FOOTNOTES
1 Based on the Chronicle under 855.
2 MS. Cudam. So always, but see the Chronicle.
3 Bede, Eccl. Hist. 3. 7: ‘The West Saxons, formerly called Gewissae.’ Plummer comments in his edition, 2. 89: ‘It is probably connected with the “visi” of “Visigoths,” meaning “west,” and hence would indicate the western confederation of Saxon tribes; ... “Gewis” is probably an eponymous hero manufactured out of the tribe-name.’ The gw of Gegwis is a Welsh peculiarity (Stevenson).
4 MS., Stev. Seth (but Stevenson suggests Sceaf in his variants, referring to the Chronicle under 855).
5 MS. Cainan, but see Gen. 5. 12 in R. V.
6 Partly from the Chronicle, but the whole account of Alfred’s father and mother is original.
7 From the Chronicle under 530 and 534.
8 Unidentified.
9 From the Chronicle.
10 Possibly Wigborough, in the parish of South Petherton in Somersetshire (Stevenson).
11 Minster in Sheppey, founded by St. Sexburh in the seventh century; it disappeared during the Danish ravages (Stevenson).
12 From the Chronicle.
13 MS. Cantwariorum civitatem; Chron. Cantwaraburg.
14 Based upon the Chronicle.
15 Stevenson is inclined to reject this customary identification with Oakley, in Surrey.
16 The source—the Chronicle—says: ‘And there made the greatest slaughter among the heathen army that we have heard reported to the present day.’
17 From the Chronicle.
18 Mainly from the Chronicle.
19 The ‘North Welsh’ of the Chronicle.
20 Based upon the Chronicle.
21 MS. in regem.
22 MS. infantem.
23 ‘A letter from the pope to Alfred’s father, regarding the ceremony at Rome, has been fortunately preserved for us in a twelfth-century collection of papal letters, now in the British Museum.... The letter is as follows: “Edeluulfo, regi Anglorum [marginal direction for rubricator]. <F>ilium vestrum Erfred, quem hoc in tempore ad Sanctorum Apostolorum limina destinare curastis, benigne suscepimus, et, quasi spiritalem filium consulatus cingulo <cinguli emend. Ewald> honore vestimentisque, ut mos est Romanis consulibus, decoravimus, eo quod in nostris se tradidit manibus”’ (Stevenson). The Chronicle has: ‘... consecrated him as king, and took him as bishop-son.’ See p. 29.
24 Based upon the Chronicle.
25 Thanet.
26 From the Chronicle.
27 Based upon the Chronicle.
28 Charles the Bald.
29 Original.
30 Comprising Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall.
31 Chiefly original.
32 From the Chronicle.
33 Prudentius of Troyes (in Annales Bertiniani, an. 856, ed. Waitz, p. 47), says of Bishop Hincmar: ‘Eam ... reginæ nomine insignit, quod sibi suæque genti eatenus fuerat insuetum.’
34 Original.
35 Offa’s Dike; it extended from the mouth of the Dee to that of the Severn.
36 Original.
37 Charlemagne.
38 ‘Pavia was on the road to Rome, and was hence frequented by English pilgrims on their journey to the latter’ (Stevenson). The Chronicle says under 888: ‘Queen Æthelswith, who was King Alfred’s sister, died; and her body lies at Pavia.’ ‘With this story of Eadburh’s begging in that city we may compare the statement of St. Boniface, written about 747, as to the presence of English prostitutes or adulteresses in the cities of Lombardy, Frankland, or Gaul (Dümmler, Epistolæ Karolini Ævi 1. 355; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils 3. 381). At the date of this letter the Lombards still spoke their native Germanic tongue, and it is probable that as late as Eadburh’s time it was still the predominant speech in Lombardy’ (Stevenson).
