CHAPTER XI.

ALFRED THE GREAT IN WAR AND IN PEACE

30. The Danes in England

The earliest recorded visit of the Danes, or Northmen, to England somewhat antedates the appearance of these peoples on the Frankish coast in the year 800. In 787 three Danish vessels came to shore at Warham in Dorset and their sailors slew the unfortunate reeve who mistook them for ordinary foreign merchants and tried to collect port dues from them. Thereafter the British coasts were never free for many years at a time from the depredations of the marauders. In 793 the famous church at Lindisfarne, in Northumberland, was plundered; in 795 the Irish coasts began to suffer; in 833 a fleet of twenty-five vessels appeared at the mouth of the Thames; in 834 twelve hundred pillagers landed in Dorset; in 842 London and Rochester were sacked and their population scattered; in 850 a fleet of 350 ships carrying perhaps ten or twelve thousand men, wintered at the mouth of the Thames and in the spring caused London again to suffer; and from then on until the accession of King Alfred, in 871, destructive raids followed one another with distressing frequency.

The account of the Danish invasions given below is taken from a biography of King Alfred commonly attributed to Asser, a monk of Welsh origin connected with the monastery of St. David (later bishop of Sherborne) and a close friend and adviser of the great king. It gives us some idea of the way in which Alfred led his people through the darkest days in their history, and of the settlement known as the "Peace of Alfred and Guthrum" by which the Danish leader became a Christian and the way was prepared for the later division of the English country between the two contending peoples.

Source--Johannes Menevensis Asserius, _De rebus gestis Aelfredi Magni_ [Asser, "The Deeds of Alfred the Great"], Chaps. 42-55 _passim_. Adapted from translation by J. A. Giles in _Six Old English Chronicles_ (London, 1866), pp. 56-63.

[Sidenote: Alfred becomes king (871)]

[Sidenote: The struggle with the Danes]

In the year 871 Alfred, who up to that time had been of only secondary rank, while his brothers were alive, by God's permission, undertook the government of the whole kingdom, welcomed by all the people. Indeed, if he had cared to, he might have done so earlier, even while his brother was still alive;[257] for in wisdom and other qualities he excelled all of his brothers, and, moreover, he was courageous and victorious in all his wars. He became king almost against his will, for he did not think that he could alone withstand the numbers and the fierceness of the pagans, though even during the lifetime of his brothers he had carried burdens enough for many men. And when he had ruled one month, with a small band of followers and on very unequal terms, he fought a battle with the entire army of the pagans. This was at a hill called Wilton, on the south bank of the River Wily, from which river the whole of that district is named.[258] And after a long and fierce engagement the pagans, seeing the danger they were in, and no longer able to meet the attacks of their enemies, turned their backs and fled. But, oh, shame to say, they deceived the English, who pursued them too boldly, and, turning swiftly about, gained the victory. Let no one be surprised to learn that the Christians had only a small number of men, for the Saxons had been worn out by eight battles with the pagans in one year. In these they had slain one king, nine dukes, and innumerable troops of soldiers. There had also been numberless skirmishes, both by day and by night, in which Alfred, with his ministers and chieftains and their men, were engaged without rest or relief against the pagans. How many thousands of pagans fell in these skirmishes God only knows, over and above the numbers slain in the eight battles before mentioned. In the same year the Saxons made peace with the invaders, on condition that they should take their departure, and they did so.

[Sidenote: Alfred's plan to meet the pagans on the sea]

In the year 877 the pagans, on the approach of autumn, partly settled in Exeter[259] and partly marched for plunder into Mercia.[260] The number of that disorderly horde increased every day, so that, if thirty thousand of them were slain in one battle, others took their places to double the number. Then King Alfred commanded boats and galleys, i.e., long ships, to be built throughout the kingdom, in order to offer battle by sea to the enemy as they were coming.[261] On board these he placed sailors, whom he commanded to keep watch on the seas. Meanwhile he went himself to Exeter, where the pagans were wintering and, having shut them up within the walls, laid siege to the town. He also gave orders to his sailors to prevent the enemy from obtaining any supplies by sea. In a short time the sailors were encountered by a fleet of a hundred and twenty ships full of armed soldiers, who were on their way to the relief of their countrymen. As soon as the king's men knew that the ships were manned by pagan soldiers they leaped to their arms and bravely attacked those barbaric tribes. The pagans, who had now for almost a month been tossed and almost wrecked among the waves of the sea, fought vainly against them. Their bands were thrown into confusion in a very short time, and all were sunk and drowned in the sea, at a place called Swanwich.[262]

In 878, which was the thirtieth year of King Alfred's life, the pagan army left Exeter and went to Chippenham. This latter place was a royal residence situated in the west of Wiltshire, on the eastern bank of the river which the Britons called the Avon. They spent the winter there and drove many of the inhabitants of the surrounding country beyond the sea by the force of their arms, and by the want of the necessities of life. They reduced almost entirely to subjection all the people of that country.

