Augustinian Houses of Yorkshire in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries’, in Yorkshire Monasticism: Archaeology, Art and Architecture from the Seventh to the Sixteenth Centuries, ed. L. R. Hoey, BAA Conference Transactions, 16 (Leeds, 1995), pp. 145–53, at p. 147. 34  MLGB, p. 12. 35  The Libraries of the Augustinian Canons, ed. T. Webber and A. G. Watson, CBMLC (London, 1998), pp. 8–10. 36  BMF, p. 113. 37  See pp. xxvii–xxviii below. 33 

xxv

Introduction

The Liberties of Beverley The Beverley commemoration is found in the late fourteenth-century Beverley Cartulary (London, BL MS Add. 61901) an expensively produced volume commissioned by the chapter of Beverley in defence of its rights and privileges at a time of conflict between it and Archbishop Alexander Neville (c.1332–1392). The cartulary contains Folcard of St Bertin’s Life of St John of Beverley, collections of his miracle stories, and royal, papal and episcopal privileges of the church of Beverley.38 Folios 60 v–69 r contain the tract The Liberties of Beverley, setting out the ancient liberties of Beverley as granted by King Æthelstan after his victory over the Scots at the battle of Brunanburgh (934), giving details of the extent and the operation of its sanctuary and ‘peace league’. Alfred’s authorship of the tract is described in the introductory rubric as follows: The Liberties of the church of Saint John of Beverley, with its papal and episcopal privileges, which Master Alfred, sacrist of that church, translated from English into Latin. Here begin the Liberties of the church of St John of Beverley, munificently bestowed by the kings and princes of England and observed as famous up to the present day, by usage and the gathering of custom, which Master Alfred, a man of venerable life and an ardent student of the scriptures and sacrist of the aforementioned church, has committed to writing as heard from his predecessors and seen; and so that they suffer no wrong by posterity, he wrote them down with his own pen. The History provides little supporting evidence that its author, and that of the Liberties tract, were one and the same person. Indeed, several passages in the History suggest otherwise.39 The tract, however, testifies to the preservation of Alfred’s memory in later medieval Beverley. The Liberties occupies a central place in the cartulary and is elaborately presented, making clear its significance to the compilers. In a matter of importance to the chapter of Beverley, it is Alfred’s name which is attached to the tract. He is recalled as both a scholar – able to translate ancient privileges from English into Latin – and as a historian, the collector and redactor of oral traditions.

38  39 

For a detailed analysis of BL MS Add 61901 by Ian Doyle see BMBTC, pp. 20–27. See below, HAB, viii. p. 117, note 3; p. 119, note 15; HAB, ix. p.137, note 12; p. 139, note 17.

xxvi

Introduction

The York Minster Tablets Extracts from the History form part of a medieval historical artefact from York Minster, indicating that Alfred’s memory was also preserved in York. In the collection of Minster Library are two tablets: large, folding wooden (oak) boxes, each consisting of three panels (triptychs), on which are fastened parchments. They are believed to date from the time of Archbishop Thomas Arundel (1388– 97) and were observed on display in the Minster by John Leland in 1534, who defaced portions of text relating to papal authority in Britain.40 The Latin text on all panel parchments is in the same hand. There is no illustrated material. On the left-hand panel of the larger triptych are historical notices from Geoffrey of Monmouth, Henry of Huntingdon, William of Malmesbury, Martinus in chronicis de pontificibus and ‘Alfridus Beverlacens thesaurarius’. The central panel of the larger triptych, titled ‘Prologus de origine et statu ecclesie Eboracensis’, contains a 512-line verse account of the foundation of the church of York, which, the writer says, he composed at the time of the archiepiscopate of Thomas Arundel.41 The third, right-hand, panel of the larger triptych consists of papal bulls, archiepiscopal grants and indulgences, privileges in favour of the church of York, and notices of its metropolitan status over the Scottish bishops. The panels of the smaller triptych contain biblical material, including an account of the seven ages of man.

Hagiographical Alfred is recalled as a participant in a miracle story from a collection of St John of Beverley’s posthumous miracles entitled Alia Miracula, Auctore ut Plurimum Teste Oculato and printed in James Raine’s Historians of the Church of York and its Archbishops, appended to Folcard’s Life of St John.42 The collection commences with an extended account of the foundation of Beverley by King Æthelstan with a particular interest in promoting English claims to sovereignty over Scotland.43 For the date of the tablets see HCY, ii. p. xxviii. N. Ker and A. J. Piper, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, iv, Paisley-York (Oxford, 1992), pp. 824–26, list the tablets as Add 533 and 534. Leland’s defacement is noted in James P. Carley, ‘Leland, John (c.1503–1552)’, ODNB, 33 (Oxford, 2004), pp. 297–301. 41  Printed in HCY, ii. pp. 446–63. 42  HCY, i. pp. 293–320. This miracle story collection was printed by Raine from Acta Sanctorum Bollandiana, Vita Sancti Johannis, Maii, vii, vol. ii (Antwerp, 1688), pp. 166–94, itself printed from a now-lost manuscript of Leander Pritchart, a Benedictine monk. For discussion of this lost manuscript see HCY, i. p. lvii. 43  HCY, i. p. lv. Raine dated this collection of miracle stories to c.1170–1180 but the Æthelstan foundation story component, with its account of Scotland paying tribute to Æthelstan, and the story of the king’s miraculous striking through the rock of Dunbar with his sword as a God-willed sign of the legitimacy of English sovereignty over Scotland, suggests later elaboration, possibly in the time of Edward I. 40 

xxvii

Introduction

The miracle story which involves Alfred is set during the anarchy of King Stephen’s reign. The powerful Yorkshire baron (and charter co-attestor with Alfred) Robert de Stuteville III, has imprisoned a clerk of Lincoln in his castle at Cottingham, some three miles from Beverley, holding him for ransom. One night St John appears and frees the clerk from his chains, leading him to the safety of Beverley. In the morning the clerk informs the Minster clergy of this miraculous intervention and a remaining iron ring falls from his leg in front of their eyes. The ring is then hung up in the church near the tomb of St John as a testimony to the saint’s miraculous powers. The clerk’s feet had been injured by the sharp reeds of the marshy land he crossed during his escape and, in the morning, these are tended by Alfred the sacrist, who uses his knowledge of medicine to heal them. In the story Alfred is recalled as both wise in the laws of the church and as being of advanced age: Sacrista eiusdem ecclesiae tunc temporis fuit Alveredus, bonae memoriae, senex, ecclesiastica institutione sagax. The sacrist in those days was Alfred of happy memory, an old man and wise in the laws of the church. While Alfred’s involvement in the story of the imprisoned clerk of Cottingham castle is preserved in the version printed by James Raine, he is not involved in the account given in the collection of St John’s miracles preserved in the Beverley Cartulary.44

Date and Circumstances of the History The History is commonly assigned to the year 1143, but information provided in the prologue, describing the circumstances giving rise to the work, and internal evidence from the text, indicate that the compilation started life no earlier than c.1148, and possibly, but not certainly, was completed by early 1151.45 The year 1143 was first assigned to the work by Thomas Duffus Hardy in his influential

London, BL MS Add 61901 f. 20 r–f. 21 r. For a translation of Folcard’s Life of St John and his miracle story collections see Susan E. Wilson, The Life and After-Life of St John of Beverley. The Evolution of the Cult of an Anglo-Saxon Saint (Ashgate, 2006), pp. 143–218. 45  An extended investigation into the date and circumstances of Alfred’s history is set out in HWAB, pp. 59–86 and also in ‘Observations’, pp. 107–12. 44 

xxviii

Introduction

Descriptive Catalogue in 186546 and his mistaken argument for so doing has remained largely unchallenged to the present day.47 Alfred tells us in the opening lines of the prologue that time to write his History arose because of a suspension of the celebration of the Divine Office in Beverley due to the large number of excommunications mandated ‘under the decree of the council of London’. He tells us also that the ‘pillars of our church were driven from their sees by royal edict’48 and that the king had imposed an afflictive tax on Beverley. While it is almost certain that the London council and decree to which Alfred referred was the Legatine church council of Westminster in Lent 1143,49 the other events he describes took place several years later. There is no historical record in the year 1143 of disturbance in the chapters of York and Beverley, or of interdicts, multiple excommunications, suspension of the celebration of Divine Office, or the exiling of senior church leaders from their sees. Indeed, in 1143, the then archbishop of York, William fitz Herbert, cousin and supporter of Stephen, was enjoying a relatively tranquil period in his troubled first archiepiscopate. The afflictive tax imposed by the king referred to by Alfred is described by the chronicler John of Hexham as taking place in 1150. John tells us that King Stephen visited Beverley and imposed a fine on the town for having sheltered William’s successor as archbishop of York, Henry Murdac without his permission: At the instigation of the citizens of York, King Stephen went to Beverley and imposed a fine on that place, who had dared, without his leave to receive into their town the archbishop Henry.50 DC, ii. pp. 172–73: ‘The author appears to have made his compilation soon after 1143 as he states that in consequence of decrees of the council of London, the number of persons excommunicated was so great as to prevent the performance of divine service in his church.’ 47  See, for example, Jaakko Tahkokallio, ‘Early Manuscript Dissemination’ in A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth. Brill’s Companions to European History, vol. 22, ed. Georgia Henley and Joshua Byron Smith (Leiden & Boston, 2020), pp. 155–80 at pp. 164, 167. Antonia Gransden, ‘Prologues in the Historiography of Twelfth-Century England’ in Legends, Traditions and History in Medieval England (London, 1992), pp. 125–51 at p. 133, which simply rehearses Hardy’s view of 1865. For scholars assigning the later date of c.1150 to the history, see H. S. Offler, ‘Hexham and the Historia Regum’, in Transactions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, vol. II (1970), pp. 51–62 at p. 61, note 41. See also HCY, i. p. liv. 48  For the significance of the term ‘pillars of the church’ see below, HAB, Prologue, p. 2, note 5. 49  CS, p. 795, note 1. The legatine council of Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester, which took place at Westminster in Lent 1143, introduced 17 disciplinary canons protecting church property and clergy from physical violence. 50  JH, p. 323 and see p. 306, note b. John incorrectly supplies the year 1150 for this event. In his chronicle he had placed Archbishop Thurstan’s death in 1141, instead of 1140, and from that point on the chronicle is consistently one year ahead. Other chronicle sources, for example GS, 114, p. 219, confirm King Stephen’s military presence near York and his active building of castles and fortifications in the surrounding areas in the summer of 1149. 46 

xxix

Introduction

The events which Alfred describes, well attested in the sources, took place in York and Beverley between mid-1148 and early 1151, when the church of York was engulfed in crisis.51 The newly consecrated archbishop of York, Henry Murdac, who had replaced William fitz Herbert, deposed by Pope Eugenius III in 1147, was denied access to his see by supporters of King Stephen. Murdac’s retainers were subjected to violence and the archbishop was driven from York and stripped of his temporalities by order of the king. It was the first time since the Norman conquest that an English archbishop had been elected without the approval of the king.52 John of Salisbury, in his Historia Pontificalis (c.1164), noted that the election was conducted in open defiance of the king’s expressed wishes.53 Retiring to Ripon, Murdac placed York under interdict, excommunicating his opponents – including Hugh du Puiset and William of Aumale. According to the chronicler John of Hexham, du Puiset refused to allow the celebration of the Divine Office to be suspended and issued a counter-interdict against Archbishop Henry and his supporters.54 The new disciplinary canons of the 1143 Westminster council are likely to have been invoked in issuing these interdicts and excommunications by the opposing parties; the specific decree to which Alfred probably refers is canon five, proscribing the celebration of Divine Office in any location where excommunicated persons were present:55 Prohibemus nichilominus ne divinum officium celebretur, sed nec campana pulsetur in urbe vel in castro vel in rure, ubi aliquis excommunicatorum presens fuerit. We verily forbid that the Divine Office is celebrated, nor the ringing of bells in town, hamlet or countryside, where any excommunicate person is present.56 Borrowing from the HA of Henry of Huntingdon in the text also shows Alfred to be at work on the compilation no earlier than c.1148. At the conclusion of chapter six, quoting from Henry’s introductory ‘Description of Britain’, and describing the bishoprics of Britain, Alfred writes: The principal sources for the 1148–51 York crisis are the Chronicle of John of Hexham and Hugh of Kirkstall, Narratio. For King Stephen’s visit to Beverley, c. August 1149, see RRAN, iii. p. xliii. 52  Janet Burton, ‘English Monasteries and the Continent’ in King Stephen’s Reign 1135–54, ed. Paul Dalton and Graeme J. White (Woodbridge, 2008), pp. 98–114 at p. 111. 53  John of Salisbury’s Memoirs of the Papal Court, ed. and trans. M. Chibnall, NMT (London, 1956), p. 5. 54  JH, p. 322. 55  No other London council is known to have taken place after 1143 and before spring 1148. It appears almost certain, therefore, that it is the March 1143 legatine council and its new decrees to which Alfred refers. 56  CS, p. 801. 51 

xxx

Introduction

But in the western part of Britain, called Wales, there are three additional bishoprics: one at St David’s, another at Bangor and a third at Glamorgan, that is, Llandaff. These three are without cities on account of the desolation of Wales, which was all that was left to the Britons after they had been conquered. In our time the Bishop of St David’s received from the pope the pallium which in ancient days had been at Carleon, but he very soon lost it.57 In her 1996 edition of the HA, Diana Greenway identified the various stages of the making of the text. In this particular passage she identified the phrase ‘in our time’ as an addition made in 1140 (version three) but the words ‘he very soon lost it’ as dating from the fourth recension of 1147 (or a little later). The words remained in subsequent versions of the HA and so it is quite possible that Alfred worked with version five, dating from 1149. This version represents the largest group of manuscripts of the HA and brings Henry’s account down to the enthronement of Robert de Chesney as bishop of Lincoln in January 1149.58 The crisis in the church of York ended, and work on the compilation may have concluded, when King Stephen and Henry Murdac were reconciled in January 1151. John of Hexham reported that ‘all hostilities between them were laid aside’ at that point.59 Immediately after the agreement, the archbishop, having settled the affairs in York, travelled to Rome on a diplomatic mission for King Stephen to seek papal support for the succession to the crown of England of Stephen’s son, Eustace. With the resumption of church services in Beverley, work on the compilation may have ended, but of this there is no certainty. We can be confident, however, that the work was completed before the accession of Henry II. In over thirty references in the History to King Henry, he is never named as Henry I, which surely would have been the case, had the work been written after the accession of Henry II in December 1154. Alfred’s historical enterprise was thus both occasioned and undertaken at a time of conflict and crisis in the church of York and Beverley, with implications as much political as ecclesiastical. In assigning the year 1143 to the compilation, Hardy mistakenly conflated two entirely separate events – the Westminster council of that year, which passed new disciplinary ecclesiastical legislation, and the crisis in the church of York and Beverley during the years 1148–51.

57  58  59 

HAB, vi. p. 105 and note 193. Taken from HA, i. 5, p. 18. Greenway, HA, p. lxxvi. JH, p. 325.

xxxi

Introduction

Sources i. Introduction Scholarly commentary on the History has focused mainly on its epitomization of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s HRB, with its remaining content, and the sources it draws on, being largely overlooked.60 Henry of Huntingdon’s Historia Anglorum (HA) is of primary influence and from Worcester, the accounts and genealogies of the heptarchic English kingdoms, which form part of the preliminary reference materials of the Worcester Chronicle, provide much of the content of chapter six of the History. For its final three chapters, the work is almost entirely dependent on the Durham Historia Regum (HR) and is therefore an important witness to the state of the HR at the midway point of the twelfth century. Supplementing these main sources are Bede’s HE, Orosius’s Historiarum Adversum Paganos libri vii, Paul the Deacon, Historia Romana and Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars. The HRB is frequently collated against these authorities to either corroborate or raise questions about the veracity of its version of events. The Historia Brittonum of the pseudo-Nennius, which Alfred appears to have known in its original Harleian version, provides information on the wonders and miracles of Britain, used in Alfred’s introductory description of Britain. Late antique and hagiographical texts also quoted include Aethicus Ister, The Cosmography, Hegesippus’s Latin translation of Josephus’s Jewish War, Constantius, Life of St Germanus and Sulpicius Severus, Life of St Martin of Tours. Alfred also names – but does not use – Pompeius Trogus and quotes Solinus’s Collectanea Memorabilia, taking the quote from the HA of Henry of Huntingdon. A review of Alfred’s use of his four principal sources follows.

ii. Henry of Huntingdon Henry of Huntingdon’s Historia Anglorum (HA) is arguably the single most important influence in the making of the History. Henry is quoted on more than seventy occasions in five of its chapters. Six chapters take as their themes six of the ten books of the HA.61 The dating of events, for the most part by regnal year, See for example, HWE, i. p. 212; A Bibliography of English History to 1485, ed. E. Graves (Oxford, 1975), p. 405, entry 2795, based on C. Gross, The Sources and Literature of English History from the Earliest Times to About 1485 (1900); Jacob Hammer, ‘Notes on a manuscript’, p. 226; Tatlock, Legendary History, p. 210; J. Taylor, Medieval Historical Writing in Yorkshire, Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, St Anthony’s Hall Publications 19 (York, 1961), p. 8. 61  HA book i, ‘Kingdom of Romans’, is mirrored in HAB, chs 2 & 3. HA book ii, ‘Coming of the English’, is mirrored in HAB, ch. 6. HA book iv, ‘Kingdom of the English’ is mirrored in HAB, ch. 8. HA book v, ‘The Danish Wars’, is mirrored in HAB, ch. 7. HA books vi & vii, ‘The coming of the Normans’ and ‘The Kingdom of the Normans’, are mirrored in HAB, ch. 9. 60 

xxxii

Introduction

mimics that of Henry. The explanatory commentary provided at the start and end of each chapter, patiently guiding readers through the narrative, reminding them of what has been covered and what is to come, rehearses what Nancy Partner has described as Henry’s ‘insistent orderly’ practice.62 Indeed, the wording Alfred employs in these clarificatory passages, appears closely modelled on Henry’s. Compare: Henry of Huntingdon (HA, iv. p. 31) Verum ut in libro secundo factum est, ea que in hoc libro dicta sunt breviter repetenda sunt et regnorum singulorum progressio ex ordine dirigetur. As was done in the second book, those matters which have been described in this book must be recapitulated briefly and the progression of the separate kingdoms arranged in sequence. with Alfred (HAB, iii. p. 41) Unde nomina eorundem regum simul colligenda et ex ordine sunt ponenda, sicque tertia huius opusculi particula est consumenda. And now the names of these kings need to be collected and at the same time placed in sequence so that the third brief part of this little work can be concluded. Most of the chapters end with summary king lists in the manner of Henry; Alfred also, like Henry, explains his reasons for including them. Chapter six, narrating the establishment of the heptarchic Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, provides eight such summary king lists – the kingdom of Northumbria supplying accounts and lists for both Bernicia and Deira. Many of Henry’s important historical ideas are either recycled or used in adapted form. Henry’s periodising idea of the five plagae – the five peoples sent by divine providence to either conquer or persecute Britain for the sinfulness of its peoples – may have served as the inspiration for the repackaging of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s continuous history of the British kings into five historical periods (discussed in detail below).63 Nancy Partner, Serious Entertainments, p. 23. And see James Campbell, ‘Some Twelfth-Century Views of the Anglo-Saxon Past’ in Essays in Anglo-Saxon History (London, 1986), pp. 209–28 at p. 213. Campbell likens Henry’s books in the HA to a series of carefully crafted lectures where ‘methodical pains are taken to let the reader know where he is’. 63  The quinque plagae was so powerful an idea that it is how some contemporaries thought of Henry’s history and described it in those words. In the earliest catalogue of the library of the Cistercian abbey of 62 

xxxiii

Introduction

Henry’s historical ideas are put to use to frame the important sixth chapter of the History. His heptarchy theory is used to narrate, seamlessly, the transition of sovereignty from the British to the English kings – the so-called ‘passage of dominion’.64 In so doing, Henry’s explanation of the threefold naming and identity of the island is used: first Albion, then Britain and finally Anglia. A second passage of dominion, the transition from a heptarchy of kingdoms to a unitary kingdom of Anglia under the monarchy of the West Saxon kings, concludes the chapter. To narrate this, another of Henry’s ideas is employed – the theory that the first act of the West Saxon kings on gaining sovereignty was to divide the kingdom into thirty-five shires.65 The chapter concludes with Henry’s list of these shires. Finally, Alfred’s own prefatory description of Britain, which was to become of considerable influence in late medieval historical literature, is greatly indebted to Henry.66 For the greater part, it is comprised of quotations from Henry’s own introductory description of Britain. EPISTOLA AD WARINUM

Such is the imprint of the HA on the History that a question to be considered is whether Henry’s 1139 epitomization of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s HRB, the Epistola ad Warinum (EAW), influenced Alfred’s later abbreviation. The EAW was included in recensions of the HA from 1140 and would therefore have been known to him.67 Henry’s roughly three-thousand-word abbreviation omitted many of the chapters of the HRB, did not follow its narrative order closely, and contained considerable material of his own – including, for example, invented speeches of King Leir and King Arthur, material on giants, and biblical quotations.68 A close comparison of Alfred’s abbreviation of the HRB with Henry’s, using Neil Wright’s detailed 1991 analysis of the EAW,69 which catalogued Henry’s omissions (9), additions (7), modifications (5), and errors (5) in his Bec epitomization, shows that Alfred appears to have approached the HRB independently. He includes nothing which Henry has added. He repeats none Rievaulx (c.1190–1200), item 75 g refers to a volume as de quinque plagis Anglie in uno volumine. For the biblical origins of Henry’s five plagues metaphor see HA, p. lix and Antonia Gransden, ‘Prologues’, pp. 147–49. 64  R. William Leckie, Jr., The Passage of Dominion: Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Periodization of Insular History in the Twelfth Century (Toronto, 1981). 65  HAB, vi. p. 119. Taken from HA, i. 4, p. 16. 66  Discussed below, pp. liii–lx. 67  HA, p. lxx. The Epistola ad Warinum was included in book eight of the HA, De Summitatibus Rerum, in its third recension. 68  Ibid., p. cii. 69  Neil Wright, ‘The Place of Henry of Huntingdon’s Epistola ad Warinum in the text-history of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia regum Britannie: a Preliminary Investigation’ in France and the British Isles in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Essays by Members of Girton College Cambridge in Memory of Ruth Morgan, ed. G. Jondorf and D. M. Dumville (Woodbridge, 1991), pp. 71–113.

xxxiv

Introduction

of Henry’s errors. Most episodes that Henry omitted, Alfred included. But while the EAW does not appear to have exercised direct influence, more indirect influence remains possible. Wright commented that in Henry’s EAW ‘the first faint adumbration of the misgivings with which some mediaeval historians (most notably William of Newburgh) received Geoffrey’s Historia were observable’.70 In Alfred’s reception of Geoffrey’s history (discussed below), those misgivings are much more evident. The manner in which Henry had inserted Geoffrey’s British history into the HA may itself have been of influence. Henry had made no attempt to rewrite the early books of the HA in the light of the newly revealed British past. He simply inserted his abbreviation as a stand-alone piece, in book eight of the history (‘On exalted matters’). Many questions were left unanswered and historical inconsistencies introduced. The EAW ends with the abandonment of Britain by Cadwaladr – and the transfer of power to the English kings – chronologically well into the seventh century, which conflicts with Henry’s earlier account in books one and two of the HA, where the seven English kingdoms were established in the fifth and sixth centuries. With indebtedness to Henry evident at so many levels in the History – textual borrowings, thematic structure, language, absorption of Henrician ideas – the unfinished manner of the EAW’s inclusion in the HA may have been a factor encouraging Alfred to attempt his own work of historical assimilation.

iii. Geoffrey of Monmouth Alfred is the first Latin chronicler to attempt to incorporate Geoffrey’s newly revealed British history within an account based on an existing understanding of the island’s past, an initiative which required not only epitomizing the work, but significantly reworking it.71 The handling of the HRB in the History provides, therefore, valuable evidence for the reception of Geoffrey’s history in the very earliest days of its life. PERIODISING GEOFFREY’S HISTORY – THE FIVE ‘STATUS’

To assimilate the HRB, Alfred reworks its continuous two-thousand-year account of the rule of the British kings, presenting it as five distinct historical periods, described as status (states), each occupying a chapter of the compilation. This Ibid., p. 91. Torigni, pp. 65–75. Robert of Torigini had included a copy of Henry of Huntingdon’s EAW in the introduction to his principal work, the Chronica, begun at the monastery of Le Bec c.1147–c.1150, but this remained a stand-alone piece, unconnected to the history which followed. Robert’s chronicle was a continuation of Sigebert of Gembloux’s universal chronicle dealing with events in Normandy and England from 1100 and extending to the year of his death, 1186. 70  71 

xxxv

Introduction

five-part periodisation may have drawn inspiration from Henry of Huntingdon’s five plagae model, discussed previously. The five status are as follows: • Ch. 1. British kings in a state of liberty. The line of seventy kings from Brutus to Lud. • Ch. 2. Coming of the Romans. Rule of eight British kings from Cassibellaunus to Lucius under tribute to Rome. • Ch. 3. Direct rule of eleven Roman rulers in Britain. Severus to Gratian. • Ch. 4. Abandonment of Britain by the Romans. Britain defenceless against the attacks of the Picts and Scots. The age of anarchy. • Ch. 5. Rise and fall of the house of Constantine. Vortigern and the arrival of Hengest and Horsa. Arthur and Merlin. The line of twelve British kings from Constantine to Kareticus and the passage of dominion to the English kings. The final status required major historiographical surgery in order to shoehorn Geoffrey’s account into existing historical understanding. Alfred ends his account of the rule of the British kings with the defeat of Kareticus by the African king Gormundus, the donation of Loegria to the Saxons and the withdrawal of the Britons into Wales and the western regions of the country. In so doing, almost a century of Galfridian narrative and the rule of three further British kings: Caduan, Caduallo and Cadwaladr, is discarded.72 Geoffrey’s account brings the passage of dominion to the English kings down to the later seventh century. Alfred’s reworked passage of dominion sits better, if not entirely convincingly, with existing historical accounts, where the rule of the English kings had begun in the fifth and sixth centuries.73 QUAE FIDEM NON EXCEDERENT – THE BOUNDS OF CREDIBILITY

If Henry of Huntingdon’s EAW hints at misgivings at the veracity of the HRB, such misgivings are in much plainer view in Alfred’s compilation, thus introducing ambiguity into his reception of the work. On the one hand there is the attempt to assimilate Geoffrey’s history, suggesting acceptance of its historicity – at least in part. On the other, the abridgement is marked by doubt and questioning, evident in three main ways. First, in the statements made at the start and conclusion of the abridgement and in the open expression of doubt made in the prologue of chapter two. Second in the omission and moderation of important passages of Galfridian For a detailed analysis of the author’s handling of his sources at this point of the history, see R. W. Leckie Jnr., The Passage of Dominion. Geoffrey of Monmouth and the Periodization of Insular History in the Twelfth Century (Toronto, 1981), pp. 87–92. 73  Alfred’s periodisation was largely taken over by Ranulf Higden in the fourteenth-century Polychronicon and, from there, via William Caxton, it entered later historiography. See below, pp. lviii–lix and Plate 2. 72 

xxxvi

Introduction

narrative. Third, in the frequent questioning collations of Geoffrey’s version of events with standard authorities.74 Alfred tells us in the prologue that his historical project was sparked by his colleagues’ enthusiastic conversation about the HRB, of which he was ignorant. Having secured and studied the history in question, he decided to make excerpts of it, including only those passages quae fidem non excederent et legentem delectarent (‘which would not exceed the bounds of credibility and would please the reader’). From the outset, therefore, Alfred tells us he viewed the HRB as part-fable. Pleasing his readers, however, would also guide him. Drawing the abbreviation of Geoffrey’s history to a close at the end of chapter five, its veracity is again questioned: On this subject, a not inconsiderable issue has caused my humble self concern. That is, why there is no mention of the illustrious King Arthur in either the History of the Romans or in the History of the English, even though he performed famous deeds of innate valour and marvellous worth, not only against the pagans in Britain, but against the Romans in Gaul? I do not presume to call into question the historical accuracy of these deeds, so, in an endeavour to be brief, I have taken trouble to choose extracts from the British History which leave out things which might seem beyond belief to certain people, while omitting nothing of merit. There can be little doubt that the ‘certain people’ here cited – those who considered elements of Geoffrey’s history to be ‘beyond belief’ – included Alfred himself: his introductory prologue tells us this. The concluding comment, however, goes further in suggesting that others shared his doubts. The closing comments to Alfred’s abbreviation of the HRB are in themselves revealing. No other authority quoted in the History is provided such singular attention, suggesting that working with the text had posed a special authorial challenge. Concern at the lack of supporting historical evidence for Geoffrey’s history had been raised earlier, as noted. Alfred had asked, at the opening of chapter two: why have authorities such as Pompeius Trogus, Suetonius, Eutropius, Paulus Orosius, Bede and Gildas nothing to say about the outstanding deeds of the British kings from Brutus to Lud? Why such a complete silence of the authorities on these momentous events until the time of Julius Caesar? The omission of Galfridian content and the moderation of important passages of descriptive narrative also suggests authorial misgivings.75 Material omitted includes the fabulous – that considered beyond the bounds of believability 74  75 

There are over thirty such collations in the text. Significant omissions in the abridgement are identified in the historical footnotes.

xxxvii

Introduction

– but there also appear to be efforts to scale back content considered exaggerated. Arthur’s lavish Pentecostal celebrations at Caerleon, a centrepiece of the Galfridian narrative, are drastically pruned and what little is reported is given only on the authority of Geoffrey: ‘This is what the History of the Britons describes,’ comments Alfred. Galfridian numbers are also scaled back. Constantine arrives from Armorica with 1,000 troops not 2,000. There are 360 British nobles treacherously slain by Hengest, not 460. Lucius Hiberius’s army, which sets out to subdue Britain, is 40,160 strong, not 460,100. Omission of material is almost certainly made, also, for practical reasons – to produce a concise account, one suitable for oral delivery.76 Such omission includes speeches, letters, conversations, secret thoughts and motivations, lists and names of kings, geographic detail, and episodes which are greatly condensed – such as Brutus’s stay in Greece and his journey to Britain, and descriptions of battles.77 Editorial caution and the desire to avoid controversy may explain other omissions.78 The prophecies of Merlin are likely to have been overlooked for their length and political content, not for lack of credibility. As the author tells us, they ‘prophesied many events in the future of the kingdom of Britain’.79 Here, uniquely in the history, a reason is given for an authorial omission: ‘They [the prophecies] are too long to be inserted here’. Content omitted, in all probability for being considered fabulous and thus beyond the bounds of credibility, includes the following: • Giant-slaying exploits of Corineus and details of the twelve-cubit-tall Goegmagog. • The transportation of the giants’ ring of stones from Mount Killaraus in Ireland and their erection in Stonehenge, orchestrated by the magical powers of Merlin. • Merlin’s powers of illusion in enabling Uther Pendragon to pass himself off as Gorlois, duke of Cornwall, and sleep with his wife, the beautiful Ugerna. • Arthur’s conception at Tintagel resulting from this union. • The forging of Arthur’s sword on the island of Avalon. • How Arthur subdued all Ireland after capturing King Gillomanus Reading of the History in the communal refectory at Beverley is discussed below, p. lxxi. Some eighty-five speeches, letters and conversations contained in the HRB from the journey of Guithelinus, archbishop of London, to Little Britain to seek the help of King Aldroenus, to Kareticus’s retreat to the western regions of Britain, are reduced to eleven in the abridgement. 78  Discussed below, pp. lii–liii and note 147. 79  For the interest of the episcopacy of the time in Merlinian prophecy, see Julia Crick, ‘Geoffrey and the Prophetic Tradition’ in The Arthur of Medieval Latin Literature: The Development and Dissemination of the Arthurian Legend in Medieval Latin, Arthurian Literature in the Middle Ages VI, ed. Siân Echard, pp. 67–84. Bishops and churchmen of the time who cited Merlin’s prophecies included Arnulf, bishop of Lisieux (1141–81), Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury (1162–70) and Gilbert Foliot, bishop of London (1163–87). 76 

77 

xxxviii

Introduction

• Arthur’s visionary dream of the fight between the dragon and the bear on the sea journey from Southampton to Harfleur. • Abduction of Helena, niece of King Hoelus, by the giant from Spain. • Arthur’s slaying of the giant on Mont St Michael and details of Ritho, the other giant slain by Arthur. Collations of Geoffrey’s history with authorities such as Bede, Eutropius and Orosius, to test the account’s historicity, are frequent and attest a critical authorial frame of mind.80 In a number of the collations Geoffrey’s account is adjudged historical. In others, the conclusion is more ambivalent.81 In one collation, Geoffrey’s account of King Belinus’s road-building programme is contrasted silently with Henry of Huntingdon’s description of the four ancient highways of Britain.82 The rhetorical practice of similitudo is here employed, where, by silently providing an alternative trusted account, the reader is invited to treat Geoffrey’s account with caution.83 HAEC SECUNDUM BRITANNICUM – NAMING GEOFFREY IN THE HISTORY

Direct references to the HRB and its author are made eighteen times in the History, on occasion citing the text as Historia Britonum, but principally by naming its author Britannicus. The words haec secundum Britannicum, or nunc revertamur ad Britannicum, or huc usque secundum Britannicum are used in these instances. Naming Geoffrey of Monmouth in this manner is unique among chroniclers of the day and introduces yet further ambiguity into Alfred’s reception of the HRB. What precisely are we to read into the nomenclature? Geoffrey enjoyed considerable literary fame at the time.84 He was named Galfridi Arturi by Henry of Huntingdon in the EAW85 and named Galfridus Monemutensis by Geoffrey himself twice in the HRB.86 Robert of Torigni names him Gaufridi Arturi87 and in a number of charters from the Oxford area over the period 1129–52, a Gaufridus Artur and Gaufridus magister attest as witness. At the time of writing, Geoffrey was widely known by one or other of these names and, as Alfred knew both the EAW and HRB intimately, it is almost certain he did so too. Why then name Geoffrey in such a way and what are we to understand by it? It is because of its HAB, ii. p. 27. As, for example, in comparing GM’s account of Julius Caesar with that of Bede and Orosius: ut constet ueritatis habere fundamentum quae de Caesere leguntur secundum Britannicum (‘so as to establish that what we read about Caesar in Britannicus’s version has a foundation in truth’). 81  HAB, v. pp. 55–56: where the author comments on the historicity of Aurelius Ambrosius. 82  Ibid., i. p. 18. 83  Ibid, note 22, for discussion of the rhetorical practice of similitudo. 84  Tatlock, Legendary History, pp. 438–39. 85  HA, viii, p. 582. 86  HRB, Prologue, line 19, p. 5 & xi. line 1, p. 249. 87  Torigni, p. 75. 80 

xxxix

Introduction

opaqueness that the word Britannicus has been retained in the English translation in this edition. Britannicus, an adjective deriving from Britannia and here used as a noun, seemingly describes Geoffrey racially, as The British or more literally, The Briton. But had Alfred intended The Briton, the Latin word Brito/Britonem or Britannus/ Britannum would surely have been a more obvious choice of word? And, if Alfred did indeed mean the Briton, which particular gens or race had he in mind? Brito and Britones have recently been described as ‘slippery words’, ambiguous in their meaning.88 Britons might describe the inhabitants of ancient Britain, or equally the inhabitants of Wales, Cornwall, Brittany or Strathclyde. From statements made in the History, however, there appears little doubt that when Alfred referred to Britons he had in mind the people living in the geographical area of Wales. He had described the Britons in Wales as one of the five peoples presently inhabiting the island, at the conclusion of his introductory description of Britain.89 Alfred also reported that the language Britannica is spoken by the inhabitants of Wales.90 Early in chapter one, plundering Geoffrey, he had described how the Britons were eventually driven into Wales, and then added his own comment that ‘up to the present time, they have resided there and have set up their own kingdom of Wales’.91 At the close of chapter six, describing the cities and bishoprics of England, he noted that Wales was all that was left to the Britons after they had been conquered.92 Huw Pryce has shown how the Latin terminology describing Wales and the Welsh in Anglo-Norman and Cambro-Latin writing changed during the course of the twelfth century from British (Britannia, Britanni, Britones) to Walia and Walenses (or, in Gallicised form, Gualia, Gualenses), terms derived from the Old English Walas or Wealas.93 Anglo-Norman writers, such as William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon, generally use these terms to describe Wales and the Welsh. So too does John of Worcester, although he also uses the British terminology on occasion.94 Alfred is no exception to this practice, using the term Wallia, Wallias, Walenses at least ten times in the History to describe Joshua Byron Smith, ‘Introduction and Biography’ in Georgia Henley and Joshua Byron Smith, Brill’s Companions to European History, vol. 22, A Companion to Geoffrey of Monmouth (Leiden & Boston, 2020), pp. 1–28 at p. 20. 89  HAB, i, p. 9. 90  Ibid., i, p. 13. 91  Ibid., i, p. 13. 92  Ibid., vi. p. 105. 93  Huw Pryce, ‘British or Welsh? National Identity in Twelfth-Century Wales’, English Historical Review, vol. 116, no. 468 (September 2001), pp. 775–801 at pp. 780, 785. 94  CJW i, annal for 895. The Danish army is reported devastating the land of the north Welsh using the British terminology – ‘terram septentrionalium Brytonum’. 88 

xl

Introduction

Wales and the Welsh. If Britannicus was meant to denote ‘the Briton’, why then not use the word Walensis? Alfred’s use of the term Britannicus appears more likely to have an epithetical intent than to denote gens, therefore. To act as an agnomen or nickname – for example, to convey the meaning of ‘the teller of tales of the ancient Britons’. The chroniclers who name Geoffrey Galfridus Arturus appear to be using Arturus in just such an epithetical way – ‘Geoffrey the writer of tales of Arthur’.95 Certainly, this is what William of Newburgh thought when he wrote that Geoffrey was known by the nickname Arthur (habens agnomen Arturi).96 It might be that in referring to Geoffrey as Britannicus, Alfred chose an agnomen which he thought to be original – his own creation – but also one which he considered more representative of the HRB in its entirety, and not just its Arthurian content. The question remains, however, why was the name Geoffrey never attached to the epithet? Is its omission a sign of disrespect or disdain? An example of what has been described by a number of scholars as the hostile Anglo-Norman views of the Welsh which developed during the course of the twelfth century?97 Or, if not hostile, is the nomenclature intended to be sardonic – further evidence of a sceptical reception of the HRB? By investing Geoffrey with a lofty name from the classical past, for example, might Alfred be inferring he is the teller of lofty tales, to be taken with a pinch of salt? Might Britannicus even be considered to be a play on Geoffrey’s twice repeated proprietary claim in the HRB to be the translator of quendam Britannici sermonis librum vetustissimum, a very old book in the British language? When Alfred writes Haec Secundum Britannicum, might this be a coded way of saying ‘these things are according to the translator of the ancient British book’?98 Another, and equally possible explanation, is that the term Britannicus had a literary and rhetorical intent – a term designed to add refinement to the narrative. Alfred on occasion shows partiality for literary allusion. The History opens, for example, with an arresting description of Britain as another world – alter orbis

There appears little evidence to consider Gaufridus Arturus to be a patronym – Geoffrey, son of Arthur. See the discussion of Arturus as a patronym or agnomen in Joshua Byron Smith, ‘Introduction and Biography’ at pp. 7–9. 96  WN HRA, p. 12. 97  The growth of twelfth-century Anglo-Norman views of the Welsh and the Celtic peoples as racially inferior and as ‘barbari’ is discussed in John Gillingham, ‘The Beginnings of English Imperialism’ in The English in the Twelfth Century. Imperialism, National Identity and Political Values (Woodbridge, 2000), pp. 3–18, 27 and following. See also Robert Bartlett, England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings 1075–1225 (Oxford, 2000), pp. 99–102. 98  I am indebted to Professor Huw Pryce for the suggestion that Alfred’s use of the nomenclature ‘Britannicus’ might be linked to Geoffrey’s celebrated claim to have been the translator of the ‘very old book in the British tongue’ brought to him by Walter, archdeacon of Oxford. 95 

xli

Introduction

– drawn from Hegesippus.99 Using the agnomen given by the Roman conqueror of Britain, Claudius, to his son Germanicus, to describe Geoffrey, demonstrates learning and eloquence – important attributes of a historical writer. It also perhaps serves to tell us how Alfred understood the intent of Geoffrey’s history. A work which revealed the glorious history and legacy of the ancient Britons, required its spokesman to have a fitting name. CONCLUSION

Geoffrey of Monmouth has been described as a ‘deliberate trader in multiple ambiguities’100 and thus it is no surprise that the treatment of Geoffrey in the History itself contains ambiguity. There is, on the one hand, the attempt to assimilate Geoffrey’s British history, shaping it into a more credible account, suggesting acceptance of its historicity. The work was, after all, written eloquently and learnedly in the language of scripture and so required serious consideration. On the other hand, in both prologue and epilogue Alfred makes clear that he thought the work was part-fabulous and, throughout the abridgement, there is persistent questioning of its veracity. The frequent references to Geoffrey and his history, and the manner of doing so – a practice accorded to no other source in the compilation – attests a singular relationship with the text, suggesting that working with it was a challenge for the author. It is likely that much material was retained which was believed to occupy the ground between fable (it could not have happened) and verisimilitude (it could have happened). This was done, most probably, to please his readers and to impress the content on their minds and memories – the characteristics of good rhetorical practice and hence historical writing.101 As Alfred had made clear in his prologue, he planned to take only those excerpts which legentem delectarent et memoriae tenatius adhaererent (‘would please the reader and would remain firmly in his memory’).

iv. The Worcester Chronicle Chapter six of the history sees two new sources introduced by Alfred: the Worcester Chronicle and the Historia Regum (HR) attributed to Symeon of Durham. Borrowings from the HR are selective, found principally towards the end of the chapter, but the Worcester Chronicle is quarried extensively to provide the HAB, i. p. 4 and note 9. Rees Davies, ‘The Matter of Britain and the Matter of England.’ An Inaugural Lecture Delivered Before the University of Oxford on 29 February 1996 (Oxford, 1996), pp. 1–25 at p. 6. 101  Matthew Kempshall, Rhetoric and the Writing of History (Manchester, 2011), pp. 1–33 and passim provides a comprehensive review of classical theory of rhetoric and how it influenced medieval historical writing. For the important steps for the rhetor to both please his audience (delectare) and impress an argument on its memory (memoria), see pp. 8–9, 20. 99 

100 

xlii

Introduction

bulk of the chapter’s account of the establishment of the heptarchic Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Kent, East Anglia, Essex, Mercia and the Northumbrian kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira, and to provide the genealogies of their founder kings. A short account of the South Saxon kingdom is also provided but this appears to have been compiled from the HA of Henry of Huntingdon as none exists in the Worcester Chronicle.102 For the account of the West Saxon kingdom, which concludes the chapter, Alfred returns to the HA of Henry of Huntingdon and commences borrowing from the Durham HR, while continuing to draw selectively on the Worcester Chronicle. Chapter six, therefore, sees the author at a particularly industrious point in his History, simultaneously compiling from the HA of Henry of Huntingdon, the Worcester Chronicle, the HR, Bede’s HE, and working with different source types, including texts and drawn tables. THE WORCESTER CHRONICLE PREFATORY ACCOUNTS AND GENEALOGIES

Before the commencement of the Worcester Chronicle annals, all manuscripts contain extensive prefatory reference materials. These include material inherited from the universal chronicle of Marianus the Scot, which the Worcester Chronicle expanded, including lists of consular tables, Hebrew prophets, popes, kings of France and dukes of Normandy.103 Grafted on at Worcester were items of English historical interest, including lists of English bishops, notes on individual bishops, information on the creation and division of bishoprics, drawn genealogical trees of the English dynasties extending back to Woden and Adam, and written accounts of the history of the dynasties accompanying the trees. The descent trees were first drawn on the page and the dynastic accounts then written around them. The genealogical tables not only trace the lineage of the founder kings and their successors but also provide accompanying details of royal queens and offspring, as can be seen in Plate 1 following, the Mercian genealogy and dynastic account, as preserved in Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS 157 (hereafter OCCC MS 157).104 The prefatory reference materials, genealogical tables, and dynastic accounts attest the intense interest in collecting and classifying information about the AngloSaxon past which is a characteristic of Insular historical writing in the first four decades of the twelfth century. James Campbell described the reference materials No South Saxon royal genealogy survives and none is contained in the Worcester Chronicle. The Marianus Chronicle, extending from the Creation to 1086, was probably introduced to Worcester by Bishop Robert of Hereford (CJW, ii. p. xix). In the chief manuscript witness of the Worcester Chronicle, Oxford, Corpus Christi College, MS 157, the prefatory materials extend to page 89 of a 396page volume, before the main chronicle commences with book 1, Adam to Christ. The English annals, inserted at Worcester, run from AD 450 to 1140. 104  All surviving complete witnesses of the Worcester Chronicle derive from OCCC MS 157. The annals from 1128 to 1140 have been identified as written in the hand of John of Worcester. The same hand is also seen in annotations to and corrections of the chronicle from its earliest pages until 1124. See CJW, ii. p. xxi and Brett, John of Worcester, p. 105. 102  103 

xliii

Introduction

Plate 1  Corpus Christi College Oxford, MS 157 p. 50 (Mercian dynastic account and genealogy, Woden to Ceolwulf)

xliv

Introduction

as ‘not just materials for the Handbook of British Chronology; they are its true ancestor’.105 ALFRED’S BORROWINGS

Parallel text preserved in the prefatory Accounts and Genealogies and the main Worcester Chronicle annals has required the source of Alfred’s borrowings to be determined but use of the prefatory Accounts and Genealogies is clearly indicated. For the accounts of Mercia and the East Saxons Alfred’s text is copied almost verbatim from that source, and for the kingdoms of Kent, East Anglia and Northumbria it is largely so.106 On eleven occasions in chapter six – in the accounts of Kent, East Anglia, East Saxons, Mercia, West Saxons – information contained only in the prefatory dynastic accounts is reported.107 Use of the prefatory genealogical tables is also clearly indicated. The genealogies of Hengest of Kent, Rædwald of East Anglia, Sæberht of the East Saxons, Penda of Mercia, and the Northumbrian kings, Ida of Bernicia and Ælle of Deira, so exactly match those drawn in the Worcester prefatory descent trees that there is a clear sense of the author compiling from the drawn tables. The genealogy of Cerdic to Woden is also a close match – lacking the two immediate descendants of Woden, Bældeag and Brand. The genealogies found in the main Worcester Chronicle annals, on the other hand, are often distinct. No extended genealogy is supplied for Rædwald of East Anglia or for Sæberht of the East Saxons. A West Saxon genealogy is supplied for Cynric to Woden, whereas Alfred supplies a genealogy of Cerdic to Woden. The genealogy for the Bernician founder-king Ida, in the main annal for 547, differs significantly from that contained in the prefatory tables, but it is the latter which Alfred reproduces in chapter six of the History. William of Malmesbury’s GRA also shares common text with the Worcester Chronicle’s prefatory dynastic accounts, particularly for those of the East Saxons and East Anglians.108 Alfred’s possible knowledge and use of the GRA has therefore required determination, but this appears not to be the case. In addition to the very close textual match of his narrative accounts to those of the Worcester prefatory material, the genealogies establish his use of the latter. William, unlike Alfred, provides no detailed descent cycles for the Saxon founder kings – which are supplied in the Worcester prefatory tables. William describes the lineage of Cerdic, Penda, Rædwald, and Sledd respectively of the West Saxon, Mercian, James Campbell, Essays in Anglo-Saxon History (London, 1986), p. 214. For the Mercian dynastic account 97 percent of the text is reproduced from the Mercian prefatory account. For the East Saxon account, it is 95 percent. For Kent and East Anglia, it is over 67 percent. For Northumbria, it is approximately 65 percent. 107  HAB, vi. p. 78, note 22; p. 79, notes 28, 30; p. 82, note 59; p. 84, note 71; p. 86, notes 82, 84; p. 87, notes 90, 92; p. 93, note 127; p. 96, note 146. 108  CJW, ii. p. lxxvi. 105  106 

xlv

Introduction

East Anglian and East Saxon kingdoms merely as ‘tenth from Woden’, explaining that his failure to name each ruler in the descent table was due to the ‘barbarous and discordant sound’ of their names, which he felt likely to cause displeasure to his readers.109 What William’s shared text attests, however, is a close relationship of exchange and collaboration between Malmesbury and Worcester which was involved in the elaboration of the Worcester Chronicle110 – a collaboration that extended to Canterbury and Durham. This has been described by Martin Brett as ‘a web of complex historical activity which drew together the chief centres of English Benedictine history’.111 The preparation of the genealogical trees is believed be to among the earliest dateable elements of the Worcester Chronicle as their terminal dates do not go beyond 1100,112 but at what point the dynastic accounts were written around them has yet to be fully determined.113 There is evidence of mutual borrowing between annals and dynastic accounts and the prefatory accounts and chronicle may therefore have evolved over time when such mutual borrowing could have taken place.114 As noted above,115 the compiler of the dynastic accounts provides details not found in the main annals. Many of these are details of royal queens or daughters and where their names, foundations or saintly actions are recorded. Among these details are the foundation of a monastery at Lyminge by St Æthelburg, daughter of King Æthelbert of Kent; naming Emma as the wife of King Eadbald of Kent; providing the names of the four daughters of the Kent regulus Eormenred; reporting the foundation of a monastery at Sheppey by St Seaxburgh, daughter of King Ana of the East Angles; reporting the role of St Cyneswith, daughter of Penda, in encouraging Offa, king of the East Saxons, to abdicate and to go to Rome and become a monk. Other royal queens and daughters named include Cyneburh, daughter of Penda; Holy Leofrun, wife of Æthelred, king of the East Angles; Cynethryth, wife of King Wiglaf of Mercia; Sæthryth, wife of King Berhtwulf of Mercia; and Burgenilda, daughter of Cenwulf of Mercia and second sister of St Kenelm. Also recorded only in the prefatory accounts are: Ælfwald, second son of King Æthelhere of East Anglia; Merchelm, as the brother of Mercia’s King Merewalh; and the burial of King Cenwulf of Mercia (d. 826) in Winchcombe. A final detail, unique to the prefatory accounts, is the notice in the West 109  See, respectively, GRA, i. 16, p. 39; i. 44, p. 61; i. 74, p. 109; i. 97, p. 143; i. 98, p. 145. William, however, does provide a detailed genealogy for the West Saxon King Æthewulf extending to Noah (GRA, ii. 116, p. 177). Here, William again apologises for any displeasure caused by the barbarous sounding of the names. 110  Brett, John of Worcester, pp. 117, 125. 111  Ibid., p. 125. 112  CJW, ii. p. lxxv. 113  This is an issue which may be addressed in vol. i of The Chronicle of John of Worcester in the OMT series awaiting publication. 114  A view advanced by Patrick McGurk, see CJW, ii. pp, lxxv–lxxvi. 115  See footnote 107, above.

xlvi

Introduction

Saxon section, that the seventh-century King Cenfus ruled for two years ‘according to the word of King Alfred’ – words not found in the main chronicle annal for 674.116 CONCLUSION

The Worcester prefatory genealogical trees are believed to have existed as separate physical entities to the main chronicle and to have circulated independently at Malmesbury and Bury before 1131.117 Alfred’s use of them, with no clear evidence of his knowledge of the main annals, suggests that an independently circulating copy, accompanied by written dynastic accounts, was at Beverley in c.1150 and, in addition, that this copy bore a very close resemblance to the prefatory genealogies and dynastic accounts preserved in OCCC MS 157.118 Alfred’s use of the Worcester archive appears to have had an important influence on his view of the Anglo-Saxon past and on the shaping of the History. At two points in the prefatory genealogies and accounts, King Æthelstan is singled out as the first of the English kings to hold the monarchy of all England. The first is in a note written alongside Æthelstan in the West Saxon genealogical table in the hand of the compiler of the dynastic account in OCCC MS 157: Strenuus et gloriosus Rex Æthelstanus solus in totam Angliam primus regum Anglorum regnavit.119 The second is in a fuller statement towards the conclusion of the account of the Northumbrian kings, when it is reported how in 926, ‘the vigorous and glorious King Æthelstan’ drove the Danish King Guthfrith from the realm and, ‘477 years after the coming of the Angles to Britain, was the first of the Anglo-Saxons to obtain the monarchy of all Britain’.120 These statements appear to have had a decisive influence on Alfred’s historical periodisation, for chapter eight of the History, whose theme is the monarchy of the English kings, commences with the rule of King Æthelstan and runs to the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, King Harold, and the coming of the Normans.

v. The Durham Historia Regum From chapter seven to its conclusion, the History is greatly dependent on a single source: the Durham Historia Regum (HR).121 The evidence for this will be reviewed briefly, as will the character of Alfred’s handling of material compiled HAB, vi. p. 96 and note 146. Brett, John of Worcester, p. 115. 118  This is further suggested by the author’s summary East Saxon king list (HAB, vi. p. 84, note 73). The list omits Swæfred, co-ruler with Sigeheard after the death of Sebbi in c.694. Swæfred’s name has also been omitted in the East Saxon genealogical tree preserved in OCCC MS 157, p. 49. 119  See OCCC MS 157, p. 57: ‘The vigorous and glorious King Athelstan was the first of the kings of England to reign alone over the whole of England’. 120  HAB, vi. p. 93 and note 127. 121  Borrowings from the HR represent well over 80 percent of the final three chapters and roughly 30 percent of the entire History. Other borrowings in these chapters mainly derive from the HA. 116  117 

xlvii

Introduction

from the HR. Alfred worked with a version of the HR predating its sole surviving manuscript witness, Corpus Christi College Cambridge MS 139 (CCCC MS 139), and therefore what his borrowings can tell us of the state of the HR at the point of writing will also be discussed.122 The HR has long been recognised as a highly composite text, a miscellaneous collection of materials whose opening and closing rubrics create an appearance of unity far from justified by its contents.123 A new OMT edition of the HR is currently under preparation by David Rollason and this will identify twelve constituent sections comprising the part of the work attributed to Symeon of Durham extending to 1129 (Figure 2).124 One of these sections, comprising a chronicle from 848 to 1129 (§ A.11), provides most of the material found in chapters seven to nine of Alfred’s History. The annals from 848 to 1118, and some elements of the annal for 1119 in the HR, derive mainly from the Worcester Chronicle, and therefore the source of Alfred’s borrowing has required determination. Close textual analysis has shown that he used the HR, rather than the Worcester Chronicle. Appendix 3 sets out evidence for this conclusion, providing eighteen instances in chapters seven and eight of the History where borrowings from the HR rather than the parallel text of the Worcester Chronicle are indicated. Borrowings in chapter nine of the History, however, establish beyond doubt Alfred’s dependence on the HR. From 1069 the HR, while continuing to reproduce material from the Worcester Chronicle, begins to introduce original matter125 and from an early point in the annal for 1119, it makes no more use of the Worcester Chronicle.126 The author becomes an original source, but with selected borrowings taken directly from Eadmer’s Historia Novorum. Alfred’s reproduction of material from these years in the HR (1119–29) in chapter nine therefore establishes his use of that source. Included in the borrowings is the explanation for Duke William’s invasion and conquest of England and the reasons for its success,127 extracts from the account of William I’s harrying of the north, details of the removal of St Cuthbert’s body CCCC MS 139 may have reached its present form by c.1180. See David Rollason, ‘Symeon of Durham’s Historia de Regibus Anglorum et Dacorum as a Product of Twelfth-Century Historical Workshops’ in The Long Twelfth-Century View of the Anglo-Saxon Past, eds Martin Brett and David Woodman (Farnham, 2015), pp. 95–111 at p. 102. 123  Peter Hunter Blair, ‘Some Observations on the ‘Historia Regum’ Attributed to Symeon of Durham’ in Celt and Saxon. Studies in the Early British Border, eds Nora K. Chadwick et al (Cambridge, 1963), pp. 63–118 at p. 76. 124  I am indebted to Professor Rollason for having provided details of the sectional plan to be used in his forthcoming OMT edition of Historia de Regibus Anglorum et Dacorum, for that part of the chronicle attributed to Symeon of Durham. 125  HR, p. 186, note c. 126  Ibid., p. 253, note b. 127  HAB, ix. pp. 134–35. 122 

xlviii

Introduction

Figure 2  Sectional Plan of HR Attributed to Symeon of Durham § A.1

Rubric Attributing the History to Symeon of Durham

§ A.2

Passion of the Princes Æthelberht and Æthelred

§ A.3

The Genealogy of the Northumbrian Kings

§ A.4

Extracts from Bede’s History of the Abbots of Monkwearmouth and Jarrow

§ A.5

Verses on Time

§ A.6

Bede’s Lamentation on the Day of Judgement

§ A.7

Extracts from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People

§ A.8

Annals from 732 to 957

§ A.9

Heading Announcing a Recapitulation regarding King Alfred and a succession of the Kings of England

§ A.10 Extracts from William of Malmesbury’s Deeds of the Kings § A.11 Annals from 848 to 1129 § A.12 Closing Rubric with Attribution to Symeon of Durham

to the safety of Holy Island,128 a survey of the earls of Northumbria from Osulf to Robert de Mowbray,129 and description of the five northern invasions of Malcolm III of Scotland and his death.130 Only occasional borrowings from the HA, adding storytelling colour to the narrative, and the author’s excursus on the church of St John of Beverley providing sanctuary to asylum-seekers during William I’s harrying of the north in early 1070, supplement material compiled from the HR in chapter nine. The final entry in the History, for the year 1135, reproduces the final sentence of the HR as preserved in CCCC MS 139: Ordinati sunt autem .XV. kal. Decembris Cantuariæ a Willelmo eiusdem ecclesiæ archiepiscopo. They were both [Henry of Blois and Roger de Clinton] ordained on the fifteenth of the kalends of December [17 November] at Canterbury, by William, the archbishop of that cathedral. THE HISTORIA REGUM AS USED BY ALFRED

The joining up of the miscellany of texts which comprise the HR (§ A.2–§ A.11 above) is a matter still not fully understood. Were the texts connected as part of the process of the copying of CCCC MS 139, or were they already in a joined-up state before CCCC MS 139 was copied? The light that Alfred’s borrowings can shed 128  129  130 

HAB, ix. pp. 138–39. Ibid., ix. pp. 141–42. Ibid., ix. p. 148.

xlix

Introduction

on this question is therefore of interest. Three stages in the textual development of the HR between its original state in Durham (c.1119) and the extant version preserved in CCCC MS 139 have been proposed by David Rollason, based on the evidence of a number of twelfth-century texts which derive from the HR.131 These versions have been designated O1, extending the HR from its original state, when it ended in 1119 (O), to 1121. A version extending the HR from 1121 to 1129 is designated O2. A third, Hexham version, which includes interpolations and a continuation written by John, prior of Hexham from 1130 to 1153, is designated O3. O4 represents the extant version, CCCC MS 139. Alfred’s History is therefore a witness to version O2, ending its use of the HR, as it does, in 1129.132 What then can Alfred tell us of the state of the HR in version O2? First, it confirms that O2 originates from a date prior to the History (c.1148–c.1151). Second, by mapping Alfred’s borrowings from the HR against its various sections, the degree to which version O2 of the HR departs, if at all, from version O4, CCCC MS 139, can be observed. No material has been taken from sections §§ A.2 and A.3, but this to be expected given that chapters seven and eight of the History require no material from these early sections of the HR. Three borrowings have been taken from § A.8, specifically from annals 732–802. The annals from 888 to 957 in § A. 8, and the extracts from William of Malmesbury’s GRA (§ A.10), have not been utilised. This might suggest that they were not contained in version O2 but equally, and more probably, the information they contained was not required by Alfred. From annals 849–887 in § A.8 at least one borrowing has been taken, and possibly more. The annals down to 1118 in § A.11, are the source of at least nine borrowings, and almost certainly many more. Chapter nine of the history, as noted, is derived almost entirely from the annals from 1119 to 1129 in § A.11. Alfred has therefore borrowed from two sections of the HR (§ A.8 and § A.11) which between them account for more than eighty percent of the HR text preserved in O4 (CCCC MS 139). This indicates, first, that Alfred’s version of the HR was similar to its state in O4133 and, second, that the joining up of at least these two major parts of the HR must have taken place before c.1148–c.1151. These include the unprinted chronicle Liber de Gestis Anglorium preserved in Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS Lat 692, which terminates in 1153; The Historia post Bedam, preserved in three twelfthcentury manuscripts and printed in Chronica Magistri Rogeri de Houedene, ed. W. Stubbs RS (1868–71), i. pp. 3–214 and which follows the HR to 1121. A text preserved in two twelfth-century manuscripts (Liège Bibliothèque Universitaire MS 369C and BL, MS Cotton Caligula A viii) contains a version of the compilation known as De Primo Saxonum Adventu, followed by annals down to 1119 which derive from the HR. 132  The HAB entries for 1130 to 1135 appear to have been taken from HA, vii. chs 41–43. 133  This was a view earlier advanced by H. S. Offler in ‘Hexham and the Historia Regum’, Transactions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland, vol. II (1970), p. 61, 131 

l

Introduction

Two further questions are of interest. First, did the HR come to Beverley as an independently circulating item or was it part of a volume containing other texts preserved in CCCC MS 139? Second, by what means did the work reach Beverley? While a number of the twenty-three items which comprise CCCC MS 139 appear to originate in the second half of the twelfth century and are, therefore, from after Alfred’s time, there are several items which originated earlier and might have been attached to his copy of the HR – but of this there is no certainty.134 How the Durham text reached Beverley is also unknown. The strong Cistercian and Fountains abbey interest and involvement exhibited in the making of CCCC MS 139, however, suggests a possible route. In addition to CCCC MS 139 bearing an ex libris inscription indicating that the volume once belonged to the Cistercian abbey of Sawley, Cistercian interest is attested by the account of the battle of the Standard by Serlo, monk of Fountains, and the account of the erring nun of Watton, a Gilbertine house in Yorkshire. Written by Aelred, abbot of Rievaulx (1147–67), the latter describes how the Cistercian Archbishop Henry Murdac appeared to the nun in a vision after his death, comforting her. Item 15 of CCCC MS 139 contains a report on the founding of Fountains abbey in 1132 and item 16 is a letter of Archbishop Thurstan of York to William, archbishop of Canterbury, about the exodus of monks from St Mary’s abbey, York, leading to the foundation of Fountains abbey. With so much Fountains and Cistercian interest evident in CCCC MS 139, the regular presence in Beverley of the Cistercian archbishop of York, Henry Murdac, during the period Alfred wrote, suggests a possible means by which the text might have reached Beverley, but of this, again, there is no certainty.135 Archbishop Henry, who died in Beverley in October 1153, enjoyed a high reputation as a scholar, had close connections with Cistercian centres of learning, and would have certainly had the opportunity to bring texts with him to Beverley.136 note 41. Offler noted that Alfred appeared to have used a version of the HR similar to that of CCCC MS 139. 134  Items originating before 1150 in CCCC MS 139 are: item 5, Letter to Hugh Dean of York from Symeon of Durham listing the archbishops of York; item 6, de obsessione Dunelmi et de probitate Uchtredi comitis; item 10, Serlo, monk of Fountains, verse account of the battle of the Standard in 1138; item 15, details of the foundation of Fountains abbey in 1132; item 16, Letter of Thurstan, archbishop of York, to William of Corbeil, archbishop of Canterbury, about the exodus of monks from St Mary’s abbey, York in 1132 and the foundation of Fountains Abbey. For the full list of items preserved in CCCC MS 139, see Peter Hunter Blair, ‘Observations’, pp. 64–70. 135  Charters issued by Henry Murdac in front of the assembled Beverley chapter over the period 1151–53 attest his regular presence in Beverley. See EEA, v. York, nos 128, 129, pp. 99–102. The fine on Beverley issued by King Stephen for harbouring the archbishop in c. August 1149 provides further evidence. 136  Henry’s scholarly background is well attested in contemporary sources. John of Salisbury in the Historia Pontificalis recounts how Henry was included in a select group of the most learned churchmen to meet Bernard of Clairvaux during the council of Rheims in 1148 to debate Bernard’s reservations about Gilbert of Poitiers’ commentaries on the De Trinitate of Boethius. See John of Salisbury’s Memoirs of the Papal Court, ed. Marjorie Chibnall, NMT (London, 1956), pp. 16–17.

li

Introduction ALFRED’S RECEPTION OF THE HR

From the annal entries of the HR, Alfred produced the greater part of the final three ‘themed’ chapters of the History: chapter seven, the era of the Danish wars; chapter eight, the monarchy of the English kings from Æthelstan to Harold; chapter nine, the rule of the Norman kings. Chapter seven adopts an annalistic approach, in the manner of the HR,137 but by chapter eight dating by regnal years is introduced; in chapter nine, regnal years are almost entirely used to narrate events during the reigns of kings William I, William II, and Henry. Although the History is highly dependent on the HR, it presents an account markedly different in tone and outlook. The narrative is rebalanced from one whose interest is almost entirely ecclesiastical to one with little ecclesiastical interest, with a focus on the gesta of kings and secular affairs of the kingdom. Most of the HR’s reporting of church affairs – the deaths and appointments of senior clergy, the foundations of monasteries and churches, the translations of saints, papal and Insular councils and their legislation, the crusades – are passed over. More worldly content – dramatic episodes, stories, prophecies and visions involving kings and princes – is rarely overlooked. Reports include the account of the angelic voice informing Abbot Dunstan of the death of King Eadred;138 the homage of the eight under-kings of Britain who swear fealty to King Edgar, rowing him up the river Dee;139 the death of the tyrant Swegn, killed by the ghost of St Edmund;140 the prophecy of St Dunstan, on crowning King Æthelred, of the future loss of the kingdom to an alien power because of the sinful way in which the king had achieved the crown;141 the capture of Alfred, brother of Edward the Confessor, by Earl Godwine (and Alfred’s subsequent death);142 and the loss of Prince William and other children of Henry I in the shipwreck of the White Ship in 1120.143 The handling of material from the HR reveals not just an author with a far more worldly mindset than the Durham compiler, but one who was more circumspect. Disputes and controversies openly reported in the HR are omitted. The removal of secular clergy from monasteries and their replacement by clerical celibates during the reign of King Edgar, supervised by Archbishop Dunstan, and bishops Oswald and Æthelwold, is overlooked.144 The papal reform movement of Annal entries in chapter seven are provided for years 793, 851, 854, 864, 866, 869, 870, 879, 886, 894, 896, 897. 138  HAB, viii. p. 118. 139  Ibid, viii. p. 119. 140  Ibid, viii. p. 122. 141  Ibid. 142  Ibid, viii. p. 125. 143  Ibid, ix. pp. 157–58. 144  Ibid, viii. p. 120, note 20. 137 

lii

Introduction

Pope Gregory VII and church councils, both papal and Insular, which introduced contentious legislation on clerical celibacy, reported in the HR, are similarly passed over.145 The disputes over the primacy of the churches of Canterbury and York, and between crown and church over the investiture of bishops, fully reported in the HR, are omitted.146 The critical comments and harsh judgements of the Durham compiler are toned down or omitted – this guardedness contrasting sharply with the freedom of expression exhibited in the HR.147 The author’s caution a result, perhaps, of writing in the more public environment of the church of Beverley than in the protected space of Durham Cathedral Priory. In the final chapters of the History, compiled mainly from the HR, the character of the work therefore comes more clearly into focus and its purpose is strongly suggested. Secular in outlook, but careful in its reporting, its concise narrative providing clear explanation and information on the main themes of the island history, laced with good narrative storytelling, the History appears to be a text written to both inform and entertain – a work, in the words of Nancy Partner, of serious entertainment.148

The Afterlife of Alfred The earliest surviving evidence of Alfred’s history is its use as an important source text in a chronicle dating from the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. This is believed to have been compiled in the Cistercian abbey of St Mary of Furness (Cumbria) shortly after 1298, following Edward I’s appeal to the monasteries of England for information relevant to his claim to sovereignty over Scotland.149 Not long after, in the 1320s, the History is again in evidence, Pope Gregory’s pronouncements on married clergy in 1074 and 1075, the Insular councils of 1102 and 1108, and the papal councils of Calixtus II at Rheims in 1119 and Rome in 1123, proscribing married clergy, reported in detail in HR, are omitted. 146  Reporting on the investiture dispute contained in HR annals for 1099, 1103, 1107, 1111, 1112, and 1122 is overlooked, as is the Canterbury/York primacy dispute, covered extensively in the HR annals for 1107, 1116 and 1119. 147  Harsh judgements in HR omitted include the slaughter of three thousand Normans in York in 1069, said to be an act of divine vengeance; William I described as harsh and rapacious (annal 1070); the Scots described as more savage than wild beasts (annal 1070); the death of Malcom III of Scotland in 1093 described as an act of an avenging God and Malcolm’s ravaging of the north inspired by avarice. William Rufus is described as a man of excessive pride and power (annal 1093). In the same annal William of Eu is said to have been ‘overcome by lust for gold’ in deserting his legitimate sovereign, Robert earl of Normandy, to support William Rufus, who is described as seductor maximus (‘greatest corrupter’). 148  Nancy F. Partner, Serious Entertainments. The Writing of History in Twelfth-Century England (Chicago, 1977). 149  London, BL MS Cotton Cleopatra A I (Chronicle of Furness Abbey), is discussed in detail below, pp. lxvi–lxviii. For the historical background to Edward I’s claim to sovereignty over Scotland, see Edward I and the Throne of Scotland 1290–1296: An Edition of the Record Sources for the Great Cause, eds E. L. G. Stones and Grant G. Simpson, 2 vols (Oxford, 1978), chp. vi, pp. 137–62. 145 

liii

Introduction

as a text quoted in the Polychronicon, the universal chronicle of Ranulf Higden, monk of the Benedictine abbey of St Werburgh, Chester. Higden’s use of Alfred, however, differs markedly from that of the Furness compiler. The latter simply copied out large portions of Alfred’s text, without attribution, to form the bulk of the chronicle’s narrative down to 1135. Higden, by contrast, names Alfred in a prefatory list of authorities used to compile his encyclopaedic enterprise, and cites and attributes specific items of content to him on numerous occasions within the chronicle itself.

Ranulf Higden’s Polychronicon The Polychronicon, a universal chronicle in seven books, recounting the history of the world from the Creation down to Higden’s own days, exists in three versions. The first of these brought the text down to 1327. Higden revised and updated the chronicle as new material became available to him and an intermediate version, the text ending in the 1340s, and a fuller version, extending to 1352, also exist.150 The first book, entitled the Mappa Mundi, provides a geographic description of the world, with the remaining six books recording the history of mankind. In the later recensions of the chronicle, Higden added a map.151 The large number of surviving manuscripts of the Polychronicon from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries – some one hundred and nineteen full, and eight partial copies of the chronicle from that time are extant152 – suggests that many hundreds of copies once circulated across a wide cross-section of late medieval ecclesiastical society.153 Higden’s chronicle achieved such widespread popularity in the fourteenth century that John Taylor claimed that it effectively ‘ended the demand for copies of the early histories, and, in the second half of the fourteenth century, history was written as a continuation of the Polychronicon’.154 Alfred is one of the principal Insular authorities quoted in the chronicle, cited some forty-four times;155 and following the success of the Polychronicon, he is regularly acknowledged in the Insular historical and bibliographic sources.156 A preliminary survey has identified some seventeen chronicles, local histories, See John Taylor, The Universal Chronicle of Ranulf Higden (Oxford, 1966), pp. 89–109, for the development of the text. 151  Eight surviving manuscripts contain maps, the most detailed of which is London, BL MS Royal 14 C ix. 152  Taylor, Universal Chronicle, pp. 152–159, lists the surviving manuscripts and their provenance. 153  HWE, ii. p. 55, provides an extensive list of monastic institutions and cathedrals owning copies of the chronicle in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. 154  Taylor, Universal Chronicle, p. 28. 155  This number is based on citations of Alfred contained in the printed text of the Rolls Series edition. 156  The principal Insular authorities quoted in the Polychronicon are William of Malmesbury (166), Bede (135), Henry of Huntingdon (49), Geoffrey of Monmouth (46), Alfred of Beverley (44) and John of Worcester (39). 150 

liv

Introduction

topographies and bibliographic surveys which quote or reference him, from John of Tynemouth’s Historia Aurea (c.1350) to William Camden’s Remaines of a Greater Worke Concerning Britain (1605).157 Tudor and Elizabethan antiquaries and bibliographers such as John Leland, John Bale and John Jocelyn report Alfred in their surveys and catalogues of medieval historical writers. Bibliophiles such as Nicholas Brigham (d.1558), William Claxton of Durham (d.1596) and John Nettleton (d.1597) owned copies of the History158 and shared information on Alfred, attesting the considerable interest in him at the time.159 Camden’s Remaines of a Greater Worke quotes Alfred early in the text as follows: … and therefore I will bring you in some poets, to speak in this behalfe for me and will beginne with old Alfred of Beverley, who made this for Britaine in general, which you must not read with a censorious eye: for it is, as the rest I will cite, of the middle age, having heretofore used all of more ancient and better times in another work. But thus said he of Britain. Insula praedives quae toto vix eget orbe Et cujus totus indiget orbis ope. Insula praedives, cujus miretur, et optet, Delicias Salomon, Octavianus opes.160 These lines of verse in praise of Britain are attributed to Alfred of Beverley by Ranulf Higden in the Polychronicon,161 but they are not found in any of the surviving witnesses of the History, suggesting that Camden, as with many other See HWAB, pp. 264–85 for the survey. Works identified include: Malmesbury Abbey’s Eulogium Historiarum sive temporis (c.1366), John Trevisa, Polychronicon (English translation, 1387), John of Brompton, Chronicle (c.1452), Thomas Rudborne, Historia Major Ecclesia Wintoniensis (c.1454), Chronicle of Hyde Abbey (c.1450?), William Caxton, Descripcion of Brytayne (1480), John Rous, Historia Regum Anglie (c.1480 x 86), Robert Fabyan, New Chronicles of England and France (1504), Henry Bradshaw, Life of St Werburgh (c.1513), John Leland, Assertio Inclytissimi Arturi Regis Britanniae (1544), John Bale, Illustrium Majoris Britanniae Scriptorum (1548), John Price, Historiae Britannicae Defensio (before 1573), William Lambarde, Perambulation of Kent (1576), John Jocelyn (d. 1603), Nomina eorum, qui scripserunt historiam gentis Anglorum, John Stow, Annales of England (1593) and A Survey of London (1598), William Harrison’s Historical Description of the Island of Britain (1576) in Hollinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland (1580). 158  John Bale’s Index Britanniae Scriptorum identifies Nicholas Brigham as the owner of a copy of Alfred’s History. See Index Britanniae Scriptorum, ed. R. L. Poole and M. Bateson, with an introduction by Caroline Brett and James P. Carley (Woodbridge, 1999), p. xx. John Jocelyn’s catalogue of manuscripts in private hands entitled Nomina eorum, qui scripserunt historiam gentis Anglorum, drawn up when he was head of Archbishop Mathew Parker’s (1504–74) writing office, identifies John Nettleton of the East Riding as another owner (HWAB, p. 280). 159  For correspondence between William Claxton and John Stow concerning Alfred of Beverley, see A. I. Doyle, ‘William Claxton and the Durham Chronicles’ in Books and Collectors 1200–1700. Essays Presented to Andrew Watson, eds J. P. Carley and C. G. C. Tite (London, 1997), pp. 335–55 at p. 337. 160  William Camden, The Remains Concerning Britain, ed. R. D. Dunn (London, 1984), p. 9. 161  Polychron, vol. ii. bk i. ch. xli, p. 20. 157 

lv

Introduction

historical writers who quote Alfred, knew his work only indirectly, through the Polychronicon.162 Higden’s handling of Alfred in the Polychronicon is therefore now briefly reviewed.163

Alfred in the Polychronicon Three features of Higden’s reception of Alfred are of particular interest: first, the importance of the History as a source for Higden’s ‘description of Britain’ in the opening book of the Polychronicon; second, Higden’s periodisation of Britain’s history in the chronicle, which largely adopts Alfred’s; third, Higden’s reception of Geoffrey of Monmouth in the Polychronicon, which appears to have been significantly influenced by his readings from Alfred. Twenty-two of the sixty chapters of the opening book of the Polychronicon (Higden’s Mappa Mundi) are devoted to a geo-historical description of England – a section of the chronicle proving to be of particular interest to medieval readers.164 The survey consists of some nineteen descriptive elements: from the threefold naming of Britain – first Albion, then Britain, named eponymously after its founder, Brutus, then named Anglia by the English – to the enumeration of the distinct periods of its history. Alfred is quoted for fifteen of these descriptive elements – more than any other Insular authority – and for several he is the chief source: Britain or Anglia as another world, why Britain is called an island, the marvels and mirabilia of Britain, its famous rivers, its shires and provinces, the establishment of the seven Saxon kingdoms and its bishoprics. For the description of the distinct periods of Britain’s history, narrated in a chapter entitled De regnis regnorumque limitibus,165 Higden begins by citing Alfred before providing a sequence of historical periods which closely follow the status and chapters of Alfred’s History: Brutus to Julius Caesar; Caesar to Severus; The lines of verse attributed to Alfred in the Polychronicon immediately follow fourteen lines of hexameter verse in praise of Britain attributed by Higden to Henry of Huntingdon. The verse which Higden attributes to Alfred contains two opening lines not included by Camden in his quotation above: ‘Illa quidem longe celebri splendore beata/Glebis, lacte, favis supereminet insula cunctis’. These two lines, however, form the opening lines of Henry of Huntingdon’s poem in praise of Britain included in his prefatory description of Britain (HA, i. 6. p. 20), which suggests either that Higden had misquoted Alfred (for Higden’s habit of misquoting frequently see Polychron, vol. i. pp. xl–xli) or that the verse was indeed contained in the copy of Alfred’s History which Higden had to hand. Given Alfred’s frequent borrowings from the HA, this possibility cannot be ruled out. See Diana Greenway’s commentary on this poem of Henry’s and the partial state of the poem’s survival (HA, i. 6. p. 20, note 27). The lines of verse which Higden attributes to Henry and Alfred appear, therefore, as if they might supply additional lines of the poem. Henry’s poem in praise of Britain as part of a rhetorical genre of medieval Latin poetry known as De Laudibus Urbium, and which Henry was familiar with through his teacher Albinus of Angers, is discussed by Greenway (HA, p. cix). 163  HWAB, pp. 274–75, 278–79. Only John Leland and William Lambarde provide good evidence of having detailed knowledge of the History in their commentaries. 164  Taylor, Universal Chronicle, p. 58. 165  Polychron, vol. ii. bk i. ch. li, pp. 96–98. 162 

lvi

Introduction

Severus to Gratian; Britain defenceless against the Picts and Scots following its abandonment by the Romans; the invitation of the Saxons leading to the migration of the Britons under Kareticus to Wales; the unification of the English heptarchic kingdoms under King Æthelstan; the Danish invasions; the reigns of the English kings Edward the Confessor and Harold, and the rule of the Norman kings. Further indebtedness to Alfred in this section of the chronicle is evident in Higden’s naming of the Flemings as one of the seven peoples who have inhabited Britain, taking over Alfred’s description of the Flemings as a nascent sixth people of Britain, but adding the Danes to Alfred’s list.166 In reporting Britain’s ancient cities, while Higden cites Bede first as his authority, it is to Alfred that he turns to supply their names. Geoffrey of Monmouth is also an important Insular authority for Higden, quoted on some forty-six occasions in the chronicle, but often (21 times), Alfred is cited immediately after Geoffrey – Guafridus et Alfridus. Higden, like Alfred before him, is ambivalent in his handling of Geoffrey. For the most part he reports Geoffrey at face value, but on occasion he expresses concern about the veracity of the account. On two occasions, his concerns echo those of Alfred in the History. In chapter one, book five of the chronicle, Higden refers to Geoffrey’s History in Alfredian terms as the British Book and states that he will not report the tales of sleeping dragons, a collapsing tower and obscure prophecy because of their lack of credibility – criticism that recalls Alfred’s principle of reporting only material from Geoffrey quae fidem non excederent.167 On a second occasion, reflecting on the deeds of King Arthur, Higden asks: About this Arthur, whom amongst all the chroniclers only Geoffrey so extolls and many men marvel how the things that are said about could be true. For had he gained thirty kingdoms, as Geoffrey writes, and if he had conquered the king of France and if he had killed Lucius the Roman procurator in Italy why did all the Roman, French and German historians overlook so many great deeds of such a great man while recounting so many minor deeds of lesser men?168 Higden’s challenge here mirrors that of Alfred at the conclusion of chapter five of the History. His doubts about the veracity of Geoffrey’s account, which appear to have been influenced by Alfred (at least in part, for Higden also knew William of Newburgh’s criticisms of Geoffrey), suggest that his many citations of Alfred 166  167  168 

Polychron, vol. ii. bk i. ch. lviii, p. 152. Polychron, vol. v. bk v. ch. I, p. 278: ‘in solo libro Britannico continentur’. Polychron, vol. v. bk v. ch. vi, p. 334.

lvii

Introduction

alongside Geoffrey in the Polychronicon served as a form of corroboration, or authority, for material taken from Geoffrey. Higden, it appears, placed considerable store on Alfred’s reliability as a historical authority.

Vernacular Translation of the Polychronicon The appeal of the Polychronicon is attested by the demand for vernacular versions of the work, the most prominent being the translation of John Trevisa (c.1342–d. before 1402) completed in 1387. Trevisa’s translation survives in at least fourteen complete manuscripts, which, considering the wide availability of the Latin original and the expense of producing such a large work, testifies to the interest and demand which must have existed for it.169 A characteristic of Trevisa’s translation of the Polychronicon is his occasional interjection of forthright personal opinion. Alfred of Beverley incurs Trevisa’s displeasure for failing to include Cornwall in his list of the thirty-five shires of England (Trevisa was a Cornishman). Trevisa adds an extensive gloss to his translation pointing out the reasons why Cornwall is a shire of England, ending with the comment: ‘If Alfrede saiþ nay in þat, he wot nougt what he maketh’.170

William Caxton, Descripcion of Britayne Amongst William Caxton’s (c.1415 x 1424–1492) first printed works in English after his return to England from the continent in c.1476 were books of history and historical geography. In 1480 he printed The Chronicles of England – a version of the Brut – and in August of that year he published a geo-historical survey of the British Isles in twenty-nine chapters, the Descripcion of Britayne.171 This consisted of selected passages of Trevisa’s 1387 translation of the geographic material contained in book one of the Polychronicon, and Alfred is an authority quoted for many of the descriptive elements in its pages. Included were: Britain as a second world; the length of Britain from Penwithstreet to Caithness; Britain’s selfsufficiency in all materials necessary for life; the marvels and wonders of Britain (Plate 2); Britain’s ancient cities and towns; Britain’s provinces and shires; Alfred’s omission of Cornwall as a shire; Kent as the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom; and the Danes’ harrying of England for two hundred years. In chapter twelve, Britain’s Kingdoms and their Boundaries and Limits, Caxton reproduced Trevisa’s translation of De regnis regnorumque limitibus A. S. G. Edwards, ‘The Influence and Audience of the Polychronicon: Some Observations’, Proceedings of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, 17, 6 (1978–81), pp. 113–19 at p. 113. For the list of manuscripts, see p. 117, note 2. 170  Polychron, vol. ii. L. p. 91. 171  For a modern English version of the Descripcion, see Marie Collins, Caxton. The Description of Britain. A Modern Rendering (London, 1988). 169 

lviii

Introduction

Plate 2  William Caxton, Descripcion of Britayne (1480), Chapter 4 (‘Marvels and Wonders’)

lix

Introduction

from the Polychronicon which took over Alfred’s periodisation of Britain’s early history, including his idea that the establishment of a unitary monarchy of England began with the rule of King Æthelstan. The Flemings as the seventh of the peoples to have inhabited Britain – an Alfred-derived idea via Higden – is also recycled. In 1482 Caxton printed Trevisa’s translation of the Polychronicon in full, and, in so doing, Alfred’s reputation as an authority on the historical geography of Britain and his historical ideas passed further into Tudor and Elizabethan historiography.

Manuscripts The surviving manuscripts of the History are listed in Figure 3, below. No manuscript preserves a complete version of the History and the earliest witness (no. 3) dates from some one hundred and fifty years after the work was compiled in Beverley. The text of the present edition has been prepared by the collation of the first four listed witnesses.

i. Oxford, Bodleian MS Rawlinson B 200 It is from this one manuscript, dated to the later fourteenth-century,172 owned by the book collector Thomas Rawlinson and loaned to Thomas Hearne, that the 1716 edition of the History was printed. Bodleian MS Rawlinson B 200 (hereafter Rawlinson B 200) is believed to have originally formed one volume with Bodleian MS Rawlinson C 162 and Bodleian MS Rawlinson B 199.173 The manuscript, which takes the history down to 1129, ending with the word acceperat is believed to have been commissioned by John de Newton, bibliophile and treasurer of York Minster (1393–1414). De Newton’s will tells us that three historical tracts of Bede, William of Malmesbury and Alfred of Beverley, in one volume, were among a very large collection of books bequeathed to the chapter of the metropolitan church of York for the purpose of establishing a library. Item librum Bedae de gestis Anglorum, Alfridi Beverlac et Willielmi Malmesburiensis de Pontificibus en uno volumine.174 Rebinding into separate volumes is believed to have been undertaken by Thomas Rawlinson175 and this is supported in correspondence between Hearne and Ker, MLGB, p. 216. Ibid., note 2. 174  Testamenta Eboracensia or Wills Registered at York, Part I, Surtees Society (London, 1836), p. 366. 175  J. B. Friedman, Northern English Books, Owners and Makers in the Late Middle Ages (Syracuse, 1995), p. 114. 172  173 

lx

Introduction

Plate 3  Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson B 200 f. 1

lxi

Oxford, Bodleian MS Rawlinson B 200

Aberystwyth, NLW Peniarth MS 384

London, BL Cotton Cleopatra A I. f. 7 r–f. 115 v

Paris, BnF MS Lat. 4126. f. 242 v–f. 252 r

Aberystwyth, NLW MS Wynnstay 11. f. 138 v–f. 280 v

London, BL MS Harley 1018 art. I

1

2

3

4

5

6

Manuscript

A transcript of NLW MS Wynnstay 11 written by John Morgan, clerk, in 1690. Contains the history of Alfred of Beverley to 1135 (f. 1 r–f. 71 r), the prologue to Robert of Torigni’s Chronicle (f. 72 r–f. 73 r), and Henry of Huntingdon’s Letter to Warin the Breton (f. 73 r–f. 77 v). The history is followed by the statement ‘written by me, John Morgan, clericus AD 1690’. On f. 44 v is written ‘Guilielmi Mauritius Lansilinensis liber Anno Domini 1660’, which is found at the same point in the narrative in NLW MS Wynnstay 11, on f. 22 v.

A copy made by William Maurice of Llansilin between 1661 and 1663 of NLW Peniarth MS 384, amongst other copied tracts.

Two-part volume extended by Robert Populton, prior of the Carmelite priory of Hulne (Northumberland), containing chapter nine of Alfred’s History and marginal notes on the history of Geoffrey of Monmouth quoting Alfred.

Early part (to 1135) of a compilation from Furness Abbey containing a history of Britain from Brutus to 1298, preserving the greater part of Alfred of Beverley’s History.

Close relation to (possible direct copy of) Oxford, Bodleian MS Rawlinson B 200 and possibly ex libris Jervaulx Abbey.

Commissioned by Henry de Newton, treasurer of York Minster (1393–1414). Thomas Hearne 1716 edition printed from this MS.

Summary Description

Figure 3  List of Surviving Manuscripts

xvii2

xvii2

xiv1/2

xiii/xiv

xv1

xiv2

Roman numerals = century. Superscript numbers: 1 = first half 2 = second half 1/2 = mid-point

Date

A fifteenth century collection of five items. One, occupying f. 73 v–f. 125 r, bears the rubric, ‘Godfridi Malmesburiensis a Saxonicum adventum.’ Contains books vi–ix of Alfred’s History, with the text continuing to 1129 and ending at the word ‘acceperat.’

xv1

xvi

xvii

xvii2

1  The Western Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge. A Descriptive Catalogue, ed. M. R. James, vol. ii (Cambridge, 1901), no 1156, Aluredus Beverlacensis, p. 169.

10 London, BL MS Cotton Vespasian D IV

London, BL MS A miscellany of chronicle excerpts. Folios 18 r–19 v contain notes made by William Cotton Vespasian A V Lambarde (d. 1601) from a copy of Alfred of Beverley’s History owned by William Darrell, canon of Canterbury. The notes are taken from all sections of the History and dated 1568.

9

This partial transcript of Alfred’s History is one of a collection of five hundred volumes bequeathed in 1738 by Roger Gale, antiquary (d. 1744), to Trinity College Cambridge. The transcript omits the first five chapters of the History and the ninth, ending at the conclusion of chapter eight with the death of King Harold and accession of King William. The text of the transcript is as preserved in Bodleian MS Rawlinson B 200 and NLW Peniarth. The Trinity College Library Descriptive Catalogue entry for the MS erroneously states: ‘The last extract is on the Roman invasion, ending non deum volentem iniquitatem’.1 It is the Norman invasion that is referred to, not the Roman.

Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.52

8

A bound volume of 170 folios, consisting of the History of Alfred of Beverley to 1135, the prologue to Robert of Torigni’s Chronicle, Henry of Huntingdon’s Letter to Warin the Breton, and Nennius’s Historia Britonum. This MS appears closely related to NLW MS Wynnstay 11 in its presentation, including its subheadings and underlining of sections of text. It may have been owned by Thomas Martin of Palgrave (1697–1771).

Glasgow University Library, MS Hunter 318

7

Introduction

Rawlinson. Hearne wrote to Rawlinson on 12 February 1716, saying: ‘I take great care of your M.S. of Aluredus Beverlacenis which you have bound very finely … You insinuated that Aluredus hath been printed already. If so, I will not undertake him. But perhaps you may be mistaken’.176 Rawlinson B 200 is written on vellum and consists of thirty-eight folios. Pages measure 30 x 22 cms, text written in two columns of 7 x 21 cms, 48 lines per column. The introductory rubric is in red ink and page numbers are marked in blue. The manuscript is written in a clear hand and appears to be the work of one scribe, but the spelling of names and places is often faulty and important errors of dating are evident. In the preface to his 1716 edition, Thomas Hearne describes the scribe as wholly ignorant of the Latin language and likely to have copied under dictation.177 The disfigurement of the names of persons and places in the manuscript was noted both by T. D. Hardy178 and, earlier, by Henry Petrie.179 Numerous instances (45) of marginal or interlineal corrections to the text in later hands indicate correction against another witness of the History.

ii. Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales MS Peniarth 384 Formerly Hengwrt 145, and dated to the first half of the fifteenth century,180 this manuscript is so closely related to Rawlinson B 200, that it is either a direct copy or has been copied from the same exemplar used in the copying of the latter. In its original form it preserves the identical text and all the faulty and inconsistent spelling of names and places contained in Rawlinson B 200 in addition to the latter’s dating errors. It also preserves all 197 Litterae Nobiliores which mark the paragraphing of Rawlinson B 200. At the top of folio 1, visible under ultraviolet light, is an erased inscription ‘liber de ….uall’, which suggests the book may have been in the ownership of the Cistercian abbey of Jervaulx.181 The exactness of match to Rawlinson B 200, in its early uncorrected state, suggests that the manuscript may also have originated in York. The manuscript, written on velum, consists of 62 pages, 22 x 170 cms, 31– 34 lines per page. As in Rawlinson B 200, the text ends in 1129 with the word acceperat. A hand of the second half of the fifteenth century, however, has added a Hearne’s Remarks and Collections, Oxford Historical Society, xi vols (Oxford, 1885–1921), vol. v, 1 December 1714–31 December 1716, ed. D. W. Rannie (Oxford, 1901), p. 172. 177  Hearne, ABA, Praefatio, pp. vii, x–xi. 178  DC, ii. p. 172. 179  Petrie, MHB, p. 28. 180  Unpublished Notes on Peniarth MS 384, National Library of Wales. I am indebted to Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan for having provided these detailed unpublished notes. 181  Ibid. 176 

lxiv

Introduction

Plate 4  Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, MS Peniarth 384 f. 122

lxv

Introduction

continuation to the death of Henry I in 1135 (Plate 4). The continuation is printed in Hardy’s Descriptive Catalogue.182 The continuation, with annals from 1130 to 1135, supplies the same text as is found in BL Cotton Cleopatra and BnF MS Lat 4126, lacking only (in the annal for 1133) the information that Henry I granted the newly formed bishopric of Carlisle to Aduulpho (Æthelwulf). At the foot of f. 61 v is a note stating that the manuscript was transcribed in 1663 by William Maurice of Llansilin. This transcription is contained in NLW Wynnstay MS 11, f. 138 v–f. 280 v. On f. 62 is copied the article on Alfred of Beverley from John Bale’s Illustriam (1548). This is written in a fifteenth-century hand, possibly that of Nicholas Brigham (d. 1558), who, according to Bale, had a copy of Alfred of Beverley.183

iii. London, British Library MS Cotton Cleopatra A I This manuscript, considered by T. D. Hardy to have been compiled by a monk of the Cistercian abbey of Furness, provides a history of Britain from Brutus down to 1298.184 It is an octavo volume of 213 leaves, written in double columns on parchment, and was formerly in the ownership of Archbishop Ussher – as evidenced by a note located on the fly-leaf, stating ‘Cottonianae Bibliotechae donavit Jacobus Usserius Armachanus’. Folios 173 v–207 v have been printed in ‘A Continuation of the Historia Rerum Anglicarum of William of Newburgh to the Year 1298’ in vol. ii of Chronicles of the Reigns of Stephen, Henry II and Richard I, ed. Richard Howlett (RS 1885), pp. 503–83. The volume appears to have been compiled shortly after 1298, following Edward I’s appeal to the monasteries of England to provide chronicle evidence relevant to his claim to the overlordship of Scotland.185 Folios 4 r–115 v of the manuscript are compiled from a patchwork of sources, giving the volume the character of a historical archive, but the greater part of the compilation contains the History of Alfred of Beverley, which it takes down to the death of Henry I in 1135.186 Across the bottom margins of f. 20 r–f. 20 v are written the words Elfredus Cronica in a later hand. The text of Alfred’s History preserved in the manuscript is incomplete. No opening and closing rubrics are preserved, much of the prologue is omitted and

DC, ii. p. 171. Unpublished Notes on Peniarth MS 384, National Library of Wales. 184  DC, iii, pp. 258–59. 185  See Edward I and the Throne of Scotland 1290–1296, ii. pp. 142–45.. 186  Authorities named and/or quoted include William of Newburgh, Nennius, Martinus Polonius, Henry of Huntingdon, Geoffrey of Monmouth, William of Malmesbury and Richard of Devizes. 182  183 

lxvi

Introduction

Plate 5  London, British Library, MS Cotton Cleopatra A I f. 20 v

lxvii

Introduction

the prefatory description of Britain is absent. Passages where Alfred questions the veracity of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History are also omitted, but, in general, this preserves a superior text of Alfred’s History to that contained in either Rawlinson B 200 or NLW MS Peniarth 384 (hereafter Peniarth 384). The spelling of names and places is truer and the dating of events is more accurate. In chapters six and nine, the text supplies fuller excerpts from the author’s sources than does either Rawlinson MS B 200 or Peniarth MS 384. Two further distinguishing characteristics mark MS Cotton Cleopatra A I. First, the manner of presenting summarising king lists differs from the Rawlinson and Peniarth manuscripts. In those witnesses, summary lists of kings are given at the ending of chapters 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8. In chapter six, king lists follow the account of each of the seven heptarchic kingdoms narrated in the chapter. MS Cotton Cleopatra A I supplies no king lists to conclude these chapters. Instead, it gathers up all 132 listed kings and presents them in a dedicated section inserted between chapters eight and nine of the history contained in f. 94 v–f. 97 v of the manuscript. The gathering up and presentation of the summary king lists in such a dedicated section has, again, the character of compiling a historical research archive consistent with the volume’s seeming purpose. In the same section of text there occurs a second important difference between the manuscript witnesses. An excursus on the earls of Northumbria, describing the line of sixteen earls from the first earl, Osulf, to the last, Robert de Mobray, is located here (f. 94 v–f. 95 v). In Rawlinson MS B 200 and Peniarth MS 384 the excursus is located in chapter nine of the history, in the year 1072.

iv. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France MS Latin 4126187 This manuscript consists of a miscellany of geographical, historical and biblical m aterial, with the hands of several scribes of the earlier to later fourteenth century evident. The name of the Carmelite Robert Populton, prior of Hulne, Northumberland, in 1364, appears at several points in the margins of the manuscript. On f. 211 v appears Ora pro Popilton qui me compilavit Eboraci. From f. 242 v–f. 252 r, commencing with the words Incipiunt excerpta de gestis regum Normannorum in Anglia secundum Alfridum Beverlacensum, chapter nine of Alfred’s History is preserved, ending in 1135 at the death of Henry I, in similar manner to BL MS Cotton Cleopatra A I. In common with the latter Paris, BnF MS Latin 4126 is further considered in DC, ii. pp. 170–71. Julia C. Crick, The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth, III. A Summary Catalogue of the Manuscripts, pp. 256– 61. The Friars’ Libraries, ed. K. W. Humphreys, CBMLC (London, 1990), p. xxviii, pp. 159–60. Jacob Hammer, ‘Note on a manuscript of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae’, Philological Quarterly 12 (1933), pp. 225–234. 187 

lxviii

Introduction

manuscript, the chapter does not contain the excursus on the Northumbrian earls at the year 1072. BnF MS Lat. 4126 appears to be a two-stage compilation in which Populton has extended an existing historical collection dating from the earlier fourteenth century.188 The date of Populton’s birth is noted in a library catalogue of Hulne compiled that year and contained in the cartulary of the convent, BL MS Harley 3897, which also notes that Robert died in 1368.189 The manuscript shows evidence of original careful planning, and use of the resources of the York Austin Friars library in York is indicated. Twelve of the items in the manuscript are found in the Austin convent’s collection, which was probably the source of Populton’s copies.190 Material of historical interest in the manuscript, in addition to Alfred of Beverley, includes extracts from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s HRB, and Henry of Huntingdon’s HA. In the section of the manuscript containing the HRB content (f. 134 v–f. 211 v), there is considerable marginal commentary, where passages from the collations in Alfred’s History are used to corroborate Geoffrey’s account. Jacob Hammer described this as demonstrating ‘the critical spirit of a later age’.191 At the end of the HRB extracts, in a concluding summary (f. 212 r–f. 212 v), Alfred’s division of the HRB into its five distinct historical status is used as a chronological reference point in the margin, for the reader. This is followed by borrowing a thirteen-line passage from the opening of chapter six of the History, commencing with the words ‘Finito regno Britonum’ and ending ‘Reges habere coeperunt’. This, and Populton’s marginal notes, indicate familiarity with Alfred’s entire compilation, not just its final book.

v. The relationship of the manuscripts Sufficient differences exist between manuscript witnesses MS Rawlinson B 200 and MS Peniarth MS 384 on the one hand (sigla R and P) and MS Cotton Cleopatra A I and BnF MS Lat. 4126 (sigla C and L) on the other, to suggest that both pairs of witnesses derive from different archetypes of Alfred’s History, of which no witnesses survive. What may be inferred of the relationship of the manuscripts is therefore tentatively proposed in Figure 4.

188  189  190  191 

Crick, Summary Catalogue, p. 261. Humphreys, Friars’ Libraries, p. 160. Ibid., p. xxviii. Hammer, ‘Note on a manuscript’, p. 230.

lxix

Introduction

Figure 4  The Relationship of the Manuscripts Alfred’s Autograph Beverley c.1151

C = L = R = P =

BL MS Cotton Cleopatra A I BnF Latin MS 4126 Bodleian MS Rawlinson B 200 NLW Peniarth MS 384

W = NLW MS Wynnstay 11 H 1 = BL MS Harley 1018 art. I H 2 = Glasgow University Library, MS Hunter 318

Historical Place, Purpose & Value The circumstances giving rise to the History have been discussed. From Alfred’s prologue comments it appears that his original intention – to occupy his idle hours by critically abbreviating Geoffrey of Monmouth’s British history, excerpting only those elements quae fidem non excederent, soon developed into a more ambitious plan. This was to provide an account which integrated Geoffrey’s history within an existing understanding of the island’s past, gathering together the various accounts ‘scattered here and there in the writings of several different authors’, to produce a concise historical handbook. Alfred tells us in the prologue that he intended to do this by providing a series of self-contained chapters, each narrating a distinct period in the island’s history. By collecting the deeds of the English, British and lxx

Introduction

Norman kings narrated in diverse sources, a comprehensive account, speaking for all the island’s peoples, could thus be usefully constructed. This assimilative purpose has much in common with Anglo-Norman historical narratives of the first half of the twelfth century which sought to systematize the materials for early Insular history.192 In particular, it places Alfred’s History close to Henry of Huntingdon’s HA – his indebtedness to whom has been earlier discussed.193 Diana Greenway has drawn attention to the fact that Bishop Alexander of Lincoln, who commissioned Henry to write his history, was interested in cross-cultural understanding and had asked Henry to produce an account which abbreviated existing histories of England into a simple, approachable, handbook.194 Alfred’s compilation, although a much more modest enterprise, shared very similar historical objectives. From the structure of the History, its narrative arrangement, content and tone of voice, we can reasonably draw conclusions about its purpose and audience. The prologues and epilogues of each of the chapters,195 providing summarising commentary and reminding readers what has been and what is about to be narrated, suggest a work with pedagogic intent, and to be read serially – to be put down and picked up again. Only two chapters exceed eight thousand words,196 and the clear Latin sentence structure and strong storyline also suggest that reading at mealtime sittings in the communal refectory, then a constituent part of the church of Beverley, were intended.197 The primary audience of the text was, almost certainly, the community of the church of Beverley: the canons, church dignitaries and their clerks and visiting clergy, many of whom were probably, as Alfred, family men.198 The strongly secular The assimilative interest of English Benedictine communities in particular during the period 1090– 1130 in collecting, sifting and organising historical evidence from the past in order to understand the present, is discussed by Sir Richard Southern in ‘Aspects of the European Tradition of Historical Writing: iv. The sense of the Past’, TRHS, Fifth Series, 23 (1973), pp. 243–63. See also Brett, John of Worcester, pp. 101–26. For interest in collecting historical information on the Britons at that time, see Leckie, Passage of Dominion, pp. 18–19. 193  HA, Prologue, p. 7. Henry’s expression of high-principled ‘moral’ intent and purpose for his history, hoping that it will make the ‘attentive reader’ a better person and lead him back to moral purity, suggests he was writing for an elite readership group, an audience much different from that of Alfred. 194  HA, p. lviii. 195  Most chapters contain brief prologues and epilogues. Chapter nine concludes abruptly, without an epilogue. Chapter two opens with an important prologue and chapter five concludes with an important epilogue. 196  Chapters 6 and 9. 197  See p. xxiii, above, for the collegiate and communal character of the church of Beverley. For the practice of medieval refectory reading, albeit in a monastic setting, see Theresa Webber, ‘Reading in the refectory. Monastic Practice in England, c.1000–c.1300’, London University Annual John Coffin Memorial Palaeography Lecture, 18 February 2010. 198  The incidence of clerical marriage in the upper ranks of the English church at the time is discussed in C. N. L. Brooke ‘Gregorian Reform in Action: Clerical Marriage in England, 1050–1200,’ The Cambridge Historical Journal (1956), vol. xxii, no. 1, pp. 1–21. 192 

lxxi

Introduction

character of the narrative, its interest in narrative storytelling, and the concise, uncomplicated Latin sentences, suggest also that the audience of the work may even have extended to Latinate members of the local aristocracy. Alfred’s awareness of his audience is revealed in both his prologue comments, which suggested that his Beverley colleagues themselves were his ‘patron’, encouraging him to undertake the History, and also in the lesser-noted comments with which he draws chapter five to a close.199 If, in its assimilative character, the History looks back to the earlier Insular twelfth-century historical texts, it also provides evidence of what Bernard Guenée has described as a shift from eloquent to erudite and scholarly historiography which occurred in the course of the twelfth century: history, as Guenée puts it, written by the technician, rather than by the rhetor.200 This is evident in Alfred’s tightly organised narrative, with its sparing use of rhetorical embellishment. It is evident also in the close attention paid to source criticism, seen particularly in the first five chapters of the History, where the integration of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s history has required frequent collation of Geoffrey’s account with that of historical authority to assess its veracity. Such diligent efforts bear the hallmark of the historical technician, much more than they do the elegant rhetor. Guenée has argued that a move to erudite rather than eloquent historiography during the course of the twelfth century was largely due to the influence of Hugh of St Victor’s manual for historians, De Tribus Maximus Circumstanciis Gestorum (c.1130).201 Alfred shows no sign of having studied this text, unlike the later Ralph de Diceto,202 but there are indications that he may have been familiar with Hugh’s works of theology and biblical exegesis. His use of the Latin word status (‘state’) to describe historical periods, dynasties and lines of kings in all chapters of the History, suggests this.203 Status is not a word used by any of Alfred’s principal historical sources to describe historical periods. It is a word, however, encountered in biblical exegesis and works of theology in such a manner. In the theological and mystical writings of Hugh, for example, the term status is frequently used to denote the spiritual state or condition of man, but set in a historical context.204 HAB, v. p. 85. Bernard Guenée, ‘L’histoire entre l’éloquence et la science. Quelques remarques sur le prologue de Guillaume de Malmesbury à ses Gesta Regum Anglorum’, Comptes rendus des séances de l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1982), pp. 357–70, at p. 369. 201  Bernard Guenée, ‘Les premiers pas de L’histoire de L’historiographie en Occident au XIIe siècle’, Comptes rendus des séances de l’Acadèmie de Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 127e annèe N.1 (1983), pp. 136–52 at p. 152. See also Gransden, Prologues, p. 130. 202  Grover A. Zinn, Jr., ‘The Influence of Hugh of St Victor’s Chronicon on the Abbreviationes Chronicorum by Ralph of Diceto’ Speculum, 52, 1 (January 1977), pp. 38–61. Julian Harrison, ‘The English Reception of Hugh of Saint-Victor’s Chronicle,’ Electronic British Library Journal (2002), Article 1, pp. 1–33 at pp. 25–28. 203  The term status is used on twenty-two occasions in the compilation. 204  A search of Hugh’s works in the Patrologia Latina online database (vols 175 and 176) has retrieved over 100 uses of the term status in its various Latin cases. Hugh’s historical thinking as applied to the 199  200 

lxxii

Introduction

In his major work, De Sacramentis Christianae Fidei (c.1134), a work planned on historical rather than theological lines,205 Hugh describes three ‘states’ of man: De Tribus Statibus Hominis – man in a state before sin, man in a state after sin, and man in a state after the resurrection from the dead, when he will be freed from sin.206 Mankind is thus seen by Hugh as a participant in an inexorable process of historical development from Creation to salvation. In his mystical work De Arca Noe Morali, the same historical periodising use of the term status is evident.207 The ark, representing the church, is described as containing five rooms, quinque mansiones or quinque status (‘five states’), each representing a higher stage of mankind in a salvationist ascent towards God.208 Alfred’s use of the term status as a central periodising concept in the History suggests, therefore, an author versed in the study of the bible, whose title of magister was likely to have been earned in this field – and this is indeed how he is remembered in the later sources. The rubricator of the late fourteenth-century Liberties of Beverley describes him as Scripturarum studiousus indagator (‘ardent student of the scriptures’).209 In hagiographical literature he is described as ecclesiastica institutione sagax (‘wise in the laws of the church’).210 The evidence of an author attempting to apply ideas derived from a specialist branch of scholarship to historical writing does, therefore, lend further support for Guenée’s thesis of a general trend towards the writing of more erudite history in the course of the twelfth century. On the theme of learning and scholarship, the wide range of texts employed by the author in the making of the History is perhaps its first point of interest. For a northern institution with no other record of library, scriptoria or literary endeavour, it provides evidence of the regional spread of learning and literature at the time.211 Important texts of the time which Alfred does not appear to have study of the bible is discussed in R. W. Southern, ‘Aspects of the European Tradition of Historical Writing: 2. Hugh of St Victor and the Idea of Historical Development’, TRHS, Fifth Series, 21 (1971), pp. 159–79, at p. 166. 205  Beryl Smalley, The Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (Notre Dame, 1964), p. 90. 206  Hugh of St Victor, De Sacramentis fidei Christianae, PL, vol. 176, cap. X, col. 0269. 207  Hugh of St Victor, De Arca Noe Morali. PL, vol. 176, cap. IV. col. 0631c. 208  St Augustine, whose influence on Hugh was such that the latter was sometimes called Alter Augustinus (Hugh of St Victor. On the Sacraments of the Christian Faith, trans. Roy Deferrari (Ex Fontibus rev. edition, 2016), p. ix), uses the term status in a similar periodising manner. In his Enchiridion ad Laurentium (c.420), PL, vol. 40, cap. CXVIII, col. 0287, Augustine describes the four ‘states’ or ‘ages’ of men – status vel aetates hominis quatuor: ante legem, sub lege, sub gratia, et in pace. In his sermo LV De Obitu Valentini Episcopi Cartheginensis, PL, vol. 40, col. 1337, Augustine writes: sunt tres status ecclesiae: status videlicet poenitentiae, justiciae et gloriae […] in statu gloriae justum et sanctum educit Dominus in via mirablili et introducit eum in regnum Dei. 209  See above, p. xxvi. 210  See above, p. xxviii. 211  The evidence for books and learning at Beverley at the time is reviewed in The Libraries of Collegiate Churches, ed. James M. W. Willoughby, CBMLC 15, vol. i, Arundel to Sudbury (British Library, 2013), pp. 49–53.

lxxiii

Introduction

known – for example, William of Malmesbury’s GRA – are also a point of interest. However, it is Alfred’s handling of the texts he does consult which is of most importance. Alfred’s use of, in particular, Geoffrey of Monmouth’s HRB, Henry of Huntingdon’s HA, the Worcester Chronicle and the Durham Historia Regum, discussed above, casts important light on the transmission and reception of these primary texts in Anglo-Norman historical writing at a midway point in the twelfth century. The collaborative culture of Insular historical writing in the first half of the twelfth century – described as akin to ‘historical workshops’ by Martin Brett212 and, more recently, by David Rollason213 – is brought sharply into focus in Alfred’s History. In its use of a number of these texts at various stages of their elaboration and transmission, the History can justifiably be seen as both an outcome and a continuation of this collaborative endeavour. Just under ninety percent of the History was compiled from the works of others, but, nonetheless, an independent narrative telling its own story of the island’s past was created. Borrowings in the History are not artless and haphazard, but woven together skilfully. Chapter six of the work illustrates this particularly clearly. Here the author juggles with the works of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Bede, Henry of Huntingdon, John of Worcester and Symeon of Durham to compose a chapter which contains two important turning points or ‘passages of dominion’ at its opening and ending, and which are central to the narrative plan of the History. The repackaging of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s history is innovative and the general handling of the work provides important evidence for the Insular reception of the HRB in its earliest years. The prefatory description of Britain and the historical periodisation set out in the compilation enjoyed a significant afterlife (pp. liii–lx). More decisively than other Anglo-Norman historical writers, Alfred identifies the monarchy of England as beginning with the rule of King Æthelstan, the opening of chapter eight of the History so attesting. The secular outlook of the work, and its circumspect reporting, most evident in the reception of the Durham Historia Regum, highlights widely different clerical mentalities of the time, and illustrates how writing history in and for different communities shaped its character. For an author whose work informs us that he was very probably a student of the scriptures, there is notably little interest shown in ecclesiastical matters in the text. On the evidence of the surviving manuscripts, the work appears to have been left unfinished – its final chapter has no concluding commentary, unlike all the other chapters. The final sections of the compilation give the appearance of an author anxious to conclude his work – for what reason we do not know. A long212  213 

Brett, John of Worcester, p. 124. Rollason, Twelfth-Century Historical Workshops, pp. 100–111.

lxxiv

Introduction

neglected historical compilation composed by a secular clerk in the East Riding of Yorkshire, widely judged in scholarship as ‘worthless’,214 ‘uninformative’,215 ‘of no real use to the historical student since it adds no new fact to the information to be found in well-known earlier authorities’,216 and whose author was both ‘a dullard’217 and a ‘would-be historian’218 is a work which certainly contains much of interest and historical value. It is a further example of the diversity and creativity of twelfth-century historical writing in England.

Editions i. Previous Edition Just one previous edition of the History exists, printed by Thomas Hearne in 1716 from a single incomplete manuscript – Oxford, Bodleian MS Rawlinson B 200 – lent to him by the book collector and antiquarian Thomas Rawlinson (1681–1725). The edition, entitled Aluredi Beverlacensis Annales, sive Historia de Gestis Regum Britanniae, libris IX, was published privately by Hearne, by means of the subscription of interested bibliophiles and antiquarians. The edition was printed almost entirely in Latin: text, preface, footnotes and footnote commentary, with only an advertisement promoting a forthcoming edition of Hearne appearing in English. That edition is more to be considered a printed version of the Rawlinson manuscript than a critical historical edition, as it offers little historical criticism and, in a number of ways, demonstrates poor understanding of the text.219 Entitling the edition Annales is not justified by the text’s content and organisation, and the alternative title suggested – sive Historia de Gestis Regum Britanniae – is equally misleading as the History extends well beyond the rule of the British kings to the time of Henry I. The naming of the chapters of the History as libris ignores the author’s chosen word, particula, to describe its chapters. The long preface to the edition considers only the Arthurian content of the History and, in particular, addresses a question topical in the day among antiquarians: which of the two authorities, Alfred of Beverley and Geoffrey of Monmouth, preceded whom? Hearne argues stridently that Geoffrey borrowed from Alfred, but only cursory reading of prologue would have informed him otherwise. Charles Gross, A Bibliography of English History to 1485, ed. E. B. Graves (Oxford, 1975), p. 405. John Taylor, Medieval Historical Writing in Yorkshire, Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, St Anthony’s Hall Publications 19 (York, 1961), p. 8. 216  Dictionary of National Biography, ed. L. Stephen and S. Lee, vol. i (Oxford, 1917), p. 285. 217  Tatlock, Legendary History, pp. 210–11. 218  HWE, i, p. 212. 219  Hearne regarded himself more as a printer and publisher of manuscripts than as a critical editor. See Hearne, Remarks and Collections, iii, p. 109; vii, p. 131. 214  215 

lxxv

Introduction

Textual footnotes in the edition address only issues of Latinity and orthography. Errors in the MS are printed in the edition, the error highlighted via footnote. Occasionally, this practice is reversed and a corrected word is substituted. So, for example, the MS pacis is printed for what should be paucis, the error footnoted (p. 148, note 1), but, shortly afterwards, MS complauit is corrected to complacuit (p. 151, note 2). Historical commentary is entirely lacking, with no attempt to identify the sources quoted by the author. Basic errors of chronology in the manuscript pass unremarked in the text. Thus, the first Danish raid on Lindisfarne is given as year 813 (p. 99, recte 793), the death of King Edgar as year 865 (p. 122, recte 875), and the death of kings Edward the Confessor and Harold, the battle of Hastings and the crowning of King William I as year 1065 (pp. 122, 126, recte 1066). Disfigured spelling of a number of prominent Anglo-Saxon kings of England in the MS is not commented on in the textual notes, viz. Edwinus (Edwius), Eadgar (Edgar), Agelard (Æthelred).

ii. This Edition The aim of this edition is to provide a text of the History as close as possible to the text which left Beverley in the early 1150s, recognising that, as the earliest surviving witnesses of the history date from about 150 years after the work’s compilation, recovery of the original text may never be fully achievable. Normal rules for constructing a critical edition are followed, preferring better readings where the base text is defective or corrupt. Significant textual variants are reported in the critical apparatus. Textual notes in the edition are intended to illustrate the process of text reconstruction. QUOTATIONS FROM SOURCES

Normal editorial practice is to italicise content reproduced from identified sources. As almost 90 percent of the text has been compiled by the present author from earlier works, and would thus appear italicised (and trying on the eye), the opposite practice has been adopted. The author’s original textual contributions are therefore printed in italics and borrowings from earlier work appear in standard Roman typeface. The source of quoted content is identified in the historical footnotes. ALTERNATIVE READINGS

In those chapters of the History containing an abbreviation of material from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s HRB, alternative readings are on occasion preserved in the manuscript witnesses. Those readings which have not been chosen for inclusion in the text are retained and included in Appendix 3. lxxvi

Introduction SPELLING

Differences in the spelling of names and places regularly occur between manuscript witnesses and, within the same witness, are often inconsistent. No useful purpose can be served by preserving these inconsistencies in this edition, so the most common spelling attested in the manuscripts is generally adopted. Classical spelling has been adopted in this edition as it is felt that this will serve the modern reader better. NUMBERS

Numbers are often given as numerals in the manuscripts, but not invariably. When numbers are written out in the MS this is followed in this edition. Otherwise, they are given as numerals. Where numerals have a superscript abbreviation attached to them, to identify their use as ordinal numbers, these are retained. HISTORICAL NOTES

In addition to identifying the sources from which the author has compiled this edition, a primary intention of the historical notes has been to record authorial omissions considered of importance, and, in this way, to permit access to – as much as it is possible – the ‘silent’ authorial narrative of the History. MATERIAL QUOTED FROM EARLIER WORKS

The author’s quotations from earlier works have been collated against the following published works and manuscripts: Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, eds Bertram Colgrave and R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1969 and 1991). Florentii Wigorniensis, eds Henry Petrie and John Sharpe, in Monumenta Historica Britannica (London, 1848), pp. 616–644. Florentii Wigorniensis Monachi Chronicon ex Chronicis, ed. Benjamin Thorpe (Sumptibus Societatis, 2 vols, London, 1848), i, pp. 231–280. Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain, ed. Michael D. Reeve, trans. Neil Wright (Woodbridge, 2007). Henry Archdeacon of Huntingdon Historia Anglorum, The History of the English People, ed. and trans., Diana Greenway (Oxford, 1996 and 2007). Nennius: British History and the Welsh Annals, ed. and trans. John Morris (Chichester, 1980). Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS 157, pp. 47–54. Pauli Historia Romana, ed. H. Droysen, MGH Scriptores (Berlin, 1879). Pauli Orosii Historiarum Adversum Paganos Librii VII, ed. K. Zangemeister, CSEL, v (Vienna, 1882). lxxvii

Introduction

Symeonis Monachi Opera Omnia, ed. T. Arnold (2 vols, RS, 1882–85), ii, Historia Regum, pp. 1–283. SIGLA CITED IN TEXT

C L R P

London, BL MS Cotton Cleopatra A I Paris, BnF MS Lat. 4126 Oxford, Bodleian MS Rawlinson B 200 Aberystwyth, NLW MS Peniarth 384

lxxviii

TEXT AND TRANSLATION

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Incipit praefatio magistri Aluredia Beuerlaci thesaurarii ecclesiae sancti Johannis Eboracensis archiepiscopi in historia de gestis regalibus regum Britanniae, uidelicet a Bruto, Britonum rege primo, usque ad Normannorum tempora per annos amplius quam duo milia; ab aduentu uero Normannorum usque ad annum .xxviii. Henrici regis primi per annos .xliiii. historias Romanorum, Britonum, Anglorum, et multorum historiograthorum mirabiliter et subtiliter abbreuiat et concordat.1

[Incipit prologus in prima particula.] In diebus silentii nostri, quando non poteramus reddere Deo quae Dei erant, et tamen cogebamur reddere Caesari quae Caesaris erant,2 quia propter praesentem excomunicatorum multitudinem secundum Londoniensis concilii decretum a diuinis cessabamus,3 et regiis exactionibus afflicti uitam taediosam agebamus,4 grassante oppressione qua, expulsis ad regis edictum de sedibus suis ecclesiae nostrae columpnis, diu grauiterque uexatus sum, pene in desperationem cum pene solus essem decidi.5 Sed propitia miserantis Dei manu de baratro desperationis

  R, Aluedi, correction in left-hand margin.

a

2

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Here begins the preface of Master Alfred of Beverley, treasurer of the church of St John, archbishop of York, to the history of the royal deeds of the kings of Britain, that is, from Brutus, the first king of the Britons, to the time of the Normans, a period of more than two thousand years and from the coming of the Normans to the twenty-eighth year of King Henry I’s reign, a period of forty-four years. He admirably and accurately summarises and reconciles the accounts of these times by the Romans, the Britons, the English, and many other historians.1

[Here begins the prologue to chapter I.] In the days of our silence, we could not render unto God the things that were God’s yet were forced to render unto Caesar the things that were Caesar’s.2 For we withdrew from divine services because at that time a large number of people had been excommunicated under the decree of the Council of London,3 and, worn down by royal taxation,4 we lived tedious lives. The oppression which had troubled me long and sorely continued to assail me and, as the pillars of our church were driven from their sees by royal edict, I nearly fell into a state of despair, for I was almost alone.5 But I was rescued from my deep despondency by the kindly hand The introductory rubric, found only in MS witnesses R, P, of the History, contains errors. St John of Beverley (d. 721) was never archbishop of York, Bede (HE v. 2–6), describes him only as having been its bishop. The manuscript text extends to the twenty-ninth year of Henry’s reign, 63 years from the coming of the Normans. 2  A saying attributed to Jesus in the gospels of Mathew, Mark and Luke, in reply to a question by the Pharisees on whether the Jews should pay taxes to the Roman authorities. 3  A reference, in all probability, to the March 1143 Westminster legatine council of Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester (see above, p. xxix). 4  King Stephen visited Beverley in c. August 1149, imposing a fine on the town for having received Archbishop Henry Murdac of York, against his wishes (see above, p. xxix). 5  The ‘pillars of the church’ was a term used by chroniclers of the time to describe senior clergy such as bishops and archbishops. Henry of Huntingdon (hereafter HH), describes the leading bishops of the kingdom attending a legatine council in London in 1129 as columpne regni (HA, vii. 40). See GS, ch. 13, p. 24, describing the ‘pillars of the church sitting according to their rank’, referring to bishops attending a church council at Westminster in London in Easter 1136. In GS, ch. 78, p. 156, bishops are described as columnas quae domum Dei sustentant (‘The pillars that sustain the house of God’). The author here is therefore almost certainly referring to Henry Murdac, archbishop of York and temporal 1 

2

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

subtractus, et in memetipsum duce ratione reuersus, non ignobilis studii arbitratus sum esse, ut qui ab horis canonicis inuitus uacabam, ne interim omnino nil agerem furtiuis horis prout poteram lectioni uacarem. Ferebantur tunc temporis per ora multorum narrationes de Historia Britonum,6 notamque rusticitatis incurrebat, qui talium narrationum scientiam non habebat. Fateor tamen propter antiquitatis reuerentiam, quae michi semper uenerationi fuerat, tamen propter narrandi urbanitatem, quae michi minime, iunioribus uero memoriter et iocunde tunc aderat, inter tales confabulatores saepe erubescebam, quod praefatam historiam necdum attigeram. Quid plura? Quaesiui historiam et ea uix inuenta, lectioni eius intentissime studium adhibui.7 Dumque rerum antiquarum noua lectione delectarer, mox michi animus ad eam transcribendam scatebat,8 sed temporis opportunitas, et marsupii facultas non suppetebat. Vt autema desiderio gliscenti aliqua ex parte satisfacerem, bob releuandam aliquantisper dierum illorum malitiam, non eruditis, sed michi meisque similibus talium rerum ignarisb, de praefata historia quaedam deflorare studui, ea uidelicet quae fidem non excederent, et legentem delectarent, cet memoriae tenatius adhaererentc, et quorum ueritatem etiam ceterarum historiarum collatio roboraret. Cuius rei gratia ueteres reuoluens historias, attentius indagaui quid prae ceteris singulare uel proprium, quid uerum ceteris commune uel dissonum contineat Historia Britonum. Quia uero deficiente regno Britonum exortum est in Britannia regnum Anglorum, et uenerabilis doctor Beda a tempore Iulii Caesaris historiam Anglorum

  C, text begins at idcirco ut.   C, omitted. c–c   C, omitted. a

b–b

3

The History of Alfred of Beverley

of a merciful God. Restored to myself by the power of reason, I thought it would be a not ignoble endeavour if, as I was freed from celebrating the canonical hours through no wish of my own, I were to avoid doing nothing at all by devoting myself as far as possible to reading during those stolen hours. In those days, many people were discussing stories from the History of the Britons6 and anyone who had no knowledge of such stories acquired the label of an ignoramus. I admit, though, that as someone who revered the past, which had always been an object of veneration for me, but at that time had very little sophistication in recounting it – as my juniors could do from memory and in pleasing style – I would frequently blush in these discussions, because I had not yet come across the particular history just mentioned. What more need I say? I sought out the history concerned and, as soon as I had found it, devoted myself to studying it most intently.7 As I was delighting in a new reading of ancient events, I was soon overcome by a longing to copy out the text, but the time was not right nor was there enough cash in my purse.8 To satisfy this growing desire, at least in part, and to relieve for a while the wickedness of those days, I set myself the task of compiling an anthology of certain extracts from the history in question, not for scholars, but for myself and for people like me who were ignorant of such matters. These extracts were passages which would not exceed the bounds of credibility, which would please the reader and remain quite firmly in his memory, and the truth of which would only be reinforced by comparing them with other histories. To this end, I reviewed old histories and investigated with great care what the History of the Britons contained which was unique or special in comparison with others, what it had in common with them, and where it disagreed with them. Because it was as the kingdom of the Britons failed, that the kingdom of the English came into being in Britain, and the learned and venerable Bede, in lord of Beverley (d. 1153 in Beverley), who had been driven from his see by King Stephen in the summer of 1148 (see above, p. xxx). 6  The HRB of GM. Geoffrey Gaimar’s statement that he used ‘the good book of Oxford that belonged to archdeacon Walter’, before he started work on his Estoire des Engleis, suggests that the HRB may first have appeared as early as c. March 1136. See Geffrei Gaimar, Estoire des Engleis, ed. and trans. Ian Short (Oxford, 2009), p. xxxii and lines 6462–66. Others place the appearance of the HRB closer to c.1139 on the grounds that HH, a diligent researcher into Britain’s pre-Roman past (HA viii. EAW. I), and well connected at Lincoln to the circle in which GM moved, only became aware of the HRB at Bec in January 1139. For a work of such importance to have remained unknown to him for so long is felt to be unlikely. See J. Gillingham, ‘The Context and Purposes of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain’ in The English in the Twelfth Century. Imperialism, National Identity and Political Values (Woodbridge, 2000), p. 20, note 5. 7  Access to the HRB to study, over time, in Beverley, attests both a well-connected author and the rapid circulation of the text. For early Yorkshire circulation of the HRB, see The Historia Regum Britannie of Geoffrey of Monmouth. IV, Dissemination and Reception in the Later Middle Ages, ed. Julia C. Crick (Woodbridge, 1991), pp. 214–15. 8  This might imply enough cash to pay for a transcriber to copy out the text.