39 Mostly original.
40 In Alfred’s will (Cart. Sax. 2. 177. 9) he refers to this as ‘Aþulfes cinges yrfegewrit’ (Stevenson).
41 That is, for the good of his soul.
42 Lat. manentibus.
43 A mancus was thirty pence, one-eighth of a pound.
44 Original.
45 From Florence of Worcester. The Annals of St. Neots have: ‘and buried at Steyning’ (Stemrugam).
46 This last statement is incorrect.
47 From the Chronicle under 860. As Æthelbert was already in possession of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, it should rather be said that he added Wessex.
48 From the Chronicle under 860.
49 Chiefly from the Chronicle under 865 and 866.
50 The earlier part from the Chronicle.
51 Probably meaning the mouths of the Rhine (Stevenson).
52 Original.
53 Curto, a word showing Frankish influence.
54 Original. Stevenson would refer this event to a date earlier than 855.
55 From Florence of Worcester.
56 So Pauli and Stevenson interpret legit.
57 Original.
58 Cf. chap. 88.
59 The liberal arts were seven, consisting of the trivium—grammar, logic, and rhetoric—and the quadrivium—arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. This course of study was introduced in the sixth century. Asser here employs the singular, artem, which might be translated by ‘education.’
60 See Alfred’s own statement in Appendix I, p. 69.
61 Original.
62 Alfred says (Preface to the Pastoral Care): ‘Thanks be to Almighty God that we have any teachers among us now.’ In this same Preface he mentions, among those who aided him in the translation, Archbishop Plegmund, Bishop Asser, our author, and the two priests Grimbold and John. Cf. chaps. 77, 78, 79, 81, 88, and Appendix I, p. 71.
63 Stevenson brackets this clause.
64 Mostly from the Chronicle.
65 This clause must refer to the first line of the chapter, as there is no previous mention of the Northumbrians.
66 From the Chronicle.
67 Original.
68 ‘Subarravit, formed from sub and arrha, represents literally the English verb wed, which refers to the giving of security upon the engagement of marriage.... [It] is glossed by beweddian in Napier’s Old English Glosses’ (Stevenson).
69 William of Malmesbury calls her Æthelswith.
70 Of the Gaini nothing is known.
71 Largely from the Chronicle.
72 ‘A compound of tig (Modern Welsh tŷ, “house”), and guocobauc (Modern Welsh gogofawg), an adjective derived from gogof, “cave.” ... The name ... is certainly applicable to Nottingham, which has long been famous for the houses excavated out of the soft sandstone upon which it stands’ (Stevenson). The word Nottingham itself, however, has not this meaning.
73 Here and elsewhere in the text often spelled Æthered.
74 From the Chronicle.
75 In Norfolk.
76 Mostly from the Chronicle.
77 Chiefly from the Chronicle.
78 Five and one-half miles southwest of Reading.
79 Added from Florence of Worcester by Stevenson.
80 Chiefly from the Chronicle.
81 The Berkshire Downs (Stevenson).
82 Stevenson is convinced that Æscesdun, though interpreted as ‘mons fraxini,’ cannot mean ‘the hill of the ash,’ but that Ash is here a man’s name.
83 Perhaps mediam is a scribal error for unam or primam (Stevenson).
84 There is a note on the Germanic shield-wall in my edition of Judith (305ª), in the Belles Lettres Series.
85 All original except final clause.
86 Supplied by Stevenson from Florence of Worcester.
87 Mostly original.
88 Probably Reading.
89 From the Chronicle.
90 Before this sentence occurs the following in the Latin: Quibus cum talia præsentis vitæ dispendia alienigenis perperam quærentibus non sufficerent. This may represent a sentence in the author’s draft that was intended, owing to change of construction, to be omitted (Stevenson).
