so tenderly loved their own kin, would become the most heartless warriors. Then they would kill the priest at the altar, send women to slavery, and, in grim sport, toss babes from pike to pike. So much were they dreaded, that a litany of the time has the prayer: "Deliver us, O Lord, from the frenzy of the Norsemen !" Their coming to England was a necessity. They had conquered or occupied Ireland, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands on the West and North of Britain; while on the eastern side they had settled on the coast of Europe from Friesland to Bordeaux. Thus Britain was in the midst of their possessions, and offered a tempting field for new adventures. Then in Ireland and France they had plundered and robbed all the abbeys of any note; but England they had not spoiled. It was Britain then, which was necessary to support and widen their other conquests. At their first coming they reached our shores in small squadrons only to harass the coasts; but, as time went on, they came in large hosts with a determination to settle. As soldiers they were superior to the English, and they were equally at home on the land or on the sea. They were masters of the sea, and every river became a road for their advance into the country. They had a real genius for war, and were daring even to recklessness. What gave them an. additional advantage over the English was their rapidity of movement. They landed from their boats, seized the horses in the neighbourhood, mounted them, and then sped like wild-fire into the interior. Their speed baffled all means of defence; for while the English farmers were gathering to oppose them, they had swooped down on abbeys, and churches, and manor-houses; and then, laden with the rich spoil, had hastened back to their camps and their black boats. They came in bands of well-disciplined warriors, armed from head to foot. They were the heroes of a hundred fights, and grouped themselves round a trusty leader of their own choice. The English might outnumber them, but what could a company of Englishmen, fresh from the plough, do against such a trained host? And yet these Northern folk were closely allied to the English in customs and in religion. The gods that were worshipped by our forefathers were the gods of the Northmen. Thor, the hammer-god, and Odin, the war-god, were the common deities of the two peoples; and many of the myths and fancies of the English would find an echo in the beliefs of the Norsemen. HEAD OF THUNDER OR THOR. of great length, The long ships in which they came were exactly suited for them as pirates. They were with narrow beam and little depth of keel, but admirably adapted for speed. They were unmanageable in storms, and they were not adapted for long sea journeys, for there was little accommo dation for crew or cargo. Thus the pirates were forced to moor at each sunset, make a raid for cattle or sheep for their meal, and sleep beneath a sail on the beach. In fighting, their ships were well fitted for their special purpose, and their stern and forecastle were used as platforms for their warriors. In their earlier period we find the Danes, or heathen men, at Lindisfarne where they destroyed the church. This was in 793; and in the next year they had reached the royal monastery on the west. The English churches and monasteries were ruthlessly spoiled by them, and from the former they carried off the costly vessels used for sacred purposes, while from the latter they carried away the priceless manuscripts, richly bound and inlaid with gems and precious stones. In 832 they appeared in Sheppey, which they ravaged, and, in 833, Egbert fought against no less than 33 Danish ships. Portland on the south was the scene of a fight in 837, and Kent and East Anglia were visited the following year. Nothing strikes one more than the fact of their startling rapidity of movement; now they appear on the east, only to visit the west and the south within a short period. In 839 London, and Canterbury, and Rochester were "broken" by them, while soon after we find Ethelwulf fighting with them at Charmouth. The men of Devon fought them in 851; and the same year the Chronicle tells us they remained and wintered at Thanet. Indeed, 851, two years after Alfred's birth, was the time of their greatest activity, for they came over |