3

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

texens ad sua usque tempora eam perduxit, etiam de ipsa plura colligere animus michi fuit. Similiter et post Bedam plures per Anglorum ecclesias reguma tam Anglorum et Britonnum et Normannoruma tempora diligentius perscrutantes, ipsorum gesta sollerti indagine annotare curauerunt, de quibus non nulla studiosius inuestigata huic opusculo sunt inserta. Aggressus sum itaque laborem michi quidem difficilem, fastidiosis fortassis despicabilem, sed studiosis, ut reor, non inutilem, quod quae sparsim in plurimorum leguntur scriptis, a prima habitatione Britanniae usqueb ad Normannorum tempora per annos amplius quam duo milia in hoc opusculo quasi in breui tabella depicta studiosus lector agnoscere, et diuersorum temporum gesta lectione capitulatim distincta poterit inuenire. Haec insula Britannia extra orbem est posita, sed Romanorum uirtute in orbem est redacta. Quos aetas ignorauit superior, didicit Romanorum uictoria. Seruiunt et ipsi, qui quid esset seruitus ignorabant. Soli sibi noti semperque liberi, quia a scientiorum potentia interfuso occeano secreti, metuere non poterant quod nesciebant.9 Verum antequam narrandi ordinem aggrediar pauca, quae ad rerum notitiam utiliter pertinent, braeuiter praenotanda sunt, uidelicet de situ Britanniae et eius magnitudine, et cum ipsa insula sit, quae famosae insulae suae ditioni memorantur pertinere. De mirabilibus eius, de fertilitate eius, de famosis fluminibus eius quae tres eius principales discriminant prouincias, de antiquis ciuitatibus eius, de eius incolis priscis et modernis.c Inter omnes occeani insulas, Britannia uel prima uel praecipua est, et habitatoribus suis quicquid mortalium usui congruit indeficienti fertilitate ministrat. Huius autem insulae situm Paulus Orosius10 in descriptione Europae

  R, P, omitted.   C, add. Usque ad Careticum ultimum Britanniae regem potentissimum. Nam si aliquos postea Britones reges fortissimos habuerunt, prudentiatum et potestas ad Saxones divertit et Anglos. c   P, de situ Britanniae added interlineally in hand of transcriber. a–a b

4

The History of Alfred of Beverley

composing his History of the English, covered the period from Julius Caesar’s time up to his own, I decided also to collect together several extracts from his history. After Bede, many other people across the churches of England diligently examined the times of the kings, equally English, British and Norman, and ensured that the deeds of those kings were recorded, after expert investigation. Some of this material has, following careful research, been included in this little work. That is how I approached my work, which was certainly difficult for me and is perhaps contemptible to the fastidious, but not, I imagine, without usefulness for scholars. For in this little work, described as if in a small notebook, the studious reader will be able to learn of events covering more than two thousand years, from the first inhabitants of Britain until the time of the Normans – events which otherwise can only be read about scattered here and there across the writings of several authors. Furthermore, the reader will be able to find the events of different periods divided into chapters for ease of reading. This island of Britain was originally situated outside the known world but, by the valour of the Romans, it was brought within it. Their victory made known a people unknown to an earlier age. Now even the Britons are enslaved, but they used to have no idea what slavery meant. They lived known to themselves alone, and in a state of constant liberty because, isolated from the power of knowledge by the barrier of the ocean, they could not fear what they did not know.9 Before I embark on my narrative, it is worth noting briefly a few facts which usefully add to our knowledge. Namely, the geographic location of Britain and her size and, given that the country is itself an island, what famous islands are said to be subject to her authority: her wonders, her fertility, her famous rivers, which mark out her three main provinces, her ancient cities and her inhabitants, both old and new. Among all the islands in the ocean Britain is the first, or the chief, and, with her unfailing fertility, supplies her inhabitants with everything that mortal men require. Paulus Orosius,10 in his account of Europe, describes the position of this The descriptive survey of Britain prefacing the History opens with a quotation from a work popular with Anglo-Norman historians – the later fourth century Latin translation of Josephus’ Jewish War, a work known to medieval readers as Hegesippus (Hegesippi qui Dicitur Historiae Libri V, ed. V. Ussani, CSEL, lxvi (Vienna, 1960), p. 150). Hegesippus’s influence on historical writers of the time, including WM, HH, GM and AB, is discussed in Neil Wright, ‘Twelfth-Century Receptions of a Text: AngloNorman Historians and Hegesippus’, ANS 31 (2010), pp. 177–95. The choice of opening passage here emphasises the idea of Britain as alter orbis – an island situated on the edge of the known world – an idea with a powerful hold on the medieval mind. See R. R. Davies, The First English Empire. Power and Identities in the British Isles 1093–1343 (Oxford, 2000), pp. 35–38. 10  Paulus Orosius, Seven Books of History Against the Pagans written c.417 as a compendium to St Augustine’s De Civitate Dei (c.413–25), established the convention in Christian historiography of opening historical narratives with geographical surveys. Orosius became virtual canon for the narrators of the history of the post-Roman kingdoms of the West for geographic narrative. See A. H. Merrills, History and Geography in Late Antiquity (Cambridge, 2005), pp. 1–4, 35–49. 9 

4

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

isdem uerbis eodemque ordine, sicut in Cosmographia legitur,11 describit, dicens: ‘Britannia occeani insula per longum in boream extenditur. A meridie Gallias habet, cuius proximum litus transmeantibus ciuitas apparet, quae dicitur Rutupi portus, unde haut procul a Morinis in austro positis Menapos Batauosque prospectat.12 Haec insula habet in longum milia passum octingenta, in latum milia .cc.ta A tergo autem, unde occeano infinito patet, Orcades insulas habet, quarum uiginti desertae sunt, tredecim coluntur.’ Haec Orosius.13 Consonat his Beda, addens et alia in exordio narrationis suae, scribens ita: ‘Britannia occeani insula, cui quondam Albion nomen fuit, inter septemtrionem et occidentem locata est, Germaniae, Galliae, Hispaniae, maximis Europae partibus, multo interuallo aduersa; quae per milia passuum octingentorum in boream longa, latitudinis habet milia .cc.ta exceptis duntaxat prolixioribus diuersorum promontoriorum tractibus, quibus efficitur ut circuitus eius quadragies octies .lxxx.v. milia compleat.14 Habet a meridie Galliam Belgicam, cuius proximum litus transmeantibus apparet ciuitas, quae dicitur Rutupi portus, a gente Anglorum nunc corrupte Reptacester uocata, interposito mari a Gessoriacoa Morinorum gentis littore proximo traiectu milium .l.ta siue, ut quidam scripsere stadiorum quadringentorum .l.ta A tergo autem, unde occeano patet infinito, Orcades insulas habet.’ Haec Beda. Has autem insulas ultra Britanniam in occeano positas Claudius imperator ab Augusto quartus cum in Britanniam transuectus esset, Romano adiungens, imperio ad Britanniam pertinere fecit.15 Man uero uel Euboniam siue Meuanias insulas, quae in umbilico maris inter Hiberniam et Britanniam sitae sunt, Edwinus primus Northumbrorum rex Christianus Anglorum subiecit imperio.16 Insulam quoque Wightb siue Vectam, quae in austro posita Normannos, et Armoricos,

  R, Gressoriaco.   R, Wist.

a

b

5

The History of Alfred of Beverley

island in the same words and in the same order as can be read in the Cosmography.11 ‘Britain is an island in the ocean which stretches a long way towards the north. To the south lies Gaul, for which the city called Rutupi Portus is the nearest port for travellers. That place looks out on the lands of the Menapi and the Batavi, while the Morini are located not far away to the south.12 The island is 800 miles long and 200 miles broad. To its rear, where it lies open to the boundless ocean, are the islands of Orkney, of which twenty are barren and thirteen are cultivated.’ Thus says Orosius.13 Bede is in agreement with this description but adds other details in his History, writing as follows: ‘Britain, once called Albion, is an island in the ocean and lies in the north-west, being opposite Germany, Gaul and Spain, which form the greater part of Europe, though at a considerable distance from them. It is 800 miles long, from north to south, and is 200 miles broad, except where various promontories stretch out further. Because of these, the whole circuit of the coast covers 4,885 miles.14 To the south lies Belgic Gaul, for which the city called Rutupi Portus, which the English now corruptly call Reptacester [Richborough], is the nearest port for travellers. Between this and Gessoriacum [Boulogne] the closest point of the coast of the Morini, the sea crossing is fifty miles or so, or, as some writers have it, 450 stadia. Behind the island, where it lies open to the boundless ocean, are the Orkney Islands.’ Thus says Bede. These Orkney Islands, which are situated in the ocean beyond Britain, were added to the Roman empire and made subject to Britain by Claudius, fourth emperor after Augustus when he came to Britain.15 The islands of Man or Eubonia and Mevania [Anglesey] which lie in the middle of the sea between Ireland and England, were subjected to the control of Edwin of Northumbria, the first Christian king of the English.16 Furthermore, Vespasian, sent by the abovementioned emperor Claudius, subjugated the island of Wight or Vecta which lies A reference to the early eighth-century Cosmographia, a pseudonymous work purporting to be by St Jerome, translating and commenting on the work of the pagan Istrian philosopher Aethicus Ister. The work was described by its recent editor as ‘a farrago of science fiction, travel adventure, literary criticism and prophecy, with just a dash of historical detail and scientific investigation’. The Cosmography of Aethicus Ister, Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin, 8, ed. and trans. Michael W. Herren (Turnhout, 2011), p. xi. 12  PO, i. p. 28. The Menapi and Batavi were respectively Belgic and Germanic tribes inhabiting northern Gaul and the Dutch Rhine delta region. 13  PO, i. pp. 28–29. 14  Bede’s sources for the opening sentences of his introductory survey of Britain were Pliny’s Natural History; Gildas, DEB Ruin of Britain; Solinus’s Polyhistor; and Orosius. See HE, i. 1, note 1. Pliny attributed the measurement of the circumference of Britain at 4,875 miles to the fourth-century BC Greek geographer Pytheas and to Isidorus and noted that, while the island of Britain itself was named Albion, the surrounding islands were known as the Britains. See Pliny, Natural History, trans. H. Rackham, Loeb (London, 1942), iv, pp. 16, 197. 15  HE, i. 3. 16  HA, i. 2; ii. 23; iii. 24. The author’s first borrowings from a contemporary source. 11 

5

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

qui nunc Britanni dicuntur, respicit, Vespasianus a supradicto imperatore Claudio Britanniam missus Romanorum imperio, ac per hoc Britonum ditioni subiugauit.17 Haec autem tres famosae insulae, quae extra Britanniam positae, per supradictos principes Britanniae sunt subiugatae. Vnde antiquitus in prouerbio dicebatur, quando de regibus et iudicibus Britanniae sermo fiebat, ‘Iudicabat Britanniam cum tribus insulis.’18 Heticus philosophus gentem Britannicam imperitissimam appellauit, horroris nimii, sectantem artes multas ex ingenio maximo. Terrarum metalla ibi inueniri narrat auri, et argenti, et auricalci, et stagni magnitudinem ac ferri, multasque alias ad inuentiones quae inuestigabiles sunt aliis gentibus.19 Est etiam Britannia opima frugibus atque arboribus alendiis apta pecoribus. Vnde Solinus ait: ‘Ita pabulosa quibusdam in locis est Britannia, ut pecudes nisi interdum a pastibus arceantur ad periculum agat satietas.’20 Vineas etiam, ut Beda refert, quibusdam in locis germinat. Sed et auium atque bestiarum diuersi generis terra marique ferax, et cetera, quae de multiplici fertilitate ipsius insulae idem scriptor latius prosequitur, quae hic inserere longum est. Cum Britannia plura in se contineat mirabilia, quatour tamen prae ceteris habet miranda.a 21 Primum est, quod uentus egreditur de cauernis terrae in monte qui uocatur Pec tanto uigore, ut uestes iniectas repellat, et in altum eleuatas procul eiciat. Secundum est apud Stanenges, ubib lapides mirae magnitudinis in modum portarum eleuati sunt, ita ut portae portis superpositae uideantur. Nec potest aliquis excogitare qua arte tanti lapides adeo in altum eleuati sunt, uel quare ibi constructi sunt. Tertium est apud Cherole, ubi cauitas est sub terra, quam cum multi saepe ingressi sunt, et ibi spatia magna terrae et flumina pertransierunt, nunquam tamen ad finem euenire potuerunt.

  P, De Mirabilibus Britanniae added in left-hand margin, later hand.   P, ubi added interlineally.

a

b

6

The History of Alfred of Beverley

to the south and looks back to the Normans and the Armoricans, who are now called the Bretons, to the Roman Empire and so to the authority of the Britons.17 Thus these three renowned islands lying beyond Britain were conquered by the aforementioned princes. That is why an ancient saying on the topic of the kings and judges of Britain used to say: ‘He judged Britain, along with three islands.’18 The philosopher Aethicus described the British people as very ignorant and extremely uncouth, yet as pursuing many skills with a great deal of natural ability. He tells of the metals of the earth to be discovered there, of a great quantity of gold, silver, mountain copper, tin, and iron and also of many other deposits which are not known to other peoples.19 Britain is also rich in crops and trees suitable for the rearing of livestock. That is why Solinus says: ‘In some places Britain is so rich in grazing that, unless the cattle are sometimes held back from the pastures, they may be endangered by eating to excess.’20 The island even grows vines in certain places, as Bede records, and the place abounds in birds and beasts of various species on land and sea. The same writer describes at great length other particulars of the manifold fertility of that island, which are too long to include here. While Britain contains many marvels, four in particular are remarkable.21 The first is the wind which issues with such force from the caves in the mountain known as ‘The Peak’ that it drives back any pieces of clothing thrown in and tosses them up to a great height. The second is at Stonehenge, where stones of remarkable size are raised up like gates, in such a way that one gate seems to have been placed on top of another. No-one can work out how such large stones were lifted up to such a height or why they were erected there. The third is at Cheddar Gorge, where there is an underground cavern. Many people have entered it on many occasions and have travelled a long way, over dry land and over rivers, yet have never reached its end.

HA, i. 2, 19. HA, i. 2. HH had sourced the proverb from the ninth-century Cambro-Latin text, the Historia Brittonum (HB, ch. 3), known to him in its ‘Vatican’ recension, a mid-tenth-century English reworking of the HB (c.943–45). See Greenway, HA, pp. xc–xci. The Vatican recension departed significantly from the original, conveying a shorter text, omitting the marvels, the old English genealogies and the chronological data of chs 65–66. 19  The Cosmography, ch. 26, pp. 24–26. Unlike the author’s use of other classical sources in the History, such as Orosius and Paul the Deacon’s Historia Romana, known to the author as Eutropius, where detailed knowledge of the texts is evident, the sole quote from the Cosmography in the History suggests it might derive from a florilegium of sayings of classical and pagan authorities, which circulated at the time and served as a handy literary source of sayings to aid authors. 20  HA, i. I. Taken from HH, not from Solinus. HH had misquoted Solinus, who described Ireland in the passage, not Britain. Caius Iulli Solini, Collectanea Rerum Memorabilium, ed. T. Mommsen (Berlin, 1895), 22. 2, p. 100. 21  HA, i. 7. The four marvels which follow are reproduced from HA. 17 

18 

6

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Quartum est, quod in quibusdam partibus pluuia uidetur eleuari de montibus, et sine mora per campos diffundi. Habet Britannia plurima miracula.22 Est in ea stagnum in quo sunt sexaginta insulae, et ibi habitant homines, et sexaginta rupibus ambitur,23 et nidus aquilae in unaquaque rupe, et sexaginta flumina fluunt in eo, et nullum eorum praeter unum uadit ad mare. Est in ea etiam aliud stagnum calidum quod muro ambitur ex latere et lapide facto, et in eo per omne tempus lauantur homines, et sicut unicuique placuerit lauacrum, fiet sibi secundum uoluntatem suam siue caliduma siue frigidum.24 Sunt etiam in ea fontes de salo, quorum aqua per totam ebdomadam salsa est usque ad horam sabbati nonam, et postea dulcis usque ad diem lunae. A quibus fontibus aqua extracta usque ad sal decoquitur, et est sal candidissimum et subtile et non sunt prope mare, sed de terra emergunt. Est in ea quoddam stagnum, cuius aqua tantam uim habet, ut si exercitus totius regionis in qua est fuerit iuxta et direxerit faciem contra undam, exercitum trahit unda per uim, humore repletis uestibus. Similiter et equi trahuntur. Si autem exercitus terga uerterit ad eam, non nocet ei unda.25 Est etiam in ea fons, et non fluit riuus in eo, neque ex eo,26 et piscantur in eo homines, et capiunt ex omni parte pisces, et inueniuntur in eo quatuor genera piscium. Mirum est pisces in fonte inueniri, dum flumen non fluit in eo, nec ex eo, cum non sit magnus neque profundus. Viginti enim pedes habet in longitudine et latitudine. Profundus est usque ad genua. Ripas altas habet ex omni parte. In regione quae dicitur Went est fouea, a qua uentus fiat sine intermissione, et ita fiat ut nemo possit sustinere ante foueae profunditatem. Est in ea stagnum quod facit lignum arescere et in lapides durescere. Homines autem ligna fingunt, et postquam formauerint proiciunt in stagno, et manet in eo usque ad caput anni, et tunc lapis inuenitur.

  P, omits siue calidum.

a

7

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The fourth is the fact that, in some places, the rain seems to be raised up from the mountains and immediately poured out over the plains. Britain has many wonders.22 There is a lake in which there are sixty islands inhabited by men and which is surrounded by sixty rocks.23 There is an eagle’s nest on each and every rock and sixty rivers flow into the lake, but only one of these flows into the sea. And there is another lake there, which is warm and surrounded by a wall, made of brick and stone, where men can bathe at any time and each man can have the sort of bath he likes, either hot or cold, as he prefers.24 There are also salt springs there, the water of which is salt all through the week until the noon of the Sabbath and then fresh until Monday. Water is taken from these springs – which are not close to the sea but rise from the ground – and boiled down to make a very white and fine salt. There is, too, a certain lake there, with water of such power that, if an army of men drawn from the whole surrounding region were standing beside it and turned to face it, the waves would drag the soldiers along by force, their clothes would be soaked, and their horses would be dragged along too. But, if the army were to turn its back on the lake, the waters would not harm it.25 There is also a spring there which no stream flows into or out of.26 Men fish in it, catching fish in every part, and four kinds of fish are found there. It is wonderful that fish are to be found in a spring even though no stream flows in or out of it and it is of no great depth or size. It is twenty feet in length and breadth and it is knee deep, with high banks all around. In the country called Gwent there is a pit from which a wind blows continuously and in such a way that no one is able to stand upright in front of its depths. Then there is a lake which dries and hardens wood to stone. Men shape pieces of wood and, after they have fashioned them, they throw them into the lake. The wood remains in the lake until the end of the year and then it is found to be stone. HB, chs 67–75. The eight marvels which follow appear to be sourced from the HB – from its primary ‘Harleian’ recension – although not in the order they follow in that recension and, in the case of one of the marvels, supply a variant reading. The author’s use of the HB provides insight into his historical method. Items of information contained in the HB appear to have led to further investigation to expand the reporting of events. The HB’s report (ch. 26) of St Martin’s conversation with the emperor Maximus appears to have been used in this way (see below, HAB, iii. pp. 40–41 and note 34). The wide circulation of the various recensions of HB in the period, extending to north-west Europe, is discussed in Crick, HRB Dissemination and Reception, p. 3. 23  Name of the lake, stagnum Lumonoy, Loch Lomond, omitted. 24  Location of lake in the land of the Hwicce, omitted. 25  Location, Oper Linn Liuan, Aber Llynn Lliwan, omitted. In HB the location is described as the mouth of the river Aber Llynn Lliwan where it meets the River Severn. 26  Location and name of the spring, in regione Cinlipiuc, fons nomine Finnaun Guurhelic (‘in the region of Cynllibiwg, the spring called Fount of Gorheli’), omitted. 22 

7

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Est etiam in cacumine cuiusdam montis sepulcrum.27 Quicunque uenerit ad id, et extenderit se iuxta id, quamuis breuis uel longus fuerit, in una longitudine inuenitur sepulcrum et homo. Iuxta staturam uniuscuiusque hominis sic tumulus inuenitur, et si peregrinus uel taediosus genu flexerit ad id, non ilico sentit laborem nec taedium. Fluunt per eam multa et ingentia flumina, per quae ex uniuersis pene nationibus transmarina per totam insulam nauigio deferuntur commercia.a Sed prae ceteris tria nobilissima et famosissima praeminent flumina, uidelicet Tamisa, Sabrina, et Humbria,28 quorum alueis per amplissima hostia occeani reuma influens et refluens, totius insulae tres principales prouincias quasi tria regna discriminant. Id est Loegriam, Cambriam, et Northumbriam.29 Haec autem insula in prima habitatione sua, ut in Britannico legitur, gigantum tantummodo patria fuit.30 Quibus occisis et eliminatis, habitata est a Britonibus anno ante urbem conditam trecentesimo .lx.iii.31 conditis ab eis per loca plurima ciuitatibus et castellis, de quibus Beda scribit his uerbis: ‘Erat autem et ciuitatibus quondam .xx.ti et .viii.to nobilissimis insignita, praeter castella innumera, quae et ipsa muris, turribus, portis ac seris erant instructa firmissimis.’b Haec Beda.32 Vnde liquido constat, quanta sit antiquitas urbium Britanniae, quae tanto tempore praecesserunt conditionem urbis Romae.33 Ciuitatum autem nomina haec erant Britannicae,34 Kair Ebrauc, id est Eboracum; Kair Kent, id est Cantuaria; Kair Gorangori, id est Wigornia; Kair

  P, De famosis fluminibus added in right-hand margin.   P, De Antiquis Ciuitatibus added in right-hand margin.

a

b

8

The History of Alfred of Beverley

There is even a certain mountain with a tomb at its summit.27 If anyone comes there and lies down next to it, however tall or short he may be, both man and tomb are discovered to be the same length. Thus, the tomb is found to fit men of all statures and, if a traveller or someone who is weary kneels down before it, he feels no pain or fatigue while he is in that place. Many large rivers flow through Britain and along these, throughout the whole island, trade is carried on with almost every nation. But, above the rest, three most noble and famous rivers stand out, namely the Thames, the Severn, and the Humber.28 The tide of the ocean flows in and out of the wide entrances to their channels and they divide up the three principal provinces of the whole island – namely Loegria, Kambria, and Northumbria – like kingdoms.29 This island when first inhabited was a land only of giants, according to what we read in Britannicus.30 After these giants had been killed and eliminated, the island was inhabited by the Britons from the three hundred and sixty-third year before the foundation of Rome.31 In many places, towns and fortresses were founded by these people, of which Bede writes thus: ‘The country was once famous for twenty-eight most noble cities, as well as innumerable strongholds, themselves very securely fortified with walls, towers, gates, and locks.’ So says Bede.32 From this, it is clearly evident how great is the antiquity of Britain’s cities, which predated by such a considerable time the establishment of the city of Rome.33 These were the names of the cities in the British language:34 Kair Ebrauc, that is York; Kair Kent, that is Canterbury; Kair Gorangon, that is Worcester; Location and name of the mountain, in regione que uocatur Cereticiaun, mons qui cognominatur Cruc Maur (‘in the region of Ceredigion, a mountain called Crug Mawr’), omitted. 28  HA, i. 6. HH, drawing on HB, ch. 9, notes only the rivers Thames and Severn excelling in Britain. Here the river Humber is added, noted also in the HRB’s brief introductory ‘Description of the Island’. 29  The observation that three political divisions are created by the rivers is added by the author. 30  First references to GM as ‘Britannicus’ in the history. See discussion on this nomenclature above, pp. xxxix–xlii. For the medieval belief that Britain was originally peopled by a race of giants and how they came to be there, see T. D. Kendrick, British Antiquity (London, 1950), p. 24. 31  The reckoning of the date of the foundation of Britain appears based on keeping a running total of the regnal years of the British kings as supplied in the HRB. The method of calculation is made clear at the conclusion of chapter 1 – (below, p. 22, note 34). GM’s chronology throughout the HRB is vague, almost certainly deliberately so, with only three fixed dates supplied in the two-thousand-year history: the death of King Lucius, AD 156, the abdication of King Arthur, AD 542, and the death of Cadwallader in AD 689. GM gives no specific date for Brutus’s arrival in Britain, as is here provided, stating only that Trinovantum was founded by Brutus when the priest Eli was ruling in Judea, a synchronism he appears to have taken from the HB, ch. 11. 32  HE, i. 1. 33  The author’s added comment, signalling the importance attached to this information. 34  HA, i. 3. The naming of the ancient cities of Britain with their British names is recyled from HA, which HH had taken from HB Vat., ch. 3 with its list of 33 cities of Britain (Harleian version contains 28 British cities). This is made clear by the author’s inclusion of HH’s description of the city of Kair Dorm on the river Nene in the province of Huntingdon, not found in the HB. There is some inconsistency in the recycling of HH’s list of cities. The author’s list comprises 28 cities, consistent with the authority of Bede (HE, i. 1), whereas HH’s list contains 29 cities. Dorchester is identified differently in the two accounts. 27 

8

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Lundene, id est Londonia;a Kair Lirion, id est Leicestria; Kair Glou, id est Gloucestria; Kair Colden, id est Colecestria; Kair Cei, id est Cicestria; Kair Bristou; Kair Ceri, id est Cirecestria; Kair Guent, id est Wincestria; Kair Grant, id est Grantecestria, quae modo dicitur Grantebrigia; Kair Lion, quam uocamus Kairliol; Kair Peris, id est Portecestria; Kair Dorm, id est Dorcestria, quae sita in Huntundunensi prouincia super flumen quod uocatur Nen, penitus destructa est; Kair Lohitcoit, id est Lincolnia, [Kair] Merdin quae nunc quoque sic uocatur; Kair Guorcon; Kair Cicerar; Kair Guortegern; Kair Vruac;b Kair Celenion; Kair Meguiad; Kair Licilid; Kair Legion, in qua fuit archiepiscopatus tempore Britonum, nunc autem uix moenia eius comparent, ubi Vsca cadit in Sabrinam;35 Kair Dratoini; Kair Mercipit; Kair Segerit, quae fuit super Tamisam non longe a Redinga, et uocatur Silcestria. Habitantibus itaque per ciuitates et castella Britonibus, post multum tempus Picti nauigio de Sithia prius Hiberniam, indeque aduecti Britanniamc per septemtrionales insulae partes habitare coeperunt. Nam Britones iam austrina possederant.36 Procedente autem tempore Scotti de Hibernia, quae propriae patria Scottorum est, egressi, tertiam in Britannia post Britones et Pictos gentem addiderunt.37 Postea inuitati a Britonibus Saxones et Angli quasi pro patria contra Pictos et Scotos aduersus Britones rebellantes pugnaturi, diuina autem prouidentia expugnaturi, expulsis a mediterranea et Northumbria prouincia Britonibus et in solam Cambriamd retrusis, tandem totius insulae monarchiam obtinuerunt. Ad ultimum fortissimo Normannorum duce Willielmo bello subiugata, Normannis regibus omnino est subiecta. Itaque Britannia in praesenti quinque gentibus inhabitatur, id est Britonibus in Guallia, in septemtrionalibus partibus Pictis, in Albania Scotis, principaliter uero per totam insulam Normannis mixtim et Anglis. Additur hiis et nostro tempore sexta natio, id est Flandrenses, qui de patria sua uenientes, in regione Mailros in confinio Gualiarum iubente rege Henrico habitationem acceperunt.38 Qui hoc usque in insulam cateruatim confluentes, nec minus quam indigenae armis et militia

  R, Lundonia.   P, Cicerar, Kair Guortegern, Kair Vruac added in left-hand margin. c   P, indeque aduecti Britanniam added in left-hand margin. d   P, prouincia Britonibus et in solam Cambriam added in left-hand margin. a

b

9

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Kair Lundene, that is London; Kair Lirion, that is Leicester; Kair Glou, that is Gloucester; Kair Colden, that is Colchester; Kair Cei, that is Chichester; Kair Bristou [Bristol]; Kair Ceri, that is Cirencester; Kair Guent, that is Winchester; Kair Grant, that is Grantchester, which is now called Cambridge; Kair Lion, which we call Carlisle; Kair Peris, that is Porchester; Kair Dorm, that is Dorchester situated in the province of Huntingdon on the river called the Nene, which has been almost completely destroyed; Kair Lohitcoit, that is Lincoln; Kair Merdin, which is still known by that name; Kair Guorcon; Kair Cicerar; Kair Guortegern; Kair Vruac; Kair Celenion; Kair Meguiad; Kair Licilid; Kair Legion, in which there was an archbishopric in the time of the Britons, but now its walls are barely visible, at the point where the River Usk flows into the Severn;35 Kair Dratoini; Kair Mercipit; Kair Segerit, which was on the Thames not far from Reading and is called Silchester. Thus, the Britons lived in cities and in castles. A long time later, the Picts travelled by boat from Scythia, first to Ireland and from there to Britain, where they began to populate the northern parts of the island, for by then the Britons had taken possession of the south.36 In the course of time the Irish of Hibernia, which is the original home of the Irish, left there and added a third race to Britain, after the Britons and the Picts.37 Later, the Britons invited the Saxons and the Angles to fight, as if for their own native land, against the Picts and the Scots who were rebelling against British rule, and, with the aid of divine providence, to subdue them. Eventually, having driven the Britons out from the interior of the country and the province of Northumbria, and confined them to Kambria, these Saxons and Angles obtained dominion over the whole island. And, finally, the mighty Duke William of the Normans conquered the country in war and it became wholly subject to the Norman kings. Thus, Britain is now inhabited by five peoples, that is, the Britons in Wales, the Picts in the northern regions, the Scots in Albany, and chiefly, across the whole island, the Normans, intermingled with the English. In addition to these in our own time there is a sixth people, namely the Flemings, who, arriving from their native land, received a home in the region of Rhos in Dyfed in Wales at King Henry’s command.38 Before this, they had flocked to the island in disorganised HH describes Dorchester as Kair Dauri and Kair Dorm is named as Dormecestre on the river Nene in Huntingdonshire. Here Kair Dorm is taken as Dorchester on the river Nene and has no Kair Dauri on his list. A further difference is that Kair Peris is inserted earlier in the author’s list and is identified as Porchester, probably on the authority of GM (HRB iiii. 312), as neither HA or HB report this. 35  A comment added in the third recension of the HA, dating from c.1140, Greenway, HA, p. 15, note 14. 36  HA, i. 9, based on HE, i. 1. 37  HA, i. 10. i. 11. HE, i. 1. 38  The reference to ‘King Henry’, not to ‘King Henry I’, suggests text originating before the accession of Henry II in December 1154.

9

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

potentes, magnam sibi iam in ea partem sub Normannis militantes adquisierunt. Quorum crebra in insulam confluentia et inter Normannos cohabitatio quousque procedat sequens aetas uidebit.a 39

  P, double scroll decoration added after uidebit in hand of transcriber.

a

10

The History of Alfred of Beverley

bands, no less mighty in arms and courage than the natives of the place, and now they have acquired a large portion of land there, while serving as soldiers under the Normans. The next generation will see how the sizeable group of these people which has assembled in the island, and their living alongside the Normans, turns out.39

The first of two references to the relocation of the Flemings by King Henry to Rhos in Wales in the History. The second is reproduced from HR, itself recycled from CJW iii, 1111 (below, ch. 9, p. 156). Here, the comments are clearly those of the author. Negative views of the Flemings are found in other chronicles of the time. WM (HN, p. 41), describes Flemings as flocking to England in numbers under King Stephen, in the hope of plunder and booty. The GS paints a highly unflattering picture of the Flemish brothers Henry de Caldret and his brother Ralph (GS, 96, pp. 188–89). The observation of the Flemings’ potential to emerge as a sixth people on the island is, however, unique. An interest in the Flemings may reflect their significant post-conquest settlement and presence in south-eastern Yorkshire, Holderness and Beverley. Flemish immigration to England and south-east Yorkshire after the Norman conquest is discussed in E. Oksanen, Flanders and the Anglo-Norman World 1066–1216 (Cambridge, 2012), pp. 188–93. At the level of trade and commerce, the East Riding was an important source for the export of wool fleece to the low countries and Flemish involvement in this trade is attested by the existence in Beverley at the time of a street called Flammengaria (later, and still today, Flemmingate). The street is noted in a charter preserved in the cartulary of Rievaulx Abbey, recording the donation by John Fitz John of a stone house in ‘Flammengaria’ to the Cistercian abbey in the late 1150s. Cartularium Abbathiae de Rievalle Ordinis Cisterniensis, Fundatae anno MCXXXII, ed. J. Atkinson, SS (Durham, 1889, no. 135, p. 84). For Rievaulx’s involvement in the medieval wool trade, see E. Jamroziak, ‘Rievaulx Abbey as a wool producer in the late thirteenth century: Cistercians, sheep and debts’, Northern History, 40, 2 (September, 2003), pp. 197–218 and see also J. Burton, The Monastic Order in Yorkshire 1069–1215 (Cambridge, 1999), pp. 269–70. 39 

10

Particula I

Primus in Britannia regnauit Brutus,a filius Siluii, filii Aschanii, filii Aeneae. De quo in fatis habebatur, quod patrem et matrem occideret. Ita contigit.1 Mater enim eius in pariendo mortua est, et puer quindennis inter uenandum inopino ictu sagittae patrem, dum feram putaret, interfecit. Ob quod ab Italia expulsus, et in exiliis actus, partes Graeciae adiit, ubi congregati sunt ad eum Troiani qui sub rege Pandraso exulabant. Quorum fretus auxilio, prob eorum liberatione bellum cum Pandraso iniit, ipsumque uicit et cepit. Sed consilio optimatum regni data Bruto in coniugem Innogen filia regis, cum auro et argento et cum trecentis .xxiiii. nauibus frumento, uino, et oleo, et omnibus quae itineri eius necessaria erant oneratis, rex liber de carcere exiit, et Troes de exilio soluti, cum liberatore suo pelagus petierunt. Cum autem duobus diebus et una nocte nauigassent, applicuerunt in quandam insulam in qua erat templum Dianae. Cui Brutus sacrificans, ita deam deprecatus est:c 2 ‘Diua potens nemorum, terror siluestribus apris, cui licet amfractus ire per aethereos infernasque domos, terrestria iura reuolue et dic quas terras nos habitare uelis. Dic certam sedem qua te uenerabor in aeuum, qua tibi uirgineis templa dicabo choris’. Responsumque est illi: ‘Brute, sub occasu solis trans Gallica regna insula in occeano est undique clausa mari.d

  P, De Bruto added in left-hand margin.   C, common text with R & P resumes. c   C, adds Versus. d   P, adds insula in occeano est undique clausa mari, right-hand margin. a

b

11

Chapter I

Brutus, son of Silvius, son of Aschanius, son of Aeneas, ruled first in Britain. It was said of him in prophecies that he would kill his mother and father, and so it came to pass in the following manner.1 For his mother died in giving birth to him and, at the age of fifteen, the boy killed his father while he was hunting, striking him inadvertently with an arrow because he thought he was a wild beast. On account of this he was banished from Italy. Driven out as an exile, he went to Greece, where Trojans, living in exile under King Pandrasus, gathered around him. With the help of these Trojans, Brutus made war on Pandrasus to set them free, defeating and capturing him. But, on the advice of the leading men of the kingdom, Innogen, Pandrasus’s daughter, was given to Brutus in marriage, along with gold, silver, and three hundred and twenty-four ships loaded with corn, wine and oil, and everything necessary for a journey. The king was released from prison and the Trojans were freed from exile and, together with their liberator, they set to sea. After they had sailed two days and one night they landed on an island where there was a temple to Diana. Brutus made sacrifices and prayed to the goddess, as follows:2 ‘Mighty Goddess of the woods, terror of woodland boars You who can travel through celestial orbits And through the halls of death, unfold your earthly powers And say in which lands you wish us to dwell. Name the settled home where I can worship you forever, And where I can dedicate to you temples and choirs of virgins.’ And the reply to him was: ‘Brutus, to the west, beyond the kingdoms of Gaul, Lies an island of the ocean, surrounded by sea on every side. 1  2 

The start of the author’s abbreviation of the HRB. HRB, i. 294–312. Verses reproduced verbatim.

11

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Insula in occeano est habitata gigantibus olim, nunc deserta quidem, gentibus apta tuis. Hanc pete, namque tibi sedes erit illa perhennis. Hic fiet natis altera Troia tuis. Hic de prole tua reges nascentur, et ipsis totius terrae subditus orbis erit’. Accepto responso Brutus cum sociis ad naues reuertitur, sulcantesque aequora, primum ad Affricam, deinde ad aras Philistinorum, et lacum salinarum, sicque inter Russicadam et montes Azarae nauigantes, ubi uictis piratis, spoliis eorum ditati sunt,3 et per flumen Maluae in Mauritania transeuntes, et apud columpnas Herculis sirenas4 uix euadentes, tandem ad Tirrenum aequor peruenerunt, ubi iterum exulibus repertis, ducem eorum Corineum secum assumpserunt, sicque ad Acquitaniam uenientes, et hostium Ligeris egressi, proelium cum Goffario Pictanorum duce et Gallis gessit et uicit.5 Occisus tamen est ibi Turnus nepos Bruti, de cuius nomine ciuitas ibi a Bruto condita Turonis dicta est. Post hoc proelium Brutus ad naues reuersus, prosperis uentis promissam insulam petens, in Totonensium littore applicuit. Repertosque gigantes ad cauernas montium fugando et occidendo patriam purgauit, et eam sibi suisque habitabilem faciens, et insulam per ducatus et comitatus et per ceteras honorum dignitates distribuens, omnes regiae potestati subiecit, primusque super eos regnauit.a Denique, ut memoriam sui perhennem in posteros transmitteret, insulam b quem prius uocabatur Albionb de nomine suo Brittaniam, sociosque suos

  C, over erasure, Anno ante urbem Romae conditam .cccc.o primo et ante incarnationem Domini Nostri Iesu Christi anno millesimo .cxvi.o secundum rationem Orosii. b–b   R, P, omitted. a

12

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The island in the ocean, was once inhabited by giants, But now it is deserted and waiting for your people. Sail there, for it will be your home forever. Here a second Troy will come into being for your children Here will be born from your descendants kings who will be masters of the whole world.’ When he had received this reply, Brutus returned to the ships with his comrades and they sailed, first to Africa, then to the altars of the Philistines and the lake of Salinae, and then between Russicada and the mountains of Azara, where they defeated pirates and enriched themselves with their booty.3 Next, they passed along the River Malva in Mauretania and, at the Pillars of Hercules, barely escaped from the Sirens.4 Eventually, they came to the Tyrrhenian Sea, where they discovered other Trojan exiles, whose leader, Corineus, they took with them. Thus, they came to Aquitaine and, sailing out from the estuary of the Loire, fought and won a battle with Goffarius, leader of the Picts, and with the Gauls, they defeated him.5 But there Turnus, the nephew of Brutus, was killed and the city Brutus founded in that place was named Tours after him. After this battle, Brutus returned to the ships and, with favourable winds, made for the island which had been promised to him and landed at Totnes. He cleansed the land of all the giants he found there, driving them off into mountain caves or killing them, and he made it habitable for himself and his people. Dividing the island up into areas held by dukes and earls and others honoured by a title, he made all these subject to the power of the king, and he was the first to reign over them. Then, so that his memory would be passed down in perpetuity to succeeding generations, he called the island Britain, which was earlier called Albion, after 3  HRB, i. 320–23. GM’s source for the geographic description in this passage appears to have been the HB, where the travellers are a Scythian noble and his wife Scotta, daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt, exiled and en route to the country of Dal Riada in north-east Ireland. In characteristic style, GM adapts the story, inventing additional detail. See HB, ch. 15 and Tatlock, Legendary History, p. 112. 4  In classical mythology, sirens were beautiful but dangerous creatures, combining features of young women and birds, who, by their enchanting singing, lured sailors to shipwreck on the rocky coast. 5  HRB, i. 338–78. The author may have adapted this episode. In HRB, Goffarius Pictus (the Pict) is named as king of Aquitaine and his followers are named as Poitevins. Here, Goffarius is presented as dux Pictanorum, leader of the Picts. Both versions, however, remain ambiguous, and it is of note that the episode is overlooked by HH in his 1139 epitomization of the HRB (EAW). Of interest here also is the omission of the account of Corineus’ hunting party in the woods of Goffarius. When confronted by Goffarius’s messengers and asked by whose authority they were hunting in the woods, Corineus replies that no one should need to seek permission to hunt in the royal woods: ‘Quibus cum Corineus respondisset licentiam huius rei nequaquam debere haberi’, and a fight ensues. GM is presumably making a point here but, if so, for whose ears and why? Overlooking the story and Corineus’s remark is consistent with a generally cautious authorial approach. If GM can afford to make tongue-in-cheek remarks about potentially controversial issues, the author appears less inclined to do so.

12

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Britones uocauit. Ciuitatem etiam ad quam, quasi ad caput regni, conuenirent, super Tamensem fluuium, qui nunc corrupte Tamisa6 dicitur aedificauit, eamque in memoriam gentis de qua ortus fuerat, id est Troianorum, Troiam Nouam appellauit. Ex hoc nomine usque ad tempus regis Lud est uocata. Rex uero Lud iussit eam de nomine suo Kair Luda id est ciuitas Lud uocari. Deinde corrupto hoc uocabulo Saxonice Lundene, Normannice Lundres, Latine Lundonia dicta est. Hec est, ciuitas Lundoniarum. Expletis autem in regno uiginti quatuor annis, defunctus est Brutus, et in ciuitate sua sepultus, successeruntque ei tres filii sui, et regnum Britanniae inter se diuiserunt. Siquidem primogenitus Bruti Locrinus mediam partem insulae, quae a meridiano freto, per quod a Britannia ad Gallias nauigatur, ad Humbriam usque porrigitur sibi delegit, eamque de nomine suo Loegriam uocauit, primusque in ea parte regnauit. Secundus Bruti filius Kamber partem illam quae est ultra Sabrinam usque ad occidentalem occeanum possedit, quae de nomine ipsius postmodum Kambria multo tempore dicta fuit. Vnde adhuc gens patriae lingua Britannica sese Kambro appellat. Haec postea Gualia dicta est a Gualaes regina,7 siue a Gualone duce eorum. Ad hanc multo post tempore Britones a mediterranea Britannia expulsi, usque ad praesens tempus inibi resederunt, ibique regnum Gualanorum constituerunt.8 At uero Albanactus iunior Bruti filius trans Humbranas partes adiens, possedit Scotiam, et eam de nomine suo Albaniam uocans, regnum sibi constituit. Illis deinde concorditer regnantibus, applicuit Humber rex Hunorum in Albaniam, et commisso proelio cum Albanacto interfecit eum bet gentem patriae ad Locrinum diffugere coegitb. Quo audito Locrinus associato sibi fratre suo Kambro obuiam iuit regi Hunorum, initoque congressu compulit Humbrum in fugam. Qui usque ad flumen Humbriae diffugens, in eo dimersus est, et nomen suum flumini reliquit. Postea defuncto Kambro totius Britanniae regnum Locrinus solus optinuit. Quo .xx. annis potitus, occisus est in bello, quod ei uxor sua propter pelicem suam spreta intulerat, regnauitque post eum annis .xv. Sed cum Madan filius eorum adultus esset, tradito ei regno, ipsa dum uixit contenta est regione Cornubiae.9

  C, Chaher Lud.   R, P, omitted.

a

b–b

13

The History of Alfred of Beverley

himself, and his comrades, ‘the Britons.’ He also built a city in which his followers could come together, as in the capital of a kingdom, beside the River Thames, which is now corruptly called Tamisa.6 In memory of the people from which he sprang, that is the Trojans, he named it ‘New Troy.’ And it was called by this name until the time of King Lud. But King Lud ordered it to be called Kair Lud, that is, Lud’s city, after himself. Then, after this name had become corrupted, it was called Lundene in Saxon, Lundres in Norman and Lundonia in Latin. That is, the city of London. After ruling twenty-four years, Brutus died and was buried in his city and succeeded by his three sons, who divided up the kingdom between them. As Locrinus was Brutus’s first born, he chose for himself the central part of the island, which extends from the southern channel, across which Gaul is reached by boat from Britain, to the Humber. He called it Loegria, after himself, and was the first to rule in that region. The second son of Brutus, Kamber, took possession of the part of the island beyond the Severn as far as the western ocean, and for a long time this was known as Kambria, after him. For this reason, the inhabitants still call themselves Kambri in the British tongue. It was later called Wales after a Queen Galaes or after a prince called Gualo.7 The Britons were driven there from central Britain a long while later and, up to the present time, have resided there and have founded the kingdom of Wales.8 Then the youngest son of Brutus, Albanactus, went to the lands on the other side of the Humber, took possession of Scotland, and calling it Albany after himself, established his kingdom there. These three, then, were reigning in harmony when Humber, the king of the Huns, landed in Scotland, engaged in battle with Albanactus and killed him and forced the inhabitants of the country to flee to Locrinus. When he heard this, Locrinus, together with his brother Kamber, marched to meet the king of the Huns, joined battle with him, and put him to flight. Fleeing to the River Humber, that king drowned in its waters and gave the river his name. Afterwards, on the death of Kamber, Locrinus became sole ruler of Britain. But, after ruling it for twenty years, he was killed in a war which his wife, spurned in favour of his mistress, had waged upon him. She reigned for fifteen years after him. But, when their son Madan had grown up, the kingdom was handed over to him, while she was content with the region of Cornwall for the rest of her days.9 HRB, i. 490–99, iii. 375–78. This comment on the corruption of the naming of the river Thames – from Tamensem to Tamisa, is found in neither HRB nor HA (EAW). 7  HRB, xi. 593–94. The explanation for the naming of Wales is found at the conclusion of the HRB. It is used by the author here and again at the conclusion of chapter five. 8  The comment on the foundation of the kingdom of Wales appears to be that of the author. 9  The story of Gwendolena, wife of Locrinus and daughter of Corineus and Estrildis, the beautiful German princess with whom Locrinus falls in love and with whom he fathers an equally beautiful daughter, Habren, is here largely omitted. It is briefly reported at the conclusion of the chapter. 6 

13

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Insignitus ergo Madan regno et ex uxore duos filios genuit, Mempricium et Maulim, regnumque cum pace et diligentia .xl. annis tractauit. Defuncto Madan, Mempricius fratrem suum Maulim quasi pro concordia ad colloquium uocauit, ipsumque inter prolocutores interfecit, regnum inuasit, tirannidem exercuit, et relicta propria uxore, ex qua inclitum iuuenem Ebraucum genuerat, sodomiticaa se peste maculauit. Vnde ob foeditatem uitae dum uenatum iret, anno regni sui .xx.o a multitudine rabiosorum luporum deuoratus est. Successit Mempricio Ebraucus filius suus, uir magnae staturae et mirae fortitudinis, qui ex .xx.ti coniugibus .xx.ti filios et .xxx. filias genuit. bFilias in Italiam ad Siluium Albam direxit,10 et sunt ibi maritatae nobilioribus Troianis, quos Latinae et Sabinae aspernabantur. At filii duce Assaracho fratre duxerunt classem in Germaniam, et auxilio Siluii Albae usi, subiugato populo regnum adepti sunt. Iste Ebraucus primus post Brutum classem in partes Galliarum duxit, et uiros caede, urbes oppressione afficiens, infinita auri et argenti copia ditatus, cum uictoria reuersus est.b Deinde trans Humbriam condidit ciuitatem, et eam de nomine suo Kair Ebrauc uocauit, hoc est, ciuitas Eboraci. Condidit etiam urbem Aldcludc uersus Albaniam, et oppidum Montis Agned, quod nunc Castellum Puellarum dicitur, Anglice Edenesburgd et Montem Dolorosum. Et completis in regno .lx.e annis finem uitae sortitus est.11 Brutus autem cognomento uiride scutum solus ex .xx. filiis cum patre Ebrauco remanserat, regnique post eum gubernaculo potitus duodecim annis regnauit. Huic successit Leil filius suus pacis amator et aequitatis. Qui ut regni prosperitate usus est, urbem in aquilonari parte Britanniae aedificauit, et de nomine suo Kairleil uocauit, uixitque. xxv. annis, sed regnum in fine tepide rexit, unde ciuilis discordia in regno orta est.12 Post hunc regnauit filius suus Rudhudibras, qui populum ex ciuili discordia in concordiam reuocauit, et ciuitatem Kairktam, id est Cantuariam condidit, et Kairgueint id est Wintoniam, atque oppidum montis Paladur quod nunc Sephtonia dicitur, et expletis in regno .xxx.ix. annis decessit. Successit ei filius suus Bladud, qui aedificauit Kair Badum, quae nunc Bado dicitur, fecitque in ea calida balnea, quibus praefecit numen Mineruae, in cuius aede inextinguibiles posuit ignes. Iste docuit nigromantiam per regnum Britanniae, nec praestigia facere quieuit, donec paratis sibi alis ire per aera temptauit,

  C, sodomita.   C, omitted. c   R, Aclud. P, Arilud. d   R, P, omit Anglice Edenesburg. e   R, P, xl. a

b–b

14

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Thus marked out as king, Madan had two sons with his wife, Mempricius and Maulim, and ruled the kingdom peacefully and well, for forty years. When Madan died, Mempricius summoned his brother Maulim as if for friendly talks. But he killed Maulim while negotiations were going on, invaded the kingdom, ruled as a tyrant, abandoned his wife with whom he had fathered a fine young man called Ebraucus – and defiled himself with the pestilence of sodomy. Then, in the twentieth year of his rule, he was, on account of the foulness of his life, devoured by a pack of ravening wolves while hunting. Ebraucus, his son, succeeded Mempricius. He was a man of great size and wonderful courage who, with twenty wives, fathered twenty sons and thirty daughters. He sent his daughters to Italy to Silvius Alba10 and there they married Trojan nobles who were being rejected by the Latin and Sabine women. His sons, led by his brother Assaracus, took ship to Germany where, with Silvius Alba’s help, they subdued the inhabitants and conquered the kingdom. This Ebraucus was the first after Brutus to take a fleet to Gaul and, after killing its men and seizing its cities, he returned victorious, enriched by huge quantities of gold and silver. He then built a city beyond the Humber which he called after himself, Kair Ebrauc, that is, the city of York. He also built the city of Dumbarton, on the way to Scotland, and the town of Mons Agned, which is now called the ‘Maidens’ Fortress’, in English Edinburgh and the ‘Sorrowful Mountain.’ And, after sixty years of rule, he came to the allotted end of his life.11 Now Brutus, known as Green Shield, who alone of the twenty sons had stayed with his father, took over the ship of state from him and reigned for twelve years. He in turn was succeeded by his son Leil, a lover of peace and justice. He took advantage of his kingdom’s prosperity to found a city in the northern part of Britain, calling it Carlisle, after himself. Leil lived for twenty-five years, but, in the end, he ruled the kingdom weakly and so civil discord broke out.12 After Leil, his son Rudhudibras reigned and he led the people out of strife and back to peace and built Kair Kem [recte Kair Kent], that is Canterbury, Kair Guent, that is Winchester, and the town of Mons Paladur, which is now called Shaftesbury. After thirty-nine years of rule he died. Rudhudibras was succeeded by his son Bladud, who built Kair Badun which is now called Bath, where he made warm baths which he put under the protection of the goddess Minerva, placing in her temple inextinguishable flames. Bladud taught magic throughout Britain and did not cease to work wonders until he tried to fly through the air with wings he had made for himself and, plummeting down King of Italy. HRB, ii. 85–86. GM states that Ebraucus reigned for thirty-nine years and, later (HRB, ii. 96), 60 years. 12  The peril of weak kingship is a central theme in the HRB and a message clearly intended for the elite Anglo-Norman readers for whom GM wrote. 10  11 

14

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

ceciditque super templum Appollinis infra urbem Trinouantum, et in multa frustaa contritus est. Dato igitur fatis Bladud, erigitur filius eius Leir in regem, qui .xl. annis regnauit uiriliter.b 13 Aedificauit autem super Soram flumen ciuitatem, quae Britannice de nomine eius Kair Leir, Saxonice uero Leircestria nuncupatur. Cui negata sibi masculini sexus prolec .iii. filias habuit, quarum primam Gonorillam maritauit Maglauro duci Albaniae, secundam Regau Henuino duci Cornubiae, tertiam Cordeillam Aganippo regi Franciae. Qualiter autem uergente eo in senium, ipse a duabus filiabus spretus et ab earum maritis pulsatus, qualiterque iunior filia eum susceperit, et per maritum suum regem Francorum ipsa patrem in regnum suum restitutus, tertio anno mortuus sit; quomodo etiam post eum Cordeilla regnum Britanniae per quinquennium pacifice tractauerit et quomodo postea a nepotibus suis Margano et Cunedagio filiis Maglauri et Henuini in pugna capta, et in carcerem missa sese interfecit, et ipsi inter se regnum diuiserunt, Historia Britonum plenius docet.d Post mortem Cordeillae Marganus et Cunedagius diuiserunt regnum inter se, sed Marganus post biennium instigatus a regni turbatoribus insurrexit in Cunedagium, sed ab eo uictus et interfectus est. Potitus itaque uictoria Cunedagius monarchiam totius insulae, adeptus triginta tribus annis gloriose regnauit.14 Postremo defuncto Cunedagio successit ei filius Riwallo, euuenis atque fortunatus qui regnum cum diligentia gubernauit.e In tempore cuius tribus diebus cecedit pluuia sanguinea, et muscarum affluentia homines moriebantur. Post mortem Riwallonis fsuccessit Gurgustius filius eius, cui Siluius, cui Iago, cui Kinmarcus post hunc Gorbodugo. Huic nati sunt filii duo quorum unus Ferreus alter Porrex nuncupabatur. Cum autem pater in senium uergisset orta est contentio inter eos quis eorum in regno succederet. At Porrex, maiori cupiditate subductus, paratis insidiis Ferreum fratrem interficere parat. Quod cum illi compertum fuisset uitato fratre transfretauit in Galliam et cum auxilio Suardi cuisdam reguli Gallorumf reuersus et cum fratre dimicans interfectus est, et tota multitudo quae cum eo comitabatur. Vnde mater eorum in odium alterius uersa [est]. gDiligebat namque illum magis altero. Vnde tanta ira ob mortem ipsius ignescebat ut ipsum in fratrem uindicare affectaret.g Nacta ergo tempus quo illo sopitus fuerat aggreditur

  C, adds post .xx. annos regni sui.   R, P, omit viriliter. c   C, f. 13 v–f. 16 r. Interpolation from HRB. d   C, common text with R & P resumes. e–e   R, P, omitted. f–f   R, P, alternative reading. g–g   R, P, omitted. a

b

15

The History of Alfred of Beverley

over the temple of Apollo which is below the city of Trinovantum, was dashed into many pieces. After Bladud thus met his fate his son Leir became king and ruled vigorously for forty years.13 He built a city by the River Soar, called in British Kair Leir, after him, but in Saxon Leicester. He had been denied male offspring but had three daughters, of whom the eldest, Gonorilla, married Maglaurus duke of Scotland, the second, Regau, married Henuinus duke of Cornwall, and the third, Cordeilla, married Aganippus, king of France. When Leir was declining into old age he was rejected by two of his daughters and driven out by their husbands. But his youngest daughter took him in and, acting through her husband, the king of the French, restored her father to his kingdom. Three years later he died. After him Cordeilla ruled the kingdom of Britain peacefully for five years and then she was captured in battle by her two nephews, Marganus and Cunedagius, the sons of Maglaurus and Henuinus. While in prison, she killed herself, and the nephews divided the kingdom between them. All this the History of the Britons tells us in greater detail. After the death of Cordeilla, Marganus and Cunedagius divided the kingdom between them. Two years later, however, Marganus, urged on by troublemakers, rose up against Cunedagius, but he was defeated by him and killed. The victorious Cunedagius took control of the whole island and for thirty-three years ruled it gloriously.14 Then, after the death of Cunedagius, he was succeeded by his son Rivallo who was youthful and fortunate and who ruled the kingdom well. During his reign, it rained blood for three days and people died from a plague of flies. After Rivallo died, he was succeeded by his son Gurgustius, who was succeeded by Silvius [recte Sisillius], followed by Iago, Kinmarcus and Gorbodugus. Gorbodugus had two sons, one called Ferrex and the other Porrex. Now, as their father had declined into old age a dispute arose between them over who should succeed to the kingdom. But Porrex, carried away by a greater greed, plotted against and planned to kill his brother Ferrex. When Ferrex discovered this, he eluded his brother, crossed to Gaul, and returned with the help of Suardus, a certain chieftain of the Gauls. While fighting with Porrex he was killed, as were all the troops accompanying him. As a result, the brothers’ mother came to hate her other son whom she had loved less. She burned with such anger over Ferrex’s death that she wished to take revenge on his brother and, taking advantage of a time when Porrex was asleep, she and her serving women attacked him and tore HRB, ii. 135. Leir rules for 60 years. HRB, ii. 283–85. A synchronism allowing GM’s British kings to be dated is here omitted but is included at the conclusion of the chapter: ‘At that time [while Cunedagius ruled] lived the prophets Isaiah and Hostea; and Rome was founded on 21 April by the twins, Romulus and Remus.’ 13  14 

15

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

illum cum ancillis suis, et in plurimas sectiones dilacerauit. Exinde ciuilis discordia multo tempore populum afflixit, et regnum quinque regibus submissum est, qui se mutuis cladibus infestabant.15 Procedente tandem tempore asuscitauit probitas quendam iuuenem qui Dunuallo Molmutius uocabatur. Erat ei filius Clotenis regis Cornubiae pulchritudine et audacia omnes reges Britanniae excellens. Qui ut regimen patriae post obitum patris suscepit, insurrexit in Pinneriem regem Loegriae et facto congressu interfecit eum. Postea interfectis regibus Chambriae et Albaniae cum totam insulam sibi subiugasset primus fecit sibi diadema ex auro, insulamque in pristinum statum reduxita. Hic leges, quae Molmutinae dicuntur, inter Britones statuit, quae etiam inter Anglos celebrabantur. Statuit siquidem inter cetera, quae multo post tempore beatus Gildas scripsit, ut templa deorum et ciuitates talem dignitatem haberent, ut quicumque fugitiuus siue reus ad illa confugeret, cum uenia coram inimico suo abiret.16 Statuit etiam ut uiae, quae ad praedicta templa et ad ciuitates ducebant, necnon et aratra colonum eadem lege confirmarentur. In diebus eius non erat latro usquam aut raptor, uel qui alicui uiolentiam ingereret. Denique cum inter talia quadraginta annos post sumptum diadema expleuisset, defunctus est in urbe Trinouantum prope templum Concordiae, quod ipse ad confirmationem legum construxerat, sepultus.17 Successit Molmutio Belinus filius eius, et diuiso inter se et fratrem iuniorem regno. Ipse Belinus diadema insulae cum Loegria, Cambria, et Cornubia possedit, iunior uero Brennius, fratri subditus, Northumbriam usque ad Kathenesiamb optinuit. cHorum gesta tam Romana18 quam Britannia narrat historia, de quibus hic aliqua sunt memoranda.c Quinquennio in regno concorditer exacto, rebellauit Brennius aduersus Belinum, sed contritus ab eo, ad Seginum ducem Allogobrogum diuertit, qui eum in tantam familiaritatem suscepit, ut unicam filiam suam ei cum regno Allogobrogum daret. Necdum emerso anno mortuus est Seginus, et Brennius confoederatis sibi Gallis cum Allogobrogibus suis Britanniam cum fratre proeliaturus adiit.

  R, P, alternative reading.   R, P, Catenesiam. c–c   C, omitted. a–a b

16

The History of Alfred of Beverley

him into pieces. For a long time after that civil strife troubled the people and the kingdom was ruled by five kings, who inflicted defeats upon one another.15 After some while, virtue at last raised up a certain young man called Dunuallo Molmutius. He was the son of Cloten, the king of Cornwall, and surpassed all the rulers of Britain in beauty and boldness. On assuming the throne of his native land after his father’s death, he rose up against Pinner, King of Loegria, and killed him in battle. Then, when he had gained control over the whole island, after killing the kings of Wales and Scotland, he was the first to make himself a crown out of gold and restored the country to its former position. Dunuallo established among the Britons the laws called the Laws of Molmutius, which even today are honoured among the English. Amongst other enactments recorded much later by St Gildas, he ordained that the temples of the gods and the cities should be treated with such respect that any fugitive or criminal who fled to them should be allowed to depart with a full pardon from his enemy.16 He further decreed that the roads leading to the said temples and to cities and also to farmers’ ploughlands should enjoy the same privilege. In Dunuallo’s time there was neither thief nor robber nor anyone who wished to do violence against another. At last, having devoted himself to such deeds for forty years since he had assumed the crown, Dunuallo died in the city of Trinovantum and was buried near the temple of Harmony, which he himself had built, in support of his laws.17 Belinus, the son of Molmutius, succeeded and shared the kingdom with his younger brother. Belinus held the crown of the island, along with Loegria, Wales, and Cornwall and the younger brother, Brennius, obtained Northumbria as far as Caithness, as a subject of his brother. Both the Roman History18 and the British History relate these men’s deeds, some of which ought to be mentioned here. After five years of harmony in the kingdom, Brennius rebelled against Belinus, but, heavily defeated by him, took himself off to Seginus, duke of the Allobroges, who received him in such a friendly manner that he gave him his only daughter, together with the kingdom of the Allobroges. Hardly had a year passed when Seginus died and Brennius, having made a treaty with the Gauls, went with his Allobroge followers to Britain to do battle with his brother.

The consequence of family disunion is another of the HRB’s recurring moral themes. HRB, ii. 328–31. GM’s invented claim that St Gildas recorded details of the law making Dunuallo is taken at face value. HH (HA, viii. EAW, 3) similarly accepts, adding tribute to Gildas. 17  HRB, ii. 305–37. 18  First collation of GM’s account with conventional authority and the first of many citations of the Roman History. The author assumes the work to be that of Eutropius, whose Breviarium ab Urbe Condita (c. AD 369) provided readers of the time a standard history of Rome from 753 BC to AD 364. Use of the source indicates that the author worked with the late eighth-century continuation and amplification of the Breviarium by the Lombard Paul the Deacon. 15  16 

16

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Et cum in eundem campum hinc Belinus inde Brennius dimicaturi conuenissent, matre eorum per turmas utrinque incedente, pro utroque apud utrumque intercedente, fratres in concordiam rediere. Exarmatis itaque cohortibus urbem Trinouantum pariter adierunt, ibique parato communiter exercitu, post annum ad Gallias transfretauerunt, et eas uastare coeperunt, rebellantesque Gallos captis eorum regibus ad deditionem coegerunt, totumque regnum infra annum subiugauerunt. Inde Romam petentes, Romanos sub tributo posuerunt sumptisque ab eis obsidibus, cohortes suas in Germaniam duxerunt. Sed Romani rupto foedere Germanis in auxilium processerunt. Quod cum regibus compertum esset, consilio habito Belinus cum Britonibus in Germania remansit, proelia hostibus illaturus, Brennius cum exercitibus suis Roman adiit, ruptum foedus in Romanos uindicaturus. Sed Romanis eum insequentibus, Belinus post eos iter accelerauit, et congressus cum eis, uicit, sicque ad fratrem uenit, qui iam tertio die Romam obsidebat. Iunctis itaque uiribus urbem inuaserunt, et furcis ante portas erectis .xxiiii. nobilissimos Romanorum obsidum suspenderunt. Vnde Romani proteruiores effecti, egressi urbem proelium cum eis commiserunt, auxilio Gabii et Porsennae consulum freti. Sed Gabio interfecto et Porsenne capto uictoria potiti fratres urbem ceperunt. Remansit itaque Brennius in Italia, Belinus rediit in Britanniam, et populum reliquo tempore cum tranquilitate tractauit. Iste Belinus leges, quas pater suus Dunuallo Molmutius inuenerat, confirmauit, stabilemque iustitiam per regnum fieri praecepit, maxime uero indixit ut ciuitates, et uiae, quae ad ciuitates ducebant, eandem pacem, quam Dunuallo statuerat, haberent. Sed de uiis orta est discordia, quia nesciebant quibus terminis diffinitae essent. Rex igitur omne ambiguum legis suae auferre uolens, conuocauit omnes operarios totius insulae, iussitque uiam ex cemento et lapide fabricari, quae insulam in longitudine a Cornubio mari usque ad Katanesiam perduceret, et ad ciuitates quae infra erant recto tramite duceret. Iussit etiam aliam fieri in latitudinem regni, quae a Meneuia urbe19 quae super Demeticuma mare sita est,20 usque ad portum Hamonis extensa, ad urbes infra positas ducatum ostenderet. Alias quoque duas ab obliquo insulae, quae ad ceteras ciuitates ducatum praestarent. Deinde sancciuit

  R, P, Demetium.

a

17

The History of Alfred of Beverley

But, when they met to fight on the same field of battle, Belinus on one side and Brennius on the other, their mother walked out between the troops on either side and interceded with each man on the other’s behalf and the brothers returned to peace. After their troops had been thus disarmed, they went together to the city of Trinovantum and there prepared a combined army, and, after a year, crossed to Gaul. They began to ravage the country and, after capturing its kings, forced the Gauls who were resisting to surrender and, within a year, subjugated the whole kingdom. From there they made for Rome, exacted tribute from the Romans after taking hostages from them, and led their own troops into Germany. But the Romans broke the agreement and marched out to help the Germans. On discovering this, the kings made a plan that Belinus would remain in Germany with the Britons to fight the enemy there, while Brennius and his army would go to Rome to punish the Romans for breaking their word. But the Romans pursued Brennius and so Belinus hurried after them, engaged and defeated them, and thus met up with his brother, who had been besieging Rome for three days. So the two men joined forces and invaded the city and they erected gallows in front of the gates, from which they hung twenty-four of the noblest Roman hostages. This made the Romans more bold, and, coming out of the city, they joined battle with Brennius and Belinus, with the support of the consuls Gabius and Porsenna. But Gabius was killed and Porsenna captured, the brothers were victorious, and the city taken. Following this, Brennius remained in Italy and Belinus returned to Britain, where he ruled the people peacefully for the rest of his days. This same Belinus confirmed the laws which his father Dunuallo Molmutius had introduced. He commanded that stability and justice be observed throughout the kingdom and proclaimed that the cities, and the roads which led to them, should provide the same sanctuary which Dunuallo had decreed. But disputes arose about the roads because nobody knew what boundaries had been prescribed for them. So the king, wishing to eliminate all uncertainty from his law, summoned all the workmen from the whole kingdom and ordered them to make a road of cement and stone which would extend the length of the island from the Cornish sea to Caithness, and lead directly through all the cities along the way. He further ordered that another road be built across the width of the island which, extending from the city of St David’s19 on the coast of the sea of Demetia20 to Southampton, would make clear who was the ruler of the cities along the way. Two more roads, built diagonally across the island, would likewise show under whose command the GM’s debt to HH for his description of Belinus’s four roads is discussed by Tatlock, Legendary History, pp. 66–67. 20  Demetia appears to be a Latinised form of Welsh Dyfed and its peoples and kings appear frequently in the HRB. Tatlock, Legendary History, pp. 62–63. The Demetian sea appears therefore to describe the south-west coastal area of Wales. 19 

17

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

eas omni honore et dignitate iurisque sui esse praecepit, quod de illata super eas uiolentia sumeretur. Si quis autem scire uoluerit omnia quae de ipsis statuerit, legat Molmutinas leges quas Gildas historiographus de Britannico in Latinum, rex uero Alfridus de Latino in Anglicum sermonem transtulit.21 De hiis uiis alibi sic legimus: ‘Tantae autem gratiae inhabitantibus fuit Britannia, quod quatuor in ea calles a fine in finem construerent, regia sublimatos auctoritate, ne aliquis in eis inimicus inuadere auderet. Primus est ab oriente in occidentem et uocatur Icelnidstret,a secundus est ab austro in aquilonem, et uocatur Herminstrete, tertius est ex transuerso a Dorobernia in Cestram, scilicet, ab euro austro in zephirum septemtrionalem, et uocatur Watlingestrete, quartus maior ceteris incipit in Catheneis et desinit in Toteneis,b scilicet a principio Cornwalliaec usque in finem Scotiae, et hic callis uadit ex transuerso a zephiro australi in eurum septemtrionalem, et uocatur Fossa, tenditque per Lincolniam. Hii sunt quatuor principales calles Angliae, multum quidem spatiosi, sed non minus speciosi, sanciti edictis regum, scriptisque uerendis legum.’22 Iste etiam Belinus renouauit ueteres collapsas urbes, et multas nouas aedificauit inter quas unam aedificauit super Oscam flumen super Sabrinum mare, quae multis temporibus Kairusc appellata, metropolis Demetiae fuerat, postea uocata est Vrbs Legionum, a Romanis legionibus qui ibidem hiemare solebant. Fecit etiam in urbe Trinouantum ianuam mirae fabricae super ripam Tamensis, quam Belinesgated uocant, et desuper aedificauit turrim mirae magnitudinis, portumque subtus ad pedem applicantibus nauibus idoneum. In diebus eius tanta copia diuiciarum populum refecit, quantam nec retro aetas habuisse, nec subsequens consecuta fuisse testetur. Postremo cum ex hac uita discessisset combustum est

  R, P, Ycenild.   R, P, Totey. c   R, P, Cornubiae. d   R, P, Belines iata. a

b

18

The History of Alfred of Beverley

other cities lay. Then he solemnly established them with all honour and dignity, proclaiming that it would be his own responsibility to take retribution for any act of violence committed upon them. If anyone wishes to know all his edicts about the roads, they should read the Molmutine Laws, which the historian Gildas translated from British into Latin and King Alfred translated from Latin into the English tongue.21 On the subject of these roads we read elsewhere: ‘Britain was so dear to its inhabitants that they constructed four highways on it, from one end to the other, raised up by royal authority, so that no enemy would dare to make an attack on them. The first is from east to west and is called the Icknield Way. The second runs from south to north and is called Ermine Street. The third goes across from Dover to Chester, that is, from the southeast to the northwest, and is called Watling Street. The fourth, longer than the others, begins in Caithness and ends in Totnes, so it runs from the beginning of Cornwall to the end of Scotland. This road, which is called the Fosse Way, takes a diagonal route from southwest to northeast, and passes through Lincoln. These are the four principal highways of England, which are very broad as well as splendid, protected by royal edicts and by venerable legal codes.’22 This same Belinus repaired the old cities where they had fallen into ruin and built many new ones, among them one on the River Usk beyond the mouth of the Severn which was for a long time called Kair Usc and was the metropolitan city of Demetia. Later it was called City of the Legions, after the Roman legions which used to winter there. He also built in the city of Trinovantum a wonderfully constructed gate by the River Thames, which they call Billingsgate and above it a tower of remarkable size and below, at its foot, a port where ships could berth. During his reign the people enjoyed such great abundance that it is said to have surpassed that of any period, before or after. Finally, when he departed from this world, his body was burned and his ashes enclosed in a golden urn, which was

HRB, iii. 75–91. Belinus reinforcing the laws of his father Dunuallo and his road building projects occurs in the HRB before the continental expedition of Brennius and Belinus. The fictitious claim that Gildas had translated the Molmutine Laws from British into Latin and that King Alfred had translated the laws from Latin into English is taken at face value. HH (HA, viii. EAW, 3) is more cautious. He reports that Gildas had praised the laws of Dunuallo but omits the claim that he translated them into Latin and that King Alfred translated them from Latin into English. 22  HA, i. 7. Use of this borrowing from the HH’s introductory descriptive survey at this point in the narrative, rather than in his own prefatory descriptive survey, shows a purposeful use of source material. The borrowing also suggests that the author was aware of GM’s indebtedness to HH in the passage. The silent comparison of GM’s account of the British king Belinus’s road-building with an alternative account, as an example of the rhetorical practice of similitudo (see above, p. xxxix). For tropes and figures of speech used in medieval rhetorical practice, see M. Kempshall, Rhetoric and the Writing of History 400–1500 (Manchester, 2011), pp. 28–29. 21 

18

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

corpus eius, et puluis in aureo cado reconditus, quem in urbe Trinouantum in summitate praedictae turris mira arte locauerunt. Successit aBelino filius suus Gurguint Bartruc qui nauigium in Daciam duxit, et regem Dacorum, qui ei post patrem suum tributum reddere detractabat, interfecit, patriamque pristino iugo supposuit. Et cum per Orcadas Britanniam rediret, inuenit .xxx. naues uiris et mulieribus plenas, qui dicebant se ex Hispaniis expulsos iam per annum et dimidium per occeanum nauigasse, et locum mansionis quaesisse. Misit itaque Gurguint cum eis homines suos ad insulam [H]iberniae, quae tunc uasta omni incola carebat, eamque illis concessit. Deinde creuerunt illic et multiplicati sunt, insulamque usque in hodiernum diem tenuerunta.23 Defunctus Gurguint in urbe Legionum est sepultus, quam post obitum patris muris et aedificiis decorauerat. Post hunc autem Guitelinus diadema regni suscepit quod omni tempore uitae suae benigne et modeste tractauit. Huic erat regina nobilis Martia nomine, omnibus artibus erudita. Haec inter multa et inaudita, quae proprio ingenio reperat, inuenit legem quam Britones Martianam appellauerunt. Hanc etiam rex Alfridus inter cetera transtulit, et Saxonica lingua Mercenelaghb uocauit.24 Post Guitelinum regnauit filius eius Sisillius. Post Sisillium, Kimarus filius suus. Deinde Daniusc frater suus. Danio successit Moruidus filius eius ex concubina. dHic nimia probitate famosissimus esset nisi plus nimiae crudelitati indulsisset; nemini namque parcebat iratus quin eum interficeret si copiam telorum inueniret. Erat namque pulcher aspectu et in dandis muneribus profusus, nec erat alter tantae fortitudinis in regno qui congressum eius sustentare quiuissetd. Iste cum rege Morianorum qui Northumbriam uastabat proelium commisit et uicit,25 et quia truculentissimus erat uictos uiuos excoriari, et excoriatos praecipiebat comburi. In diebus eius aduenerat ex Hibernico mari inauditae feritatis belua, quae incolas iuxta maritima sine intermissione deuorabat. Quod audiens Moruidus, accessit ad illam, et solus cum sola congressus est. Cumque omnia tela sua in illam

  C, alternative reading.   R, P, Merchenelahe. c   R, P, Damus. d–d   R, P, omitted. a–a b

19

The History of Alfred of Beverley

positioned with marvellous skill at the top of the aforementioned tower in the city of Trinovantum. Belinus was succeeded by his son Gurguint Bartruc. He led a fleet against Denmark, killed the king of the Danes, who was refusing him the tribute he had paid when Belinus was king, and returned the country to its former position of servitude. When he was coming back to Britain through the Orkneys, Gurguint came across thirty ships full of men and women who said they had been banished from Spain and for a year and a half had sailed the ocean in search of a place to live. So Gurguint sent them, together with his own men, to the island of Ireland, which at that time was empty and completely devoid of inhabitants, and he granted it to them. They increased and multiplied there and have occupied the island right up to the present day.23 When Gurguint died he was buried in Caerleon, which he had endowed with walls and buildings after his father’s death. After Gurguint, Guithelinus assumed the crown and ruled the kingdom with benevolence and virtue for all his days. His noble queen, named Marcia, was skilled in all the arts. Among the many innovations devised by this woman of extraordinary ability was the law which the British called Marcian. This, among other things, was translated by King Alfred, who called it Merchenelage in the Saxon tongue.24 After Guithelinus his son Sisillius ruled and, after Sisillius, his son Kimarcus, then Danius, his brother. Danius was succeeded by Morvidus, his son with a concubine. He would have been highly renowned for great goodness if he had not given way to great cruelty. When he was angry, he spared no-one, but, so long as he could procure a supply of weapons, he would put them to death. He was handsome and generous in giving rewards and there was no other man in the kingdom brave enough to take him on in a fight. Morvidus fought and won a battle against the king of the Morini,25 who was ravaging Northumbria. Because he was an extremely savage man, he ordered that the captives be flayed alive and then burned. In his reign a beast of incredible ferocity had come out of the Irish Sea and was devouring without respite the inhabitants who lived near the coast. When Morvidus heard this, he approached the beast and fought it single-handed. But, HRB, iii. 241–52. GM has loosely based his account of the foundation of Ireland on HB chps 13–15 with additional detail, probably invented. The story of Ireland’s foundation originating from a donation from the British king Gurguint might perhaps have provided grounds for a later claim to sovereignty over Ireland by the Norman and later rulers. 24  HRB, iii. 259–66. The fictitious account of Queen Marcia and her ‘Marcian Law’ and its translation into Saxon by King Alfred is retained. There existed tenth-century Mercian law codes – the ‘Myrcna Laga’ – and twelfth-century legal tracts, such as the Leis Willelme and the Leges Henrici Primi, refer to Merchenelahe (Mercian law codes), and this may have provided enough evidence for the account to have some credibility. HH, however, omits the account in the EAW, suggesting doubt. For GM’s familiarity with English law of the time see Tatlock, Legendary History, pp. 278–83. 25  HRB, iii. 273. 23 

19

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

in uanum consumpsisset, accelerauit monstrum illud et apertis faucibus ipsum uelud pisciculum deuorauit. a Gennerat ipse quinque filios quorum primogenitus Gorbodianus nomine solum regni suscepit. Nullus ea tempestate iustior erat aut amantior aequi qui per cunctas regni Britanniae ciuitates templa deorum renouabat et plura noua aedificabat. In diebus eius tanta diuitiarum copia repleuit insulam quantam nullae collaterales prouinciae habebant. Quippe colonos ad agriculturam animabat ipsos ab iniuriis dominorum defendens. Bellatores quoque iuuenes auro et argento ditabat. Inter haec et plurima bonitatis ipsius gesta debita naturae soluens ab hac luce migrauit et in urbe Trinouantum sepultus esta. b Post illum Arthgallo super regio diademate insignitur qui omnibus suis actibus germano diuersus extitit. Nobiles namque ubique laborabat deponere et ignobiles exaltare, diuitibus quibusque sua auferre infinitos thesauros accumulare. Quod heroes regni diutius ferre recusantes insurrexerunt in ipsum et a solio regio deposuerunt. Exinde erexerunt Elidurum fratrem eius qui postea propter misericordiam quam in fratrem fecit Pius uocatus fuitb. Nam post quinquennium cum in Calaterio nemore uenatu occupatus,26 fratrem suum Arthgallonem pauperimum inuenisset, non est aspernatus illum, sed amplexus eius, et in oscula ruens, defleta diu eius miseria duxit illum secum in ciuitate Aldcludc et in thalamo suo occuluit. Et fingens se ibi infirmum, nuntios suos per totum regnum direxit, mandans principibus ut ad se uisitandum uenirent. Qui cum uenissent, praecepit ut singulatim ne capiti suo noceret tumultus, ingrederentur, et sic alter post alterum ingressus est. Praeceperat autem ministris capita ingredientium amputare; nisi se iterum Arthgalloni submisissent, sicque omnes fratri mediante timore pacificauit. Comfirmatoque foedere duxit Elidurus Arthgallonem Eboracum secum, acceptumque de capite suo diadema capiti fratris imposuit, unde sortitus est agnomen Pius, quia tantam pietatem in fratrem habuerat. Sed Arthgallo post decem annos defuncto, et in Kairleir sepulto, erigitur iterum Elidurus in regem; sed residui fratres Iugenius et Peridurus contra eum proeliantes ceperunt eum, et sub custodia in turri urbis Trinouantum incluserunt, et in loco eius alter post alterum

  R, P, alternative reading.   R, P, alternative reading. c   R, Aclud. P, Arclud. a–a

b–b

20

The History of Alfred of Beverley

when he had used up all his missiles on it to no effect, that monster rushed up and swallowed him in its open jaws, just like a little fish. Morvidus had fathered five sons and the eldest of these, Gorbodianus by name, assumed the throne of the kingdom. No man of that time was more righteous or a greater lover of justice. He repaired the gods’ temples in all the cities of Britain and built many new ones. In his time, such a great abundance of wealth filled the island that it exceeded the possessions of any of the neighbouring provinces. For he encouraged the farmers to till their fields and protected them from their masters’ harsh treatment. He also enriched young warriors with gold and silver. While performing these and many other good deeds, he paid his debt to nature and passed from this world. When he died, he was buried in the city of Trinovantum. After Gorbodianus, Arthgallo was crowned king and showed himself to be the opposite of his brother in everything he did. For he always exerted himself to cast down those who were noble and to exalt the ignoble and to carry off the possessions of all the rich men, heaping up enormous hoards of treasure. The leading men of the kingdom, refusing to tolerate this any longer, rebelled against him and deposed him. Then they raised to the throne his brother Elidurus, who was afterwards known as ‘the dutiful’ because of the compassion he showed Arthgallo. For when, while out hunting in the forest of Calaterium,26 Elidurus discovered Arthgallo in the utmost poverty he did not reject him but embraced him and rushed to kiss him. After weeping over his misfortune for a long time, he took him to the city of Dumbarton and hid him in his own bedroom. Then Elidurus feigned illness and sent messengers throughout the kingdom to order his principal subjects to come and see him. When they arrived, he ordered that they enter his room one by one, lest the noise hurt his head, and so they went in one after the other. He had, however, commanded his servants to cut off the heads of those who came in if they did not commit themselves to Arthgallo once more. Thus, he reconciled them all with his brother through fear. Having ratified the treaty, Elidurus took Arthgallo with him to York and placed the crown taken from his own head, on that of his brother. It is from this that he earned the name of ‘the dutiful’, because he had such a great sense of duty towards his brother. Arthgallo, however, died ten years later and was buried in Leicester and Elidurus once again ascended the throne. But his other brothers, Iugenius and Peridurus, attacked and captured him and placed him under guard in the tower of the city of Trinovantum and reigned in his place one after the other. When they had died, The region of Calatria may have had a basis in fact, for it is referred to by Aelred of Rievaulx in his account of the Battle of the Standard (1138). Chron. Steph., iii. p. 186. The location appears to be midway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, within striking distance of Aldclud (Dumbarton). See Tatlock, Legendary History, pp. 17–18. 26 

20

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

regnauerunt. Quibus defunctis, eripitur Elidurus de carcere, et tertio in regni solio sublimatus, uitam in bonitate et iustitia compleuit.27 Defuncto Eliduro, regnauerunt succedenter .xxxii.a reges bet quia nichil dignum memoriae inuentum est nomina eorum michi placet substitereb 28 inter quos Bledgrabedc omnes cantores, quos retro aetas habuerat, in modulis et in omnibus musicis instrumentis excedebat, ita ut deus ioculatorum diceretur. Post supradictos reges, scilicet triginta duos, successit Heli, dfilius Dignelli29 regisd, regnumque .xl. annis tractauit.30 Heli habuit tres filios Lud, Cassibellaunum et Nennium quorum primogenitus uidelicet Lud regnum post obitum patris suscepit. Regnauit itaque Lud, et gloriosus aedificator urbium extitit. Erat autem uir bellicosus, et in dandis epulis profusus. Renouauit etiam muros urbis Trinouantum, et innumeris turribus eam circumcinxit. Hanc enim ciuitatem prae omnibus amauit, et in illa totius anni maiori parte morabatur. Vnde iussit eam de nomine suo Kair Lud,e id est ciuitas Lud, dici. Pro quo maxima contentio orta est inter ipsum et Nennium fratrem suum, qui grauiter ferebat illum uelle nomen Troiae in patria sua delere. fQuam contentionem Gildas historiographus, satis prolixe tractauitf.31 Haec est, sicut supradictum est, ciuitas Londoniarum. Defuncto autem Lud, corpus eius reconditum fuit in praedicta ciuitate, Iuxta portam illam quae adhuc de nomine eius Porthlud Britannicae et Saxonicae uero Ludesghate nuncupatur. Nati fuerunt ei duo filii Androgius et Tenuantius qui cum propter aetatem regnum tractare nequiuissent. Cassibellaunus frater suus loco illorum sublimatur. Mox ut diademate insignitus fuit coepit ita largitate atque probitate uigere ut fama illius per remota regna diuulgaretur, unde contigit totius regni monarchia ei et non nepotibus cederet. Cassibellaunus tamen pietati indulgens noluit iuuenes expertes esse regni sed eis magnam partem distribuit. Vrbem etenim Trinouantum cum ducatu Cantiae largitus est Androgio. Ducatum uero Cornubiae Tenuancio. Ipse autem diademate praelatus illis et totius insulae principibus imperabat.

  C, xxii.   R, P, omitted. c   R, Beldgraber. P, Beldgarber. d–d   R, P, omitted. e   C, Caherlud. f–f   C, omitted. a

b–b

21

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Elidurus was freed from prison and, having ascended the throne of the kingdom for a third time, lived out his life in goodness and justice.27 After the death of Elidurus there reigned in succession thirty-two kings and since nothing memorable has been discovered about them, I am content to pass over their names in silence.28 Among them was Bledgrabed, who so much surpassed all the singers of previous times in melody and in performing on all sorts of musical instruments, that he was known as ‘the players’ god’. After the thirty-two kings mentioned above, Heli, son of King Dignellus,29 succeeded and ruled the kingdom for forty years.30 Heli had three sons, Lud, Cassibellaunus, and Nennius, of whom the eldest, namely Lud, took the throne after his father’s death. Thus Lud reigned and turned out to be a famous builder of cities. He was, too, a warlike man and a generous feast-giver. He also repaired the walls of the city of Trinovantum and surrounded it with innumerable towers, for he loved this city above all others and spent the greater part of each year there. For that reason, he ordered it to be called after him Kair Lud, that is, the city of Lud. A great argument arose about this between him and his brother Nennius, who was indignant that Lud wished to remove the name Troy from his kingdom. This argument has been discussed at sufficient length by the historian Gildas.31 The city concerned is London, as has been mentioned earlier. When Lud died, his body was buried in Kair Lud by the gate which is still to this day called after him Porth Lud in British, and Ludgate in Saxon. He had two sons, Androgeus and Tenuantius, who were unable to govern the kingdom because of their youth, so Cassibellaunus, his brother, was raised to the throne in their place. As soon as he was crowned, he began to be so highly esteemed for his generosity and honesty that his reputation spread throughout the distant lands, with the result that rulership of the whole kingdom was conferred on him rather than his nephews. Cassibellaunus, however, with his dedication to duty, was not content that the young men should have no share in the kingdom and gave them a major portion of it. Thus, he bestowed on Androgeus the city of Trinovantum, together with the dukedom of Kent, and on Tenuantius the dukedom of Cornwall. But he himself, pre-eminent as king, ruled over them and over all the noblemen of the island. HRB, iii. 298–330. The themes of just kingship and the peril of filial rivalry mark the story of Elidurus and Arthgallo. 28  HRB, iii. 345–60. 29  HRB, iii 365–67. Where the father of Heli is named as Cligueillus, here Dignellus, as also in HA, viii. EAW, 5. 30  HRB, iii. 367. Heli rules 60 years. 31  HRB, i. 499–503. This GM-invented claim taken at face value. For GM’s use of Gildas’s DEB, see Neil Wright, ‘Geoffrey of Monmouth and Gildas’, Arthurian Literature II (1982), pp. 22–23. 27 

21

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Huc usque Britannia, bellicis actibus praeclara, et felix libertate continuaa transmarinis regnis non solum bellum inferre, sed etiam regibus eorum subiugatis tributum ab eis accipere consueuit. Vnde non incongrue ad principium reuertendum est et potentiorum nomina regum cum quibusdam eorum actibus epilogi more ponenda. Sed nec illi praetermittendi sunt, qui etsi nulla uirtutum praerogatiua claruerunt, debito tamen successionis ordine inter eos regnauerunt, sicque primum Britannici regni statum prima huius opusculi particula continebit.b 32 Heli sacerdote iudicante Israel, primus Brutus regnauit annis .xxiiii. Iste insulam primus adiit, gigantes deleuit, insulae nomen in nomen regni commutauit, et de nomine suo Britanniam uocauit, et ciuitatem Lundoniarum aedificauit. Secundus Locrinus filius suus annis .xxiiii. regnauit.33 Iste regem Humbrum, qui fratrem suum Albanactum interfecerat, usque Humbriam fugauit, in cuius fluctibus Humber submersus, nomen suum flumini dedit. Vxor Locrini regnauit .xl. annis.34 Tertia Guendolena. Ista filiam mariti sui regis Locrini nomine Abren, quam pelex sua Estrildis pepererat, in flumen praecipitari fecit, unde Britannice flumen Habren, Saxonice Sabrina dicitur. Filius Locrini regnauit annis .xl. Quartus Madan. Iste filius Locrini et Guendolenae, regnumque in pace et diligentia tractauit .xl. annis. Samuele iudicante Iudaeam .l et Omerus poeta annis .xx. regnauit.35 Saul regnante in Iudea .[c.et xx]. Quintus Mempricius regnauit annis .xx. [c.lx.xx].c 36 Iste fratrem suum occidit, regnum inuasit, tirannidem exercuit, sodomitico uicio se polluit, et inter uenandum a lupis deuoratus periit. Sextus Ebraucus. Regnauit annis .lx. .[c.l.xxxi]. Hic primus post Brutum classem in Gallias direxit, et uictor reuersus condidit Eboracum, et Aldclud,d et Castellum Puellarum, et Montem Dolorosum.

  C, ‘Huc usque Britannia, bellicis actibus praeclara, et felix libertate continua, et idcirco hic primum Britannici regni statum prima huius opusculi particula continebit,’ with the rubric, Explicit prima particula incipit prologus in secundum particula. Text commences: ‘Superiore particula comprehensum est …’. Elfredus Cronica, noted in lower margin of f. 20 v and f. 21 r in later hand. b   C, ch. i ends. c   P, c.lx.ix. d   R, P, Arclud. a

22

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Up to this point, Britain, famous for its feats of war and happy in its continuing freedom was accustomed not only to wage war upon kingdoms across the sea, but, also, having subjugated their kings, to receive tribute from them. It is not inappropriate, therefore, to return to the beginning and, by way of an epilogue, to set out the names of the more powerful of the country’s kings, with some of their deeds. But neither should we overlook those who, although they were not famous for any outstanding virtues, nevertheless reigned along with the others in their due order. Thus, the first chapter of this little work will have covered the first era of the kingdom of the Britons.32 When Eli the priest was a judge of Israel, the first king was Brutus who reigned for twenty-four years. He was the first to come to the island of Britain. He destroyed the giants, changed the name of the island to the name of the kingdom, calling it Britain after himself, and built the city of London. The second king was his son Locrinus, who reigned for twenty-four years.33 Locrinus pursued King Humber, who had killed his brother Albanactus, to the Humber, in the waters of which he drowned and thus gave his name to the river. The wife of Locrinus ruled for forty years.34 Third to reign was Gwendolena. She had the daughter of her husband King Locrinus by his mistress Estrildis, named Habren, cast into a river. In British, the river is called Habren after her, and in English, the Severn. The fourth king to rule was Locrinus’s son Madan, who reigned for forty years. He was the son of Locrinus and Gwendolena and he ruled the kingdom peacefully and dutifully for forty years. At that time Samuel was chief judge in Judea for fifty years and Homer the poet ruled for twenty years.35 Saul reigned in Judea. [120]. The fifth king was Mempricius, who ruled for twenty years. [169].36 Mempricius killed his brother, invaded his kingdom, ruled tyrannically, defiled himself with the vice of sodomy, and perished while hunting, devoured by wolves. The sixth king was Ebraucus who ruled forty years. [181]. He was the first king after Brutus to lead a navy to Gaul and, having returned victorious, he founded York, Dumbarton, the Maidens’ Fortress, and the Sorrowful Mountain.

The word status to define historical periods is discussed above (pp. xxxv–vi; lxxii–iii). HRB, ii. 66. The regnal years of the kings in the concluding summary do not always agree with the earlier chapter account. Locrinus was earlier reported to have ruled twenty years. 34  HRB, ii. 65. Where Gwendolena ruled for 15 years. 35  The source of the synchronism is HRB, ii. 68–70, but the statement, as preserved in the manuscript witnesses, appears garbled. 36  The numbers supplied in parenthesis, first 120 years after Saul reigning in Judea and here 169 years at the end of the reign of Mempricius, appear to be an attempt to calculate the date of the foundation of Britain by keeping a tally of the regnal years of the British kings reported in the HRB. The totals only achieve a degree of accuracy, however, by the time they reach Britain’s thirteenth ruler, Cunedagius. 32  33 

22

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Septimus Brutus uiride scutum. Octauus Leil. Regnauit annis .xxv. [cc.vi]. Iste urbem in aquilonari parte Britanniae condidit, et eam Kaer Leil uocauit. Salomon templum domino aedificauit. Nonus Rudhudibras. Regnauit annis .xxxix. [cc.xlii]. Iste condidit Cantuariam, et Guintoniam, et Sephtoniam, prophetantibus Aggeo, Amos, Joel. Decimus Bladud. Regnauit annis .xx. Helias propheta claruit. [cc.xlv]. Hic aedificauit urbem quae Bado dicitur, fecitque ibi calida balnea, et inextinguibiles ignes in aede Mineruae, et docuit nigromantiam, et assumptis alis ut uolaret, cecidit, et in frusta contritus est. Undecimus Leir. Regnauit annis .lx. [ccc.xxii]. Hic aedificauit Leircestriam super Soram flumen, qui in senectute a duabus filiabus spretus, et a maritis earum a regno deiectus, a Cordeilla tertia filia per maritum suum regem Galliarum in regnum est restitutus et post biennium mortuus37 in subterraneo sub Sora fluuio Leircestria sepultus. Duodecimus Cordeilla regnauit .v. annis [ccc.xxx]. Ista est a nepotibus suis capta, impugnata, et in carcerem missa sese interfecit. Tertius decimus Cunedagius regnauit annis .xxxiii.38 nepos Cordeillae [ccc.lxiii]. Isto regnante Roma condita est .xl. Kal. Maii, et Isaias prophetauit sub rege Ezechia.39 Vnde Ieronimus super Isaiam; ‘Sciamus quoque Ezechiam in Ierusalem .xii.mo anno Romuli, qui sui nominis in Italia condidit ciuitatem, regnare coepisse.’40 Vnde liquido apparet multo esse antiquius regnum Britonum quam regnum Romanorum.41 Quartus decimus Riwallo. Isto regnante .iii.bus diebus cecidit pluuia sanguinea, et muscarum affluentia homines moriebantur. Quintus decimus Gurgustius. Sextus decimus Sillius. Septimus decimus Iago. .xviii.us Kimarcus. .xix. Corbo-Dudo. Vicesimus Porrex. Iste fratrem suum Ferucem in bello interfecit, unde mater eorum in odium Porrectis uersa cum ancillis agressa est dormienten, in frusta dilacerauit. .v. regibus post Porrectem regnum submissum est, qui sese inuicem impugnabant. Vicesimus .vi.us Dunuallo Molmutius. Iste leges Molmutinas adinuenit, quae inter Britones et Anglos celebres habentur, et ciuitates et templa

23

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The seventh king was Brutus Green Shield. The eighth was Leil, who reigned twenty-five years. [206]. He founded a city in the northern region of Britain and named it Kair Leil. At that time Solomon built the Lord’s temple. The ninth king was Rudhudibras who ruled for thirty-nine years. [242]. He founded Canterbury, Winchester and Shaftesbury. At that time Haggai, Amos, and Joel were prophesying. The tenth king was Bladud who reigned twenty years and at that time the prophet Elijah was renowned. [245]. Bladud built the city which is called Bath, and there he provided warm baths and inextinguishable flames in the temple of Minerva. And he taught magic and donned wings so that he could fly, fell, and was dashed to pieces. The eleventh king was Leir who reigned for sixty years. [322]. He built Leicester on the River Soar. In his old age he was rejected by two of his daughters and driven from the kingdom by their husbands, but he was restored to the crown by the third daughter, Cordeilla, through her husband, the king of the Gauls. After two years he died,37 and was buried underground, beneath the River Soar in Leicester. The twelfth to reign was Cordeilla, who reigned five years. [330]. Cordeilla was attacked and captured by her nephews, and she killed herself while imprisoned. Thirteenth was Cunedagius, her nephew, who reigned thirty-three years. [363].38 While he was reigning Rome was founded on 21 April and Isaiah prophesied under King Hezekiah.39 This is why Jerome, writing about Isaiah, says: ‘Let us also be aware that Hezekiah began to reign in Jerusalem in the twelfth year of Romulus, who founded the city in Italy which is called after him.’40 From this it is clearly apparent that the kingdom of Britain is much older than the kingdom of Rome.41 The fourteenth king was Rivallo. While he was ruling it rained blood for three days and people died from a plague of flies. The fifteenth king was Gurgustius. The sixteenth Sisillius. The seventeenth Iago. Kinmarcus was the eighteenth. The nineteenth was Gorbodugus. Twentieth was Porrex. Porrex killed his brother Ferrex in battle, as a result of which their mother came to hate him and, with her serving women, attacked him while he was sleeping and tore him to pieces. Five kings ruled the kingdom after Porrex, each of whom in turn waged war, one against the other. Dunuallo Molmutius was the twenty-sixth king. Dunuallo brought in the Molmutine laws, which are held in great esteem among the British and the English, and he invested the temples of the gods with such dignity that HRB, ii. 254. Earlier given as three years. The number 363 in parenthesis agrees with what was earlier stated in the description of Britain, above p. 8 39  Under King Hezekia added by the author. 40  The quote from Jerome added by the author. 41  A sense of pride is evident in this expression of Britain’s greater antiquity than Rome. 37 

38 

23

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

deorum tali dignitate sanctiuit, ut si quis fugitiuus uel reus ad illa confugeret, liber coram inimico suo abiret. Statuit etiam ut uiae, quae ad ciuitates et templa ducebant, eadem lege confirmarentur. .xxvii.us Belinus. Iste et frater suus Brennius Gallias subiugauerunt, Romanos sub tributo posuerunt, Germanis bellum intulerunt, et inde Romanos rebellantes iterum adierunt, et inito contra consules Gabium et Porsennam bello, capto Porsenna et interfecto Gabio Romam ceperunt. Inde reuersus Belinus urbem Legionum aedificauit. .xxvii. Gurguint. .xxix. Guitelinusus. .xxx.us Sisillius. .xxxi.us Kimarus. .xxxii.us Danius. .xxxiii.us Moruidus.a .xxxiv.us Gorbodianus.b .xxxv.us Argallo. .xxxvi.usc Elidurus pius. .lxix.d Heli. .lxx. Lud.

Explicit prima particula. Incipit prologus in secunda particula.f

e

  R, P, Moridus.   R, P, Gorbodlanus. c   P, xxxvii Elidurus. d   P, lxxx. e   C, resumes common text with R & P. f   R, Explicit primus liber, incipit secundus. a

b

24

The History of Alfred of Beverley

any fugitive or criminal who had taken refuge in them was able to depart with a full pardon from his enemy. He further ordained that the roads which led to the temples and cities should benefit from the same law. The twenty-seventh king was Belinus. He and his brother Brennius conquered Gaul, placed the Romans under tribute, and made war on the Germans. Then they marched on the rebelling Romans again, fought against the consuls Gabius and Porsenna, killing Gabius and capturing Porsenna, and took Rome. When Belinus returned to Britain he built the city of Caerleon. The twenty-eighth king was Gurguint. The twenty-ninth Guithelinus. The thirtieth Sisillius. The thirty-first Kimarcus. The thirty-second Danius. The thirty-third Morvidus. The thirty-fourth Gorbodianus and the thirty-fifth Arthgallo. Thirty-sixth was Elidurus the dutiful. The sixty-ninth was Heli and Lud was the seventieth king to rule.

The first chapter ends and the prologue to the second begins.

24

Particula II

Superiore particula comprehensum est quo tempore, uel a quibus primum habitari coepit Britannia, et quam diu in libertate stetit. Quae ue ciuitates et a quibus conditae sunt, quot etiam in ea reges libertate integra regnauerunt, qui ue inter eos tiranni, et qui uirtute incliti claruerunt, quod singulare et proprium uidetur michi haberea Britannicum. b Perscrutatus enim sum, si quid de hiis haberet Pompeius Trogus1quod ipse Herculeia audacia non claua sed stilo totius pene orbis aggressus est historias. Reuolui etiam Tranquillinum Suetonium,2 quod ipse uitas Caesarum describens, qui eorum Britanniam adierunt commemorat. Transiui ad Eutropium,3 quod ipse plura de Romanis et Britonibus narrat. Nec praeteriui Paulum Orosium,4 quod ipse orbem terrae triphariam diuidens, et quid in singulis eius partibus Romani egerunt discribens, qualiter Britannia ab eis subiugata sit historica uertitate declarat. Cumque uniuersos pene percurrissem, nihil de praedictis regibus in eorum inueni tractatibus. Sed nec Gildas sapiens Britonum, nec Beda in hiis antiquitatibus, qui prae ceteris calamitates Britonum deplorant, aliquid de eis in suis scriptis commemorant. Itaque apud omnes usque ad Gaium Iulium Caesarem par silentium de praedictis regibus Britonum habitum est.b 5

  R, habere added in right-hand margin. P, om.   C, omitted.

a

b–b

25

Chapter II

The preceding brief account covered when and by whom Britain was first inhabited; for how long it remained free; its cities and their founders; how many of its kings ruled in complete freedom and how many as tyrants; which of them were distinguished and renowned for their valour; and what seems to me unique and distinctive in what Britannicus has to say. I have investigated whether Pompeius Trogus1 includes anything on these matters because he has tackled the histories of virtually the whole of the world with the boldness of Hercules, though with the pen, not the club. I also read over Suetonius Tranquillus2 because he, in writing about the lives of the Caesars, notes which of them went to Britain. I went on to Eutropius3 because he has a great deal to recount about the Romans and the Britons. Nor did I omit Paulus Orosius,4 for he, dividing the world up into three parts, describes what the Romans achieved in each of these parts and explains in a historically accurate manner how they subjugated Britain. When I had gone through nearly all the sources, I found nothing in their works about the kings I have discussed above. Indeed, neither Gildas, with his knowledge of the Britons, nor Bede in his histories, make any reference to such men in their writings although they, above all others, lament the misfortune of the Britons. Thus, until the time of Julius Caesar, a complete silence is maintained in all these works in relation to the above-mentioned British kings.5 Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus (fl. first century BC), The Philippic Histories and the Origin of the Whole World and the Places of the Earth. Pompeius Trogus’s Philippic Histories, a universal history written in forty-four books, was widely known and used in the medieval period but almost exclusively through its later abbreviation by the Roman historian Marcus Junianus Justinus (fl. c. AD 200). 2  Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (fl. c. AD 120). 3  Eutropius (fl. c. AD 365). 4  Paulus Orosius (fl. c. AD 415). 5  The veracity of material reproduced from the HRB is here challenged with a question more famously put by William of Newburgh some four decades later. It is clear that the author was not entirely convinced by all he was reporting, despite his promise to include only matters which were not considered fabulous. The HRB now begins to cover a period for which historical record existed, and collation of the account with standard historical authorities is frequent. An objective of the collations appears to be to allow readers to form their own opinion on the merits of the account – in the manner of the rhetorical practice of similitudo, discussed above, p. xxxix & p. 18, note 22. 1 

25

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Sequens uero particula declarabit quomodo per Gaium Iulium Caesarem subiugata et a primitiua libertate deiecta, Romanis quidem aliquanto tempore facta est tributaria, sed tamen usque Lucium, primum eorum regem Christianum, Britannicis regibus paruit subdita, sicut non solum Britonum sed etiam Romanorum et Anglorum ceterorumque in sequentibus testatur historia.

Explicit prologus. Incipit secunda particula. Igitur defuncto Lud et in urbe Trinouantum aiuxta portam, quae de nomine suo Ludesiata dicta esta, est sepulto, regnauit Cassibellaunus frater eius pro eo.6 In diebus illis Iulius Caesar subiugata Gallia uenit ad litus Ruthenorum, ubi parato nauigio prosperis uentis Britanniam aduectus, in hostium Tamensis fluminis cum exercitu applicuit. bAnno ab urbe Romae condita sescentesimo nonagesimo tertio ante incarnationis tempus Dominicae anno sexagesimo.b 7 Cui cum exercitu suo Cassibellaunus occurrens, pugnam iniit, concurrentibus et utrinque cateruis, irruit Nennius, frater regis, in Caesarem.8 Quem Caesar protenso clipeo excepit et in clipeum Nennii gladium suum tanta ui impressit, ut eum extrahere non posset, irruentibusque turmis statim alter ab altero diuisi sunt. Cumque Nennius gladium Caesaris hoc modo adeptus fortiter cum eo pugnaret, obuiauit ei Labienus tribunus, sed in primo congressu a Nennio interfectus est. Denique Caesar uictus ad naues fugiens, in Gallias reuersus est. Vnde Lucanus in laudes Britonum de Caesare ‘Territa quaesitis ostendit terga Britannis.’9 Nennius uero a Iulio uulneratus, infra .xv. dies mortuus est, et in urbe Trinouantum sepultus, et in sarcofago cum eo gladius Caesaris collocatus est. Erat nomen gladii ‘Crocea Mors’, quod nullus euadebat uiuus qui eo uulnerabatur. Emensoc deinde biennio Caesar Britanniam repetiit. Sed dum per Tamensem fluuium uersus Trinouantum nauigaret, ferreis palis subter amnem a Cassibellauno infixis plumbatis atque ad modum humani femoris grossis, naues

  C, omitted.   R, P, omitted. c   R, P, emerso. a–a

b–b

26

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The ensuing short chapter will tell how Britain, conquered and deprived of its original liberty by Julius Caesar, for some time paid tribute to the Romans, but was nevertheless under the rule of British kings up to the time of Lucius, the first of its rulers who was a Christian. So, the history not only of the Britons but also of the Romans, the Angles, and other peoples is recounted in what follows.

The prologue ends and the second chapter begins Lud, then, died and was buried in the city of Trinovantum next to the gate which was called Ludgate after him and Cassibellaunus, his brother, ruled in his place.6 At that time Julius Caesar, having conquered Gaul, arrived at the coast of Flanders, where he prepared to set sail and, carried by favourable winds to Britain, landed with his army at the mouth of the River Thames. This was in the 693rd year since the foundation of Rome and in the sixtieth year before the incarnation of Our Lord.7 Cassibellaunus hurried to meet Caesar with his own army and joined battle. As the troops on either side contended against each other, Nennius, the king’s brother, rushed at Caesar.8 Caesar warded him off with the shield he held out before him and thrust his own sword into Nennius’s shield with such great force that he was not able to extract it. Then, suddenly, they were separated from one another by the onrush of the troops. As Nennius, having thus acquired Caesar’s sword, fought bravely with it the tribune Labienus tackled him, but Nennius killed him in their first encounter. Finally, Caesar, defeated, retreated to his ships, and returned to Gaul. This is why Lucan, in praise of the Britons, writes of Caesar: ‘He turned his back in terror on the Britons whom he had sought out.’9 Nennius, however, had been wounded by Caesar and, within fifteen days, died and was buried in Trinovantum and Caesar’s sword was placed with him in his coffin. The name of the sword was ‘Yellow Death’ because no-one wounded by it escaped alive. Then, two years later, Caesar made for Britain again, but, as he sailed along the River Thames towards Trinovantum, his ships ran into sudden danger when they were dashed upon iron stakes, covered in lead and as thick as a man’s thigh, which Cassibellaunus had planted below the waterline. His men,

HRB, iii. 379–90. HE, i. 2. Bede took the year 693 BC from Orosius, PO, vi. 17. 8  HRB, iv. 55–57. The invented speeches and letters of Julius Caesar and Cassibellaunus are omitted. 9  HRB, iv. 229. GM had taken the quote from Lucan, The Civil War, Bk ii. 572. The laudes in praise of Caesar provide an example of GM’s indebtedness to HH in the HRB. The second version of the HA, ending in 1129 and written after c.1133, included many such laudes of the Roman emperors in Book I. GM’s use of the HA is briefly discussed in Gransden HWE, i. p. 203. See also Tatlock, Legendary History, pp. 10, 34, 66–67. 6  7 

26

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

illius illisae subitum periculum passae sunt. Vnde uix elapsia in tellurem exeuntes et contra Britones pugnantes iterum uicti sunt. Caesar itaque ad naues diffugiens, Morinorum litus petiit. Cassibellaunus autem secundo triumphum adeptus, in urbe Trinouantum diis suis, pro uictoria de tanto imperatore10 habita sacrificium solempne instituit, ubi litata sunt quadraginta milia uaccarum, centum milia ouium, triginta milia siluestrium ferarum, diuersorumque generum uolatilia quae sub numero non cadebant. Euolutis paucis diebus Caesar tertio Britanniam adiit, pugnam cum Cassibellauno commisit, in qua non minus defectione Androgei nepotis sui quam Romanorum uirtute Cassibellaunus uictus, tandem per eundem Androgeum cum Caesare pacificatus est, reddens annuatim Romanis tributum tria milia librarum argenti.11 Exacta uero in Britannia hieme, Caesar in Gallias rediit, inde Romam contra Pompeium perrecturus. Operae pretium est huic narrationi conferre ea quae de Orosio excerpta Beda in sua posuit historia, ut constet ueritatis habere fundamentum quae de Caesare leguntur secundum Britannicum.12 ‘Verum’ inquid, ‘eadem Britannia Romanis usque ad Gaium Iulium Caesarem in accessa atque incognita fuit. Qui dum contra Germanorum Gallorumque gentes bellum gereret, uenit ad Morinos, unde in Britanniam proximus et breuissimus transitus est, et nauibus circiter octoginta praeparatis in Britanniam transuehitur. Vbi accerba primum pugna fatigatus, deinde aduersa tempestate correptus, plurimam classis partem et non paruum numerum militum, equitem uero pene omnem disperdidit. Regressus est in Galliam, sexcentis nauibus iterum in Britanniam transuectus, dum ipse in hostem cum exercitu pergit, naues tempestate correptaeb uel collisae inter se uel harenis illisae ac dissolutae sunt. Caesaris equitatus primo congressu a Britannis uictus, ibique Labienus tribunus occisus est. Secundo proelio cum magno suorum discrimine uictos Britones in fugam uertit. Inde ad flumen Tamense peruectus est. In huius ulteriori ripa, Cassibellauno duce, immensa hostium multitudo consederat, ripamque fluminis ac pene totum sub aqua uadum acutissimis sudibus praestruxerat, quarum uestigia sudium ibidem usque hodiec uisuntur, et uidetur inspectantibus quod singulae earum ad modum humani femoris grossae et circumfusae plumbo immobiliter erant in profundum fluminis infixae. Quod ubi a Romanis deprehensum ac uitatum est barbari

  R, P, uix inde elapse.   R, P, omits correptae. c   C, omits hodie. a

b

27

The History of Alfred of Beverley

escaping with difficulty, reached land but were again defeated as they fought the Britons. So, Caesar fled to the ships and made for the coast of Flanders. But Cassibellaunus, having triumphed for a second time, ordered a religious ceremony of sacrifice to his gods to take place in the city of Trinovantum for the victory he had achieved over such a great emperor.10 At this, forty thousand cows, a hundred thousand sheep, and thirty thousand woodland beasts were offered in sacrifice, as well as birds of various species, whose number could not be counted. Within a few days, however, Caesar went to Britain for a third time and joined in battle with Cassibellaunus, who was defeated as much by the defection of his nephew Androgeus as by the bravery of the Romans. Finally, peace was made between him and Caesar by this same Androgeus, on condition that Cassibellaunus paid the Romans a yearly tribute of three thousand pounds of silver.11 Having wintered in Britain, Caesar returned to Gaul, from where he was about to set out to Rome against Pompey. It is worth the effort to compare the above account with the excerpts from Orosius which Bede included in his own History, so as to establish that what we read about Caesar in Britannicus’s version has a foundation in truth.12 ‘Now’, Bede says, ‘this same Britain had never been visited by the Romans and was unknown to them until the time of Julius Caesar. When he was waging war against the Germans and the Gauls, Caesar came to the land of the Morini, from where there is the nearest and shortest crossing to Britain, and he prepared about eighty ships and sailed over to Britain. There, already exhausted after a fierce battle, he was caught in a violent storm and lost most of his fleet and no small number of his troops, including almost all his cavalry. He returned to Gaul and crossed back to Britain with six hundred ships. While he was marching against the enemy with his army, his ships were broken up in a storm; either dashed against each other or cast up on the sands. Caesar’s cavalry was defeated by the Britons at their first encounter and the tribune Labienus was killed there. In a second battle, although Caesar’s men were at great risk, he overcame the Britons and put them to flight. From there he marched to the River Thames. An immense multitude of the enemy had taken up position on the far side of the river, under the leadership of Cassibellaunus. He had blocked the bank of the river and almost all the shallows beneath the waterline, with very sharp stakes and traces of these stakes are visible there even to this day. Each stake, on inspection, is seen to be about the thickness of a man’s thigh, encased in lead and fixed immovably in the river bed. The Romans discovered this and avoided the stakes, so the barbarians were unable to resist the HRB, iv. 138. Julius Caesar invaded Britain as a general, not emperor, in 55 and 54 BC. He died in 44 BC as dictator of the Roman republic. 11  HRB, iv. 263. 12  Depth of source knowledge is demonstrated by knowing that Bede drew on Orosius. 10 

27

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

legionum impetum non ferentes, siluis sese abdidere, unde crebris eruptionibus Romanos grauiter ac saepe lacerabant.’13 ‘Interea Trinouantum firmissima ciuitas cum Androgeo duce datis obsidibus Caesari sese dedit, quod exemplum secutae urbes quamplures aliae, in foedus Romanorum uenerunt.14 Hisdem demonstrantibus Caesar oppidum Cassibellauni inter duas paludes situm, obtentu insuper siluarum munitum, omnibusque rebus confertissimum, tandem graui pugna cepit. Exinde Caesar a Britannis reuersus in Galliam repentinis bellorum tumultibus undique circumuentus et conflictatus est’. Haec secundum Orosium Beda.15 Quod autem annuum Romanis tributum, sicut in historia Britonum legimus, per Caesarem subiugata Britannia persoluerit, unde Beda nichil tetigit, auctoritate tam Suetonii quam Romanae Historiae confirmatur hiis uerbis. Suetonius: ‘Agressus est,’ scilicet Caesar, ‘etiam Britones, ignotos antea; superatisque pecunias et obsides imperauit.’16 Romana Historia: ‘Britannis mox bellum intulit, quibus ante eum nec nomen Romanorum cognitum quidem erat, eosque uictos obsidibus acceptis stipendiarios fecit.’17 Post .vii. annos defuncto Cassibellauno et in Eboraco sepulto, successit ei nepos eius, filius regis Lud, Tenuantius,a dux Cornubiae, frater Androgei. Nam et ipse cum Caesare Romam perrexerat. Post illum regnauit Kimbelinus filius suus,b miles strenuus, quem Augustus Caesar nutrierat, et armis decorauerat. In diebus illis natus est Christus.18 Successit Kimbelino Guiderius filius eius. Qui cum tributum Romanis denegarat, superuenit Claudius imperator, et commisso proelio interfectus est Guiderius, sed uirtute et prudentia Aruiragi fratris sui Romam dilabantur, et Laelius Hamo princeps militiae sub imperatore in quodam portu maris ab Aruirago occisus est, et ex illo tempore portus ille, portus Hamonis dictus est. Haec est Suthamtonia.c Composita tandem pace inter imperatorem Claudium et Aruiragum, auxilio ipsius Aruiragi Claudius Orcades et prouinciales insulas Romanae potestati

  R, P, Temiantius.   C, filius eius. c   R, Suthantona. a

b

28

The History of Alfred of Beverley

legions’ charge, and they hid themselves in the woods. From there, they made constant sallies and frequently did the Romans serious damage.’13 ‘Meanwhile, the strongest city of the Trinovantes, along with their commander Androgeus, surrendered to Caesar after handing over hostages to him.14 Several other cities followed their example and made terms with the Romans. With their guidance, Caesar eventually, after a fierce battle, captured the town held by Cassibellaunus. This was situated between two marshes and further protected by the woodland which covered it and was fully stocked with supplies of every sort. After this, Caesar returned from Britain to Gaul, where he was surrounded and assailed on every hand by sudden wars and tumults.’ Thus, says Bede, following Orosius.15 The fact that Britain paid a yearly tribute to the Romans after being conquered by Caesar, which we read about in the British History, but which Bede does not mention, is confirmed by the authority of both Suetonius and the Roman History in the following words. Suetonius says: ‘He’, that is, Caesar, ‘also invaded the Britons, a people previously unheard of, vanquished them, and exacted payments and hostages.’16 The Roman History says: ‘Soon afterwards, he waged war on the Britons, to whom not even the name of the Romans was known until his coming. He defeated them and, after receiving hostages, made them pay tribute.’17 After seven years, Cassibellaunus died and was buried in York. He was succeeded by his nephew and the son of King Lud, Tenuantius, who was Duke of Cornwall and brother of Androgeus, for Androgeus himself had set off for Rome with Caesar. After Tenuantius, his son Kimbelinus reigned, an energetic soldier who had been brought up by Augustus Caesar and knighted by him. In those days Christ was born.18 Kimbelinus was succeeded by his son Guiderius. When he refused to pay the Romans tribute, the emperor Claudius arrived, battle was joined, and Guiderius was killed. But, through the bravery and astuteness of his brother Arviragus, the Roman forces retreated to Rome and Laelius Hamo, the emperor’s general, was killed by Arviragus at a certain seaport, which from that time has been called the port of Hamo, that is, Southampton. Eventually peace was established between the emperor Claudius and Arviragus and, with Arviragus’s help, Claudius subjected the Orkneys and adjacent HE, i. 2. Bede states forty hostages. 15  HE, i. 2. Taken from PO, vi. 9–10. The influence of Bede on twelfth-century historical writers, as the author here attests, is discussed by Antonia Gransden in ‘Bede’s Reputation as a Historian in Medieval England’ in Antonia Gransden, Legends, Traditions and History in Medieval England (London, 1992), pp. 1–29. 16  Suetonius, vol. i, trans. J. C. Rolfe, Loeb (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1998): Lives of the Caesars, i. Diuus Iulius, xxv, pp. 66–67. 17  PHR, vi. 17. 18  HRB, iv. 275. 13  14 

28

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

subiecit. De hinc imperator filiam suam, nomine Genuissam,19 quam a Roma Britanniam uenire fecerat, cum regno Britanniae Aruirago dedit, et in loco, ubi nuptiae illorum celebratae sunt, imperator ciuitatem aedificauit, quam de nomine suo Kairglau, id est, Glocestriam, nuncupauit, in confinio Demetiae et Loegriae super ripam Sabrinae.20 Quidam dicunt, eam traxisse nomen a Gloro duce, quem Claudius in illa genuerat, cui post Aruiragum ducatus Demetiae cessit. aHoc autem bellum quarto imperii sui anno conpleuit qui est annis ab incarnatione Domini quadragesimus sextusa.21 Pacificata itaque insula, Claudius Romam rediit, et Aruiragus in Britanniam regnauit. Postea subiectionem Romanis diutius seruare noluit, sed omnia sibi uendicauit. Vnde Vespasianus a Claudio ad Britanniam missus, cum in Rutupi portu applicuisset, prohibuit ei Aruiragus portus introitum. Sed Vespasianus retorsis uelis in Totonensium littore applicuit, et Kairpenhudgoit, id est Exoniam, adiuit, et septem diebus eam obsedit. Superuenit Aruiragus, proeliumque commisit; sed mediante regina Genuissa concordati sunt, et Vespasianus exacta hieme Romam reuersus est. Meminit huius Aruiragi Iuuenalis ita: ‘Regem aliquem capies, aut de temone Britanno excidet Aruiragus.’22 Haec secundum Britannicum.b Scribit autem et Beda, sequens Orosium, his consona de Claudio ita: ‘Claudius imperator ab Augusto quartus expeditionem in Britanniam mouens, transuectus est in insulam, quam neque ante Iulium Caesarem, neque post eum quisquam adire ausus fuerat, ibique sine ullo proelio ac sanguine intra paucissimos dies plurimam insulae partem in deditionem recepit. Orcades etiam insulas ultra Britanniam in occeano positas Romano adiecit imperio, ac sexto quam profectus erat mense Romam rediit, filioque suo Britannici nomen imposuit’.23 Haec de Claudio. De Vespasiano autem sic: ‘Ab eodem Claudio Vespasianus, qui post Neronem imperauit, in Britanniam missus, etiam Vectam insulam Britanniae proximam a meridie Romanorum ditioni subiugauit.’24 Haec Beda. Suetonius quoque de hac expeditione Claudii in Britanniam refert sic: ‘Expeditionem unam omnino suscepit, eamque modicam, ad quam Britanniam

  R, P, omitted.   R, P, omit haec secundum Britannicum.

a–a b

29

The History of Alfred of Beverley

islands to Roman authority. Thereupon, the emperor gave his daughter, named Genuissa,19 whom he had summoned to Britain from Rome, to Arviragus, together with the kingdom of Britain. In the place where their marriage was celebrated the emperor built a city, which he called after himself Kairglou, that is, Gloucester, on the boundary between Demetia and Loegria, on the banks of the Severn.20 Some people say that it took its name from Duke Gloro, whom Claudius had fathered there and to whom he granted the dukedom of Demetia after Arviragus. Claudius brought the war to an end in the fourth year of his reign, that is, in the year of Our Lord 46.21 After the island had been pacified in this manner, Claudius returned to Rome and Arviragus ruled in Britain. Later on, Arviragus refused to remain subject to the Romans any longer and instead claimed everything for himself. Therefore, Claudius sent Vespasian to Britain. When he tried to land at Richborough, Arviragus refused him entry to the port. Vespasian sailed on and landed at Totnes and he then went to Kairpenhuelgoit, that is, Exeter, and besieged it for seven days. Arviragus arrived and attacked, but, through the efforts of Queen Genuissa, they were reconciled and after the winter Vespasian returned to Rome. Juvenal makes mention of this Arviragus thus: ‘You will capture a king, or Arviragus will fall from his British chariot.’22 This is according to Britannicus. Bede also, following Orosius, writes things about Claudius which are consistent with the above: ‘The emperor Claudius, fourth after Augustus, making an expedition against Britain, crossed to the island which no-one either before or after Julius Caesar had dared to approach, and there, without any fighting or bloodshed, he received the surrender of the greater part of this island within a very few days. He even annexed to the Roman Empire the Orkneys, islands which lie in the ocean beyond Britain. He returned to Rome in the sixth month after he had set out and gave his son the title of Britannicus.’23 That is what Bede says about Claudius. About Vespasian, he says the following: ‘Vespasian, who became emperor after Nero, was sent to Britain by this same Claudius and even brought the Isle of Wight, the island closest to Britain in the south, under Roman rule.’24 Thus, says Bede. Suetonius, too, reports on this expedition by Claudius to Britain, as follows: ‘He undertook only one campaign in all, and that of little importance. For this he HRB, iv. 328–35. The account of the romance between Genuissa and Arviragus is omitted. HRB, iv. 336. Where it is Kambriae not Demetia. GM had identified Demetia as the original name of the city of Caerleon when describing Belinus’s city-building programme (HRB, iii. 220). The author had earlier named Demetia in his own account of Belinus and uses it again here. 21  HE, i. 3. 22  HRB, iv. 367–68, decidet Aruiragus. Found in Juvenal, Satires iv. 23  HE, i. 3, note 3. The year of Rome 796, or AD 43. 24  ibid. 19  20 

29

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

potissimum delegit, neque temptatam ulli post Diuum Iulium et tunc tumultuantem ob non redditos transfugas, ac fine ullo proelio aut sanguine intra paucissimos dies parte insulae in deditionem recepta, sexto quam profectus erat mense Romam rediit, triumphauitque maximo apparatu.’ Haec de Claudio. De Vespasiano autem sic: ‘Claudio principe in Germaniam missusa in Britanniam translatus tricies et bisb cum hoste conflixit, duas ualidissimas gentes superque .xx. oppida et insulam Vectam, Britanniae proximam, in deditionem redegit.’25 Haec Suetonius.c In Romana uero Historia de hiis legitur sic: ‘Insulae Britanniae intulit bellum,’ scilicet Claudius, ‘quam nullus Romanorum post Gaium Caesarem attigerat, eaque deuicta triumphum celebrem egit. Quasdam insulas etiam ultra Britannias in occeano positas imperio Romano addidit, quae appellantur Orcades. Filio autem suo Britannici nomen imposuit.’26 Haec de Claudio. De Vespasiano autem sic.d ‘Vespasianus huic’, scilicet Vitellio, ‘successit, factus apud Palaestinam imperator, princeps obscure quidem natus, sed optimis comparandus, in privata vita illustris, ut qui a Claudio in Germaniam, et deinde in Britanniam missus tricies et bis cum hoste conflixerit, duas ualidissimas gentes .xx. oppida, insulam Vectam, Britanniae proximam, Romano imperio adiecerit.’ Haec de Vespasiano de Romana Historia.27 Dehinc sequamur Britannicum. Defuncto autem Aruirago et in Claudiocestria sepulto, successit Marius filius eius. Iste Rodric, regem Pictorum, Albaniam uastantem interfecit, et in signum triumphi sui in prouincia, quae postea de nomine suo Westmaria dicta fuit, lapidem erexit, in quo inscriptis titulis memoriam eius, usque in hodiernum diem testatur. Populo autem deuicto, dedit Marius ad inhabitandum partem Albaniae, quae Catanesia nuncupatur,e quae uasta erat. Qui cum uxores a Britonibus peterent, dedignati sunt Britones natas suas eis maritare. At illi in Hiberniam transfretantes, acceptis inde mulieribus sobolem suam multiplicauerunt.28 Successit Mario Coillus filius suus. Hic ab infantia Romae nutritus, et mores Romanorum edoctus, in maximam amicitiamf eorum peruenerat. Coillo successit filius suus Lucius, ultimus in Britannia regum paganorum, et primus Christianorum.