[Sidenote: Alfred in refuge at Athelney]

[Sidenote: The battle of Ethandune and the establishment of peace (878)]

The same year, after Easter, King Alfred, with a few followers, made for himself a stronghold in a place called Athelney,[263] and from thence sallied, with his companions and the nobles of Somersetshire, to make frequent assaults upon the pagans. Also, in the seventh week after Easter, he rode to Egbert's stone, which is in the eastern part of the wood that is called Selwood.[264] Here he was met by all the folk of Somersetshire and Wiltshire and Hampshire, who had not fled beyond the sea for fear of the pagans; and when they saw the king alive after such great tribulation they received him, as he deserved, with shouts of joy, and encamped there for one night. At dawn on the following day the king broke camp and went to Okely, where he encamped for one night. The next morning he moved to Ethandune[265] and there fought bravely and persistently against the whole army of the pagans. By the help of God he defeated them with great slaughter and pursued them flying to their fortification. He at once slew all the men and carried off all the booty that he could find outside the fortress, which he immediately laid siege to with his entire army. And when he had been there fourteen days the pagans, driven by famine, cold, fear, and finally by despair, asked for peace on the condition that they should give the king as many hostages as he should ask, but should receive none from him in return. Never before had they made a treaty with any one on such terms. The king, hearing this, took pity upon them and received such hostages as he chose. Then the pagans swore that they would immediately leave the kingdom, and their king, Guthrum, promised to embrace Christianity and receive baptism at Alfred's hands. All of these pledges he and his men fulfilled as they had promised.[266]

31. Alfred's Interest in Education

As an epoch of literary and educational advancement the reign of Alfred in England (871-901) was in many respects like that of Charlemagne among the Franks (768-814). Like Charlemagne, Alfred grew up with very slight education, at least of a literary sort; but both sovereigns were strongly dissatisfied with their ignorance, and both made earnest efforts to overcome their own defects and at the same time to raise the standard of intelligence among their people at large. When one considers how crowded were the reigns of both with wars and the pressing business of administration, such devotion to the interests of learning appears the more deserving of praise.

In the first passage below, taken from Asser's life of Alfred, the anxiety of the king for the promotion of his own education and that of his children is clearly and strongly stated. We find him following Charlemagne's plan of bringing scholars from foreign countries. He brought them, too, from parts of Britain not under his direct control, and used them at the court, or in bishoprics, to perform the work of instruction. Curiously enough, whereas Charlemagne had found the chief of his Palace School, Alcuin, in England, Alfred was glad to secure the services of two men (Grimbald and John) who had made their reputations in monasteries situated within the bounds of the old Frankish empire.

Aside from some native songs and epic poems, all the literature known to the Saxon people was in Latin, and but few persons in the kingdom knew Latin well enough to read it. The king himself did not, until about 887. It was supposed, of course, that the clergy were able to use the Latin Bible and the Latin ritual of the Church, but when Alfred came to investigate he found that even these men were often pretty nearly as ignorant as the people they were charged to instruct. What the king did, then, was to urge more study on the part of the clergy, under the direction of such men as Plegmund, Asser, Grimbald, John, and Werfrith. The people in general could not be expected to master a foreign language; hence, in order that they might not be shut off entirely from the first-hand use of books, Alfred undertook the translation of certain standard works from the Latin into the Saxon. Those thus translated were Boethius's _Consolations of Philosophy_, Orosius's _Universal History of the World_, Bede's _Ecclesiastical History of England_, and Pope Gregory the Great's _Pastoral Rule_. The second passage given below is Alfred's preface to his Saxon edition of the last-named book, taking the form of a letter to the scholarly Bishop Werfrith of Worcester. The _Pastoral Rule_ [see p. 90] was written by Pope Gregory the Great (590-604) as a body of instructions in doctrine and conduct for the clergy. Alfred's preface, as a picture of the ruin wrought by the long series of Danish wars, is of the utmost importance in the study of ninth and tenth century England, as well as a most interesting revelation of the character of the great king.

