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VIII.

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In the next year, Ecgfrid invaded the Picts with СНАР. the same purpose of depredation; but a feigned flight of the natives seduced him into a defile. There at Drumnechtan they made a fierce assault upon him, and Ecgfrid perished with most of his Slain troops. 51 The body of Ecgfrid was taken to Picts. Icolmkill, or the celebrated isle of St. Columba, and buried there. 52

THIS disastrous expedition humbled the power of Northumbria. 53 The Irish and Scotch immediately disclaimed its predominance, and some of the Welsh princes obtained their independence. This kingdom, which, in the hands of Ethelfrid, Edwin, and Oswy, had menaced the others with subjection, was formidable to its contemporaries no more. The kings of Wessex and Mercia obscured it by their superior power, and it precipitated its own fall by incessant usurpations and civil wars.54

against the

guess what he means by his "bis ternasque omissas physicæ artis machinas." Ush. Syll. p. 39.

51 Bede, lib. iv. c. 26. The annals of Ulster thus mention his death: "Battle of Drumnechtan, on the 20th May, where Ecgfrid M‘Offa Iwas killed with a vast number of his men. He burnt Tula-aman Duinolla." Ant. Celt. Nor. p. 59.

52 Sun. Dun., p. 5., calls the place of battle Nechtonesmere, which corresponds with the Drumnechtan of the Irish Chronicle.

53 Thirteen years afterwards, Beorht, endeavouring to revenge the calamity by another invasion, also perished. Bede, lib. v. p. 24. — Ann. Ulst. 59. Sax. Chron. 49. Hunting. 337.

54 Bede remarks the fines angustiores of Northumbria after Ecgfrid, lib. iv. c. 26. It is about this time that the authentic chronicles of the Welsh begin. Four of them are printed in the Welsh Archaiology, vol. ii. The Brut y Tywysogion begins with the year 680, and ends about 1280, p. 390-467. This is printed from the Red Book of Hergest. The Brut y Saeson, which is in the Cotton Library, begins, after a short introduction, in 683, and ends in 1197. Another copy of the Brut y Tywysogion, printed from MSS. in Wales, begins 660,

BOOK
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and ends 1196. Some extracts are also printed from another Chronicle called from the name of a former transcriber, Brut Jeuan Brechfa, beginning 686. These last three Chronicles occupy from p. 468 to p. 582. These Chronicles refer to Caradoc of Llancarvan, who lived in the twelfth century, as their author. As they contain facts and dates not always the same in all, it is not probable that Caradoc wrote them all. Their variations seem to have arisen from the imitations or additions of the ancient transcribers, who have brought them down below the times of Caradoc. Their general character is that of plain simple chronicles, in an humble, artless style, but seldom correct in their chronology. They scarcely ever agree with the Saxon dates.

CHAP. IX.

Reign of ALFRED of NORTHUMBRIA and his Successors. -
History of WESSEX to the Death of INA.

IX.

Alfred of

THE important improvements, which always oc- CHAP. cur to a nation, when its sovereign is attached to literature, give peculiar consequence to the 684-728. reign of Alfred, who succeeded his brother Ecgfrid Northumin Northumbria. He was the eldest, but not the bria. legitimate son of Oswy, and was therefore prevented by the nobles of his country from ascending the throne, to which they elected his younger brother. This exclusion kept him several years from the royal dignity, but was beneficial both to his understanding and his heart. His name alone would interest us, as the precursor of the greater sovereign, his namesake; but the similarity of his intellectual taste and temper, with the pursuits and sentiments of the celebrated Alfred of Wessex, makes his character still more interesting. We cannot avoid remembering the lives and pursuits of those eminent men whose names we may happen to hear; and as Alfred of Northumbria appears in Bede as the first literary king among the Anglo-Saxons, we may reasonably suppose, that his example and reputation had no small influence in suggesting the love of study, and exerting the emulation of the distinguished son of Ethelwulf.

