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14 - King Alfred of England by Jacob Abbott · King Alfred of England

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen of King Alfred of England. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: King Alfred of England by Jacob Abbot, Chapter thirteen, The
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  Speaker 1: Sequel The Romantic Story of Godwin forms the sequel to
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  Speaker 1: the history of Alfred, leading us onward as it does
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  Speaker 1: towards the next great era in English history, that of
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  Speaker 1: William the Conqueror. Although as we have seen in the
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  Speaker 1: last chapter, the immediate effects of Alfred's measures was to
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  Speaker 1: re establish peace and order in his kingdom, and although
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  Speaker 1: the institutions which he founded have continued to expand and
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  Speaker 1: develop themselves down to the present day, still it must
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  Speaker 1: not be supposed that the power and prosperity of his
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  Speaker 1: kingdom and of the Saxon dynasty continued wholly uninterrupted after
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  Speaker 1: his death. Contentions and struggles between the two great races
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  Speaker 1: of Saxons and Danes continued for some centuries to agitate
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  Speaker 1: the island. The particular details of these contentions have in
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  Speaker 1: these days in a great measure lost their interest for
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  Speaker 1: all but professed historical scholars. It is only the history
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  Speaker 1: of great leading events and the lives of really extraordinary
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  Speaker 1: men in the annals of early ages, which can now
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  Speaker 1: attract the general attention even of cultivated minds. The vast
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  Speaker 1: movements which have occurred and are occurring in the history
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  Speaker 1: of mankind in the present century throw everything except what
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  Speaker 1: is really striking and important in early history into the shade.
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  Speaker 1: The era which comes next in the order of time
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  Speaker 1: to that of Alfred in the course of English history,
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  Speaker 1: as worthy to arrest general attention, is, as we have
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  Speaker 1: already said, that of William the Conqueror. The life of
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  Speaker 1: this sovereign forms the subject of a separate volume of
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  Speaker 1: this series. He lived two centuries after Alfred's day, and although,
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  Speaker 1: for the reasons above given, a full chronological narration of
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  Speaker 1: the contentions between the Saxon and Danish lines of kings
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  Speaker 1: which took place during this interval would be of little
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  Speaker 1: interest or value, some great knowledge of the state of
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  Speaker 1: the kingdom at this time is important, and may be
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  Speaker 1: best communicated in connection with the story of Godwin. Godwin
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  Speaker 1: was by birth a Saxon peasant of Warwickshire at the
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  Speaker 1: time when he arrived at manhood and was tending his
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  Speaker 1: father's flocks and herds. Like other peasant's sons, the Saxons
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  Speaker 1: and the Danes were at war. It seems that one
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  Speaker 1: of Alfred's descendants, name Ethelred, displeased his people by his misgovernment,
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  Speaker 1: and was obliged to retire from England. He went across
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  Speaker 1: the Channel and married there the sister of a Norman
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  Speaker 1: chief named Richard. Her name was Emma Ethelred. Hope by
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  Speaker 1: this alliance to obtain Richard's assistance in enabling him to
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  Speaker 1: recover his kingdom. The Danish population, however, took advantage of
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  Speaker 1: his absence to put one of their their own princes
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  Speaker 1: upon the throne. His name was Canute. He figures in
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  Speaker 1: English history accordingly among the other English kings as Canute
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  Speaker 1: the Dane, that appellation being given him to mark the
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  Speaker 1: distinction of his origin in respect to the kings who
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  Speaker 1: proceeded and followed him, as they were generally of the
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  Speaker 1: Saxon line. It was this Canut of whom the famous
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  Speaker 1: story is told that, in order to rebuke his flatterers, who,
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  Speaker 1: in extolling his grandeur in power, had represented to him
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  Speaker 1: that even the elements were subservient to his will, he
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  Speaker 1: took his stand upon the sea shore when the tide
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  Speaker 1: was coming in, with his flatters by his side, and
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  Speaker 1: commanded the rising waves not to approach his royal feet.
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  Speaker 1: He kept his symphonic courtiers in this ridiculous position until
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  Speaker 1: the encroaching waters drove them away, and then dismissed them,
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  Speaker 1: Overwhelmed with confusion. The story is told in a thousand
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  Speaker 1: different ways, and with a great variety of different embellishments.
