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Ibid.

only confirmed (a). Soon after his return, his father being in the decline of life, and going to vifit the holy fee, took his favourite fon along with him, where he had an opportunity of feeing and hearing many things, which made fuch Affer. Men. ftrong impreffions on him, as remained during his whole life. Æthelwolf had five fons, and a daughter; of thefe Æthelstan, the eldeft, was king of Kent, in his father's life-time, and Ibid. p. 12. died before him ; Ethelbald, the fecond fon, raised a rebellion

p. 8.

against his father, when he returned from Rome, who, to avoid any effufion of blood, confented to divide his dominions Ibid p.8, 9. with him. Ethelwolf did not long furvive this; but, before his death, he, by a full and diftinct teftament, endeavoured to fettle all the claims of his children: by this will Æthelbald and Æthelbert had his kingdoms divided betwixt them; and he left his private eftate, with all the money in his cofIbid. p. 12. fers, to his younger fons, Ethelred and Ælfred. Æthelwolf died in 858, and was fucceeded by thelbald, who reign

P: 78.

ed but two years and a half. On his demife, Æthelbert seizChron. Sax. ed the crown, which he held for five years, and died in 866. He was fucceeded by his brother Ethelred, who, while he was a private man, had folemnly promifed Ælfred he would do him that justice which had been denied by the two former kings, in giving him what his father had bequeathed him. On his acceffion, Alfred demanded a performance of his promife; but the king excufed himself on account of the

(a) There are many reafons why the anointing Alfred to be king, is fcrupled. (See Leland, p. 145.) 1. He was his father's younger son, and had three, at leaft, if not four bre thren between him and the crown. 2. He was but five years old, and therefore it is unlikely his father fhould intend him for a vice-king. 3. Such an unction could have had no other confequence than that of making him obnoxious to his brethren. But notwithstanding thefe objections, many authors fpeak of Ælfred's journey to Rome, and of his unction. Affer bishop of Sherborne, who was intimate with king Alfred, in the memoirs he wrote of that prince, hath these words (De Rebus geftis Alfred. p. 7.) "The fame year king Ethelwolf fent his fon Alfred to Rome, attended by many of the pobility and perfons of the lower

rank. Leo IV. then poffeffed. the apoftolic fee, who anointed the faid infant Ælfred as a king, confirmed him, and adopted him as his own fon." Æthelred, a monk, of the royal family, who lived very near thefe times, fays (Chronic. lib. iii. fol. 478.) that after Leo had confecrated him king, he, from that act, ftyled him his fon, as bishops, at the time of confirmation, are wont to call thofe little ones their children. Robert of Glocefter fays (Chronicle, p. 264.) that he was crowned king, and anointed. Sir Henry Spelman, after mentioning fome authorities, concludes that he was anointed king. (Life of Alfred, p. 20.) Alford, the jefuit, alledges he was both anointed king, and confirmed, by pope Leo ¡ and that in refpect to this last ceremony, the pope was his god-father. Annal, tom, iii, p. 66.

troublesome

troublesome times, and affured him, that at his death he would leave him all. Ælfred having given proofs of his courage in the former king's reign, Ethelred would never part with him, but employed him as his first minister and general of his armies.

In the year 866, a great fleet of the Danes, under the command of Hinguar and Hubba, fons of Lodbroch, a Danish king, invaded England: in 871, they marched to Reading in Berkshire, where they received a confiderable reinforcement, and took that town and caftle. Ethelred and his brother Ælfred came with an army to Reading, a week after it was taken: he divided his forces into two bodies, one of which he affigned to Ælfred, and the other he kept under his own command. Ælfred rafhly engaged the Danish army, which being very numerous, he was in great danger of being totally defeated, had not the king come to his affiftance with a fresh body of men; this changed the fortune of the day fo far, that the Danes were defeated, and loft great numbers of their Affer. Men. men. Soon after, however, the Danes attacked and routed p. 22. the two brothers at Merden, near the Devizes. In this engagement Æthelred received a wound, of which he died, Spelman, after having reigned five years.