  C, misso inde.   R, P, omit et bis. c   R, P, omit haec Suetonius. d   C, nota ita. e   C, Picti added in left-hand margin. Lower margin adds Anno Gratiae centum lxxxiiii to be inserted after word nuncupatur. f   C, omits amicitiam. a

b

30

The History of Alfred of Beverley

chose Britain in particular, as it had not been attempted by anyone since the deified Julius and at that time it was in a state of rebellion because the Romans had not returned some deserters. Claudius received the submission of part of the island within a few days, without any battle or bloodshed and, in the sixth month after he had set out, he returned to Rome and celebrated a triumph of great splendour.’ This is what is said about Claudius and, about Vespasian, the following: ‘In the reign of Claudius he was sent to Germany and from there he crossed over to Britain, where he fought with the enemy on thirty-two occasions. He reduced to subjection two very powerful peoples, more than twenty towns, and the Isle of Wight, which is very close to Britain.’25 Thus says Suetonius. In the Roman History we read the following about these events: ‘He’, namely Claudius, ‘made war on the island of Britain, which no Roman had attacked since Gaius Caesar and, having conquered it, he held a triumphant celebration. He also added to the Roman Empire certain islands which lie in the ocean beyond Britain and are called the Orkneys. And he gave his son the name Britannicus.’26 That is what it says about Claudius, and about Vespasian the following: ‘He’, namely Vitellius, ‘was succeeded by Vespasian, who was appointed emperor in Palestine. He was a ruler of obscure birth but comparable to the best emperors, so distinguished in private life that he was sent by Claudius to Germany and then to Britain, where he fought with the enemy thirty-two times and added to the Roman empire two very powerful peoples, twenty towns, and the Isle of Wight, which is very close to Britain.’ This is what is said of Vespasian in the Roman History.27 From this point, let us follow Britannicus. When Arviragus died he was buried in Gloucester and was succeeded by his son Marius. Marius killed Rodric, a Pictish king who was ravaging Scotland, and, in the province later called Westmorland, after him, he set up a stone as a sign of his victory, on which there are inscriptions which bear witness to his memory, even up to the present day. Marius gave the defeated people a part of Scotland to live in which had been left empty of inhabitants, called Caithness. When the Picts asked the Britons for wives, the Britons refused to marry their daughters to them. But the Picts sailed to Ireland, found wives there, and increased their race.28 Marius was succeeded by his son Coillus who had been brought up from infancy in Rome and, having been schooled in the customs of the Romans, had come to feel great friendship for them. Coillus was succeeded by his son Lucius, the last of the pagan kings in Britain and the first of the Christian kings. 25  26  27  28 

Suetonius, vol. ii, v. Diuus Claudius, xvii, pp. 32–33; viii. Diuus Vespasianus, iv, pp. 273–74. PHR, vii. 13. PHR, vii. 19. HRB, iv. 372–82.

30

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Explicit secunda particulaa Hactenus secundus Britannici regni status descriptus sit, qui a Cassibellauno incipiens, in Lucio desiit. In quo statu Britannia per Caesarem uectigalis est effecta, quae a primo rege Bruto usque ad eundem Cassibellaunum stetit libertate continua.b Vnde breuiter quot reges in hoc statu regnauerunt enumerandum, et sic finita secunda particula, ad tertium statum est transeundum. Primus Cassibellaunus.c Iste cum Iulio Caesare pugnauit, et bis uictor, tertio uictus tributum Romanis exsoluit, tria milia librarum argenti. Secundus Tenuantius. In diebus illis natus est Christus.29 Tertius Kimbelinus. Isto denegante Romanis tributum, uenit Claudius imperator, et pugnauit cum eo, et interfecit eum. Quartus Guiderius. Quintus Aruiragus. Huic dedit Claudius imperator filiam suam cum regno Britanniae. Sextus Marius. Ab isto dicta est prouincia Westmaria. Septimus Coillus. Iste fuit Romae nutritus. Octauus Lucius. Iste fuit ultimus in Britannia regum paganorum et primus regum Christianorum.

  P, Incipit prologus in tertia.   C, ends chp. 2 at this point, commencing with rubric incipit tertia particula. c   R, P, Cassibellinus. a

b

31

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The second chapter ends Up to this point, the second era of the British kingdom has been described, beginning with Cassibellaunus and ending with Lucius. During this era Britain, which had enjoyed continuous freedom from the time of its first king, Brutus, until that of Cassibellaunus, was subjected to tribute by Caesar. We ought therefore to note briefly how many kings reigned during this era and, after thus concluding this second chapter, to move on to the third era. The first king was Cassibellaunus. He fought Julius Caesar and twice was victorious. The third time he was conquered and paid a tribute of three thousand pounds of silver to the Romans. The second was Tenuantius. In his reign Christ was born.29 The third was Kimbelinus. He refused to pay the Roman tribute and the emperor Claudius came and fought with him and killed him. The fourth was Guiderius. The fifth was Arviragus. The emperor Claudius gave him his daughter and the kingdom of Britain. The sixth was Marius. The province of Westmorland is called after him. The seventh was Coillus, who was brought up in Rome. The eighth was Lucius. He was the last of the pagan kings in England and the first of the Christian kings.

29 

Earlier, the birth of Christ takes place during the reign of Kimbelinus.

31

Particula III

Incipit Tertia Particula Dicturi deinceps de tertio statu regni, dicamus primoa quomodo decursa serie paganorum regum Britanniae uentum sit ad serenitatem fidei Christianae. Vnde paulo superius est repetendum, et diligenti consideratione intuendum, quod sicut, deficiente post regem Lucium regali prosapia Britannici generis, mutandus erat in regno Britanniae status dominationis, ita per eiusdem regis industriam reprobato cultu paginacae superstitionis, ibidem mutatus sit cum cultu etiam ritus religionis. Cum igitur regni diademate post patrem insignitus esset Lucius, omnes actus bonitatis patris sui est imitatus. Exitum quoque suum praeferre uolens principio, epistolas Eleutherio papae direxit, petens ut ab eo Christianitatem reciperet. Serenauerant autem mentem eius miracula quae tirones Christi per diuersas nationes faciebant. Vnde in amorem uerae fidei annelans, piae petitionis effectum consecutus est. Siquidem beatus pontifex, comperta eius deuotione, duos religiosos doctores Faganum et Duuianum misit ad illum,1 quorum praedicatione et ministerio praedictus rex cum tota fere gente sua fidem Christi suscepit.’2 bHaec secundum Britannicumb. Concordat et hiis Beda in quarto capitulo, primi libri sic: ‘Anno ab incarnatione Domini centesimo .lvi.o Marcus Antoninus Verus quartus decimus ab Augusto regnum cum Aurelio Commodo fratre suscepit. Quorum temporibus cum Eleutherius uir sanctus pontificatui ecclesiae praesset Romanae misit ad eum Lucius Britannorum rex epistolam, obsecrans ut per eius mandatum Christianus efficeretur, et mox effectum piae postulationis consecutus est, susceptamque fidem

  R, P, prius.   R, P, omitted.

a

b–b

32

Chapter III

The third chapter begins We will next discuss the third era of the kingdom, but first let us tell how, after the line of pagan kings of Britain had run its course, the fair days of the Christian faith arrived. For this, it is necessary to go back a little and consider with due care how, just as the rulership of Britain had to change because after King Lucius’s time there were no more successors to the crown of British stock, so too religious practice and rites had to change because, through the zeal of that same king, the cult of pagan superstition had been rejected. Lucius, therefore, once he had been honoured with the crown of the kingdom in succession to his father, continued all his father’s good deeds. Wishing to put first things first, he sent letters to Pope Eleutherius asking him for instruction in the Christian religion, for his soul had been illuminated by the miracles which Christ’s soldiers were performing in various lands. Lucius’s eager desire for the true faith meant that his pious prayer was answered, for, on learning of his devotion, the holy pontiff sent him two religious instructors, Faganus and Duvianus.1 Through their preaching and ministry, King Lucius and nearly all his people received the faith of Christ.2 This is according to Britannicus. Bede, too, agrees with this account. In the fourth chapter of his first book he states: ‘In the year of Our Lord 156, Marcus Antoninus Verus became emperor, together with his brother Aurelius Commodus. He was the fourteenth after Augustus. In their time, while a holy man Eleutherius held the office of pope in the Church of Rome, Lucius, king of the Britons, sent him a letter beseeching him to issue an order making him a Christian. His pious request was soon granted and the Britons preserved the faith which they had adopted, King Lucius’s appeal to Pope Eleutherius for instruction in the Christian faith is reported by Bede (HE, i. 4), and in HB, ch. 22. The missionaries, Faganus and Duvianus, are named in HRB, iv. 400–10 where GM may have drawn on local Welsh saints’ traditions. Tatlock, Legendary History, pp. 230–34, notes that churches dedicated to Faganus and Duvianus were known in GM’s part of Wales in his century. The names of the missionaries are interpolated into WM’s De Antiquitate Ecclesiae Glastoniensis. See The Early History of Glastonbury. An Edition, Translation and Study of William of Malmesbury’s De Antiquitate Glastonie Ecclesie, John Scott (Woodbridge, 1981), ch. 2, pp. 46–51. 2  HRB, iv. 405–10. 1 

32

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Britanni usque in tempora Diocletiani principis inuiolatam integramque quieta pace seruabant.’3 Haec Beda. Fueruntque tunc in Britannia .xxviii. flamines, necnon et tres archiflamines. Itaque ubi flamines fuerant episcopos, ubi archiflamines archiepiscopos praefati doctores posuerunt. Sedes autem archiflaminum in tribus nobilioribus ciuitatibus constituerunt, uidelicet Lundoniis atque Eboraci, et in urbe Legionum, quam super Oscham fluuium in Glamorgantia ueteres muri et aedificia sitam fuisse testantur. Hiis igitur tribus uiginti octo episcopi subduntur. Diuisis quoque parochiis subiacuit metropolitano Eboraci, Deira et Albania, quas magnum flumen Humbre secernit a Loegria. Lundoniensi uero metropolitano submissa est Loegria et Cornubia. Has duas prouincias seiungit Sabrina a Kambria, id est Gualia, quae urbi Legionum subiacet.4 Quibus itaque statutis, praefati antistites redierunt Romam, et cuncta, quae fecerant, a beatissimo papa confirmari impetrauerunt, sicque reuersi sunt in Britanniam cum pluribus aliis quorum doctrina gens Britonum in fide Christi in breui corroborata fuit. Eorum nomina et actus in libro reperiuntur quem Gildas de uictoria Aurelii Ambrosii inscripsit.5 Rex uero Lucius cum cultum uerae fidei in regno suo magnificatum esse uidisset, possessiones et territoria, quae prius idolorum templa possederant in meliorem usum uertens, ipsa ecclesiis fidelium permanere concessit, et augmentans illas amplioribus agris et mansis, omni eas libertates sublimauit. Inter haec et ceteros propositi sui actus, in urbe Claudiocestriae ab hac luce migrauit, et in ecclesia primae sedis honorifice sepultus est, anno ab incarnatione Domini centesimo .lvi.a 6 His de exordio apud Britones fidei Christianae praemissis, ad exordium tertii status reuertamur. Defuncto rege Lucio, Romani in Britannia regnare coeperunt. Quamuuis enim antea sub potestate Romana per Iulium Caesarem redacta esset insula, tamen

  C, centesimo octogesimo sexto.

a

33

The History of Alfred of Beverley

inviolate and undiminished, in peace and quiet, up until the time of the Emperor Diocletian.’3 Thus, says Bede. In those days, there were twenty-eight priests and three high priests in Britain. And so the above-mentioned doctors [Faganus and Duvianus] established bishops in place of the priests and archbishops in place of the high priests. The three high priests had been based in three of the noblest cities, namely London, York, and Caerleon which, as its ancient walls and buildings bear witness, had been founded beyond the River Usk in Glamorgan. The twenty-eight bishops were placed under the authority of these three archbishops. The dioceses were divided as follows: Deira and Scotland, which are separated from Loegria by the great River Humber, were subjected to the metropolitan of York; Loegria and Cornwall were subjected to the metropolitan of London; and Kambria, that is to say Wales, which is separated from the other two dioceses by the River Severn, was subject to Caerleon.4 Once these arrangements had been made, the priests returned to Rome and sought confirmation from the most holy Father of all that they had done. Then they went back to Britain with many others, by whose teaching the British people’s faith in Christ was quickly strengthened. Their names and acts can be found in the book which Gildas wrote about the victory of Aurelius Ambrosius.5 Now, when King Lucius saw that the practice of the true faith was highly esteemed in his kingdom, he turned the properties and territories formerly owned by temples of the pagan idols, to better purpose. He allowed them to be used in perpetuity as churches for the faithful and he increased their land and buildings and granted them every liberty. While he was engaged in implementing these and his other plans, he departed this life in the city of Gloucester and was buried with honour in the chief metropolitan church in the year of Our Lord 156.6 Having started by describing the introduction of the Christian faith among the Britons, let us now return to the beginning of the third era. On the death of King Lucius, the Romans began to rule Britain. Although the island had earlier been brought under Roman control by Julius Caesar, nevertheless

HE, i. 4, note 1. The correct date is AD 161. HRB, iv. 420–25. The establishment of a Welsh archbishopric in Caerleon, predating that of Canterbury is here accepted by the author. HH omits this in EAW, 8, suggesting doubt about its veracity. 5  HRB, iv. 426–30. Of the six direct citations of Gildas in the HRB, three are fabrications, two are correct, and this one falls into the partially true category. Gildas, DEB, 25. 3, reports the victory of the Roman leader Ambrosius Aurelianus at Badon Hill, but has nothing to say about the missionaries Faganus and Duvianus, nor the establishment of Christianity in Britain. 6  HRB, v. 1–10. One of the few fixed dates supplied in the HRB and a probable invention, on the basis, perhaps, that it could not easily be challenged. Bede and the HB do not report the date of King Lucius’s death, only that he was active during the reign of Pope Eleutherius. HE, v. 24 states that Pope Eleutherius became bishop of Rome in AD 167 and ruled for 15 years. HB, ch. 22, says that Lucius received baptism, with all the underkings of the British nation in AD 167. 3  4 

33

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

usque ad praedictum regem Lucium Britones reddendo tributum regnauerunt in ea. Postquam uero auditum est Romae, quod Lucio defuncto absque herede discidium inter Britones esset ortum, et Romana potestas infirmata, legauerunt Seuerum senatorem, duasque legiones cum illo, ut patria potestati suae restitueretur. Qui ut appulsus fuit, mox proelia cum Britonibus commisit, magnamque partem insulae sibi subiugauit, rebelles uero duris debellationibus trans Scotiam in Albaniam fugauit.7 Illi tamen duce Fulgentio saepius maximan stragem et conciuibus et Romanis inferebant. Vnde imperator ad prohibendas tam crebras eorum irruptiones iussit construi uallum inter Deiram et Albaniam a mari usque ad mare, quod publico sumptu constructum est.8 At Fulgentius transfretauit in Scithiam propter auxilium, et cum Pictis rediens obsedit Eboracum. Adest Seuerus cum Romanis et Britonibus, et pugna acriter comissa. Fulgentius letaliter uulneratus est, et Seuerus cum multis suorum interemptus, Eboraci est sepultus, quam legiones eius optinuerunt. Reliquit ille duos filios Bassianum et Getham; Bassianum de Britannica, Getham de Romana matre. Cumque Romani Getham, Britones Bassianum uellent in regem sublimare, commiserunt fratres pugnam unde Getha interficitur, et Bassianus regno potitur. aHuc usque secundum Britannicuma. In Historia uero Anglorum ita de hiis legimus: ‘Anno ab incarnatione Domini centesimo octogesimo nono Seuerus, genere Affer Tripolitanus ab oppido Lepti, septimus decimus ab Augusto imperium adeptus,9 decem et septem annis tenuit. Hic natura saeuus multis bellis lacessitus, fortissime quidem rem publicam, sed laboriosissime rexit. Victor ergo ciuilium bellorum, quae ei grauissima occurrerant, in Britannias defectu omnium pene sociorum trahitur, ubi magnis grauibus proeliis saepe gestis, receptam partem insulae a ceteris indomitis gentibus non muro, ut quidam aestimant, sed uallo distinguendam putauit.’ Et infra: ‘Itaque Seuerus magnam fossam firmissimum que uallum crebris insuper turribus communitum, a mari ad mare duxit. Ibidque apud Eboracum oppidum morbo obiit. Reliquit duos filios Bassianum et Getham, quorum Getha hostis publicus iudicatus interiit,

  R, P, omitted.

a–a

34

The History of Alfred of Beverley

up to the time of the above-mentioned Lucius, the Britons had ruled there, while paying tribute to Rome. When the Romans heard that Lucius had died leaving no heir and that unrest had arisen among the Britons and Roman power had been weakened, they sent Severus, a member of the senate, with two legions to restore the island to Roman authority. Soon after landing, Severus joined battle with the Britons. He brought a large part of the island under his control and ruthlessly waged war on the rebels, driving them through Scotland and into Albany.7 But these rebels, led by Fulgentius, nevertheless frequently inflicted considerable slaughter on both their fellow-countrymen and the Romans. So, to prevent their repeated incursions, the emperor ordered the construction of a rampart between Deira and Albany, extending from coast to coast and built at public expense.8 Fulgentius then sailed to Scythia to seek help and, returning with Picts, he laid siege to York. Severus arrived with Roman and British forces and a firece battle was fought, in which Fulgentius was mortally wounded. Severus was also killed, with many of his troops. The latter was buried in York, which his legions had captured. He left two sons, Bassianus and Geta, the former the son of a British and the latter the son of a Roman mother. Since the Romans wanted Geta and the British wanted Bassianus to be made king, the brothers fought one another, with the result that Geta was killed and Bassianus became king. The account so far is in accordance with that of Britannicus. In the History of the English we read about these events as follows: ‘In the year of Our Lord 189, Severus, a Tripolitan African by race, from the town of Leptis, became emperor.9 He was the seventeenth after Augustus and reigned for seventeen years. He was harsh by nature and beset by many wars. He ruled the state with great firmness but also with great difficulty. As the victor of the very bitter civil wars in which he had been involved, he was brought to Britain by the defection of nearly all his allies there. After much fierce fighting, he decided to separate the part of the island over which he had regained control from the other tribes who remained unconquered – not by a wall, as some think, but by a rampart.’ And later we read: ‘So Severus constructed a great ditch and a very strong rampart, fortified by numerous towers, from sea to sea. He fell ill and died at York, leaving two sons, Bassianus and Geta. Of these, Geta perished, after being condemned HRB, v. 10–15. The rebels are described as being driven across Diera into Albany in HRB. Here, they are driven across Scotland into Albany, suggesting a closer understanding of northern geography. Albany is considered a separate region to Scotland, while still lying to the south of the land of the Picts, who are always located in the far north of the island. 8  HRB, v. 20. The HRB Deira–Albany border is here stated, somewhat inconsistently. 9  HE, i. 5. Septimius Severus was emperor from AD 193 to 211 and occupied Britain from AD 197. His repairs to Hadrian’s Wall and further northern fortifications date from c. AD 205. P. Sawley, Roman Britain (Oxford, 1991), pp. 223–27. 7 

34

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Bassianus Antonini cognomine assumpto regno potitus est.’ Haec Beda secundum Orosium.10 Sed et Romana historia de hiis ita habet: ‘Hinc imperii Romani amministrationem septimus decimus Seuerus accepit, oriundus ex Affrica, prouincia Tripolitana oppido Lepti, natura saeuus, bella multa et feliciter gessit. Nouissimum bellum in Britannia habuit, utque prouinciam receptam omni securitate muniret, per centum et triginta duo milia passuum uallum a mari usque ad mare deduxit. Decessit Eboraci ad modum senex imperii anno sexto decimo mense tertio. Diuus appellatus est. Nam filios suos successores reliquit Bassianum et Getham; sed Bassiano Antonini nomen a senatu uoluit imponi. Itaque dictus est Marcus Aurelius Antonius Bassianus, patrique successit. Nam Getha hostis publicus iudicatus interiit.’ Haec de Romana Historia.11 Post mortem Seueri regnauit Marcus Aurelius Antonius Bassianus, idemque Caracalla,12 filius eius pro eo. Erat eo tempore in Britannia iuuenis quidam nomine Carausius ex infima gente creatus.13 Qui Romam profectus accepit a senatu licentiam tuendi maritima Britanniae ab incursione barbarica. Quod cum sibi prospere successisset, insurrexit in Bassianum, et eum in bello defectione suorum interfecit, et gubernaculum regni suscepit. Discrepat de morte Bassiani, et de loco mortis, Romana Historia. ‘Defunctus est,’ inquit, ‘in Hosdroena apud Edissam, moliens aduersus Parthos expeditionem.’14 Cum igitur inuasio Carausii Romae nunciata fuisset, legauit senatus Allectum cum tribus legionibus ut tirannum interficeret, regnumque Britanniae Romanae potestati restitueret. Qui appulsus in insulam proeliatus est cum Carausioa ipsoque interfecto solium regni suscepit. Cumque Allectus maximam cladem Britonibus, quod relicta re publica Carausio adhaeserant, intulisset, Britones erexerunt in regem Asclepiodotum, ducem Cornubiae, qui conserto proelio cum Allecto, interfecit eum. Sed et collegam eius Liuium Gallum omnesque residuos Romanos uno die supra torrentem infra urbem Lundoniarum Venedoti decollauerunt. Unde torrens ille Britannice Nantigallum, Saxonice Gallobroc dictus est. Triumphatis itaque Romanis, Asclepiodotus regnauit.15 Refert autem Beda in Historia Anglorum de hiis ita capitulo sexto primi libri: ‘Anno incarnatione Dominicae ducentesimo octogesimo sexto. Diocletianus

  R, P, Carauso.

a

35

The History of Alfred of Beverley

as an enemy of the state, while Bassianus, who assumed the name of Antoninus, took possession of the throne.’ Thus, says Bede, in accordance with Orosius.10 The Roman History, however, gives the following account of these events: ‘Then Severus was the seventeenth to assume the government of the Roman Empire, originating from the province of Tripoli in Africa and the town of Leptis. He was harsh by nature and waged many wars successfully. His last war was in Britain where, to protect the province which he had recovered as securely as possible, he built a rampart for a hundred and thirty-two miles from coast to coast. He died in York, a very old man and in the sixteenth year and third month of his reign. He was named a god. Now, he left as his successors his sons, Bassianus and Geta, but he wanted the senate to give Bassianus the name ‘Antoninus’. So he was called ‘Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus’ and succeeded his father, for Geta had been condemned as a public enemy and died.’ Thus, reads the Roman History.11 After the death of Severus, his son Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, also known as Caracalla,12 ruled in his place. At that time there was in Britain a certain young man of common birth13 named Carausius who went to Rome and obtained the Senate’s authority to protect Britain’s coastline from barbarian attack. As he had attained such success, he rebelled against Bassianus. After killing the latter in a battle in which Bassianus was deserted by his own forces, Carausius took charge of the kingdom. The Roman History differs as to the place and the circumstances of Bassianus’s death. It says: ‘He died in Osdroena near Edessa, while attempting an expedition against the Parthians.’14 Now when Carausius’s attack on Caracalla was made known in Rome, the senate sent Allectus, with three legions, to kill the tyrant and restore the kingdom of Britain to Roman authority. Allectus landed, joined battle with Carausius, killed him, and took the throne. But, because Allectus inflicted such harsh treatment on the Britons for abandoning the Roman state and joining Carausius, the Britons crowned as their king Asclepiodotus, Duke of Cornwall, who engaged in battle with Allectus and killed him. Furthermore, one day, by a stream to the south of the city of London, the Venedoti decapitated Allectus’s colleague, Livius Gallus, and all the remaining Romans. That stream is called Nantgallun in British and Galobroc in English. Thus the Romans were defeated and Asclepiodotus reigned.15 Bede, however, refers to these events in the sixth chapter of the first book of the History of the English: ‘In the year of Our Lord 286, Diocletian, the HE, i. 5 based on PO, vii. 17. Orosius states that Severus’s rule commenced 944 years from the founding of Rome, that he ruled for eighteen years and that the Roman wall was 132 miles in length. 11  PHR, viii. 19. Where the Roman wall is stated to be 32 miles in length. 12  PO, vii. 17, 18. 13  HRB, v. 38. 14  PHR, viii. 20. Inconsistency between the HRB account and that of a standard authority is noted. 15  HRB, v. 98. 10 

35

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

tricesimus tertius ab Augusto imperator ab exercitu electus annis .xx. fuit, Maximianumquea Herculium socium creauit imperii. Quorum tempore Carausius quidam, genere quidem infimus, sed consilio et manu promptus, cum ad obseruanda occeani littora, quae tunc Franci et Saxones infestabant positus plus in perniciem quam in profectum rei publicae ageret, et ereptam praedonibus praedam nulla ex parte restituendo dominis, sed sibi soli uendicando, accendens suspicionem, quia ipsos quoque hostes ad incursandos fines artifici negligentia permitteret, quam obrem a Maximiano iussus occidi, purpuram sumpsit, ac Britannias occupauit. Quibus sibi per septem annos fortissime uendicatis ac retentis, tandem fraude Allecti socii sui interfectus est. Allectus postea ereptam Carausio insulam per triennium tenuit. Quem Asclepiodotus praefectus praetorio oppressit, Britanniamque post decem annos recepit.’ Haec Beda, sequens Orosium.16 Romana uero Historia de hiis habet sic: ‘Per haec tempora’, scilicet Dioclesiani, ‘Carausius quidam, uilissime natus, strenuae militiae ordine famam egregiam fuerat consecutus, cum apud Bononiam per tractum Belgicae et Armoricae pacandum mare accepisset, quod Franci et Saxones infestabant, multis barbaris saepe captis, nec praeda integra aut prouincialibus reddita, aut imperatoribus missa, cum suspicio esse coepisset, ab eo admitti barbaros, ut transeuntes cum praeda exciperet, atque hac se occasione ditaret, a Maximiano iussus occidi purpuram sumpsit, et Britannias occupauit.’ Et infra; ‘Cum Carausio tamen, cum bella frustra temptassent contra uirum rei militaris peritissimum, ad postremum pax conuenit. Eum post septennium Allectus socius eius occidit, atque ipse post eum Britannias triennio tenuit, qui ductu Asclepiodoti praefecti praetorio oppressus est. Ita Britanniae decimo anno receptae.’ Haec de historia Romana.17 Interea orta est Diocletiani persecutio. Nonodecimo enim imperii sui anno, ipse in oriente, Maximianus Herculius in occidente uastari ecclesias, affligi atque interfici Christianos decimo post Neronem loco praeceperunt. Quae persecutio

  C, Maxianumque.

a

36

The History of Alfred of Beverley

thirty-third after Augustus, was elected emperor by the army and reigned twenty years. He made Maximianus, whose surname was Herculius, his co-emperor. In their time, a certain Carausius, a man of mean birth but resourceful and energetic, was appointed to guard the shores of the ocean, which were then infested by Franks and Saxons. But he acted to the prejudice rather than to the benefit of the state. Because he did not restore any of the booty he recaptured from pirates to its owners, but kept it all himself, he aroused suspicion that it was in fact he who, under a pretence of carelessness, was allowing enemies to attack the borders. Maximianus therefore gave orders for him to be put to death, but instead Carausius seized the throne and occupied Britain. He continued to appropriate and hold on to it resolutely for seven years but was finally put to death through the treachery of his colleague Allectus. The latter then held the island he had seized from Carausius for three years, after which Asclepiodotus, the commander of the imperial bodyguard, overthrew him and restored Britain to the empire after a period of ten years.’ Thus, says Bede, following Orosius.16 The Roman History says the following about these matters: ‘In those days’, that is when Diocletian was emperor, ‘a certain Carausius, though of the meanest birth, had achieved an outstanding reputation through his zealous military prowess. At Boulogne, he took charge of restoring peace to the coastline of the regions of Belgica and Armorica which was being attacked by the Franks and Saxons. He often took large numbers of barbarians captive, but he neither returned their booty intact to the inhabitants of the province nor sent it to his commanders. There started to be a suspicion that he was letting the barbarians in on purpose, so that he could intercept them, along with their booty, as they passed through, and use this opportunity to enrich himself. So Maximianus gave orders for his execution, but Carausius seized the throne and took possession of Britain.’ And later we read: ‘However, eventually a peace was concluded with Carausius, since war had proved futile against a man so skilled in military matters. After seven years, his colleague Allectus killed him and ruled the British islands himself for the next three years. Then he was overthrown, by command of Asclepiodotus, the prefect of the Praetorian Guard. Thus, the British islands were recovered within ten years.’ So says the Roman History.17 Meanwhile, the persecution of Diocletian began. In the nineteenth year of his rule, he, as emperor in the east and Maximianus Herculius, ruler of the west, ordered churches to be laid waste and Christians to be persecuted and slain. This, the tenth such persecution after that of Nero, lasted longer and was more savage HE, i. 6. Based on PO, vii. 25, where Orosius dates Diocletian’s election 1,041 years from the foundation of Rome. 17  PHR, ix. 21–22. 16 

36

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

omnibus fere ante actis diuturnior atque immanior fuit. Nam per decem annosa incendiis ecclesiarum, proscriptionibus innocentum, caedibus martirum incessabiliter acta est. Denique etiam Britanniam tunc plurima confessionis Deo deuotae gloria sublimauit. Siquidem in ea passus est sanctus Albanus Uerolamius, Iulius quoque et Aaron urbis Legionum ciues, aliique utriusque sexus diuersis in locis perplures,18 qui diuersis cruciatibus torti, et inaudita membrorum discerptione lacerati, animas ad supernae ciuitatis gaudia perfecto agone miserunt. At ubi turbo persecutionis quieuit, progressi in publicum fideles Christi, qui se tempore discriminis siluis ac desertis, abditis ue speluncis occuluerant, renouant ecclesias ad solum usque destructas, basilicas sanctorum martyrum fundant, construunt, perficiunt, dies festos celebrant, mansitque haec in ecclesiis Christi quae erant in Britannia pax usque ad tempora Arrianae uesaniae, quae corrupto orbe toto hanc etiam insulamb extra orbem tam longe remotam ueneno sui infecit erroris. Haec de immanitate Diocletianae persecutionis et de constantia Britonum in fide Christi tunc temporis secundum fidem utriusque Historiae, tam Britonum quam Anglorum, dicta sunt.19 Nunc ad historiam redeamus. Interea in regem Asclepiodotumc insurrexit Coel dux Kaircolum,d id est Colecestriae, et conserto proelio interemit illum, regnauitque pro eo. Contra hunc misit senatus Constantium senatorem, qui Hispaniam ipsis subdiderat.20 Cuius aduentu territus Coel, pacem petiuit, subiectionemque promisit, eo pacto, ut ipse regnum Britanniae possideret, et solitum tributum Romae persolueret. Adquieuit Constantius, pacemque receptis obsidibus confirmauit. Verum Coel post mensem absque mascula prole defuncto, Constantius gubernaculum suscepit. Qui ut regnum adeptus est, duxit Helenam filiam Coel, ex qua genuit magnum Constantinum. Erat autem ipsa Helena pulchra ualde, et in musicis instrumentis et liberalibus artibus erudita. Postea Constantius apud Eboracum obiit, et regnum filio suo Constantino reliquit.21 Successit ergo Constantio Constantinus, et pacem ubique reformauit. Quique Romam aduersus Maxentium tirannum perrexit, et eo deuicto totius mundi monarchiam obtinuit.22 De Constantio et Constantino Beda in Historia Anglorum ita describit dicens: ‘Hiis temporibus Constantius, qui uiuente Diocletiano Galliam Hispaniasque

  C, et octo added interlineally in a later hand.   C, omits Insulam. c   C, in regem Asclepiodorum. d   C, Cahercolum. a

b

37

The History of Alfred of Beverley

than almost any of the previous persecutions. It continued without ceasing for ten years, with churches being burned down, innocent people being outlawed and martyrs being slain. Eventually Britain attained great glory by faithfully bearing witness to God. During this persecution, St Alban of Verulamium, and Julius and Aaron, citizens of the city of Caerleon, suffered, as did many others of both sexes in various other places.18 They were racked by many kinds of torture and their limbs were torn apart in unspeakable acts of mutilation but, when their sufferings were over, they released their souls to the joys of the heavenly city. When the storm of persecution had ceased, the faithful Christians who had hidden themselves during the period of danger in woods and deserts and secret caverns came out of hiding. They rebuilt the churches which had been razed to the ground, they founded, constructed, and completed new churches dedicated to the holy martyrs, and they celebrated feast days. This peace reigned in the Christian churches of Britain up to the time of the Arian madness, which corrupted the whole world and even infected this island, so remote from the rest of the world, with the poison of its error. This is what is said about the inhumanity of Diocletian’s persecution and the constancy of the Britons to the Christian faith at that time according to both Histories – that of the British and that of the English.19 Now let us return to our history. Meanwhile, Coel, duke of Kaircolum, that is Colchester, rebelled against King Asclepiodotus, killed him in battle, and ruled in his place. The senate despatched against him the senator Constantius, who had conquered Spain for them.20 Coel, struck with terror by his arrival, sued for peace and promised his submission, on condition that he retained the crown of Britain and paid the usual tribute to Rome. Constantius agreed and confirmed the peace pact with an exchange of hostages. After a month, however, Coel died and, as he had no living male heir, Constantius assumed the reins of government. Having acquired the throne, he married Helena, the daughter of King Coel, who gave birth to Constantine the Great. Helena was very beautiful and skilled in musical instruments and the liberal arts. Constantius later died in York and left the kingdom to his son Constantine.21 Thus Constantine succeeded Constantius and restored peace everywhere. He set out to Rome against the tyrant Maxentius and, after conquering him, he attained rulership of the whole world.22 Bede writes the following about Constantius and Constantine in the History of the English: ‘At this time, Constantius died in Britain, a man of great clemency 18  19  20  21  22 

HE, i. 6–8. Ibid. HRB, v. 122. The author reverts to HRB for the account of Coel. HRB, v. 122–45. Constantius ‘Chlorus’ died in York in AD 306. HRB, v. 164.

37

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

regebat, uir summae mansuetudinis et ciuilitatis, in Britannia morte obiit. Hic Constantinum filium, ex concubina Helena procreatum, imperatorem Galliarum reliquit.’23 Haec Beda. Eutropius uero in Romana Historia de hiis scribit ita: ‘Hic’, scilicet Constantius, ‘non modo amabilis sed uenerabilis etiam Gallis fuit, praecipue quod Diocletiania suspectam prudentiam, et Maximiani sanguinariam temeritatem imperio eius euaserant. Obiit in Britannia Eboraci, principatus anno tertio decimo.’ Et infra: ‘Verum Constantio mortuo, Constantinus ex obscuriore matrimonio filius eius in Britannia creatus est imperator, et in locum patris exoptatissimus moderator accessit.’ Haec Eutropius.24 At Constantinus contra Maxentium, ut dictum est, Romam pergens, duxerat secum tres auunculos Helenae: Loelinum, Trahern, et Marium, et eos in senatorium promouit ordinem. Interea insurrexit Octauius dux Gewissorum in proconsules Romanae dignitatis, quibus Britannia commissa fuerat, et solio regni ipsis interfectis potitus est. Cumque id Constantino nuntiatum fuisset, direxit Trahern auunculum Helenae cum tribus legionibus ut insulam Romanae restitueret dignitati. Qui appulsus in insulam, mox cepit urbem Porcestriam,25 indeque hautb longe a Guintonia primo proelio contra Octauium uictus. Secundo in Westmaria uictor, Octauium fugere compulit, ipsumque insecutus urbes ei et diadema abstulit. Qui nauigio Norwegiam petiit, ut auxilium a rege Gunberto quaereret. Interim per insidias interfecto Trahern, reuersus Octauius regnum recuperauit, et usque ad tempora Gratiani et Valentiniani feliciter optinuit. Iste uero Octauius inuitauit Maximum senatorem a Roma, eique filiam suam cum regno Britanniae dedit.26 Adeptus itaque regnum Maximus, post quinquennium debellatis de Armorico regno Gallis, Britannico populo illud repleuit. Nam centum milia plebeianorum ex insula Britanniae et triginta milia militum ad se uenire fecit, distribuitque eos per uniuersas Armorici regni nationes, fecitque alteram Britanniam, et eam Conano Meriadoco,c nepoti Octauii regis, qui ad regnum Britanniae antequam

  C, quod ad Diocletiani.   R, P, inde aut. c   C, Conanus Meridianus. a

b

38

The History of Alfred of Beverley

and courtesy, who had governed Gaul and Spain in the time of Diocletian. He left his son Constantine, the child of his concubine, Helena, as ruler of the Gauls.’23 Thus, says Bede. Then in the Roman History, Eutropius writes the following about these events: ‘Constantius was not only loved but also revered by the Gauls, especially because, through his government, they had escaped the mistrustful prudence of Diocletian and the bloodthirsty rashness of Maximianus. He died in York in Britain in the thirteenth year of his reign.’ And later: ‘But, when Constantius died, Constantine, his son from a rather undistinguished marriage, was made emperor in Britain and succeeded his father as a most desirable ruler.’ Thus, says Eutropius.24 Proceeding to Rome to confront Maxentius, as has been described, Constantine had taken with him three uncles of Helena – Loelinus, Trahern and Marius, whom he promoted to senatorial rank. Meanwhile, Octavius, Duke of the Gewissei, had rebelled against the authority of the Roman proconsuls, to whom the government of Britain had been entrusted, killed them, and occupied the throne of the kingdom. When this was reported to Constantine, he sent Helena’s uncle Trahern with three legions to restore Britain to Roman authority. Soon after coming ashore on the island, he captured the city of Porchester25 and then, not far from Winchester, he was defeated in his first battle against Octavius. But in a second battle, in Westmorland, he was victorious, forced Octavius to retreat, and, pursuing him, deprived him of his cities and his crown. So, Octavius sailed to Norway to seek the help of its king, Gumbertus. Meanwhile, Trahern was killed in an ambush. Octavius returned, regained the crown, and ruled happily until the time of Gratian and Valentinian. This same Octavius invited the senator Maximus from Rome and gave him his daughter, along with the kingdom of Britain.26 Having gained the throne in this manner, five years later Maximus vanquished the Gauls in the kingdom of Armorica and resettled it with British people. He summoned a hundred thousand common people and thirty thousand knights from Britain and he distributed them through all the regions of Armorica, making it another Britain. He presented this kingdom to Conanus Merediacus, the nephew HE, i. 8. Bede’s account of the circumstances in which Constantine was created emperor in Britain is based largely on Orosius, supplemented by borrowings from the Breviarium of Eutropius, whom he names in his report. The author is here governed by Bede in naming Eutropius as the author of the Roman History in the passage on Constantine. The Roman History was still widely assumed in the twelfth century to be the work of Eutropius. HH, for example, cites Eutropius in his praise of the emperor Augustus in the HA when, in fact, quoting from Paul the Deacon’s continuation (HA, i. 16). 24  PHR, x. 1–2. 25  HRB, v. 171. Iuxta urbem quae Britannice Kaerperis nuncupatur. Porchester is not named. 26  HRB, v. 202. GM names the senator Maximianus but describes Maximus Magnus, who ruled Britain as emperor in the West from AD 383 to 388. AB treats Maximianus as the historical Emperor Maximus in his abbreviation. King Octavius, Duke of the Gewissei, and his donation of Britain to senator Maximianus and his daughter in marriage, is a Galfridian invention. 23 

38

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Maximus ueniret aspirauerat, donauit, sicque illum sibi pacificauit, et quoniam diu maxima inquietudo habebatur inter Maximum et duos imperatores Gratianum fratremque suum Valentinianum, quod passus fuerat repulsam de tertia parte regni quam petebat,a ipse Maximus ulteriorem Galliam adiit, eamque sibi,b necnon et totam Germaniam grauissimis proeliis subiugauit. Thronum autem imperii sui apud Treueros statuens, ita debachatus est in duos imperatores Gratianum et Valentinianum, quod uno in tempore alterum interficeret, alterum ex Roma fugare.27 Eutropius uero hoc modo de Maximo refert: ‘Interea cum Theodosius in oriente subactis barbarorum gentibus, Tracias tandem liberas ab hoste reddidisset, et Archadium filium suum consortem fecisset imperii. Maximus uir quidem strenuus et probus, atque Augusto dignus, nisi contra sacramenti fidem per tirannidem emersisset, in Britannia inuitus imperator ab exercitu creatus in Galliam transit, ubi ab infensis Gratiani legionibus exceptus, eundem subita incursione perterritum, atque in Italia transire meditantem, dolis circumuentum interfecit, fratremque Valentinianum Augustum Italia expulit. Valentinianus in orientem refugiens, a Theodosio paterna pietate susceptus, mox etiam imperio restitutus est.’ Eisdem uerbis, eodemque ordine, et eadem sententia in Historia Anglorum de Maximi tirannide Eutropium secutus est Beda.28 Conanus Meriadocus uero, cui sicut supradictum est, Maximus Armoricum dederat regnum, nullam commixtionem cum Gallis facere uolens, decreuit, ut ex Britannia mulieres uenirent, quae Britonibus, quos Maximus per Iuniorem Britanniam distribuerat, maritarentur.29 Collectae sunt igitur filiae nobilium undecim milia, et ex inferiori genere, quinquaginta decem milia paratoque nauigio, cum uela aduersus Armoricanosc diuertissent, contrariis uentis naues partim periclitatae sunt, partim exciderunt in nefandum exercitum Guanii et Melgae, et quod libidini eorum noluerunt consentire, irruerunt super eas, et sine pietatae trucidauerunt. Erat autem Guanias rex Hunorum, et Melga Pictorum, quos Gratianus imperator sibi asciuerat, ut maritima,d et eos qui Maximo fauebant inquietarent. Itaque nefandi duces Guanius et Melga cum didicissent insulam Britanniae omni armato milite uacuatam, associatis sibi collateralibus

  C, repetabat.   C, eamque sic. c   R, P, Armonicos. d   R, P, marittina. a

b

39

The History of Alfred of Beverley

of King Octavius, who, before Maximus had arrived, had aspired to the kingdom of Britain and in this way he mollified him. Now, for a long time there had been great enmity between the two emperors, Gratian and his brother Valentinian, and Maximus, who had been rebuffed when he had asked for a third share in the empire. So, Maximus went to further Gaul and, after a series of major battles, conquered not only that region but also the whole of Germany. Setting up the throne of his empire at Trier, he attacked the two emperors Gratian and Valentinian so savagely that he simultaneously killed the former and drove the latter from Rome.27 Eutropius refers to Maximus as follows: ‘Meanwhile, in the east Theodosius, after subduing the barbarian races, had finally returned Thrace to freedom from its enemies and had made his son Archadius his co-emperor. In Britain, Maximus, an energetic and worthy man, was made emperor against his will by the army. He was deserving of the title of Augustus had he not, contrary to his sworn oath of allegiance, risen to power through tyranny. He went over to Gaul, where, after winning the support of Gratian’s disaffected legions, he treacherously killed Gratian himself, who, terrified by this sudden attack, was considering whether to cross to Italy. He also drove Gratian’s brother, the Augustus Valentinian, out of Italy. Valentinian fled to the east, where Theodosius received him with fatherly affection and soon restored him to power.’ Bede, writing about the tyranny of Maximus in his History of the English, followed the same words, order, and phrasing as Eutropius.28 Conanus Meriadocus, to whom, as was said above, Maximus had given the kingdom of Armorica, wished to avoid any intermarriage with the Gauls, so he gave orders that women should come from Britain to marry the Britons whom Maximus had settled in ‘Little Britain’.29 Therefore eleven thousand daughters of noblemen and sixty thousand of common birth were gathered together. A fleet was made ready and the ships had set sail for Armorica when some of them were put in peril by adverse winds. The rest fell into the hands of the evil army of Wanius and Melga who, because the girls did not consent to their sexual demands, fell on them and butchered them without pity. Wanius was king of the Huns and Melga of the Picts and the emperor Gratian had made them his allies so that they would harass the coastal areas and the supporters of Maximus. When the wicked leaders Wanius and Melga learned that the island of Britain had been stripped of all its armed soldiers, they allied themselves with the neighbouring islands HRB, v. 210–359. The account of Maximus as King Octavius’s successor, his colonization of Gaul, and the establishment of ‘Another Britain’ in Armorica, is much abbreviated, with its several invented speeches omitted. 28  PHR, xi. 16. In the collation of the HRB account of the career of emperor Maximus against that of Bede and Eutropius the author again uses the practice of similitudo. 29  HRB, v. 354. Where it is named alteram Britanniam. 27 

39

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

insulis in Albaniam applicuerunt, et agmine facto regnum inuaserunt, quod rectore et defensore carebat, uulgus irrationabile caedentes. Abduxerat enim, ut praedictum est, Maximus omnes bellicosos iuuenes, inermesque colonos reliquerat, ideoque hostes stragem non minimam facientes, urbes et prouincias ut ouium caulasa deuastauerunt. Cum igitur tanta calamitas Maximo nuntiata fuisset, misit Gratianum Municipem cum duabus legionibus; qui proeliati cum hostibus praefatis eos acerrima caede in Hiberniam fugauerunt. Interea interfectus est Maximus ab amicis Gratiani,30 et Gratianus Municeps, audita eius morte, sese in regem Britanniae promouit, et tantam in populum tirannidem exercuit, ut cateruis factis plebeiani irruerent in eum et interficerent.31 Refert autem Historia Romana, de morte Maximi et Gratiani sic: ‘Interfecto per Maximum Gratiano, Theodosius iustis, necessariisque causis per motus, cum eib duobus Augustis fratribus unius interfecti ultionem, alterius restitutionem procuraret, sese aduersus Maximum tirannum sola fide maior nam longec minor uniuersi apparatus bellici comparatione proripuit. Aquileiae tunc Maximus insederat, Andragitius comes eius summam belli administrabat, qui cum largissimis militum copiis astuto consilio, omnes Alpium ac fluminum aditus communisset, dum nauali expeditione incautum hostem praeuenire parat et obruere, sponte eadem, quae obstruxerat claustra deseruit. Ita Theodosius nemine sciente uacuas intrauit Alpes, atque Aquileiam improuisus adueniens, magnum hostem Maximum ac trucem, et ab immanissimis quoque Germanorum gentibus tributa ac stipendia solo terrore nominis exigentem, sine controuersia clausit, cepit, et occidit.’32 Haec de morte Maximi. Et infra de morte Gratiani Municipis sic; ‘Inter haec apud Britanniasd Gratianus tirannus mox creatus occiditur.’33 Similiter de morte utriusque scribit Beda. De Hoc imperatore Maximo in uita sancti Martini sic legitur:34 ‘Quod cum ipse sanctum Martinum frequenter rogaret, ut conuiuio eius sicut et ceteri pontifices

  R, P, callas.   R, P, cum e. c   R, P, non longe. d   C, apud Britanniam. a

b

40

The History of Alfred of Beverley

and landed in Albany, where they assembled an army, attacked the leaderless and defenceless kingdom, and slaughtered its uncomprehending population. For, as mentioned above, Maximus had taken away all the young warriors, leaving only defenceless farmers. And so the invaders inflicted great slaughter, devastating towns and provinces as though they were sheepfolds. When Maximus was told of this major disaster, he sent Gratian Municeps with two legions who engaged the enemies mentioned above in battle and, after a most brutal massacre, drove them away to Ireland. Meanwhile, Maximus was murdered by friends of the emperor Gratian.30 When Gratian Municeps heard of Maximus’s death, he made himself king of Britain and so tyrannically did he rule its inhabitants, that the common people, banding together attacked and killed him.31 The Roman History refers to the deaths of Maximus and Gratian as follows: ‘After Gratian was killed by Maximus, Theodosius, stirred to action by just and compelling reasons, took it upon himself to avenge the death of one of the two brothers who held the title Augustus and to restore the other to power. So he launched himself against the tyrant Maximus, to whom he was superior only in trustworthiness, for he was much his inferior in preparedness with every sort of military equipment. Maximus had then settled in Aquileia and his colleague Andragathius was supervising all matters of war. The latter had, by shrewd planning, firmly secured all the approaches to the Alps and the rivers with large numbers of troops but, as he prepared to catch the enemy off guard and destroy them with a naval expedition, he deliberately abandoned these very barriers which he had built up. Thus, Theodosius arrived in the undefended Alps unobserved and, unexpectedly reaching Aquileia, trapped, captured, and killed without a fight his great enemy Maximus – a fierce man who extracted tributes and taxes from even the most savage of German tribes, by the terror of his name alone.’32 This is what is said about the death of Maximus. Later, on the death of Gratian Municeps, the Roman History says: ‘Meanwhile, in Britain, Gratian soon became a tyrant and was put to death.’33 Bede writes similar things about the death of both men. In the Life of St Martin, we read the following about this Maximus:34 ‘When he repeatedly invited Martin to attend one of his banquets, along with other Maximus was killed in battle in Aquileia in 388 by the Emperors Valentinianus and Theodosius, as the author makes clear in his collation of GM’s account with the Roman History which follows. 31  Gratian may have been a civilian, possibly from the Romano-British aristocracy, set up as dictator in Britain in AD 407 and murdered within four months of his accession. Sawley, Roman Britain, p. 426. The naming of him as Gratian Municeps in HRB derives from Bede (HE, i. 11). 32  PHR, xii. 1–2. 33  PHR, xii. 17. 34  Sulpicius Severus’s Life of St Martin is consulted to expand the account of the emperor Maximus and the author’s familiarity with the HB may explain this. St Martin’s conversation with Maximus is reported briefly in HB ch. 26 and it appears the saint’s Vita has subsequently been quarried to provide 30 

40

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

interessent, sanctus Martinus respondit, dicens se mensae eius participem esse non posse, qui imperatores unum regno, alterum uita expulisset. Sed cum Maximus se non sponte sumpsisse imperium affirmaret, sed impositam sibi a militibus diuino nutu regni necessitatem armis defendisse tandem uel ratione uel precibus uictus ad conuiuium uenit. Inter conuiuas summi et illustres uiri erant, comites duo summa potestate praediti, frater regisa et patruus. Medius inter hos Martini presbiter accubuit, ipse autem sellula iuxta regem posita consederat. Ut moris est, pateram regi minister obtulit. Ille sancto episcopo potius dari iubet, ambiens ut ab illius dextera poculum sumeret. Martinus ubi ebibit, pateram presbitero suo tradidit. bNullum scilicet existimans digniorem qui possit prior bibere uel post se prior biberet nec integrum sibi fore si aut regem ipsum aut eos qui rege erant proximi presbytero praetulissetb. Quod factum imperator, omnesque qui tunc secum aderant, ita admirati sunt, ut hoc ipsum eis in quo contempti fuerant, eis plus placeret. cCeleberrimumque per omne palacium fuit fecisse Martinum in regis prandio quod in infimorum, iudicum conuiuis Episcoporum nemo fecisset. Eidemque Maximo longe ante praedixit futurum ut si ad Italiam pergeret quo ire cupiebat bellum Valentiniano imperatori inferens, sciret se primo quidem impetu futurum esse uictorem sed paruo post tempore esse periturum. Quod quidem ita contigit. Nam primo aduentu eius Valentinianus in fugam uersus est. Deinde post annum fere resumptis uiribus Theodosio socio auxilium praebente Maximum captum inter Aquileiae muros interfecit sic superius comprehensum estc. 35 Tertius Britannici regni status sub praedictis cucurrit regibus, in quo Romanorum in Britannia regnum et surrexit et cecidit. Vnde nomina eorundem regum simul colligenda et ex ordine sunt ponenda, sicque tertia huius opusculi particula est consummanda.d Primus Seuerus. Iste septimus decimus ab Augusto imperator fuit, Britanniam a senatu deficientem adiit, et eam rei publicae restituit. Secundus Bassianus. Iste fuit filius Seueri, dictusque est Marcus Aurelius Antonius Bassianus Caracalla. .iii.us Carausius. Iste cum impetrasset a senatu licentiam tuendi maritima Britanniae regnum usurpauit. .iiii.us Allectus. Etiam iste interfecto

  C, frater eius.   R, P, omitted. c–c   R, P, alternative reading. d   C, chp. 3 ends. a

b–b

41

The History of Alfred of Beverley

bishops, the saint replied that he could not share the table of a man who had forced one emperor out of his kingdom and the other out of life. Maximus, however, asserted that he had not assumed imperial power of his own will, but the necessity of defending the kingdom by arms had been imposed on him by the army, with divine assent. So finally, St Martin, won over either by his argument or by his entreaties, attended a banquet. Among the guests were men of the highest and most illustrious rank, and two of the courtiers, namely king’s brother and uncle, were possessed of the greatest power. Martin’s presbyter reclined between these two, while he himself had taken a seat on a stool placed close to the king. As is the custom, a servant offered a drinking bowl to the king. But Maximus commanded that it should rather be given to the holy bishop, intending that he should himself receive the cup from Martin’s right hand. When the saint had drunk, he gave the bowl to his presbyter thinking no one worthier to drink next to himself, and holding that it would not be right for him to prefer either the king himself or those who were next the king to the presbyter. And the emperor, as well as all those then with him, so admired this deed that the very action which showed disrespect to them, pleased them most. The report then ran through the whole palace that Martin had done, at the king’s dinner, what no bishop had dared to do at the banquets of the lowestranking judges. And, long before, Martin predicted to this same Maximus that, if he proceeded to Italy where he then desired to go, to wage war against the Emperor Valentinianus, he should be aware that he would indeed be victorious in his first attack, but that he would perish shortly afterwards.’ And this did in fact take place. For, when Maximus first arrived, Valentinianus was put to flight. But about a year afterwards, when Valentinianus had recovered his strength, and his colleague Theodosius was giving him help, he captured and killed Maximus within the walls of Aquileia as has been described above.’35 The third era of the British kingdom ran its course under the above-mentioned kings and during this time the rule of the Romans in Britain rose and fell. And now the names of these kings must be drawn together and also placed in order, so that the third brief part of this little work can be concluded. The first was Severus. He was the seventeenth emperor from Augustus who, when Britain was defecting from the senate, came and restored it to the Roman state. The second was Bassianus. He was the son of Severus and was called Marcus Aurelius Antonius Bassianus Caracalla. Third was Carausius who, once he had obtained from the senate authority for protecting the coastline, usurped the British crown. The fourth details of the conversation. The Life of St Martin was known to Bede, but it is not used by him to report on the emperor Maximus. See Colgrave & Mynors, HE, p. xxvi. 35  Sulpicius Severus’ Vita Martini, ed. Philip Burton (Oxford, 2017), chp. 20, pp. 118–19.

41

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Carausio regnum inuasit. .v.us Asclepiodotus. Iste fere omnes Romanos uno die infra Lundonias occidit. .vi.us Coel. Iste fuit pater sanctae Helenae, matris Constantini imperatoris. .vii.us Constantius. Iste fuit pater Constantini imperatoris. .viii.us Constantinus. Iste optinuit monarchium totius mundi. .ix.us Octauius. Iste filiam suam cum regno Britanniae Maximo dedit. .x.us Maximus. Iste Britanniam Minorem debellatis Gallis Britannis impleuit, et alteram Britanniam nominauit. .xi.us Gratianus. Iste fuit ultimus in Britannia Romanorum regum.

Explicit tertia particula

42

The History of Alfred of Beverley

was Allectus, who invaded the kingdom on the death of Carausius. Fifth was Asclepiodotus who, in a single day, killed nearly all the Romans in London. Sixth was Coel who was the father of Saint Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine. Seventh was Constantius who was the father of the Emperor Constantine. Eighth was Constantine who became ruler of the entire world. The ninth was Octavius who gave his daughter, along with the kingdom of Britain, to Maximus. Tenth was Maximus who, once the Gauls were vanquished, filled up Little Britain with Britons and called it the ‘Other Britain’. Eleventh was Gratian, who was the last of the Roman kings in Britain.

The third chapter ends.

42

Particula IV

Incipit prologus in quarta particula Quartus Britannici regni status quem nunc habemus in manibus, miserabilis extitit et abiectus, et quem iustius esset deflere quam describere. Quippe ubi fides Christiana diuersis haeresibus distrahebataur, et ipsa patria crebras exterarum gentium irruptiones patiebantur, sicut in consequentibus concorditer ex Historia tam Britonum quam Anglorum manifeste comprobatur.

Incipit quarta particula Igitur interfecto, ut supradictum est, a plebeianis Gratiano Municipe, Romani in Britannia cessauerunt regnare, multoque tempore Britones absque rectore et defensore uicinis hostibus praeda fuere.a Superiore siquidem tempore antequam Maximus tirannus, de quo supradictum est, Britanniam adiret, in diebus scilicet Constantini imperatoris, orta est haeresis Arriana, quae corrupto orbe toto hanc insulam, extra orbem tam longe remotam, ueneno sui infecit erroris. Hac itaque quasi uia pestilentiae trans occeanum patefacta, non mora omnis se lues haereseos cuiusque insulae, noui semper aliquid audire gaudenti et nil certe firmiter tenenti, infudit.1 Vnde ob temeritatem generalis culpae castigationi uniuersaliter relicti, pro principibus tirannos habere meruit, quorum superba temeritate Britanniae in parte Britonum, ut supradictum est, omni armato milite militaribusque copiis uniuersis, tota etiam floridae iuuentutis alacritate spoliata, praedae tantum patuit, utpote omnis bellici usus prorsus ignara.2

  C, addition, Et sicut ait Nennius historiographus per xl annos sub metu fuerunt.

a

43

Chapter IV

The prologue to the fourth chapter begins The fourth era of the British kingdom, with which we are now dealing, was wretched and abject and one more worthy of lamentation than description. For indeed, while the Christian faith was being torn apart by various heresies, the country itself was also suffering frequent incursions from foreign peoples, as is clearly confirmed, on the evidence of the British as well as the English histories, in the following account.

The fourth chapter begins Now after Gratian Municeps had been killed by the common people, as was described above, the Romans ceased to rule in Britain and for a long while the Britons, leaderless and defenceless, were plundered by neighbouring enemies. Earlier on, before the above-mentioned tyrant Maximus arrived in Britain, that is, in the days of the emperor Constantine, the Arian heresy had arisen, corrupting the whole world and infecting this island, so remote from the world, with the poison of its error. Once this had been spread across the sea, like a route for contagion, the plague of every kind of heresy at once poured itself forth in full force upon the island which always delights in hearing something new and holds firmly to no sure belief.1 And so, on account of the foolhardiness of this universal error, the island deserved, as a punishment, to have tyrants in place of princes. Because of the arrogant rashness of those tyrants, the British part of Britain which, as explained above, had been stripped of all its armed men, its military supplies, and even the whole flower of its active youth, lay completely exposed to plunderers, since the inhabitants were utterly ignorant of the practice of warfare.2

HE, i. 8. For his description of this fourth status of Britain – a period of insecurity and disorder in the island after the departure of the Romans in the early fifth century – the author relies mainly on Bede’s HE supported by the Historia Romana interwoven with excerpts from the HRB. 2  HE, i. 12. 1 

43

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Denique, cum post mortem Maximi diuulgatum esset per cetera regna de nece Gratiani,3 subito duabus gentibus transmarinis uehementer saeuis, id est Scottorum a circio, Pictorum ab Aquilone, multos stupet gemitque per annos; qui conducentes secum Norwegenses et Dacos, regnum a mari usque ad mare ferro et flamma uastauerunt.4 Transmarinas autem dicimus has duas gentes, non quod extra Britanniam essent positae, sed quod a parte Britonum erant remotae, duobus sinibus maris interiacentibus, quorum unus ab orientali mari, alter ab occidentali Britanniae terras longe lateque irrumpit, quamuis ad se inuicem pertingere non possint. Orientalis autem habet in medio sui urbem Giudi,5 occidentalis supra se, hoc est, ad dexteram sui, habet urbem Arclud, quod lingua eorum signat Petram Clut. Est enim iuxta fluuium nominis illius. Ob harum ergo infestationem gentium Britones legatos Romam cum espistolis mittentes, lacrimosis precibus auxilia flagitabant, subiectionemque continuam, dum modo hostis iminens longius arceatur, promittebant. Quibus mox legio destinatur armata. Quae ubi in insulam aduecta est, congressa cum hostibus magnam eorum multitudinem sternens, ceteros sociorum finibus expulit, eosque interima a dirissima depressione liberatos, hortata est instruere inter duo maria trans insulam murum, qui arcendis hostibus posset esse praesidio, sicque domum cum triumpho magno reuersa est. At insulani murum quem iussi fuerant non tam lapidibus quam cespitibus construentes, utpote nullam tanti operis artificem habentes, ad nichil utilem statuunt. Fecerunt autem eum inter duo freta uel sinus, de quibus diximus, maris, per milia passuum plurima, ut aquarum ubi munitio deerat, ibi praesidio ualli fines suos ab hostium irruptione defenderent. Cuius operis ibidem facti, id est ualli latissimi et altissimi usque hodie certissima uestigia cernere licet. Incipit autem duum ferme milium spatio a monasterio Ebercuring ad orientem in loco, qui sermone Pictorum Phenuaelb lingua autem Anglorum Peneltun appellatur, et tendens contra occidentem terminatur iuxta urbem Arclud.6 Verum priores

  R, P, iterum.   R, P, Fenual.

a

b

44

The History of Alfred of Beverley

And then, once the news of Gratian’s murder, following Maximus’s death, had become known in the neighbouring kingdoms,3 Britain was soon reduced to a state of terror and misery, which was to last for many years, by two extremely fierce peoples from over the waters. These were the Irish from the west and the Picts from the north. Bringing with them Norwegians and Danes, they laid waste the kingdom from sea to sea with sword and fire.4 We call these two peoples from over the waters, not because they dwelt outside Britain, but because they were separated from the Britons by two wide and long arms of the sea, one of which enters the land from the east, the other from the west, although they do not meet. Half-way along the eastern branch is the city of Giudi,5 while above the western branch, that is, on the right bank, is the town of Dumbarton, a name which in the native language means ‘Clyde Rock’, because it stands near the river of that name. As a result of these invasions, the Britons sent messengers to Rome bearing letters with tearful appeals for aid, promising that they would be Roman subjects for ever, if only their threatening foes could be kept far away. An armed legion was quickly despatched to them. Arriving in the island, it attacked the enemy, destroying a great number and driving the rest from the territories of Rome’s allies. The Romans urged the Britons, whom they had for the moment freed from dire distress, to build a wall across the island from sea to sea, as a protection to keep their foes at bay. Then the legion returned home in great triumph. The islanders built the wall, as they had been bidden to do, but they made it not of stone, since they had no skill in work of this kind, but of turves and so it was useless. They built many miles of it between the two channels, or arms of the sea, already mentioned. Their intention was that, where there was no water to shield them, the protecting wall would defend their borders from enemy incursions. Very clear traces of the work constructed there can be seen to this day, in the form of an extremely wide and high wall. It starts almost two miles east of the monastery at Abercorn, in the place which the Picts call Phenuael, while in English it is called Peneltun [Kinneil]. It stretches westward as far as the town of Dumbarton.6 However, as soon as their former foes saw the Roman soldiers leave, HRB, vi. 3–5. The author selects from both Bede and GM to create his account. This phrase is taken from HRB but the surrounding text is from HE, i. 12. 4  HE, i. 12. Material from HE is again interwoven with borrowings from HRB. Bede makes no mention of Norwegians and Danes, nor that the kingdom was laid to waste and put to sword and flame from sea to sea. 5  Possibly Inveresk, HE, p. 40, note 3. Alternatively, Stirling, see J. M. Wallace-Hadrill, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. A Historical Commentary (Oxford, 1988), p. 17. 6  HE, i. 12. Bede’s account of the Roman walls in Britain is based on readings taken from Orosius, Gildas and his own local knowledge – Jarrow being only a short distance from the ending of Hadrian’s wall at Wallsend on Tyne. From Orosius, Bede attributed the construction of the vallum earthwork from the Solway to the Tyne to the emperor Severus in the third century. And from Gildas’s references to walls built after AD 400 Bede conjectured that, on the Britons’ appeals to Rome, first the turf wall was built 3 

44

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

inimici ut Romanum militem abesse conspexerunt, mox aduecti nauibus irrumpunt terminos caeduntque omnia, et quasi maturam segetem obuia quaeque metunt, calcant, transeunt. Vnde rursum mittuntur Romam legati flebili uoce auxilium implorantes, ne penitus misera patria deleretur, ne nomen Romanae prouincae, quod apud eos tam diu claruerat, exterarum gentium improbitate obrutum uilesceret. Rursum mittitur legio, quae inopinata tempore Autumpni adueniens, magnas hostium strages dedit, eosque quia euadere poterant, omnes transmaria fugauit, qui prius anniuersarias praedas transmaria milite nullo obsistente cogere solebant. Tum Romani denuntiauere Britonibus, non se ultra, ob eorum defensionem, tam laboriosis expeditionibus posse fatigari. Ipsos potius monent arma corripere, et certandi cum hostibus studium subire, qui non aliam ob causam, quam si ipsi inertia soluerentur, eis possent esse fortiores. Quin etiam quod et hoc sociis, quos derelinquere cogebantur, aliquid commodi allaturum putabant, murum a mari ad mare recto tramite inter urbes, quae ibidem ob metum hostium factae fuerant, ubi et Seuerus quondam uallum fecerat, firmo de lapide locarunt.7 Quem uidelicet murum, hactenus famosum atque conspicuum, sumptu publico priuatoque adiuncta secum Britannorum manu construebant, octo pedes in latum et .xii. in altum, recta ab oriente in occasum linea, ut usque hodie intuentibus clarum est.8 Post haec Romani muro condito, dant fortia regni populo monita, praebent instruendorum exemplaria armorum. Sed et in littore occeani ad meridiem quo naues eorum habebantur, quod et inde barbarorum irruptio timebatur, turres per interualla ad prospectum maris collocant, et ualedicunt sociis tamquam ultra non reuersuri. Quibus ad sua remeantibus, cognita Scotti Pictique reditus denegatione, redeunt confestim ipsi, et solito confidentiores facti, omnem aquilonalem

  R, P, omit qui.

a

45

The History of Alfred of Beverley

they took ship and broke across the Britons’ borders, cutting down all before them. And everything they came across they cut down and trampled on as they passed through, as if it were a harvest of ripe corn. So, once more envoys were sent to Rome, begging in pitiful tones for help, so that their wretched country might not be utterly destroyed and the name of a Roman province, which had so long been renowned among Romans, be obliterated and disgraced by the barbarity of foreigners. Once again, a legion was sent and, arriving unexpectedly in the autumn, it inflicted major defeats on the enemy. It put to flight over the sea all those capable of escaping – the very men who had previously been accustomed to carry off their booty across these same waters each year, without any military resistance. Then the Romans informed the Britons that they could no longer be burdened with such troublesome expeditions for their defence. They advised them instead to take up arms for themselves and make an effort to oppose their foes, who would prove too powerful for them only if they themselves were weakened by idleness. Furthermore, thinking that it would be of some help to the allies whom they were compelled to abandon, they built a strong wall of stone from sea to sea in a straight line, between the fortresses which had been built there for fear of the enemy and on the site where Severus had once made his rampart.7 Thus, they constructed this wall, which is still famous and remarkable, at both public and private expense and with the help of a British workforce. It is eight feet wide and twelve feet high, running in a straight line from east to west, as is plain for all to see even to this day.8 After the wall was built, the Romans gave some forceful advice to the inhabitants of the kingdom and showed them by example how to make themselves weapons. In addition, they built look-out towers facing out to sea at intervals along the shores of the ocean to the south, where their ships were moored, and where there was fear of barbarian attack. And then the Romans took leave of their allies, as though they were never going to return. Once they were on their way home, the Irish and the Picts, who knew they did not intend to return, immediately came back themselves and, becoming bolder than ever, captured the whole of the northern on the Forth–Clyde line, whose remains were still to be seen, and then, when that proved insufficient, the Romans moved their defence line south and built a fortified stone wall on the Solway–Tyne, just north of Severus’s vallum. Modern archaeology has proved Bede’s explanation wrong. Construction of the emperor Hadrian’s stone wall was begun after c. AD 122 and continued for several years. The emperor Severus made extensive repairs to Hadrian’s wall from AD 205–08. Antonius Pius’s turf wall on the Clyde–Forth line, described in this passage borrowed from Bede, was constructed c. AD 138–42. 7  HE, i. 12. 8  HE, i. 12. Bede’s description of the Roman walls shows his historical understanding. He distinguishes clearly between the period under discussion here – the time of Severus – and the appeals to Rome in the late fourth to mid-fifth centuries. The detail given of the height and width of the second wall appears to be Bede’s own observation.

45

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

extremamque insulae partem pro indigenis ad murum usque capessunt. Statuitur ad haec in edito arcis acies segnis, ubi trementi corde stupida, diea noctuque marcebat. At contra non cessant uncinata hostium tela, ignaui propugnatores miserime de muris tracti solo allidebantur. Quid plura? Relictis ciuitatibus ac muro fugiunt ac disperguntur. Insequitur hostis, accelerantur strages, cunctis prioribus crudeliores. Sicut enim agni a feris, ita miseri ciues discerpuntur ab hostibus. Vnde a mansionibus ac possessiunculis suis eiecti, imminens sibi famis periculum latrocinio ac rapacitate mutua temperabant, augentes externas domesticis motibusb clades, donec omnis regio totius cibi sustentaculo excepto uenandi solacio uacuaretur.9 Tertio igitur pauperculae Britonum reliquiae mittunt epistolam ad Aetium uirum illustrem, qui et patricius fuit, quique tertium cum Symmaco consulatum gessit, cuius epistolae hoc principium est;10 ‘Aetio ter consuli gemitus Britannorum’.11 Et in processu epistolae ita calamitates suas ingeminant; ‘Repellunt barbari ad mare, repellit mare ad barbaros. Sic inter haec oriuntur duo genera funerum, aut iugulamur aut mergimur.’ Neque tamen haec agentes, quicquam ab illo auxilii impetrare quiuerunt, utpote qui grauissimis eo tempore bellis cum regibus Hunorum erat occupatus.12 Tristes itaque redeunt, et conciuibus repulsam denuntiant.13 Interea Britones fames praefata magis magisque afficiens, ac famam suae malitiae posteris diuturnam relinquens, multos eorum coegit uictos infestis praedonibus dare manus. Alios uero numquam, quin potius confidentes in diuinum ubi humanum cessabat auxilium, de ipsis montibus, speluncis, ac saltibus continue rebellabant, et tunc primum inimicis, qui per multos annos praedas in terra agebant, strages dare coeperunt. Reuertuntur ergo impudentes grassatores Hiberni domus, post non longum tempus reuersuri. Picti in extrema parte insulae tunc primum et deinceps quieuerunt, praedas tamen non numquam et contritiones de Britonum gente agere non cessarunt.14

  R, P, diu.   R, mortibus. P, moutibus.

a

b

46

The History of Alfred of Beverley

and furthest part of the island, right up to the wall, supplanting the natives. In response, the Britons deployed their dispirited ranks along the top of the defence, where, with fearful hearts they languished, stupefied, day and night. The enemy, on the other hand, never ceased to attack with their barbed weapons. The cowardly defenders were wretchedly dragged from the walls and dashed to the ground. What more is there to say? They deserted their cities, fled from the wall, and were scattered. The enemy pursued, and massacres, bloodier than any before, followed fast. The miserable Britons were torn in pieces by their enemies, like lambs by wild beasts. Driven out of their dwellings and their poor estates, they were staving off the danger of starvation which threatened them by robbing and plundering each other. Thus they added to their external calamities by internecine slaughter, until the whole land was left without any food, except for such relief as hunting brought.9 So the wretched remnant of the Britons sent off a letter for a third time – to Aetius, a man of high rank and a patrician, who held his third consulship with Symmachus. The letter began: ‘Aetius,10 thrice consul, hear the groans of the Britons.’11 In the course of the letter they unfolded their sorrows, as follows: ‘The barbarians drive us to the sea, the sea drives us back on the barbarians. Thus, between them, two kinds of death face us. We are either slaughtered or drowned.’ Despite all this, they were unable to obtain any help from him, because at that time he was engaged in grievous wars with the kings of the Huns.12 The messengers returned sadly to announce this rejection to their fellow citizens.13 Meanwhile, the famine mentioned above afflicted the Britons more and more, leaving to posterity a lasting memory of its horrors. It compelled many of them, defeated, to surrender to the plundering foe. Others, trusting in divine aid when human help failed them, would never give in but continued their resistance, hiding in mountains, caves and forests. Eventually, they began to inflict severe losses on the enemy who had been plundering their land for so many years. So the shameless Irish robbers returned home, intending to come back before long, while the Picts, from that time on, stayed quietly in the furthest part of the island, though they did not cease to plunder and harass the Britons occasionally.14

HE, i. 12. Bede’s account is largely based on Gildas, DEB, 14–19. Aetius’s third consulship ran from c. AD 446 to his assassination in AD 454. Solway, Roman Britain, p. 479. Aetius was mainly responsible for ending the Hunnish threat in the west (HE, p. 47, note 2). Bede’s source for knowledge of this letter is Gildas, DEB, 20. 11  HE, i. 13. Bede in turn borrowed from Gildas, DEB, 20. 12  HE, i. 12, 13. 13  HRB, vi. 85. For this concluding sentence the author returns to HRB. 14  HE, i. 14. 9 

10 

46

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Meminit huius calamitatis et oppressionis Britonum etiam Romana Historia his uerbis: ‘Hac tempestate Britanni,a Scottorum, Pictorumque infestationemb non ferentes, Romam mittunt, ac sui subiectione promissa, contra hostes auxilia flagitant. Quibus statim ab Honorio missa militum legio magnam barbarorum multitudinem strauit, ceterosque Britanniae finibus expulit. Sed mox ut discessere Romani, aduecti iterum nauibus hostes, obuia quaeque sibi conculcant ac deuorant. Rursusque Romani aduolant, caesumque hostem transmaria fugant.’15 Et alibi; ‘Britanni itaque de quibus praemissum est, cum rursus Scottorum Pictorumque incursionibus premerentur, mittunt Aetio epistolam, lacrimis aerumpnisque refertam, eiusque quam totius auxilium flagitant. Quibus dum Aetius minime annuisset, eo quod contra uiciniores hostes occupatus existeret, quidam Britannorum strenue resistentes hostes abigunt, quidam uero coacti hostibus subiciuntur. Denique subactam Picti extremam eiusdam insulae partem sibi habitabilem fecere, nec ultra exinde hactenus ualuere expelli.’16 Talis extitit Britannici regni quartus status, absque rege uel principe, sine defensore uel duce, miseriis plenus, aerumpnis refectus, calamitatibus oppressus, irruptionibus laceratus, sicut quarta praesentis opusculi particula ex Britonum, Anglorum, et Romanorum superius comprehendit historia.

Explicit quarta particula incipit prologus in quinta particula.c Descripto uel potius deplorato Britanniae statu quarto, ueniendum est ad quintum, in quo Britones resumpta audacia uiriliter hostibus resistere, et contra multas insidias, proditiones debellationes tam fortiter quam potenter pristinam dignitatem et libertatem recuperare, et cum gloria regnare coeperunt. Aliquanto etiam tempore insulae monarchiam optinuere, donec iterum suorum enormitate scelerum ad iracundiam prouocantes Deum, et potestatem regiam et regni diadema irrecuperabiliter amisere, sicut in consequentibus ex quintae lectionae particulae manifestum fiet legentibus.

  C, omits Britanni.   R, P, impetum. c   R, omits rubric. a

b

47

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Even the Roman History records how the Britons were subjected to such calamities and oppression, in the following words: ‘At that time the Britons, unable to withstand the attacks of the Irish and the Picts, sent to Rome and asked for help against the enemy, promising their subjection to the Romans. Honorius immediately sent a great legion of soldiers, which scattered many of the barbarians and drove the others from the country. But, as soon as the Romans had left, the enemies returned in their ships and trampled down and devoured everything in their path. The Romans hurried back again, cut down the enemy, and put them to flight across the seas.’15 And elsewhere we read: ‘Thus when the Britons who have already been mentioned, were overwhelmed once again by the attacks of the Irish and the Picts, they sent Aetius a letter full of lamentations and calamities, begging him to help them as soon as possible. But Aetius refused this request, because he was busy fighting against enemies closer to home. So, some of the Britons vigorously resisted their enemies and drove them away, while others were overcome by these enemies and made subject to them. Finally, the Picts conquered the furthest point of the island and made their home there and ever since then it has been impossible to drive them out.’16 Such was the fourth era of the British kingdom. Without the presence of a king or prince or any defender or champion, the era was one full of miseries, constrained by tribulations, crushed by calamities, and torn apart by invasions. This is described above in the fourth chapter of the present short work, drawing on the Histories of the British, the English, and the Romans.

The fourth chapter concludes and the introduction to the fifth chapter begins. Having recounted, or rather lamented, Britain’s fourth era, now we must turn to its fifth. In this, the Britons recovered their courage and began to resist their enemies vigorously, to regain their former dignity and freedom bravely and effectively, despite many traps, betrayals, and defeats, and to rule in glory. For a time they even gained the throne of the island until, once again, they provoked God’s anger by the enormity of their evil deeds and lost, irrevocably, their royal power and the crown of the kingdom. This will be made clear to our readers below, in the fifth chapter of the book.

15  16 

PHR, xiii. 5. PHR, xiii. 17.

47

[Particula V]a

Euacuata, ut praemissum est, superba temeritate tirannorum, omnium forte bellatore Britannia, ideoque Scottorum Pictorumque crebris irruptionibus a mari usque ad mare ferro et flamma uastata, cum Romanorum destitutam auxilio nullus esset qui contra hostes eam defensaret, inito et deliberato inter Britones consilio, transfretauit Guethelinus Lundoniensis archiepiscopus in Minorem Britanniam, desiderans regem Aldroenum, qui cuartus a Conano ibi regnabat, ad auxilium patriae Britanniam secum adducere. Expositaque coram rege calamitate Britonum, tradidit ei rex fratrem suum Constantinum, et cum eo duob milia militum, qui patriam a barbarica irruptione liberaret, et se regni diademate insigniret. Veniens itaque cum archiepiscopo Constantinus Britanniamc collecta iuuentute insulae cum hostibus congressus, uictoriam per beati uiri meritum adeptus est. Vnde Britones prius dispersi confluxerunt, et facta infra Cirecestriam contione,1 erexerunt Constantinum in regem, dederuntque ei coniugem ex nobili Romanorum genere, ex qua genuit tres filios, Constantem, Aurelium Ambrosium, et Vther Pendragon. Constantem uero primogenitum tradidit in ecclesia Amphibalid infra Wintoniam ut monachilem ordinem susciperet. Aurelium et Vther Guethelino nutriendos commisit. Post decem annos, proditione cuiusdam Picti, qui in obsequio suo fuerat, interfectus est Constantinus, et Britonum mox studia de regno in diuersa scindebantur.2 Consul autem Gewissorum Wortigernus omni nisu anelabat in regnum, et quod non debebatur ei per generis successionem, aspirabat ad illud per proditionem.3 Sciens itaque Constantem, filium Constantini, pigri et inertis esse ingenii, tulit eum de Wintonia, ubi monachus fuerat, duxitque secum Lundonias. Et quoniam tunc archiepiscopus Lundoniarum defunctus fuerat, nec erat alius qui eum inungere praesumeret, quod de monacho in regem transferebatur, ipse

  C, P supply rubric Incipit quinta particula.   R, P, milia militum. c   R, P, omits Britanniam. d   R, P, Amphibabili. a

b

48

Chapter V

Chapter five begins As was described in the previous chapter, tyrants had, in their pride and rashness, stripped Britain of every able-bodied warrior. And so, deprived of Roman help, and with no-one to defend her from her enemies, the country was ravaged from coast to coast, under the constant attacks of the Irish and the Picts. The Britons discussed and devised a plan. Guithelinus, archbishop of London, sailed over to Little Britain and asked if he might take King Aldroenus, who was the fourth to reign there after Conanus, back to Britain with him to bring help to that country. When Britain’s disastrous plight had been described to the king, he sent his brother Constantine, with two thousand soldiers, to free the country from barbarian attack, and to assume the crown. So Constantine came over to Britain, with the archbishop, rallied the young men of the island, engaged the enemy, and was victorious, thanks to that holy man Guithelinus. The Britons, who had been scattered far and wide, now flocked together. A meeting was held at Cirencester,1 and there they made Constantine king. They gave him a wife of noble Roman descent who bore him three sons: Constans, Aurelius Ambrosius, and Uther Pendragon. The king handed over his first-born son Constans to be received into the monastic order, in the church of Amphibalus in Winchester. Aurelius and Uther he entrusted to Guithelinus to bring up. Ten years later, Constantine was killed through the treachery of a Pict in his retinue and the Britons’ loyalties to their rulers were soon being split apart into factions.2 Vortigern, earl of the Gewissei, was striving with all his might to win the crown and sought to gain through treachery what was not his by right of birth.3 Knowing that Constans, the son of Constantine, was of a slothful and dull-witted disposition, he took him from Winchester, where he had been a monk, and brought him to London. And, because the archbishop of London had died and no-one else was willing to anoint Constans, on the grounds that he was being transformed 1  2  3 

HRB, vi. 137. Silchester. HRB, vi. 147. Hegesippian antithetical phrasing. See above, p. 4, note 9, and below, p. 58, note 42, p. 121, note 23.

48

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Wortigernus uice episcopi manu sua diadema capiti Constantis imponens, in regem eum eleuauit. Sublimatus itaque Constans, totam iustitiam regni et semetipsum in consilium Wortigerni commisit. Nullius enim asperitatis, nullius erat iustitiae, et ideo nec a populo suo, nec a uicinis gentibus timebatur. Quod callens Wortigernus, nactus tempus intentioni suae opportunum, directis in Scotiam nuntiis, inuitauit centum Pictos milites quasi ad tutamen regni, ipsosque infra regis familiam recepit. Cibis etiam et potibus eos saciabat, et diuersis donariis ditabat, itaa tantumb ut ipsum Constantem non pro rege haberent. Ad ultimum cum intellexissent consilium et uoluntatem Wortigerni, irrumpentes in thalamum regis occiderunt eum, et caput eius coram Wortigerno attulerunt. Quod cum ille aspexisset, quasi contristatus in fletum erupit, cum tamen numquam antea maius gaudium habuerit.4 Vocatis ergo ciuibus Londoniae, nam hoc ibi contigerat, quasi in testimonium iustitiae, omnes illos, qui tantum scelus facere praesumpserant, decollari fecit. Nutritores uero Aurelii Ambrosii et Vther Pendragon diffugerunt cum eis in Minorem Britanniam, excepitque eos rex Budicius, et honore quo decuit eos educauit. Et Wortigernus diadema capiti suo imposuit, in regem sese eleuans. Cruciabatur tamen consciencia sceleris perpetrati. Cruciabatur timore Pictorum, ne uindictam peremptorum expeterent. Anxi[a]baturc etiam pro irruptione Scottorum ceterarumque gentium exterarum.5 Maxime autem formidabat aduentum Aurelii Ambrosii et Vther Pendragon, quos cotidianus rumor maximum nauigium parasse, et in debitum sibi regnum moliri reditum diuulgauerat. Iniit itaque consilium quid ei agendum, ubi quaerendum ei esset auxilium; placuitque sibi et omnibusque suis, ut Saxonicam gentem paganam in auxilium uocarent. Quod Domini nutu constat esse dispositum, ut ueniret contra inprobosd malum, sicut euidentius rerum exitus approbauit.6 Haec enim inuitatio causa extitit, ut pro societate et affinitate

  R, P, interim.   R, P, omit tantum. c   MS, anxiebatur. d   R, P, reprobos. a

b

49

The History of Alfred of Beverley

from a monk into a king, Vortigern himself took on the role of bishop and placed the crown on Constans’s head with his own hands, making him king. Constans, having thus been elevated to kingship, entrusted all the governance of the kingdom, along with his own person, to Vortigern’s judgement. For he lacked both sternness and a sense of justice and so did not inspire fear, either among his own people, or his neighbours. Realizing this, Vortigern seized an opportune moment to put his plan into action. He sent messengers to Scotland to extend an invitation to one hundred Pictish soldiers, supposedly to provide protection for the kingdom, and he made them part of the royal household. He plied them with food and drink and enriched them with various gifts, so that it was only he and not Constans whom they looked on as their king. When they eventually understood Vortigern’s intention and desire, they burst into the king’s bedroom, killed him, and brought his head to Vortigern. On seeing this, Vortigern broke down in tears as if in sorrow, but in fact never before had he been so happy.4 Summoning the citizens of London – for it was there that this had happened – he commanded that all those who had dared commit so dastardly a crime should be beheaded, as if in the name of justice. The guardians of Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon fled with them to Little Britain, where they were received by King Budicius and brought up with due honour. So Vortigern placed the crown on his own head and made himself king, but his conscience was tormented by the crime that he had committed. He was tortured by fear of the Picts, in case they demanded vengeance for those who had been slain. He was also troubled about invasion by the Irish and other foreign peoples.5 But most of all he feared the arrival of Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon, as day by day the rumour had spread that they had made ready a great fleet and were planning to return to their rightful kingdom. Vortigern began to consider what he might do and where he might seek help and he and all his men agreed that they should call the pagan Saxon people to their aid. As events plainly showed, this was ordained by the will of God, so that evil might befall those wicked men.6 For this invitation was clearly the reason why, as a result of its inhabitants allying

4  HRB, vi. 226–28. While the author’s abbreviation of material from HRB remains close to the original there are regular changes of vocabulary and sentence structure which appear to be stylistic modifications by the author. Compare here the author’s ‘Quod cum ille aspexisset, quasi contristatus in fletum erupit, cum tamen numquam antea maius gaudere habuerit’ with HRB, ‘Quod, cum inspexisset Vortigernus, quasi contristatus in fletum erupit, nec unquam prius maiori gaudio fluctuauerat’. Abbreviation and paraphrasing as important elements of rhetorical practice and instruction at the time are discussed in Diana Greenway, ‘Authority, Convention and Observation in Henry of Huntingdon’s Historia Anglorum’, ANS, xviii (1995), pp. 105–21, at p. 107 ff. 5  HRB, vi. 242. 6  HE, i. 14.

49

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

paganorum Christianitas in Britannia deficeret, et paganismus iterato insulam fere totam occuparet.7 Igitur gens Anglorum inuitata a rege praefato Britaniam aduehitur, quasi pro patria pugnatura, re autem uera hanc expugnatura.8 Inito itaque certamine cum praefatis hostibus, uictoriam adepti sunt Saxones. Quod ubi domi nuntiatum est, simul et insulae fertilitas ac segnitia Britonum, mittitur confestim illo classis prolixior armatorum ferens manum fortiorem, quae praemissae adiuncta cohorti, inuincibilem fecit exercitum. Susceperunt ergo qui aduenerant donantibus Britonibus locum habitationis inter eos, ea tamen condicione, ut hii pro patriae pace et salute contra aduersarios militarent, illi militantibus debita stipendia conferrent. Non mora ergo confluentibus certatim in insulam gentium memoratarum cateruis, grandescere coepit populus aduenarum, ita ut ipsis quoque qui eos aduocauerant, id est, indigenis, essent terrori.9 Wortigernus ergo per illos uictoria potitus, dedit duci eorum Hengisto terram in Lindeseia, ubi ipse castellum aedificauit, quod Tuhangrastruma nominauit, id est, Castrum Corrigiae, eo quod redacto in corrigiam corrio tauri, quantum spatii extenta corrigia circuire poterat, tantum ad aedificandum castrum a rege licentiam acceperat.10 Deinde Wortigernus abiecta uxore legitima, ex quab filios genuerat, id est Wortimerum, Kantigernum,c et Pascentium, filiam Hengisti paganam duxit uxorem,11 inuitauitque hortatu Hengisti filium eius Octam aliosque fortissimos uiros, tantaque fuit paganorum multitudo, quod nesciebatur quis paganus esset, quis Christianus. Tum subito ad tempus inito foedere cum Pictis, quos longius iam bellando reppulerant, in socios arma uertere incipiunt.12 Et primo quidem annonas sibi eos affluentius ministrare cogunt, quaerentesque occasionem diuortii, protestantur nisi profusior sibi alimentorum copia daretur, se cuncta insulae loca rupto foedere uastaturos. Neque aliquanto segnius minas effectibusd prosecuntur.13 Sed haec postmodum. De huius gentis in Britanniam inuitatione et aduentu in Historia Romana sic legimus;e ‘Residui Britannorum dum continue Scottorum impetus formidarent,

  R, Thuangrastrum. P, Thuangrastam.   R, P, iii filios. c   C, Kentigernum. d   R, P, omit effectibus. e   P, C, marginal notes in later hands Eutropius. a

b

50

The History of Alfred of Beverley

themselves to and mixing with heathens, Christianity died out in Britain, and paganism took root once more in nearly all the island.7 So, at the invitation of the aforementioned King Vortigern, the race of the Angles came to Britain, ostensibly to fight on behalf of the country but, in reality, to conquer it.8 The Saxons engaged in battle with the enemies of Britain mentioned above and were victorious. When news of this event, and of the fertility of Britain and the slackness of its inhabitants, reached the Saxons’ homeland, a much larger fleet, carrying a mightier band of warriors, was speedily despatched. This, added to the contingent already there, created an invincible army. The newcomers received a grant of land from the Britons, on the condition that, if they fought against the Britons’ foes and for the country’s peace and safety, the Britons would ensure their soldiers received the pay due to them. Without delay, hordes of these people eagerly crowded into the island and the number of foreigners began to increase to such an extent that they became a source of terror, even to those who had called them in, namely the natives.9 Vortigern, victorious thanks to the efforts of the Saxons, gave their leader Hengest lands in Lindsey where he built a castle which was called Thancaster, that is, the Shoe-Lace Castle, because Hengest had cut a shoe-lace from a bull’s hide and received permission from the king to build a castle over an area of land as large as he was able to enclose within the lace.10 Then Vortigern cast out his lawful wife by whom he had the sons Vortimer, Katigern, and Paschent, and married the pagan daughter of Hengest.11 At Hengest’s urging, Vortigern also invited over Hengest’s son, Octa, and other very powerful men, and so great was the multitude of pagans that you could not tell who was pagan and who was Christian. Then suddenly, after making a temporary treaty with the Picts, whom they had by now driven far away by force, the Saxons began to turn their weapons against their allies.12 First, they forced them to provide a bigger supply of corn. Then, seeking an occasion to break with them, they insisted that, unless they received still greater quantities of food, they would annul the treaty and lay waste every part of the island. Nor were they at all slow in carrying out their threats.13 But more of this later. In the Roman History we read the following about how this race was invited to Britain and arrived there: ‘Since the surviving Britons were in constant dread of This observation appears to have been added by the author. HE, i. 15. 9  Ibid. The date and circumstances of the arrival of the Angles, Saxons and Jutes in AD 449 and other important details of their continental origin, reported by Bede, are omitted. 10  HRB, vi. 299–337. 11  That Vortigern ‘cast out his lawful wife’ is not found in HRB (in printed edition). 12  HE, i. 15. 13  Ibid. 7  8 

50

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

ultra iam de Romanorum praesidio diffidentes, Anglorum gentem cum suo rege Wortigerno ad defensionem suae patriae incitauere.14 Quos amicali societate exceptos, uersa in contrarium uice, hostes pro adiutoribus impugnatoresque sensere. Sequenti deinceps tempore gens Anglorum siue Saxonum Britanniam tribus longis nauibus aduehitur, quorum dum iter prosperatum domi fama retulisset, mittitur nichilominus exercitus multiplex, qui sociatus prioribus, primum hostes, propter quos petebatur, abigit. Deinde in Britones arma conuertens, conficta occasione quasi pro se eis militantibus minus stipendia praeparassent, totam prope insulam ab orientali eius plaga usque ad occidentalem incendioa sibi seu gladio subegit.’15 Hiis de aduentu praefatae gentis in Britanniam, et de exitu rei, quasi per anticipationen ante oculos lectoris secundum historiam Britonum, Anglorum, et Romanorum collectis, nunc ad seriatim narrandi ordinem aggrediamurb redeamus. Confluentibus in Britanniam cateruatim memoratis gentibus, Britones timentes per eas exterminari diffuaserunt regi Wortigerno ne eos retineret. Nolentem eis adquiescere deseruerunt, et filium suum Wortimerum in regem erexerunt.16 Qui per omnia adquiescens eis, barbaros oppugnare expellere, et diris irruptionibus coepit afficere. Quatuor cum eis bella gessit, et in omnibus superauit. Primum super flumen Derewent, secundum super uadumc Epiford, ubi conuenerunt Horsus, frater Hengisti, et Kantigernus, filius Wortigerni, et congressu facto ceciderunt ambo. Tertium bellum super ripam maris. Inde quoque saxones fugientes, insulam Taneth adierunt, ubi eos rex Wortimerus insecutus, coegit eos Germanium redire.17 In diebus illis fides Britonum corrupta est, tum propter paganos, quorum societatem inierant tum propter haeresim Pelagianam, cuius uenenum ipsos multis diebus affecerat. Vnde Britones consilium et auxilium a Gallicanis antistibus flagitantes, optimum meruerunt accipere solacium. Habito enim super hoc inter episcopos consilio, missi sunt ad eos in fide corroborandos, primo sanctus Germanus Autisiodorensis episcopus, et cum eo, sanctus Lupus Trecacensis

  R, P, incidendo.   C, omits aggrediamur. c   R, P, flumen. a

b

51

The History of Alfred of Beverley

attacks by the Irish and now despaired of any further help from the Romans, they and their king, Vortigern, urged the race of the Angles to protect their country.14 The Britons welcomed the Angles in a spirit of friendly fellowship, but this was completely reversed as they realized that, rather than being their helpers, the Angles were their enemies and assailants. In the period which followed, the race of the Angles, or Saxons, came to Britain in three long ships. When news of how their journey had prospered reached home, an equally large army was despatched, which joined forces with the earlier arrivals and, at first, drove out those enemies of the Britons against whom their help had been sought. Then they turned their arms against the Britons and, on the contrived pretext that they [the Britons] had not had enough pay ready for the soldiers fighting on their behalf, conquered almost all the island, from its eastern regions to the west, by fire or sword.’15 Now, having drawn together for the reader an advance view, as it were, of what the histories of the Britons, the English, and the Romans have to say about the arrival of the aforementioned race in Britain and the events which followed, let us return to telling our story in due order. The Angles and Saxons had gathered together in Britain in large bands and the Britons, fearful that they would drive them out, urged King Vortigern not to retain their services any longer. He refused to give in to their request, so they abandoned him and made his son Vortimer their king.16 Vortimer fully agreed with his people and began to make war on the barbarians and to drive them out, inflicting fierce attacks on them. He waged war on them four times and each time he was victorious. The first battle was by the River Derwent, the second by the ford at Epiford where Horsus, the brother of Hengest, and Kantigern, the son of Vortigern, joined forces and, when fighting broke out, both fell. The third battle was by the seashore. From there, the Saxons fled to the island of Thanet, where King Vortimer, who had pursued them, forced them to return to Germany.17 At this time, the faith of the Britons suffered corruption, as a result both of the association they had entered into with the pagans, and of the Pelagian heresy, whose poison had infected them for many a long day. The Britons therefore implored the Gaulish bishops to give them advice and help and succeeded in obtaining the best possible solace. For the bishops, having held counsel among themselves to discuss the situation, sent the Britons to strengthen their faith, first, St Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, together with St Lupus of Troyes and then PHR, xiii. 17, where it is inuitauere not incitauere, thus invited not urged. Ibid. 16  HRB, vi. 395–400. The reasons for Vortigern’s British subjects deserting him is omitted. 17  HRB, vi. 408–10. The account of Vortigern fighting alongside the Saxons in the four battles against the Britons is omitted, as also is the report of the Saxons sending Vortigern to mediate with his son Vortimer to obtain permission to return in safety to Germany. 14  15 

51

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

episcopus, et item secundo sanctus Germanus et cum eo sanctus Seuerus Treuerisa episcopus, quorum doctrina et praedicatione restituta est inter Britones rectae fidei religio.18 Multa enim per eos miracula ostendebat Deus quae Gildas historicus luculento dictamine perorauit.b 19 Sed et ipse rex Wortimerus docente sancto Germano eraptas ciuibus possessionem reddebat, et ecclesias destructas renouabat.20 Compositaque in fidei religione insula, antistites redierunt ad sua. c Huic relationi de sancto Germano astipulatur illustris uir Constantius, qui uitam eiusdem sancti uiri mirabilem et uirtutibus plenam luculentissime describitc. Quem secutus et Beda, haec et plura alia quae beatus pontifex in Britannia gloriose gessit, eisdem uerbis in Historia Anglorum apposuit.21 dSimiliter et Romana Historia narrationi praefatae pari modo consentit. Quae quoniam longum est hic insere, et ex propriis locis facile est colligere. Haec de concordia historiarum super his breuiter dixisse sufficiat. Nunc ad Britannicum reuertamurd. Non multo post insidiis nouercae suae Rex Wortimerus, filius Wortigerni, ueneno potatus interiit, et Wortigernus pater suis iterum in regnum restitutus est. Statutoque inter Britones et Hengistum colloquii die, quo ipse eos pacificaret, Hengistus noua proditione usus, praecepit commilitonibus suis ut unusquisque longum cultrum infra caligas suas absconditum haberet, ut cum ipse proclamaret hoc signum ‘nimet eure sexes’, id est, accipite uestros cultellos, unusquisque astantem Britonem iugularet. Nec mora conuenientes ad diem statutum, colloquium inierunt, et cum de pace aliquamdiu tractassent, uociferatus est Hengistus ‘nimet eure sexes’, et ipse illico Wortigernum accepit, et per pallium detinuit. Audito Saxones signo, astantes principes, qui inermes conuenerant, subito apprehenderunt, et ex eis inter consules et proceres circiter trescentos sexaginta iugulauerunt.22 Ceteri fugerunt. At Eldol, consul Claudiocestriae, inuento forte palo uiriliter se defendit, et septuaginta uiris palo consumpto interfectis euasit,

  R, P, omit Treueris.   C, interp. after perorauit. c–c   C, omitted. d–d   C, omitted. a

b

52

The History of Alfred of Beverley

St Germanus again, with the bishop St Severus of Trier. By their teaching and preaching, practice of the true religion was restored among the Britons.18 For God revealed many miraculous things through these men, as the historian Gildas has described in his excellent account.19 And, with St Germanus’s guidance, King Vortimer himself restored to his citizens ownership of the churches which had been snatched away from them and repaired churches which had been destroyed.20 Then, when the whole island had been brought back to the true faith, the bishops returned to their own sees. This account of St Germanus is supported by that celebrated man Constantius, who most eloquently describes the life of the saint, full of marvel and virtues. Constantius is followed by Bede, who included in the History of the English these and many other glorious deeds which the blessed bishop performed in Britain.21 Similarly, the Roman History agrees in equal measure with the account above. Because it would take up too much space to include all these deeds here, and it is easy to find them in the sources cited, let it suffice to briefly mention that historians are in agreement about these events. Now let us return to Britannicus. Not long afterwards, King Vortimer, the son of Vortigern, perished, having drunk poison through the wiles of his stepmother, and his father, Vortigern, was made king again. The Britons and Hengest decided on a day to hold talks, so that he could make his peace with them, but Hengest resorted to a new means of treachery. He ordered all his companions to hide a long knife in their boots, so that, when he shouted out the signal ‘grasp your daggers’, each of them could slit the throat of a nearby Briton. The appointed day soon came and they assembled and began talks. Then, when they had discussed peace for a long while, Hengest shouted ‘grasp your daggers’ and at once he seized Vortigern and held him by his robe. On hearing the signal, the Saxons immediately grabbed the chiefs next to them, who had gathered there unarmed, and slit the throats of about three hundred and sixty of them, including earls and nobles.22 The others fled. But Eldol, earl of Gloucester, chanced to find a strong staff with which he defended himself energetically until, after seventy had been killed and the staff had been worn HE, i. 17, 21. HRB, vi. 375. The words in tractatu suo (‘in his book’) omitted, otherwise, the spurious claim for Gildas is retained. 20  HRB, vi. 414. The word docente replaces the HRB’s iubente. 21  Naming and attributing the Life of St Germanus to Constantius may derive from the author’s familiarity with the HB. HB, ch. 47, refers to the ‘book of the blessed Germanus’ as the source for its information on St Germanus, and this information is not found in the author’s other main sources. Bede, for example, had based much of his account of St Germanus and the Pelagian heresy in Britain (HE, i. chps 17–21) on Constantius’s Life (c.475) without naming it as his source (see Colgrave & Mynors, HE, p. 54, note 2). 22  HRB, vi. 435–98. 460 British nobles killed. The origin of the story of the massacre of the British nobles is HB, ch. 46. 18  19 

52

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

et ciuitatem suam petiit. Noluerunt autem saxones Wortigernum interficere, sed acceptisa pro redemptione uitae suae principalibus regni ciuitatitibus Londoniis et Eboraco, Wintonia et Lindocolino, bcum omnibus prouinciis illis ciuitatibus subiacentibusb ipse in partes Kambriae secessit, nescius quid contra nefandam gentem ageret.c Cum igitur Wortigernus consilio magorum suorum turrim fortissiman aedificaret, quae sibi taliter destituto tutamini foret, quicquid una die operabatur, tellus illud absorbebat in altera. Qua de causa consulti magi causam rei dicere, suaserunt ei iuuenem sine patre quaerere ut ipso interfecto sanguine eius caementum et lapides perfunderentur.23 Quod si fieret, fundamentum operis staret. Cumque iuuenis huiusmodi quaereretur, inuentus est uates Merlinus, qui cum matre sua coram rege adductus, causam rei manifestauit, et multa ei futura de regno Britanniae prophetauit, quae hic inserere longum est.24 Huius uatis generationem percunctanti regi mater eius ita exposuit: ‘Cum essem’, inquit mater eius, ‘inter consocias meas uirgo in thalamis, apparebat michi quidam in specie cuiusdam pulcherimi iuuenis, et saepissime amplectens me deosculatus est, et cum aliquantulum mecum moram fecisset, subito euanescebat, ita ut nichil ex eo uiderem; multociens quoque me alloquebatur dum secreto sederem, nec usquam apparebat. Cumque me diu in hunc modum frenquentasset, coiuit mecum, in specie hominis, atque grauidam in aluo deseruit.’25 Admiranti itaque regi super hiis, et si fieri hoc posset sciscitanti, dixit Maugantius, ‘In libris philosophorum nostrorum et in pluribus historiis repperi, multos homines huiusmodi generationem habuisse. Nam, ut Apuleius de deo Socratis perhibet, inter lunam et terram habitant spiritus, quos incubos daemones appellamus. Hii partim habent naturam hominis, uero angelorum, et cum uolunt assumunt sibi humanas figuras et cum mulieribus coeunt. Forsitan unus ex eis huic mulieri apparuit, et iuuenem istum in ista generauit.’26 Rexd uero Wortigernus uolens exitum uitae suae scire, rogauit iuuenem dicere quod sciebat. Ad haec Merlinus: ‘Ignem filiorum Constantini diffuge, si diffugere ualueris. Iam naues parant, iam Armoricanum litus deserunt, iam uela per aequora

  R, P, receptis.   R, P, omitted. c   C, extended interpolation from HRB. d   C, resumes common reading with R, P. a

b–b

53

The History of Alfred of Beverley

away, he escaped, and sought refuge in his own city. As for Vortigern, the Saxons were reluctant to kill him, but, instead, in exchange for his life, they accepted the principal cities of the kingdom: London and York, Winchester and Lincoln, and all the provinces which were subject to these cities. Vortigern withdrew to parts of Wales, not knowing what to do against this terrible race. Then Vortigern, on the advice of his magicians, constructed a very strong tower to provide a refuge for him, deserted as he was. But the whole of the tower which had been built on one day, the earth would swallow up on the next. Asked to tell the king why this was happening, his magicians urged him to search out a youth without a father, kill him, and pour his blood over the cement and stones.23 If this was done, the foundation of the tower would stand firm. Now, while such a young man was being sought, the soothsayer Merlin was discovered. Brought into the king’s presence, along with his mother, he revealed to Vortigern the reason for what was happening and he prophesied many events in the future of the kingdom of Britain, which are too long to be included here.24 Then, in answer to the king’s questions, Merlin’s mother explained the circumstances of the soothsayer’s birth, as follows: ‘When’, she said, ‘I was a virgin and I was in my bedroom, together with my companions, someone used to appear to me in the form of a most handsome young man and, very often, he embraced and kissed me. After remaining with me for a while, he would suddenly disappear. And many a time he would talk to me while I was sitting alone, but he was completely invisible. After he had visited me in this way for a long while, he made love to me in the form of a man and then he left me, pregnant.’25 The king was amazed at this and questioned if it was possible and Maugantius replied: ‘From the books of our philosophers and in several histories, I have discovered that many men have been born in this way. As Apuleius records in his De deo Socratis, between the earth and the moon there live spirits, which we call ‘incubi demons’. They are part-human, part-angel in nature and take on human form at will and sleep with women. Perhaps one of them appeared to this woman and fathered this youth on her.’26 Then King Vortigern, wishing to know how his life would end, asked the youth to tell him what he knew. Merlin answered: ‘Fly from the fury of Constantine’s sons if you are able. At this very moment they are making ready their ships. Now they are leaving behind the Armorican coast and now their sails spread wide above HRB, vi. 499–511. The prophecies of Merlin are omitted on the grounds of length. An understanding of their political significance is, however, made clear. 25  HRB, vi. 531–40. 26  HRB, vi. 540–50. Merlin’s instruction to drain the foundation of the tower and the pool and the discovery of the two sleeping dragons, omitted. 23  24 

53

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

pandunt. aPetent Britannicam insulam, inuadent gentem Saxonicam, subiugabunt nefandum populum; sed prius te infra turrim conclusum comburenta. Malo tuo patrem eorum prodidisti, et Saxones infra insulam inuitasti. Inuitasti ipsos tibi in praesidium, sed superuenerunt in tuum supplicium. Imminent tibi duo funera, b nec est promptum quod prius uitabisb. Hinc enim regna tua deuastant Saxones et leto tuo incumbunt. Hinc autem applicant duo fratres Aurelius et Vther, qui mortem patris sui in te uindicare nitentur. cQuaere tibi diffugium si poteris, cras Totonensium litus tenebuntc. Rubebunt sanguine Saxonum facies, et interfecto Hengisto Aurelius Ambrosius coronabitur pacificabit nationes, restaurabit ecclesias, sed ueneno deficiet. Succedet ei germanus suus Vther Pendragon, cuius dies anticipabuntur ueneno.d eAdierunt tantae proditioni posteri tui, quos aper Cornubiae deuorabite.’27 Interea illucente crastina die cum magno nauigio applicuit Aurelius Ambrosius,28 et statim eleuatus in regem diuertit cum exercitu suo in Kambriam, ut proditionem patris et fratris in Wortigernum uindicaret, oppidumque in quo morabatur petiuit.29 Nec mora diuersis machinationibus moenia diruere conantur. Postremo cum cetera defecissent, igne adhibito turrim et Wortigerum combusserunt.30 Quod cum Hengisto et Saxonibus relatum esset, territi sese ultra Humbriam receperunt.31 Aurelius autem insecutus est eos, et cum uidisset nationes desolatas dolebat, maxime autem propter ecclesias ad solum usque destructas, promittens earum restaurationem, si cum triumpho reuerteretur. Conuenerunt tandem in campum Aurelius et Hengistus, et facto congressu fugit Hengistus ad oppidum Kair Conan, id est, Cuningesburc.32 Insequitur Aurelius, et pugna commissa captus est Hengistus, et Saxones in fugam conuersi. Captaque urbs Conani, et Octa filius Hengisti Eboracum adiit, Hengistus iudicio condempnatus extra urbem est decollatus. At Aurelius, ut erat in cunctis rebus modestus, iussit eum sepeliri, et cumulum terrae super corpus eius pagano more apponi.f Deinde persecutus Octam obsedit Eboracum. Territus Octa, cum nobilioribus egressus cathenam in manu et sabulonem in capite gestans, sese regi Aurelio in

  C, omitted.   C, omitted. c–c   C, omitted. d   C, Haec secundum Britannicum. Iterum secundum Nennium followed by extended extract from HB. e–e   C, omitted. f   C, Interpolation from WM GRA i.8.4 added before common text with R, P resumes with Deinde. a–a

b–b

54

The History of Alfred of Beverley

the sea. They will make for the island of Britain, attack the Saxon people, and conquer that wicked race. But first they will burn you to ashes, shut up in your tower. You betrayed their father by your evil deed and you summoned the Saxons to this island. You invited them to protect you, but they became your scourge. Two different ways of dying face you and it is not clear which one it will be easier to avoid. On the one hand, the Saxons are ravaging your kingdom, eager to kill you. On the other, the two brothers, Aurelius and Uther, are landing here and striving to take vengeance on you for their father’s death. Look for some refuge if you can, for tomorrow they will come ashore at Totnes. Saxon faces will be reddened with blood, Hengest will be killed, and Aurelius Ambrosius will be crowned. He will bring peace between peoples and restore the churches, but he will die of poison. He will be succeeded by his brother Uther Pendragon, but his days also will be cut short by poison. Your offspring will play a part in this great act of treason and the boar of Cornwall will devour them.’27 Meanwhile, as the next day was dawning, Aurelius Ambrosius landed with a great fleet.28 He was made king immediately and, with his army, headed for Wales, to avenge Vortigern’s betrayal of his father and brother and sought out the town in which he was staying.29 At once Aurelius’s army tried to destroy the walls of his tower with various engines of war. When all else had failed, they set fire to the tower and incinerated it, along with Vortigern.30 When news of this reached Hengest and the Saxons they were terrified and retreated beyond the Humber.31 Aurelius, however, pursued them and, when he saw the communities which had been ravaged and, particularly, that the churches had been razed to the ground, he was distressed and he promised he would restore them, if he were to return victorious. At last Aurelius and Hengest met on the battlefield and after the battle Hengest retreated to the town of Kair Conan, that is, Conisbrough.32 Aurelius gave chase, battle was joined, Hengest was captured and the Saxons were put to flight. The town of Conanus was taken and Octa, Hengest’s son, went to York. Hengest was condemned by law and was beheaded outside the city. But Aurelius, who was moderate in all things, ordered him to be buried and a mound of earth raised over his body, in the pagan manner. Then Aurelius pursued Octa and besieged the town of York. The terrified Octa came out with the noblemen, bearing fetters on his hands and with gravel HRB, viii. 7–21. HRB, Aurelius Ambrosius lands at Totnes with 10,000 knights. 29  HRB, viii. 31–34. The geographic setting of this episode and the name of the castle where Vortigern was located, Genoriu in the region of Hergign, on a hill named Doartius above the river Wye, omitted. 30  Speech of Aurelius Ambrosius to Eldol duke of Gloucester, omitted. 31  HRB, viii. 65–72. Portrayal of the area north of the Humber and south of Scotland as inhospitable; where few Britons and only aliengensis lived – Scots, Picts, Danes, Norsemen and Saxons – omitted. 32  HRB, viii. 80–85. Numbers of soldiers omitted: 200,000 Saxons and Aurelius’s 10,000 Bretons. 27  28 

54

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

haec uerba praesentauit: ‘Victi sunt dii mei, deumque tuum regnare non haesito, qui tot nobiles ad te hoc modo uenire compellit. Accipe ergo hanc cathenam, et nisi misericordiam adhibueris, habe nos ligatos et ad quodlibet supplicium uoluntarie paratos.’33 Motus igitur Aurelius misericordiam eis praestitit, deditque eis nationem iuxta Scotiam, et foedus cum eis firmauit. Triumphatis itaque hostibus conuocauit consules ac principes regni infra Eboracum, praecepitque eis ecclesias restaurare, quas gens Saxonum destruxerat, ipse uero metropolitanam sedem illius urbis ceterosque episcopatus illius prouinciae reaedificare coepit. Inde Londoniam et Wintoniam petens illas restituit. Tota eius intentio erat circa regni restitutionem, ecclesiarum restaurationem, pacis ac legis renouationem, iustitiae compositionem.34 Post haec deuictis in bello Pascentio, filio Wortigerni, et Gillomanio, rege Hiberniae, qui Pascentio auxiliabatur, cecedit in infirmitatem apud Wintoniam, et dum ibi curari putaret, corruptus muneribus et promissionibus Pascentii, quidam Saxo, nomine Eopa, medicum se sub monachili habitu finxit, et dum potionem dare putaretur, uenenum regi porrexit. Quo hausto, dormiens defunctus est. Haec secundum Britannicum. a Requirat diligentior lector curiosus, an forte ille sita iste Ambrosius Aurelius, de quo Beda mentionem facit in sua historia. bNam cum deplorasset calamitatem, quam prius a Scotis et Pictis Britones perpessi sunt, cum a Romanis, quos iam bis contra eos Britones aduocauerant, auxilium non accepissent, deinde a Saxonibus, quos ipsi contra Scotos et Pictos inuitauerant, uersa uice expugnarentur, rursus ad serenitatem temporum redit, et qualiter Britones contra Saxones conualuerunt memorat. Ait enim: ‘At ubi hostilis exercitus, exterminatis, dispersis insulae indigenis, domum reuersus est, coeperunt et illi paulatim quisque uires resumere, emergentes de latibulis quibus abditi fuerant, et unanimo consensu auxilium coeleste precantes, ne usque ad internicionem usquequaque delerenturb Vtebantur eo tempore duce Aurelio Ambrosio, uiro modesto, qui solus forte Romanae gentis praefatae tempestati superfuerat, occisis in eadem parentibus regium nomen et insigne ferentibus. Hoc ergo duce uires capessunt Britones, et uictores prouocantes ad proelium, et uictoriam ipsi Deo fauente suscipiunt. Et ex eo tempore nunc ciues,

  C, omitted.   C, omitted.

a–a

b–b

55

The History of Alfred of Beverley

upon his head. He presented himself before the king with the following words: ‘My Gods are conquered. I do not doubt for a moment that it is your god who reigns supreme, for he has made so many noble men join you in this way. So take these fetters and, unless you take pity on us, keep us as prisoners, ready and willing to face any punishment.’33 Then Aurelius was moved and showed them mercy. He gave them the region adjacent to Scotland and ratified a treaty with them. Having thus defeated his foes, Aurelius summoned the earls and chiefs of the kingdom to York and commanded them to restore the churches which the Saxon people had destroyed and he himself began to rebuild the metropolitan see in that city and the other bishoprics of its diocese. Then he went to London and Winchester and restored them too. His sole objectives were the restoration of the kingdom, the repair of the churches, the renewal of peace and law, and the establishment of justice.34 After this, Pascentius, son of Vortigern, and Gillomanius, king of Ireland, who was helping Pascentius, were defeated in battle. Aurelius fell ill in Winchester and, while he believed he was being cared for there, a certain Saxon, Eopa by name, corrupted by the gifts and promises of Pascentius, pretended to be a doctor in a monk’s habit and, ostensibly giving the king a healing potion, handed him poison. Once he had drunk this, he went to sleep and died. So says Britannicus. The careful and attentive reader might inquire whether this is, by any chance, the same Ambrosius Aurelius of whom Bede makes mention in his history. For he laments the disastrous period during which, first, the Britons suffered at the hands of the Irish and the Picts – against whom they received no help from the Romans despite twice begging for it. Then the Saxons, whom the Britons had themselves invited in to help against the Irish and the Picts, turned on them and overcame them. After this, Bede returns to more peaceful times and recounts how the Britons prevailed over the Saxons. For he says: ‘Once the enemy army returned home, after driving out and scattering the natives of the island, the Britons slowly began to recover their strength and courage. They emerged from the hiding places in which they had been concealed and, with one accord, they prayed for the help of God, that they might not be annihilated in a wholesale massacre. Their leader at that time was a certain Aurelius Ambrosius, a virtuous man, who was, as it happened, the sole member of the aforesaid Roman race who had survived the storm in which his parents, who bore a royal and famous name, had perished. Under his leadership, the Britons regained their strength, challenged their victors to battle, and, with God’s help, won the day. From that HRB, viii. 175–78. HRB, viii. 200–95. Episodes omitted include: the transportation of the Giant’s Ring of stones from Mount Killaraus in Ireland by Merlin to establish a burial ground in Mount Ambrius for the nobles murdered by Hengest; Aurelius’s ceremonial crown-wearing in front of the assembled bishops and abbots of the kingdom; the appointment of Samson and Dubricius to the Metropolitan sees of York and Carleon. 33  34 

55

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

nunc hostes uincebant ausque ad annum obsessionis Badonici montis, quando non minimas eisdem hostibustrages dabant, quadragesimo circiter et quarto anno aduentus eorum in Angliama.’35 b Haec Beda, cui astipulatur et Eutropius in Romana Historia, scribens ita: ‘Apud Britannias quoque Aurelius Ambrosius qui solus forte Romanae gentis Saxonum caedi superfuerat, purpuram induit, uictoresque Saxones Britonum ducens exercitum saepe superauit, atque ex eo tempore nunc hii nunc illi palmam habuerunt, donec Saxones potentiores effecti tota per longum insula potirentur.’ Haec Eutropiusb.36 c Refert autem, Britannicum ipsum Aurelium filium fuisse Constantini regis, qui uxorem de nobili Romanorum gente habuit, et ex ea Constantem et Aurelium et Vther generauit, de quibus ipse Constantinus pater, et filius Constantius proditione Wortigerni interfecti fuerunt. Cum itaque in hiis tribus historiis omnia simul sibi conueniant, uidelicet generis nobilitas, nominis idemptitas, temporis status et parentum interitus, animi modestia et de hostibus uictoria, uidetur unus idemque qui in tribus historiis Aurelius Ambrosius nominatur, licet in Historia Anglorum dux appelletur, qui in ceteris historiis rex significaturc. d Haec dum Wintoniae agerentur, apparuit stella mirae magnitudinis et claritatis uno radio contenta, ad radium uero globus igneus in similitudinem draconis extensus, et ex ore eius procedebant duo radii, quorum unus longitudinem suam ultra Gallicana climata uidebatur extendere, alter uero uersus Hibernicum mare uergens, in septem minores radios terminabatur. Itaque cunctis metu perculsis, Vther frater regis, hostilem exercitum in Kambriam petens, Iussit uocari Merlinum, cuius consilio res proeliorum tractabantur. Qui iussus significationem sideris enucleare, mox in fletum erumpens exclamauuit: ‘O dampnum irrecuperabile, O orbatum populum Britanniae, O nobilissimi regis migrationem! Defunctus est inclitus rex Britanniae Aurelius Ambrosius. Festina igitur dux nobilissime Vther. Festina et conflictum cum hostibus ne differas. Victoria tibi in manu erit, et eris rex totius Britanniae. Te etenim sidus istud significat, et igneus draco sub sidere. Radius autem qui uersus Gallicanam plagam porrigitur, portendit filium

  C, omitted.   C, omitted (f. 43 v). c–c   C, omitted. d–d   C, omitted. a–a

b–b

56

The History of Alfred of Beverley

time on, first the Britons and then their enemies were victorious, until the year of the siege of Mount Badon, when the Britons slaughtered no small number of those enemies, about forty-four years after their arrival in England.’35 This is according to Bede. Eutropius in his Roman History, agrees with him, writing as follows: ‘Furthermore, in the islands of Britain, Aurelius Ambrosius, by chance the only one of the Roman race who had survived the Saxon slaughter, assumed the purple. As leader of the British army, he often vanquished the Saxons who had been their conquerors. From that day on, victory went first to one and then to the other, until finally the Saxons became more powerful, and took possession of the whole island.’ So says Eutropius.36 Moreover, Eutropius recounts that Aurelius the Briton was the son of King Constantine, who had a wife of noble Roman family, and she gave birth to Constans, Aurelius, and Uther. Of these, Constantine the father and the son Constans were killed by the treachery of Vortigern. Since in these three histories there is agreement on all these things namely, the nobility of his birth, the similarity of his name, the conditions of the time and the killing of his parents, his moderate character, and his conquest of his enemies, it seems that one and the same man is called Aurelius Ambrosius in all three – even though in the History of the English he is called a general, but in the other histories he is designated a king. While these events were taking place at Winchester, there appeared a comet of great size and brilliance, drawn out into a single tail. Attached to the tail was a fiery mass, spread in the shape of a dragon, from whose mouth came forth two rays, one of which seemed to extend beyond the skies of Gaul, while the other, stretching towards the Irish Sea, ended in seven smaller rays. While everyone was struck down with fear at this, Uther, the king’s brother, who was pursuing the enemy army into Wales, ordered that Merlin, whose advice they were following on military matters, should be summoned. Commanded to explain the meaning of the comet, Merlin at once burst into tears and cried out: ‘Oh, irreparable loss, oh, orphaned people of Britain, oh, the passing of a most noble king! Ambrosius Aurelius, the renowned king of the Britons, is dead. Therefore, make haste, most noble leader Duke Uther. Make haste and attack the enemy without delay. Victory shall be yours and you will be king of all Britain. For this comet signifies you and so does the fiery dragon beneath it. The ray which stretches towards the region of Gaul, foretells that you will have a most powerful son, whose dominion will extend HE, i. 16. PHR, xv. 19. Paul the Deacon’s continuation of Eutropius’s Breviarium only came to Lincoln in the 1140s (Greenway, HA, p. lxxxix). Its availability to the author in Beverley soon after is therefore of interest. The author’s habit of citing Eutropius as the author of material extracted from Paul the Deacon is shared by HH. See Greenway, HA, p. lxxxix, note 100 and p. 38, note 75. 35 

36 

56

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

tibi futurum potentissimum, cuius potestas omnia quae protegit habebit. Alter uero radius significat filiam, cuius filii et nepotes regnum Britanniae succedenter habebuntd.’37 a Igitur Vther, ut coeperat, in hostes progreditur, cui obuiam egressi sunt Gillomanius et Pascentius cum Saxonibus, commissaque pugna conualuit Vther, interfectisque G[i]llomanio et Pascentio, uictoria potitus esta.38 Inde diuertens Wintoniam, a clero et populo sublimatus est in regem.39 b Reminiscens autem expositionis, quam ei Merlinus de supradicto sidere fecerat, iussit fabricari duos dracones ex auro ad similitudinem draconis, quem ad radium stellae inspexerat. Qui ut mira arte fabricati fuerunt, optulit unum in ecclesia primae sedis Wintoniae, alterum uero sibi ad deferendum in proelia retinuit. Ab illo itaque tempore uocatus fuit Vther Pendragon, quod Britannica lingua sonat caput draconisb.40 c Interea Octa, filius Hengisti et Eosad cognatus suus, maxima Saxonum multitudine stipati, aquilonales prouincias inuadunt, urbes et promontoria ab Albania usque Eboracum destruunt. Et cum urbem obsedissent, superuenit Vther Pendragon cum tota fortitudine regni et cum illis proeliatus est. Cumque prospere Saxonibus in die cessisset, nocte irruentibus super eos Britonibus ad milia interficiuntur. Denique capti sunt Octa et Eosa, et Saxones penitus dissipati. Post illam uictoriam petunt urbem Alclud, prouinciaeque illi disposuit, et pacem ubique reformauit. eCircuiuit etiam omnes Scottorum nationes, rebellemque populum a sua feritate disposuite. Tantamque iustitiam exercebat per patriam, quantam alter antecessorum suorum non fecerat. Denique pacificatis aquilonalibus prouinciis. Lundonias adiit, iussitque ibidem Octam et Eosam in carcere seruari. Postea mortuo Gorlois, duce Cornubiae, sponsam eius Ingernam,f quam etiam uiuente Gorlois miro Merlini uatis praestigio cognouerat, duxit uxorem, genuitque ex ea filium et filiam. Fuit autem filii nomen Arthurus, filiae uero Anna. Haec secundum Britannicum.g Cumque dies et tempora praeterissent,h occupauit infirmatis regem. Vnde custodes carceris cum Octa et Eosa fugerunt in Germaniam, et cum maxima classe redeuntes, partes Albaniae ingressi, ciuitates atque ciues igne et caede afficiunt. Committitur itaque exercitus Loth de Lodonesia, qui erat consul Leil militi strenuo, sapienti, et aetate maturo, cui rex propter eius probitatem Annam filiam   C, omitted.   C, omitted. c   C, common text with R & P resumes. d   R, P, Cosa. e–e   C, omitted. f   R, P, Ugerna. g   C, Interpolation from HA ii.11 inserted. h   C, resumes common text with R, P. a–a

b–b

57

The History of Alfred of Beverley

over all the kingdoms beneath it. The other signifies a daughter, whose sons and grandsons will rule the kingdom of Britain in turn.’37 So, Uther continued his advance on the enemy. Gillomanius, Pascentius and the Saxons, came out to meet him and the battle started. Uther gained the upper hand and was victorious and Gillomanus and Pascentius were killed.38 Uther then made for Winchester, where he was made king by the clergy and the people.39 Mindful of Merlin’s earlier explanation of the comet, he ordered that two dragons be cast in gold, in the likeness of the dragon he had seen in the comet’s tail. When these had been made with great skill, he presented one to the cathedral in Winchester but the other he kept for himself, to take into battle. From that time on he was called Uther Pendragon, which in the British language means ‘dragon’s head.’40 Meanwhile, Hengest’s son Octa and his relative Eosa, accompanied by a great multitude of Saxons, invaded the northern provinces and destroyed the towns and strongholds from Scotland to York. And, while they were besieging that city, Uther Pendragon arrived with all the forces of his kingdom and attacked them. Things went well for the Saxons during the day, but by night the Britons fell on them and killed thousands. Eventually, Octa and Eosa were captured and the Saxons were completely scattered. After this victory the Britons went to the town of Dumbarton and Uther made provision for the region and completely restored peace. He also went around to all the peoples of Scotland and made that rebellious race lay aside their savagery. He exercised greater justice throughout the country than any of his predecessors had done. When the northern provinces were finally at peace, Uther went to London, where he ordered Octa and Eosa to be imprisoned. After the death of Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall, Uther married his wife, Ingerna, but, even while the duke was alive, Uther had slept with her, by means of an amazing illusion brought about by the seer Merlin. Uther and Ingerna had a son and a daughter. The son was called Arthur and the daughter Anna. So says Britannicus. After days and years had passed, the king fell prey to sickness. Then Octa and Eosa, together with their prison guards, fled to Germany. They returned with a great fleet and, after landing in Scotland, inflicted fire and destruction upon the cities and their inhabitants. The British army was put under the command of Loth of Lothian, earl of Carlisle, a tough soldier, wise and experienced, to whom the king, recognising HRB, viii. 350–72. HRB, viii. 374. Location of the battle, near St David’s, omitted. 39  HRB, viii. 385–91. Aurelius’s burial near the monastery of Ambrius in the Giant’s Ring and later funeral service in Winchester in the presence of the bishops, abbots and clergy of the region, omitted. 40  HRB, viii. 393–99. 37  38 

57

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

suam dederat. Sed cum propter superbiam Britonum dubia esset decertatio, eo quod praeceptis consulis dedignabantur oboedire, ipse praecepit sibi fieri feretrum, in quo positus Verolamium perrexit, ubi praedicti Saxones uniuersum populum affligebant. Congressu contra eos habito cessit uictoria regi, interfectisque Octa et Eosa terga dederunt Saxones.41 Cum autem post hanc uictoriam grauatus infirmitate in urbe Verolamiuma iaceret, Saxones cum non possent uirtute intendunt proditione uincere.42 Erat namque prope aulam fons nitidissimae aquae, de qua solitus fuerat rex potare. Ipsum itaque ueneno affecerunt,b ut igitur ex eo potauit rex, festinae morti succubuit. Succubuerunt etiam centum homines post illum, donec fraude comperta cumulum terrae super apposuerunt. Cum autem obitus regis diuulgatus fuisset, aduenerunt pontifices cum clero, tulerunt corpus ad coenobium Ambrii, et infra choream gigantum iuxta Aurelium Ambrosium regio more tumulauerunt. Defuncto igitur Vther Pendragon, sanctus Dubricius, urbis Legionum archiepiscopus, conuenientibus Britonum proceribus in ciuitate Circestriae,43 associatis sibi episcopis, Arturum filium regis Vther regni diademate insigniuit. Erat autem annorum .xv. inauditae uirtutis, nimiaeque largitatis, ita ut, propter innatam sibi bonitatem a cunctis populis amaretur. cCuius tanta et tam magnifica narrantur gesta, ut ad ea digne referenda, libri magnitudine opus esset. De quibus tamen quae digniora uidentur memoria, summatim hic aliqua sunt perstringendac. Audito obitu regis Vther Pendragon Saxones conciues suos ex Germania inuitauerunt, et duce Colgrino totam illam insulae partem, quae a flumine Humbre usque ad Katenensium mare extenditur, sibi subiugauerant. Igitur Arturus collecto exercitu Eboracum petiuit. Quod cum Colgrino compertum esset, cum multitudine Saxonum, Pictorum, et Scotorum uenit ei obuiam iuxta flumen Duglas, ubi facto congressu Arturus uictoria potitus, Colgrinum insecutus est, ingressumque Eboracum obsedit. Quod audiens frater Colgrini Baldulphus qui iuxta maritima Chelricum ducem ex Germania expectabat, qui eis in auxilium uenturus erat, cum sexd milibus obsidionem petiuit. Sed ipse Chelricus cum sexcentis nauibus iam aduentabat. Quo audito, diffuaserunt primates sui Arturo obsidionem diutius tenere. Paruit Arturus, obsidionemque dimissa, Londoniis sese recepit. Ibi conuocato clero et primatibus regni, quaerit consilium quid optimum quid ue saluberrimum contra paganorum

  C, adds quam nos uocamus sanctum Albanum.   R, P, infecerunt. c–c   C, omitted. d   C, septem. a

b

58

The History of Alfred of Beverley

his upright character, had given his daughter, Anna. But, because of the pride of the Britons, who scorned to obey the earl’s orders, the outcome was in doubt. So Uther had a litter made for himself, on which he was placed and made his way to St Albans, where the Saxons were harrying the entire population. Having engaged the Saxon forces, the king was victorious and the Saxons fled, leaving Octa and Eosa dead.41 After this victory, however, while the king lay weighed down with illness in St Albans, the Saxons, since they were unable to win by honourable means, planned to do so by treachery.42 Near the palace there was a spring of sparkling water, from which the king used to drink. The Saxons affected it with poison so that, when the king drank from it, he soon died. Another hundred men died after him, until finally the villainy was discovered, and they covered over the spring with a mound of earth. After news of the king’s death had spread, the bishops and clergy came and took the body to the monastery of Ambrius, where they gave it a royal burial inside the Giant’s Ring, next to Aurelius Ambrosius. After Uther Pendragon’s death, the nobles of Britain, and with them the bishops, assembled in the town of Cirencester43 and holy Dubricius, archbishop of Caerleon, crowned Arthur, the son of Uther Pendragon, as king. He was fifteen years old, of uncommon virtue and great generosity and so, because of his innate goodness, he was loved by everybody. So many and such magnificent deeds of his are recounted that a whole book would be required if they were to be recorded as they deserve. But here, touched upon briefly and in short, are some which seem particularly memorable. When they heard of the death of King Uther Pendragon, the Saxons invited their countrymen over from Germany and, under the leadership of Colgrinus, occupied all that part of the island which extends from the River Humber to the sea at Caithness. Arthur therefore assembled an army and set off for York. When Colgrinus learned of this, he came to confront Arthur with a multitude of Saxons, Picts and Scots by the River Duglas. There they fought a battle and Arthur was victorious. Colgrinus then entered York, where Arthur besieged him. On hearing this, Colgrinus’s brother Baldulfus, who was waiting on the sea coast for the arrival of Duke Chelricus, bringing help from Germany, went to relieve the siege with six thousand men. Furthermore, Chelricus himself was already on his way with six hundred ships. When they heard this, Arthur’s nobles persuaded him to discontinue the siege. Arthur agreed, raised the siege, and retired to London. There he gathered the clergy and nobles of the kingdom and asked their advice on the best and 41  42  43 

HRB, viii. 563–85. The Saxons considering it beneath their dignity to fight a half-dead king, omitted. Hegesippian antithetical turn of phrase again employed. HRB, viiii. 2. Silchester.