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  Speaker 1: According to the fancy of the several narrators, all that
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  Speaker 1: there is now any positive evidence for believing, however, is
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  Speaker 1: that probably some simple incident of this kind occurred out
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  Speaker 1: of which the stories have grown. Canute did not hold
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  Speaker 1: his kingdom in peace. Ethelred sent his son across the
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  Speaker 1: channel into England to negotiate with the Anglo Saxon powers
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  Speaker 1: wore his own restoration to the throne. An arrangement was
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  Speaker 1: accordingly made with them, and Ethelred returned, and a violent
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  Speaker 1: civil war immediately ensued between Ethelred and the Anglo Saxons
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  Speaker 1: on the one hand, and Canut and the Danes on
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  Speaker 1: the other. At length, Ethelred fell and his son Edmund,
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  Speaker 1: who was at the time of his death one of
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  Speaker 1: his generals succeeded him. Emma and his two other sons
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  Speaker 1: had been left in Normandy. Edmund carried on the war
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  Speaker 1: against Cannut great energy. One of his battles was fought
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  Speaker 1: in the County of Warwick, in the heart of England,
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  Speaker 1: where the peasant Godwin lived. In this battle, as were defeated,
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  Speaker 1: and the discomfited generals fled in all directions from the
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  Speaker 1: field whenever they saw the readiest hope of concealment or safety.
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  Speaker 1: One of them, named Both took a byeway which led
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  Speaker 1: him in the direction of Godwin's father's farm. Night came
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  Speaker 1: on and he lost his way in a wood. Men,
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  Speaker 1: when flying under such circumstances from a field of battle,
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  Speaker 1: avoid always the public roads and seek concealment in unfrequented paths,
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  Speaker 1: where they easily get bewildered and lost. Ulf wandered all
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  Speaker 1: night in the forest, and when the morning came he
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  Speaker 1: found himself exhausted with fatigue, anxiety, and hunger, certain to
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  Speaker 1: perish unless he could find some seccor, and yet dreading
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  Speaker 1: the danger of being recognized as a Danish fugitive if
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  Speaker 1: he were to be discovered by any of the Saxon
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  Speaker 1: inhabitants of the land. At length he heard the shouts
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  Speaker 1: of a peasant who was coming along a solitary pathway
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  Speaker 1: through the wood, driving a herd to their pasture. Would
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  Speaker 1: gladly have avoided him if he could have gone on
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  Speaker 1: without succor or help. His plan was divine his way
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  Speaker 1: to the severn, where some Danish ships were lying, in
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  Speaker 1: hopes of a refuge on board of them. But he
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  Speaker 1: was exhausted with hunger and fatigue, and utterly bewildered and lost.
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  Speaker 1: So he was compelled to go forward and take the
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  Speaker 1: risk of accosting the Saxon stranger. He accordingly went up
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  Speaker 1: to him and asked him his name. Godwin told him
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  Speaker 1: his name and the name of his father, who lived,
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  Speaker 1: he said, at a little distance in the wood. While
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  Speaker 1: he was answering the question, he gazed very earnestly at
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  Speaker 1: the stranger, and then told him that he perceived he
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  Speaker 1: was a Dane, a fugitive he supposed from the battle.