91 In Hampshire.
92 Mostly from the Chronicle.
93 In Dorsetshire.
94 Paraphrased and amplified from the Chronicle.
95 A tributary of the Nadder, which it joins near Wilton.
96 Or, perhaps, ‘fewness,’ reading paucitatem for peraudacitatem (Stevenson).
97 Mostly from the Chronicle.
98 From the Chronicle.
99 Chiefly from the Chronicle.
100 In Derbyshire.
101 Among the Germans there were Colonies (Scholæ) of the Frisians, Franks, and Lombards, as well as of the Saxons.
102 Now Santo Spirito in Sassia, near the Vatican.
103 From the Chronicle.
104 The valley of the Clyde.
105 Here spelled Gothrum.
106 From the Chronicle.
107 Chiefly from the Chronicle.
108 In Dorsetshire.
109 Dorchester.
110 For the usual Dornsæte.
111 Here the Chronicle has ‘on the holy arm-ring,’ on which the Danes, it would seem, were accustomed to swear.
112 Here the Chronicle has: ‘They, the mounted army, stole away from the fierd [the English forces] in the night into Exeter.’ This, of course, is the true account, while the statement in Asser is incredible.
113 Exe.
114 From the Chronicle.
115 See chap. 46.
116 Largely from the Chronicle.
117 At this point Archbishop Parker interpolated, from the Annals of St. Neots, the story of Alfred and the cakes. This story, however, cannot be proved to antedate the Norman Conquest.
118 The first clause from the Chronicle; the rest original.
119 Name unknown.
120 Hingwar.
121 Or South Wales. See chap. 80.
122 Site unknown.
123 Mostly from the Chronicle.
124 In Somersetshire.
125 Unknown.
126 Or perhaps better, Iglea; see Stevenson’s note on the word, p. 270 of his edition. He says: ‘It is probably an older name of Southleigh Wood, or of part of it.’
127 Based upon the Chronicle.
128 In Wiltshire.
129 Supplied by Stevenson from the Chronicle.
130 Properly, as one of thirty, according to the Chronicle.
131 Chrism is the term employed for the mixture of oil and balsam employed in the rite of confirmation, and sometimes for the ceremony of confirmation itself. In the early church, this ceremony immediately followed baptism, and was performed by the laying on of hands. In the Roman church it is obligatory on all Catholics, and no baptism is theoretically complete without it. It is performed by a bishop (only exceptionally by a priest). The ceremony begins with the bishop’s rising and facing the person or persons to be confirmed, his pastoral staff in his hand, and saying: ‘May the Holy Ghost come upon you, and the power of the Holy Ghost keep you from sins’ (Handbook to Christian and Ecclesiastical Rome: Liturgy in Rome, London, 1897, pp. 169–171). The rite is described in Egbert’s Pontifical, which may be taken as representing the custom in the church of Alfred’s time. Lingard says (Anglo-Saxon Church, London, 1858, 1. 297): ‘According to that pontifical, the bishop prayed thus: “Almighty and Everlasting God, who hast granted to this thy servant to be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, and hast given to him remission of his sins, send down upon him thy sevenfold Holy Spirit, the Paraclete from heaven, Amen. Give to him the spirit of wisdom and understanding, Amen—the spirit of counsel and fortitude, Amen—the spirit of knowledge and piety, Amen. Fill him with the spirit of the fear of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, and mercifully sign him with the sign of the holy cross for life eternal.” The bishop then marked his forehead with chrism, and proceeded thus: “Receive this sign of the holy cross with the chrism of salvation in Christ Jesus unto life eternal.” The head was then bound with a fillet of new linen to be worn seven days, and the bishop resumed: “O God, who didst give thy Holy Spirit to thine apostles, that by them and their successors he might be given to the rest of the faithful, look down on the ministry of our lowliness, and grant that into the heart of him whose forehead we have this day anointed, and confirmed with the sign of the cross, thy Holy Spirit may descend; and that, dwelling therein, he may make it the temple of his glory, through Christ our Lord.” The confirmed then received the episcopal blessing, and communicated during the mass.’
The chrism-loosing was the ceremony of unbinding the fillet, apparently.
