CHAPTER IV: THE INVASION OF WESSEX
Edmund and Egbert devoted most of their time to the building of the newfort, living very simply, and expended the whole of the revenues of thelands on the payment of the freemen and masons engaged upon the work.The Roman fort was a parallelogram, the sides being about 200 yardslong, and the ends half that length. It was surrounded by two earthenbanks with wide ditches. These were deepened considerably, and theslopes were cut down more sharply. The inner bank was widened until itwas 15 feet across the top.
On this the wall was built. It was faced on both sides with squarestones, the space between filled up with rubble and cement, the totalthickness being 4 feet. The height of the wall was 8 feet, and atintervals of 30 yards apart towers were raised 10 feet above it, one ofthese being placed at either side of the entrance. Here the bank wascut away, and solid buttresses of masonry supported the high gates. Theopening in the outer bank was not opposite to the gate in the inner,being fifty yards away, so that any who entered by it would have forthat distance to follow the ditch between the two banks, exposed to themissiles of those on the wall before arriving at the inner gate.
Five hundred men laboured incessantly at the work. The stone for thewalls was fortunately found close at hand, but, notwithstanding this,the work took nearly six months to execute; deep wells were sunk in thecentre of the fort, and by this means an ample supply of water wassecured, however large might be the number within it.
A very short time after the commencement of the work the news arrivedthat King Edmund of East Anglia had gathered his forces together andhad met the Danes in a great battle near Thetford on Sunday the 20th ofNovember, and had been totally defeated by them, Edmund himself havingbeen taken prisoner. The captive king, after having been for a longtime cruelly tortured by the Danes, was shot to death with arrows. Itwas not long after this that news came that the whole of East Angliahad fallen into the hands of the Danes.
Early in the month of February, 871, just as the walls of his fort hadbegun to rise, a messenger arrived from the king bidding Edmundassemble all the men in his earlship and march at once to join him nearDevizes, as the news had come that a great Danish fleet had sailed upthe Thames and had already captured the royal town of Reading.
Messengers were sent out in all directions, and early the next morning,400 men having assembled, Edmund and his kinsman marched away with themtowards Devizes. Upon their arrival at that town they found the kingand his brother with 8000 men, and the following day the army movedeast towards Reading.
They had not marched many miles before a messenger arrived saying thattwo of the Danish jarls with a great following had gone out to plunderthe country, that they had been encountered by Aethelwulf, Earl ofBerkshire, with his men at Englefield, and a fierce battle had takenplace. The Saxons had gained the victory, and great numbers of theDanes had been slain, Sidroc, one of their jarls, being among thefallen.
Three days later the royal army arrived in sight of Reading, beingjoined on their march by Aethelwulf and his men. The Danes had thrownup a great rampart between the Thames and the Kennet, and many werestill at work on this fortification. These were speedily slain by theSaxons, but their success was a short one. The main body of theinvaders swarmed out from the city and a desperate engagement tookplace.
The Saxons fought valiantly, led by the king and Prince Alfred; butbeing wholly undisciplined and unaccustomed to war they were unable towithstand the onslaught of the Danes, who fought in better order,keeping together in ranks: after four hours' hard fighting the Saxonswere compelled to fall back.
They rallied again a few miles from Reading. Ethelred and Alfred wentamong them bidding them be of good cheer, for that another time, whenthey fought in better order, they would gain the victory; and thattheir loss had not been greater than the Danes, only that unhappily thevaliant Ealdorman Aethelwulf had been slain. Fresh messengers were sentthroughout the country bidding all the men of Wessex to rally roundtheir king, and on the fourth morning after the defeat Ethelred foundhimself at the head of larger forces than had fought with him in thelast battle.
The Danes had moved out from Reading and had taken post at Ashdown, andas the Saxon army approached they were seen to be divided into twobodies, one of which was commanded by their two kings and the other bytwo jarls. The Saxons therefore made a similar division of their army,the king commanding one division and Prince Alfred the other.
