The Paladins of Edwin the Great Read online

  PREFACE

  Very little is known for certain of one of the most important eventsin the history of the world, the coming of the Englishmen to England.It took a long time, fully a century, from 450 A.D. to 550 A.D., andthey came constantly, in small detachments for the most part, landingon the coast, in all directions, from the Forth to the Isle of Wight.They came amidst the ruins of the mighty Roman Empire, a new race ofempire-founders, with all the germs of a still mightier future.

  The new-comers from the older Angeln or England, now called Sleswig,came in the greatest numbers. We know not why, but it certainly was awholesale movement. They kept launching their small fleets of dragonships, and crossing the North Sea with their gods, their door-posts,and their beautiful golden-haired wives and children, until none wereleft. They brought with them all the deep religious feeling, all theimaginative mythology, all the heroic tales of the old land. Theyfirst disembarked on the coast between the Forth and the Tees, drivingback the natives into Strathclyde, after a struggle which lasted formany years. Among them came Ida the son of Eoppa, with twelve sons, inforty dragon ships full of English warriors. He founded the castle ofBambrough on the coast, which was at first surrounded with a hedge andafterwards with a wall; and in 547 A.D. he became king of the countryof Bernicia, between the Forth and the Tees. Ida was surnamed the"Flame-bearer." He reigned for twelve years in Bernicia, when Ethelrichis son succeeded him.

  Many more warriors landed on the coast between the Tees and the Humber;and in 559 A.D. their Eolderman, named Ella, the son of Iffi, the sonof Wuscfrea, and twelfth in descent from Woden, became king of the moresouthern Northumbrian kingdom of Deira.

  When they were settled in their kingdom of Deira, with Ella as theirking, and Elfric his brother as their leader in war, the sea-roversbecame farmers, ready to defend their possessions and to fight forthe acquisition of more territory for their countrymen. They were theceorls or freemen assembling in communities of families, within aboundary or mark, and known by a common name with the addition of thepatronymic _ing_. The ceorl owned a hide of land, bore arms, had avote, and took part in the _thing_, or general assembly of his mark.The union of marks formed a wapentake (Vopnatak), from the custom oftouching the chief's spear in token of fealty. The union of Wapentakesformed the Scire or Shire with its Shire-mot. The Ceorl was thefreeman, while the Eorl was the nobleman or chief in peace and war, andthe Eolderman was a prince of the family of the Cyning (from _cyne_,generous) or king, who wore the _cynehelm_ or circlet of gold.

  The Englishmen came with their immemorial gods, and their grand oldtraditions. Woden was their All-father and Creator, Thor the mightyenemy of giants and trolls, Tyr the god of war. They invoked Balder thebright and fair of aspect; Freyr, who presided over rain and sunshine;Niord, who ruled the winds; AEgir, god of the ocean; and many more. "Ourforefathers derived comfort in affliction, support in difficulty, fromthe belief that the gods watched over them. They bent in gratitudefor the blessings they conferred, and were guided and directed in thedaily business of life by the conviction of their responsibility tohigher powers than any which they recognised in the world around them."A religious feeling was the basis of their respect for law--of theirloyalty, of their free institutions, and of those customs and habitsof thought which were the foundation-stones of the edifice of Englishliberty. These old warriors brought with them to their new homes allthose germs which were fertilised by their virtues, and watered withthe life-blood of their valour, until, in the course of centuries,they grew up to form the greatest nation this earth has ever seen, afruitful and beneficent tree, spreading its branches far and wide roundthe world.

  It was, in all probability, not Ella and Elfric, nor theirwar-comrades Seomel and Brand, Vidfinn and Guthlaf, who first crossedthe sea from Angeln; for it must have taken two or three generationsto establish the English firmly in Northumbria, and their grandfatherswere the original invaders. They found the country desolate, and forthe most part waste. The Roman roads traversed the moors and forests,and formed causeways over the swamps, but the stations were abandonedand ruinous. There was scarcely any cultivation. Vast tracts werecovered with forests, the haunts of wild cattle and red-deer, of boarsand badgers, of wolves and wild-cats. It was in truth the "_Deira_" orland of wild animals. The ponds and marshes were frequented by myriadsof wild-fowl, and few had ever penetrated into the hidden recesses ofthe wildernesses. By very slow degrees, amidst wars and disturbance,the English began to change the whole face of the country. The firstbeginnings were in the days of Ella and Elfric, when defensiblehomesteads were built, land was apportioned, and laws began to beobeyed.