Sources--(a) Asser, _De rebus gestis Aelfredi Magni_, Chaps. 75-78. Adapted from translation by J. A. Giles in _Six Old English Chronicles_ (London, 1866), pp. 68-70.

(b) King Alfred's West-Saxon Version of Pope Gregory's _Pastoral Rule_. Edited by Henry Sweet in the Publications of the Early English Text Society (London, 1871), p. 2.

[Sidenote: The education of Alfred's children]

(a)

Ethelwerd, the youngest [of Alfred's children],[267] by the divine counsels and the admirable prudence of the king, was consigned to the schools of learning, where, with the children of almost all the nobility of the country, and many also who were not noble, he prospered under the diligent care of his teachers. Books in both languages, namely, Latin and Saxon, were read in the school.[268] They also learned to write, so that before they were of an age to practice manly arts, namely, hunting and such pursuits as befit noblemen, they became studious and clever in the liberal arts. Edward[269] and Aelfthryth[270] were reared in the king's court and received great attention from their attendants and nurses; nay, they continue to this day with the love of all about them, and showing friendliness, and even gentleness, towards all, both natives and foreigners, and in complete subjection to their father. Nor, among their other studies which pertain to this life and are fit for noble youths, are they suffered to pass their time idly and unprofitably without learning the liberal arts; for they have carefully learned the Psalms and Saxon books, especially the Saxon poems, and are continually in the habit of making use of books.

[Sidenote: The varied activities of the king]

[Sidenote: His devout character]

In the meantime the king, during the frequent wars and other hindrances of this present life, the invasions of the pagans, and his own infirmities of body, continued to carry on the government, and to practice hunting in all its branches; to teach his workers in gold and artificers of all kinds, his falconers, hawkers and dog-keepers; to build houses, majestic and splendid, beyond all the precedents of his ancestors, by his new mechanical inventions; to recite the Saxon books, and especially to learn by heart the Saxon poems, and to make others learn them.[271] And he alone never desisted from studying most diligently to the best of his ability. He attended the Mass and other daily services of religion. He was diligent in psalm-singing and prayer, at the hours both of the day and of the night. He also went to the churches, as we have already said, in the night-time to pray, secretly and unknown to his courtiers. He bestowed alms and gifts on both natives and foreigners of all countries. He was affable and pleasant to all, and curiously eager to investigate things unknown. Many Franks, Frisians, Gauls, pagans, Britons, Scots, and Armoricans,[272] noble and low-born, came voluntarily to his domain; and all of them, according to their nation and deserving, were ruled, loved, honored and enriched with money and power.[273] Moreover, the king was in the habit of hearing the divine Scriptures read by his own countrymen, or, if by any chance it so happened, in company with foreigners, and he attended to it with care and solicitude. His bishops, too, and all ecclesiastics, his earls and nobles, ministers[274] and friends, were loved by him with wonderful affection, and their sons, who were reared in the royal household, were no less dear to him than his own. He had them instructed in all kinds of good morals, and, among other things, never ceased to teach them letters night and day.

[Sidenote: Regret at his lack of education]

But, as if he had no consolation in all these things, and though he suffered no other annoyance, either from within or without, he was harassed by daily and nightly affliction, so that he complained to God and to all who were admitted to his intimate fondness, that Almighty God had made him ignorant of divine wisdom, and of the liberal arts--in this emulating the pious, the wise, and wealthy Solomon, king of the Hebrews, who at first, despising all present glory and riches, asked wisdom of God and found both, namely, wisdom and worldly glory; as it is written: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." But God, who is always the observer of the thoughts of the mind within and the author of all good intentions, and a most plentiful helper that good desires may be formed (for He would not prompt a man to good intentions, unless He also amply supplied that which the man justly and properly wishes to have) stimulated the king's mind within: as it is written, "I will hearken what the Lord God will say concerning me." He would avail himself of every opportunity to procure co-workers in his good designs, to aid him in his strivings after wisdom that he might attain to what he aimed at. And, like a prudent bee, which, going forth in summer with the early morning from its cell, steers its rapid flight through the uncertain tracks of ether and descends on the manifold and varied flowers of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, discovering that which pleases most, that it may bear it home, so did he direct his eyes afar and seek without that which he had not within, that is, in his own kingdom.[275]

[Sidenote: Learned men from Mercia brought to the English court]