P. 44.

Upon his death, Alfred fucceeded to the crown, agreeable to the will of king Æthelwolf, and the appointment of Ethelred (6). This happened in the year 871, and the twentyfecond of Alfred's age. He had fcarce time to attend the funeral of his brother, when he was obliged to fight for the crown he had fo lately receive!. He engaged the Danish army at Wilton, and at the beginning of the battle had the advantage, but, in the purfuit, the Danes difcovering his weakness, rallied, and drove him out of the field. Soon after Affer. Men. there was a treaty, but the Danes paid little regard to it, p. 25.

(b) Before Ethelred came to the crown, there had been a treaty between him and Ælfred, concerning their respective eftates; and Æthelred, in presence of divers of the nobility, acknowledging Ælfred's right to certain demefnes left him by his father, which were then, as it appears, witheld from him, promised in a folemn manner, if ever he came to be king, he would not only p.rmit Ælfred to enjoy quietly the lands bequeathed to him, but likewife give him a fhare of all the territories which they fhould gain from the enemy.

But when the crown fell to Æthelred,
being required to perform his agree-
ment, he refused, alledging he could
not divide his dominions, but would
leave them entire to Alfred, if he
fhould furvive. Alfred, though kept
from his right, gave his brother all
the affiftance in his power; and, up-
on his death, was defired, by the
archbishop, nobles, and commons of
Weft-Saxony, to take the government
upon himself, which he accordingly
did, and was crowned at Winchester.
Spelman, p. 44.

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Joan. Brompt. p. 809.

Affer. p. 29.

roaming up and down the country, and pillaging, wherever they came. They at last put an end to the kingdom of Mercia, and obliged Burrhed, the king, not only to quit his dominions, but the ifland. Alfred fitted out a fleet to guard the coafts; and a fquadron of five Danifh fhips coming on the coaft, one of them was taken. However, a confiderable army of Danes having landed, marched as far as Grantbridge, and quartered thereabouts. Next fummer they advanced to Werham; here Ælfred met them with all the forces he could ráife; but not finding himself ftrong enough to engage them, he concluded a peace, and the Danes fwore never to invade his dominions. But in a little time they broke their faith (c); for being on the road to Mercia, they met a body of English horse, advancing in a careless manner, by reafon of the treaty being concluded; of these they flew the greatest part, and foon after furprized Exeter. The king marched against them with what forces he could collect, and befieged them in that city. While things were in this fituation, his majesty's fleet having engaged a numerous one of the enemy, funk many, and difperfed the reft, which, attempting to gain fome of the Englifh ports, were driven on the coasts, and all miferably perifhed. This fo terrified the Danes, that they were again obliged to make peace, and give hoftages. However, in 877, having obtained new aids, they came in fuch numbers into Wiltshire, that the Saxons giving themselves up to defpair, would not make head against them; many fled out of the kingdom, not a few fubmitted, and the reft retired every man to the place where he could be beft concealed. In this diftrefs, Ælfred, conceiving himself no longer a king, laid afide all marks of loyalty, and took fhelter in the house of one who kept his cattle (d). He retired afterwards to the

(c) All the ancient hiftorians agree in charging the Danes with numerous acts of perfidy. "Their want of faith (fays the author of the Biographia Britannica) seems to have been the effect of their barbarism, from making it their conftant practice to burn and deftroy whatever they could not carry away. By this means they were quickly ftraitned in their quarters; and thus being obliged to fhift them often, they foon found themselves in fuch a fituation as to have no means of fubfifting without obtaining it by force from thofe with

5

whom they had lately made peace.
To this was owing the wretched
condition in which this whole island
then was, all its beft towns, many
of its finest monafteries, and the far
greatest part of its villages being but
fo many heaps of ruins.
The want
of cultivation alfo produced dreadful
famines; and thefe, as ufual, were
followed with confuming plagues, as
we read in Afferius and other ancient
writers." Affer. Menev. Chron. Sax.