Edmund with the men of Sherborne was in the division of Alfred. TheDanes advanced to the attack and fell with fury upon them. It had beenarranged that this division should not advance to the attack until thatcommanded by the king was also put in motion. For some time Alfred andhis men supported the assaults of the Danes, and then, being hardlypressed, the prince sent a messenger to his brother to urge that amovement should be made. The Saxons were impatient at standing on thedefensive, and Alfred saw that he must either allow them to charge theenemy or must retreat.
Presently the messenger returned saying that the king was in his tenthearing mass, and that he had given orders that no man should move orany should disturb him until mass was concluded. Alfred hesitated nolonger; he formed his men into a solid body, and then, raising hisbattle cry, rushed upon the Danes. The battle was a furious one. TheDanes were upon higher ground, their standard being planted by the sideof a single thorn-tree which grew on the slopes of the hill. Towardsthis Alfred with his men fought their way.
The lesson of the previous battle had not been lost, the Saxons kepttogether in a solid body which made its way with irresistible weightthrough the ranks of the Danes. Still the latter closed in on allsides, and the fight was doubtful until the king, having finished hisdevotions, led his division into the battle. For a long time adesperate strife continued and great numbers on both sides were killed;but the Saxons, animated at once by love of their country and hatred ofthe invaders and by humiliation at their previous defeat, fought withsuch fury that the Danes began to give way. Then the Saxons pressedthem still more hotly, and the invaders presently lost heart and fledin confusion, pursued in all directions by the exulting Saxons.
The Danish king Bergsecg and five jarls, the two Sidrocs, Osbearn,Frene, and Hareld, were slain, and many thousands of their followers.Great spoil of arms and armour fell into the hands of the victors.
Edmund had fought bravely in the battle at the head of his men. Egberthad kept beside him, and twice, when the lad had been smitten to hisknees by the enemy, covered him with his shield and beat off the foe.
"You are over-young for such a fight as this, Edmund," he said when theDanes had taken to flight. "You will need another four or five yearsover your head before you can stand in battle against these fierceNorthmen. They break down your guard by sheer weight; but you boreyourself gallantly, and I doubt not will yet be as famous a warrior aswas your brave father."
Edmund did not join in the pursuit, being too much bruised andexhausted to do so; but Egbert with the men of Sherborne followed theflying Danes until nightfall.
"You have done well, my young ealdorman," Prince Alfred said to the ladafter the battle. "I have been wishing much that you could be with meduring the past month, but I heard that you were building a strong fortand deemed it better to let you continue your work undisturbed. When itis finished I trust that I shall have you often near me; but I fearthat for a time we shall have but little space for peaceful pursuits,for the Danes are coming, as I hear, in great troops westward, and weshall have many battles to fight ere we clear the land of them."
In those days a defeat, however severe, had not the same decisiveeffect as it has in modern warfare. There were no cannons to lose, nogreat stores to fall into the hands of the victors. The army was simplydispersed, and its component parts reassembled in the course of a dayor two, ready, when reinforcements arrived, to renew the fight. Thus,decisive as was the victory of Ashdown, Prince Alfred saw that manysuch victories must be won, and a prolonged and exhausting strugglecarried on before the tide of invasion would be finally hurled
backfrom Wessex. The next few days were spent in making a fair distributionof the spoil and arms among the conquerors. Some of the thanes thenreturned home with their people; but the remainder, on the king'sentreaty, agreed to march with him against the Danes, who after thebattle had fallen back to Basing, where they had been joined by otherscoming from the coast. The royal army advanced against them, andfourteen days after the battle of Ashdown the struggle was renewed. Thefight lasted for many hours, but towards nightfall the Saxons werecompelled to retreat, moving off the field, however, in good order, sothat no spoil fell into the hands of the Danes.