But God at that time, as some relief to the king's anxiety, yielding to his complaint, sent certain lights to illuminate him, namely, Werfrith, bishop of the church of Worcester, a man well versed in divine Scripture, who, by the king's command, first turned the books of the Dialogues of Pope Gregory and Peter, his disciple, from Latin into Saxon, and sometimes putting sense for sense, interpreted them with clearness and elegance. After him was Plegmund,[276] a Mercian by birth, archbishop of the church of Canterbury, a venerable man, and endowed with wisdom; Ethelstan also,[277] and Werwulf,[278] his priests and chaplains,[279] Mercians by birth and learned. These four had been invited from Mercia by King Alfred, who exalted them with many honors and powers in the kingdom of the West Saxons, besides the privileges which Archbishop Plegmund and Bishop Werfrith enjoyed in Mercia. By their teaching and wisdom the king's desires increased unceasingly, and were gratified. Night and day, whenever he had leisure, he commanded such men as these to read books to him, for he never suffered himself to be without one of them; wherefore he possessed a knowledge of every book, though of himself he could not yet understand anything of books, for he had not yet learned to read anything.[280]

[Sidenote: Grimbald and John brought from the continent]

But the king's commendable desire could not be gratified even in this; wherefore he sent messengers beyond the sea to Gaul, to procure teachers, and he invited from thence Grimbald,[281] priest and monk, a venerable man and good singer, adorned with every kind of ecclesiastical training and good morals, and most learned in holy Scripture. He also obtained from thence John,[282] also priest and monk, a man of most energetic talents, and learned in all kinds of literary science, and skilled in many other arts. By the teaching of these men the king's mind was much enlarged, and he enriched and honored them with much influence.

[Sidenote: Alfred writes to Bishop Werfrith on the state of learning in England]

(b)

King Alfred greets Bishop Werfrith with loving words and with friendship.

I let it be known to thee that it has very often come into my mind what wise men there formerly were throughout England, both within the Church and without it; also what happy times there were then and how the kings who had power over the nation in those days obeyed God and His ministers; how they cherished peace, morality, and order at home, and at the same time enlarged their territory abroad; and how they prospered both in war and in wisdom. Often have I thought, also, of the sacred orders, how zealous they were both in teaching and learning, and in all the services they owed to God; and how foreigners came to this land in search of wisdom and instruction, which things we should now have to get from abroad if we were to have them at all.

So general became the decay of learning in England that there were very few on this side of the Humber[283] who could understand the rituals[284] in English, or translate a letter from Latin into English; and I believe that there were not many beyond the Humber who could do these things. There were so few, in fact, that I cannot remember a single person south of the Thames when I came to the throne. Thanks be to Almighty God that we now have some teachers among us. And therefore I enjoin thee to free thyself, as I believe thou art ready to do, from worldly matters, that thou mayst apply the wisdom which God has given thee wherever thou canst. Consider what punishments would come upon us if we neither loved wisdom ourselves nor allowed other men to obtain it. We should then care for the name only of Christian, and have regard for very few of the Christian virtues.

[Sidenote: Learning in the days before the Danish invasions]

When I thought of all this I remembered also how I saw the country before it had been all ravaged and burned; how the churches throughout the whole of England stood filled with treasures and books. There was also a great multitude of God's servants, but they had very little knowledge of books, for they could not understand anything in them because they were not written in their own language.[285] When I remembered all this I wondered extremely that the good and wise men who were formerly all over England and had learned perfectly all the books, did not wish to translate them into their own language. But again I soon answered myself and said: "Their own desire for learning was so great that they did not suppose that men would ever become so indifferent and that learning would ever so decay; and they wished, moreover, that wisdom in this land might increase with our knowledge of languages." Then I remembered how the law was first known in Hebrew and when the Greeks had learned it how they translated the whole of it into their own tongue,[286] and all other books besides. And again the Romans, when they had learned it, translated the whole of it into their own language.[287] And also all other Christian nations translated a part of it into their languages.

[Sidenote: Plan to translate Latin books into English]

Therefore it seems better to me, if you agree, for us also to translate some of the books which are most needful for all men to know into the language which we can all understand. It shall be your duty to see to it, as can easily be done if we have tranquility enough,[288] that all the free-born youth now in England, who are rich enough to be able to devote themselves to it, be set to learn as long as they are not fit for any other occupation, until they are well able to read English writing. And let those afterwards be taught more in the Latin language who are to continue learning and be promoted to a higher rank.

