to Rochester, and besieged the city, and wrought another fortress about themselves. And, notwithstanding this, the townsmen defended the city till king Alfred came out with his forces. Then went the army to their ships, and abandoned their fortress; and they were there deprived of their horses, and soon after, in that same manner, departed over sea. And that same year king Alfred sent a fleet from Kent to East-Anglia. So soon as they came to the mouth of the Stour, there met them sixteen ships of pirates; and they fought against them, and captured all the ships and killed the men. As they afterwards returned homeward with the booty, a large fleet of pirates met them, and then fought against them that same day, and the Danish-men had the victory. That same year, before mid-winter, *Charles king of the French died; he was killed by a wild boar; and one year before this, his brother† died: he too had the western kingdom: and they were both sons of Louis, who likewise had the western kingdom, and died that year when the sun was eclipsed: he was son of Charles whose daughter Ethelwulf, king of the West-Saxons, had for his queen. And that same year a large fleet drew together against the Old Saxons; and there was a great battle twice in that year, and the Saxons had the victory, and the Frisians were there with them. That same year Charles § succeeded to the western kingdom, and to all the kingdom on this side the Wendel-sea [Tuscan Sea], and beyond this sea, in like manner as his great-grandfather had it, with the exception of the Lid-wiccas [Bretons]. Charles was Louis's son; Louis was Charles's brother, who was father of Judith, whom king Ethelwulf had; and they were sons of Louis, Louis was son of the elder Charles, Charles was Pepin's son. And that same year died the good Pope Marinus, who, at the prayer of Alfred king of the West-Saxons, freed the English school; and he sent him great gifts, and part of the rood on which Christ suffered. And that same year the army in East-Anglia broke the peace with king Alfred. A. 886. This year the army which before had drawn eastward, went westward again, and thence up the Seine, and there took up their winter quarters near the town of Paris. That same year king Alfred repaired London; and + Louis III. § The Fat. * Carloman. The Bald. all the English submitted to him, except those who were under the bondage of the Danish-men; and then he committed the town to the keeping of Ethered the ealdorman. A. 887. This year the army went up through the bridge at Paris, and thence up along the Seine as far as the Marne, and thence up the Marne to Chezy, and then sat down, there, and on the Yonne, two winters in the two places. And that same year Charles* king of the French died; and six weeks before he died, Arnulf his brother's son bereaved him of the kingdom. And then was that kingdom divided into five, and five kings were consecrated thereto. This, however, was done by permission of Arnulf: and they said that they would hold it from his hand, because none of them on the father's side was born thereto except him alone. Arnulf then dwelt in the land east of the Rhine: and Rodulf then succeeded to the middle kingdom,† and Oda to the western part, and Beorngar and Witha‡ to the land of the Lombards and to the lands on that side of the mountain: and that they held in great discord, and fought two general battles, and oft and many times laid waste the land, and each repeatedly drove out the other. And that same year that the army went up beyond the bridge at Paris, Ethelhelm the ealdorman carried the alms of the West-Saxons and of king Alfred to Rome. A. 888. This year Beeke the ealdorman carried the alms of the West-Saxons and of king Alfred to Rome; and queen Ethelswith, who was king Alfred's sister, died on the way to Rome, and her body lies at Pavia. And that same year Athelred archbishop of Canterbury, and Ethelwold the ealdorman died in the same month. A. 889. In this year there was no journey to Rome, except that king Alfred sent two couriers with letters. A. 890. This year abbat Bernhelm carried the alms of the West-Saxons and of king Alfred to Rome. And Gothrun the Northern king died, whose baptismal name was Athelstan; he was king Alfred's godson, and he abode in East-Anglia, and first settled that country. And that same year the army went from the Seine to St. Lo, which is between Brittany and France; and the Bretons fought against them, and had the victory, and drove them out into a river, + Burgundy. Guido. • The Fat. § Of Wilts. and drowned many of them. This year Plegmund was chosen of God and of all the people to be archbishop of Canterbury. A. 891. This year the army went eastward; and king Arnulf, with the East-Franks and Saxons and Bavarians, fought against that part which was mounted before the ships came up, and put them to flight. And three Scots came to king Alfred in a boat without any oars from Ireland, whence they had stolen away, because they desired for the love of God to be in a state of pilgrimage, they recked not where. The boat in which they came was made of two hides and a half; and they took with them provisions sufficient for seven days; and then about the seventh day they came on shore in Cornwall, and soon after went to king Alfred. Thus they were named: Dubslane, and Macbeth, and Maelinmun. And Swinney, the best teacher among the Scots, died. A. 892. And that same year after Easter, about Rogation week or before, the star appeared which in Latin is called cometa ; some men say in English that it is a hairy star, because a long radiance streams from it, sometimes on the one side, and sometimes on each side. A. 893. In this year the great army, about which we formerly