ALFRED, of Northumbria, whom Eddius distinguishes by the epithet of the most wise, had been

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1

BOOK educated by the celebrated Wilfrid. He had governed Deira, under his father Oswy, and had contributed to the defeat of Penda. He had cultivated a friendship with Peada, and had married his sister; and by inspiring Peada with a favourable impression of Christianity, had occasioned its establishment in Mercia. 2

REJECTED by the great from the crown of his father, he did not attempt to raise the sword of military competition against his brother: he submitted to the decision of the Northumbrian Witena, and retired contentedly to a private life. Learned ecclesiastics from Ireland had given to his father and country what intellectual information they had acquired. The larger tuition of Wilfrid, who had visited Rome, and studied in France3, had inspired him with a fondness for knowledge which now became his happiness. He devoted himself to piety and literature, and voluntarily retired into Ireland, that he might pursue his unambitious studies. For fifteen years he enjoyed a life of philosophic tranquillity and progressive improvement. The books revered by the Christians engrossed so much of his

1 Bede, lib. iii. c.25. He remunerated his preceptor by a bishopric, in the second year of his reign. Ibid. lib. v. c. 19.- Eddius Vit. Wilf. c. 43. — The Saxon MS. in the Cotton. Library, Vesp. D. 14. p. 132., spells the name Alfred. Bede calls him Alfridus.

2 Bede, lib.iii. c.21. c. 24. He reigned under his father.- Eddius, c. 7. c. 10. So Bede implies, c.25.

3 Bede, lib. iii. c. 25.

4 "In insulis Scotorum ob studium literarum exulabat - in regionibus Scotorum lectioni operam dabat - ipse ob amorem sapientiæ spontaneum passus exilium." Bede Vita S. Cudbercti, c. 24.—"In Hyberniam seu vi seu indignatione secesserat, ibi et ab odio germani tutus, et magno otio litcris imbutus, omni philosophia composuerat animum." Malmsbury, 21.-Viro undecumque doctissimo. Bede, Hist. lib. v. c. 12.-Rex sapientissimus. Eddius Vit. Wilf. c.43.The wise king of the Saxons. Annals Ulster, p. 60.

attention, that one of the epithets applied to him CHAP. was, "most learned in the Scriptures."5

IX.

684.

He exhibited to the world this example of contented privacy till the death of Ecgfrid raised him to the throne without a crime. The catastrophe of his brother had taught most impressively the folly of military ambition, and the national as well as personal comforts of the peaceful and intellectual virtues. He governed the kingdom, to which he was now invited, with the same virtue with which he had resigned it; he derived his happiness from the quiet and enjoyments of his people; he en- Encourcouraged literature, received with kindness the ages literaAsiatic travels of Arcuulfus, who had visited Greece, Syria, and Egypt, and which had been written by Adamnan, liberally rewarded the author, and by his bounty caused the composition to be imparted to others."

THE love of Alfred for knowlege became known beyond the precincts of Northumbria, and attracted the attention of the celebrated Aldhelm. The subjects chosen by the West-Saxon scholar, for the entertainment of the king, show the extent of the

5 Bede, Hist. Abbat. Wiremuth. p. 300.-Alcuin describes him thus: Qui sacris fuerat studiis imbutus ab annis ætatis primæ, valido sermone sophista acer et ingenio, idem rex simul atque magister. De Pont. 718.

6" Per decem et novem annos summa pace et gaudio provinciæ præfuit: nihil unquam præter in persecutione magni Wilfridi quod livor edax digne carpere posset admittens." Malms. 21. Alcuin, p. 722.

7 Bede, lib. v. c. 15. Bede calls the book De Locis Sanctis multis utillimum. Arcuulfus surveyed Jerusalem, Palestine, Damascus, Constantinople, Alexandria, and the Archipelago. Returning home, he was driven by a tempest on Britain; Adamnan received him, listened eagerly to his conversations, and immediately committed them to writing. Bede, ibid. This work of Adamnan is apud Mabillon, Act. Ben. Sæc.iii. part ii. p. 502. There is a tract of Bede, De Locis Sanctis, taken from this of Adamnan, printed p. 315. of Smith's edition.

ture.

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