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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter ten 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: Recording by Ryan Cherick. King Alfred of England by Jacob Abbott,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter ten, The victory over the Danes. Encouraged by his
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  Speaker 1: dream and animated by the number and the elation of
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  Speaker 1: his followers, Alfred led his army onward toward the part
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  Speaker 1: of the country where they camp of the enemy lay.
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  Speaker 1: He intended to surprise them, and although Gunthrum had heard
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  Speaker 1: vague rumors that some great Saxon movement was in train,
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  Speaker 1: he viewed the sudden appearance of this large and well
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  Speaker 1: organized army with amazement. He had possession of the hill
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  Speaker 1: near ed in Doune, which has been already described. He
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  Speaker 1: had established his headquarters here and made his strongest fortifications
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  Speaker 1: on the summit of the eminence. The main body of
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  Speaker 1: his forces were, however, encamped upon the plain, over which
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  Speaker 1: they extended in vast numbers far and wide. Alfred halted
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  Speaker 1: his men to change the order of march into the
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  Speaker 1: order of battle. Here he made an address to his
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  Speaker 1: men as no time was to be lost, he spoke
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  Speaker 1: but a few words. He reminded them that they were
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  Speaker 1: to contend that day to rescue themselves and their country
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  Speaker 1: from the intolerable oppression of a horde of pagan idolaters,
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  Speaker 1: that God was on their side and had promised them victory,
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  Speaker 1: and he urged them to act like men, so as
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  Speaker 1: to deserve the success and happiness which was in store
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  Speaker 1: for them. The army then advanced to the attack, the Danes,
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  Speaker 1: having been drawn out hastily, but with as much order
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  Speaker 1: as the suddenness of the call would allow to meet them.
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  Speaker 1: When near enough for their arrows to take effect, the
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  Speaker 1: long line of Alfred's troops discharged their arrows. They then
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  Speaker 1: advanced to the attack with lances. But soon these and
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  Speaker 1: all other weapons which kept the combatants at a distance
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  Speaker 1: were thrown aside, and it became a terrible conflict with
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  Speaker 1: swords man to man. It was not long before or
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  Speaker 1: the Danes began to yield. They were not sustained by
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  Speaker 1: the strong assurance of victory, nor by the desperate determination
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  Speaker 1: which animated the Saxons. The flight soon became general. They
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  Speaker 1: could not gain the fortification on the hill for Alfred
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  Speaker 1: had forced his way in between the encampment on the
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  Speaker 1: plains and the approaches to the hill. The Danes, consequently,
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  Speaker 1: not being able to find refuge in either part of
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  Speaker 1: the position they had taken, fled altogether from the field,
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  Speaker 1: pursued by Alfred's victorious columns, as fast as they could follow.
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  Speaker 1: Gunthrum succeeded by great and vigorous exertions in rallying his men,
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  Speaker 1: or at least in so far collecting and concentrating the
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  Speaker 1: separate bodies of the fugitives, as to change the flight
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  Speaker 1: into a retreat, having some semblance of military order. Vast
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  Speaker 1: numbers had been left dead upon the field, others had
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  Speaker 1: been taken prisoners. Others still had become hopelessly dispersed, having
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  Speaker 1: fled from the field and battle in diverse directions, and
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  Speaker 1: wandered so far in their terror that they had not
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  Speaker 1: been able to rejoin their leader in his retreat. Then,
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  Speaker 1: great numbers of those who pressed on under gun Throm's command,
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  Speaker 1: exhausted by fatigue or spent and fainting from their wounds,
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  Speaker 1: sank down by the wayside to die, while their comrades,
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  Speaker 1: intent only upon their own safety, pressed incessantly on. The
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  Speaker 1: retreating army was thus in a short time reduced to
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  Speaker 1: a small fraction of its original force. The remaining body,
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  Speaker 1: with gun throm at their head, continued their retreat until