132 MS. ædificia; Stevenson, beneficia.
133 Chiefly from the Chronicle.
134 Gloucester, Worcester, etc.
135 Mostly from the Chronicle.
136 Mostly from the Chronicle.
137 See Stevenson’s interesting note.
138 From the Chronicle.
139 Ibid.
140 Ibid.
141 Ibid.
142 Mostly from the Chronicle.
143 Largely from the Chronicle.
144 Mostly from the Chronicle.
145 Cf. chap. 60.
146 The MS. has dormiret, but perhaps for domum iret, since the Chronicle has hāmweard wendon (Stevenson); so perhaps we should read ‘was on its way home.’
147 Chiefly from the Chronicle.
148 Louis the Stammerer.
149 Cf. chap. 59.
150 Charles the Bald.
151 Cf. chaps. 11 and 13.
152 From the Chronicle.
153 From Duisburg, about January, 884 (Stevenson).
154 There was a battle in Frisia, about December, 884, and a later one in Saxony (Stevenson).
155 Mainly from the Chronicle.
156 The North Sea.
157 Brittany.
158 Louis the German.
159 Louis the Pious.
160 Mainly from the Chronicle.
161 From the Chronicle.
162 Based upon the preface to Eginhard’s Life of Charlemagne.
163 See chap. 21.
164 Original.
165 Perhaps the hemorrhoids.
166 Interpolated some time between 893 and 1000 A.D.
167 In Alfred’s prayer at the end of his translation of Boethius, one of the petitions is: ‘Deliver me from foul lust and from all unrighteousness.’
168 Original.
169 This is the beginning of a corrupt sentence, of which nothing has been made.
170 MS. Eadredo.
171 See Appendix I, p. 70.
172 See chaps. 24 and 88.
173 Original.
174 Cf. Alfred’s jewel, and the book upon it by Professor Earle.
175 See chaps. 23 and 75.
176 Our first accounts of Arctic exploration are from his pen. For his interest in geographical discovery see the narratives of Ohthere and Wulfstan, in his translation of Orosius. In 897, according to the Chronicle, he was experimenting with new war-galleys: ‘They were almost twice as long as the others. Some had sixty oars, some more. They were swifter, steadier, and higher than the others, and were built, not on a Frisian or Danish model, but according to his personal notions of their utility.’
177 There were Frisians in his fleet in 897 (Chronicle).
178 Northmen; such were Ohthere and Wulfstan (see note 1, above).
179 Three such came to him in 891 (Chronicle).
180 MS. Armorici. See chap. 102.
181 Or, ‘degrees’; cf. p. 60.
182 See chap. 101.
183 Matt. 6. 33.
184 Ps. 85. 8.
185 Cf. chap. 88; Stevenson gives a number of parallels from ancient and mediæval authors, beginning with Lucretius (3. 9) and Seneca (Epist. 84.3).
186 Cf. chap. 24.
187 Original.
188 See Appendix I, p. 69. In Alfred’s will he gives Werfrith (Wærferth) a hundred marks.
189 See Appendix I, p. 71.
190 Perhaps Bishop of Ramsbury (909 A.D.). The later MSS. of the Chronicle say, under the year 883: ‘And in the same year Sighelm and Æthelstan took to Rome the alms that King Alfred sent, and also to India to St. Thomas’ and St. Bartholomew’s.’
191 Or, ‘chaplains.’ See p. 61, note 6.
192 Original.
193 Probably from the monastery of St. Bertin, at St. Omer (Pas-de-Calais). See Appendix I, p. 71, and Appendix II, pp. 75 ff.
194 Cf. chap. 94, and Appendix I, p. 71.
195 Original.
196 Perhaps Dean, near Eastbourne, in Sussex.
197 Five miles southwest of Chepstow. ‘There was an abbey there, where a traveling ecclesiastic would be likely to stay, and it was on the great Roman road to South Wales, by which a traveler from Wessex to St. Davids would proceed’ (Stevenson).