58

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

irruptionem faceret. Communi tandem assensu mittuntur nuntii Armoricam ad regem Hoelum. Erat autem Hoelus filius sororis Arturi, ex Budico rege Armoricanorum Britonum generatus. Qui audita inquietatione quae auunculo ingerebatur, collectis quindecim milibus armatorum, proximo uentorum flatu in portu Hamonis applicuit, et excepit illum Arturus honore quo decebat. Emensis paucisa diebus petiuit urbem Lindocolinam,44 a supradictis paganis obsessam, et conserto proelio ceciderunt de paganis .vi. milia, ceteri fugerunt. Quos Arturus insecutus est, donec in nemore Calidonis45 uenientes, arborum auxilio uiriliter sese defendentes Arturo restiterunt. Sed Arturus iussit arbores incidi, et truncos ita in curcuitu locari, ut egressus eis denegaretur, sicque fame trium dierum eos ad deditionem coegit. Promittentes igitur se tributum Arturo ex Germania missuros, et de hoc obsides tradentes, relicto omni auro et argento cum solis nauibus Germaniam redire permissi sunt. Cum ergo redeuntes aequora sulcarent, piguit eos pactionis, reuersique Britanniam a Totonensium litusb applicuerunt, patriamque usque ad Sabrinum mare depopulantes, urbem Badonis obsederunt. Quod cum regi nuntiatum esset, mox habito de obsidibus eorum suspendendis iudicio, praetermissa etiam inquietatione, qua Pictos et Scottos opprimere inceperat, ipse obsidionem dispergere festinauit.46 Ingressus autem Sumersensem prouinciam, uisa cominus obsidione, ait: ‘Quoniam impiissimi Saxones fidem michi dedignati sunt tenere, ego fidem Deo meo seruans, sanguinem conciuium meorum in ipsos hodie uindicare conabor. Armate uos, et proditores istos uiriliter inuadite, quos procul dubio, auxiliante Christo, triumphabimus.’ Haec eo dicente, sanctus Dubricius, Vrbis Legionum archiepiscopus, ascenso cuiusdam montis cacumine, uoce celsa clamauit: ‘Viri Christiana professione insigniti, maneat in uobis conciuium uestrorum et patriae pietas, qui proditione paganorum exterminati sempiternum uobis erit obprobrium, nisi eos defendere institeritis. Pugnate pro patria uestra, et mortem ultro pro eadem patimini. Ipsa enim uictoria est, et animae remedium. Quicunque enim pro fratribus suis mortem suscipit, hostiam uiuam se deo praestat,

  R, P, Dmensis pacis.   R, P, in Totonensium littore.

a

b

59

The History of Alfred of Beverley

safest course to adopt against the pagan invasion. Finally, it was agreed by all that messengers be sent to King Hoelus in Armorica. Hoelus was the son of Arthur’s sister and Budicus, king of the Armorican Britons. Hearing of the troubles being inflicted on his uncle, he gathered fifteen thousand armed soldiers and on the next favourable wind he landed in the port of Southampton, where Arthur received him with due honour. After a few days had passed, Arthur marched to the town of Lincoln,44 which was under siege by the above-mentioned pagans. Battle was joined and they killed six thousand of the pagans while the others fled. Arthur pursued them until they came to the forest of Calidon45 where, defending themselves vigorously with the help of the trees, they held out against him. But Arthur ordered the trees to be cut down and their trunks to be placed in a barricade around the pagans, so that escape would be denied them and thus, by means of starving them for three days, he forced them to surrender. So the Saxons promised that they would send Arthur tribute from Germany, handing over hostages as surety for this, and they were allowed to return to Germany with only their boats, leaving behind all their gold and silver. But, as they were crossing the sea on their way home, they regretted this agreement, returned to Britain, and landed on the coast at Totnes. They then ravaged the country as far as the Severn estuary and besieged the town of Bath. When the news was given to the king, the hostages were soon sentenced to be hanged and Arthur, abandoning the campaign he had launched to conquer the Picts and Scots, hurried to lift the siege.46 He entered the province of Somerset, saw the siege-lines from close quarters and said: ‘Since the wicked Saxons, have scorned to keep faith with me, I will myself keep faith with my God. This very day I will do my best to take vengeance on them for the blood of my kinsmen. Arm yourselves, men, and bravely attack these traitors. With the help of Christ, I have no doubt that we shall conquer them.’ As Arthur said this, saintly Dubricius, archbishop of Caerleon, climbed to the top of a hill and cried out loudly: ‘Men, marked as you are by your Christian faith, stay true to your duty towards your countrymen and your native land. If they are destroyed by pagans’ treachery, that will bring eternal disgrace upon you, unless you do your best to defend them. Fight for your fatherland and willingly suffer death for it. That in itself is a victory and restores health to the soul. Whoever suffers death for the sake of his brothers offers himself as a living sacrifice to God and follows in the footsteps HRB, ix. 58. The naming of Lincoln by its British name, Kairluidcoit, and the afterthought, ‘also known as Lincoln’, omitted. 45  HRB, ix. 65. The forest of Colidon is located indeterminately in Scotland. Tatlock, Legendary History, pp. 16–17 suggests Colidon serves as a metaphor for the wilds of Scotland. 46  HRB, ix. 86. Leaving King Hoelus in Dumbarton, omitted. 44 

59

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Christumque sequitur, qui pro fratribus suis animam suam dignatus est ponere. Si quis uestrum in hoc bello mortem subierit, sit ei mors illa omnium delictorum suorum poenitentia et absolutio, dum eam hoc modo recipere non diffugerit’.47 Nec mora beati uiri benedictione exhilarati, festinauerunt praeceptis eius parere. Ipse Arturus, lorica tanto rege digna indutus, auream galeam, simulachro draconis insculptam, capiti adaptat, humerisque clipeum, uocabulo Pridwen, in quo imago sanctae Mariae, Dei genitricis, inpicta erat, ipsamque in memoriam ipsius saepissimea reuocabat. Accinctus etiam Caliburno gladio optimo,48 lancea, nomine Ron, dexteram decorat. Dispositique cateruis, Saxones audacter inuasit, qui tota die uiriliter resistentes, uergente ad occasum sole proximum occupant montem, eum pro castro habituri. Mane autem facto, Arturus cum multo suorum dampno montem ascendens, magna difficultate cacumen eius adeptus est, consertoque graui proelio ipse Arturis extracto Caliburno nomen sanctae Mariae proclamat, et se in densas hostium acies immittens, quadringentos .lxx. uiros peremit. Ceciderunt ilico Colgrinus et Baldulfus frater eius cum multis milibus. Chelricus,b uiso sociorum periculo, continuo in fugam uersus est. Rex igitur uictoria potitus, Cadorem, ducem Cornubiae, iussit persequi fugientes. Qui strenue praeceptum exsequens perempto Chelrico reliquos omnes acceptis obsidibus deditioni compulit.49 Auturus uero Albaniam petens, ubi Picti et Scotti Hoelum, nepotem suum infirmitate grauatum, in urbe Aldcludc obsederant, urbem et nepotem a barbarica oppressione liberauit. dInde Scottos et Pictos persequens, exercitum duxit in Muref, ipsosque ad insulas fugientes nauigio obsedit. Ad quorum auxilium cum rex Hiberniae Gillomanus uenisset, Arturus in ipsum arma uertit, lacerauit, et uicit. Cumque institisset gentem Scottorum delere, conuenerunt omnes episcopi cum omni clero reliquias sanctorum nudis ferentes pedibus, flexis genibus regem deprecati sunt, ut pietatem super contrita gente haberet. At ille pietate commotus in lacrimas, sanctorum uirorum petitioni adquiescens, ueniam donauitd.50 Inde Eboracum petiuit natalem Domini celebraturus, ubi expulso sancto Sampsone archiepiscopoe ceterisque religiosis uiris, templa, uesania paganorum semiusta, ab officio Dei cessabant. Conuocato igitur clero et populo, Piramum capellanum suum metropolitanae sedi destinauit, ecclesias usque ad solum

  R, P, saepe.   R, P, Cheldricus. c   R, P, Alcuit, C, Alchluid. d–d   C, omitted. e   C, episcopo. a

b

60

The History of Alfred of Beverley

of Christ, who did not shrink from laying down his own life for his brothers. If any of you suffers death in this war, may that death be for him a penance and an absolution for all his sins, provided that he goes to meet it unflinchingly’.47 At once, inspired by the saint’s blessing, they hurried to obey his orders. Arthur himself put on a coat of mail, worthy of so great a king, then placed on his head a golden helmet, engraved with the image of a dragon, and on his shoulders a shield called Pridwen, on which was painted an image of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, which made him think of her constantly. He girded on Caliburn, his peerless sword,48 and his spear, Ron by name, adorned his right hand. He drew up his troops and boldly attacked the Saxons, who fought back vigorously all day long. As the sun began to set, the Saxons occupied a nearby hill, to be the site of their camp. At daybreak, Arthur marched up the hill, sustaining the loss of many men, and, with great difficulty, reached the top. A violent battle was under way when Arthur, drawing his sword Caliburn, cried out the name of St Mary, hurled himself against the dense ranks of the enemy, and killed four hundred and seventy men. Colgrinus and his brother Baldulfus, along with many thousands, fell upon that spot and Chelricus, on seeing his comrades’ peril, immediately turned and fled. Having gained this victory, the king ordered Cador, Duke of Cornwall, to pursue the fleeing Saxons and he executed this command vigorously. Chelricus was killed and the remaining Saxons were forced to hand over hostages and surrender.49 Arthur, meanwhile, went to Scotland, where the Picts and Scots were besieging his nephew Hoelus, who was afflicted by sickness, in the town of Dumbarton. There he freed both his nephew and the town from the barbarians’ attack. Then, in pursuit of the Scots and the Picts, he led the army to Moray, where he besieged them as they were fleeing to the islands by boat. When Gillomanus, king of Ireland, arrived to help them, Arthur turned his troops on him, cut him to pieces, and was victorious. As he was now threatening to destroy the Scottish people, all the bishops and clergy gathered together, barefoot and carrying relics of the saints, and they knelt and implored the king to have pity on their penitent people. Then Arthur, moved to tears by pity, agreed to the petitions of the holy men and granted them pardon.50 Then the king went to York to celebrate Christmas. There, the holy archbishop Sampson had been driven out, along with other men of the Christian faith, and the churches, half-burned by the frenzied pagans, no longer celebrated divine services. Arthur therefore gathered the clergy and the people and appointed his chaplain Piramus to that metropolitan see. He rebuilt the churches which had HRB, ix. 96–105. HRB, ix. 111. That the sword Caliburn was forged in the island of Avalon, omitted. 49  Details of Cador’s campaign and Chelricus’s death on the island of Thanet, omitted. 50  HRB, ix. 150–54. The location of the siege of Loch Lomond, stagnum Lumonoy, sourced by GM from HB, omitted. 47  48 

60

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

destructas renouauit, et religiosis coetibus uirorum ac mulierum exornauit, proceres inquietudine Saxonum expulsos, patriis honoribus restituit, uidelicet Auguselum regiae potestati Scottorum, fratremque suum Vrianum sceptro Murefensium, Loth autem, qui tempore Aurelii Ambrosii sororem ipsius duxerat, ex qua Walwanum et Modredum genuerat, ad consulatuma Lodonensiae reduxit. Denique cum totius patriae statum in pristinam dignitatem reduxisset, duxit uxorem Guenhauramb ex nobili genere Romanorum ortam, quae in thalamo Cadoris ducis Cornubaie educata totius insulae mulieres pulcritudine superabat.c Sequenti aestate Hiberniam classe adiit, regem eius Gillomanum proelio commisso coepit. Exemplo cuius ceteri principes stupefacti sese dederunt. Inde classem in Islandiam direxit, eamque debellato populo subiugauit. Quo audito, rex Gothlandiae et rex Orcadum ultro uenientes, promisso uectigali subiectionem fecerunt.51 Emensa deinde hieme reuersus est Britanniam, statimque regni in pacem firmam reuocans, moram ibidem .xii. annis fecit. Videns autem Arturus sibi in cunctis prospere succedere, totam Europam sibi subdere affectauit.52 Paratisque nauigiis Norwegiam adiit, quae iure hereditario Loth nepoti suo debebatur. Sed Norwegenses dedignati illum recipere, quendam Rachulfum in regem erexerant. Erat tunc Walwanus, filius praedicti Loth, .xii. annorum iuuenis in obsequio Sulpicii papae ab auunculo traditus, a quo arma accepit. Vt igitur Arturus in Norwegensi littore applicuit, obuiauit ei rex Rachulfus, proelioque commisso Rachulfus cum multis peremptus, et Arturus uictoria est potitus. Denique cum totam Norwegiam necnon et Daciam sibi subiugasset, Loth in regem Norwegiae promouit. Inde ad Gallias Arturus nauigauit, et eas uastare coepit. Erat autem tunc Gallicana prouincia [R]omaed Frolloni tribuno commissa, qui eam sub Leone imperatore regebat. Qui collecto omni armaturoe milite potestatis suae, proelium cum Arturo commisit. Sed cum se imparem comperisset, Parisius fugit. Affuit ex inprouiso Arturus, ipsumque infra ciuitatem obsedit. Sed cum gens sua fame laborasset, mandauit Arturo, ut ipsi soli duellum inissent, et cui uictoria

  R, P, consolatum.   R, P, Guennonegan. c   C, Lengthy Interpolation of material from HA, HRB, HB, WM (GRA) and Chron. of Richard of Devizes added. d   R, P, Homae. e   R, armato. a

b

61

The History of Alfred of Beverley

been razed to the ground and graced them with companies of religious men and women. He restored their family titles to the nobles who had been driven out by the Saxon invasions. To Auguselus he restored royal power over the Scots. He made his brother Urianus king of Moray. Loth, who in the days of Aurelius Ambrosius had married the king’s own sister and had two sons by her, Gawain and Modred, he restored to the earldom of Lothian. Finally, when he had returned the whole country to its original dignity, Arthur took as his wife Guenhaura, a woman of noble Roman ancestry, who had been brought up in the household of Duke Cador of Cornwall and was the most beautiful woman in the entire island. When summer came, Arthur sailed with his fleet to Ireland, joined battle with King Gillomanus and captured him. Astonished, the other chiefs followed their king’s example and surrendered. Then Arthur sailed to Iceland, defeated the people there and made the island subject to him. When they heard this, the king of Gotland and the king of the Orkneys came of their own free will to submit and promised to pay tribute.51 When winter had passed, Arthur returned to Britain, immediately restored lasting peace in the kingdom, and remained there for twelve years. Then Arthur, seeing how successful he was in everything he did, aspired to control all of Europe.52 He prepared his fleets and sailed to Norway, which by right of inheritance belonged to his nephew Loth. But the Norsemen had refused to accept Loth and had made a certain Rachulfus king. Loth’s son Gawain, a boy of twelve, had been placed by his uncle in the service of Pope Sulpicius, who had knighted him. When Arthur landed on the coast of Norway, King Rachulfus went to confront him and battle was joined. Arthur was victorious, and Rachulfus was killed, along with many of his men. Finally, when he had subjected all Norway, and Denmark too, to his rule, Arthur made Loth King of Norway. Then Arthur sailed to Gaul and began to ravage it. Rome’s Gallican province was at that time under the jurisdiction of the tribune Frollo who ruled it on behalf of the emperor Leo. He gathered all the armed troops under his control and engaged Arthur in battle. But, when he realized how unequal their forces were, he fled to Paris. Arthur, however, unexpectedly arrived and trapped him inside the city. Then, because his people were suffering from hunger, Frollo challenged Arthur to single combat. Whichever man gained the victory would acquire the HRB, ix. 221. Doldauius of Gotland and Gunuasius of the Orkneys, omitted. HRB, ix. 225–36. This brief sentence replaces the HRB’s lengthy explanation for Arthur’s first European campaign. Arthur’s court has become the envy of all distant nations for courtly dress and military arms. The kings of these nations have become concerned at the growth of Arthur’s reputation and ambition and begin to build castles to defend themselves against possible attack. Arthur exults at being universally feared and decides to conquer all Europe. ‘Cumque id Arturo notificatum esset, extollens se quia cunctis timori erat, totam Europam sibi subdere affectat’, HRB, ix. 234–36. 51 

52 

61

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

proueniret, alterius regnum optineret. Placuit Arturo Frollonisa oblatio, datoque utrumque foedere conuenerunt in insulam extra ciuitatem. Vt itaque erectis lanceis in aduersis partibus steterunt, subdentes equis calcaria sese maximis ictibus percusserunt. Sed Arturus lanceam cautius gestans, Frollonem in summitate pectoris infixit, et in terram prostrauit, euaginatoque ense festinabat eum ferire. Tum Frollo uelocius erectus praetensa lancea occurrit, illatoque infra pectus equi Arturi letifero uulnere, utrumque concidere coegit. Britones ut regem prostratum uiderunt, uix potuerunt retineri, quin foedere rupto metam pacis egredientes in Gallos irruerent. At Arturus ocius erectus praetenso clipeo imminentem sibi cito cursu petiuit. Dumque mutuos ictus ingeminant, Frollo inuento aditu Arturum in fronte percussit, et nisi collisione cassidis mucronem hebetasset, mortiferum uulnus intulisset. Cum igitur Arturus loricam et clipeum sanguine rubere uidisset, ardentiori ira succensus erecto uiribus totis Caliburno impressit per galeam in caput Frollonis, et in duas partes dissecuit. Cumque id per exercitum diuulgatum fuisset, appertis ualuis ciuitatem Arturo tradiderunt.53 Post hoc duellum diuisit Arturus exercitum suum in duo, et unam partem Hoelo duci commisit ad expugnandum Guitardum Pictauensium ducem, ipse uero cum reliqua multitudine ceteras prouincias subiugare uacauit. Mox Hoelus Aquitaniam ingressus urbes inuasit, Guitardum pluribus proeliis ad deditionem coegit, Guasconiam ferro et flamma depopulans subiugauit. Emensis interim .ix. annis cum totius Galliae partes potestati suae subdidisset, uenit iterum Arturus Parisius, tenuitque ibidem curiam, ubi conuocato clero et populo statum regni pace et lege confirmauit. Tunc largitus est Beduero pincernae Estrusiam quae nunc Normannia dicitur, Kaioque dapisero Andegauensium prouinciam, plures quoque alias prouincias nobilibus uiris qui in obsequio eius fuerant. Denique pacificatis quibusque ciuitatibus et populis incipiente uere Britanniam reuersus est. Quanto autem apparatu quantaque magnificentia et gloria curia sua apud Vrbem Legionum tenuerit et sollempnitatem Pentecostes ibi celebrauerit, Historia Britonum refert, ubi enumeratis regibus et principibus qui ab eo inuitati ad eius curiam uenerunt, ad extremum intulit: ‘Praeter hos, non remansit princeps alicuius precii citra Hispaniam, qui ad istud edictum non uenerit. Celebratis autem sollempniter tribus diebus, quarta uocantur cuncti, qui propter honores

  R, P, Firollonis.

a

62

The History of Alfred of Beverley

other’s kingdom. Arthur accepted Frollo’s offer. They exchanged pledges and encountered one another on an island outside the city. They stood facing each other with their lances held high, then, spurring on their horses, they dealt each other mighty blows. But Arthur aimed his lance with more skill and he struck Frollo in the upper chest and hurled him to the ground. Then, drawing his sword, he rushed over to strike Frollo. But Frollo leapt quickly to his feet with his lance levelled, and, inflicting a deadly wound in the breast of Arthur’s horse, he forced both horse and rider to the ground. When the Britons saw the king prostrate, they could hardly be restrained from breaking their pact and abandoning its terms, to rush at the Gauls. But Arthur sprang to his feet and, with his shield held before him, ran at the oncoming Frollo. While both were raining blows upon each other, Frollo found an opening and struck Arthur on the forehead – which might have proved fatal, had his helmet not deflected the blade. When Arthur saw his leather cuirass and his shield were red with blood, he was roused to even greater anger and he raised Caliburn with all his strength, brought it down through Frollo’s helmet, and cut his head in two. When this became known throughout the army, they opened the gates and surrendered the city to Arthur.53 After this duel, Arthur divided his army into two and entrusted one part to Duke Hoelus, to attack Guitardus, duke of Poitou, while with the other he was free to subdue many other provinces. Soon Hoelus entered Aquitaine and attacked the cities and, after several battles, forced Guitardus to surrender. He then ravaged Gascony with sword and fire and conquered it. After nine years had passed, with all the provinces of Gaul now subject to his power, Arthur returned to Paris and held court there and, before the assembled clergy and laymen, he affirmed the rule of peace and law in the kingdom. He gave Estrusia, which is now called Normandy, to his cupbearer Beduerus, the province of Anjou to his steward Kaius, and several other regions to noblemen who had served him. Finally, having secured peace for all the cities and their citizens, he returned to Britain, just as spring was beginning. The History of the Britons describes with what pomp and splendour Arthur planned to hold court in the city of Caerleon and celebrate the feast of Whitsun there. Then, after enumerating the kings and princes who had come to Arthur’s court at his invitation, the History adds: ‘In addition to these, there was no prince of any standing at all, this side of Spain, who did not respond to his invitation. For three days the feast was celebrated and, on the fourth, all those who had served the

53 

HRB, ix. 263–93.

62

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

obsequium ei praestabant, et singuli eorum possessionibus, ciuitatibus, castellis, archiepiscopatibus, episcopatibus, abatiis, ceterisque honoribus donantur.’54 Beatus igitur Dubricius in heremeticam uitam anhelans, sese ab archiepiscopi sede deposuit. In cuius loco sacratur Dauid auunculus regis, cuius uita exemplum totius bonitatis erat. In loco uero Sampsonis Dolonsis archipraesulis destinatur Thebas presbiter illustris Landauiae. Episcopatus uero Cirecestriae Mangeramo et Wintonae Duuiano decernitur. Decernitur quoque pontificalis infula Aldclud Eledemo. Dum haec itaque distribuerit allatae sunt ei litterae ex parte Lucii Hiberi, qui sub imperatore Leone rem publicam procurabat, in quibus ipse ab Arturo tributum a tempore Gaii Julii debitum reposcebat, et ipsi Arturo terminum praefigebat, quo Romam uenire, et senatui de iniuriis satisfacere deberet. Sin autem ipse partes Arturi adiret, et quicquid rei publicae eripuisset, eidem mediantibus gladiis restitueret. Quae ut in praesentia regum et consulum recitatae fuerunt, secessit Arturus cum eis tractaturus quae contra talia mandata responderet. Cumque ipse suam sententiam insinuasset, et de non reddendo Romanis, immo de repetendo ab eis tributo multa regulariter perorasset, ad ultimum orationem suam tali argumento confirmauit: ‘Nam si, quia Julius Caesar ceterique Romani reges Britanniam olim subiugauerunt, uectigal nunc deberi ex illa reddi decernit, similiter ego censeo quod Roma michi tributum dare debet. Belinus etenim, serenissimus ille rex Britonum, auxilio fratris sui, uidelicet Brennii, ducis Allogobreguma in medio foro .xxiiii. nobilioribus Romanis urbem ceperunt,55 captamque multis temporibus possederunt. Constantinus etiam Helenae filius, nec non et Maximus alter post alterum diademate Britanniae insignitus, thronum imperii Romani adeptus est. Censetisne ex Romanis uectigal petendum.’ Haec et hiis similia eo dicente assenserunt unanimiter omnes, et se cum copiis suis ad hoc perficiendum cum eo ituros promiserunt.56 Asserebant etiam ex uaticiniis Sibillae ex Britannico genere tertium nasciturum, qui Romanum optineret imperium. ‘De duobus iam impletum est oraculum, cum manifestum sit praeclaros principes Belinum atque Constantinum imperii Romani gessisse insignia. Nunc

  P, Allogobergum.

a

63

The History of Alfred of Beverley

king in expectation of some title were summoned and each of them was given an estate, a city, a castle, an archbishopric, a bishopric, an abbey or other honours.’54 The saintly Dubricius relinquished his position as archbishop, being eager to live as a hermit. In his place was consecrated David, the king’s uncle, whose life was an example of all the virtues. Archbishop Sampson of Dol was replaced by Thebas, a distinguished priest of Llandaff. Mangeramus was appointed bishop of Cirencester and Duvianus of Winchester. The episcopal mitre of Dumbarton was awarded to Eledemus. While Arthur was distributing these honours, a letter came from Lucius Hiberius, consul of the Emperor Leo, demanding payment from Arthur of the tribute owed since the time of Julius Caesar. It set a deadline by which Arthur should come to Rome and give satisfaction to the senate for these grievances. Otherwise, the consul would come to Arthur’s land and recover by force of arms what had been stolen from the republic. After the letter had been read out before the king and his earls, Arthur retired with them to consider how to respond to such demands. Then he expressed his opinion, repeatedly arguing that they should not give any tribute back to the Romans – on the contrary they should seek to reclaim it from them. Finally he backed up what he had said with the following argument: ‘If Lucius declares that Britain ought to pay him tribute because Julius Caesar and other Roman emperors once conquered us, then I likewise judge that Rome owes me tribute. Belinus, that most glorious king of the Britons, with the help of his brother, Brennius, duke of the Allobroges, once captured the city of Rome, with twenty-four of the noblest in the middle of the forum,55 and occupied it for a long time. Constantine, the son of Helena, and Maximus, who were crowned king of Britain, one after the other, both gained the throne of imperial Rome. Do you not think, then, that we should demand tribute of Rome?’ As Arthur expressed these and similar views, everyone agreed and undertook to go with him, together with their troops, to carry out this plan.56 They declared that, according to the Sibylline prophecies, three men born of British stock would become rulers of Rome. ‘The prophecy is already fulfilled in relation to two rulers,’ they said, ‘for it is clear that the renowned princes Belinus and Constantine have HRB, ix. 305–403. The lengthy description of Arthur’s Pentecostal celebrations at Caerleon is only briefly reported, with the author noting that what is reported, is given on the authority of the Historia Britonum. Matter omitted includes Arthur’s crown-wearing ceremony, the description of the architecture of Caerleon and its favourable comparison to that of Rome, the school of 200 scholars skilled in astronomy, the sciences and prophecy, the roll call of royal and princely attendees, the three supposed archbishops of Britain, and details of the three days of knightly games and festivities. 55  HRB, ix. 470. Earlier the report that 24 nobles were hanged in the Roman forum by Belinus and Brennius is retained. Here the author reports only that they were captured. 56  HRB, ix. 415–530. The episode of Lucius Hiberius’s letter and the reaction it caused is much abridged, with the speeches of Cador, duke of Cornwall, and Auguselus, king of Scotland, omitted and that of King Hoelus of Armorica largely so. 54 

63

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

uero,’ inquiunt, ‘tertium habemus, cui in culmen honoris promittitur. Festina ergo recipere, quod Deus non differt largiri.’ Ergo Arturus per eosdem legatos mandauit se nequaquam tributum redditurum, nec ob id, ut senatus sententiae adquiesceret, se Romam iturum, immo ut ex illis repeteret quod ipsi ab eo petere decreuerant. Abeuntibus itaque legatis, Arturus Modredo nepoti suo atque reginae Gunnouerae Britanniam ad conseruandum committens, dispositique necessariis ipse cum exercitu suo mare ad portum Hamonis intrauit, et mane in portu Barbefluuii applicuit.57 Ibi congregatis cunctis qui in eius auxilium uenerant, factus est exercitus ualde copiosus et fortis. Erat enim in exercitu suo Hoelus rex Armonicanorum Britonum cum .xx. milibus armatorum: Auguselus rex Albaniae cum duobus milibus armatorum militum, exceptis peditibus. Ipse Arturus ex sola insula Britanniae habebat .lx. milia militum omnibus armis armatorum, reges uero Hiberniae, Hislandiae, Gothlandiae, Orcadum, Norwegiae atque Daciae sexies .xx. milia. Ex Galliarum uero ducatibus Ruthenorum, Pontiuensium, Estruciensium, Cinomannorum, Andegauensium, Pictauensium .lxx.m. Ex duodecim consulatibus illorum, qui cum Gerino Carnotensi aderant, .m. et .cc. Quod inter totum fuit .c.lxxx.m. et .iii. m. praeter pedites. Nec segnius Lucius Hiberius ex iussu senatus Orientalibus edixit regibus, ut parato exercitu secum ad subiugandam Britanniam uenirent. Conuenerunt itaque Epistrophus rex Graecorum, Mustensar rex Affricanorum, Aliphantima rex Hispaniae, Hirranus rex Parthorum, Bocus rex Medorum, Sertorius rex Libiae, Serses rex Ituraeorum, Pandrasus rex Aegipti, Micipsa rex Babiloniae, Politetes dux Bitiniae, Teucer dux Frigiae, Euander dux Syriae, Ethion Boetiae, Ipolitus Cretae cum ducibus et proceribus sibi subtitis. Ex senatorio quoque ordine Lucius Catellus, Marius Lepidus, Gaius Metellus Cocta, Quintus Carutius,a tot etiam alii quod inter totum .xl. .m. et .lx. et .c. computati fuerunt.58 Tantis instructis copiis, uersus Britanniam Lucius iter arripuit. Cui obuiam Arturus pergens, Augustudunum usque progreditur. Vt autem ad Albam fluuium uenit, cum cognouisset Lucium castra non longe posuisse, et ipse super ripam fluminis castra metatus est.59 Praemisit autem

  R, P, Quintus Caructus.

a

64

The History of Alfred of Beverley

worn the crown of Rome. Now we have a third to whom this supreme honour is promised. Make haste, then, to receive what God is willing to bestow.’ And so Arthur sent a message through the Romans’ own envoys that he would never pay tribute, nor go to Rome so that he might submit to the senate’s sentence. Rather he would go to claim back from them what they had determined to demand from him. Then, as the envoys departed, Arthur entrusted the defence of Britain to his nephew Modred and Queen Guenhaura and, after making the necessary preparations, entered the port of Southampton by sea with his army and, in the morning, landed in the port of Harfleur.57 Everyone who had come to help Arthur gathered there and a very large and powerful army was formed. In this army were Hoelus, king of the Armorican Britons, with twenty thousand armed men, and Auguselus, king of Scotland, with two thousand armed soldiers, not counting the foot soldiers. Arthur himself had sixty thousand troops, armed with of all sorts of weapons, from the island of Britain alone. The kings of Ireland, Iceland, Gotland, the Orkneys, Norway, and Denmark had one hundred and twenty thousand troops. From the dukedoms of Gaul, namely Flanders, Ponthieu, Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Poitou, there were seventy thousand. From the twelve earldoms of the Gauls, there were present with Gerinus of Chartres, one thousand two hundred. In total, there was an army of one hundred and eighty-three thousand, not counting the infantry. Without delay, Lucius Hiberius, on the senate’s orders, commanded the kings of the east to prepare their forces and join him in subduing Britain. So there gathered together Epistrophus, king of the Greeks, Mustensar, king of the Africans, Aliphatima, king of Spain, Hirranus, king of the Parthians, Bohus, king of the Medes, Sertorius, king of Libya, Serses, king of the Itureans, Pandrasus, king of Egypt, Micipsa, king of Babylon, Politetes, duke of Bithynia, Teucer, duke of Phrygia, Evander, duke of Syria, Ethion of Boetia, and Ipolitus of Crete, along with the dukes and nobles subject to them. From the ranks of the senate, there came Lucius Catellus, Marius Lepidus, Gaius Metellus Cocta, Quintus Carutius, and so many others that they numbered in all forty thousand, one hundred and sixty.58 After assembling these huge forces, Lucius set out towards Britain. Arthur went forth to meet him and progressed as far as Autun. When he arrived at the River Aube and learned that Lucius was camped not far away, Arthur pitched his own camp on the river bank.59 He sent two men, HRB, x. 12–109. Fabulous and prophetic episodes here omitted include: Arthur’s dream and vision on the sea journey to Harfleur witnessing a fight between a dragon and a bear, which his companions interpret as foretelling his victory in battle over a giant; the account of the giant from Spain who abducts Helena, niece of King Hoelus, which Arthur himself thinks represented the impending war between himself and the emperor, and Arthur slaying the giant at the summit of St Michael’s Mount. 58  HRB, x. 10. Where the army numbers 460,100. 59  HRB, x. 111. 57 

64

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

duos, Bosonem de Vado Boum et Gerinum Carnotensem, Walwanum etiam nepotem suum qui Lucio dicerent, aquatinus ipse a finibus Galliae recedereta, aut postero die bellum experiretur. Quibus mandata ut explentibus, cum respondet Lucius se Galliis non recessurum, immo ad earum regimen accessurum, interfuit Gaius Quintilianus nepos eius, qui dicebat Britones magis iactantia atque minis habundare, quam audacia et probitate ualere. Iratus ilico Walwanus euaginato gladio irruit in eum, et capite eius amputato ad equos cum sociis regreditur. Insecuntur Romani partim pede, partim equis, et cum quidam eorum Gerinum attingere inceperit, reuersus ex inprouiso Gerinus lanceam per medium corpus eius direxit, et ipsum in terram strauit. Similiter et Boso alteri se insequenti lanceam infra gulam ingessit, et de equo deiecit. At Marcellus Quintilianum uindicare uolens, Walwano a tergo imminebat ut eum caperet; sed Walwanus conuersus galeam cum capite usque ad pectus gladio abscidit, praecepitque ei renuntiare Quintiliano in infernum Britones minis et iactantia habundare. Pugna incepta, acriter creuit. Nam Romani confluentes dum legatos prope quandam siluam persequerentur, confestim egrediuntur ex illa circiter .vi. m.Britonum, qui cognitare legatis in auxilium uenerunt, et Romanos subito inuadentes mox in fugam propellunt. Quod cum Petrecio senatori nuntiatum esset, decem milibus comitatus Romanis subueniens, coegit Britones ad siluam, ex qua egressi fuerant, recurrere. Quibus hoc modo cedentibus adest Hiderus filius Nun cum quinque milibus, et Britonibus subueniens Romanos resistere fecit. Restitunt etiam Romani quos Cocta more boni ducis nunc ad inuadendum sapienter docebat. Quod Boso comperiens, plures eorum quos audaciores nouerat secum assumens, et cuneos hostium audaci impetu penetrans, ad locum quo Petrecius pugnabat irrupit, et irruens eundem per collum amplectitur, et, sicut praemeditatus fuerat, cum illo in terram corruit.60 Concurrunt Romani ut Petrecium eripiant. Concurrunt et Britones ut Bosoni auxilientur. Fit itaque inter eos maxima caedes. Tandem praeualuerunt Britones, et caesis Romanis redeuntes ad regem Petrecium et Coctam, et ceteros captiuos regi Arturo cum laeticia uictoriae obtulerunt. Quibus ille congratulans, quoniam eo absente tantam probitatem egerant, captiuos in crastinum Parisius duci praecepit, et illis conducendis Cadorem ducem, et Beduerum pincernam, necnon et duos consules Borellum et Richerium praefecit.

  P, added in right-hand margin.

a–a

65

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Boso of Oxford and Gerinus of Chartres, together with his nephew Gawain, to tell Lucius he should either withdraw from the boundaries of Gaul or face war the next day. They carried out their orders, but Lucius replied that he was not going to withdraw from Gaul, indeed he was going to take control of the country. His nephew, Gaius Quintilianus, who was present, kept saying that the Britons were better at boasts and threats, than at proving their courage and honesty. Driven to anger, Gawain instantly drew his sword, rushed at Gaius, and cut off his head. Then he returned with his companions to their horses. The Romans pursued them, some on horses, some on foot, and, just as one of the Romans was about to catch Gerinus, he suddenly turned, thrust his lance through the middle of his pursuer’s body, and laid him out on the ground. Boso too, thrust his lance into the throat of another pursuer, unseating him from his horse. Then Marcellus, wanting to avenge Quintilianus, was closing on Gawain from the rear to grab him, but Gawain swung around and with his sword cut through his helmet and his head, right down to his chest. He told Marcellus to report to Quintilianus in hell that this was how the Britons made good their boasts and threats. Once the fight had started, it grew ever more bitter. The Romans, chasing the envoys, were gathered together near a wood when there suddenly emerged from it about six thousand Britons, who had learned of the legates’ plight and had come to help them. They immediately attacked the Romans and soon routed them. When this was made known to the senator Petrecius he came with ten thousand men to help the Romans and forced the Britons to turn back into the wood from which they had come. As they were retreating in this way, Hiderus, the son of Nun, came to the assistance of the Britons with five thousand soldiers and made them stand up to the Romans. The Romans also stood their ground and Cocta, skilful commander as he was, was now wisely advising them to attack. When Boso realized this, he selected several men whom he knew to be braver than the rest, and, breaking through the enemy battalions in a bold assault, reached the spot where Petrecius was fighting. Rushing upon Petrecius, Boso grabbed him around the neck and brought him to the ground, as he had planned.60 The Romans rushed to rescue Petrecius. The Britons rushed to help Boso. There was tremendous bloodshed on both sides. Finally, the Romans were cut down and the Britons won the day. Returning to the king, overjoyed by victory, they presented Petrecius and Cocta and other captives to Arthur. He congratulated his commanders, because they had acted so valiantly in his absence. He ordered the captives to be taken to Paris the next day, and put Duke Cador, Beduerus the cupbearer, and the two earls Borellus and Richerius, in charge of escorting them there. 60 

HRB, x. 145–75.

65

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Quod Romani cognoscentes iubente imperatore elegerunt .xv.m. suorum, qui nocte illa iter eorum praecederent, et suos liberare satagerent. Ipsis quoque a praefecerunt Witherium Catellum, et Quintum Carutium senatores, Euuandrum quoquea regem Siriae, et Sertorium regem Libiae. Mane itaque facto Britonibus uiam cum captiuis ineuntibus, Romani ex inprouiso ipsos, nichil tale praemeditatos, occupauerunt, et penetrauerunt. Illi tamen tandem resociati, se in duo agmina diuiserunt, et uni agmini, quod ad seruandum captiuos statuerant, Richerium et Beduerum praefecerunt. Alteri uero agmini, quod ad resistendum statuerant, Cadorem et Borellum praeposuerunt. Itaque cum alii captiuos ducerent, alii pro conducentibus pugnarent, Britones ualde debilitati captiuos amisissent, nisi Guithtardus dux Pictauensium eis cum [tribus]b milibus subuenisset.61 Cuius freti auxilio Britones tandem praeualuerunt, et stragem magnam Romanis intulerunt. Amiserunt tamen inclitum illum Cenomannorum consulem Borellum, qui cumc Euandro rege Siriae congrediens, lancea ipsius infra gulam infixus uitam cum sanguine eructauit. Amiserunt etiam .iiii. nobiles proceres, Hirelgas de Perirum, Mauricium de Cadorcadensem, Aliduc de Tintagol, Her filium Hideri. Ex parte uero Romanorum ceciderunt Witherius Catellus, et Euuander rex Siriae; ceteri dissipati campum reliquerunt. Habita igitur uictoria,d captiui Parisius sunt adducti, et Britones cum aliis, quos in hoc congressu ceperant, ad regem suum repedantes, spem summae uictoriae promittebant, cum tam pauci de tot hostibus triumphassent. Lucius autem Hiberius post tales casus haesitans utrum proelia cum Arturo committeret, an infra Augustud[unu]m se recipiens auxilium Leonis imperatoris expectaret, tandem nocte sequente praedictam ciuitatem adire uoluit. Quod cum Arturo compertum esset, eadem nocte uallem, quam Lucius transiturus erat, ingrediens,62 comilitones suos per cateruas disposuit, et in unaquaque caterua .v.m.lv. uiros collocauit.63 Quarum uni Auguselus Rex Albaniae et Cador dux Cornubiae, alter in dextro cornu alter in sinistro praeficiuntur. Alii uero duo insignes consules Gerinus Carnotensis et Boso de Vado Boum.64 Tertiae uero turmae Aschillus rex Dacorum et Loth rex Norwegensium. Quartae Hoelus dux Armonicanorum Britonum atque Walwanus nepos regis. Post has quatuor aliae

  P, added in left-hand margin.   R, P, omit tribus. c   P, omits cum. d   P, omits Victoria. a–a b

66

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The Romans learned of this plan and, on the emperor’s orders, chose fifteen thousand men to overtake the British party that night and make every effort to free their countrymen. In command they placed the senators Witherius Catellus and Quintus Carutius, and Kings Evander of Syria and Sertorius of Libya. The next morning, as the Britons were setting out with their captives, the Romans suddenly attacked and broke into their unsuspecting ranks. The Britons, however, regrouped and divided into two columns. One column, which had been instructed to keep the captives safe, was led by Richerius and Beduerus. The other, which had been told to engage the enemy, was commanded by Cador and Borellus. Thus, with some troops escorting the prisoners and the others fighting on behalf of their comrades, the Britons were greatly weakened and they would have lost the captives if Guitardus, duke of the Poitevins, had not come to their aid with three thousand soldiers.61 Thanks to his help, the Britons at last prevailed and they caused great havoc amongst the Romans. The Britons, however, lost Borellus, the renowned earl of Le Mans, who, when charging Evander king of Syria, was wounded in his throat by his own lance and choked to death on his own blood. They also lost four distinguished noblemen: Hirelgas of Perirum, Maurice of Cadorcan, Aliduc of Tintagol, and Er, son of Hider. On the Roman side fell Witherius Catellus and Evander, king of Syria. Those that were left scattered and fled the field. Following this victory, the captives were taken to Paris and the Britons, with the prisoners they had captured in this latest battle, returned to the king, promising that complete victory was at hand, since with so few they had triumphed over so many enemies After these setbacks Lucius Hiberius could not make up his mind whether to engage Arthur in battle or to retreat to Autun and await help from the emperor Leo. But finally, the following night, he decided to enter that city. When Arthur discovered this, that very night he marched into a valley which Lucius would have to pass through.62 He deployed his troops into groups and, in each group, put five thousand and fifty-five men.63 Of these, one was commanded by Auguselus, king of Scotland, and Cador, duke of Cornwall, one on the right wing and the other on the left. Another group was led by two noble earls, Gerinus of Chartres and Boso of Oxford.64 The third was led by Aschil, king of the Danes, and Loth, king of Norway, and the fourth by Hoelus, duke of the Britons of Armorica, and Gawain, the king’s nephew. Behind these first four formations were drawn up four more. HRB, x. 198–219. The valley of Siesia. For GM’s indebtedness to Latin epic poetry in the detailed description of this battle see Tatlock, Legendary History, pp. 341–43. 63  HRB, x. 247, where the group number is 5,555. 64  HRB, x. 255. As earlier with Lincoln, GM has noted Oxford’s original British name, Ridichen, ‘Which in the Saxon tongue is called Oxford’. The author again, omits. 61  62 

66

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

quatuor a dorso statutae sunt, quarum uni praeponuntur Caius dapiser et Beduerus pincerna, alii autem Holdinus dux Ruthenorum et Guitardus dux Pictauensium. Tertiae Ingenis de Legecestria, et Ionatal Dorocestrenis, et Cursalem de Caicestria. Quartae uero Vrbgenius de Badone. Ipse quoque post elegit sibi et legioni suae locum quendam quo aureum draconem infixit, quem pro uexillo habebat, ubi uulnerati et fatigati quasi ad castra diffugerent. Erant autem in legione illa .vi.m. et .vi. centi, et .lxvi.65 At Lucius Hiberius comperiens insidias quae ei parabantur, noluit, ut affectarat, diffugere, sed resumpta audacia Britones in eandem uallem, ubi Arturus acateruas suas statuerat,66 aditurusa, duces suos conuocauit, et exercitum suum in .xii. agmina disposuit, quae Romano more ad modum cunei ordinata .vi.m. militum cum sexcentis et .lxvi. continebant, et uni agmini praefecit Lucium Catellum et Alifantimamb regem Hispaniae, alteri uero Hirranum regem Parthorum et Marium Lepidum senatorem. Tertio Bocum regem Medorum et Gaium Metellum senatorem. Quarto Sertorium regem Libiae et Quintum Metellum senatorem. Haec quatuor agmina in prima acie statuit et post ipsa alia quatuor a dorso, quorum uni Sersem regem Ituraeorum praeposuit, alii uero Pandrasum regem Aegipti, tertio Politetem ducem Frigiae, quarto Teurum ducem Bitunae. Post haec quoque alia quatuor, et cuidam eorum dederunt Quintum Carutium senatorem, alii autem Laelium Hostiensem, tertio Sulpicium Subucum, quarto Mauricium Siluanum. Ipse autem inter eos nunc hac nunc illac incedebat, suggerendo qualiter sese haberent. In medio autem auream aquilam, quam pro uexillo duxerat, firmiter poni iussit, et quoscunque casus segregasset monuit ut ad eam reuerterentur. Sic dispositis utrimque cateruis, et principum suorum sermonibus animatis, audito classicorum sonitu agmen illud, cui Aliphantima rex Hispaniae et Lucius Catellus praeerant, in aliam cateruam, quam rex Scotiae et dux Cornubiae ducebant, audenter irruit, sed illam nequaquam segregare potuit. Occurrit enim eis caterua quam Gerinus et Boso ducebant, et penetrata illa obuiauit agmini regis Parthorum contra turmam Aschilli regis Dacorum. Concurrentibus undique cateruis, et sese mutuo penetrantibus, fit miseranda caedes, sed prius dampnum Britonibus illatum est. Nam dum Beduerus Boho regi Medorum obuiaret, lancea eiusdem confossus, inter hostiles cateruas peremptus periit; Kaiusc autem dapifer

  P, omitted.   R, earlier spelled Aliphatima. c   R, P, earlier Caius. a–a b

67

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The first of these was led by Kaius the steward and Beduerus the cupbearer and the second by dukes Holdinus of the Flemings and Guitardus of Poitou. The third was led by Ingenis of Leicester, Ionathal of Dorchester, and Cursalem of Chester, and the fourth by Urbgenius of Bath. Behind all these, the king chose a position for himself and his legion, where he planted the golden dragon which he bore as his standard. Here the wounded and exhausted could withdraw, as if to a fortress. In this legion there were six thousand, six hundred and sixty-six men.65 Lucius Hiberius, discovering the trap which was being set for him, abandoned his plan to flee and summoned the courage to attack the Britons in that very valley where Arthur had stationed his forces.66 He assembled his generals and divided his army into twelve lines, arranged in wedges in the Roman manner, each containing six thousand, six hundred and sixty-six men. The first line was commanded by Lucius Catellus and Aliphatima, king of Spain, the second by Hirranus, king of the Parthians, and the senator Marius Lepidus. The third was led by Bocus, king of the Medes, and the senator Gaius Metellus. The fourth was led by Sertorius, king of Libya, and the senator Quintus Metellus. These four units made up the first line. Behind them were another four. The first was led by Serses, king of the Ituri, the second by Pandrasus, king of Egypt, the third by Politetes, duke of Phrygia [recte Bithynia] and the fourth by Teucer, duke of Bithynia [recte Phrygia]. Behind these came another four legions. Command of the first was entrusted to Quintus Carucius, of the second to Laelius Hostiensis, of the third to Sulpicius Subucus, and of the fourth to Mauricius Silvanus. Lucius himself moved about among them, now here and now there, advising them on what they should do. He ordered that a golden eagle, which he had brought as a standard, should be set up firmly in the centre and that all those who by unlucky chance got separated from the rest, should use it as a rallying point. Each army was deployed as described and inspired by speeches from their leaders. Then, with a blast of trumpets, the column commanded by Aliphatima, king of Spain, and Lucius Catellus, charged boldly at the column led by the king of Scotland and the duke of Cornwall, but was unable to break through. The troops led by Gerinus and Boso resisted them and, after penetrating their column, attacked the forces of the king of the Parthians, who was engaging the troops of Aschillus, king of the Danes. The ranks of troops clashed with one another on every side and broke through each other’s lines and terrible slaughter ensued, with, at first, the Britons suffering heavy loss. For, as Beduerus charged Bohus, king of the Medes, he was run through by the other man’s lance and perished, cut down among the enemy lines. The steward Kaius tried to avenge him but was 65  66 

HRB, x. 269–90. Battlefield speech of Arthur omitted. HRB, x. 295–316. Battlefield speech of Lucius Hiberius omitted.

67

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

dum ipsum uindicare conaretur, infra Medorum turmas circumdatus, mortiferum uulnus recepit. Qui tamen more boni militis cum ala qua ducebat uiam aperiens, et dissipatis Medis sese infra suos integra caterua recepisset, nisia obuiasset agmini regis Libiae, cuius irruptio omnes quos ducebat disgregauit. Vtcumque tamen cum paucis retrocedens, cum corpore Bedueri ad aureum diffugit draconem.67 Hirelgas ergo, nepos Bedueri, ob mortem eius saeuiens, trecentos suorum associauit sibi, et per hostiles cateruas usque ad uexillum regis Medorum irrumpens, praedictum regem peremit, peremptumque ad socios deportauit, et iuxta corpus Bedueri omnino dilaniauit. Animati ergo Britones impetum in hostes fecerunt, maximamque stragem utrimque dederunt. Corruerunt enim in parte Romanorum, exceptis innumerabilibus aliis, Aliphantima rex Hispaniae, et Micipsa Babilonensis, et Marius Lepidus, et Quintus Miluiusb senatores. Corruerunt etiam in parte Britonum Holdinus rex Ruthenorum68 et Leodagarius Bonomensis. Tres etiam consules Britanniae Cursalem Caicestrensis, et Gualauc Saresbiriensis, et Vrbgenius de Badone. Vnde turmae quas ducebant ualde debilitatae, retro cesserunt, donec uenerunt ad aciem Armoricanorum Britonum, quam Hoelus et Walwanus regebant. Qui reuocatis illis, qui retro cesserant, insequentes Romanos prosternunt et interficiunt, donec ad turmam imperatoris uenerunt. Qua uisa calamitate suorum, properat eis succursum parare. Inito itaque congressu, corruerunt ex Britonibus Chimarcocus consul Trigerrae, et cum eo .ii.o milia. Corruerunt tres etiam incliti proceres Rimarcus, Boloconius, et Lagumus de Bodloano. Hoelus igitur et Walwanus quibus meliores praeterita saecula non genuerant, comperta strage suorum acriter institerunt, et unus in una parte et alter in altera cuneum imperatoris infestabant. At Walwanus semper uirtute exaestuans nitebatur congredi cum Lucio, et cum aditum inuenisset, irruit in eum. At Lucius prima iuuentute florens, mire laetabatur et gloriabatur congredi cum eo, quod tantam de eo famam audierat. Commissoque diutius inter se proelio, Romani imperatori suo subuenientes, impetum in Armoricanos fecerunt, et Hoelum et Walwanum retro pepulerunt, donec obuiam Arturo et eius agmini uenerunt. Audita etenim

  P, ubi.   R, P, earlier Quintus Metellus.

a

b

68

The History of Alfred of Beverley

surrounded by hordes of Medes and mortally wounded. Like the brave soldier that he was, Kaius would have cut a way through with the force he was leading, scattered the Medes and safely extracted himself and his comrades, had he not encountered the king of Libya’s column, which attacked and scattered his troops. Instead, he retreated with a few men and, with Beduerus’s body, sought refuge at Arthur’s golden dragon.67 Then Hirelgas, Beduerus’s nephew, enraged by his death, collected three hundred of his men, charged through the enemy ranks to the standard of the king of the Medes, and killed the king. He brought back the corpse to his own troops, laid it beside the body of Beduerus, and hacked it to pieces. The Britons’ spirits were roused by this and they charged the enemy and inflicted terrible slaughter on all sides. The Romans lost Aliphatima, king of Spain, and Micipsa of Babylon, and the senators Marius Lepidus and Quintus Milvius, as well as countless others. On the Britons’ side, there fell Holdinus, king of Flanders,68 Leodagarius of Boulogne, and three British earls: Cursalem of Chester, Gualauc of Salisbury, and Urbgenius of Bath. The troops these men had commanded were greatly weakened and fell back until they reached the lines of the Britons of Armorica, led by Hoelus and Gawain. They rallied their retreating soldiers and pursued the Romans, striking them down and killing them, until they reached the emperor’s troops. When he saw the plight of his men, the emperor hurried forward to rescue them. In the battle which now followed, there fell, on the side of the Britons, Chimarcocus, earl of Tréguier, and with him two thousand men. Three other famous leaders also killed were Rimarcus, Boloconius, and Lagumus of Bodloan. Then Hoelus and Gawain, men whose like had never before been born, on hearing of the deaths of their comrades, pressed forward fiercely. They attacked the emperor’s battalion, one on one side and one on the other. Gawain, always excelling in courage, was trying to fight Lucius himself and, when the opportunity arrived, he rushed upon him. Lucius, who was in the prime of his life, was full of joy and pride to be able to fight the man about whom he had heard so much. After the fight between them had been going on a long time, the Romans, coming to the aid of their emperor, charged at the Armoricans and drove Hoelus and Gawain back. But then they came face to face with Arthur and his column. On learning about the slaughter of his men, Arthur rushed up, and, with unsheathed HRB, x. 358–61. A short passage of lamentation, designed to heighten the dramatic effect of the great battle at Siesia between the Britons and the Romans, is omitted. The passage appears designed to appeal to both a Norman and an Angevin audience. The Normans lament the mangled body of their duke, Beduerus, and the Angevins tend sorrowfully to the mortally wounded Angevin count, Kaius. This episode might have been omitted on the grounds of brevity, but it is also consistent with the author’s practice of neutral reporting. 68  HRB, x. 379 where Holdinus is described, as elsewhere, as dux Rutenorum. 67 

68

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

suorum strage Arturus irruit, et abstracto Caliburno manua ualida et uoce celsa suos inanimabat, et hostes prosternebat.69 Duos reges Sertorium Libiae et Politetem Bithiniae abscisis capitibus ad Tartara direxit. Viso igitur rege suo in hunc modum decertare, Britones meliori audacia Romanos inuadunt, tantaque ui ab utraque parte pugnatur, ac si tunc primum recenter conuenirent. Hinc enim Arturus Britones, illinc Lucius Romanos monendo, circuiendo, praeclaras probitates et ipsi faciendo animabant. Fiebat itaque in utraque parte caedes abhorrenda. Postremo dum modo Britones, modo Romani praeualerent, ecce consul Claudiocestriae Moruidus cum una legione Romanos a dorso inuadit, penetrauit, dissipauit, magnamque stragem fecit. Tunc multa milia Romanorum conciderunt, tunc et Lucius imperator infra turmas occupatus, cuiusdam lancea confossus interiit, et Britones insistentes cum maximo labore uictores extiterunt. Habita denique uictoria Arturus corpora suorum ab hostium cadaueribus seperari, et regio more ad comprouinciales abbatias deferri, et honorifice sepeliri iussit. Beduerus pincerna ad Baiocas ciuitatem, quam proauus suus Beduerus aedificauerat, ab Estrusiensibus deportatur, et in cimiterio intra murum ad austrum honorifice sepelitur, Kaius autem dapiser ad Cham oppidum, quod ipse construxerat, grauiter uulneratus asportatur, ubi inter curandum defunctus est, in quodam nemore in coenobio heremitarum, ut decuit Andegauensium ducem, humatus est.70 Holdinus quoque dux Ruthenorum Flandrias delatus, in Teruana ciuitate sua sepultus est. Ceteri autem consules et proceres ad uicinas abbatias delati sunt. Hostes quoque suos praecepit indigenis sepelire, corpusque Lucii ad senatum deferre, mandans non debere aliud trbutum ex Britannia reddi. Post sequentem hiemem ciuitates Allogobrum subiugare uacauit. Adueniente uero aestate dum Romam petere affectaret, et montes transcendere incepisset, nuntiatum est ei, Modredum nepotem suum, cuius tutelae Britanniam commiserat diademate per tirannidem et proditione insignitum esse, reginamque Guenhaura,b iam uiolato iure priorum nuptiarum, sibi copulasse. Igitur Arturus, dilata inquietatione, quam Leoni imperatori affectauerat ingerere,71 dimisso Hoelo rege Armoricanorum cum exercitu Galliarum, ut partes illas pacificaret ipse cum insulanis tantummodo regibus Britanniam remeauit. Modredus uero Cheldricum, Saxonum ducem, propter auxilium in Germaniam direxerat, et ipse cum octingentis nauibus applicuerat. Quibus associatis cum Pictis, Scottis, et Hibernensibus factus est numerus exercitus .lxxx. M tam

  P, magnu.   R, P, Guennone.

a

b

69

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Caliburnus in his powerful hand, he encouraged his troops with loud cries, and struck down the enemy.69 He hacked off the heads of two kings, Sertorius of Libya and Politetes of Bithynia and dispatched them to hell. When the Britons saw their king fighting like this they charged at the Romans more boldly, and both parties fought as vigorously as if the battle had only just started. Here on the one side was Arthur with the Britons and there on the other was Lucius with the Romans, inspiring their men with their advice, by mingling with them, and by their own remarkable feats. The slaughter on both sides was appalling. At one moment it was the Britons, the next the Romans, who had the upper hand. Then, behold, Morvidus, earl of Gloucester, attacked the Romans from the rear with a legion, broke through their lines, and scattered them with tremendous slaughter. Many thousands of Romans fell. Then the emperor Lucius, trapped in the middle of his troops, was pierced by a lance and perished and the Britons, fighting on with supreme effort, emerged as the victors. When victory was finally won, Arthur ordered that the bodies of his men be separated from those of the enemy and, in regal fashion, taken to the abbeys of their own region for honourable burial. Beduerus, the cupbearer, was carried by the Normans to the city of Bayeux, which his forefather Beduerus had built, and buried there with honour, in a walled cemetery to the south. Kaius the steward was taken, gravely injured, to the town of Chinon, which he himself had built, but he died there while being cared for and was buried as befitted a duke of Anjou, in a certain grove within a convent of hermits.70 In the same way, Holdinus, duke of the Flemings, was carried to Flanders and laid to rest in his own city of Thérouanne. The remaining earls and nobles were carried to nearby abbeys. He ordered the local inhabitants to bury the bodies of his enemies and the body of Lucius was sent to the senate, with a message that no other tribute would be paid by Britain than this. After winter, Arthur devoted himself to conquering the cities of Burgundy. When summer came, he decided to march on Rome. But as he was making ready to cross over the mountains, he heard that his nephew Modred, in whose care he had left Britain, had treacherously usurped the crown and that Queen Guenhaura had broken her vows of marriage and had united with him. Arthur therefore put off the expedition he had planned to mount against the Emperor Leo.71 He sent Hoelus, king of the Armoricans, with the French army, to restore peace in their regions, while he himself returned to Britain with only the kings of the islands. Modred had sent Chelricus, the Saxon leader, to seek help in Germany and he had landed with eighty ships. These, together with the Picts, Scots HRB, x. 423–28. Battlefield speech of Arthur, omitted. HRB, x. 470. 71  HRB, xi. 5. GM’s self reference and to the Britannico sermone (‘British book’) – and to Walter of Oxford, omitted. 69  70 

69

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

paganorum quam Christianorum.72 Quorum auxilio fretus, Arturo in Rutupi Portu applicanti obuiauit,73 et commisso proelio maximam applicantibus stragem dedit. Auguselus etenim rex Albaniae et Walwanusa nepos regis cum innumerabilibus illo die corruerunt. Arturus tamen portum adeptus, Modredum et exercitum eius effugauit ingressumque Wintoniam obsedit. Regina autem Guenhaura confestim desperans, de Eboraco ad Vrbem Legionum diffugit, atque in templum Iulii martiris inter monachas caste uiuere promittens uitam suscepit. Videns uero Modredus se in arto positum, cum auunculo suo proeliari disposuit. Initoque certamine facta est utrimque caedes maxima, donec Modredus fugam iniit et uersus Cornubiam iter arripuit.74 Sed et illuc Arturus eum persecutus est. Porro Modredus, ut erat auda[c]issimus,b et semper ad inuadendum [celerrimus]c exercitum suum in .vi. turmas distribuens, in unaquaque posuit .vi. m. vi. centos, .lxvi. Praeterea secum unam turmam retinens, ceteris ductores distribuit. Arturus quoque exercitum suum per .ix. agmina diuisit pedestria cum dextro et sinistro cornu quadrata, unicuique praesidibus commissis. Itaque subito concurrunt acies, et fit utrimque caedes execranda, et morientium gemitus. Irruit tandem Arturus cum sex milibus .vi. c. et .lxvi. et uiam gladiis aperiens, turmam Modredi penetrauit, ceciditque Modredus et multa milia secum, sed et omnes fere duces utriusque exercitus. Corruerunt ex parte Mordredi Chelricus,d Elafius, Egbrictus, Bruingerus, Saxones; Gillopatric, Gillamor, Gillasel, Gillarum, Hibernenses; Scotti, et Picti cum omnibus fere suis. Ex parte autem Arturi, Obrictus rex Norwegiae, Achillus rex Daciae, Cador Luueniae, Cassibellaunus cum multis milibus. Sed et inclitus ille rex Arturus uulneratus est.75 Qui illinc ad sananda uulnera sua in insulam Auallonis euectus, Constantino cognato suo, filio Cadoris ducis Cornubiae, diadema Britanniae concessit, anno ab incarnatione Domini Nostri Ihesu Christi quingentesimo. xlii.76 Contra hunc Constantinum insurrexerunt duo filii Modredi, sed post plurima bella diffugerunt. Quos ille insecutus, alterum Wintoniae in ecclesia Amphibali ante

  R, Walwainus with punctus under I. P, Walwainus.   R, P, audadissimus. c   R, P, scelerimus. d   R, P, Cheldricus. a

b

70

The History of Alfred of Beverley

and Irish, made up an army of eighty thousand men – as many of them pagan as well as Christian.72 Supported by these forces, Modred opposed Arthur’s landing at Richborough73 and, once battle started, he inflicted great damage on those trying to come ashore. Auguselus, the king of Scotland, and Gawain, the king’s nephew, together with countless others, fell that day. Arthur nevertheless captured the port and drove Modred and his army out and into Winchester, where he besieged them. Queen Guenhaura quickly gave way to despair and fled from York to Caerleon where, in the church of Julius the Martyr, she took the veil, to live there in chastity among the nuns. Modred, however, seeing that he was trapped, decided to confront his uncle in battle. The fight began and there was great slaughter on both sides, until Modred took flight and hastened to Cornwall.74 But Arthur followed him there. Modred, however, who was the boldest of men and always very quick to attack, mustered his army into six divisions, in each of which he placed six thousand, six hundred and sixty-six men. He kept one of these divisions back under his own command and the rest he assigned to other leaders. Arthur also marshalled his army, dividing it into nine divisions of infantry, each with a right and a left wing formed into squares, and to each he appointed a commander. Then suddenly the two lines charged at each other and everywhere there was terrible slaughter and the sounds of groans from dying men. At last, Arthur charged with six thousand, six hundred and sixtysix men and, using their swords to open up a way, they burst through Modred’s forces. Modred fell, and many thousands with him and nearly all the commanders on either side were also killed. On Modred’s side fell the Saxons Chelricus, Elafius, Egbrictus, Bruingerus; the Irishmen Gillopatric, Gillamor, Gillasel, Gillarum, and the Scots and Picts, with nearly all their men. On Arthur’s side there died Obrictus, king of Norway, Achillus, king of Denmark, Cador Luvenus, and Cassibellaunus, with many thousands of men. Arthur, that illustrious king, was also wounded.75 He was carried away from that place to the island of Avalon to have his wounds tended and he handed over the crown of Britain to his kinsman Constantine, the son of Cador, duke of Cornwall. This was in the year of Our Lord Jesus Christ 542.76 The two sons of Modred rose up against Constantine but, after many battles, they fled. Constantine followed, however, and butchered one in front of the altar of HRB, xi. 13–15. Modred’s promise to Chelricus that he could have all of Britain north of the Humber and as much land in Kent as Hengest and Horsa had possessed in Vortigern’s day, for his support, omitted. 73  The harbour of Richborough, near Sandwich in Kent, was a regular port of embarkation to the continent in Roman times and was a principal landing site for the Claudian expeditionary force in AD 43, Sawley, Roman Britain, pp. 26, 83. 74  The location of the battle in Cornwall at the river Camblan, omitted. 75  HRB, xi. 81. The ambiguous account of a mortally wounded Arthur – letaliter uulneratus est – taken to Avalon to have his wounds tended, is rendered less ambiguous by the omission of the word letaliter. 76  HRB, xi. 83–84. Only the third fixed date given in the HRB. 72 

70

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

altare, alterum Lundoniis in quorundam fratrum coenobio, iuxta altare trucidauit. Exinde tertio anno interfectus est a Conano, et iuxta Vther Pendragon iuxta Saresberiam in Stanenheng est sepultus. Hiis diebus defunctus est sanctus Daniel Bangornensis episcopus, et Theonus Gloucestrensis episcopus in archiepiscopum Lundoniarum erigitur. Tunc obiit sanctissimus Vrbis Legionum archiepiscopus Dauid, et pro eo promouetur Kinocus Lampaternis antistes.77 Post Constantinium regnauit Aurelius Conanus duobus annis.78 Post Conanum Wortiporius, in quem Saxones ex Germania maximum nauigium conduxerunt, sed eis deuictis, ipse monarchiam regni adeptus, quatuor annis pacifice regnauit.79 Successit Wortiporio Malgo pulcher et tirannorum depulsor, robustus armis, largior ceteris et multa probitate clarus, nisi sodomitica peste esset maculatus. Hic etiam Hiberniam, Islandiam, Gothlandiam, Orcades, Norwegiam, Daciam, dirissimis proeliis suae potestati adiecit. Malgoni successit Kareticus,a bamator civilium bellorumb invisus Deo et Britonibus. Cuius inconstantiam comperientes Saxones, iuerunt propter Gormundum regem Affricanorumc in Hiberniam quam sibi subiugauerat. Itaque cum centumd .lx. milibus Affricanorum Britanniam petiit, initoque foedere cum saxonibus oppugnauit Kareticum, et de ciuitate in ciuitatem fugauit, donec eum in Cirecestriam obsedit, ubi Isembardus, enepos Lodowici regis Francorume uenit ad eum et cum eo foedus iniit, et Christianitatem suam pro eius amore tali pacto deseruit, ut auxilio suo regnum Galliae recuperaret, a quo per auunculum suum iniuste, ut aiebat, fuerat expulsus. Capta tandem et succensa praedicta urbe, commisit proelium cum Karetico, et fugauit eum ultra Sabrinam in Wallias.f Mox depopulans agros ignem cumulauit, et ciuitates combussit, qui non quieuit accensus, donec cunctam superficiem terrae a mari usque ad mare exussit, ita ut cunctae coloniae cum colonis, ecclesiae cum sacerdotibus, mucronibus undique micantibus, ac flammis crepitantibus simul humi sternerentur. Postquam autem infaustus tirannus totam fere insulam uastauit, maiorem partem eius, id est Loegriam, praebuitg Saxonibus. Secesserunt itaque miserae Britonum reliquiae in occidentalibus regni partibus, Cornubia uidelicet et Walliis.h

  R, P, Caresius. C resumes common text with R, P.   R, P, omitted. c   C, adds ‘sed ut cronicae Hiberniae dicunt regem Norwagiae pergentem per mare versus Hyberniam ut subiugaret eam’. d   R, P, omit centum. e–e   R, P, omitted. f   R, P, Guallias. g   C, concessit. h   R, P, Gualliis. a

b–b

71

The History of Alfred of Beverley

the church of Amphibalus of Winchester and the other in London, in the monastery of certain brothers, beside the altar. Three years later, Constantine was killed by Conanus and was buried by the side of Uther Pendragon in Stonehenge, near Salisbury. At that time, the most holy Daniel, bishop of Bangor, died and Theonus, bishop of Gloucester, was promoted to be archbishop of London. Also, the most holy David, archbishop of Caerleon, died and Kinocus, bishop of Llanbadarn, was raised to take his place.77 After Constantine, Aurelius Conanus reigned for two years.78 After Conanus came Vortiporius. The Saxons led a huge fleet from Germany against him, but he defeated them, became monarch of the kingdom, and reigned peacefully for four years.79 Vortiporius was succeeded by Malgo. He was a handsome man who expelled the scourge of tyrants, a mighty warrior, more generous than the rest, and would have had a reputation for excellence, had he not been tainted by the vice of sodomy. He even, through fierce battles, subjected to his rule Ireland, Iceland, Gotland, The Orkneys, Norway, and Denmark. Malgo was succeeded by Kareticus, lover of civil war and hateful to God and to the Britons. The Saxons, discovering his inconstant nature, went to find Gormundus, king of the Africans, in Ireland, which he had subjected to his rule. And so, with one hundred and sixty thousand African soldiers, Gormundus attacked Britain, and allied with the Saxons, fought against Kareticus, whom he forced to flee from city to city as far as Cirencester, where he besieged him. There Isembardus came to Gormundus and made a treaty with him, under which he renounced his Christian faith in exchange for Gormundus’s friendship, on the condition that Gormundus would help him recover the kingdom of Gaul from his uncle, by whom, he alleged, he had been unjustly expelled. Eventually Cirencester was captured and set on fire. Then Gormundus engaged Kareticus in battle and chased him over the Severn into Wales. Next, he ravaged the fields, piled up fires and reduced the cities to ash. He gave free rein to his fury until he had burned all the land from one sea to another, and all the settlements with their inhabitants, and the churches with their priests were razed to the ground, as swords flashed and flames crackled on every side. Once the wretched tyrant Gormundus had destroyed most of the island, he handed over the greater part of it, that is, Loegria, to the Saxons. The unhappy Britons who remained sought refuge in the western parts of the kingdom, that HRB, xi. 90. The notice that David, archbishop of Caerleon, died and was buried in the abbey of the city of Menevia because he loved it more than all other monasteries, as it had been founded by St Patrick, ‘who had foretold David’s birth’, omitted. 78  HRB, xi. 109. Aurelius Conanus dies in his third year. 79  HRB, xi. 111–14. No regnal years are given for the reign of Vortiporius. 77 

71

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Tunc archipraesules Theonus Londoniensis et Thadioceus Eboracensis cum omnes ecclesias sibi subditas usque ad humum destructas uidissent, cum reliquiis sanctorum in Wallias ad tutamina nemorum fugerunt. Plures etiam Armoricanam Britanniam nauigio petierunt, ita ut tota ecclesia duarum prouinciarum, Loegriae uidelicet et Northumbriae, a conuentibus suis desolarentur. Haec secundum Britannicum.a Legamus Historiam Anglorum, et uideamus si huic Britannici regni desolationi possit aptari, quod referente Beda scribitur ibi: ‘Accensus’ inquid, ‘paganorum manibus ignis, iustas de sceleribus populi Dei ultiones expetiit non illius impar, qui quondam a Caldaeis succensus, Ierosolimorum moenia, immo aedificia cuncta consumpsit. Sic enim et hic agente impio uictore, immo disponente iusto iudice proximas quasque ciuitates agrosque depopulans, ab orientali mari usque ad occidentale nullo prohibente suum continuauit incendium, totamque prope insulae pereuntis superficiem obtexit. Ruebant aedificia publica simul et priuata, passim sacerdotes inter altaria trucidabantur, praesules cum populis sine ullo respectu honoris ferro pariter et flammis absumebantur, nec erat qui crudeliter interemptos sepulturae traderet. Itaque nonnulli de miserandis reliquiis in montibus comprehensi aceruatim iugulabantur. Alii fame confecti procedentes, manus hostibus dabant pro alimentis aeternum subituri seruitium. Si tamen non continuo trucidarentur, alii transmarinas regiones petebant, alii perstantes in patria trepidi pauperem uitam in montibus, siluis, uel rupibus arduis suspecta semper mente agebant.’80 Haec Beda. Amiserunt itaque regni diadema Britones et insulae monarchiam, nec pristinam dignitatem deinceps recuperare potuerunt.81 Quin etiam degenerati a Britannica nobilitate, iam non uocabantur Britones sed Gualenses, siue a Gualaes regina siue a barbarie uocabulum trahentes.82 Ipsis etiam antea ciuili discordia dissidentibus, et consuetudinario discidio sese destruentibus, orta est per insulam illa dirissima et famosissima fames, de qua et Beda in sua meminit historia, quae, excepto uenatoriae artis solatio, totius cibi sustentaculo quamque prouinciam uacuauit.83 Quam secuta est grauissima mortalitas, quae in breui tantam populi

  C, addition in later hand: scilicet Galfridum.

a

72

The History of Alfred of Beverley

is in Wales and Cornwall. When the two archbishops, Theonus of London, and Thadioceus of York, saw that all their churches were razed to the ground, they fled, with the relics of their saints, to the shelter of the forests of Wales. Many priests fled by ship to Armorican Britain, with the result that the whole church in the two provinces of Loegria and Northumbria lost all its congregations. This is according to Britannicus. Let us read the History of the English to see if it is possible to match this account of the desolation of the kingdom of Britain with what Bede writes in that book, as follows: ‘The fire kindled by the hands of the heathen executed God’s just vengeance on the nation for its crimes. It was not unlike the fire once kindled by the Chaldeans, which consumed the walls, and indeed all the buildings, of Jerusalem. So too, here in Britain, the just judge, through the agency of a heathen conqueror, decreed that his fire should ravage all the neighbouring cities and countryside and range on, with no-one to impede it, from the eastern to the western sea, until it covered almost the whole face of the doomed island. Public and private buildings alike fell in ruins, priests were everywhere slaughtered at their altars, prelates along with common people perished by sword and fire, regardless of rank, and there was no-one left to bury those whose lives had been cruelly cut off. Some of the miserable survivors were captured in the mountains and slain indiscriminately. Others, exhausted by hunger, came forward and submitted to the enemy, ready to accept perpetual slavery for the sake of food. If they were not butchered on the spot, some fled to the lands beyond the sea, while others, who remained in their own land, led lives of fear and poverty among the mountains and woods and precipitous rocks, their minds always full of dread.’80 This is according to Bede. Thus, the Britons lost the royal crown and monarchy of the island and from that moment they were unable to recover this original dignity.81 As they were unworthy successors of the noble Britons, they were no longer called Britons but Welsh, taking that name from Queen Galaes, or from their state of barbarity.82 The inhabitants had long been sinking into civil discord and were now tearing each other apart in constant disputes. Then there arose throughout the island that most terrible and notorious famine which Bede recalls in his history. It stripped every province of all food and sustenance, except for what hunters’ skills could provide.83 What followed was a period of very high mortality, during which so many people HE, i. 15. HRB, xi. 170–71. 82  HRB, xi. 592–94. 83  HRB, xi. 523–24. The words excepto uenatoriae artis solatio are borrowed from GM rather than from HE, i. 12, where Bede uses a similar phrase (drawn from Gildas DEB, 19. 4). The author interweaves material from both HE (Book i, chps 12–16) and HRB to bring his account of the rule of the British kings to a conclusion. 80  81 

72

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

multitudinem strauit, ut sepeliendis mortuis uiui non sufficerent.84 Et quoniam interminabili aduersus Saxones inuidia ferebantur et odio, in nullo eis siue Anglis magis quam canibus communicare uolebant,85 cum tamen ipsi, sicut Gildas et Beda testantur, omnibus humanae naturae uiciis subiacerent.86 Siquidem ipsos semper ob insolentiam morum luxuria et omnium lues scelerum comitabantur, crudelitas praecipue et odium ueritatis, amorque mendacii. Si quis uero eorum mitior et ueritati aliquatenus proprior uideretur, in hunc quasi Britanniae subuersorem omnium odia telaque torquebantur.87 Et hoc non solum seculares uiri, sed etiam ipse grex Domini, eiusque pastores agebant, ebrietati, animositati, litigio, contentioni, inuidiae, ceterisque huiusmodi facinoribus colla subdentes.88 Volebat igitur Deus uindictam ex ipsis sumere externumque populum, scilicet Anglorum,a permisit eis superuenire, qui eos et a patriis agris et natali solo exterminarent,89 et ipsi inter se humanius uictitarent, et tandem suscepta eius fide sincerius sibi seruirent. Ipsi enim sapientius agentes pacem et concordiam inter se habentes, agros colentes, ciuitates et oppida reaedificantes,90 conuocatis adhuc de Germania numerosioribus sociis copiosissime, sicut de filiis Israelis scriptum est, creuerunt, et quasi germinantes multiplicati ac corroborati nimis impleuerunt terram.91 bAb illo igitur tempore abiecto dominio Britonum, ipsos infra Wallias artare. Proprios de seipsis reges inceperunt, nam et si aliquos postea Britones reges fortissimos habuerunt, prudentia tunc et potestas ad Saxones diuertit et Anglos et iam non uocabantur reges Britonum sed Walerumb. Quintus, id est, ultimus Britannici regni statusc dsub .xii. cucurrit regibus, de quibus non parua paruitatem meam meditatio uexat, quid causae extiterit, quod de inclito rege Arturo nichil Romana, nichil Anglorum historia meminerit, cum tamen

  R, P, omit scilicet Anglorum.   R, P, et proprios Ipsos reges habere coeperunt. c   C, hic accipit finem. d–d   C, omitted. a

b–b

73

The History of Alfred of Beverley

had been quickly struck down that there were not enough living to bury the dead.84 And, because the Britons were possessed by such perpetual loathing and hatred towards the Saxons, they would no more communicate with them, or the Angles, than they would with dogs.85 Yet they themselves remained subject, according to Gildas and Bede, to all the vices of human nature.86 Because of their profligate way of life, they went along with extravagance and with the scourge of every kind of crime – in particular, cruelty and hatred of the truth and love of lying. Indeed, if anyone appeared to be more kindly and in some way more truthful than other people, they would hurl hatred and missiles upon him, as if he were a destroyer of all things British.87 Not only were laymen guilty of these offences, but even the Lord’s own flock and their pastors. They thrust their necks under the burden of drunkenness, hatred, quarrelling, strife, envy, and other similar crimes.88 It was therefore God’s will to take vengeance upon them and to allow them to be overcome by a foreign nation, that is the English, who would drive the Britons out from their ancestral estates and native soil.89 These people would themselves live in a more civilised manner and, having eventually adopted the Christian religion, would serve Him more faithfully. They behaved with greater wisdom, maintaining mutual peace and harmony, tilling the fields, and rebuilding the cities and towns.90 Furthermore, after calling very many of their companions over from Germany, they were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly mighty and filled the land, as it is written of the children of Israel.91 From that time, therefore, the rule of the Britons ended and the Saxons and Angles began to confine them to Wales. They began to have their own kings and if later there were some strong British kings, wisdom and power from that time passed to the Saxons and English, and they were no longer called kings of the Britons but kings of the Welsh. The fifth, that is, the last era of the British kingdom, comprised a sequence of twelve kings. On this subject, a not inconsiderable issue has caused my humble self concern. That is, why there is no mention of the illustrious King Arthur in either the History of the Romans or in the History of the English, even though he performed famous deeds of innate valour and marvellous worth, not only HE, i. 15. HRB, xi. 194–95. 86  HE, i. 22. The first reference to Gildas in the history that is not recycled from HRB. 87  HRB, xi. 362–64. Reproduced from GM, who has himself taken from HE, i. 14. 88  HE, i. 14. 89  This comment appears to have been added by the author. 90  HRB, xi. 370 and HRB, xi. 590. Ending the rule of the British kings with Kareticus discards almost a century of Galfridian narrative. In HRB, Kareticus is succeeded by three kings – Caduan, Caduallo and Cadualadrus – bringing the rule of the British kings down to the later seventh century. The author’s reworked version of the passage of dominion fits better with existing historical understanding, where rule of the English kings begins considerably earlier than in the later seventh century. 91  Exodus, 1.7. Biblical quote added by author. 84  85 

73

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

ipse non solum in Britannia contra paganos, sed et in Galliis contra Romanos res praeclaras ingenii audacia miraque probitate gesserit. Quas ego historicae fidei derogare non audens, studio breuitatis ista de Britonum historia excerpere curaui, ut quae incred[i]bilia a quibusdam uiderentur praetermitterem, et tamen uirtuti nichil detraheremd.92 Itaque a prima habitatione Britanniae usque ad desolationem, quae sub Karetico rege Britonum facta est, aet usque ad fugatorum eorum in Walliasa totam narrationem in quinque particulas secans, quinque status regni breuiter distinxi. Vnde lectorem exoratum esse uolo, ut quod michi meique similibus qui ad alta aspirare non possumus, utcumque elaboraui, si sibi minus gratum iudicat, saltem paruulos et idiotas ab eius lectione derogando non abigat. b Primus Constantius. .ii.us Constans. .iii.us Wortigernus. .iiii.us Wortimerus.v.us Aurelius Ambrosius. .vi.us Vther Pendragon.vii.us Arturus.viii.us Constantinus. .ix.us Aurelius Conanus. .x.us Wortiporius. .xi.us Malgo. .xii.us Kareticusb.

Explicit liber de gestis Regum Britanniae maioris.c

  R, P, omitted.   C, omitted. c   C, supplies rubric. P, addition in left-hand margin in later hand omits maioris. R, omits rubric. a–a

b–b

74

The History of Alfred of Beverley

against the pagans in Britain, but against the Romans in Gaul? I do not presume to call into question the historical accuracy of these deeds, so, in an endeavour to be brief, I have taken trouble to choose extracts from the British History which leave out things which might seem beyond belief to certain people, while omitting nothing of merit.92 Thus, from the first inhabitation of Britain until its abandonment and the flight into Wales which took place under Kareticus, and dividing the entire history into five chapters, I have briefly highlighted five eras of the kingdom. And I would like to entreat the reader that, if he takes little pleasure in this work, over which I have laboured as best I can, for the benefit of myself and people like me who cannot aspire to the heights, he should at least not, by his criticism, deter simpler and less educated people from reading it. First Constantine. Second Constans. Third Vortigern. Fourth Vortimer. Fifth Aurelius Ambrosius. Sixth Uther Pendragon. Seventh Arthur. Eighth Constantine. Ninth Aurelius Conanus. Tenth Vortiporius. Eleventh Malgo. Twelfth Kareticus.

The book of the greater deeds of the kings of Britain ends.

92 

The author’s closing remarks on the British History are discussed above, p. xxxvii.

74

[Particula VI]

Incipit praefatio de gestis Regulorum et Regum Angliae Finito regno Britonum, Britanniae regnum ad Anglos est translatum. Qui ob infestationem Scottorum et Pictorum a rege Britonum Wortigerno inuitati, patriam quidem primum ab eorum irruptionibus liberauerunt, ac deinde comperta Britonum segnitia et illecti patriae fertilitate opima, mox confoederati cum eis quos oppugnabant in ipsos Britones qui eos acciuerant arma uertentes, post multas et graues debellationes ad ultimum auxilio Gurmundi Affricanorum regis,a quem de Hibernia, quam ipse sibib bello subiugauerat, in Britanniam adduxerant, Britones cum rege suo Karetico de Northumbria et mediterranea Anglia usque in Guallias effugatos ipsos inibi artauerunt, regnumque Britanniae ex tunc sibi Anglic uendicantes, proprios de seipsisd reges habere coeperunt eet de uno regno Britanniae .vii. regna constituerunt.e 1 Primum igitur regnum fuit Kent, in quo sita est Cantuaria, quod incepit .viii. anno aduentus eorum in Angliam, in quo primus regnauit Hengistus, et post eum filius suus Oeric cognomento Oesc, a quo reges Cantuariorum Oeschinges dicuntur.2 Deinde filius Octa, et post eum filius eius Eormenricus pater Edilberti, qui primus ad praedicationem Sancti Augustini conuersus est ad Christum.

  C, adds sed ut uerius dicatur Norwiagiorum regis.   C, adds per senescallum suum subiugauerat. c   R, P, omit Angli. d   C, adds Scilicet Anglis. e–e   C, omitted. a

b

75

Chapter VI

The preface to the deeds of the kings and sub-kings of England begins. When the rule of the Britons had ended, the kingdom of Britain passed to the English. Invited in by Vortigern, king of the Britons, because of the invasion by the Picts and the Scots, they did indeed at first liberate the country from their attacks. But they discovered the weakness of the Britons and soon, attracted by the abundant fertility of the country, they allied themselves with those against whom they had been fighting and turned their weapons upon the very Britons who had summoned them. After inflicting many grave defeats on the Britons, finally the English brought Gormundus, king of the Africans, over from Ireland, which he had conquered in war. With his help they drove the Britons and their king Kareticus out of Northumbria and central England into Wales and confined them to that area. Thenceforward, the English, claiming the kingdom of Britain for themselves, began to have their own kings, drawn from among their own people and instead of one kingdom of Britain, they established seven.1 The first kingdom was Kent, in which Canterbury is situated. This was established eight years after the coming of the English. The first to rule there was Hengest and, after him, his son Oeric, known as Oisc, which is why the kings of the Kentish are called Oiscingas.2 Then followed his son Octa and, after him, his son Eeormenric, the father of Æthelberht, who was the first to be converted to Christ, by the teaching of St Augustine.

HH’s heptarchy theory (HA, i. 4) is used to bridge the transition from the rule of the British to the English kings. The listing of the seven kingdoms follows the same order as in HA. 2  HE, ii. 5. Borrowings from HA are supplemented by selective use of HE. 1 

75

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Secundum est Sudhsexa, in quo sita est Cicestria, quod incepit post mortem Hengisti3 .xxx.o fere anno aduentus Anglorum in Britanniam,4 in quo primus regnauit Ælle potentissimus. Tertium est Westsexea, in qua sitae sunt Wiltonia, Wincestria, Serebiria, quod incepit anno aduentus eorum in Britanniam .lxxi.oa anno ab incarnatione Domini quingentesimo nono .x.o imperante Iustino seniore.5 In quo primus regnauit Cerdic, et post eum filius suus Kenric, et progenies eorum usque ad tempora Normannorum. Quorum regnum cetera omnia sibi processu temporum subiugauit, et monarchium totius Britanniae obtinuit.6 Quartum est Estsexe, in quo primus regnauit Æswyne, et post eum Sledda filius suus.7 Quintum est regnum Estangliae, quod continet Nordfolc et Sudhfolc, in qua sita est Nordwic. .vi. est Merciae, in qua est Lincolnia, Leircestria, et aliae quamplures, ubi primus regnauit Peanda.8 .vii. est Northumbriae, in quo est Eboracum. Quod regnum antiquitus in duas prouincias fuit diuisum, in Deiram et in Berniciam. In Deira primus regnauit Ida, in Bernicia Ælla.9 Omnes autem isti .vii. reges fuerunt pagani, sed non omnes simul in Britanniam uenerunt.b Sed de hiis postmodum.

Explicit Praefatio. Incipiunt exceptores de gestis Anglorum et unde uenerunt et originem duxeruntc Aduenerant autem Saxones, sicut Beda refert, de tribus Germaniae populis fortioribus, id est Saxonibus, Anglis et Iutis. De Iutarum origine sunt Cantuarii et Vectuarii, hoc est, gens quae Vectam insulam tenet, et ea quae usque hodie in prouincia Occidentalium Saxonum Iutarum natio nominator, posita contra ipsam insulam Vectam. De Saxonibus uenere Orientales Saxones, Meridiani Saxones,

  P, lxxxi.   P, uenerant added in left-hand margin. c   C, supplies rubric. P, added in right-hand margin in later hand. R, omits rubric. a

b

76

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The second kingdom is Sussex, in which Chichester is situated. This was established after the death of Hengest,3 nearly thirty years after the coming of the English to Britain.4 The first to rule there was the mighty Ælle. The third kingdom is Wessex, in which are situated Wilton, Winchester, and Salisbury. It was established in the seventy-first year after the coming of the English, in the 519th year of the Lord’s incarnation, when Justin the Elder was ruling.5 Cerdic was its first ruler and after him his son Kenric and then their offspring until the time of the Normans. That kingdom, in the course of time, subjected all others to itself and obtained the monarchy of all Britain.6 The fourth kingdom is Essex, in which the first to rule was Æscwine and after him, Sledda, his son.7 The fifth kingdom is East Anglia, which contains Norfolk and Suffolk, where Norwich is situated. The sixth kingdom is Mercia, in which are found Lincoln, Leicester and several other places, and where Penda was the first ruler.8 The seventh kingdom is Northumbria, where York is situated. This ancient kingdom was divided into two provinces, Deira and Bernicia. In Deira the first to rule was Ida [recte Ælle] and in Bernicia, Ælle [recte Ida].9 All these seven kings were pagans but not all came to Britain at the same time. But more of this later.

Conclusion of the Preface. Beginning of extracts from the deeds of the English, and from where they came and derived their origin. According to Bede, the Saxons had come from three very powerful Germanic tribes, that is, the Saxons, the Angles, and the Jutes. The people of Kent and the inhabitants of the Isle of Wight are of Jutish origin and the people who live in the area opposite the Isle of Wight, in the province of Wessex, are still today also called Jutes. From the Saxon peoples came the East, South, and the West Saxons. The year and circumstances of the arrival of Hengest in Britain, AD 449, reported in both HE and HA, is omitted and this renders less obvious an inconsistency in the author’s account of the passage of dominion. Chapter five concludes with the abandonment of mainland England by Kareticus after the Augustinian mission to England – well over a century after the foundation of the first English kingdom, Kent, by Hengest. Omitting the date AD 449 appears likely to be an attempt by the author to reconcile both the Galfridian and the Bedan account of early British and English history. Discussed above, p. xxxvi and see note 72. 4  HA, ii. 8. 5  HA, ii. 16. 6  Ibid. The statement of eventual West Saxon sovereignty is reproduced verbatim. 7  HA, ii. 19. 8  HA, ii. 31. Penda (acc. c.626–632, d. Nov. 655). 9  Incorrectly stated here, but later given correctly. In Deira the first to rule was Ælle (acc. 560, d. c. 588 x 590) in Bernicia, Ida (acc. 547, d. 559). 3 

76

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Occidui Saxones. De Anglis Orientales Angli, Mercii, tota Northumbrorum progenies, ceterique Anglorum populi sunt orti.10 Qui processu temporis in tantum Saxonibus et Iutis numero, uirtute, et prudentia praeualuere, ut insula Britanniae nomen ab eis sortiretur. Sicut enim insula, quae quondam cum a gigantibus incoleretur Albion dicebatur, postea expulsis, fugatisque, et occisis gigantibus a Bruto Britannia uocata est, ita tertio loco ab Anglis Anglia nominatur.a Duces harum trium gentium primi perhibentur fuisseb duo fratres, Hengistus et Horsa, quorum Horsa postea occisus in bello a Britonibus hactenus in orientalibus Cantiae partibus monumentum habet de suo nomine insigne.11 Erant autem filii Wictgils, cuius pater Wicta, cuius pater Wehta, cuius pater Woden, de cuius stirpe multarum prouinciarum regium genus originem duxit.12 In primoc enim regni Anglorum non unum erat inter eos regnum, sed, ut quaeque prouincia potentior erat, proprium sibi regem constituebat.13 Isque status in Anglia multo tempore cucurrit, donec potentissimus rex Edelstanus totius Angliae monarchium primus Anglorum optinuit.14 Fuerunt autem inter Anglos primi Christiani reges Aedelbertusd in Cantia, Reodwaldus in Estanglia, Sabertus in Estsexa, eWlfere in Mercia, Kinegillus in Westsexae Edwinus in Northumbria. Sed et alii reges per diuersas extiterunt prouincias. Sed isti sicut primi in Christi fide ita maioris erant potestatis et famae. De quibus singillatim pauca dicturi, a regno Cantuariorum sumamus exordium. Anno ab incarnatione Domini quingentesimo .lx. Edelbertus in Cantiae regnare coepit, et .lvi. annis regnauit.15 Qui fuit filius Eormenrici. Qui fuit Octae. Qui fuit Oeric cognomento Oisk, a quo reges Cantuariorum solent Oiskingas cognominare.16 Qui fuit Hengisti, qui cum filio suo Oisk inuitatus a Wortigerno Britanniam primus intrauit.17 Qui fuit Wictgils, qui fuit Wictae, qui fuit Wehtae, qui fuit Woden. Woden autem .xvii.us fuit a Noe, sub quo diluuium factum est.

  C, ab Anglis Anglia nomen accepit.   R, P, omit fuisse. c   R, P, in primordio. d   R, P, Edelbertus. e–e   R, P. omitted. a

b

77

The History of Alfred of Beverley

From the Angles, the East Angles, the Mercians, and all the Northumbrian race, as well as the other Anglian tribes.10 In the process of time, so much did the Angles excel the Saxons and Jutes in numbers, courage, and prudence that the island which had been called Britain took its name from them. Thus, when that island was inhabited by giants, it was called Albion. Then, after the giants had been driven out, expelled, and killed by Brutus, it was called Britain. And thirdly it was called Anglia, after the Angles. The first leaders of these three peoples are said to be two brothers, Hengest and Horsa. Horsa was afterwards killed in battle by the Britons and in the eastern part of Kent there is still a monument bearing his name.11 They were the sons of Wihtgils, the son of Witta, the son of Wehta, the son of Woden, from whose stock the royal families of many kingdoms claimed their descent.12 Now, at first, there was not one single royal authority among them in the kingdom of England. Instead, whichever province was stronger, would establish its own king.13 This state of affairs continued for a long period in Anglia, until the most powerful king, Æthelstan, became the first of the Angles to obtain the monarchy of all Anglia.14 The first Christian kings among the Angles were Æthelberht in Kent, Rædwald in East Anglia, Sæberht in Essex, Wulfhere in Mercia, Cynegils in Wessex and Edwin in Northumbria. Other kings did exist in the various regions, but these were the first with major power and reputation to embrace the Christian faith. I will say a few words about each in turn, but let us start with the kingdom of Kent. In the year from the incarnation of our Lord 560, Æthelberht began to reign in Kent and ruled for fifty-six years.15 He was the son of Eormenric, the son of Octa, the son of Oeric known as Oisc – after whom the kings of Kent were known as Oiscingas16 – the son of Hengest, who, with his son Oisc, first entered Britain at the invitation of Vortigern.17 Hengest was the son of Wihtgils, the son of Witta, the son of Wehta, the son of Woden, who was the seventeenth from Noah, in whose HE, i. 15. Ibid. 12  Ibid. 13  FW MHB, p. 627. A new source in the compilation is here introduced – the Anglo-Saxon dynastic accounts and genealogies contained in the prefatory reference materials of the Worcester Chronicle. These are printed in two nineteenth-century editions, Florentii Wigorniensis, eds H. Petrie & J. Sharpe, MHB, i (London, 1848), pp. 616–44 and Florentii Wigorniensis Monachi, Chronicon ex Chronicis, 2 vols, ed. B. Thorpe (London, 1848–49), pp. 247–80. 14  The statement here that King Æthelstan was ‘the first of the Angles to obtain the monarchy of all Anglia’ is found in the West Saxon genealogical tree written alongside Æthelstan (Oxford, Corpus Christi College MS 157 (hereafter OCCC MS 157), p. 57). The statement is repeated later, in the account of the Northumbrian kings (below, p. 93). 15  HE, ii. 5. Æthelberht I (acc. 560, d. Feb. 616). 16  Ibid. 17  Ibid. 10  11 

77

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Fuerant autem ante Edelbertum reges in Cantia, sed nullus tantae fortitudinis fuit aut gloriae. Nam abauus eius Hengistus, qui tempore Merciani imperatoris a rege Britonum Wortigerno inuitatus, ut praemissum est, cum fratre suo Horsa et filio suo Oisk Britanniam aduenerat, Anno Dominicae incarnationis quadringentesimo .lv. regnare coepit,18 primusque post Britones extitit rex Cantuariorum, sed ipse uel posteri eius regnum suum extra Cantiam non dilatauerunt. Edelbertus uero cunctis, ut Beda refert, australibus Anglorum prouinciis, quae Humbre fluuioa a borealibus, et contiguis ei terminis sequestrantur,b imperauit, sed primus omnium coeli regna conscendit.19 Anno autem regni eius .xxxv. missus a beato papa Gregorio sanctus Augustinus, ipsum regem ad fidem Christi conuertit. Qui post fidem susceptam non longe a ciuitate Doroberniae ecclesiam apostolorum Petri et Pauli, et Lundoniis ecclesiam sancti Pauli, et in ciuitate Dorobrevic ecclesiam sancti Andreae apostoli construxit et omnes territoriis, ac possessionibus, ac diuersis donis ditauit,20 et post .xxi.d annos acceptae fidei coeli regna conscendit, anno uidelicet regni sui .lvi. qui est annus Dominicae incarnationis sexcentesimus .xvi.us21 Huius regina Berta Francorum regis fuit filia, et eorum filia fuit sancta Edelberga, sancti Edwini regis Northumbrorum regina, quae monasterium in loco, qui uocatur Lymene, construxit, et ibi requiescit.22 Soror uero regis Edelberti Ricula eEst saxonum reginae genuit sanctum Sabertum, eiusdem prouinciae regem. Ipse etiam Edelbertus decreta iudiciorum iuxta exempla Romanorum cum consilio sapientum constituit, quae conscripta Anglorum sermone docent qualiter emendare deberet, qui aliquid rerum ecclesiae, uel episcopi, uel reliquorum ordinum furto auferret.23 Successit Edelberto in regnum Edelbaldus filius suus, et .xxv. annis regnauit.24 Huius regina Emma, regis Francorum filia,25 genuit ei sanctam Enswidam quae in Folcestanf requiescit, et regulum26 Eormenredum patrem sanctae Eormenbergae

  C, adds sequitur.   C, omits sequestrantur. c   R, Roffeacestriae in right-hand margin. d   R, P, post xx annos. e–e   R, P, omitted. f   R, P, Folcestriam. a

b

78

The History of Alfred of Beverley

time the flood occurred. There were kings before Æthelberht in Kent, but none were so brave or glorious. His ancestor Hengest who, as already mentioned, was invited to Britain by the king of the Britons, Vortigern, at the time of the Emperor Marcian, had come to Britain with his brother Horsa and son Oisc and began to rule in the year of our Lord 455.18 He was the first king of Kent after the Britons, but neither he nor his successors expanded the kingdom beyond Kent. Æthelberht, as Bede relates, ruled over all the southern English provinces which are divided from the north by the River Humber and the territory surrounding it, and he was also the first to enter the kingdom of heaven.19 For, in the thirty-fifth year of Æthelberht’s reign, St Augustine, sent by blessed Pope Gregory, converted the king himself to the Christian faith. After he had adopted that faith, Æthelberht built a church dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul not far from the city of Canterbury and in London he built a church to St Paul and, in the city of Rochester, a church of the apostle St Andrew, enriching all of them with various lands, gifts, and possessions.20 Then, twenty-one years after accepting the faith and in the fifty-sixth year of his reign, in the year of our Lord 616, he ascended to the kingdom of heaven.21 His queen, Bertha, was the daughter of the king of the Franks and their daughter was St Æthelburh, who was the queen of St Edwin, king of the Northumbrians. She founded a monastery in a place called Lyminge and is buried there.22 King Æthelberht’s sister Ricula, who was the East Saxon queen, gave birth to St Saeberht, a king of that province. This King Æthelberht, with the advice of learned men, established a code of laws after the Roman manner. These were written in English and set out what restitution must be made by anyone who steals anything belonging to the church, or the bishop, or any other clergy.23 Æthelberht was succeeded as king by his son Eadbald, who reigned twentyfive years.24 His queen, Emma, daughter of the king of the Franks,25 bore him a daughter, St Eanswith, who is buried in Folkestone; the underking26 Eormenred, Compiled from both HE, i. 15 and FW MHB, p. 635, which reports that Hengest became king of Kent in 455. 19  HE, ii. 5. 20  FW MHB, p. 635, based on HE, ii. 3. 21  HE, ii. 5. 22  FW MHB, p. 635. St Æthelburh’s foundation of Lyminge and burial there is not reported in the main CJW annals. 23  HE, ii. 5. 24  FW MHB, p. 635. Eadbald (acc. 616, d. Jan. 640). 25  HBC, p. 13. Eadbald appears to have first married his father’s widow (Æthelberht’s second wife) and then Emma. 26  The complex relationship of overkings, sub and underkings, joint kings and royal functionaries in the emergent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms is discussed in James Campbell, ‘Bede’s Reges and Principes’, Jarrow lecture 1979, reprinted in Essays in Anglo-Saxon History (London, 1986), pp. 85–98. See also David 18 

78

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

reginae Westanglorum,27 et sanctam Ermenbergam,a sanctam Edeldridam, sanctam Ermengidam, et sanctos martires Edelredum ac Edelbertum, quos Thunor praepositus Egberti Cantuariorum, ut ipse iusserat, martirizauit.28 Defuncto Edelbaldo successit Erconbertus filius suus.29 Hic primus regum Anglorum in regno suo idola destrui et ieiuniam .xl. dierum iussit obseruari. Huius regina sancta Sexburga, Annae regis Orientalium Anglorum filia, monasterium in Scaepegeb construxit.30 Decedens rex Erconbertus anno regni sui .xxiiii. Egbricto filio suo sedem reliquit. Qui nono regni sui anno discedens, successorem habuit fratrem suum Lotherum. Qui uulneratus in pugna australium Saxonum, quos contra eum Edricus filius Egberti aggregauerat, anno regni sui .xii.c inter medendum defunctus est. Successit Lothero in regnum praefatus Edricus, ac anno uno et dimidio regnauit.31 Cui frater suus Wictredus succedens, ecclesiam sancti Martini in Douera construxit.32 Decessit autem Wictredus anno regni sui .xxxiiii. et filium suum Edelbertum regni heredem relinquens33 qui anno regni sui .xxxvi. decessit. Cui frater suus Edbertus,d qui et Pren, successit.34 Quem rex Merciorum Kenulfus dum Cantiam uastare coepit et secum in Merciam duxit eoculosque eius anelli et manus eius praedici iussite.35 Cui Cuthredus successit, et anno .ix. decessit. Huic successit Baldredus, et anno Dominicae incarnationis, iuxta Dionisium, octingentesimo .xxiii. a rege Westsaxonum Egberto expulsus est a regno, et sic in eo Cantuariorum decidit regnum.

  R, P, Ermengurgam.   R, P, Scepesehe. c   R, P, anno regni suo xxi. d   C, Edelbertus. e–e   R, P, omitted. a

b

79

The History of Alfred of Beverley

father of St Eormenburh, queen of the West Angles;27 St Ermenberg, St Ætheldrith, St Ermengyth, and the holy martyrs Æthelred and Æthelberht, whom Thunor, the prefect of Ecgberht of Kent, put to death on the king’s orders.28 On Eadbald’s death, he was succeeded by his son Earconberht.29 He was the first king of the Angles to order idols to be destroyed in his kingdom and a forty-day fast to be observed. His queen, St Seaxburg, daughter of Anna, king of the East Angles, built a monastery in Sheppey.30 King Earconberht died in the twenty-fourth year of his reign and left the kingdom to his son Ecgberht, who died in the ninth year of his reign and was succeeded by his brother, Hlothhere. Hlothhere was wounded in a battle with the South Saxons, whom Eadric, the son of Ecgberht, had roused against him and, in the twelfth year of his reign, while his wounds were being attended to, he died. The above-mentioned Eadric succeeded Hlothhere as king, and ruled for a year and a half.31 He was succeeded by his brother Wihtred, who built the church of St Martin in Dover.32 Wihtred died in the thirty-fourth year of his reign, leaving his son Æthelberht as heir of the kingdom.33 Æthelberht died in the thirty-sixth year of his reign and was succeeded by his brother Eadberht, also known as Præn.34 When Cenwulf, king of the Mercians, began to ravage Kent, he took Eadberht as a captive to Mercia and he ordered that his eyes, fingers and hands be removed.35 Cuthred succeeded him and died after nine years, succeeded by Baldred. In the year of our Lord 823, according to the computation of Dionisius, Baldred was driven out of the kingdom by King Ecgberht of the West Saxons, and so the kingdom of Kent came to an end with him.

Dumville, ‘Origins of the Kingdom of the English’ in Writing, Kingship and Power in Anglo-Saxon England, ed. Rory Naismith and David A. Woodman (Cambridge, 2018), pp. 71–121. 27  Eormenburh, otherwise known as Domne Eafe (Domneue) married Merewalh, king of the Magonsætan and supposed son of King Penda. St Mildrith was their daughter. 28  FW MHB, p. 635. The four daughters of the regulus Eormenred are named and identified in the Kent genealogical table and reported in the accompanying dynastic account but only Eormenburh is named in the CJW main annals (675). See the family tree of Eormenred in D. W. Rollason, The Mildrith Legend. A Study in Early Medieval Hagiography in England (Leicester, 1982), p. 45. 29  Earconberht (acc. 640, d. July 664). 30  FW MHB, p. 635. The founding of a monastery in Sheppey by St Seaxburg is not reported in CJW main annals. 31  Ibid. Ecgberht I (acc. 664, d. July 673). Hlothhere (acc. 673, d. Feb. 685). Eadric (acc. 685, d. 686 x 87). 32  Ibid. Wihtred (acc. 690, d. April 725). 33  Æthelberht II (acc. 725, d. 762). 34  Eadberht Praen (acc. 796 and deposed by Cenwulf, king of Mercia, in 798) was not the same Eadberht who ruled alongside his brother, Æthelberht II. 35  HR § 59 based on ASC F 796. First evidence of the author compiling from the Durham HR. The mutilation of Eadberht Præn is reported neither in the prefatory Kent dynastic account, CJW main annals, nor in HA.

79

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Is fuit status regni Cantuariorum quod a primo rege eorum Christiano Edelberto usque ad praedictum Baldredum sub .xi. regibus per annos .ccc. lxviii. stetit.36 Expulso autem Baldredo, sicut praemissum est, per Egbertum Westsaxonum regem, regnum Cantuariorum deinceps Westsaxonicae ditioni subiectum esta et de duobus regnis, id est, Cantuariorum et Westsaxonum, unum, id est, Westsaxonum, effectum est regnum. b Nunc uero ad memoriae suffragium nomina regum Cantuarioum ex ordine sunt colligenda, et cum paucis actuum titulis notanda. Primus Edelbertus. .ii.us Edelbaldus. .iii.us E[r]conbertus. .iiii.us Egbrictus. .v.us Lotherus. .vi.us Edricus. .vii.us Wictredus. .viii.us Edelbrictus [recte Edelbertus]. .Ix.us Edbertus. .x.us Cuthredus. .xi.us Baldredusb.37

Incipit de regno Suthsexono Post mortem Hengisti regis Cantuariorum exortum est regnum Suthsexe, id est Australium Saxonum, ubi primus regnauit Ælle, qui cum tribus filiis suis, id est Cymen, et Plegiting,c et Scissa cum classe numerosa ueniens de Germania appulerunt in Britanniamd ad Cymenesore,38 deletisque per plurima bella Britannis, Suthsexam occupauerunt regnumque suum ibi constituerunt anno ferme .xxx. ab aduentu Anglorum in Britanniam. Iste est Ælle rex Australium Saxonum, qui, sicut Beda scribit in historia sua, cunctis Anglorum prouinciis quae Humbre fluuio et contiguis exterminis sequestrantur a borealibus imperauit. Quo obeunte, regnauit Scissa filius eius pro eo, progeniesque eorum post eos. At processu temporum ualde minorati sunt, donec in aliorum iura regum transfierunt.39 Primus rex Australium Saxonum Ælle, .ii.us Scissa. Ceteros obliuio mersit.40

Incipit de regno Est Anglia Regno posterius Cantuariorum et prius regno Occidentalium Saxonum exortum est regnum Orientalium Anglorum,41 cui praefuerunt reges potentes, sed Reodwaldus illis omnibus extitit potentior. Omnes enim australes Anglorum et Saxonum prouinciae suis cum regibus ad confinium usque Humbre fluminis ei

  C, successit.   C, omitted. c   C, Plepinig. d   R, P, applicuerunt in Britannia. a

b–b

80

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Such was the history of the kingdom of Kent, which endured for three hundred and sixty-eight years, under eleven kings, from its first Christian king, Æthelberht, to the above-mentioned Baldred.36 After Baldred was driven out by the West Saxon king Ecgberht, as described, Kent became subject to the authority of the West Saxons and, out of two kingdoms, those of Kent and of the West Saxons, one was formed, namely the kingdom of the West Saxons. And now, for the benefit of posterity, it is worth listing in order and briefly recording the deeds of the kings of Kent. First Æthelberht, second Eadbald, third Earconberht, fourth [recte Ecgberht], fifth Hlothhere, sixth Eadric, seventh Wihtred, eighth Æthelberht, ninth Eadberht, tenth Cuthred, eleventh Baldred.37

An account of the kingdom of the South Saxons begins After the death of the Kentish king Hengest, the kingdom of Sussex, or that of the South Saxons, emerged, and Ælle was the first to rule there. He and his three sons Cymen, Wlencing and Cissa came from Germany with a large fleet and landed in Britain at Cymenesora.38 After defeating the Britons in many battles they occupied Sussex, where they established their own kingdom about thirty years after the coming of the English to Britain. This is the Ælle, king of the South Saxons, who according to Bede in his History, ruled over all the southern provinces of Anglia which are divided from the north by the River Humber and its surrounding territories. When he died, he was succeeded by his son Cissa, and their descendants ruled after them. But, in the process of time, they became much less important, and eventually they came under the control of other kings.39 The first King of the South Saxons was Ælle, the second was Cissa. The others are buried in oblivion.40

An account of the kingdom of East Anglia begins After the kingdom of Kent, but before that of the West Saxons, there arose the kingdom of the East Angles.41 It was ruled by powerful kings, but Rædwald stood out as the strongest of them all. All the southern provinces of the Angles and Saxons, with their kings, up to their boundary with the River Humber, were subject FW MHB, p. 635. Several eighth-century Kentish kings between Æthelberht II and Eadberht Praen are not reported on this list, including Eadberht I, son of King Wihtred, Eardwulf, Sigered, Eanmund, Heahberht, Ecgberht II and Ealhmund. 38  ASC 477. South of Selsey Bill in West Sussex. Now covered by the sea. Whitelock, ASC, 11, note 1. 39  HA, ii. 15. 40  HA, ii. 40. A briefer version of HH’s comment concluding his summary South Saxon king list. 41  FW MHB, p. 636. 36  37 

80

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

subiectae erant. ‘Qui etiam,’ ut Beda refert, ‘uiuente Edelberto eidem genti suae ducatum praebebat.’42 Qui Edelfridum regem Deirorum et Berniciorum in bello occidit, et Edwinum Ællae filium ut in regnum perueniret adiuuit.43 Erat autem Reodwaldus, sicut Bedae scribit, ‘natu nobilis, quamuis actu ignobilis.’44 Filius Titili, qui fuit Wffa,a a quo reges Orientalium Anglorum Wffingansb appellant.45 Qui fuit Wechha, qui fuit Wihelm,c qui fuit Hripp,d qui fuit Hrotmund, qui fuit Trigils,e qui fuit Titmon, qui fuit Casere, qui fuit Woden.46 Successit uero Reodwaldo in regnum filius suus Eorpwaldus, et suadente rege Northumbrorum sancto Edwino, fidem Christi cum sua prouincia suscepit.47 ‘Et quidem pater eius’, sicut Beda refert, ‘Reodwaldus iam dudum in Cantia sacramentis Christianae fidei imbutus est, sed frustra. Nam rediens domum ab uxore sua et a quibusdam peruersis doctoribus seductus est, et a sinceritate fidei deprauatus, habuit posteriora peiora prioribus, ita ut in morem antiquorum Samaritanorum et Christo seruire uideretur et diis quibus antea seruiebat, atque in eodem fano et altare haberet ad sacrificium Christi et arulam ad uictimas daemoniorum.’ Haec secundum Bedam.48 Interfectus autem in bello Eorpwaldus successorem habuit fratrem suum ex parte matris Sigebertum,49 uirum per omnia, ut Beda testatur, Christianissimum ac doctissimum.50 Hic sancto Furseo ad se de Hibernia uenienti possessionem ad locum construendi monasterii in castro quod Cnobberesburgf uocatur dedit,51 et post amoreg regni coelestis relicto regno et cognato suo Egrico commendato, in monasterio quod sibi fecerat monachus factus est,52 et multo post tempore contra regem Merciorum Pendamh ad confirmandum militem inuitus in certamen ductus, suae professionis non inmemor, dum non nisi uirgam tantum in manu habere uoluit, occisus est una cum rege Egrico.53

  R, P, Wlfa.   R, P, Wlfingas. c   R, P, Willem. d   C, Herp. e   R, P, Triglis. f   R, P, Cnobereburth. g   R, P, post auiditate. h   R, P, Peandam. a

b

81

The History of Alfred of Beverley

to him. As Bede says, ‘Even while Æthelberht was still alive, Rædwald was acting as leader among those peoples’.42 It was Rædwald who killed Æthelfrith, king of the Deirans and the Bernicians, in war and who helped Edwin, son of Ælle, to obtain his crown.43 Rædwald was, as Bede writes, ‘noble by birth but ignoble in deeds’.44 He was the son of Tytla, the son of Wuffa, after whom the kings of the East Angles are called Wuffings.45 Wuffa was the son of Wehha, the son of Wilhem, the son of Hryp, the son of Hrothmund, the son of Trygils, the son of Tytmon, the son of Casere, the son of Woden.46 Rædwald’s son, Earpwald, succeeded him as king and, persuaded by St Edwin, king of Northumbria, he embraced the Christian faith at the same time as he took over his kingdom.47 ‘Indeed,’ as Bede relates, ‘his father Rædwald had long before that been initiated into the sacraments of the Christian faith in Kent, but in vain. For, on his return home, he was corrupted by his wife and by certain evil teachers, and led astray from the true faith, so that his last state was worse than his first. Just like the ancient Samaritans, he seemed to be serving both Christ and the gods he had previously served. In the same temple he had one altar for the Christian offerings and another small altar on which to perform sacrifices to devils.’ This is according to Bede.48 After Earpwald’s death in battle, the succession, through his mother, passed to his brother Sigeberht,49 a most devout Christian and a very learned man in all respects, as Bede records.50 He gave St Fursa, who had come to him from Ireland, land on which to build a monastery on the site of a fortified place called Cnobheresburg [Burgh Castle].51 Later, full of love for the kingdom of heaven, he resigned his crown and entrusted it to his kinsman Ecgric and became a monk in the monastery which he had founded himself.52 A long time later, he was, against his will, induced to go into battle against Penda, king of the Mercians, to encourage the army. But, mindful of his calling, he refused to carry anything but a staff in his hand and so he was killed together with King Ecgric.53

HE, ii. 5. Rædwald (acc.? d. 616 x 627). FW MHB, p. 636. 44  HE, ii. 15. 45  Ibid. 46  FW MHB, p. 628. King Rædwald’s ten-cycle descent from Woden supplied here matches the prefatory East Anglia genealogy. No descent tree for Rædwald is contained in the main CJW annals. 47  FW MHB, p. 636. Earpwald (acc. c.616 x 627, d. 627 x 628). 48  HE, ii. 15. 49  FW MHB, p. 636. Sigeberht (acc. 630 x 631, d.?). 50  HE, ii. 15. 51  FW MHB, p. 636, based on HE, iii. 19. 52  Ibid., based on HE, iii. 18, 19. 53  Ibid. 42  43 

81

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Quorum regni successor factus est Anna, filius Eni fratris Reodwaldi.54 Cuius filia sancta Sexburga Erconberto regi Cantuariorum coniugi copulata est, altera sancta Edelburga in Gallia in Brigensi monasterio abbatissa facta est. Tertia sancta Edeldridaa prius Northumbrorum regina et post Heliensis extitit abbatissa.55 Quarta sancta Witburga eiusdem monasterii sanctimonialis erat femina.56 Quarum pater Anna rex et ipse a Penda rege Merciorum occisus, fratrem suum Edelherum regni reliquit heredem. Qui de regina sua sancta Hereswida sorore sanctae Hildae abbatissae, duos filios genuit, Aldulphum et Alfwoldum.b Peremptus est ab Oswio cum Penda rege, cui germanus suus Adelwoldusc successit.57 Quo defuncto, regnum Aldulfus suscepit det annis non nullis tenuit. Cuius post mortem frater suus Alfwoldus regni regimen suscepitd.58 Regnante autem rege Merciorum Offa, Beorna regnauit in Estanglia, et post illum Edelredus qui de regina sua sancta Leofruna59 habuit Agelbrictum. Hic post patrem suum breui tempore regnauit. Innocenter enim sub pacis foedere occisus est ab Offa rege Merciorum. Deinde perpauci reges in Estanglia per annos .xl. unum regnauerunt potentes, quo ad ultimus eorum sanctus Eadmundus nactus fuit culmen regiminis.60 Quem anno regni sui .xvi. rex paganus Inguar martirizauit.61 Ex quo tempore Angli Saxones in Estanglia regnare desiere, annis fere .l. Erat enim ipsa absque rege .ix. annis plene, paganorum Danorum direptioni atque nimiae substratae dilacerationi, qui conati sunt ea tempestate totam Angliam suae ditioni subicere. Post in illa simul et in Estsexa ferme tota Danicus rex Guthrum regnauit annis .xii. Et Eohric, quem Angli peremerunt in pugna, regnauit annis .xiiii. Deinde a Danicis comitibus ambae tam diu premebantur, quousque Edwardus senior multos ex illis occidendo, nonnullos partes transmarinas adire cogendo, residuos in deditionem acceperit, et ambo regna, id est, Estangliam et Estsaxoniam, id est regnum Orientalium Anglorum et regnum Orientalium Saxonum, regno annexuerit Westsaxonico.62

  R, P, Edelbrida.   R, P, Adulfum et Arfwoldum. c   R, P, Alfwoldus. d–d   R, P, omitted. e   R, P, subiecti. a

b

82

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Anna, son of Eni, the brother of Rædwald, succeeded to their kingdom.54 One of his daughters, St Sexburh, was married to Earconberht, king of Kent, and another, St Æthelburh, was made abbess of the monastery of Brie in Gaul. A third, St Æthelthryth, was first queen of Northumbria and later abbess of Ely,55 and a fourth, St Wihtburh, was a nun in the same convent.56 Their father, King Anna, was killed by Penda, king of the Mercians, and left his brother Æthelhere as heir to the kingdom. With his queen, the holy Hereswith, sister of St Hilda the abbess, he had two sons, Aldwulf and Ælfwald. Æthelhere, along with King Penda, was killed by Oswiu and his brother Æthelwald succeeded.57 When he died, Aldwulf took over the leadership of the kingdom and held it for many years, and after his death his brother [recte son] Ælfwald assumed the governance of the kingdom.58 While Offa was reigning as king of the Mercians, Beonna ruled in East Anglia, and, after him, Æthelred, who, with his queen, holy Leofrun,59 had a son, Æthelberht. He ruled for only a short time after his father, for he was unjustly killed by Offa, king of the Mercians, under cover of a peace treaty. For the next forty-one years [recte sixty-one years] there were very few powerful kings in East Anglia until King Edmund, the last of them, took the throne.60 He was martyred in the sixteenth year of his reign by the pagan king Inguar.61 From this point, the Anglo-Saxons ceased to reign in East Anglia for nearly fifty years. The province was without a king for fully nine years, laid low by much plundering and ravaging at the hands of the pagan Danes, who, at that time, tried to subject the whole of England to their rule. Then Guthrum, the Danish king, ruled in East Anglia and nearly all Essex for twelve years, and Eohric, whom the Angles killed in battle, reigned for fourteen years. Both provinces were oppressed for a very long time by the Danish earls, until finally Edward the Elder, after killing many of them and forcing some to flee overseas, accepted the surrender of the rest. He annexed both kingdoms, East Anglia and Essex, that is, the kingdom of the East Angles and the kingdom of the East Saxons, to the West Saxon kingdom.62 FW MHB, p. 636. Anna (acc.?, d. 654). Ibid. 56  Ibid. St Wihtburh’s body is reported (CJW 798 & ASC F 798) to have been found incorrupt in Dereham (East Norfolk) fifty-five years after she died. 57  Ibid. Æthelhere (acc. 654, d. Nov. 655) who died fighting in King Penda’s army against King Oswiu of Northumbria in the battle of the Winwæd. Æthelwald (acc. late 655, d.? 663 x 664). 58  Aldwulf (acc. 663 x 664, d. 713) was succeeded by his son Ælfwald (acc. c.713, d. 749). 59  FW MHB, p. 636. Leofrun is also recorded as the wife of Æthelred in the East Anglian genealogy (FW MHB p. 628). Leofrun is not reported in the main CJW annals. 60  Ibid. The period where few powerful East Anglian kings ruled before King Edmund’s accession is correctly given as 61 years in the East Anglian dynastic account. Æthelberht was executed on the orders of Offa in 794. 61  Edmund (acc. 855, d. 20 Nov. 869). 62  FW MHB, p. 636. 54  55 

82

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Iste fuit status regni Orientalium Anglorum a rege Reodwaldo usque ad sanctum Edmundum sub .xii. regibus. Post martirium sancti Edmundi ipsi simul et Orientales Saxones paganorum regibus, id est Guthrum et Eohric, subiacuere, donec rex Occidentalium Saxonum Edwardus senior eos liberauit, asicut supradictum esta et suae ditioni subiecit. b Primus Reodwaldus. .ii.us Eorpwaldus. .iii.us Sigbertus. .iiii.us Egricus. .v.us Anna. .vi.us Adelherus. .vii.us Adelwoldus. .viii.usc Aldulfus.63 .x.us Beorna. .xi.us Edelredus. .xii.us Egelbrictus. .xiii.us Edmundus. .xiiii.us Guthrus. .xv.us Eohricb.