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  Speaker 1: they reached a castle which promised them protection. They poured
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  Speaker 1: in over the drawbridges and through the gates of this fortress,
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  Speaker 1: and extreme confusion and feeling suddenly and for the moment
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  Speaker 1: entirely relieved that their escape from the imminence of the
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  Speaker 1: immediate danger they shut themselves in. The finding of such
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  Speaker 1: a retreat would have been great good fortune for those
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  Speaker 1: wretched fugitives if there had been any large force in
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  Speaker 1: the country to come soon to their deliverance. But as
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  Speaker 1: they were without provisions and without water, they soon began
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  Speaker 1: to proceed that unless they obtained some speedy help from without,
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  Speaker 1: they had only escaped the saxon lances and swords to
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  Speaker 1: die a ten times more bitter death of thurst and famine,
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  Speaker 1: and there was no force to relieve them. The army
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  Speaker 1: which had been thus defeated was the great central force
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  Speaker 1: of the Danes upon the island. The other detachments and
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  Speaker 1: independent bands which were scattered about the land were thunderstruck
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  Speaker 1: at the news of this terrible defeat. The Saxons, too,
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  Speaker 1: were everywhere aroused the highest pitch of enthusiasm at the
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  Speaker 1: reappearance of their king, and in tidings of his victory,
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  Speaker 1: the whole country was in arms. Gunthrim, however, shut up
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  Speaker 1: at his castle and closely invested with Alfred's forces, had
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  Speaker 1: no means of knowing what was passing without. His numbers
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  Speaker 1: were so small in comparison with those besieging him that
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  Speaker 1: would have been madness for him to have attempted a sally,
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  Speaker 1: and he would not surrender. He waited day after day,
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  Speaker 1: hoping against hope that some succor would come. His half
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  Speaker 1: famished sentinels gazed from the watchtowers of the castle all around,
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  Speaker 1: looking for some cloud of distant dust or weapon glancing
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  Speaker 1: in the sun, which might denote the approach of friends
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  Speaker 1: coming to their rescue. This lasted fourteen days. At the
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  Speaker 1: end of that time, the number within this wretched prison
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  Speaker 1: who were raving in the delirium of famine and thirst,
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  Speaker 1: or dying in agony became too great for Gunthrom to
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  Speaker 1: persist any longer. He surrendered. Alfred was once more in
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  Speaker 1: possession of his kingdom. During the fourteen days that elapsed
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  Speaker 1: between the victory on the field of battle and the
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  Speaker 1: final surrender of Gunthrom, Alfred, feeling that the power was
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  Speaker 1: now in his hands, had had ample time to reflect
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  Speaker 1: on the course which he should pursue with his subjugated enemies,
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  Speaker 1: and the result to which he came, and the measure
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  Speaker 1: which he adopted, events, as much as any act of
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  Speaker 1: his life, the greatness and originality and nobleness of his character.
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  Speaker 1: Here were two distant and independent races on the same
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  Speaker 1: island that had been engaged for many years in a
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  Speaker 1: most fierce and sanguinary struggle, each gaining at times a
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  Speaker 1: temporary and partial victory, but neither able entirely to subdue
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  Speaker 1: or exterminate the other. The Danes, it is true, might
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  Speaker 1: be considered as the aggressors in this contest, and as
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  Speaker 1: such wholly in the wrong. But then, on the other hand,
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  Speaker 1: it was to be remembered that the ancestors of the
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  Speaker 1: Saxons had been guilty of precisely the same aggressions upon
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  Speaker 1: the Britons who held the island before them, so that
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  Speaker 1: the Danes were after all only intruding upon intruders. It
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  Speaker 1: was besides the general maxim of the aid that the
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  Speaker 1: territories of the world were prizes open for competition, and
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  Speaker 1: that the right to possess and to govern vested naturally
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  Speaker 1: andjustly in those who could show themselves the strongest. Then moreover,
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  Speaker 1: the Danes had been now for many years in Britain.
