CHAPTER XI: THE ISLE OF ATHELNEY
Edmund spent a month on his lands, moving about among his vassals anddwelling in their abodes. He inspired them by his words with freshspirit and confidence, telling them that this state of things could notlast, and that he was going to join the king, who doubtless would sooncall them to take part in a fresh effort to drive out their crueloppressors. Edmund found that although none knew with certainty thehiding-place of King Alfred, it was generally reported that he hadtaken refuge in the low lands of Somersetshire, and Athelney wasspecially named as the place which he had made his abode.
"It is a good omen," Edmund said, "for Athelney lies close to theParrot, where my good ship the Dragon is laid away."
After visiting all the villages in his earldom Edmund started withEgbert and four young men, whom he might use as messengers, for thereported hiding-place of the king. First they visited the Dragon, andfound her lying undisturbed; then they followed the river down tillthey reached the great swamps which extended for a considerabledistance near its mouth. After much wandering they came upon the hut ofa fisherman. The man on hearing the footsteps came to his door with abent bow. When he saw that the new-comers were Saxons he lowered thearrow which was already fitted to the string.
"Can you tell us," Edmund said, "which is the way to Athelney? We knowthat it is an island amidst these morasses, but we are strangers to thelocality and cannot find it."
"And you might search for weeks," the man said, "without finding it, sothickly is it surrounded by deep swamps and woods. But what want yethere?"
"Men say," Edmund replied, "that King Alfred is hidden there. We arefaithful followers of his. I am Ealdorman Edmund of Sherborne, and havegood news for the king."
"If ye are indeed the Ealdorman of Sherborne, of whose bravery I haveheard much, I will right willingly lead you to Athelney if you will,but no king will you find there. There are a few fugitives from theDanes scattered here and there in these marshes, but none, so far as Iknow, of any rank or station. However, I will lead you thither shouldyou still wish to go."
Edmund expressed his desire to visit the island even if the king werenot there. The man at once drew out a small boat from a hiding-placenear his hut. It would hold four at most. Edmund and Egbert stepped inwith one of their followers, charging the others to remain at the hutuntil they received further instructions. The fisherman with a longpole took his place in the bow of the boat and pushed off. For somehours they made their way through the labyrinth of sluggish and narrowchannels of the morass. It was a gloomy journey. The leafless treesfrequently met overhead; the long rushes in the wetter parts of theswamp rustled as the cold breezes swept across them, and a slightcoating of snow which had fallen the previous night added to the drearyaspect of the scene. At last they came upon sharply rising ground.
"This is Athelney," the fisherman said, "a good hiding-place truly;for, as you see, it rises high over the surrounding country, which isalways swampy from the waters of the Parrot and Theme, and at hightides the salt water of the sea fills all these waterways, and thetrees rise from a broad sheet of sea. No Dane has ever yet set footamong these marshes; and were there but provisions to keep them alive,a safe refuge might be found on this island for hundreds of fugitives.Will you be returning to-night?"
"That I cannot tell you," Edmund replied; "but at any rate I will hireyou and your boat to remain at my service for a week, and will pay youa far higher price than you can obtain by your fishing."
The fisherman readily agreed, and Edmund and his companions made theirway into the heart of the island. It was of some extent, and rose abovethe tree-tops of the surrounding country. Presently they came to acottage. A man came out.
"What do you seek?" he asked.
"You have fugitives in refuge here," Edmund said. "Know you if amongthem is our good King Alfred?" The man looked astonished.
"A pretty place to seek for a king!" he replied. "There are a fewSaxons in hiding here. Some live by fishing, some chop wood; but forthe most part they are an idle and thriftless lot, and methinks havefled hither rather to escape from honest work or to avoid the penaltiesof crimes than for any other reason."
"How may we find them?" Edmund asked.
"They are scattered over the island. There are eight or ten dwellershere like myself, and several of them have one or more of these fellowswith them; others have built huts for themselves and shift as they can;but it is a hard shift, I reckon, and beech-nuts and acorns, eked outwith an occasional fish caught in the streams, is all they have to liveupon. I wonder that they do not go back to honest work among theirkinsfolk."