[Sidenote: The translation of Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care]

When I remembered how the knowledge of Latin had decayed through England, and yet that many could read English writing, I began, among other various and manifold troubles of this kingdom, to translate into English the book which is called in Latin _Pastoralis_, and in English _The Shepherd's Book_, sometimes word for word, and sometimes according to the sense, as I had learned it from Plegmund, my archbishop, and Asser, my bishop, and Grimbald, my mass-priest, and John, my mass-priest. And when I had learned it, as I could best understand it and most clearly interpret it, I translated it into English.

I will send a copy of this book to every bishopric in my kingdom, and on each copy there shall be a clasp worth fifty mancuses.[289] And I command in God's name that no man take the clasp from the book, or the book from the minster.[290] It is uncertain how long there may be such learned bishops as, thanks be to God, there now are almost everywhere; therefore, I wish these copies always to remain in their places, unless the bishop desires to take them with him, or they be loaned out anywhere, or any one wishes to make a copy of them.

32. Alfred's Laws

Here are a few characteristic laws included by Alfred in the code which he drew up on the basis of old customs and the laws of some of the earlier Saxon kings. On the nature of the law of the early Germanic peoples, see p. 59.

Source--Text in Benjamin Thorpe, _The Ancient Laws and Institutes of England_ (London, 1840), pp. 20-44 _passim_.

If any one smite his neighbor with a stone, or with his fist, and he nevertheless can go out with a staff, let him get him a physician and do his work as long as he himself cannot.

If an ox gore a man or a woman, so that they die, let it be stoned, and let not its flesh be eaten. The owner shall not be liable if the ox were wont to push with its horns for two or three days before, and he knew it not; but if he knew it, and would not shut it in, and it then shall have slain a man or a woman, let it be stoned; and let the master be slain, or the person killed be paid for, as the "witan"[291] shall decree to be right.

Injure ye not the widows and the stepchildren, nor hurt them anywhere; for if ye do otherwise they will cry unto me and I will hear them, and I will slay you with my sword; and I will cause that your own wives shall be widows, and your children shall be stepchildren.

If a man strike out another's eye, let him pay sixty shillings, and six shillings, and six pennies, and a third part of a penny, as 'bot.'[292] If it remain in the head, and he cannot see anything with it, let one-third of the 'bot' be remitted.

[Sidenote: Penalties for various crimes of violence]

If a man strike out another's tooth in the front of his head, let him make 'bot' for it with eight shillings; if it be the canine tooth, let four shillings be paid as 'bot.' A man's grinder is worth fifteen shillings.

If the shooting finger be struck off, the 'bot' is fifteen shillings; for its nail it is four shillings.

If a man maim another's hand outwardly, let twenty shillings be paid him as 'bot,' if he can be healed; if it half fly off, then shall forty shillings be paid as 'bot.'

FOOTNOTES:

[257] That is, Ethelred I., whom Alfred succeeded.

[258] Wiltshire, on the southern coast, west of the Isle of Wight.

[259] The same as the modern city of the name.

[260] Mercia was one of the seven old Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. It lay east of Wales.

[261] This marked a radical departure in methods of fighting the invaders. On the continent, and hitherto in England, there had been no effort to prevent the enemy from getting into the country they proposed to plunder. Alfred's creation of a navy was one of his wisest acts. Although the English had by this time grown comparatively unaccustomed to seafaring life they contrived to win their first naval encounter with the enemy.

[262] In Dorsetshire.

[263] Athelney was in Somersetshire, northeast of Exeter, in the marshes at the junction of the Tone and the Parret.

[264] The modern Brixton Deverill, in Wiltshire, near Warminster.

[265] In Wiltshire, a little east of Westbury. In January the Danes had removed from Exeter to Chippenham. Edington (or Ethandune) was eight miles from the camp at the latter place. The Danes were first defeated in an open battle at Edington, and then forced to surrender after a fourteen days' siege at Chippenham.

[266] This so-called "Peace of Alfred and Guthrum" in 878 provided only for the acceptance of Christianity by the Danish leader. It is sometimes known as the treaty of Chippenham and is not to be confused with the treaty of Wedmore, of a few weeks later, by which Alfred and Guthrum divided the English country between them. The text of this second treaty will be found in Lee's _Source-Book of English History_ (pp. 98-99), though the introductory statement there given is somewhat misleading. This assignment of the Danelaw to Guthrum's people may well be compared with the yielding of Normandy to Rollo by Charles the Simple in 911 [see p. 172].