Incipit de regno Orientalium Saxonum Et regnum Orientalium Anglorum post regnum Cantuariorum, sic habuit exordium regnum Orientalium Saxonum. Quorum reges fere semper aliis parebant regibus, frequentius tamen ac diutius regibus Mercensibus. Qui scilicetd ante Sabertum, Edelberti regis Cantuariorum nepotem, daemoniacis seruiebant cultibus. Ille uero, praedicante Mellito, uerbum ueritatis cum sua gente primus illorum suscepit. Fuit autem Sabertus filius Sleddae, qui fuit Escwine, qui fuit Offae, qui fuit Becca, qui fuit Sigefuele qui fuit Suoppa,f qui fuit Andsegg qui fuit Geseg, qui fuit Seaxhete, qui fuit Woden.64 Successerunt Saberto filii eius Sexredus et Sewardus, qui pagani perdurantes paruo post tempore a Westsaxonibus in pugna sunt occisi. Quibus successit Sigbertus cognomento Paruus, Sewardi filius. Quo mortuo regnum suscepit Sigebertus.65 Hic Oswii regis Northumbrorum hortatu Christo credens, a Finanoh episcopo baptizatus est in Northumbria. Quo regnante, Estsaxones fidem, quam pridie abiecerant, sancto Cedd fratre sancti Ceddae Licifeldensis episcopi praedicante, receperunt.66 Longo autem post tempore occisus est a suis propinquis, quia euangelica praecepta seruans suis inimicis nimium parcere, et factas ab eis iniurias placida solebat mente dimittere.67 Cui successit frater suus Suithelinus in regnum, et ab ipso Cedd in Estanglia baptizatus est.

  R, P, omitted.   C, omitted. c   R, P, omit ix Alfwoldus. d   R, P, uidelicet. e   R, P, Sigelugel. f   R, P, Snoppa. g   R, Andseng. P, Andeseng. h   C, Phinano. a–a

b–b

83

The History of Alfred of Beverley

This was the history of the kingdom of the East Angles, under twelve kings, from King Rædwald until St Edmund. After the martyrdom of St Edmund, East Anglia and the East Saxons were subjugated by pagan kings, that is Guthrum and Eohric until Edward the Elder, king of the West Saxons liberated them, as was stated, and subjected them to his rule. First Rædwald, second Eorpwald, third Sigeberht, fourth Ecgric, fifth Anna, sixth Æthelhere, seventh Æthelwald, eighth Aldwulf,63 tenth Beonna, eleventh Æthelred, twelfth Æthelberht, thirteenth Edmund, fourteenth Guthrum, fifteenth Eohric.

An account of the kingdom of the East Saxons begins And just as the kingdom of the East Angles arose after the kingdom of Kent, so too did the kingdom of the East Saxons have its beginning. Their kings were nearly always subject to other kings, most often and for the longest period of time, to the kings of Mercia. It is clear that before Sæberht, nephew of Æthelberht, king of Kent, the East Saxons used to practice devil worship. But Sæberht, in response to the preaching of Mellitus, was the first of the East Saxons to embrace the word of truth, together with his people. Sæberht was the son of Sledd, the son of Æscwine, the son of Offa, the son of Becca, the son of Sigefugel, the son of Swæppa, the son of Andsecg, the son of Geseeg, the son of Seaxhete, the son of Woden.64 Sæberht’s sons, Seaxred and Sæweard, succeeded him. They persisted as pagans and, a short time later, were killed in battle by the West Saxons. Sigeberht, nicknamed the Little – the son of Sæweard – succeeded them and, on his death, Sigeberht received the kingdom.65 Sigeberht, at the urging of King Oswiu of the Northumbrians, became a believer in Christ and was baptised by bishop Finan in Northumbria. During his reign the East Saxons, thanks to the preaching of St Cedd, brother of St Chad, the bishop of Lichfield, recovered the faith which they had earlier cast aside.66 Much later, however, Sigeberht was murdered by his own kinsmen because he followed the teaching of the gospel and too often used to spare his enemies, and, in kindly manner, forgive them for the wrongs they had committed.67 His brother, Swithhelm, succeeded him on the throne and was baptised in East Anglia by that same Cedd. The ninth king in the summary king-list, Ælfwald, is omitted in the manuscript witnesses of the History. 64  FW MHB, p. 629. The ten-cycle descent of Sæberht matches that supplied in the prefatory East Saxon genealogy and is not found in the main CJW annals. Sæberht (acc.? before 604, d. 616 x 617). 65  FW MHB, p. 637. Sigeberht I ‘parvus’ (acc.? 617, d. before c. 653). Sigeberht II (acc. c. 653, d. 653 x 664). 66  Ibid. Noting that St Cedd was brother of St Chad, bishop of Lichfield, is not found in the East Saxon dynastic account and appears to have been added by the author based on HE, iii. 23 and HE, iv. 3. 67  Ibid. Based on HE, iii. 22. 63 

83

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Cuius post mortem Sebbi filius Sewardi,68 filii regis sancti Saberti, et Sighere filius regis Sigbertia Parui regni gubernacula tenuerunt. Post decessum Sigheri Sebbi regnum tenuit.69 Qui anno regni sui .xxx. a Walderob Lundoniensi episcopo monachicum suscepit habitum, et breui post tempore defunctus coelica regna petiuit. Pro quo filii eius Sigherdus et Suefredus regnauerunt. Quorum post mortem Offa filius Sigheri regis in regem leuatur.c Hic iuuenis amantissimae aetatis et uenustatis, totique suae genti ad tenenda seruandaque regna exoptatissimus,70 suasu et hortatu sanctae Kineswidae regis Merciorum Pendae filiae quam adamauerat, reliquit patriam et regnum propter euangelium, et cum rege Merciorum Kenredo et sancto Egwinod Huicciorum episcopo Romam petiit,71 ubi attonsus et in monachico habitu uitam complens, ad uisionem beatorum apostolorum diu desideratam peruenit.72 Cui successit in regnum Selredus sancti Sigberhti regis filius. Quo perempto, anno regni .xxxviii. Swittredus regnum solium optinuit. Cuius post mortem pauci, id est, Sigericus et Sigeredus, reges super Est Saxones regnauere proprii. Iste fuit status regni Orientalium Saxonum a primo eorum rege Saberto usque ad ultimum Guthrum. Nam eodem anno quo regnum defecit Cantuariorum, cum ipsis et cum Suthsaxonibus strenuo regi Westsaxonum Ecgberto sponte se debebante et ei suisque successoribus tam diu parebant, quo ad usque Danicus rex Guthrum super eos potestatem acciperet fLundonia tamen cum terris circumiacentibus Mercensibus regibus quam diu ipsi regnarunt paruit.f g Primus Sabertus. .ii.us Sexredus et Sewardus. .iii.us Sigbertus. .iiii.us Sigebertus. .v.us Suthelinus. .vi.us Sebbi et Sighere. .vii.us Sebbi. .viii.us Sigherdus. .ix.us73 Offa. .x.us Selredus. .xi.us Swictredus. .xii.us Sigericus. .xiii.us Sigeredus. .xiiii.us Guthrum.g

  R, P, Seberti.   C, Waltero. c   C, leuauerunt. d   R, P, Ergwino. e   R, P, se dederant. f–f   C, omitted. g–g   C, omitted. a

b

84

The History of Alfred of Beverley

After his death, Sebbi, the son of Sæweard,68 the son of saintly King Sæberht and Sigehere, the son of Sigeberht the Little, held the reins of government. After Sigehere’s death, Sebbi ruled the kingdom.69 In the thirtieth year of his reign he received the habit of a monk from Waldhere, bishop of London, and, a short time later, he died and went to the heavenly kingdom. His sons Sigeheard and Swæfred reigned in his place and, on their death, Offa, son of King Sigehere was raised to the throne. This young man was so lovable, with his youth and charm, that all his people longed for him to have and to hold the kingdom.70 But Offa, persuaded and encouraged by St Cyneswith, daughter of Penda, king of the Mercians, whom he loved deeply, renounced his country and kingdom for the sake of the gospel and, along with Cenred, king of the Mercians, and St Ecgwine, bishop of the Hwicce, went to Rome.71 There he received the tonsure and, ending his life in a monk’s habit, attained to the vision of the blessed apostles which he had so long desired.72 Selered, son of holy King Sigeberht, succeeded him on the throne. When he was slain, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign, Swithred obtained the kingdom. After his death, only a few kings, namely Sigeric and Sigered, reigned over the East Saxons on their own account. This was the history of the kingdom of the East Saxons from the first of their kings, Sæberht, until the last one, Guthrum. For, in the same year that the kingdom of Kent came to an end, these East Saxons, together with the men of Kent and the South Saxons, freely surrendered themselves to the energetic King Ecgbert of the West Saxons and they were subject to him and his successors until eventually the Danish king Guthrum gained power over them. London, with the adjacent lands, continued subject to the Mercian kings as long as they held their sovereignty. First Sæberht, second Seaxred and Sæward, third Sigeberht, fourth Sigeberht, fifth Swithhelm, sixth Sebbi and Sigehere, seventh Sebbi, eighth Sigeheard,73 ninth Offa, tenth Selered, eleventh Swithred, twelfth Sigeric, thirteenth Sigered, fourteenth Guthrum. Sebbi appears to have been the son of Seaxred not Sæweard (HBC, p. 10). Sebbi (acc. c. 664, d. c. 694), who reigned jointly with Sigehere in 664. 70  FW MHB, p. 637, based on HE, v. 19. 71  Ibid. St Cyneswith’s encouragement of Offa to abdicate and become a monk is not reported in the main CJW annals nor in HE or ASC. The Worcester compiler may here have drawn on local hagiographical tradition. WM reports Cyneswith’s influence on Offa’s turning from worldly to spiritual concerns (WM GRA, i. 98. 3). 72  Ibid. 73  The summary king-list omits Swæfred who co-ruled with Sigeheard after the death of Sebbi in c.694. Swæfred’s name is also omitted in the prefatory East Saxon genealogical tree but a space where his name should have been inserted contains the letter vv (OCCC MS 157, p. 49; FW MHB, p. 629). The omission of Swæfred’s name in the author’s summary king list suggests he compiled directly from the genealogical table. It suggests also that the tables he used were similar to those preserved in OCCC MS 157. 68  69 

84

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Incipit de regno Merciorum Post initium regni Cantuariorum principium extitit regni Merciorum, qui multis annis cum suis regibus idolatriae cultibus dediti, paulatim regni sui fines dilatauere. Sed Pendaa qui regnare coepit anno Dominicae incarnationis sexcentesimo .xxvi. multo latius quam aliquis suorum praedecessorum dilatauit. Duos etenim reges Northumbrorum, sanctum Edwinum ac sanctum Oswaldum, et .iii. reges, sanctum Sigbertum, Egricum et Annam, in bello occidit. Cui regina sua Kineswida .v. filios, Weadam scilicet, Wlferum, sanctum Edelredum, sanctum Merewoldum, sanctum Mercelinum, et duas filias, sanctam Kineburgam et sanctam Kineswidam, peperit.74 Regnauit autem annis .xxx. non plene.75 Quem rex Northumbrorum Oswius cum .xxx. ducibus in bello peremit, et regnum eius suae ditioni subegit, filio tamen eius Weaddae, qui a patre suo mediterraneis Anglis princeps constitutus, in Northumbria a Finano episcopo baptizatus est,76 eo quod suus esset cognatus habuit enim coniugem filiam eius Alfledam regnum Australium Merciorum dedit. At ille anno primo regni sui peremptus est nepharie.77 Fuit autem Penda filius Pibbae, qui fuit Creodae, qui fuit Kinewald, qui fuit Cnebba, qui fuit Icil, qui fuit Eomer,b qui fuit Angengeat, qui fuit Offa, qui fuit Wermund, qui fuit Wihtlaeg, qui fuit Waga qui fuit Weothelgeat, qui fuit Woden.78 Tribus annis post interfectionem Pendae regis completis, filium eius Wlferum duces Merciorum leuantes in regem, fines suos fortiter et libertatem receperunt.79 Hic primus Merciorum regumc lauacrum regenerationis suscepit, et filiam Erconberti regis Cantuariorum ac reginae illius sanctae Sexburgae sanctam Ermenildam in coniugem accepit, et ex illa genuit Cenredum et Wereburgam uirginem sanctissimam. Germanus uero ipsius Westanhetanorum rex sanctus Merewoldus80 filiam Emenredi regis, fratris eiusdem Erconberti regis, sanctam Ermenbergamd matrimonio sibi copulauit, et ex ea tres filias, sanctam uidelicet Mildburgam, sanctam Mildridam, sanctam Mildgidam,e et unum filium sanctum Mereuinum genuit.81 Quo mortuo, regnauit pro eo Mercelinus frater illius.82 Quorum sororem

  R, P, Peanda.   R, P, Eocomer. c   R, P, omit regum. d   R, P, Emenburbam. e   C, omit Mildgidam. a

b

85

The History of Alfred of Beverley

An account of the kingdom of Mercia begins After the beginning of the kingdom of Kent, the kingdom of the Mercians arose. For many years the Mercians and their kings were dedicated to the worship of idols. Little by little they expanded their territories, but Penda, who began to reign in the year of our Lord 626, extended the kingdom much more widely than any of his predecessors. Moreover, he killed in battle two Northumbrian kings, St Edwin and St Oswald, and three other kings: St Sigeberht, Ecgric and Anna. His queen, Cyneswith, bore him five sons, namely Peada, Wulfhere, St Æthelred, St Merewalh and St Merefin, and two daughters, St Cyneburh and St Cyneswith.74 He reigned for not fully thirty years.75 Oswiu, king of the Northumbrians, killed Penda, along with thirty earls, in battle and he subjected his kingdom to his own control. But to Penda’s son Peada, who had been made ruler of the Middle Angles by his father and baptised in Northumbria by bishop Finan,76 Oswiu gave the kingdom of the South Mercians, because he was his kinsman, having married his daughter Æthelflead. Peada, however, was murdered treacherously in the first year of his rule.77 Penda was the son of Pybba, the son of Creoda, the son of Cynewald, the son of Cnebba, the son of Icel, the son of Eomær, the son of Angengeat, the son of Offa, the son of Wermund, the son of Wihtlæg, the son of Waga, the son of Wothelgeat, the son of Woden.78 Three years after the death of Penda, the earls of Mercia raised his son Wulfhere to the throne and they boldly recovered their lands and their liberty.79 Wulfhere was the first of the Mercian kings to accept the bath of rebirth. He married St Eormenhild, daughter of Earconberht, king of Kent, and his queen, St Seaxburg, and with her he fathered Cenred and the most holy virgin Werburg. His brother, St Merewalh, king of the West Hacanas,80 married St Eormenburh, daughter of King Eormenred, brother of the same King Eorconbertht, and fathered three daughters, that is to say, St Mildburg, St Mildthryth, and St Mildgyth, and one son, St Merefin.81 When Merewalh died, his brother Merchelm ruled in his FW MHB, p. 637. Ibid. Penda (acc. 626 x 632, d. Nov. 655). 76  Ibid. Based on HE, iii. 21. Peada was baptised by Bishop Finan in 653 together with all his thegns and gesiths at Ad Murum (Hadrian’s Wall). 77  Peada was murdered April 656. This account omits that the treachery was supposedly that of Peada’s wife, Alhflæd, daughter of King Oswiu, as reported in HE, iii. 24. 78  FW MHB, p. 630. The thirteen-cycle descent table of Penda matches that supplied in the Mercian prefatory genealogy. The same descent table is supplied in CJW ii annal for 627. 79  FW MHB, p. 637. Wulfhere (acc. 658, d. x 675). 80  FW MHB, p. 638. St Merewalh is also referred to as king of the Weste-Hecani or Magonsæton (Rollason, Mildrith Legend pp. 9, 80). Little record survives of the Magonsæton people but they are generally thought to have occupied the Herefordshire region, where a diocese was established in 676. 81  Ibid. 74  75 

85

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Kineburgam rex Northumbrorum Alfrid duxit uxorem.83 Quae connubio carnalis copulae pro dei amore relicto, in monasterio, quod fratres sui Wlferus ac Edelredus construxerunt, et ab ipsius nomine Kineburgae castrum uocatur, sanctimonialis efficitur.84 In quo etiam soror sua Kineswida sanctimonialem suscepit habitum. Decessit autem Wlferus rex anno regni sui .xvii. cui germanus suus sanctus Edelredus successit. Qui regis Northumbrorum Egfridi sororem Ostridama accepit in coniugem, ex qua filium Ceolredum genuit.85 Anno uero regni sui .xxx. monachus factus est Cenredo suo fratrueli regnum dedit. Qui regni sui anno .v.to. seculum reliquit, Romam adiit, et ibi in monachico habitu uitam finiuit. Cui in regnum successit Ceolredus patrui sui filius, scilicet Edelredi, qui anno regni sui nono defunctus est. Cui successit Edelbaldus,b filius fratris Pendae regis, quem anno regni sui .xli. Beornredusc tirannus in Secgeswalde occidit, et regnum illius inuasit. Corpus uero regis Reopedunum delatum et regaliter est tumulatum.86 Cuius patruelis Enulfi nepos Offa, filius Tingferti, eodem anno regni inuasorem Beornredum peremit, et loco eius regnauit. Cui regina sua Kinerida87 duas filias, Eadburgam, quam rex Westsaxonum Brictricus uxorem duxit et Alfridam, quae uirgo permansit, unumque filium Egferchum peperit. Decessit anno regni sui .xxxix. Cui filius suus Egferchus successit, sed eodem anno decessit. Cui uir magnificus Kenulphus filius Cuthberti trinepotis Pibbae regis successit. Huic regina sua Alfrida duas filias Quendridam et Burgenildam, sanctum que Kenelmum genuit. Decedens autem anno regni sui .xxiiii. Winchelcumbae sepultus requiescit88 et heredem regni sui filium suum Kenelmum reliquit. Qui eodem anno Quendridae sororis suae insidiis occiditur. Cui patruus suus Ceolwlphus successit, sed post biennium regno expellitur, et Beornulphus in regnum suscipitur, qui biennio exacto

  C, Estriam.   C, Edelredus. c   R, P, Beuredus. a

b

86

The History of Alfred of Beverley

place.82 Alhfrith, king of the Northumbrians,83 married their [Wulfhere’s and Æthelred’s] sister Cyneburh but she gave up earthly marital love for the love of God and became a nun in the monastery which her brothers Wulfhere and Æthelred had founded for her, and the castle of Cyneburh is called after her.84 Her sister Cyneswith also became a nun in the same monastery. King Wulfhere died in the seventeenth year of his reign and was succeeded by his brother St Æthelred, who married Osthryth, sister of Ecgfrith, king of the Northumbrians, and with her he had a son, Ceolred.85 In the thirtieth year of his reign he became a monk and handed over his kingdom to his nephew, Cenred. But Cenred, in the fifth year of his reign, gave up the world, went to Rome and there, in the habit of a monk, finished his life. He was succeeded by Ceolred, the son of his uncle, Æthelred, but Ceolred died in the ninth year of his reign. His successor was Æthelbald, son of King Penda’s brother. In the forty-first year of his reign, Beornred the tyrant killed Æthelbald at Seckington and invaded his kingdom. The body of the king was taken to Repton and buried with royal pomp.86 That same year, Æthelbald’s cousin Offa, grandson of Eanwulf and son of Thingfrith, invaded the kingdom, killed Beornred, and ruled in his place. His queen Cynethryth,87 bore two daughters, Eadburh, who married the king of the West Saxons, Brihtric, and Æthelburh, who remained a virgin, and one son, Ecgfrith. Offa died in the thirty-ninth year of his reign and his son Ecgfrith succeeded, but he died in the same year. His successor was the illustrious Cenwulf, son of Cuthbert and grandson of the grandson of the grandson of Pybba. His queen, Ælfthryth, bore him two daughters, Cwenthryth and Burgenilda, and St Kenelm. Cenwulf died in the twenty-fourth year of his reign and lies buried in Winchcombe.88 He left his son, Kenelm, as heir of his kingdom, but Kenelm was in the same year murdered by the treachery of his sister Cwenthryth. His paternal uncle Ceolwulf succeeded him, but after two years he was driven out and Beornwulf took possession of the kingdom. Two years later Beornwulf was

Ibid. Merchelm is not reported in the main CJW annals, nor in HE, ASC, HA. WM GRA, i. 74.3, however, reported Merchelm to be a son of Penda and brother of Wulfhere. 83  Ibid. Son of King Oswiu (HE, iii. 21). 84  Ibid. CJW ii, 1050 reports the two glorious virgin daugthers of Penda, Cynethryth and Cyneswith, but makes no mention of Cyneburh. WM GRA, i. 76.2, similarly reports that Cyneburh gave up marriage out of weariness of wedlock – an example of textual content which William shares with the Worcester dynastic accounts (see above, p. xlv). 85  Ibid. Æthelred (acc. 675, abd. 704, d. 716); Cenred (acc. 704, abd. & d. 709); Ceolred (acc. 709, d. 716). 86  FW MHB, p. 638. Æthelbald (acc. 716, d. 757). 87  Ibid. Offa (acc. 757, d. 796). The Mercian dynastic account and genealogy and CJW ii annal for 793 appear to be the only chronicle sources for Cynethryth, who is otherwise known from charters, coins and letters. 88  Ibid. Cenwulf (acc. 796, d. 821). His burial in Winchcombe is not reported in the main CJW annals. 82 

86

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

ab Orientalibus Anglis in regno perimitur. Cui Ludecan propinquus suus successit, sed post biennium dum praedecessorem ulcisci uellet, ab eisdem Estanglis occiditur. Cui successit Wiglaf.89 Huic regina sua Kinedridaa genuit Wigmundum, qui de filia regis Merciorum Ceolfwlfi Ælfleda Sanctum genuit Wistanum.90 Decedens rex Wiglaf anno regni sui .xiii. Reopedunum est sepultus.91 Cui Beortwlphus successit. Huic Sedrith regina peperit Beordfertum qui sanctum peremit Wistanum.92 Huius corpus Reopedunum monasterium tunc temporis famosum delatum est, in mausoleo aui sui regisb est tumulatum. Verum illius martirio coelestia non defuere miracula. Nam de loco, in quo innocenter occissus est, columpna lucis ad coelum usque porrecta omnibus eiusdem loci incolis per .xxx. dies stabat conspicua.93 Decessit rex Beortwlfus anno regni sui .xiii.94 Cui Burhredus succedens, filiam regis Westsaxonum Adelwlphic Adelswidam duxit uxorem. Quem paganus exercitus Danorum anno regni sui .xxii. regno expulit. Qui mox Romam adiit, ubi non diu uiuens, defunctus est et in scola Saxonum in ecclesia Sanctae Mariae sepultus requiescit.95 Dani pagani eodem anno, quo Burhredusd expulsus est a regno, Ceolwlpho ipsius ministro regnum Merciorum custodiendum ad tempus commisere. Verum triennii tempore completo, partem illius inter se diuisere, partem illi dedere et eum regnare permisere, qui ultimus regum extitit Merciorum.96 Post cuius mortem Westsaxonum rex Alfredus ut exercitum paganorum Danorum suo de regno penitus expulit, strenuitate sua Lundoniam cum interiacentibus terris recuperauit, et partem regni Merciorum quam Ceolwlphus habuit acquisiuit. Iste fuit status regni Merciorum, quod a Pendae rege usque ad ultimum Ceolwlphum sub regibus .xviii. currens, per annos circiter .cc.lxiii. stetit, id est usque ad tempora Alfredi regis Westsaxonum.

  R, P, Ginebrida.   R, P, Witglaui. c   R, P, Athufi. d   R, P, Burredus. e   R, P, Peanda. a

b

87

The History of Alfred of Beverley

killed by the East Angles in his kingdom. His kinsman Ludeca succeeded him but, when, after two years, he tried to avenge his predecessor, he was killed by these same East Angles and Wiglaf succeeded him.89 His queen, Cynethryth, bore him Wigmund who, with St Ælfflæd, the daughter of Ceolwulf, king of the Mercians, begot Wigstan.90 King Wiglaf died in the thirteenth year of his reign and was buried in Repton.91 Berhtwulf succeeded him and his queen, Sæthryth, bore Berhtferth, who killed St Wigstan.92 Wigstan’s body was carried to the monastery of Repton, which was well known at the time, and was buried in the tomb of his grandfather, King Wiglaf. There was no lack of heavenly miracles to bear witness to Wigstan’s martyrdom. For, from the very spot in which that innocent man was murdered, a column of light rose right up into the sky and remained clearly visible to all the inhabitants of that place for thirty days.93 King Berhtwulf passed away in the thirteenth year of his reign.94 Burgred succeeded him and married Æthelswith, the daughter of Æthelwulf, king of the West Saxons. An army of pagan Danes drove him from his kingdom in the twentysecond year of his reign and, soon afterwards, he went to Rome, where he lived only a short while before he died. He now lies buried in the church of St Mary in the Saxon School.95 In the same year that Burgred was driven out of the realm, the pagan Danes entrusted the governance of the Mercian kingdom, for a while, to Ceolwulf, one of his thegns. But, three years later, the Danes divided one part of the kingdom among themselves, and gave the other part to Ceolwulf, and allowed him to rule there. He proved to be the last king of Mercia.96 After his death, when Alfred, king of the West Saxons, drove the army of pagan Danes completely out of his kingdom, he boldly recaptured London and its adjacent lands and took possession of that part of the Mercian kingdom held by Ceolwulf. This, then, was the history of the kingdom of the Mercians which, from King Penda until its last king Ceolwulf, lasted through eighteen reigns and existed for approximately two hundred and sixty-three years, that is, until the time of Alfred, king of the West Saxons. FW MHB, p. 638. Ceolwulf I (acc. 821, expelled 823); Beornwulf (acc. 823, d. 825); Ludeca (acc. 825, d. 827). 90  Ibid. Wiglaf’s queen, Cynethryth, is not reported in main CJW annals. 91  Ibid. Wiglaf (acc. 827, d. 840). 92  Ibid. Wigstan’s murder is reported in a marginal addition to the main CJW ii annal for 849. See CJW ii, p. lxxvi for discussion of the precedence, or otherwise, of the preparation of the dynastic accounts and main CJW annals. 93  Ibid. The miracle is also reported by WM GRA, ii. 212, with the additional note that St Wigstan was first buried in the monastery at Repton but ‘now rests in Evesham’. 94  Ibid. Berhtwulf (acc. 840, d.? 852). 95  Ibid. Burgred (acc.? 852, d.? 874). 96  Ibid. Ceolwulf II (acc. c.873 x 4, d.?). 89 

87

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Primus Penda. .ii.us Wlpherus. .iii.us Edelredus. .iiii.us Cenredus. .v.us Ceolredus. .vi.us Edelbaldus. .vii.us Beornredus. .viii.us Offa. .ix.us [R] Egfercus. .x.us Kenulphus. .xi.us Kenelmus. .xii.us Ceolwlphus, .xiii.us Beornwlphus. .xiiii.us Ludecan. .xv.us Wiglafus. .xvi.us Beortwlphus. .xvii.us Burhredus. .xviii.us Ceolwlphusa. a

Incipit de Regno Northumbrorum Regnum Northumbrorum primum in duas prouincias diuisum fuit, in Berniciam et Deiram. In Bernicia coepit primus regnare Ida filius Eoppae fortissimi ducis anno Dominicae Incarnationis quingentesimo .xlvii. et regnauit annis .xii. Fuit autem Ida, ut dictum est, filius Eoppae, qui fuit Oesa,b qui fuit Adelbrict, qui fuit Ingengeat, qui fuit Angegeat, qui fuit Alusa, qui fuit Ingebrand, qui fuit Waegbrandc qui fuit Beord, qui fuit Beorn, qui fuit Bran[d], qui fuit Bealdeag, qui fuit Woden.97 Habuit autem Ida ex reginis .vi. filios, Addam, Belricum, Theodricum Adelricum, Osmarum, Theodredum sex uero ex concubinis, Occ, Alricum, Eccam, Oswaldum, Sogor, Sogotherum. Successit autem Idae filius suus Adda, et regnauit annis .vii. Post Addam regnauit Clappa annis quinque. Quo mortuo regnauit Theodulphus anno uno. Post quem Freodulphus annis septem. Deinde Theodricus annis septem. Quo mortuo successit Edelric, qui expulso de regno Deirae tertio aetatis suae anno Edwino filio Ællae, super ambas prouincias, id est super Berniciam et super Deiram regnauit annis .v. Quo mortuo,d filius eius Edelfridus regni utriusque gubernacula suscepit. Cui regina sua Acha, regis Ellae filia, peperit .vii.e filios: Eanfridum, Oslaf, Oslacf sanctum Oswaldum regem, Offam, Oswidu, et filiam unam sanctam Eabbe abbatissam.98 De quo, scilicet Edelfrido, uenerabilis doctor Bedag in historia sua scribit ita: ‘Regno Northumbrorum praefuit rex fortissimus et gloriae cupidissimus Edelfridus qui plus omnibus Anglorum primatibus gentem uastauit Britonum, ita ut Sauli, quondam regi Israelis, comparandus uideretur. Nemo enim in tribunis, nemo in regibus plures eorum terras exterminatis uel subiugatis indigenis aut tributarias genti Anglorum aut habitabiles fecit. Vnde motus profectibus eius Aidam rex Scottorum, qui Britanniam inhabitant, uenit contra eum cum immenso ac forti exercitu, sed cum paucis uictus aufugit, omnisque pene exercitus eius est caesus. In qua etiam pugna Theodbaldus, frater regis Edelfridi, cum omni illo quem   C, omitted.   R, P, Occla. c   R, P, Waebrad. d   R, P, defuncto. e   R, P, vi. f   R, P, omit Oslac. g   C, uenerabilis Beda Anglorum doctor. a–a b

88

The History of Alfred of Beverley

First Penda, second Wulfhere, third Æthelred, fourth Cenred, fifth Ceolred, sixth Æthelbald, seventh Beornred, eighth Offa, ninth Ecgfrith, tenth Cenwulf, eleventh Kenelm, twelfth Ceolwulf, thirteenth Beornwulf, fourteenth Ludeca, fifteenth Wiglaf, sixteenth Berhtwulf, seventeenth Burgred, eighteenth Ceolwulf.

An account of the kingdom of Northumbria begins The kingdom of Northumbria was at first divided into two kingdoms, Bernicia and Deira. In Bernicia the first ruler was Ida, son of the mighty earl Eoppa. He began his reign in the year of our Lord 547 and ruled for twelve years. Ida, as has been said, was the son of Eoppa, the son of Oese, the son of Æthelbryth, the son of Ingengeat, the son of Angengeat, the son of Alusa, the son of Ingebrand, the son of Wægbrand, the son of Beornd, the son of Beorn, the son of Brand, the son of Bældeag, the son of Woden.97 Ida had six sons with his queens: Adda, Bælric, Theodric, Æthelric, Osmær and Theodhere, and six with his concubines: Ogg, Alric, Ecca, Oswald, Soghor, Sogetherf. Ida was succeeded by his son Adda who reigned for seven years. After Adda, Clappa reigned for five years. When he died, Theodwulf reigned for one year and then, after him, Freodwulf, for seven years. Then Theodric, for seven years. On his death, Æthelric succeeded and, having banished Edwin, son of Ælle, from the kingdom of Deira at the age of three, he reigned over both kingdoms, namely Bernicia and Deira, for five years. When Æthelric died his son Æthelfrith inherited the governance of both kingdoms and his queen, Acha, daughter of king Ælle, bore seven sons: Eanfrith, Oslaf, Oslac, St Oswald the king, Offa and Oswiu, and one daughter, St Æbbe, the abbess.98 Of him, namely Æthelfrith, the venerable teacher Bede writes in his History as follows: ‘Æthelfrith, a very brave king and most eager for glory, ruled over the kingdom of Northumbria. He waged war on the Britons more than did any other leader of the Angles, and thus may be deemed worthy of comparison with Saul, who was once king of Israel. For no other leader or king had, after driving out or subjugating the inhabitants, made more of their territories either pay tribute to or suffer occupation by the English race. So Aidan, king of the Irish living in Britain, troubled by Æthelfrith’s advances, marched against him with a huge and powerful army. But he was defeated and fled, with few survivors, and nearly all his army was cut to pieces. In this battle, Theobald, brother of King Æthelfrith, FW MHB, p. 631. The thirteen-cycle descent of Ida from Woden supplied matches the prefatory Bernicia genealogy. The CJW ii annal for 547, however, supplies a nine-cycle descent for Ida from Woden which then extends beyond Woden to Geata. 98  FW MHB, p. 639. Æthelfrith (acc. 592 x 593, d. 616). 97 

88

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

ducebat exercitu peremptus est. Quod bellum Edelfridus anno ab Incarnatione Domini sexcentesimo tertio, regni autem sui, quod .xxiiii. annis tenuit, anno .ix. perfecit.’99 Haec Beda. Anno autem regni Adelfridi .xxiiii. rex potens Orientalium Anglorum Reodwaldus ad debellandum eum exercitum collegit copiosum, eumque sibi occurrentem cum exercitu multum inpari non enim dederat illi spatium quo totum suum congregaret exercitum occidit in finibus Merciorum iuxta amnem qui uocatur Iddel.100 Et haec Beda. Talis fuit status regni Berniciorum, a primo eorum rege Ida, usque ad istum Adelfridum. qui omnes pagani permanserunt. a.i.us Ida. .ii.us Adda. .iii.us Clappa. .iiii.us Theodulfus. .v.us Freodulfus. .vi.us [T]heodricus. .vii.us Adelricus. .viii.us Adelfridusa.

Incipit de regno Deirae In altera prouincia regni Northumbrorum, id est, in Deira, coepit regnare primus Elle filius Iffi, ducis strenuissimi, anno Dominicae incarnationis quingentesimo .lix.101 Ad cuius nomen beatus Papa Gregorius alludens dixit: ‘Bene quia rex Elle dicitur. Alleluia in laudem creatoris illis in partibus opportet decantari.’102 Hic annis fere .xxx. regnauit.103 Quo regnante in Deira, regnauerunt in Bernicia post Idamb Adda, Clappa, Theodwlfus, Freodwlfus, Theodricus, sicut superiori capitulo notatum est. Fuit autem Elle filius Iffi, qui fuit Wsfrea, qui fuit Wilgels, qui fuit Westeor Walcna, qui fuit Seomel, qui fuit Suærthe, qui fuit Sæfugol, qui fuit Sæbald, qui fuit Siggahet, qui fuit Suebdeag, qui fuit Siggar, qui fuit Wegdeag, qui fuit Woden.104 Mortuo Elle non habuit Deira proprium regem per annos .xxix. Nam Edelelric[us] rex Berniciae mortuo Elle filium eius Edwinum tertio aetatis suae anno a regno Deirae expulit, et super ambas prouincias .v. annis regnauit, et post eum filius suus Edelfridusc utrique regno .xxiiii. annis praefuit.105 Quo toto tempore Edwinus exulans, tandem auxilio regis Orientalium Anglorum Reodwaldi occiso in bello Edelfrido in regnum patris sui restitutus, etiam regnum Berniciorum suo

  C, omitted.   R, P, Hydam. c   C, erasure of letter A from original Aedelfridus to render Edelfridus. a–a b

89

The History of Alfred of Beverley

was killed, together with all his army. Æthelfrith brought this war to an end in the year of our Lord 603, in the ninth year of his reign, which lasted twenty-four years.’99 Thus says Bede. In the twenty-fourth year of Æthelfrith’s reign, the powerful Rædwald, king of the East Angles, raised a large army to overthrow him, and, not giving Æthelfrith time to gather all his troops, met him with a much larger force and slew him on the Mercian border, near a river which is called the Idle.100 This also Bede states. Such then was the history of the kingdom of Bernicia, from the first of its kings, Ida, to this same Æthelfrith, and all these rulers remained pagan. First Ida, second Adda, third Clappa, fourth Theodwulf, fifth Freothulf, sixth Theodric, seventh Æthelric, eighth Æthelfrith.

An account of the kingdom of Deira begins. In the other province of the Northumbrian kingdom, that is Deira, the first to reign, in the year of Our Lord 559, was Ælle, son of the most valiant prince Iffe.101 And it was his name on which the blessed Pope Gregory was playing when he said, ‘It is good that the king is called Ælle, because Alleluia in praise of the creator should be sung in those regions’.102 Ælle reigned for almost thirty years.103 While he was ruling in Deira, in Bernicia, after Ida, there reigned: Adda, Clappa, Theodwulf, Freothulf, and Theodric, as was noted in the earlier passage. Ælle was the son of Yffi, who was the son of Wuscfrea, the son of Wilgils, the son of Westerfalca, the son of Seomel, the son of Swærta, the son of Sæfugel, the son of Sæbald, the son of Sigegeat, the son of Swefdæg, the son of Sigegar, the son of Wægdæg, the son of Woden.104 After Ælle died, Deira did not have its own king for twenty-nine years for, on Ælle’s death, Æthelric, king of Bernicia, expelled Ælle’s son, Edwin, from Deira at the age of three, and ruled both kingdoms for five years. Then, after him, his son Æthelfrith ruled over both kingdoms for twenty-four years.105 For all that time Edwin lived in exile, but finally, with the help of Rædwald, king of the East Angles, Æthelfrith was killed in battle and Edwin was restored to the kingdom of his father and he even annexed the kingdom of Bernicia to his rule. Edwin therefore HE, i. 34. Bede states that the battle took place in the eleventh year of Æthelfrith’s reign and that it took place in a ‘famous place called Degsastan, that is the stone of Degsa’. 100  HE, ii. 12. 101  FW MHB, p. 639. 102  HE, ii. 1. Borrowings from the Worcester prefatory accounts are interspersed with selective quotes from Bede. This famous Bedan story is not contained in the prefatory Deira dynastic account. 103  Ælle (acc. 560, d. 588 x 590). 104  FW MHB, p. 631. The thirteen-cycle genealogy of Ælle supplied here matches that preserved in the Deira prefatory genealogy. CJW ii annal for 559 provides the same genealogy for Ælle. 105  Æthelfrith (acc. 592 x 593, d. 616). 99 

89

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

annexuit regno. Igitur Edwinus utroque regno potitus,106 anno ab aduentu sancti Augustini .xxx. regni uero sui .xi.o praedicante sancto Paulino episcopo cum sua gente baptismum suscepit, et totam Britanniam praeter Cantuarios primus regum Anglorum asibi subiecit, ac Eorpwaldum regem Orientalium Angloruma cum sua prouincia baptizari fecit. Huic etiam exuli de Quenburga filia Creodae regis Merciorum nati sunt duo filii Osfrid et Eadfridb 107 cuius filius extitit Hereric qui de Beorswida genuit sanctam Hildam abbatissam, constructricem monasterii quod uocatur Streonehalt,c ac sanctam Hereswidamd Estanglorum reginam. De regina uero sancta [A]edelburga, regis Cantuariorum Adelberti filia, duo filii sunt ei nati, sanctus Aedelhun et sanctus Wfscrea filiaeque duae sancta [A]enfleda et sancta [A]edeldrida. Occisus est autem anno regni sui .xvii. aetatis uero suae .xlviii. et cum eo filius eius Osfrid a pagano rege Merciorum Penda, et barbaro rege Wallanorum Cedwalla.e 108 Interfecto Edwino suscepit pro illo regnum Deirorum Osric, filius Alfrici patrui eius, qui a Paulino fidei sacramentis imbutus erat.109 Regnum uero Berniciorum suscepit Eanfrid, filius [A]edelfridi, de eadem oriundus est patria. Sed uterque mox se idolatriae sordibus mancipauit. Quos statim Cedwalla rex Britonum impia manu sed iusta ultione peremit. Infaustus ille annus et omnibus exosus usque hodie permanet, tam propter apostasiam regum, quam propter Britonici regis tirannidem. Vnde placuit ut ablata de medio perfidorum regum memoria, idem annus Oswaldi sequentis annus assignaretur. Quo post occisionem fratris sui Eanfridi superueniente cum paruo exercitu sed fide Christi munito, infandus dux Britonum cum inmensis illis copiis, quibus nichil resistere posse iactabat, interemptus est.110 Igitur post intercessionem Cedwallae regis Wallanorum, sancto Edwino auunculo suo sanctus Oswaldus successit, sui praedecessoris [A]edelfridi et germanae ipsius Achae filiae regis Ellae filius,111 et super Deiros et Bernicios

  R, P, omitted.   R, P, Offrid, Eandfrid. c   C, Sereneshale. d   R, P, Beresuidam. e   C, Word barbrara ruled through and erasure where Walanorum may have originally been written. a–a b

90

The History of Alfred of Beverley

became master of both kingdoms.106 Thirty years after the coming of St Augustine, and in the eleventh year of his reign, under the instruction of Bishop Paulinus, Edwin was baptised, as were his people. He was the first of the English kings in all Britain, except for Kent, to be baptised, and he made Eorpwald, the king of the East Angles, undergo baptism along with his kingdom. While he was in exile, Cwenburh, daughter of Ceorl, king of the Mercians, bore him two sons, Osfrith and Eadfrith.107 Eadfrith had a son called Hereric who, with Breguswith, fathered St Hilda the abbess, founder of the monastery called Streoneshalh [Whitby], and St Hereswith, queen of the East Angles. From Edwin’s wife Æthelburh, daughter of Æthelberht, king of Kent, two sons were born to him, St Æthelhun and St Wuscfrea, and two daughters, St Eanflæd and Æthelthryth. But, in the seventeenth year of his reign, when he was forty-eight, Edwin was killed, together with his son Osfrith, by Penda, the pagan king of the Mercians, and Cadwallon, the barbarian king of the Welsh.108 On Edwin’s death, the kingdom of the Deirans passed to Osric, the son of Edwin’s paternal uncle Ælfric, who had been instructed in the sacraments of the faith by Paulinus.109 The kingdom of the Bernicians passed to Eanfrith, son of Æthelfrith, who came from the same country. But both soon abandoned themselves to the baseness of idolatry and at once Cadwallon, king of the Britons, put them to death in an act of impiety which was, nevertheless, a just retribution. Even to this day, that year remains ill-omened and hateful to all, as much for the apostasy of those English kings as for the cruelty of the British king. And so it was decided to abolish the memory of those faithless kings and to assign this year to their successor, Oswald. After his brother Eanfrith was killed, Oswald came with an army, small in numbers but strong in their faith in Christ, and cut down the abominable leader of the Britons, together with the immense force which he used to boast was irresistible.110 Thus, after the intervention of Cadwallon, king of the Welsh, St Oswald succeeded his maternal uncle St Edwin. He was the son of Æthelfrith, his predecessor, and of Acha, the sister of Edwin and daughter of King Ælle.111 He ruled over the Deirans and the Bernicians and, in the period which followed, all

Edwin (acc. 616, d. Oct. 633). FW MHB, p. 639, based on HE, ii. 14. 108  Here the Christian king Cadwallon is described ‘barbarian king of the Welsh’. In the CJW ii annal for 633 he is described as ‘king of the Britons’, as also in Bede (HE, ii. 20). How the naming of the Welsh in historical literature changed in course of the twelfth century from ‘Britons’ to ‘Welsh’ is discussed above, p. xl. 109  HE, iii. 1. 110  Ibid. 111  FW MHB, p. 639. St Oswald (acc. 634, d. Aug. 642). 106  107 

90

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

regnauit et sequenti tempore omnes nationes et prouincias Britanniae in deditionem accepit.112 Hic quoque anno regni sui .ix. a praedicto rege Merciorum Penda occisus est. Cui frater suus Oswius successit.113 Huius regni anno secundo sanctus Oswinus, filius Osrici, filius Alfrici,a patrui regis Edwini, super Deiros regnare coepit, et anno regni sui .vii. occisus est.114 Cui successit Oidewaldusb regis Oswaldi filius.115 De Regina autem Eanfledac regis Edwini filia, rex Oswius duos filios habuit, Egfridum et Alfwinum116 et .iii. filias, Ostridam, quam rex Merciorum sanctus Aedelredus in coniugium habuit, et Alfledam, quam rex Australium Merciorum Weada uxorem duxit, ac Alfledam, quam pater eius post occisionem regis Pendae pro uictoria Deo optulit, et tribus annis Mercis ceterisque Australium prouinciarum populis praefuit, ipseque totam eam ad fidem Christi conuertit.117 Anno autem regni sui .xxviii. decedens, Egfridum filium eius regni reliquit heredem, qui regni sui anno .xv. a Pictis occisus est. Cui successit Alfridus frater eius, et anno regni .xx. decessit. Cui filius suus Osredus successit, et anno regni sui .xi. occisus est.118 Cui Kenredus, filius Cuthumae abnepotis Idae successit, et post biennium moritur.119 Hinc Osric in regem leuatur, qui anno regni .xi. decessit. Cui sui praedecessoris germanus Ceowlfussuccessit ad hunc sanctum regem Northumbrorum sanctus Beda scripsit historiam Anglorum.120 Qui anno regni sui .ix. relicto imperio monachus factus, et regni regimen patrueli suo Eadberto Etate filio relinquens, Lindisfarnensium extitit episcopus.121 Sed et Eadbertus anno regni .xix. monachus efficitur, et filius suus Oswlfus rex constituitur, et uno anno regnans a Northumbrensibus occiditur.

  P, omits Filius Alfrici. C, omits Filius Osrici.   R, P, Ordewalo. c   C, Elfleda. a

b

91

The History of Alfred of Beverley

the peoples and kingdoms of Britain accepted his authority.112 In the ninth year of his reign, he too was killed by the aforementioned Penda, king of the Mercians, and his brother Oswiu succeeded.113 In the second year of Oswiu’s reign, St Oswine, son of Osric, son of Ælfric, paternal uncle of King Edwin, began to rule over the Deirans but, in the seventh year of his reign, he was killed.114 Oswine was succeeded by Oethewald, the son of King Oswald.115 With his queen Eanflæd, the daughter of King Edwin, King Oswiu had two sons: Ecgfrith and Ælfwine,116 and three daughters: Osthryth, whom St Æthelred, king of the Mercians married, Alhflæd, whom the king of the south Mercians, Peada, married, and Ælfflæd, whom her father offered to God in thanks for his victory after the death of Penda. For three years Oswiu ruled the Mercians and the other southern kingdoms and he converted all of them to the faith of Christ.117 In the twenty-eighth year of his reign, Oswiu died, leaving as heir to his kingdom his son Ecgfrith, who was killed by the Picts in the fifteenth year of his reign. His brother Aldfrith succeeded him, and he died in the twentieth year of his reign. His son Osred succeeded him, and he was killed in the eleventh year of his reign.118 His successor, Cenred, son of Cuthwine, who was a grandson of a grandson of Ida, died after two years.119 Then Osric became king. He died in the eleventh year of his reign and was succeeded by Ceolwulf, the brother of his predecessor, Cenred, and it was for this holy king of the Northumbrians that St Bede wrote the History of the English.120 In the ninth year of his reign, he gave up his crown, and became a monk and, leaving the governance of his kingdom to his cousin Eadberht, son of Eata, became bishop of Lindisfarne.121 But Eadberht, in the nineteenth year of his reign, also became a monk. His son, Oswulf, was made king, but after ruling one year, was killed by the Northumbrians.

HE, iii. 6. The author’s comment is based on Bede’s statement that St Oswald ‘held under his sway all the peoples and kingdoms of Britain, divided among the speakers of four different languages: British, Pictish, Irish and English’. 113  Oswiu (acc. 642, d. Feb. 670). United Bernicia and Deira c.655 x 670. 114  FW MHB, p. 639. Oswine (acc. 644, d. August 651). 115  Oethewald, sub-king of Deira (acc. c.651, d.?). 116  Alhfrith, a sub-king of Deira to c.655–64, was a third son. 117  FW MHB, p. 639. ‘… and he converted all of them to the faith of Christ’ is added by the author. 118  Ibid. 119  Ibid. The Worcester compiler has drawn on HE, v. 22 & 23 but has added that Cenred was abnepotis Idæ. 120  Ceolwulf (acc. 729, d. c.764). Bede’s dedication of the HE to King Ceolwulf is also reported in CJW ii, annal for 729. 121  HE, v. 23. Bede states that Lindisfarne was one of the four bishoprics of Northumbria at the time of King Ceolwulf and names Æthelwald as its bishop at the time of writing (AD 731). 112 

91

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Cui Moll Edelwoldusa successit sed .vii. anno regnum dimisit, et filius Eanwine Alchredus,b trinepos regis Idae in regnum successit.122 Quem Northumbrenses anno nono de regno expulerunt et Edeldredum qui et Edelbrictus Molli regis filium in regem leuauerunt.123 Hunc quoque regni sui anno .v. Northumbrenses abiecerunt, et Alfwoldum regem constituerunt. Quem .xi. regni sui anno Stigand quidam uir praepotens iniuste peremit. In cuius occisionis loco saepius coelitus emissa lux apparet inmensa. Cui nepos suus Osredus Alchredi filius successit. Hunc etiam Northumbrenses anno transacto regno expulerunt, et regem Adelbrictumc quem extruserant in regnum receperunt. Quo a suis interfecto Osbaldus regnum suscepit, et paucis diebus tenuit. Cui Eardulfus successit, et uno anno regnauit.124 Deinde per annos .lxxvi. aliquot imperauerunt reges. Quorum ultimi fuerunt Osbrict et Ellae, qui anno Dominicae incarnationis octingentesimo .lxvii. in Eboraco cum flore Northumbroum perempti sunt a paganis, uidelicet Danis, Noreganis, Sueuis, Gothis et quarundam aliarum nationum populis. Quo anno Anglici reges, qui annis .ccc.xxi.d regnauere, per annos .li. imperare in Northumbria desiere.125 Depopulationi namque seruitutique eorundem paganorum absque rege .viii. annis subiacebant. Nam per id temporis spatium Est Anglorum rege sancto Edmundo perempto, et Merciorum rege Burredo trans mare fugato, eorumque regnis suae ditioni subactis, ac Alfredo West Saxonum rege ferme detrito, eiusque regno maxima ex parte inuaso, per Angliam et circa illam peruagantes monasteria cum monachis et sanctimonialibus, ecclesias cum clericis incendere, ciuitates, urbes, oppida, uillas cremare, agros deuastare, strages hominum multas agere minime cessabant. Nec mirum. Tam ualidus enim et tam numerosus nec antea, nec post Angliam adiit exercitus, utpote regibus .viii. uidelicet Bacseg, Halfdene,

  R, P, Moldewoldus.   R, P, Ealwine Ealcredus. c   R, P, Egbertum. d   P, cccxxii. a

b

92

The History of Alfred of Beverley

He was succeeded by Æthelwald Moll but, in the seventh year of his reign, he renounced the throne and Alhred, son of Eanwine, and grandson of a grandson of a grandson of King Ida, succeeded.122 Alhred was driven out by the Northumbrians in the ninth year of his reign and they raised to the throne Æthelred, also called Æthelbriht, son of King Moll.123 He too, in the fifth year of his reign, was cast out by the Northumbrians, who made Ælfwald king. In the eleventh year of his reign, Ælfwald was unjustly killed by a certain Sicga, a very powerful man. In the place where he was cut down, an immense light, sent down from heaven, very often appears. Ælfwald’s nephew, Osred, the son of Alhred, succeeded him, but after only one year of rule, the Northumbrians drove him out and restored to the throne King Æthelbriht whom they had earlier banished. When Æthelbriht was killed by his kinsmen, Osbald succeeded to the kingdom, but he held it for only a few days. Eardwulf succeeded him and ruled for one year.124 Then, over a period of seventy-six years, there reigned several kings, of whom the last were Osberht and Ælle. In the year of our Lord 867, they, with the flower of the Northumbrians, were killed in York by pagans, namely the Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Goths, and peoples of other foreign races. From that year, English kings, who had reigned for three hundred and twenty-one years, ceased to rule in Northumbria for a period of fifty-one years.125 The people remained without a king for eight years, pillaged by, and in servitude to these same pagans. For, at this time, St Edmund, king of the East Angles, had been slain and Burgred, king of the Mercians, had been driven across the sea, and their kingdoms were subjected to the control of the pagans, while Alfred, king of the West Saxons, was almost worn down, with the greater part of his kingdom occupied. Meanwhile those pagans, ranging across and around England, never ceased in their slaughter of men, burning monasteries with their monks and nuns and churches with their priests, setting fire to communities, cities, towns, and houses, and laying waste the fields. No wonder this happened, for neither before nor after, has an army so powerful and large attacked England, comprising as it did eight kings, namely Bagsecg, Healfdene, Inguar, Ubba,

FW MHB, p. 640. Æthelwald Moll (acc. 758 x 759, d. ?). Exiled 765. Ibid. Æthelred I (Æthelbriht) (acc. 774, d. 796). Exiled in 778 or 779 and restored to the throne in 790. WM GRA, i. 72.2, also notes his dual naming, ‘Ethelberto qui et Ethelredus dictus est’. In CJW ii. annal for 774 he is named only ‘Æthelbertum’. 124  Ibid. Eardwulf ruled Northumbria from 796 until 806 (ASC E/D), when he was driven from his kingdom. HA, iv. 33 states that Eardwulf ruled for twelve years. 125  Ibid. 122  123 

92

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Inguar, Vbba, Guthrum, Oskitel, Amund, et Eowils, ac plusquam .xx. comitibus, et uariis armorum generibus instructus.126 Anno uero .ix. interfectionis regum Osbrict et Ellae, pagani reges Halfdene et Eowils in Northumbria regnare coepere, annisque .xxvi. regnauere. Quibus ab Anglis interfectis, Regnaldus plusquam decem, deinde Sictricus annis regnauit paucis. Quo defuncto, filius eius Guthfertus regimen regni suscepit. Sed illum strenuus et gloriosus rex Ædelstanus de regno mox expulit, et anno Dominicae Incarnationis nonogentesimo .xxvi. aaduentus uero Anglorum in Britanniam .cccclxxvii.a totius Angliae monarchiam primus Anglorum Saxonum optinuit, ac regem Scottorum regesque Walanorum deditores habens, per Angliam solus regnauit.127 Iste fuit status regum Deirorum simul et Berniciorum a primo Deirorum rege Ellae usque ad ultimos Christianos Northumbrorum reges, Osbrict et Ellae. Quibus a paganis interfectis, pagani reges Halfdene et Eowils, Ragnaldus, et Guthfertus, in Northumbria per annos amplius quam .xxxvi. usque ad monarchiam regis Ædelstani per multam tirannidem regnauere. b Primus Elle. .ii.us Edelric. .iii.us Edelfrid. .iiii.us Edwinus. .v.us Oswaldus. .vi.us Oswius. .vii.us Egfridus. .viii. Alfridus. .ix. Osredus. .x. Kenredus. .xi. Osricus, .xii. Ceowlfus. .xiii.us Eadbertus. .xiiii.us Oswlfus. .xv. Mol qui et Edelwoldus. .xvi. Alchredus. .xvii. Edelredus qui et Edelbrictus. .xviii. Alfwoldus. .xix. Osredus. .xx. Edelbric. .xxi. Oswaldus. .xxii. Eardulfus. .xxiii. Osbrict et Ellae. .xxiiii. Halfdene et Eowlis. .xxv. Ragnaldus. .xxvi. Sictricus. .xxvii. Guthfertusb.

Incipit de regno Westsaxonum Anno .xlvii. aduentus Anglorum in Angliam Cerdic et Kinric filius suus uenerunt ad Cerdicesore et statim illis a Britonibus bello exceptis diu uaria uictoria certatum est.c Septimo autem anno post aduentum Cerdici Porth a quo dictum est Porthtesmude et duo filii eius in auxilium eius uenerunt et populum subiugauerunt.128

  R, P, omitted.   C, omitted. c   R, P, preserve a truncated version of the West Saxon dynastic account provided in Appendix 1. a–a

b–b

93

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Guthrum, Oscetel, Anwend and Eowils; more than twenty earls, and weapons of many different sorts.126 Then, in the ninth year since the slaying of Kings Osberht and Ælle, the pagan kings Healfdene and Eowils began to rule in Northumbria and they reigned for twenty-six years. When they were killed by the Angles, Regnald ruled for more than ten years and then Sihtric ruled for a few years. When he died his son Guthfrith inherited the governance of the kingdom. But the vigorous and glorious King Æthelstan soon drove Guthfrith out of the realm, and, in the year of our Lord 926, four hundred and seventy-seven years from the coming of the Angles to Britain, was the first of the Anglo-Saxons to obtain the monarchy of all England, which he ruled alone, following the surrender of the kings of the Scots and of the Welsh.127 This was the history of the kingdoms of Deira and of Bernicia from Ælle, the first king of Deira, to the last Christian kings of Northumbria, Osberht and Ælle. When they were killed by the heathens, the pagan kings Healfdene and Eowils, Ragnald, and Guthfrith, ruled Northumbria for more than thirty-six years, a period of extreme despotism, until the monarchy of King Athelstan. The first king was Ælle, second Æthelric, third Æthelfrith, fourth Edwin, fifth Oswald, sixth Oswiu, seventh Ecgfrith, eighth Aldfrith, ninth Osred, tenth Cenred, eleventh Osric, twelfth Ceolwulf, thirteenth Eadberht, fourteenth Oswulf, fifteenth Moll, called Æthelwald, sixteenth Alhred, seventeenth Æthelred, called Æthelbriht, eighteenth Ælfwald, nineteenth Osred, twentieth Æthelbriht, twenty-first Osbald, twenty-second Eardwulf, twenty-third Osberht and Ælle, twenty-fourth Healfdene and Eowils, twenty-fifth Ragnald, twentysixth Sihtric, twenty-seventh Guthfrith.

An account of the kingdom of the West Saxons begins In the forty-seventh year after the coming of the English to England, Cerdic and his son Cynric came to Certicesore and immediately were engaged in battle by the Britons and for a long time the outcome was undecided. But, seven years after Cerdic’s arrival, Port, after whom Portsmouth is named, and his two sons came to his help and they subjugated the people.128

Ibid. Ibid. Second statement that Æthelstan was the first of the English kings to hold the monarchy of all England in the Worcester dynastic accounts. In the CJW main annals Æthelstan is described as strenuus et gloriosus but is not singled out as the first of the English kings to hold the monarchy of all England. 128  HA, ii. 11. For the account of the West Saxon kingdom the author returns to the HA to provide the bulk of the account but also begins to draw on the Durham HR. 126  127 

93

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Anno .xl. aduentus Anglorum in Angliam Nazaleod rex maximus Britannorum congregata omni multitudine Britannorum pugnauit aduersus Cerdic et filium eius. Qui tanto periclo pecierunt auxilium ab Esc filio Hengisti rege Cantuariorum et ab Elle rege Suthsexorum et a Port et a filius eius qui nuper uenerant. Inito ergo certamine post inlatam utrimque sedem prostratis uexillis et acie perforata Cerdic in fugam conuersus est. Quod uidens filius eius qui sinistrum cornu ducebat irruit in terga persequentium patrem et aggrauata est pugna uehementer et cecidit rex Nazaleod et ceteri fugerunt et interfecta sunt ex eis quinque milia et saxones uictoria potiti sunt.129 Sexto namque anno post bellum praedictum uenerunt nepotes Cerdici Stuff et Wicgar cum tribus nauibus apud Cerdicesore et bellauerunt contra Britones et preualuerunt et facta est post eos fortitudo Cerdici terribilis [et] pertransiuit terram in fortitudine graui.130 Regnum igitur Westsexe incepit anno aduentus Anglorum in Angliam .lxxi. Anno ab incarnatione Domini .dxix. imperante Iustino seniore. Quod regnum cetera omnia sibi processu temporum subiugauit et monarchiam totius Britanniae optinuit.131 Inierunt fortissimi Britonum duces contra eum bellum apud Cerdicesore sed uicti sunt et ampliatum est nomen Cerdici et diuulgata est fama bellorum eius deinceps per uniuersam terram.132 Fuit autem filius Elesa, qui fuit Aesla, qui fuit Gewis, a quo et tota illiusprouinciae gens Gewissae dicta est, qui fuit Wigg, qui fuit Freawine, qui fuit Freodegar, qui fuit Woden.133 Anno autem .xiiii. regni sui Cerdic et filius eius congregatis ingentibus copiis apud Wittlande proeliati sunt et insulam ceperunt134 et innumerabilemstragem fecerunt apud Wittgareburg dederunt que eandem insulam praedictis nepotibus suis Stuff et Witgar. Haec est insula Vecta. Defuncto Cerdico primo Westsaxonum regem .xvii. anno regni sui, Kinrich filius eius regnauit post eum .xxvi. annis.135 Cuius regni anno .v.o obscuratus est sol a mane usque ad tertiam mense Martis. Septimo quorum anno regni sui obscuratus

94

The History of Alfred of Beverley

In the fortieth [recte sixtieth] year after the coming of the English to England, Natanleod, the great British king, gathered together all the people of Britain and fought against Cerdic and his son. At a moment of such great danger, the English called for help from Æsc, the son of Hengest, king of Kent, Ælle, the king of the South Saxons, and Port and his son, who had recently arrived. Battle therefore started and, after the bases of both armies had been attacked, Cerdic, with his banners thrown to the ground and his battle line broken, turned and fled. When his son, who was commanding the left wing, saw this, he charged into the rear of his father’s pursuers. The fight grew much fiercer, King Natanleod was slain, the rest fled, five thousand of them were killed, and the Saxons gained the victory.129 In the sixth year after the aforesaid battle, Stuf and Wihtgar, nephews of Cerdic, arrived at Certicesore with three ships and fought and prevailed against the Britons. After these events, the might of Cerdic became an object of fear and he passed through the land in great strength.130 The kingdom of Wessex began therefore in the seventy-first year after the coming of the English to England, in the year from the Incarnation of our Lord 519, and when Justin the Elder was ruling. This kingdom, in the course of time, subjected all others to itself, and obtained the monarchy of all Britain.131 The bravest of the British leaders engaged in battle against Cerdic at Certicesore but were defeated and the reputation of Cerdic grew, and, from that time, the fame of his battles spread across all the land.132 He was the son of Elesa, the son of Aesla, the son of Gewis – after whom all of the people of that province of the Gewissae are named, and who was the son of Wig, the son of Freawine, the son of Freothegar, the son of Woden.133 Now, in the fourteenth year of his reign, Cerdic and his son, after assembling huge forces, engaged in battle in the Isle of Wight and captured the island.134 They made great slaughter at Wihtgarabyrig and they gave this island to his aforementioned nephews, Stuf and Wihtgar. This is the Isle of Wight. Cerdic, the first king of Wessex, died in the seventeenth year of his reign and his son Cynric reigned after him for twenty-six years.135 In the fifth year of his reign, in the month of March, the sun was darkened from morning until three Ibid. HA, ii. 14. 131  HA, ii. 16. 132  HA, ii. 17. 133  FW MHB, p. 631. Cerdic’s seven-cycle descent from Woden supplied here appears based on the prefatory West Saxon genealogical tree but omits Brand, father of Freothegar, and Bældeag, father of Brand. The CJW ii annal for 552 supplies a ten-cycle pedigree for Cynric from Woden. The observation about the naming of the Gewissae after Gewis is not found in the dynastic accounts but is found in HR, §§ 66, 88. 134  HA, ii. 20. Where it is given as the thirteenth year of Cerdic’s reign. 135  Cerdic (acc. 519, d. 534), Cynric (acc. 534, d. c.560). 129  130 

94

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

est sol a tertia pene usque ad nonam, ita ut stellae apparerent .xii. kalendarum Iulii. Decimo quorum anno regni eius obiit Wittgar et sepultus est apud Wittgaresburg quod sic ab eo uocatur.136 Kinric autem anno regni sui xviii pugnauit contra Britones qui uenerant cum exercitu suo usque ad Salesberie et eos in fugam conuertit. Anno quorum regni sui xxii Kinric et filius eius Cheulin pugnauerunt contra Britones apud Beambiri. Cumque statuissent ix acies qui numerus bello est aptissimus scilicet tribus in fronte locatis, et tribus in medio et tribus in fine ducibusque et uiris sagittariis equitibusque Romanorum more dispositis Saxones in eos omnes una acie conglomerati audacissime irruerunt et uicerunt.137 Kinric cum regnasset .xxvi. annis mortuus est et regnauit Cheulin filius eius pro eo .xxx. annos.138 Iste Cheulin et Cutha frater eius pugnauit contra Britones apud Bedeford et uicit. Cepitque castra munita scilicet Lienbiri, et Alesberi et Benesintune et Agneskam.139 Iterum pugnauit Cheulin cum tribus regibus Britannorum id est Coinmagil et Candidan et Farinmagil apud Deorham et in fugam eos uertit et tres urbes opulentissimas ceperunt Gloucestram, Cirecestram et Badecestram.140 Contra hunc Cheulin, Ceol, uel Ceolric, fratruelus suus quem sub se regem fecerat inmerito rebellauit, regnoque expellens loco eius .v. annis regnauit. Ceol uel Ceolrico successit Ceolwlfus et regnauit .xiiii. annis.141 Ceowlfus successit Kinegils et regnavit .xxxi. annis. Quarto autem anno regni sui assumpsit secum in regnum filium suum Kichelinum et pugnauit contra Britones apud Beandune et uicit et numerauerunt mortuos Britannorum duo milia .lxii.142 Iste Kinegils xxiiii anno regni sui a Sancto Birino episcopo cum sua gente primus regum Westsaxonum baptismum Christi suscepit, et anno sequenti filius suus qui [est] Cheulm ab eodem episcopo baptizatus defungitur. Decessit autem rex Kinegils anno regni sui .xxxi. et filius suus Comwalch regimen regni suscepit.143 Hic apud Orientales Anglos dum ille expulsus a regione sua a Penda rege Merciorum pro sorore sua ab eo repudiata et uxore alia introducta, sub Anna

95

The History of Alfred of Beverley

o’clock in the afternoon. In the seventh year of his reign the sun was darkened on 20 June from nine o’clock in the morning until nearly three in the afternoon and so stars were visible. In the tenth year of his reign Wihtgar died and he was buried in Wihtgarabyrig, which is named after him.136 In the eighteenth year of his reign, Cynric fought against the Britons, who had come with their army to Salisbury, and he put them to flight. In the twentysecond year of his reign Cynric and his son Ceawlin fought against the Britons at Barbury. The Britons formed nine lines, a most suitable number for battle, that is, three placed in front, three in the middle and three in the rear with their commanders, archers and cavalry deployed in the Roman manner. The Saxons, gathered together in one line, charged them all with great boldness and defeated them.137 When Cynric had ruled for twenty-six years he died and his son Ceawlin ruled in his place for thirty years.138 This Ceawlin and his brother Cuthwulf fought against the Britons at Bedford and he won and captured fortified towns, namely Limbury, Aylesbury, Bensington, and Eynsham.139 On another occasion, Ceawlin fought against three British kings, namely Conmail, Condidan and Farinmail, at Dyrham, and he put them to flight and they captured three very wealthy towns: Gloucester, Cirencester and Bath.140 Ceol or Ceolric, Ceawlin’s nephew, whom Ceawlin had made sub-king under him, unjustly rebelled against him, expelled him from the kingdom, and ruled for five years. Ceolwulf succeeded Ceol or Ceolric and ruled for fourteen years.141 Cynegils succeeded Ceolwulf and ruled for thirty-one years. In the fourth year of his reign, he took as joint ruler his son Cwichelm, fought against the Britons at Beandune and won, and they counted 2,062 of the Britons dead.142 In the twentyfourth year of his reign, this same Cynegils, along with all his people, was the first of the West Saxon kings to receive the baptism of Christ, from St Birinus the bishop. In the following year his son, that is Cwichelm, who was baptised by the same bishop, died. King Cynegils died in the thirty-first year of his reign and his son Cenwealh took up the rulership of the kingdom.143 Ceanwealh, who had been driven out of his homeland by Penda, king of the Mercians, for having repudiated Penda’s sister and taken another wife, was HA, ii. 20. HA, ii. 22. Where the outcome of the battle of Barbury (Barbury Castle, Wiltshire, AD 556) was undecided. 138  Ibid. Ceawlin (acc. 560, d. 593). 139  HA, ii. 24. 140  HA, ii. 25. Where Ceawlin and his son Cuthwine are stated to be fighting against the Britons, which might explain ceperunt in the MS. 141  FW MHB, p. 640. Ceol (acc. 591, d.? 597), Ceolwulf (acc. 597, d.? 611). 142  HA, ii. 29. 143  FW MHB, pp. 640–41. Cynegils (acc. 611, d.? 642). 136  137 

95

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

rege exulabat et a Sancto Felice episcopo baptizatus est, et postmodum in regnum restitutus Wintoniae ecclesiam, in qua sedes episcopalis est, construxit, et anno regni .xxxi. decessit.144 Cuius post illum regina Sexburg anno uno regnauit. Anno autem quo mortuus est Comwalch fuit maxima pugna uolucrum in Anglia. Quod ut credibilius uideatur hoc etiam nostro tempore contigit in Nortmannia rege Henrico regnante. Palam enim apud Rothomagum uolucres pugnauerunt ita ut multa milia uolucrum occisa inuenirentur et extranei uolucres fugam inisse uidentur. Quod signum fuit prelii quod gestum est inter Henricum dominum Angliae et Normanniae et Ludowicum filium Philippi, regem Franciae. Quo in prelio rex fortis Henricus uictor extitit et Lodowicus uictus aufugit.145 Deinde Cenfus duobus annis secundum dicta regis Alfredi, iuxta cronicam, Escwinus fere .iii. annis regnavit. Cui successit Kentwinus regis Kinegilsi filius, et .vii. anno regni decessit.146 Cuius regni anno .iii.o cometa per iii menses apparuit et unoquoque mane uelut sol resplenduit. Iste .vii.o anno regni sui congressus contra Britones eosque cede et incendiis usque ad mare fugauit.147 Kentwino successit Cedwalla. Iste primo regni sui anno auxilio Mul fratris sui, uiri fortissimi, insulam Vectam interfecto rege illius Edilwalh sibi subjugauit et tertiam illius partem quamius adhuc paganus, sancto Wilfrido in processione dedit. Deinde Kentensem prouinciam ingressus nullo obsistente totam depredatus est.148 Secundo autem anno iterum misit Cedwalla eundem fratrem suum Mul et cum eo iuuennes fortissimos praedatum Kent. Qui non inueniens qui ei resisteret et terram predando in solitudinem redigens et Christi seru[os] inmerito[s]a affligens irruit in domum quandam cum .xii. militibus predaturus. Vbi inopinata multitudine circumuentus in ipsa domo cum .xii. militibus suis igne combustus est. Hoc audiens Cedwalla ingressus est Cantiam et cede et rapina satiatus uindex et uictor ad sua rediit.149

  C, serui inmerito.

a

96

The History of Alfred of Beverley

living in exile, in the kingdom of the East Angles, under King Anna, and had been baptised by St Felix the bishop. Later, restored to his kingdom, he built the church of Winchester, in which is the episcopal seat, and in the thirty-first year of his reign he died.144 After him Queen Seaxhburh ruled for one year. In the year that Cenwealh died, there was a very great battle of birds in England. This seems more credible because it has also occurred in our own time, in King Henry’s reign. The birds fought openly in Rouen, with the result that many thousands of them were discovered dead and the foreign birds were seen to be put to flight. This was a sign of the battle that was fought between Henry, lord of England and Normandy, and Louis, son of Philip and king of France. In this battle the strong King Henry emerged victorious and the defeated Louis fled away.145 Then, according to the word of King Alfred, Cenfus ruled for two years and according to the Chronicle, Æscwine ruled for nearly three years. He was succeeded by Centwine, son of King Cynegils and he died in the seventh year of his reign.146 In the third year of Centwine’s reign a comet appeared for three months and each morning it shone like the sun. In the seventh year of his reign, Centwine fought against the Britons and, with fire and sword, he drove them to the sea.147 Cædwalla succeeded Centwine. In the first year of his reign, with the help of his brother Mul, the strongest of men, he subjected the isle of Wight to his rule after its king, Æthelwalh, had been slain, and he gave a third of the island, until then pagan, to the ministry of St Wilfrid. Then he entered the province of Kent, and with no resistance, laid everything to waste.148 In his second year, Cædwalla sent his same brother Mul, together with very strong young men, to plunder Kent. Finding none to resist him, he reduced the land to a wilderness by pillaging it and then, unjustly persecuting the innocent servants of Christ, he rushed into a certain house with twelve soldiers in search of plunder. There, in that very house, he and his twelve soldiers were unexpectedly surrounded by a crowd and burned to death. On hearing this, Cædwalla entered Kent and, sated by slaughter and plunder, he returned home as avenger and conqueror.149

Cenwealh (acc. 642, d. 672). HA, ii. 36. 146  FW MHB, p. 641. Reference to the English Chronicle is found also in the CJW ii annal for 674 but the comment ‘according to the word of King Alfred’ is found only in the prefatory dynastic account. Æscwine (acc. 674, d. 676). Centwine (acc. 676, d.? 685). 147  HA, ii. 38. 148  HA, iv. 3. & HE, iv. 15, 16. The author supplements his borrowing from HA with additional detail from Bede reporting that Cædwalla granted Wilfrid 300 hides out of a total 1,200 hides – a quarter of the island. 149  HA, iv. 5. 144  145 

96

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Igitur Cedwalla cum duobus annis regnasset se regnumque suum propter Dominum abdicans Romam uenit et a Sergio Papa baptizatus et Petrusuocatus in albis positus secundum uotum suum150 infra octo dies mortuus est .xii. Kalendarum Maii et in ecclesia sancti Petri sepultus super quem hoc epithaphium scriptum est:a 151 Culmen opes sobolem pol[l]entia regna triumphos, Exuuias, proceres, menia, castra, lares, Queque patrum uirtus et que congesserat ipse, Cedwal armipotens liquit amore Dei, Vt Petrum sedemque Petri rex cerneret hospes, Cuius fonte meras sumeret almus aquas, Splendificumque iubar radianti carperet haustu Ex quo uiuificus fulgor ubique fluit. Percipiensque alacer rediuiua premia uite. Barbaricamque rabiem nomen et inde suum, conuersus conuertit ouans Petrumque uocari Sergius antistes iussit ut ipse pater. Fonte renascentis quem Christi gratia purgans, Protinus albatum uexit in arce poli. Mira fides regis clementia maxima Christi, Cuius consilium nullus adire potest. Hospes enim ueniens suppremo ex urbe Britanni, Per uarias gentes per freta perque uias, Vrbem Romuleam uidit templumque uerendum Aspexit Petri mistica dona gerens. Candidus inter oues Christi sociabilis ibit, Corpore nam tumulum mente superna tenet. Commutasse magis sceptrorum insignia credas, Quem regnum Christi promeruisse uides.152 Cedwalla successit Ine de genie Cerdici. Iste Glastoniam construxit cuius germanus extit Ingels, ac germanae Sancta Cudburg et Sancta Quenburg.153 Iste

  Poem is set in two columns.

a

97

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Then, when Cædwalla had reigned for two years, he renounced his kingdom for the sake of the Lord and came to Rome and was baptised and named Peter by Pope Sergius and, according to his wish, dressed in an alb.150 Within eight days, on the twelfth of the Kalends of May [20 April], he died and was buried in the church of St Peter and above him was written this epitaph:151 His high estate, wealth, lineage, kindred, mighty kingdoms, triumphs, His spoils, noblemen, walls, castles, home, Everything that his forefathers’ might and he himself had gained Cædwalla, strong-in-arms, through love of God forsook, That, as a pilgrim, he might see Peter and Peter’s chair, That he might drink pure waters from his reviving fount Draw in the splendid sheen in shining draughts, From which life-giving brightness flows all around, Eagerly pursuing the rewards of life renewed And changed, he shed barbarian madness And joyfully even in his own name And Sergius, the bishop, commanded that he be called ‘Peter’, as if he were the very father Of him that was reborn in the font Then, purifying him by Christ’s grace, he at once bore him, clad in white, to highest heaven. Wonderful the king’s faith, most great Christ’s mercy, Whose purpose none can perceive. Coming as a pilgrim from the loftiest city of Britain Through many peoples, over sea and land, The city of Romulus he saw and looked upon Peter’s Revered temple, bearing mystical gifts Shining white, he will join the company of Christ’s sheep. His body is in the tomb, his spirit in the heavens. You may believe that he has exchanged the glories of his dominions for Greater ones, whom you see has won his place in the kingdom of Christ.152 Ine, descended from Cerdic, succeeded Cædwalla. He built Glastonbury and his brother and sisters were Ingels, St Cuthburh and St Cwenburh.153 Ine mounted Cædwalla (acc. 685, d. April 689). Pope Sergius I, 687–701. HA, iv. 5. 152  HA, iv. 5. The epitaph is recycled by HH from HE, v. 7 and is found also in the CJW ii annals for 688 and 689. The epitaph was written by Crispus, archbishop of Milan (681–725), HE, p. 470, note 1. 153  FW MHB, p. 641. 150  151 

97

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

etiam uindicaturus combustionem Mul cognati sui expeditionem in Cantiam mouit sed occurens ei Wictred rex Cantiae pacifica [supplicatione]a egit ut depositis armis multam pecuniam Kentensibus pro cede iuuenis acciperet.154 Iste etiam Ine pugnauit contra Ceolred regem Merciorum apud Wonebirog.155 Adeo autem horribiliter utrimque pugnatum est ut nesciatur cui clades detestabilior contigerit. Iste etiam .xxxvi. regni sui anno exercitum in Suthsexe promouit pugnauitque contra Suthsexas et interfecit in eodem proelio Eadbrict quem prius fugauerat a castro Tantone.156 Postea relinquens Adelardo cognato suo regnum, cum regina sua Romam petiit157 ubi pro amore Dei peregrinans in terris stipendia promeruit in caelis.158 Adelard rex Westsexe primo anno regni sui pugnauit contra Oswaldum iuuenem de regia stirpe regnum idem sibi acquirere conantem sed Oswaldus non ualens ei resistere fuga regnum reliquit regi huius Adelredi. Anno regni tertio apparuerunt due comete circa solem terribiles. Vna quippe solem precedebat orientem alia sequebatur occidentem quasi orienti simul et occidenti dire cladis praesagae; uel certe una diei altera noctis praecurrebat exortum ut utroque tempore mala mortalibus imminere signarent. Portabant autem faciem ignis contra aquilonem quasi ad accendendum adclinem, apparebantque mense Ianuario et duabus ferme Septimanis permanebant. Quo tempore grauissima Saracenorum lues Gallias et Hispanias late misera caede uastabat. Et non multo post ipsi in eadem prouincia dignas perfidie suae penas luebant.159 Anno .xiiii. defuncto Adelardo regnauit Cuthredus cognatus eius pro eo.160 Qui .iiii.o anno regni pacificato sibi rege Merciorum Adelbaldo simul contra Britones pugnauerunt. Britanni uero bellandi onus non perferentes dederunt terga

  C, supplantacione.

a

98

The History of Alfred of Beverley

another expedition to Kent in order to avenge the burning of his kinsman Mul, but Wihtred, king of Kent, went to meet him and, with peaceful entreaties, urged him to lay down his arms and accept a large sum of money from the Kentish people for the murder of the young men.154 Ine also fought against Ceolred, king of the Mercians, at ‘Woden’s barrow’.155 The battle was so terrible on both sides that it is unknown which of them suffered the more grievous slaughter. Ine also, in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, advanced the army into Sussex and fought against the South Saxons and in that battle killed Ealdberht, whom he had first put to flight from the stronghold of Taunton.156 Later, leaving his kingdom to his kinsman Æthelheard, he went to Rome with his wife,157 where, for the love of God, by living as a pilgrim on earth, he earned the rewards of heaven.158 In the first year of his reign, Æthelheard, king of Wessex, fought against Oswald, a young man of the royal line who was attempting to take the kingdom from him, but Oswald, unable to resist him, took flight and left the kingdom to King Æthelheard. In the third year of his reign two terrible comets appeared around the sun. One of them preceded the sun in the east and the other followed it in the west, both seeming to portend dire disaster to east and west alike. One comet was certainly the forerunner of day, the other of night, so signalling the evils that threatened mankind at both times. The comets had a fiery appearance facing north, as if about to burst into flame, and they appeared in January and remained for nearly two weeks. At that time a terrible plague of Saracens ravaged widely across the lands of Gaul and Spain, with cruel slaughter, and, not long after, in the same province, these Saracens received deserved punishment for their treachery.159 In the fourteenth year Æthelheard died and Cuthred his kinsman ruled in his place.160 In the fourth year of his reign, Cuthred made peace with Æthelbald, king of the Mercians, and jointly fought against the Britons. The Britons were not able to endure the burden of such fighting and turned their backs on those who were HA, iv. 6. Now Adam’s Grave in Alton Priors, Wilts. See Whitelock, ASC, p. 26, note 7. 156  HA, iv. 9. 157  That Ine was accompanied by his wife Æthelburh to Rome is stated in neither the prefatory dynastic account nor the CJW main annals, nor is it reported in HA, HE, ASC. From where the author drew the information is therefore unknown. WM (GRA, i. 35, 36) provides a lengthy account of Æthelburh’s role in Ine’s abdication, indicating that stories of Æthelburh’s spiritual influence on Ine circulated at the time. The tradition may have originated at the monastery of Glastonbury, where Ine was both founder and benefactor and WM was its historian. See Thomson, GRA, vol. ii. pp. 35–36. 158  HA, iv. 9, 10. Ine (acc. 688, d. c.726). 159  HA, iv. 11. Taken by HH from HE, v. 23. The comment is likely to refer to the defeat of the Moslems by Charles Martel at Tours in 732 and appears added in early copies of the HE. See HE, p. 557, note 5. 160  Æthelheard (acc.726, d.? 740). 154  155 

98

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

percutientibus et spolia persequentibus. Eodem anno uisum est signum mirabile in caelo. Stellae namque hac illacque discurrebant per aerea quod omnibus intuentibus magno fuit miraculo.161 Anno uero regni sui [tertio decimo]a Cuthredus cum non possit exactiones ferre et insolentia superbi regis Merciorum Adelbaldi occurrit ei cum legionibus suis apud Hereford. Aciebus igitur dispositis cum in directum tendentes appropinquarent Ædelhun, consul regis Cuthredi, precedens Westsaxones regis insigne scilicet draconam aureum gerens transforauit uexilliferum hostilem. Bellum maximum incipitur memoria fuge nulla, spes uictorie utrimque certa. Vbicumque consul praedictus Edelhun se aciebus infigebat uice fulminis corpora findebat et arma. Vbicumque rex Adelbaldus irruebat strages hostilis fiebat dum gladio eius essent arma pro ueste ossa pro carne. Cum igitur quasi duo ignes diuersis in partibus obstantia queque consumerent, contigit ut ibi obuiam rex et consul uenirent. Deus autem qui superbis resistit superbie regis Adelbaldi terminum posuit nam adhuc pugnantibus suis a Deo omnipotente territus fugam primus incepit. Regnum igitur Westsexe ex hoc tempore ualde roboratum crescere usque ad perfectum non destitit et abhinc contra Britones praeualuit.162 Successit Cuthred Sigebertus qui ex praedecessoris sui euentibus tumefactus cum incorrigibilis superbie et nequitie esset Kinewulphus iuuenis egregius de regia stirpe oriundus, eum post annum regno expulit et loco eius in regem electus est.163 Cuius anno .xx.o uisa sunt in caelo rubea signa post occasum solis horrenda in Suthsexe serpentes uisi sunt cum magna ammiratione. Anno autem xiiii regni sui pugnauit ipse contra Offam regem Merciorum circa Benetune sed Offa rex preualuit et castrum illud in sua iura redegit.164 Cum autem Kinewulphus regnasset .xxx. annis et contra Britones uictoriosus multa gessisset proelia et eos et ex omni parte domasset occisus est a Kinehardo [fratre]b Sigeberhti antecessoris sui.165

  C, omits tertio-decimo.   C, omits fratre.

a

b

99

The History of Alfred of Beverley

striking them and left the spoils to their pursuers. The same year, a wondrous sign was seen in the heavens. Stars scurried around in different directions across the sky – which was considered by all who saw it to be a great miracle.161 In the thirteenth year of his reign, Cuthred, unable to bear the demands and arrogant behaviour of proud Æthelbald, king of the Mercians, met him with his legions at Hereford [recte Beorhford]. So battle-lines were deployed and as they drew near to each other, Æthelhun, an ealdorman of King Cuthred, who was leading the way, bearing the banner of the king of the West Saxons, that is, the golden dragon, pierced through the body of the enemy standard-bearer. Thus began the greatest, never-to-be-forgotten battle, with each side hopeful of certain victory. Wherever the aforementioned Ealdorman Æthelhun attacked the enemy lines, he split open armour and bodies with blows like lightning. Wherever King Æthelbald attacked, the enemy were slaughtered, for armour to his sword was like clothing, and bones like flesh. Just as if two fires, started from different directions, consume whatever stands in their path, so it was when the king and ealdorman came together. God, however, who resists the proud, put an end to King Æthelbald’s pride and, even though his men continued fighting, Almighty God caused him to take fright and be the first to flee. From this time on, the kingdom of Wessex greatly strengthened, and did not cease to grow until it was complete and after that, it prevailed against the Britons.162 Cuthred was succeeded by Sigeberht, who was puffed up with pride at the deeds of his predecessor. Because he was incorrigibly arrogant and wicked, Cynewulf, an outstanding young man born of royal stock, drove him out of his kingdom after a year and was elected to rule in his place.163 In Cynewulf’s twentieth year, terrifying red signs were seen in the sky after sunset, and in Sussex horrible serpents were observed with great wonder. In the fourteenth [recte twentyfourth] year of his reign he himself fought against Offa, king of the Mercians, near Bensington, but King Offa prevailed and regained possession of the town.164 When Cynewulf had reigned thirty years, and had conducted many battles against the Britons victoriously, and had subdued them everywhere, he was killed by Cyneheard, brother of his predecessor, Sigeberht.165

HA, iv. 17. HA, iv. 19. A much compressed abbreviation of the HA account which HH had embellished with imagined battlefield description, here omitted. 163  Cuthred (acc. 740, d. 756). Sigeberht (acc. 756, d.? 757). 164  HA, iv. 23. 165  HA, iv. 24 (Cynewulf acc. 757, d. 786). 161  162 

99

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Cui successit Brictricus de progenie Cerdici et regnauit xvi annis. Cuius regni anno .iiii.o qui est annus gratiae .dcclxxxvi. apperuit signum in uestibus quod dictu et auditu omnibus saeculis uideri potest mirabile.166

Adventu Dacorum Hiis diebus uenerunt Daci cum tribus puppibus in Britanniam praedationis causa. Quod prepositus regis illius prouinciae uidens occurrit eis statimque occisus est. Hic primus Anglorum caesus est a Dacis. Anno .x.o regni Brictrici uisi sunt flammei dracones uolantes per aera. Quod signum due pestes secutae sunt. Prius maxima fames, postea gens pagana de Norwegia et Dacia ueniens que prius gentem Northumbrensem misere destruxerunt et post, in Lindisfarnensi prouincia, ecclesias Christi cum inhabitantibus horribiliter destruxerunt in idibus Ianuarii.167 Igitur gens pagana praedauerunt Northumbre et monasterium Egfert spoliauerunt apud Tynemouthe. Tunc uero occurrentibus eis nobilissimis et bello assuetis ducibus anglorum. Ducibus eorum occisis et uictis ad naues fugerunt. Vero tempestate confractae sunt et multi naufragati et iuxta litus capite sunt priuati.168 Successit Brictrico Egbertus de stirpe regis Ine et regnauit .xxxvii. annis et mensibus .vii. Quem iuvenili adhuc etate Britric predecessor eius et Offa rex Merce ab hac terra fugauerant. Exulauit igitur tribus annis cum rege Franciae nobiliter et egregie.169 Iste .xiiii. anno regni sui predauit in regnis Britonum ab oriente usque ad occidente nec fuit qui ei resisteret. Anno uero .xxiiii. commisit Egbertus proelium contra Beornulf regem Merce apud Ellendune. Vnde dicitur, ‘Ellundune riuus cruore rubuit, ruina restitit, fetore tabuit’ et uictoria Egberto obuenit.170 Inde misit filium suum Adelwulf qui postea rex deuenit et Alestan episcopum et Wilhard consulem cum magno exercitu in Kent qui fugauerunt Baldred ultra Tamisiam.

100

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Brihtric, a descendant of Cerdic, succeeded Cynewulf and reigned for sixteen years. In the fourth year of his reign, which is the year of grace 786, there appeared a sign on clothing, an event perceived as marvellous and related by word of mouth down through all the generations.166

The coming of the Danes In those days, the Danes came to Britain with three ships, in search of plunder. When the king’s reeve of that province saw this, he attacked them, but was immediately killed. He was the first of the English to be killed by the Danes. In the tenth year of the reign of Brihtric, fiery dragons were seen flying through the air. Two pestilences followed this sign. First, a great famine and then came pagan people from Norway and Denmark, who first wretchedly laid waste to the Northumbrian people, and then, on the Ides of January [recte 8 June], in the province of Lindisfarne, they horribly destroyed the churches of Christ, along with their inhabitants.167 The pagans thus ravaged Northumbria and despoiled the monastery of Ecgfrith at Tynemouth. But then the noblest and the most battle-hardened of the English leaders attacked them and, with their leaders overcome and killed, the pagans fled to their ships. However, they foundered in a storm, and many Danes were shipwrecked and were beheaded on the shore.168 Ecgberht, of the lineage of King Ine, succeeded Brihtric and reigned for thirty-seven years and seven months. When still a youth, he had been driven out of that land by his predecessor, Brihtric, and Offa, king of Mercia. Therefore, for three years he lived in exile with the king of France, nobly and with distinction.169 In the fourteenth year of his reign, he plundered the Britons’ territories, from the east to the west, and no one could withstand him. Then, in the twentyfourth year, Ecgberht engaged in battle against Beornwulf, king of Mercia, at Ellendune. Whence it is said, ‘Ellendune’s stream was reddened with blood, it was left a ruin, engulfed by stench’. And Ecgberht was victorious.170 He then sent his son Æthelwulf, who later became king, Bishop Ealhstan and ealdorman Wulfheard, into Kent with a powerful army, and they drove [King] Baldred beyond the Thames. At that time, therefore, King Ecgberht received into his lordship the HA, iv. 25. Where it is reported as apparuit signum crucis (‘The sign of the cross appeared’). Brihtric (acc. 786, d. 802). 167  HA, iv. 26. ASC 793. 168  HA, iv. 27. 169  HA, iv. 28. Ecgberht (acc. 802, d. 839). 170  HA, iv. 29. Copied verbatim by the author and an example of HH’s translations from lost Old English verse into Latin. See Greenway, HA, p. cii, note 162 and p. 262, note 202. The battle of Ellendune (ASC 825) is believed to have taken place at Wroughton, Wiltshire. 166 

100

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Tunc ergo populos Cantiae et Suthriae et Suthsexe et Estsexe rex Egbertus in dominium suscepit. Hoc etiam anno rex Estangle cum gente sua recepit regem Egbertum in patronum. Eodem anno maximum proelium fuerat inter Britones et gentem de Deuenescire apud Gauelforde ubi multa milia corruerunt. Anno .xxvii. regni sui Egbert fugauit Wiglaf regem Merce et regnum eius regno suo annexuit. Sed post annum misericordia motus, concessit Wiglano ut regnum Merce teneret sub eo. Cum ergo teneret omne regnum ex haustrali parte Humbre, duxit exercitum contra Northumbros apud Dore. Illi uero concordiam offerentes et subiectionem pacifice separati sunt. Exinde rex Egbertus duxit exercitum in North Wales et eam sui subdidit.171 Anno regnum Egberti .xxxiii., redierunt Daci in Angliam, .xxxviii. anno postquam Tynemoude uicti sunt et fugati. Primum ergo praedauerunt Sepege. Rex uero Egbertus pugnauit contra eos qui .xxxv. magnis puppibus aduecti fuerant anno sequenti apud Karrum et ibi Daci praeualerunt et duo episcopi scilicet Ereferd et Wigfert et duo duces Duda et Osmod perierunt. Anno uero sequenti, uenit exercitus Dacorum in Westwales et [Walenses]a coadunati cum Dacis contra regem Egbertum insurrexerunt, sed uictoria regi Egberto obuenit apud Hengistendune.172 Anno hiis proximo discessit rex Egbertus et regnorum que in manu sua tenebat filios fecit heredes Adelwulfum super Westsexe, Edelstan super Kent et Suthsexe et Estsexe.173 Causa autem quater Dominus tanto furore in Anglos exarserit et externeam gentem ad eorum contentionem inmiserit haec est. In primitiua Angliae ecclesia religio clarissime resplenduit, ita ut reges et reginae, duces et episcopi, monachatum uel exilium appeterent. Processu temporis adeo omnis uirtus in eis emarcuit ut gentem nullam proditione et nequitia sibi parem esse permitterent. Quod maxime apparet in historia regum Northumbre. Sicut autem in regalibus gestis inpietas eorum descripta est, ita uniuscuisque ordinis et officii homines dolo et proditione insistebant. Inmisit ergo Dominus Deus omnipotens uelut examina apiumb gentes crudelissimas que nec aetati nec sexui parcerit, scilicet Dacos cum Gothis, Northwegenses cum Suwathedis, Wandalos, cum Fresis qui ab exordio regni Adelwlphi regis usque ad aduentum Northmannorum .ccxxx. annis, terram hanc desolauerunt.174

  C, scribal omission of Walenses.   C, apud with scribal correction in later hand?

a

b

101

The History of Alfred of Beverley

peoples of Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Essex. That year also, the king of East Anglia, with his people, accepted King Ecgberht as their protector. The same year there was a great battle between the Britons and the people of Devonshire at Galford, where many thousands fell. In the twenty-seventh year of his reign, Ecgberht drove out Wiglaf, king of Mercia, and annexed his kingdom to himself. One year later, however, moved by pity, he permitted Wiglaf to hold the Mercian kingdom under him. Then, when Ecgberht held all the kingdom south of the Humber, he led an army against the Northumbrians at Dore but they offered peace and submission and they parted peacefully. After that, King Ecgberht led an army into North Wales and subjected it to himself.171 In the thirty-third year of the reign of Ecgberht, the Danes returned to England, thirty-eight years after they had been defeated and put to flight at Tynemouth. First, they plundered Sheppey. Then, the following year, they came in thirty-five great ships and King Ecgberht fought against them at Carhampton. Here the Danes prevailed, and two bishops, namely Herefrith and Wigfrith, and two ealdormen, Duda and Osmod, perished. Then, the following year, a Danish army entered Cornwall and the Welsh, together with the Danes, rose against King Ecgberht, but Ecgberht gained the victory at Hingston Down.172 In the year following these events, King Ecgberht died and he made his sons heirs to the kingdoms which he held in his own hand: Æthelwulf over Wessex, Æthelstan over Kent, Sussex and Essex.173 The reason why, for a fourth time, the fury of the Lord was provoked and a foreign people sent against the English to fight them was this. In the early church in England, religion shone with great distinction, so that kings and queens, ealdormen and bishops, sought out either the monastic life or exile. But in the course of time, all goodness so decayed in them that no other people equalled them for treachery and wickedness. This is most evident in the history of the kings of Northumbria. Just as their impiety is made clear in the deeds of the kings, so men of every rank and office pursued evil and treachery. The Lord God Almighty therefore sent upon them the most cruel of peoples, like swarms of bees, who would spare neither age nor sex. These were, namely, the Danes and Goths, the Norwegians and Swedes, the Vandals and Frisians. They ravaged this land for 230 years, from the beginning of the reign of King Æthelwulf until the coming of the Normans.174 Ibid. HA, iv. 30. ASC 838 (835). 173  Ibid. The sub-king Æthelstan was son of Æthelwulf and not of Ecgberht. The error of HH stems from ambivalent readings in ASC, D, E, F. See Whitelock, ASC, p. 41, note 9. 174  HA, v. Prologue. 171  172 

101

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Igitur primo anno regni Adelwfi cum ipse aduersus praedictos hostes in una parte regni sui persisteret undique confluente multitudine misit Wlfrad consulem cum parte exercitus ad debellandos Dacos qui cum .xxxiii. nauibus apud Hamthonam appulerant. Vbi magna strage hostium patrata clarissime triumphauit. Sed consul Adelinus ab eodem rege missus contra eos apud Portum cum exercitua Westsexe et consul Herebertus apud Merscware utrique a Dacis occisus est. Inde Daci per Lindesciam et Estangliam et Canutuariam et Rouecestriam et Lundoniam multitudinem strauerunt.175 Anno .v. pugnauit contra eos apud Karrum et Daci uictores fuerunt. Anno x Alestan uenerabilis episcopus et dux Ernulphus cum Sumersetis et Dux Osredus cum Dorsetis pugnauerunt contra Dacos apud Pedrederesmudem et Deo auxiliante uictores extiterunt. Anno .xvi. Dani cum .ccl. puppibus appulerunt176 apud Temesmude et urbes praeclaras Lundoniam et Cantuariam fregerunt et Brictulfum regem Merce uictum fugauerunt. Contra quos rex Adelwlfus et filius suus Adelbaldus in Suthreia apud Aclea pugnauerunt tantumque et tam graue proelium fuit quantum nullus retro audierat in Anglia commissum. Videres igitur uiros bellatores more segetis utrimque ruere sanguinisque fluuios capita et membra occisorum secum uoluere. Concessit autem Deus regi Adelwlfo splendorem uictorie apud Sandewic et in Dewenescira eodem anno male pugnauerunt Daci.177 Anno .xviii. misit rex Adelwlphus Alfredum filium suum Romam Leoni Pape quem Leo postea in regem Benedixit et loco filii suscepit.178 Anno .xix. Adelwlfusb decimam totius regni sui partem propter amorem Dei ab omni seruitute regali et tributo liberauit et pro redemptione animae suae et antecessorum suorum trino et uni Deo immolauit.179 Et sic Romam perrexit et anno integro ibi moratus est. Vnde remeans, filiam Karoli caluic regis Francorum Iuditham uxorem, uixitque duobus annis postquam rediit a Roma.180 Habuit

  C, omits cum exercitu.   Common text of C, R & P resumes. c   R, P, omit calvi. a

b

102

The History of Alfred of Beverley

In the first year of the reign of Æthelwulf [840], therefore, when he was resisting the aforementioned enemies in one part of his kingdom, a multitude of them gathered together from all sides. So he sent Ealdorman Wulfheard with part of the army to attack the Danes, who had landed with thirty-three ships at Southampton. There he celebrated a most famous triumph, having inflicted great slaughter on the enemy. But Ealdorman Æthelhelm, sent by the same king with the army of Wessex to oppose them at Portland, and Ealdorman Hereberht at Romney Marsh, were both killed by the Danes. Then the Danes laid low a great host across Lindsey, East Anglia, Kent, Rochester and London.175 In the fifth year [843] Æthelwulf fought against the Danes at Carhampton, and the Danes were the victors. In the tenth year the venerable Bishop Ealhstan and Ealdorman Eanwulf, with the men of Somerset, and Ealdorman Osred [recte Osric], with the men of Dorset, fought against the Danes at the mouth of the Parret and, with the help of God, emerged the victors. In the sixteenth year, the Danes landed with 250 ships176 at the mouth of the Thames and stormed the noble cities of London and Canterbury and conquered and put to flight Berhtwulf, king of Mercia. King Æthelwulf and his son Æthelbald fought against them in Surrey, at Aclea, and so great and so important a battle was it, that no-one had heard the like of it fought in England before. Indeed, you could have seen warriors falling on all sides as in a harvest, and the heads and limbs of the slain, rolling along together in rivers of blood. Then God granted King Æthelwulf the splendour of victory at Sandwich. And in Devonshire the same year the Danes fought unsuccessfully.177 In his eighteenth year [853] King Æthelwulf sent his son Alfred to Pope Leo in Rome, who later blessed him as king and adopted him as a son.178 In his nineteenth year Æthelwulf offered to the three-in-one God a tenth part of his entire kingdom, free of all royal service and tribute, for the redemption of his soul and those of his predecessors.179 Then he went to Rome, where he remained for a whole year. On his way back, he married Judith, the daughter of Charles the Bald, king of the Franks, and he lived for two years after his return from Rome.180 HA, v. 1. HA, v. 2. 350 ships. 177  Ibid. 178  HA, v. 3. Alfred travelled to Rome for the first time in the year 853 at the age of four. HH had recycled from ASC C the report that Pope Leo IV blessed Alfred as king – a claim considered erroneous. See Whitelock, ASC, p. 43, note 6 and p. xxiii. It is thought more likely that Pope Leo decorated Alfred with the dignity of the Roman consulate, to mark him out for future kingship. See Keynes and Lapidge, Alfred the Great, pp. 14 & 232, note 19. Alfred visited Rome a second time, in 855, this time accompanying his father, Æthelwulf. 179  HA, v. 3. This sentence is found in FW MHB, p. 641 and also HR §§ 68, 90. From this point the author begins to compile increasingly from HR. 180  HR, § 90. Æthelwulf’s visit to Rome and later marriage to Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, is not reported in the Worcester prefatory West Saxon dynastic account. 175  176 

102

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

autem .iiii. filios, Edelbaldum, Edelbertum, Edelredum et Alfreduma qui omnes post patrem sibi ordine in regnum successerunt. bHic primum fuerat episcopus apud Wincestre sed Egberto patre suo defuncto necessitate cogente factus est rex et uxore ducta .iiii., ut [prae]dictum est, filios genuit qui omnes post eum reges fuerunt in Westsexeb.181 Defuncto itaque Adelwlpho et apud Wintoniam sepulto, Adelbaldus filius eius successit, qui thorum patris sui ascendens Iuditham supradictam in matrimonium duxit, et .iiii. anno regni decessit. Hoc tempore Sanctus Eadmundus Est Angliae nactus est culmen regiminis.182 Adelbaldo defuncto et in Schireburna sepulto, frater suus Adelbertus succedens, Cantiam, Sudreiam, et Suthsexam suo dominio subiugauit.c 183 In diebus ipsius magnus paganorum exercitus de mari adueniens, Wintoniam depopulatus est, sed Osric Hamtunensium comes et Adelwlfus Barroccensium comes cum praeda reuertentibus obuiauerunt, consertoque proelio paganos multis ex eis trucidatis in fugam uerterunt.184 Adelbertus quoque annis .v. regno amministrato decessit, et iuxta fratrem suum in Schireburnia sepultus est.185 dHoc anno Sanctus Swithinus Wintoniensus episcopus transiuit ad Dominumd. Edelburto frater eius Edelredus successit. Quo regnante, magna paganorum classis ducibus Hinguar et Vbba de Danubia Britanniam uenit, a quibus rex Orientalium Anglorum Sanctus Edmundus et reges Northumbroum Osbrith et Elle occisi sunt, et eorum regna ab eisdem possessa. Regnauit autem Adelred .viii. annos. Quo mortuo, germanus suus Alfredus successit.186 Qui et ipse multis uicibus uaria uictoria, sicut in consequentibus dicetur, cum paganis proeliatus est. Hic magno nobilium numero constipatus a patre suo Adelwlfo Romam mittitur et a papa Leone .iiii.o in regem inungitur. Qui poetarum Saxonicorum peritissimus, et in servitio Dei uigilantissimus, et in exequendis iudiciis indagator erat dissertissimus. Cui regina sua Alswida duos filios, Edwardum et Agelwardum, et tres filias, Agelfledam Merciorum dominam, Adelgennam sanctimonialem, et Alfridam peperit. Cuius regni anno tertio Burredus rex Merciorum a praedictis Danis regno expellitur.

  R, P, Edelbaldum, Edelbertum et Aluredum, Edeldredum.   R, P, omitted. C, Nota and Manicula in left-hand margin. c   R, P, subiunxit. d–d   R, P, omitted. a

b–b

103

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Æthelwulf had four sons: Æthelbald, Æthelberht, Æthelfred and Alfred, and all succeeded to their father’s kingdom, one after the other. Æthelwulf had first been Bishop of Winchester, but on the death of his father, Ecgberht, necessity forced him to become king, and, having taken a wife, he fathered four sons who all became kings in Wessex after him, as was earlier noted.181 So, after Æthelwulf’s death and burial in Winchester his son Æthelbald succeeded him and, mounting his father’s marriage-bed, he took the abovementioned Judith to wife, and then died in the fourth year of his reign. At this time St Edmund rose to the pinnacle of power in East Anglia.182 After Æthelbald died, he was buried in Sherborne and his brother Æthelberht succeeded and subjected Kent, Surrey, and Sussex to his control.183 In his reign a great pagan army came from the sea and sacked Winchester, but Osric, ealdorman of Hampshire, and Æthelwulf, ealdorman of Berkshire, met them as they returned with their booty and, engaging the pagans in battle, they put them to flight, after many of them had been slain.184 Æthelberht died after having governed the kingdom for five years and was buried next to his brother in Sherborne.185 That year St Swithun, bishop of Winchester, passed to the Lord and Æthelred succeeded his brother Æthelberht. During his reign, a great fleet of pagans came to Britain from the Danube. They were led by Inguar and Ubba, who put to death the king of the East Angles, St Edmund, and the Northumbrian kings, Osbricht and Ælle, and took possession of their kingdoms. Æthelred reigned for eight years and, on his death, his brother Alfred succeeded.186 He waged war with the pagans on many occasions, and with varying success, as is recounted in what follows. Alfred was sent to Rome by his father, Æthelwulf, along with a large company of nobles, and was anointed as king by Pope Leo IV. He was the most skilful of the Saxon poets, most vigilant in the service of God, and a most wise examiner in the pursuit of justice. His queen, Ealhswith, bore two sons, Edward and Æthelweard, and three daughters, Æthelflæd, mistress of the Mercians, Æthelgifu the nun, and Ælfthryth. In the third year of Alfred’s reign, the aforementioned Danes drove Burgred, king of the Mercians, out of his kingdom.

181  182  183  184  185  186 

HA, v. 3 (Æthelwulf acc. 839, d. 858). HR, § 90. Not reported in the Worcester prefatory West Saxon dynastic account. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. HR, § 91. Æthelred (acc. 865, d. April 871) thus ruling six years.

103

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Anno .dcccci. Alfredus, .xxix. annis, sex mensibus in regno expletis obiit, et Wintoniae in nouo monasterio sepultus est.187 Huic successit filius eius Edwardus cognomento senior litterarum cultu patre inferior, sed dignitate, potentia et gloria superior.188 Siquidem ciuitates et urbes multas aedificauit, totam Estsaxoniam Estangliam, Northumbriam, pluresque Merciae prouincias quas Dani multo possederant tempore, manibus illorum saepius cum eis congressus extorsit. Merciam post obitum germanae Agelfledae totam optinuit, et possedit. Ac primusa Scotorum, Cumbrorum, Stregeldwalorum, omnesque occidentalium Britonorum reges in deditionem accepit. Reges et duces ab eo proelio uicti, caesisque quam plurimi.189 Ex muliere nobilissima Egwenna filium suum primogenitum Adelstanum, ex regina autem sua Egiua filios tres Edwinum, Edmundum, Edredum filiamque Deo deuotam uirginem Edelburgam. Tresque insuper habuit filias, quarum unam Otho Romanorum imperator .lxxxix. alteram rex Occidentalium Francorum Karolus, tertiam uxorem duxit rex Nordhumbroum Sictricus. Ipse uero rex Edwardus post multas res egregie gestas regni sui anno .xxiiii. obiit. Cuius corpus de Farenduna Wintoniam delatum, in nouo monasterio regio more sepelitur.190 Iste fuit status regni Occidentalium Saxonum a primo eorum Cerdico usque ad finem Edwardi Senioris, sub regibus .xxiiii. per annos circiter .cccc liiii. Qui strenue fines suos dilatantes et uicina regna sibi fortiter subiugantes in tantum creuerunt, ut posteritas illorum totius Angliae monarchium optinuerit, totamque terram per .xxxv. prouincias diuiserit.191 Prima itaque prouincia est Kent, in qua est archiepiscopatus Cantuariae et episcopatus Rovocestriae. Secunda est Suthsexe in qua est episcopatus Cirecestriae. Tertia Suthreia. Quarta Hamtescira in qua est episcopatus Wincestriae. Quinta Berchescira. Sexta Wiltescire in qua est episcopatus Seresbiriae.b Septima est Dorsete. Octaua Sumersete, in qua est episcopatus Bathec uel Akemanecastriae. Nona Deuenescire, in qua est episcopatus Execestriae. Decima est Cornewaliae. Vndecima est Estsexa. Duodecima est Midelsexa in qua est episcopatus Lundoniae.

  R, P, omit Ac primus.   R, P, omit in qua est episcopatus Seresbiriae. c   C, Seresbiriae. a

b

104

The History of Alfred of Beverley

In the year 901 [recte 899] after reigning for twenty-nine years and six months, Alfred died and was buried in the new monastery in Winchester.187 He was succeeded by his son Edward, surnamed the Elder, who was inferior to his father in literary education, but superior in dignity, power and glory.188 He built many cities and towns. After many encounters with the Danes in battle, he wrested from their hands the whole of Essex, East Anglia and Northumbria, and many provinces of Mercia which the Danes had occupied for a long time. He took possession of, and retained, the whole of Mercia after the death of his sister Æthelflaed and first received in submission all the kings of the Scots, Cumbrians, the inhabitants of Strathclyde, and the Western Britons. He conquered kings and dukes in battle, and very many were slain.189 With the most noble woman Ecgwynn he had a first-born son, Æthelstan, and with his queen, Eadgifu, he had three sons, Edwin, Edmund and Eadred, and a daughter, Eadburg, a virgin dedicated to God. He had three more daughters, of whom one became the wife of Otto, eighty-ninth emperor of the Romans, another married Charles, king of the West Franks, and a third was married to Sihtric, king of the Northumbrians. This same King Edward, after many excellent achievements, died in the twenty-fourth year of his reign. His body was brought from Farndun to Winchester and buried in royal style in the new monastery.190 This was the history of the kingdom of the West Saxons from the first of their kings, Cerdic, until the last, Edward the Elder. It lasted approximately four hundred and fifty-four years, under twenty-four kings. These kings, vigorously expanding their boundaries and boldly subjecting neighbouring kingdoms to themselves, grew so great that their descendants gained the monarchy of all England, and divided the whole country into thirty-five shires.191 The first shire is Kent, in which are the archbishopric of Canterbury and the bishopric of Rochester. Second is Sussex, in which is the bishopric of Chichester. Third is Surrey. Fourth is Hampshire, in which is the bishopric of Winchester. Fifth is Berkshire. Sixth is Wiltshire, in which is the bishopric of Salisbury. Seventh is Dorset. Eighth is Somerset, in which is the bishopric of Bath or Akemanchester. Ninth is Devonshire, in which is the bishopric of Exeter. Tenth is Cornwall. Eleventh is Essex. Twelfth is Middlesex, in which is the bishopric of London. Thirteenth HR, § 95. The year of King Alfred’s death and his place of burial are not reported in the CJW prefatory West Saxon dynastic account. 188  Ibid. 189  Ibid. Praise of Edward the Elder not reported in CJW prefatory West Saxon dynastic account. 190  HR, § 106. Edward the Elder (acc. Oct. 899, d. July 924). Date and place of Edward’s burial not reported in the CJW West Saxon prefatory dynastic account. 191  HA, i. 4, 5. The chapter ends, as it had begun, by borrowing one of HH’s historical ideas to help shape the narrative account. Here the author uses the Henrician idea that the shiring of England was one of the first acts of the West Saxon kings on gaining the monarchy of all England. 187 

104

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Tertia decima est Suthfolc. Quarta decima Northfolc, in qua est episcopatus Northwiciae. Quinta decima Cantebigescire, in qua est episcopatus Eliensis. Sexta decima Lincolnescire, cuius caput est Lincolia, cui subiacent vii. aliae prouinciae, scilicet, prouincia Laicestriae et Hantoniae, et Hunteduniae, et Heresford, et Bedesford, et Bukingham, et Oxeneford. Extenditur enim episcopatus Lincolie a magno flumine Humbriae usque ad fluuium Tamisae. Vicesima quarta est Gloucestrescire. .xxv. Wircestrescire, in qua est episcopatus Wigorniae. .xxvi. est Herefordescire, in qua est episcopatus Herefordiae. .xxvii. Salopescire. .xxviii. Cestrescire, in qua est episcopatus Cestriae. .xxix. Warewiche. .xxx. Stathford. Post .xxx. Prima est Derbi. Secunda Notingham. Tertia Euerwikescire, in qua est archiepiscopatus Eboraci. Quarta est Northumberland, cui praeesta episcopus Dunelmi. Quinta illa regio in qua est nouus episcopatus Carliul.192 Scira Anglicae, Latina prouincia. Igitur .xvii. episcopatibus insignita nostro tempore florescit Anglia. Vrbes uero multo plures sunt quam episcopatus, ut Gloucestria, Laicestria, Oxineforda, et aliae plures episcopis carentes. Sed in occidentali parte Britanniae, quae uocatur Wallia, tresb sunt episcopatus: unus apud sanctum Dauid, alius apud Pangor, tertius apud Clamorgan etc Asaph. Sunt tamen hii nullarum urbium propter desolationem Waliae, quae sola deuictis remansit Britannis.d Tempore autem nostro recepit episcopus sancti David palleum a papa, qui scilicet olim fuerat apud Carlegion sed statim amisit.193 e us .i. Cerdicus. .ii.us Kinricus. .iii. Ceaulin. .iiii. Ceol. .v.us Ceolwfus. .vi. Kingils. .vii. Conewalc. .viii. Sexburg. .ix. Cenfus vel Eswinus.194 .x.us Kentwine. .xi. Ceadwal. .xii. Ine. .xiii. Edelheardus. .xiiii. Cuthredus. .xv. Sigebertus. .xvi. Kinewlfus. .xvii. Brictricus. .xviii. Egberctus. .xix. Athulfus uel Adewlfus. .xx. Adelbaldus. .xxi. Adelbertus. .xxii. Edeldredus. .xxiii. Aluredus. .xxiiii. Edwarduse.

  C, post est.   C, corrected in later hand to iiii. c   C, sanctum added in left-hand margin. d   C, Britannicis. e–e   C, omitted. a

b

105

The History of Alfred of Beverley

is Suffolk. Fourteenth is Norfolk, in which is the bishopric of Norwich. Fifteenth is Cambridgeshire, in which is the bishopric of Ely. Sixteenth is Lincolnshire, whose capital is Lincoln and which controls seven other shires, namely the counties of Leicester, Northampton, Huntingdon, Hertford, Bedford, Buckingham and Oxford. Indeed, the bishopric of Lincoln extends from the great River Humber as far as the River Thames. Twenty-fourth is Gloucestershire. Twentyfifth is Worcestershire, in which is the bishopric of Worcester. Twenty-sixth is Herefordshire, in which is the bishopric of Hereford. Twenty-seventh is Shropshire. Twenty-eighth is Cheshire, in which is the bishopric of Chester. Twenty-ninth is Warwick. Thirtieth is Stafford. Then, the thirty-first is Derby. Thirty-second is Nottingham. Thirty-third is Yorkshire, in which is the archbishopric of York. Thirty-fourth is Northumberland, over which the bishop of Durham presides. The thirty-fifth is that region in which there is a new bishopric of Carlisle.192 The English word shire is provincia in Latin. In our day then, England is distinguished and famous for seventeen bishoprics. There are, moreover, more cities than there are episcopates. For example, Gloucester, Leicester, Oxford, and several others lack bishops. Then, in the western part of Britain, called Wales, three bishoprics survive: one at St David’s, another at Bangor, a third in Glamorgan and St Asaph. These three are without cities, because of the devastation of Wales, which was all the territory left to the Britons after they had been conquered. In our time the bishop of St David’s received from the pope the pallium which had once been at Caerleon, but he very soon lost it.193 First Cerdic. Second Cynric. Third Ceawlin. Fourth Ceol. Fifth Ceolwulf. Sixth Cynegils. Seventh Cenwealh. Eighth Seaxburg. Ninth Cenfus or Æscwine.194 Tenth Centwine. Eleventh Cædwalla. Twelfth Ine. Thirteenth Æthelheard. Fourteenth Cuthred. Fifteenth Sigeberht. Sixteenth Cynewulf. Seventeenth Brihtric. Eighteenth Ecgberht. Nineteenth Athulf or Æthelwulf. Twentieth Æthelbald. Twenty-first Æthelberht. Twenty-second Æthelred. Twenty-third Alfred. Twentyfourth Edward.