"Ah!" Edmund said, "you do not know here how cruel are the ravages ofthe Danes; our homes are broken up and our villages destroyed, andevery forest in the land is peopled with fugitive Saxons. Did you knowthat you would speak less harshly of those here. At any rate the man Iseek is young and fair-looking, and would, I should think"--and hesmiled as he remembered Alfred's studious habits--"be one of the mostshiftless of those here."
"There is such a one," the man replied, "and several times friends ofhis have been hither to see him. He dwells at my next neighbour's, whois often driven well-nigh out of her mind--for she is a dame with ashrewish tongue and sharp temper--by his inattention. She only asks ofhim that he will cut wood and keep an eye over her pigs, which wanderin the forest, in return for his food; and yet, simple as are hisduties, he is for ever forgetting them. I warrant me, the dame wouldnot so long have put up with him had he not been so fair and helpless.However bad-tempered a woman may be, she has always a tender corner inher heart for this sort of fellow. There, you can take this paththrough the trees and follow it on; it will take you straight to hercottage."
The description given by the man tallied so accurately with that of theking that Edmund felt confident that he was on the right track. Thefact, too, that from time to time men had come to see this person addedto the probability of his being the king. Presently they came upon thehut. A number of pigs were feeding under the trees around it; the doorwas open, and the shrill tones of a woman's voice raised in anger couldbe heard as they approached.
"You are an idle loon, and I will no longer put up with your ways, andyou may seek another mistress. You are worse than useless here. I dobut ask you to watch these cakes while I go over to speak with myneighbour, and inquire how she and the child born yestereven aregetting on, and you go to sleep by the fire and suffer the case to burn.
"You were not asleep, you say? then so much the worse. Where were youreyes, then? And where was your nose? Why, I smelt the cakes a hundredyards away, and you sitting over them, and as you say awake, neithersaw them burning nor smelt them! You are enough to break an honestwoman's heart with your mooning ways. You are ready enough to eat whenthe meal-time comes, but are too lazy even to watch the food as itcooks. I tell you I will have no more of you. I have put up with youtill I am verily ashamed of my own patience; but this is too much, andyou must go your way, for I will have no more of you."
At this moment Edmund and Egbert appeared at the door of the hut. As hehad expected from the nature of the colloquy Edmund saw King Alfredstanding contrite and ashamed before the angry dame.
"My beloved sovereign!" he cried, running in and falling on his knees.
"My trusted Edmund," Alfred exclaimed cordially, "right glad am I tosee you, and you too, my valiant Egbert; truly I feared that the goodship Dragon had long since fallen into the hands of our enemy."
"The Dragon lies not many miles hence, your majesty, in the hole inwhich she was built, by the river Parrot; she has done bravely and hasbrought home a rich store of booty, a large share of which has beenhidden away for your majesty, and can be brought here in a few hoursshould you wish it."
"Verily I am glad to hear it, Edmund, for I have long been penniless;and I have great need of something at least to pay this good woman forall the trouble she has been at with me, and for her food which mycarelessness has destroyed, as you may have heard but now."
Edmund and Egbert joined in the king's merry laugh. The dame looked apicture of consternation and fell upon her knees.
"Pardon me, your majesty," she cried; "to think that I have ventured toabuse our good King Alfred, and have even in mine anger lifted my handagainst him!"
"And with right good-will too," the king said laughing. "Never fear,good dame, your tongue has been rough but your heart has been kindly,or never would you have borne so long with so shiftless a serving-man.But leave us now, I pray ye, for I have much to say to my good friendshere. And now, Edmund, what news do you bring? I do not ask after thedoings of the Dragon, for that no doubt is a long story which you shalltell me later, but how fares it with my kingdom? I have been incorrespondence with several of my thanes, who have from time to timesent me news of what passes without. From what they say I deem that thetime for action is at last nigh at hand. The people are everywheredesperate at the oppression and exactions of the Danes, and are readyto risk everything to free themselves from so terrible a yoke. I fledhere and gave up the strife because the Saxons deemed anything betterthan further resistance. Now that they have found out their error it istime to be stirring again."
"That is so," Edmund said; "Egbert and I have found the peopledesperate at their slavery, and ready to risk all did a leader butappear. My own people will all take up arms the instant they receive mysummons; they have before now proved their valour, and in my crew ofthe Dragon you have a body which will, I warrant me, pierce through anyDanish line."