198 The MS. seems to be corrupt at this point, so that what I have given is a loose conjectural rendering of the Latin: ... et illa adjuvaretur per rudimenta Sancti Dequi in omni causa, tamen pro viribus.
199 Original.
200 Pembrokeshire and part of Carmarthenshire.
201 ‘Rhodri Mawr (the Great), King of Gwyneth, who acquired the rule of the whole of North and Mid-Wales and Cardigan’ (Stevenson).
202 Old name of Glamorgan and part of Monmouthshire.
203 In Monmouthshire.
204 Alfred.
205 See chaps. 8 and 56.
206 Original.
207 Perhaps Landford in Wiltshire.
208 In Alfred’s Preface to his translation of Boethius we are told: ‘[He made this translation as well as he could], considering the various and manifold worldly cares that oft troubled him both in mind and body.’ The similarity of phrase is striking.
209 Both in Somersetshire; these monasteries are otherwise unknown.
210 Largely from the Chronicle.
211 Largely from the Chronicle.
212 Namely, Alfred.
213 A mistranslation from the Chronicle; it should read, ‘were not in captivity,’ etc.
214 Here follows Camden’s famous (forged?) interpolation about Grimbald and Oxford.
215 Much expanded from the Chronicle.
216 From the Chronicle.
217 Charles the Fat.
218 Burgundy.
219 Chiefly from the Chronicle.
220 Cf. chap. 84.
221 Original.
222 Original.
223 Cf. chap. 24.
224 Author unknown.
225 Cf. chap. 76.
226 Original.
227 Luke 23. 42.
228 The following phrases, introduced at this point, seem to be corrupt: Hic aut aliter, quamvis dissimili modo, in regia potestate.
229 November 11.
230 Alfred calls the passages which he translated from St. Augustine’s Soliloquies by the name of ‘flowers’ or ‘blossoms’ (blōstman). See Hargrove’s edition (Yale Studies in English XIII), and his version into modern English (Yale Studies in English XXII).
231 The application of the word to a work of St. Augustine’s gave it great currency in the Frankish Latin of the period.
232 The Handbook seems to have been known to William of Malmesbury (d. 1143); cf. his Gesta Pontificum, pp. 333, 336.
233 Original.
234 Unknown.
235 Cf. note 5, chap. 80.
236 ... unicuique ubicumque male habet.
237 Original.
238 Cf. chap. 74.
239 MS. corrupt: De cotidiana nationum.
240 This makes no sense; yet the Latin is: quæ in Tyrreno mari usque ultimum Hiberniæ finem habitant.
241 Cf. chap. 70.
242 Perhaps Elias III, patriarch from about 879 to 907; the MS. reads Abel. Stevenson’s emendation is supported by the fact that certain medical recipes are related to have been sent to Alfred by the patriarch Elias (Cockayne, Leechdoms 2. 290).
243 Stevenson says: ‘Possibly he intended to refer to the use of the precious metals in sacred edifices. We are told, on the doubtful authority of William of Malmesbury, that King Ine built a chapel of gold and silver at Glastonbury. A ninth-century writer records that Ansegis, abbot of Fontenelle, 806–833, partly decorated a spire of the abbey with gilt metal, and another writer of that period mentions the golden doors of the “basilica” of St. Alban in his description of the imperial palace at Ingelheim. Giraldus Cambrensis ascribes the use of golden roofs or roof-crests to the Romans at Caerleon-on-Usk. The idea that a king’s palace ought to be decorated with the precious metals is probably an outcome of the late Roman rhetoric and Byzantine magnificence.’
244 The early part of the sentence is corrupt in the MS.
245 The figure is found as early as Sophocles and Aristophanes.
246 Original.
247 This corresponds to the OE. sāwle þearf.
248 The Latin has: inter cetera diuturna et nocturna bona. Stevenson does not emend, but it seems as though we should read diurna. Compare, for example, in Stevenson’s edition, 78. 14, 35, 39; 99. 10; 100. 11; 103. 9.