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  Speaker 1: Ulf Thus, finding that he could not be concealed, begged
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  Speaker 1: Godwin not to betray him. He acknowledged that he was
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  Speaker 1: a Dane, and that he had made his escape from
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  Speaker 1: the battle, and he wished, he said, to find his
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  Speaker 1: way to the Danish ships in the Severn. He bade
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  Speaker 1: Godwin to conduct him. Godwin replied by saying that it
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  Speaker 1: was unreasonable and absurd for a deign to expect guidance
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  Speaker 1: and protection from the Saxon. Ulf offered Godwin all sorts
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  Speaker 1: of rewards if he would leave his herd and conduct
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  Speaker 1: him to a place of safety. Godwin said that the attempt,
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  Speaker 1: were he to make, it would endanger his own life,
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  Speaker 1: without saving that of the fugitive. The country, he said,
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  Speaker 1: was all in arms. The peasantry, emboldened by the late
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  Speaker 1: victory obtained by the Saxon army, were everywhere rising, and
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  Speaker 1: although was not far to the Savern yet, to attempt
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  Speaker 1: to reach the river while the country was in such
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  Speaker 1: a state of excitement would be a desperate undertaking. They
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  Speaker 1: would almost certainly be intercepted, and if intercepted, their exasperated
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  Speaker 1: captors would show no mercy, Godwin said, either to him
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  Speaker 1: or to his guide. Among the other inducements which Ulf
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  Speaker 1: offered to Godwin was a valuable gold ring, which he
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  Speaker 1: took from his finger, and which he said should be
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  Speaker 1: his if he would consent to be his guide. Godwin
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  Speaker 1: took the ring into his hand, examined it with much
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  Speaker 1: apparent curiosity, and seemed to hesitate. At length, he yielded,
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  Speaker 1: though he seems to have been induced to yield not
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  Speaker 1: by the value of the offered gift, but by compassion
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  Speaker 1: for the urgency of the distress which the offer of
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  Speaker 1: it indicated. For. He put the ring backed into Ulf's hands,
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  Speaker 1: saying that he would not take anything from him, but
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  Speaker 1: he would try to save him instead. However, of undertaking
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  Speaker 1: the apparently hopeless enterprise of conducting Ulf to the Severn,
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  Speaker 1: he took him to his father's cottage and concealed him there.
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  Speaker 1: During the day, they formed plans for journeying together, not
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  Speaker 1: to the ships in the Severn, but to the Danish camp.
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  Speaker 1: They were to set forth as soon as it was dark.
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  Speaker 1: When the evening came and all was ready, and they
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  Speaker 1: were about to commence their dangerous journey, the old peasant
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  Speaker 1: God's father, with an anxious countenance and manner, gave Ulf
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  Speaker 1: this solemn charge. This is my only son going forth
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  Speaker 1: the guide you. Under these circumstances. He puts his life
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  Speaker 1: at stake, trusting to your honor. He cannot return to
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  Speaker 1: me again, as there will be no more safety for
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  Speaker 1: him among his own countrymen, after having once been a
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  Speaker 1: guide for you. When therefore you reach the camp, present
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  Speaker 1: my son to your king and ask him to receive
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  Speaker 1: him into his service, he cannot come again to me.
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  Speaker 1: Both promised very earnestly to do all this and much
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  Speaker 1: more for his protector, And then fitting the father farewell,
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  Speaker 1: and leaving him in his solitude, the two adventurers sailed
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  Speaker 1: forth into the dark forest and went their way. After
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  Speaker 1: various adventures, they reached the camp of the Danes in safety.
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  Speaker 1: Both faithfully fulfilled the promises that he had made. He
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  Speaker 1: introduced Godwin to the king, and the king was so
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  Speaker 1: much pleased with the story of his general's escape, and
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  Speaker 1: so impressed with the marks of capacity and talent which
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  Speaker 1: the young Saxon manifested, that he gave Godwin immediately a
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  Speaker 1: military command in his army. In fact, a young man
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  Speaker 1: who could leave his home and his father and abandoned
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  Speaker 1: the cause of his countrymen forever under such circumstances must
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  Speaker 1: have had something besides generosity towards a fugitive enemy to
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  Speaker 1: impel him. Godwin was soon found to possess a large
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  Speaker 1: portion of that peculiar spirit which constitutes a soldier. He
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  Speaker 1: was ambitious, stern, energetic, and always successful. He rose rapidly
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  Speaker 1: in influence, in rank, and in the course of a
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  Speaker 1: few years during which King Canut triumphed wholly over his
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  Speaker 1: Saxon enemies and established his dominion over almost the whole realm,
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  Speaker 1: he was promoted to the rank of a king and
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  Speaker 1: ruled second only to Connut himself over the Kingdom of Wessex,
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  Speaker 1: one of the most important divisions of Knut's empire. Here
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  Speaker 1: he lived and reigned in peace and prosperity for many years.
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  Speaker 1: He was married, and he had a daughter named Edith,
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  Speaker 1: who was as gentle and lovely as her father was
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  Speaker 1: terrible and stirred. They said that Edith sprung from Godwin
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  Speaker 1: like a rose from its stem of thorns. A writer
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  Speaker 1: who lived in those days and recorded the occurrences of
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  Speaker 1: the times, says that when he was a boy, his
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  Speaker 1: father was employed in some way in Godwin's palace, and
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  Speaker 1: that in going to and from school, he was often
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  Speaker 1: met by Edith, who was walking attended by her maid.