"This tallies with what I have heard," Alfred said, "and in the springI will again raise my banner; but in the meantime I will fortify thisplace. There are but two or three spots where boats can penetratethrough the morasses; were strong stockades and banks erected at eachlanding-place we might hold the island in case of defeat against anynumber of the enemy."
"That shall be done," Edmund said, "and quickly. I have a messengerhere with me, and others waiting outside the swamp, and can send andbring my crew of the Dragon here at once."
"Let that be one man's mission," the king said; "the others I will sendoff with messages to the thanes of Somerset, who are only awaiting mysummons to take up arms. I will bid them send hither strong workingparties, but to make no show in arms until Easter, at which time I willagain spread the Golden Dragon to the winds. The treasure you speak ofwill be right welcome, for all are so impoverished by the Danes thatthey live but from hand to mouth, and we must at least buy provisionsto maintain the parties working here. Arms, too, must be made, foralthough many have hidden their weapons, the Danes have seized vastquantities, having issued an order that any Saxon found with arms shallbe at once put to death. Money will be needed to set all the smithiesto work at the manufacture of pikes and swords. Hides must be boughtfor the manufacture of shields. It will be best to send orders to theealdormen and thanes to send hither privately the smiths, armourers,and shield-makers in the villages and towns. They cannot work with theDanes ever about, but must set up smithies here. They must bring theirtools and such iron as they can carry; what more is required we mustbuy at the large towns and bring privately in carts to the edge of themorass. The utmost silence and secrecy must be observed, that the Danesmay obtain no news of our preparations until we are ready to burst outupon them."
A fortnight later Athelney presented a changed appearance. A thousandmen were gathered there. Trees had been cut down, a strong fort erectedon the highest ground, and formidable works constructed at three pointswhere alone a landing could be effected. The smoke rose from a score ofgreat mounds, where charcoal-burners were converting timber into fuelfor the forges. Fifty smiths and armourers were working vigorously atforges in the open air, roofs thatched with rushes and supported bypoles being erected over them to keep the rain and snow from the fires.A score of boats were threading the mazes of the marshes bringing menand cattle to the island. All was bustle and activity, every face shonewith renewed hope. King Alfred himself and his thanes moved to and froamong the workers encouraging them at their labours.
Messengers came and went in numbers, and from all parts of Wessex KingAlfred received news of the joy which his people felt at the tidingsthat he was again about to raise his standard, and of the readiness ofall to obey his summons. So well was the secret kept that no rumour ofthe storm about to burst upon them reached the Danes. The people,rejoicing and eager as they were, suffered no evidence of theirfeelings to be apparent to their cruel masters, who, believing theSaxons to be finally crushed, were lulled into a false security. Theking's treasure had been brought from its hiding-place to Athelney, andEdmund and Egbert had also handed over their own share of the booty tothe king. The golden cups and goblets he had refused to take, but hadgladly accepted the silver.
Edmund and Egbert had left Athelney for a few days on a mission. Theking had described to them minutely where he had hidden the sacredstandard with the Golden Dragon. It was in the hut of a charcoal-burnerin the heart of the forests of Wiltshire. Upon reaching the hut, andshowing to the man the king's signet-ring, which when leaving thestandard he had told him would be the signal that any who might comefor it were sent by him, the man produced the standard from the thatchof his cottage, in which it was deeply buried, and hearing that it wasagain to be unfurled called his two stalwart sons from their work andat once set out with Edmund and Egbert to join the army.
Easter came and went, but the preparations were not yet completed. Avast supply of arms was needed, and while the smiths laboured at theirwork Edmund and Egbert drilled the fighting men who had assembled, inthe tactics which had on a small scale proved so effective. The wedgeshape was retained, and Edmund's own band claimed the honour of formingthe apex, but it had now swollen until it contained a thousand men, andas it moved in a solid body, with its thick edge of spears outward, theking felt confident that it would be able to break through thestrongest line of the Danes.
From morning till night Edmund and Egbert, assisted by the thanes ofSomerset who had gathered there, drilled the men and taught them torally rapidly from scattered order into solid formation. Unaccustomedto regular tactics the ease and rapidity with which these movementscame to be carried out at the notes of Edmund's bugle seemed to all tobe little less than miraculous, and they awaited with confidence andeagerness their meeting with the Danes on the field.