[267] Ethelwerd was Alfred's fifth living child.

[268] This was, of course, not a school in the modern sense of the word. All that is meant is simply that young Ethelwerd, along with sons of nobles and non-nobles, received instruction from the learned men at the court. It had been customary before Alfred's day for the young princes and sons of nobles to receive training at the court, but not in letters.

[269] This was Edward the Elder who succeeded Alfred as king and reigned from 901 to 925. He was Alfred's eldest son.

[270] Aelfthryth was Alfred's fourth child. She became the wife of Baldwin II. of Flanders.

[271] Among other labors in behalf of learning, Alfred made a collection of the ancient epics and lyrics of the Saxon people. Unfortunately, except in the case of the epic Beowulf, only fragments of these have survived. Beowulf was, so far as we know, the earliest of the Saxon poems, having originated before the migration to Britain, though it was probably put in its present form by a Christian monk of the eighth century.

[272] Armorica was the name applied in Alfred's time to the region southward from the mouth of the Seine to Brittany.

[273] There is a good deal of independent evidence that Alfred was peculiarly hospitable to foreigners. He delighted in learning from them about their peoples and experiences.

[274] The word in the original is _ministeriales_. It is not Saxon but Franco-Latin and is an instance of the Frankish element in Asser's vocabulary. Here, as among the Franks, the _ministeriales_ were the officials of second-rate importance surrounding the king, the highest being known as the _ministri_.

[275] This comparison of the gathering of learning to the operations of a bee in collecting honey is very common among classical writers and also among those of the Carolingian renaissance. It occurs in Lucretius, Seneca, Macrobius, Alcuin, and the poet Candidus.

[276] Plegmund became archbishop of Canterbury in 890, but it is probable that he was with Alfred some time before his election to the primacy.

[277] This Ethelstan was probably the person of that name who was consecrated bishop of Ramsbury in 909.

[278] From another document it appears that Werwulf was a friend of Bishop Werfrith in Mercia before either took up residence at Alfred's court.

[279] In Chap. 104 of Asser's biography the _capellani_ are described as supplying the king with candles, by whose burning he measured time. The word _capellanus_ is of pure Frankish origin and was originally applied to the clerks (_clerici capellani_) who were charged with the custody of the cope (_cappa_) of St. Martin, which was kept in the _capella_. From this the term _capella_ came to mean a room especially devoted to religious uses, that is, a chapel. It was used in this sense as early as 829 in Frankland. Whether by _capellanus_ Asser meant mere clerks, or veritable "chaplains" in the later sense, cannot be known, though his usage was probably the latter.

[280] Chapter 87 of Asser informs us that Alfred mastered the art of reading in the year 887.

[281] Grimbald came from the Flemish monastery of St. Bertin at St. Omer. He was recommended to Alfred by Fulco, archbishop of Rheims, who had once been abbot of St. Bertin. We do not know in what year Grimbald went to England, though there is some evidence that it was not far from 887.

[282] John the Old Saxon is mentioned by Alfred as his mass-priest. It is probable that he came from the abbey of Corbei on the upper Weser. Not much is known about the man, but if he was as learned as Asser says he was, he must have been a welcome addition to Alfred's group of scholars particularly as the language which he used was very similar to that of the West Saxons in England.

[283] That is, south of the Humber.

[284] The service of the Church.

[285] They were written, of course, in Latin.

[286] By the middle of the third century A.D. as many as three different translations of the Old Testament into Greek had been made--those of Aquila, Theodotion, and Symmochus. These eventually took fixed shape in the so-called Septuagint version of the Old Testament.

[287] About the year 385 St. Jerome revised the older Latin translation of the New Testament and translated the Old Testament directly from the Hebrew. This complete version gradually superseded all others for the whole Latin-reading Church, being known as the "Vulgate," that is, the version commonly accepted. It was in the form of the Vulgate that the Scriptures were known to the Saxons and all other peoples of western Europe.

[288] In other words, sufficient relief from the Danish incursions.

[289] The _mancus_ was a Saxon money value equivalent to a mark.

[290] A minster was a church attached to a monastery.

[291] The witan was the gathering of "wisemen"--members of the royal family, high officials in the Church, and leading nobles--about the Anglo-Saxon king to assist in making ordinances and supervising the affairs of state.

[292] Compensation rendered to an injured person.