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  Speaker 1: On such occasions, Edith would stop him, he said, and
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  Speaker 1: question him about his studies. His grammar, his logic, and
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  Speaker 1: his verses, and she would often draw him into an
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  Speaker 1: argument on those subtle points of disputation which attracted so
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  Speaker 1: much attention in those days. Then she would commend him
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  Speaker 1: for his attention and progress, and order her woman to
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  Speaker 1: make him a present of some money. In a word,
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  Speaker 1: Edith was so gentle and kind, and took so cordial
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  Speaker 1: an interest in whatever concerned the welfarre and happiness of
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  Speaker 1: those around her. As she was universally beloved, she became,
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  Speaker 1: in the end, as we shall see in due time,
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  Speaker 1: the English Queen. In the meantime, while Godwin was governing
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  Speaker 1: as vice generat the province which Canute had assigned him,
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  Speaker 1: Canute himself extended his own dominion far and wide, reducing
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  Speaker 1: first all England under his sway, and then extending his
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  Speaker 1: conquest to the continent. Edmund, the Saxon king, was dead.
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  Speaker 1: His brothers Edward and Alfred, the two remaining sons of Ethelred,
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  Speaker 1: were with their mother in Normandy. They of course represented
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  Speaker 1: the Saxon line. The Saxon portion of Canut's kingdom would
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  Speaker 1: of course look to them as their future leaders. Under
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  Speaker 1: these circumstances, Canute conceived the idea of propitiating the Saxon
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  Speaker 1: portion of the population and combining, so far as was possible,
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  Speaker 1: the claims of the two lines by making the widow
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  Speaker 1: Emma his own wife. He made the proposal to her,
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  Speaker 1: as she accepted it, pleased with the idea of being
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  Speaker 1: once more a queen, she came to England and they
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  Speaker 1: were married. In process of time they had a son,
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  Speaker 1: who was named Hardyknut, which means Canute. The strong. Canute
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  Speaker 1: now felt that his kingdom was secure, and hoped, by
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  Speaker 1: making hardy Conute his heir, to perpetuate the dominion in
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  Speaker 1: his own family. It is true that he had older children,
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  Speaker 1: whom the Dames might look upon as more properly his heirs.
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  Speaker 1: And Emma also had two other children, the sons of
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  Speaker 1: Ethelred and Normandy. These the Saxons would be likely to
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  Speaker 1: consider as their rifle heirs to the throne. There was danger, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: that at his death parties would again be formed and
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  Speaker 1: the civil wars break out anew Canute and Emma therefore
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  Speaker 1: seemed to have acted wisely and to have done all
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  Speaker 1: that the nature of this case admitted to prevent a
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  Speaker 1: renewal of these dreadful struggles by concentrating their combined influence
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  Speaker 1: in favor of Hardy Canut, who, though not absolutely the
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  Speaker 1: heir to either line, still combined in some degree the
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  Speaker 1: claims of both of them. Canute also did all in
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  Speaker 1: his power to propitiate his Anglo Saxon subjects. He devoted
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  Speaker 1: himself to promoting the welfare of the kingdom in every way.
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  Speaker 1: He built towns and constructed roads. He repaired and endowed
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  Speaker 1: the churches. He became a very zealous Christian, evincing the
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  Speaker 1: ardor of his piety, whether real or pretended, by all
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  Speaker 1: the forms and inducements common in those days. Finally, to
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  Speaker 1: crown all he went on a pilgrimage to Rome. He
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  Speaker 1: set out on this journey with great pomp and parade,
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  Speaker 1: and attended by a large retinue, and yet still strictly
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  Speaker 1: like a pilgrim, he walked and carried a wallet on
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  Speaker 1: his back and a long pilgrim's staff in his hand.