(d) While he remained in this retreat, a little adventure happened, of which most of our hiftories take no

the ifle of Æthelingey in Somerfetfhire, where he built a fort for the fecurity of himself, his family, and the few faithful fervants who repaired thither to him. When he had been about a year in this retreat, having been informed that fome of his fubjects had routed a great army of the Danes,, killed their chiefs, and taken their magical ftandard (e), he iffued his letters, giving notice where he was, and inviting his nobility to come and confult with him. Before they came to a final determination, Alfred, putting on the habit of a harper, went into the enemy's camp, where, without fufpicion, he was every where admitted, and had the honour to play before their princes, Having thereby acquired an exact knowledge of their fituation, he returned in great fecrecy to his nobility, whom he ordered to their respective homes, there to draw together each man as great a force as he could, and upon a day appointed there was to be a general rendezvous at the great wood, called Selwood, in Wiltshire. This affair was tranfacted fo fecretly and expeditioufly, that in a little time the king, at the head of an army, approached, the Danes, before they had the leaft intelligence of his defign. Ælfred, taking advantage of the furprize and terror they were in, fell upon them, and totally defeated them at Æthendune, now Eddington. Those who escaped fled to a Chron. Sax. neighbouring castle, where they were foon befieged, and ob- A. D. 878. liged to furrender at difcretion. Ælfred granted them better terms than they could expect: he agreed to give up the whole kingdom of the Eaft-Angles to fuch as would embrace the Christian religion, on condition they fhould oblige the reft of their countrymen to quit the ifland, and, as much as it was in their power, prevent the landing of any more foreigners. Ibid.

tice. The good woman of the houfe, having one day made fome cakes, put them before the fire to toast, and feeing Ælfred fitting by, trimming his bow and arrows, the thought he would of courfe take care of the bread; but he, it feems, intent on what he was about, let the cakes burn; which fo provoked the woman, that the rated him roundly, telling him he would eat them fast enough, and ought therefore to have looked after their toasting. Affer, P. 30.

(e) “ This (fays Sir John Spelman); vas a banner with the image of a ra

magically wrought by the three

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fifters of Hinguar and Hubba, on,
purpose for their expedition, in re-
venge of their father Lodebroch's
murder, made, they fay, almost in
an instant, being by them at once
begun and finished in a noontide, and
believed by the Danes to have carried
great fatality with it, for which it
was highly esteemed by them. It is
pretended,that being carried in battle,
towards good fuccefs it would al-
ways feem to clap its wings, and,
make as if it would fly; but towards;
the approach of mishap, it would
hang down and not move,” Life of
Alfred, p. 61.

For

For the performance thereof he took hoftages; and when, in purfuance of the treaty, Guthrum, the Danish captain, came, with thirty of his chief officers, to be baptized,. Ælfred answered for him at the font, and gave him the name of Æthelftan; and certain laws were drawn up betwixt the king and Guthrum for the regulation and government of the Danes fettled in England. In 884, a fresh number of Danes landed in Kent, and laid fiege to Rochester,. but the king coming to the relief of that city, they were obliged to abandon their defign. Ælfred had now great fuccefs, which was chiefly owing to his fleet, an advantage of his own creating. Having fecured the fea-coafts, he fortified the reft of the kingdom with castles and walled towns; and he befieged and recovered from the Danes the city of London, which he refolved to repair, and keep as a frontier (ƒ).

After fome years refpite, Alfred was again called into the field, for a body of Danes being worsted in the weft of France, came with a fleet of two hundred and fifty fail on the coast of Kent, and having landed, fixed themselves at Appletree : fhortly after, another fleet of eighty veffels coming up the Thames. the men landed, and built a fort at Middleton. Before Alfred marched against the enemy, he obliged the Danes, fettled in Northumberland and Effex, to give him. Chron. Sax. hoftages for their good behaviour. He then moved towards the invaders, and pitched his camp between their armies, to prevent their junction. A great body, however, moved off to Effex, and croffing the river, came to Farnham in Surry, where they were defeated by the king's forces, Mean while the Danes fettled in Northumberland, in breach of treaty, and notwithstanding the hostages given, equipped two fleets, and, after plundering the northern and fouthern coafts, failed to Exeter, and befieged it. The king, as foon as he received intelligence, marched against them, but before he

P. 92.

Ibid. 93.

(f) The Danes had poffeffed them felves of London in the time of his father, and had held it till now as a convenient place for them to land at, and fortify themselves in; neither was it taken from them but by a clofe fiege. However, when it came into the king's hands, it was in a miser-' able condition, scarce habitable, and all its fortifications ruined. The king, moved by the importance of the place, and the defire of Atrengthening his frontier against the Danes, reftored

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