BOOK IV. 853. Alfred sent to Rome. At Rome again in 855. The vikingr appeared again in Thanet. Ealhere, with the armed men of Kent, and Huda, with those of Surrey, overwhelmed the invaders with the first fury of their battle; but the conflict was obstinately renewed, the English chiefs fell, and after many of both armies had been slain or drowned, the pirates obtained the victory.19 In the fifth year of Alfred's age, his father, although he had three elder sons, seems to have formed an idea of making him his successor. This intention is inferred from the facts that Ethelwulph sent him at this time to Rome, with a great train of nobility and others; and that the pope anointed him king, at the request of his father.2 20 It is expressly affirmed, that the king loved Alfred better than his other sons.21 When the king went to Rome himself two years afterwards, he took Alfred with him, because he loved him with superior affection.22 The presumption that he intended to make Alfred his successor, therefore, agrees with the fact of his paternal partiality. It is warranted by the declaration of Matthew of Westminster, that one of the causes of the rebellion which followed against Ethelwulph was, that he had caused Alfred to be crowned, thereby, as it were, excluding his other children from the chance of succession.23 In Alfred's journey through France, he was very hospitably treated by Bertinus and Grimbald.24 When 19 Asser, 7. Ragnar's Quida mentions one of his exploits at an English promontory, where the English noble Walthiofr fell. See before, note 48. 20 So Florence, 296.; Sim. Dun. 139.; Rad. diceto. 450.; Chron. Mailros, 142.; Matt. West. 307.; and Chron. Joan. Taxton, MSS. Cotton. Lib. Julius, A. 1., affirm. As St. Neot the son or brother of Ethelwulph went, about this period, seven times to Rome, his journeys or his advice may have had some connection with this project. 21 Cum communi et ingenti patris sui et matris amore supra omnes fratres suos. Asser, 15., Matt. West. 307., Sim. Dun. 141., Flor. Wig. 297., express the same fact. 22 Filium suum Ælfredum iterum in eandem viam secum ducens eo quod, illum plus ceteris filiis suis diligebat. Asser, p. 8. 23 Causa autem bifaria erat, una quod filium juniorem Ælfredum quasi aliis a sorte regni exclusis, in regem Romæ fecerat coronari. Matt. West. p. 308. Vita Grimbaldi. Lel. Collect. i. p. 18. IV. Alfred arrived in the course of nature at the royal CHAP. dignity, he remembered Grimbald's services and talents, requited them by a steady friendship, and obtained from them an important intellectual benefit. 855. wulph's In 855, Ethelwulph, with the sanction of his witena Ethelgemot, made that donation to the church which is donation of usually construed to be the grant of its tithes. But the tenths. on reading carefully the obscure words of the three copies of this charter, which three succeeding chroniclers have left us, it will appear that it cannot have been the original grant of the tithes of all England. These words imply either that it was a liberation of the land which the clergy had before been in possession of, from all the services and payments to which the Anglo-Saxon lands were generally liable 25, or that it was an additional gift of land, not of tithes, either of the king's private patrimony, or of some other which is not explained. The reason for the gift which is added in the charter strengthens the first supposition 26; but the terms used to express 25 Ingulf, Malmsbury, and Matt. West. profess to give copies of the charter. The king (in Ingulf's copy), after reciting the depredations of the Northmen, adds, with some confusion of grammar and style, "Wherefore I, Ethelwulph, king of the West Saxons, with the advice of my bishops and princes, affirming a salutary counsel, and uniform remedy, we have consented that I have adjudged some hereditary portion of land to all degrees before possessing it, whether male or female servants of God, serving him, or poor laymen; always the tenth mansion: where that may be the least, then the tenth part of all goods should be given in perpetual freedom to the church, so that it may be safe and protected from all secular services and royal contributions greater or smaller, or taxations which we call wynterden; and that it may be free from all things; and without the military expedition, building of bridges, and constructions of fortresses.' Ing. Hist. p. 17. Malmsbury's copy corresponds with this; but for "then the tenth part of all goods," it has "yet the tenth part," omitting the words, "of all goods," and changing "tum" into "tamen." p. 41. Matt. West., p. 306., gives it a different aspect: he makes it like an abso. lute hereditary gift, but converts the general term "land," used by the others, into my land." Thus, "I grant some portion of my land to be possessed in perpetual right, to wit, the tenth part of my land, that it may be free from all offices, and secular services, and royal tributes," &c., adding the same reason as above. The natural force of Matthew's words limit the lands given, to the king's own lands, which were only a small part of the kingdom, but gives a proprietary right more expressly than the others. I think there is no reason to believe that tithes were then first granted, but that this charter was meant to have the operation mentioned in the text. 66 26That they may more diligently pour forth their prayers to God for us without ceasing; as we have alleviated their servitude in some part, eorum servitutem BOOK IV. 855. His presents to the pope. the persons to whom the benefit was granted seem to confine it to monastical persons.27 But whatever was its original meaning, the clergy in after-ages interpreted it to mean a distinct and formal grant of the tithes of the whole kingdom.28 He went afterwards to Rome himself with great magnificence, accompanied by Alfred 29, who was entering his seventh year. As the expeditions of the great to Rome were, in those days, usually by land, Ethelwulph went first into France, where Charles, the French king, received him with honour and royal liberality, and caused him to be conducted through his dominions with every respectful attention. 