249 Cf. chap. 55. The second monastery was for nuns, and at Shaftesbury; see chap. 98.
250 Original.
251 Original.
252 Cf. chap. 78.
253 Cf. chap. 78.
254 Original.
255 Supplied by Stevenson.
256 Original.
257 Matt. 27. 64.
258 Original.
259 Original.
260 Cf. chap. 92.
261 Original.
262 This passage is somewhat corrupt.
263 Gen. 4. 7, in the old Latin version, following the Septuagint.
264 Prov. 21. 1.
265 Original.
266 Cf. the Chronicle under 894: ‘The King had divided his forces into two, so that one half was constantly at home, the other half in the field.’
267 Original.
268 Or, ‘rank’ (dignitatem), as in line 3 of the chapter.
269 2 Cor. 9. 7.
270 Original.
271 Incorrectly quoted from the Pastoral Care 3. 20: ‘Ne quædam quibus nulla, ne nulla quibus quædam, ne multa quibus pauca, ne pauca præbeant quibus impendere multa debuerunt.’
272 See chaps. 75 and 76.
273 See chaps. 74 and 81.
274 See chaps. 78 and 94.
275 Original.
276 Not from the Bible, but from St. Augustine’s Enchiridion de Fide, chap. 20: ‘Qui enim vult ordinate dare eleemosynam, a se ipso debet incipere.’
277 Reading divitiis for the divinis of the text.
278 Cf. chap. 99.
279 Original.
280 Or, ‘chaplains.’ See p. 41, note 5.
281 ‘As these six candles weighed 72 pennyweights, each one was of the weight of 12d. The weight of the OE. penny was 22½ Troy grains, so that each candle would weigh roughly ⅝ oz. avoirdupois. As the candles were twelve inches long, they would be very thin in proportion to their length. A modern beeswax candle burns at a considerably quicker rate than is here assumed, but we do not think this condemns the figures given in this chapter as imaginary. The candle of Alfred’s time was probably not moulded, and the wick would not be made of cotton, as in the modern ones. Rushes, tow, and the hards of flax were used for wicks. Aldhelm refers to the use of linen or flax wicks, but also to those made of rushes. It is therefore hardly possible to reproduce the candles used by Alfred for the purpose of testing this chapter’ (Stevenson).
282 Reading fenestras for the fenestrarum of the text.
283 Meanings doubtful.
284 ‘Ducange objected that horn lanterns were known to the Greeks and Romans long before Alfred’s time. But the passages adduced by Salmasius, to whom he refers, and such others as we have been able to gather, do not clearly describe a horn lantern lit by a candle, but rather screens formed of horn to place round oil lamps. It is possible, therefore, that Alfred may really be the inventor of the horn lantern as we know it. The door in the side, which would be rendered necessary by the change of the candles every four hours, is here described, and seems to be a new feature’ (Stevenson).
285 Original.
286 The name of the diocese and of the bishop of course varied in the different copies.
287 Cf. p. 11, note 2.
288 The books.
289 From Rev. Joseph Stevenson’s translation of The Book of Hyde, in Church Historians of England (London, 1854), Vol. 2, Part 2, pp. 499–503. The translator states that the text of the letter printed by Wise in his edition of Asser (see Stevenson’s edition of Asser, p. 308) ‘has been employed in correcting the many obscurities and errors of the copy inserted in the Liber de Hida.’ Of the letter our editor says: ‘It ... seems to be genuine. There is no conceivable motive for forging such a letter. We can discover no grounds for Pauli’s condemnation of it.... As Malmesbury, Gesta Regum, c. 122 (p. 130), states that Grimbald was sent to Alfred at his request by the Archbishop of Rheims, he would seem to have been acquainted with this letter.’