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  Speaker 1: This pilgrimage, at the time when it occurred, filled the
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  Speaker 1: world with its fame. At length, King Canute died, and then,
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  Speaker 1: unfortunately it proved that all his seemingly wise precautions against
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  Speaker 1: the recurrence of civil wars were taken in Vain. It
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  Speaker 1: happened that Hardycanut, whom he had intended should succeed him,
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  Speaker 1: was in Denmark at the time of his father's death. Godwin, however,
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  Speaker 1: proclaimed him king and attempted to establish his authority and
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  Speaker 1: to make Emma a sort of regent to govern in
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  Speaker 1: his name until he could be brought home. The Danish chieftains,
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  Speaker 1: on the other hand, elected and proclaimed one of Knut's
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  Speaker 1: older sons, whose name was Harold, and they succeeded in
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  Speaker 1: carrying a large part of the country in his favor.
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  Speaker 1: Godwin then summoned Emma to join him in the west
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  Speaker 1: with such forces as she could command, and both parties
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  Speaker 1: prepared for war. Then ensued one of those scenes of
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  Speaker 1: terror and suffering which war, and sometimes the mere fear
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  Speaker 1: of war brings often in its train. It was expected
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  Speaker 1: that the first outbreak of hostilities would be in the
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  Speaker 1: interior of England, near the banks of the Thames, and
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  Speaker 1: the inhabitants of the whole region were seized with abrahams
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  Speaker 1: and fears, which spread rapidly, increased by the influence of sympathy,
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  Speaker 1: and excited more and more every day by a thousand
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  Speaker 1: groundless rumors, until the whole region was thrown into a
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  Speaker 1: state of uncontrollable panic and confusion. The inhabitants abandoned their
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  Speaker 1: dwellings and fled in dismay into the eastern part of
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  Speaker 1: the island to seek refuge among the fens and marshes
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  Speaker 1: of Lincolnshire and of the other counties round here. As
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  Speaker 1: has already been stated in a previous chapter when describing
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  Speaker 1: the Abbey of Croyland, where a great many monasteries and convents,
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  Speaker 1: and hermitages and other religious establishments filled with monks and nuns.
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  Speaker 1: Their wretched fugitives from the expected scene of war crowded
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  Speaker 1: into this region, besieging the doors of the abbeys and
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  Speaker 1: monasteries to beg for shelter or food or protection. Some
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  Speaker 1: built huts among the will of woods which grew in
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  Speaker 1: the fens. Others encamped at the road sides or under
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  Speaker 1: the monastery walls, wherever they could find the semblance of shelter.
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  Speaker 1: They presented, of course, a piteous spectacle. Men infirm with
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  Speaker 1: sickness or age, were exhausted with anxiety and fatigue, children
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  Speaker 1: harassed by the way, warm and helpless mothers with still
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  Speaker 1: more helpless babies at their breasts. These monks, instead of
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  Speaker 1: being moved to compassion by the side of these unhappy sufferers,
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  Speaker 1: were only alarmed on their own account as such an
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  Speaker 1: inundasion of misery. They feared that they should be overwhelmed themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Those whose establishments were large and strong barred their doors
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  Speaker 1: against the suppliants, and the hermits, who lived alone in
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  Speaker 1: detached and separate solitudes abandoned their oyster huts and fled
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  Speaker 1: themselves to seek some place more safe from such intrusions.
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  Speaker 1: And yet, after all the whole scene was only a
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  Speaker 1: false alarm. Men acting in a panic are almost always
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  Speaker 1: running into the ills which they think they shun. The
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  Speaker 1: war did not break out on the banks of the
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  Speaker 1: Thames at all. Hardiknute, deterred perhaps by the extent of
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  Speaker 1: the support which the claims of Harald's were receiving, did
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  Speaker 1: not venture to come to England, and Emma and Godwin
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  Speaker 1: and those who would have taken their side, having no
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  Speaker 1: royal head to lead them, gave up their opposition and
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  Speaker 1: acquiesced in Harold's reign. The fugitives and the marshals and
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  Speaker 1: the fens returned to their homes, the country became tranquil.
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  Speaker 1: Godwin held his province as a sword of Lieutenant General
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  Speaker 1: of Harold's Kingdom, and Emma herself joined his court in London,
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  Speaker 1: where she lived with him, ostensibly on very friendly terms.