This check was a great disappointment to the Saxons, who after theirlate victory had hoped that they should speedily clear the kingdom ofthe Danes. These, indeed, taught prudence by the manner in which theWest Saxons had fought, for a while refrained from plunderingexcursions. Two months later the Saxons were again called to arms.Somerled, a Danish chieftain, had again advanced to Reading, and hadcaptured and burned the town. The king marched against him, and the twoarmies met at Merton. Here another desperate battle took place.
During the first part of the day the Saxons were victorious over boththe divisions of the Danish army, but in the afternoon the latterreceived some reinforcements and renewed the fight. The Saxons,believing that the victory had been won, had fallen into disorder andwere finally driven from the field. Great numbers were slain on bothsides. Bishop Edmund and many Saxon nobles were killed, and KingEthelred so severely wounded that he expired a few days later, April23rd, 871, having reigned for five years. He was buried at WimbourneMinster, and Prince Alfred ascended the throne.
Ethelred was much regretted by his people, but the accession of Alfredincreased their hopes of battling successfully against the Danes.Although wise and brave, King Ethelred had been scarcely the monarchfor a warlike people in troubled times. Religious exercises occupiedtoo large a share of his thoughts. His rule was kindly rather thanstrong, and his authority was but weak over his nobles. From PrinceAlfred the Saxons hoped better things. From his boyhood he had beenregarded with special interest and affection by the people, as hisfather had led them to regard him as their future king.
The fact that he had been personally consecrated by the pope appearedto invest him with a special authority. His immense superiority inlearning over all his people greatly impressed them. Though gentle hewas firm and resolute, prompt in action, daring in the field. Thus,then, although the people regretted King Ethelred, there was a generalfeeling of hope and joy when Alfred took his place on the throne. Hehad succeeded to the crown but a month when the Danes again advanced ingreat numbers. The want of success which had attended them in the lasttwo battles had damped the spirit of the people, and it was with a verysmall force only that Alfred was able to advance against them.
The armies met near Wilton, where the Danes in vastly superior numberswere posted on a hill. King Alfred led his forces forward and fell uponthe Danes, and so bravely did the Saxons fight that for some time theday went favourably for them. Gradually the Danes were driven fromtheir post of vantage, and after some hours' fighting turned to fly;but, as at Merton and Kesteven, the impetuosity of the Saxons provedtheir ruin. Breaking their compact ranks they scattered in pursuit ofthe Danes, and these, seeing how small was the number of theirpursuers, rallied and turned upon them, and the Saxons were driven fromthe field which they had so bravely won.
"Unless my brave Saxons learn order and discipline," the king said toEdmund and some of his nobles who gathered round him on the eveningafter the defeat, "our cause is assuredly lost. We have proved now ineach battle that we are superior man to man to the Danes, but we throwaway the fruits of victory by our impetuosity. The great Caesar, whowrote an account of his battles which I have read in Latin, describedthe order and discipline with which the Roman troops fought. They werealways in heavy masses, and even after a battle the heavy-armedsoldiers kept their ranks and did not scatter in pursuit of the enemy,leaving this task to the more lightly armed troops.
"Would that we had three or four years before us to teach our mendiscipline and order, but alas! there is no time for this. The Daneshave fallen in great numbers in every fight, but they are everreceiving reinforcements and come on in fresh waves of invasion; whilethe Saxons, finding that all their efforts and valour seem to availnothing, are beginning fast to lose heart. See how small a numberassembled round my standard yesterday, and yet the war is butbeginning. Truly the look-out is bad for England."
The king made strenuous efforts again to raise an army, but the peopledid not respond to his call. In addition to the battles which have beenspoken of several others had been fought in different parts of Wessexby the ealdormen and their followers against bodies of invading Danes.In the space of one year the Saxons had engaged in eight pitchedbattles and in many skirmishes. Great numbers had been slain on bothsides, but the Danes ever received fresh accessions of strength, andseemed to grow stronger and more numerous after every battle, while theSaxons were dwindling rapidly. Wide tracts of country had beendevastated, the men slaughtered, and the women and children takencaptives, and the people, utterly dispirited and depressed, no longerlistened to the voices of their leaders, and refused again to periltheir lives in a strife which seemed hopeless. Alfred therefore calledhis ealdormen together and proposed to them, that since the peoplewould no longer fight, the sole means that remained to escapedestruction was to offer to buy off the Danes.