Ibid. The comment on the new bishopric of Carlisle appears for the first time in the third version of the HA circulating from c.1140. HA, p. 18, note. 23. 193  HA, i. 5, p. 18, note 25. The statement that the bishop of St David’s received the pallium ‘in our time’ first appeared in version three of the HA. However, the comment ‘that he very soon lost it’ only appeared in the fourth version of the HA dating from c.1147 or a little later. See HA, p. 18, note 25. 194  Treated as two separate kings in the text, supplying a king-list of 25 West Saxon monarchs. 192 

105

[Particula VII]

Antequam de statu monarchiae Angliae dicamus, quoniam superius de paganis mentionem fecimus, opportunum uidetur hoc in loco inserere quo tempore et unde in Angliam uenere, et quanta mala eis permissum est in ea facere. Anno ab incarnatione Domini .dccxciii.a 1 qui est annus quartus Edelredib regis Northumbrorum,2 dira prodigia miseram Anglorum terruere gentem. Siquidem fulmina abhominanda et dracones per aera igneique ictus saepe uibrare et uolitare uidebantur, quae famem magnam et multorum stragem hominum quae subsecuta est portendebant. Eodem enim anno pagani ab aquilonari climate nauali exercitu Britanniam uenientes, non solum iumenta, oues et boues, uerum etiam sacerdotes, Leuitasque, chorosque monachorum atque sanctimonialium interfecerunt ecclesiam etiam Lindisfarnensem miserabili praedatione uastantes, calcant, sancta altaria suffodiunt, et thesauros omnes ecclesiae diripiunt, quosdam e fratribus interficiunt, nonnullos secum abducunt aliquos in mare demergunt. Inde recedentes, anno sequenti portum Egfridic regis uastantes, Monasterium ad ostium Doni amnis praedarunt, sed non impune. Nam princeps eorum ibidem occisus est, et postea uis tempestatis naues eorum quassauit et plurimos mare oppugnauit nonnulli ad litus deiecti et mox sunt interfecti. Post haec aliquanto tempore quieuit Anglia a paganis.3 Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimo .li.d magnus exercitus uenit paganorum cum .cccl. nauibus in ostium Tamesis fluminis, qui Doroberniam depopulati sunt et Beortulfum Merciorum regem cum omni exercitu suo qui ad proeliandum contra illos uenerat, in fugam uerterunt. Vnde audaciores effecti, cum toto exercitu suo ad Suthreiam uenerat.e Quod audiens rex Occidentalium

  R, P, Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimo et xiii.   R, P, Edredi. c   R, P, Esfredi. d   C, dcccli. e   R, P, in Suthreiam uenit. a

b

106

Chapter VII

Before we discuss the history of the English monarchy, it would seem useful, since we have earlier made mention of the pagans, to say something here about when and from what part of the world they came to England and how much evil they were allowed to do there. In the year from our Lord’s incarnation seven hundred and ninety-three,1 which was the fourth year of the reign of Æthelred, king of the Northumbrians,2 fearful prodigies terrified the wretched nation of the Angles. Dreadful lightning and dragons and flashes of fire were frequently seen darting and flying through the air. They were portents of the great famine and the slaughter of many men which followed. In the same year, the pagans, coming to Britain from northern parts with a naval force, killed not only mules, sheep, and cattle, but also priests, deacons, and groups of monks and nuns. They even laid waste the church of Lindisfarne in their wretched looting. They trampled on the holy places, dug up the altars, and carried off all the treasures of the church. Some of the brethren they killed, some they took away with them, some they drowned in the sea. Then, the following year, as they were retreating, they ravaged the harbour of King Ecgfrid, and looted the monastery at the mouth of the River Don. But they did not go unpunished, for their chief was killed there and later a violent storm battered their ships. Many were overcome by the sea, and some were thrown up on the shore and quickly killed. After this, England was at rest from the pagans for some time.3 In the year from our Lord’s incarnation eight hundred and fifty-one, a great army of heathens came into the mouth of the River Thames with three hundred and fifty ships. They ravaged Canterbury and put to flight Berthwulf, king of the Mercians, together with all his troops who had come to fight against them. Then, emboldened, they came with their whole army into Surrey. On hearing this, HR, § 56. The author’s main source has now become the Durham HR and the adoption of an annalistic entry for the first time in the compilation reflects the use of a source written in like manner. 2  King Æthelred I was restored to the Northumbrian throne in 790 (ASC E, F), thus his fourth year was 793. 3  HR, § 57. 1 

106

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Saxonum Adelwlfus et filius eius Edelbaldus cum eo congregato copioso exercitu, congressus cum eis4 tam cruenta potitus esta uictoria, ut numquam in aliqua regione pagani una die tanti occubuerunt in morte. Eodem quoqueb anno magnus paganorum exercitus apud Sandwic ab Anglis interemptus est,c et qui euadere potuerunt, fugam inierunt.5 Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimo .liiii. Alchere comes cum Cantuariis, et Wada dux cum Suthereis acre bellum inierunt contra paganos in insula Tanet et primo quidem congressu Christiani uictores extiterunt. Sed prolongato diud proelio plurimis ex utraque parte gladio peremptis, nonnullis etiam in mare suffocatis, tandem utrique duces occubuerunt,6 et anno sequente paganorum exercitus in Sceapegie id est in insula ouium,7 tota hieme hiemauerunt. Postea regnante Edelberto, filio praedicti Adelwlfi regis Occidentalium Saxonum, magnus paganorum exercitus de mari adueniens Wintoniam ciuitatem depopulatus est. Cui cum ad naues cum ingenti praeda reuerterentur, Osric Hamtunenesium comes cum suis et Adelwlfus comese cum Barrocensibus obuiauerunt, consertoque proelio pagani passim trucidantur, et cum diutius resistere non possent fugam arripiunt et Christiani uictoriam adepti sunt.8 Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentésimo .lxiiii. pagani hiemauerunt in insula Taneth, foedusque cum Cantuariis pro pecunia pepigerunt, sed foedere rupto totam orientalem Cantiae plagam depopulati sunt.9 Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimo .lxvi.f maxima paganorum classis Danorum, Norweganorum, Sueuorum, Gotorum, et aliarum nationum cum .viii. regibus, uidelicet Bagseg,g Halfdene, Hinguar, Ubba, Gutrum, Oskithel, Amund et Eowils, et aliarum nationum populis, et plusquam .xx. comitibus uariis armorum generibus instructa Britanniam aduenit10 et in regno Orientalium Anglorum scilicet in Estanglia, hiemauit, ibique ille exercitus maxima ex parte

  R, P, usus est.   R, P, quippe. c   R, P, interfectus est. d   R, P, prolongato quidem proelio. e   R, P, omit comes. f   C, dccclvi. g   R, P, Bagleg. a

b

107

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Æthelwulf, king of the West Saxons, together with his son Æthelbald, assembled a large army and engaged them in battle.4 So bloody was their victory that never in any country have so many pagans met their death in a single day. Furthermore, that same year, a great army of heathens was destroyed by the English at Sandwich, and those who managed to avoid destruction fled.5 In the year from our Lord’s incarnation eight hundred and fifty-four, ealdorman Ealhhere, with the men of Kent, and ealdorman Huda, with the men of Surrey, engaged in a bitter fight against the pagans on the island of Thanet. At the beginning, the Christians emerged as the victors, but, as the battle continued for a long time, many on both sides were cut down by the sword, many were drowned in the sea and, eventually, both leaders lay dead.6 The following year, the pagan army spent the whole winter in Sheppey, that is, the island of the sheep.7 Later, during the reign of Æthelbert, the son of the above-mentioned Æthelwulf, king of the West Saxons, a great heathen army arrived by sea and laid waste the city of Winchester. As they were returning to their ships with great booty, Osric, ealdorman of Hampshire, with his men, and ealdorman Æthelwulf, with the men of Berkshire, met them. Battle was joined and the heathen were cut down on all sides. When they could no longer resist, they took flight and the Christians were victorious.8 In the year of our Lord’s incarnation, eight hundred and sixty-four, the heathens wintered on the island of Thanet. They made a pact with the men of Kent in return for money, but they broke this pact and ravaged the whole eastern part of Kent.9 In the year from our Lord’s incarnation eight hundred and sixty-six, there came a great pagan naval force of Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Goths and other nations, with eight kings – namely, Bagsecg, Healfdene, Inguar, Ubba, Guthrum, Osketel, Anwend and Eowils – and more than twenty earls, equipped with various different types of weapons.10 The force wintered in the kingdom of the East Angles and the army, which mainly consisted of cavalry, pillaged various parts of the

HR, §§ 66, 88. Use here of the term Anno ab incarnatione Domini as used in HR, § 88 – in § 66 it is Anno Dominicae incarnationis – suggests the author has here borrowed from § 88. 5  HR, §§ 67, 89. The defeat of the pagans at Sandwich is placed in the following year, 852. 6  HR, § 89. Passage is dated 853 in HR, § 67, but 854 in HR, § 89. The words also closely match the § 89 entry. 7  HR, § 90. The derivation of the word Sheppey is only contained in this HR location. 8  Ibid. Also reported in HR, § 68 but § 90 provides a much closer textual match. 9  HR, §§ 69, 91. 10  HR, § 91. Content is reported also in § 69 but there is a closer match to § 91, where the names of the Danish leaders Healfdene, Inguar and Ubba are supplied. Continued use of HA is indicated by reporting a list of eight Danish leaders supported by twenty earls, accompanied and armed with all manner of weapons. The names of all eight Danish kings named here are reported in HA, v. chps 5, 6, 7, 15. 4 

107

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

equestris factus, hac illacque praedam agebat, non parcens uiris uel feminis, uiduis nec uirginibus.11 In anno sequenti ad Eboracum nauigantes omnia uastauerunt. Paulo ante Northumbri inter se discordes legitimum regem suum Osbric regno expulerant, et tirannum Ælle super se regem fecerant. Sed aduenientibus paganis in concordiam redeuntes, Osbrictum reuocauerunt, et utrumque regnare permiserunt. Adunatis itaque uiribus et exercitu congregatu, Eboracum adeunt. Quibus aduenientibus pagani confestim fugam arripiunt, et intra urbis moenia sese defendere festinant. Quod cernentes Christiani, usque ad urbem eos persequentes muros fregerunt, et cum paganis indiscrete intrauerunt. Unde pagani necessitate simul et timore compulsi, super Christianos irruunt, fugant, caedunt, prosternunt intus et extra. Illic maxima ex parte omnesa Northumbrensium uires, occisis duobus regibus, occubuere, reliqui cum paganis pacem pepigere. Hoc factum est .xii. Kal. Aprilis feria .vi. ante Dominicam Palmarum. Egbertus uero post haec regnauit super Northumbros ultra ampnem Tynae .vi. annis.12 Eodem uero anno praedictus paganorum exercitus Northumbriam relinquens, Merciam uenit et Snotingham adiit, ibique hiemauit. Qua propter Burredus Rex Merciorum accito suppliciter in auxilium sui Occidentalium Saxonum rege. Edelfredo et fratre suo Alfredo cum immenso exercitu adeunt, et usque ad Snotingham perueniunt. Cumque bellum unanimiter quaererent, pagani tuitione arcis muniti bellum dare denegabant, et quod Christianis murum frangere non suppetebat, pace inter Mercios et paganos facta, rex Edelfredus et frater suus Alfredus reuersi sunt.13 Anno octingentesimo et .lxix. pagani de Snotingham ad Northumbros equitantes, Eboracum ciuitatem adeunt, ibique anno integro manserunt.14 Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimo et .lxx. supra memoratus paganorum exercitusb per Merciam ad Orientales Anglos transiuit, et apud Theotford hiemauit.15 Eodemque anno Orientalium Anglorum rex sanctus Edmundusc ab Hinguar pagano rege matirizatus est.16 Anno sequenti praedictus exercitus Orientales Anglos deserens, regnumque Occidentalium Saxonum

  C, omnibus.   C, omits exercitus. c   R, P, omit sanctus. Ynguar. a

b

108

The History of Alfred of Beverley

region, sparing neither men nor women, widows nor virgins.11 The following year, sailing to York, they devastated everything. A little while earlier, riven by internal discord, the Northumbrians had driven their rightful king, Osberht, out of his kingdom and had set up a tyrant, Ælle, as their king. But, on the arrival of the pagans, they restored harmony among themselves and, recalling Osberht, they allowed both him and Ælle to rule. After uniting their forces and assembling an army, they went to York. As soon as they arrived, the pagans immediately fled and hurried to defend themselves within the walls of the city. When the Christians saw this, they pursued them right up to the city, broke down the walls, and entered, mingling with the heathens. The pagans, driven by both fear and necessity, threw themselves upon the Christians, routed them, slew them, and laid them low, both within and without the city. Most of the Northumbrian men lay dead in that place and the two kings were killed. Those Christians who were left made peace with the pagans. This took place on the twelfth of the kalends of April [21 March], being the Friday before Palm Sunday. After this, Egbert reigned for six years over the Northumbrians beyond the River Tyne.12 That same year, the aforementioned heathen army left Northumbria, came to Mercia, and reached Nottingham, where they wintered. So Burgred, king of the Mercians, implored the help of Æthelred, king of the West Saxons, and his brother, Alfred, and they came with an immense army and arrived at Nottingham. They were all of one mind in seeking to fight, but the pagans, protected by the defences of the fortress, would not give battle. Since the Christians were unable to breach the wall, a peace was agreed between the Mercians and the heathens and King Æthelred and his brother Alfred returned home.13 In the year eight hundred and sixty-nine, the pagans rode from Nottingham to Northumbria and reached the city of York, where they remained for a whole year.14 In the year from our Lord’s incarnation eight hundred and seventy, the aforementioned [pagan] army passed through Mercia to the country of the East Angles and wintered near Thetford.15 That same year, the king of the East Angles, St Edmund, was martyred by the pagan king, Inguar.16 The next year, the aforesaid army, abandoning the East Angles, entered the kingdom of the West Saxons and HR, §§ 69, 91. The HR reports that the Danish force came from the Danube, which is here omitted. HR, § 92. The date of the Danish victory at York in April 867 is supplied in only this section of the HR. Osberht and Ælle were the last of the Northumbrian kings. Egbert was appointed king under the dominion of the Danish sovereignty and it was not until King Edgar (959–75) that Northumbria came under English rule again. 13  HR, § 92. 14  HR, § 93. 15  Ibid. HA, v. 5. 16  Ibid. Date of the martyrdom, Sunday 20 November, omitted. 11  12 

108

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

adiens Radingum uenit, tertioque aduentus sui die comites eorum in praedam equitauerunt, aliis uallum inter duo flumina Tamensem et Cinetam facientibus.17 Quibus Adelwlfus comes Barrocensis cum suis in loco qui Englefeld, id est Anglorum campus, dicitur, obuiauit, ubi animose pugnatum est ex utraque parte. Sed altero paganorum comite occiso, et maxima parte exercitus deleta, ceterisque fuga elapsis, Christiani uictoriam adepti sunt. Post quatuor dies Edelfredus rex et Alfredus frater eius congregato exercitu Radingum adierunt. Cumque usque ad portam arcis peruenissent, caedendo et prosternendo quoscumque de paganis extra arcem inuenissent, pagani totis portis erumpentes totis uiribus bellum perquirunt ibique diu et atrociter pugnatum est, et Adelwlfus comes inter ceteros occubuit. Christianis itaque demum terga uertentibus, pagani uictoriam optinuerunt. Quo dolore et uerecundia Christiani commoti, iterum post .iiii. dies contra paganos apud Eschedune totis uiribus et plena uoluntate in proelium prodeunt. Sed pagani in duas se turmas diuidentes, aequali testudine bellum parant. Habebant enim tunc duos reges, multosque comites, concedentes mediam partem exercitus duobus regibus, et alteram omnibus comitibus.18 aSimiliter et Christiani in exercitum in duas diuidentes testudines construunta. Sed Alfredus citius et promptius cum suis ad locum proelii uenit. Nam frater suus rex Edelfredus in tentorio in oratione positus missam audiens affirmabat, se non discessurum antequam sacerdos missam finiret. Quae regis Christiani fides multum sibi et suis apud Deum ualuit. Decreuerant autem Christiani, ut rex cum suis copiis contra duos paganos reges bellum sumeret, frater uero suus Alfredus cum suis cohortibus contra omnes paganorum duces proelii sortem subiret. Quibus itaque utrimque dispositis cum rex diutius in oratione moraretur et pagani ad locum certaminis citius aduenissent, Alfredus cum diutius hostiles acies ferre non posset, nisi aut bello retrorsum cederet, aut ante fratris aduentum in bellum prorumperet, diuino fretus consilio Christianas copias ordinabiliter dirigens confestim contra hostes uexilla mouet. Tandem rex finitis orationibus aduenit, et inuocato magno mundi Principe mox se certamini dedit. Sed locus ille certaminis belligerantibus inaequalis erat. Nam pagani editiorem locum præoccupauerant et Christiani ab inferiori

  R, P, omitted.

a–a

109

The History of Alfred of Beverley

came to Reading. On the third day after their arrival, their leaders rode off to plunder, while those left behind built a rampart between the two rivers, the Thames and the Kennet.17 Æthelwulf, ealdorman of Berkshire, met them with his men in a place which is called Englefield, that is the field of the English, and there both sides fought bitterly. Indeed, one of the pagan commanders was killed and the greater part of the army was destroyed. The rest escaped in flight and the Christians gained the victory. Within four days, King Æthelred and his brother Alfred had mustered an army and proceeded to Reading. They had reached the entrance to the fortress and were killing and laying low any pagans they found outside the fort when the heathens surged forth from every gate, seeking with all their might to engage the enemy. A long and bitter battle raged and, among others, ealdorman Æthelwulf fell. Finally, the Christians retreated and the heathens were victorious. Four days later, the Christians, spurred on by grief and shame, marched forth again to fight the pagans at Ashdown, with all their might and main. But the heathens also prepared to fight, dividing themselves into two troops, both alike protected by a shield-wall. Since, at that time, they had two kings, and many earls, they allocated one part of the army to the two kings, and the other to all the earls.18 Similarly, the Christians, dividing the army into two, formed shield-walls. Alfred, however, arrived at the battlefield with his men more swiftly and promptly than his brother, Æthelred, who was in his tent, praying as he listened to mass, and who declared that he would not leave until the priest had finished the service. This devotion on the part of the Christian king won great merit for both him and his people in the eyes of God. The Christians had decided that the king and his forces should join battle with the two pagan kings and that his brother, Alfred, with his own troops, should try the fortunes of war against all the pagan earls. These were the plans which had been made for both armies. But, as the king continued to linger at prayer and the pagans had arrived more swiftly at the battleground, Alfred was no longer able to withstand the enemy’s assault, unless he either retreated from the fight, or launched an attack before his brother’s arrival. So, trusting to divine guidance, he drew up the Christian troops in good order and at once advanced his standards against the enemy. Finally, the king finished his prayers and arrived and, invoking the Great Ruler of the world, at once entered the fray. The site of battle, however, was not equally advantageous to all those who were fighting. For the pagans had already occupied the higher ground, so the Christians were launching their attack from below. When 17  18 

HR, §§ 72, 93 for 871. HR, §§ 94, 73. Text matches § 94 more closely.

109

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

loco aciem dirigebant. Cumque aliquandiu animose nimiumque atrociter hinc et inde pugnarent, pagani diuino iudicio Christianorum impetum diutius non ferentes, maxima parte suorum occisa fugam arripuerunt.19 Quo in loco alter de duobus paganorum regibus et quinque comites occubuerunt, et multa millia illorum in eodem locoa insuper et per totam campestrem Eschedune latitudinem ubique dispersa et occisa corruerunt.20 Cecidit ergo illic Bacseg rex, Sidroc senex comes, bSidroc iuniroum comes, Osbeorn comesb Frana comes, Harold comes, et totus paganorum exercitus, usque ad noctem et etiam usque ad sequentem diem quousque ad arcem qui euaserant peruenirent, in fugam uersus est. Hiis ita itaque gestis, iterum post .xiiii. dies Edelredusc rex una cum fratre suo Alfredo adunatis uiribus contra paganos pugnaturus Basengas adiit. Quibus hostiliter conuenientibus et diu simul certantibus pagani uictoria potiuntur. Rursus duobus euolutis mensibus rex Edelredus et frater eius Alfredus cum paganis, qui se in duas diuiserant turmas, apud Meretun pugnantes, diu uictores existunt aduersariis omnibus in fugam uersis. Sed illis in proelium redeuntibus multi ex hiis et illis corruunt, et uictoriam pagani habuerunt.21 Ibi occisus est Edmundus episcopus et multi proceres Angliae.22 Defuncto rege Edelredod et apud Winburname sepulto23 successit frater eius Alfredus, qui expleto uno mense quo regnare coepit, in monte qui dicitur Wiltun contra paganos cum paucis acerrime pugnauit, sed hostes uictoria potiti sunt. Nec mirum. Paruum enim in proelio Christiani numerum habebant, utpote octo proeliis in uno anno contra paganos attriti, in quibus unus rex paganorum et .ix. duces cum innumeris cohortibus occisi sunt.24 Inde praefatus paganorum exercitus Lundonias adiit, ibique hiemauit, cum quo Mercii pacem pepigerunt. fDeinde Lundoniam deserens uersus Northumbriam regionem perrexit et in Lindeseia apud Torkesayam hiemauit cum quo iterum Mercii pacem pepigeruntf. Inde post annum Merciam adiit, et apud Reopedung hiemauit, et Burredum regem qui regnauerat super Merce .xxii. annis trans mare fugauerunt. Rex autem Burredus Romam perrexit, ibique

  R, P, campo.   R, P, omitted. c   C, Elfredus. d   R, P, Edredo. e   R, P, Wimburnhaminister. f–f   R, P, omitted. g   R, P, Keopesdun. a

b–b

110

The History of Alfred of Beverley

both sides had fought for some while, with great ferocity and bitterness, backwards and forwards, divine justice ensured that the pagans could no longer resist the Christians’ attack, and, after the greater part of them had been slaughtered, the rest took flight.19 In that place one of the two pagan kings and five earls lay dead, and many thousands of their men fell, scattered and slaughtered on that same spot and across the whole plain of Ashdown.20 So there died King Bagsecg, Earl Sidroc the Elder, Earl Sidroc the Younger, Earl Osbern, Earl Fræna and Earl Harold. And the whole heathen army turned in flight which lasted until nightfall and even until the following day, when those who had escaped reached their stronghold. Fourteen days after these events, King Æthelred and his brother Alfred again joined forces and went to Basing to fight against the pagans. They met in battle and fought for a long while, until the pagans were victorious. Again, after two months had passed, King Æthelred and his brother Alfred fought at Meretun against the heathens, who had divided up into two groups. For a long time Æthelred and Alfred were victorious and all their opponents were routed. But, when battle was joined again, many fell on both sides, and the pagans gained the victory.21 Here were killed Bishop Edmund and many of the English nobility.22 King Æthelred died and was buried in Wimborne23 and his brother Alfred succeeded him. A month after the start of his reign, Alfred, with a few troops, fought fiercely against the pagans on a hill which is called Wilton, but the enemy were victorious. And that is not surprising, for the Christians had few fighting for them in that engagement and were exhausted by eight battles in one year against the heathens, during which one pagan king and nine earls, along with innumerable troops, were killed.24 The aforementioned pagan forces then went to London, where they wintered, and the Mercians made peace with them. Then, leaving London, they marched towards the Northumbrian region and wintered at Torksey, in the area of Lindsey, where the Mercians again made peace with them. Then, after one year, the army proceeded to Mercia and wintered at Repton and they drove King Burgred, who had reigned over Mercia for twenty-two years, out, across the sea. In fact, King Burgred went to Rome, where he died and was buried

HR, §§ 94, 73. Ibid. 21  Ibid. Both HR sections cover the events of AD 871, but the source here appears to have been § 94. 22  HA, v. 6. The bishop was Heahmund of Sherborne (ASC C 871), buried, according to the chronicler Æthelweard, at Keynsham. 23  Ibid. Æthelred (acc. 865, d. April 871). His burial in Wimborne is not reported in HR. 24  HR, § 95. 19  20 

110

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

moriens, sepultus est in ecclesia Sanctae Mariae apud Angliscescolam.a Dani autem tradiderunt regnum Merciae cuidam Ceowulfo ad seruandum ad opus eorum.25 Tertio anno Reopedun deserens in duas se turmas diuisit, et altera pars cum Halfdene in Northumbriam perrexit, et eam totam dominio suo subdidit, et iuxta Tinam hiemauit, et diuisit terram suis, et coluerunt eam duobus annis et saepe praedauit super Pictos.26 Altera pars cum Guthrum et Oskitel et Amund tribus regibus apud Grantebrigge hiemauit, et ibi uno annob fuit. Hoc anno pugnauit rex Alfredus nauali proelio contra .vii. puppes et unam cepit, ceteras fugauit. Anno uero sequenti exercitus trium regum uenit ad castellum Werham et intrauit in illud.27 Quorum subitum aduentum rexc Saxonum cognoscens, foedus cum eis pepigit, ea conditione, ut ab eius regno acceptis obsidibus discederent. Ipsi uero more suo obsides et iuramenta non seruantes, nocte quadam foedere dirupto ad Execestram diuerterunt,28 inde Cippenham adierunt, ibique hiemauerunt. Anno .vii.d regis Alfredi cum iam Daci omne regnum a boreali parte Tamensis optinerent regnaretque rex Haldane in Northumbre et frater eius Haldenis in Estanglia esset,29 tres uero reges praedicti cum Ceowlfo rege eorumessent in Mercia et Lundonia et Estsexe, regi uero Alfredo non remansisset nisi terra ultra Tamisam, indignum uisum est Dacis, ut uel hoc ei remaneret. Tres ergo reges uenerunt Cippenham in Westsexe cum mira multitudine quae nuper a Dacia uenerat, operientesque terram quasi locustae, cum nullis eis posset resistere occupauerunt eam.30 Pars igitur populi trans mare fugit. Pars Alfredum regem secuta est, qui cum paucis se in nemoribus abscondebat, pars uero subdita est hostibus. Cum autem rex Alfredus iam nec terram haberet, nec spem habendi, respexit in reliquias plebis suae Dominus.31 Etenim cum hiis diebus magnas sustinuisset clades rex Alfredus, et inquietam uitam ageret, tandem aperto per sanctum Cuthbertum confortatus est oraculo et

  R, P, Engliscescolam.   R, P, omit anno. c   R, South interlineally in later hand (err.). d   R, P, vi. a

b

111

The History of Alfred of Beverley

in the church of St Mary, in the English School. Then, to serve their own purposes, the Danes gave the kingdom of Mercia to a certain Ceolwulf.25 In the third year of Alfred’s reign [recte fourth year 875] the pagan army left Repton and divided into two groups. One part, with Healfdene, proceeded to Northumbria and placed the whole province under its control. This part wintered next to the Tyne, divided the land among its men, and cultivated it for two years. It also frequently made pillaging raids on the Picts.26 The other part of the army, with the three kings Guthrum, Osketel and Amund [recte Anwend] wintered at Cambridge and remained there for one year. That year, King Alfred fought a naval battle against seven ships. He captured one and the others he put to flight. The following year, the army of the three kings came to the fortress of Wareham and entered it.27 When the Saxon king heard of their sudden arrival, he made a treaty with them, on the condition that, once they had received hostages, they would leave his kingdom. But they, as was their way, cared neither for hostages nor oaths, and, one night, in violation of the treaty, they marched on Exeter.28 From there they went to Chippenham, where they wintered. By King Alfred’s seventh year [878] the Danes had gained possession of all the kingdom north of the Thames. King Healfdene was reigning in Northumbria and Healfdene’s brother was in East Anglia.29 The three aforementioned kings [Guthrum, Osketel and Anwend] with their [proxy] king Ceolwulf, were in Mercia, London, and Essex, so that there remained to King Alfred only the land south of the Thames, and it seemed intolerable to the Danes that even this should still be his. So the three kings came to Chippenham in Wessex with a great multitude which had just come from Denmark. They covered the lands like locusts and, since no-one was able to resist them, they took possession of it.30 Some of the people fled overseas. Others followed King Alfred, who, with a few of his men, went into hiding in the woodlands. Others were made subject to the enemy. But now, when King Alfred had neither land nor hope of having it, the Lord looked down on the remnants of his people.31 For, after King Alfred had suffered ruinous defeats during this period and had led a troubled life, at last a prophecy was revealed to him by St Cuthbert and, 25  HA, v. 7. HR §§ 95, 75. Use of the term Anglescescolam and close match of words suggests use here of HA in addition to HR, §§ 95, 75. The report that the Danes, after driving out King Burgred, installed Ceolwulf as a puppet king in Mercia, is supplied in both HA & HR, § 75. Burgred of Mercia died in Rome in AD 874 and was buried in the church of S. Maria in Sassia. 26  HA, v. 7. 27  Ibid. 28  HR, § 96. 29  HA, v. 8. 30  Ibid. 31  Ibid.

111

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

contra Danos pugnauit quo ipse sanctus iusserat loco et tempore uictoria potitus est clarissima.32 Occiso fratre regis Haldani cum octingentis .xl. hominibus captumque est uexillum eorum quod uocabatur Rauen,33 semperque deinceps hostibus terribilis et inuincibilis erat, sanctum Cuthbertum praecipue honorabat.34 Eodem anno Hinguar et Halfdane cum bis denis ac ternis nauibus de Demeticaa regione in qua hiemauerant egressi, post multas stragesb Christianorum post combustiones coenobiorum ad Domnaniam enauigauerunt, et ibi a regis ministris fortissimis cum mille ducentis uiris occisi sunt.35 Quo facto, uenienti regi ad petram Egberti, obuiauerunt illi Sumersetenses, Wiltunienses, Hamtunienses, uisoque eo laetati sunt inmenso cordis tripudio, quasi rediuiuum illum suscipientes. Post tertium diem uenit cum inmenso exercitu ad locum qui dicitur Eddeadunec quo iuxta inmensas paganorum phalangas inuenit paratas ad bellum. Comiserunt ergo bellum per longa tempora diei, quorum uoces et collisiones armorum per longa terrarum spatia audita sunt. Rex uero Alfredus prostratis fortiter paganis uictoriam adeptus, petentibus hostibus pacem clementer indulsit. Sequenti uero anno paganorum rex Guthrum cum .xxx. electissimis de exercitu suo uiris ad Alfredum uenit, quem rex in filium adoptionis suscipiens, de fonte sacri baptismatis leuans, Adelstanum uocauit, multisque muneribus ditauit, eique post interfectionem sancti Edmundi Estangliam traditit, in qua annis fere decem regnauit.36 Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimo .lxxix.d paganorum exercitus a Cirecestria egressus ad Orientales accessit Anglos, ipsamque regionem diuidentes inhabitare coeperunt. Ipso quoque anno inmensus uenit paganorum exercitus de transmarinis climatibus in Tamensi fluuio, et supradicto cuneo adunatus est.37 Inde nauigantes apud Gant uno anno demoratus est. Deinde Franciam adiit, et in ea quatuor fere annis per diuersa loca caedibus, rapinis, incendiis debachatus est. Tandem in duas se turmas diuisit, et una in Orientalem Franciam secessit, altera rediens in Cantiam ciuitatem Rouecestriam obsedit. Sed ciuibus uiriliter

  R, P, de Mercia.   C, omits strages but caedes inserted interlineally in later hand. c   R, P, Edadun. d   P, lxxxix. a

b

112

The History of Alfred of Beverley

drawing courage from this prophecy, he fought against the Danes, and at the very time and place which the saint had ordained, he gained a glorious victory.32 The brother of King Healfdene was slain, along with eight hundred and forty men, and their standard, which was called ‘Raven’, was captured.33 Ever after that, Alfred was seen by his enemies as terrible and invincible and he honoured St Cuthbert particularly.34 That same year, Inguar and Healfdene set out from the region of Dyfed, where they had wintered, with twenty-three ships and, after slaughtering many Christians and burning monasteries, they sailed to Devonshire. There they were slain, along with twelve hundred men, by the brave thegns of King Alfred.35 After this, the king came to ‘Ecgberht’s stone’, and the men of Somerset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire met him and, at the sight of him, rejoiced with great exultation of heart, as if they were welcoming one raised from the dead. The third day after that, he arrived with an immense army at a place called Edington, near which he encountered huge battalions of pagans, ready for battle. So they fought for most of the day and their shouts and the clashing of their arms was heard over a wide area. King Alfred bravely overthrew the heathens to gain victory and, when they pleaded for peace, he mercifully granted it. The following year, Guthrum, king of the pagans, came to King Alfred with thirty of the most worthy men in his army. The king, receiving him as an adopted son and raising him from the font of holy baptism, named him Æthelstan. He enriched him with many gifts and, after the murder of St Edmund, he gave him East Anglia, where he ruled for nearly ten years.36 In the year from our Lord’s incarnation eight hundred and seventy-nine, the pagan troops left Cirencester, went to the region of the East Angles and, dividing it up, started to occupy it. In that same year too, an immense army of pagans from regions across the sea entered the River Thames and joined forces with the group just mentioned.37 From there, they set sail for Ghent, where they remained for a year. Then the army went to France, where it raged furiously through various regions, massacring, raping and burning for nearly four years. Eventually it formed itself into two divisions, of which one withdrew into the east of France and the other returned to Kent, where it laid siege to the city of Rochester. But, as the HR, § 96. HA, v. 8. 34  HR, § 96. 35  HR, §§ 76, 96. The parallel accounts in HR render it unclear from which section the author has here borrowed. 36  HR, §§ 97. Guthrum’s baptismal name of Æthelstan is reported in HR, §§ 81, 102. Guthrum issued coinage using this name in East Anglia, see J. J. North, English Hammered Coinage, second edition (London, 1979–80), I, p. 78, pl. vi. 37  Ibid. 32  33 

112

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

repugnantibus rex Alfredus cum ualida manu superueniens, eos ab obsidione ad naues fugere compulit, et aestate proxima redierunt in Galliam.38 Hoc etiam anno Martinus papa misit Alfredo regi lignum Domini. Alfredus autem misit elemosinam suam Romae, et etiam in Indiam ad sanctum Thomam secundum uotum quod fecerat quando hostilis exercitus hiemauit apud Lundoniam.39 Quo anno classis ab Alfredo rege missa ad defensionem locorum circa Estangliam .xvi.a nauibus piratarum captis, ad hostium fluminis Stur uniuersos interfecerunt.40 Sed dum reuerterentur domum, obuiam habuerunt barbarici exercitus infinitam nauium multitudinem, cum qua diutius cum dimicatum esset, Dani uictores extiterunt. Eodem etiam anno magnus paganorum exercitus de Germania in regione antiquorum Saxonum nauibus aduehitur, contra quos adunatis uiribus Saxones et Frisones bis uno anno inierunt bella, et uictoriam potiti sunt.41 Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimo .lxxxvi. Alfredus rex post incendia urbium stragesque populorum Lundoniam honorifice restaurauit, et eam Edredo Merciorum comitib seruandam commendauit.42 Eodem anno omnes Angli et Saxones qui prius ubique dispersi fuerant aut cum paganis sine captiuitate erant, uenerunt ad regem Alfredum, et uoluntarie dominio suo se subdiderunt. Inter multa bona quae rex Alfredus gessit, duo construxit monasteria nobilia, unum monachorum in loco qui dicitur Æthlingenae id est nobilium insula, aliud quoque monasterium sanctimonialium apud Sceastestbire, et utrumque terrarum possessionibus omnibusque diuitiis locupletauit.43 Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimo .lxxxxiiii. pagani qui Northumbriam incoluere cum Alfredo rege pacem iuramentis statuere. Sequenti anno pagani naues suasc per Tamensem et Liigam sursum traxerunt, sibique munitionem .xx. miliariis a Lundonia aedificare coeperunt. Anno ab incarnatione Domini octingentesimo .lxxxxvi. aestatis tempore magna ciuium Lundoniensum et de uicinis qui plures munitionem quam sibi pagani aedificauerant destruere moliuntur. Sed illis fortiter resistentibus, Christiani in fugam uertuntur, quatuorque de ministris regis Alfredi occiderunt.

  R, P, xv.   R, P, duci. c   R, P, omits naues suas. a

b

113

The History of Alfred of Beverley

citizens were bravely resisting the pagans, King Alfred arrived with a strong force and compelled the enemy to flee from the site of the siege to their ships. The following summer, they returned to France.38 In this same year, Pope Marinus sent King Alfred some wood from the Lord’s cross. Moreover, Alfred sent alms to Rome and also to India to St Thomas, according to a vow he had taken when the enemy army wintered in London.39 This was the year when a fleet, sent by King Alfred for the defence of the places around East Anglia, captured sixteen pirate ships at the mouth of the River Stour and put all the pirates to death.40 But, while they were returning home, they encountered an infinite number of ships belonging to the barbarian forces, and, after a lengthy battle, the Danes emerged victorious. That same year too, a great army of pagans from Germany was brought by ship to the country of the Old Saxons. The Saxons and Frieslanders, joining forces, fought two battles in one year against them and were victorious.41 In the year from our Lord’s incarnation eight hundred and eighty-six, after cities had been burnt and populations slaughtered, King Alfred fittingly restored London and entrusted its care to ealdorman Æthelread of Mercia.42 The same year, all the Angles and Saxons who earlier had been scattered here and there, or who had lived with the pagans without being their captives, came to King Alfred and voluntarily submitted themselves to his rule. Among the many good deeds which King Alfred performed, he constructed two noble monastic buildings, one for monks in the place called Athelney, that is, the ‘island of nobles’, and the other a convent for nuns near Shaftesbury, and he enriched both with grants of land and gifts of all kinds.43 In the year from our Lord’s incarnation eight hundred and ninety-four the heathens who inhabited Northumbria established a sworn peace with King Alfred. The following year the pagans dragged their ships up the River Thames and Lee and began to build themselves a fort, twenty miles from London. In the year eight hundred and ninety-six from our Lord’s incarnation, during the summer, a great multitude of the citizens of London, and many men from the surrounding areas, attempted to destroy the fort which the pagans had built for themselves. But they resisted strongly, put the Christians to flight, and killed four of King Alfred’s thegns. HR, § 100. HA, v. 9. 40  HR, § 100. 41  Ibid. 42  Ibid. 43  HR, § 101. King Alfred’s appointment of John as the first abbot of the monastery at Athelney and his daughter Æthelgifu as the first abbess of the nunnery at Shaftesbury, omitted. 38  39 

113

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Anno octingentesimo .lxxxxvii. paganorum exercitus in Estanglia et Northumbria residentium furtiuas praedas circa ripas maris agentes, terram Occidentalium Saxonum grauiter uexabant longis celeribusquea nauibus quas ipsi ante plures annos fabricauerant. Aduersum quos bis longiores, altiores, celeriores ex praecepto regis Alfredi fabricantur naues. Quibus in mare missis, mandat rex ut quos uiuos capere possent caperent, sed minus occiderent.44 Unde actum est, ut eodem anno .xx. naues Danicorum piratarum caperentur, quorum quidam occiduntur, quidam ad regem uiui deducuntur, et in patibulo suspenduntur. Alfredus rex cum regnasset .xxviii. annis et dimidio super totam Angliam praeter illas partes quae subditae erant Dacis decessit, cui successit filius eius Edwardus.45 Huius anno regni tertio Cantuarienses cum multitudine piratarum Danicorum in loco qui Holme dicitur pugnauerunt et uictores extiterunt.46 Cum isto pagani pacem fecerunt, quam quia postea praeuaricati sunt, misit in Northumbriam exercitum Westsaxonum et Merciorum. Qui cum eo uenissent per .xl. ferme dies eam deuastauere non cessantes, multis Danorum occisis, reges ducesque eorum cum rege Edwardo pacem redintegrare compulerunt.47 Huius etiam diebus in prouincia Staffordensi inter Anglos et Danos insigne proelium est actum sed Angli uictoria potiti sunt.48 Ipse etiam rex Bedefordam adiit, et eam in deditionem acceptit, ibidemque per .xxx. dies moratus est urbem in australi plaga amnis Vsae condi praecepit. In Northumbriam quoque exercitum Merciorum misit, ut urbem Mamecestriam restaurarent et in ea fortes milites collocarent.49 Post haec rex Scottorum cum tota gente sua et Regnaldus rex Danorum cum Anglis et Danis Northumbriam incolentibus, rex etiam Stretcledwalorum cum suis, regem Edwardum seniorem sibi in patrem et dominum elegerunt, firmumque foedus cum eo pepigerunt.50 Ipse uero cum .xxiiii. annis gloriose regnasset Adelstano primogenito suo filiob regni gubernacula reliquit anno nongentesimo .xxiiii.c Iste fuit status totius Angliae quando regnante in Northumbria Edelredo, qui et Edelbrict, filio regis Moll, pagani primum de transmarinis partibus uenientes, et Northumbriam duobus annis depopulantes, Lindisfarnensem ecclesiam

  R, P, sceleribus.   C, omits filio. c   C, add. anno incarnationis Domini dccccxiiii. a

b

114

The History of Alfred of Beverley

In the year eight hundred and ninety-seven, the pagan soldiers living in East Anglia and Northumbria made secret raids on the sea coast, grievously harassing the land of the West Saxons with their speedy longships, which they had built many years before. To oppose these, ships were built at King Alfred’s command which were twice as long, faster, and taller. When they were launched, the king ordered his troops to take alive all those pagans they were able to capture, but to kill the rest.44 And this is how it came to pass that, in that same year, twenty of the Danish pirates’ ships were captured, and some of the pirates were killed and some brought to the king alive and hung on the gallows. When King Alfred had reigned over all England, except those areas which had been subjected to the Danes, for twenty-eight and a half years, he passed away and his son Edward succeeded him.45 [899] In the third year of his reign, the men of Kent fought with a host of Danish pirates in a place called Holme, and were victorious.46 The pagans made a treaty with Edward, but they later broke it and so he sent an army of West Saxons and Mercians into Northumbria. When they arrived there, they ravaged the country for nearly forty days without respite and, after many Danes had been killed, they forced the Danish nobles and kings to renew the treaty with King Edward.47 At that time too, in the province of Staffordshire, a famous battle took place between the English and the Danes, but the English gained the victory.48 King Edward himself went to Bedford and received its submission. He stayed there for thirty days and ordered a town to be built on the southern bank of the River Ouse. Edward also sent an army of Mercians into Northumbria, to rebuild the town of Manchester, and to garrison it with a strong force of soldiers.49 After this, the king of the Scots, with all his people, and Ragnald, king of the Danes, with the English and Danish inhabitants of Northumbria, along with the king of Strathclyde and his men, chose King Edward the Elder as their father and lord, and they made a firm treaty with him.50 Edward then, after he had reigned gloriously for twenty-four years, left the governance of the kingdom to his first-born son, Athelstan, in the year nine hundred and twenty-four. This was the period of English history when, during the reign of Æthelred and Æthelberht, son of King Moll, in Northumbria, the first of the pagans came from regions across the seas, laid waste to Northumbria for two years, and inflicted grievous plunder and pillaging on the church at Lindisfarne. Then, after a number 44  45  46  47  48  49  50 

HR, § 102. HA, v. 13. Alfred (acc. April 871, d. 26 Oct. 899. Buried in Winchester). HR, § 104. HA, v. 14. HR, § 104. Ibid. Details of the location of the battle, Tettenhall c. AD 910, omitted. HR, § 106. Ibid.

114

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

miserabili direptione depraedati sunt. Deinde post annos plures regnante in Westsaxonia Adelwlfo filio Egberti, et posteris eius, iterum pagani de Danubia, Norwegia, Suethia, Gothia, Germania et aliis nationibus cum .viii. regibus et .xx. comitibus nauigio Britanniam aduecti per totam Angliam et circa eam annis circiter .lxxv. rapinis, caedibus, incendiis neque aetati, neque sexui, neque religioni parcentes, debachati sunt, non solum iumenta, oues et boues caedentes, uerum et etiam sacerdotes et Leuitas, monachos et sanctimoniales interficientes, ecclesias destruentes. Huc usque de immanitate paganicae feritatis qua per Angliam grassati sunt dixisse sufficiat. Amodo de monarchis regibus dicturi, ad ordinem historiae reuertamur.

115

The History of Alfred of Beverley

of years, during which Æthelwulf, son of Ecgberht, and his heirs were reigning in the province of the West Saxons, pagans from the Danube, Norway, Sweden, Gothia, Germany and other nations arrived by ship in Britain, with eight kings and twenty earls. For nearly seventy-five years they raged furiously throughout the whole of England, respecting neither age, nor sex, nor sheep, and oxen, but [not] even priests and Levites, monks and nuns, as they destroyed the churches. But let what has already been said about the monstrous savagery with which the pagans rampaged through England suffice. Henceforth, let us return to the order of history and speak of rulers and kings.

115

[Particula VIII]

Anno ab incarnatione Domini nongentesimo .xxiiii. defuncto rege Westsaxonum Edwardo seniore, successit ei in regnum primogenitus filius suus Adelstanus, et in Kingestuna ab Athalino Dorobernensi archiepiscopo consecratur in regem.1 Qui anno regni sui secundo sororem suam Northumbrorum regi Sitrico Danica stirpe progenito, cum magna gloria in matrimonium dedit. Sed Sitrico post annum mortuo, Adelstanus, expulso Guthferto Sithrici filio, regnum Northumbrorum regno adiecit Westsaxonico. Omnes etiam reges totius Albionis regem, scilicet Occidentalium Britonum Hunal, regem Scottorum Constantinum, regem Wentorum Wumera proelio uicit et fugauit. Hii omnes ubi se uiderunt non posse strenuitati illius resistere, pacem ab eo petentes, datoque sacramento firmum cum eo foedus pepigerunt. Iam uero regnum Cantuariorum et regnum Suthsaxonum, multaque pars regni Estsaxonum per Egbertum istius Adelstani abauum subiecta fuerant regno Westsaxonum. Similiter per Alfredum Egberti nepotem Lundonice cum circumiacentibus terris et pars regni Merciorum regno parebant Westsaxonico. Deinde Edwardus senior Alfredi filius, Adelstani pater partemb Estsaxonicae, Estangliae, Northumbriae, Merciam totam optinuit, reges Scottorum Cumbrorum ceterosque in deditionem accepit. Itaque rex Egbertus et filius eius Adelwlfus quatuorque filii Adelwlfi qui post patrem ordine sibi in regnum successerunt, scilicet Edelbaldus, Edelbertus, Edelredus, Alfredus et Alfredi filius Edwardus senior, et si monarchiam regni non optinuerunt, monarchiae tamen quasi mecatores et paratores extiterunt. Adelstanus uero non solum eorumque patres sui parauerant

  R, P, Iumer.   C, omits partem.

a

b

116

Chapter VIII

In the year from our Lord’s incarnation 924, the king of the West Saxons, Edward the Elder, died. His first-born son, Æthelstan, succeeded him on the throne and was consecrated as king by Athelm, archbishop of Canterbury, at Kingston.1 In the second year of his reign he gave his sister in marriage in great splendour to King Sihtric of the Northumbrians, who was born of the Danish race. But Sihtric died after a year and Æthelstan expelled Guthfrith, Sihtric’s son and added the kingdom of Northumbria to the West Saxon Kingdom. [Æthelstan] also conquered in battle and put to flight the kings of the whole of Albion, namely Hywel, king of the West Welsh, Constantine, king of the Scots, and Wer, king of the Gwenti. They all, when they saw they could not resist his strength, sought peace with him and, swearing an oath of allegiance, made a firm treaty with him. Furthermore, the kingdoms of Kent and of the South Saxons and many areas of the East Saxon kingdom had by now been made subject to the West Saxon kingdom by Ecgbert, Æthelstan’s great-grandfather. Similarly, through Ecgbert’s grandson Alfred, London, with the territories surrounding it and parts of the Mercian kingdom, were subject to West Saxon rule. Then Edward the Elder, son of Alfred and father of Æthelstan, gained parts of East Saxony, East Anglia, Northumbria and the whole province of Mercia, and accepted the surrender of the kings of the Scots, the Cumbrians, and other peoples. Thus King Ecgbert, his son Æthelwulf, Æthelwulf’s four sons, who in turn succeeded him – namely Æthelbald, Æthelberht, Æthelred and Alfred, and Alfred’s son, Edward the Elder – while they did not achieve absolute monarchy over England, nevertheless they prepared the way for that monarchy and established its boundaries. Then Æthelstan, as possessor not only of the territories which his forefathers had made ready for him but also of those which he had added to them, HR, § 106. The succession of King Æthelstan is considered as the point when the monarchy of England commences. The HR had described Edward the Elder as invictissimus rex Anglorum, noting his sovereignty over all the peoples of Britain – English, Scots, Cumbrians, Danes and Welsh, but the author here describes him only as king of the West Saxons, serving to emphasise the transition from a heptarchy to a unitary kingdom of England under Æthelstan. 1 

116

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

sed et eorum quae ipse prudentia simul et fortitudine adiecerat possessor primus Anglorum totius Angliae monarchiam gloriose optinuit.2 Anno uero regni sui .x. rebellauit aduersus eum Scottorum rex Constantinus, moxque rex Adelstanus classica manu perualida et equestri exercitu non modico in Scotiam profectus, maxima eam ex parte depopulatus est.3 Vnde ui compulsus rex Constantinus filium suum cum dignis muneribus obsidem illi dedit, pacem reddintegrauit. Anno post haec tertio Hibernensium multarumque insularum rex paganus Anlanus a socero suo rege Scottorum Constantino incitatus, hostium Humbre fluminis ualida cum classe ingreditur. Cui rex Adelstanus fraterque suus clito Edmundus cum exercitu occurrerunt, et proelio a diei principio in uesperum tracto quinque regulos septemque duces, quos aduersarii in auxilium sibi conduxerant, interfecerunt, tantumque sanguinis quantum eatenus in Anglia nullo in bello fusum est fuderunt, regesque Anlanum et Constantinum ad naues fugere compellentes, magno tripudio reuersi sunt.4 Anno incarnationis Domini nongentesimo .xl. strenuus et gloriosus rex Anglorum Adelstanus .xvi. regni sui anno apud Glaicerniam defunctus, apud Maidulphi urbem honorifice est tumulatus.5 Cui frater suus Edmundus .xviii. aetatis suae anno in regnum successit. Iste .v. ciuitates, Lindocolinam, Notingham, Deorbeiam, Legecestriam, et Stafordiam manibus paganorum penitus extorsit. Huic cum regina sua sancta Alfgiua filium peperisset Eadgarum, sanctus abbas Dunstanus audiuit insullimi uoces psallentium atque dicentium, ‘Pax Anglorum ecclesiae, exorti nunca pueri, nostrique Dunstani tempore.’6 Duos etiam reges Northumbrorum Anlanum et Gutfertum expulit, et Northumbriam suae ditioni subegit, terram quoque Cumbrorum depopulatus est,

  R, P, exorti sunt.

a

117

The History of Alfred of Beverley

through his own wisdom and strength, was the first of the English to attain the glory of monarchy over the whole of England.2 In the tenth year of his reign, however, Constantine, king of the Scots, rebelled against him and soon King Æthelstan set out for Scotland with a powerful fleet and a sizeable mounted army, and ravaged much of that country.3 So, King Constantine, compelled by force, gave him his son as a hostage, together with suitable gifts, and peace was restored. Three years later Olaf, the heathen king of the Irish and of many islands, urged on by his father-in-law, Constantine, king of the Scots, entered the mouth of the River Humber with a large fleet. King Æthelstan and his brother, the atheling Edmund, met him with their army and, in a battle which lasted from morning until evening, they killed five underkings and seven earls, whom their adversaries had brought as allies, and more blood was shed than in any previous war in England. They forced the kings Olaf and Constantine to flee to their ships and returned home with much rejoicing.4 In the year of our Lord 940 [recte 939], Æthelstan, the vigorous and glorious king of the English, died at Gloucester, in the sixteenth year of his reign, and was buried honourably in the town of Malmesbury.5 His brother Edmund succeeded him on the throne, in his eighteenth year. He wrested completely out of Danish hands the five cities of Lincoln, Nottingham, Derby, Leicester and Stamford. When his queen, the saintly Ælfgifu, bore him a son, Edgar, St Dunstan the abbot heard voices on high, singing and saying, ‘Peace to the English church in the time of this boy just born and of our Dunstan’.6 Edmund drove out two kings of the Northumbrians, Olaf and Guthfrith, subjected Northumbria to his rule and laid waste to the land of the Cumbrians, The summary view of the emergence of West Saxon hegemony is that of the author. The concluding description of Æthelstan as the first of the English kings to gain the monarchy over the whole of England repeats what has been twice stated in chapter six. 3  HR, § 107. The HR describes Æthelstan’s visit to the tomb of St Cuthbert at Chester-le-Street en route to Scotland for his campaign in AD 934 and his donation of lands and property to the church, content which is here omitted. Of interest is the author’s failure here to note supposed visits by Æthelstan to Beverley, before and after the same campaign. In later medieval Beverley tradition, Alfred is said to be the translator into Latin of the Libertates Ecclesiae Sancti Johannis de Beverlaco, a tract setting out the ancient privileges of Beverley granted by Æthelstan on visits to the tomb of St John before and after this Scottish campaign. Silence here on a visit to Beverley of Æthelstan does little to strengthen the case for the author’s genuine connection to the tract. The Libertates is preserved in the late fourteenthcentury Beverley Cartulary (London, BL MS Add. 61901) and is printed in Sanctuarium Dunelmense et Sanctuarium Beverlacense, ed. J. Raine, SS i (1837), pp. 97–108. See above, p. xxvi. 4  Ibid. The name of the location of the battle – loco qui dicitur Brunanburh, omitted. 5  Ibid. Æthelstan died on 27 October 939, not in 940 as reported here, recycled from HR. The HR, in its turn, had recycled from its main source at this point in the narrative, CJW, whose source was the ASC. This begins its annal years on 24 September and therefore Æthelstan’s death in October was considered to fall in 940. Æthelstan’s choice of Malmesbury as his place of burial rather than the more usual West Saxon royal mausoleum in the New Minster at Winchester is discussed in Sarah Foot, Æthelstan, pp. 186–87. 6  Æthelstan (acc. 924, consecrated Kingston Sept. 925, d. Oct. 939). 2 

117

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

illamque regi Scottorum Malcolmo eo tenorea dedit, ut terra marique sibi fidelis existeret.7 Dum autem in uilla regia, quae Puclechircheb dicitur, suum dapiserum de manibus inimicorum ne occideretur uellet eripere, peractis in regno quinque annis .vii.c que mensibus in mensibus, ab eisdem interficitur, et Glasconiam delatus a beato Dunstano abbate est sepultus.8 Cui Edredus frater suus in regnum successit, et a sancto Odone archiepiscopo in Kingestuna rex est consecratus.9 Huic Wlfstanus Eboraci archiepiscopus, proceresque Northumbrenses omnes fidelitatem iurauerunt, sed non illam diu tenuerunt. Nam quendam Danica stirpe progenitum Ircumd nomine super se regem leuauerunt, pro qua infidelitate rex Edredus Northumbriam uastauit. In qua deuastatione monasterium sancti Wilfridi in Ripoma combustum est. Redeunte uero rege exercitus de Eboraca erumpens ciuitate multam de extrema parte exercitus regis stragem dedit. Vnde rex nimis offensus, uoluit illico redire et totam illam terram penitus delere. Verum hoc cognito Northumbrenses timore perterriti, Ircum, quem sibi regem praefecerant, abiecerunt, et regis iniurias honoribus, detrimenta muneribus, offensamque pecunia placauerunt.10 Anno .x. regni sui aegrotauit rex Edredus, et desperatus confessionum suarum patrem beatum Dunstanum abbatem accersiuit. Quo festinato ad palatium tendente et medium iam iter peragente, uox desuper clare sonuit ipso audiente: ‘Rex Edredus nunc in pace quiescit.’ Ad hanc uocem equus cui insidebat, pondus Anglicae uocis ferre non ualens, absque ulla sessoris laesione cum interitu suo in terram corruit.11 Regis autem corpus Wintoniam delatum, et a beato Dunstano honestissimae est tumulatum.12 Cuius fratruus Edwius,e Edmundi regis et sanctae Ealgiuae reginae filius, monarchiam suscepit, et eodem anno in Kingestuna ab Odone archiepiscopo rex consecratus est. Cuius anno regni secundo beatus Dunstanus ab eodem rege pro iustitia ascriptus mare transiit,f et in monasterio quod Blandunum dicitur, sub exilii sui tempore mansit.13 Rex uero Edwius, quod in commisso sibi regimine insipienter egit, anno tertio a Mercensibus et Northumbrensibus contemptus relinquitur, et suus germanus clito Edgarus ab eis rex eligitur, sicque res regum se

  C, eo tempore.   C, Pulcrecirche. c   R, P, Viii mensibus. d   R, P, Hutum. e   R, P, Edwinus. f   C, omits transiit. a

b

118

The History of Alfred of Beverley

which he then gave to Malcolm, king of the Scots, on condition that he stayed loyal to him on land and sea.7 While he was in a royal township called Pucklechurch, attempting to rescue his steward from death at the hands of his enemies, Edmund was killed by those same enemies, having reigned for five years and seven months. He was borne to Glastonbury and buried by the abbot, St Dunstan.8 Eadred, his brother, succeeded him on the throne and was consecrated king in Kingston by St Oda, the archbishop.9 Wulfstan, archbishop of York, and all the Northumbrian nobles swore fealty to him, but they did not keep their promise long, for they raised a certain man of Danish origin, Eric by name, to be their king. For this treachery, King Eadred laid waste to Northumbria. In that devastation the monastery of St Wilfred in Ripon was burned down. But, as the king was returning home, the Danish troops sallied forth from the city of York, and inflicted great slaughter on the rear-guard of the royal army. The king was greatly angered at this and wanted to return at once and completely destroy the whole region. Now, when the Northumbrians learned of this, they were terrified. They deposed Eric, whom they had made their king, and made recompense to King Eadred for their insults with honours, for the damage they had caused with gifts, and for the wrong they had done with money.10 In the tenth year of his reign Eadred grew sick and, despairing, he sent for his father confessor, blessed abbot Dunstan. As Dunstan was hurrying to the palace, in the middle of his journey he heard a voice ringing out clearly from above: ‘King Eadred now rests in peace.’ At this sound, the horse on which Dunstan was mounted, unable to endure the force of the angelic voice, fell dead to the earth, without any injury to his rider.11 As for the king’s body, it was borne to Winchester, and most honourably buried by the blessed Dunstan.12 Eadwig, nephew of Eadred and son of King Edmund and the blessed Queen Ælfgifu, took up the crown and, that same year, was consecrated in Kingston by Archbishop Oda. In the second year of his reign, the blessed Dunstan, outlawed by the king because of his righteousness, crossed the sea and remained for the duration of his exile in a monastery called Blandinium.13 Because King Eadwig acted unwisely in exercising the power entrusted to him, the Mercians and Northumbrians contemptuously rejected him in the third year of his reign and chose his brother, the atheling Edgar as their king. So the territory of the kings was divided, with the River Thames The two kings driven from Northumbria were Olaf, son of King Sihtric, and Ragnald, son of Guthfrith. Edmund I (acc. Oct. 939, d. May 946). 9  HR, § 108. 10  HR, § 109. 11  Ibid. HR sourced the story from CJW, annal for 955. 12  Eadred (acc. May 946, d. Nov. 955). 13  HR § 110. The Benedictine monastery of St Peter’s, Ghent. 7 

8 

118

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

iuncta est, ut flumen Tamensis regnum determinaret amborum. Mox rex Edgarus beatum Dunstanum cum honore de exilio reuocauit. Anno autem regni sui quarto defuncto Edwio rege Westsaxonum,14 et Wintoniae sepulto, germanus suus rex Mercensium Edgarus ab omni populo Anglorum electus, anno aetatis suae .xvi. Aduentus uero Anglorum in Britanniam quingentesimo decimo; ab aduentu sancti Augustini .ccc lxiii. successit, diuisaque regna in unum copulauit.15 Consecratus est autem in regem in ciuitate Achamannia in die Pentecostes a beatis praesulibus Dunstano et Oswaldo, et ceteris totius Angliae antistibus. Interiecto tempore, cum ingenti classe septemtrionali Britannia circumnauigata, ad Legionum ciuitatem appulit. Cui subreguli octo, Kinot rex Scottorum scilicet, Malcolm rex Cumbrorum, Machus plurimarum rex insularum, et Dufnald, Sifert, Hual, Iacob, Iuchil, ut mandauerat occurrerunt, et ei fidelitatem iurauerunt.b Cum quibus die quadam scafam ascendit, illisque ad remos locatis, ille clauum gubernaculi accipiens eam per cursum fluminis de perite gubernauit, omnique turba ducum et procerum nauigio comitante, a palatio ad monasterium sancti Iohannis baptistae nauigauit, ubi facta oratione, eadem pompa ad palatium remeauit.c Quod dum intraret, optimatibus fertur dixisse, tunc demum quemque suorum successorum se gloriari posse regem Anglorum fore, cum tot regibus sibi obsequentibus potiretur pompa talium honorum.16 Anno nongentesimo .lxxv.d rex Edgarus non minus memorabilis Anglis quam Romulus Romanis, Cyrus Persis, Alexander Macedonibus, Arsaces Partis Karolus magnus Francis, postquam cuncta regaliter consummauit anno aetatis suae .xxxii. regni autem illius in Mercia et Northumbria .xix. ex quo uero per totam Angliam regnauit .xvi. .viii. Idus Iulii17 ex hac uita transiens filium suum Edwardum et regni et morum reliquit heredem. Corpus uero illius Glastoniam delatum regio more est tumulatum. Is itaque dum uiueret tria millia .dc. robustas congregauerat naues. Ex quibus paschali emensa solempnitate omni anno mille .cc. in occidentali, mille .cc. in orientali, mille .cc. in septemtrionali insulae plaga coadunare, et ad occidentalem

  R, Achaniamni. P, Achaniam.   R, P, fecerunt. c   R, P, rediit. d   R, P, anno nongentesimo lxv. a

b

119

The History of Alfred of Beverley

marking the boundary between the two kingdoms. Soon King Edgar recalled the blessed Dunstan from exile with honour. In the fourth year of his reign, Eadwig king of the West Saxons,14 died and was buried in Winchester and his brother Edgar, king of the Mercians, was, at the age of sixteen, chosen by all the people of England. He succeeded five hundred and ten years after the coming of the English into Britain and three hundred and sixty-three years from the coming of St Augustine and he united the divided realm into one.15 Thus Edgar was consecrated king in the city of Bath on the day of Pentecost, by the blessed bishops Dunstan and Oswald and by the other bishops of the whole of England. Sometime later, he sailed around the north of Wales with a large fleet and landed at the city of Chester. Eight underkings, namely Kenneth, king of the Scots, Malcolm, king of the Cumbrians, Maccus, king of many islands, Dufnal, Siferth, Hywel, Jacob and Inchil met him, as he had commanded, and swore fealty to him. One day, he boarded a skiff with them, set them to the oars and took the helm himself. He skilfully steered the skiff up the course of the River Dee and, with a crowd of ealdormen and nobles following in another boat, sailed from the palace to the monastery of St John the Baptist, prayed there, and then returned to the palace with the same retinue. As he went into the palace, he is reported to have said to his nobles that thenceforth each and every one of his successors would be able to boast that they would be the king of the English, because he assembled such a procession, with so many kings in attendance on him.16 In the year 975, King Edgar departed this life, after all his splendid accomplishments, on the eighth of July, in his thirty-second year, in the nineteenth year of his reign over Mercia and Northumbria and the sixteenth of his rule over the whole of England.17 He was no less memorable to the English than was Romulus to the Romans, Cyrus to the Persians, Alexander to the Macedonians, Arsaces to the Parthians, and Charles the Great to the Franks. He left his son Edward heir to both the kingdom and to his personal qualities. His body was borne to Glastonbury and buried according to royal custom. While King Edgar was alive, he had assembled three thousand six hundred sturdy ships. It had been his practice every year, when the celebration of Easter was over, to station one thousand two hundred of these ships on the west coast of the island, one thousand two hundred on the east, and one thousand two hundred on Eadwig (acc. Nov. 955, d. Oct. 959). HR, § 110, § 111. The death of Archbishop Wulfstan I (d. 956), reported in HR, omitted. The omission is of note because Archbishop Wulfstan plays a role of central importance in the tract Libertates Ecclesiae Sancti Johannis de Beverlaco, attributed to the author. 16  HR, § 113. 17  Edgar I (acc. 957 Mercia & Northumbria, 959 England, d. July 975). 14  15 

119

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

cum orientali classe, et illa remissa ad borealem cum occidentali, ipsaque remissa cum boreali ad orientalem remigare, eoque modo totam insulam omni aestate consueuerat circumnauigare, uiriliter hoc agens ad defensionem regni contra exteros et sui suorumque ad bellicos usus exercitium.18 Hieme autem et uere infra regnum usquequaque per omnes prouincias Anglorum transire, et quomodo legum iura et suorum decretorum statuta a principibus obseruarentur, neue pauperes a potentibus praeiudicium passi opprimerentur, diligenter solebat inuestigare. In uno fortitudini, in altero iustitae studens, in utroque rei publicae et regni utilitatibus consulens. Hinc hostibus circumquaque timor, et omnium sibi subditorum erga eum excreuerat amor. Cuius discessu totius regni status perturbatus est, et post tempus laetitiae quod illius tempore stabat pacifice, coepit tribulatio undique aduenire.19 Iste etiam Edgarus rex monitu sancti Adewoldi Wintoniensis episcopi construxit abbatiam Glastinbire,a abbatiam Abendune super Tamisam, abbatiam apud Burg prope Stanfordam, abbatiam apud Torneie. Agelwinus quoque consul regis eiusdem episcopi consilio abbatiam Rameseia in insula pulcherima intra easdem fixit paludes. Vbi sunt etiam ecclesia Eliensis, abbatia Kateric,b abbatia Crulande: iuxta quas sunt abbatia Burg, abbatia Spalingec ecclesia sancti Iuonis super Vsam fluuium Huntendune, ecclesia sancti Aegidii super Grentam fluuium Cantebrigae, ecclesia sanctae Trinitatis in Tedford.20 Suscepit monarchiam Angliae post Edgarum filius suus Edwardus sed paruo tempore regnauit. Nam tertio regni sui anno iussu nouercae suae Alfridae reginae in loco qui Corensiate dicitur, iniuste occiditur et apud Werham non regio more sepelitur.21 Cuius frater Adelredusd a sanctis archipraesulibuse Dunstano, et Oswaldo, et decem episcopis in Kingestuna rex est consecratus. Quo regnante, totius Angliae status quam uariabilis tam miserabilis extitit. Siquidem Dani, Norwegenses, atque aliae exterae nationes, qui a tempore gloriosi regis Adelstani usque ad tempus

  C, omits abbatiam Glastinbire.   R, P, Tateric. c   R, P, Spalioge. d   C, Alfredus but corrected in left-hand margin to Edelredus. R, P, Agelredus. e   C, praesulibus. a

b

120

The History of Alfred of Beverley

the north. He would sail to the western fleet along with the eastern one, then, after sending the eastern one back, sail to the northern fleet together with the western one and, sending that back, sail with the northern to the eastern fleet. Thus, he used to circumnavigate the whole island every summer, acting in this vigorous way, both to protect his kingdom against foreigners and to train himself and his men in military skills.18 Moreover, in winter and in spring, he used to travel throughout the kingdom, round all the provinces of the English people, and diligently enquire how the legal rights and statutes which he had promulgated were being observed by the nobles, to make sure that the poor should not suffer oppression at the hands of the powerful. By his zeal for might in the first of these actions and for justice in the second, he sought the advantage of the state and kingdom in both. As a result, fear of him had increased among his enemies everywhere and love for him among his subjects. On his death, the whole kingdom was in a state of alarm and, after the time of happiness which prevailed during his peaceful reign, tribulations began to arise on every side.19 This same King Edgar, on the advice of St Æthelwold, bishop of Winchester, built the abbey of Glastonbury, the abbey of Abingdon on the Thames, the abbey of Peterborough near Stamford, and the abbey of Thorney. At the suggestion of the same bishop, Æthelwine, the king’s ealdorman, he founded the abbey of Ramsey, on a very beautiful island in the middle of the fens. There are also in this area the church of Ely, the abbey of Chatteris, and the abbey of Crowland, and close to these are the abbey of Peterborough, the abbey of Spalding, the church of St Ives on the River Ouse at Huntingdon, the church of St Giles on the River Granta at Cambridge, and the church of the Holy Trinity at Thetford.20 After Edgar, his son Edward assumed the monarchy of England, but he only reigned for a short time for, in the third year of his reign, he was lawlessly killed, at the command of his stepmother, Queen Ælfthryth, in a place called Corfe and was buried at Wareham without royal rites.21 His brother Æthelred was consecrated king in Kingston by the blessed archbishops Dunstan and Oswald and ten bishops. While he reigned all of England was in a state as unstable as it was wretched. Indeed, the Danes, Norwegians, and other foreign nations who, from the time of the glorious King Æthelstan to the HR, § 113. Ibid. 20  HA, v. 25. The author turns to HH to pay tribute to King Edgar’s ecclesiastic achievements. The HR’s fulsome reporting of Edgar’s ecclesiastical reforms, spearheaded by Archbishop Dunstan (d. 988) and Bishop Æthelwold of Winchester (d. 984), expelling the secular clergy from the cathedrals and monasteries of the kingdom and replacing them with regular clergy, is omitted. King Edgar is commemorated in a manner more appealing, perhaps, to the author’s audience – the secular canons of Beverley. 21  HR, § 114. Edward I (acc. 975, d. March 978). 18  19 

120

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

istius Adelredia per annos circiter .l.b ab Anglia abstinuerant, regnante eo reuersi sunt totam fere Angliam in desolationem adduxerunt. Aduersus quos quotiens rex Adelredus dimicaturus erat, totiens Angli aut ducum suorum, qui ex paterno genere Dani erant, dolis circumuenti, aut aliquo infortunio impediti, hostibus uictoriam dederunt.22 Vnde rex Adelredus quos ferro nequibat, eos argento repellere temptauit.23 Consilio enim Sirici Doroborensis archiepiscopi, et ducum Angliae, ut a rapinis, cremationibus, et hominum caedibus abstinerent, rex Adelredus, cum Danis tributa reddendo foedera pacis iniit.24 Sed ipsi Danica perfidia peiora prioribus addentes, conditiones pacis semper praeuaricati sunt. Primo tributum .x. millia librarum eis persolutum est. Secundo .xvi. millia librarum. Tertio .xxiiii. millia librarum. Quarto. .xxxvi. millia librarum. Quinto .xlviii. millia librarum. Summa centum .xxxiiii. millia librarum.c 25 Donec itaqued tanta pecunia esset persoluta, Danie aliquantisper quiescentes stimulante auaritia rursus ad regni uastationem reuersi sunt.26 Iam uero per omnes prouincias agris uastatis, uillis praedatis, ciuitatibus crematis, ecclesiis spoliatis, clericorum et monachorum aliis ferro iugulatis, flammis consumptis, aliis de muris praecipitatis, aliis suspensis, matronis crinibusf per plateas distractis, et demum ignibus iniectis paruulis a matrum uberibus auulsis, aut lanceis exceptis, aut superacto carro minutatim contritis, sancto etiam Alfego archiepiscopo martirizato, et monachis suis cum populo decimatim occisis, quorum summa fuit .iiii. monachi et octingenti uiri,27 ad ultimum tota fere Anglia praeter Lundonias ubi rex [Adelredus]g morabatur, Danorum regi Suano manus dedit. Ipsi quoque Lundonienses obsides illi mittentes pacem cum eo fecerunt. Quod cernens rex Adelredush reginam Emmam, filiam ducis Northmannorum Ricardi primi, ad fratrem suum scilicet secundum Ricardum comitem Normannorum misit, et cum ea filios suos Edwardum et Aluredum cum magistro

  C, over erasure Adelredi. R, P, Agelredi.   C, per annos circiter lxx. c   C, omits summa centum .xxxiiii. millia librarum. d   R, P, et cum tanta pecunia. e   C, aliquantis perquieuerunt. f   R, cruribus. g   R, P, Agelredus. C, Alfredus (err.). h   C, Alfredus corrected in later hand to Aelredus. a

b

121

The History of Alfred of Beverley

time of this Æthelred, had for some fifty years stayed away from England, returned while he was reigning and plunged the whole of England into despair. Every time that Æthelred made ready to fight these enemies, the English, either taken in by the trickery of those of the king’s nobles who were of Danish stock or hampered by some misfortune, handed the victory to the enemy.22 So King Æthelred, unable to keep the enemy away with the sword, tried to do so with money.23 For the king, on the advice of Sigeric, archbishop of Canterbury, and the English nobles, entered into a peace pact with the Danes by paying them a tribute so that they would cease their plundering, burning and slaughter of men.24 But the enemy, making a bad situation worse with their Danish treachery, constantly violated the terms of the treaty. The first tribute paid to them was ten thousand pounds, the second sixteen thousand pounds, the third twenty-four thousand pounds, the fourth thirty-six thousand pounds, and the fifth fortyeight thousand pounds, making a total of one hundred and thirty-four thousand pounds.25 After so much money had been paid over, the Danes were quiet for a while. But, driven by greed, they returned to lay waste the kingdom again.26 Now, throughout all the provinces, the fields were ravaged, the townships pillaged, the cities burned, and the churches despoiled. Of the priests and monks, some were slain by the sword, others consumed by fire, some thrown from walls, others hung. Matrons were dragged through the streets by their hair and finally thrown into the fires, while infants were torn from their mothers’ breasts and either caught on spears or ground to pieces under cartwheels. Even blessed Archbishop Ælfheah was martyred, and a tenth part of his monks and a tenth of the population were killed – a total of four monks and eight hundred other men.27 Eventually almost all of England, apart from London, where King Æthelred was staying, submitted to Swegn, king of the Danes. Then even the people of London also sent hostages and made peace with him. When King Æthelred became aware of this, he sent his queen, Emma, the daughter of Richard I, duke of the Normans, to her brother Richard II, duke of the Normans, and with her his sons Edward and Alfred, accompanied by their tutor The comments on the state of England during the reign of King Æthelred are the author’s; guided by his sources but not directly compiled from them. HH (HA, v. 28) quotes a spokesman saying that the end of the English would come in Æthelred’s time: Vnde uir Domini exterminium Anglorum in tempore eius futurum praedixit. Æthelred’s reign, bedevilled by disloyal English nobles and by those of mixed English-Scandinavian descent, is a view expressed in his sources. HR, § 116 reports the treachery of three Northumbrian army leaders, Fræna, Frithugils and Godwine, because of their Danish father. 23  Antithetical Hegesippian phrase employed again for literary effect. See above, p. 4, note 9. 24  HR, § 116; HA, v. 29. 25  The five tributes paid to the Danes are reported in HR in AD 991, 994, 1002, 1007, 1012. 26  Author’s observation. 27  HR, § 123. 22 

121

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

illorum Lundoniensi episcopo Alfwino, et Alsio abbate de Burga misit.28 Ipse etiam eos secutus Northmanniam aduehitur, et a Ricardo comite, ut regem decebat, magno cum honore suscipitur. Anno autem sequente Suanus tirannus post multa quae in Anglia gesserat mala, cum apud Gamesburg generale placitum teneret, et sancto martiri Edmundo multis modis detraheret, cum esset Danorum cuneisb circumuallatus, sanctum Edmundum ex aduerso uenientem solus uidit armatum. Quo uiso, expauit, et cum clamore uociferatus est, ‘Succurrite, commillitones, succurrite, ecce sanctus Edmundus me uenit occidere’. Et haec dicens, acriter a sancto confossus cuspide, de emissario, cui insederat, decidit, et usque ad crepusculum noctis magno cruciatus tormento, miserabili morte uitam finiuit.29 Mortuo Suano tiranno filium eius Knutum regem sibi constituit classica manus Danorum. At maiores natu totius Angliae pari consensu de Normannia reuocauerunt regem suum [Adelredum],c et spondentes ei uerbis et factis se non amplius Danicum regem admissuros in Anglia, remissis utrimque offensis, quae inter eos extiterant, et amicitia pleniter confirmata, ab omnibus in regnum honorabiliter recipitur, moxque congregato exercitu ualido Knutum cum classica manud de Anglia expulit. Ille fugiens in breui Sandicum appulit, et obsides, qui de tota Anglia patri suo dati fuerant, in terram exposuit, illorumque manibus truncatis, auribus amputatis, naribus praecisis abire permisit, et profectus est Danemarchiam.30 Anno sequente rex Danorum Knutus cum magna classe Angliam rediit, et more suo prouincias uastare coepit. Contra quem filius regis [Adelredi]e Edmundus, cognomento ferreum latus, exercitu congregato saepe congredi uoluit, sed insidiis ducis Edrici Streone, sororii sui, circumuentus, locum pugnandi non habuit.31 Eo temporef rex Anglorum Adelredusg Lundoniae defunctus est, post magnos labores et uitae suae tribulationes, quas super eum uenturas regalis consecrationis suae die post impositam coronam prophetico spiritu sanctus ei praedixerat Dunstanus. ‘Quoniam,’ inquit ‘aspirasti ad regnum per mortem fratris tui innocentis, quem occidit ignominiosa mater tua, propterea audi uerbum Domini. Haec dicit Dominus, “Non deficiet gladius de domo tua saeuiens in te omnibus diebus uitae tuae”, interficiens de semine tuo quosque regnum tuum transferatur in regnum alienum, cuius uitam et linguam gens, cui praesides, non   R, P, Elisio abbate de Burch.   C, cum eis. c   R, P, Edelgredum. C, Alfredum but part erasure of letter f. d   R, P, manu sua. e   C, regis Alfredi (err.). f   C, eodem tempore. g   R, P, err. Ageldredus. C, right-hand marginal correction of Alfredus to Adthelredus in later hand. a

b

122

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Ælfhun, bishop of London, and Ælfsige, abbot of Peterborough.28 Furthermore, he followed them himself and crossed over to Normandy where, as befitting a king, he was received with great honour by Duke Richard. Now, the following year, [1014] the tyrant Swegn, after all the cruelties he had perpetrated in England, was holding a general assembly at Gainsborough. Surrounded by his Danish troops, he was disparaging the blessed martyr St Edmund in all sorts of ways, when he was the only one to see St Edmund himself, armed and advancing against him. At this, he was terrified and began to shout in a loud voice, ‘Help, fellow soldiers, help. See, St Edmund is coming to kill me’. As he said these words, he was violently run through by the saint’s spear and fell from the stallion on which he had been sitting and, tormented by great suffering right up to dusk, he ended his life with a wretched death.29 On the death of the tyrant Swegn the men of the Danish fleet made his son Cnut their king. But all the highborn men of England, by general agreement, recalled their king Æthelred from Normandy, pledging to him with words and deeds that they would no longer allow a Danish king into England. Then both sides forgave each other the injuries which had been inflicted, and friendship was fully established. Æthelred was honourably received by everyone in the kingdom and soon, gathering a strong army, he drove Cnut with his fleet out of England. Cnut soon arrived in Sandwich in his flight. There he set down on land the hostages who had been given to his father from all over England and, after cutting off their hands, amputating their ears, and slitting their noses, allowed them to leave. Then he set off for Denmark.30 The following year Cnut, king of the Danes, returned to England with a great fleet and began, in his accustomed manner, to lay waste its provinces. The king’s son, Edmund, known as Ironside, assembled an army and frequently tried to confront Cnut in battle but, frustrated by the treachery of his brother-in-law, Eadric Streona, he never had an opportunity to fight.31 At that time [1016] Æthelred, king of the English, died in London after the great toils and tribulations of his life, which St Dunstan, after crowning him on the day of his consecration as king, had prophetically foretold would come upon him. ‘Since,’ said St Dunstan, ‘you attained rule through the death of your innocent brother, whom your infamous mother killed, hear the word of the Lord. Thus, saith the Lord, “The sword shall not depart from your house, but shall rage against you all the days of your life”, slaying all those of your seed until your kingdom is given to an alien power, whose life and language the people you 28  29  30  31 

HR, § 124. HR, § 125. Swegn Forkbeard (acc. Autumn 1013, d. Feb. 1014). Ibid. HR, § 126.

122

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

nouit. Nec expiabitur nisi longa uindicta peccatum tuum, et peccatum matris tuae, et peccatum uirorum qui interfuere consilio eius nequam.’32 Corpus autem eius in ecclesia sancti Pauli apostoli honorifice sepultum est.33 Post mortem [Adelredi]a episcopi, abbates, duces, et quique nobilioresb Angliae Knutum in regem elegerunt, omnemque progeniem regis [Adelredi] abnegando repudiauerunt. At ciues Lundonienses, et pars nobilium qui Lundoniae tunc consistebant, filium [Adelredi] Edmundum ferreum latum in regem leuauerunt. Quibus auditis, Knutus cum exercitu uenit contra eum. Nec segnius Edmundus in Dorsethaneia occurrit ei et apud Gillingham cum eo congressus uicit et in fugam eum conuertit. Secundo pugnauit contra eum in Huiccia apud Scearstan,c ubi tam durum tamque cruentum extitit proelium, ut uterque exercitus prae lassitudine diutius pugnare non ualens, sole iam occidente ab inuicem sit digressus spontanee. Sed postera die rex Danos protereret, si perfidi ducis Edreci insidiae non essent. Siquidem cum pugna uehemens esset, et Anglos fortiores cerneret, cuiusdam uiri regi Edmundo facie capillisque simullimi capite amputato34 et in altum leuato exclamat, ‘Anglos frustra pugnare’ dicens: ‘Vos Dorsetenses, Domnani, Wintonienses, amisso capite praecipites fugite. En domini uestri caput Edmundi basilei hic teneo manibus, cedite quam totius.’ Quod Angli audientes, magis atrocitate rei quam fide nuntii terrentur. Sed comperto quod rex uiueret, in Danos acriter usque ad crepusculum noctis incedebant. Qua adueniente, ut pridie digressi sunt sponte. At ubi plerumque noctis praecessit Knutus cum suis silenterd abiens, uersus Lundoniam iter arripuit, et Lundonienses obsedit. Mane facto ubi rex Edmundus Danos fugisse comperit, uiriliter eos insecutus Lundonienses ab obsidione liberauit, et Danos ad naues fugauit. Post biduum uero cum Danis tertio proelium commisit, et fugatis eis, uictor extitit. Quarto rex Edmundus iuxta Ottofordam cum Danis pugnam iniit. At illi terga uertentes, equis in Sceapegee fugerunt. Illuc eos etiam rex Edmundus insecutus, apud Assendum proelium cum eis commisit. Summa ui utrimque dimicatur. Verum perfidus duxf Edricus Streone uidens aciem Danorum inclinatam,

  C, right-hand marginal correction of Alfredi to Adthelredi in later hand.   C, et quinque duces nobiliores Angliae. c   C, Sceartham. d   R, P, latenter. e   P, interlinear gloss in a later hand Shepeye. f   R, P, perfidus rex. a

b

123

The History of Alfred of Beverley

rule do not know. And your sin and your mother’s sin and the sin of all the men who took part in her wicked plot will not be expiated except by long-continued punishment.’32 Æthelred’s body, however, was honourably buried in the church of St Paul the Apostle.33 After his death, the bishops, abbots, ealdormen, and all the more noble men of England chose Cnut as king and renounced and repudiated all the descendants of King Æthelred. But the citizens of London and those of the nobles who were then in London raised Edmund Ironside, son of Æthelred, to the throne. When he heard this, Cnut came against him with an army. Edmund swiftly confronted him in Dorset, joined in battle near Gillingham, defeated him and put him to flight. Edmund fought against him a second time in Hwiccia near Sherston. So harsh and cruel was the conflict there that both armies were unable, from exhaustion, to fight any longer and, as the sun was going down, they left the place of their own accord. But, on the following day, the English king would have crushed the Danes, if it had not been for the wiles of Eric, the treacherous ealdorman. For, when the battle was at its height and he observed that the English were stronger, he cut off the head of a certain man,34 very like King Edmund in face and hair, and raising it aloft, he shouted: ‘Englishmen, it is pointless to fight. You men of Dorset, Devon and Wiltshire, flee in haste, for you have lost your leader. Look, I hold here in my hands the head of your sovereign lord, Edmund. Flee as fast as you can.’ When the English heard this, they were terrified, more by the horror of the act than because they believed the speaker. But, as soon as they realized that the king was alive, they advanced fiercely on the Danes until nightfall. When dusk came they separated, spontaneously, as on the day before. But, when the night was far advanced, Cnut and his men silently departed and marched to London, where he besieged the inhabitants. In the morning, when King Edmund discovered that the Danes had fled, he followed them boldly, freed the Londoners from the siege, and drove the Danes away to their ships. Two days later he engaged in battle with the Danes for a third time and, putting them to flight, was the victor. King Edmund joined battle with the Danes for a fourth time near Otford, but they turned tail and fled on horseback to the isle of Sheppey. Edmund followed them there and met them in battle at Ashingdon. Both sides fought with all their might. But the faithless ealdorman Edrich Streona, seeing the Danish battle line waver, deserted with the part of the army under his command – in accordance with a HR, § 127. Æthelred (acc. March 978, d. April 1016). For the period between the deaths of King Edgar and Æthelred the author has relied almost entirely on the HR, discarding much ecclesiastical matter. The notices of the deaths of St Æthelwald (984), St Dunstan (988), St Oswald, archbishop of York (992), the translation of St Oswald by Archbishop Ealdwulf of York (1002), the death of Ealdwulf and succession of Archbishop Wulfstan II (1002) are all omitted. The narrative remains focused on secular events. 34  HR, § 127. 32 

33 

123

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

ut prius Knuto promiserat cum parte exercitus cui praeerat fugit et Dominum suum regem Edmundum et Anglorum exercitum dolis circumuenit, et hostibus uictoriam dedit. Occisus est in ea pugna dux Alfricus, dux Godwinus, dux Ulfketellus, dux Adelwardus,a totusque fere globus nobilitatis Anglorum. Ednodus quoque Lincolniensis episcopus, et Ulfius Abbas, qui ad orandum Deum pro milite bellum agente conuenerant, occisi sunt. Interiectis post haec paucis diebus cum rex Edmundus ferreum latus cum Knuto uellet adhuc congredi, consilio ducum utriusque partis recurrentibus internunciis, et obsidibus inuicem datis pace, amicitia, fraternitate tam pacto quam sacramentis confirmata, regnum inter eos diuiditur.35 Eodem uero anno rex Edmundus decessit Lundoniae, sed cum auo suo rege Edgaro sepultus est Glasconiae.36 Anno millesimo .xvii. Rex Knutus totius Angliae suscepit imperium, moxque filios regis Edmundi, Edmundum et Edwardum in exilium egit, quorum unus, id est,b Edmundus, in adolescentia sua mortuus est in Vngaria. Edwardus uero Agatham filiam germani imperatoris Henrici tertii in matrimonio accepit, ex qua Margaretam reginam Scottorum, et Christianam uirginem, et clitonem Edgarum suscepit.37 Eodem etiam anno rex Knutus uiduam Emmam regis Agelredi reginam in coniugium accepit, et ex ea Hardeknutum genuit.38 Anno regni sui .x.o Knutus rex Danorum et Anglorum .l. magnis nauibus Norwegiam aduectus sanctum regem Olauum de illa expulit sibique eam sibi subiugauit.39 Anno .xiii.o regni sui Knutus rex Danorum, Anglorum, Noreganorum de Danemarchia magno cum honore Romam iuit, et sancto Petro ingentia dona in auro, et argento, rebusque pretiosis optulit, et a Iohanne papa, ut scolam Anglorum ab omni tributo et telone liberaret, impetrauit,40 et in eundo et redeundo largas pauperibus elemosinas erogauit, ac per multas per uiam clausuras ubi telonia a

  C, Adelwaldus.   C, Quorum primus scilicet Edmundus.

a

b

124

The History of Alfred of Beverley

promise he had earlier given to Cnut – and treacherously betraying his lord King Edmund and the English army, gave the victory to the enemy. Slain in that battle were ealdorman Ælfric, ealdorman Godwine, ealdorman Ulfketel, ealdorman Æthelweard, and almost all the nobility of England. Also killed were Eadnoth, bishop of Lincoln, and abbot Wulfsige, who had come to pray to God for the soldiers fighting in the battle. A few days later, King Edmund Ironside still wanted to fight Cnut. But, on the advice of the nobles, messengers went back and forth between the two sides and, after an exchange of hostages, peace, friendship and brotherhood were confirmed by both covenant and oaths and the kingdom was divided between them.35 That same year, King Edmund died in London, but he was buried with his grandfather, King Edgar, at Glastonbury.36 In the year 1017, King Cnut assumed command over the whole of England, and soon he sent Edmund’s sons, Edmund and Edward, into exile. One of them, namely Edmund, died in adolescence in Hungary. Edward, however, married Agatha, daughter of the Emperor Henry III’s brother, with whom he fathered Margaret, queen of the Scots, Christina, a virgin, and the atheling Edgar.37 That same year, King Cnut married Queen Emma, widow of King Æthelred, and with her fathered Harthacnut.38 In the tenth year of his reign [recte twelfth year, 1028], Cnut, king of the Danes and the English, sailed to Norway in fifty great ships, drove blessed King Olaf out of that country, and subjugated it to himself.39 In the thirteenth year of his reign [1030] Cnut, king of the Danes, English and Norwegians, went in great state from Denmark to Rome and presented to St Peter lavish gifts of gold and silver, along with other precious objects, and he obtained from Pope John the concession that the English school should be free of all tribute and toll.40 On his way there and back he gave generous alms to the poor and, at great cost, he abolished the many barriers along the way where tolls were HR, § 128. Details of the battle of Ashingdon (Oct. 1016), the peace negotiations on the island of Alney in the River Severn, and the settlement agreement between the warring parties, included in both HR and HA vi. 13, omitted. 36  Edmund II Ironside (acc. April 1016, d. Nov. 1016). 37  HR, § 130. Emperor Henry III here named is erroneous. Agatha was a kinswoman, possibly niece, of Emperor Henry II (d. 1024). He is named only as imperatoris Henrici in HR and its CJW source. See CJW ii, p. 504, note 1; HBC, p. 28. 38  Ibid. The daughter of Cnut and Ælfgifu (Emma), Gunhild, named in HR, omitted. 39  HR, § 131. The invasion of Norway took place in 1028 (ASC C) and therefore was in the twelfth year of Cnut’s reign. King Olaf (St Olaf) is Olaf Haraldsson, who became king of Norway in c.1015 and died in the battle of Stiklestad, near Trondheim, in 1030, at the hand of his own men. The circumstances leading to Cnut’s invasion of Norway and expulsion of King Olaf, reported in HR, namely the dissatisfaction of Olaf’s nobles and followers with his ‘mildness, justice and piety’, are omitted. 40  HR, § 132. The year of Cnut’s visit to Rome is uncertain, appearing to have taken place either in 1027 or 1031. See CJW, ii, p. 512, note. 1. The year 1030 was the fourteenth year of Cnut’s reign. 35 

124

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

peregrinis exigebatur, dato ingenti pretio, dissipauit, uitaeque suae et morum emendationem ante sepulchrum apostolorum Deo uouit. Anno autem .m.o .xxxv. Knutus rex Suanum filium suum super Norreganos, Hardeknutum super Danos, Haroldum super Anglos regem constituit, et eodem anno apud Sceaftesbiriam uita discedens apud Wintoniam sepultus est.41 Anno autem .v.o a post obitum patris Haroldus, quem ex Hamtuniensi Elfgiua rex Knutus habuit, decessit.42 bCui frater suus Hardeknutus, quem ex Emma Adelredi Knutus habuit, sucessitb. Anno autem .m.o xxxvi. innocentes clitones Alueredus et Edwardus, [Adelredi]c regis filii, de Normannia ad suae matris colloquium Wintoniam uenere. Quo cognito, comes Godwinus Alueredum, cum uersus Lundoniam ad regis Haroldi colloquium, ut ipse mandarat, properaret, retinuit, et artam in custodiam posuit. Sociorum uero illius quosdam cathenauit, et postea excaecauit, non nullos cute capitis abstracta cruciauit, multos etiam uendere iussit, ac mortibus uariis ac miserabilibus apud Gildefordam sexcentos uiros occidit. Quo audito, mater eorum Edwardum statim Normanniam remisit. Deinde iussu Godwini ad Heli Alueredus, strictissime uinctus ducitur. Sed ut ad terram applicuitd mox eruti sunt oculi eius, et sic ad monasterium ductus monachis creditur custodiendus, ubi breui post tempore de hac luce migrauit.43 Successit Haroldo frater suus Hardeknutus quem ex Emma Adelredi Knutus habuerat. Qui tam crudeliter in regno se habuit, ut omnibus, qui prius cum esset in Danemarchia in tantum aun desiderauerant, ut mortuo Haroldo statim pro eo mitterent, et ipsum in regem eleuarent, exosus factus est summo opere.44 Cum autem duobus annis regnasset, in conuiuio cuiusdam magnae potentiae uiri, qui filiam suam nuptui tradebat, cum laetus sospes hilaris cum noua sponsa bibens

  P, vi.   C, omitted. c   C, Alfredi. d   R, P, Appulit. a

b–b

125

The History of Alfred of Beverley

extracted from pilgrims and he swore to God before the tomb of the apostles that he would amend his life and ways. In the year 1035, Cnut made his son king over the Norwegians, Harthacnut over the Danes, and Harold over the English and, the same year, he departed this life at Shaftesbury, and was buried in Winchester.41 In the fifth year after his father’s death [1040], Harold, King Cnut’s son with Ælfgifu of Hampshire, died.42 He was succeeded by his brother, Harthacnut, Cnut’s son with Æthelred’s widow, Emma. In the year 1036, the innocent athelings, Alfred and Edward, sons of King Æthelred, came from Normandy on a visit to their mother at Winchester. When he learned of this, Earl Godwine detained Alfred, who was hurrying to London for a meeting with King Harold, as the king himself had ordered, and put him under close arrest. Godwine also fettered some of Alfred’s companions and later blinded them. Some he tortured by scalping them, many he ordered to be sold, and six hundred men he slaughtered at Guildford in various cruel ways. When she heard this, their mother immediately sent Edward back to Normandy. Then Alfred, on Godwine’s orders, came to Ely, brought there tightly bound. But, as soon as he reached land, his eyes were torn out and so he was brought to the monastery and entrusted to the custody of the monks. There, after a brief time, he departed from this world.43 Harthacnut, the son of Cnut with Emma, widow of Æthelred, succeeded his brother Harold. He governed the kingdom so cruelly that he became an object of the utmost hatred to all those who had previously, when he was in Denmark, favoured him so much that they had immediately sent for him on Harold’s death and raised him to the throne.44 After he had reigned for two years [1042], Harthacnut, while at the feast of a very influential man who was giving his daughter in marriage, was standing there happy, safe and sound, merrily toasting the new bride, when

HR, § 133. Cnut (acc. Nov. 1016, d. Nov. 1035). Harold I Harefoot (acc. 1035 x 1036, d. 17 March 1040). The HR reports Harold to be the son of Cnut and Ælfgifu of Hampshire, here followed. Other sources, including CJW, annal for 1035 and ASC D, report Ælfgifu to be Ælfgifu of Northampton. The brief treatment of Harold’s succession supplied here overlooks details such as Harold’s harsh treatment of Cnut’s widow, Queen Emma, his failure to achieve control over all of England and his rule being limited to only the northern part of England, and his half-brother Harthacnut ruling in the south. The HR itself only partially provides the controversial details of Harold’s succession contained in its principal source, CJW, which reported that Harold’s royal parentage was open to doubt, with some thinking him to be the son of a certain cobbler, not of Cnut. 43  HR, § 133. 44  HR, § 134. The causes of the resentment felt towards Harthacnut, reported in HR, are omitted. These include his disrespectful treatment of Harold’s body (disinterring it and throwing it, first into a marsh and then into the River Thames) and the taxes he unjustly imposed. The author here ignores a usually influential source, HH, who describes Harthacnut in a radically different way to the HR/CJW accounts, portraying him in a positive light. See HA, vi. 20. 41  42 

125

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

staret, repente inter bibendum ad terram corruit, obmutuit, et expirauit, et Wintoniam delatus, iuxta patrem suum regem Knutum est tumulatus.45 Anno .m.o .xliii. defuncto Hardeknuto successit frater suus ex matre Edwardus, et ab archipraesulibus Edsio Dorobernensi et Alfrico Eboracensi, aliisque ferme totius Angliae praesulibus prima die Paschae tertio Nonas Aprilis apud Wintoniam in regem est consecratus.46 Anno regni sui .v.to misit ei nuntios Haroldus Harfagera rex Noreganorum, et pacem amicitiamque illib optulit et recepit. Anno quoque sequenti Henricus imperator congregans exercitum suum contra Baldewinum comitem Flandrensium, misit ad regem Edwardum, rogans ne Baldewinum permitteret aufugere, si uellet ad mare fugere. Vnde rex cum magna classe Sandicum portum adiit, ibique mansit, donec Baldewinus pacem cum imperatore fecit.47 Anno regni sui .viii.o rex Edwardus Anglos a graui uectigali absoluit, quod pater suus rex Adelredus Danicis solidariis solui mandauit.48 Hoc anno orta est magna discordia inter regem Edwardum et comitem Godwinum et filios eius. Nam comes Bononiensis Eustachius, sororius Edwardi regis, Angliam ueniens Doroberniam applicuit, in qua milites eius cum insipienter hospitia quaererent, unum e ciuibus peremerunt, et ciues unum de militibus. Quod comes Godwinus grauiter ferens, ipse et filii sui Suanus et Haroldus de comitatibus suis innumeram congregauerunt exercitum, et Glauorniam ubi tunc rex morabatur directis legatis, comitem Eustachium, qui ad regem cum suis confugerat, insuper et Normannos, qui castellum in cliuo Doroberniae tenebant sub denuntiatione belli a rege reposcebant.49 Rex uero se Eustachium aliosque requisitos nullatenus traditurum constanter respondit. Abeuntibus legatis, exercitus regis ita inflammatus est, ut statim, si rex permitteret, contra Godwinum pugnam inire uellet. Sed quod de tota Anglia meliores in utraque parte erant comite Leofrico, aliisque sapientibus uiris interuenientibus, datis obsidibus rex et Godwinus diem statuerunt, ut ad placitandum apud Lundonias conuenirent. Rex itaque ad diem placiti copiosum exercitum secum Lundoniam duxit. Godwinus autem et filii eius cum ad Suthwercam uenissent, et cognouisset tantum robur cum rege adesse, nocte superueniente fugam iniit. Quare mane facto rex in

  R, P, Hargafer.   P, omits illi.

a

b

126

The History of Alfred of Beverley

he suddenly fell to the ground as he drank, became speechless, and died. He was carried to Winchester, and was buried next to his father, King Cnut.45 In the year 1043, on the death of Harthacnut, Edward, his half-brother on his mother’s side, succeeded. He was consecrated king at Winchester by archbishops Eadsige of Canterbury and Ælfric of York and by other bishops from nearly all the rest of England, on the first day of Easter, the third of April, at Winchester.46 In the fifth year of his reign [1048], Harold Fairhair [recte Hardrada], king of Norway, sent him [Edward] ambassadors who asked for and obtained peace and friendship. Then, the following year, the Emperor Henry, who was assembling an army against Baldwin, count of Flanders, sent to King Edward to ask that Baldwin should not be allowed to escape if he tried to retreat to the sea. So the king went to the port of Sandwich with a great fleet and remained there until Baldwin made peace with the emperor.47 In the eighth year of his reign [1051], King Edward released the English from the heavy tax which his father, King Æthelred, ordered to be paid in coin to the Danish.48 This same year, there arose great discord between King Edward and Earl Godwine and his sons. For Eustace, count of Boulogne, brother-in-law of King Edward, came to England and landed in Dover where his soldiers, while they were foolishly looking for lodgings, killed one of the townsmen and a townsman killed one of the soldiers. Earl Godwine was incensed at this and he and his sons, and Harold, assembled an immense army from their followers. Sending messengers to Gloucester, where the king was then staying and where Count Eustace and his men had fled, they demanded, under threat of war, that the king should give up both Eustace and the Normans who were occupying the castle on the cliff of Dover.49 Edward replied firmly that he would by no means hand over Eustace and the others who they demanded. As the legates were leaving, the king’s troops became so indignant that they would have launched an attack on Godwine straight away, if the king had permitted it. But, because there were on both sides some of the best men in all England, Earl Leofric and other wise men intervened, hostages were exchanged, and the king and Godwine agreed a day to meet in London to settle matters. And so, on the day of the meeting, the king therefore brought a large army with him to London. When Godwine and his sons arrived at Southwark and he learned of the extent of the king’s military strength, he fled away when night HR, § 135. Harthacnut (acc. 1040, d. June 1042). Ibid. Edward was crowned on 3 April 1043, ten months after the death of Harthacnut. His genealogy, traced back to King Alfred in HR, is omitted. 47  HR, §§ 136, 137. 48  HR, § 138. The amount of the tribute, eighty thousand pounds, reported in HR, omitted. 49  Ibid. In cliuo Doroberniae is not reported in HR (CCCC MS 139) which states in Doroberniae dominio. 45  46 

126

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

concilio et omnis exercitus unanimi consensu illum et quinque filios eius: Suanum, Haroldum, Tosti, Girth et Leofwinum exules fore decreuerunt. Qui mox cum coniuge sua Gida et Tosti cum uxore sua Iuditha, filia Baldewini Flandrensium comitis, et duo filii eius Suanus et Girth cum auro et argento rebusque pretiosis quantum nauis ferre potuit, enauigauerunt. Haroldus uero et Leofwinus in Hiberniam transuecti sunt. Reginam uero Edgidam cum una pedissequa abbatissae Werwellae rex Edwardus commendauit.50 Godwinus itaque et filii eius ferme biennio exulantes et saepe de confiniis prouinciarum Angliae iuxta mare praedas agentes, tandem multa classe congregata cum rege dimicare statuerunt. Rex etiam aclassem numerosam et pedestrem exercituma fortem habens, circa Lundonias illum expectabat. Videntes autem comites et nobiliores regni bellum inter propinquos et compatriotas futurum abhorrentes tantum malum toto annisu pacem inter regem et ducem redintegrantes, exercitum ab armis discedere fecerunt, et mane consilio habito, rex honorem pristinum Godwino et suis reddidit, et reginam honorifice reuocauit.51 Nec multo post secunda feria Paschae apud Wintoniam Godwino comite solito regi ad mensam assidenti supprema euenit calamitas. Graui etenim morbo ex inprouiso percussus mutus in ipsa sede declinauit. Quod filii eius comes Haroldus, Tosti, et Girth uidentes illum in regis cameram asportauerunt, et feria .v.ta uita decessit et in ueteri monasterio sepultus est.52 Quidam dicunt quod cum ad mensam sederent, et de fratre regis Aluredo sermo incidisset, et ideo rex subtristior esset, Godwinus ait: ‘Scio’, inquit, ‘Domine rex, quod mors eius michi imputator. Sed ita possim hunc morsum cum salute trahicere, sicut ego innocens sum a sanguine eius.’ Quod cum rex annuisset, ille assumpta buccella, inde gluciendo strangulatus est.b 53 c Anno .m.o .liiii. strenuus et fortissimus dux Northumbrorum Siwardus gigas pene statura manu et mente dura54 iussu regis Edwardi cum equestri exercitum et

  P, addition in left-hand margin.   R, P, in degluciendo stragulatus. c–c   R, P, omitted. a–a b

127

The History of Alfred of Beverley

fell. So in the morning the king in council and his whole army, by unanimous consent, sentenced to exile Godwine and his five sons, namely Swegn, Harold, Tosti, Gyrth and Leofwine. Godwine, with his wife Gytha, and Tosti, with his wife Judith, the daughter of Baldwin, count of Flanders, and two of his other sons, and Gyrth, put to sea with as much gold and silver and other precious things as the ship could carry. Harold and Leofwine, meanwhile, sailed across to Ireland. The king gave Queen Edith, with one female attendant, into the keeping of the abbess of Wherwell.50 Thus Godwine and his sons spent nearly two years in exile, often pillaging the coastal regions of England. Eventually, they gathered a great fleet and decided to fight the king. The king was waiting for Godwine near London, with a large fleet and a mighty army of infantry. The earls and more noble men in the kingdom, however, seeing that there was to be war between kinsmen and countrymen and horrified at so great an evil, by their united efforts restored peace between the king and the duke [recte earl] and made the troops lay down their arms. In the morning, a council was held and the king restored Godwine and his followers to their former high rank and recalled the queen with honour.51 Shortly after, on Easter Monday, in Winchester, the ultimate calamity befell Earl Godwine as he sat at table with the king as usual. Struck by a sudden and unexpected illness he sank down in his chair, speechless. His sons, earls Harold, Tosti and Gyrth, seeing this, carried him into the king’s chamber and the following Thursday he died and was buried in the Old Minster.52 Some people say that, while they were sitting at table, the conversation turned to Alfred, the king’s brother, at which the king became somewhat sad. Then Godwine said: ‘I know, my Lord King, that his death is blamed on me. But if I am able to swallow this morsel safely, then I am innocent of his blood.’ The king agreed to this and Godwine picked up a small mouthful, but, while swallowing it, he was choked.53 In the year 1054, Siward, the vigorous and valiant earl of the Northumbrians, almost a giant in stature and very strong mentally and physically,54 went to Scotland Ibid. HR, § 139. The abridgement is summative, with extensive portions of the HR account passed over. 52  HR, § 140. 53  That Earl Godwine’s death (15 April 1053) resulted from his ‘ordeal by bread’ (cornsæd) is not reported in HR nor CJW. The story is told by HH (HA, vi. 23) but the details differ from the author’s account. In HA the event occurs in Windsor, not Winchester, and the reason for Godwine undertaking the test was to prove his loyalty to the king, not to prove his innocence of the murder of the king’s brother Alfred. The elaboration of the story in medieval literature is discussed in C. E. Wright, The Cultivation of Saga in Anglo-Saxon England (London, 1939), pp. 233–36. More recently, additional commentary is provided in The Warenne (Hyde) Chronicle, eds Elizabeth M. C. Van Houts and Rosalind Love (Oxford, 2013), p. 12, note 18. The author’s version of the story has passed unnoticed, however. 54  HA, vi. 22. 50  51 

127

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

classe ualida Scotiam adiit et cum rege Scottorum Malcheota proelium comisit ac multis millibus Scottorum occisis, illum fugauit et Malcolmum, regis Cumbrorum filium, ut rex iusserat, regem constituit.55 In eo tamen proelio cum filium suum cecidisse audisset ait recepit ne uulnus letale in antiriori uel postiori corporis parte. Dixerunt in anteriori. ‘Gaudeo’, inquit, ‘Non enim alio me uel filium meum dignum funere uidicio.’56 Anno .m.o .lv. Siwardus, dux Northumbrorum Eboraci discessit et in monasterio Galmahog quod ipse construxerat sepultus est.57 Qui cum pro fluuio uentris mortem sibi uideret inminere dixit, ‘Quantus pudor me tot in bellis mori non potuisse ut uaccarum morti cum dedecore reseuarere. Induite me lorica mea inpenetrabili precingite gladio. Sublimate galea. Scutum in leua. Securim auratam michi ponite in dextra, ut militum fortissimus more militis moriar.’ Dixerat, et sic armatus honorifice spiritum exalauit.58 Cuius ducatus Tostio Haroldi ducis germano datus estc. Elapso autem aliquanto tempore Northumbrenses, scilicet Gamelbarn, Dunstanus, filius Agelnodes, Gloinerin filius Hardulphi cum ducentis militibus Eboracum uenerunt, et pro execranda nece nobilium Northumbrensium, scilicet Gospatrici, quem Edgida regina causa fratris sui Tosti in curia regis quarta nocte Dominicae natiuitatis per insidias occidi iussit, et Gamelli filii Orm et Vlfi filii Dolfini, quos anno praecedenti Eboraci in camera sua sub pacis foedere per insidias comes Tosti occidi praecepit, necnon pro immensitate tributi, quod de tota Northumbria iniuste acceperat, primum illius Danicos huscarlas Amundum et Rauenswartum de fuga retractos, extra ciuitatis muros, ac die sequenti plusquam ducentos uiros ex curialibus illius in boreali parte fluminis Humbre peremerunt. Aerarium quoque ipsius fregerunt et omnibus quae ipsius fuerant ablatis recesserunt.59 Omnis fere dehinc comitatus illius in unum congregati, Haroldo fratri suo Westsaxonum duci, et aliis quos rex rogatu Tosti pro pace redintegranda ad eos miserat, in Hamtoniaa occurrerunt, ubi prius, et post apud Oxenfordam die festiuitatis apostolorum Simonis et Iudae, dum Haroldus et alii quamplures

  C, Northamptonia, correction in left-hand margin, in a later hand.

a

128

The History of Alfred of Beverley

on King Edward’s orders, together with a mounted force and a powerful fleet. He joined battle with Macbeth, king of the Scots, and, after many thousands of Scots had been killed, he put him to flight, and, as King Edward had commanded, he set up Malcolm, son of the king of the Cumbrians, as king.55 When Siward heard that his son had been killed in that battle he asked if he had received the fatal wound in the front or the back of his body. They said in the front. ‘I am glad,’ he said, ‘for I consider no other death worthy of either myself, or my son.’56 In the year 1055, Siward, earl of the Northumbrians died at York and was buried in the Minster of Galmanho, which he himself had built.57 When he saw that his death was near because of an attack of dysentery he said: ‘How shameful it is that I, who could not die in so many battles, should have been saved to die as ignominiously as cattle do. Clothe me in my impenetrable breastplate, gird me with my sword, place my helmet on my head, my shield in my left hand, my gilded battle-axe in my right, so that I, the bravest of soldiers, may die like a soldier.’ He spoke, and thus armed as he had commanded, he breathed his last in honourable fashion.58 His earldom was given to Tosti, brother of Earl Harold. After some time had passed, some Northumbrians, namely Gamelbearn, Dunstan, son of Æthelnoth, and Glonieorn, son of Heardwulf, came to York with two hundred soldiers. There, they slew first Tosti’s Danish housecarls, Admund and Reavenswart – dragging them back as they were taking flight beyond the city walls – and, the next day, more than two hundred men from Tosti’s court on the north side of the River Humber. This was in return for the disgraceful deaths of some Northumbrian nobles. The noblemen concerned were Gospatric, whom Queen Edith, for the sake of her brother Tosti, had ordered to be treacherously murdered in the king’s court on the fourth night of Christmas, and Gamel, son of Orm, and Ulf, son of Dolfin, whom, a year earlier, Earl Tosti had ordered to be killed at York in an ambush in his own chamber and under cover of a peace treaty. It was also on account of the huge tribute which Tosti had unjustly levied on the whole of Northumbria. They went on to break open Tosti’s treasury and take away all his goods, then withdrew.59 After that, almost all the men who lived in Tosti’s earldom came together to meet his brother Harold, earl of the West Saxons, and other men whom the king, at Tosti’s request, had sent to them to restore peace. They met first at Hampton [recte Northampton] and later at Oxford, on the day of the feast of the apostles Simon HR, § 140. HA, vi. 22. 57  HR, § 141. 58  HA, vi. 24. The author leavens his account with selective borrowings from HA, showing a shared partiality for stories of a worldly nature. 59  HR, § 147; HA, vi. 26. 55  56 

128

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

comitem Tosti cum eis pacificare uellent, omnes unanimi consensu contradixerunt, et eum cum omnibus qui legem iniquam statuere illum incitauerunt, exlegauerunt.60 a Erat enim omnium sceler[i]ssimus et crudelissimus sicut ex uno eius facinora perpendi potest. Contigit autem eodem anno quod in aula regia apud Windelesores Tosti Haroldum regi uina propinantem capillis coram ipso rege arripuit. Inuidens ei ob hoc. Quod cum ipse Tosti promogenitus esset artius a rege frater suus amaretur. Ideoque impetu furoris propulsus, non potuit cohibere manus a fratris cesarie. Rex autem pernitiem eorum iam appropinquare predixit et iram Dei iam non differendam. Tosti igitur furibunde discedens a rege et a fratre suo perrexit ad Hereforde ubi frater suus corrodium regale maximum parauerat. Vbi ministros fratris omnes detruncans singulis uasi medonis, uini, ceruisie, pigmenti, morati, cisere crus humanum, uel caput, uel brachium imposuit. Mandauitque regi quod ad firmam suam properans cibos salsatos sufficienter inueniret alios secum deferre curaret. Rex igitur eum ob hoc scelus adeo infinitum delegari et exulari praecepita.61 Ex audientes Northumbri post festiuitatem Omnium Sanctorum cum adiutorio comitis Mercensium Eadwini de Anglia Tosti expulerunt.62 Qui mox cum uxore sua Baldewinum Flandrensium comitem adiit, bcuius filiam in conuigam habuitb pro quo rex Northumbris Morcarum comitem dedit. Post haec rex Edwardus aegrotare coepit, tamen in natiuitate Domini curiam suam Lundoniae tenuit, et ecclesiam suam quam ipse a fundamentis construxerat die sanctorum Innocentium in honore sancti Petri cum magna gloria dedicari fecit. Anno .m.o .lxvi.c Anglorum decus rex pacificus Edwardus, postquam .xxiii. annis, mensibus .xi.63 diebus .xxvii. potestate regia praefuit Anglis, uigilia Epiphaniae obiit Lundoniae, et in crastino sepultus est regio more omnibus plangentibus amarissime. Successit in regnum Edwardo Haroldus dux Godwini filius ducis, quem rex ante suam decessionem regni successorem elegerat, et ab Aldredo Eboraci archiepiscopo in regem coram totius Angliae principibus honorifice est consecratus.64 Qui mox leges iniquas destruere, aequas coepit condere, ecclesiarum ac monasteriorum

  R, P, omitted.   R, P, omitted. c   R, mlxv. a–a

b–b

129

The History of Alfred of Beverley

and Jude. While Harold and very many others wanted to make peace between the Northumbrians and Earl Tosti, the Northumbrians unanimously spoke against it and outlawed Tosti, along with all those others who had encouraged him to impose his unjust law.60 For Tosti was the most wicked and cruel of all men, as can be shown by consideration of one among his evil deeds. It happened in the same year that, in the royal palace at Windsor, as his brother Harold was serving wine to the king, Tosti, in front of the king himself, grabbed him by the hair. He was jealous of Harold because, although he himself was born first, his brother was held in greater affection by the king. And for that reason, driven by a surge of rage, he was unable to hold back his hand from his brother’s hair. The king, however, foretold that their destruction was already approaching, and that the wrath of God would not be warded off any longer. So Tosti, departing in anger from the king and from his brother, went to Hereford, where his brother had prepared an enormous royal banquet. There he dismembered all his brother’s servants, and put a human leg, head, or arm into each vessel of mead, wine, ale, spiced and flavoured wine, and beer. And he sent to the king, saying that, if he made haste and came to his feast, he would find plenty of salted food, and that he should make sure to bring others with him. For such an immense crime, the king ordered that Tosti should be outlawed and exiled.61 The Northumbrians obeyed and after the festival of All Saints, with the help of earl Edwin of Mercia, they drove Tosti out of England.62 So Tosti, together with his wife, quickly went to Baldwin, count of Flanders, whose daughter he had married. And, in his place, the king gave the Northumbrians Morcar as their earl. After this, the king began to grow sick. Nevertheless, at Christmas he held his court at London and, on the day of the Holy Innocents, he had the church which he himself had built from the foundations, consecrated in honour of St Peter, with great splendour. In the year 1066 the glory of the English, the peaceable King Edward, after governing the English for twenty-three years, eleven months [recte six months]63 and twenty-seven days, died in London on the eve of the Epiphany. The next day he was royally buried, most bitterly mourned by all. Earl Harold, son of Earl Godwine, whom the king had chosen before his death as successor to the kingdom, followed Edward on the throne. He was honourably consecrated king, by Ealdred, archbishop of York, in front of the leaders64 of all England. Harold soon began to strike down unjust laws and establish just ones; 60  61  62  63  64 

HR, § 147. HA, vi. 25. This account of Tosti’s cruelty is unique to HH. See HA, p. 383, note 148. HR, § 147. Edward II, The Confessor (acc. 1042, crowned 3 April 1043, d. 5 Jan. 1066). HR, § 148.

129

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

patronus fieri, episcopos, abbates, clericos, monachos colere simul ac uenerari, pium, humilem,a affabilemque se bonis omnibus exhibere,b malefactores exosos habere. Nam ducibus, satrapis, uicecomitibus et suis in commune praecepit, ministrisc fures, raptores et regni disturbatores comprehendere, et pro patriae defensione ipsemet terra marique desudare. dEodem anno .viii. Kal. Maii, stella cometis non solum in Anglia sed etiam, ut fertur, per totum mundum uisa per .vii. dies splendore nimio fulgebatd. Non multo post comes Tostius de Flandria rediens ad Vectam insulam applicuit, et postquam insulanos sibi tributum et stipendium soluere coegerat, discessit, et circa ripas maris donec ad Sandicum portum ueniret praedas exercuit. Quo cognito, rex Haroldus equi tunc Lundoniae morabature classem fnon modicum et equestremf exercitum pedestrem congregari praecepit, ipse uero Sandicum portum adire parabat. Quod dum Tostio nuntiatum fuisset, de Busecarlis quosdam uolentes, quosdam nolentes secum assumens recessit, et cursum ad Lindoriam direxit. In quo uillas quamplures incendit multosque homines neci tradidit.g Hiis cognitis dux Merciorum Eadwinus et Northumbrorum comes Morcharius cum exercitu aduolauit, illumque de regione ipsa extrudunt. Ipse autem discedens regem Scottorum Malcolmum adiit, het cum eo per totam aestatem mansit. Interea rex Haroldus ad Sandicum portum uenit ibique classem suam expectauit. Quae cum fuisset congregatah Vectam insulam adiit. Et quia Normannorum comes Willielmus iEdwardi regis consobrinusi in Angliam cum exercitu uenire parabat tota aestate et Autumpno aduentum illius obseruabat. jAd haec etiam pedestrem exercitum locis opportunis circa ripas maris locabat. Adueniente itaque natiuitate sanctae Mariaej uictu deficiente, et classicus et pedestris exercitus domum rediit.65 Quibus gestis, cum classica manu perualida, scilicet plusquam quingentis magnis nauibus, Haroldus Harfager66 rex Noreganorum kfrater sancti regis Olauik in ostio Tine fluminis improuise applicuit. Ad quem comes Tostius, ut prius condixerant, sua cum classe uenit, et citato cursu ostium fluminis Humbrae intrauerunt, et sic aduersum cursum fluminis Vsae nauigantes in loco quae Ricale dicitur applicuerunt.l Quod ubi regi Haroldo innotuit, uersus Northumbriam   R, P, omit humilem.   R, P, se bonis praebere malefactores …. c   R, P, omit ministris. d–d   R, P. omitted. e–e   R, P, omitted. f–f   R, P, omitted. g   R, P, et Lindoriam dirigens uillam incendit homines neci tradidit. h–h   R, P, omitted. i–i   R, P, omitted. j–j   R, P, omitted. k–k   R, P, omitted. l   R, P, et sic per flumen Vsae apud Richaale applicuerunt. a

b

130

The History of Alfred of Beverley

to become a patron of churches and monasteries; to protect and venerate bishops, abbots, monks, and clerks; and to show himself to be dutiful and friendly to all good men, while hating evil-doers. He ordered the earls, ealdormen and sheriffs of the community to seize thieves, robbers and disturbers of the kingdom and to exert themselves by land and sea for the defence of the country. The same year, on April 24, a comet was seen not just in England, but even, it is said, the world over and it was shining in great splendour for seven days. Not much later, Earl Tosti, returning from Flanders, landed on the Isle of Wight and, having forced the islanders to pay tribute and maintenance, departed and raided the coast as far as Sandwich. When he learned of this, King Harold, who was then staying in London, ordered a sizeable fleet and an army of cavalry and infantry to be assembled, while he himself prepared to set off to Sandwich. But when Tosti was informed of this, he retreated, taking with him seamen, some willingly, some unwillingly, and set his course to Lindsey, where he burned many townships and put to death many men. On hearing about these events, Edwin, earl of the Mercians, and Morcar, earl of the Northumbrians, hurried up with an army, and drove him out of that region. Tosti, retreating, went to Malcolm, king of the Scots, and stayed with him for the whole summer. Meanwhile, King Harold arrived at the port of Sandwich and there he awaited his fleet. When the fleet was assembled, he went to the Isle of Wight and, because William, duke of the Normans, cousin of King Edward, was preparing to come to England with an army, he watched there all summer and autumn for William’s arrival. In addition, he stationed a foot army in suitable locations about the seashore. Then when the nativity of St Mary was approaching, as food was running short, both the fleet and the land force returned home.65 After these events, Harold Fairhair [recte Hardrada],66 king of the Norwegians, the brother of St Olaf the king, landed unexpectedly at the mouth of the River Tyne with a very large fleet, that is, more than five hundred great ships. Earl Tosti joined him with his fleet, as they had previously agreed, and, advancing swiftly, they entered the mouth of the Humber, and thus, sailing up the River Ouse, they landed in a place called Ricall. When King Harold heard of this, he quickly organised an expedition to Northumbria. But, before the king arrived there, the

65  66 

Ibid. Harold Hardrada, son of Sigurd, king of Norway.

