premature labour; the safety of herself and her babe was ascribed to the prayers of Paulinus, and with Edwin's permission the infant was baptized. A victory which he gained over the treacherous king of Wessex also contributed to dispose him to embrace the new faith, and after divers conferences with Paulinus, he called the great council of his realm to take the matter into consideration (626). The first who spoke was Coifi, the chief priest. He declared himself satisfied of the nothingness of the gods whom he had hitherto served; "For if," said he, "they had power to bestow blessings, I, who have always served them, should have been most highly favoured, whereas the contrary is the case." One of the nobles then spoke, likening the soul to a sparrow, which in the mid winter, when the king is enjoying himself with his lords by the fire, flies into the warm hall where they are sitting, and having flitted for some time around it, again goes out into the storm at another door. "Thus," added he, "we know nought of the origin or end of the soul, and if the new doctrine can give us any certainty, we should embrace it." All assented; Coifi then proposed that the temple of Godmundingham, at which he officiated, should be destroyed, and offered to commence the profanation. It was the law among the Saxons that the priests should never carry arms, and should only ride on mares; but Coifi now, to prove his change of faith, mounted a war-steed, girt himself with a sword, and grasping a lance galloped on to the temple. The people thought him mad, and their amazement increased when they saw him hurl his lance against the fane; no opposition, however, was made to the demolition, and the number of the converts became so great, that for thirty-six days Paulinus was engaged from morning to night in baptizing them. The Christian faith was gradually adopted in the other states, and in zeal and piety the Anglo-Saxons might vie with any people of the time*. Of the political events of this period the following are the most deserving of note. In the year 626 Penda mounted the throne of Mercia, at the age of fifty, and he reigned for thirty years. He was a man of a violent, tyrannic character, ever at war with his neighbours. Edwin, king of Northumbria, and his successor Oswald fell in battle against him. Penda himself was slain at last in the battle of Winwid-feld, near Leeds, fought against Oswio of Northumbria (655): his successor Peada was a Christian, and the Mercians embraced the faith of their king. The greatest of the Mercian monarchs was Offa, who warred with success against the British princes, and drove them out of the plain country; to secure his conquests he ran an entrenchment, still named Offa's Dyke, from the mouth of the Dee to that of the Wye. Offa also conquered Kent and Essex; Wessex and Northumbria submitted to him, and by treachery and murder he gained East Anglia. For Ethelbert, king of that country, wishing to espouse one of his daughters, went in person to his court at Tamworth, in reliance on Offa's honour, though they had long been at enmity (792). But Offa's queen said to him, "Now you have your old enemy in your power, whose kingdom you have so long coveted;" and Offa caused him to be assassinated. The princess, however, had time to give the Anglian nobles warning, and they made their escape, but Offa entered and conquered the kingdom. The power and fame of Offa were so great, that the emperor Charlemagne entered into friendship and alliance with him. Offa reigned forty years; after his death (794) Mercia rapidly declined. The supreme power in Britain was reserved for the * All the preceding details are furnished by Bede, ii. 12, 13. royal line of Wessex. It had already produced in Ina, the ablest legislator who had as yet appeared among the Anglo-Saxons. At this time Egbert, a youth of the race of Cerdic, being deemed by the people to have a better right to the throne than Beortric who occupied it (784), was an object of suspicion to that monarch, and to save his life he took refuge with Offa, king of Mercia. Beortric sought and obtained the hand of Offa's daughter Edburga (787), but his request for the surrender of Egbert was refused. This young prince however, not deeming himself secure, retired to the court of Charlemagne. Edburga, who was a woman of the most vicious character, frequently made her husband put his nobles to death: at times she was herself the agent; and one day, when she had mixed a cup of poison for one of the nobles, the king by mistake partook of it and died. The people rose, and drove Edburga from the country, and abolished the title of Queen*; she went to France, thence to Italy, and king Offa's daughter finally died a common beggar at Pavia. Egbert now returned from France (800), and occupied the vacant throne. He concluded a peace with Mercia, and having devoted some years to the improvement of his paternal realm, at length (809) he turned his arms against the Britons of Cornwall, whom in the space of fourteen years he reduced to submission. The power of Egbert now excited the jealousy of the Mercian king, and a war broke out; but the Mercians sustained a great defeat (823) at Ellandune (Wilton), and Egbert then sending his son with an army into Kent, drove out of it the prince who governed it under the Mercians, and the people joyfully submitted to his rule. The East-Anglians revolted, and put themselves under the protection of Egbert. The king of Mercia led an army against them, but he fell in battle ; the same was the fate of his successor; and Egbert finally * Hence instead of queen we shall find the term lady employed, (827) invaded and conquered Mercia. He then turned his arms against the Northumbrians, who submitted at his approach. He finally conquered the Britons of Wales, and the whole island south of the firths acknowledged the authority of the king of Wessex. We will terminate this portion of the early history by a few observations. The resemblance is very striking between the heroic age of Greece and the early Anglo-Saxon period of Britain. In both the form of government is regal, and confined to particular families, who derived their lineage from the deities worshiped by the people; for if the Grecian Basileus traced his pedigree up to Zeus, the Saxon King drew his down from Wodin (Odin), the monarch of the northern heaven. The same qualities of mind and body were required in the sovereigns of both people. The king was the source of law, and the administrator of justice, in Britain as in Greece; and if in one country he was aided by a Bulé, or senate, composed of the nobles or chieftains of his realm, the same appearance is presented by the other in its Witena-gemot (Meeting of the Witan, i. e. Wisemen), or great council*. The leaders of the Anglo-Saxons were at first called Ealdormen (Aldermen), or elderst. When they took the title of King, that of Ealdormen was retained for the inferior chieftains, or the governors of districts and towns. Some of the Anglo-Saxon kings assumed a still higher title, that of Bretwalda, or Ruler of Britons, and those who held it are supposed to have enjoyed some kind of supremacy over the different states of the island §. * See History of Greece, Part I. ch. ii. † As the Grecian chiefs were called yépovres, Hom. Il. ii. 53. King is cognate to the Persian Khan, and perhaps to the Celtic Caen (head). § The Bretwaldas were Ella of Sussex, Ceawlin of Wessex, Ethelbert of Kent, Redwald of East-Anglia, Edwin, Oswald, and Oswio of Northumbria, and Egbert of Wessex. CHAPTER III. KINGS OF WESSEX SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND *. The Danes.-ETHELWULF.-ETHELBALD.-ETHELBERT.-ETHERED. EGBERT. 800-836. AT the time when Egbert mounted the throne of Wessex the Anglo-Saxons had been for three centuries and a half the occupants of Britain. During all this time they had been divided into separate independent states; and, as we have seen, warfare against each other or the original natives prevailed almost without intermission. A new and most formidable foe, of their own race and kindred, was now about to appear, and a closer union among their states was required. It would almost seem that Egbert had foreseen this necessity, for we are told that on his accession he gave the name of England (Angle-land) to his realm; and as only the West-Saxons were his subjects, we may infer that he even then aspired to the monarchy of the whole island. It was probably at the court of Charlemagne, and in imitation of that great monarch, that he formed this plan of extensive dominion. The foes with whom the English were now to contend were the Northmen (the people of Denmark and Norway), named by them the Danes. Like all nations in a low state of culture, the Danes had probably lived for centuries with little knowledge of any country but their own; and though they may have possessed the art of ship-building from time immemorial, and had navigated their own stormy seas without fear, we have no accounts of their pillaging * Authorities: Saxon Chronicle, Ethelward, Malmsbury, Huntingdon, &c. |