  On the death of Ella in 588 his son Edwin fled before Ethelric Kingof Bernicia, who conquered Deira, but, after the death of Ethelric,Edwin took heart and not only reconquered his own kingdom of Deira butBernicia also, and united them both in one great kingdom of Northumbria.

  The history of the early struggles into existence of any of the peopleswho, in later centuries, have formed the nations of modern Europeis unfortunately so obscure that it can only furnish us with a meregeneral outline of the course of events.

  Occasionally, however, the record of a short period is found, likean oasis in a desert, which is full of most interesting details. Thewelcome narrative abruptly begins, and as suddenly ends, pleasing thereader with anecdotes, speeches, estimates of character, and otherprecious materials for history. There is a very remarkable exampleof this in Bede's invaluable work. Nothing can be more tantalisingthan the extremely meagre character of the accounts that have beenpreserved of the leaders of the people, the makers of England, as Mr.Green called them, during the Heptarchy, the all-important periodwhen England was made. But there is one striking exception. When thevenerable monk of Jarrow reaches the period of Edwin of Northumbriahis narrative somehow has fresh life and vigour breathed into it, andthe following half-century receives the same welcome treatment. We seereal progress being made in the civilisation of the country and thecondition of the people, which, though checked, was not put a stop toeven by the desolating invasions of Penda and Cadwalla.

  One eagerly looks for the causes both of the increased life in Bede'snarrative and of this remarkable period of sudden progress. The fulldetails furnished for Edwin's history are so exceptional that thecircumstance was discussed by Dr. Giles, the editor of Bohn's editionof Bede. He considers it to be clear that Bede must have had access tohighly valuable materials, for his details are too minute in themselvesand too accurately defined to have been derived by him from traditiononly.

  The phenomena of the history of Edwin's reign are, however, far moreinteresting than any question relating to Bede's materials. We find aman who had passed his life in exile, and under every disadvantage,suddenly developing into a most efficient ruler and giving vigour anddirection to every branch of his administration. But this is not all.He is found assuming ensigns of sovereignty, adopting measures andundertaking expeditions of a character not at all in accordance withwhat could possibly be expected from a sovereign of any state in theEnglish Heptarchy of that period.

  There is one natural way of accounting for the various problemsconnected with Edwin's life-story, and especially with his reign. Thepresence of a bigoted and very timid Roman monk, like Paulinus, inattendance on his Queen, will in no way explain them. Edwin causeda chronicle of his labours to be written; he assumed ensigns onlyknown at the court of the Emperor; he provided for the convenience oftravellers in a way only practised in the East; he equipped a fleetfor the subjugation of distant islands; he established order in a wayso effectual that no organisation known in the England of the seventhcentury could have enforced it.

  Edwin was a man of great ability, it must be conceded, but this willnot account for the introduction of measures so at variance with theideas and habits of the governments of the Heptarchy at that time. Oneexplanation covers all the ground. It is quite possible that, owing toa very extraordinary combination of circumstances, certain countrymenof Edwin may have had rare opportuniti
es of visiting the distantregions of the then known world, of studying many things in manyclimes, and that, after years of absence, they may have returned home.Surrounded by such men as his friends and ministers, the history ofhis reign is made perfectly clear. A hint here and there even enablesus to guess who some of these great men were. History, in that age,usually gives us a mere skeleton. Bede, fortunately, in the case of theillustrious Northumbrian Bretwalda and his people, gives us much more,but not nearly enough. Following the venerable historian closely andexactly, it is not an unworthy aspiration to fill up the blanks, andto present these workers in the making of England as living and movingbeings. Even we, at this distance of time, may owe them something. Allthe seeds that they scattered so perseveringly and so earnestly, andwith such loving care for their country and its welfare, cannot havefallen among thorns or on rocky ground. It is such considerations whichhave given rise to this attempt to tell the strange and romantic storyof the Paladins of King Edwin the Great.

  C. R. M.

  PART I

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