130

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

expeditionem prope mouit. Sed priusquam rex illuc ueniret, duo germani comites uidelicet Eadwinus et Morcharus cum ingenti exercitu in uigilia sancti Mathei apostoli feria .iiii.67 ain boreali ripa Vsae fluminisa iuxta Eboracum cum Noreganis proelium commisere, et in primo belli impetu uiriliter pugnantes multos prostrauerunt. At postquam diu certatum est, Angli Noreganorum impetum non sufferentes, haud sine paruo detrimento suorum terga dedere, multoque plures ex illis in fluuio dimersi fuere, quam in acie cecidere. Noregani uero bloco dominantur funeris etb obsidibus .cl. de Eboraco sumptis, ad naues repedarunt relictis in eis de suis .cl. obsidibus. Verum quinto post hunc die cid est .vii. Kal. Octobris feria .ii.c rex Anglorum Haroldus multis milibus pugnatorum darmis bellicis instructorumd Eboracum ueniens, et Noreganis e in loco qui diciture Stanfordbrigge occurrit. f Coeuntes igitur a summo mane usque ad meridiem cum horribiliter irruentes utrimque perseuerarent numerus maximus Anglorum Norwagenses cedere sed non fugere, compulit. Vltra igitur repulsi uiuis supra mortuos transeuntibus magnanimiter restiterunt. Quidam uero Norwagensis in hoc bello fama dignus eterna, super pontem restitit et plusquam .xl. uiros securi cedens electa usque ad horam diei .ix. omnem exercitum Anglorum detinuit solus. Vsquequo quidam nauim ingressus per foramina pontis in celandis eum percussit iaculo et igitur transitus Anglorum exercitui est patefactus.68 Transeuntes igitur regem Haroldumf in ore gladii comitemque Tostium cum maoiori parte sui exercitus occidit, ac plenam uictoriam licet acerrime repugnatum fuisset habuit.69 g Filium autem regis Olauum et comitem de Orcada insula, Palum nomine, cui naues custodiendas cum exercitus parte fuerant dimissi, acceptis prius ab eis obsidibus et sacramentis cum .xx. nauibus et reliquiis exercitus in patriam redire libere permisit.70 Interea dum haec agerenturg et rex omnes inimicos suos autumaret detritos fuisse, nuntiatum est ei Willielmum comitem gentis Normanniaeh cum innumera multitudine equitum, fundibalariorum, sagittariorum, peditumque aduenisse utpote qui de Gallia sibi fortes auxiliarios conduxerat et in loco qui Peuenesse dicitur suam classem aplicuisse.i 71

  R, P, omitted.   R, P, omitted. c–c   R, P, omitted. d–d   R, P, omitted. e–e   R, P, omitted. f–f   R, P, omitted. g–g   R, P, omitted. h   R, P, Willielmum ducum Normannorum. i   R, P, peditumque apud Peuenese applicuisse. a–a

b–b

131

The History of Alfred of Beverley

two brother earls, namely Edwin and Morcar, with a great army, joined battle with the Norwegians near York on the north bank of the Ouse on Wednesday, the eve of St Matthew the Apostle’s day [September 20].67 At the start of the battle, fighting fiercely, they slew many men. But, after the struggle had gone on for a long time, the English, unable to withstand the Norwegian attack, turned and fled, with no little loss of their own men, of whom many more were drowned in the river than fell in the battle. Then the Norwegians gained the mastery in that place of death and, having taken one hundred and fifty hostages from York, and left the same number of their own men, retreated to their own ships. But, on the fifth day after this, that is on Monday 25 September, Harold, king of the English, came to York with many thousands of well-armed fighting men and met the Norwegians in the place called Stamford Bridge. They therefore joined arms at dawn and, after fearful assaults on both sides, they continued steadfastly until midday, with the English superiority in numbers forcing the Norwegians to give way, but not to flee. Driven back beyond the river, the living crossing over the bodies of the dead, they resisted stoutheartedly. A single Norwegian, worthy of eternal fame in this battle, stood firm on the bridge, and felling more than forty men with his trusty axe, he alone held off the entire English army until three o’clock in the afternoon. At length someone boarded a boat and, through the openings in the bridge, struck him in the private parts with a spear and thus the river crossing was laid open to the English army.68 So the English crossed over and killed King Harold Hardrada and Earl Tosti and the greater part of their army and, despite very fierce resistance, gained a complete victory.69 But King Harold freely permitted Olaf, the son of the king [Harold Hardrada], and an earl from the isle of Orkney, named Paul, who had been sent with part of the army to guard the ships, to retire to their country with twenty ships and the rest of the army, having first received hostages and oaths from them.70 When the king supposed that all his enemies had been crushed, however, he was informed that William, earl of the Norman people, had landed near Pevensey, with a countless multitude of knights, slingers, archers, and foot-soldiers; for he had brought a strong auxiliary force from the whole of Gaul and had landed his fleet at a place called Pevensey.71 HR, § 149. The location of the battle at Fulford, reported in HR, omitted. HA, vi. 27. The story is also reported with variant detail by WM (GRA, ii. 228). In this version, the lone Norwegian is not dishonourably cut down by stabbing him from below, a fate reported to also have been suffered by Edmund Ironside in 1016 (HA, vi. 14). 69  HR, § 149. 70  Ibid. 71  HR, § 150. 67  68 

131

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Vnde rex statim uersus Lundoniam suum mouit exercitum, amagna cum festinationea. Et licet de tota Anglia fortiores quosque proeliis in duobus bene sciret iam cecedisseb mediamque partem sui exercitus nondum conuenisse, cquam citius tamen potuit in Suthsaxonia suisc hostibus occurrens, non formidauitd .ix. miliariis ab Hastinga, ubi sibi castellum firmauerant priusquam tertia pars sui exercitus ordinaretur .xi. Kal. Nouembris sabbato cum eis proelium commisit. e Quidam uero Tailefer nomine dudum antequam cohirent bellatores ensibus iactatis ludens coram gente Anglorum dum in eum omnes stuperent quendam uexilliferum Anglorum interfecit. Secundo similiter egit. Tertio id agens et ipse interfectus est et acies sibi offenderunt.72 Viginti autem equites Normannorum strenuissimi inuicem dederunt fidem suam quod Anglorum cateruam prorumpentes signum regium quod uocatur ‘Standard’ arriperent. Quod dum facerent plures eorum occisi sunt. Pars autem eorum uia gladiis facta, Standard asportauerunte.73 Sed quia arto in loco fuerant constituti Angli, de acie se multi subtrahere et cum eo perpauci constantes corde remansere. Ab hora tamen diei tertia usque ad noctis fcrepusculum suis aduersariisf restitit fortissime, et seipsum pugnando tam fortiter defendit, et tam strenue ut uix ab hostili interimi posset agmine.g At postquam ex hiis et ex illis quamplurimi corruere, heu ipsemeth cecidit crepusculi tempore. Comites etiam Girth et Leofwinus fratres illius cecidere, et fere nobiliores totius Angliae. iWillelmus uero comes cum suis Hastingam rediiti. Regnauit autem Haroldus mensibus nouem et diebus totidem.74 j Cuius morte audita comites Eadwinus et Morcharus qui se cum suis certamini subtraxerunt, Lundoniam uenere et sororem suam Algidam reginam sumptam ad ciuitatem Legionum misere. Aldredus autem archiepiscopus Eboracencis, et idem comites cum ciuibus Lundoniensibus et butsecarlis clitonem Eadgarum, Edmundi Ferrie-Lateris nepotem, in regem leuare uoluere, et cum eo se pugnam inituros promisere. Sed dum ad pugnam descendere multi se parauere, comites

  R, P, omitted.   R, P, defecisse. c–c   R, P, omitted. d   R, P, omits non formidauit. e–e   R, P, omitted. f–f   R, P, omitted. g   R, P, et seipsum tam strenue defendit ut uix ab hostili intermini posset agimine. h   R, P, omits heu ipsemet. i–i   R, P, omitted. j–j   R, P, omitted. a–a b

132

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The king therefore at once moved his army to London with all speed. Even though he knew well that some of the bravest men in all England had already fallen in the two earlier battles and that half of his army had not yet assembled, nevertheless he did not fear boldly engaging with his enemies in Sussex with all possible speed, nine miles from Hastings, where they had fortified a castle for themselves. And, before a third of his army had been put in place, he joined battle with the Normans on Saturday the eleventh of the kalends of November [22 October]. Shortly before the warriors met in battle, one man, named Taillefer, played a game tossing swords in front of the English people and while they all gazed at him in astonishment he killed an English standard bearer. He repeated this a second time. The third time, in the act of doing it again, he was himself killed and the troops fell upon him.72 Then, twenty of the most valiant Norman knights gave their word to one another that they would break through the English line and snatch away the royal banner, which is called the ‘Standard’. In doing this, several of them were killed, but some of them made away with their swords, and carried off the standard.73 Now, because the English had been stationed in a confined site, many withdrew from the battle line and very few remained with King Harold with steadfast hearts. Nevertheless, from the third hour of daylight until dusk Harold resisted his enemies most resolutely, and defended himself so strongly and vigorously in battle that it was barely possible for him to be killed by the enemy troops. But, after very many men had fallen on both sides, alas he himself was slain at dusk. Earls Gyrth and Leofwine, his brothers, also fell, along with nearly all the more noble men of all England. But Duke William returned to Hastings with his men. Thus, Harold reigned for nine months and the same number of days.74 When they heard of his death, Earls Edwin and Morcar, who had slipped away from the battle with their men, came to London and took their sister, Queen Edith, and sent her to the city of Chester. However Ealdred, archbishop of York, and those same earls, with the citizens of London and the seamen, wished to raise to the throne the atheling Edgar, grandson of Edmund Ironside, and vowed that they would embark on war with Duke William. But while many of them prepared to go into battle, the earls withdrew their support from them and returned home HA, vi. 30. The various versions of the story of Taillefer in medieval literature are discussed by Diana Greenway, HA, p. 392, note 172. 73  Ibid. King Harold’s standard is described by WM (GRA, iii. 241) as bearing ‘the figure of a warrior, richly embroidered with gold and gems’. William of Poitiers, Gesta Guillelmi, ii. 31, pp. 152–53), also describes Harold’s standard as carrying the image of a warrior. According to both chroniclers, William sent the standard to Pope Alexander II after the battle. 74  Harold II (acc. 6 Jan. 1066, d. 14 Oct. 1066). 72 

132

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

suum auxilium ab eis retraxere, et cum suo exercitu domum redierej.75 Dux uero Willielmus adepta uictoria, cum suis Hastingam rediens regnum optinuit. Talis fuit status monarchiae Angliae, quam huc usque Anglici reges optinuere, quae a primo eorum monarcha Adelstano usque ad ultimum Haroldum, in quo series Anglici stematis defecit, sub regibus .xiii. per annos centum .xlv.a uaria fortuna cucurrit.76 Siquidem in primis studio et industria regum Adelstani, Edmundi, Edredi, Edgari et sancti martiris Edwardi, ingente in ecclesia religione, in regno iustitia et aequitate, monarchia Angliae per annos .liiii.b in magna gloria stetit. At postquam sanctus Edwardus martirizatus est, et frater eius Adelredus et posteri eius monarchiam optinuerunt, gloria illa coepit defluere,c et retro lapsa referri. Statim enim exterarum gentium bellis Angli attriti, deinde inter se seditionibus, praeditionibusd et proeliis per annos nonaginta sine cessatione grassati, et seipsos multipliceter destruxerunt, et debellandi Angliam iustam causam genti Normannicae contulerunt. Quorum gesta quae in Angliae monarchia gesserunt, sequens particula paucis comprehendit. e Primus Adelstanus. .ii. Edmundus. .iii. Edredus. .iiii. Edwius. .v.us Edgarus. .vi. Edwardus. .vii. Adelredus. .viii. Edmundus. .ix. Knut. .x.us Haroldus. .xi. Hardeknut. .xii. Edwardus. .xiii. Harolduse.77

  C, per annos clx.   C, per annos lxx. c   R, P, deficere. d   R, P, omits praeditionibus. e–e   C, omitted. a

b

133

The History of Alfred of Beverley

with their army.75 Duke William, having gained the victory, returned to Hastings with his men, and took possession of the kingdom. Such was the history of the monarchy of England, which, up to this point, was held by the English kings. From the first of their monarchs, Æthelstan, until the last, Harold, when the line of English succession came to an end, it experienced varying fortunes under thirteen kings and over one hundred and forty-five years.76 At first, thanks to the zeal and diligence of the kings Æthelstan, Edmund, Eadred, Edgar, and the Holy Martyr Edward, the monarchy of England enjoyed great glory for fifty-four years, with much religious fervour in the church and justice and fairness in the kingdom. But, after St Edward was martyred, and his brother Æthelred and his descendants obtained the crown, its glory began to wane and slip backwards. For the English were initially weakened by wars with foreign peoples. Then, falling on one another with civil discord and strife for ninety years on end, they brought destruction upon themselves by many means and gave the Norman people just cause to make war on England. The following short chapter describes some of the deeds which they accomplished as monarchs of England. First Æthelstan, second Edmund, third Eadred, fourth Eadwig, fifth Edgar, sixth Edward, seventh Æthelred, eighth Edmund, ninth Cnut, tenth Harold, eleventh Hardacnut, twelfth Edward, thirteenth Harold.77

HR, § 150. More precisely, just over 141 years from the consecration of King Æthelstan in September 925. 77  Swegn Forkbeard, father of Cnut, and king of England from Autumn 1013 to his death in Feb. 1014, omitted. 75  76 

133

[Particula IX]

Incipit de regno Normannorum in Angliaa Primus ostendenda est origo causæ, qua Willielmus dux Normannorum Angliam bello appetiit, et deinceps ad eorum gesta in Angliæ monarchia ueniendum. Orto inter regem Edwardum et comitem Godwinum graui discidio, exul ab Anglia cum suis omnibus comes expellitur. Cui postmodum gratiam regis requirenti, datis obsidibus, scilicet Wlnoto filio suo et Hacun filio Suani filii sui, concessum est eis repatriare. Rex uero eos in Normanniam Willielmo comiti custodiendos destinauit.1 Mortuo Godwino comite, Haroldus filius eius petiit a rege Normanniamb ire, et fratrem suum atque nepotem liberatos secum reducere. Cui rex ‘Hoc’ inquit, ‘non fiet per me. Verum ne uidear te uelle impedire, permitto ut experiaris quid possis. Præsentio tamen, te in detrimentum, totius Angliæ tendere.’ Ascendens itaque Haroldus nauem tempestate iactatus est in Pontinum, et captiuitati domini illius terræ addictus. Quod cum per nuntium Haroldi comes Willielmus cognouisset, primo cum prece non posset, deinde numis eum liberauit, et ad se uenientem honorifice suscepit.2 Audito autem cur uenerit, comes benigne respondit: cui tandem apperuit, quod in mente habuit. Dicebat itaque regem Edwardum, quando secum iuuene iuuenis in Normanniam demoraretur, sibi interposita fide sua pollicitum fuisse quia si rex Angliae foret, csi heredem non haberetc ius regni in illum iure hereditario post se transferret. Et addidit: ‘Tu quoque si michi te in

  C, L, rubric Incipit excerpta de gestis regum Normannorum. L adds. secundum Alfridum Beverlacensis.   R, P, add. licentiam. c–c   R, P, omitted. a

b

134

Chapter IX

Here begins the kingdom of the Normans in England First it is necessary to make clear the original reason why William, duke of the Normans, invaded England and then we must return to the Normans’ deeds as monarchs of that country. A serious quarrel arose between King Edward and Earl Godwine and the earl was banished from England, along with his men. When he later asked the king’s pardon, he was allowed to return after he had handed over hostages, namely his son Wulfnoth and Hakon, son of his son. But the king sent these hostages to Duke William in Normandy for safekeeping.1 When Earl Godwine died, his son Harold sought the king’s permission to go to Normandy and bring his brother and his nephew back with him as free men. ‘I cannot make that happen,’ the king said to him, ‘but, so that I am not perceived to be putting obstacles in your way, I give you leave to try and see what you can achieve. I foresee, however, that your going will be to the detriment of the whole of England.’ So Harold embarked on a ship and was driven by a storm into Ponthieu, where he was held as a captive by the lord of that country. Duke William, on hearing of this through a messenger from Harold, at first failed to free him with entreaties but then succeeded in doing so with money and, when Harold came to him, he received him with honour.2 Once he heard why Harold had come, the duke responded to him kindly and eventually he revealed his own plans to Harold. William explained that King Edward, while staying with him in Normandy when they were both young men, had promised and pledged his oath that, if he ever became king of England and did not have an heir, he would pass on to him, through a law of inheritance, the right to rule after his death. And HR, § 151. The HR has drawn on a Canterbury source, Eadmer’s Historia Novorum (c.1095 x c.1123) to provide an explanation for William of Normandy’s succession to the English crown. Eadmer, a monk of Christ Church Canterbury, wrote the Historia Novorum as a compendium to his biography of Archbishop Anselm (1093–1109). Earl Godwine and his five sons were banished by King Edward in September 1051. On Godwine’s return to England and reconciliation with Edward in September 1052, Godwine surrendered Wulfnoth, his youngest son, and Hakon, a grandson, as hostages to Edward, who, according to Eadmer, sent them to Normandy for safekeeping. 2  Ibid. William’s dealings with the Lord of Ponthieu, reported in detail in HR, are here much abbreviated. 1 

134

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

hoc ipso amminiculaturum sposponderis et castellum Dofris cum puteo aquæ te michi facturum, sororemque tuam uni de principibus meis te daturum, filiamque meam te in coniugem accepturum, et modo nepotem tuum, et cum in Angliam regnaturus uenero, fratrem tuum incolumem recipies. In quo regno si fauore tuo confirmatus fuero, quod a me rationabiliter petieris optinebis.’3 Sensit Haroldus periculum, et nesciens qua euaderet, uoluntati eius adquieuit, prolatisque sanctorum reliquiis, iurauit Haroldus, se cuncta quæ conuenerant inter eos opere completurum. Receptoque nepote reuersus patriam cum percunctanti regi narrasset cuncta, ait rex: ‘Nonne dixi tibi, me Willielmum nosse et in illo itinere tuo plurima mala huic regno contingere posse? Magnas in hoc tuo facto calamitates præsentio genti nostræ uenturas.a Quas concedat michi, quæso, pietas superna, ne in diebus meis eueniant.’ In breui post hæc obiit rex Edwardus, et iuxta quod ipse statuerat, in regnum ei successit Haroldus. Cui Willielmus mandauit, ut quamuis uiolata fide cetera non seruasset, si tamen filiam suam duceret uxorem, leuiter ferret. Alioquin, se promissam regni successionem armis sibi uendicaturum. At ipse nec illud facere se uelle, nec hoc formidare dixit. Vnde Willielmus indignatus.,b cMox recordatus est quia Aluredum cognatum suum Godwinus et filii sui dehonestauerant et peremerant et quod Rodbertum episcopum et Odonem consulem et omnes Francigenas Nortmannos Godwinus et filii sui arte sua ab Anglia exulauerant.4 Præmonstrato prius apostolico pape iure quod in regno Angliæ habebat per legatos licentiaque hereditatem suam conquirendi impetratac magna spe uicendi ex prædictis iniustitiis5 est animatus parata igitur classe ad portum sancti Walerici non modica Angliam petiit.

  R, P, futuras.   R, P, preserve a shorter reading ‘et ex hac Haroldi iniustitia spe uincendi animates, parata classe non modica Angliam petiit. Consertoque graui proelio Haroldus in acie concidit et Willielmus uictor regnum optinuit’. c–c   R, P, omitted. a

b

135

The History of Alfred of Beverley

William added: ‘If you will promise to support me in this matter, and that you will build a fort with a well of water at Dover for me, and that you will give your sister in marriage to one of my nobles and take my daughter as your wife, you will get your nephew back now, safe and sound, and your brother when I come to rule in England. And, if I am established in that kingdom with your support, any reasonable request you make of me will be granted.’3 Harold perceived danger, but not knowing how to avoid it, agreed to William’s request. Relics of the saints were brought forth and Harold swore that he would perform all that had been agreed between them. After receiving back his nephew he returned to his country and when, in answer to King Edward’s questions, he had told him everything, the king said: ‘Did I not say to you that I knew William, and that many evils might result for this kingdom from that expedition of yours? I foresee that, from this deed you have done, great calamities will befall our people. May divine mercy grant, I pray, that they do not happen in my time.’ A short time later, King Edward died and, as he had decreed, Harold succeeded him on the throne. William sent to tell him that, although he had violated his promise by not observing its other points, yet he would accept this if Harold would still marry his daughter. Otherwise he would claim the royal succession which had been promised to him, for himself, under arms. Harold replied that he neither agreed to William’s demand nor feared his threat. At this, William was indignant and he soon recalled that Godwine and his sons had dishonoured and destroyed his kinsman Alfred, and that they had, by their cunning, exiled from England Robert the bishop, Odda the earl, and all the Norman French.4 Having first displayed the papal apostolic right to the kingdom of England, which he held from [the Pope’s] legates, and obtained permission to go in quest of his inheritance, he was inspired by great hopes of victory because of the aforementioned unjust acts by the Godwines.5 And so he prepared a large fleet at the port of St Valery and invaded England.

HR, § 151. The HR account of Harold’s visit to Normandy in c.1064–65, based on Eadmer’s HN, appears likely to derive from Norman narrative sources such as William of Jumièges (GND, ii. vii. 13 (31), pp. 159–61). See Barlow, Edward the Confessor, pp. 220 ff. and Appendix B, ‘Hostages taken from Earl Godwin’s family’, pp. 301–06, and also Bates, William the Conqueror, pp. 58–63. 4  HA, vi. 27. 5  The notice that William first sought Pope Alexander II’s support for the invasion is not found in the author’s main sources. WM (GRA, iii. 238), however, reports it, adding that William received a papal banner as an endorsement of his claim to the English crown. WM’s source appears to have been William of Poitiers – the only contemporary authority for the story (WP Gesta, ii. 3, pp. 104–05 and see note 4). See also Bates, William the Conqueror, pp. 64–65. As AB shows no independent knowledge of either WM or WP he might here be reporting oral tradition in Beverley at the time. The expulsion of Robert of Jumièges, archbishop of Canterbury, occurred in September 1052. The Earl Odda referred to here appears to be Odda, earl of the Western Provinces ASC E 1051, WM (GRA, 199. 8). 3 

135

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Consertoque graui proelio Haroldus in acie concidit et Willielmus uictor regnum optinuit. De quo proelio testantur Franci qui interfuerunt, quoniam licet uarius casus hinc inde extiterit, tamen tanta strages ac fuga Normannorum fuit, ut uictoria qua potiti sunt, uere et absque dubio Dei iudicio sit ascribenda, qui puniendo scelus periurii ostendit sea non Deum uolentem iniquitatem.6 Anno igitur .m.o .lxvi.b ab incarnatione Domini dux Normannorum Willielmus, occiso in bello rege Haroldo, ab Hastinga mouens, uastatis prouinciis, uenit ad Wertham, ubi Aldredus archiepiscopus, Wlfstanus Wigorniensis episcopus, Walterus Herefordensis episcopus, clito Edgarus, comites Edwinusc et Morcharus, et de Lundonia quique meliores, cum multis ad eum uenerunt, et datis obsidibus illi deditionem fecerunt, fidelitatemque iurauerunt.7 Inde cum exercitu Lundoniam adiit, et in die natalis Domini ab Aldredo Eboracensi archiepiscopo, quia Stigandus Cantuariensis archiepiscopus a papa calumpniatus erat pallium non suscepisse canonice, dipsa die natiuitatis quæ illo anno secunda feria euenit ab Aldredo Eboracensium archiepiscopod apud Westmonasterium in regem consecratus est honorifice: prius, ut idem archiepiscopus exigebat ab eo, ante altare sancti Petri coram clero et populo iureiurando promittens, se uelle sanctas Dei ecclesias ac rectores earum defendere, et cunctum populum sibi subiectum iuste ac regali prouidentia regere, rectam legem statuere et tenere, rapinas iniustaque iudicia penitus interdicere. Post hæc in quadragesima rex Willielmus Normanniam repetiit, ducens secum Dorobernensem archiepiscopum Stigandum, Glasconiensem abbatem Agelnothum, Edgarem clitonem, comites Edwinum et Morcharum, Waldeuum filium Suinardi Siwardi ducis filiume nobilem satrapam Agelnothum Cantuariensem, et multos alios de primatibus Angliæ, fratremque suum Odonem Baiocensem episcopum, et Willielmum filium Osberni quem in Herefordensem comitem constituerat, custodes Angliæ relinquens, castella per loca firmari præcepit.8 Inminente autem hieme rex Willielmus Angliam rediit, et Anglis importabile tributum imposuit. Deinde in Domnaniamf hostiliter profectus, ciuitatem Execestriam rebellantemg obsedit et infregit, unde ciues dextris datis regi se dedebant. Post Pascha comitissa Matildis de Normannia uenit Angliam, quam die pentecostes Aldredus archiepiscopus consecrauit in reginam.9 Rex autem Willielmus

  R, P, sic.   R, P, MLXV. c   C, L, Godwinus. d–d   R, P, omitted. e   R, P, omit Siwardi ducis filium. f   C, Doroborniam. L, gap left where word is to be inserted. g   C, omits rebellantem. a

b

136

The History of Alfred of Beverley

A fierce battle was joined. Harold fell in the fight and William, as the victor, gained possession of the kingdom. Concerning this battle, the French who were present testify that, although various mishaps occurred on both sides, nevertheless the slaughter and rout brought about by the Normans was so great that the victory they gained must truly and without doubt be ascribed to the judgement of God, who, by punishing the crime of perjury, showed that he was not a God who would countenance injustice.6 Thus, in the year 1066 from the Lord’s incarnation, following Harold’s death in battle, William, duke of the Normans, left Hastings and, after laying waste to the surrounding regions, arrived at Wertham. There, Ealdred archbishop of York, Wulfstan bishop of Worcester, Walter, bishop of Hereford, the atheling Edgar, the earls Edwin and Morcar, and all the principal men of London came to him, along with many others, and, after hostages had been exchanged, they surrendered and swore fealty to him.7 Then William went with his army to London and, on the very day of Our Lord’s birth, which that year fell on a Monday, he was honourably consecrated at Westminster, by Ealdred, archbishop of York, because Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, had been accused by the pope of not having received the pallium canonically. First, in accordance with Archbishop Ealdred’s requirements, William swore an oath before the altar of St Peter, in the presence of the clergy and the people, promising to defend the holy churches of God and their leaders, to govern the whole of the people subject to him fairly and with kingly wisdom, to enact and uphold just laws, and to strictly prohibit acts of plunder and wrongful judgements. After this, in Lent, William returned to Normandy, taking with him Stigand, archbishop of Canterbury, Æthelnoth, abbot of Glastonbury, Edgar the atheling, the earls Edwin and Morcar, Waltheof, the son of Earl Siward the noble thane, Æthelnoth of Canterbury, and many other nobles of England. He left behind as regents of England his brother Odo, bishop of Bayeux, and William, son of Osbern, whom he had appointed earl of Hereford, giving them orders that castles throughout the country should be fortified.8 With winter coming on, William returned to England and levied a burdensome tax on the English. Then, setting off on a hostile expedition into Devonshire, he besieged and crushed the city of Exeter, which was in revolt, so its citizens accepted terms and surrendered to the king. After Easter, the countess Matilda came from Normandy to England, and on Whit Sunday, Archbishop Ealdred consecrated her as queen.9 King William went HR, § 151. HR, § 150. 8  HR, § 152. The report of Eadric Siluaticus, nephew of Eadric Streone, allied with the Welsh and overrunning Hereford, omitted. 9  Whit Sunday fell on 11 May in 1068. 6  7 

136

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

cum exercitu Snotingham uenit, ubi castello firmato Eboracum perrexit, ibidemque duobus castellis firmatis, quingentos milites in eis posuit, et in ciuitate Lindocolnia aliisque locis castella firmari præcepit. Anno regni sui tertio rex Willielmus misit Northumbris ultra Tine Rodbertum comitem cognomento Cumin. Cui appropinquanti Dunelmensis episcopus Agelwinus occurrens, insidias præcauere præmonuit. Sed ille neminem hoc audere æstimans, Dunelmum cum multa milituma manu ingressus, permisit suos hostiliter agere, ubique occisis etiam non nullis ecclesiæ rusticis. Susceptus est autem ab episcopo cum omni humanitateb et honore. At Northumbri tota nocte festinantes Dunelmum, summa ui diluculoc per portas irrumpunt, et socios comitis imparatos ubique locorum interficiunt, domum episcopi, in qua comes fuerat susceptus, aggrediuntur. Sed cum non ferrent iacula defendentium, domum cum inhabitantibus concremauerunt. Tanta fuit interfectorum multitudo, ut omnia pene urbis loca replerentur cruore. Nam de septingentis hominibus nemo præter unum euasit.10 Eodem anno filii Suani regis Danorum cum .ccxl.d nauibus de Danubiae uenientes in ostio Humbre fluminis applicuerunt.11 Vbi eis clito Edgarus, comes Waldeuus [et] Merlaswm, comes Northumbrorum Gospatricus occurrerunt. Omnesque unanimiter congregati sunt contra Normannos. De quorum aduentu Aldredus archiepiscopus ualde tristis effectus, decidit in infirmitatem, et decimo sui anno archiepiscopatus, ut dominum rogauerat, uitam finiuit, et in ecclesia sancti Petri Eboraci est sepultus.12 Octauo post hæc die Normanni qui castella custodiebant, timentes ne domus, quæ prope castella erant adiumenta Danis ad fossas implendas essent, eas igne succenderunt. Qui mox ciuitatem totam inuasit, monasteriumque sancti Petri consumpsit. Sed priusquam tota ciuitas esset combusta, superuenientes Dani et Northumbrani eadem die castella fregerunt, et plus tribus millibus Normannorum trucidatis, Willielmo Malet cum coniuge sua et duobus liberis et Gilberto de Gant aliisque per paucis uitæ decimando reseruatis, recesserunt.13

  C, L, cum magna militum.   R, P, humilitate. c   R, P, summa in diluculo. d   R, P, xl nauibus. e   C, Da[cia] written over part erasure, Danemarche added in lower margin in later hand. R, P, L. a

b

137

The History of Alfred of Beverley

with his army to Nottingham, where he fortified the castle, and then marched to York, where he fortified two castles and placed in them five hundred soldiers and gave orders for castles to be fortified at Lincoln and in other places. In the third year of his reign [1069] King William sent Earl Robert, surnamed Commine, to the Northumbrians beyond the Tyne. As he drew near, Æthelwine, bishop of Durham, went to meet him and warned him to beware of traps. But Robert, thinking that nobody would be so daring, entered Durham with a large body of soldiers and allowed his troops to act in a hostile manner, and all through the city many simple church clerks were slain. Robert was, nevertheless, received by the bishop with all courtesy and honour. The Northumbrians, however, marched speedily all through the night to Durham and at dawn they burst through the gates with great force. They surprised the earl’s men and slew them all across the city, and they attacked the bishop’s house, where the earl had been received. But they were unable to withstand the javelins of the defenders, so they burned the house, along with its inhabitants. So great was the multitude of the slain that almost every part of the city was flowing with blood. For, out of seven hundred men, only one escaped.10 That same year, the sons of Swegn, king of the Danes, coming with two hundred and forty ships from Denmark, landed at the mouth of the River Humber.11 There they were met by Edgar the atheling, Earl Waltheof and Mærleswein, and Gospatric, earl of the Northumbrians, who all, with one accord, assembled against the Normans. Archbishop Ealdred, greatly saddened at their approach, became ill and, in the tenth year of his episcopate, ended his life as he had beseeched the Lord and was buried in the church of St Peter of York.12 Eight days after this, the Normans who were guarding the castles, fearing that the houses adjoining these castles might be of use to the Danes for filling in the moats, set them on fire. Soon the fire took hold of the whole city and consumed the monastery of St Peter. But, before all the city was burned, the Danes and Northumbrians arrived, destroyed the castles that very day and retreated, after slaughtering more than three thousand Normans. The only survivors were William Malet, his wife and two children, Gilbert of Ghent, and a few others.13 HR, § 153. The massacre took place on 28 Jan. 1069. The ASC D, E, for 1068, reports Earl Robert being made earl of Northumbria and his murder along with 900 men in Durham, as does HH (HA, vi. 31). 11  Ibid. 12  HR, § 153. The omission of the date of Archbishop Ealdred’s death, 11 September 1069, reported in HR, is of note. Ealdred was an important benefactor to the church of Beverley, securing privileges for it from Edward the Confessor (see above, pp. xxii–iii) and also from King William. See The Acta of William I 1066–87, ed. D. Bates (Oxford, 1998), numbers 31, 32. Ealdred is remembered for the privileges he secured for the church of Beverley in the tract attributed to Alfred, Libertates Ecclesiae Beverlacensis, so the failure to note his death here is of interest. See above, p. xxvi. 13  HR, § 153, The HR comment that the slaughter of the 3,000 Normans was divine vengeance for setting the fire which consumed the monastery of St Peter in York, omitted. 10 

137

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Quod ubi regi Willielmo innotuit mox exercitu congregato in Northumbriam efferato properauit animo, eamque in tantum deuastauit, ut terra cultore destituta, lataa ubique solitudo per .ix. annos patebat.b 14 Inter Eboracum et Dunelmum nusquam uilla inhabitata, bestiarum tantum et latronum latibula erant. Inter Tesam etiam et Tine regis exercitus per quæque loca diffusus, solam inuenit solitudinem, indigenis per siluas et abrupta montium latitantibus. Tunc et ecclesia Sancti Petri in Girvium flammis consumpta est.c Tunc etiam incorruptum corpus sancti patris Cuthberti in Ealande deportatum est, et Dunelmensis ecclesia omni custodia destituta, spelunca erat pauperum, debilium, ægrotantium qui illuc declinantes fame ac morbo deficiebant.15 Nec uero solum in Northumbria, sed etiam per totam Austreding regis ultio desæuit. Nam ab homine usque ad pecus periit, quicumque repertus est ab Eboraco usque ad mare orientale, præter illos qui ad ecclesiam gloriosi confessoris beatissimi Iohannis archiepiscopi Beuerlacum quasi unicum asilumd confugerant. e Erat enim prætaxata ecclesia miraculis gloriosa pro pacis tuitionem ab incolis frequentatae. Cum autem in exercitu regis qui a Beuerlaco fere .vii. miliariis tentoria fixerant, diuulgatum fuisset, omnem illius regionis populum illuc ad pacem sancti uenisse, et omnia pretiosa sua secum detulisse, quidam milites rapinis assueti Beuerlacum armati petierunt. Ingressique uillam cum neminem resistentem inuenirent, ad septa cimiterii, quo territa totius populi multitudo confluxerat, ausu temerario progrediuntur. Quorum primiceriusf Turstinus cum uidisset quendam ueteranum pretiosius indutum, auream in brachio armillam ferentem, prosperantius ad ecclesiam tendentem, extracto quod erat præcintus gladio, per medium plebis attonitæ super emissarium furiens senem insequitur. Sed quod eum extra ecclesiam comprehendere non potuit, non dedit honorem Deo, sed infra ualuas ecclesiæ iam pene fugiendo extinctum insequitur, cum ecce, equus quo insedebatg fracto collo corruit, et ipse facie iam deformi post tergum uersa manibus pedibusque retortis uelut monstrum informe omnium in se mirantium ora conuertit. Stupefacti uero et exterriti socii eius, proiectis armis et deposita ferocitate ad impetrandam sancti Iohannis misericordiam conuertuntur. Deinde reuertentes

  R, P, lato.   C, L, pateret. c   R, P, Combusta est. d   L, auxilium added interlineally. e–e   R, P, omitted. f   R, P, primicernus. g   R, P, in quo sederat. a

b

138

The History of Alfred of Beverley

When William heard of this, he speedily assembled an army and hastened to Northumbria in great anger. He ravaged the region to such an extent that, with the land deprived of anyone to cultivate it, a wide desert stretched out on every side for nine years.14 Between York and Durham no village was inhabited. There were only the lairs of wild beasts and robbers. The royal army, spread out over all the land between the Tyne and the Tees, found only a wilderness whose inhabitants were laying low in the woods or in the fastness of the mountains. Then the church of St Peter [recte St Paul] at Jarrow was destroyed by fire. Even the uncorrupted body of the holy father Cuthbert was carried to Holy Island, while the church at Durham, devoid of all care, became a den for the poor, the infirm and the sick, who lay there, perishing of hunger and disease.15 Nor was it only in Northumbria but indeed throughout the entire East Riding that the vengeance of the king raged. Every creature which was found between the eastern sea and York, from man to beast, perished, except for those who had fled, as if to their only refuge, to the church of the glorious confessor Blessed John, the archbishop at Beverley. For the aforementioned church, famed for its miracles, was filled with the local inhabitants, seeking the protection of peace. When it became known to the army of the king, which was camped scarcely seven miles from Beverley, that all the population of that region had sought the peace of the saint there and had brought all their valuables with them, certain soldiers, accustomed to plundering, set off, armed, for Beverley. When they found no resistance, they entered the town and made their way with reckless daring to the enclosed churchyard, where the whole terrified multitude had gathered. Their leader, Thurstan, on seeing an old man expensively clothed and wearing a gold bracelet on his arm hurrying to the church, unsheathed the sword with which he was girded and, on his stallion, furiously chased the old man through the midst of the astonished people. When he was unable to catch him outside the church, he showed no respect for God, but pursued the man, who was now nearly escaping through the church doors, to kill him. Then behold! The horse on which Thurstan was seated collapsed, its neck broken, and he himself, with his distorted face now twisted behind his back and his hands and feet bent double, drew everyone’s eyes upon him in wonder, as if at an ugly monster. Stupefied and terrified, Thurstan’s friends threw down their arms, laid aside their fierceness, and were moved to implore the mercy of St John. Then, returning to 14  HR, §§ 153 & 154. The greater part of the HR’s graphic description of William’s harrying of the north, omitted. 15  HR, § 154. The removal of St Cuthbert’s body from Durham to Holy Island is reported in HR, but not in CJW.

138

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

ad regem, omnia ei ex ordine pandunt.16 Qui audita uirtute gloriosi confessoris, uerensquea similem ultionem de ceteris accersitis ad se maioribus ecclesiæ, quæcunque priorum regum uel principum libertate eidem ecclesiæ fuerant collata, regia auctoritate et sigilli sui munimine confirmauit. Et ne ipse prædecessorum suorum munificentiis esset impar, præfatam ecclesiam pretiosis donis decorauit et possessionibus ampliauit,17 et ne exercitus sui uicinitate pax ecclesiæ ab eo firmata dissolueretur, sonantibus per exercitum classicis statim a loco recessit, et ualde procul inde tentoria figi præcepit. Destructa itaque tota Northumbria instante uere rex ad Suthumbriam rediit, et corpus sancti Cuthberti ad Dunelmum relatum expurgata prius ab omni spurcitia ecclesia, cum hympnis et laudibus in suo loco est repositum. Anno regni sui quarto rex Willielmus in Quadragesimab monasteria totius Angliæ perscrutari, et pecuniam quam ditiores Angli in eis deposuerant auferri, et in ærrarium suum iussit deferri.18 Per idem tempus rex Scottorum Malcolmus per Cumberlande uersus orientem discurrens, uniuersam Thesedale et eius finitima loca, Clevelande, et Heorternes, et terras sancti Cuthberti depopulans, omnes omnibus rebus, nonnullos etiam ipsis priuauit animabus.19 Tunc et ecclesia sancti Petri in Wiremunde flamma suorum ipso inspectante consumpsit. Alias quoque ecclesias, cum hiis qui in eas confugerant, concremauit. Inter has Scottorum uastationes et rapinas, Gospatricus comes, qui comitatum Northumbrorum a rege Willielmo emerat,20 Cumberlande inuasit et peracta cæde et incendio cum magna præda reuersus se cum sociis in Bebbamburg recepit.

  C, timensque. R, P, L, uerensque.   C, L, in xl ma.

a

b

139

The History of Alfred of Beverley

the king, they related everything to him as it had happened.16 When the king heard about the virtue of the glorious confessor, he was afraid of similar retribution for other deeds and he summoned the leaders of the church and confirmed by royal authority and the protection of his seal every decree which had been drawn up by earlier kings and princes concerning the liberty of that church. And, lest he himself fell short of his predecessors in generosity, he adorned the aforementioned church with valuable gifts and extended her possessions.17 Furthermore, as trumpets sounded throughout the army, it withdrew immediately from that place so that the peace of the church which William had guaranteed should not be disturbed by the presence of his troops nearby, and the king ordered it to pitch camp a long way away. After all Northumbria had thus been laid waste, at the approach of Spring the king returned to the south of the Humber. The body of St Cuthbert was carried back to Durham and, once the church had been cleansed from all pollution, restored to its place with hymns and praises. In the fourth year of his reign [1070], King William, in Lent, ordered all the monasteries of England to be searched and the money which the richer English had deposited in them to be carried away and brought to his treasury.18 At the same time, the king of the Scots, Malcolm, made his way speedily to the east and, laying waste to the whole of Teesdale and its neighbouring territories, Cleveland and Holderness, and the lands of St Cuthbert, he completely deprived all those places of their goods and some even of their inhabitants too.19 Then his troops destroyed the church of St Peter at Wearmouth by fire, while he himself looked on. He also burned other churches, with those who had taken refuge in them. Amid this pillaging and depredation by the Scots, Earl Gospatric, who had purchased the earldom of Northumbria from King William,20 invaded Cumberland and after slaughter and burning, returned with great booty and withdrew with his allies to Bamburgh. The account of the assault on the asylum-seekers fleeing King William’s harrying troops in early 1070 is the only instance of parochial interest in Beverley in the History and the point at which it comes is of interest. The author turns from the HR and its account of the Durham monks carrying St Cuthbert to safety from William’s troops, from which he has been compiling, to introduce a story of his own community saint, told with an evident sense of pride. 17  The Acta of King William (above p. 137, note 12) indicate that William granted privileges to St John of Beverley before September 1069, confirming grants of Edward the Confessor. The passage here again bears on the question of AB’s authorship of the tract Libertates Ecclesiae Beverlacensis, which reports no grants of King William to Beverley, only those of kings Æthelstan and Edward the Confessor. Had AB authored the tract, it might be expected that King William’s grants would have been recorded. 18  HR, § 154. The HR comment that the act was driven propter illius austeritatem et depopulationem (‘because of his (William’s) harshness and rapacity’), is omitted. 19  HR, § 155. Bishop Æthelwine of Durham’s despair at the foreign takeover, ‘whose language and custom’s he knew not’, is omitted. 20  HR, § 156. 16 

139

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Quo audito rex Malcolmus uix præ furore seipsum ferens, iussit suis, ut nulli Anglicæ gentis ulterius parcerent, sed omnes uel necarent uel captiuando perpetuæ seruituti addicerent Qua licentia accepta, senes ac uetulæ alii gladiis obtruncantur, alii lanceisb confodiuntur, rapti ab uberibus matrum paruuli in altum æra proiciuntur, et lancearum acuminibus excipiuntur. Qui uero operibus et laboribus idonei uidebantur, ante faciem hostium uinctic currere compelluntur, ut perpetuo exilio in seruos et ancillas redigantur.21 Repleta est ergo Scotia seruis et ancillis Anglici generis, ita ut etiam usque hodie nulla, non dico uillula, sed nec domuncula sine hiis ualeat inueniri. Reuersus Scotiam Malcolmus, sororem clitonis Edgari Margaretam, quos uersus Coloniam nauigaturos uentus contrarius in Scotiam repulerat, matrimonio sibi iunxit, feminam regali prosapia nobilem, sed prudentia et religione multo nobilioremd cuius studio et industria rex ipse, deposita morum barbarie, factus est honestior atque ciuilior. Ex qua .vi. filios suscepit, Edwardum, Edmundum, Eadgarum regem, Alexandrum regem, Edelredum, David regem, et duas filias Matildem, Anglorum reginam, et Mariam Banoniæ comitissam.22 Anno regni sui quinto comites Edwinus et Morcharus, quod rex Willielmus eos in custodiam ponere uoluit, latenter e curia eius fugerunt, et aliquamdiu contra eum rebellauerunt. Sed cum eis parum successisset, Edwinus Malcolmum regem adiens, in itinere a suis insidiase perpessus occiditur. Morcharus uero et Herewardus uir strenuissimus cum multis aliis insulam Heli navigio petierunt. Sed et Agelwinus Dunelmensis episcopus, et Siwardus Barn de Scotia illo aduenerant. Quo audito rex cum butsecarlis in orientali plaga insulæ omnem illisf exitum obstruxit, et pontem in occidentali duobus miliariis longum fieri iussit. At illi uidentes se inclusos, omnes excepto Herewardo, qui per paludes cum paucis euasit, regi se dedebant. Qui mox episcopum Abbadonam missum in custodiam posuit, ubi et obiit. Comitem uero ceterosque per Angliam diuisos partim custodiæ mancipauit, partim manibus truncatis, uel oculis erutis abire permisit.23 Anno .vi.o rex Willielmus nauali et equestri exercitu Scotiam profectus est. Grauiter namque rex Scottorum Malcolmus eum offenderat, qui anno præterito a

  R, P, ut nonnulli.   C, gladiis. c   R, P, uicti. d   C, meliorem. e   R, P, omit insidias. f   R, P, omit omnem illis. a

b

140

The History of Alfred of Beverley

When he heard about this, King Malcolm, scarcely able to contain his fury, ordered his men no longer to spare any of the English nation, but either to kill them or to capture them, dooming them to perpetual slavery. Once his troops had been given this licence, some old men and women were beheaded with swords, others were run through with spears, and infants, snatched from their mothers’ breasts, were thrown high into the air and caught on the points of lances. But those who seemed fit enough for toil and labour were bound and forced to run before the faces of their enemies, so that in permanent exile they might be reduced to slaves and bondmaids.21 And thus Scotland was filled with slaves and handmaids of the English race, so that, even to this very day, no little village, nor even any cottage, can be found without one. After Malcolm’s return to Scotland, he took in marriage Margaret, the atheling Edgar’s sister. She and her brother had been intending to sail for Cologne, but they were driven by a contrary wind to Scotland. She was a woman noble because of her royal descent, but much more so because of her wisdom and piety. Through her care and labour, the king laid aside his barbaric ways and became more virtuous and civilized. With her, he fathered six sons – Edward, Edmund, King Edgar, King Alexander, Æthelred and King David – and two daughters, Matilda, queen of the English, and Mary, countess of Boulogne.22 In the fifth year of [King William’s] reign [1071], Earls Edwin and Morcar fled secretly from his household because William wanted to place them in custody, and they were for some time in rebellion against him. But, after this proved unsuccessful, Edwin was making his way to King Malcolm when he suffered an attack, through treachery, by his own men on the journey and was killed. Morcar, however, together with Hereward, a very valiant man, and many others, went by ship to the island of Ely. But Æthelwine, bishop of Durham, and Siward, Barn of Scotland, had already arrived there. When he heard this, the king blocked every exit on the eastern part of the island with his buscarls and ordered a two-mile-long bridge to be built on the western side. Seeing that they were surrounded, everyone except Hereward, who had slipped away through the marshes with a few men, surrendered to the king. William immediately sent Bishop Æthelwine to Abingdon and placed him in custody, where he passed away. Of the earl and the others scattered about England, some he imprisoned and some he allowed to go free after their hands had been cut off or their eyes gouged out.23 In the sixth year [1072], King William set out for Scotland with a navy and a land army. Malcolm, king of the Scots, had gravely offended him when, the year Ibid. Most of the HR commentary on Scottish barbarism and Malcolm’s cruelty is omitted. Ibid. 23  HR, § 158. The many important ecclesiastical events for the years 1070 and 1071 reported in the HR are omitted. 21  22 

140

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

regni sui terminos atrociter depopulatus fuerat. Sed ubi rex Anglorum Scotiam intrauit, rex Malcolmus in loco, qui dicitur Abernith, ei occurrit, et homo suus deuenit. Rediens autem inde Willielmus, castellum in Dunelmo condidit, et Gospatricum comitatu priuauit quasi consilio et auxilio affuisset eis qui comitem in Dunelmo peremerunt, et eis qui Normannos apud Eboracum necauerunt. Sed ahic paulatim redeamus ad superiora gratia comitum Northumbrensium, quatinusa statu regum Northumbrorum deficiente, a quibus prouincia illa comitibus amministrari coepit agnoscatur.24 Ultimus regum prouinciæ illius fuit Aeiricus, quem Northumbrenses uiolata fide, quam regi Edredo iurauerant, sibi regem fecerunt. Quare offensus rex, iussit ut tota prouincia funditus uastaretur. Illico Northumbrenses expulso rege suo atque occiso, iuramentis et muneribus placuerunt regem Edredum.b 25 Qui ut Northumbrensium minueret potentiam, regnum illorum mutauit in comitatum,26 fuitque primus Northumbrorum comes, Osulfus qui sub ipso rege Edredo, qui postea regnante Edgaro accepit Oslacum socium. Deinde Osulfus ad aquilonarem plagam Tine, Oslacus super Eboracum et fines eius curas amministrauerunt. Hiis successit Walterius senior, et Walterio filius suus Uchtredumc sub rege Agelredo.d Sed cum rex Knutus uastaret Northumbriam, contulit se cum suis ad Knutum, factoque iuramento, et obsidibus datis, peremptus est, permittente Knuto. Cui successit frater eius Edulfus Cudel. Edulfo successerunt duo filii prædicti Uchtredi, Aldredus et Edulfus, alter post alterum. Tertius filius Uchtredi sine honore comitatus habuit filium Uchtredum, cuius filius Edulfus Rus ducem se exhibuit eorum qui Walcherum episcopum occiderunt, ipseque dicitur sua illum manu interfecisse. Sed mox et ipse a femina occisus, sepultus est in ecclesia apud Gedewrde, sed post a Turgoto, priore et archidiacono Dunelmensis ecclesiæ, talis

 C, placet hic paulitim gratia comitum Northumbrensium grassum figere quatenus.   R, P, omit Edredum. c   R, P, Hutiredus. d   C, Elredo. a–a b

141

The History of Alfred of Beverley

before, he had savagely pillaged the boundaries of his kingdom. But, when the king of the English entered Scotland, King Malcolm met him in a place called Abernethy and became his man. William, returning from Scotland, built a castle in Durham and deprived Gospatric of his earldom, because he had afforded counsel and aid both to the men who murdered the earl in Durham and to those who killed the Normans at York. But here let us revert a little to the past on the subject of the earls of Northumbria, so that it may be known by what earls that province began to be administered when the line of its kings failed.24 The last of the kings of that province was Eric [Bloodaxe], whom the Northumbrians made their king in violation of the oath which they had sworn to King Eadred. Eadred, enraged at this, ordered that the whole province should be utterly devastated. The Northumbrians at once drove out and killed King Eric and placated Eadred with pledges and gifts.25 Then, to weaken the Northumbrians’ power, Eadred changed their province from a kingdom to an earldom.26 The first of the Northumbrian earls under this same King Eadred was Osulf who, later, while Edgar was still on the throne, took on Oslac as his co-ruler. Then Osulf undertook the administration of the northern side of the Tyne, and Oslac of York and its territories. They were succeeded by Walter [recte Waltheof] the elder and Waltheof by his son Uchtred, under King Æthelred. Because King Cnut was laying waste to Northumbria, Uchtred went over to that king with his men, but, after he had sworn an oath and handed over hostages, he was killed with Cnut’s consent. His brother Eadulf Cudel succeeded him. Two sons of Uchtred, Aldred and Eadulf, succeeded the aforementioned Eadulf, one after the other. The third son of Uchtred, who did not attain the rank of earl, had a son named Uchtred, whose son, Eadulf Rus, revealed himself as the leader of the men who murdered Bishop Walcher, and is said to have killed him with his own hand. But soon afterwards he was himself slain by a woman and buried in the church at Jedburgh. Later, however, that pollution was cast out by Thurgo, prior and archdeacon of the church of

HR, § 159. The excursus on the history of the earls of Northumbria which follows is located at this point (1072) in manuscript witnesses R and P of the History, but in witnesses C and L it is not. C locates the excursus in a summarising section between chapters eight and nine of the History. Witness L, which preserves chapter nine of the History only, does not contain the excursus, suggesting it too may have been located at an earlier point in the exemplar from which L was copied. This is of relevance to the discussion of a number scholars (Arnold HR, p. 196, note a; Hunter-Blair ‘Observations’, p. 111; Offler, Hexham and the Historia Regum, p. 56) that by the time CCCC MS 139 was put together (c.1180) at Durham Cathedral Priory, the account of the Northumbrian earls was transposed from its original location in the HR (952), which left Durham in c.1129, to 1072. 25  Eric Bloodaxe d. 954. 26  This sentence is not found in HR and appears to be the author’s observation. 24 

141

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

inde spurcitia est proiecta.27 Edulfus uero frater Aldredi filii Uchtredi, filii Waltherii senioris cum superbia extolleretur, et ad regem Ardeknutum reconciliandus in pace uenisset, interfectus est a Siwardo, qui post illum totius prouinciæ Nordhumbrorum, id est, ab Humbra usque Twedam, sub rege Edwardoa comitatum habuit. Successit Siwardo Tosti sub rege Edwardo. Quo de Anglia expulso, ducatus illius Morcharo committitur a rege Edwardo, et postmodum a rege Willielmo. Morcharus comitatumb ultra Tinam tradidit Osulfo. Capto postmodum et custodiæ mancipato Morcharo, rex Willielmus comitatum Osulfi commisit Copsio. Quo ab Usulfo occiso, et ipso Osulfo postea interfecto, Gospatricus filius Meldredi28 a rege Willielmo multa emptum pecunia adeptus comitatum, tenuit donec pro supraedictis causis rex ei abstulit. Cui ad se fugienti, rex Malcolmus dedit Dunbar in Lodoneio. Post Gospatricum datus est comitatus Waltherio Siwardi comitis filio. Quo postmodum capto, commissus est comitatus Walchero episcopo.c Quo occiso, datus est Albrico. Quo in rebus difficilibus parum ualente, patriamque reuerso rex dedit comitatum Rodberto de Mulbreio. Talis fuit status Northumbrorum, qui a primo comite eorum Osulfo sub tertio Anglorum monarcha Edredo usque ad ultimum Rodbertum de Mulbreio sub rege Willielmo per annos fere .cxx. cucurrit sub comitibus .xvi. Quorum nomina ob memoriam infra sunt notanda. .i.us Osulfus et Oslachus.d .ii.us Waltheuus senior.e .iii.us Uchtredus. .iiii.us Edulphus Cudel.f .v.us Aldredus. .vi.us Edulphus. .vii. Siwardus. .viii. Tosti. .ix. Morcharus. .x.us Osulphus. .xi. Copsius. .xii. Gospatricus. .xiii. Waltheuus. .xiiii. Walcherus episcopus. .xv. Albricus. .xvi. Rodbertus de Mulbreio. Quo capto, cessauit comitatus amministrari a comitibus, et ex tunc in manu regum scilicet Willielmi Magni et Willielmi Minoris et Henrici remansit.g 29 His ob noticiam personarum comitum Northumbrensium per excessum interpositis, ad continuandam interrupti ordinis seriem stilus reuertatur.30 Anno .vii.o rex Willielmus ciuitatem Cinommanis et prouinciam eius sibi subiugauit. Anno sequenti dumque in Normannia moraretur, Rogerus comes

  R, P, omit sub rege Edwardo.   C, ciuitatem. c   P, omit Episcopo. d   R, P, omit et Oslachus. e   R, P, Waltherius senior Cudel (err.). f   R, P, omit Cudel. g   R, P, demansit. a

b

142

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Durham.27 Then, when Eadulf, brother of Aldred, the son of Uchtred, who was the son of Waltheof the elder, puffed up with pride, came in peace to Hardecnut to be reconciled with him, he was killed by Siward. Then Siward himself, under King Edward, held the earldom of the whole province of the Northumbrians, that is, the district from the Humber to the Tweed. Siward was succeeded by Tosti under King Edward. When Tosti was driven out of England his dukedom was entrusted to Morcar by King Edward and later by King William Morcar handed the part of the earldom beyond the Tyne over to Osulf. When Morcar was later captured and committed to prison, King William entrusted Osulf’s earldom to Copsi. After Copsi was killed by Osulf and then Osulf himself was killed, Gospatric, the son of Maldred,28 obtained the earldom from King William, for a very large sum of money, and held it until the king, for the reasons mentioned earlier, took it from him. Gospatric fled to King Malcolm, who gave him Dunbar in Lothian. After Gospatric, the earldom was given to Walter [recte Waltheof], the son of Earl Siward, but, when he was later imprisoned, the earldom was entrusted to Bishop Walcher. After Walcher’s murder, the earldom was given to Albric, but, as he was of very little use in dealing with difficult matters, he returned to his own country and the king gave the earldom to Robert de Mowbray. Such was the history of the Northumbrians. From their first earl, Osulf, under the third king of the English, Eadred, to their last earl, Robert de Mowbray, under King William, this extended for nearly one hundred and twenty years, under sixteen earls, whose names should be recorded so that they may be remembered. First Osulf and Oslac, second Waltheof the elder, third Uchtred, fourth Eadulf Cudel, fifth Aldred, sixth Eadulf, seventh Siward, eighth Tosti, ninth Morcar, tenth Osulf, eleventh Copsi, twelfth Gospatric, thirteenth Waltheof, fourteenth Bishop Walcher, fifteenth Albric, sixteenth Robert de Mowbray. On Robert’s imprisonment, the earldom ceased to be governed by earls, and since then it has remained in the hands of the kings, that is William the Great, William the Younger and Henry.29 After including these additional details, to give information about the character of the Northumbrian earls, my pen must now return to take up again the sequence of events which has been interrupted.30 In the seventh year [1073], King William made subject to himself the city of Le Mans and its province. The following year, while William was staying in Normandy, Roger, earl of Hereford, contrary to the king’s command, gave his An account of the fate of Aldred and his final murder in the wood called Risewood by Carl, son of Thurbrand Hold, the murderer of Aldred’s father Uchtred, is omitted. 28  HR, § 159. That Maldred was son of Crinan, omitted. 29  Naming King Henry simply as ‘Henry’ in this passage and not as ‘Henry I’ strongly suggests compilation prior to the accession of Henry II in December 1154. 30  HR, § 159. 27 

142

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Herefordensis Radulpho Estanglorum comiti contra præceptum regis Willielmi sororem suam coniugem tradidit,31 nuptiasque permagnificas celebrantes, magnam coniurationem contra regem Willielmum fecerunt, comitemque Waltheuum insidiis præuentum secum coniurare compulerunt. Qui mox ut potuit Lanfrancum archiepiscopum adiit, poenitentiam pro facto licet non sponte sacramento accepit, et eius consilio regem Willielmum petiit, eique rem ex ordine pandens, illius misericordiæ ultro se dedit. Principes uero coniurationis castella sua repetiere rebellationemque adoriri coepere. Sed Herefordensi comiti ne Sabrina transuadata Radulfo comiti cum exercitu occurreret, restitit Wlfstanus Wigorniensis episcopus, et Agelwinus Heuesamnensis abbas, et Vicecomes Wigorniæ, et Walterus de Laceio cum omnibus copiis suis. At uero Radulfo comiti prope Grantebrigge Odo Baiocensis episcopus cum magna copia Anglorum et Normannorum ad bellum occurrerunt parata. Ipse autem suos conatus infirmari cernens ad Northwicum clanculo ueniens, castello coniugi suæ et militibus commendato, ad minorem Britanniam fugit. Sed principes castellum tamdiu obsederunt, quo ad pacem data permissu regis comitissæ cum suis exire de Anglia liceret. Rex uero Angliam reuersus, in natali Domini curiam apud Westmonasterium tenuit, et ex eis qui contra illum ceruicem erexerant, de Anglia quosdam exlegauit, quosdam erutis oculis uel manibus truncatis deturpauit. Comites uero Waldeuum et Rogerum iudiciali sententia dampnatos, arctioria custodiæ mancipauit.32 Post annum comes Waldeuus iussu regis extra ciuitatem Wintoniam ductus, indigne securi decapitatur, et in eodem loco terrab obruitur. Sed processu temporis Deo sic ordinante corpus eius de terra leuatur, et magno cum honore Cruland deportatur, et in ecclesia honorifice sepelitur. Hic adhuc arta positus in custodia Lanfranco archiepiscopo, a quo confessione facta poenitentiam acceperat fidelitur attestante, licet coniurationis supradictæ immunem illum esse affirmaret, ea quæ in ceteris commisisset amarissime uigiliis et orationibus, ieiunis, elemosinis ut uerus Christianus, poenitentia, lacrimis defleuit, seque felicem archiepiscopus aiebat

  R, P, attrociori.   R, P, omit terra.

a

b

143

The History of Alfred of Beverley

sister in marriage to Ralph, earl of the East Angles.31 While they were celebrating the marriage in magnificent style, they formed a great conspiracy against King William and compelled Earl Waltheof, who was entrapped by their wiles, to join their plot. As soon as he was able, Waltheof went to Archbishop Lanfranc and received penance for the oath which, albeit against his will, he had taken. On Lanfranc’s advice, he went to King William, laid the whole affair before him, and voluntarily threw himself on his mercy. Then the leaders of the conspiracy repaired to their castles and began to organise a rebellion. But Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester, Æthelwig, abbot of Evesham, the sheriff of Worcester, and Walter de Lacy, with all their troops, prevented the earl of Hereford from crossing the Severn and joining Earl Ralph and his army. And then Odo, bishop of Bayeux, with a large force of English and Norman troops, prepared for battle, encountered Earl Ralph near Cambridge. Ralph, however, seeing that his efforts were being undermined, went secretly to Norwich and, entrusting the castle to the care of his wife and soldiers, he fled to Brittany. But the army leaders besieged the castle until a treaty was made and the countess was allowed to leave England, with her people, by permission of the king. The king then returned to England and at Christmas held a court at Westminster. Of those who had raised a revolt against him, some he banished from England, and some he maimed by putting out their eyes or cutting off their hands. Earls Waltheof and Roger, who had been condemned by judicial sentence, he placed in stricter confinement.32 A year later [1075], Earl Waltheof was led out of the city of Winchester on the king’s orders, undeservedly beheaded with an axe, and his body buried in that same place in the earth. But, in the course of time, his body was raised from the earth – for thus did God ordain – and carried with great respect to Crowland and honourably buried in the church. Archbishop Lanfranc, from whom, after confession, the earl had received penance while he was in close confinement, bore faithful witness that, although Waltheof had asserted he was innocent of the aforementioned conspiracy, he had wept most bitterly in repentance over whatever other sins he had committed, with vigils, fastings, prayers, and alms, like a true Christian. And the archbishop used to say that he himself would be happy if, at HR, §§ 160 & 161. Significant matter of ecclesiastical interest omitted here includes the election of Hildebrand as Pope Gregory VII and his reforms on clerical marriage and simony, the account of Bishop Turgot of the Scots, and passages critical of the church of York in its dealings with St Andrews in Scotland and Bishop Turgot. Also omitted is the re-establishment of monastic life in Northumbria with the foundations of the Benedictine monasteries of St Mary the Virgin at Durham, St Mary’s York and at Whitby. 32  HR, § 163. The notice of the death of Queen Eadgyth, wife of Edward the Confessor, in Wilton and her burial in Westminster in 1075, omitted. 31 

143

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

fore, si post exitum uitæ illius felici potiretur requie.33 Post hæc uero mari transito rex Willielmus mouit expeditionem in minorem Britanniam, et castellum Radulfi comitis Dol obsedit. Sed ueniente illuc Francorum rege Philippoa obsidionem dimisit. Anno autem .xi.o Willielmi regis filius primogenitus Rodbertus, eo quod Normanniam, quam sibi pater ante aduentum ipsius in Angliam coram Philippo rege Francorum dederat, possidere non licebat, Franciam adiit et auxilio Philippi regis non paruam patri suo prædando, comburendo, occidendo in Normannia anxietatem inferebat.34 Denique cum ante castellum Gerburethb quod Rex Philippus Rodberto præstiterat, rex Willielmus filio suo Rodberto pugnam inferret, ab ipso uulneratus in brachio de suo eiectus est emissario. Sed mox ut patrem uoce cognouit, festinus descendit, et caballum suum ascendere fecit, et sic abire permisit. Ille autem multis suorum occisis, nonnullis captis, ac filio suo Willielmo cum multis uulnerato, inde diuertit. Anno regni eius .xiiii.o c Walcherus Dunelmensis episcopus iniuste perimitur.35 Ob cuius necem rex Willielmus eodem anno Northumbriam misso illuc Odone Baiocensi episcopo cum multa militari manu deuastauit. Eodem etiam anno misit rex Rodbertum filium suum Scotiam contra Malcolmum. Sed cum mox uenisset ad Egglesbrech, nullo confecto negotio reuersus castellum nouum super flumen Tine condidit. Nec multo post rex Willielmus fratrem suum Odonem Baiocensem episcopum Normanniæ in custodia posuit, et post annum de unaquaque hida per Angliam .vi. solidos accepit.36 Interiecto paruo tempore rex Willielmus fecit describi omnem Angliam quantum terræ quisque baronum possidebat, quot feudatos milites, quot carucas quot uillanos, quot animalia, immo quantum uiuæ pecuniæ quisque possidebat in omni regno suo a maximo usque ad minimum, et quantum redditus quæque possessio reddere poterat, et uexata est terra multis cladibus inde procedentibus.37

  C, L, omit Philippo.   R, P, Cheresburech. c   C, xiii. a

b

144

The History of Alfred of Beverley

the end of his life, he were to attain Waltheof’s blessed repose.33 After this, the king crossed the sea, invaded Brittany, and besieged the castle of Dol, which belonged to Earl Ralph. But when Philip, king of the French, arrived there, William lifted the siege. In the eleventh year [1077] Robert, King William’s eldest son, went to France because he had not been allowed to take possession of Normandy, which his father, before going to England, had given him in the presence of Philip, king of the French. There, with the help of King Philip, Robert caused his father no little anxiety by his pillaging, killing and burning in Normandy.34 Finally, before the castle of Gerberoi, which King Philip had given Robert, King William engaged in battle with his son and, wounded in the arm by him, was thrown from his horse. But, as soon as Robert recognised his father by his voice, he quickly dismounted, made William get up on his own [Robert’s] horse and, in this way, allowed him to leave the field. Then, after many of the king’s men had been killed, some taken captive, and his son William, along with many others, had been wounded, William went away from that place. In the fourteenth year of William’s reign [1080], Bishop Walcher of Durham was unjustly slain.35 On account of this murder, that same year King William ravaged Northumbria, sending there Bishop Odo of Bayeux, with a large military force. In the same year too, the king sent his son Robert to Scotland, against Malcolm. But, as soon as Robert reached Egelsbreth, he turned back, without having accomplished anything, and he built a new castle on the River Tyne. Not long afterwards, King William placed his brother Odo, the bishop of Bayeux, in custody in Normandy. A year later, the king received six shillings for every hide of land in England.36 Shortly afterwards, King William had a record of the whole of England made: how much land each of his barons possessed, how many enfeoffed knights, how many ploughs, villeins, animals, indeed how much livestock each man owned in his whole kingdom, from the greatest to the lowest, and how much each estate was able to pay. The country was troubled with many disasters as a result of this record.37 HR, § 164. Pope Gregory VII’s anathema on married clergy omitted. HR, § 165. The establishment of St Mary’s abbey York in 1078 and the consecration of Robert, bishop of Hereford, by Archbishop Lanfranc, omitted. 35  HR, § 166. 36  HR, §§ 167 & 168. Matter omitted includes details of the imperial struggles with the papacy of Gregory VII, the appointment and later consecration of William of St Calais, bishop of Durham, by Thomas, archbishop of York (Dec. 1080 x Jan. 1081), the conflict between the monks of Glastonbury and the Norman abbot Thurstan over the imposition of new foreign liturgical practices (1083), and the first assembly of monks at Durham (1083). 37  For recent ground-breaking collaborative research on the Domesday Survey (c. Dec. 1085–86/7) see, Exon: The Domesday Survey of South-West England, ed. P. A. Stokes, Studies in Domesday, general ed. J. Crick (London, 2018), available at http://www.exondomesday.ac.uk. For new interpretation resulting 33  34 

144

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Eodem quoque anno rex Willielmus in ebdomada Pentecostes filium suum Henricum apud Westmonasterium armis militaribus honorauit.38 In Kalendis uero Augusti apud Saresbiriam congregatis archiepiscopis, episcopis, comitibus, baronibus, milites illorum sibi fidelitatem contra omnes homines iurare coegit. Post hæc rex Willielmus ante Assumptionem sanctæ Mariæ in Franciam cum exercitu uenit et oppidum Mathuna et omnes ecclesias in eo sitas duosque reclusos, igne succendit, et Normanniam rediit. Sed in ipso reditu dirus uiscerum dolor eum apprehendit, et magis ac magis de die in diem grauabat. Sentiens autem diem sibi mortis imminere, Odonem Baiocensem episcopum, comites Morcharium et Rogerum, Siwardum Barn, Ulnotum regis Haroldi germanum, et omnes quos in Anglia uel Normannia custodiæ mancipauerat, laxauit. Deinde Willielmo filio suo regnum Angliæ tradidit, et Rodberto filio suo, qui tunc in Francia exulabat, comitatum Normanniæ concessit, et sic coelesti munitus uiatico postquam .xx. annis, mensibus .x. .xxviii. diebusb 39 præfuit Anglorum genti .v.to Idus Septembris regnum cum uita perdidit, et Cadomi in ecclesia sancti Stephani, quam ipse a fundamentis construxerat, bonisque ditauerat, sepultus est. Willielmus autem filius eius Angliam festinato adiit, ducens secum Morcharum et Ulnotum. Sed mox ut Wintoniam uenit, illos custodiæ mancipauit. Ipse uero Lundoniam ueniens, die dominico in Westmonasterio a Lanfranco archiepiscopo in regem consecratus est.c 40 Deinde Wintoniam rediens, thesauros patris sui, ut ipse iusserat, per Angliam diuisit, scilicet quibusdam principalibus ecclesiis decem, quibusdam .vi. marchas aurid quibusdam minus. Ecclesiis etiame in ciuitatibus, uel uillis sitis per singulas denarios .lx.f dari, cruces, altaria, scrinia, textos,g candelabra, situlas, fistulas, ac ornamenta uaria, gemmis, auro, argento lapidibusque pretiosis redimita per ecclesias digniores ac monasteria iussit diuidi. Eius quoque germanus Rodbertus in Normanniam reuersus, thesauros quos inuenerat monasteriis, ecclesiis, pauperibus pro anima patris sui largiter diuisit, et Vlfum, Haroldi quondam regis Anglorum filium, Dunecaldumque regis Scottorum Malcolmi filium a custodia laxatos, et armis militaribus honoratos abire permisit.h

  P, Marithun.   R, P, viii diebus. c   P, right-hand marginal note Coronatio Willielmus Rufi in later hand. d   R, P, add tribuit. e   C, autem. f   R, P, xl. g   R, textus. h   R, P, fecit. a

b

145

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The same year [1086] in Whitsun week, King William honoured his son Henry with a knighthood at Westminster.38 On the first of August, William assembled all his archbishops, bishops, earls and barons at Salisbury and made their knights swear fealty to him against all men. After this, before the feast of the Assumption of St Mary, King William went to France with an army, burned the town of Mantes and all the churches in it, together with two recluses, and returned to Normandy. But on his way back he was afflicted with terrible intestinal pains, which grew daily worse and worse. Feeling the day of his death to be at hand, he set free Odo, bishop of Bayeux, earls Morcar and Roger, Siward Barn, Wulfnoth, the brother of King Harold, and all those whom he had imprisoned in England and Normandy. Then he gave his son William the kingdom of England, and granted the duchy of Normandy to his son Robert, who was then in exile in France. Thus, strengthened by the heavenly viaticum, he gave up both his life and his kingdom on Thursday, the ninth of September, after ruling the English people for twenty years, ten months, and twenty-eight days.39 He was buried at Caen, in the church of St Stephen, which he himself had built from its foundations and endowed with gifts. His son William hurried off to England, taking with him Morcar and Wulfnoth. As soon as he reached Winchester, however, he imprisoned them. He himself, arriving in London, was consecrated king by Archbishop Lanfranc at Westminster on the Sunday.40 Then he returned to Winchester and distributed his father’s treasure throughout England, as William had himself commanded, namely to some principal churches he gave ten marks of gold, to some six, and to some less. He ordered also that sixty pence each be given to the churches of the towns and townships, and that crosses, altars, document chests, Gospel books, candelebra, holy water stoups, eucharistic straws and various ornaments encrusted with gems, gold, silver and precious stones should be distributed among the more important churches and monasteries. His brother Robert also, on his return to Normandy, distributed the treasures which he found liberally to the monasteries, the churches, and the poor, for the good of his father’s soul. He also freed from captivity Ulf, son of Harold, once king of the English, and Duncan, son of Malcolm, king of the Scots, and, after knighting them, allowed them to leave.

fron the study, see S. D. Baxter, ‘How and Why Was Domsday Made?’, English Historical Review, vol. CXXXV, No. 576 (October 2020), pp. 1,085–1,129 and S. D. Baxter, ‘The Domesday Controversy: A Review and a New Interpretation’, Haskins Society Journal (2018), pp. 35–37. 38  HR, § 168. 39  HR, § 169. William I (acc. 25 Dec. 1066, d. 9 Sept. 1087). 40  Ibid.

145

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Anno secundo regni Willielmi Minoris inter primates Angliæ magna orta est discordia. Pars etenim nobiliorum Normannorum fauebat regi Willielmo, sed minima: pars uero altera Rodberto comiti Normannorum, et maxima cupiens hunc in regnum asciscerea et regem fratri tradere uiuum, uel regno priuare peremptum. Huius execrandæ rei principes extiterunt Odo Baiocensis episcopus, qui et erat comes Cantuariensis, Gaufridus episcopus Constantinensis, Robertus comes Moretuniensis, Rogerus comes Scrobesbiriensis, Rodbertus de Mulbreio, Rogerus Bigot, et excellentiores principes totius Angliæ excepto Lanfranco archiepiscopo.41 Hii omnes castella muniere, circa se uastare, rapere, prædari, et omnia mala facere coeperunt. Hoc audito rex, conuocatis Anglis, ostendit eis traditionem Normannorum, et rogauit ut sibi fideles in hac necessitate existerent, et quam uellent legem ipse eis concederet, et omne iniustum Scottum interdixit, et concessit omnibus siluas suas et uenationes, sed quicquid promisit male custodiuit.42 Itaque Anglis fideliter cum eo astantibus congregato exercitu castrum Tonebrigge contra regem firmatum destruxerunt, et qui intus erant manus regi dederunt. Inde castrum Peueneseb ubi Odo episcopus erat, obsederunt, et per .vi. integras septimanas episcopus et qui cum eo erant fama coacti castrum reddiderunt, et se iure iurando de Anglia exituros, et castrum Rouense reddituros promiserunt. In hoc castro erat pene tota nobilitas Normannorum, Eustachius quoque iuuenis comes Bononiensis, et multi nobiles Flandrenses. Sed cum episcopus Rouecestriam uenisset, cum hiis, qui ex parte regis castrum deberent recipere, calliditate, ut fertur, episcopi statim cum eisdem ab hiis qui in castello erant et ipse ponitur in uinculis. Quo audito rex ciuitatem obsedit, et paulo post qui intus erant se reddiderunt, et cum dedecore eiecti sunt de Anglia. cIta episcopus, qui fere secundus fuit rex Angliæ, honorem perdidit irrecuperabiliter. Sed ueniens Normanniam, a comite totius prouinciæ curam suscepit.43 Etiam Dunelmensis episcopus Willielmus, multique alii exierunt de Angliac. Nec multo post rex Willielmus fratri suo Normanniam adimere cupiens, primo castellum Walteri de sancto Walerico, et castellum Albemare, deinde alia castella sibi conduxit, et milites suos in eis posuit. Vnde Rodbertus comes regem Francorum Philippum in Normanniam uenire fecit, et unum de ipsis castellis ipse et

  R, P, assistere.   R, P, Penese. c–c   C, L, omitted. a

b

146

The History of Alfred of Beverley

In the second year of the reign of William the Younger [1088], there arose a great dissension among the nobles of England. Part of the Norman nobility favoured King William, but they were in a minority. The other and larger part favoured Robert, earl of the Normans. They wanted to bring him to the kingdom and either hand William over to his brother alive or deprive him of the crown by killing him. The leaders of this execrable plot were Odo, bishop of Bayeux, who was also earl of Kent, Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances, Robert, count of Mortain, Roger, earl of Shrewsbury, Robert de Mowbray, Roger Bigod and all the more powerful nobles of England, except for Archbishop Lanfranc.41 All these men began to fortify their castles and to ravage, seize and plunder all about them and to do every sort of evil deed. When the king heard of this, he assembled the English and revealed to them the treachery of the Normans, asked them to be loyal to him in this time of need, and said that he would grant them whatever law they wanted. He forbade all unjust taxes and he gave permission to everyone to hunt in his forests. But he kept his promises badly.42 Then, with loyal support from the English, he assembled an army. They destroyed the castle of Tonbridge, which had been fortified against the king, and the castle’s occupants surrendered to William. Then they laid siege to the castle of Pevensey, where bishop Odo was, for six whole weeks. He and those with him were forced by hunger to yield the castle and they swore to leave England and to give up the castle of Rochester. In that castle were nearly all the Norman nobles, together with Eustace, the young earl of Boulogne, and many Flemish noblemen. But, when Odo arrived at Rochester with the men who were going to take over the castle on the king’s behalf, he himself, and those who were accompanying him, were immediately – through the cunning of the bishop, so it is said – placed in custody by the occupiers of the castle. When he learned of this, the king besieged the city and, after a short while, the men occupying the castle surrendered, and were driven out of England in disgrace. Thus, the bishop, who was almost a second king of England, irrecoverably lost his honour. But, on his arrival in Normandy, Duke Robert gave him responsibility for the whole province.43 William, bishop of Durham, along with many others, also left England. Not long afterwards, King William, wishing to take Normandy away from his brother for himself, took possession first of the castles of Walter of St Valery and Aumale, and later of other castles, and he stationed his soldiers in them. Then Duke Robert got Philip, king of the French, to come to Normandy and he and HR, § 170. Ibid. 43  HR, § 170. The HR report that Odo of Bayeux’ governance in Normandy was described in a libellus – a little book, omitted. 41  42 

146

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

rex obsederunt. Sed rex Willielmus non modica pecunia regi missa, ut obsidionem dimitteret, flagitauit et impetrauit.44 Anno regni sui quinto Willielmus rex Normanniam petiit, ut eam fratri suo eriperet. Sed pax inter eos ita facta est, ut comes regi comitatum de Owe, Fiscaniam abbatiam in monte sancti Michælis, Cheresburg et castella quæ ad se defecerant bono animo concederet, Cinnomannicam uero prouinciam, et castella quæ comiti reluctabantur in Normannia illius dominio rex subiugaret, omnibus etiam terras quas in Anglia ob fidelitatem comitis perdiderant, redderet. Ad hæc statuerunt, ut quilibet eorum absque legitimo herede discederet,a hiis qui superstes esset defuncti heres esset. Hanc conuentionem .xii. ex parte regis, et .xii. ex parte comitis iuramento firmauerunt. Interim germanus eorum Henricus montem sancti Michælis intrauit, regisque terram uastauit, et eius homines quosdam captiuauit, quosdam expoliauit. Ea propter rex et comes exercitu congregato per totam Quadragesimam montem obsederunt, et frequenter cum eo proelium commiserunt, et homines et equos nonnullos perdiderunt. At rex obsidionis pertæsus, inpacatus recessit. Interea rex Malcolmus Northumbriam inuasit. Quo rex audito, cum fratre suo Rodberto Angliam rediit, et cum nauali et equestri exercitu Scotiam profectus, Willielmum Dunelmensum episcopum in sedem suam restituit. Sed antequam in Scotiam intrasset, fere tota classis demersa est, multique de exercitu equestri fame et frigore perierunt. Cui rex Malcolmus cum exercitu in prouincia Loidis occurrit. Sed comes Rodbertus, auxilio fretus Edgari clitonis, quem rex Willielmus honore, quem comes Rodbertus ei dederat, priuatum de Normannia expulit, et tunc cum rege Scottorum degebat, pacem inter reges ea conditione fecit ut Malcolmus regi obediret, sicut Willielmus patri suo obediuit, et Malcolmus .xii. uillas, quas in Anglia sub patreb illius habuerat Willielmus, ei redderet, et .xii. marcas auri singulis annis daret. Sed pax inter eos facta non diu durauit. Ipsum etiam Edgarum cum rege Willielmo pacificauit comes.45 Anno sexto regni sui Willielmus rex ciuitatem, quæ uocatur Britannicae Carliel, Latine Lugubalia, restaurauit, et in ea castellum ædificauit.46 Hæc ciuitas,

  R, P, decederet.   R, P, sub pace.

a

b

147

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Philip besieged one of these castles. But King William sent a large sum of money to Philip, entreating and imploring him to abandon the siege.44 In the fifth year of his reign [1091], King William went to Normandy to seize it from his brother. But peace was made between them on condition that the duke would willingly surrender to the king the county of Eu, the abbey of Fécamp on Mount St Michael, Cherbourg, and the castles which had defected to him. But the king would place under the duke’s rule the province of Maine and the castles which had been holding out against Robert in Normandy and he would restore to all the Normans the lands which they had lost in England because of their loyalty to the duke. In addition, they agreed that, if either of them should pass away without a legitimate heir, the one who survived should be the heir of the deceased. This agreement was confirmed by the oath of twelve barons on the king’s side and twelve on the duke’s. Meanwhile, their brother Henry occupied Mount St Michael, ravaged the king’s land, and captured some of his men and plundered others. So the king and the duke gathered an army and for the whole of Lent they besieged the Mount and frequently joined battle with Henry, losing both horses and men. But the king, growing weary with the siege, withdrew, unappeased. In the meantime, King Malcolm invaded Northumbria. On hearing this, King William returned to England with his brother Robert, set out for Scotland with a navy and a mounted force, and restored William, the bishop of Durham, to his seat. Before the king had entered Scotland, however, nearly all the fleet was sunk and much of the cavalry perished of cold and hunger. King Malcolm confronted William with an army in Lothian. But Duke Robert made peace between the kings with the help of the atheling Edgar – whom King William had deprived of the rank which Robert had given him and driven out of Normandy and who was then staying with the king of the Scots. The conditions were that Malcolm would do fealty to the king, as he had done to William’s father; that the king would return to Malcolm the twelve townships which he had held in England under William I; and that Malcolm would pay the king twelve marks of gold every year. But the peace between them did not last very long. Duke Robert also reconciled Edgar himself with King William.45 In the sixth year of his reign [1092], King William restored the city, which in British is called Kairleil but in Latin Lugubalia, and built a castle there.46 This HR, § 171. Notice of the death of Archbishop Lanfranc on Thursday 24 May (1089), and the very large earthquake felt throughout England in August, omitted. 45  HR, § 172. Notices of a lightning strike damaging the church of Winchcombe, the monks extinguishing the resulting fire with the aid of holy water, incense and the relics of the saints, and also notice of the storms, which damaged many churches and houses in London in October 1091, omitted. 46  HR, § 173. Notices, some involving the church of York, and a notice of the papal schism between Urban and Clement, omitted. 44 

147

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

ut illis in partibus aliæ nonnullæ, a Danis paganis ante ducentos annos diruta, et usque ad id tempus mansit deserta. Anno .vii.o percussus infirmitate ualida rex Willielmus Glauorniæ per totam Quadragesimam iacuit languosus. Qui cum se putaret cito moriturum, ut ei barones suggesserunt, uitam suam corrigere, ecclesiasa non amplius uendere, nec ad censum ponere, sed illas regia tueri potestate, iniustas leges destruere, et rectas statuere Deo promisit.47 Conualuit de infirmitate rex Willielmus, uenitque ad eum rex Malcolmus die sancti Bartholomæi, ut pace redintegrata stabilis inter eos firmaretur amicitia. Sed ille Malcolmum uidere, aut cum eo loqui despexit.48 Insuper etiam illum, ut secundum iudicium baronum suorum in curia sua rectitudinem ei faceret constringere uoluit. Verum id agere nisi in regnorum suorum confiniis, ubi reges Scottorum erant soliti rectitudinem regibus Anglorumb facere, et secundum iudicium primatum utriusque regni uoluit Malcolmus ullo modo. Sic impacati ab inuicem discesserunt. Postea rex Malcolmus et primogenitus filius eius Edwardus cum multis aliis in Northumbria die sancti Bricii a militibus Rodberti Northumbrorum comitis occisi sunt. In cuius morte iustitia Dei aperte consideratur, ut in illa prouincia cum suis interiret, quam sæpe ipse uastauit.49 Quinquies namque illam attroci depopulatione attriuit, et miseros indigenas in seruitutem redigendos abduxit captiuos. Semel Edwardo regnante, cet Agelwino apud Dunelmum pontificantec quando Tosti comes Eboraci Romam profectus fuerat.50 Iterum regnante Willielmo, quando etiam Clivelandam depopulatus est dsub eodem episcopod. Tertio regnante eodem Willielmo, eet Walchero Dunelmi pontificantee quando usque Tinam progressus, post cædes hominum, concremationes, locorum multa cum præda reuertitur. Quarto regnante Willielmo Iuniori, fet Willelmo existente Dunelmensi episcopof quando cum suis copiis infinitis usque Cestram non longe a Dunelmo sitam peruenit, animo intendens ulterius progredi, sed adunata contra eum militari manu non multa metu ipso citius

  L, ecclesias suas.   L, omits Anglorum. c–c   R, P, omitted. d–d   R, P, omitted. e–e   R, P, omitted. f–f   R, P, omitted. a

b

148

The History of Alfred of Beverley

city, like some others in those parts, had been destroyed by the Danish pagans two hundred years before and had remained uninhabited from that time. In the seventh year [1093], King William fell seriously ill and laid sick in Gloucester for the whole of Lent. When he felt that he was on the point of dying, he vowed before God, on the advice of his barons, that he would amend his life; that he would no longer sell churches or tax them, but would protect them with his royal power, and that he would abolish unjust laws and put in place just ones.47 King William recovered from his illness and on St Bartholomew’s day King Malcolm came to him, to restore peace and establish a firm friendship between them. But William did not deign to see or to talk to him.48 Furthermore, he wanted to force Malcolm to do homage to him at his court, in accordance with the judgement of his barons. But Malcolm was not willing to do William homage, except on the frontier of their two kingdoms, where Scottish kings had been accustomed to do homage to English kings, and in accordance with the judgement of the chief men of both realms. And so they parted without coming to terms. Later, on the feast of St Brice [13 November], King Malcolm and his eldest son, Edward, with many others, were killed by the soldiers of Robert, earl of Northumbria. In his death, the justice of God can be clearly observed, for this man, along with his troops, perished in that very province which he had often devastated.49 Five times he had ravaged and savagely pillaged it and had carried off the wretched natives into captivity, reducing them to slavery. The first time was in Edward’s reign, when Tosti, earl of York, had set off for Rome and Æthelwine was bishop of Durham.50 It happened again in William I’s reign, when he laid waste Cleveland, under the same Bishop Æthelwine. The third time was in the reign of the same King William, when Walcher was bishop of Durham, Malcolm went as far as the Tyne and returned with great spoils, after massacring men and burning down buildings. The fourth time was in the reign of William the Younger, when William [St Calais] was bishop of Durham, Malcolm and his countless forces reached Chester-le-Street, not far from Durham. He intended to go further, but a small force assembled against him and, fearful, he turned swiftly back. The fifth Ibid. The appointment of Anselm of Bec as archbishop of Canterbury and of Robert Bloet as bishop of Lincoln, omitted. 48  Ibid. The HR’s comment, recycled from CJW, that this was due to William’s ‘excessive pride and insolence’ prae nimina superbia et potentia, omitted. 49  HR, § 174. The HR judges King Malcolm harshly, twice commenting that his murder was a judgement of God. The first comment is retained by the author but the second, that Malcolm’s invasions of Northumbria ‘were instigated by avarice’ auaritia stimulante consueuit, is omitted. 50  Ibid. Words printed in italics are not preserved in CCCC MS 139 but are shared by compilations which draw on versions of HR which pre-date CCCC MS 139. These include De Primo Saxonum Adventu and the Historia Post Bedam edited by Bishop Stubbs (1867–71) as part of his edition of Roger Hoveden. See Rollason HRAD, pp. 105–06. Also, Arnold, HR, p. 221–22, notes 1–4. 47 

148

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

reuertitur. Quinto quando cum omni quo potuit exercitu in ultimam deducturus desolationem Northumbriam inuasit, sed iuxta fluuium Alne perimitur aa Morello milite strenuoa 51 cum primogenito suo Edwardo, quem heredem regni sui post se disposuerat.52 Exercitus illius uel bgladiis confoditur uel qui gladios fugerunt inundatione fluminis quæ tunc pluuiis hiemalibus plus solito excreuerat ab sorti sunt. Corpus uero regisb cum suorum nullus remaneret, qui terra illud cooperiret, duo ex indigenisc carro impositum in Tinemuda sepelierunt. Cuius morte regina cognita, tanta affecta est tristitia ut subito in magnam incideret infirmitatem. Nec mora presbyteris accersitis ecclesiam intrauit, et post confessionem oleo uncta, et uiatico munita, intentissime Deum exorauit ne diutius illam uiuere permitteret, et exaudita est. Nam post tres dies occisionis regis soluta a carnis uinculis, ut creditur, ad gaudia transiuit æternæ salutis. Quippe dum uiueret, pietatis cultrix extitit, frequens in orationibus, corpus uigiliis et ieiuniis macerabat, ecclesias, et monasteria ditabat, seruos et ancillas Dei diligebat et honorabat, esurientibus panem frangebat, nudos uestiebat, omnibus peregrinis ad se uenientibus uestimenta et alimenta præbebat, et Deum tota mente diligebat.53 Eo anno Willielmus de Owe, relicto naturali domino suo Rodberto comite Normannorum, in Angliam ueniens, dominio regis Willielmi se subiugauit.54 Ipso etiam anno rex Willielmus Normanniam petiit, et ad fratris colloquium uenit, sed uterque inpacatus rediit,55 comes Rotomagum, et rex ad Owe, ubi quibusdam pecuniam, quibusdam terras dedit, quibusdam primatum Normanniæ promisit,

  R, P, omitted.   R, P, omitted. c   R, P, omit indigenis. a–a

b–b

149

The History of Alfred of Beverley

time, he invaded Northumbria with as large an army as he could collect, intending to bring upon it utter desolation. But he was killed by the mighty warrior Moræl51 near the River Alne, with his eldest son, Edward, whom he had appointed heir of the kingdom after him.52 Of his army, some were pierced through with swords, while those who had escaped the swords were engulfed by flooding from the river, which had been swollen to a greater extent than usual by the winter rains. Since none of his men survived to bury the king’s body, two of the local inhabitants placed it on a cart and buried him at Tynemouth. When the queen heard of his death, she was overcome with such great sorrow that she suddenly became gravely ill. She at once summoned priests, went into church, and, after confession and anointing with oil and strengthened by the holy viaticum, most earnestly prayed to God not to allow her to live any longer. And she was heeded for, three days after the king’s death, released from the fetters of the flesh, as it is believed, she passed over to the joys of eternal salvation. While she lived, she devoted herself to piety. She was constant in prayer and wore herself out with vigils and fasts. She endowed churches and monasteries. She loved and honoured the servants and handmaids of the Lord. She shared her bread with the hungry, clothed the naked, furnished clothes and food to all strangers who came to her, and loved God with all her heart.53 That year [1093], William of Eu left his natural lord, Robert, duke of the Normans, came to England, and subjected himself to the lordship of King William.54 Also, in the same year, King William went to Normandy to confer with his brother, but each left unsatisfied.55 The duke went to Rouen, the king to Eu, where he gave some of the nobles money and some lands and to others promised Ibid. Moræl of Bamburgh is described in ASC E (1093) as Earl Robert of Northumbria’s steward. The murder of King Malcom III in November 1093 by Moræl was regarded as a particularly heinous crime because, as reported in the ASC, the two men were linked in ‘spiritual affinity’. One of them had acted as sponsor to the other’s child. See Emma Mason, William Rufus. The Red King (Stroud, 2005), p. 119. 52  Ibid. The five invasions of the north by Malcolm III are reported in this detail only in the HR. 53  HR, § 174. Queen Margaret, of West Saxon royal blood (granddaughter of Edmund Ironside and daughter of Edward atheling), is widely lauded in contemporary historical literature. WM, Orderic Vitalis and John of Worcester provide eulogies. She is singled out for praise in the works of the Hexham historians, Priors Richard and John, by Robert of Torigni, and in the chronicle of the monastery of Hyde, completed in the early years of Henry II. 54  Ibid. Before this notice of William of Eu’s defection, details of the Scottish succession and William’s support of Malcolm’s son Duncan in overthrowing Donald Bane, chosen by the Scots to succeed Malcolm, is omitted. So, also, are details of the consecration of Anselm as archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of nearly all the bishops of England. The author’s generally circumspect reporting is suggested by his handling of the HR’s description of William of Eu leaving Duke Robert and becoming William Rufus’ man. The HR states that the motive for William of Eu’s defection was greed and lust for money, a comment not retained by the author. 55  ASC E states that William crossed over to Normandy to confer with his brother Robert in midLent 1094. 51 

149

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

ut se cum castellis suis ditioni suæ subicerent. Quibus ad uelle suum patratis, per castella milites suos distribuit, et castellum Bures expugnauit, et milites comitis in illo captos partim in Angliam misit, partim in Normannia custodiæ mancipauit. 56 Vnde comes regem Philippum cum exercitu adduxit in Normanniam,57 et Argentonium castellum obsedit, et ipso die obsessionis septingentos milites regis Willielmi cum scutariis et castellanis omnibus sine sanguinis effusione cepit, et ad redemptionem coegit, et post hæc in Franciam rediit. Comes etiam Rodbertus castellum quod dicitur Holm obsedit, donec Willielmus Peuerela et octingenti homines, qui illud defendebant, illi se dederunt. Idcirco rex .xx. miliapedonum sibi de Anglia mitti mandauit. Qui cum Hastingas uenissent, Ranulfus Flambart præcepto regis pecuniam, quæ eis ad uictum data fuerat, scilicet unicuique decem solidos, abstulit, et eos redire domum fecit, et pecuniam uero regi transmisit. Eodem anno Nordwalani, Westwalani, Southwalanib seruitutis iugo, quo diu premebantur, excusso, libertatem sibi uendicare laborabant, et castella,c quæ in Westwallia firmata erant frangebant, et in Cestrensi, Scrobesbiriensi et Herefordensi prouincia uillas cremabant, prædas agebant, multos interficiebant. Fregerunt et castellum in Menauia insula, eamque suæ ditioni subiciebant. Qua propter rex in Angliam rediens, exercitum in Waloniam duxit, sed ibi et homines et equos perdidit multos.58 Anno regni sui .viii.o Northumbrensis comes Rodbertus de Mubreio et Willielmus comes de Owae cum multis aliis regem Willielmum regno uitaque priuare, et filium amitæ illius Stephanum de Albemara conati sunt regem constituere. Quo cognito, rex, exercitu congregato, castellum prædicti comitis Rodberti ad hostium Tine fluminis situm per duos menses obsedit, et interim quadam munitiuncula expugnata, omnes fere meliores milites comitis cepit. Deinde obsessum castellum expugnauit, et fratrem comitis cum ceteris custodiæ tradidit, et ante Benbenburg,d ubi comes confugerat, castellum firmauit, idque Malueisin nominauit. Quod cum proditione uigilum comes temptaret intrare, sed et deprehensus non potuit ad monasterium sancti Oswini regis et martiris fugit. Sed inde in crure aduersariis resistens uulneratus, extractus, iussu regis ad Benbenburg est ductus ubi eius oculos erui præcepit, nisi uxor eius ac propinquus

  R, P, Penecel.   R, P, omit Southwalani. c   R, P, castra. d   R, P, Bahenburth. a

b

150

The History of Alfred of Beverley

high rank in Normandy, if they would subject themselves and their castles to his dominion. When they had done this in accordance with William’s wishes he distributed his soldiers among their castles. He also stormed the castle of Bures and, of the duke’s soldiers captured in it, he sent some to England, and placed some in custody in Normandy.56 At this, Duke Robert persuaded King Philip to come to Normandy with his army.57 Philip laid siege to the castle of Argentan and, in a single day, captured without bloodshed seven hundred of King William’s knights, along with squires and the entire garrison. The king forcibly extracted ransom for them and then returned to France. Duke Robert also laid siege to the castle called Houlme until William Peverel and the eight hundred men who were defending it yielded to him. In response to this, King William ordered twenty thousand foot soldiers to be sent to him from England. When they arrived at Hastings, Ranulf Flambard, on the king’s orders, took the money which they had been given for their keep, namely ten shillings for each man, sent it to the king, and made them return home. That same year, the North, West and South-Welsh shook off the yoke of slavery which they had long endured and strove to recover their liberty. They stormed the castles which had been built in West Wales and in the provinces of Chester, Shropshire and Hereford, burned the townships, carried off booty, and killed many people. They also destroyed the castle on the island of Anglesey and subjected the island to their control. So the king returned to England, and led an army into Wales, but he lost many men and horses there.58 In the eighth year of William’s reign [1095], Robert de Mowbray, earl of Northumbria, and William, earl of Eu, and many others attempted to deprive William of his kingdom and his life and to set up his aunt’s son, Stephen of Aumale, as king. When he learned of this, the king gathered an army and besieged the castle of the aforementioned earl Robert, situated at the mouth of the River Tyne, for two months. During this time, he reduced a small fort and captured nearly all the earl’s best knights. Then he stormed the castle he had been besieging and placed in custody the earl’s brother, among others. He built a castle in front of Bamburgh, to which the earl had fled, and called it Malveisin. The earl tried to enter this castle through the treachery of its guards but was unable to, because he was discovered, so he fled to the monastery of St Oswine, king and martyr. But, wounded in the leg as he resisted his enemies, he was dragged out from there and, by order of the king, taken to Bamburgh. There the king commanded that his eyes HR, § 175. CJW, iii, annal for 1094, the source of the HR report, has ‘domnum suum, regem Francorum Philippum’, making clear that King Philip was liege lord of Duke Robert. 58  HR, § 175. A short notice on Scottish affairs regarding the killing of King Duncan, prompted by Donald Bane and the latter’s reinstatement as king by the Scots, omitted. 56 

57 

150

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

illius Morel castellum redderent.59 Quo reddito, comes forti custodiæ mancipandus Windesoram est adductus Morel uero traditionem regi detexit.60 Sequenti anno apud Seresbiriama in octauis Epiphaniæ celebrato concilio, Willielmi de Owe in duello uicti oculos eruere et testiculos abscidere, et dapiserum illius Willielmum filium amitæ illius traditionis conscium iussit rex suspendi. Comitem uero Odenem de Campania prædicti Stephani patrem, et Philippum Rogeri Scrobesbiriensis comitis filium et ceteros traditionis participes in custodiam posuit. Post hæc comes Normannorum Rodbertus, Ierusalem profecturus, fratri suo regi Willielmo mandauit, ut ei decem milia marcas argenti præstaret, et Normanniam in uadimonio acciperet.61 Qui petitioni eius satisfacere gestiens, indixit maioribus Angliæ, ut quisque pecuniam sibi pro posse accomodaret. Idcirco episcopi, abbates, abbatissæ aurea et argentea ecclesiæ ornamenta fregerunt, comites, barones, uicecomites suos, milites et uillanos spoliauerunt, et regi non modicam auri et argenti summam detulerunt. Ille autem mare transiit, pacem cum fratre fecit, .vi. milia sexcentas sexdecim libras illi præstitit, et ab eo Normanniam in uadimonium accepit. Anno regni sui .x.o rex Willielmus in Angliam reuersus iterum cum pedestri et equestri exercitu Waloniam profectus, uix aliquem de eis capere aut interimere potuit, sed de suis non nullos et equos perdidit multos.62 Anno post hunc proximo rex Willielmus ciuitatem quæ uocatur Cinommanis, magnamque partem illius prouinciæ suæ ditioni subiegit. Interea comes Hugo de Scrobesbiria Menauiam insulam, quæ consuete uocatur Anglesia, et cum eo Hugo comes de Cestria cum exercitu adierunt, et multos Walanorum in ea occiderunt, quosdam manibus uel pedibus truncatis testiculisque abscisis excæcauerunt. Quendam autem prouectæ ætatis presbyterum nomine Cenredum, a quo Walani in hiis quæ agebant consilium accipiebant, de ecclesia extraxerunt, et abscisis testiculis et uno oculo eruto, linguam illius absciderunt. Sed die tertia miseratione diuina illi reddita est loquela. Non multo post rex Noreganorum Magnus cum Orcadas et Menauias insulas suo adiecisset imperio, paucis nauibus illuc uenit. Cui Hugo comes de Scrobesbiria cum multis militibusb occurrit, et, ut fertur, mox

  R, P, Salesbiriam.   R, P, milibus.

a

b

151

The History of Alfred of Beverley

should be put out, unless his wife and her kinsman Moræl surrendered the earl’s castle.59 The castle was handed over, the earl was taken to Windsor and placed in close confinement, and Moræl disclosed the plot to the king.60 The following year, in the octave of the Epiphany [13 Jan. 1096], at a council held in Salisbury, the king gave orders that William of Eu, who had been defeated in a duel, should have his eyes put out and his testicles cut off and that William, the earl’s steward and the son of his aunt, who had been involved in the plot, should be hanged. Furthermore, he imprisoned Odo, count of Champagne, father of the aforementioned Stephen, Philip, son of Roger, earl of Shrewsbury, and other accomplices in the plot. After these events, Robert, duke of the Normans, who was about to set out for Jerusalem, urged his brother King William to loan him ten thousand silver marks and to take Normandy as surety.61 William made every effort to meet this request, proclaiming that all the chief men of England should provide him with as much money as they could. So the bishops, abbots and abbesses broke up the gold and silver ornaments of the church while the earls, barons and sheriffs plundered their knights and villeins and gave the king a large sum of gold and silver. William then crossed the sea, made peace with his brother and loaned him six thousand six hundred and sixteen pounds, receiving Normandy from him as surety. In the tenth year of his reign [1097], King William returned to England and set out again for Wales with an army of foot and mounted soldiers. He was, however, scarcely able to capture or kill any of the Welsh, but lost many of his own men and horses.62 The year after this, William reduced the city called Le Mans, and a great part of its province, to his rule. Meanwhile, Hugh, earl of Shrewsbury, along with Hugh, earl of Chester, went with an army to the island of Menavia, which is commonly called Anglesey, killed many Welshmen there and blinded some of them, after cutting off their hands or feet and castrating them. They even dragged from the church an elderly priest, Cenred by name, who was an adviser to the Welsh, castrated him, removed one eye, and cut out his tongue. But, by the mercy of God, speech was restored to him three days later. Not long afterwards Magnus, king of the Norwegians, who had added to his empire the Orkneys and Menavian islands, came to Anglesey with a few ships. Hugh, earl of Shrewsbury, confronted him with many soldiers, and, as it is said, was soon struck with an arrow by the HR, § 177. Ibid. The death of William, bishop of Durham, on 2 Jan. 1096, omitted. 61  HR, § 178. The background to Duke Robert’s request – the crusade preached by Pope Urban II at the council of Claremont in November 1095 – is omitted, as also is the notice of the consecration of Samson, bishop of Worcester, by Archbishop Anselm at St Paul’s in London. 62  HR, § 179. The comment that William set out intending to kill all Welsh male inhabitants is omitted. 59  60 

151

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

ab ipso rege sagitta percussus .vii. die quo crudelitatem in præfatum presbyterum exercuerat, interiit.63 Anno .mo.c. .iiii. nonas Augusti feria .v.a indictione .viii. rex Anglorum Willielmus cum in Noua Foresta quæ Ytene nuncupatur, uenatu fuisset occupatus, a quodam Franco Waltero cognomento Tirello sagitta incaute directa percussus uitam finiuit,a et Wintoniam delatus in ueteri monasterio est tumulatus. Affirmabant quidam hanc Dei esse uindictam, quod eadem regio antiquitus ecclesiis et dei cultoribus nitebat sed iussu regis Willielmi senioris hominibus fugatis domibus semirutis ecclesiis destructis, terra ferarum tantum colebaturb habitatione, et inde esse causam infortunii. Nam et antea eiusdem regis Willielmi minoris germanus Ricardus in eadem foresta perierat, et paulo ante alius Ricardus, Rodberti Normannorum comitis filius, in uenatu a suo milite sagitta ibi percussus interiit. In loco etiam quo rex occubuit priscis temporibus ecclesia fuerat constructa, sed patris sui tempore erat diruta. Eiusdem regis tempore in sole, luna, et stellis multa fiebant signa. Mare quoque litus persæpe egrediebatur, et homines et animalia submersit, et uillasc et domos subuertit. In pago qui Barrochescire nominatur, ante occisionem regis sanguis de fontibus tribus septimanis emanauit. Multis etiam Normannis diabolus in specie horribili se frequenter in siluis ostendens, plura cum eis de rege et Ranulfo et quibusdam aliis locutus est. Nec mirum. Nam illorum tempore fere omnis legum siluit iustitia, causisque sub iustitia positis, sola in principibus imperabat pecunia. Denique Ranulfus contra ius ecclesiasticum, et sui gradus ordinem, presbyter enim erat, ad censum primo abbatias, de hinc episcopatus quorum patres a uita discesserant,d accepit a rege, et inde singulis annis illi non modicam pecuniæ summame persolvit. Cuius astutia et calliditas adeo excreuit, ut placitorem ac totius regni exactorem rex illum constitueret. Qui ubique per Angliam locupletiores rerum terrarumque ablatione multauit, pauperes graui iniustoque tributo incessanter, et ante episcopatum et post episcopatum communiter maiores et minores, et hoc

  R, P, perdidit.   R, P, celebrabatur. c   R, P, omit uillas. d   R, P, decesserant. e   R, P, omit summam. a

b

152

The History of Alfred of Beverley

king himself, and died on the seventh day after he had perpetrated this cruelty on the aforesaid priest.63 In the year 1100, on Thursday 2 August, in the eighth indiction, William, king of the English, lost his life while he was hunting in the New Forest – which is called Ytene – when he was struck by an arrow carelessly shot by a certain Frenchman, Walter, surnamed Tyrel. He was carried to Winchester and buried in the old monastery. Some said that this was vengeance from God, for that area used to flourish in ancient times with churches and with worshippers of God. But, on the orders of King William the Elder, men were driven out, homes demolished, churches destroyed, and the land made habitable only for wild beasts. And it was this which was the cause of misfortune. For, sometime earlier, Richard, brother of William the Younger, had died in the same forest, and, a short while before that, another Richard, the son of Robert, duke of Normandy, died there while hunting, struck by an arrow shot by his knight. On the spot where the king fell, a church had been built in former times, but had been pulled down in the time of his father. In the reign of this same king, there were many signs in the sun, moon, and stars. The sea frequently flooded the shore, drowned men and beasts, and destroyed villages and houses. In the district called Berkshire, blood flowed from springs for three weeks before the king’s death. The devil frequently showed himself in a horrible shape to many of the Normans in the woods and spoke to them openly about the king, Ranulf, and certain others. And no wonder, for in their time almost all legal justice was silenced, and when cases were brought to trial, money alone commanded those in power. Lastly, Ranulf, acting against canon law, and the order of his rank – for he was a priest – received as property from the king, first abbeys, then bishoprics whose holders had died, and thus he paid the king a considerable sum of money each year. His astuteness and cunning grew to such an extent that the king made him protector of, and tax collector for, the whole kingdom. Everywhere throughout England he penalised the better off by removing their possessions and lands, and the poor with incessant severe and unjust taxes. Both before he became a bishop and as a bishop, he oppressed the great and the small alike, and this continued The account, resuming with the death of William Rufus, passes over much matter of secular and ecclesiastical importance for the years 1096–1100 reported in HR. This includes: dissension between Archbishop Anselm and William Rufus and the archbishop’s visit to Rome to seek papal support in 1097; the taking of Antioch and discovery of the Holy Lance (1098); translation of St Cnut; church councils at Bari (Oct. 1098) and in Rome (April 1099) which proscribed lay investiture of churches or homage of ecclesiastics to laymen; the appointment of Ranulf Flambard as bishop of Durham and his consecration by Thomas, archbishop of York, in June 1099; the taking of Jerusalem by the Christians in July 1099 and elevation of Godfrey of Lorraine as king; the death of Pope Urban in July 1099 and election and consecration of Pope Paschal II (August 14); the death of Pope Clement (Sept. 1100) and, in England, the dedication of the church of Gloucester by leading bishops. These omissions occupy the whole of HR § 180 and part of HR § 181. 63 

152

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

usque ad mortem regis oppressit. Nam eo die quo occisus periit Dorobernensem archiepiscopatum,a Wintoniensem et Saresbiriensem præsulatum in manu sua tenuit. Regnauit autem fere annis .xiii. Cui successit iunior frater suus Henricus.64 Igitur Nonas Augusti die Dominico in Westmonasterio a Mauriciob Lundoniensi episcopo Henricus in regem est consecratus.65 Qui consecrationis suæ die sanctam ecclesiam, quæ fratris sui tempore uendita est et ad firmam erat posita, liberam fecit, ac omnes malas consuetudines, et iniustas exactiones, quibus regnum Angliæ iniuste opprimebatur, abstulit, pacem firmam in toto regno suo posuit, et tenere præcepit, legem regis Edwardi, omnibus in commune reddidit, cum illis emendationibus quibus pater suus illam emendauit. Sed forestas quas ille constituit et habuit, in manu sua retinuit. Nec multo post Dunelmensem episcopum Ranulfum Lundoniæ in turri custodiæ mancipauit, et Dorobernensem archiepiscopum Anselmumc reuocauit.66 Congregatis ergo maioribus natu Angliæ regis Scottorum Malcolmi et Margaretæ reginæ filiam Matildem Lundoniæ in coniugem accepit, quam archiepiscopus Anselmus die Dominico festiuitatis sancti Martini reginam consecrauit et coronauit. Anno regni Henrici .ii.o Dunelmensis episcopus Ranulfus de custodia mira calliditate euasit, mare transiit, Normannorum comitem Rodbertum adiit. Cuius suasu et plurimorum huius terræ principum cum exercitu Angliam uenit et iuxta Wintoniam castra posuit.67 Rex uero congregato de tota Anglia innumerabili exercitu apud Hastingas, ubi comitem appulsurum putabat, castra posuerat. Cognito aduentu comitis, quidam de primoribus Angliæ mox ad eum, ut ante proposuerant, transfugere, quidam uero cum rege ficta mente remansere, sed episcopi, milites gregarii, et Angli animo constanti cum illo perstitere unanimiter, ad pugnam parati cum ipso descendere. Verum sapientiores utriusque partis habito inter se salubri consilio pacem inter fratres ea ratione compusuerunt ut tria millia marcas argenti singulis

  C, L episcopatum.   L, omit a Mauricio. c   R, P, Anselinum. a

b

153

The History of Alfred of Beverley

until the king’s death. For, on the day the king was killed, Ranulf held in his hands the archbishopric of Canterbury and the bishoprics of Winchester and Salisbury. William reigned nearly thirteen years and his younger brother Henry succeeded him.64 Henry was therefore consecrated king at Westminster by Maurice, bishop of London, on Sunday 5 August.65 On the day of his consecration, he set free the Holy Church, which in his brother’s day had been put up for sale, and he swept away the evil customs and unfair taxes by which the English kingdom had been unjustly oppressed. He established stable peace throughout the kingdom and commanded that it should be upheld. He restored to all alike the law of King Edward, with those improvements which his father had made. But he kept possession of the forests which his father had established and owned. Not long afterwards, he placed Ranulf, bishop of Durham, in prison in the Tower of London and recalled Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury.66 Then, in the presence of an assembly of the more nobly born men of England, in London, the king took Matilda, daughter of Malcolm, king of the Scots, and Queen Margaret, as his wife and Archbishop Anselm consecrated and crowned her queen on the Sunday of the feast of St Martin [11 November]. In the second year of Henry’s reign [1101], Ranulf, bishop of Durham, with great cunning, escaped from prison, crossed the sea, and went to Robert, duke of the Normans. At his suggestion and that of many of the foremost men of those parts, Robert came to England with an army and pitched camp near Winchester.67 But the king had gathered an innumerable army from all over England and set up camp near Hastings, where he thought the duke would land. On the news of the duke’s arrival, some of the English nobles immediately went over to him, as they had previously planned to do, while others remained with the king, though with duplicitous intent. But the bishops, the ordinary soldiers, and the English people all stood resolutely with Henry, prepared to do battle for him. The wiser heads on both sides, however, exchanged sound advice among themselves and drew up a peace between the two brothers, on condition that the HR, § 181. Which specifies William’s reign to be thirteen years less 38 days. HR, § 182. Henry was consecrated by Maurice, bishop of London, because Archbishop Anselm was abroad and Thomas of York was in Ripon. According to Hugh the Chanter, Thomas hastened to London on hearing of William’s death, only to find Henry already consecrated as king, at which he was indignant, maintaining that only an archbishop of the realm had the right to consecrate the king (HC, p. 10). JW states that while Henry was consecrated by Bishop Maurice, he was crowned by Thomas, archbishop of York (CJW, iii, annal for 1100), although this claim is not recycled in the HR. For Henry’s hasty consecration and crowning, and details of the coronation ceremony itself, see Judith A. Green, Henry I King of England and Duke of Normandy (Cambridge, 2009), pp. 42–45. 66  HR, § 182. Notices of the returning crusader princes, including Duke Robert of Normandy, omitted. 67  The background and details of Duke Robert’s invasion in 1101 are discussed in Green, Henry I, pp. 60–67, and see also McGurk, CJW, iii. pp. 98–99, note 5. 64 

65 

153

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

annis persolueret rex comiti, et omnibus qui pro comite in Anglia uel pro rege in Normannia honores suos perdiderant, gratuito redderentur. Quibus pacatis, exercitus comitis partim in Normannia rediit, partim in Anglia secum remansit.68 Anno .iii.o comes Scrobesbiriæ Rodbertus de Belesmo, Rogeri comitis filius, qui etiam comitatum Pontinensem tunc regebat, et in Normannia plurima castella possidebat, ciuitatem Scrobesberiam cum castello, et castella Harundel et Tichehila contra regem Henricum muniuit, et castella Brige et Corocone perficere modis omnibus laborauit. Sed conatus eius et opera cito sunt impedita. Insidiis enim eius per indicia certa detectis publicum hostem rex illum pronunciauit. Ideo ipse et frater suus Arnoldusb cum Britonibus et Normannis partem Staffordensis pagi uastauerunt et animalia et homines in Waloniam adduxerunt.69 At rex statim castellum eius Arundel obsedit et castellis ante illud firmatis, recessit, et Rodbertum Lincolniensis episcopum cum parte exercitus Tichehil obsidere iussit. Ipse autem Brige cum exercitu pene totius Angliæ obsedit, et infra .xxx.c dies ciuitate omnibusque castellis redditis inimicum suum Rodbertum superauit, et ignominiose de Anglia expulit, fratremque suum Arnulphum postea pro perfidia similiter dampnauit.70 Rodbertus comes Normanniæ ad colloquium fratris sui uenit in Angliam, et antequam redisset perdonauit tria milia marcas argenti, quas rex sibi omni anno debebat.71 Anno .iiii.o, Willielmus comes de Moretonio exheredatus est de tota terra sua quam habuit in Anglia. Non potest facile narrari miseria quam sustinuit isto tempore Anglia propter exactionesd regias.72 Anno .v.o rex Henricus transiuit mare. Omnes autem pene maiores Normannorum in aduentum eius, spreto comite et fide quam ei debebant, in aurum et argentum regi cucurrerunt, eique castra, munitasque ciuitates, et urbes tradiderunt. Ille uero Baiocas cum ecclesia sanctæ Mariæ combussit, et Cadomum

  R, P, Tykeil.   R, P, Hernoldus. c   C, xiii dies. d   P, left-hand margin gloss in later hand exactiones regis v.prologus particula i. a

b

154

The History of Alfred of Beverley

king would pay the duke three thousand silver marks each year and that all those who had lost official dignities, either in England because they were on the duke’s side, or in Normandy, because they were on the king’s, should have them freely restored. Once this peace had been made, part of the duke’s army returned to Normandy and part remained with him in England.68 In the third year [1102], Robert of Bellême, earl of Shrewsbury, son of Earl Roger, who was then ruling the county of Ponthieu and possessed many castles in Normandy, fortified the city of Shrewsbury and its castle and the castles of Arundel and Tickhill against King Henry and strove, by every possible means, to finish the castles of Bridgnorth and Carreghofa. But his efforts and labours were quickly checked. His plots were revealed, on firm evidence, and the king pronounced him a public enemy. So, he and his brother Arnold, with Welsh and Norman troops, laid waste part of Staffordshire and led men and cattle off to Wales.69 The king at once laid siege to Robert’s castle at Arundel, then established fortresses in front of it, before retreating. He ordered Robert, bishop of Lincoln, to besiege Tickhill with part of the army. He himself, with nearly all the army of England, besieged Bridgnorth and within thirty days the city and all the castles had surrendered. He had defeated his enemy Robert [of Bellême, earl of Shrewsbury] and expelled him with ignominy from England. Henry later similarly condemned Robert’s brother, Arnulf [recte Arnold], for his treachery.70 Robert, earl of Normandy, came to England to confer with his brother [1103] and, before he returned, he waived the three thousand marks of silver which the king owed to him every year.71 In the fourth year [1104], William, count of Mortain, was disinherited from all his English lands. It is not easy to describe the misery that England suffered at this time as a result of the king’s taxes.72 In the fifth year [1105], King Henry crossed the sea. When he arrived, almost all the Norman nobles abandoned the duke and the loyalty which they owed to him, ran after the king and his gold and silver, and surrendered to him their castles, fortified cities and towns. He burned Bayeux, along with the church of St Mary,

HR, § 182. HR, § 183. 70  HR, § 184. Matter passed over by the author includes the council of Westminster in late September 1102 which promulgated far-reaching canons and deposed numerous abbots, inter alia, for simony. The HR here adds detail to matter it has reproduced from CJW, iii: that the council forbade priests to have concubines, resulting in many priests shutting down their churches and leaving off church services. The dispute between Henry and Archbishop Anselm in 1103 over investiture of churches and Archbishop Gerard of York’s role in consecrating bishops Henry had invested, is also omitted. 71  This was the pension which Henry had promised to pay Duke Robert in the Treaty of Alton in 1101, variously reported as between £2,000 and £3,000 per annum. See Green, Henry I, p. 64. 72  HR, § 185. 68  69 

154

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

fratri suo abstulit, et Angliam rediit. Comes Willielmus de Moretonio quantum potuit rebus regis nocuit propter honorem quem in Anglia perdiderat.73 Anno .vi.o Rodbertus comes Normanniæ uenit in Angliam, et quæsiuit a rege ut redderet sibi ea quæ acceperat super eum in Normannia. Cui rex contradixit omnia. Quare comes iratus recessit, et mare transiuit, et rex eum mense Augusti subsecutus est, cui fere omnes primi Normannorum se dederunt, exceptis Rodberto de Belesmo et Willielmus de Moretonio et paucis aliis. Rex itaque congregato exercitu obsedit Tenerchebrai uenit, quod erat castrum comitis de Moretonio, et dum ibi moraretur, uenit Rodbertus comes frater suus super eum cum exercitua in uigilia sancti Michælis, et cum eo Rodbertus de Belesmo et Willielmus comes de Moretonio, sed ius etb uictoria facta est regis. Ibi enim captus est Rodbertus comes Normanniæ et comes Willielmus de Moretonio et Rodbertus de Stuteuille.c Rodbertus autem de Belesmo in fugam uersus est, Willielmus Crispinus captus est, et plures alii cum eo. Hiis itaque gestis, rex subegit sibi totam Normanniam, et ad uoluntatem suam dictauit, et hoc Anselmo archiepiscopo per litteras indicauit.d 74 Anno .vii.o Normannia sub pace regia disposita, duceque Normannorum Rodberto et comite Willielmo de Moretonio in Angliam sub captione præmissis, ipse rex ante Pascha in regnum suum reuersus est.75 Anno regni sui .viii.o rex Henricus pacem firmam legemque talem constituit, ut si quis in furto uel latrocinio deprehensus fuisset, suspenderetur. Monetam quoque corruptam et falsam sub tanta animaduersione corrigi statuit, ut nullus qui posset deprehendi falsos denarios facere aliquam redemptionem quin oculos et inferiores corporis partes perderet, iuuari ualeret. Et quoniam sæpissime dum denarii eligebantur flectebantur, rumpebantur, respuebantur, statuit ut nulluse denarius uel obolus quos et rotundos esse instituit, aut etiam quadrans non nisi integer esset.76 Ex quo facto magnum bonum toti regno creatum est quia ipse rex Henricus hæc ad releuandas terræ ærumpnas agebat.

  R, P, cum exercitu magno.   R, P, omit ius et. c   C, Willielmus de Stotauilla. d   R, P, dictauit. e   R, P, omnis denarius. a

b

155

The History of Alfred of Beverley

took Caen from his brother, and returned to England. William, count of Mortain, did as much harm to the king’s possessions because of the honour which he had lost in England.73 In the sixth year [1106], Robert, duke of Normandy, came to England and asked the king to return everything which he had taken from him in Normandy. The king refused all his requests, whereupon the duke departed in anger and crossed the sea. In the month of August, the king followed and nearly all the leading Normans went over to him, except Robert of Bellême, William of Mortain, and a few others. So, the king assembled an army and went and besieged Tinchebrai, which was the castle of the count of Mortain. While he lingered there, his brother, Duke Robert, came upon him with an army on the eve of St Michael’s day, along with Robert of Bellême and William, count of Mortain, but justice and the king were victorious. Duke Robert of Normandy, William, count of Mortain, and Robert de Stuteville were captured there. Robert of Bellême fled. William Crispin was captured and many others with him. After these events the king subjugated all Normandy to himself and ruled it as he willed, as he declared to Archbishop Anselm in a letter.74 In the seventh year [1107], when Normandy had been settled under royal peace and Robert, duke of the Normans, and William, count of Mortain, sent under guard to England, the king himself returned to his kingdom before Easter.75 In the eighth year of his reign [1108], King Henry established an enduring peace and decreed a law that anyone who was caught thieving or robbing should be hanged. He also decreed that debased or false coinage should be punished with such severity that, if anyone was caught making forged pennies, the only retribution which could secure their release was the loss of their eyes and their lower limbs. And, since it very often happened that when coins were examined they were found to be bent, broken and unacceptable, he decreed that no penny, halfpenny – which he also ordained should be round – or even farthing, should be whole.76 This measure produced great benefit for the whole kingdom, for the king took it to relieve the country’s troubles. Ibid. Report of the disinterment of St Cuthbert’s body and its examination on account of the scepticism of some, omitted. 74  HR, § 186. Notices of astronomical events, imperial affairs and the death of King Edgar of the Scots in January 1107, omitted. 75  HR, § 187. Most events of ecclesiastical importance, some relating to the church of York, are omitted. These include the three-day council of Westminster (August 1107) in which King Henry and Archbishop Anselm reached a compromise on lay investitures, details of the election and later consecration of five bishops by Anselm. The submission of Gerard, archbishop of York, to Anselm as he ‘had promised when consecrated by him as bishop of the church of Hereford’ is also overlooked. 76  Ibid. The HR source for this passage is CJW, iii, via Eadmer, HN, iv, p. 193. McGurk, CJW, iii, p. 114, note 2, explains the practice of ‘nicking’ coins to show that they were not simply carrying an outer coating, disguising base material, and were of pure content. Henry I’s policies on coins and coinage are discussed in M. Blackburn, ‘Coinage and Currency Under Henry I: a Review’, ANS xiii (1991), pp. 49–81 at pp. 62–64. 73 

155

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Anno .ix.o rex Henricus abbatiam Eliensem ad episcopalem mutauit sedem, et Herueium Bangornensem episcopum eidem ecclesiæ præfecit.77 Anno .x.o rex Henricus filiam suam Henrico imperatori in coniugem dedit, et eodem anno Flandrenses qui Northumbriam incolebant cum tota superlectili sua in Waloniam transtulit, et terram quæ Ros nominatur incolere præcepit.a 78 Eodem anno rex comitem Rodbertum de Belesmo captum in Normannia in Cheresburg in custodia posuit, et cum in Angliam rediit, eundem de Normannia ductum apud Werham in artissima posuit custodia.79 Anno .xi.o Anno .xii.o Anno .xiii.o Anno .xiiii.o Rex Henricus exercitum in Waloniam duxit, et inde rediens, mare transiit. Anno .xv.o Rex in Angliam rediit. Anno .xvi.o conuentus optimatum totius Angliæ apud Searesbiriam factus est, qui in præsentia regis homagium Willielmo filio suo fecerunt et ei fidelitatem iurauerunt.80 Eodem anno Griffinus filius Resb regis Waloniæ prædas agebat, castella incendebat quoniam rex Henricus particulam de terra patris sui ei dare noluit. Ipso quoque anno Oswinus rex Britonum occiditur, et rex Henricus mare transiuit.81 Anno .xvii.o secundum regis Henrici præceptum, apud Cirecestriam nouum opus est inceptum. Anno .xviii.o c Matildis regina Anglorum obiit.82 Plures Normannorum fidem quam regi Henrico iurauerunt postponentes, ad regem Franciæ Lodouicum se transtulerunt.83

  C, ceperunt.   C, omits Res. c   R, P, omits Anno xviii. a

b

156

The History of Alfred of Beverley

In the ninth year [1109], the king changed Ely from an abbey to a bishopric and appointed Hervey, bishop of Bangor, over that see.77 In the tenth year [1110], King Henry gave his daughter in marriage to the emperor Henry and that same year removed the Flemings who were living in Northumbria to Wales, with all their chattels, and ordered them to settle in the district which is called Rhos.78 That same year, the king imprisoned Robert of Bellême, captured in Normandy, in Cherbourg and, on his return to England, he had Robert brought from Normandy and placed in the closest confinement at Wareham.79 In the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth years [1111–1114], King Henry led an army into Wales and, when he returned, crossed the sea. In the fifteenth year [1115], the king returned to England. In the sixteenth year [1116], an assembly of the leading men from all England was held in Salisbury, where, in the presence of the king, they did homage to his son William and promised him fealty.80 In the same year Gruffydd, son of Rhys, king of Wales, made pillaging raids and burned castles in Wales because King Henry refused to give him even a small part of his father’s land. In that same year, Owen, the king of the Britons, was killed and King Henry crossed the sea.81 In the seventeenth year [1117], in accordance with King Henry’s commands, a new building was begun at Cirencester and in the eighteenth year [1118], Matilda, queen of the English, died.82 Many of the Normans laid aside the fealty they had sworn to King Henry and went over to Louis, king of France.83

An increasing amount of HR content is now being overlooked by the author in the compilation. All of HR, § 188, including the death of Archbishop Gerard of York (May 1108) and, notably, the appointment of Thomas, provost of the church of Beverley and nephew of archbishop Thomas I of York, as his successor. The decrees of the primatial council of London in 1108 concerning clerical marriage, the death of Anselm (April 21 1109) and the consecration and receipt of the pallium by Archbishop Thomas II of York, from the hands of Cardinal Ulric, also omitted. 78  HR, § 191. The report here of the relocation of the Flemings to Rhos in south Wales, here taken from HR (itself sourced from CJW, iii, annal for 1111) supplements the author’s prologue comments on the Flemings in the History (above, pp. 9–10). The relocation of the Flemings to south Wales by King Henry is noted by other chroniclers. WM GRA, iv. 311; v. 401, refers on two occasions to their relocation to Rhos by King Henry, which William stated to be a strategy to create a buffer between the rebellious Welsh and England. William, however, does not specify that they were relocated from Northumbria. 79  HR, § 193. The death of Archbishop Thomas II of York, accorded an extended eulogy in HR, passes unreported, as does the election of Archbishop Thurstan (15 Aug. 1114). Thomas had for seventeen years been provost of Beverley (1092–June 1109), where he died in February 1114, and this omission, as that of the election of Archbishop Thurstan, a notable benefactor of Beverley during his episcopacy, is noteworthy. 80  HR, § 194. 81  Ibid. Notice of the dispute between Archbishop elect Thurstan and Ralph, archbishop of Canterbury, over profession, omitted. 82  HR, § 195, May 1118. 83  Ibid. 77 

156

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Anno .xix.o Willielmus Henrici regis et Matildis reginæ filius, accepit uxorem filiam comitis Andegauensium.84 Anno .xx.o rex Anglorum Henricus et rex Francorum Lodouicus post multa suarum partium detrimenta die præstituta ineunt colloquium. Quo ex consensu concordit peracto, iussu regis Henrici, filius eius Willielmus facto regi Francorum hominio, Normanniæ sub illo suscepit principatum.85 Ita redeuntibus in pacem regibus, tota tumultuantis Normanniæ seditio comprimitur, et qui contra dominum suum regem Henricum arma leuauerant, curuata sub eius dominium ceruice redeunt.86 Itaque iubente rege Normanniæ principes Willielmo filio suo iam tunc decem et octo annorum hominiuma faciunt, et fidelitatis sacramentis affirmant. Sicque cunctis ad uotum regis prospere actis, quinto profectionis suæ anno necdum completo, lætior solito in Angliam reuehitur.87 Delegauerat autem filio cunctoque illius comitatui nauem, qua nulla in tota classe uidebatur melior, sed, ut euentus ostendit, nulla infelicior. Patre namque præeunte, paulo tardius, sed infelicius sequebatur filius. Naue quippe non longe a terra in ipso uelificationis impetub super scopulos in ipso exitu delata ac dissoluta, filius regis cum omnibus qui secum erant interiit .vio. Kal. Decembris feria .va. noctis initio apud Barbeflet. Mane facto thesaurus regis qui in nauic fuerat inuenitur per harenas, corpora uero pereuntium nulla. Perierunt cum filio regis frater suus nothus Ricardus comes, cum filia regis quæ fuerat uxor Rothronis et Ricardus comes Cestrensis cum uxore sua nepte regis, sorore Theobaldi comitis, Othoel, et Goffridus Ridel, Robertus Mauduit, et Willielmus Bigot, multique alii principales uiri, nobiles quoque feminæ quamplures cum regiis pueris non paucis, militaris numeri .cxl. et nautarum .l. cum tribus gubernatoribus nauis. Solus quidam macellarius tabula naufragii pendens, euasit.