At the end of April messengers were sent out bidding the Saxons holdthemselves in readiness, and on the 6th of May Alfred moved with hisforce from Athelney to Egbertesstan (now called Brixton), lying to theeast of the forest of Selwood, which lay between Devonshire andSomerset. The Golden Dragon had been unfurled. On the fort inAthelney, and after crossing the marshes to the mainland it was carriedin the centre of the phalanx.
On the 12th they reached the appointed place, where they found a greatmultitude of Saxons already gathered. They had poured in fromDevonshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire, from Dorset and Hants. In spite ofthe vigorous edicts of the Danes against arms a great proportion ofthem bore weapons, which had been buried in the earth, or concealed inhollow trees or other hiding-places until the time for action shouldagain arrive.
As they saw the king approaching at the head of his band, with theGolden Dragon fluttering in the breeze, a great shout of joy arose fromthe multitude, and they crowded round the monarch with shouts ofwelcome at his reappearance among them, and with vows to die ratherthan again to yield to the tyranny of the Northmen. The rest of the daywas spent in distributing the newly fashioned arms to those who neededthem, and in arranging the men in bands under their own thanes, or, intheir absence, such leaders as the king appointed.
Upon the following morning the army started, marching in anorth-easterly direction against the great camp of the Danes atChippenham. That night they rested at Okeley, and then marched on untilin the afternoon they came within sight of the Danes gathered atEthandune, a place supposed to be identical with Edington near Westbury.
As the time for Alfred's reappearance approached the agitation andmovement on the part of the people had attrac
ted the attention of theDanes, and the news of his summons to the Saxons to meet him atEgbertesstan having come to their ears, they gathered hastily from allparts under Guthorn their king, who was by far the most powerful vikingwho had yet appeared in England, and who ruled East Anglia as well asWessex. Confident of victory the great Danish army beheld the approachof the Saxons. Long accustomed to success, and superior in numbers,they regarded with something like contempt the approach of their foes.
In the centre Alfred placed the trained phalanx which had accompaniedhim from Athelney, in the centre of which waved the Golden Dragon, bywhose side he placed himself. Its command he left in the hands ofEdmund, he himself directing the general movements of the force. On hisright were the men of Somerset and Hants; on the left those of Wilts,Dorset, and Devon.
His orders were that the advance was to be made with regularity; thatthe whole line were to fight for a while on the defensive, resistingthe onslaught of the Danes until he gave the word for the centralphalanx to advance and burst through the lines of the enemy, and thatwhen these had been thrown into confusion by this attack the flankswere to charge forward and complete the rout. This plan was carriedout. The Danes advanced with their usual impetuosity, and for hourstried to break through the lines of the Saxon spears. Both sides foughtvaliantly, the Danes inspired by their pride in their personal prowessand their contempt for the Saxons; the Saxons by their hatred for theiroppressors, and their determination to die rather than again submit totheir bondage. At length, after the battle had raged some hours, andboth parties were becoming wearied from their exertions, the king gaveEdmund the order.
Hitherto his men had fought in line with the rest; but at the sound ofhis bugle they quitted their places, and, ere the Danes couldunderstand the meaning of this sudden movement, had formed themselvesinto their wedge, raised a mighty shout, and advanced against theenemy. The onslaught was irresistible. The great wedge, with its thickfringe of spears, burst its way straight through the Danish centrecarrying all before it. Then at another note of Edmund's bugle it brokeup into two bodies, which moved solidly to the right and left,crumpling up the Danish lines.
Alfred now gave the order for a general advance, and the Saxon ranks,with a shout of triumph, flung themselves upon the disordered Danes.Their success was instant and complete. Confounded at the sudden breakup of their line, bewildered by these new and formidable tactics,attacked in front and in flank, the Danes broke and fled. The Saxonspursued them hotly, Edmund keeping his men well together in case theDanes should rally. Their rout, however, was too complete; vast numberswere slain, and the remnant of their army did not pause until theyfound themselves within the shelter of their camp at Chippenham.