30 The presents which the West-Saxon king carried to the pope were peculiarly splendid. A crown of pure gold, weighing four pounds, two golden vessels called Baucas, a sword adorned with pure gold, two golden images, four Saxon dishes of silver gilt, besides valuable dresses, are enumerated by his contemporary Anastasius. The king also gave a donative of gold 399 in aliqua parte levigamus." Ing. p. 17. Malmsb. 41. An alleviation of services is not a grant of tithes. 27 The words in Ingulf are, "famulis et famulabus Dei, Deo servientibus sive laicis miseris." In Malmsbury the same, omitting the epithet "miseris." Famulabus cannot apply to rectors or curates; famulis et famulabus Dei, mean usually monks and nuns. The copy of Matthew of Westminster, for these words, substitutes "Deo et beatæ Mariæ, et omnibus sanctis." But Matthew wrote in the latter end of the thirteenth century. Ingulf's copy is above two centuries more ancient than his. 28 So Ingulf, and Malmsbury, and others state it; but all classes of men who have obtained a grant by deed, try to extend its meaning as far for their own benefit as the construction of the words can be carried. The law itself looks only at the sense of the words used. Asser's opinion of its import would be very valuable if it was clearly given: because, as a contemporary, we should gain from him the meaning given to it at its first publication. If his first sentence stood alone, it would confirm our first construction; but his rhetorical after-phrase adds something, which, if it means anything more, I do not understand it. The passage stands thus: "He liberated the tenth part of all his kingdom from every royal service and contribution, and in an everlasting instrument in the cross of Christ for the redemption of his soul, and of his predecessors, he immolated to the triune Deity." I do not see that these latter words increase the meaning of the first, which express only a liberation from burdens. They seem to add that he offered this liberation as a sacrifice to the Deity. 20 Asser, 9. 30 Annales Bertiniani in Bouquet's Recueil, tom. vii. p. 71. to all the Roman clergy and nobles, and silver to the CHAP. people. 31 Ethelwulph continued a year at Rome, and rebuilt the Saxon school which Ina had founded. 32 By the carelessness of its English inhabitants, it had been set on fire the preceding year and was burnt to ashes.33 One act which he did at Rome evinces his patriotism and influence, and entitles him to honourable remembrance. He saw that the public penitents and exiles were bound with iron, and he obtained an order from the pope that no Englishman out of his country, should be put into bonds for penance. 34 IV. 855. 856. His mar In his way through France, he discovered that senility gave no exemption from love. In July he riage with sued for an alliance with Judith the daughter of Charles, Judith. and in October was married to her by Hincmar. He admitted her to share in the royal dignity, and the diadem was placed on her head. Presents worthy of the high personages concerned were mutually given, and Ethelwulph took shipping for England.35 Few marriages of our sovereigns have been more important in their consequences to the reputation and happiness of England than this, which at the time might have appeared censurable from the disparity of the ages of the parties, and from our aversion to see the hoary head imitating the youthful bridegroom. It was this lady who began the education of Alfred; and to her therefore may be traced all his literary acquisitions. But the connubial felicity of Ethelwulph was in- The revolt terrupted by intelligence of a successful conspiracy 31 Anastasius Bibliothecarius de vitis Pontif. vol. i. p. 403. ed. Rome, 1718. 32 Rudborne, 202. Anastasius describes it as an habitation; quæ in eorum lingua burgus discitur, p. 317. The place where it was situated, was called the Saxon-street, Saxonum vicum. Anast. 363. This school was much attended to by the Anglo-Saxon nobles and sovereigns. 33 Anastasius, p. 317. 34 Rudborne, 202. 35 Annales Bertiniani, p. 72.- Asser, 8. The ceremony used at the coronation of Judith yet exists, and may be seen in Du Chesne's Hist. Franc. vol. ii. p. 423. of Wessex. BOOK 856. His deposition. against his power, which menaced him with deposition and exile. It was conducted by Alstan, the bishop, to whom he owed all his prosperity; and Ethelbald, the eldest of the legitimate princes, was placed at the head. The earl of Somerset participated in the rebellion. The principal object was to defeat the plans of Ethelwulph in favour of Alfred, and to invest Ethelbald with the crown.36 The popular reason was, the elevation of his new wife to the dignity of queen. The crimes of Eadburga had incited the Anglo-Saxon nation to forbid the wife of any other of their kings to be crowned.37 Ethelwulph's visit to Rome without having resigned his crown may have begun the discontent. Two of the preceding sovereigns of Wessex who had taken this step, Ceadwalla and Ina, had first abdicated the throne, though Offa retained it during his journey. But Ethelwulph had been in the church, and had not the warlike character of Offa to impress or satisfy his thanes and eorls. For him therefore to pursue the steps that were so like a re-assumption of his early ecclesiastical character may have dissatisfied the fierce Anglo-Saxons, who thought little of religion until some event roused them to renounce the world altogether. In Selwood Forest the revolters first assembled in strength. The king's absence favoured the scheme; and as his devotion to the Roman see, combined with the prospect of a stripling's succession, to the prejudice of brothers, who to priority of birth added maturity of age, may have diminished the general loyalty; so the circumstances of his marriage concurred, fortunately for the conspirators, to complete 36 Matt. West. 308. Rudborne also states, that some write, quod filii insurrexerunt contra patrem propter invidiam quod frater minimus, viz. Alfredus, ante omnes inunctus erat in regem jussione paterna, p. 201. 37 Asser, 10, 11. See before, p. 360. This degradation of their sovereign's queen was contrary, says Asser, to the custom of all the German nations, |