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  Speaker 1: Still her mind was ill at ease Harold, though the
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  Speaker 1: son of her husband was not her own son, and
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  Speaker 1: the ambitious spirit which led her to marry for her
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  Speaker 1: second husband her first husband's rival and enemy, that she
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  Speaker 1: might be a second time a queen naturally made her
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  Speaker 1: desire that one of her own offspring, either of the
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  Speaker 1: Danish or the Saxon's side, should inherit the kingdom. For
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  Speaker 1: the reader must not forget that Emma, besides being the
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  Speaker 1: mother of Hardyknut by her second husband, Canute, the Dane
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  Speaker 1: of Sovereign, was also the mother of Edward and Alfred
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  Speaker 1: by her first husband Ethelred of the Anglo Saxon line,
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  Speaker 1: and that these two sons were in Normandy. Now the
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  Speaker 1: family connection will be more apparent than I by the
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  Speaker 1: following scheme. Ethel read the Saxon and Emma Canute the Dane, Edward,
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  Speaker 1: Alfred on the Saxon line, Hardyknut on the Danish line.
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  Speaker 1: Harold was the son of Canute by the former marriage. Emma,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: of course felt no maternal interest in him, and though
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: compelled by circumstances to acquiesce for a time in his
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: possession of the kingdom, her thoughts were continually with her
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: own sons, and since the attempt to bring Hardyknut to
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: the throne had failed, she began to turn her attention
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: toward her Norman children. After scheming for a time, she
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: wrote letters to them proposing that they should come to England.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: She represented to them that the Anglish the Saxon portion
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: of the people were ill at ease under Harold's dominion,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: and would gladly embrace any opportunity of having a Saxon king.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: She had no doubt, she said, that if one of
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: them were to appear in England and claim the throne,
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: that people would rise in mass to support him, and
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: he would easily get possession of the realm. She invited
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: them therefore to repair secretly to England to confer with
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: her on the subject, charging them, however, to bring very few,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: if any, Norman attendants with them, as the English people
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: were inclined to be very jealous of the influence of foreigners.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: The brothers were very much elated at receiving these tidings,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: so much so that in their zeal they were disposed
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: to push the enterprise much faster than their mother had intended.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: Instead of going themselves quietly and secretly to confer with
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: her in London, they organized an armed expedition of Norman soldiers.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: The youngest, Alfred, with an enthusiasm characteristic of his years,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: took the lead in these measures. He undertook to conduct
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: the expedition. The eldest consented to his making the attempt.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: He landed at Dover and began his march to the
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: southern part of the country. Godwin went forth to meet him.
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: Whether he would join his standard or meet him as
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: a foe, no one could tell. Emma considered that Godwin
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: was on her side, though even she had not recommended
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: an armed invasion of the country. It is very probable
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: that Godwin himself was uncertain at first what course to pursue,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: and that he intended to have espoused Prince Alfred's cause
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: if he had found that it presented any reasonable prospect
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: of success, or that he might have felt bound to
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: serve Harold faithfully. Now that he had once given in
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: his adhesion to him. Of course, he kept his thoughts
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: and plans to himself, leaving the world to see only
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: his deeds. But if he had ever entertained any design
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: of espousing Alfred's cause, he abandoned it before the time
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: arrived for action. As he advanced in the southern part
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: of the island, he called together the leading Saxon chiefs
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: to hold a council, and he made an address to
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: them when they were convened, which had a powerful influence
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: on their minds in preventing their deciding in favor of Alfred.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: However much they might desire a monarch of their own line,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: this he said, was not the proper occasion for affecting
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: their end. Alfred was, it was true, an Anglo Saxon
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: by descent, but he was a Norman by birth and education.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: All his friends and supporters were Normans. He had come
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: now into the realm of England with a retinue of
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: Norman followers, who would, if he were successful, monopolize the
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: honors and offices which he would have to bestow. He
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: advised the Anglo Saxon chieftains therefore, to remain inactive to
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: take no part in the contest, but to wait for
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: some other opportunity to re establish the Saxon line of kings.