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  Speaker 1: Vast numbers had quietly settled on agricultural lands. They had
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  Speaker 1: become peaceful inhabitants. They had established, in many cases friendly
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  Speaker 1: relations with the Saxons, they had intermarried with them, And
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  Speaker 1: the two races, instead of appearing as at first simply
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  Speaker 1: as two hostile armies of combatants contending on the field,
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  Speaker 1: had been for some years acquiring the character of a
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  Speaker 1: mixed population, established and settled, though heterogeneous and in some
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  Speaker 1: sense antagonistic. Still, to root out all these people, intruders
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  Speaker 1: though they were, and send them back again across the
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  Speaker 1: German Ocean to regions where they no longer had friends
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  Speaker 1: or home, would have been a desperate, in fact, an
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  Speaker 1: impossible undertaking. Alfred saw all these things. He took, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: a general and comprehensive and impartial view of the whole subject,
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  Speaker 1: instead of regarding it as most conquerors in his situation
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  Speaker 1: would have done in a partisan that is, an exclusively
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  Speaker 1: Saxon point of view. He saw how impossible it was
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  Speaker 1: to un do what had been done, and wisely determined
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  Speaker 1: to take things as they were and to make the
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  Speaker 1: best of the present situation of affairs, leaving the past
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  Speaker 1: and aiming only at accomplishing the best that was now
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  Speaker 1: attainable for the future. It would be well if all
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  Speaker 1: men who are engaged in quarrels which they vainly endeavor
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  Speaker 1: to settle by discussing and disputing about what is past
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  Speaker 1: and gone and can now never be recalled, would follow
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  Speaker 1: his example. In all such cases, we should say, let
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  Speaker 1: the past be forgotten, and taking things as they now are,
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  Speaker 1: let us see what we can do to secure peace
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  Speaker 1: and happiness in the future. The policy which Alfred determined
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  Speaker 1: to adopt was not to attempt the utter extirpation of
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  Speaker 1: the Danes from England, but only to expel the armed
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  Speaker 1: forces from his own dominions, allowing those peacefully disposed to
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  Speaker 1: remain in quiet possession of such lands in other parts
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  Speaker 1: of the island, as they had all ready occupied. Instead, therefore,
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  Speaker 1: of treating Gunthrim with harshness and severity as a captive enemy.
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  Speaker 1: He told him that he was willing not only to
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  Speaker 1: give him his liberty, but to regard him, on certain
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  Speaker 1: conditions as a friend and ally, and allow him to
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  Speaker 1: reign as a king over that part of England which
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  Speaker 1: his countrymen possessed, and which was beyond Alfred's own frontiers.
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  Speaker 1: These conditions were that Gunthrim was to go away with
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  Speaker 1: all his forces and followers out of Alfred's kingdom under
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  Speaker 1: solemn oaths, never to return. That he was to confine
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  Speaker 1: himself thenceforth to the southeastern part of England, a territory
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  Speaker 1: from which the Saxon government had long disappeared. That he
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  Speaker 1: was to give hostages for the faithful fulfillment of these stipulations,
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  Speaker 1: without however, receding on his part any hostages from Alfred.
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  Speaker 1: There was one other stipulation more extraordinary than all the rest, viz.
