Читать книгу Public School History of England and Canada - Graeme Mercer Adam - Страница 7
ОглавлениеTHE COMING OF THE DANES.
[Point out that the Danes were of the same stock as the English, and mention other countries that suffered from their invasions. Relate incidents in the life and career of Alfred—such as “burning the cakes,” and tell of improvements he introduced among his subjects. Give an account of Dunstan and his influence. Make as clear as possible the kind of government, and the system of administering justice, possessed by the English.
References:—Freeman’s “Old English History,” Grant Allen’s “Anglo-Saxon Britain,” and Green’s “Short History” and “Readings from English History.”]
1. England attacked by the Danes.—To the north of the old German home of the English lived the Danes, or Norsemen, who were of the same race as the English, and who, like them, were accustomed to lead a roving life on the sea. About the close of The Norse Sea-kings ravage England. the eighth century, under their Vikings, or chiefs, the Danes pounced upon one portion after another of the Saxon kingdoms in England, laid waste their coasts, and murdered the people. After Egbert’s death they overran many parts of the country; and by the middle of the ninth century they had succeeded in occupying several of the minor Saxon kingdoms.
2. Alfred the Great (871-901).—Alfred the Great, who was one of the five grandsons of Egbert, all of whom reigned over portions of England, is the one monarch who brightens the early pages of English history. When he came to the throne the Danes were still the scourge of the land. Having been defeated by them under their leader, Guthrum, Alfred fled for safety to the marshes of Athelney, in Somersetshire. Here, however, he collected his forces, and before long succeeded in routing the Danes at Edington. By a treaty made at Wedmore, Alfred surrendered to the Danes the Kingdom of East Anglia, on condition of their becoming Christians and living on friendly terms with his people. During his years of peace Alfred did much to promote learning, while he sought at all times to rule his kingdom wisely. He restored order in the land, and built anew the churches, the monasteries, and many of the cities which the Danes had destroyed. His whole life was devoted to the good of his subjects and to the improvement of their social condition.
3. Alfred’s Successors.—Towards the close of his reign, Alfred had once more to beat off the Danish raiders. In A.D. 893, a mighty force, under a chief, named Hastings, attempted a landing in England, and for three years ravaged the coasts. But Alfred had by this time got together a large naval force, and was thus able to keep off the invaders. At his death, his son, Edward the Elder, succeeded to the West Saxon crown. In his reign, and that of his son, Athelstan, all the land was recovered from the Danes that had been given them by Alfred. In the following reign of Edmund, the Magnificent, the kingdom of Strathclyde (originally the western half of Britain, from the Clyde to the Dee) was abolished, and a part of it, Cumberland, given to Malcolm, king of the Scots, as the price of an alliance with Wessex. The next reigns were brief and uneventful, until we come to that of Edgar, the Pacific, under whom the Saxon power in England reached its greatest height. The king’s chief adviser, and one of the most prominent personages of his time, was Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who lived during the reign of five kings and was noted for his many reforms in the Church and the State.
4. Government among the English.—The English were now making some effort to become a well-governed people. Regard for law and justice, however roughly they were at first administered, was one of the chief characteristics of the Anglo-Saxon. For acts of wrong-doing there were Courts to try culprits and to secure justice to the injured. The way in which the country was parcelled out determined the size and the character of the Court. A small community, with its limited holding of land, had a small Court; a group of communities, with a large holding, had a large Court. At the head, and over all, was the chief Court and Assembly of the nation. Let us try to make all this clear. When the English settled in the country, portions of the land were divided amongst the tribes who conquered it. Every free member or family in the community had a share. All the land not divided among the tribes was the common property of the people, and was known as the folkland. The land of one or two families combined Anglo-Saxon Institutions. to form the village or township. A number of villages were grouped into a hundred, so-called, it is supposed, because at first it was made up of a hundred or so households, each sending one armed man to war. The village or township managed its own local affairs; but in greater matters it sent cases to the hundred-moot, or Court above, which sat at least four times a year, under the presidency of the alderman, or chief officer of the district. The next higher Court was the shire-moot, or county Court, which was presided over by the alderman and bishop, with a shire-reeve, or sheriff, to collect the king’s dues. Over all was the Witenagemot, or supreme council of the nation, in which sat the bishop and the king’s household officers, with the alderman, or earl, from the shire-moot below. The Witan, as it was commonly called, was presided over by the king, and was composed of men who made war, shaped the laws of the kingdom, elected or deposed the king, and shared in every act of government. The lower Courts were held in the open air; and in all of them the punishments imposed for offences were fines, outlawry, whipping, mutilation, branding, or death. In the case of punishment by death, the men were hanged and the women were drowned. When fines were imposed, failure to pay them reduced a freeman to slavery. Proof of innocence or guilt was taken by ordeal of fire or water, a test which was applied by making the accused either carry a red-hot iron a certain distance, or plunge his hand into boiling water. If the burns were healed after three days, he was pronounced innocent; if not, he was found guilty. Proof was also taken by compurgation, a process by which the accused might clear himself on bringing forward witnesses to prove his innocence, and the weight of whose testimony would be determined by his rank. Among the king’s officers were his military followers, afterwards known as thanes. These thanes, or servants, became very powerful in the State; for, as the king’s power grew, he conferred titles upon them and made them rich grants from the folkland.
5. Conquest of England by Sweyn, of Denmark.—The ever-vigilant Danes were always ready for an attack on England. Led by Sweyn, King of Denmark, these Northern pirates again harried the land. As a cheap defence, Ethelred II., who had been made king, adopted the plan of buying them off. But this had just the contrary effect, for the more money they got the more they wanted. Annoyed by his troublesome foes, Ethelred put the Danes who Massacre of the Danes, St. Brice’s day, A.D. 1002 had settled in the country to a general massacre. Among the slain was Gunhilda, sister of the king of Denmark. Enraged at Ethelred’s foul act, Sweyn repeated his invasions of England; and in A.D. 1013, he came with a great army, accompanied by his son Canute, or Cnut, and made himself master of the country. Ethelred then fled from the kingdom, and Canute, after fighting many battles, was made king.
6. Canute’s Reign, (1017-1035).—The English Crown, for the first time, now passed to the Dane. Though Canute still held the Danish Crown, and was able to add to his possessions Norway and part of Sweden, he preferred to rule in England. His early life had been wicked, but his rule was wise and just. His idea of good government was that it should be approved, rather than feared, by the people. The beautiful story of Canute’s rebuke to his flattering courtiers, on the seashore of Southampton, well indicates the character of the king. On one occasion these courtiers, thinking to flatter him, said that his greatness was such that even the sea would obey him. To chide them for their folly he had a chair placed on the beach in which he seated himself when the tide was coming in. As the waters flowed towards him he bade them retire. But they continued to advance and surround his chair. He then turned to his flatterers and reminded them that his power was nothing compared with that of Him who alone could say to the waves, “Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther!” To lighten the cares of government, Canute divided England into four great earldoms, and over two of these he placed the English Earls, Leofric and Godwin, who, with their sons, were to play an important part in the later history. For twenty-five years Canute and his sons ruled over England.
[1. For what is the reign of Alfred the Great remarkable?
2. How was justice administered among the English? Explain ordeal and compurgation.
3. Give a brief account of the Danish conquest of England.
4. Describe the character of Canute’s rule.
5. What traces still exist of the settlement of the Danes in England?]