  L, after hom adds letters interlineally, to form homagium.   L, has missing text, added in margin ‘uelifitacionis impetu’ and omits ‘super scopulos in ipso’. c   R, P, mari. a

b

157

The History of Alfred of Beverley

In the nineteenth year [1119], William, son of King Henry and Queen Matilda, took in marriage the daughter of the count of Anjou.84 In the twentieth year [1120], Henry, king of the English, and Louis, king of the French, after many losses on both sides, began discussions on a day previously arranged. This resulted in a peaceful agreement and, on King Henry’s orders, when his son William had done homage to the French king, he received the principality of Normandy, to hold under Louis.85 So, with peace between the kings restored, the rebellion of the unruly Normans was completely suppressed and those who had taken up arms against their sovereign, King Henry, returned submissively to his rule.86 And, at the king’s command, the Norman nobles did homage to his son William, then eighteen years of age, and they confirmed their fealty with oaths. So, after everything had been successfully accomplished, according to his wishes, the king returned to England in unusually happy mood, less than five years after his departure.87 He had furnished his son and the whole of his party with a ship than which none in the fleet seemed better, but as events proved, none was unluckier. The father sailed first. The son followed a little later, but less auspiciously. For, not far from land, just as it left the harbour, the ship was driven upon the rocks by the very force of its own motion and it was shattered. The king’s son and all who were with him perished. This occurred on Thursday 25 November, in the evening at Barfleur. In the morning the king’s treasure chest, which had been on the ship, was found on the beach, but none of the bodies of the victims were found. With the king’s son perished his brother, Earl Richard the Bastard, with the king’s daughter, who was the wife of Rotro, and Richard, earl of Chester, with his wife – the king’s niece and sister of Earl Theobald, Othuel and Geoffrey Ridel, Robert Mauduit, and William Bigod, with many other prominent men. Many noble women also died, together with not a few children of the royal family, one hundred and fifty soldiers, fifty sailors, and three captains of the ship. Only a certain butcher, clinging to a plank from the wrecked ship, survived. HR, § 198. §§ 196, 197 and the greater part of 198 are overlooked almost entirely except for the concluding note on William’s dynastic marriage to the daughter of the count of Anjou. Matters omitted include details of papal–imperial disputes, the council of Rheims and its statutes, the York–Canterbury dispute and the role of Archbishop Thurstan. 85  HR, § 199. 86  Ibid. Material on Archbishop Thurstan’s role as diplomat, mediating between Henry and Louis, and the intervention of Pope Calixtus II (1119–24), omitted. 87  Ibid. The account of the loss of the White Ship and of King Henry’s sons Prince William and Earl Richard, his daughter Maud and niece, and many other nobles and royal family members, is reproduced almost verbatim. The event is widely reported in contemporary sources. HH (HA, vii. 32) saw in the event the punishment of God for the licentiousness of many on the ship. WM GRA, v. 419 describes the crew as incapable and drunk, and drew a moral lesson on the mutability of earthly life. HH renders tribute in poetry. 84 

157

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Rex uero prospero cursu Angliam attingens, alium portum putabat intrasse filium, sed die tertio de illius interitu tristi perturbatur nuntio. Et primo quidem subito casu ueluti pusillanimis deficiebat, sed mox dissimulato dolore regios animos ex contemptu resumpsit fortunæ. Illum quippe solum ex legitimo coniugio susceptum, regni post se heredem constituerat. Anno .xxi.o Concilio totius Angliæ apud Windesoram adunato, rex Henricus filiam Godefridi ducis Luuaniæ Adelinam in matrimonio sibi iunxit.88 Vxor Willielmi submersi, filii regis Henrici, filia Fulconis comitis Andegauensis rogante patre remittitur patriam a rege. Filii regis Walonorum audit submersione Ricardi comitis Cestrensis, incensis duobus castellis multisque interfectis, quædam in illo comitatu loca grauiter depopulati sunt. Vnde rex indignatus de tota Anglia producto exercitu infinito ad deuastandam Waloniam intendit, sed cum ad Snawedune peruenisset, rex Walanorum muneribus et obsedibus petitis, regi Anglorum placato reconciliatur, et exercitus domum reuertitur.89 aEa tempestate Rex Henricus facta longa terræ intercisione fossato a Torkeseia usque ad Lincoliam per deriuationem Trentæ fluminis fecit iter magnum. Ranulphus quoque Dunelmensis episcopus castellum apud Northam incepit super ripam Tuedea.90 Anno .xxii.o rex Henricus Northumbranas intrans regiones, ab Eboraco diuertit uersus mare occidentale consideraturus ciuitatem antiquam quæ Britannicae dicitur Carleil, Anglice Carleol, Latine Lugubalia, quam data pecunia, castello et turribus præcepit muniri. Hinc rediens Eboracum, post graues ciuium et comprouincialium implacitationes reuersus est Suthumbriam.91 Anno .xxiii.o b comes Andegauensium Fulco reposcit a rege Anglorum terras, urbes et castella quæ in dotem fuerant datæ filiæ ipsius comitis, quando eam filius

  R, P, omitted.   R, P, Anno xxiiii.

a–a b

158

The History of Alfred of Beverley

The king, who had reached England after a successful voyage, imagined that his son had put in to some other port. But on the third day he was overwhelmed by the news of his sad end. At first, hearing of this sudden calamity, he fainted like a man bereft of strength, but soon, hiding his grief, he recovered his kingly courage, in contempt of fortune. For he had appointed William, his only son born in lawful wedlock, as heir to the kingdom after him. In the twenty-first year [1121], a council of all England was assembled at Windsor, and King Henry took in marriage Adela, daughter of Godfrey, duke of Louvain.88 The daughter of Fulk, count of Anjou, widow of William, King Henry’s drowned son, was sent back to her country by the king, at her father’s request. The sons of the king of the Welsh, having heard that Richard, earl of Chester, was drowned, burned two castles, killed many people, and grievously pillaged some of the places in that earldom. The king was angry at this and raised an immense army from all England and set off to devastate Wales. But, when Henry reached Snowdon, the king of the Welsh was reconciled with the English king, who was placated after demanding gifts and hostages, and the army returned home.89 In this year King Henry, after cutting through the earth for a long way, constructed a large canal route, leading off from the River Trent, from Torksey, all the way to Lincoln. Ranulf, bishop of Durham, also began building a castle at Norham by the bank of the River Tweed.90 That year [1122], King Henry, entering the Northumbrian regions, crossed over from York towards the western sea to examine the ancient city called Cair Leil in the language of the Britons, now Carlisle in English and Lugubalia in Latin. He gave a sum of money and ordered that the city be fortified with a castle and towers. Then he went back to York and, after important meetings with the citizens and men of the province, returned south of the Humber.91 In the twenty-third year [1123], Fulk, count of Anjou, demanded from the king of the English, the return of the lands, towns, and castles which had been given to his daughter as a dowry when the king’s son had married her. When the The greater part of HR, § 200, all of § 201, and most of § 202 is overlooked. Notices of ecclesiastical appointments, a dispute at Durham over the church of Tynemouth, the threatened interdiction of Archbishop Ralph of Canterbury and suspension of divine offices unless Archbishop Thurstan was restored to office by King Henry without profession to Canterbury, and papal–imperial relations, omitted. 89  HR, § 202. All of HR, §§ 203, 204 are passed over, including Thurstan’s demands of canonical subjection to him from the bishops of Glasgow, and matters of continental and imperial–papal relations, including the terms of the concordat of Worms 1122, concluded between the emperor Henry and Pope Calixtus. 90  HR, § 200. Notice of the cutting of a canal (the Fosse Dyke) from Torksey on the River Trent to Lincoln by King Henry, reported in HR, is retained. The Fosse Dyke is believed to date from Roman times, see Francis Hill, Medieval Lincoln (Cambridge, 1948), pp. 13–14. What was undertaken in 1121 appears likely to have been re-excavation of a canal in need of repair. The canal brought Beverley and Lincoln into waterway contact via the rivers Humber, Hull and Trent. 91  HR, § 205. 88 

158

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

regis accepit uxorem. Quod cum rex non libenter annueret, aliam filiam suam dedit uxorem Willielmo filio comitis Normanniæ fratris regis. Rex autem ne quid aduersi ex hoc sibi pararetur, filium suum nothum Rodbertum et comitem Cestrensem Ranulfum cum multa militari manu præmisit in Normanniam propter locorum custodias, ipseque eos paulo post est subsecutus.92 Interiectis autem uix quatuor mensibus Gualeraunus comes de Mellant, et sui omnes relicto rege castella sua contra eum tenuerunt. Rex uero conuocato exercitu oppido comitis, quod Brionne uocatur, combusto, turrim solam quam capere non ualuit relinquens, aliud eius oppidum, scilicet pontem Audomari, quod uulgi uocatur Puntaudemer, flammis combussit, omnibus in circuito per .xx. et amplius miliaria uastatis et incensis. Castellum autem illius oppidi septies .xx. milites per septem ebdomadas obsessi contra regis exercitum defenderunt. Rex itaque ligneam turrim quam uocatur Berfreit erigens, ad castellum deduxit, quæ altitudine .xxiiii. pedum super murum præsidii eminebat, unde sagittas et ingentes lapidum moles proeliatores super inclusos iaciebant. Obsessi non ualentes ulterius uires desuper pugnantium ferre, deditione facta, exierunt, quos rex quemque quo uoluita abire permisit. Milites uero quos rex de Minori Britannia conduxerat, incenso oppido terram suffodientes inuenerunt in cistis multa, quæ ciues præuidentes periculum in subterraneis recondiderant, aurum, argentum, uestes pretiosas, pallia, piper, gingiberum, et alia huiusmodi quæ uniuersa sibi tollentes abierunt.93 Habitores autem illius oppidi reconciliato sibi rege cum iam ruinas oppidi coepissent reædificare, comes præfatus subito quicquid ædificauerant iniecto igne in fauillas uertit. Præter supradictos, et alii procerum nonnulli discedentes a rege munitiones suas contra illum instaurant. Quarum quasdam rex ui aggrediens recepit, quasdam uero uelud inexpugnabiles reliquit. Crebras etiam irruptiones a Willielmo fratris sui filio sustinuit, qui plus Fulconis Andegauensium comitis soceri sui uiribus nitebatur quam propriis. Rex autem magis suorum suspectus est proditionen, quam extraneorum expauit incursus. Ob cuiusmodi dissensiones

  P, adds quo after quemque uoluit.

a

159

The History of Alfred of Beverley

king did not willingly agree to this, Fulk gave his other daughter in marriage to William, son of Robert, earl of Normandy, the king’s brother. But Henry, in case anything harmful to him was planned as a result of this, sent his son Robert and Earl Ralph of Chester, with a large band of armed soldiers, into Normandy to guard that area, and he himself followed a short time later.92 Scarcely four months had passed, when Waleran, count of Meulan, and all his allies deserted the king and held their castles against him. The king assembled his army and burned down the count’s town, called Brionne, leaving a single tower which he could not take. Then he destroyed with fire another town belonging to the count, namely the bridge of Audemer, which is commonly called Pont-Audemer, and he ravaged and burned everything within a circuit of twenty miles and more. One hundred and forty soldiers, under siege, defended the castle of that town against the king’s army for seven weeks. So the king erected a wooden tower they call a Belfry, and brought it up to the castle, towering twenty-four feet high above the wall of the fortress. From this, the besiegers launched arrows and great masses of stone onto the troops shut up inside. The besieged, no longer able to withstand the force of those fighting from above, surrendered and marched out, and the king allowed them to go wherever they chose. The soldiers, whom the king had brought from lower Brittany, after burning the town, dug up the earth and found chests containing many things which the citizens – foreseeing the danger – had hidden underground: gold, silver, valuable garments, cloaks, pepper, ginger, and other similar goods. They helped themselves to everything and left.93 When the inhabitants of that town, having now made peace with the king, began to rebuild the ruins, the aforesaid count [Waleran] suddenly set fire to what they had built and reduced it to ashes. Besides the individuals mentioned above, others also, some of them nobles, revolted from the king and strengthened their castles against him. The king, attacking some of these, recovered six of them by force, but some he left as impregnable. He sustained several attacks from William, his brother’s son, who was relying more on the forces of his father-in-law, Fulk, count of Anjou, than on his own. As for the king, he was more mistrustful of the treachery of his own subjects than fearful of the incursions of foreigners. On HR, § 205. The observation ‘ipseque eos paulo post est subsecutus’ (‘and he himself followed a short time later’) is not found in HR (text as preserved in CCCC MS 139). Considerable portions of the HR text continue to be overlooked in the compilation, including all of HR, §§ 206, 207 & 208. Material omitted includes: the deaths of the bishop of Bath and Robert Bloet, bishop of Lincoln; disputes about the election of the archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Ralph and whether he should be drawn from the ranks of the monastic or clerical order; and a very full account of the 1123 council of Rome, with its canons, including those relating to priest marriages and appeals to Rome on the question of Canterbury–York primacy, in which the role of Archbishop Thurstan of York is central. 93  HR, § 209. The fullest account of the rebellion of Waleran of Meulan is found in ASC under 1123 and 1124, in OV HE, xii. 34, 39 (vi. 332–36, 346–50, 356) and Torigni, GND, ii. 234–36. The account of the siege of Pont Audemer (Nov.–Dec. 1123) follows that of OV. 92 

159

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

et rerum difficultates Anglia grauibus est attrita exactionibus, quæ omni populo indicebantur.94 Anno .xxiiii.o comes de Mellant dum passim et inconsulte castella quæ contra regem munierat circumireta captus ab insidiantibus est cum suis non paucis diligenti artatur custodia. Anno .xxv.o Imperatrix defuncto marito amissis quibusdam quas in dotem acceperat munitionibus ad patrem in Normanniam rediit.95 Anno .xxvi.o b Monetarii totius Angliæ principales deprehensi adulterinos, scilicet inpuros ex argento fecisse denarios, iussu regis simul Wintoniæ congregati, omnes una die amputatis dextris euirantur.96 Anno .xxvii.o c Rex Henricus cum filia imperatrice rediit in Angliam.97 Anno .xxviii.o d Iubente rege Henrico archiepiscopi, episcopi,e abbates, rexque Scottorum David, comites et barones totius Angliæ apud Lundoniam iurauerunt ut filiæ suæ imperatrici fide seruata Angliæ regnum hereditario iure post eum seruarent, nisi ipse moriens legittimum de matrimonio heredem relinqueret.98 Reginæ quoque iurauerunt, ut quæcunque rex illi donasset, rata semper custodirent ac immutata. Karlo comes Flandrensis in Quadragesima dum missam audiens in oratione procumberet, circumuentus ab insidiantibus ante morte præuentus est quam mortem inferentes nosse poterat.99 Cui fratruelis regis Henrici Willielmus, filius

  R, P, circuiret.   C, L, omit anno xxvi. c   C, L, Anno xxvi (err.). d   C, L, Anno xxvii (err.). e   C, L, omit episcopi. a

b

160

The History of Alfred of Beverley

account of these dissensions and troublesome events, England was gravely afflicted by taxes, which were imposed on the whole population.94 In the twenty-fourth year [1124], the count of Meulan, while he was rashly making a circuit all around the castle which he had fortified against the king, was captured in an ambush, along with many of his men, and placed in close confinement. In the twenty-fifth year [1125], the empress [Matilda], having lost certain fortresses which she had received as a dowry, on the death of her husband [Emperor Henry V], returned to her father in Normandy.95 In the twenty-sixth year [1126] the leading coiners of all England were discovered to have produced adulterated and impure silver coins. By order of the king, they were summoned to appear at Winchester and, in a single day, they all had their right hands cut off and were emasculated.96 In the twenty-seventh year [1127], King Henry returned to England with his daughter the empress.97 In the twenty-eighth year [1128], by command of King Henry, the archbishops, bishops, abbots, David, king of the Scots, and the earls and barons of all England swore in London that they would keep their fealty and would secure to his daughter, the empress, the kingdom of England in succession to him by hereditary right, unless at his death he left behind a legitimate heir, born in wedlock.98 They also swore to the queen that whatever the king granted her they would preserve, constant and unchanged. In Lent, Charles, count of Flanders, while prostrate in prayer, as he heard mass, was attacked by men in ambush and slain before he could recognise his murderers.99 William [Clito], son of his brother Robert and nephew of King Henry, succeeded him HR, § 210. Notice of the death of Alexander, king of the Scots, and the succession of King David, omitted. 95  Ibid. Emperor Henry V died in May 1125 and Matilda returned to her father, Henry, who was then in Normandy. The author’s abbreviation continues in truncated fashion and the retention of the notice about the empress has little context, as the prior notice in HR about the death of Henry V and the circumstances of his succession is overlooked. 96  HR, § 213. Two HR sections dealing with ecclesiastical matters have been passed over – HR, §§ 211, 212. These include the visit of the papal legate John of Crema in 1125, and letters from Pope Honorius to the English church and to King David of Scotland, addressing the dispute between Thurstan of York and the Scottish church, which HR includes in full (not in CJW, iii). The 17 canons of the Legatine Council of Westminster of Sept. 1126, proscribing, inter alia, clerical marriage, are consequently omitted. 97  Henry returned to England in September 1126. 98  HR § 213. The HR’s source for dating the oath of fealty to Matilda to the year 1128 was CJW, which reported it as having taken place at Westminster in the Octave of Easter (29 April, CJW, iii, p. 177). The true date of the first formal oath of fealty to Matilda, however, appears to have been 1 January 1127. See Green, Henry I, p. 193. A second oath of fealty to Matilda is believed to have been given at a council in Northampton in September 1131. Green, Henry I, p. 212. 99  Ibid. Charles the Good, count of Flanders, was murdered in the church of St Donatian, Bruges, 2 March 1127. Reported in both CJW, iii, p. 173 and OV, vi. 370. The HR report carries additional detail to that contained in CJW. 94 

160

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Rodberti fratris eius in comitatus successit, regis Francorum Lodowici, quam maximo adiutus auxilio. Antea quidem Fulco Andegauensium comes prædicto iuveni filiam suam desponsauerat,100 sed propter consanguinitatem quam rex Henricus in eis inesse iurari fecerat diuorcio facto timentem insidias regis Anglorum iuuenem rex Francorum suscipiens, data sibi in coniugem sorore reginæ affinitate sibi sociauit,101 et ob id in prædictum comitatum sustulit, iure sibi a parte matris paternæ attinentem. Siquidem Baldewini Flandrensium comitis filiam rex Willielmus duxerat,102 ex qua Willielmum et Henricum reges procreauit, et Rodbertum comitem Normanniæ cuius filius erat prædictus Willielmus. Rex uero Henricus intendens obtinere comitatum quasi hereditario iure sibi debitum, a nepote, sicut diximus, præventus est. Quare ne quid aduersia ex nepote sibi oriretur, rex comitis Andegauensium, cui prius fuerat inimicus, expetiit amicitias, cupiens filiam suam quondam imperatricem filio eius matrimonio iungere. Quod ubi tandem utrisque complacuitb præmissam filiam in Normanniam ipse subsecutus est, remque ad effectum perduxit, eo tenore ut regi, de legitima coniuge heredem non habenti, gener illius in regnum succederet.103 Anno .xxviii.o Prædictus comes Flandrensis bis in una septimana congrediens cum hostibus, parua manu superauit plurimos. Sed paulo post obsidens castellum sibi repugnantium, dum successu uincendi insolens, crebrius uictos fugientesque repeteret, uulneratus letaliter in confinio brachii et manus104 triduo superuivens moritur.105 Cuius ex placito regis Francorum rex Henricus heres ex debito consanguinitatis factus, comitatum sub se disponendum tradidit Theodoro, lineam affinitatis ducenti ex comitibus Flandrensium.106 Anno .xxix.o Rex Henricus absoluto de captione comite de Mellant Gwalerano, cunctisque sibi quæ sua fuerant præter munitiones redditis, redintegrata inter se et regem Francorum concordia, accepto Flandrensium comitatu, filia quoque sua ex

  R, P, supply rex.   R, P, complauit.

a

b

161

The History of Alfred of Beverley

to the earldom, with strong support from Louis, king of the French. Earlier, Fulk, count of Anjou, had married his daughter [Sybil]100 to the aforesaid young man, but the marriage was dissolved, because of the consanguinity which King Henry had caused to be sworn to exist between them. The king of the French took up the young man’s cause, afraid of the scheming of the English king, and contracted an alliance with William by giving him the queen’s sister in marriage.101 Thus Louis raised William to the aforementioned earldom, which was his by right from his maternal grandmother’s side. For King William the Elder had married the daughter of Baldwin, count of Flanders [Matilda],102 and with her had fathered Kings William and Henry, and Robert, duke of Normandy, whose son the aforesaid William was. Thus, King Henry, who was intent on securing the earldom as due to him by hereditary right, was thwarted by his nephew, as explained above. The king, therefore, in case his nephew should take some hostile action against him, sought the friendship of the count of Anjou, formerly an enemy, and wanted to unite his daughter, the former empress [Matilda] in marriage to the count’s son [Geoffrey]. At length, this was agreed by both parties and King Henry followed his daughter, whom he had sent ahead to Normandy to conclude the matter, on the condition that, if the king did not have an heir in lawful wedlock, his son-in-law would succeed to his kingdom.103 In the twenty-eighth year [1128], the aforesaid count of Flanders [William Clito] joined battle with his enemies twice in one week and overcame superior numbers with a small force. But soon after, while he was besieging a castle belonging to his foes and, flushed with the success of victory, was repeatedly attacking the men he had conquered, he was lethally wounded in the area of the arm and the hand.104 After surviving for three days, he died.105 King Henry was, with the French king’s consent, made the count’s heir by right of blood and handed on the earldom – to be held under him – to Theodore, who descended from the dukes of Flanders.106 In the twenty-ninth year [1129], King Henry freed Waleran, count of Meulan, from captivity, and restored to him all that had been his, except his fortresses. He made peace between himself and the king of the French, received the dukedom of Sybil of Anjou, a second daughter of Count Fulk of Anjou. Her marriage to William Clito was dissolved in 1125 by Pope Honorius II (see Green, Henry I, pp. 275–6). 101  Jeanne, daughter of Rainier of Montferrat and half-sister to Adelaide of Savoy, wife of Louis VI of France. 102  Matilda, daughter of Baldwin V count of Flanders, married Duke William of Normandy c.1050 x 1051. 103  HR, § 213. 104  HA, vii. 39. HH reports that William suffered a small wound in his hand. 105  HR, § 214. The ASC E, 1128, reports that William, after being wounded, went to the monastery of St Bertin’s where he became a monk, before his death five days later on July 27. 106  Ibid. Notices in HR of the death of Ralph, bishop of Durham, and William Gifford, bishop of Winchester, omitted. 100 

161

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

imperatrice comiti Andegauensium copulata, omnibusque quaquauersum hostibus uel deuictis uel repacificatis arridente sibi undique prosperitate, multo nauigio in Angliam reuersus est. Fluxerant dies pauci, cum ecce nuntiatur regi, filiam suam a marito repudiatam abiectamque sine honore, paucis admodum comitibus redisse Rothomagum. Quæ res animos regis acriter perturbauit. Post festum sancti Michælis comitantibus archiepiscopis, episcopis, abbatibus, et pene totius Angliæ primatibus uenit Wintoniam, ibique filio sororis suæ Henrico, qui apud Cluniacum ab infantia nutritus erat monachus, Wintoniensis ecclesiæ dedit episcopatum, adiuncta ei in augmentum honoris abbatia Glastoniæ, quam prius ad procurationem sui a rege acceperat.a Datus est etiam episcopatus Couentrensis qui et Cestrensis Rogero nepoti Goffridi de Clintunb qui, ut dignior tanto honore esset, tribus hunc marcarum millibus promeruit.107 Ordinati sunt autem .xv. kal. Decembris Cantuariæ a Willelmo eiusdem ecclesiæ archiepiscopo.108 Anno .xxx.o Fuit rex in Pascha apud Wodestoch ubi Galfridus de Clintona infamatus est apud eum et accusatus est de proditione eius. Inde ad festiuitatem sancti Michælis transit in Normanniam.109 Anno .xxxi.o c rediit in æstate in Angliam ducens secum filiam suam. Congregatis autem apud Northamptone omnibus principibus Angliæ, deliberatum est quod filia sua redderetur uiro suo comiti Andegauensi et ita factum est.110 Anno .xxii.o d fuit magnum placitum apud Lundoniæ inter episcopum sancti David et episcopum Glamorgane de finibus parochiarum suarum. Eodem anno dedit rex episcopatum Eliensem Nigello et episcopatum Dunelmensem Galfrido cancellario suo.111

  Witness R ends at acceperat. Witness P in its original state also ends at acceperat. A later hand has added a continuation supplying the same text as witnesses C and L to 1135. b   L, Goffridi de Dintun. C, Goffridi de Clitun. P, Goffridi de Clynton. c   C, Anno xxi with left-hand margin correction in later hand, xxxi. L xxxii. d   C, supplies Anno xxii with left-hand margin correction in later hand xxxii. L supplies xxxii. e   C, Damorgan – marginal correction to Glamorgan. a

162

The History of Alfred of Beverley

Flanders, and also married his daughter, the ex-empress, to the duke of Anjou. His enemies on every side had been either conquered or reconciled and prosperity everywhere smiled on him as he returned to England with a large fleet. After a few days had passed, behold, the king was informed that his daughter, repudiated by her husband and cast aside without respect, had returned to Rouen with a very few attendants. This event keenly troubled the king’s mind. After the feast of St Michael, accompanied by the archbishops, bishops, abbots, and nobles of nearly all of England, he came to Winchester. There he gave the bishopric of the church of Winchester to his sister’s son Henry, who had been brought up from infancy as a monk in Cluny. To increase this honour, the abbey of Glastonbury, responsibility for which Henry had previously received from the king, was added to the bishopric. The bishopric of Coventry, that is of Chester, was given to Roger, nephew of Geoffrey de Clinton, who, that he [Roger] be more worthy of such a great honour, endowed him with three thousand marks.107 They were both [Henry of Blois and Roger de Clinton] ordained on the fifteenth of the kalends of December [17 November] at Canterbury, by William, the archbishop of that cathedral.108 In the thirtieth year [1130], at Easter, the king was at Woodstock, where Geoffrey de Clinton was defamed before him and accused of treason. From there, he crossed over to Normandy on the feast of St Michael.109 In the thirty-first year [1131], Henry returned to England in the summer, bringing with him his daughter. All the leading men of England assembled at Northampton, where it was decided that she should be restored to her husband, the count of Anjou, and this was done.110 In the thirty-second year [1132], there was a large meeting in London between the bishop of St David’s and the bishop of Glamorgan about the boundaries of their parishes. The same year, the king gave the bishopric of Ely to Nigel and that of Durham to Geoffrey, his chancellor.111

Roger de Clinton, archdeacon of Buckingham and nephew of King Henry’s treasury chamberlain, Geoffrey de Clinton, was, according to JW, elected to the see of Chester, ordained priest on Saturday 21 December 1129, consecrated bishop the next day by William, archbishop of Canterbury, and enthroned as bishop (of Chester) at Coventry on 9 January 1130 by Simon, bishop of Worcester. The see of Chester was transferred to Coventry by bishop Robert de Limesey in 1102 but its bishops continued to style themselves as bishops of Chester until the middle of the twelfth century (HBC, p. 253). 108  The account differs in CJW, iii, annal for 1129, where Henry of Blois was consecrated as bishop of Winchester by Archbishop William on Sunday 17 November, in Winchester, and Roger de Clinton was consecrated bishop of Chester by Archbishop William in Canterbury, on Sunday 22 December. This marks the end of the HR, as preserved in CCCC MS 139. 109  HA, vii. 41. 110  Ibid. 111  HA, vii. 42. 107 

162

Aluredi Beuerlacensis Historia

Anno .xxxiii.o fecit rex nouum episcopatum apud Cairliel aet dedit illum Adeluulphoa 112 quo anno transiuiit mare et moratus est in Normannia usque ad obitum suum. Anno igitur .xxxv.o cum rex a uenatu uenisset apud sanctum Dionisium in silva Leonum contra prohibitionen medici comedit carnes murenarum quæ ei semper nocebant et semper eas amabat. Quæ commestio senile corpus letaliter refrigidans, subeunte febre acuta cum nulla posset ei medicina ualere decessit rex magnus Henricus cum regnasset .xxxv. annis, et .iiii. fere mensibus.113

[Explicit Historia Magistri Alfridi Thesaurarii Beverlacenis incipiens ad [Brittonum] et finiens in Henricum. Extendum annorum duorum milium ducentarum.]b

  P, omitted in continuation f. 61 v.   L, supplies concluding rubric.

a–a b

163

The History of Alfred of Beverley

In the thirty-third year [1133], the king created a new bishopric at Carlisle and gave it to Æthelwulf.112 The same year, the king crossed the sea to Normandy, where he stayed until his death. In the thirty-fifth year [1135], when the king, after hunting, arrived at St Denis, in the forest of Lyons, he ate, against his doctor’s instructions, the flesh of lampreys, which had always been harmful to him, but which he had always loved. This meal fatally chilled his elderly body and a serious fever followed. Since no medicine could help him, the great King Henry died, after reigning for thirtyfive years and nearly four months.113

Ibid. HH reports that King Henry created a new bishopric at Carlisle in 1133, but not that he gave it to Æthelwulf – this may have been the author’s direct knowledge. Bishop Æthelwulf (d. c.1156 x 1157), prior of the Augustinian Nostell Priory in Yorkshire’s West Riding, was consecrated bishop of Carlisle by Archbishop Thurstan in August 1133. Æthelwulf was an important figure in northern ecclesiastical politics at the time the History was compiled. He supported Henry Murdac in his dispute with William fitz Herbert and King Stephen over the archbishopric of York. See D. Nicholl, Thurstan, pp. 244–45 and C. Norton St William of York, pp. 121 & 234. 113  HA, vii. 43. 112 

163

Appendix 1

Chp. VI. West Saxon dynastic account preserved in MS R, P Anno Dominicae incarnationis quingentesimo .xix. Cerdic in Westsaxonia primus regnare coepit, et .xvi. annis regnauit. Fuit autem filius Elesa, qui fuit Ella, qui fuit Gewi, a quo et tota illius prouinciae gens Gewissae dicta est, qui fuit Wigge qui fuit Freawine qui fuit Freodegar, qui fuit Woden. Successit autem Cerdic filius eius Kinric, et .xxxvi. annis regnauit. Cui filius suus Ceaulin successit, et .xxxiii. annis regnauit. Contra quem Ceol fratruelus suus, quem sub se regem fecerat, inmerito rebellauit, regnoque expllens loco eius .v. annis regnauit. Post quem Ceolwlfus successit, et .xiiii. annis regnauit. Cui Kinegils successit, et .xxiiii.o anno regni a sancto Birino episcopo cum sua gente primus regum Westsaxonum baptismum Christi suscepit, et anno sequenti filius eius Kinelm ab eodem episcopo baptizatus defungitur. Decessit autem rex Kinegils anno regni sui .xxxi.o et filius eius Conewalc regimen regni suscepit. Hic apud Orientales Anglos dum ille expulsus a regione sua a Peanda rege Merciorum pro sorore sua ab eo repudiata et uxore alia introducta, sub Anna rege exulabat, a sancto Felice episcopo baptizatus est, et postmodum in regnum restitutus Wintoniae ecclesiam, in qua sedes episcopalis est, construxit, et anno regni .xxxi.o decessit. Cuius post illum regina Sexburg anno uno regnauit. Deinde Cenfus duobus annis secundum dicta regis Aluredi, iuxta cronicam, Escwinus fere tribus annis regnauit. Cui successit Kentwinus regis Kinegisi [recte Kynegils] filius, et .viii.o anno regni sui decessit. Cui Cedwalla, qui imperium reliquit, Romam adiit, et a Sergio papa baptizatus est, et in albis adhuc positus defungitur. Post illum regnauit sanctus Ine, qui Glastoniam construxit cuius germanus extitit Ingels, ac germanae sancta Cudburg et sancta Quenburg. Ipse uero Ine, relicto pro dei amore imperio, cum regina sua Romam petiit, ubi sancte uiuendo uitam simili fortebeauit. Cui successit Edelheardus, et anno regni sui .xiiii.o obiit. Huic Cuthredus successit et anno regni .xv.o decessit. Post quem Sigebertus anno uno regnauit. Hunc Kinewlfus regno exterminauit, et loco eius .xxx. regnauit. Quo occiso a 165

Appendix 1

Kinehardo, Bictricus successit, et anno regni sui .xv.o decessit. Cui Egbertus de stirpe Inae successit, et anno regni sui .xxxviii.o decessit. Cui filius suus Athulfus, uel Adelwlfus, successit Egbertus uero pater eius expulso de regno Baldredo Cantuariorum regnum suo subiecit imperio. Similiter expulso rege Merciorum Wiglano, regnum eius regno suo annexit, et post unum annum Wiglano reddidit. In the year of our Lord 519 Cerdic was the first to rule in West Saxony and he reigned for sixteen years. He was the son of Elesa, the son of Ella [recte Esla], the son of Gewis (after whom all of the people of that province of the Gewissae are named), who was the son of Wig, the son of Frwine, the son of Freothegar, the son of Woden. Cerdic was succeeded by his son Cynric, who reigned twenty-six years, and then his son Ceawlin succeeded, ruling thirty-three years. His cousin Ceol, whom he had made sub-king under him, unjustly rebelled and, after expelling Ceawlin from the kingdom, reigned in his place and for five years. Ceolwulf succeeded him and ruled for fourteen years. Cynegils succeeded him and, in the twenty-fourth year of his reign, was the first of the West Saxon kings to receive the baptism of Christ from the holy bishop Birinus, along with his people. The following year his son Cwichelm, who had been baptised by the same bishop, died. King Cynegils died in the thirty-first year of his reign and his son Cenwealh inherited the crown. Cenwealh was driven from his kingdom by Penda, king of the Mercians, for having repudiated his sister and taken another wife. While living in exile under King Anna, in the country of the East Angles, he was baptised by St Felix the bishop. Later, when he was restored to his kingdom, he built the church of Winchester, in which there is an episcopal see. He died in the thirty-first year of his reign and after him Queen Seaxburg ruled for one year. Then, according to the testimony of King Alfred, Cenfus reigned for two years but, according to the chronicle, Æscwine reigned nearly three. Next to rule was Centwine, the son of king Cynegils, and he died in the eighth year of his reign. He was succeeded by Cædwalla, who gave up power, went to Rome, was baptised by Pope Sergius, and died while still dressed in his white robes. After Cædwalla reigned St Ine. He built Glastonbury and had a brother called Ingild, and sisters called St Cuthburg and St Cwenburg. This same Ine gave up his throne for the love of God and went to Rome with his queen where, by his holy way of life, he made his existence happy as well as was fortunate. Æthelheard succeeded him and, in the fourteenth year of his reign, he died and was succeeded by Cuthred, who died after ruling fifteen years. Sigeberht then reigned for one year. He was driven from the kingdom by Cynewulf, who ruled in his place for thirty years. Cynewulf was killed by Cyneheard and succeeded by 166

Appendix 1

Brihtric, who died in the fifteenth year of his rule. Ecgberht, of the stock of Ine, succeeded him and, in the thirty-seventh year of his reign, died. He was succeeded by his son Athulfus, also known as Æthelwulf. His father, Ecgberht, had driven Baldred of Kent from his kingdom and subjected it to his rule. In a similar way, Ecgberht drove Wiglaf, king of the Mercians, from his kingdom and annexed Mercia to his own kingdom, but he restored it to Wiglaf a year later.

167

Appendix 2

Alternative MS Readings Page 15 R, P succedentibus sibi quinque regibus, tandem regnum duobus fratribus Porreci et Ferruci obuenit. Sed cum Porrex fratri insidias tenderet, ille in Galliam transfretauit, et cum auxilio Suardi regis Francorum. f–f

he was succeeded by five kings and finally the kingdom came into the hands of two brothers, Porrex and Ferrex. But, because Porrex was plotting against him, Ferrex crossed to Gaul and returned with the help of Suardus, the king of the French.

Page 16 R, P successit Dunuallo Molmutius, filius regis Cornubiae, qui interfectis regibus Loegria, Cambriae et Albaniae, cum totam insulam sibi subiugasset primus fecit sibi diadema ex auro, insulamque in pristinum statum reduxit. a–a

Dunuallo Molmutius, son of the king of Cornwall, succeeded. When, after killing the kings of Loegria, Wales and Scotland, he had gained control over the whole island, he was the first to make himself a crown out of gold and he restored the country to its former position.

Page 19 C Post haec successit ei Gurguint filius eiusdem, uir modestus et prudens qui per omnia paternos actus imitans pacem et iustitiam amabat. Et cum uicini aduersus eum rebellabant, audaciam exemplo genitoris reuocans proelio committebat et hostes ad debitam subiectionem reducebat. a–a

After this, he was succeeded by his son Gurguint, a virtuous and prudent man who acted like his father in every respect and was a lover of peace and justice. When neighbouring peoples were in revolt against him, he recalled his father’s example 168

Appendix 2

of daring and, joining battle with his enemies, reduced them to their rightful state of servitude.

Page 20 R, P In loco Moruidi regnauit Gorbodianus filius, quo nullus ea tempestate iustior erat aut amantior aequi, qui per cunctas regni Britanniae ciuitates templa deorum renouabat, et plura noua aedificabat, qui defunctus in urbe Trinouantum est sepultus. a–a

In Morvidus’s place, his son Gorbodianus ruled. No man of the time was more righteous, or a greater lover of justice. He repaired the gods’ temples in all the cities of Britain and built many new ones. R, P, ‘Post illum regnauit Arthgallo frater suus, qui propter saeuitiam suam de regno depositus est. Regnum uero post Arthgallonem suscepit frater suus Elidurus, qui post quinquennium praedictum fratrem suum Arthgallonem, insolita inter fratres reges pietate, cum regni optimatibus pacificauit.’ b–b

‘After Gorbodianus, his brother Arthgallo reigned, but, on account of his cruelty, he was deposed and his brother Elidurus took the throne. Five years later, with a sense of duty unusual between royal brothers, he reconciled his brother Arthgallo with the leading men of the kingdom.’

Page 41 R, P, ‘Huic imperatori Maximo Sanctus Martinus futurum praedixit, ut si ad Italiam pergere quo ire cupiebat, bellum Valentiniano imperatori inferens, sciret se primo impetu esse victorem, postea esse interiturum. Quod ita contigit, sicut superius comprehensum est. c–c

St Martin predicted to the same Emperor Maximus that if he proceeded to Italy where he desired to go, to wage war against the Emperor Valentinianus, he should know that he would be victorious in his first attack, but later he would perish. And this did in fact take place, as has been described above.’

169

Appendix 3

HAB, chs 7 & 8. Borrowings from HR HAB chapter & page location

HR § (location in RS edition)

Evidence that the source of borrowings is HR and not parallel text in CJW

vii. 122

§ 56

793. Portents and prodigies not reported in CJW.

vii. 122

§ 56

793. Danish attack on Lindisfarne not reported in CJW.

vii. 122

§ 57

794. Danish plunderers suffer defeat. Not reported in CJW.

vii. 123

§§ 66, 88

851. Matches the text of HR closer than that of CJW. The Danes’ ravaging of London is not reported as it is in CJW.

vii. 123

§ 90

854. The meaning of Sheppey given: id est in insula ouium. Not reported in CJW.

vii. 124

§§ 69, 91

866. Description of the pillaging of the Danish naval force non parcens uiris uel feminis, uduis nec uirginibus. Not found in CJW.

vii. 124

§ 92

867. The statement Hoc factum est xii. kal. Aprilis feria vi. ante Dominicam Palmarum is not found in CJW.

vii. 124

§ 92

867. The statement Egbertus uero regnauit super Nordhimbros ultra amnem Tinae vi annis is not found in CJW.

vii. 125

§ 72

871. The words adepti sunt in describing the Christians’ victory in the battle of Englefield are not found in CJW.

vii. 128–29

§§ 75, 96

877. The apparition of St Cuthbert prophesying to King Alfred at Chippenham is not reported in CJW.

vii. 129

§§ 76, 96

878. The battle of Edington taking place post tertium diem (‘on the third day’) after meeting the men of Somerset, Wiltshire and Hampshire at Ecgberht’s Stone in Selwood is not reported in CJW.

vii. 129

§ 97

879. The report that paganorum exercitus a Cirecestria egressus ad Orientales accessit Anglos, is not reported in CJW.

viii. 135

§ 108

946. Cui Edredus frater suus in regnum successit. Words not found in CJW.

viii. 140

§ 127

1016. Words in the prophecy of St Dunstan on King Æthelred’s consecration, innocentis and ignominiosa, are not found in CJW.

170

Appendix 3 HAB chapter & page location

HR § (location in RS edition)

viii. 142

§ 130

1017. The words et ex ea Ardeknutum genuit are not found in CJW.

viii. 142

§ 132

1031. Cnut’s visit to Rome. The words uitaeque suae et morum emendationem ante sepulchrum apostolorum Deo uouit exactly match those found in HR, but not those of CJW.

viii. 147

§ 147

1065. That King Edward gave Morcar the earldom of Northumbria is not in CJW.

viii. 148

§ 147

1066. King Harold’s coronation: the word principibus replaces primatibus, found in CJW.

Evidence that the source of borrowings is HR and not parallel text in CJW

171

General Index

Abbreviations: abbs = abbess; abp = archbishop; abpric = archbishopric; abt = abbot; bp = bishop; bpric = bishopric; br = brother; c = count; d = death; dk = duke; dr = daughter; empr = emperor; f = father; gf = grandfather; gs = grandson; k = king; kngdm = Kingdom m = mother; Nthumb = Northumbria/Northumberland; n = note; q = queen; s = son; sist = sister; sntr = senator; w = wife Abercorn (W. Lothian, Scotland) ​44 Abingdon (Berks.), abbey ​120, 140 Acha, dr of k Ælle of Deira, sist of Edwin and w of Æthelfrith k of Nthumb ​ 88, 90 Achillus, k of Denmark ​70 Aclea (Surrey) battle ​102 Adda, k of Bernicia (Nthumb) ​88–9 Adela, dr of Godfrey, c of Louvain, w of k Henry I ​158 Æbbe, St, abbs, dr of k Æthelfrith of Nthumb and Acha ​88 Ælfflæd, dr of Oswiu k of Nthumb ​91 Ælfflæd, w of Wigmund of Mercia, mother of St Wigstan ​87 Ælfgifu, St, w of k Edmund I of England ​ 117–18 Ælfgifu (Emma) of Hampshire, w of k Cnut ​124–5 and n.42 Ælfheah, abp of Canterbury ​121 Ælfhun, bp of London ​122 Ælfric, paternal uncle of k Edwin ​90 Ælfric Puttoc, abp of York ​xxii–xxiii, 126 Ælfthryth, dr of k Alfred ​103 Ælfthryth, q, third w of k Edgar I and stepmother of k Edward I ‘The Martyr’ ​120 Ælfthryth, w of Cenwulf k of Mercia ​86 Ælfwald, k of Nthumb ​92–3 Ælfwald, second s of k Æthelhere (recte s of k Aldwulf) of E. Anglia ​xlvi, 82

Ælfwine, s of k Oswiu, br of Ecgfrith k of Nthumb ​91 Ælle, k of Deira (Nthumb) ​76 and n.9, 81, 88–9, 90 Ælle, k of Sussex ​76, 80 Ælle, last k (joint k) of Nthumb ​92 Aeneas, the Trojan, great-gf r of Brutus ​ 11 Æsc, s of Hengest k of Kent ​94. See also Oisc Æscwine first k of Essex ​76 forebear of Sæberht ​83 Æscwine, k of Wessex ​96, 105 Aesla, forebear of Cerdic k of Wessex ​94 Æthelbald, k of Mercia ​86, 88, 98, 99 Æthelbald, k of Wessex d in fourth year of reign and buried Sherborne ​103 s of k Æthelwulf ​102 weds Judith, his father’s widow ​103 Æthelberht I, k of Kent builds churches dedicated to SS Peter and Paul in London and in Rochester to St Andrew ​78 establishes code of laws in the Roman manner ​78 first Anglo-Saxon k converted to Christianity ​75, 77 married to Bertha dr of k of Franks ​78 reigns 56 years ​77

172

General Index rules over all the southern provinces of England to the Humber River ​ 78 s of Eormenric ​75, 81 Æthelberht II, k of Kent ​79 Æthelberht, murdered prince of Kent ​79 Æthelberht, k of E. Anglia, killed by Offa k of Mercians ​82 Æthelberht, k of Nthumb, s of k Moll ​ 114 Æthelberht, k of Wessex adds Kent, Surrey and Sussex to W. Saxon control ​103 buried in Sherborne ​103 d after reign of 5 years ​103 s of k Æthelwulf succeeds br Æthelbald ​ 103 Æthelburh, St, dr of k Anna of E. Anglia ​ 82 abbs of monastery of Brie in Gaul ​82 Æthelburh, dr of Æthelberht I, k of Kent, w of k Edwin; founded and buried in monastery at Lyminge ​78, 90 Æthelburh, dr of Offa k of Mercians and abbs ​86 Æthelburh, w of Ine k of Wessex ​98 n.157 Ætheldrith, St, dr of Eormenred sub-king of Kent ​79 Æthelflæd, dr of k Alfred and q of Mercians ​103, 104 Æthelfrith, k of Bernicia (Nthumb) praised by Bede ​81 rules also over Deira ​81 wages war on Britons more than any other Saxon k, slain by Rædwald of E. Anglia ​89 Æthelgifu, dr of k Alfred (nun) ​103 Æthelheard, k of Wessex, succeeds k Ine ​ 98 Æthelhere, k of E. Anglia, br of k Anna, killed by k Oswiu of Nthumb with Penda of Mercia ​82 and n.57 Æthelhun, St, s of k Edwin of Nthumb ​90 Æthelhun, ealdorman of Wessex ​99 Æthelnoth, abt of Glastonbury ​136 Æthelred, k of E. Anglia ​82 Æthelred, St, k of Mercia, br of k Wulfhere, abdicates and becomes monk ​86

Æthelred, k of Wessex aids Burgred k of Mercians against Danes ​108 burial in Wimborne ​110 Danish army met at Reading ​109 fights Danes ​103 gains decisive victory at Ashdown ​110 his piety ​110 reigns for 8 years ​103 s. of k Æthelwulf ​103 succeeds br Æthelberht ​103 Æthelred The Unready, k of England appeases Danes with money tributes ​ 121 d and burial in church of St Paul London ​122 drives Cnut, s of Swegn out of England ​ 122 loses control of country to Danish k Swegn ​121 recalled to England after death of Swegn ​ 122 St Dunstan’s dark prophecy on crowning Æthelred ​122 sends family to Normandy and follows ​ 121–2 s of k Edgar and q Ælfthryth ​120 succeeds br Edward the Martyr and consecrated by apbs Dunstan and Oswald Kingston ​120 Æthelric, s of Ida and k of Bernicia (Nthumb) ​88 Æthelstan, k of England in 10th year sets out to subdue Scotland ​ 117 in 13th year defeats Scots and Irish ​117 author’s view of Æthelstan influenced by Worcester sources ​xlvii author’s view of Æthelstan’s reign ​ lxxiv, 116 n.1 d in Gloucester and burial in Malmesbury ​117 expels Guthfrith, s of Sihtric, annexes Nthumb ​116 first English k to gain monarchy of all England ​77 gives sist in marriage to k Sihtric of Nthumb ​116

173

General Index remaining ks of Britain submit to his rule ​116 s of Edward the Elder ​104 supposed benefactor of Beverley ​xxvii. See also Liberties of Beverley Æthelswith, w of Burgred k of Mercia and dr of Æthelwulf k of Wessex ​87 Æthelthryth, St, dr of k Anna of E. Anglia and first q of Nthumb ​82 Æthelthryth, dr of k Edwin of Nthumb ​ 90 Æthelwald, k of E. Anglia ​82 Æthelwald Moll, k of Nthumb ​92 Æthelwalh, k of Sussex ​96 Æthelweard, ealdorman, falls in battle of Ashingdon ​124 Æthelweard, s of k Alfred ​103 Æthelwig, abt of Evesham ​143 Æthelwine, ealdorman of k. Edgar, founder of the abbey of Ramsey ​120 Æthelwine, bp of Durham ​137 Æthelwold, St, bp of Winchester ​120 Æthelwulf, ealdorman of Berkshire ​107, 109 Æthelwulf, bp of Carlisle ​163 Æthelwulf, k of Wessex battles with the Danes ​102 fathers four s’s who consecutively become k’s of Wessex ​103 originally bp of Winchester but on death of f Ecgberht crowned k ​103 sends s Alfred to Rome to be blessed by Pope Leo iv ​102 s of k Ecgberht ​101 tithes kngdm free of royal service ​102 travels to Rome and on return marries Judith, dr of Charles the Bald ​ 102 Aethicus Ister, author of the Cosmography ​ 6 n.19 Aetius, Roman consul ​46–7 Aganippus, k of France ​15 Aidan, k of Irish in Britain ​88 Alban of Verulamium, St ​37. See also St Albans Albanactus, youngest s of Brutus, ruler of Albany ​13 Albany (Scotland) renamed by Albanactus ​ 9, 13, 34, 40

Albion, original name of Britain ​xxxiv, lvi, 5, 12, 13 Aldclud (Dumbarton) ​14, 20, 22, 60, 63 Aldfrith, k of Nthumb ​91 Aldred, earl of Nthumb ​141 Aldroenus, k of Bretons ​48 Aldwulf, s of k Æthelhere of E. Anglia ​82 Alexander, bp of Lincoln ​xxv, lxxi Alexander I, k of Scots, s of k Malcolm III and q Margaret sist of Edgar Atheling ​140 Alexander II, pope ​135 n.5 Alexander the Great ​119 Alfred, k of Wessex assembles shires at Ecgberht’s stone ​ 112 battles with Danes ​110–13 builds fast ships to combat Danish longships ​114 burial in new monastery at Winchester ​ 104 Danish k Guthrum baptised and given E. Anglia to rule ​112 defeats Danes at Edington ​112 d after reign of 28 ½ years ​114 hides in woodlands ​111 restores London ​113 St Cuthbert prophecy of victory over Danes ​111 sent wood from the Lord’s cross by Pope Marinus ​113 succeeds k Æthelred (br) ​110 Alfred, sacrist of Beverley (AB) date of compiling HAB ​xxviii–xxxi geo-historical description of Britain ​ 4–10 later influence of HAB ​liii–lx poss. date of birth and death ​xxv prob. father of Ernaldus (charter 5) ​xx purpose and historical value of the HAB ​ lxx–lxxv recorded in charters ​xix–xx remarks on Flemings ​9–10, 156 remembered in hagiography ​xxvii– xxviii secular outlook ​lii–liii, lxxi–lxxii sources used by and their influence ​ xxxii–liii

174

General Index supposed author of the Liberties of Beverley ​xxvi veracity of HRB questioned ​xxxvi– xxxix Alfred Atheling, s of k Æthelred the Unready; returns to England and mutilated ​125, 127. See also Godwine Alhflæd, w of k Peada of Mercia ​91 Alhfrith, k of Nthumb ​86 Alhred, k of Nthumb ​92 Aliduc of Tintagol ​66 Aliphatima, k of Spain ​64, 67, 68 Allectus, sent to Britain to restore Roman rule ​35, 36 Allobroges ​16, 63 Alne, river (Nthumb) ​149 Alusa, forebear of Ida, k of Bernicia (Nthumb) ​88 Amphibalus, church of (Winchester) ​48, 71 Androgeus, s of k Lud defects to Romans ​27 given Trinovantum and Kent to rule by Cassibellaunus ​21 goes to Rome with Caesar ​28 mediates between Caesar and Cassibellaunus ​27 surrenders Trinovantum to Caesar ​28 Andsecg, forebear of Sæberht, first k of E. Saxons ​83 Angengeat forebear of Ida, k of Bernicia ​88 forebear of Penda, k of Mercia ​85 Angles, Anglia arrive in three long ships ​51 Britons invite in for protection against Picts and Scots ​9 land eponymously named Anglia ​77 origins ​76–7 turn arms on the Britons ​51 Vortigern’s invitation ​50 Vortimer’s battles with Angles ​51 Anglesey (Wales) castle destroyed in Welsh rebellion ​150 geographic location ​5 savage treatment of Welsh by Normans ​ 151

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, reported in HAB ​ 96 Anjou (France) ​62, 64, 69. See also Fulk Anna, sist of k Arthur, w of Loth of Lothian ​58. See also Budicus Anna, k of East Angles, s of Eni and br of Rædwald; killed by k Penda ​82 harbours Ceanwealh of Wessex ​95–6 Anselm, abp of Canterbury, recalled from exile by k Henry I ​153 consecrates marriage of k Henry, crowns q Matilda ​153 Anwend, Danish k ​93, 111 Aquileia (North East Italy), empr Maximus Magnus killed in battle ​40 Aquitaine (France) ​12, 62 Argentan, castle (Normandy) siege and capture of by k Philip of France ​ 150 Arian Heresy, in Britain ​43 Armorica Armoricans in army of k Arthur ​64, 66, 69 Carausius protects coastline ​36 geographic location ​6 Maximus Magnus vanquishes Gauls and resettles with Britons ​38 s’s of k Constantine set sail to attack the Saxons ​53–4 women sent from Britain to marry recently settled Britons ​39 See also Brittany; Little Britain Arnold (Arnulf), br of Robert of Bellême ​ 154 Arthgallo, British k ​20 Arthur, British k captures Paris ​62 crowned k at fifteen ​59 defeats Roman Lucius Hiberius in Gaul (Siesia) ​63–9 military campaigns ​59–61 Pentecostal court at Caerleon ​62–3 s of Uther Pendragon and Ingerna, conception aided by illusion of Merlin ​57 returns to Britain to confront nephew Modred and defeats him in battle ​ 70 weds Guenhaura ​61

175

General Index wounded, carried to Avalon and hands crown to kinsman Constantine ​ 70 Arundel, castle (Sussex) ​154 Arviragus, British k battles with empr Claudius ​28 burial in Gloucester ​30 establishes peace with empr Claudius weds his d ​28–9 later made k of Britain under Romans by Claudius ​29 rebels against Roman rule ​29 Vespasian sent to restore Roman authority and reconciles with Arviragus ​29 Asaph, St, bpric (Denbigh, N. Wales) ​105 Aschanius, f of Silvius and gf of Brutus ​ 11 Aschil, k of Danes ​66 Asclepiodotus, dk of Cornwall, British k also prefect of the Praetorian Guard ​ 35, 37, 38 Ashdown (Berks.), Danish army defeated by k Æthelred and Alfred ​110 Athelm, abp of Canterbury ​116 Athelney (Somt.), k Alfred founds a monastery ​113 Auguselus, k of Scotland ​61, 64, 66, 70 Augustine, St, abp of Canterbury ​78, 90, 119 Augustus Caesar, empr (and title Augustus) ​ 5, 28, 29, 32, 34, 36, 40, 41 Aurelius Ambrosius, British k accepts Octa’s surrenders and ratifies treaty ​55 brought up by Guithelinus ​48 executes Hengest ​54 flees to Little Britain (Armorica) ​49 GM’s account of A. Ambrosius collated with that of Bede and Eutropius ​ 55–6 poisoned and dies in Winchester ​55 restores the churches and cities of York, London and Winchester and the laws ​55 returns and kills Vortigern ​53–4 s of Constantine II, and br of Constans and Uther Pendragon ​48 Aurelius Conanus, British k ​71, 74

Auxerre (France) ​51. See also Germanus, St Avalon (island) ​70 Bældeag, forebear of Ida k of Bernicia ​ xlv, 88 Bælric, s of k Ida ​88 Bagsecg, Danish k ​92, 107, 110 Baldred, k of Kent ​79, 80, 100 Baldwin, c of Flanders ​126, 127 Bale, John (Tudor bibliophile) ​lv, lxvi Bamburgh (Nthumb) ​139, 150 Bangor (bpric) ​71, 105, 156 Barbury (Wilts.), battle between W. Saxons and Britons ​95 Barfleur (France) ​157 Basing (Hants), battle of k Æthelred and Alfred with Danes ​110 Bassianus, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Caracalla) ​34–5, 41 Bath (Kair Badun) ​14 Bayeux (France) ​69, 154. See also Odo, bp of Bayeux Bede, mentioned in HAB ​3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 25, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 52, 55, 56, 72, 73, 76, 78, 80, 81, 88, 89, 91 HE used in HAB ​vii, xxxii, xxxvii, xxxix, xliii, lxxiv Bedford ​95, 105, 114 Beduerus, k Arthur’s cup bearer ​62, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 Belinus, British k br Brennius rebels but m reconciles ​17 brs join forces and subjugate Gaul ​17 co-rules kngdm with Brennius ​16 confirms Mulmutine laws of f and builds four ancient roads of Britain ​17–18 returns to Britain and rules peacefully ​ 17 s of Dunuallo Molmutius ​16 takes Rome and hangs Roman nobles ​ 17 Beonna, k of E. Anglia ​82, 83 Beorn, forebear of Ida ​88 Beornd, forebear of Ida k. Nthumb ​88 Beornred, k of Mercian ​86 Beornwulf, k of Mercians ​86–7

176

General Index Berhtwulf, k of Mercians, father of Berhtferth who killed St Wigstan ​ 87 Bernicia ancient province of kngdm of Nthumb with own line of ks ​76 first k Ida, s of Eoppa ​76 k Æthelric banishes Edwin from Deira and rules in both provinces ​88 k Edwin unites both provinces under his rule ​90–1 Bertha, w of k Æthelberht I of Kent, dr of k of Franks ​78 Beverley advancement under last 3 Anglo-Saxon abps of York ​xxii–xxiii church dedicated to St John the Evangelist ​xxiii communal character ​xxiii income from grain thraves ​xxiii K William I grants town privileges ​139 mother church of E.R. Yorks. ​xxii peace of St John and privileges supposedly granted by k. Æthelstan ​xxvi sanctuary centre during harrying of north ​138–9 See also Liberties of Beverley Beverley Cartulary ​xxvi Billingsgate ​18 Birinus, St, bp Dorchester, baptises k Cynegils, first k of Wessex to accept Christianity ​95 Bithynia ​64, 67, 69 Bladud, British k, founder of Bath, s of k Rudhudibras ​14–15 Bledgrabed, British k and famed singer ​21 Bohus, k of Medes ​64, 67 Boloconius, British commander ​68 Borellus, earl of Le Mans ​65, 66 Boso of Oxford ​65, 66, 67 Boulogne (France) ​5, 36, 68, 126, 140, 146 Brand, forebear of Ida k of Nthumb ​88 Breguswith, m of St Hilda abbess of Whitby Abbey ​90 Brennius allies with Gauls to oppose br Belinus ​ 16

joint campaigns in Gaul and Italy and Rome captured ​17 m reconciles brs ​17 quarrels with Belinus and goes to land of Allobroges ​16 rules Nthumb to Caithness under Belinus ​16 second s of Dunuallo Molmutius ​16 Bretons ​6. See also Armorica; Little Britain Brihtric, k of W. Saxons ​86, 100, 167 Bristol ​9 Britain, Britons abandonment of Britain by the Romans ​ 43–7 ancient cities ​8–9 appeal to Rome (Aetius) by Britons for protection against attacks of Picts and Scots ​46–7 arrival of the Britons ​12 arrival of Constantine II from ‘Little Britain’ and made king ​48 arrival of 2 s’s of Constantine II, death of Vortigern and recovery of British k’s control ​54–8 Arthur defeats Mordred, is wounded in battle and abdicates at Avalon ​ 70 Arthur made king and flowering of the Arthurian age ​58–70 assassination of Constantine II and s Constans made k ​48–9 Britain’s six peoples ​9–10 description of Britain ​4–10 foundation of ‘New Troy’ (Trinovantum) ​13 k Lucius and coming of Christianity ​ 32–3 line of British kings under tribute to Rome ​26–31 main rivers dividing the island ​8 marvels and wonders ​6–8, 28 naming ​12, 77 passage of dominion to Saxon kings and Britons now called Welsh ​71–3 resistance to JC and conquest by empr Claudius ​26–30 Roman walls ​45

177

General Index Saxons take control of principal cities of island and Vortigern retreats to Wales ​53 Saxons turn on Britons ​50 passim shires ​104–5 slaughter of British nobles on orders of Hengest ​52 state of freedom until coming of the Romans ​31 usurpation of British crown by Mordred ​ 69 Vortigern usurps power and Saxons invited for protection ​49–50 Britannicus GM named Britannicus ​8, 25, 27, 29, 30, 32, 34, 52, 55, 57, 72 significance of nomenclature ​xxxix– xlii Britannicus, s of empr Claudius ​30 Brittany ​xl, 143–4, 159. See also Armorica; Little Britain Brunanburgh (battle) ​xxvi Brutus, founder of Britain abandons Greece with followers and prays at temple to Diana ​11–12 accidentally kills f banished from Italy and goes to Greece ​11 arrives in Britain at Totnes and rids island of giants ​12 builds ‘New Troy’ by Thames ​13. See also Trinovantum d after 24 years and burial in his city, succeeded by 3 sons ​13 names island Britain eponymously ​13 prophecy of Diana ​12 s of Silvius, great-gs of Aeneas the Trojan ​11 Brutus Green Shield, British k ​23 Budicus, k of Armorican Britons (Bretons) ​ 59 Burgenilda, dr of k Cenwulf, sist of St Kenelm ​86 Burgh Castle (Suffolk) ​81 Burgred, k of Mercians ​87, 88, 92, 103, 108, 110 Cador, dk of Cornwall ​60

Cadwallon, British king, slays k Edwin, later killed in battle by St Oswald of Nthumb ​90 Cædwalla, k of Wessex abdicates, goes to Rome, baptised by Pope Sergius I ​96 ravages Kent ​96 Caerleon (City of Legions) ​24, 33, 37 k Arthur crowned ​58, 59, 62, 70, 71, 105 Caithness (Scotland) ​16, 17, 18, 30, 58 Calaterium (forest of) ​20 and n.26 Caliburn, name of k Arthur’s sword ​60, 62, 69 Cambridge (Cambs.) ​9, 105, 111, 120, 143 Camden, William, Elizabethan antiquary and historian ​lv–lvi n.162 Canterbury (Kair Kent) ​8, 14, 23, 75, 78, 102, 104, 106, 116, 121, 126, 136, 153 Carausius, low-born Briton, usurps throne in Britain ​35–6, 41 Carhampton (Somt.), battles of k Ecgberht and k Æthelwulf with Danes ​101, 102 Carlisle (Kair Lion or Kair Leil) ​9 called Lugubalia in Latin ​158 founded by k Leil ​14, 57 new bpric established ​105, 163 Cassibellaunus battles with JC ​26–7 British k succeeds br k Lud ​21 d and burial in York ​28 first k of the second (status) of Britain’s history ​31 gives dukedoms of Kent and Cornwall to nephews Androgeus and Tenuantius ​21 pays Romans yearly tribute ​27–8 Caxton, William, Tudor printer and publisher ​viii, lviii–lx Ceawlin, k of Wessex, s of Cynric ​95, 105, 166 Cedd, bp of Essex, br of St Chad, reconverts E. Saxons ​83 Cenfus, k of Wessex ​xlvii, 96 Cenred, k of Mercia, s of k Wulfhere, renounces throne, travels to Rome to become a monk ​84, 86

178

General Index Cenred, k of Nthumb, s of Cuthwine ​91, 93 Centwine, k of Wessex, s of k Cynegils ​ 96, 105, 166 Cenwealh, k of Wessex, s of k Cynegils ​ 95, 96, 105, 166 Cenwulf, k of Mercia and f of St Kenelm ​ 79, 86 Ceol (Ceolric), k of Wessex ​95, 165 Ceolred, s of Æthelred, k of Mercia ​86, 88 Ceorl, earliest known k of Mercia, father of k Edwin’s wife Cwenburh ​90 Cerdic, first k of Wessex captures Isle of Wight ​94 d in 17th year of reign ​9 s of Elesa ​76, 93 victory over the Britons at Certicesore and power grows ​94 Chad, St, bp of Lichfield, br of St Cedd ​ 83 Chelricus, dk, Saxon leader, allies with Mordred ​58, 60, 69, 70 Chimarcocus, earl of Tréguier ​68 Christ, Christians, Christianity ​5, 26, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 43, 50, 51, 59, 60, 70, 73, 75, 77, 78, 80, 81, 83, 90, 91, 93, 95, 96, 97, 100, 107, 108, 109, 110, 112, 124, 143, 165, 166 Cirencester (Glos, Kair Keri) ​9, 48, 58, 63, 71, 95, 112, 156 Cissa, son of Ælle k of Sussex ​80 Clappa, k of Bernicia ​88 Claudius I, Roman empr battles with and then makes peace with British k Arviragus ​28 builds city of Gloucester ​29 fourth empr from Augustus, adds Orkney islands to empire ​4 gives dr in marriage to Arviragus and grants him kingship of Britain ​ 29 GM’s account of Claudius collated by AB with Bede, Suetonius, Eutropius ​29–30 sends Vespasian to Britain, subjugates Isle of Wight ​5 Claxton, William, of Durham, Elizabethan bibliophile ​lv n.159

Cnebba, forebear of Penda ​85 Coel, dk of Colchester, kills Asclepiodotus and becomes k of Britain ​3 Coillus, British k, s of Marius and f of k Lucius ​30 Colgrinus, Saxon leader ​58, 60 Conanus, ruler of Little Britain ​48 Conanus Meriadocus (Merediacus), nephew of Octavius, usurper k of Britain ​38–9, 48 Conisbrough (Kair Conan) ​54 Constans eldest son of k Constantine II ​48 installed as puppet k of Britain by Vortigern ​48–9 Picts induced to kill Constans allowing Vortigern to become k ​49 Constantine I, ‘The Great’, s. of Constantius, proclaimed empr in Britain ​37–8 Constantine II assassinated by a Pict ​48 br of Aldroenus k of Armoricans, comes to Britain’s aid against attack ​48 made king ​48 three s’s Constans, Aurelius Ambrosius and Uther Pendragon ​48 Constantine III, son of Cador dk of Cornwall, succeeds k Arthur ​70 Constantius becomes k of Britain and weds Helen, dr of British k Coel ​37 f of Constantine The Great ​37 Roman sntr sent to restore Roman control in Britain ​37 Cordeilla becomes q after death of Leir ​15 captured and imprisoned by nephews and kills herself in prison ​15 dr of k Leir ​15 w of Aganippus k of France, restores Leir to crown after his exile by her 2 sisters and husbands ​15 Corineus, Trojan leader allies with Brutus on the Tyrrhenian Sea ​12 fights k of Picts in Aquitaine ​12

179

General Index Cornwall ​13, 15, 16, 21, 28, 33, 35 AB criticised for omitting Cornwall from shires of England ​lviii the ‘boar of Cornwall’ ​54, 60, 61, 66, 67, 70, 72, 101, 104, 168 Creoda, forebear of Penda ​85 Cunedagius, nephew of Cordeilla, k of Britain ​15 Cursalem of Chester, British earl ​67, 68 Cwenthryth, dr of k Cenwulf ​86 Cyneburh dr of k Penda ​85 w of Alhfrith, k of Northumbrians ​86 Cynegils, first Christian k of Wessex ​77, 95, 96, 105, 166 Cynesige, abp of York ​xxii–xxiii Cyneswith, St, dr of Penda ​84 and n.71 Cynewald, forebear of Penda ​85 Cynewulf, k of Wessex ​99 Danes, Danish ​44, 66, 67, 82, 87, 92, 100–14, 120–5, 137 Daniel, bp of Bangor (Wales) ​71 Danube ​103, 115 David, uncle of k Arthur, abp of Caerleon ​ 63 David I, k of Scotland ​140, 160 David’s St, bpric (Wales) ​17, 105, 162 Deira, Deirans (co-province of Nthumb) ​ 33, 76, 81, 88, 89–93 Demetia, later called City of Legions, founded by Belinus ​18, 29 Denmark ​19, 61, 64, 70, 71, 100, 111, 122, 124, 125, 137 Derwent river (Yorks.) ​51 Diana, oracle ​11–12 Dignellus, k of Britain, f of k Heli ​21 Diocletian, empr ​33, 35, 36, 37, 38 Dol (abpric), Sampson abp ​63 Dol (France), siege at castle of ​144 Dorchester (Kair Dorm, Hunts on river Nene) ​9, 67 Dorset men of battle with Danes ​102, 123 seventh shire of England ​104, 123 Dover (Kent) ​18, 79, 126, 135 Dubricius, abp of Caerleon, crowns k Arthur ​58, 59, 63 Duncan, s of k Malcolm III ​145

Dunstan, Northumbrian noble, s of Æthelnoth ​129 Dunstan, St, abt of Glastonbury and abp of Canterbury buries murdered k Edmund I in Glastonbury ​118 consecrates k Edgar in Bath ​119 exiled by k Eadwig ​118 hears angelic voice advising the death of k Eadred ​118 hears heavenly voice on birth of k Edgar ​ 117 prophesy of ill-fated reign k Æthelred ​ 122 recalled by k Edgar ​119 Dunuallo Molmutius d and burial near the Temple of Harmony ​16 establishes laws of Molmutius ​16 establishes right of sanctuary for fugitives in the temples and cities and the roads leading to them ​ 16 s of Cloten, k of Cornwall ​16 vanquishes other ks of island and unifies kngdm ​16 Durham bps of. See Æthelwine; Geoffrey; Ranulf; Walcher; William of St Calais body of St Cuthbert carried back to ​ 139 castle building ​141 centre of historical writing as an influence in making of HAB ​ xlvii–liii church abandoned during William I’s punitive campaign ​138 murder of Earl Robert de Commine and soldiers and later destruction of city ​137 Eadbald, k Kent, s of k Æthelberht I ​78, 79, 80 Eadberht, k Kent, br of k Æthelberht II ​ 79 and n.34 Eadberht, k Nthumb, s of Eata, abdicates and becomes a monk ​91

180

General Index Eadberht Praen, k Kent ​78 captured and mutilated by k Cenwulf of Mercia ​78 Eadburg, dr of Edward the Elder (nun) ​ 104 Eadburh, dr of k Offa of Mercia and Cynethryth, w of Brihtric k of Wessex ​86 Eadfrith, s of k Edwin of Nthumb and Cwenburh ​90 Eadred, k of England abp Wulfstan and Northumbrian nobles break oath of fealty and rise against him ​118 first Northumbrian earl under k Eadred, Osulf ​141 grows sick and dies and buried by abp Dunstan in Winchester ​118 reduces Nthumb from a kngdm to an earldom ​141 s of Edward the Elder and Eadgifu ​104 succeeds br k Edmund ​118 third of English ks with monarchy of all England ​142 Eadric, k of Kent, s of Ecgberht I, succeeded Hlothhere, uncle ​79 Eadric Streona, br-in-law Edmund Ironside, the treacherous ealdorman ​122–3 Eadsige, abp of Canterbury ​126 Eadwig, k of England banishes abp Dunstan ​118 deposed by Mercians and Northumbrians ​118 d and burial in Winchester ​119 s of k Edmund and Ælfgifu, succeeds k Eadred ​118 Ealdred, abp of York consecrates Harold II king ​129 consecrates Matilda, w of William I, q ​136 consecrates William k in absence of Stigand abp of Canterbury ​136 d and burial in church of St Peter of York ​137 role in advancing growth of church of Beverley in eleventh century ​ xxii–xxiii swears fealty to William I at Wertham ​ 136

wishes to raise Edgar atheling as successor to k Harold ​132 Ealdwulf, abp of York ​123 n.33 Ealhstan, bp of Sherborne ​100, 101 Ealhswith, w of k Alfred ​103 Eanflæd, d of k Edwin, w of K Oswiu ​90, 91 Eanfrith, k of Bernicia ​90 Eanswith, St, dr of k Eadbald of Kent, buried in Folkestone ​78 Earconberht, k of Kent, s of k Eadbald ​79 Eardwulf, k of Nthumb ​92, 93 Earpwald, k of E. Anglia ​81 East Anglia, East Angles ​77, 79, 80–3 Eata, bp of Lindisfarne ​91 Ebraucus, British k, founder of York, Dumbarton and Edinburgh ​14 Ecgberht, k of Kent ​79 Ecgberht, k of Wessex, s of Ealhmund successor of Brihtric ​79, 80, 100–1, 103, 105, 115 Ecgberht’s stone ​12 Ecgfrith, k of Mercia ​86, 88 Ecgfrith, k of Nthumb ​86, 91, 93 Ecgric, k of E. Anglia ​81, 83, 85 Ecgwine, St, bishop of the Hwicce ​84 Edgar, atheling, s of Edmund Ironside, br of q Margaret of Scotland ​132, 136, 137, 140, 147 Edgar, k of England recalls abp Dunstan from exile ​119 reign and ecclesiastical achievements, death and burial at Glastonbury ​ 119–20 s of k Edmund and Ælfgifu, chosen k by Mercians in place of k Eadwig ​ 118 Edgar, k of Scotland ​140 Edinburgh (Mons Agned), called the ‘Maidens’ Fortress’ and ‘Sorrowful Mountain’ ​14 Edington, Wilts (battle) ​112 Edith, q, w of Edward the Confessor ​127, 128, 132 Edmund, St, k of East Anglia, killed by Danish k Inguar ​82, 83, 92, 103, 108

181

General Index Edmund I, k of England murdered in Pucklechurch (Glos.) and buried in Glastonbury by abt Dunstan ​118 s of Edward the Elder and Eadgifu, half br of k Æthelstan ​117–18 Edmund Ironside, k of England, s of k Æthelred the Unready ​123–4, 132 Edward the Confessor conflict with Godwine family ​126–8 consecrated k ​126 d of Godwine (trial by Cornsæd) while at table with k Edward ​127 d in London on eve of Epiphany ​129 releases realm from Danegeld ​126 s of k Æthelred and Emma dr Richard I c of Normandy ​121, 125 Edward the Elder d and burial in Winchester ​104, 105, 114, 116 extends Wessex power ​82–3, 104 k of Wessex, s of Alfred and Ealhswith ​ 103 Edward I, the Martyr, k of England, s of k Edgar and Æthelflæd, killed in third year of his reign at Corfe (Dorset), buried Wareham without royal rites ​120 Edwin, k of Nthumb (Deira) baptised along with his people ​90 killed in battle by Penda and Welsh k Cadwallon ​90 s of k Ælle and second Christian k of English ​5, 77 unites both Deira and Bernicia under his rule ​89 Egbrictus, Saxon follower of Mordred ​70 Eldol, Earl of Gloucester British leader ​52 Eleutherius, pope ​32, 33 Elidurus, ‘The Dutiful’, br of Arthgallo ​ 20–1, 24, 169 Ellendune (battle of) ​100 Ely (Camb.) ​82, 105, 120, 125, 140, 156, 162 Emma, q, w of k Æthelred the Unready and later of k Cnut ​121, 124, 125 Emma, q, w of k Eadbald of Kent ​78 Englefield (Berks.), ‘The field of the English’ (battle of) ​109

Eohric, last Danish k of E. Anglia ​82–3 Eomær, forebear of Penda ​85 Eopa, the Saxon, poisons Aurelius Ambrosius ​55 Eormenhild, St, w of k Wulfhere of Mercia, dr of k Earconberht k of Kent ​85 Eormenred f of SS Eormenburh, Ermenberg, Ætheldrith, Ermengyth and prince martyrs Æthelred and Æthelberht ​79 s of k Eadbald and sub k of Kent ​78–9 Eormenric, k of Kent, s of Octa, f of Æthelberht I ​77 Eosa, the Saxon, relative of Octa, s of Hengest ​57–8 Eowils, Danish k of Nthumb ​93 Epistrophus, k of Greeks ​64 Er, s of Hider ​66 Eric bloodaxe, last k of Nthumb ​118, 141 Ernaldus, prob. s of AB ​xix, xx Essex, E. Saxons ​82, 83–4 Estrildis, mistress of k Locrinus, whose daughter Habren was cast into the river Severn, by q Gwendolena ​22 Ethion of Boetia ​64 Eugenius III, pope ​xxx Eustace II, c of Boulogne ​126 Eustace III, c of Boulogne ​146 Eutropius ​vii, xxxvii, xxxix, 16 n.18, 25, 38 n.23, 39, 56 n.36 Evander, k (dk) of Syria ​64, 66 Exeter (Devon) ​29, 104, 111, 136 Faganus, religious instructor, converts k Lucius ​32, 33 Felix, bp of E. Angles ​96 Ferrex, British k, br Porrex ​23 Finan, Northumbrian bp baptises E. Saxon k Sigeberht ​83 k Peada of Mercia ​85 Flambard, Ranulf, bp of Durham ​150, 152–3 Flanders ​26, 27, 64, 68, 69, 126, 127, 129 Folkestone ​78 Fosse Way, fourth of Britain’s ancient roads ​ 18 Fræna, earl, Danish leader killed in battle of Ashdown ​110

182

General Index France ​15, 96, 100, 112, 144, 145, 150, 156 Franks, kngdm ​36, 78, 102, 119 Freawine, forebear of Cerdic ​94 Freothegar, forebear of Cerdic ​94 Freothulf, k of Bernicia ​89 Frollo, Roman tribune ​61–2 Fulgentius, leader of British rebellion against Romans ​34 Fulk, c of Anjou ​158, 159, 161, 162 Fursa, St, Irish monk, builds monastery in Cnobheresburg, E. Anglia ​81 Gaimar, Geoffrey ​xxi–xxii, 3 n.6 Gaius Metellus Cocta, Roman sntr ​64 Gaius Quintilianus, nephew of Lucius Hiberius ​65 Galaes, q of Britons from whom the Welsh take their name ​13, 72. See also Wales; Welsh Gaul, Gauls ​5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 38, 39, 42, 51, 56, 61, 62, 64, 65, 71, 74, 82, 98, 131, 168 Gawain, s of Loth earl of Lothian ​61, 65, 66, 68, 70 Genealogies Ælle (Deira) ​89 Æthelberht ​77 Cerdic ​94 Hengest and Horsa ​77 Ida (Bernicia) ​88 Penda ​85 Rædwald ​81 Sæberht ​83 Geoffrey, bp of Durham ​162 Geoffrey de Clinton, treasury chamberlain of Henry I, uncle of Roger ​162 and n.107 Geoffrey of Monmouth ​vii, xxxii, xxxiv as source and reception in HAB ​xxxv– xlii See also under Britannicus Gerinus of Chartres, earl of Gaul ​64, 65, 66, 67 Germanus, St, bp of Auxerre ​xxxii, 51–2 n.20 Germany, Germans ​5, 14, 17, 24, 27, 30, 39, 51, 57, 58, 59, 69, 71, 73, 80, 113, 115

Geseeg, forebear of Sæberht ​83 Geta, s of Severus ​34–5 Gewis, forebear of Cerdic ​94 Gewissei (province) ​38, 48, 94, 165, 166 Giants, race inhabiting Britain ​8, 12, 22, 27 Giants’ Ring ​xxxviii, 58 Gildas, named in HAB ​16, 18, 21, 25, 33 n.5, 52, 73 Gillomanius, k of Ireland ​55, 57 Glastonbury (Somt.) built by Ine k of Wessex ​97, 118, 119, 120, 124, 136, 162, 166 burial of ks Edmund I, Edgar, Edmund II, Ironside in ​118, 119, 124 Gloucester (Kair Glou) ​9 k Æthelstan d in ​117, 126, 148 k Lucius burial in ​33, 52, 69, 71, 95, 105 Godfrey, c of Louvain ​158 Godwine, ealdorman ​124 Godwine, earl of Wessex d of Godwine (trial by cornsæd) while dining with k Edward in Winchester ​127, 129, 134 n.1, 135 detains Alfred, br of Edward the Confessor, imprisons him at Ely and mutilates ​125 discord between k Edward and Godwine and his s’s ​126–7 exile of Godwine and his 5 s’s and reconciliation ​127 Goffarius, leader of the Picts in Aquitaine, Corineus fights and defeats ​12 Gonorilla, eldest dr of k Leir, w of Maglaurus dk of Scotland ​15 Gorbodianus, s of Morvidus, British k ​20, 24, 169 Gorbodugus, British k, f of Ferrex and Porrex ​15 Gorlois, dk of Cornwall, first husband of Ingerna, m of k Arthur ​57 Gormundus, k of Africans ​xxxvi donates Loegria to Saxons ​71, 75 Gratian, Roman empr ​38, 39 Gratian ‘Municeps’, last of the Roman ks in Britain ​40, 42, 43 Greece ​11, 64

183

General Index Gregory I (The Great) pope ​78, 89 Gualauc, earl of Salisbury ​68 Gualo, prince from whom the name Wales may derive ​13 Guenhaura breaks vows of marriage ​69 retires to Caerleon and takes veil among the nuns ​70 w of k Arthur ​61, 64 Guildford (Surrey) ​125 Guitardus, dk of Poitou ​62, 66, 67 Guithelinus, abp of London ​48 Guithelinus, British k, husband of q Marcia, from whom is named Marcian Law ​19 Gumbertus, k of Norway ​38 Gurguint Bartruc, s of Belinus, directs exiled people of Spain to populate Ireland ​19, 24, 168 Gurgustius, s of Rivallo ​15 Guthfrith, last Danish ruler of Nthumb, driven out by Æthelstan ​93, 116, 117 Guthrum baptised and named Æthelstan ​112 and n.36 Danish leader and k of E. Anglia ​82, 83, 84, 93, 107, 111 Gwendolena, dr of Corineus, w of Locrinus and m of Madan ​22 Gyrth, s of Earl Godwine ​127, 132 Hakon, gs of Earl Godwine ​134 n.1 Harold, Danish earl ​110 Harold I, Harefoot, s of k Cnut and Ælfgifu, k of England ​125 and n.42 Harold II, Godwineson, k of England assists stricken father at Winchester ​ 127 awaits invasion of Duke William of Normandy ​130 defeats and kills k Harold Hardrada and Tosti at Stamford Bridge ​131 exiled with Godwine family for 2 years ​ 127 falls in battle and William gains possession of kngdm ​136 jealousy of brother Tosti ​128–9

joins battle with William and is defeated and killed having ruled for 9 months and 9 days ​132 learns of Duke Williams landing with army near Pevensey and hastens to confront ​131–2 line of English kings ends with d ​133 Norman invasion ​134–5 organises expedition to Nthumb to confront k Harold Hardrada and Tosti ​130–1 raised to throne on death of Edward the Confessor ​129 s of Earl Godwine ​126 strikes down unjust laws ​130 visits Normandy and his conditional promise to William of succession to English crown as a reason for the Norman invasion ​134–5 Harold Hardrada, k of Norway ​126 Harthacnut d unexpectedly while celebrating, burial Winchester, next to f Cnut ​126 k of Danes and England, s of k Cnut and Emma, widow of k Æthelred ​ 125 and n.44 Hastings (Sussex) ​132, 133, 136, 150, 153 Heahmund, bp of Sherborne ​110 n.22 Healfdene, Danish k ​92, 93, 107, 111 Hegesippus ​xlii, 4 n.9. See also Josephus Helena (St?), dr of k Coel, w of Constantius and m of Constantine the Great ​37–8 referred to as saint ​42, 63 Heli, s of k Dignellus, f of Lud, Cassibellaunus and Nennius ​21, 24 Hengest d foretold by Merlin ​54 dr marries Vortigern; Saxons turn weapons on Britons ​50–1 executed by Aurelius Ambrosius and buried in pagan manner ​54 first k of Kent and genealogy ​75, 76 given lands in Lindsey by Vortigern and builds castle ​50 leader of Saxon settlers in Britain with br Horsa, invited by Vortigern ​ 50, 77, 78, 80, 94 s of Wihtgils ​77

184

General Index slaughters 360 British nobles treacherously ​52 Henry I, k of England ​2, 9, 142, 145, 147, 159, 161, 162 conflict and settlement with elder br Robert dk of Normandy ​153–4 consecrated by Maurice bp of London, succeeding br William Rufus ​ 153 d of s William and other family members in loss of White Ship ​ 157–8 d of w, q Matilda ​156 d in 35th year of reign after eating Lampreys ​163 fealty to dr Matilda as hereditary successor sworn at Westminster ​ 160 gives dr in marriage to empr Henry and resettles Flemings to Rhos (S.W. Wales) ​156 introduces harsh new laws on coinage ​ 155 recalls abp Anselm from exile ​153 weds Adela, dr of Godfrey c of Louvain ​ 158 Henry of Huntingdon evidence for date of compilation of HAB ​xxx–xxxi important influence in making of HAB ​ xxxii–xxxv poss. evidence for additional lines of lost poetry ​lv–lvi n.162 Henuinus, dk of Cornwall ​15 Heptarchy ​xxxiv, 75 n.1, 116 n.1 Hercules ​12, 25 Hereford ​99, 105, 129, 136, 142, 143, 150 Hexham (Nthumb) ​xxix, xxx, xxxi, l Hezekiah ​23 Higden, Ranulf, monk of St Werburgh, Chester ​viii, liv–lviii Hilda, St, abbs of Whitby ​82, 90 Hirranus, k of Parthians ​64 Historia Brittonum used in HAB ​xxxii, 6 n.18, 7 n.22 Historia Regum used as source in HAB and its reception ​xlvii–liii

Hlothhere, early k of Kent ​79, 80 Hoelus, k (also referred to as dk) of Armorica, nephew of k Arthur ​59 sends soldiers to aid Arthur ​59, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 69 Holdinus, dk (k) of Flanders ​67, 68, 69 Homer ​22 Honorius, Roman empr ​47 Horsa, s of Wihtgils, br of Hengest, killed in battle with Britons in East Kent ​ 77, 78 Hrothmund, forebear of Rædwald k of E. Anglia ​81 Hryp, forebear of Rædwald k of E. Anglia ​ 81 Hugh du Puiset ​xxx Hulne (Nthumb), Carmelite priory ​lxviii. See also Populton Humber, k of Huns ​13 Humber, river marks boundary of Britain’s 3 main provinces ​8 named after Humber, k of Huns ​13, 14, 22, 33, 54, 58, 78, 80, 101, 105, 117, 128, 130, 137, 139, 142, 158 Hwicce, people of ​84. See also Ecgwine, St Iago, 17th British k ​15, 23 Icel, forebear of k Penda ​85 Iceland ​61, 64, 71 Icknield way ​18 Ida, founder k of Bernicia (Nthumb) ​76, 88, 89, 91, 92 India ​113 Ine, k of Wessex abdicates and travels to Rome with w and lives as a pilgrim ​98, 105, 166 founds Glastonbury; battle with Mercians at Woden’s Barrow and later with South Saxons ​97–8 successor of Cædwalla ​97–8 Ingebrand, forebear of k Ida ​88 Ingels, br of k Ine ​97, 166 Ingengeat, forebear of k Ida ​88 Ingenis of Leicester ​67

185

General Index Ingerna m of Arthur, conceived while husband Gorlois still living, brought about through an illusion of Merlin ​57 w of Gorlois dk of Cornwall, after whose death, Uther Pendragon marries ​57 Inguar, Danish k, martyrs St Edmund ​82, 103, 107, 108, 112 Ipolitus of Crete ​64 Ireland ​5, 9, 19, 30, 40, 55, 60, 61, 64, 71, 75, 81, 127 Irish ​9, 19, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51, 56, 70, 88, 117 Isaiah ​23 Israel ​22, 73, 88 Italy ​11, 14, 17, 23, 39, 41, 169 Iugenius, br of British k’s Arthgallo, Elidurus and Peridurus ​20 Jerome, St ​23 Jerusalem ​23, 72, 151 Jesus ​70 Jocelyn, John (Tudor bibliophile) ​lv Joel, prophet ​23 John, St, of Beverley church of ​xxii–xxv miracle story collections of ​xxvii– xxviii, 2 St John in Liberties of Beverley ​xxvi sanctuary of St John during William I’s harrying of the north ​138–9 Vita by Folcard of St Bertin’s ​xxxiii John the Baptist ​xxiii, 119 John the Evangelist ​xxii, xxiii John of Hexham (25-year continuation of Historia Regum) ​xxix, xxx, xxxi, l John of Salisbury ​xxx John of Tynemouth (Historia Aurea) ​lv John of Worcester, chronicler, influence in making of HAB ​xxxii, xl, xlii– xlviii Josephus (Jewish War) ​4 n.9. See also Hegesippus Judith, q dr of Charles the Bald, w of k Æthelwulf of Wessex ​102 taken as w by Æthelbald, s of Æthelwulf, on death of f ​103

Judith, w of Tosti, earl of Nthumb ​127 Julius Caesar (JC) arrives in Britain 60th year before Lord’s incarnation, engages in battle with Cassibellaunus ​26–7 Britain conquered and deprived of liberty by JC ​26 Cassibellaunus twice victorious in battle against JC but defeated on 3rd occasion and agrees a three thousand pounds of silver tribute to Romans ​31, 33, 63 defeats Britons and exacts tribute and hostages ​28 historical silence on GM’s account of the deeds of British ks until time of JC ​25 no-one before JC had dared to approach Britain ​29 Justin the Elder, empr ​94 Jutes ​76–7 Juvenal ​29 Kair Bristou (Bristol) ​9 Kair Cei (Chichester) ​9 Kair Celenion (unidentified British city) ​9 Kair Ceri (Cirencester) ​9 Kair Cicerar (unidentified British city) ​9 Kair Colden (Colchester) ​9 Kair Dorm (Dorchester) ​9 Kair Dratoini (unidentified British city) ​9 Kair Ebrauc (York) ​8 Kair Glou (Gloucester) ​9 Kair Gorangon (Worcester) ​9 Kair Grant (Grantchester/Cambridge) ​9 Kair Guent (Winchester) ​9 Kair Guorcon (unidentified British city) ​9 Kair Guortegern (unidentified British city) ​ 9 Kair Kent (Canterbury) ​9 Kair Legion (Caerleon) ​9 Kair Licilid (unidentified British city) ​9 Kair Lion (Carlisle) ​9 Kair Lirion (Leicester) ​9 Kair Lohitcoit (Lincoln) ​9 Kair Lundene (London) ​9 Kair Meguiad (unidentified British city) ​9 Kair Mercipit (unidentified British city) ​9 Kair Merdin (Merdin) ​9

186

General Index Kair Peris (Porchester) ​9 Kair Segerit (Silchester) ​9 Kair Vruac (unknown British city) ​9 Kaius, cupbearer of k Arthur ​62, 67–8, 69 Kamber, second s of Brutus ​13 Kambria, land west of River Severn known as Wales ​8, 9, 13, 33 named after Kamber ​13 See also Wales Katigern, s of British k Vortigern ​50 Kenelm, St, k of Mercia ​86, 88 Kent end of kngdm when k Baldred driven out by k Ecgberht of Wessex ​79, 116 first of English ks (Æthelberht I) to accept Christianity (AD 595) ​ 77–8 first of the heptarchic English kngdms in Britain ​75 murder of the Kentish princes by Thunor k Ecgberht’s prefect ​79 people of Jutish origin ​76 Kimbelinus 3rd post Roman British k ​28 birth of Christ during reign ​28 Kingston (Surrey), 10th-century ks consecrated Æthelred ​120 Æthelstan ​116 Eadred ​118 Eadwig ​118 Kinmarcus, 18th British k ​15, 23, 24 (also named 31st k) Labienus, Roman tribune in Caesar’s army ​ 26, 27 Lagumus of Bodloan ​68 Lambarde, William, Elizabethan historian of Kent ​lvi n.163 Law, laws Alfred the sacrist wise in laws of church ​ xxviii Belinus confirms Molmutine laws ​17 coinage law of k Henry I ​155 k Harold II strikes down unjust laws ​ 129 k Henry restores laws of k Edward ​153 law of inheritance ​134

law of q Marcia ​19 and n.24 laws of k Æthelbert of Kent ​78 Molmutine laws ​16 Molmutine laws translated (British to Latin by Gildas, Latin to English by k Alfred) ​18, 23 Ranulf Flambard acting against canon law ​152 William I promises to uphold laws ​136 William II promises to abolish unjust laws ​148 Le Mans (France) ​66, 142, 151 Leicester ​15, 20, 67, 76, 105, 117 Leil, s of Brutus ‘Green Shield’ and founder of Carlisle ​14 8th British k ​23 Leir reigns for 60 years ​23 rejected by 2 elder daughters and husbands, but restored to realm by youngest daughter Cordeilla ​ 15 s of k Bladud, founder of Leicester ​15 Leland, John (Tudor bibliophile and author) ​xxvii, lv Leodagarius of Boulogne ​68 Leofric, earl ​126 Leofrun, w of k Æthelfred of E. Anglia ​ 82 Leofwine, s of Earl Godwine ​127 falls in battle of Hastings ​132 Liberties of Beverley ​xxvi n. 39 Lincoln (Kair Lohitcoit) ​53, 59, 76, 105, 117, 124, 137, 154, 158 Fosse Way passes through ​18 as a literary centre and source for HAB ​ viii, xxv, 3 n.6 Lindisfarne, bpric of Nthumb ​91 n.121 ravaged by Danes ​100, 106, 114 Lindsey ​50, 102, 110, 130 Little Britain ​39, 42, 48, 49 Locrinus, eldest s of Brutus ​13, 22 London ​104 and passim annexed from Mercia by k Alfred ​87 British abps of. See Guithelinus; Theonus British high priests of and metropolitan status ​33

187

General Index church of St Paul built by k Æthelbert ​ 78 council of Westminster decretals in church of York crisis ​xxix n.46, xxx n.55, 2 Danes storm ​102 English bps of. See Ælfhun; Waldhere foundation by Brutus, derivation and naming New Troy (Trinovantum), Kair Lud, Lundene ​13, 21–2 Romans massacred by k Asclepiodotus ​ 42 Vortigern summons support from citizens ​49 Loth of Lothian, f of Gawain and Mordred, earl of Carlisle and later k of Norway, married to k Arthur’s sister, later described as nephew ​ 57, 61, 66 Lothian (earldom of) ​61, 142, 147 Louvain (Belgium) ​158 Lucan, Roman poet ​26 Lucius, k appeals to Pope Eleutherius for Christian instruction ​32–3 on d Romans commence rule in Britain ​ 33–4 first pagan British k to accept Christianity, and last to rule in freedom from Romans ​26, 30–2 Lucius Hiberius, consul of Roman empr Leo, writes to k Arthur demanding payment of Roman tribute and battles with Arthur in Gaul ​63–6, 67–9 Lud, k d and burial in Porth Lud (Ludgate) ​ 21, 26, 28 eldest s of Heli, 70th British k, br of Cassibellaunus ​21 renames Trinovantum (New Troy) as Kair Lud ​21 Ludeca, k of Mercia ​87 Lugubalia (Carlisle) ​147 Lupus, St, bp of Troyes (France) ​51 Lyminge (Kent) St Æthelburh, w of k Edwin of Nthumb, founds monastery and is buried there ​78

Macbeth, k of Scotland ​119 Madan, British k, s of Locrinus ​13–14 Maglaurus, dk of Scotland ​15 Malcolm I, k of Scotland ​118 Malcolm III, k of Cumbrians and Scotland ​ 119, 130, 140–1, 144, 145, 147 dr Matilda marries k Henry I ​153 killed ​148 five invasions of north ​148 Malgo, British k, successor to Vortiporius ​ 71, 74 Malmesbury (Wilts.), k Æthelstan buried in town ​117 Man, Isle of (Eubonia) ​5 Marcia, w of British k Guithelinus deviser of the Marcian laws ​19. See also Law, laws Marganus, s of Maglaurus ​15 Margaret, St, q of Scotland, dr of Edward atheling, w of k Malcolm III of Scotland ​124, 140, 153 Marianus Scotus, chronicler ​xliii n.103 Marius, British k, s of Arviragus, Westmorland named after him ​30 Marius, uncle of Helen, dr of k Coel ​38 Marius Lepidus, Roman sntr ​64, 67, 68 Martin, St church of in Dover ​79 feast of ​153, 169 Life of ​40–1 Marvels and Mirabilia of Britain ​lvi, lviii–lix, 6–8 Matilda, q, w of k William I ​136 Matilda, q, w of Henry I, dr of Malcolm III of Scotland ​140, 153, 156, 157 Matilda empress, dr of Henry I, returns to Normandy on death of husband, empr Henry V ​160 marriage agreed with Geoffrey, s of Fulk, c of Anjou ​161 oath of fealty sworn to her as successor to crown of England ​160 Maulim, s of Madan, killed by br Mempricius ​14 Maurice, bp of London ​153 Maurice of Cadorcan, British noble ​66 Maurice, William, of Llansilin, transcriber ​ lxii, lxvi

188

General Index Maxentius, Roman empr ​37, 38 Maximianus Herculius, Roman empr ​ 36–8 Maximus Magnus, empr conversation with St Martin ​40–1 leaves Britain emptied of soldiers and defenceless against the Huns and Picts ​40 made Roman empr in Britain ​38 resettles Armorica with Britons making it ‘Little Britain’ ​38–40 sends Gratian Municeps to defend Britain ​40 trapped and killed at Aquileia ​40 Mellitus, bp, converts Sæberht k of E. Saxons ​83 Mempricius, British k, s of Madan, rules tyrannically and is devoured by wolves ​14 Menavia (Anglesey) ​5, 150, 151 Merchelm, s of Penda (?), br of Wulfhere and Merewalh ​85–6 Mercia dynastic account ​85–8 line of ks ends with Ceolwulf ​87. See also Plate 1 sixth of the heptarchic English kngdms, Penda its first ruler ​76 Wulfhere first Christian k ​77 Merefin, St, s of St Merewalh and St Eormenburh ​85 Meretun (battle) with Danes ​110 Merewalh, s of Penda (?), br of Wulfhere, k of West Hacanas (Magonsæton) ​85 Merlin, soothsayer brought to k Vortigern with m to explain collapsing tower ​53 creates illusion which brings about birth of k Arthur ​57 explains to k Uther Pendragon meaning of comet ​56–7 foretells Vortigern’s future and the coming of the ‘boar of Cornwall’ ​ 53–4 m explains his birth ​53 prophecies omitted by AB ​xxxviii Micipsa, k of Babylon ​64, 68 Mildburg, St, dr of St Merewalh and w St Eormenburh ​85

Mildgyth, St, dr of St Merewalh and w St Eormenburh ​85 Mildthryth, St, dr of St Merewalh and w St Eormenburh ​85 Modred defeated in battle with k Arthur at Richborough and besieged in Winchester ​70 defence of Britain entrusted to by k Arthur ​64 killed in battle in Cornwall ​70 s of Loth of Lothian, br of Gawain ​61 usurps crown uniting with q Guenhaura ​ 69 Moll (Æthelwold), k of Nthumb ​92, 93, 114 Morcar, earl of Nthumb ​129, 130, 131, 132 Morvidus, British k, f of Gorbodianus, killed by wild sea creature ​19–20, 24 Mount Badon (battle) ​56 Mul, br of k Cædwalla of Wessex ​96, 98 Murdac, Henry, abp York and abt of Fountains acta ​xx, xxii, li n.136 appears in a vision to a nun of Watton ​ li d in Beverley ​li disputed York primatial elections of 1141 and 1147 ​xxi driven from see of York by k Stephen ​ xxix harboured in Beverley during exile ​ xxix involvement in schism in church of York ​ xxix–xxxi his learning ​li n.136 lord of and residence in Beverley ​xxiv referred to as a ‘pillar of church’ ​2 n.135 Mustensar, k of Africans ​64 Natanleod, early British k, fights against Cerdic ​94 Nene, river (Hunts.) ​9 Nennius, s of k Lud ​21 fights JC ​26 See also Historia Brittonum ​xxxii

189

General Index Nero, Roman empr ​29, 36 New Forest (Hants) ​152 Noah ​77 Normandy disputes between Henry I and Duke Robert ​154–9 disputes between William II and Duke Robert over Normandy ​146–51 Earl Godwine’s s and grandson sent to Duke William as hostages by k Edward ​134 Empress Matilda returns to f in Normandy after death of her husband ​160 formerly called Estrusia ​62 Harold, s of Earl Godwine, travels to Normandy to obtain release of hostages ​134 k Æthelred flees to and is recalled from ​ 122 k Henry lord of England and Normandy ​96 k Henry travels to and dies in Normandy ​162–3 k William I grants s Robert Normandy rulership before d and burial Caen ​145 s’s of k Æthelred travel to England from ​ 125 supplies soldiers to k Arthur’s army ​64 Normans England subject to the Norman ks ​9 explanation for the Norman conquest of England ​134–6 k Harold II awaits Norman invasion ​ 130 the kngdm of the Normans in England ​ 134–63 named in HAB introductory rubric ​4 Normans one of six peoples inhabiting Britain ​9–10 offspring of Cerdic rule until coming of Normans ​76 pagan kings ravage Britain until coming of Normans ​101 Northampton ​105 second oath of fealty to Matilda sworn ​ 128 n.98

Northumbria British k Brennius rules Nthumb as far as Caithness ​16 British k and church congregation flee to Wales ​72, 75 Danish k Guthfrith driven out by k Æthelstan ​93 dynastic accounts of Bernicia and Deira ​ 88–93 Earl Tosti outlawed by Northumbrians ​ 129 excursus on earls of Nthumb ​141–2 Flemings removed from Nthumb by k Henry I ​156 k Harold II mounts expedition to Nthumb ​130–1 line of ks of Bernicia ​89 Malcolm III’s five invasions of Nthumb and d ​148–9 Nthumb united under rule of St Oswald ​ 90–1 Osberht and Ælle last of Christian ks before Danish rule ​92 Saxons drive Britons from Nthumb ​9 seventh heptarchic English kngdm ​76 William I’s punitive northern campaign ​ 138–9 Norway ​38, 61, 64, 66, 70, 71, 100, 115, 124, 126 Norwegians ​131. See also Stamford Bridge, battle of Nottingham ​105, 108, 117, 137 Nun, f of Hiderus, commander in k Arthur’s army ​65 Octa, s of Hengest ​50, 54, 57, 58, 75 Octavius, dk of Gewissei and k of Britain ​ 38, 39, 42 Odo, bp of Bayeux (France) br of k William I ​136, 143, 144, 145, 146 Odo, c of Champagne (France) ​151 Oeric, s of Hengest (Oisc) from whom the Kentish ks are known as Oiscingas ​ 75, 77 Oese, forebear of k Ida of Bernicia ​88 Oethewald, s of k Oswald, k of Deira ​91 Offa, s of k Æthelfrith of Bernicia ​88 Offa, k of Essex, s of Sigehere, abdicates and becomes monk in Rome ​84

190

General Index Offa, k of Mercia ​82, 86, 99, 100 Offa forebear of k Penda ​85 forebear of k Sæberht ​83 Ogg, s of k Ida of Bernicia ​88 Oisc, Oiscingas ​75, 77 Olaf, Danish k of Northumbrians ​117 Olaf, k of Irish ​117 Olaf, St, k of Norway ​124 n.39, 130, 131 Orkney Isles ​19, 28, 29, 30, 61, 64, 71, 151 Osberht, last of English ks of Nthumb, coruler with Ælle ​92, 93, 108 Osbern, Danish earl ​110 Oscetel, Danish k ​93 Osfrith, s of k Edwin ​91 Oslac, s of k Æthelfrith of Bernicia, br of St Oswald ​88 Oslaf, s of k Æthelfrith of Bernicia, br of St Oswald ​88 Osmær, s of k Ida of Bernicia ​88 Osred I, k of Nthumb ​91, 93 Osred II, k of Nthumb ​92, 93 Osric, ealdorman ​102 Osric, k of Deira ​90 Osthryth, dr of k Oswiu, sist of k Ecgfrith of Nthumb ​86, 91 Oswald, bp ​119 Oswald, pretender to West Saxon crown ​ 98 Oswald, s of k Ida ​88 Oswald, St killed by Penda ​85, 91 kills British k Cadwallon, succeeds uncle, k Edwin ruling Bernicia and Deira and overlord of southern kngdms ​90–1 s of k Æthelfrith of Bernicia ​90 Oswine, St, s of Osric, k of Deira ​91, 150 Oswiu encourages Christianity among E. Saxons ​83 kills Æthelhere of E. Anglia ​82 kills Penda of Mercia ​85 s of k Æthelfrith of Bernicia, k of Nthumb, o/lord of southern kngdms for three years ​88, 91, 93 Oswulf, k of Nthumb ​91, 93 Otto, Roman empr ​104

Ouse, River (Hunts.) ​114, 130, 131 Oxford ​105, 128. See also Boso of Oxford Pandrasus, k of Egypt ​64 Pandrasus, k of Greece ​11 Paris (France) ​61, 62, 65, 66 Parthians ​35, 64, 67, 119 Paschent, s of Vortigern ​50 Paul, earl of Orkney ​131 Paul, St, church in Jarrow (Durham) destroyed by fire by army of William I ​138 Paul, St, church in London dedicated to ​78 k Æthelred Unready buried ​123 Paul the Deacon ​xxxii, 16 n.18, 38 n.23, 56 n.36 Paulinus, abp York, k Edwin baptised under his instruction ​90 Peada baptised by bp Finan ​85 murdered in first year of rule ​85 s of k Penda, given kngdm of S. Mercia by k Oswiu ​85 Pelagian heresy ​51 Penda genealogy ​85 kills in battle 5 English ks ​85, 87–8, 90, 91, 95, 166 s of Pybba, extends Mercian kngdm ​ 85 Peridurus, br of ks Elidurus, Arthgallo and Iugenius ​20 Persians ​119 Peter, St, apostle ​78, 97, 124, 129, 136, 137, 138, 139 Peterborough, abbey ​120, 122 Petrecius, Roman sntr ​65 Pevensey (Sussex) ​131, 146 Philip, canon of Beverley at time of AB ​ xxiv Philip, s of Roger earl of Shrewsbury ​151 Philip I, k of France ​96, 144, 146–7, 150 Phrygia ​64 Picts, people arrival in Britain ​9 Britons’ appeals to Rome for protection from ​47 Goffarius leader ​12

191

General Index help from Armoricans sought against ​ 48 k Arthur subdues Picts ​58–60 Pictish attacks on Britons ​44–6 pillaging raids of Picts in time of k Alfred ​111 populate north of island ​9 Saxons ally with Picts against Britons ​ 50 travel to Ireland for wives ​30 Vortigern’s treacherous dealings with ​ 49 Pillars of Hercules ​12 Pinner, k of Loegria ​16 Piramus, chaplain of k Arthur, abp of York ​ 60 Poitou, Poitevins ​62, 64, 66, 67 Politetes, dk of Bithynia ​64 Ponthieu (France) ​64, 134, 154 Populton, Robert, prior of Carmelite priory of Hulne ​lxii, lxviii Porchester (Kair Peris) ​9 Porrex, s of k Gorbodugus, br of Ferrex ​ 15–16, 23 Praen, Eadberht, k of Kent ​79 Pridwen, k Arthur’s shield ​60 Prophecies of Goddess Diana on future of Brutus ​ 11–12 of Merlin ​xxxviii n.79, 53 n.24 of St Dunstan ​lii, 122 Sibylline ​63–4 Pucklechurch (Glos.) ​118 Pybba, f of k Penda of Mercia ​85 Quintus Carutius, Roman sntr ​64, 66, 67 Quintus Metellus, Roman sntr ​67 Quintus Milvius, Roman sntr ​68 Rædwald, k of E. Anglia assists k Edwin of Nthumb gain kngdm ​ 81 his genealogy ​81 most powerful E. Anglian k ​80 relapses to paganism ​81 slays k Æthelfrith of Bernicia ​89 Ragnald, Danish k of York ​93, 114, 118 n.7 Ralph, earl of E. Angles ​143

Ranulf Flambard, bp of Durham ​150, 152–3, 158 Ranulf Higden, universal chronicler ​viii, liv–lx Regau, dr k Leir ​15 Rhetoric in writing of medieval history ​ xlii n.101, 18 n.22 Richborough (Kent) ​5, 29, 70 n.73 Richerius, British earl ​65, 66 Ricula, sist k Æthelbert I of Kent, m of Sæberht k Essex ​78 Ripon ​xxx, 118 Rivallo, s of Cunedagius, British k ​15, 23 Roads in Britain of Dunuallo Molmutius ​16–18 four ancient roads of Britain ​18 Robert of Commine, earl of Nthumb ​137 Robert II (Curthose), dk of Normandy captured at siege of castle of Tinchebrai, sent under guard to England ​155 centre of plot to replace br William ​ 146 conflict with br k Henry and peace agreed ​152–3 conflict with br William Rufus ​146–50 eldest s of k William I ​144 granted duchy of Normandy by f ​145 peace agreement ​151 pillages and fights f in Normandy ​144 releases hostages in Normandy after death of f ​145 Robert of Bellême ​154, 155, 156 Robert de Mobray, earl of Nthumb ​142 Robert, c of Mortain ​146 Robert de Stuteville III ​xx, xxi, xxviii Robert of Torigni, chronicler ​xxxv n.71, xxxix Rochester (Kent) ​78, 102, 104, 112, 146 Roger, canon of Beverley (contemporary of AB) ​xx, xxiv Roger, earl of Hereford ​142, 143, 145 Roger, earl of Shrewsbury ​146, 151, 154 Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk ​146 Roger de Clinton, archdeacon of Buckingham and bp of Chester ​162 n.107 Roger de Pont l’Evêque, abp York ​xxi n.2, xxiii n.23

192

General Index Rome, Romans appeals to Rome for protection from Picts, Huns and Scots ​45–7 arrival of Severus in Britain to restore Roman authority ​34 British ks Belinus and Brennius capture Rome ​17 conquest of Britain by JC and Claudius ​ 26–31 English visits to Rome Alfred, Æthelwulf and Arthur ​102 Burgred ​87, 110 Cædwalla ​97, 166 Cenred ​86 Cnut ​124 Ine ​98, 166 Offa ​84 Tosti ​148 foundation of Rome ​8, 23, 26 k Arthur’s campaigns against the Romans in Gaul ​64–9 Roman walls in Britain constructed ​ 35, 44 n.6 Romulus ​23, 97, 119 Ron, spear of k Arthur ​60 Rouen (France) ​96, 149, 162 Russicada, land passed on Brutus’s sea journey to Britain ​12 Sæbald, forebear of k Ælle of Deira ​89 Sæberht, k Essex ​77, 78, 83 Sæfugel, forebear of k Ælle of Deira ​89 Sæthryth, w of k Berhtwulf of Mercia ​ xlvi, 87 Sæweard, s of k Sæberht ​83 St Albans (Herts.) ​58 St Andrew, church of (Rochester) ​78 St David’s, bpric (Wales) ​105, 162 Salisbury (Wilts.) ​68, 71, 76, 95 bpric ​104, 153 oath of fealty sworn to Prince Henry s of William I ​145, 151, 156 Sampson, abp of Dol ​63 Sampson, abp of York ​60 Samuel, chief judge Judea ​22 Sandwich (Kent) ​102, 107, 122, 126, 130 Saul, ruler of Judea ​22 k of Israel ​88

Saxons, Saxon kngdms dynastic accounts E. Anglia ​80–3 E. Saxons ​83–4 Kent ​77–80 Mercia ​85–8 Nthumb (Bernicia) ​88–9 Nthumb (Deira) ​89–93 Sussex ​80 Wessex ​93–105 origins and arrival in Britain. See Angles Scotland ​34, 49, 55, 57, 60, 64, 66–7, 70, 117, 127, 140–1, 144, 147, 168 diocese of Scotland subject to metropolitan of York ​33 named Albany after Albanactus ​13, 14, 15, 16 road from Cornwall to end of Scotland ​ 18, 30 Scots ​9, 58–61, 70, 75, 93, 104, 114, 116– 17, 118, 119, 124, 128, 130, 139, 140, 145, 147, 153, 160 Scythia, original home of the Picts ​9, 34 Seaxburg, St, dr k Anna of E. Anglia ​79 Seaxhete forebear of Sæberht ​83 Seaxred, s of k Sæberht ​83 Sebbi, co-ruler Essex ​84 Selered, s of k Sigeberht II of Essex ​84 Septimus Severus, empr builds rampart from coast to coast to prevent incursions by Scots and Picts ​34–5, 44–5 n.6 d in York ​35 first of direct Roman rulers in Britain ​ lvi–lvii, 41 Sergius I, pope, baptises k Cædwalla of Wessex ​97, 166 Serses, k of Itureans ​64, 67 Sertorius, k of Libya ​64, 66, 67, 69 Severn, river ​8 British name Habren ​22, 29, 33, 59, 71, 143 one of 3 principal rivers of Britain ​9, 13, 18 Severus, St, bp of Trier ​52 Sexburh, dr k Anna E. Anglia ​82 Sheppey isle, monastery at ​79 n.30 Danes plunder ​101 Danes winter in ​107, 123

193

General Index Shires of England (list of) ​104–5 Shrewsbury (Shrops.)castle in city ​154 Sibylline prophecies ​63 Sidroc, Danish earls (the Elder, the Younger) ​110 Sigeberht, k E. Anglia ​81 Sigeberht I, ‘parvus’ k Essex ​83 Sigeberht II, k Essex ​83 Sigeberht k Wessex ​99 Sigefugel forebear of Sæberht ​83 Sigegar forebear of k Ælle of Deira ​89 Sigegeat forebear of k Ælle of Deira ​89 Sigeheard, s of Sebbi, k Essex, co-ruler of Essex ​84 Sigehere, k Essex ​84 Sigered, k of Essex ​84 Sigeric, abp Canterbury ​121 Sigeric, k of Essex ​84 Sihtric, Danish k of Nthumb ​93, 104 k Æthelstan gives sister in marriage ​116 Silvius, f of Brutus ​11 Silvius Alba, k of Italy ​14 Simon, canon of Beverley at time of AB ​ xxiv Sirens ​12 n.4 Sisillius, 16th and 30th British k ​15, 19, 24 Siward, Barn of Scotland ​140, 145 Siward, earl Nthumb ​127–8, 136, 142 Sledd, f of k Sæberht ​83 Solinus ​6 n.20 Solomon, k Israel ​23 Somerset ​59, 104, 112 Southampton ​17, 28, 59, 64, 102 Spain ​5 originally populate Ireland ​19, 37, 38, 62, 64, 67, 68, 98 Stamford (Lincs.) ​117, 120 Stamford Bridge, battle of (E. Yorks.) ​131 Standard, battle of (1138) ​li n.134, 20 n.26 ‘Status’, historical periodising theory ​ xxxv–xxxvi, lvi–lvii, lxxii–lxxiii Stephen, c of Aumale ​150–1 Stephen, k of England charter to Beverley ​xxiv imposes fine on Beverley ​xxix opposes Henry Murdac’s election as abp of York ​xxx reconciles with abp Murdac ​xxxi

Stigand, abp of Canterbury ​136 Stonehenge (Wilts.) ​6, 71 Stour, river (Essex, Suffolk) ​113 Stuf, nephew of Cerdic, k of Wessex ​94 Suetonius ​vii, xxxii, xxxvii, 25, 28, 29, 30 Sulpicius Severus, hagiographer (Vita Martini) ​40–1 Sussex, Saxon kngdm ​80 Swæfred, s of Sebbi, co-ruler Essex ​84 Swæppa, forebear of Sæberht ​83 Swærta, forebear of Ælle, k of Deira ​89 Swefdæg, forebear of Ælle, k of Deira ​89 Swegn I, k of Danes and England (Forkbeard) ​121–2 Swegn II, k of Danes ​137 Swegn, s of Earl Godwine ​127 Swithhelm, k of Essex ​83 Swithred, k of Essex ​84 Sybil, dr of Fulk c of Anjou ​161 n.100 Syria ​64, 66 Taillefer, Norman soldier ​132 Taunton (Somt.) ​98 Tees, river (Nthumb) ​138 Temples of Apollo ​15 of Diana ​11 of Harmony ​16 of the Lord built by Solomon ​23 of Minerva ​14, 23 of Rædwald, k of E. Anglia ​81 Tenuantius, British k, s of k Lud ​21, 28, 31 Teucer, dk of Phrygia ​64, 67 Thadioceus, abp of York (British) flees into Wales ​72 Thames, river ​100, 102, 105, 106, 109, 111, 112, 113, 118, 120 as a boundary ​8, 9, 13, 18 JC uses in expedition ​26–7 Thanet, Isle of (Kent) ​51, 107 Theobald, br of k Æthelfrith, k of Nthumb ​ 88 Theobald, earl, lost in sinking of White Ship ​157 Theodore, descendant of dks of Flanders ​ 161 Theodosius, Roman empr ​39–40, 41 Theodric, k of Bernicia ​88, 89

194

General Index Theodwulf, k of Bernicia ​88, 89 Theonus, British bp Gloucester and abp of London ​71 flees into Wales ​72 Thomas I, abp of York ​xxiii Thomas II, abp of York, former provost of Beverley ​xxiii Thomas Becket, abp of Canterbury, former provost of Beverley ​xxiv Thurstan, abp of York charter to Beverley confirmed by abp William fitz Herbert ​xx letter to William abp of Canterbury ​li Thurstan, provost of Beverley at time of AB ​xx Thurstan, soldier, violates sanctuary of St John of Beverley ​138–9 Tinchebrai (France), castle of c of Mortain besieged by Henry I ​155 Torksey (Lincs.)beginning of canal to city of Lincoln ​110, 158 n.90 Tosti, s of Earl Godwine, earl of Nthumb ​ 142 attack by Northumbrian nobles on Tosti and his court ​128 exiled by k Edward Confessor ​127 flees to Scotland ​130 given earldom of Nthumb in succession to Earl Siward ​128 joins forces with Harold Hardrada and is defeated and slain at Stamford Bridge ​130–1 Northumbrians force exile of Tosti ​129 Tosti returns and raids southern coast ​ 130 Tosti’s cruelty ​129 Trent, river (Staffs., Derbys., Durh.) ​158 n.90 Trier (Germany) ​39, 52. See also Severus, St Trygils, forebear of Rædwald, k of E. Anglia ​81 Tweed, river, boundary of province of Nthumb ​142, 158 Tyne, river (Nthumb, Durh.) ​108, 111, 130, 137, 138, 141, 142, 144, 148, 150 Tytla, f of Rædwald, k of E. Anglia ​81 Tytmon, forebear of Rædwald, k of E. Anglia ​81

Ubba, Danish k ​92 puts St Edmund to death ​103, 107 Ulf, s of Dolfin, murdered by Tosti ​128 Ulf, s of k Harold II of England ​145 Urbgenius of Bath ​67 Urianus, k of Moray, br of Auguselus ​61 Usk, river (Monmouths.) ​9, 18, 33 Uther, later Uther Pendragon br of Constans and Aurelius Ambrosius, s of k Constantine II ​48 brought up by Guithelinus, abp of London ​48 captures Octa s of Hengest ​57 crowned k in Winchester ​57 f of Arthur and Anna ​57 flees to Little Britain after Vortigern seizes crown ​49 known as Uther Pendragon after making two golden dragons in shape of fiery comet ​57 meaning of dragon shaped comet explained by Merlin ​56 poisoned by Saxons, d and burial in Giants Ring, next to br Aurelius Ambrosius ​58 return to Britain and future foretold by Merlin ​54 transformed into appearance of Gorlois in order to sleep with Ingerna, even when Gorlois still alive ​57 weds Ingerna, widow of Gorlois dk of Cornwall ​57 Valentinian I, Roman empr ​38–9 Verulamium (Herts.) ​37. See also St Albans Vespasian, Roman empr ​5, 6, 29–30 Vortigern, earl of Gewissei and British k ​ 55, 56, 74, 75, 77, 78 Britons cast out Vortigern and choose s Vortimer as k ​51 engineers murder of Constans by Picts, assumes his crown ​49 gives Saxon leader Hengest lands in Lindsey and weds dr of Hengest ​ 50 held hostage by Hengest ​52 Installs Constans as puppet k ​48–9

195

General Index invites Saxons to Britain for protection against brs of Constans ​49 Merlin brought to Vortigern and informs him of his fate ​53 perishes in tower burned by Aurelius ​ 54 regains crown on death of s Vortimer ​ 52 withdraws into Wales and builds defensive tower ​53 Vortimer, s of Vortigern ​50, 51, 52 Vortiporius, British k ​71, 74 Wægbrand, forebear of Ida k of Bernicia ​ 88 Wægdæg, s of Woden and forebear of Ælle k of Deira ​89 Waga, forebear of Penda k of Mercia ​85 Walcher, bp of Durham, earl of Nthumb ​ 141, 142, 144, 148 Waldhere, bp of London ​84 Waleran, c of Meulan (France) ​159 n.93, 161 Wales (Kambria) also named Kambria ​13 bprics ​xxxi, 33, 105 conquered by British ks Dunuallo Molmutius and Belinus ​16 k Ecgberht of Wessex subdues Northern parts ​101 k Henry I in Wales ​156 named Wales after q Galaes ​72 rebellion against English in time of William II ​150–1 relocation of Flemings to Rhos ​156 Vortigern withdraws into ​53 withdrawal of Britons into Wales ​ xxxvi, 9, 13 n.7, 72, 74, 75 Walls (Roman) Clyde–Forth turf wall ​44 n.6, 45–6 Severus’s rampart ​34 n.9, 35 n.10 Walter, archdeacon of Oxford ​3 n.6 Walter, bp of Hereford ​136 Walter Espec, Lord of Helmsley ​xxi Walter de Lacy ​143 Walter (Tyrel), kills William Rufus with an arrow ​152 Waltheof, s of Siward, 13th earl of Nthumb ​ 136, 137, 142–3

Waltheof the Elder, 2nd earl of Nthumb ​ 141, 142 Wanius, k of Huns ​39 Warin the Breton (Epistola ad Warinum) ​ xxxiv–xxxv Warwick, 29th shire of England ​105 Watton, Gilbertine priory (E. Yorks.) ​xix, xx, xxv, li Wehta, s of Woden, great-gf of Hengest and Horsa ​77 Welsh Britons now named Welsh and AngloNorman views of Welsh ​xl–xli n.93 and n.97, 72 Hywel k of Welsh conquered by k Æthelstan ​116 ks of Welsh, no longer ks of Britons ​73 Welsh k Cadwallon slays Edwin of Nthumb ​90 Welsh rebellions against English ​150, 151, 154, 158 Wermund, forebear of Penda, k of Mercia ​ 85 Wessex, West Saxons dynastic account and line of ks from Cerdic to Edward the Elder ​ 93–105 third A. Saxon kngdm established in Britain ​76 Westerfalca, gf of Ælle k of Deira ​89 Westminster councils at ​xxix n.49, xxx, xxxi, 2 n.3 and n.5, 143, 154 n.70, 155 n.75, 160 n.96 k Henry consecrated ​153 William dk of Normandy consecrated k ​136 William I knights s Henry ​145 William Rufus consecrated ​145 Whitby (Streoneshalh), abbey (N. Yorks) ​ 90. See also Hilda, St White Ship, wreck of ​157–8 Wig, forebear of Cerdic ​94 Wight, Isle of (Vecta) captured by W. Saxon k Cerdic and s Cynric ​94 conquered by Cædwalla, k of Wessex and a third of Isle given to St Wilfrid ​96

196

General Index conquered by Vespasian ​5, 29, 30 Earl Tosti forces islanders to pay tribute ​ 130 given to nephews Stuf and Wihtgar to rule by Cerdic ​94 Jutish origin of settlers ​76 k Harold awaits invasion of William dk of Normandy ​130 Wiglaf, k of Mercia ​xlvi, 87, 88, 101, 167 Wigmund, s of k Wiglaf of Mercia ​87 Wigstan, St, s of Wigmund, gs of k Wiglaf ​ 87 n.92 Wihtgar, nephew of Cerdic, k of Wessex ​ 94 Wihtgarabyrig (unidentified battle, Isle of Wight) ​94 Wihtgils, f of Hengest and Horsa ​77 Wihtlæg, forebear of Penda, k of Mercia ​ 85 Wihtred, s of k Ecgberht I of Kent ​79, 80, 98 Wilfrid I, St, abp York ​96 monastery of burned by pagans ​118 Wilgils, great-gf of k Ælle of Deira ​89 William I, k of England, dk of Normandy account of reign ​136–45 consecrated by abp Ealdred of York ​ 136 English churchmen and atheling Edward pay fealty ​136 falls ill, dies and buried in Caen (France) ​ 145 harrying of north ​138–9 lands with army at Pevensey ​131 orders Domesday Survey ​144 orders execution of Earl Waltheof ​143 papal approval for invasion ​135 n.5 prepares invasion of England ​130 promise of K Edward to William of succession ​134–5 reasons and explanation for his invasion ​ 134 victory in battle of Hastings and possession of kngdm ​132–3 William II, Rufus, k of England account of reign ​148–52 conflict with dk Robert over possession of Normandy ​146–8

consecrated by abp Lanfranc at Westminster and distributes f’s treasure as commanded ​145 d in New Forest and burial at Winchester ​152 faces down early rebellion to his rule ​ 146 falls ill at Gloucester and recovers ​148 granted kngdm of England by dying f ​145 refuses to meet k Malcolm III of Scotland ​148 William, prince, s of k Henry I ​156, 157, 158 William Clito, s of dk Robert of Normandy ​ 160, 161 n.100 William of Corbeil, abp of Canterbury ​ 162 William Fitz Herbert, abp of York ​xix, xx, xxix–xxx, 163 n.112 William le Gros, c of Aumale, earl of York ​ xxi, xxx William d’Eu, precentor York Minster ​ xxii William of Jumièges, chronicler ​135 n.3 William of Newburgh, chronicler ​xxxv, xli, 25 n.5 William of Malmesbury, chronicler ​xl, xlvi, lx William of Poitiers, chronicler ​132 n.73, 135 n.5 William of St Barbe, dean of York and bp of Durham ​xxi William of St Calais, bp of Durham ​148 Witta, gf of Hengest and Horsa ​77 Woden, 17th from Noah, forebear of founders of A. Saxon kngdms ​xlv, 77 Worcester, city of ​8 25th shire and bpric ​105 Worcester Chronicle, as source for HAB ​ xlii–xlv, xlv–xlvii. See also John of Worcester Wothelgeat, s of Woden, forebear of Penda, k of Mercia ​85 Wulfnoth, s of Earl Godwine ​134 n.1, 145 Wulfstan I, abp York ​118, 119 n.15 Wulfstan II, bp of Worcester, abp York ​ 118, 136, 143

197

General Index Wuscfrea, gf of Ælle k of Deira ​89 Wuscfrea, St, s of k Edwin of Nthumb and q Æthelburh ​90 York ancient British metropolitan ​33 abpric of ​105 abps of. See Ælfric Puttoc; Cynesige; Ealdred; Murdac; Paulinus; Roger de Pont l’Evêque; Thomas I; Thomas II; Thurstan; Wilfrid I; William Fitz Herbert; Wulfstan I; Wulfstan II British ks Ebraucus, Elidurus and Arthgallo d in ​14, 20, 22 Cassibellaunus buried in ​28 Constantine I declared empr in ​38

198

crisis and schism in church of York ​ xxix–xxxi Danish ks occupy ​92, 108 Earl Siward buried in ​128 earls of swear fealty to k Eadred ​118 hanging tablets of ​xxvii Henry I in ​158 k Arthur besieges ​58 last 3 Anglo-Saxon abps promote growth of Beverley ​xxii–xxiii Norwegians battle ​131 Roman ks in Britain Severus and Constantius d in ​34, 37 supposed foundation by British k Ebraucus ​8, 14 William I in ​137 York–Canterbury primacy dispute ​liii