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Saxon chieftains seemed to have considered this good advice. At
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: any rate, they made no movement to sustain Young Alfred's cause.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Alfred had advanced to the town of Guilford. Here he
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: was surrounded by a force which Harold had sent against him.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: There was no hope or possibility of resistance. In fact,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: his enemies seemed to have arrived at a time when
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: he did not expect an attack, for they entered the
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: gates by a sudden onset. When Alfred's followers were scattered
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: about the town at the various houses to which they
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: had been distributed, they made no attempt to defend themselves,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: but were taken prisoners one by one. Wherever they were found,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: they were bound with cords and carried away like ordinary criminals.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Of Alfred's ten principal Norman companions, nine were beheaded for
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: some reason or other. The life of the one was spared.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: Alfred himself was charged with having violated the peace of
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: his country, and was condemned to lose his eyes. The
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: torture of this operation and the inflammation which followed destroyed
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: the unhappy prince's life. Neither Emma nor Godwin did anything
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: to save him. It was wise policy, no doubt in Emma,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: to disavow all connection with her son's unfortunate attempt now
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: that it had failed, and ambitious queens have to follow
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the dictates of policy instead of obeying such impulses as
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: maternal love. She was, however, secretly indignant at the cruel
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: fate which her son had endured, as she considered Godwin
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: as having betrayed him. After this dreadful disappointment, Emma was
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: not likely to make any farther attempts to place either
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: of her sons upon the throne. But Harold seems to
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: have distrusted her, or he banished her from the realm.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: She had still her Saxon son in Normandy, Alfred's brother Edward,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: and her Danish son in Denmark. She went to Flanders
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: and there sent to Herdicanute, urging him by the most
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: earnest importunities to come to inc England and assert his
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: claims to the crown. He was doubly bound to do
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: it now, she said, as the blood of his murdered
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: brother called for retribution, and he could have no honorable
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: rest or peace until he had avenged it. There was
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: no occasion, however, for Hardicanut to attempt force for the
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: recovery of his kingdom, for not many months after these
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: transactions Harold died, and then the country seems generally to
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: acquiesce in hardicanute succession. The Anglo Saxons, discouraged perhaps by
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: the discomfiture of their cause in the person of Alfred,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: made no attempt to rise. Hardicanut came accordingly and assumed
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the throne. But though he had not courage and energy
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: enough to encounter his rival Harold during his lifetime, he
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: made what amends he could by offering base indignities to
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: his body after he was laid in the grave. His
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: first public act after his accession was to have the
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: body disinterre and after cutting off the head, he threw
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: the mingled remnants into the Thames. The Danish fishermen in
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: the river found them and buried them again in a
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: private sepulcher in London, with such concealed marks of respect
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: and honour as it was in their power to bestow.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: Hardicanute also instituted legal proceedings to inquire into the death
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: of Alfred. He charged the Saxons with having betrayed him,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: especially those who were rich enough to pay the fines,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: by which in those days it was very customary for
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: criminals to atone for their crimes. Godwin himself was brought
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: before the tribunal and charged with being accessory to Alfred's death.
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: Godwin positively asserted his innocence and brought witnesses to prove
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: that he was entirely free from all participation in the affair.
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: He took also a much more effectual method to secure
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: an acquittal, by making to the king Hardicanute some of
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: the most magnificent presents. One of these was a small
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: ship profusely enriched and ornamated with gold. It contained eighty soldiers,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: armed in the Danish style with weapons of the most
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: highly finished and costly construction. They each carried a Danish
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: axe on their left shoulder and a javelin in the
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: right hand, both richly guilt, and they had each of
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: them a bracelet on his arm containing six ounces of
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: solid gold. Such, at least is the story. The presence
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: might be considered in the light either of a bribe
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: to corrupt justice, or in that of a fine to
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: satisfy it. In fact, the line in those days between
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: bribes and purchase, acquittal and fines atoning for the offense
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: seems to not have been very accurately drawn. Hardi Connute,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: when fairly established on his throne, governed his realm like
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: a tyrant. He oppressed the Saxons, especially without any mercy.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: The effect of his cruelties and those of the Danes
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: who acted under him, was, however, not to humble and
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: subdue the Saxon's spirit, but to awaken and arouse it.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Plots and conspiracies began to be formed against him and
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: against the whole Danish party. Godwin himself began to mediate
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: some decisive measures. When suddenly Hardikanoe died. Godwin immediately took
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: the field at the head of all of his forces
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: and organized the general movement throughout the kingdom for calling
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: Edward Alfred's brother to the throne. The insurrection was triumphantly successful.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: The Danish forces that undertook to resist it were driven