The proposal was agreed to, for although none of them had any hope thatthe Danes would long keep any treaty they might make, yet even a littlerespite might give heart and spirit to the Saxons again. Accordinglynegotiations were entered into with the Danes, and these, inconsideration of a large money payment, agreed to retire from Wessex.The money was paid, the Danes retired from Reading, which they had usedas their headquarters, and marched to London. King Burhred, the feebleKing of Mercia, could do nothing to oppose them, and he too agreed topay them a large annual tribute.
From the end of 872 till the autumn of 875 the country wascomparatively quiet. Alfred ruled it wisely, and tried to repair theterrible damages the war had made. Edmund looked after his earldom, andgrew into a powerful young man of nineteen years old.
King Alfred had not deceived himself for a moment as to the future."The Danes," he said, "are still in England. East Anglia andNorthumbria swarm with them. Had this army, after being bought off byus and my brother of Mercia, sailed across the seas and landed inFrance there would have been some hope for us, but their restlessnature will not allow them to stay long in the parts which they haveconquered.
"In Anglia King Guthrum has divided the land among his jarls, and therethey seem disposed to settle down; but elsewhere they care not for theland, preferring to leave it in the hands of its former owners to till,and after to wring from the cultivators the fruits of the harvest;then, as the country becomes thoroughly impoverished, they must moveelsewhere. Mercia they can overrun whensoever they choose, and afterthat there is nothing for them to do but to sweep down again uponWessex, and with all the rest of England at their feet it is hopelessto think that we alone can withstand their united power."
"Then what, think you, must be the end of this?" Edmund asked.
"'Tis difficult to see the end," Alfred replied. "It would seem thatour only hope of release from them is that when they have utterly eatenup and ravaged England they may turn their thoughts elsewhere. Alreadythey are harrying the northern coasts of France, but there are richerprizes on the Mediterranean shores, and it may be that when England isno longer worth plundering they may sail away to Spain and Italy. Wehave acted foolishly in the way we have fought them. When they firstbegan to arrive upon our coasts we should have laboured hard to buildgreat fleets, so that we could go forth and meet them on the seas.
"Some, indeed, might have escaped our watch and landed, but the fleetscould have cut off reinforcements coming to them, and thus those whoreached our shores could have been overwhelmed. Even now, I think thatsomething might be done that way,
and I purpose to build a fleet whichmay, when they again invade us, take its station near the mouth of theThames and fall upon the vessels bringing stores and reinforcements.This would give much encouragement to the people, whose hopelessnessand desperation are caused principally by the fact that it seems to beof no use killing the enemy, since so many are ready constantly to taketheir places."
"I will gladly undertake to build one ship," Edmund said. "The fort isnow finished, and with the revenues of the land I could at oncecommence a ship; and if the Danes give us time, when she is finished Iwould build another. I will the more gladly do it, since it seems to methat if the Danes entirely overrun our country we must take to the seaand so in turn become plunderers. With this view I will have the shipbuilt large and strong, so that she may keep the sea in all weathersand be my home if I am driven out of England. There must be plenty ofports in France, and many a quiet nook and inlet round England, whereone can put in to refit when necessary, and we could pick up many aprize of Danish ships returning laden with booty. With such a ship Icould carry a strong crew, and with my trusty Egbert and the best of myfighting men we should be able to hold our own, even if attacked by twoor three of the Danish galleys."