No quarter was given by the Saxons to those who fell into their hands,and pressing upon the heels of the flying Danes the victorious army ofKing Alfred sat down before Chippenham. Every hour brought freshreinforcements to the king's standard. Many were already on their waywhen the battle was fought; and as the news of the victory spreadrapidly every man of the West Saxons capable of bearing arms made forChippenham, feeling that now or never must a complete victory over theDanes be obtained.
No assault was made upon the Danish camp. Confident in his now vastlysuperior numbers, and in the enthusiasm which reigned in his army,Alfred was unwilling to waste a single life in an attack upon theentrenchments, which must ere long surrender from famine. There was norisk of reinforcements arriving to relieve the Danes. Guthorn had ledto the battle the whole fighting force of the Danes in Wessex and EastAnglia. This was far smaller than it would have been a year earlier;but the Northmen, having once completed their work of pillage, soonturned to fresh fields of adventure. Those whose disposition led themto prefer a quiet life had settled upon the land from which they haddispossessed the Saxons; but the principal bands of rovers, findingthat England was exhausted and that no more plunder could be had, hadeither gone back to enjoy at home the booty they had gained, or hadsailed to harry the shores of France, Spain, and Italy.
Thus the position of the Danes in Chippenham was desperate, and at theend of fourteen days, by which time they were reduced to an extremityby hunger, they sent messengers into the royal camp offering theirsubmission. They promised if spared to quit the kingdom with all speed,and to observe this contract more faithfully than those which they hadhitherto made and broken. They offered the king as many hostages as hemight wish to take for the fulfilment of their promises. The haggardand emaciated condition of those who came out to treat moved Alfred topity.
So weakened were they by famine that they could scarce drag themselvesalong. It would have been easy for the Saxons to have slain them to thelast man; and the majority of the Saxons, smarting under the memory ofthe cruel oppression which they had suffered, the destruction of homeand property, and the slaughter of friends and relations, would fainhave exterminated their foes. King Alfred, however, thought otherwise.
Guthorn and the Danes had effected a firm settlement in East Anglia,and lived at amity with the Saxons there. They had, it is true, wrestedfrom them the greatest portion of their lands. Still peace and orderwere now established. The Saxons were allowed liberty and equal rights.Intermarriages were taking place, and the two peoples were becomingwelded into one. Alfred then considered that it would be well to havethe king of this country as an ally; he and his settled people wouldsoon be as hostile to further incursions of the Northmen as were theSaxons themselves, and their interests and those of Wessex would beidentical.
Did he, on the other hand, carry out a general massacre of the Danesnow in his power he might have brought upon England a fresh invasion ofNorthmen, who, next to plunder, loved revenge, and who might come overin great hosts to avenge the slaughter of their countrymen. Moved,then, by motives of policy as well as by compassion, he granted theterms they asked, and hostages having been sent in from the camp heordered provisions to be supplied to the Danes.
The same night a messenger of rank came in from Guthorn saying that heintended to embrace Christianity. The news filled Alfred and the Saxonswith joy. The king, a sincere and devoted Christian, had fought as muchfor his religion as for his kingdom, and his joy at the prospect ofGuthorn's conversion, which would as a matter of course be followed bythat of his subjects, was deep and sincere.
To the Saxons generally the temporal consequence of the conversion hadno doubt greater weight than the spiritual. The conversion of Guthornand the Danes would be a pledge far more binding than any oaths ofalliance between the two kingdoms. Guthorn and his followers would beviewed with hostility by their countrymen, whose hatred of Christianitywas intense, and East Anglia would, therefore, naturally seek the closealliance and assistance of its Christian neighbour.
Great were the rejoicings in the Saxon camp that night. Seldom, indeed,has a victory had so great and decisive an effect upon the future of anation as that of Ethandune. Had the Saxons been crushed, thedomination of the Danes in England would have been finally settled.Christianity would have been stamped out, and with it civilization, andthe island would have made a backward step into paganism and barbarismwhich might have delayed her progress for centuries.
The victory established the freedom of Wessex, converted East Angliainto a settled and Christian country, and enabled King Alfred to framethe wise laws and statutes and to establish on a firm basis theinstitutions which raised Saxon England vastly in the scale ofcivilization, and have in no small degree affected the whole course oflife of the English people.