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  Speaker 1: That Gunthrone should become a convert to Christianity and publicly
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  Speaker 1: avow his adhesion to the Saxon faith by being baptized
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  Speaker 1: in the presence of the leaders of both armies in
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  Speaker 1: the most open and solemn manner. And this proposed baptism,
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  Speaker 1: Alfred himself would stand his godfather this idea of winning
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  Speaker 1: over a pagan soldier to the Christian Church as the
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  Speaker 1: price of his ransom from famine and death in the
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  Speaker 1: castle to which his direst enemy had driven him. This
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  Speaker 1: enemy himself the instrument thus of so rude a mode
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  Speaker 1: of conversion, to be the sponsor of a new communicant's
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  Speaker 1: religion's profession was one in keeping, it is true, with
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  Speaker 1: the spirit of the times. But still it is one which,
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  Speaker 1: under the circumstances of this case, only a mind of
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  Speaker 1: great originality and power would have conceived of or attempted
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  Speaker 1: to carry into effect. Gunthrum might well be astonished at
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  Speaker 1: this unexpected turn in his affairs. A few days before
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  Speaker 1: he saw himself on the brink of utter and absolute destruction,
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  Speaker 1: shut up with his famous soldiers in a gloomy castle,
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  Speaker 1: with the enemy bitter and implacable, as he supposed, thundering
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  Speaker 1: at the gates. The only alternatives before him seemed to
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  Speaker 1: be to die of starvation and frenzy within the walls
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  Speaker 1: which covered him, or by a cruel military execution in
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  Speaker 1: the event of surrender. He surrendered at last, as it
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  Speaker 1: would seem, only because the utmost that human cruelty can
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  Speaker 1: inflict is more tolerable than the horrid agonies of thirst
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  Speaker 1: and hunger. We cannot but hope that Alfred was led
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  Speaker 1: in some degree by a generous principle of Christian forgiveness
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  Speaker 1: in proposing these terms which he did to his fallen enemy,
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  Speaker 1: and also that Gunthrum and accepting them, was influenced in
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  Speaker 1: part at least by emotions of gratitude and by admiration
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  Speaker 1: of the high example of Christian virtue, which Alfred thus exhibited.
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  Speaker 1: At any rate he he did accept them. The army
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  Speaker 1: of the Danes were liberated from their confinement and commenced
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  Speaker 1: their march to the eastward. Gunthram himself, attended by thirty
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  Speaker 1: of his chiefs and many other followers, became Alfred's guest
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  Speaker 1: for some weeks until the most pressing measures for the
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  Speaker 1: organization of Alfred's government could be attended to, and the
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  Speaker 1: necessary preparations for the baptism could be made. At length.
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  Speaker 1: Some weeks after the surrender, the parties all repaired together,
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  Speaker 1: now firm friends and allies, to a place near Ethelny,
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  Speaker 1: where the ceremony of baptism was to be performed. The
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  Speaker 1: admission of this pagan chieftain and to the Christian Church
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  Speaker 1: did not probably mark any real change in his opinions
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  Speaker 1: on the question of paganism and Christianity, but it was
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  Speaker 1: not the less important in its consequences. On that account,
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  Speaker 1: the moral effect of it upon the minds of his
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  Speaker 1: followers was of great value. It opened the way for
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  Speaker 1: their reception of the Christian faith, if any of them
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  Speaker 1: should be disposed to receive it, then it changed the
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  Speaker 1: holy the feeling which prevailed among the Saxon soldiery and
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  Speaker 1: also the Saxon chieftains in respect to these enemies. A
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  Speaker 1: great deal of the bitterness of exasperation with which they
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  Speaker 1: had regarded them arose from the fact that they were pagans,
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  Speaker 1: the haters, the despisers of the rites and institutions of religion.
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  Speaker 1: Guns from approaching baptism was to change all this, and Alfred,
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  Speaker 1: in leading him to the baptismal font was achieving and
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  Speaker 1: the estimation not only of all England, but of France
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  Speaker 1: and Rome, a far greater and nobler victory than when
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  Speaker 1: he conquered his armies on the field of Edendune. The
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  Speaker 1: various ceremonies connected with the baptism were protracted through several days,
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  Speaker 1: they were commenced that a place called all near Ethelny,
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  Speaker 1: where there was a religious establishment and priests to perform
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  Speaker 1: the necessary rites. The new convert was clothed in white garments,
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  Speaker 1: the symbol of purity then customarily warned by candidates for baptism,
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  Speaker 1: and was covered with a mystic veil. They gave Gunthram
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  Speaker 1: a new name, a Christian, that is, a Saxon name.