"The idea is a good one, Edmund," the king said, "and I would that Imyself could carry it into effect. It were a thousand times better tolive a free life on the sea, even if certain at last to be overpoweredby a Danish fleet, than to lurk a hunted fugitive in the woods; but Icannot do it. So long as I live I must remain among my people, ready tosnatch any chance that may offer of striking a blow against theinvader. But for you it is different."
"I should not, of course, do it," Edmund said, "until all is lost here,and mean to defend my fort to an extremity; still should it be that theDanes conquer all our lands, it were well to have such a refuge."
Edmund talked the matter over with Egbert, who warmly entered into theplan. "So long as I have life I will fight against the Danes, and in aship at least we can fight manfully till the end. We must not build heron the sea-coast, or before the time when we need her she may bedestroyed by the Danes. We will build her on the Parrot. The water isdeep enough far up from the sea to float her when empty, and if wechoose some spot where the river runs among woods we might hide her sothat she may to the last escape the attention of the Danes.
"We must get some men crafty in ship-building from one of the ports,sending down a body of our own serfs to do the rough work. We will goto Exeter first and there choose us the craftsman most skilled inbuilding ships, and will take council with him as to the best form andsize. She must be good to sail and yet able to row fast with a strongcrew, and she must have room to house a goodly number of rowing andfighting men. You, Edmund, might, before we start, consult King Alfred.He must have seen at Rome and other ports on the Mediterranean theships in use there, which are doubtless far in advance of our own. Forwe know from the Holy Bible that a thousand years ago St. Paul madelong voyages in ships, and doubtless they have learned much since thosedays."
Edmund thought the idea a good one, and asked the king to make him adrawing of the vessels in use in the Mediterranean. This King Alfredreadily did, and Egbert and Edmund then journeyed to Exeter, wherefinding out the man most noted for his skill in building ships, theytold him the object they had in view, and showed him the drawings theking had made. There were two of them, the one a long galley rowed withdouble banks of oars, the other a heavy trading ship.
"This would be useless to you," the shipwright said, laying the seconddrawing aside. "It would not be fast enough either to overtake or tofly. The other galley would, methinks, suit you well. I have seen adrawing of such a ship before. It is a war galley such as is used bythe Genoese in their fights against the African pirates. They are fastand roomy, and have plenty of accommodation for the crews. One of themwell manned and handled should be a match for six at least of theDanish galleys, which are much lower in the water and smaller in allways. But it will cost a good deal of money to build such a ship."
"I will devote all the revenues of my land to it until it is finished,"Edmund said. "I will place a hundred serfs at your service, and willleave it to you to hire as many craftsmen as may be needed. I intend tobuild her in a quiet place in a deep wood on the river Parrot, so thatshe may escape the eyes of the Danes."
"I shall require seasoned timber," the shipwright urged.
"That will I buy," Edmund replied, "as you shall direct, and can haveit brought up the river to the spot."
"Being so large and heavy," the shipwright said, "she will be difficultto launch. Methinks it were best to dig a hole or dock at some littledistance from the river; then when she is finished a way can be cut tothe river wide enough for her to pass out. When the water is turned init will float her up level to the surface, and as she will not drawmore than two feet of water the cut need not be more than three feetdeep."
"That will be the best plan by far," Edmund agreed, "for you can makethe hole so deep that you can build her entirely below the level of theground. Then we can, if needs be, fill up the hole altogether withbushes, and cover her up, so that she would not be seen by a Danishgalley rowing up the river, or even by any of the enemy who might enterthe wood, unless they made special search for her; and there she couldlie until I chose to embark."
The shipwright at once set to work to draw out his plans, and a weeklater sent to Edmund a messenger with an account of the quantity andsize of wood he should require. This was purchased at once. Edmund andEgbert with their serfs journeyed to the spot they had chosen, and weremet there by the shipwright, who brought with him twenty craftsmen fromExeter. The wood was brought up the river, and while the craftsmenbegan to cut it up into fitting sizes, the serfs applied themselves todig the deep dock in which the vessel was to be built.