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: to the northward. The leaders were slain or put to flight.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: A remnant of them escaped to the seashore, where they
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: embarked on board such vessels as they could find, and
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: left England forever. And this was the final termination of
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: the political authority of the Danes over the realm of England,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the consummation and end of Alfred's military labors and schemes
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: coming surely at last, though deferred for two centuries after
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: his decease, what follows belongs rather to the history of
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: William the Conqueror than to that of Alfred. For Godwin
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: invited Edward and as Norman's son, to come and assume
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: the crown, and his coming, together with that of the
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: many Norman attendants that accompanied or followed him, led in
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: the end to the Norman invasion and conquest. Godwin might
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: probably have made himself king if he had chosen to
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: do so. His authority over the whole island was paranout
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: and supreme. But either from a natural sense of justice
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: towards the rifle heir, or from a dread of the
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: danger which always attends the usurping of the royal name
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: by one who is not of royal descent, he made
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: no attempt to take the crown. He convened a great
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: assembly of all the estates of the Realm, and there
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: it was solemnly decided that Edward should be invited to
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: come to England and ascend the throne. A national messenger
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: was despatched to Normandy to announce the invitation. It was
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: stipulated in this invitation that Edward should bring very few
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: Normans with him. He came accordingly, in the first instance,
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: almost unattended. He was received with great joy and crowned
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: king with splendid ceremonies and great show in the ancient
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: cathedral of Winchester. He felt under great obligations to Godwin,
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: to whose instrumentality he was wholly indebted for the sudden
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: and most brilliant change in his fortunes, And, partly impelled
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: by this feeling of gratitude, and partly allured by Edith's
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: extraordinary charms, he proposed to make Edith his wife. Godwin
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: made no objection. In fact, his enemies say that he
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: made a positive stipulation for this match before allowing the
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: measures for Edward's elevation to the throne to proceed too far.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: However this may be Godwin found himself, after Edward's succession,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: raised the highest pitch of honor and power from being
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: a young herdsman's son, driving the cows to pasture in
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: a wood. He had become the prime minister, as it were,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: of the whole realm, his four sons being great commanding
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: generals in the army, and his daughter the Queen. The
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: current of life did not flow smoothly with him. After all,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: we can not here describe the various difficulties in which
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: he became involved with the king. On account of the
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: Normans who were continually coming over from the continent to
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: join Edward's court, and whose coming and growing influence strongly
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: awakened the jealousy of the English people. Some narration of
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: these events will more properly precede the history of William
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: the Conqueror. We accordingly close this story of Godwin here
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: by giving the circumstances of his death as related by
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: the historians of the time. The readers of this narrative will,
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: of course exercise severally their own discretion in determining how
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: far they will believe the story to be true. The
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: story is that one day he was seated at Edward's
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: table at some sort of entertainment, when one of his attendants,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: who was bringing in a goblet of wine, tripped one
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: of his feet, but contrived to say himself by dexterously
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: bringing up the other in such a manner as to
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: cause some amusement to the guests. Godwin said, referring to
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: the man's feet, that one brother saved the other. Yes,
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: said the King, brothers have need of brother's aid, would
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: to God that mine were still alive. In saying this,
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: he directed a meaning glance toward Godwin, which seemed to
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: be insinuates, as in fact the King had sometimes done before,
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: that Godwin had had some agency in young Alfred's death.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Godwin was displeased. He reproached the king with the unreasonableness
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: of his surmises and solemnly declare that he was wholly
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: innocent of all participation in that crime. He imprecated the
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: curse of God upon his head if this declaration was
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: not true, wishing that the next mouthful of bread that
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: he should eat might choke him if he had contributed
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: in any way directly or indirectly to Alfred's unhappy end.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: So saying, he put the bread into his mouth, and
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: in the act of swallowing it, he was seized with
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: a paroxysm of coughing and suffocation. The attendants hastened to
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: his relief. The guests rose in terror and confusion. Godwin
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: was borne away by the two of his sons and
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: laid on his bed in convulsions. He survived the immediate injury,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: but after lingering five days, he died. Edward continued to
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: reign and prosperity long after this event, and he employed
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: the sons of Godwin as long as he lived in
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: the most honorable stations of public service. In fact, when
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: he died, he named one of them as his successor
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: to the throne. End of Chapter thirteen, End of King
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Alfred of England by Jacob Abboth