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  Speaker 1: Converted Pagans received always a new name in those days
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  Speaker 1: when baptized. In our common phrase, the Christian name has
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  Speaker 1: arisen from the circumstance. Gunthram's Christian name was Appelstan. Alfred
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  Speaker 1: was his godfather. After the baptism, the whole party proceeded
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  Speaker 1: to a town a few miles distant which Alfred had
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  Speaker 1: decided to make a royal residence, and there other ceremonies
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  Speaker 1: connected with the new convert's admission to the church were performed,
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  Speaker 1: the whole ending with a series of great public festivities
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  Speaker 1: and rejoicing. A very full and formal treaty of peace
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  Speaker 1: and amity was now concluded between the two sovereigns. For
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  Speaker 1: Gunthrum was styled in the treaty as a king and
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  Speaker 1: was to hold in the dominions assigned to him to
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  Speaker 1: the eastward of Alfred's realm, an independent jurisdiction. He agreed, however,
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  Speaker 1: this treaty, to confine himself from that time forward to
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  Speaker 1: the limits thus assigned. If the reader wishes to see
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  Speaker 1: what part of England it was which Gunthrom was thus
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  Speaker 1: to hold, he can easily identify it by finding upon
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  Speaker 1: the map the following counties which now occupy the same
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  Speaker 1: territory viz. Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, and part of Herefordshire.
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  Speaker 1: The population of this region consisted already in a great
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  Speaker 1: measure of Danes. It was the part more easily accessible
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  Speaker 1: from the German Ocean by means of the Thames and
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  Speaker 1: the Medway, and it had accordingly become the chief seat
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  Speaker 1: of the Northman's power. Gunthrom not only agreed to confine
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  Speaker 1: himself to the limits thus marked out, but also to
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  Speaker 1: consider himself henceforth as Alfred's friend and ally in the
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  Speaker 1: event of any new bands of adventurers arriving on the coast,
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  Speaker 1: and to join Alfred in his endeavors to resist them,
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  Speaker 1: and hoping he would fulfill this obligation, Alfred did not
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  Speaker 1: rely altogether on Gunthrim's oaths or promises, or even on
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  Speaker 1: the hostages that he held. He made it for his
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  Speaker 1: interest to fulfill them by giving him peaceable possession of
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  Speaker 1: this territory. After having, by his victories impressed him with
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  Speaker 1: a very high idea of his own great military resources
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  Speaker 1: and power. He had placed his conquered enemy under very
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  Speaker 1: strong inducements to be satisfied with what he now possessed,
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  Speaker 1: and to make common cause with Alfred in resisting the
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  Speaker 1: encroachments of any new mara auders. Gunthram was therefore honestly
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  Speaker 1: resolved on keeping his faith with his new ally. And
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  Speaker 1: when all these stipulations were made, and the treaties were signed,
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  Speaker 1: and the ceremonies of the baptism all performed, Alfred dismissed
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  Speaker 1: his guest with many presents and high honors. There is
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  Speaker 1: some uncertainty whether Alfred did not, in addition to the
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  Speaker 1: other stipulations under which he bound Gunthrom, reserved to himself
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  Speaker 1: the superior sovereignty over Gunthrim's dominions, in such a manner
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  Speaker 1: that Gunthrim, though complimented in the treaty, but the title
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  Speaker 1: of king was after all only a sort of viceroy,
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  Speaker 1: holding his throne under Alfred as his liege lord. One
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  Speaker 1: thing is certain that Alfred took care in his treaty
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  Speaker 1: with Gunthrm to settle all the fundamental laws of both kingdoms,
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  Speaker 1: making them the same for both, as if he foresaw
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  Speaker 1: the complete and entire union which was to ultimately take place,
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  Speaker 1: and wished to facilitate the accomplishment of this end by
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  Speaker 1: having the political and social constitution of the two states
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  Speaker 1: brought at once into harmony with each other. It proved
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  Speaker 1: in the end that Gunthrim was faithful to his obligations
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  Speaker 1: and promises. He settled himself quietly in the dominions which
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  Speaker 1: the treaty assigned to him, and made no more attempts
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  Speaker 1: to encroach upon Alfred's realm. When other other parties of
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  Speaker 1: Danes came upon the coast, as they sometimes did, they
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  Speaker 1: found no favor or countenance from him. They came, in
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  Speaker 1: some cases expecting his cooperation and aid, but he always
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  Speaker 1: refused it, and by this discouragement, as well as by
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  Speaker 1: open resistance, he drove many bands away, turning the tide
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  Speaker 1: of invasions southward into France and other regions on the continent. Alfred,
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  Speaker 1: in the meantime, gave his whole time and attention to
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  Speaker 1: organizing the various departments of his government, to planning and
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  Speaker 1: building towns, repairing and fortifying castles, opening roads, establishing courts
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  Speaker 1: of justice, and arranging and settling in operation the complicated
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  Speaker 1: machinery necessary in the working of a well conducted social state.