spoke,* came again from the eastern kingdom westward to Boulogne, and there was shipped; so that they came over in one passage, horses and all; and they came to land at Limne-mouth with two hundred and fifty ships. This port is in the eastern part of Kent, at the east end of the great wood which we call Andred; the wood is in length from east to west one hundred and twenty miles, or longer, and thirty miles broad: the river of which we before spoke flows out of the weald. On this river they towed up their ships as far as the weald, four miles from the outward harbour, and there stormed a fortress: within the fortress a few churls were stationed, and it was in part only constructed. Then soon after that Hasten with eighty ships landed at the mouth of the Thames, and wrought himself a fortress at Milton; and the other army did the like at Appledore. A. 894. In this year, that was about a twelve-month after these had wrought the fortress in the eastern district, the North-humbrians and the East-Angles had given oaths to * See back at A.D. 891. king Alfred, and the East-Angles six hostages; and nevertheless, contrary to their plighted troth, as oft as the other armies went out with all their force, they also went out, either with them or on their own part. On this king Alfred gathered together his forces, and proceeded until he encamped between the two armies, as near as he could for the wood fastnesses, and for the water fastnesses, so that he might be able to reach either of them in case they should seek any open country. From this time the enemy always went out along the weald in bands and troops, by whichever border was at the time without forces: and they also were sought out by other bands, almost every day, either by day or night, as well from the king's force as also from the towns. The king had divided his forces into two, so that one half was constantly at home, the other half in the field; besides those men whose duty it was to defend the towns. The army did not come out of their stations with their whole force oftener than twice: once when they first came to land, before the forces were assembled; a second time when they would go away from their stations. Then had they taken much booty, and would at that time go northward over the Thames into Essex towards their ships. Then the king's forces outrode and got before them, and fought against them at Farnham, and put the army to flight, and retook the booty; and they fled over the Thames, where there was no ford; then up along the Colne into an island. Then the forces there beset them about so long as they there had any provisions: but at length they had stayed their term of service, and had consumed their provisions; and the king was then on his way thitherwards with the division which warred under him. While he was on his way thither, and the other force was gone homewards, and the Danish-men remained there behind, because their king had been wounded in the battle, so that they could not carry him away, then those who dwell among the North-humbrians and among the East-Anglians gathered some hundred ships and went about south; and some forty ships about to the north, and besieged a fortress in Devonshire by the north sea; and those who went about to the south besieged Exeter. When the king heard that, then turned he westward towards Exeter with all his force, except a very strong body of the people eastward. These went onwards until they came to London; and then with the townsmen, and the aid which came to them from the west, they went east to Bamfleet. Hasten was then come there with his band which before sat at Milton; and the great army was also come thereto, which before sat at Appledore near Limne-mouth. The fortress at Bamfleet had been ere this constructed by Hasten, and he was at that time gone out to plunder; and the great army was therein. Then came they thereto, and put the army to flight, and stormed the fortress, and took all that was within it, as well the property, as the women, and the children also, and brought the whole to London; and all the ships they either broke in pieces or burned, or brought to London or to Rochester ; and they brought the wife of Hasten and his two sons to the king: and he afterwards gave them up to him again, because one of them was his godson, and the other Ethered, the ealdorman's. They had become their godfathers before Hasten came to Bamfleet, and at that time Hasten had delivered to him hostages and taken oaths: and the king had also given him many gifts; and so likewise when he gave up the youth and the woman. But as soon as they came to Bamfleet, and the fortress was constructed, then plundered he that very part of the king's realm which was in the keeping of Ethered his compeer; and again, this second time, he had gone out to plunder that very same district when his fortress was stormed. Now the king with his forces had turned westward towards Exeter, as I said before, and the army had beset the city; but when he arrived there, then went they to their ships. While the king was thus busied with the army there, in the west, and both the other armies had drawn together at Shoebury in Essex, and there had constructed a fortress, then both together went up along the Thames, and a great addition came to them, as well from the East-Anglians as from the North-humbrians. They then went up along the Thames till they reached the Severn; then up along the Severn. Then Ethered the ealdorman, and Ethelm the ealdorman, and Ethelnoth the ealdorman, and the king's thanes who were then at home in the fortified places, gathered forces from every town east of the Parret, and as well west as east of Selwood, and also north of the Thames, and west of the |