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  Speaker 1: The nature and operation of some of his plans will
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  Speaker 1: be described more fully in the next chapter. In concluding
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  Speaker 1: this chapter, we will add that, notwithstanding his victory over
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  Speaker 1: Gunthroum and Gunthrum's subsequent good faith, Alfred never enjoyed an
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  Speaker 1: absolute peace, but during the whole remainder of his reign
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  Speaker 1: was more or less molested with parties of Northmen, who
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  Speaker 1: came from time to time to land on English shores,
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  Speaker 1: and who met sometimes with partial and temporary success in
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  Speaker 1: their depredations. The most serious of these attempts occurred near
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  Speaker 1: the close of Alfred's life, and will be hereafter described.
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  Speaker 1: The generosity and the nobleness of mind which Alfred manifested
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  Speaker 1: in his treatment of Gunthrum made a great impression upon
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  Speaker 1: mankind at the time, and have done a great deal
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  Speaker 1: to elevate the character of our hero in every subsequent age,
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  Speaker 1: all admire such generosity in others, however slow they may
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  Speaker 1: be to practice it in themselves. It seems a very
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  Speaker 1: easy virtue when we look upon an exhibition of it
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  Speaker 1: like this, where we feel no special resentments ourselves against
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  Speaker 1: the person thus nobly forgiven. We find it, however, a
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  Speaker 1: very hard virtue to practice when a case occur is
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  Speaker 1: requiring the exercise of it towards a person who has
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  Speaker 1: done us an injury. Let those who think that in
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  Speaker 1: Alfred's situation they should have acted as he did, look
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: around upon the circle of their acquaintance and see whether
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: it is easy for them to pursue a similar course
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: towards their personal enemies, those who have thwarted and circumvented
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: them in their plans, or slandered them, or treated them
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: with insult and injury. By observing how hard it is
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: to change our own resentments to feelings of forgiveness and goodwill,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: we can better appreciate Alfred's treatment of Gumphorm. Alfred was
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: famed during his life for the kindness of his heart,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and a thousand stories were told in his day of
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: his interpositions to right the wrong, to relieve the distress,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: to comfort the afflicted, and to befriend the unhappy. On
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: one occasion, as it is said, when he was hunting
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: in a wood, he heard the piteous cries of a child,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: which seemed to come from the air above his head.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: It was found, after much looking and listening, that the
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: sounds proceeded from an eagle's nest upon the top of
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: a lofty tree. On climbing to the nest, they found
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: the child within, screaming with pain and terror. The eagle
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: had carried it there and its talents for a prey.
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: Alfred brought down the boy, and, after making fruitless inquiries
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: to find his father and mother, adopted him for his
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: own son, gave him a good education, and provided for
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: him well in his future life. The story was all
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: very probably a fabrication, but the characters of men are
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: sometimes very strikingly indicated by the kind of stories that
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: are invented concerning them. End of chapter ten. Recording by
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Ryan Cherock